Mal Victory - The Cross Changes Everything | 18/02/2024

good morning

everybody isn't it good to be in

church better better than being in the

best pub in town who used to say

that for those who don't know me my name

is m I'm part of the team here and uh

this morning I'd like to share a few

things that God's been sharing with me

um sometimes as Christians we can live

life as though nothing has changed

anybody feel that it's just me that

feels that isn't it

anybody else feel

that you you feel like you can pray and

pray and pray and there's an old saying

that the heavens are like brass and

nothing seems to change and we just go

on with life as normal and sometimes

that's very frustrating and I find that

sometimes I find myself viewing

life like I did previously before I knew

Christ

and that's

frustrating to go back and and believe

like you believed as an unbeliever but

we need to realize that the cross has

changed

everything Jesus dying on the cross for

us makes a huge difference so the title

of this morning's message is the cross

changes

everything if we realize that the cross

has changed

everything that will transform the way

we see the world you know in Romans it

tells us do not be conformed to this

world but be

transformed by the reading of the word

so we can understand that our life has

been

transformed and we don't have to conform

to the

world the world seen through the cross

changes

everything it makes us think

differently so let's no longer live as

if we were Bound in darkness let's no

longer live as if there's no

hope through Jesus and his death on the

cross and his resurrection we're

Overcomers we're alive and free

amen amen no longer is the path weighing

us down no longer are we stuck in some

sort of self-perpetuating pattern of sin

but we're able to be made righteous by

the blood of Jesus and now we're hes to

Christ and Children of the Living God so

as as we Ponder this morning as we we

look into the

word ask yourself some

questions do you see yourself as alive

and

free are you living as if nothing has

changed if nothing has changed do you

need to get closer to

God or do you need to spend time in

prayer do you need to make Christ the

most important part of your life life do

you need to read the word of God and

meditate on it day and

night James 4:8 says draw near to God

James 4:8

and He will draw near to you in the book

of Jeremiah God told

Jeremiah if you seek me with all your

heart I will be found by you God wants

us to initiate communication with him

he's quite happy to talk to us but he's

a gentleman and he's going to wait for

you you to talk to

him through the cross everything has

changed so we need to grab hold of that

truth and hang on to

it and grow in Christ by doing so we

will bear be fruitful effective and

productive in the knowledge of our Lord

Jesus Christ I better get the technology

out almost forgot that I had

it something's wrong here why is that

not

starting that's

better okay John 15 1:4 says I am the

real Vine and my father is the farmer he

cuts off every branch that does not bear

grapes and every branch that is grape

bearing he prunes back so that it will

bear even more you are already pruned

back by the message I have spoken live

in me make your home in me just as I do

in you

in the same way a branch that can't bear

grapes by itself but is only being

joined to the vine you can't bear fruit

unless you are joined with me now in

some translations when it it says here

live in me make your a home in me as I

do in you in some translations it says

abide abide in me abide is a stronger

word the original Greek was

minu and Mino and Mino means stay in the

same place as you are it says come and

take up

residence reside it means to be

accommodated it means to

Lodge I believe what Jesus is saying

here is come and be part of the

family come and be part of my family you

know when people share a house together

roommates house mates or whatever what

happens a bond develops between them

they become almost like a pseudo family

especially if they they're living in the

same place for a long time they're

living separate lives but they look out

for each other they help each other they

have a relationship which is similar to

a family they almost become like

siblings that's what God wants for us

that's what Jesus wants come and join my

family come and live in my house and

have relationship with

me in this scripture we see about

pruning of the vine

now who's ever worked in a

vignat good I can be fairly safe in what

I'm about to

say we've all seen Vineyards we've all

seen how nice and neatly trimmed they

are the what's the reason reason for

that so they will bear more fruit the

bunches will be bigger now because not

many of us or none of us have worked in

a V I've done a bit of grape picking but

that's different um none of us have

actually worked in a Vineyard and tended

the vines but something a bit closer to

home that I think we've all had a go at

and some more successful than others

like Ben's much better at this than me

Tomatoes who's grown

tomatoes who's been successful at

growing

tomatoes Ben you're the only

one but so Emily yep okay so so what

makes what makes for big fat juicy

Tomatoes what do you got to do to a

tomato Vine to make it grow big fat

juicy tomatoes do you just let it grow

wild what happens if you

do well yeah it can die

what do you get you get small fruit it's

fairly Bland it's often dry but when

Tomatoes get that little growth in the

fork you get a a leaf come out you pinch

it out you prune it out the the tomatoes

that Sprout from down low you the leaves

that Sprout down low close to the ground

you peel them off you prune them and big

fat juicy fruit

appears I do all that but they still

don't water that's right water water and

what's that stuff you use H flung dong

or whatever it's called the

fertilizer but the fact of the matter is

the tomato plant is not going to do that

by

itself it's similar to the to the grape

vine so if we do look after it it's

going to bear fruit and it's exact the

same with us if we allow the father if

we allow God to prune off the stuff in

our lives that's taking up space we're

going to be much more

fruitful the fruit is not going to be

small it's not going to be un

underdeveloped it is going to be

something that God is pleased

with we need God to do that for us if we

going to live in

him wrong

way

no okay let's have a look at 1 Peter 59

in the

NIV sorry to

Peter sorry about

that well done good good good spotting

the deliberate

mistake for this very reason make every

effort to add to your faith goodness and

to goodness knowledge and to knowledge

self-control and to self-control

perseverance and to perseverance

godliness and to Godliness Mutual

affection and to Mutual affection Love

for if you possess these qualities in

increasing measure they will keep you

from being ineffective and unproductive

in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus

Christ but whoever does not have them is

nearsighted and and blind forgetting

that they have been cleansed of their

past sins now I want to read that again

but this

time in the message version and Eugene

Peterson puts it like this so don't lose

a minute building on what you've been

given contemplating your basic Faith

with good character spiritual

understanding alert discipline

passionate patience reverent Wonder warm

friendliness and generous love each

Dimension fitting into it and developing

the others with

these

qualities active and growing in your

lives no grass will grow under your feet

no day will pass without its

reward as you mature in your experience

of our Master Jesus without these

qualities you can't see what's right

before you

oblivious that your old sinful life has

been wiped off the

books wiped off the books what does that

mean gone doesn't exist anymore there is

no

record of our wrongdoing because Jesus

has wiped that off the books with his

blood to grow in the Lord and in your

gifting we must have the qualities

mentioned in 2 Peter

15 through to 9 and not only that we

need to increase them in every

day when we look at life through the

cross we learn to love

Jesus Matthew 22:

