Walking It Out (Luke 3:1-14)

John the Baptist was a forerunner of Jesus; sent to prepare the people for the coming message of Jesus.

His primary message was that the Kingdom of Heaven was near (Mt 3:2) and, therefore, followers of God must walk out their repentance of sins by bearing the “proper fruit.”

“You’d better prove your repentance by bearing proper fruit.” -Luke 3:8a TKNT

Five Takeaways:

1. Faith is an action
2. Mercy, not rules – Love God, Love people
3. Your past isn’t going to do it – must seek God daily
4. Outsiders welcome
5. Serve God within your profession

Audio File: 2012-04-01 Walking It Out_web

Full sermon notes can be found on Pastor Josh’s blog.

The Life of Jesus – Listening to God Part 2

Living the life of doing what Jesus did calls us to listen to God and His leading. This is the second half of last week’s message telling us how  barriers can get in the way of hearing His voice.

Audio File: 2012-03-25 Listening to God Part 2-Barriers_web

The Life of Jesus – Listening to God

The Gospel of Luke:  Listening to God

In Luke Chapter 2, when Joseph and Mary went to the Temple to be purified according to the Law of Moses, they met two heroes of the faith – Simeon and Anna.

These two people were devout followers of God who listened to the Spirit and noticed an unassuming couple holding a little baby. They got to see the Messiah before anyone else because they listened to God!

The Bible tells us that Jesus talks to all who follow Him (Heb. 12:1-2; John 10:27) If we are not hearing Him we need to look at our lives and ask:

• Am I in the middle of a spiritual battle like Daniel? (Dan. 10)
• Am I going through a “dark night of the soul” like Job?
• Are there barriers in my life that need to be removed? Shame, sins, self-effort, fears, or selfishness? (this will be covered next week)

Or do I need to practice recognizing the voice of God in my life? How do we do that? How do we hear God?

• Angels
• Visions
• Dreams
• The use of the Urim and Thummin
• Symbolic Actions
• A gentle whisper (that nudging in your sould)
• Audibly
• Miraculous Signs
• Words of Knowledge
• Words of Wisdom
• Scriptures
• Circumstances
• The Body of Christ (i.e. the church)

“Howbeit when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth; for He shall not speak for Himself; but whosever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will shew you things to come.”  John 16:13-14

 

Audio File: Luke Ch 2 Listening to God_web

Introduction to the Life of Jesus – the Gospel of Luke

Paintings by Lars Justinen

The Gospel of Luke was written by a Gentile doctor named Luke who was a traveling companion of Paul.

The book was most likely written between the years 60-62AD, along with the book of Acts.  Both books were originally written to help the unknown Theophilus “know the certainty” of what he had been taught.

Accordingly, both books (Luke and Acts) focus on an event that took place in accordance with Old Testament messianic expectations and changed the future of the world. An event focused or personified in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.

Outline:

• Ch. 1:1-2:25 – The births of John the Baptist and Jesus
• Ch. 3:1-4:13 – Preparations for Jesus’ ministry
• Ch. 4:14-9:50 – Jesus in Galilee
• Ch. 9:51-19:27 – Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem
• Ch, 19:28-24:43 – Jesus in Jerusalem. His death and Resurrection

Audio File: 2012-03-11 Luke  Intro

Pastor’s Corner: Learning What Jesus Did

Pastor Joshua Hopping

This month we will be beginning our journey through the life of Jesus to learn more fully what He did so that we can truly live by our motto “Doing What Jesus Did.”  During this journey, we will be using the Gospel of Luke as our primary text while bringing in parallel accounts from the other three Gospels along the way.

Luke, as a Gentile and a doctor, offers us a concise and orderly account that connects well with our logical Western mindset.  Luke also has the most comprehensive account of Jesus’ life starting with His birth and going all the way through His resurrection while tying in Old Testament prophecies along the way.  Dr. Derek Morphew summarizes Luke’s whole message in one paragraph in his book “The Mission of the Kingdom: The Theology of Luke-Acts”:

“The new messianic age has dawned, fulfilling Old Testament expectations and inaugurating the relentless and determined will of God.  Its focus is the messianic King, Jesus who, by the power of the Spirit, brings healing and salvation to all nations.  This salvation includes previously excluded groups: sinners, the sick, Gentiles, Samaritans, the poor, women and children.  It spreads through the proclamation of the word, healing and phenomena of power and revelation.  Those who receive this salvation experience forgiveness of sins and respond with song, praise, prayer and wonder.  The message has financial and social implications.”

Luke’s message perfectly complements our study of the entire Bible from last year as we study more in-depth about how God’s grand story comes to a climax in the life of Jesus and caries on into our own lives.  Expect great things this year as we open ourselves up to God’s working!

The Reliability of the Bible

The Bible is a unique book – in fact, it is a collection of 66 ‘books’ written by over 40 authors across 5,000 years. These authors, who include kings, peasants, philosophers, fishermen, poets, statesmen, scholars, etc., wrote:

• Historical works
• Legal documents
• Poetry
• Biography
• Prophecy
• Personal correspondence

Yet somehow someway, all 66 books written by all those authors on all those subjects are strangely consistent. In other words, they all tell the same story, just in different ways as we saw last year in our overview of the Bible.

“Strangely consistent” because without God there would be no way all these authors would have been consistent. The Bible truly is a remarkable book given to us through the Holy Spirit.

Audio File: 2012-03-04 The Reliablity of the Bible

Pastor Josh’s sermon notes can be found here.

Worship – Living Sacrifices

Romans 12:1 says that we are to “offer our bodies as living sacrifices” to God. In other words, we are to give everything we are – our heart, soul,  strength, and mind to Jesus (Deut. 6:5, Luke 10:27)

In doing this we get to worship – to bow down in total submission – to God through:

• Serving others
• Teaching
• Prophesying
• Giving generosity
• Leading with energy
• Doing acts of kindness
• Encouraging others
• Blessing those who hate us
• Mourning with those who mourn
• Rejoicing with those who rejoice
• Repaying anger with peace
• Exchanging condemnation for mercy

Audio File:  Worship- Living Sacfices