Growing Gracefully: Persecution
Awake Us Now
Jesus makes it clear to His followers - if we follow Him, we WILL be persecuted, just as He was persecuted. When that happens, we are not to despair, but to rejoice - "Blessed are those who have been persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven." (Matthew 5:10) Persecution is a confirmation that we truly are following the Living God!
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Questions - Week 22: What Did Jesus Tell Them?
Awake Us Now
Pastor gives us a look at the story, “On the Road to Emmaus,” found in Luke 24:13-27. We don’t know the actual location of Emmaus, nor do we know the names of those walking with Jesus in this story. The story takes place later in the day on the day of Jesus’ resurrection. Those Jesus walks with do not recognize Him. They are trying to figure out everything that had happened with Jesus and thinking about what the women had said about Jesus being alive and about the disciples having gone to the tomb and found it empty. Then Jesus begins to explain the scriptures to them concerning...
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Kings & Prophets: From Solomon to Jeremiah - Week 15
Awake Us Now
This is the final week in our study of 400 years of Kings and Prophets from Solomon to Jeremiah. King Josiah • Young King seeks God • Spiritual cleansing of Jerusalem • Book of the Law discovered • Reform beyond Judah • Passover observance - King Josiah gives an order to all people to observe God's Passover. This had not been celebrated according to what was written, not even in the days of the judges, nor in the days of any of the kings of...
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Growing Gracefully: Sing!
Awake Us Now
We see singing and songs throughout the Scriptures. Singing connects us with the heart, with one another, and with God!
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Growing Gracefully: Infilling
Awake Us Now
Everyone who is a true disciple of the Lord Jesus has the Holy Spirit. But does the Holy Spirit have us? It is one thing to know the Living God and to know Jesus as Savior, but it is another thing to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit on a regular, daily basis!
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Growing Gracefully: Awake
Awake Us Now
God charges His disciples to "be awake" in all times and all situations. We are especially charged to be awake to God's Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20), the reality of spiritual warfare, and the signs of the times.
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Growing Gracefully: Prepared
Awake Us Now
Almost two thousand years ago, John the Baptist called people to repent and prepare for the coming Lord. Today, we are still called to have repentant hearts that receive and extend the forgiveness of the Living God, and to prepare fruit for Him in our lives!
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Growing Gracefully: Holiness
Awake Us Now
Holiness is a gift, offered to us in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. But once God has made us holy, we are then called to pursue holiness in our lives!
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Questions - Week 21: Why Do You Believe He Is Risen?
Awake Us Now
Happy Resurrection Sunday - Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Today’s question is “Why do you believe He is risen?” Pastor starts today’s class with a personal testimony in which the Bible changed the direction of his life at the age of 15. Christianity stands or falls on the resurrection of Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:14 “And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.” Pastor shares the Evidence Trail of Jesus’ Resurrection on the bases of writings from believers, unbelievers, recorded data, and old and new studies. The Evidence Trail...
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Kings & Prophets: From Solomon to Jeremiah - Week 14
Awake Us Now
Last week we ended our study time looking at a great king of Judah, Hezekiah. Today we start with one of the worst kings of Judah, Manasseh, Hezekiah’s son. Manasseh reigned from 697-642 B.C. His story is found in 2 Kings 21:1-18 and 2 Chronicles 33:1-20. Manasseh reigned 55 years. He reigned longer than any other king and did more damage than any other king. He did evil in God’s eyes. It is a disgusting and tragic story. He destroys everything good his father had done. King Manasseh ⁃ Apostasy and Idolatry - 2 Chronicles 33:33 ⁃...
info_outlineLuke 17:11-19; “Top 10%”
Today’s teaching is a story from the last weeks of Jesus’ life before His arrest, crucifixion, death and resurrection. This story speaks with immediacy, power and direction to us today.
Top 10% - what comes to mind is human achievement- we want to be at the top, but God sees things much differently. When God speaks of the top 10% He’s talking about those who walk by faith in Him and who are filled with gratitude and thanksgiving.
So let’s explore today’s story in light of how God sees the top 10%.
The story is about 10 desperate individuals with a need that was met by Jesus and that will show us the importance of recognizing what God has done and giving Him the glory.
As Jesus is traveling towards Jerusalem 10 men with leprosy cry out to Him, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”
Jesus! Have mercy on us! And Jesus has mercy - He is merciful and He simply responds in love and mercy to them with, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” (Because according to the Law - If you had leprosy and it went away - you had to go through an 8 day purification ritual in order to be called “clean.”)
Jesus’ command to go show the priests was a way of saying - even though you have leprosy - act like you are healed! Before healing began Jesus told them to act healed.
Jesus is saying act on what God has declared!
And then as they walked to Jerusalem they were healed!
The Lord Jesus has delivered us from our sins by His death and resurrection. He provides life forever and He calls us not to simply sit around and wait for God to do stuff in our lives, He calls us to act on what God has declared. We are to learn from these 10 lepers that it is important to respond to what the Lord says!
Jesus speaks and He calls us to act!
As we read on with the story - 1 of the 10 when he saw he was healed - turned back and went to Jesus praising God in a loud voice and fell in thanks at Jesus’ feet.
10 were healed but only 1 truly understood that healing is more than just healing of the body. Healing is healing of the soul, and the spirit and the mind and that is what Jesus does. He heals the ultimate need of every person - and that is healing of the disease of the soul that destroys us - and only Jesus brings this healing as the the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
This healed leper showed himself to be in the top 10 because he realized what mattered most was giving thanks and praise to God and coming to know Jesus.
God calls us to gratitude and thanksgiving. Our attitude affects the way we live. He calls us to be people filled with gratitude because of Jesus Christ and what He’s done for us. Gratitude for the greatest gift of all.
Gratitude verses:
⁃ 1 Corinthians 15:57
⁃ 2 Corinthians 9:15
⁃ Colossians 3:17
Gratitude changes us!
Walk by faith practicing gratitude to God the Father through Jesus Christ.
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St. Luke’s Account is part three of our Two Year Study of the Gospels. This book written by 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 study.