When under attack from enemies, is God our last resort… or our first resort?
Author: Awake Us Now
Message – The Living One – Week 28: Ephesian Farewell
God’s word is compelling and so very practical. It thoroughly equips us and it still speaks to us today.
Today’s story takes place in the town of Miletus where Paul is speaking to leaders of the church sharing the difficult challenges and testing he experienced in his three years of mission work in Ephesus. He shares how he humbly did the work God gave him even in the most despairing times he humbly hung on tight to God who brought him through it all.
What can we learn from Paul’s speech?
1. Humble Service – we are called to humility before our awesome and mighty God, recognizing all we have and are comes from Him and that we are all in the same condition – sinners. We need a Savior and only God can save us. Humility is needed in understanding this.
We are called to serve God in humility and to humbly server others to use our gifts, time, talents, abilities and opportunities that God gives us to serve Him and bless others. Our lives are to be lives of Humble Service.
Paul goes on to summarize what he taught while in Ephesus: that all must turn to God in repentance and have faith in Jesus. He taught the full counsel of God, not just the popular things but also the things that weren’t. He did so without camouflaging God’s word or avoiding those things that could be heard as upsetting. He spoke the full truth to all.
Repent and believe the good news is the heart of the Gospel message – come back to the living God in the way we live and walk with a change of heart and mind through Christ.
2. Steadfast Truth – Speaking the truth in love – that we need to repent before God. Martin Luther says, “When our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, said repent, He willed that entire life of a believer be one of repentance.” Repentance is a calling – a daily calling to turn back to God, to daily recognize the importance of walking with Jesus. We are not called to simple religion, we are called to a relationship with God through faith in Jesus, God’s Son, who died, rose and is coming again! We are to live in this truth and to share that truth with others
As the story continues, Paul shares how he will go where God leads even though he does not know what lies ahead. He shares how the Holy Spirit has warned him that prison and hardships are coming but even in the face of this knowledge, Paul follows willingly where the Holy Spirit compelled him to go, regardless of danger and threats ahead.
3. Spirit Directed – we too have a calling from God – to know Him, to rejoice in Him, to receive hi forgiveness in Christ, to be filled with the Holy Spirit and to allow the Spirit of God to guide and direct our lives. It’s not always easy or comfortable, but it is for our benefit and God’s glory.
We are called to listen to the Holy Spirit, walk in the Holy Spirit, to follow the Holy Spirit, to allow the Holy Spirit to reveal and show us God’s goodness.
Paul’s story concludes with him stating his life’s aim is to complete the task the Lord Jesus had given him – the task of testifying to the Good News of God’s grace.
Pastor shares a personal story regarding this verse, a conversation with a college professor and the place he had this verse inscribed prior to his wedding day. This verse had a profound effect on Pastor life and he shares the impact of visiting the city of Miletus several years ago and being where Paul had spoken these words of Acts 20:24.
Without Jesus we are lost – when Jesus breaks into our lives we are changed!!
4. Life’s Commitment – we are to live our lives committed to Jesus. We are to live our lives for Jesus and “finish the race,” the course of our lifetime as planned by God.
Our life is a “race.” Towards the end of Paul’s life he writes the following in 2 Timothy 4:7 – “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” That is our calling, too!
We are to run the race with endurance, to follow Jesus as our Savior and Guide, to honor, worship and praise our Heavenly Father, to listen to the Holy Spirit as He speaks into our hearts, to follow where God leads NO MATTER THE DIRECTION. NO MATTER THE COST.
Scripture: Acts 20:17-24, 2 Timothy 3:16-17
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Two Year Gospel Study Week 42
Luke 4:14-30: “Hometown Visit.”
This story of Jesus going to His hometown appears to be a different trip than those told in the other gospels.
This is a story of those listening to Jesus in Nazareth (His hometown) in comparison to those hearing Jesus in Galilee and who willingly received what Jesus had to offer. But those in Nazareth because of their pride and arrogance and boastfulness and being skeptical, did not get to experience what Jesus has to give us!
Jesus was born in Bethlehem but Nazareth is the town Jesus grew up in. As He returned home for a visit, He went to the synagogue as was His regular practice on the Sabbath.
