The Living One - Week 1: Did He Really Live?
Awake Us Now
This teaching compares non-Christian writings of Tacitus, Josephus, Suetonius and Pliny from the first and second centuries to the New Testament writings. The evidence is clear and calls us to recognize we are sinners in need of a Savior, The Living One!
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Big Questions - Power... When the Holy Spirit Comes
Awake Us Now
Pentecost, the gift of the Holy Spirit to believers, is all about the power of God -- the power to live a new life, the power to give glory to the Living God, the power of faith that transforms us and that beckons to others to come to God as well!
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Big Questions - My Witnesses... To the Ends of the Earth
Awake Us Now
It is easy to get distracted by other things — some of them perhaps important things — but Jesus makes it clear to His followers that our primary task is make disciples. To that end, we are to be His witnesses, "even to the ends of the earth."
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Dig Deeper - Week 2: The "Submission" Passage
Awake Us Now
Today’s class is a study of Ephesians 5:21-33. A group of verses that are controversial, often attacked and many times misunderstood. Ephesians 5:21-22 “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, [submit] yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord.” In the original Greek text the second [submit] word is not there. There is not a verb in this sentence and so in traditional Greek practice, you take the verb from the previous sentence and insert it into the next sentence. Please note that this is really important - because what this is saying is,...
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Big Questions - Obey... Everything I Have Commanded
Awake Us Now
Obedience is not optional - it is command from Jesus Himself. But we are not saved because we obey; rather, we obey the Lord because He has saved us!
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Big Questions - All Authority... in Heaven and on Earth
Awake Us Now
God has chosen you and me not simply to be religious, but to be disciples. We are to follow Jesus faithfully, grow in the knowledge and love of Him, and share with others the powerful things He has done so that they become disciples too!
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Questions - Week 13: Is Marriage Outdated?
Awake Us Now
In this message we will look at what the Scriptures have to say about marriage, analyze concerns and questions raised in our day, overview the cultural changes that have led to many questioning the value and benefit of marriage, and do so from a Christian worldview. We will also take a look at some secular contemporary research and what it indicates. Common Reactions: 1. The culture has changed: - Married Couples comprised: 1950 — 78% of all US households 2020 — 47%...
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Kings & Prophets: From Solomon to Jeremiah - Week 4
Awake Us Now
Our study opens with a look at Civil War between Rehoboam and Judah vs. Jeroboam and Israel (931-910 BC). 1 Kings 12:1 We read that Rehoboam went to Shechem, “for all Israel had gone there to make him king.” Shechem was an historic site for the nation from about 500 years early when Levitical priests recited the blessings and the curses from Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim. Shechem is the city near these two mountains. In verses 3 and 4 we read that Jeroboam challenges Rehoboam. Reheboam goes to 2 advisory boards. One was the elders that had served under his father, Solomon. They...
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Big Questions - Lord and God! Jesus' Amazing Claims
Awake Us Now
Lord and God? A great moral teacher? A very good man? What claims did Jesus actually make about His identity?
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Big Questions - Stop Doubting and... Believe!
Awake Us Now
Faith is essential ... but in what do place our faith? The scriptures make it clear that we are to place our faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, the Savior of all the nations, and the Hope of all the earth!
info_outlineLuke 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.