I Don’t Want To Be A Pharisee
Prelude
Graves Into Gardens
Call to Worship
1 “Shout for joy to God, all the earth!
2 Sing the glory of his name;
make his praise glorious.
3 Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds!
So great is your power
that your enemies cringe before you.
4 All the earth bows down to you;
they sing praise to you,
they sing the praises of your name.” —Psalm 66:1-4
Greeting - Dominick Thompson
Opening Song
Never Gonna Let Me Go
Welcome and Invocation
Worship in Song
Pastoral Prayer
Scripture Reading
3 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”
3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.[a]”
4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”
5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit[b] gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You[c] must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”[d]
9 “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.
10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 11 Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.[e] 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,[f] 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”[g]
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God. —John 3:1-21
Message: Pastor Doug McHenry
Place your own notes here:
Spiritually, how do we
The Pharisees changed the Law of great principles, truth and freedom into
When we focus on
Jesus emphasized the
“Jesus replied, ‘Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.’”
“’How can someone be born when they are old?’ Nicodemus asked. ‘Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born.’”
“Jesus answered, ‘Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.’”
- John 3:3-7
Real life comes from the
“The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” – John 3:8
When we try to
Salvation comes only from
“Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
“For God did not send his Son into the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believes stands condemned”
“already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”
- John 3:14-18
Light will
“This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness” instead of light because their deeds were evil.”
“Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light,”
“so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.”
- John 3:19-21
When we try to create our own system of salvation based on
“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved.”
“And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches”
“of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God”
“not by works, so that no one can boast about it.”
- Ephesians 2:4-9
How did the Pharisees “miss the point”?
They desired radical
When the desire for holy living exceeds the desire for a relationship with Jesus,
Benediction