First Church of the Nazarene
Pastor Henecke's Sermon Outlines

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Pastor Henecke's Sermon Outlines

The Woodland Street Pulpit

August 29, 2004 AM

Life is Christ

GALATIANS 3.26-4.9

You are all God’s children through faith in Christ Jesus. Baptized into Christ, you have clothed yourselves in Christ. In Christ Jesus, there cannot be Jew or Greek; slave or free; male and female; for all are one. If you are Christ’s, you are also Abraham’s seed, and heirs through the promise.

This is what I am saying: as long as the heir is a minor, though he is the heir of everything--he has no more rights than a slave, because he is under guardians and stewards until the date appointed by his father. So it was with us: while we were childish and immature, we were continually enslaved to the basic elements of the universe. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under law--in order to liberate those under law so that we might receive adoption. Now, since we are his sons and daughters, God has sent forth his Son’s Spirit into our hearts crying, "Abba! Father"! So, through God, you are no longer slaves but sons and daughters, and as sons and daughters, also heirs.

In the past, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to what were naturally not gods. Now, however, you have partaken of God, or rather, God has participated in you--how can you turn back again to those paltry and powerless base elements? Why would you ever wish to be enslaved to them again?

  1. How it all began:

    1. How did we get here? How is the church to be understood and significant? What is the church? What is our role?

      1. We hold – confess – believe – put trust in

        2. The universe did not just happen – it has a Creator!

      2. All that is visible has come from an invisible One

        1. For us – the god of Jesus is God

          2. Colossians 1:15

          Christ is the image of the invisible God, existing before all creation. In him everything in heaven and on earth was created, visible and the invisible thrones, sovereignties and authorities and powers -- all was created through him and for him.

          Hebrews 11:3

          By faith we understand that the universe was formed by God’s word, so that the visible came forth from the invisible.

        2. Our Master is the source of all existence

    2. In the midst he (the Creator) formed humanity

      1. Mankind was created with purpose and design

        2. Genesis 1:26

        God said, "Let us make human beings in our image, after our likeness, to have dominion over the fish in the sea, the birds of the air, the cattle, wild animals on land, and over everything that creeps upon the earth."

      2. The image and the glory of God is our mission

        1. This mission we failed

        2. We missed our divine purpose

    3. We didn’t retain God’s glory but sought one of our own

    Romans 1:22-32

    Boasting of our wisdom, we became fools, and exchanged the glory of the imperishable God for images resembling mortals, birds, animals, or reptiles. For this reason God has given us up to our own vile desires, and to the consequent degradation of our own being …

  2. From creation to re-creation

    1. God purposed to re-create humanity

      1. He could have begun again – with an all new creation

      2. He chose transformation – reclamation

        1. Out of corruption would come purity

        2. Out of fallen humanity is to be a new world

    2. God began primitively

      1. He began in the language of our paganism

        1. The Bible progresses from nomadic tribes

        2. He does not condemn all immorality

      2. God allowed in some ages what is not acceptable

        3. Acts 17:30

        God overlooked our ignorance in the past, but now he commands men and women everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged justly by a man whom he has designated; of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.

      3. He is revealed as a god of thunder, wind and famine

        1. God sees, hears, and gets angry

        2. In our infancy God speaks as to infants

    3. Beginning in idolaters God reveals himself

      1. "I will be your God!"

      2. The revelations were always being compromised

      3. Israel adapted itself to the surrounding culture

      4. God would challenge, chastise, and call them back

    4. The central promise was a coming new hour

      1. A new covenant would replace the Law

      2. A new Israel would replace the old

      3. A new Jerusalem would come to earth

    5. This was to be a visitation of One like no others

      1. This expectancy we also corrupted

        2. Jeremiah 31:31 - 33

        The days are coming, says the LORD, when I will establish a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the LORD. For this is the covenant which I will establish with them after those days, says the LORD: I will set my law within them, inscribing it on their hearts, I will be their God - they will be my people.

      2. We made the Messiah into our image

        1. He became political

        2. Israel became the kingdom

    6. They lost the true and deeper meaning of the revelation

    Isaiah 40:9

    Climb a high mountain, herald of good tidings to Zion; raise up your voice and shout aloud, herald of good news to Jerusalem, raise it fearlessly; say to the cities of Judah, "Your God is here!"

  3. Then God came in incarnation

    1. In the fulness of time God became a man

      1. He came to those under the first covenant (the Law)

      2. He came in the virgin birth

    2. The One who made the universe was submissive to our nature - This is what we confess: Our planet has been visited and united to the author of all existence

      1. This is stage one of the new (re-newed) creation

      2. Our indwelling by his Spirit is phase two

    3. This one is the solution to the Fall

      1. Our corruption is to be indwelt by the incorruptible

      2. The sinless One unites with the sinful and sin ends

    4. This is the reunion of God and humanity

      5. 2 Corinthians 5:14-15,21

      The love of Christ reigns over us, since we have come to the conviction that one died for all – and thereby all died. He died for all, so that those living would no longer live for themselves, but for him who died and rose again on their behalf. … Our appeal to you is for Christ, "Be reconciled to God!" For our sake he made the sinless One to be sin, so that we might become God’s righteous ones, in him.

