Saint “____________________” (Insert Your Name) Series

SAINT “____________________” (INSERT YOUR NAME)

PHILIPPIANS 4:20-23 TO OUR GOD AND FATHER BE GLORY FOREVER AND EVER. AMEN. 21 GREET EVERY SAINT IN CHRIST JESUS. THE BROTHERS WHO ARE WITH ME GREET YOU. 22 ALL THE SAINTS GREET YOU, ESPECIALLY THOSE OF CAESAR’S HOUSEHOLD. 23 THE GRACE OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST BE WITH YOUR SPIRIT.

INTRODUCTION: CHARLES SPURGEON HAS SAID, “IF YOU ARE NOT CONTENT WITH WHAT YOU HAVE, YOU WOULD NOT BE SATISFIED IF IT WERE DOUBLED.”

LAST WEEK, WE SPOKE ABOUT CONTENTMENT, AND I REALLY HOPE YOU HAVE SOUGHT TO LIVE MORE CONTENTED IN YOUR CHRISTIAN WALK THIS PAST WEEK THAN YOU HAVE EVER DONE BEFORE.

THIS MORNING, I WOULD LIKE TO FOCUS ON WHAT PAUL SAYS IN OURS, WHAT WE POSSES OR HAVE.

I BELIEVE THAT WHEN I AM CONTENT, I CAN THEN REALIZE AND ASSUME THE PERSONALITY AND PERSON I AM TO BE IN CHRIST.

PROPOSITION: CHRISTIANS NEED TO EMBRACE THEIR SAINTHOOD.

I. THE CHARACTER OF SAINTS

a. MEANING OF THE WORD, SAINT

i. ONE WHO IS SET APART

ii. ONE WHO IS SANCTIFIED

iii. HOLY ONE

iv. ONE WHO HAS BEEN SEPARATED FROM SIN AND SEPARATED TO GOD

b. THE SPHERE OF SAINTS

i. IN CHRIST JESUS

ii. SAINTHOOD IS UNIQUE TO CHRISTIANITY

iii. UNITED IN THE LIFE, DEATH, BURIAL, RESURRECTION, AND RETURN OF CHRIST

1. UNION WITH THE PROPHETIC WORK OF CHRIST

2. UNION WITH CHRIST NOW

iv. EACH AND EVERY BELIEVER IS A SAINT

1. EACH AND EVERY BELIEVER HAS BEEN SEPARATED FROM SIN

2. EACH AND EVERY BELIEVER HAS BEEN SEPARATED TO GOD

3. EACH AND EVERY BELIEVER HAS THE SAME BASIS FOR SAINTHOOD – FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST!

OUR CHARACTER HAS BEEN PREDETERMINED FOR US BY OUR TRUSTING IN JESUS CHRIST AS OUR SAVIOR.

2 CORINTHIANS 5:17 THEREFORE, IF ANYONE IS IN CHRIST, HE IS A NEW CREATION. THE OLD HAS PASSED AWAY; BEHOLD, THE NEW HAS COME.

EPHESIANS 5:8 FOR AT ONE TIME YOU WERE DARKNESS, BUT NOW YOU ARE LIGHT IN THE LORD. WALK AS CHILDREN OF LIGHT

WE NEED TO STOP RESISTING OUR CHARACTER AND EMBRACE OUR CHARACTER!

II. THE WORSHIP OF SAINTS

a. SAINTS ARE PEOPLE WHO WORSHIP

b. WORSHIP DEFINES SAINTS, IT IS TO BE A PART OF OUR NATURE

A. W. TOZER WRITES, “IGNORANT WORSHIP IS UNACCEPTABLE BECAUSE IT IS A FORM OF IDOLATRY. IDOLATRY IS NOT ONLY WORSHIPING FALSE GODS, BUT ALSO ENTERTAINING THOUGHTS ABOUT THE TRUE GOD THAT ARE UNTRUE AND UNWORTHY OF HIM.”

