Follow Along with the Message

I Gotta Go Home (Wanna Come?)

Pastor Tony Myles

Jesus] called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.”  Matthew 18:2-6

Jesus isn't telling us to be childish, but childlike.

• And yet, Jesus is also calling us to a new kind of . 

"I Gotta Go Home"

• What would cause me to say this ?

If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.

But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.  Philippians 3:4b-11

• "I pledge allegiance to _________________________." (see 1 Peter 2:9-17)
• Whatever I'm confident in must be  Jesus. 
• Will I take this approach in a -building world?
• Belonging to Jesus invites me to see a deeper  and .

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:12-14)

• I'm not to be stopped by my  any more than I'm to be fueled by my ...instead, I'm to simply  toward Jesus.

All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained. Philippians 3:15-16

• What if I was  more faithful/humble/open to God? 

Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do. For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. Philippians 3:17-21

• Context: In that moment,  seemed to be "savior/lord."
• Content: "I know how  you'll look not living like others."
• Personally... how hard will I live for  things?
• Politically... will I see politics through the lens of ... or  through the lens of politics?
• Prophetically... am I willing to model and point out the ?
• Practically... how will I  "I gotta go home?"

"...Wanna Come?"

“Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.” Ephesians 5:15-16

• Without thinking about it, we can turn strangers into .
• We help outsiders become insiders when we join Jesus  His ministry to outsiders. (see Ecclesiastes 3:11, Hebrews 10:15)

HOW CAN YOU GET BACK INTO THE SWING OF THINGS?

• Love God and . (Mark 12:30-31)
• Receive grace and . (Proverbs 15:26)
• Invite God and . (Philippians 2:4)

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Where I believe I  determines what I .

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