The Gospel According to Matthew - Week 17
Awake Us Now
This week’s text is Matthew 12:3-37. Jesus continues to be challenged by the Pharisees' anger, bitterness and scheming as Jesus continues to show who He is. He shows us how a heart-change is needed!
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Dig Deeper - Week 13: Of First Importance...
Awake Us Now
Pastor takes us through an exploration of one of the earliest Christian statements of faith. 1 Corinthians 15:3-5 Paul said, “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve.” Of FIRST Importance is that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. Jesus is the sacrificial victim who pays for the sins of the world. Only an innocent victim can pay for...
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The Gospel According to Matthew - Week 16
Awake Us Now
This week’s text is Matthew 11:13-12:4, with a continued study of John the Baptist as fulfilling the prophecy of “Elijah who was to come” as he points to Jesus as the fulfillment of the prophesied Savior. The class continues exploring Jesus’ identity through the teachings on repentance and forgiveness found in Jesus, as we learn that it is through Him alone that we can come to know the Father.
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The Gospel According to Matthew - Week 15
Awake Us Now
In Matthew 10:29 - 11:15 we learn we are ambassadors for Christ with the Holy Spirit dwelling within us. The Holy Spirit enables us to be effective witnesses wherever we go. We are called to live for Christ, and that has phenomenal consequences both for us and for others. In chapter 11, Matthew shows us Jesus’ identity.
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Questions - Week 25: What if the Shroud is Genuine?
Awake Us Now
This is a controversial topic. The Shroud of Turin is the most studied, most scientifically tested artifact in history. It has been subjected to literally hundreds of thousands of hours of intensive study by people of multiple disciplines. What do we know for certain…. The Foundation: 1 Corinthians 15:1-5 “Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.For what I...
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Daniel: When Kingdoms Collide (3) - God Reveals
Awake Us Now
Jesus never promised His followers an easy journey. What He does promise is a great destination, and He assures us of the presence of His Holy Spirit to uphold, to guide, and to reveal, so that His people may be equipped to lead the nations back to Him!
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The Gospel According to Matthew - Week 14
Awake Us Now
Pastor continues his verse by verse study of the book of Matthew. Today’s teaching is on Matthew 10:7-31. This section of Scripture is filled with some challenging instruction from Jesus that is filled with Divine Wisdom.
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The Gospel According to Matthew - Week 13
Awake Us Now
Pastor continues his verse by verse study of the book of Matthew. Today’s teaching is on Matthew 9:18 - 10:10. This week’s study shows us Jesus as the Son of David, the Messiah. We also explore Jesus’ encouragement to spread the Gospel message to all, both Jew and Gentile.
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The Gospel According to Matthew - Week 12
Awake Us Now
This week Matthew’s writings reveal the authority of Jesus; even the winds and the waves obey Him! This authority, His authority, identifies Him as the Living God.
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Dig Deeper - Week 12: What Did They See?
Awake Us Now
Dig Deeper - Week 12 - What did they see? Today we take a look at what John and Peter saw when the got to Jesus’ grave. John 20:3-7 ESV tells us, “So Peter went out with the other disciples, and they were going toward the tomb. Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen...
info_outlineThis 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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