36-38 teacher which is the greatest

commandment in the law Jesus replied

love the Lord your God with all your

heart and with all your soul and with

all your mind this is the first and

greatest

commandment when we love Jesus with all

our heart and soul and mind then we

actually want to obey his

Commandments who's ever been in a

situation

where you go in there perhaps with fear

and trembling or or apprehensiveness but

then you discover you actually want to

be there that's what it's like in

Jesus

when we put Jesus first in our life when

we love the Lord with all our

heart and all our soul and all our mind

then we actually want to please him we

actually want to obey him folks make

every effort to supplement our

faith take the next step to mature in

Christ remember we need to add these

qualities to our

lives as as we grow nearer to

God then we can add those qualities from

one

Peter sorry two

Peter if we have all these qualities

they will keep us from being

ineffective and

unfruitful in our knowledge of our Lord

Jesus Christ but when we seek these

things then our whole perspective

changes we have an assurance that the

cross has changed everything

and we can see our ourselves fulfilled

and in a purposeful

life being in Christ redeemed and set

free freedom from limitations that hold

us

back who who might have things in their

lives that you think oh if only I could

stop doing that if only I could get rid

of that it could be a habit it could be

a fear it could be just something in our

lives that's been following us around

for a long time and we really would like

to drop it off

somewhere am I the only one that has

that no we all have

that but in Christ we have the freedom

to do

that but the only way we can do that is

if we replace that thing with something

else if we replace that with Jesus if we

replace that with the love of God if we

replace that with wanting to add all

those qualities to our lives then we

might be amazed at won might drop off

so what does biblical freedom

mean to understand that we must first

look to the source of

Freedom Galatians

51 sorry I keep turning around but I'm

not real confident of this

thing in the New Living Translation it

says so

Christ has truly set us free free now

make sure that we stay free and don't

get tied up again in the slavery of the

law our source of

freedom is none other than Jesus Christ

himself he has set us free from the

bondage of sin and

law this freedom is not the absence of

restraint but the presence of Christ in

our lives it's the Liberty to live in

Obedience of God's

will so again what does this freedom

mean to truly appreciate it we need to

recognize that we've been

liberated from sin Romans 66 also in the

New Living

Translation we know that our old sinful

selves were crucified with Christ so so

that sin might lose its power in our

lives we are no longer slaves to

sin biblical Freedom means being free

from the power of

sin through Christ's sacrifice on the

cross we are no longer enslaved to our

sinful nature we're no longer held

captive by our past

mistakes of course I'm the only one with

past mistakes aren't I

no no we've all made mistakes oh okay

yes yes apparently yeah no we've all

made mistakes we've all got stuff we

would really rather forget we we've all

got stuff we'd like to leave

behind there was a guy I used to work

with and and he um he was a rather large

guy and fairly cruy he had the nickname

of

slim and uh um I met up with him I used

to work with him in KR years ago and uh

uh I met up with him uh in waral when I

worked over there and um when I met up

with him again in adade and was working

with him again I called him slim and he

took me aside and he said can we please

leave that in

W he didn't want to be called that

anymore the point of the matter is he

wanted to lose that he wanted to leave

it

behind how many things do we have in our

lives that we want to lose we want to

leave behind we want to leave them

somewhere else where they might have had

significance but now they no longer have

significance in our lives and the reason

they no longer have significance is

because Christ has dealt with them on

the cross and we need to give them up to

Christ on the cross that was the whole

reason why Christ came and died for us

so that we could give that stuff up and

leave it behind leave it back where it

was it doesn't have to follow us

around this Freedom grants us the

ability to choose righteousness over

sin if sin is not taking up space in our

lives we have the freedom to love and to

serve how often when things get in the

way do we run out of time how often do

we get to a point where we're beyond our

capacity

what is it that's keeping us in that

space we have got things in our lives

that are taking up room that we need to

give to

God Freedom doesn't just bless us

personally it empowers us to love and to

serve one another and to bless

others when we make room in our lives by

getting rid of the stuff that's holding

us back we have room

