Radical Works

Great sermon tonight at City North, I thought I'd write up some notes while it's all still fresh in my head.

From Luke 5:1-11 (The story of the miraculous catch of fish and the calling of the first disciples).

We need to discover how God wants to work radically in our lives, to step out of the ordinary and into a life set apart for something specifically special.

Our lives are like clay in the potters hand, God wants to build character, strength and endurance to our lives through his craftmanship, so that he can continually use us.

God is calling us to...

- Radical Worship

• Worship really happens when we actually realise exactly who God is - we become gripped by his majesty, awesomeness, forgiveness, grace and love.
• Radical worship is that point when we are so enthralled with God that we can't help but continue to worship him (look at Romans 12) - we are drawn to God no matter the consequence to us.

- Radical Obedience

• (From Luke 5) - take an example from the fishermen, who obediently took instructions on fishing from a carpenter.
• Peter learnt that day that when Jesus speaks you obey, even when you think you know better.
• There may be times when Jesus asks you to do something that defies common sense. Understanding may only come after you obey.

-A Radical Lifestyle

• (John 4) Jesus at the well with the Samaritan woman - Jesus didn't do what a 'good' Jew would do in that day would do. He stepped outside of the 'norm' to reach a lady in need.
• Jesus was more interested in the person than the culture.
• It was ok for Jesus to defy some of the petty rules that the religion of the day had put in place.
• Sometime to reach a person, to show them Jesus, to live radically in Gods plan we need to put aside some things in our culture that have become 'rules'.

-Radically Depend on God

• We are only Christians because of the grace of God - not through anything we have done our selves.
• Our forgiveness is dependant on God's everlasting love.
• We can't do anything in our own strength because the basics of our faith is such a huge dependency, therefor we shouldn't try doing our own thing but remain dependant on God to do good works.
• The Holy Spirit within us is a sign and an action of our dependency - as Jesus left he sent the Holy Spirit to work through us, and to be a channel to God for us.

Jesus was a radical. He wasn't conformed to the ways of his world, but he stepped up to live a life that would 100% glorify God. Jesus calls us to be like him, and to step from the moulds of our society (and these days our churches as well sometimes) and be someone who will go that extra distance to bring glory to God in every aspect of our lives.