Sermon Notes from “Greater Than”, part 1

The OUTCOME-FOCUSED LIFE:

Get a plan or follow a routine to get the outcome you want.

Problems with Outcome-Focused Living:

Worry/fear

Pressure

Doubt

Busyness

Despair

God’s vision for you is GREATER THAN the tyranny of outcome obsession.

James 4:15

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will travel to such and such a city and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.” You don’t even know what tomorrow will bring—what your life will be! For you are like smoke that appears for a little while, then vanishes.

Instead, you should say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”

Matthew 11:28-30

“Come to Me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. All of you, take up My yoke and learn from Me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for yourselves. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Matthew 12:6-8

I tell you that something GREATER THAN the temple is here! If you had known what this means: I desire mercy and not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

Matthew 12:28-29

If I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you. How can someone enter a strong man’s house and steal his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can rob his house.

Matthew 12:38-42

Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” But He answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation demands a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was in the belly of the huge fish three days and three nights, so the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at Jonah’s proclamation; and look—something GREATER THAN Jonah is here! The queen of the south will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and look—something GREATER THAN Solomon is here!

GREATER THAN begins with the Person Who is GREATER THAN.

Matthew 12:43-44

“When an unclean spirit comes out of a man, it roams through waterless places looking for rest but doesn’t find any. Then it says, ‘I’ll go back to my house that I came from.’ And returning, it finds the house vacant, swept, and put in order.

Matthew 12:45

Then off it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and settle down there. As a result, that man’s last condition is worse than the first. That’s how it will also be with this evil generation.”

Something GREATER THAN will always come in until Someone GREATER THAN is invited in.

Sometimes it is only a matter of time.

The cost of not following Christ is GREATER THAN the cost of following.

God wants your happiness to be out of reach from the enemy.

Matthew 12:46-50

He was still speaking to the crowds when suddenly His mother and brothers were standing outside wanting to speak to Him. Someone told Him, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to You.” But He replied to the one who told Him, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?”  And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven, that person is My brother and sister and mother.”

The shift to GREATER THAN means shifting our focus from outcomes to obedience.

Obedience is a response, not a requirement.

I’ve obeyed all I know, and God is fully in control. Therefore, I’m letting go.