Walk Free Ministries

Sermon: Walk Free: Gospels

December 30, 2018 at 10:28 pm | Posted in Building a House, Gospels | Leave a comment

This is the sermon I gave with the Walk Free with Christ a summary of the Gospels handout

It is my personal response to “teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you”

Walk Free With Christ
Growing in Christ is like Building a House.

In the Bible, Jesus says the Kingdom of God
Is like a man building a house.
Luke 6:47-48; Matt 7:24-27
Every one  who comes to Jesus​
Hears His words ​
And practices them
And follows them
And does them.
Is like a man building a house
First he digs down deep
Below the sand on the surface:
To lay the foundation
To lay the floor
To lay a base​
On solid rock​
When it rained an rained
With the wind blew and blew
When the streams over flowed
When a floods came​
When the raging flood waters
Struck the house
But could not shake it
But could not move it
But could not destroy it.
Because it was well built
On the firm foundation
Of hearing Jesus words
And doing them.

Today we are going to look at other ways
Building a house is like
Building a life on Jesus’ teaching
He taught different ways.
The far right column shows different ways.
C=Commands
P=Parables
Ex=Example.

Here in Uganda,
Many fathers have land
And as the children grow,
Or when the father passes away
The children receive their father’s land
As an inheritance.
It is a free gift
Given to them as children of the Father.
Likewise
Your Father who is in heaven
Has “land” in the Kingdom of Heaven.
When you believe in God the Father.
When you believe in God the Son.
When you believe the Son died for your sins.
You become children of God,
You can call him Abba Father or Daddy God.
You become adopted into God’s family.
You become heirs to the Kingdom of Heaven
And your inheritance is the land
On which you can build a house.

Your inheritance is a free gift of your Father.
You don’t need to do anything to earn it.
You don’t need to do anything to work for it.
You don’t need to do anything but receive it.

Your inheritance is like Who I am In Christ.
It is your new identity.
You are a child of God.
You are Jesus Friend.
You are forgiven all your sins.
You are protected from the evil one.
You are God’s workmanship to do good works.
You are the temple of God: where God dwells.

All of these become true the instant you believe.
They are the gift of God thru Jesus Christ
They are the gift of God called “Salvation”.

Building the house is like “Sanctification”
The process of growing in Christ.
The process of doing what Christ taught.
The process of Walking Free With Christ.

A piece of land isn’t a home
Unless you build a house on it.
Your father gave you the land as a free gift,
But it is your responsibility,
To build the house on the land.
It is your responsibility,
To learn and to do what Jesus taught.
God the father will help you.
His Son Jesus Christ will instruct you.
His Spirit the Holy spirit will guide you.

The solid foundation
Is the Word of God.
Is the teachings of Jesus Christ.
Is it possible to GROW as a Christian
With out knowing what Christ taught?
With out knowing what Christ did?
With out doing what Christ says?

Where do we learn these things?
The Bible
The Word of God
The Holy Scriptures.
Most of what Jesus said
Is in the Gospels
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
Jesus also spoke to Paul
And that is recorded in the Book of Acts.

Walk Free With Christ
Is a summary of the teachings
Of Jesus Christ.

All I did was read the four Gospels
Look for what Jesus taught about how to live:
In commands
Parables
Example
So we begin to Grow in Christ
We begin to Walk Free With Christ
By learning what Jesus Christ taught.

The fourth one on Walk Free With Christ:
BELIEVE that Jesus is the Messiah,
The Son of God.
That by believing you may have life.
That first step toward loving Jesus.
This is about “Salvation.”

The rest of Walk Free With Christ
Is about “Sanctification”
The various things Jesus taught.
About how we should love the Son of God.
About how we should love the Children of God.
About how we should love the Kingdom of God.
Love
Love
Love
This is about “Sanctification”
This is about imitating Christ as our example.

The bricks are made of love.
Love builds the walls that make it a family home.
Love builds the walls n lets you invite others in.
Love builds the walls that keep the evil one out.
Just as bricks can be placed different ways.
Just as bricks can be different sizes and shapes
Love can be expressed in different ways.
Love can be practiced at different times.
You practiced love differently different times.

Likewise, your house does not look like others.
Others have different bricks.
Others have different gifts.
Others have different service.
Others have different ways to serve God.

You probably cannot Love in all the ways
At the same time.
(In Uganda often they buy a few bricks at once.)
So just like you might start to build a house
With a few bricks.
You may start to rebuild your new life.
With a few of Jesus teachings about Love.

When you are building with bricks
Most important thing is choosing the cement.
No cement and the house will fall down.
Good cement will hold bricks in place for years.
Prayer is the cement for the house.
Prayer keeps you connected With God.
Prayer is what holds your bricks of love in place.
Prayer is on all sides of the bricks.
Pray before you do an act of love
So you will do it your best.
Pray after you do an act of love
So it will be received well.

Jesus often went by himself and prayed.
He wants us to spend time alone in prayer.
It is important to pray when you worship here.
But you need to pray alone and often.
You can pray as you work with children
Praying a blessing on each one of them
You can pray as you walk some place
Praying for people you pass
You can pray as you do your work
Praying it will be a blessing on others.

