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_outline2 Year Gospel Study - week 71 (Friday, 05-09-25)
Up To Jerusalem - Teaching 13
Scripture: John 16:1-33, John 17:1-2.
In today’s teaching we continue with Jesus and His disciples having finished the Last Supper, Judas has left and Jesus and the 11 are walking towards the Garden of Gethsemane.
God’s call is to radical faith - the kind that allows us to stand strong against the enemy - Jesus shares that they hated Him, they will hate them, they persecuted Him, they will also persecute them. Yet, Jesus assures the disciples by telling of the coming of the Advocate - Holy Spirit - who will testify about Jesus and will bring power and strength and truth. This persecution comes but Jesus doesn’t want us to live in fear, but rather to trust and depend on Him.
Jesus shares that He must leave, remove His physical presence from the world so that the Father can send the Advocate - Holy Spirit - who will be with us. And no matter what we face the Holy Spirit is with us and lives in us.
The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin, convicts us of righteousness (right relationship with God offered through faith in Jesus who is our only hope because we are sinners). Having the Holy Spirit draws us to righteous living through His power. The Holy Spirit also convicts about judgement because Jesus is the Victor through His death and He shows that the judgement of the Holy God has been carried by the Son of God.
The measure of God’s love is that:
He doesn’t give us what we deserve, He gives us Himself.
He doesn’t give us what we’ve earned, He gives us what Jesus has earned.
He doesn’t give us what we’ve achieved, He gives us what Jesus achieved - and that is resurrection through faith in Him!
Jesus telling of the coming of the Holy Spirit was a prediction that He said before His ascension, but then at Pentecost after His ascension - it is our present reality! We are living in the Era of the Spirit. We are called to:
live in the power of the Holy Spirit
seek the Holy Spirit
listen to the Holy Spirit
follow the Holy Spirit
rejoice in the Holy Spirit!
Pastor shares that the Holy Spirit is not an “it,” but rather a Person. The Holy Spirit is God. A real person and we want to seek the fullness of the Holy Spirit and live in relationship with God that the Holy Spirit provides - dynamic and radical faith!
Jesus goes on to say that they would see Him for a little while and then see Him no more and that after a little while they would see Him again. The disciples are puzzled but in the days ahead this would all be revealed as truth. Their faith would blossom and grow! And just like His disciples, we too can always be growing in faith and in relationship with God.
Jesus prophecies that there will be grief and sadness ahead but it ends with Joy - that because He suffers and dies and rises everything changes. We now are able to come to the Father through Jesus and we can ask the Father anything - we are called to be people who are radical - not only radical in our faith but radical in our prayers because God’s will is to accomplish the seemingly impossible.
Whatever tribulation we face remember:
Jesus has overcome the world
Jesus has overcome the adversary
Jesus has defeated the devil
Jesus has won the final victory
And so in Him we have hope and peace. AND the promise of His return. Because of Jesus’ victory - we who are followers of Jesus are overcomers, too, through our faith in Him!
Our website – https://www.awakeusnow.com
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Up to Jerusalem is a study of the final weeks of Jesus' ministry concluding with His resurrection and ascension, using the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John together with material from ancient sources and recent discoveries. Up to Jerusalem is part four of our Two Year Study of the Gospels. Up To Jerusalem is the story of the plan of God to redeem the world, and the story of a Savior willing to obey the Father’s plan. As we study Jesus’ final days, we will be impacted as we discover the Love of God for each one of us.
This study is great for large group, small group or home group study and can be started at any time.