c. IN ORDER TO WORSHIP CORRECTLY, WE MUST BECOME MORE THAN ACQUAINTED WITH THE OBJECT OF OUR WORSHIP

i. WE NEED TO KNOW GOD SO WE DO NOT FASHION A GOD AFTER OUR OWN LIKENESS

ii. WE NEED TO MAKE KNOWING GOD OUR PRIMARY PURSUIT AS SAINTS

iii. WE NEED TO KNOW HIM AS

1. THE TRUE AND LIVING GOD

2. THE ONE AND ONLY GOD

3. THE ONLY TRUE GOD

4. THE ONLY WISE GOD

5. THE ONLY GOD

6. THIS IS THE WAY THE WORD OF GOD DECLARES THE PERSON OF GOD TO BE

iv. PAUL DECLARED THE TRUTH THAT GOD IS OUR GOD – HE IS THE OBJECT OF OUR WORSHIP

1. “OUR” EMPHASIZES THE PERSONAL NATURE OF OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD

2. THE HABITUAL ACT OF WORSHIP DEFINES BELIEVERS, BECAUSE WE ARE SAINTS

3. THE INTIMACY, CLOSENESS OF OUR WORSHIP DEFINES THE RELATIONSHIP WE ARE TO HAVE WITH GOD

4. THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE GOD WE ARE TO WORSHIP DEFINES THE PURITY OF OUR WORSHIP.

v. PAUL DECLARED A SECOND TRUTH THAT GOD IS OUR FATHER

1. SCRIPTURE DECLARES CHRIST REFERRING TO GOD AS HIS FATHER ALMOST 40 TIMES

2. WE ARE THE ADOPTED CHILDREN OF GOD

3. WHEN WE COE TO WORSHIP, WE COME TO WORSHIP A GOD WHO LOVES US A CHILDREN

vi. PAUL DECLARED A THIRD TRUTH, THE DURATION OF OUR WORSHIP

1. FOREVER AND EVER

2. LITERALLY WE WORSHIP TO THE AGES

3. WORSHIP OF GOD IS NOT LIMITED, BUT TRANSCENDS OUR PHYSICAL LIFE

4. WORSHIP NOW IS PRACTICE FOR WORSHIP IN HEAVEN!

III. THE FELLOWSHIP OF SAINTS

a. FELLOWSHIP IS IMPORTANT FOR SAINTS

i. SEEN IN THE USE OF “GREET” THREE TIMES IN JUST A FEW VERSES

b. PAUL USES THE WORD “EVERY” IN ASSOCIATION WITH GREETING

i. USED INSTEAD OF ALL

ii. SIGNIFIES THE INDIVIDUAL COMPONENT IN FELLOWSHIP

iii. EACH PERSON IS IMPORTANT AND OF EQUAL WORTH

iv. PHILIPPIANS 2:2 (ESV) COMPLETE MY JOY BY BEING OF THE SAME MIND, HAVING THE SAME LOVE, BEING IN FULL ACCORD AND OF ONE MIND.

c. GENUINE FELLOWSHIP ACCEPTS THE EQUALITY OF BELIEVERS

i. UNDERSTANDING AND AWARENESS OF INDIVIDUAL NEEDS

MARK 5:25-32 (ESV) AND THERE WAS A WOMAN WHO HAD HAD A DISCHARGE OF BLOOD FOR TWELVE YEARS, 26 AND WHO HAD SUFFERED MUCH UNDER MANY PHYSICIANS, AND HAD SPENT ALL THAT SHE HAD, AND WAS NO BETTER BUT RATHER GREW WORSE. 27 SHE HAD HEARD THE REPORTS ABOUT JESUS AND CAME UP BEHIND HIM IN THE CROWD AND TOUCHED HIS GARMENT. 28 FOR SHE SAID, “IF I TOUCH EVEN HIS GARMENTS, I WILL BE MADE WELL.” 29 AND IMMEDIATELY THE FLOW OF BLOOD DRIED UP, AND SHE FELT IN HER BODY THAT SHE WAS HEALED OF HER DISEASE. 30 AND JESUS, PERCEIVING IN HIMSELF THAT POWER HAD GONE OUT FROM HIM, IMMEDIATELY TURNED ABOUT IN THE CROWD AND SAID, “WHO TOUCHED MY GARMENTS?” 31 AND HIS DISCIPLES SAID TO HIM, “YOU SEE THE CROWD PRESSING AROUND YOU, AND YET YOU SAY, ‘WHO TOUCHED ME?’” 32 AND HE LOOKED AROUND TO SEE WHO HAD DONE IT.