to be able to bless others and give to

others Galatians

Galatians 5:13

5:13 again in the New Living

Translation for you have been called to

live in Freedom my brothers and sisters

but don't use your freedom to satisfy

your sinful nature instead use your

freedom to serve one another in

love in God's kingdom freedom is not

selfish it's selfless

it's not about me it's about

God it's the freedom to love to serve

and to build up others it's the freedom

to extend Grace and

forgiveness just as we have received it

from our gracious God the

Father biblical Freedom also means the

ability to live righteously not

according to the world's standards but

according to God's

standards 2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 3:17

3:17 didn't work that

time 2 Corinthians 3:17 says for the

2 Corinthians 3:17

Lord is the spirit and wherever the

spirit of the Lord is there is

freedom the presence of God within us

grants us the freedom to live according

to his will it empowers us to Bear the

spirit to Bear the fruit of the spirit

sorry love joy peace patience I kindness

goodness faithfulness gentleness and

self-control in one of Paul's Epistles

he says the against such things there is

no

law we can all do well to display those

fruits it's not fruits it's

fruit love joy peace patience kindness

goodness faithfulness gentleness and

self-control as we conclude this journey

to understanding that the cross changes

everything and gives us biblical Freedom

let me finish with a few practical ways

to apply it in our

lives first one Embrace Christ's

Freedom fully accept the freedom that

Christ

offers it's not just a theological

concept it is a life transforming

reality it can make a huge difference

the second one walk in

righteousness choose to live

righteously

choose it is an active Choice it is a

deliberate decision on our part to do

that we consciously make make a

decision musicians if you could just

play something

please we can deliberately choose to

live

righteously Guided by God's word in the

leading of his

Spirit the third

one love and

serve we can use our freedom to love and

to serve others

selflessly to extend Grace forgiveness

and

compassion which is what Christ has done

for all of us and we should do for

others fourthly we can share the gospel

freedom is too precious to keep to

ourselves share the good news of Christ

Li liberating power with others who are

still in bondage now most times that

will be just a simple thing that you can

say that's going to make all the

difference it doesn't mean we have to

have a soap box in the middle of the

oval and preach out God's word it means

meeting people at their need it means

having something simple from God

listening to the spirit for inspiration

and having something simple to say

that's going to make all the difference

to somebody that needs a touch from God

and God will do the rest we just need to

be

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available the fifth one is stay

free guard your freedom in

Christ don't allow the entang

entanglements of sin or the world to

trap us

again the last thing the devil wants is

for you to feel free the last thing the

devil wants is for you to be in tune

with

God but we can say no to him and we can

say yes to

God and we can listen to what the spirit

says instead of listening to the world

Listen to the spirit of

God in

closing remember that biblical freedom

is not merely a

privilege it's a

responsibility it's a call to live in

the faithfulness of Christ's Liberty and

to extend that to others

let's pray for the strength and wisdom

to see our life through the cross and

apply biblical freedom to our lives

every

day perhaps this might have spoken to

some people this morning perhaps you may

have something in your life that you do

want to leave behind you want to let go

of you want to

drop have a word with God this

morning he wants us to initiate

communication with

him he wants us to be able to lay those

things at the foot of the cross and Let

Jesus deal with

them that was why Jesus

came so that instead of us having to

suffer he suffered on our

behalf let God do some business with you

this morning open your hearts

speak to him and listen to what he has

to say you might be

surprised there might be some things in

your life that have

been pestering you for

years that might be easier to get rid of

than you

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think if you let God do the

work stop struggling with those things

today let's just just have a couple of

minutes of silence keep playing the

piano just listen to what God has to

say just for a couple of

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minutes

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for

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Heavenly Father we thank you for the

Priceless Freedom we have in Christ help

us to live in the fullness of this

Freedom walking in righteousness and

love may Our Lives be a testament to

your liberating power in Jesus name we

pray