Skip to content 7. Biblical Empowering: How Can I Be Empowered? Sep 7 · 27 min ...more
September 7, 2023 · 27 min · Life Redefined
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0:00 Shall we give the Lord a clap offering church? Hallelujah. What a joy and a privilege to greet each and every 1 of you this morning. Those who are gathered at Macquarie, we're0:12 thankful to the Lord for each and every 1 of you. As we continue to build the people of God in community in Macquarie. We're thankful for all that God is doing in the0:24 life of the church. As you heard, we have as we enter into the month of November, we have some pretty good things that are happening in the life of the church. 1 of the things that the Lord laid in my heart is to0:35 revisit the sermon series on end times. So I'm going to be talking about end times on November thirteenth, twentieth, and 20 seventh.0:47 Those 3 Sundays, I want to specifically talk about end times because there are so many things that are accelerating, so many events, current events that are fulfilling0:59 biblical prophecy. And I want us to wear that lens to see what God is saying to us as people of God, as we get ready for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, 1 thing that excites me1:11 as a pastor is this, that this is the exciting time to be alive. This is the time for great harvest. In fact, it's not about just doing church. It's not just about1:23 gathering for gathering sake. But this is the time for us to bring our pre believing friends. This is the time for us to go out and reach out to the people who are lost the1:35 least in the community. Why? Because time is of essence. The urgency of the Great Commission should grip our hearts. So I encourage you, don't just come to fellowship. Don't just come1:47 to church by yourself. If you have a vehicle, bring someone else along with you. But if you're catching public transport, pay for the other person, bring them along with you. This is the time for you to do this1:59 together. Why? Because He is coming again soon. Praise God. So this morning, I want to continue in our sermon series on Life Redefined. Today2:10 is lesson 8 or lesson 7 on biblical empowering. How can I be empowered? Let's look to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly2:22 Father, we thank you so much for the wonderful privilege of gathering together. Lord, that we can listen to your word, that we can fellowship among saints, that we can build our2:34 faith. We can reorientate her focus back to you, recalibrate our heart back to you. And Father today, I pray that you would speak to us. Holy Spirit be our teacher. And in all things we pray that2:46 the name of Jesus will be glorified. Thank you, Lord. Hide me under the cross and reveal yourself to your people. Let the Holy Spirit be the 1 who speaks in Jesus name. And the people of God2:58 said, Amen and Amen. Today's topic is biblical empowering. How can I be empowered? As you know, we are exploring 8 key3:09 questions on spiritual formation. It begins with God. Who is God? Biblical theology. And as you understand biblical theology, who is God? The God of the3:21 Bible demands our allegiance. So it leads to biblical allegiance. Who is truly the master of my life? And as you acknowledge that Christ is not only your Savior, but3:33 Christ is also your King, your Lord, your Master, it defines who you are. That's why biblical identity flows out of biblical allegiance. Who am I?3:45 That's why in this church, we always talk about it's not about who am I, it is whose am I? And as I recognize my identity is tied to Christ, then my3:57 purpose is also defined by Him. Why am I created? What am I called to do? Biblical purpose. And as I recognize my biblical purpose, what I'm called to do, then it dictates the4:09 values. See, biblical values is based on biblical purpose. Your what you value is based on what you're called to do. So therefore, what is of ultimate importance in my life4:21 becomes clearer. And as you define biblical values, it leads to biblical priorities. Because you learn to put first things first. What are the things I must put first? And that leads4:32 to today's topic, biblical empowering. Because when you recognize I belong to Christ, that He has gloriously saved me, not because of anything I have done, but by His4:44 grace alone, that He has saved me. His blood has cleansed me and washed me and made me right with God. I have a right relationship with God, and that gives me a purpose. I want to live for Him. I4:56 want to do His will, and therefore, I value certain things. I value things, and therefore, that values dictate certain priorities in my life. Getting to know Him, getting to5:08 serve Him, these