Here is some information about synagogues in Jesus’ day:
1. Opened with singing (mainly Psalms 145-150)
2. Recitation of the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4)
3. Recitation of the Tefillah (18 benedictions and prayers)
4. Reading of the Scriptures (torah, prophets and writings)
5. Message of Interpretation of what was read
6. The Aaronic Benediction
Jesus comes home to a town that had heard all the remarkable stories of Him since He’s been gone and He’s at the synagogue and He does the Reading. He chooses a prophetic word from Isaiah 58 and Isaiah 61 and closes with “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
What He’s saying is that He’s the one the prophets predicted and the home town people, having heard the storied of what He had been doing in the other town, and there is initial excitement.
Jesus gives them these Words of Grace in the Reading:
1. Good News to the poor
2. Freedom for prisoners
3. Sight for the blind
4. Deliverance from oppression
5. Debts paid – Jubilee
Jesus words of grace and hope are for us still today:
1. Good News of the Gospel message of what Jesus has done for us
2. Freedom from bondage to sin
3. Sight given for our spiritual blindness
4. Deliverance from brokenness
5. Our Debt to God for our sins is paid in full for us by Jesus through faith
After Jesus delivers His Words of Grace the crowd began to question and doubt what He was saying and they became offended at His words.
So Jesus confronts those doubting who He is. The crowd wanted proof that Jesus was who He said He was – but Jesus’ response is that He sees into their hearts and that prophets aren’t accepted in their home towns. They were acting like the Israelites. Jesus proceeds to preach a message on the time of Elijah and Elisha – a time in history much like now in America – a time of national apostasy and spiritual poverty.
Jesus knows what’s in our hearts and souls still today. We live in a nation that has traditionally thought of itself as a Christian nation and yet our roots have become just a veneer of Christianity.
We have made our own rules, done what we want to do, followed our own gods of money, wealth and success, believed what we want to and redefined what God has said, establishing our own morality and it is destroying us from within.
After Jesus’ teaching about the times of Elijah and Elisha The people were furious and wanted to get rid of Jesus, to kill Him.
Jesus spoke words of Truth and to those who are humble and repentant – His Words bring joy, life, hope and purpose – and they still do today.
God knows our hearts and to those who refuse to listen the result is anger. But He doesn’t give up when people won’t listen or when they turn their backs on Him. He continues to reach out to the proud – He desires to bring restoration. He continues to reach out to those who are broken-hearted and discouraged – He desires to bring healing. And to those stuck in sin and darkness and addiction – He desires to bring freedom, restoration and renewal.
May we be humble and contrite before Him and may God bring that kind of revival and renewal and awakening in our nation. Hearts turning back to Him!
He comes to those who hear His voice! May we be listening always!!!
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St. Luke’s Account is part three of our Two Year Study of the Gospels. The Gospel of Luke takes a look at the life of Jesus, beginning with the well-known Christmas stories. Luke, a non Jew, offers a unique perspective into the story of Jesus’ life.
This study is great for large group. small group or home group Bible study.
The Gospel According to Matthew – Week 31
This teaching is from Matthew 22:1-40 and continues our exploration into Jesus’ final week of his ministry before his death and resurrection. While there is rising anger against Him Jesus’ heart is to continue to work to call those against Him to the truth of the Scriptures and to God. Jesus makes it clear that it is possible to be incredibly religious and yet have no real genuine relationship with God.
Pastor finishes exploring the 3 parables in Matthew 21 and 22 with today’s dive starting with the third parable where we see that these individuals, the religious leaders, truly did not understand the scripture and did not respond to the obvious.
3 Parables
1. Indictment (Matthew 21:28-32)
2. Sentencing (Matthew 21:33-46)
These two parables were discussed in last week’s teaching. Use the links below to listen to Matthew Week 30)
3. Execution (Matthew 22:1-14) is shown in the Parable of the Marriage Feast.
It starts by saying the kingdom of heaven is like a King (God) who prepared a wedding banquet for His Son (the Messiah coming to Israel). All of Israel was invited – the One they have been longing for! The king sends out his servants to let the invitees know of the banquet, but even though they have been eagerly anticipating the Messiah’s arrival, verse 53 says, “but they refused to come.” The king again sends his servants out to announce the banquet saying the dinner is prepared and all is ready! Come to the wedding banquet! (The long awaited Messiah is here!! Come celebrate!)
