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A Family of believers making disciples who influence the world by becoming daily followers of Christ.
Episodes
Thursday Feb 27, 2020
Thursday Feb 27, 2020
Hope for the Holidays from Hebrews (Jesus is Our Hope)
“Faith-Hope Connection”
“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and
assurance [conviction] about what we do not see.” (Heb. 11:1, NIV)
Exploring the Faith-Hope Connection
Faith is... “confidence in what we hope for...”
“and assurance [conviction] about what we do not see.”
I like to simply say, faith is “living like God can be trusted.”
Hope is... the confident (assured, “the blazing certainty...” - Leon Morris)
expectation (anticipation) “... of God’s ultimate triumph” (Morris)
God (He is in it, on it, and can be relied upon for it.)
keeps His promises. (His word is sure in Christ despite trials!)
Ultimately, Faith in Jesus gives us hope!
This is the Good News of Christmas: hope is personal in Jesus!
Hope is not wishful thinking (finger-crossing/squint your eyes tight faith).
Hope is “confident expectation God keeps His promises.”
All the promises God made to the Ancients came true through the
Incarnation for all those people listed in the Hall of Faith in Heb.11.
We can each have a faith/hope story (just like Abel, Abraham, etc...).
How does your faith/hope story intertwine?
Faith is a hope project- We believe God keeps His word in Jesus.
Faith is a community project too. We do this together, never alone.
Put your trust in Jesus- He gives hope.
Thursday Feb 27, 2020
Thursday Feb 27, 2020
Matthew 9:35-38
Investing into others for the sake of the gospel will change the world.
What did Jesus teach us about impacting the world for the Gospel?
1. Jesus spent time with the people.
2. Jesus was motivated by compassion.
3. Jesus understood the severity of their spiritual need.
4. Jesus understood the urgency of the opportunity.
5. Jesus prioritized prayer.
6. Jesus knew action was necessary.
Do these things...and God will use you to "turn the world upside down."
Thursday Feb 27, 2020
Thursday Feb 27, 2020
Hope for the Holidays from Hebrews (Jesus is Our Hope)
“Encouraged & Anchored by Hope”
“We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.” (Heb.6:19)
Hope is... the confident (assured, “the blazing certainty” - Morris)
expectation (anticipation)
God (He is in it, on it, and can be relied upon for it.)
keeps His promises. (His word is sure in Christ despite trials!)
Pictures of Hope from Hebrews 6:9-20
Imitate diligence (6:10-12)- Fully embrace a realized hope (v.11). How?
Through diligent love.
Through Kingdom work.
Through faith and patience.
Certainty of blessing by oath (6:13-17)- A reminder of our family story!
God made a promise to Abraham.
God swore an oath by Himself to keep His promise.
God kept his promise to Abraham; and ultimately, to us in Christ!
Fleeing & seizing (6:18)- therefore, we’re infused with courage in Christ!
By God’s promise and oath we are blessed.
We have fled our old way of life.
We tenaciously seize hold of Christ, our new way of life (our refuge!).
We are infused with courage by His life in us (encouraged).
Anchored (6:19a)- We are securely moored to a firm hope in Christ!
We are held onto by this hope (God keeps his word to us in Christ).
Our very essence (soul) is moored to Him! He holds onto us in trials!
Jesus, our mediator (6:19b-20)- Jesus mediates between us and God.
He goes where we cannot go (behind the curtain in the sanctuary).
He does what we cannot do (mediates)- “... has entered on our behalf.”
He goes before us on our behalf (intercedes). He gives real help/hope!
Thursday Feb 27, 2020
Thursday Feb 27, 2020
Hope for the Holidays from Hebrews - Jesus is Our Hope!
“Jesus is Worthy of Greater Honor”
(Heb. 2:17-3:6)
“But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory” (Heb. 3:6, NIV).
Hope is... the confident (assured, “the blazing certainty” - Morris)
expectation (anticipation)
God (He is in it on it and can be relied upon for it.)
keeps His promises. (His word is sure in Christ despite trials!)
Jesus is worthy of greater honor because...
He is our confidence and hope (3:6)! We glory (boast) in Him alone.
We are confident (bold) in Him.
We hope (“sufficiently convinced” - Guthrie) in Him.
We hold fast in Him.
Why?
He is the faithful Son (2:17; 3:6)- He is trustworthy over God’s house.
He is our dependable mediator.
He is a power broker/breaker (2:14-16)- He rescues/delivers us from:
the fear of death!
the work of the devil!
He is merciful and empathizes with us (2:17)- He understands our plight.
He withholds what we deserve.
He gives us what we need!
He served God’s purpose by giving His life for us (2:17-18)-
Incarnational (His arrival is purposeful)
Intervention (atonement- God provides the sacrifice for our sin)!
Thursday Feb 27, 2020
Thursday Feb 27, 2020
Hope in a Radiant Son
Hebrews 1:1-4 (ESV)
Hope is the confident expectation that God keeps all of His promises.
We have hope because God has spoken by the Son
God has spoken finally and decisively by the Son.