are priorities. And as a result, I need to be empowered to live this life. So today we are exploring how can I be empowered? Biblical5:20 empowering. I'm going to take you to a passage of scripture, Philippians chapter 3 and verses 12 to verses 21 in the ESV translation. Now, Philippians chapter5:31 3 deals with Paul, how he admires who Christ is, and he wants to know Christ. He wants to pursue Christ. And he is encouraging5:43 you and me as believers in Christ to pursue Him together. Let's read the text, and then we will unpack. Not that I have already obtained this, or I'm already perfect,5:55 but I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me His own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But 16:07 thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. I press on toward the goal for the price of the upward6:19 call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of you who are mature think this way. And if anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also6:31 to you. Only let us hold true to what we have already, what we have attained. Brothers, join in imitating me and keep your eyes on those who walk according6:43 to the example you have in us. For many of whom I often told you and now tell you, even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ.6:55 Their end is destruction. Their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame with mindsets on earthly things. Their mind is set on earthly things.7:07 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it, we await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body by the power7:19 that enables him even to subject all things to Himself. May the Lord bless the reading of His word. As we look at this text, I want to give you 37:31 keys to biblical empowering as we pursue Jesus together. 3 keys for biblical empowering. Key number 1, press on. Don't7:43 settle into complacency. In verse 12 to verse 14, Paul deals with this 1. There's a key verb there, press on. Number 2, hold true. Don't7:54 steer into compromise. From verse 15 to verse 19, he says, hold true to what you have attained. Number 3, wait for. Don't sink into carelessness.8:06 In other words, we await a savior. We wait for a savior, Christ Jesus, our Lord. So in this text, I wanna examine these 3 things, these 3 keys.8:18 And as you understand these 3 keys, you will understand 3 ways you can be empowered. At the same time, you will also understand 3 ways you can be disempowered8:30 when you are complacent, compromised, and careless. So let's look at it 1 by 1. Press on, don't settle into complacency. Verse 12 to verse 14. 1 thing8:42 I do, I press on, Paul says. Let's read from verse 12 onwards. Not that I have already obtained this or already perfect, but I press on to make it my own because8:54 Christ Jesus has made me his own. I want you to think about this. I want to give you a principle. Complacency begins with9:05 presumptuousness. Complacency begins with presumptuousness. In other words, Paul begins by saying, Not that I have already9:17 attained. Not that I have already become perfect. The reason why he wants you to catch on to this is because we need to have9:29 this humble awareness that we are not there yet. That we are work in progress. See, this is what you and I need to understand. Our gospel, the9:40 gospel that we believe in, the gospel that we want to build our life upon, the good news that we proclaim to the world, it has 3 aspects to it. 1, the gospel is, it9:52 is a message to believe. That means Jesus died for me 2000 years ago. And that's the message I need to believe. And as I believe that he took my place and died for my sin, my sins10:04 are forgiven, and I can be added into the kingdom of God. I can be adopted into the family of God. I become a child of God, eternally saved. Hallelujah. Now that is a message to10:16 believe. But gospel also has another aspect, a person to receive. A message to believe, a person to receive. In other words, you're going to receive Christ not only as10:28 your savior, but you also acknowledge Him as your master. You acknowledge Him as Lord and King over your life. In other words, from here on, my life doesn't belong to me. My life10:39 belongs to Him. I'm here to do His will. Give Him pleasure. Hallelujah. It's not only a message to believe. Gospel is not only a person to receive, but it's10:51 also a life to live. You and I are called to live a distinct life from the world. So gospel means that our life has to be different, distinct from the rest of the world. Their value11:03 system is different to ours. Our value system and our worldview is based on the word of God. So 1 of the core things that Paul says here is, you and I have