Archive for the ‘Forgiveness’ Tag

The Father Loves and Likes You 2023 Workshops

Discover how the Gospel of the Father-Son-Holy-Spirit-God can guide us through the trials and tribulations of today’s world in 5 insightful teaching sessions. 📖

[Special guests Gary and Cathy Deddo lead us on a transformative exploration of Who Jesus is and our identity in Him amidst the challenges we face as the Church. Don’t miss out on this enriching experience and check it out! 🙌]

#GospelConference
#FaithInChallengingTimes
#NewLifeBaltimoreGCI

“Our Christian Identity”

“The Scope of Christ’s Lordship”

“The Scope Of Christ’s Salvation”

“The Lord’s Prayer”

“Living As Christian’s In This World”

“Jesus: ‘Look, I Am Making Everything New!'”, Part 2

Scripture: Revelation 21:1-8


Introduction:

The Lord Jesus Christ Is Risen! He is Risen Indeed! So, “Who is Jesus Christ?” “Who are you Lord? And the answer he gives is that He himself is the Resurrection and the Life! The scriptures themselves testify to Jesus Christ as the person around whom all things revolve and the One to Whom we should all turn and be directed.

Theological Theme:

Holding this two all together we can say that the Gospel is the Good News about Jesus Our Resurrection, and therefore the Resurrection is primarily about a personal relationship with Jesus Christ (personal doesn’t mean individual! It means sharing in Jesus relationship with his Father, the Spirit and all things!) It IS also about a glorified body! But it must be clarified in our day that Easter/Resurrection is a proclamation of the Fact that: You’re not just going to rise from the dead, you’re going to rise before, and accountable to Jesus Christ!

Christ Connection:

Relationship with Jesus is a priority ahead of receiving a new and glorified body! Because Jesus is not only the Resurrection but the Father’s Son, He is God and therefore present to us now in the Holy Spirit! He is Not first far off, but up close! He is “The God who made the world and everything in it—he is Lord of heaven and earth— [and he] does not live in [things] made by hands. 25 Neither is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives everyone life and breath and all things. 26 From one man[e] he has made every nationality to live over the whole earth and has determined their appointed times and the boundaries of where they live. 27 He did this so that [we] might seek God, and perhaps [we] might reach out and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 28 For in [the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit] we live and move and have our being,” – Colossians 1:24-28a

The picture you should have in your head about God is one where the Father embraces and seeks to embrace you through his arms of Jesus and the Holy Spirit! And Jesus is central because he is the one who takes us to the Father and sends us the Holy Spirit, so…

We proclaim him, warning and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29 I labor for this, striving with his strength that works powerfully in me.” (Col 1:28-29)

Missional Application:

In participation with Jesus Christ, by the Spirit, and to the Glory of the Father, we continue to proclaim Jesus to all and encourage all to place their faith in Him and enter a trust relationship with Him!

“the ministry of the Holy Spirit is personal and personally transforming—it is dynamic and interactive, bringing about receptivity, responsiveness and participation. And the result is that we are on a journey towards spiritual maturity and full sanctification, being changed into the likeness of Christ. But this journey is not automatic, causal, or impersonal. It is not mechanically imposed on all believers…receptivity and participation do make a difference, [and so] the New Testament indicates the differences it makes and encourages, exhorts and even commands us to be receptive to the Word of God and the ministry of the Spirit out of trust in God’s faithfulness through the Son and in the Spirit. As Paul exhorts in Eph. 5:18, we are to be “filled with the Spirit.”

These personal distinctions related to personal participation should not be taken to mean that God is faithful to some but not to all. The difference our personal responsiveness makes does not condition God into changing his purpose and aim for us and all humanity. It does not make God for some and against others, and it certainly does not lead him to want to see those who are unresponsive perish.