We have hope because the Son has shown who God is
“God had for a long time been sending advance sketches of himself to his people, but now he’s given us his exact portrait.” - N.T. Wright
We have hope because the Son has cleansed us from sin
“…and you will call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” - Matthew 1:21
We have hope because the Son reigns
“Surely, if Christ upholds all things He can uphold me. If the word of His power upholds earth and heaven, surely, that same word can uphold you, poor trembling heart, if you will trust him.” - C.H. Spurgeon
Thursday Feb 27, 2020
Thursday Feb 27, 2020
Kindness-Gratitude Connection
“Do What You Can- Make it Something Beautiful for Jesus!”
(Mark 14:1-9)
What if doing what you can is enough for Jesus? According to Jesus, doing what you can is acceptable to Him! Such “enough ministry” can be done as a beautiful offering of love, devotion, and worship this holiday season!
Let us do what we can to honor Jesus (14:3, 8).
No more is needed, no less will suffice. “She did what she could” (v.8).
Lit., “she did what she had.” (i.e., she gave what she had..”) (J.Brooks)
[At the holidays people often want to do as much for others as they can make
happen (given limited resources of time, energy, availability or money). This story
of a woman anointing Jesus serves as an object lesson of being pleased to do
what you can for Jesus.]
Planned, elaborate generosity is worthy of Jesus! (She anointed him....)
What is the “could” part you can do to honor Jesus?
Let us lead out at great cost to honor Jesus (14:4-5).
Extravagance has its place to declare great devotion/love!
“Sacrificial love is the heart of true discipleship.” (G. Osborne)
Even if conflict must come, yet we will do what we can.
Of course, there will always be nay-sayers, distractors, & opposition.
Refuse to let others keep you from honoring Jesus!
Let us do something beautiful for Jesus too (14:6–9)!
Jesus memorializes this woman! He forever connects her to the Gospel!
The 12 don't rise to this level of accolade (M.Card).
It drives Judas over the edge towards betrayal (vv.10-11).
Why is such beauty offensive? Beauty is a witness to God’s activity!
Grace so beautiful demands/commands a response: waste or grace?
What beautiful thing can you do to witness to the grandness of Jesus?
You do what you can to honor the Lord Jesus. Make it beautiful for Him!
Thursday Feb 27, 2020
Thursday Feb 27, 2020
Kindness-Gratitude Connection
“Jesus Deals out Messy Grace” (Lk.18:9-14)
How we pray reveals our connection to God’s kindness and our gratitude for it. Let’s be grateful for Jesus’ kindness in dealing with our messiness!
Jesus teaches us about our relationship with God and others (v.9).
Beware being self-righteous and looking down on others.
We all have mess and need God’s grace!
Jesus tells a parable about connecting with God in prayer (vv.10-13):
A parable is...a saying/story conveying spiritual truth towards action
“an expanded analogy used to convince/persuade” (K. Snodgrass)
“Syncrisis” = a comparison of opposites by juxtaposition (Snodgrass)
2 men in the Temple have diametrically opposed prayer practices...
Pharisee’s approach... reminds God how righteous he is.
proud, pseudo-gratitude.
Tax Collector’s approach... confesses to God how unrighteous he is.
asks God for mercy (lit., “the sinner”).
Ultimately, prayer reveals how we see God’s kindness (mercy)
how we see our messiness
the access we tell ourselves we have with God.
3 Truths Jesus teaches us from the parable (v.14):
God justifies (declares right); we do not. God can send you home right!
God will humble the proud.
God will lift up the humble.
What to do with Jesus teaching:
Check your attitude. You are neither the Judge nor Justifier.
Carefully guard your heart’s approach. Your mess needs grace!
Connect- access to God’s kindness leads to actions of gratitude.
Thursday Feb 27, 2020
Thursday Feb 27, 2020
Kindness-Gratitude Connection
“Jesus’ Example of Simple Kindness”
(Lk.17:11-19)
Jesus is kind by invitation (vv.11-13)-
Jesus sees and hears a need. Lepers holler for mercy!
Jesus acts to alleviate the need.
Jesus practices a simple kindness: “Go, show...” (v.12).
Jesus serves these men by directing them down a faith-
path: “Go, show yourselves to the priests” (v.12).
Jesus is intentionally kind (v.14)-
Jesus always does what God wants (Jn.5:19; 6:38).
Faith is trust in action: “as they went they were cleansed.”
The ten were faith-walkers. They’d never walked this way!
Jesus is inclusively kind (vv.15-18)-
Jesus is kind to the grateful 10% (the one)- “foreigner”
Jesus is kind to the ungrateful 90% (the nine)- Jews?
Jesus is 100% not defined by reaction/response of the ten.
Jesus drops a 3-question pop-quiz (vv.17-18)-
10 cleansed? 9 missing ingrates? Just this 1 foreigner?
Jesus is kind across theo-social-ethnic barriers.
Jesus shows the Father’s kindness (obs from story)
Jesus shows us that kindness is love in action (mercy).
Jesus shows us kindness is based on what is needed in
the moment, not what is deserved nor earned.
Jesus teaches a connection between kindness, gratitude,
and praise for God’s mercy (worship).
Jesus affirms faith taking hold of the kindness of God.
“Rise and go; your faith has made you well” (v.19).
“Water always wins” (Niagara Park Ranger)
3 most important things in life: “Be kind. Be kind. Be kind.”
(- An uncle to his nephew)