Pray to God thru Jesus and thru the Holy Spirit
Pray expectantly
Expecting God to answer
Expecting God to speak
Expecting God to show how to build your house
Do you build a house all alone?
No, you build it with friends and family to help.
People to hand you bricks.
People to help put rafters in place.
People to help you know what to do next.
Likewise you follow the teachings of Christ.
With fellow ship with other Christians.
Christian people from your church.
Christian family members.
Christian friends.

The first row of bricks is to remember
EMBRACE  the knowledge that …
Jesus is With you always.
You are not building this new life alone
God is With you.
Jesus is With you.
Holy Spirit is With you.

Another row is to
GRASP or hold on to the teachings of Jesus
Because they are the truth
The truth will set you free
To build a House for God.

As you plan your house you will put in a door way.
The door opening is to have relationships.
That is in the section about
“Loving the Children of God.”
So the door opening allows you to invite people in
To show them you LOVE them
To SERVE.
To CARE and HELP.
To RESTORE relationships.
To FORGIVE those who hurt you
To BLESS them and asking God to bless.
You may even invite people in to have Bible study
To WITNESS to them.
To teach and DISCIPLE  them.
Walk Free With Christ could be a Bible study.
But a door way also needs a door for protection.
Because you want to keep out people who harm.
So you need to use discernment
Just like in God’s kingdom you use discernment.
To decide who will teach you about God.
To decide who teaches the truth.
To decide who shows you His love.
Who do you let into the house?
Who do you decide is better to say “no” to?
People who sin to others by lying.
People who encourage you to sin.
People who abuse their power.

Another thing you want to have in your house
Is openings for windows.
Windows allow in the Light of God.

In the beginning God Created light.
God gave us His Word, the Bible to be light.
God sent us His Son, Jesus to be our light.
God sent the Holy Spirit to shine light.
So there need to be windows to let in light
In order that  we can soak up the light of Jesus.

Windows also let light out.
We can shine for Him.
And be the light for all.
To turn darkness into light
To turn people from Satan to God.
To bring people into the family of God.

If you are laughing with each other,
If you are enjoying each other,
If you are singing Christian songs,
If you are listening to Christian radio,
Your neighbors can hear.
On the other hand…
If you are yelling at each other,
If you are fighting with each other,
Your neighbors can hear that, too.
What kind of light do you let shine?

But like the door way
Not all that can come into a window is good.
So when it storms or when it is night
You have shutters to close over the opening.
To keep you safe from evil spiritual influences

When to have the window open to let light in.
When to close them to keep bugs out.
When to close them to keep rain out.
In God’s kingdom
You need discern good from evil.
You need to rebuke evil.
You need to shut your spiritual shutters.

Sometimes you are building a house.
But you do not know how to do a certain thing.
You do not know how to put on a roof
Or you do not know how to put in a kitchen sink.
Then you might go visit someone who does that
And watch them and imitate them
Just like Jesus wants us to IMITATE Him
Jesus says we will even do greater things.
So that would be to EMULATE Him.

One of the last things to go on a house is the
roof
The roof rests on the bricks of love.
The roof protects those in the house.
From too much sun keeping it cool in the day.
From too much rain keeping it warm and dry.

When Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane.
He SUBMITTED to God
The Bible tells us Jesus was in agony.
He knew what was before Him
Death on the Cross.
So He asked God.
So He pleaded with God.
“Please let this cup pass from me.”
In the end He said
“Not my will but thy will be done.”
He surrendered to God’s will

Likewise
You may not like to do what Jesus teaches.
You may not want to do what God asks of you.
But you need to cover every thing you do
To LOVE God and His Sone
With an attitude of Surrender.

You may not like some people God put in your life.
You may not want to LOVE FORGIVE,and BLESS
But you need to cover every thing you do
To LOVE each other.
With an attitude of SUBMITT one to another.

You may not like some of your life.
You may not like the things God gave you.
But you need to cover every thing you do
With an attitude of Contentment in all things.
With an attitude of Thanksgiving for all things.

So today we have seen how learning to
Walk Free With Christ.

What is the Land?
Your free inheritance of Salvation from God.
What is the foundation?
The teachings of Jesus in the Bible.
What are the bricks?
The different ways to love like Jesus.
What is the cement?
Prayer as we reach out in love.
Who do we build with?
With the help of God, Jesus and Holy Spirit.
With the help of our fellow Christians.
What is the open door?
To have relationships to Love God’s Children.
What is the door for?
To close with discernment on harmful people.
What are the windows?
To let the light of God shine in.
To let our lights shine out.
What are the shutters for?
To close with discernment evil spiritual beliefs.
What is the roof?
Surrender to God.
Submit one to another.
Contentment in all things.

Let these attitudes cover every thing.
And they will protect you from the heat.
And they will protect you from the rain.
That come in this life.

Note:
The most fun thing was asking the questions.
Because several people were taking notes.
And several of them raised their hands.
And some even mouthed each answer.
So I knew they were listening.

The house as an analogy came from Maggie.
The various parts of the house from e.
So I am indebted to them for their ideas.

Pastor Appolo’s Walls of Salvation Church
6/26/11  ©  Dalene DeGraaf
www.walkfreeministries.com