Our personal response (or lack thereof) to God cannot undo the fact that Jesus is and remains Lord and Savior of all. The character and purpose, mind and heart of God remain just as they have been revealed in Christ. The finished work of Christ is never undone—God remains, in Christ, reconciled to all people, no matter their response. He has and holds out forgiveness for them, is ready to receive them back into fellowship with him, and in that sense accepts them. However, while God accepts them, he does not accept their rejection, their sin, their rebellion, but accepts them in order to do away with what is against them and against their participation in the reconciliation accomplished for them in Christ. Nothing changes that reconciliation (with all it means), not even a person’s complete or partial rejection of God’s gift. However, our personal response (participation) does affect the quality of our lived relationship with God and thus our personal experiencing of the benefits of Christ.”

-Dr. Gary Deddo

Photos compliments: etsy.com

Whoever Has Been Forgiven Much, Loves Much!

Part A:

Part B:

Full Message:


Watch On YouTube

Main Bible Verses: Luke 7: 36-50 Acts 2: 36-41


Introduction:

The Father-Son-Holy-Spirit-God revealed in Jesus Christ is the God of Love and is therefore a forgiving God! In the birth, life, suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus we see God at work to forgive and overcome sin, sending it away and reconciling all to himself. In the way Jesus lived, the things he said, and the way he thought and spoke we understand what forgiveness really is and means for human beings.

Theological Theme:

We are each and all called to participate in receiving God’s gift of forgiveness, and participate with Jesus in being reconciled back to his Father and our neighbors! This proclaims to us the Good News that forgiveness is first something God gives to us a gift which enables us to repent and then share his forgiveness with others. So, we don’t have to repent in order to be forgiven, rather we are forgiven and enabled to repent!

Christ Connection:

Jesus is the True and Fully Human Being. When we want to see and know most clearly what God’s love really looks like in a human being and what his purpose and plan is for us we look to Jesus Christ! WE LOVE because HE first LOVED US. WE FORGIVE BECAUSE HE HAS FORGIVEN US. What Jesus gave us was not only himself as an individual but, in and through the Holy Spirit, he gives us the opportunity to participate with him in his human nature.

“We put our trust in God because of who Jesus Christ is. And he himself is the grace of God towards us. He is the Gospel. He himself is our salvation. And we receive all the benefits of who he is as we trust in him and cast aside (repent of) all other rival objects of trust. We then enjoy our union and communion with him as our Lord and God. Our lives are united to Christ and we share in his life, we participate with him in all he is doing and will do in and through our relationship of trust or faith.” – Dr Gary Deddo

Jesus Christ took on our broken humanity, healed it and raised it up NEW so that he shared in his renewing humanity. He performed a great exchange. He shared in OUR POORNESS so that we could share in HIS RICHNESS! He shared in OUR BROKENNESS so that so that we could share in HIS HEALED HUMAN NATURE! He shared in the temptation of our unforgiving nature and, resisting it with his forgiving love, gives us the same opportunity to resist our unforgiving nature through receiving his forgiving love.

Missional Application:

We are called as Jesus’ disciples to encourage God’s children tore forgiven in order that they, too, might REPENT because of the forgiveness of their sins by God the Father and receive the Holy Spirit. They will then not only be saved FROM their sins but also be saved FOR God and sharing God and his characteristics with their neighbor.

Conclusion:

Overflowing love and forgiveness toward others is the natural response to God’s forgiveness of us and the appropriate consequence of faith in him. However, only those who realize the depth of their sin can appreciate the complete forgiveness that God offers them and the share that with others. Having received this forgiveness we believers seek to share it freely with others because, in Jesus Christ, God has forgiven and rescued the sinful human nature of all people, whether those people are extremely wicked or conventionally good, even as we were!

Do you appreciate the wideness of God’s mercy? Are you grateful for his forgiveness?  Are you grateful for God’s forgiveness given to us in Jesus Christ?” If so, you will become more and more forgiving of others. Having received this forgiving love of Jesus we are now being compelled as ambassadors who are appealing to others (as if Christ was appealing through us!) to “Be reconciled to God”. “Receive his forgiveness!” The compulsion to appeal to others in love “to repent, turn to Christ and be reconciled” should outmatch any anxious cry and plea to “turn before you burn” because God’s grace is greater than our sin! Although God’s grace through faith is what saves us, and NOT our good works toward our neighbors, our good works demonstrate faith in Christ and are honored by Christ, and actually come from Christ, and therefore can bear fruit in the lives of our neighbors as we participate in them!

