The Gospel According to Matthew - Week 8
Awake Us Now
Pastor points out the Old Testament’s words, “Thus says the LORD,” and compares them to the words of Jesus in the New Testament that say, “But I tell you.” What does this tell us about who Jesus is? Pastor explores the “But I tell yous” as found in Matthew chapter 5 and we learn what Jesus calls us to. That call is to a changed heart, which can only happen when we come to faith in Jesus. God’s call is personal! He wants to change each one of us by the shed blood of Jesus, the Son of God.
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The Gospel According to Matthew - Week 7
Awake Us Now
In Week 7, we hear more of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Jesus calls us salt and light. What does He mean when He uses these words to describe how we are to be? As historians have looked at world history, more and more of them are coming to the realization Christianity changed everything. Jesus has had a greater impact on the human condition than anyone in all of history. What Jesus produces in people, changes them!
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Dig Deeper - Week 11: Two Pictures of the Messiah
Awake Us Now
We will look at the two pictures of the Messiah found in the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament). 2 Pictures of Messiah Reigning King Humble Substitute This double picture is what led some of the great Hebrew rabbis to suggest there might be two Messiahs that would come at different times and in different manners. And that then became the dominant tradition: Messiah will raise the dead Messiah will be victorious Messiah will reign in Jerusalem Messiah will bring peace If we look at the New Testament the early followers of Jesus believed this same thing about the Messiah....
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The Gospel According to Matthew - Week 6
Awake Us Now
We finish Matthew 4 on following Jesus, and begin the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 that opens with the Beatitudes.
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The Gospel According to Matthew - Week 5
Awake Us Now
Week 5 of our Matthew study digs into chapter 4 on the Temptation of Jesus, His three temptations and the reality of an unseen spiritual world.
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Questions - Week 23: How Are Minds Opened Today?
Awake Us Now
This message focuses on the question: “How are minds opened today?”, which is part of our ongoing series: “What’s the answer?” Pastor explores how people’s lives are changed and what changes their attitudes about God, about Jesus, the resurrection, and about the power of God’s Word. Pastor takes us through Luke 24:36-47, an encounter with Jesus that His disciples have with Him after His resurrection. Jesus tells them: “This is what I told you while I was still with you; Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets...
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Daniel: When Kingdoms Collide (1) - Daniel's God
Awake Us Now
The Book of Daniel is the story of the collision of two kingdoms, a spiritual war that is still being fought in the heavens and on the earth. In the end, the Kingdom of God wins!
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The Gospel According to Matthew - Week 4
Awake Us Now
Week 4 of our Matthew study is all about John the Baptist and his message of repentance, a message that can be difficult for the religious to accept.
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The Gospel According to Matthew - Week 3
Awake Us Now
In our study of Matthew this week we look at chapters 2 and 3, with an emphasis on deliverance through Jesus the Messiah and the fulfillment of the New Covenant through Him as well.
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The Gospel According to Matthew - Week 2
Awake Us Now
This week our study of Matthew takes us into chapter 2 and the story of Jesus’ birth focusing on the Magi, their interaction with Herod, and their interesting gifts to Jesus.
info_outlineScripture: Acts 20:32-38
Pastor continues with the story of Paul’s talk with the leadership of the church in a gathering in the town of Miletus - it is Paul’s farewell speech to this group of believers. Paul finishes his time with these friends and leaders with them all in prayer together. There are tears as the leaders are grieved at knowing they will not see Paul again. Paul knew he had complete his work here and in the surrounding cities and areas. The chapter closes with them walking him to the ship to leave.
But let’s focus on one of the words from Paul’s speech as it draws to an end. He talks about our inheritance in Christ.
What does inheritance mean in the Bible?
The biblical definition of inheritance is speaking of what God gives to us through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 1:13-14 tells us that when we believed in Christ, Christ identified us as His own by giving us the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is the guarantee that Jesus will give us the inheritance He promised and that He has purchased us to be His own people.
1 Peter 1:3-4 tells us of an inheritance that comes to us through the death and resurrection of Christ and is an inheritance that can never perish or fade away.
Jesus’ death and resurrection is the heart of our inheritance. BUT there’s more!
The Essential Fundamentals of the Faith:
1. Deity - Jesus is true man and true God
2. Death - Jesus, the Lamb of God, through His death, paid for our sins on the cross
3. Resurrection - Jesus’ resurrection assures we too shall rise. The resurrection is God’s declaration that the sacrifice of Jesus is accepted.
4. Return - Jesus is alive forever more and is coming back. His second coming- He’s coming back for us.
These fundamentals are pointed to in the Old Testament, and are fulfilled in the New Testament.
Jesus’ return is the heart of Paul’s teaching and Christ’s return is what assures us of our inheritance.
Are you doubting the Resurrection of Christ? Dr. Gary R. Habermas is a scholar of the resurrection of Christ and has written several books. Here are two we suggest for those wanting to read about the evidence of Jesus resurrection:
“On the Resurrection: Evidences”
And
“On the Resurrection: Refutations”
Anthony Flew, a renown atheist debated Gary Habermas. Several years later Antony rejected atheism because the evidence for God is convincing.
The evidence for the existence of God and for the resurrection of Jesus is powerful and convincing. Many people have never examined the evidence but instead they have just bought into what they’ve been told by the world rather than the things they could have discovered.
What does it mean for us that Jesus is alive? What is our destiny? It is NOT as a spirit in heaven. The Bible teaches the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.
Pastor sites these verses for what the New Testament says about the:
Deceased Believers
Luke 23:43 - in paradise
Philippians 1:23 - with Christ, better by far
1 Thessalonians 3:13-14 - asleep
BUT on our destiny we read in
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
1 Corinthians 15:22-26, 51-52
Titus 2:13-14
John 5:28-29 that:
1. Jesus will come down from heaven with a trumpet call and a loud voice of the archangel
2. The dead will rise
3. We will be with the Lord forever
4. A new heaven and a new earth
5. Death will be destroyed
6. We will all be changed in the twinkling of an eye - imperishable!
Our destiny is to be raised to life forever with God with transformed glorified bodies in a new heaven and a new earth - ALL things new.
May the truth that we too shall rise anchor us in our faith in God and give us strength in opposition, joy in the face of loss and assurance in the face of death.
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