The parable goes on to say the invited paid no attention to this second invite and some seized the servant announcing the invite and killed him. This enraged the king and he sent his army and destroyed the murderers and burnt down their city. (This is a foreshadowing – Jesus knows what is coming – because religious leaders and others rejected Him – not only reject Him but will kill Him and so this is Jesus giving a head up that judgement is coming to the city of Jerusalem (this will be discussed further in the upcoming weeks)
The parable continues with the king telling the servants that as those invited did not come that they are to invite anyone they find.(prostitutes, tax collectors, and the non-Jewish world – Gentiles). And the servants filled the wedding hall.
In verse 11 the King (God) notices a guest that is not wearing wedding clothes so the king asks him how he got in without the wedding clothes that he was offering to everyone who came. (The white robes of righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ). The man not having the clothing was thrown out into the darkness.
Jesus is making it very clear that there is salvation and life forever found through faith in Him and Him alone. He is challenging the religious leadership to see Him for who He is – the prophesied Messiah they have been waiting for!
After Jesus told this Parable the Pharisees decided to lay plans to trap Jesus. They united with the Herodians in a well-planned attack with the question that no matter which way Jesus replied, He would be found guilty by one or the other group. The question: “What is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?”
If He answered yes, pay the tax to Caesar, the Pharisees would have risen up against Him as they were not happy to be under the control of Rome and despised paying tax to the very ones whose rule they were under. If He answered not to pay the tax then the Herodians would have risen up against Him as they supported Roman rule.
But Jesus cuts their scheming plan off at the knees by His reply:”Show me the coin used for paying the imperial tax. Whose image and inscription is this?” They replied “Caesar’s.” Jesus continues, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”
Jesus’ answer was brilliant. His answer doesn’t allow either of them to accuse Him of anything. His response amazed them so they left Him and went on their way.
The dissension around Jesus is rising with verbal attack after verbal attack. At each attack the crowds hear Jesus’ answers and they are astonished at His teaching while the religious leaders get angrier.
Further on in chapter 22 Jesus is asked this question, “Which is the greatest command in the law?” Jesus’ answer: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and will all your mind!’ This is the first and greatest commandment. The second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the law and prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Again they are amazed, but Jesus comes back immediately with a question for them! And it’s a really good one! Come back next week to find out!!
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The Living One – Week 27: Enemy Territory
Today’s teaching is on enemy territory and the reality of spiritual warfare. In a fallen world the battle is not between people – it is between the Living God and the powers of darkness, It is between the Body of Christ and those under the spell of the devil.
Ephesus was the center of worship of Artemis and also a hotbed of the occult, magic, eastern religions, drugs, alcohol and many of the same things we encounter in our world today. Ephesus is where Paul carried out some of his most important mission work and it is where God shows us some important lifetime truths through how He worked in Ephesus nearly 2000 years ago.
Where we left off last week was with Paul spending two years teaching daily in the Hall of Tyrannus. Verse 10 of Acts chapter 19 tells us that all Jews and Greeks in the area heard the word of the Lord. Paul and others were training up believers to share their faith and so the Gospel message was shared all over Asia.
During Paul’s time in Ephesus he experienced more push back than ever before. God was doing extraordinary miracles through Paul and many were healed physically but Paul was also casting out demons and healing people from spiritual illness.
DIVINE POWER
We need to be connected to the Living God. Our faith is not to be a little bit of head knowledge, a song and a prayer. Our faith is to be life changing, it is to be the heart of who we are.
Because God was doing amazing miracles through Paul, news traveled that Paul was not only healing physically but also doing spiritual battle and that He was healing in the name of Jesus.
Ephesus was a town filled with evil but the DIVINE POWER of God was so obviously being displayed in the miraculous healings done in Jesus’ name, that it caused the name of Jesus to be held in high honor and it caused a reaction of believers to openly confess what they had done as part of the evil in Ephesus.
TAKE GOD SERIOUSLY
A massive move of God caused people to take Him very seriously.
Our faith molds and transforms us because we are delivered from bondage to sin and death. God offers deliverance from the power of the demonic and the things that can so easily destroy our lives.
CLEANING HOUSE
People who had practiced sorcery burned their scrolls publicly and the word of the Lord continued to spread and grow in power.
as believers changed and non-believers become believers people grew and matured in their faith and suddenly began to realize they needed to do a house cleaning in their lives.
God’s Holy Spirit is gracious and reveals things to us as we grow and mature in faith. We are not fully mature the moment we believe – It is a life-long process.