not arrived. When you are born again,11:15 you still have to work on your changing your mind. You still have to renew your mind. You still have to let go of the past. Let go of the old ways and embrace the kingdom living. Embrace11:27 the life of Christ. This is the reason why he says press on. I want to give you an application. Press on towards spiritual maturity. That's why in11:39 this passage twice he says in 12 verse 12 he says, I press on. In verse 14 he says, I press on. And then he gives an example. He gives a metaphor of an athlete. He says, an11:50 athlete runs the race. I'm running a race for the price of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. In other words, Jesus Christ is my price. I'm running for that12:02 race. You know, when we think of the race, you know, every year in Sydney, we have an event. It is called City to Surf Marathon.12:14 It starts somewhere in the city, and it ends up in Bondi Beach, a marathon. And there are 2 groups of people that participate in any marathon. 1 are the12:25 serious runners. These are the people who have the right attire, they have the right fitness, they have the right mindset, they have trained themselves for it, and they have they are ready to run the race. They stand12:37 in the front and they charge when the when the when the race begins, and they want to complete that race because they want to win. They are the serious runners. But then there are the slackers. These are the12:49 ones who got up on a Sunday morning, decided to participate in city to serve. They just showed up, show up with their group of friends. They are there to take selfies. They are there to just run for a while13:01 and then sit down in some nice cafe and have some brunch and their latte. Now this is the difference. There are serious runners and there are slackers. So Paul says,13:13 don't be a slacker. Don't settle for complacency. You've got to press on. The moment you are saved, your journey has just begun. Now you've got to run the13:24 race. I love the way Paul actually talks about this in chapter 3. Look at verse 8. Verse 8 says, Indeed, I count everything13:36 as loss. In other words, his previous way of life. He counts everything as loss. His education, his network, his associations, his heritage, all13:48 of them as lost. Why? All the pedigree he considers as lost. Why? Because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. And then he goes on to say in verse 9, I want to be14:00 found in Him. I want to be found in Him. Not having my own righteousness, but that comes from the law, but having a righteousness that comes through faith in Christ. Righteousness14:12 from God that depends on faith. In other words, I want to be found in Him. Why? Because I don't attain a righteousness on my own, not through my law keeping. Now I receive a14:24 righteousness that is Jesus Christ's righteousness. His righteousness is given to me. Therefore, I want to know Him. I want to follow Him. I want to become more and more like Him. Isn't that amazing? In verse 10, He14:36 goes on to say, That I may know Him the power of His resurrection and may share in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, that by any means possible, I may attain the resurrection from the dead.14:48 Why is Paul talking about resurrection from the dead? Do you know that we live between 2 events? The first event is the resurrection of Christ. The resurrection of Christ helps me to to realize that15:00 I am also raised spiritually from deadness and sin back to life in Christ. I'm raised. But 1 day, that same resurrection that happened to Jesus Christ, where his earthly15:11 body was transformed into a glorious body, the same thing happens to you and me. In the in the in the consummation of time, the resurrection of the dead, we will rise up, and we will have the resurrect resurrected body,15:23 a transformed body, a glorious body. And Paul says, that's what I'm looking forward to. In other words, in verse 9, he speaks about the justification that comes because of the gospel. Justification by15:35 faith, not by my works, but God gives me justification. In the verse 10, he talks about sanctification. I'm being transformed every single day. I want to know Him. I want to follow Him. I want to become more and more15:47 like Him. And then in verse 11, 1 day the glorification, that's what I'm waiting for. 1 day, I will be totally transformed. When He comes, I will be like Him. Hallelujah. In15:59 this passage, there is 1 phrase that really highlights the glorious gospel that you and I believe in. You know what is the gospel? Look at this. In verse 12, he says in the last16:10 part, Because Christ Jesus has made me His own. That's the gospel. God sent