Luke 18:18-30 — Who are you following?

• the Parable of the Camel and the Needle’s Eye

1. How do I get eternal life?

18. Now a certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

2. The Cost of the Law

19. Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.
20. You know the commandments:
    do not commit adultery,
    do not murder,
    do not steal,

The video shown at the end of this message can be found here: Healed from a Stroke

The story

• Jesus is baptized by John
• voice of the Father “You are my beloved Son—with you I am well pleased.”
  • (This is going to be a key event because it is Jesus’ relationship with his Father that is going to be Satan’s point of attack.)
• the Spirit comes...
  

Why Jesus’ commands are not legalism—Luke 6

• How does this fit in with grace?
• How come Jesus does not spend his time telling people he loves them just the way they are and there is nothing they can do to make him love them more or less.
• Where is the grace?

I was mulling over my thoughts about our vision for Newlife Church and I came up with some key concepts. We want the church to be diverse in culture, age and social level. We want all the gifts in operation. We want evangelism and growth, a strong teaching foundation, and a love and care for people that addresses the huge social problems of the city and gives hope to the hopeless.

The handout is available as a word file here: handout of Eph 4:17-5:21

For notes and visuals for this sermon, please see Notes on Romans 6-The Two Worlds

Sermon Notes

1. The 12 are sent out

• Luke 9
  1. And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases,
  2. and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.
     

1. Acts 17

22. So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I see that you are very religious in all respects.

Psalm 90

A Prayer of Moses, the man of God

1. The Facts

The events of Acts Chapter 3

• We are going to read Acts 3:1-4:4 and then in a few mins we will watch it on video from the Visual Bible
  
  • The healing
  • The Message

What we can learn?

1. Not everything in this account can be directly applied to our situation

• Differences

2. But some things can

1. Belonging and Rejection

• Two witnesses in Luke
  
  • Two examples of preaching to Gentiles who come from a pagan background (unlike Cornelius)
  • We will watch first, go through passages and then watch the second
• Watch video: (disk 2, 01_1-04:10) 13:44—>14:20 (8:02)
• Only twice do we have a record of Paul’s preaching to Gentiles who have little or no contact with the Old Testament.

link to Discussion Questions page

Our micro “values-pack”

The Envelope/Cover

Link to Cartoon

(Part 2 of Series on the Gifts of the Spirit)

(Part 3 of Series on the Gifts of the Spirit)

(Part 5 of Series on the Gifts of the Spirit)

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During the sermon, this James O. Fraser trailer video is shown.

http://nlife.ca/audio/download/1656/2012-09-09-Andrew_Fountain-my_testim...

To watch the video clips shown during the sermon, see the links below

No Audio Available. Click here for video.

Full sermon notes - The Christmas Story

The Christmas Story

Intro

Here are the two YouTube videos that I mentioned in the sermon:

Jesus' promise of his presence with us

• What about your story?
• What is God asking you to do?

• See the whole series on Colossians here

• See the whole Colossians Series
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• See the whole Colossians Series
• 

• See the whole Colossians Series
• 

• See the whole Colossians Series
• 

• See the whole Colossians Series
• 

• See the whole Colossians Series
• 

• See the whole Colossians Series

view the handout

Download pdf of the handout

Link to sermon notes for Living the Christian Life: at Work

Link to video and notes

I’m optimistic about the future of the church. That’s because in Eph 4, God says that we’re moving out of childhood and into maturity. But how?

For centuries many have struggled with this, and 100’s of books have been written. Is there an answer?

Many people struggle with feeling that their Christian life is a failure—a lack of power, joy, or victory over sin.

How do you build something without plans?

Most Christians have a rather limited understanding of this central part of the Christian church’s activity. How many of these did you know?

• Can these both be true? and if so then how can we really be close to him?
• Some parts of the Bible show God as really scary and other parts gentle and comforting.

• The Different Kinds of Beings in Existence
• The Pagan world view and avoiding it
• Evil & Suffering—It’s Origin & Destiny

• Most people will agree that there is something very wrong with this world
• How did it get this way?
• And how can we personally avoid falling into temptation in our lives?

• Union with Christ is the single most important idea in the whole of Christianity.
• If you truly understand what it means, and get a really firm grasp of it, then it will affect you profoundly.

• In his last words to his disciples before he died, Jesus laid out for them a plan.

• We answer 12 common questions about the events leading up to Christ’s return, the day of judgement, and the age to come, with a focus on Matthew 24 & 25. We then consider what the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins really means, and how it challenges us.

• There are amazing connections between Eden, the temple, Jesus’ teaching, and the book of Revelation.
• Grasping the power of the temple imagery throughout the Bible will impact our own lives and mission.

Download a PDF of the handout here: John 1 handout

Video cover image from Kids on the Move (permission given)

• Why does Jesus answer Mary in such an odd way? It is almost rude and seems very out of character.
• Yet it turns out that this answer is what unlocks the challenge to us in the story.

• What exactly made Jesus so angry?
• Why did he gave such a strange answer to the Pharisees?
• When we can truly resonate with Jesus’ anger and feel his love, we can get what this story is all about.

• Jesus challenged Nicodemus to think outside his religious box.

• John 3:16 is probably the best known verse in the Bible, but it has a hidden depth and richness that makes it (and the rest of the passage) well worth studying.

• After feeding the 5000 and walking on water, Jesus was asked to provide more food. The answer he gave was very strange, and resulted in many people walking away from him.

• These strange sounding words can be, for your, a deep source of life.

• Are you feeling dry and thirsty? Jesus is offering cool refreshing water: abundant, life-giving and free. Come and drink!