Photo Compliments: https://sermons.faithlife.com

Our Father’s Hope For All: In The Forgiveness Of Sin! pt.6

Part 6A:

Part 6B:

Full Message:


Watch On YouTube

Main Bible Verses: Luke 24 Luke 7: 36-50


Introduction:

“Our Father’s hope for all: In The Forgiveness Of Sin” has primarily to do with relationship and how relationships work. It is not some static fact apart from actual relationship. When we say Resurrection, we mean God’s forgiveness resulted not only in the sending away of sin but RELATIONSHIP with JESUS in a RENEWED HUMAN NATURE by the Spirit. This message focuses in on the forgiveness/reconciliation that is ours because of Jesus, The Resurrection.

Theological Theme:

The Gift God gives us is The Gift of Himself. God doesn’t have anything else to give humanity but Himself, so the gift you have been given in The Gospel is God -The Father, Son and Spirit and relationship with Him. This is why Jesus personalized Resurrection saying that HE IS THE RESURRECTION – John 11:25.

John 3:16

Christ Connection:

The primary thing Jesus has been proclaiming is HIMSELF and Who HE IS. Because He is God the Son, the only begotten of The Father, then when He is with us, in our humanity, He is God with us, God for us, for our humanity!

What The Resurrection is proclaiming:

  • Jesus is God The Father for us (since He is One with the Father).
  • Jesus is The Holy Spirit in us (since the Spirit is One with He and the Father).
  • Jesus is God, having done something to our human nature. Jesus is literally inside our human nature and so God is intimate with us by the Holy Spirit in our human nature.
  • Jesus is God, transforming our human nature up close and personal – personalizing and humanizing us.

When we say JESUS, we are saying that in Him and because of His union with us as His creation, there is now a reconciled relationship that God has with all with creation. For Jesus to become human and to touch and heal humanity means that what God created but had fallen into sin has now been made right again, in Him, so that we can have hope now and fulfillment at Jesus’ Final Appearing! We receive in Christ the complete forgiveness of sin and at the same time the complete healing of the proper relationship between God and man, and all creation.

“The Gospel is as inclusive as Jesus’ Humanity” – Bobby Grow

Missional Application:

What sin is:

Because God is a relationship and has called us into His relationship, sin means our not believing in Him, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Sin is our not trusting, or relating with Him. Sin is turning to something else other than The Father, Son and Spirit for your identity, for guidance in your life, for strength in your trials, etc. Sin is also the horrible motive of seeking to put God to death. Sin according to the scriptures is lawlessness meaning that it corrupts every part of our humanity in word and deed, and everything in between..

However, the one unchanging Truth of the universe is God and His love revealed in Jesus Christ. God is interested in us and in a restored relationship no matter that we have sinned and despite that we have done everything to mess up our relationship with Him. In His fantastic mercy and grace He has placed into the universe, and into His creation in Jesus Christ, THE FULLNESS OF THE FATHER SON AND SPIRIT IN FLESH! So Law in The New Testament is actually the Love of The Father, Son and Holy Spirit Revealed in the human nature of the Son. Since everyone has sinned, and Christ has undone our sin, every human has been forgiven of their sin and reconciled to God in Jesus Christ and, therefore, are each and all called to put their trust in Jesus and receive this forgiveness and reconciliation freely given to us!

Conclusion:

In The Resurrection Season, God The Father proclaims to you through His Son and in the Holy Spirit the forgiveness of all of your sins. Luke 24: 1-8

God wants all to participate in what Christ has done for us and to receive what is already theirs in Christ – THE FORGIVENESS OF SIN. The reason your sins are forgiven in Christ is because Jesus is “THE ONE FOR THE MANY”. Knowing Christ in His Resurrection means knowing the forgiveness of ALL your sins. Hear and receive this hope and proclamation of THE COMPLETE forgiveness of your sins because of Jesus, THE Resurrection, and because of Jesus’ Resurrection, bodily, from the dead!