God’s desire is that we clean house in our lives, in our homes, in anything that gets in the way of our love and worship of God, anything that controls us in ways that are dangerous and spiritually defiling.
With all the awakening to the reality of the Gospel Power of Jesus and the importance of a God-pleasing life of faith, those who didn’t have that faith were began to try to stop all that was happening in Jesus’ name.
WORLD VIEWS COLLIDE
A worker who made silver shrines to Artemus was very concerned about his economic future in light of the amazing growth of Christianity. And so he spoke out publicly, drawing a crowd and the two sides began to collide.
World views are colliding in our world today. The world view of our culture is:
All that matters is me
All that matters is what I want
All that matters is that you don’t stand in my way and say anything to upset me.
The world view of the Bible is:
All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
God sent His one and only Son
The Living God took on flesh and brought life and forgiveness through His sacrifice on the cross and His resurrection from the grave.
In Jesus there is life, forgiveness and power. The power to live a new life.
And so their two world views clashed then and they are still clashing today.
We are called not to fight with human weapons, but to recognize the reality of spiritual war and to use the weapons of the Holy Spirit:
Prayer
Trust in God
God’s Word
The power of our testimonies
Today’s scripture reading ends with the whole city in an uproar – both sides shouting and many joining in the near riot.
CROWD FOLLOWERS
It can be easy to just go along with the crowd
Yet God warns us not to follow the crowd. Exodus 23:2 says, “Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong.”
Wise words for us today!
Scripture: Acts 19:11-41, Ephesians 6:12 and Exodus 23:2
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Two Year Gospel Study Week 41
Luke 2:41-52: “Jesus at the Age of Twelve.”
Today we ask, “Why is this story of Jesus at age 12 in the Bible?” There is no mention of Jesus from age 2 -30 except this one story in the Gospel of Luke. Here’s how this story goes: In the one and only account we have of Jesus as a child we’re told he went with His parents to Jerusalem to worship and praise the Lord at Passover.
This story is a foreshadowing of what is to come. The only time He’s mentioned as a child is at the Feast of the Passover. Jesus is described elsewhere in Hebrew Scriptures as the Passover Lamb who was slain for us and now as a 12 year old He and we get a glimpse of what is to come.
After the Feast, unbeknownst to His parents, Jesus had stayed in Jerusalem when the rest of the family was heading home. When Mary and Joseph realized Jesus was not together with the family caravan, they turned back to Jerusalem to find Him. Three days later they find Him in the Temple Courts sitting with the teachers and asking and answering questions.
Did you pick up on the prophetic significance of “three days?” And it is on the third day His parents find Him alive and well. It was the third day in the grave when Jesus rises to life.. the grave could not hold Him!
Jesus’ parents found Him asking and answering questions of the teachers, who were amazed at His answers and knowledge. This too is significant for us today, because Jesus invites questions. If we look at the teachings of Jesus in the New Testament we’ll see He is asking and answering question frequently! God delights in conversation and He speaks to the deepest needs of our hearts.
When Jesus’ parents found Him they questioned Him about not having been with them. Jesus answers, “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s House.” This answer compels us ask, “Why is this significant?”
Think about this: These are the first recorded words of Jesus in the Bible! Why are they His first recorded words?
Note that Jesus calls God, “My Father.” Even as a 12 year old He understands who He is. He is announcing the day the prophets spoke of has arrived! The Messiah has come! The Redeemer of all is here.
But Mary and Joseph didn’t understand what Jesus was saying – It wasn’t until after Jesus’ resurrection that people understand who He is, what He accomplishes and what He offers to each of us.
The story ends with Jesus obediently returning to Nazareth with His parents. He displays submissive obedience, modeling this for each of us and showing us what is expected from each of us.
The standout piece of this story is that Jesus has given us the right to speak of God as “Our Father.”
So much is in this short story – not only is there a glimpse of what Jesus was like as a boy, it gives us insight into His love and compassion in asking and answering us and is a glimpse of what God desires in us in conversation and obedience. Jesus wasn’t just an extraordinary child – He is the very Son of God! Savior! And coming King!
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St. Luke’s Account is part three of our Two Year Study of the Gospels. The Gospel of Luke takes a look at the life of Jesus, beginning with the well-known Christmas stories. Luke, a non Jew, offers a unique perspective into the story of Jesus’ life.