• There is a voice inside you that is telling you lies!
• Experience what it is like to have the truthful words of Jesus bringing freedom from this darkness.

• On the surface this is a simple healing story,
• but John has beautifully put together a series of events and conversations that build up to a startling revelation from Jesus
• that his light can actually lead people to become blind,
• and we ourselves need to pay close attention.

• Jesus highest teachings, given just to his disciples in John 14–17 come to a climax in his prayer at the end,
  and now we reach the very pinnacle of the prayer

• We are a gift from the Father to Jesus: his beloved ones
• He gives our love back to the Father as a gift:
  to be revealers of God’s self-giving love to the world (and universe)
• This is the highest expression of the Christian faith you will ever hear.

• Jesus was betrayed, arrested, abandoned, denied and abused.
• Yet those were the very people he came to die for!
• What manner of love is this?

• The simple celebration to remember Jesus is so often misunderstood.
• If we get what was so terribly wrong with the way the Corinthian church was breaking bread,
• then we have the key to bringing joy to the heart of Jesus.

• Pilate was faced with a choice that in some ways is very similar to ours, even if we are a Christian.

• John is very selective, but this is because he is very focused in the unique way he wants us to relate to Jesus as he suffers and dies on the cross, a way that we miss if we don’t follow his references

• The resurrection of Jesus was not simply coming back to life, but the start of a new kind of humanity.
• It gives us access to a new kind of life within us—empowered for victory.

• Life from the resurrected Jesus brought life to those around him.
• You can experience more of that life, as Mary did.

• People get fixated on the 153 fish, Peter’s clothes or odd behaviour, and miss the wondrous and life-changing point that this story is making.

• This story helps us understand how Jesus deals with our failure.
• Come to him and let him gently restore you and give you strength.
• Just honestly tell him about it, and accept it is the same gentle Jesus that talked with Peter on the beach that morning.

• John’s desire is that we should meet Jesus through his writing.
• Even if we are Christians, we can meet him in a new and powerful way as we engage in these pages with the one who is both God and human.

• The best remedy for Covid-19 depression is to increase our daily level of thankfulness by taking some practical steps.
• Here are some suggestions of things you can do.

• There is strong Biblical support for the power of weaving thanksgiving into the story of our lives.
• In more than one place, victory and answer to prayer are linked to giving thanks.

• We start with the origins of our Thanksgiving Day,
• work through the kind of things Jesus gave thanks for,
• and look briefly at modern discoveries of how thanksgiving changes your brain.
• Then we do it!

• The purpose of this talk is to convince you of the value of exploring the Old Testament,/n-and to begin the journey.

• We read the creation account, and then look at how the rest of the Bible reflects on, and adds to, the event.
• We end with the key question:
• How are WE to respond to the creation?

• It is so important to grasp the Big Story of the Old Testament so as to make sense of the hundreds of small stories.
• To just watch the 4 min animation, go to go.church.to/arc

• Why did the disciples get so excited when Jesus opened up the meaning of the Old Testament to them?
• Learn about types and shadows and you will see!

• How we can make sense of the Flood account in Genesis,
• see how it connects with Jesus,
• and how it still speaks to us today.

• To understand the covenants is both the beginning and the end of the quest for truth.
• For in them we can grasp how the Creator relates to humanity.

• If the Law was for the Jews, what about everyone else?
• Does the Law have any value in the New Covenant under Jesus?
• Plus other questions.

• Light is a key theme in Scripture, and as we put together references from the whole Bible, we see a beautifully unified theme what brings hope, and direction for living.

• If God has given you his own beloved Son, Jesus, then will he withhold anything from you?

In Romans 8 Paul gives us some of the most encouraging words in the Bible

• There’s a fresh start for humanity with Abraham and Sarah, a new Adam and Eve but with a very different requirement.
• Instead of law, they are under faith, with the requirement of simply trusting that he will be with them.

• If we can grasp the big picture of God’s plan for humanity, it will not only help us understand the Bible, but hugely empower and energize us for the Christian life.

• When we see how the images of Eden in the Bible all hang together in a beautiful way, it bring us so much hope and leads us towards victory.

• All our problems as Christians, come down to the fact that although we are a New Creation, we are still living in the Old.
• Answering this problem leads to true victory.

• Behind idolatry is our fear, and a need to gain control when we are powerless.
• Once we get how it worked in the Old Testament it is very easy to see how we fall into this trap ourselves on a daily basis.

• Seeing this theme throught the Bible will help us to take encouragement from some very powerful words from God in the Old Testament.
• We now see how they speak into our lives.

• Seeing the big story of Israel allows us to get a glimpse into the heart of God that is deeply revealing and affecting.

• When we see how God’s promises and prophecies to Israel fit with the New Testament and beyond,
  like Paul we will not be able to help bursting out in praises to God.

• When we see what a strong foundation our faith is built on, the joy of that truth will well up inside us

• Many people feel that the Old Testament God wanted to be feared but there’s a different God in the New who has banished fear.
• The solution to this problem is very rarely understood, even by Christians, and extremely important.

• Understanding God’s compassion is vital for living an authentic Christian life.
• It shines most brightly in the N.T. in Jesus, but there are some remarkable stories in the Old, demonstrating that God does not change.

• Quite often, when people start reading the Old Testament. they hit roadblocks such as
  • obscure language,
  • stories that seem to condone violence or abuse,
  • and moose strange or problematic laws, for example regarding women.

• A word that is so rich, so precious, and so heart-warming has been tragically misunderstood in recent centuries.
• God’s holiness a positive quality very closely linked to his love, and it is so important that we connect with this.