phxicc.org | facebook.com/phxicc | usd21.org

SUNDAY WORSHIP SERVICE!

WELCOME

Chemical Recovery Graduation

AnnouncementsTHIS WEEK…• Wednesday 7:30PM – Women’s Midweek• Sat April 5th – Women’s Day!• Sun April 6th – Blue Jean Chili Cook-off BYND!• Three-a-day – Evangelism!UPCOMING EVENTS In AprilSun April 20th – Easter SundaySun May 4th – Special Missions Sunday

~Fellowship Break~

Ain’t No Looking Back[Chorus]When you're walking on that glory roadAin't no looking backAnd when you're headed to that promise landAin't no looking backAnd when you're walking on that narrow roadAin't no looking backOh there Aiiiiiiiiint Noooooo looook-ing back

First verse:Now if you put that old life behindAin't no looking backAnd you haven't well then now’s the timeAin't no looking backWhen there's a transformation of your mindAin't no looking backOh there aiiiiiiiint nooooooo looook-ing back[Chorus]

Second Verse:Paul turned from a criminalAin't no looking backAlthough everything's permissibleAin't no looking backCause when you follow Jesus' principlesAin't no looking back

[Chorus] Third Verse:Now your friends still might be in that lifeAin't no looking backCause if you lived it once why do it twice.Ain't no looking backWhen you know that Jesus paid the price [Chorus]

1 Cor 9:19-23• 19 Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to

everyone, to win as many as possible.

• 20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law.

• 21 To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law.

• 22 To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.

• 23 I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.

John 15:12-14

12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.

13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

14 You are my friends if you do what I command.

Steve Rogers

• In each one of these movie franchises, characters are shown to have this disposition.• Steve Rogers, AKA “Captain America” jumps on a grenade.

– Tommy Lee Jone’s character describes him as “...a ninety pounds asthmatic” – He’s a 90lb asthmatic weakling. But he’s willing to sacrifice his life to save others. He’s all heart.

That is the source of his strength.• The weakest of the weak, yet because of his heart, he was transformed by sacrifice – given

the power to live as a hero. Laying his life down for his friends.

Thor vs. “The Destroyer” as a mortal• He went from arrogance,

fame-mongering, and blood-lusting to learning humility the hard way.

• But he learned it. It’s what made him worthy.

– The final test? • Lose in battle for the sake of others. • Lose at something he’s used to winning at all the time. • Lose at something he thinks defines his worth.

– The moment he completely give himself 100%, laying down his life for his friends, not expecting anything only his friends to be safe…at that moment, he’s transformed by sacrifice into a hero.

Tony Stark, AKA “IRON MAN”• Tony Stark, Aka “Iron Man” guides

a live nuke into an inter-dimensional portal falling to his death…and closing the door to an apocalypse in the process.– Ok, when he was caught by the

Hulk and they hit the ground, he did not have a pulse.

– I figured the hulk roaring at you would stop your heart, not start it up again.

• Tony, the selfish, egotistical, immoral, worldly playboy – transformed by sacrifice into a hero. Laying down his life for his friends.

Echoes of the Truth

• These fantasy characters are borrowing from truth. The truth. When someone even tells a “story” of someone doing something like this, it’s moving. They die to protect the lives of others. They are echoes of a truth, mere shadows of it wrapped in mind-blowing CGI and Dolby Surround Sound.

• We must not allow them obscure the truth, only remind us of him – the real hero.

Rom 5:6-8• 6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ

died for the ungodly. • 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man

someone might possibly dare to die. • 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still

sinners, Christ died for us.

Hebrews 12:1-3

• What is hindering you this morning? From being (1) Transformed by Sacrifice?– (2) Fault Focused or Faith-Shielded?

• What sin is entangling you this morning? • What are your eyes fixed on? – (3) Suiting Yourself or Suiting Up?

• Are your eyes broken? Is the light out of them? Time to fix them – on Jesus.

• Matthew 6:22-23

(1) Fault Focused or Faith-Shielded?

• Let’s take a look at the Bible’s very own Asthmatic 90 pound weakling…

• Judge 6:1-2,6,11-16

Judges 6:1-2,6, 11-16• Gideon is using his own weakness &

shortcomings to deflect & deny the call of God.

• Because his eyes are focused on himself, his own strength, thus he has no hope.

• Are your eyes broken because you are looking at the wrong thing – yourself, your circumstances, are you focused on man or focused on God? Man focused | God Focused?– Focused on the wrong thing? Eyes full of

darkness. This makes us weary in doing good.

– Do the good of Special Missions – it’s not a burden! It’s a privilege of the sAin'ts!

Quick Facts About Missions Situation• 25% have turned in nothing for missions.• 10% have given 100% or more!• Our goal is 81,660.

– We’ve raised ~19,500 so far, 24%.• We’ve raise over $700 tagging.

– Eccl 2:25-26 To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

• “’Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit ,' says the LORD Almighty.” Zech 4:6

• Don’t focus on yourself, focus on God. You have some faith, you make a noble plan and put some noble deeds to it. Just do GOOD.

The Good of Evangelism• The Good of Evangelism – the challenge last week from Jason Dimitry, take

out your bible talk and share with 50 people each. Seems lofty, impossible.– Marvell Holder, took his bible talk out Friday night. In about an hour and a half,

they met over 80 people. – The Teens, last week they went out with Rick after devotional and shared their

faith, had fun doing it. They are not even disciples – yet.– Half of the people in the room at Friday’s devotional were teens.– Alphonso Davis, when he and Pat Nebeker went to the mall to share their faith

with their 50 each – the security guards were stalking them and threw them out of the mall.