This study is great for large group. small group or home group Bible study.
The Gospel According to Matthew – Week 30
This teaching is from Matthew 21:23-46 and continues our dive into Jesus’ final week of his ministry before his death and resurrection.
The religious leaders are doing all they can to get Jesus to say something so that they can bring Him up on charges and get rid of Him. And there is a debate between Jesus and those leaders in the first verses of our study today. As the leaders (priests and elders) ask Jesus by what authority He was doing things in and who gave him this authority. This question might seem like a simple question but in reality it is a set up and they want him to reveal who He is so they can charge Him with blasphemy.
These leaders should have understood who Jesus was; they had the opportunity to listen to His teachings, see His miracles, and hear testimonies of what Jesus had been doing. All these things predicted had been predicted by the prophets. Those with eyes to see could see who He was.
Jesus takes their question and turns it around on them and responds that He’ll answer them if they answer a question first. The question He gives them, they decide they can’t answer. So there is a stalemate. So Jesus moves on into sharing three Parables that are addressed to the religious leaders.
The Parables do the following:
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Indictment
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Sentence
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Execution
The Indictment – the parable of the two sons. A father asks a son to go work in the vineyard and the son says, “No,” but then changes his mind later and does go out and work in the vineyard. To the other son the father says to go work in the vineyard, but that son says, “Yes,” but never goes and does it.
Jesus poses the question, “Which of the two sons did what his father wanted?” The leaders reply, “the first son: and Jesus hands down this indictment to the religious leaders, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you … you did not repent and believe.” This was a public rebuke of the leaders in front of a crowd.
Jesus moves on to share another parable, the parable of the tenants. A landowner (God the Father) planted a vineyard, walled it in, installed a winepress and added a watch tower and leased it out to some tenants (religious leaders). When harvest time came he sent his servants (prophets) to the tenants to collect his fruit. The tenants beat and killed the servants that came to collect for the landowner. Then the land owner sent a second set of servants to collect and they too were killed. Lastly the land owner sent his son (Jesus) to collect, but they killed him too. (Prediction of what is to come and the revelation of the religious leader’s plan).
Jesus ends this parable with the question, “When the owner of the vineyard comes – what will he do to these tenants?” The religious leaders – being obviously spiritually blind did not understand the parable at all and that it was about them. Jesus is getting ready to speak their sentencing…. They answer Jesus, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”
Jesus points out to them that He is the One, the Son, the Stone the builders rejected. He is the awaited Messiah, the cornerstone, the rock on which we build our lives. And He replies to them, “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. Anyone who falls on this Stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”
Jesus clearly states the sentencing against the religious leaders.
1. Points to the fact that only those who repent and believe in Jesus as Messiah and Savior have life ever after.
2. Jesus says it will be given to someone else. Alluding to the Gentile mission – the Kingdom of God coming to both Jews and Gentile; through the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus, through repentance and faith and through the infilling of the Holy Spirit.
God will carry out the world-wide mission!
Verse 45 shares that the Pharisees (religious leaders) now knew He was talking about them! And so they looked for a way to arrest Him – but they were concerned about the crowd because they held that Jesus was a prophet – they were listening to Him.
But what changes in the next few days that makes it possible for them to arrest and crucify Jesus? Join us next time to find out!
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The Living One – Week 26: Fully Instructed
This week’s teaching shows us the importance of growth in faith.
Today’s scripture is on the story of Paul’s mission work in the city of Ephesus. As he begins to meet people he asks several believers if they received the Holy Spirit when they came to faith in Jesus. Their response was no, that they had never heard of the Holy Spirit.
Sadly, this is much the condition of the christian church in America today. The Holy Spirit has often been ignored.
Paul learns that the Christians there had received John’s baptism. They had heard the teachings of John the Baptist and had been baptized in a baptism of repentance. Paul taught them that the One (Jesus) that John had predicted was coming was here and this was Jesus. John had said that Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Paul fills them in on Jesus, the one John had said was coming. So after hearing this they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit came on them and they spoke in tongues.
Today speaking in tongues has become very controversial. How do we deal with spiritual gifts?
Spiritual Gifts
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Expired – A view that many have is that these once were, but have now ended with the end of the apostles and the end of the New Testament. But the TRUTH is that there is NO expiration on the gifs of the Spirit. We are to earnestly desire the gift of the Spirit. (1 Corinthian 12 and 14) And Jesus says in Luke 11:13 “…how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” There is nothing in the New Testament to indicate that these gifts have expired.
