Sermon Date: Wed, 07/11/2012
Key Passage: But one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.” And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth. – Revelation 5:5-6 (NKJV)
1. GOD IS ALWAYS IN CONTROL BUT HE IS NOT CONTROLLING
It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don't use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that's how freedom grows. For everything we know about God's Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That's an act of true freedom. If you bite and ravage each other, watch out—in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom be then? – GALATAINS 5:13-15 (MSG)
Good leadership is a channel of water controlled by God; he directs it to whatever ends he chooses. – PROVERBS 21:1 (MSG)
And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. – 1 CORINTHIANS 13:13 (NKJV)
2. MEN COULD LEAD BY FEAR OF LOSING INSTEAD OF FAITH BY WINNING
I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. 16 But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. – ROMANS 7:15-16 (NLT)
For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her 26 to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word – Ephesians 5:25-26 (NKJV)
