Questions and Answers from my Church

Sunday March 24, 2013 - Palm Sunday
Sunday Sermon Review ( from my home church that I attend regularly )

During this season of Lent, our Pastors invited the congregation to submit questions and so today was the day where the questions were answered.
The service began with singing "Lead me to the Cross" and How Great Thou Art".

Our Scripture passage was Mark 11:1-11 - the story of Palm Sunday

 And when they came nigh to Jerusalem, unto Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount of Olives, he sendeth forth two of his disciples,

 And saith unto them, Go your way into the village over against you: and as soon as ye be entered into it, ye shall find a colt tied, whereon never man sat; loose him, and bring him.

 And if any man say unto you, Why do ye this? say ye that the Lord hath need of him; and straightway he will send him hither.

 And they went their way, and found the colt tied by the door without in a place where two ways met; and they loose him.

 And certain of them that stood there said unto them, What do ye, loosing the colt?

 And they said unto them even as Jesus had commanded: and they let them go.

 And they brought the colt to Jesus, and cast their garments on him; and he sat upon him.

 And many spread their garments in the way: and others cut down branches off the trees, and strawed them in the way.

 And they that went before, and they that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna; Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord:

 Blessed be the kingdom of our father David, that cometh in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest.

 And Jesus entered into Jerusalem, and into the temple: and when he had looked round about upon all things, and now the eventide was come, he went out unto Bethany with the twelve.

Pastor Ben was our speaker today and here is some of what he said:
Question 1 - What role does repentance play?
Jesus died on the cross for our sin.
He loves us with an unconditional love.
We need to get a definition of the word repentance: it means to choose God, it is a decision that we make. We decide to choose Jesus over ourselves, we choose God above ourselves.
We choose to follow God because He loves us so.
Romans 5:8  But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Love is action.

( Note from me - please also read a post I wrote on repentance - it is a good indepth study on repentance and what it looks like) link here -    http://livebyfaithonlinebiblestudies.blogspot.ca/2012/10/repentance-psalm-51.html

Question 2 - Why will we have to give an account of our actions and words on judgment day?
In our justice system, a person is judged either guilty or innocent
God's system works a little differently. It is about restoring relationship, repairing damage and fixing things.
In the Old Testament God sent judges. They proclaimed a message of repentance, for the people to change their ways.
We have forgiveness through the cross of Jesus. Jesus took the punishment we deserve.
The question becomes - How should I live since I've been declared innocent through the shed blood of Christ.
At the judgment, there will be rewards for what we have done here on earth.
God sees all that you do - God will reward us for what we do, even if no one else ever has seen it.
Our choices here ripple through eternity!
The judgement will be uncomfortable ( we must give account for every careless word ) but we must remember our Judge loves us. He is on our side!

Question 3 - We are taught to confess our sins to each other, how about confessing our sins to God?
Yes, we must confess our sins to God, name the sin and acknowledge it as sin before God.
Living the Christian life is not a "just me and God" thing - He wants us to do life together.

Question 4 - How do you find an accountability partner?
1) pray about it - God's Spirit lives with you so He will guide and direct
2) Take a risk - talk to someone and ask that person to be your accountability partner
( if someone asks you to be their accountability partner and you feel you cannot do it, then be kind enough to say "no" so they can find someone else who will actually be able to do it.
3) agree on some questions that will be asked - Meet on a set regular basis and ask these questions.

Question 5 - What does it look like to walk with a believer who disagrees with you about a right/wrong issue  especially if the Bible is very clear on this issue?
Ask your self if there is any possibility that you could be wrong.
Ask the person questions about the Scripture passage that this issue is based on/
Don't be condemning or judgmental
we must remember that a Christian is a person who has chosen to live his/her life for God
It does not mean that there will be doctrinal perfection.
We can have conversations with people who disagree with us.

The Holy Spirit's job is to convict of sin.
Billy Graham once said " my task is to bear witness, the Holy Spirit's task is to convict of sin and God the Father is the Judge."

The Holy Spirit is really good at His job!(Note from me - It is important that we remember that the Bible has authority in our lives and we must never back down from the truth found in Scripture. No matter who it is that is challenging us - the Bible will always have the final say in the matter and we will be wise to stand with the Bible and not against it at any time. )  

The reason people do not want to admit to the truth of Scripture is because then they will have to change!

Talk about things that matter - we need to get deeper than the weather and sports etc.
We are God's ambassadors - we challenge, we debate but always in the atmosphere of love and respect!

God has sent you to represent Jesus in your school, home, place of work!!