Kings & Prophets: From Solomon to Jeremiah - Week 5
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Pastor begins with a brief overview of Solomon’s divided kingdom. Judah was in the south with two tribes ruled by a descendant of David, Reheboam. Israel in the north with ten tribes was ruled by Jeroboam (1 Kings 11-14) 931-910 BC. God had said that Jeroboam’s kingship would be blessed if he followed the Lord, but he chose the exact opposite path. In today’s class we will look closely at three incidents with Jeroboam. In 1 Kings 12:31-33 we read some of the first things he did that were against God, everything Jeroboam did was counterfeit, just like what the enemy always tries to...
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The Living One - Week 1: Did He Really Live?
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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?
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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
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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
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Lord and God? A great moral teacher? A very good man? What claims did Jesus actually make about His identity?
info_outlineThis 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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