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Everyone – People say everyone has to have the same gifts or we all have to have the gift of speaking in tongues and yet the New Testament, in 1 Corinthians 12, Paul says that the Holy Spirit gives different gifts to different believers, that not all have the same gifts.
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Eliminate – Many desire the gifts of the Spirit be eliminated because they are controversial. This attitude is basically trifling with the gifts of God and in effect encourages the church to remain weak and spiritually deficient. However, Paul says to earnestly desire the gifts and don’t forbid speaking in tongues. We need to take to heart what Paul says.
The gifts aren’t badges to impress others with our spirituality, but they are gifts from the Holy Spirit given to build up the body of Christ, encourage believers and to empower us to carry out the work God has given us to do.
These opening verses of Chapter 19 of Acts – while controversial – show us that the gifts are still very important and require us to take a look at what the Bible actually says about them. We need to make sure we are allowing the scriptures to guide us rather than our own prejudices, our own practices and our own jealousies.
As we continue looking at more of Paul’s work in Ephesus where he spent around 3 years, we discover more that we can learn.
In the synagogue, Paul spoke out boldly about the kingdom of God, but after 3 months, individuals refused to believe and began to publicly malign the teachings on Jesus the Messiah. So Pal moves from teaching in the synagogue to teaching daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus for the next two years so that all the Jews and Gentiles who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the God.
Paul was a tireless worker for the Lord, but what was it that he shared with the people of Ephesus? We can discover the answer to this in his epistle/letter to the Ephesians.
The Book of Ephesians
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Messiah – Firstly, Paul concentrated on sharing the Good News of Jesus the Messiah and that through Him we receive every spiritual blessing, we come to know the deep love of Jesus, that we are saved by grace, and to know the fullness of God.
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Maturity – Paul encourages us to grow in our faith, in our knowledge and love of Jesus our Savior. He shares how to not grieve the Spirit of God through impurity, but instead to grow in fellowship with God and to be filled with the Spirit. Paul also teaches to always give thanks for everything and to put on the full armor of God.
In summary of today’s text, Christ is to be in the center of our lives and we are to grow up in our relationship with Him. This is God’s desire for His children.
We do not want to hold to a form of religion and deny it real power.
- We want to hear the Holy Spirit’s testimony
- We want to respond to what the Word of God has to say
- We want to live in a dynamic relationship with Jesus, that we might not only be blessed by Him but may be used by Him to be a blessing for others
The Gospel message of Jesus transforms! It has POWER! We encourage you to read the book of Ephesians.
Scripture: Acts 19:1-10 and 2 Peter 3:18
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Two Year Gospel Study Week 40
Luke 1:1-25.
Today we begin a study of the Gospel of Luke with a look at Zechariah who was a devout man who thought he was prepared to meet the Living God – but reacted with fear and doubt when God showed up. God graciously gave him a second chance to respond with faith, and extends that same grace to us when we falter and fail. This story of Zechariah is a story that still speaks to us today.
There are lessons to learn from this story
– All scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correction and training in righteousness so that we can be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
– God wants us to KNOW HIM not just know about him.
– When we read the scriptures God desires that we not only look at it and say, “what happened?” He desires that we look at the story and say, “What does this say to me today?”
In examining what this story has to do with us today, we start by going through what we know about Zechariah:
1. He was a devout priest
2. He was praying
3. He knew this was from God
4. He knew the Scriptures
As Zechariah was met by the angel of the Lord as he did the priestly duties that day, when He actually had an encounter with the Angel of the Lord he had a difficult time accepting what he was told. At the root of his doubt was Zechariah’s desire to have God fit into his personal perception of who God was and how God should talk to him and what God should do. Basically, Zechariah wanted to make God conform to what he desired rather than allowing God to be who He is and to speak directly into his life.
What God desires to do is reveal Himself to us, rather than have us go along with our own personal perception of Him. We try to put God into a box, like Zechariah did, and to contain God, but God says, “NO!” And He reveals His true self to us. He reveals who He is.
God desires we come to Him in humility, repentant in spirit and willing to receive what He gives and that means that we accept one of the most important truths that anyone can know and act on and that is:
– God is god and we are not
– God is god and I am not
God is:
Supernatural
All powerful
Present everywhere
And when He speaks he means it!