Matt 6:22-23 "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

God is with you mighty worrier!I mean, warrior!

We are being called by Jesus Christ to change the world. It is a daunting task. There are few of us and far between. We are waging war against the darkness, and it has a tight grip on this world and on some of our hearts.

These are the kind of odds that give God the glory, showing us not to focus on ourselves, our faults, or the faults around us – be faithful in doing what is good.

The Original 300?(Gideon 1162BC & Leonidas 520BC)

Judg 7:1-3, 5-8“…The LORD said to Gideon, "With the three hundred men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands. Let all the other men go, each to his own place."

Shielded By God’s Power• Gideon boldly let these men into

battle with Jars, Torches, and Trumpets. God threw the enemy encampment into confusion and the men there started killing themselves.

• It’s God’s spirit! A man focused heart will only lead to weariness – if that person is yourself or someone else.

• Fix your eyes on Jesus.• One thing you can be certain of,

sacrifice will transform you completely – into something heroic.

• Gideon was willing to jump on the grenade here of risk. He took huge risks. With each one his faith increased!

With 300 men, God decimated an insurmountable army! God made it

clear, it was his power that would win every battle!

(2) Suiting Yourself or Suiting Up?

• Avenge: “inflict harm on someone in return for an harm they did to you or someone else.”

• The only real “avenger” is God.Deut 32:35“It is mine to avenge; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; their day of disaster is near and their doom rushes upon them.“• It suits ourselves to be vengeful. To blame our sin on someone

else’s sins. It’s like someone hurts us and we tell ourselves it’s ok to hate them, to resent, to be apathetic. We wish harm on them or look forward to the day we can gloat over their downfall.

Rom 12:17-21• Evil for evil – don’t do it. Be careful – do what is right in

the eyes of everybody – especially our God!• Are you at peace with everyone!? Is there anyone you

are not at peace with? – Deal forthrightly with qualms. Love enough to trust you can

actually have an adult conversation with someone about whatever it is.

• Do what is good. Someone doing you wrong, someone acting like/being your enemy? Do good. Don’t let the evil of the past determine your eternal future!

Heb 10:26-31• One of the most deliberate sins is the sin of bitterness. The cure for

bitterness is mercy. • Matt 6:14-15 “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your

heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.“– No such thing as a perfect leader. No such thing as a perfect member. – Everyone is going to sin against everyone sometime. Yes, even leaders.– Bitterness fools you into thinking that your lack of commitment, your lack of

financial sacrifice, your lack openness and of love, is somehow justified by someone hurting you – because they sinned against you, you think now you are justified to rebel.

– It is a wicked, deep, merciless, victim mentality that robs us of trust, joy, and peace. It’s satanic.

– This is a salvation issue, you will not make it if you don’t forgive! If you don’t forgive others - God won’t forgive you!

Heb 12:14-17• Telltale sign of bitterness? Make excuses about making

mediocre or no efforts for peace. Won’t make every effort to be holy. If you are not holy, you won’t see God.– Why missing the grace of God? Bitter = unforgiving. Don’t

forgive, don’t get forgiven. You know bitter when there is back talk, side talk, around and above talk but not direct talk…many get defiled, and much trouble is caused.

– Godlessness. Sexual impurity. Not feeling forgiven, no peace from God, wanting to feel good, so please the flesh. Godless – how can we do such a thing as a temple of the Holy Spirit? Don’t sense his presence, squelching it, ignoring it, so we can sin.

Eph 5:3-7• Any kind of impurity…or of Greed. Nothing like missions to expose

greed.– Greedy is bitter about your circumstances – discontentment, a lack of

gratitude, all rooted in greed. • Putting something above God is an idol.• It’s deliberate sin. Putting something before God. Job, career, school, dating

relationship, even ourselves (our time)

• To be impure is to be defiantly sinning against the LORD. It’s deliberate.• Check your heart for bitterness. Hurts are just sins we’ve not forgiven

yet – we’re holding on to them. “I’m so hurt” – no, you’re so bitter…merciless, suiting yourself.

• We must connect a lack of trust to bitterness. “I’ve been hurt in the past, so I don’t trust people!” This is an evil disposition. If you don’t trust, you don’t love. Fix your eyes - on Jesus!

You can change this, don’t suit yourself, suit up!

Rom 13:12-14The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. 14 Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature. • Put on the armor of light, suit up!• Put on the LORD Jesus Christ, suit up!

2 Cor 5:21 & 2 Peter 1:16-18

2 Cor 5:21• Chris is the true “Avenger.”• This is not a fable. This is not a hollow-wood production.

2 Peter 1:16-18• They were eyewitnesses. No reason to lie!• There is no gain in this, save the eternal. The eternal

well-being of friends.• When you realize the mercy he had for you, it’s not so

hard any more to forgive.

Isa 53:4-6

• We’re the ones who deserve the punishment, but God allowed Christ to take on our sins, and take the vengeance in our place.

• He avenged us so God would not have to.(1) Transformed by Sacrifice?(2) Fault Focused or Faith-Shielded?(3) Suiting Yourself or Suiting Up?

Communion

Contribution