Sermon Tone Analysis

INTRO….

Wrap up the Start Strong and transition to “where is the finish line?” – Maybe use the Super Bowl as an illustration.

Those guys knew when the season started that this was the finish line.

Transition to text…

- Read 1-10 quickly.

All of this that God has done in verse 10 - all of what He has called us to is heading somewhere.

It has a purpose and a direction.

Christ did not go to the cross and to the grave for no reason.

He won the victory over the grave with an end in mind!!

As the triumphant king at this point, He had a plan for His kingdom!

He had a desire to see His kingdom expand and fill the earth.

And that plan involved every citizen of the kingdom.

He had desires for those who were now a part of this new kingdom… For me and for you!

That’s what we are going to see today in verses 11-16.

It’s the trajectory of your life in Christ.

Many often wonder “What is God’s will for my life?”

Well… this is it!

He didn’t win the victory and decide to just sit back and receive all the accolades and say “bring me, bring me”… instead HE GAVE!!

God’s purpose for you in Christ is “to equip” you.

“To equip the saints for the work of the ministry”.

Some translations might even say, “for the perfecting”.

- This word in classical greek was often used as a medical term for the “setting of a bone”; it was used at times to describe the “mending of nets” by fishermen.

- As Paul closes 2 Corinthians, in 13:11 he says, “Finally, brethren, rejoice, be made complete”

- In , the author of Hebrews closes his letter with these words… “Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will…”

- This is God’s plan for you!

What God has in mind here is a restoration in your life to what He originally created you for!

He wants to “build you up” and through you He wants to “build up the body”… He wants to make you into something that is beyond what you could imagine and do things through you can that you could never dream possible.

There are 3 components to what God wants to accomplish in this “setting” in your life.

Jesus wants ALL OF US “to attain” some things in our lives.

He wants us “to reach” some new levels…

1.

To the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God

a. God wants you to come to faith and knowledge of the Son of God.

i. Christ’s invitation to us is to believe on Him in faith!

To come to a place of trusting Him with the entirety of our lives and our eternities, but He wants so much more than that.

He doesn’t just want us to believe on Him in faith for our eternal salvation.

He longs for us to come to the full knowledge of the Son of God!

The epignosis, the full knowledge that is complete and accurate.

He wants us to REALLY AND FULLY KNOW HIM!

ii.

Paul… after many years as an Apostle in Christ’s church, still said, “7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”

– Phillipians 3:7-11

iii.

The goal of God’s equipping in your life is for you to KNOW HIM! Do you know Jesus more than you did on Feb 5th 2016?

iv.

He has gone to great lengths to provide a pathway for that to happen in your life.

1.

The Cross

2. The Word

3. The BODY

b.

Notice that he says, “unity of the faith” - Unity comes in community

i.

If you haven’t gotten into an eGroup yet… now is your time.

You can jump into an eGroup or an Equip Class today.

1. Brochure or mark it on the welcome card

2. To mature manhood… to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ…to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ…

a. God wants you to develop, to grow, to be made like His Son!

b. – “28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.”

c.