“….Despite man’s sin, God is with him, the One who was in Jesus Christ reconciling the world, drawing man unto Himself in merciful judgment. Man’s evil past is not merely crossed out because of its irrelevancy. Rather, it is in the good care of God. Despite man’s life in the flesh, corrupt and ephemeral, God is with him. The victor in Christ is here and now present through His Spirit, man’s strength, companion, and comfort. Despite man’s death God is with him, meeting him as redeemer and perfecter at the threshold of the future to show him the totality of existence in the true light in which the eyes of God beheld it from the beginning and will behold it evermore. In what He is for man and does for man, God ushers in the history leading to the ultimate salvation of man.” ― Karl Barth, The Humanity of God

Photo Compliments: https://www.comeuntochrist.org/

Our Father’s Hope For All: In The Resurrection Relationship! pt 4

Part 4A:

Part 4B:

Full Message:


Main Bible Verse: 1 Corinthians 15: 1-34


Introduction:

God The Father so loved the world that He gave His Son to us as Jesus (God in the flesh) that whoever believes in Jesus (The God Man) by the power of The Holy Spirit will not perish but will have eternal life. God’s life – the Life He talks about by which we will not perish but live and thrive – is life knowing The Father, and Son intimately in The Holy Spirit. That is Who and what Life and Resurrection is and is about.

Theological Theme:

All truly are included in God’s [Father, Son and Spirit] love and life. It doesn’t have so much to do with a decision we make but has something to do with a decision God made prior to any decision we can make and which is the basis for our decision. That decision is the Person of Jesus Christ, Who is God for us from within our humanity. The gospel is not primarily about us receiving God into our life. The gospel is primarily about the tremendous grace of God, through Jesus, receiving us into His life.

Largely it is relationship with The Father, Son and Holy Spirit by Whom you are guided about how you think about life, what you do, what you receive, and what you reject.

Christ Connection:

Resurrection means relationship with Christ and being reconciled to the Father in and through Jesus Christ. Being reconciled means being in relationship with The Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Forgiveness means reconciliation with God and it means the restoration of relationship with God. Forgiveness of sin doesn’t just mean that sin ends but salvation means that we are saved INTO the restoration of relationship with God, where new relationship begins!

Missional Application:

God the Father Himself IS your Salvation. Sharing with Jesus in His relationship with His Father IS Salvation. Sharing friendship with Jesus IS Salvation. Intimacy with The Holy Spirit IS Salvation. The Holy Spirit comes upon you to reveal Christ to you, to mediate Christ to you. You respond by receiving and believing what The Holy Spirit has to say and, as God directs, witnessing to others about Him.

Photo Compliments: YouTube

Jesus Is Risen! So Go…Make Disciples! Part 4

Disciple Making Logo

Audio – Part 4a: 27 min

https://trinityandhumanity.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/19.6.02-jesus-is-risen-so-go-make-disciples-part-4a-8-matt-28-1-cor-15-tah.mp3”

Audio – Part 4b: 30 min

https://trinityandhumanity.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/19.6.02-jesus-is-risen-so-go-make-disciples-part-4b-8-matt-28-1-cor-15-tah.mp3”

Audio – Full Message:

https://trinityandhumanity.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/19.6.02-jesus-is-risen-so-go-make-disciples-part-4-8-matt-28-1-cor-15-tah.mp3”


Bible Verses: Matthew 28


 This Good News series is about Jesus’ Believers and Disciples “GO”ing in Active Participation with Him, Wherever He Says to “Go!…” AND MAKING DISCIPLES WHO CAN MAKE DISCIPLES!

Theological Theme:

Christian Disciples are those who willingly, by grace through faith, and in loving obedience, participate with Jesus in offering their total humanity in allegiance to the Father, through the Son and in the Spirit! Christian Disciples participate with Jesus in his repentance and baptism, being incorporated into his body, the Church. Christian Disciples become fully committed to making disciples of Jesus who can make disciples of Jesus that make disciples of Jesus – in the Spirit, through the Son and to the Glory of our Father!