His Word is true and it can be trusted!
We have been made in the image of a Holy God and we owe Him everything:
– My life
– My future
– My family
– My wealth
– My daily activities
We must not underestimate God. Zechariah heard great news that day from the angel and he just could not accept what God was saying. Zechariah made one of the biggest mistakes of his life and underestimated God. He said, “How can this be?” Because in his mind it just did not seem possible. BUT with God NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE!
Divine Promises brought to Zechariah by the Angel of the Lord:
– Fear not!
– Answered prayers
– Good News of joy
– Holy Spirit outpouring
– Repentance and return
– Power
– Awakening
Zechariah thought he was too old to receive what the Lord was giving him, but we are NEVER too old for any of the good things of God!!!
God seeks to build a trusting faith in each of us that causes us to acknowledge, “I am the Lord’s servant and I will do what He says.”
Zechariah missed the boat that day, but God still came through and He took Zechariah’s doubts and reluctance and He brought it all about for His glory and Zechariah’s good.
God is faithful. He keeps His Word!
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St. Luke’s Account is part three of our Two Year Study of the Gospels. The Gospel of Luke takes a look at the life of Jesus, beginning with the well-known Christmas stories. Luke, a non-Jew, offers a unique perspective into the story of Jesus’ life.
This study is great for large group. small group or home group Bible study.
The Gospel According to Matthew – Week 29
This teaching is from Matthew 21:10-23 and continues a study of Holy Week – Jesus’ final week before His resurrection.
In today’s story, people recognized Jesus as a prophet, but He was much more than a prophet! Over the next few weeks we will be exploring: The heart of the Gospel as the heart of God’s message of salvation, and that message is at the heart of who Jesus is. Let’s dig into what that means for us.
Following Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, in today’s text picks up with Jesus entering the temple courts and how he drives out all who were buying and selling. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. Jesus says, “My house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of robbers.”
Pastor shares the perspective that this is the second tine Jesus cleansed the temple, the first was at the beginning of His teaching ministry and the account in Matthew brings the second time Jesus does this.
Pastor talks in detail about the temple at this time: size, construction and the courts on the sides of the temple allowed possibly as many as 200,000 people to worship at the temple.
Following the overturning of the tables in the temple court, the blind and lame came to Jesus and he healed them and children were singing hosannas. But this angered the priest and teachers of the law, revealing their spiritual blindness and arrogance.
Jesus desires that heir minds would be opened and that these leaders would be accept Him for who He is. He desires that we all come to Him in humility and genuine worship.
Jesus then leaves the temple and heads to Bethany for the night. Everything the scriptures have predicted is about to take place…
Today’s teaching closes with the story of the cursed fig tree. What does this story tell us? Was Jesus just in a bad mood? Was he ‘hangry?” No, there is much to learn from this story, here’s how it goes.
Jesus is hungry. He goes to a fig tree to pick fruit but there’s nothing on it except leaves. But it wasn’t the season for figs! Didn’t Jesus know this?
Here’s what we do know: Prior to the season for figs to come on a tree there are small nubs that grow on the tree called paggim. They are edible – but there aren’t even any paggim on this tree. All Jesus finds are leaves.
It’s then that Jesus says, “May you never bear fruit again!” The fig tree is a symbol for Israel, the fig tree is often used as a representation of the children of Israel. And Adam and Eve, after the fall, were clothed in fig leaves.
So the fig tree is a reminder of human sin, Genesis 3, but also a reminder of the nation of Israel especially its leaders.
What Jesus sees as he looks at this tree is that it looks like a great tree but it has no fruit. This is a prophetic judgement on the leadership of Jesus’ day – it is also a clarion call to us to take seriously the things of God!
What God desires is that we don’t just “look good” on the outside, He desires that we bear fruit!
Jesus tells us throughout His ministry that if we continue in His word we will bear fruit. We’re not saved by our fruit production but because we are saved, we will produce the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control so that others are drawn to Jesus.
We don’t want our lives to be all for show – we want to produce fruit!
Jesus goes on to let us know we can trust God to hear and heed our prayers and that we can, with confidence, do the work He has called us to do: on our knees, praying and believing what Jesus says, “You will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”
We can ask anything according to His will – He hears and answers!
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