October 2 2016 Connecting With The Real Jesus

Connecting With The Real Jesus

John 14:6 "I am the way, the truth and the life."

John 14:1-9 (NLT) “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. And you know the way to where I am going.” “No, we don’t know, Lord,” Thomas said. “We have no idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. If you had really known me, you would know who my Father is. From now on, you do know him and have seen him! Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” Jesus replied, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am?

How Do We Connect to the Real Jesus?

1. I engage the way of Jesus through prayer.

Question: "How do you know what Jesus would do?"

John 14:13 "You can ask for anything in my name and I will do it because the work of the Son brings glory to the Father."

Matthew 7:7 "Keep on asking and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking and you will find. Keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives. Everyone who seeks finds and to everyone who knocks the door will be opened."

2. I encounter the truth of Jesus through Bible study.

John 14:9-11 Jesus replied "Philip, don't you even yet know who I am even after all the time I've been with you? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. Why are you asking to see Him? Don't you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?" "The words I say are not my own but my Father who lives in me, does his work through me." "Just believe that I'm in the Father and the Father is in me. Or at least believe, because of what you have seen me do."

Question: Have you ever seriously studied who Jesus is?

Common Myths:

• Jesus came to make us more religious.

See Mark 7.

•  Jesus was just a good human.

See John 2.

• Jesus was a good historical figure.

See John 18.

• Jesus will make your life easy

CS Lewis “I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

3. I experience the life of Jesus through believing.

Acts 16:31 "Believe on the Lord, Jesus Christ and you will be saved."

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only son so that everyone who believes in him would not perish but have eternal life.

Memory Verse: John 14:6 "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me."

January 4 2015 Getting Unstuck In My Faith

GETTING UNSTUCK IN MY FAITH

PETER’S STORY OF GETTING UNSTUCK
John 13:38; 18:25-27; 21:1-19

“And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.” – Romans 6:4

HOW TO GET UNSTUCK IN MY FAITH
( 3 LESSONS FROM PETER’S STORY )
JOHN 21:1-12

1.  Admit THAT I AM Stuck.

“Later, Jesus appeared again to the disciples beside the Sea of Galilee.  This is how it happened.  Several of the disciples were there - Simon Peter, Thomas. . . .  Simon Peter said, ‘I’m going fishing.’ ‘We’ll come, too,’ they all said.  So they went out in the boat, but they caught nothing all night.” – John 21:1-3

“When you bow down before the Lord and admit your dependence on him, he will lift you up and give you honor.” – James 4:10

2.  BE Open  TO God’s Voice.

“At dawn the disciples saw Jesus standing on the beach, but they couldn’t see who he was.  He called out, ‘Friends, have you caught any fish?’’  ‘No,’ they replied.  Then he said, ‘Throw out your net on the right-hand side of the boat, and you’ll get plenty of fish!’  So they did, and they couldn’t draw in the net because there were so many fish in it.” – John 21:4-6

“There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death.”” – Proverbs 14:12

“‘My thoughts are completely different from yours,’’ says the LORD.  ‘And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.’” – Isaiah 55:8

3.  Commit TO God’s Plan.

“Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, ‘It is the Lord!’  When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his tunic (for he had stripped for work), jumped into the water, and swam ashore.  The others stayed with the boat. . . . When they  got there, they saw that a charcoal fire was burning and fish were frying over it, and there was bread. . . .  ‘Now come and have some breakfast!’ Jesus said.” – John 21:7-12

“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the LORD. ‘They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.’” – Jeremiah 29:11

Definition of UNSTUCK: Moving forward in my life because I am willing to give God complete control.

Unstuck is simply moving forward in my life because I’m willing to give God

Memory Verse: “And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God.  Let them be a living and holy sacrifice - the kind he will accept. When you think of what he has done for you, is this too much to ask?  Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.  Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is.” – Romans 12:1-2

November 30 2014 The Good News of Christmas

The Good News of Christmas

Matthew 1:23 – The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a Son and they will call Him Immanuel, which means God with us.

Why God Sent Jesus At Christmas

I. To reveal God’s identity.

John 1:18 – No one has ever seen God.  The only one, who is the same as God has made Him known.

John 1:14 – The Word became flesh and lived among us.  We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only Son who came from the Father.

John 14:8-9 – Philip said, “Lord show us the Father”, Jesus answered, “Don’t you know Me Philip”?  “Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father.”

II. To relate God’s Word to us.

John 18:37 – Jesus said, “In fact for this reason I was born, and for this reason I came into the world, to testify to the truth”.

Jesus said, “When you know the truth, the truth will set you free.”

John 12:46 – Jesus said, “I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in Me should stay in darkness.

III. To recover God’s creation.

Luke 19:10 – Jesus said, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”

Matthew 20:28 – I did not come into the world to be served, but to serve and give My life as a ransom for many.

John 12:47 – I did not come to judge the world, but to save it.

IV. To reproduce God’s life in you.

John 10:10 – Jesus said, “I have come that you might have life and have it to the fullest.”

2 Corinthians 9:15 – Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift.

John 6:47 – I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life.