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Questions - Week 13: Is Marriage Outdated?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!
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Big Questions - Receive... the Holy Spirit!
Awake Us Now
When Jesus says to His disciples, "Receive the Holy Spirit," it is not a "one-and-done" activity. He desires us all to live continually in the Spirit!
info_outlineThis teaching is from Matthew 26:26-39 and Exodus 6:6-7
Our story continues today with the Lord’s Supper.
Jesus is going to make it clear that He is the Passover Lamb who lays down His life for all people of all time.
Pastor overviews the Passover meal: why it was done, what the purpose was and shows us how Jesus changed the script that had always been spoken during this meal since the time of Moses.
Taking the bread Jesus says, “Take eat; this is My body.” Then after that He took the cup saying, “Drink from it, all of you, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”
Pastor shares about the 4 cups of wine during the Passover meal referencing the four verbs in Exodus 6:6-7. Four verbs, four cups of wine:
1. Cup 1 - I will BRING you out
2. Cup 2 - I will FREE you
3. Cup 3 - I will REDEEM you
4. Cup 4 - I will take you as My people
According to what is said in the gospels it appears Jesus spoke the words “drink this cup…” with the 3td cup - the Cup of Redemption. Jesus talks about this cup as “my blood of covenant given for you and for many.” This cup not only reminds us of God’s great deliverance of His people from bondage in Egypt, but it is God’s new covenant of deliverance from the bondage of sin for all people.
The disciples could see something unique was happening. Clearly Jesus is speaking of Himself as the redemption. In the days to come the disciples would look back on this Supper, Jesus’ Last Supper, and they would see it more clearly.
In the next verse, as Jesus finishes this 3rd cup, taking what is written here in Matthew 26:29 and in the other gospels it appears Jesus is saying He will not drink the 4th cup until the day we are all together in His Father’s kingdom (meaning when everything is fulfilled) when he said, “ I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”
Jesus will take this fourth cup, the Cup that will be celebrated at the “Marriage Feast of the Lamb” on His return. “When I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom,” this is the assurance of His return and a celebration that will never end.
Then Jesus and His disciples head to the Mount of Olives to the Garden of Gethsemane. He tells them that He is overwhelmed to the point of death. Jesus is truly God in human flesh - a real human being going through agony and sorrow at what He knows is to come.
He asks the disciples to stay with him and keep watch or in other words, “Be Awake!” What does it mean to “be awake?” It means to recognize the times, to be ready and prepared, to be one with our Lord Jesus, one with our Heavenly Father and one with the Holy Spirit. Be Awake!
Jesus asks that “this cup to be taken from me, yet not as I will but as you will.” Jesus - fully divine but also fully human speaks to His father and says could we go with another plan? But concludes His request with not my will but your will. This is how we too should pray - praying in God’s will.
We know things that God desires and we can pray in His will without hesitation:
For awakening in our country
For people to come back to the Lord
For people to know the Lord
For those going through difficult days
And holding one another up in prayer
But there are some times when we don’t know what God desires because His ways are far beyond our ways and even Jesus prayed not my will but your will to the Father.
“Thy will be done,” even in the face of overwhelming agony of what was ahead He stilled prayed “Your will, Father” and we are called to pray the same way.
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