Christ Connection:

“When the people of Jesus follow the way of Jesus, their stories will begin to look like his story (which is beautiful but it also comes with a cost).” – The Gospel Project

We have been drawn into the self-giving, other centered, self-sacrificing and generous, loving compassion of the Father, Son and Spirit God, through Jesus Christ. And though it comes at great cost, it also comes with great joy!

Missional Application:

*Don’t just “Bring a Friend” (everyone needs Jesus!), more than that, bring a pre-disciple of Jesus to the community of the Church Body.

*Start with one person (and only more if Father has made it obvious!) When rejected, go elsewhere. Feel free to look everywhere! Talk to disciples more about Jesus than something called Christianity. Talk more about Jesus than his Church!

*Don’t worry too much about bringing others to Church at first (think relationship, home, small group first!)! A person genuinely called by Jesus will be drawn to his Body, the Bible, prayer, the Father, the Spirit and loving all people.

*Remember that life is short and death is sure and people are living under the sentence of death! Physical death and spiritual death are real but now is a day of salvation.

*We must not be lax in discipleship because of past  and poor teachings  but we must be renewed at the living voice of Jesus Christ! “Can these bones live??? You know Oh, Lord!”

You received Christ though the proclamation and discipleship of his Church! Now is not the time to put down the Church but to lift up and be the Church and pray for the Church! God is not limited to the Church but in his oversight of this world Jesus is building his Church (and his Church is called to participate with him and to go and make disciples of all nations).

For the purposes of discipleship: There is a “them” and an “us”! We must never confuse who Jesus is on behalf of all, and who we are as individuals distinct from him and each other! There are some of us who are knowing, loving and trusting Jesus as he draws us to himself, and some who aren’t knowing, loving or trusting Jesus as he draws them to himself!

‬‬

Photo Compliments: pinterest.com

The Risen King’s Commission (Being Co-lovers with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit!)

NLF_Final_Man_Woman_Child1

Audio – Part 1a: 27 min

https://trinityandhumanity.files.wordpress.com/2020/01/19.5.12-the-risen-kings-commission-part-1a-matt-28-tah.mp3”

Audio – Part 1b: 27 min

https://trinityandhumanity.files.wordpress.com/2020/01/19.5.12-the-risen-kings-commission-part-1b-matt-28-tah.mp3”

Audio – Full Message:

https://trinityandhumanity.files.wordpress.com/2020/01/19.5.12-the-risen-kings-commission-matt-28-tah.mp3”


Bible Verses: Matthew 28:16-20


We are to go to the nations with the authority of the risen King, for Jesus alone has the power to save. In Him also is the power for our mission as we go. We are to make disciples through the proclamation of the risen King. We are to teach the believers of our proclamation to obey all that the Father commanded us, through Jesus and in the Holy Spirit, knowing that Jesus will finish the good work He began and that He will never forsake us.

Theological Theme:

The mission of the church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ.

Christ Connection:

Before Jesus ascended to the Father, He commissioned His disciples to go into the world and make disciples of all nations. Under the authority of Jesus, we make disciples by baptizing people in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and by teaching them everything Christ commanded us. As we go, we trust in the presence of Christ, who promises to be with us on mission.

“The church is sent on mission by Jesus. It’s not that the church has a mission, but rather that the mission has a church. We join Jesus on His mission.” – Ed Stetzer

Missional Application:

The Father-Son-and-Spirit God calls us to make disciples of all nations by declaring the truth of the gospel with our words and demonstrating the reality of His love with our actions.

“God hath work to do in this world; and to desert it because of its difficulties and entanglements, is to cast off his authority. It is not enough that we be just, that we be righteous, and walk with God in holiness; but we must also serve our generation, as David did before he fell asleep. God hath a work to do; and not to help him is to oppose Him.” – John Owen (1616-1683)

Photo Compliments: newlifebaltimore.org

Jesus Is Risen! So Go…Make Disciples! Part 3

Disciples who make disciples

Audio – Part 3a: 24 min

https://trinityandhumanity.files.wordpress.com/2020/01/19.5.05-jesus-is-risen-so-go-make-disciples-part-3a-7-matt-28-1-cor-15-tah.mp3”

Audio – Part 3b: 22 min

https://trinityandhumanity.files.wordpress.com/2020/01/19.5.05-jesus-is-risen-so-go-make-disciples-part-3b-7-matt-28-1-cor-15-tah.mp3”

Audio – Full Message:

https://trinityandhumanity.files.wordpress.com/2020/01/19.5.05-jesus-is-risen-so-go-make-disciples-part-3-7-matt-28-1-cor-15-tah.mp3.mp3”


Bible Verses: Matthew 28


 This Good News series is about Jesus’ Believers and Disciples “GO”ing in Active Participation with Him, Wherever He Says to “Go!…” AND MAKING DISCIPLES WHO CAN MAKE DISCIPLES!

Theological Theme:

Christian Disciples are those who willingly, by grace through faith, and in loving obedience, participate with Jesus in offering their total humanity in allegiance to the Father, through the Son and in the Spirit! Christian Disciples participate with Jesus in his repentance and baptism, being incorporated into his body, the Church. Christian Disciples become fully committed to making disciples of Jesus who can make disciples of Jesus that make disciples of Jesus – in the Spirit, through the Son and to the Glory of our Father!

Christ Connection:

Who is Jesus? Jesus is God’s concrete love, revealing that God’s love has substance and is personal and dynamic! God Himself is his love toward us in Jesus! God the Father’s love is JESUS himself and therefore not a loosey-goosey “just do whatever you want, whenever you want” non-love that overlooks transformation. We don’t go out with a sappy sentimental human-centered love but with God’s real love (Jesus!) that supports and challenges others to receive the Spirit, personally, and become truly human, according to what the Father has made of us in Jesus and the fully human way he lives. We must remember though that God’s love respects the differences and uniqueness of each person, just as Jesus is a different and unique person. Jesus can help you discern the unique ways you might witness about him to each person, in the Spirit, without being tied down by laws and rules.

Missional Application:

Because we are united toJesus and his Father in the Love and Communion of the Holy Spirit, we go with him in his outgoing love and compassion, witnessing to all persons about him, but especially to those who don’t know and trust him yet! Disciples can and will be made by God-Father-Son-and-Spirit with our participation, so let’s go together and make disciples!

Photo Compliments: briansandifer.com

The Risen King Forgives And Restores!

Forgiveness 2

Audio – Part 1a: 19 min

https://trinityandhumanity.files.wordpress.com/2019/11/19.3.17-the-risen-king-forgives-and-restores-part-1a-john-21.1-23-tah.mp3”

Audio – Part 1b: 19 min

https://trinityandhumanity.files.wordpress.com/2019/11/19.3.17-the-risen-king-forgives-and-restores-part-1b-john-21.1-23-tah.mp3”

Audio – Full Message:

https://trinityandhumanity.files.wordpress.com/2019/11/19.3.17-the-risen-king-forgives-and-restores-john-21.1-23-tah.mp3”


Bible Verses: Luke 24:13-35


Jesus revealed Himself to His disciples for a third time after His resurrection. Through this breakfast encounter, Jesus demonstrated the reality of His restorative power. Because He fulfilled God’s plan to rescue people from sin, Jesus was able to forgive the disciples for their sins and failures and then recommission them in their task of following Him. As Jesus’ followers, we trust in the power of His restoration to enable us to move beyond our sins and failures and accomplish great things in His name.

Theological Theme:

Forgiveness of sins is what makes following Jesus possible.

Christ Connection:

Through His breakfast encounter with His disciples, Jesus showed the reality of His restorative power. Because He fulfilled God’s plan to rescue people from sin, Jesus was able to forgive the disciples for their sins and failures and then recommission them in their task of following Him.

“Reverencing the presence of his Lord, [Peter] threw himself into the sea…The love of Christ draws men through fire and water.” – John Wesley (1703-1791)

Missional Application:

God the Father calls us to demonstrate our love for Jesus by following Him in the Spirit, no matter where the journey might lead and no matter what happens to other followers.

“[T]he Lord Jesus Christ is entrusting the slave with sheep he bought with his blood, and so he requires of the slave the capacity to suffer to the point of shedding his blood. It is as though he were saying, ‘Feed my sheep. I am entrusting my sheep to you.’ What sheep? ‘The ones I bought with my blood. I died for them. Do you love me? Be ready to die for them.’ And as a matter of fact, while that human slave of a human master would pay money for sheep destroyed, Peter paid the price of his blood for sheep preserved.” – Augustine (354-430)

Photo Compliments: i.pinimg.com

Jesus Is Not Pretending – God REALLY IS Humble!

Jesus is humble

Audio – Part 1a: 34 min

https://trinityandhumanity.files.wordpress.com/2019/09/19.1.27-jesus-is-not-pretending-god-really-is-humble-part-a-john-13.1-15-matt-26.26-30-tah.mp3”

Audio – Part 1b: 34 min

https://trinityandhumanity.files.wordpress.com/2019/09/19.1.27-jesus-is-not-pretending-god-really-is-humble-part-b-john-13.1-15-matt-26.26-30-tah.mp3.mp3”

Audio – Full Message:

https://trinityandhumanity.files.wordpress.com/2019/09/19.1.27-jesus-is-not-pretending-god-really-is-humble-john-13.1-15-matthew-26.26-30-tah.mp3”


Bible Verses: Matthew 26:26-30 John 13:1-15


For more than a thousand years, the Passover meal celebrated God’s deliverance in the exodus of His people from Egypt and simultaneously pointed ahead to an even grander sacrifice and work of God. Jesus reinterpreted the Passover meal in light of Himself and His coming sacrifice on the cross for the sins of the world. With a demonstration of authority and humility, Jesus set forth the pattern of countless Communion celebrations that now point back to His new covenant sacrifice and point forward to His coming kingdom with holy anticipation.

Theological Theme:

The Lord’s Supper points to our participation in the sacrificial nature of Christ’s life and death, and the humble nature of God – Father, Son and Spirit.

Christ Connection:

Hundreds of years before Jesus came, God made a covenant with Israel and sealed it with a sacrifice. When the people of God broke the covenant and worshiped false gods, God promised to enact a new covenant in which He would forgive sins and write His law on His people’s hearts. At the Last Supper, Jesus explained that His sacrificial death would establish this new covenant and bring forgiveness of sins in the humility of God.

“Why was this sacrament ordained at the time of the Passover? That we might learn that he [Jesus] is the giver of the law and that the things that are foreshadowed in the law are fulfilled in him. The Old Testament was a type of the things to come. He is the truth of those things.” –John Chrysostom (circa 347-407)

“Humility is the principle of all virtues: it removes any contrast, division or dissension from human beings and plants into them peace and charity. And through charity it grows and increases.” –Theodore of Mopsuestia (circa 350-422)

Missional Application:

God the Father calls us to take the Lord’s Supper, participating in his humility by the Spirit, looking back to Christ’s finished work and looking forward to his return.

“Throughout church history, this command to wash one another’s feet has been understood to mean we should do whatever it takes to serve one another, no matter how menial the task. To be a community of foot-washers is to live with this question on your lips: ‘Is there anything I can do for you?’” –H. B. Charles Jr.

“The ideal of a church community living in peace with one another is foundational to the evangelistic witness for the local congregation. It stands to reason that the Lord’s Supper, then, is not just an observance but a declaration about the way things are to be among God’s people. The meal contains a message not only about who Christ is and what He has done for the church, but who is included in the gospel story and in the benefits of Christ’s glory. It is a story of belonging, and a radical message that God intends for His people to identify with all believers, whether they are poor, weak, or forgotten.” –Gregory Alan Thornbury

Photo Compliments: cisphil.org