    5. How does this work? How does God liberate us?

  • God enters every human aspect and life experience

  • He cleanses all the results of evil by contact

  • Disease - Fear - Death – Sin

  • He enters every corruption and cleanses it

  • Thereby he condemns sin in the flesh

    1. How cleansed are we – are we to finally be? – Absolutely!

  1. The core of the God event

    1. The center of the Christ life is his death and resurrection

      1. This is not only God’s atonement

      2. This is a revelation of the nature of God

      Mark 8:34-39 (Luke 9:23-27)

      "Anyone who wants to be a follower of mine must renounce self; daily he must bear his cross and walk with me. Whoever wants to keep his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. What does anyone gain by winning the whole world at the cost of his life? What can he give to buy his life back? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this wicked and godless age, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."

    2. It is also a revelation of his will for our lives

      1. We are transformed into his likeness – new creations

      2. We are united in him to be raised with him

    3. Every miracle was a promise / every story a revelation

    4. The resurrection itself is also a revelation

      1. The end of all is his coming revelation

      2. When all that is in him shall renew life on earth

    5. We await our final adoption and the restoration of creation

Philippians 3:20-21

Our home is heaven, from where we await our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform our humble body into the nature of his own glorious body, by the power with which he subjects all things to himself.



Pastor Henecke's PM Sermon Outline

The Woodland Street Pulpit

August 29, 2004 pm

Burning Within

(The supreme need of the church today)

Luke 24:32

They said to each other, "Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the scriptures?"

Luke 24:32 REB

They said to one another, "Were not our hearts on fire as he talked with us on the road and explained the scripture to us"?

Isaiah 4:4

When the Lord washes away the filth of Zion's daughters and cleanses Jerusalem of her bloodshed with the Sprit of judgment and burning,

  1. Introduction

    1. A young man who felt the call to preach went to the great Spurgeon

      1. "Will you make it fizzle?"

      2. I was approached by NTS concerning their preachers

    2. The issue is the inward fire

      1. John had foretold:

        2. Luke 3:16

        The people were in wonder and questioning in their hearts if perhaps John were the Messiah. John answered them, "I baptize you with water; but there is one coming who is mightier than I; I am unworthy to untie the thong of his sandals; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire."

      2. The fire of God burned in John himself

    3. It is this burning that is the center of my thoughts this evening

John 5:35

He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.

  1. The Setting:

    1. We begin on the Day of the resurrection

      1. It began when the women found the grave empty

      2. Then Peter and John saw the shroud and believed

      3. Mary of Magdalene had the first visitation

    2. Then the evening progressed

      1. Sabbath was over and the pilgrims could travel

      2. They were preoccupied in their grief

        1. They were caught up in the week when he drew near and walked with them

        2. This is how it is for us also

          3. Luke 24:15

          While they were walking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and walked along with them.

          1. Christ draws near us in our busy lives

          2. And we do not recognize him

    3. Let’s think of these two men in their possession and lacking

      1. They were his intimate followers

      2. They are freely able to go to the Upper Room

        1. They still love their Lord

        2. In their loss they were trying to sort out truth

      Luke 24:20-23

      Our chief priests and rulers handed him over to be condemned to death, and had him crucified. We had hoped that he was the liberator of Israel. What is more, it is now the third day since this happened, and some women of our company astounded us: they went to the tomb early this morning, and did not find his body; and returned to us saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who told them that he was alive.

    4. Then the Gospel was proclaimed for the first time

      1. See verse 27 - beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. (That the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory)

      2. Jesus explained the cross from the Law, the writings and the prophets

        1. This is the source of their burning

        2. Here our Lord establishes the source of fire

    5. The revelation came at the table

      1. The mystery of our Lord breaking bread

        2. Luke 24:30-31

        When he reclined with them at the table, he took bread and blessed it; as he broke the loaf and gave it to them, their eyes were opened and they recognized him; then he vanished from their sight.

      2. The word was in their heart

        1. The burning preceded the revelation

        2. Revelation brought interpretation

  2. The inward Fire

    1. I have often been told – the simple Gospel isn’t practical

      1. * Story of the tour of the first condo

      2. "Jesus is/was a great man."

        1. Here we have ethics – principles

        2. We have revering but not fire

    2. Let’s look at the stages of our story:

  1. Christ was with them but unrecognized

  2. Christ was enriching them but they lacked insight

  3. Christ was revealed and they were able to release him

  4. They realized his presence when he was not visible

    1. The issue of the devouring burning of his presence is not new

      1. Isaiah saw it as an impediment

        2. Isaiah 33:14

        The sinners in Jerusalem tremble and cry in fear. "Which one of us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who can live with continual burning?"

      2. The fire of his presence is to be ours

    2. Our God is a consuming fire

      1. He seeks a people of full devotion

      2. A congregation that is on fire

        3. Revelation 3:15

        I know about your activities: how you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were one or the other, but since you are neither hot nor cold, but only lukewarm, I will vomit you out of my mouth.

        1. Are you walking close enough to burn?

        2. Has Christ spoken to your heart

    3. The issue is our burning

      1. He died for us in a total act

      2. Calling us into a zealous life

      Titus 2:14

      He gave his life to free us from every kind of sin, and to make us his very own people, Zealots for doing what is right.

    4. Let’s state it simply:

      5. Hebrews 12:28-29

      Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire.

    5. Therefore – the question is a personal fire – our Lord is a passionate God – enduring his own passion to set us aflame.







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