Sermon Central
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To Know Christ And To Make Him Known
Contributed by Stephen Belokur on Feb 28, 2018 (message contributor)
Summary: This little Creed is the essence of the life of a person who is truly born again. It is also the desire of a person who is truly born again.
Let's stand together and say our memory Scripture for this Quarter ...
“Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with Him, we will also live with Him; if we endure, we will also reign with Him. If we disown Him, He will also disown us; if we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot disown
Himself.”
And our "Memory Refresher" Scripture for this week is ...
“Jesus said, ‘I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. If you know Me, you will also know My Father. From now on you do know Him and have seen Him.’”
You may be seated.
Please open your Bibles to Philippians 3:1-14 which we will read in a few minutes.
This past Sunday we took a look at two of the aspects of the Lord, His righteous judgment which causes us to fear the Lord and His unbelievable Love for us.
The fear of the Lord is a natural response to the awesomeness of the Lord.
We, in our human condition, as we are now, would die if we were to see the face of the Lord.
For those who have rejected Jesus, fear of the Lord will consume them.
The prophet Joel said in Joel 2:11 NIV
“The LORD thunders at the head of His army; His forces are beyond number, and mighty is the army that obeys His command. The day of the LORD is great; it is dreadful. Who can endure it?”
But, we didn’t just leave it there … we also examined the Lord’s great love for us in providing undeserved salvation for us through His one and only Son, Jesus Christ.
And, God demonstrated His own love for us in that while we were in full rebellion to Him, “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us!”
What an amazing, terrifying, indescribably, loving God we serve.
And, out of that comes creed that can and should be a central focus for our personal lives and for our church, “To Know Christ and to Make Him Known.”
With that in mind let’s go ahead and read Philippians 3:1-14
“I want to know Christ - yes, to know the power of His resurrection and participation in His sufferings, becoming like Him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.”
“I Want to Know Christ.”
That’s a pretty good start to the creed of “To Know Christ and to make Him Known”
We must have a desire to know Christ.
This is something that happens automatically to anyone who is truly saved.
We have diminished the transformation of salvation to saying a simple prayer and you’re good to go.
But, Jesus said in Luke 14:33 AMPC,
“So then, any of you who does not forsake (renounce, surrender claim to, give up, say good-bye to) all that He has cannot be My disciple.”
Recently I was flipping through the TV channels and saw a preacher talking to a small group in what was a seminar type of class. In this seminar he was telling his class how to “achieve their destiny.”
What was the destiny of the students in that class?
What is my destiny? What is your destiny?
I know. Do you know?
I don’t know this because I am brilliant; I know this because it runs throughout the New Testament!
Here it is … “To know Christ and to make Him known!”
When we come to Christ as our Savior it becomes our mission to know Christ!
It doesn’t matter if you’re six years old or 106 years old.
But, before you come to Christ you must count the cost. Are you willing to renounce, surrender claim to, give up and say good-bye to everything in your life?
Yes= you CAN be Jesus’ disciple
No= you CANNOT be Jesus’ disciple
The Lord put a law into effect when He created everything and that Law is,
“each one after its own kind.”
When a rabbit has offspring the offspring is a rabbit.
When you put corn into the ground and corn plant will grow and bear corn.
When you abandon everything for the cause of Christ you will be different.
If your goal is to know Christ, things are going to change!
When you plant the desire to know Christ in your heart the intimate relationship with Jesus will spring up within you.
There is a verse in the Bible, a prophetic verse, that was written to and for the people of Israel. The verse was an instruction for the nation if they ever became disobedient to the Lord and He sent them into exile as a punishment for their rebellion.
That verse is found in Deuteronomy 4:29 and it says:
