CHRIST-LIKE INTEGRITYWe are STSA – Part 5

June 10, 2012

We believe that every person who enters our church is the most important person in the world. That person is sent by God and should be loved and accepted as such.

LIMITLESS ACCEPTANCE

We believe God created the church to fulfill our relational needs in addition to our spiritual needs. We reject superficiality in relationships with one another just as we reject superficiality in our relationship with God.

AUTHENTIC COMMUNITY

We gather to be transformed by the real Presence of God in our midst every time we meet. Liturgical prayer is not just a routine; it is life giving and real. It is the center of our life as a family.

TRANSFORMATI0NAL COMMUNAL WORSHIP

We don’t stop worshipping after we leave the church. We seek to live passionate lives for God, pursuing Him every day through prayer, Bible reading, giving, witnessing and everything we do.

PASSIONATE PURSUIT OF GOD

We believe that our personal integrity is the greatest reflection of our relationship with Christ. We know that true spiritual maturity is measured by obedience, not knowledge.

CHRIST-LIKE INTEGRITY

Christ-Like Integrity Faith-filled Vision

Passionate Pursuit Irrational Generosity

Transformational Communal Worship

Stewardship of Talents/Gifts

Authentic Community

Call to Evangelism

Limitless Acceptance

Love for Community

S T S A

“Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.”

Genesis 3:7-8

God can’t work in the heart that refuses to acknowledge the truth

“LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill? He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart.”

Psalm 15:1-2

Example of Jacob [deceiver]

“So he went to his father and said, “My father.” And he said, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?” Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn; I have done just as you told me; please arise, sit and eat of my game, that your soul may bless me.”

Genesis 27:18-19

“Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day.”

Genesis 32:24

Why would GOD wrestle Jacob?

Luke 4:1-2“Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil.”

Genesis 32:27So He said to him, “What is your name?” He said, “Jacob.”

Genesis 32:27So He said to him, “What is your name?” He said, “Jacob.”

God wanted Jacob to admit WHO HE WAS

“God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

James 4:6

“Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed.”

James 5:16

Honesty led to transformationYour name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed…. So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: “For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.” Genesis 32:28, 30

From deceiver to Prince with God

Remember that no sin…

…is too BIG for God to FORGIVE

“Come now, and let us reason together,” says the LORD, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” Isaiah 1:18

Remember that no sin…

…is too BIG for God to FORGIVE…is too SMALL for you to IGNORE

Remember that no sin…

“Catch us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vines”

Songs 2:15

“For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.”

James 2:10

“When you come to the land which the LORD your God is giving you, and possess it and dwell in it, and say, ‘I will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me,’ you shall surely set a king over you whom the LORD your God chooses… But he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses… Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself.”

Deuteronomy 17:14-17

“When I kept silent, my bones grew old through my groaning all the day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my vitality was turned into the drought of summer.”

Psalm 32:3-4

“I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and You forgave the iniquity of my sin.”

Psalm 32:5

Don’t wait for little sins

to become BIG sins.

Homework: Examine self in honesty

“God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth… If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

1 John 1:5-9