One of the great pursuits of my life is to live intentionally transparent before God and my family, and honestly with myself. An unintentional, dishonest, and veiled life can not be pleasing to God. Following are my notes for Sunday’s talk. May God be glorified as you read.
Identity: Genuine Followers of Christ
During our study of MCA Church’s Identity, one concept emerged consistently; MCA Church highly values genuineness.
If we are not genuine, all of our identity concepts falter.
Genuine: Actually having the reputed or apparent qualities or character.
Actually produced by or proceeding from the alleged source or author
Sincerely and honestly felt or experienced
I am sincerely and honestly being transformed into the image of Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit.
2 Corinthians 3:18 connects transformation to “unveiled faces.” Transformation ceases when we veil our hearts from God, our closest friends, and ourselves.
You might be wearing a veil if:
• You intentionally report qualities or character that you don’t have
• You intentionally resist the invitation to look honestly behind the veil of your heart,
mind, and behavior
• You can not be sincere and honest about what you are actually feeling or experiencing
• You have a “reason” (excuse) for every unpleasant thing hidden by the veil
Good News! God has the perfect response to everything hidden behind your veil.
• When you approach God with humility, honesty, and respect, you should not be afraid.
• When you approach God with humility, honesty, and respect, remember that He is love,
full of grace, and slow to anger.
I am sincerely and honestly being transformed into the image of Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit.
You are not seeking perfection – you are seeking consistent progress.
Genuine Joy
1. Since I am made by God, in His image, and for his purposes, there is the joy of being
pleasing to God. 2 Corinthians 5:9,10
2. There is amazing joy in having a good conscience before God. Acts 23:1
3. The joy of being honest with yourself and God is transformative. Psalm 51:6
4. The joy of having nothing to hide is energizing. 1 Corinthians 13:12
Our sentence, “I am sincerely and honestly being transformed into the image of Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit,” requires that we see the gap between who we are and who God is and repent. Acts 3:19
Today, we invite you to the crosses for your personal time of meeting with God. Do you have the need of repentance.? Do you see a gap between what you believe about your self and what is actually true about you? Are you aware of veiled things in your life that long to be exposed to God’s love and grace? Do you deeply long for the joy of ever increasing genuineness?
LIFE Groups
Connecting with each other
1. Name a person with whom you are most likely to be genuine. What do you admire about
that person?
2. What was the best hiding place in the history of your personal “hide and seek” career?
Digging Deeper into the Weekend Talk
1. Why did Moses put a veil over his face? Exodus 34:35
2. Why did Moses keep the veil over his face? 2 Corinthians 3:13
3. Why is Moses’ tendency to hide his experience with God the story of us all? Genesis 3:8
4. MCA Church strongly believes that the most helpful setting in which people transform
into the image of Jesus is a small group. What kind of small group member should you be
so that your co-member can be genuine in the group?
5. Consider Job 31:33, 34.
a. What was his view of the crowd?
b. What was his view of the clans?
c. What did he do with his voice?
d. What did he do with his body?
e. What did he do with sin?
f. What did he do with guilt?
6. How do you design your life group to help people whose experience is something like Job
31:33, 34?
Praying With Each Other
1. Please pray, one on one, for a genuine request from your prayer partner.
2. Please pray for next week’s LIFE Group Covenant.
3. Please pray for MCA Church’s Global Outreach month (October). Please pray for increased
vision, commitment, and understanding of world evangelism.
4. Pray about your role in the Great Commission.