Jesus to live16:22 the life that we could never live, but died the death that we deserved so that He can lay hold of us. He can snatch us. He can take us into captivity so16:34 He can make us His own. That's what that language means. It's the language of a it's the picture of a fisherman casting his net and catching fish. It's like a soldier coming into16:46 an army invading a new territory and taking captives. Jesus says, I have come and I have made you my own. That is salvation. I16:58 belong to Him because He died for me. I did not choose Him. I did not seek Him. He sought after me. He came after me. The dead cannot seek Him. The dead has to be raised back to life before they can seek17:10 Him. The dead was raised back to life. I'm the dead. I was raised back to life. Paul says, He came. He made me His own. Hallelujah. Never forget that. You are bought with a17:21 price. But at the same time, if you look at that verse, it begins by saying, but, but I press on to make it my own.17:34 In other words, he made me his own, but now I press on to make him my own. This is the 2 parts to our salvation. Many times we only17:46 hear the first part, we don't want to hear the second part. The second part requires our effort. Paul says, He came and He took me. He laid hold of me. Now I want to lay17:58 hold of Him. You know, salvation comes by resting in Christ. But the Bible also encourages that you learn to18:09 strive to enter into that rest. In other words, we know it comes by resting in Christ. But we have to strive to not do our own thing, but18:21 strive to enter into that rest in Christ. Sometimes when you hear people talk about grace, you always get this feeling that grace is opposed to18:33 effort. Can I give you a principle? Grace is not opposed to effort. Grace is opposed to earning. Paul is not saying, I want to make Him my own. Therefore, I can be right with18:44 Him. No, no, no. Paul is saying, I'm already right with Him. Why? His righteousness has been given to me. Not because of any work I have done. Not because of my law keeping. Not18:56 because of my moral behavior. But because He gave me His righteousness, and I receive it by faith. And because I'm made righteous by faith, today, I make it up. I make it. I19:08 press on. I press on to make Him my own. I make effort. I put effort to live that life of righteousness that I may know Him. I want to press in.19:21 See, this is why we have to overcome complacency. Understand what a disciple is. Can I give you a definition of what we call a disciple? A disciple is someone who knows Jesus,19:33 who loves Jesus, who serves Jesus, who abides in Jesus daily, and becomes more and more like Jesus over time. A disciple is someone who knows19:45 Jesus, loves Jesus, serves Jesus, abides in Jesus, and is becoming, transforming more and more to be like Jesus. That's why we cannot just settle for19:56 complacency. We cannot be complacent about our salvation. We want to press on. Hallelujah! In my mentoring, I always share this. There are 4 movements20:08 when it comes to discipleship. 4 movements in discipleship. Number 1, it's the word through Him. Second word, for Him. Thirdly, with20:20 Him. And fourthly, in Him. Let me repeat that again. Through Him. Through Him, I am saved. Through Jesus, I'm eternally saved,20:31 radically saved. I'm saved for Him. In other words, there is a purpose. There is a mission why I'm now saved, why He has still left me on earth. Because I want to20:43 work with Him. I want to walk with Him, work with Him. Thirdly, with Him. That with Him is I want to pursue intimacy with Him. I want to seek Him. I want to delight in Him. And20:55 finally, in Him. In Him, Paul says, your life is now hidden. In Him, you have everything. In Him, you are blessed. You are greatly21:07 blessed. You are highly favored. You are deeply loved in Jesus Christ. That's why your life is in Him. So, you and I, we need to for us to grow, we have to have this humble21:19 awareness. I have not attained. I have not become perfect. Therefore, I press on. Press on to do what? To become like Him. Romans 8 2921:30 says, We are conformed to the image of His Son. That's our predestination. In other words, that's what we are destined for, to be conformed to the image of His Son. Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 1 says, Lay21:42 aside every weight and sin which clings so closely and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. In other words, for us to run this race so that we can21:54 become like Him, we can be sanctified every single day in our life so that we can grow in spiritual maturity. The most important thing is we should push aside all sin and walk in righteousness.22:06 First Corinthians chapter 9 and verse 24 to 27 Paul says, Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only 1 receives the price? So run that you may obtain22:18 the price. Every athlete exercises self control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath. He's thinking about the Corinthian. He's thinking about the Romans where they have Olympics22:30 and the race and the athletes are running the race in order to win a perishable wreath. But we an imperishable crown. Hallelujah. So I do not run aimlessly. I do not22:42 box as 1 beating the air. So I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others, I myself should be disqualified. Listen carefully. Paul says, I22:54 exercise effort. I put effort. I press on. I cannot just be complacent. I put all this effort. Why? So that I run to win the race.23:06 I pursue Christ. I pursue Him wholeheartedly so that I can know Him, love Him, serve Him, abide in Him, and become more and more like Him.23:18 And to do this effectively, Paul actually says in this passage in verse 13, I have to do 1 thing. 1 thing I do, he says in verse 13, forgetting what lies23:30 behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. This 1 thing I do, Paul says. What is that 1 thing? He says, I forget those things that are behind me23:42 and I strain forward. That straining forward is all the muscles. Everything is ready to run this race. And he says, I'm straining forward to what lies ahead. Do you know,23:54 even in discipleship, as soon as you get saved, there are some past baggages you have to let go. You think about this. What trips us to be complacent? Sometimes24:05 it's the carry, we are carrying guilt and shame and condemnation. In other words, are the past failures. These past failures condemn us and cripple us in our discipleship. So what we have to do is bring it24:17 under the blood of Jesus. Even if you have fallen into sin after you got saved you've fallen into sin. You're living in sin. Deal with it. Come before Christ and say Lord I know that you have forgiven me of my sin.24:28 Cleanse me. Let the blood of Jesus wash me. Wash my body, my soul, my spirit, my heart, my mind, emotions, my feelings. Wash me thoroughly. Let me come out of it. Come out of that condemnation.24:40 Forget the past. At the same time, you also need to forget the past successes. See, past failures condemn you. Past successes make you24:51 complacent. Why? Because you get too comfortable. You are sitting on your laurels. I want you to listen to me carefully. We got to come before God, and we have to deal with both. That's why25:03 Paul says, don't keep looking back. You know, there's a there's a Olympic Games or Commonwealth Games that happened in 19 54. They were held in Vancouver,25:15 Canada. There were 2 notable runners in that Commonwealth Games. 1 from Britain, Roger Bannister, and 1 from Australia, John Landy.25:27 And it was a close race. John Landy was actually in that marathon. He was actually leading. It was a mild race. He was actually leading. He was actually leading.25:39 But he lost the race in the end to Roger Bannister. And the history records, the reason why John Landy lost that race is because as he was running, he was looking back to25:51 see where Roger was. As he was straining to keep looking back, he lost his focus and his momentum, and therefore lost his place in history as the winner. I want you to think about26:03 this. Don't keep looking back. Now, I know there are there are stuff in our closet. There are everyone where if you keep looking back, there are things that you need to deal with. There are things you won't be26:15 embarrassed about. In fact, there is a story is told of Sir Arthur Doyle. Sir Arthur Doyle is the 1 who created the character, Sherlock Holmes. Now, he is a practical26:26 joker. 1 day he sent a telegram to 12 of his friends. This is what the telegram said, All has been discovered. Flee at once. And all 1226:38 of his friends fled the country. Why? Because we all have some things that we are embarrassed about. We don't want other people to know. But can I humbly say this? Don't walk26:50 around pretending to be holy. Be holy. Don't walk around pretending to have, I got nothing to hide. Actually, have truly nothing to hide. Come before God and lay it open.27:02 He's a God
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Rev. Paul Jeyachandran leads the Intentional Disciple Making Church (IDMC) Movement, which is all about calling churches back to its disciplemaking roots. Visit us at idmcmovement.com
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Habakkuk | Part 02 | Moving From Reason to Revelation | Rev Paul Jeyachandran Paul Jeyachandran
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