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Questions - Week 13: Is Marriage Outdated?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!
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Dig Deeper - Week 1: In the Beginning
Awake Us Now
Genesis 1:1 - “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Let’s look at the words “God” and “created.” in this verse in Hebrew the word used for God is a plural noun and created is a singular verb. What day did God create the world? It says God created everything in 6 days and He rested on the 7th day, the Sabbath, and that is Saturday. Which means the first day of creation was on Sunday. What was the day of the week that God began a new creation? That was on the day Jesus arose from the grave. The Bible tells us this was on the first day of the week, on a...
info_outlineScripture: John 20:1-18, Exodus 25:10-22, Leviticus 16, Jeremiah 3:16, Jeremiah 31:31-34, Romans 3:23
God provides remarkable glimpses of Jesus in the Old Testament. To understand what Mary Magdalene saw in the empty tomb that first Resurrection Sunday, consider the Arc of the Covenant and the part it had in the Day of Atonement.
Today’s study is the eyewitness story of Mary Magdalene going to Jesus’ tomb and finding it empty. As she approaches the tomb she sees the stone has been removed from the tomb’s opening. She runs and tells two of Jesus’ disciples what she’s seen and they run to the tomb and see that what she said, was true. They leave not understanding what has happened.
Mary is left alone at the tomb. Crying, she peers into the tomb and sees two angels in white seated where Jesus’ body had been - one at the head and one at the foot.
In Exodus 25:10-22 we read about God’s instruction for building the Arc of the Covenant. The directions tell us about the lid - atonement cover - of the box and that it was to be covered in gold and have 2 cherubs (angels) at each end of the cover, God then tells Moses to put the tablets which He will give him into the box, put the cover on the box. God then tells Him that there, between the cherubim on the Mercy Seat / Atonement Cover of the box / Arc of the Covenant., He will meet with Moses.
God instructed that once a year at Yom Kippur - the High Priest were to kill a goat as a sacrifice for the people’s sin and sprinkle its blood on the Atonement Cover - on the Mercy Seat. Then after sprinkling the cover they would release another goat into the wilderness. This Day of Atonement served as a reminder that they needed an innocent victim not only to cover and pay for their sins but also to carry those sins away.
In Jeremiah 31 we read that God will give a new covenant and the New Covenant is what Mary got a glimpse of that resurrection morning because she saw the flat place where the bloodied body of our Savior had been laid - after He offered Himself as a sacrifice for our sin. And now the body is gone and there on the spot where Jesus had laid are two angels, one on each end of it - It is a picture of the Arc’s Atonement Cover, the Mercy Seat!
God is offering the New Covenant!
The story continues with Mary coming face to face with the risen Jesus. He calls her by name and she immediately recognizes Him. It’s not knowing the stories about Jesus, it’s about coming face to face with the reality of who He is. Like Mary - it’s personal - it’s about relationship with Him.
What Mary saw is the most amazing foreshadowing: How the place where God met with the children of Israel had been fulfilled in the place where God meets all of us in the empty tomb - because He is alive! And that changes everything!
Jesus is the One who is the very Mercy Seat of God, who’s blood covers our sin, who carried it away and who offers us life and forgiveness and hope and joy and an eternity with Him.
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