Archive for the ‘The Body of Christ’ Tag

Pentecost And The Coming Of The Holy Spirit!

Part 1A

Part 1B


Scripture: Acts 1, 2


Introduction:

Summary and Goal:

Pentecost was the occasion following Jesus death, resurrection and
ascension when the Holy Spirit was sent as Jesus promised to his
disciples in Jerusalem. Peter proclaimed the fulfillment of the
prophecy of Joel 2:28-32.

Theological Theme:

Jesus Christ is the living Head of the Church, and to whom it looks and is
directed through the Holy Scriptures, by the indwelling Holy
Spirit.

Christ Connection:

Jesus lives in his followers through the presence of the Holy Spirit
indwelling and empowering them to fulfill the great commission of
proclaiming the good news of Jesus in the world.

Missional Application:

The Church, the body of Christ, is composed of people who trust in
Jesus and who are commissioned to make disciples of others in the world.

Photos compliments: pinterest.com

Our Father’s Hope For all: In Jesus’ Body Being His Church! Part 9

Part 9A:

Part 9B:

Full Message:


Watch On YouTube

Main Bible Verse: Acts 2


Introduction:

The Father has poured out His Spirit upon all that all will receive Jesus as Lord, personally, receiving His invitation that He might indwell them. Jesus, in His Father’s mission continues to go out in the power of the Spirit, drawing every person, everywhere, to Himself, and with the special participation of believers, His Church! Jesus, through His Church, still has an earthly and historical Body unified in the Spirit that worships Him, witnesses to Him, and joins Him in the ministry of calling all to trust Him as Lord and Savior in Relationship!

Theological Theme:

Even In the middle of pandemic, prejudice, police brutality, panic and pandemonium, Grace and Peace is upon us from God our Father through the Lord Jesus Christ! Jesus is the One Who baptizes in the Holy Spirit that we might participate with Him in His Life and relationship of Love with the Father! His is not just any old kind of love but Love as it has been revealed in the life, words and deeds of Jesus Christ as attested to in holy scripture. Jesus Christ is the Revelation of Who God is! Jesus Christ is the revelation of what it means to be a Real human being and, through His Holy Spirit, is intent to share his humanity with us that we might be more truly and fully human, glorifying our Father!

Christ Connection:

“The church is commanded to lift up its head in joy, for its ‘redemption is drawing near’ Meantime in all its waiting and expectation the church is commanded by its Lord to lift up its head in thanksgiving and joy, for its ‘redemption is drawing near’. The church of the risen Lord has no right to be a prophet of gloom or despair, for this world has been redeemed and sanctified by Christ and he will not let it go. The corruptible clay of our poor earth has been taken up in Jesus, is consecrated through his sacrifice and resurrection, and he will not allow it to sink back into corruption. Hence the whole creation groans and travails waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God, looking forward with eager expectation to the hour of final liberation and renewal in the advent of its risen saviour.” – Thomas Torrance, Atonement: The Person and Work of Christ, page 348 (Chapter: The Nature of the Resurrection Event)

Missional Application:

“The church must learn to take into its mouth the good news of the resurrection and new creation, for that must be its primary note, one of limitless joy and thanksgiving. That is how the church began its mission at Pentecost where the dominant emphasis in all its preaching was the resurrection of the crucified Christ and the astounding fact that because of Christ the Spirit of God himself was poured out upon men and women. They knew that the last times had overtaken them and that they were caught up in the onward and outward thrust of the resurrection of Christ toward the new creation in which all nations and peoples and all times would be brought to share. The involvement of the church in the suffering of mankind must never be allowed to stifle that supreme note of resurrection triumph or to smother the eschatological joy at the astounding events that have broken into history and pledged for mankind the final day of regeneration.” – Thomas Torrance, Atonement: The Person and Work of Christ, page 348 (Chapter: The Nature of the Resurrection Event)

Photo Compliments: turnbacktogod.com

Toward An Enduring Identity!

Part A:

Part B:

Full Message:


Watch On YouTube (via Zoom)

Main Bible Verses: 1 Peter 2: 1-17


Introduction:

We are each a part of the body of Christ. Chosen by God, receivers of great mercy, we have been given a new identity that we are to work out in our lives. With Christ as our foundation and example, we’ve also been given a new purpose and calling to be set apart for the work and glory of God.

Theological Theme:

The church is a sign and instrument of the kingdom of God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, constituted and commissioned by Jesus Christ.

Each of the four preceding descriptions of the church—a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and a people for God’s possession— reminds us that we are fundamentally different from the world. We are, as Peter put it, strangers and exiles in this world. This is our new identity in Christ, and it is from this identity that our changed behavior should flow. Who we are should always be the root of our behavior.

Christ Connection:

The early Christians faced persecution and experienced suffering for their faith in Christ. Peter reminded them of their identity as God’s people—formed by Christ and sent out on His mission. United to Christ, the One who suffered for us on the cross, Christians can expect God to use suffering to make us into the image of His Son.

God has graciously provided a solid foundation for us to experience His goodness for eternity. That foundation was laid through Christ’s obedient life, sinless sacrifice, and powerful resurrection, and by faith in Him, we can stand firm on it……Peter teaches about the enduring, living hope we have through Christ. He records glorious truth after glorious truth about the gospel—the work of Christ on our behalf so that we might enter into a permanent relationship with God…..Since the great mercy of God has rescued us and given us a living hope and an imperishable inheritance, therefore, we take action. It’s important to understand that if the sole purpose of salvation were to rescue you from eternal damnation, there would be no reason for you to continue to exist in this world. Our lives are about more than our individual deliverance. We remain on this earth to be stones of grateful testimony who declare the salvation of our glorious Lord to every one who will hear.

Missional Application:

God, through his Holy Spirit calls us to be an otherworldly people for the good of this world, to stand against the world for the sake of the world.

One key to living out our new identity and purpose is to understand our new citizenship. We cannot live out the call to be holy with one foot immersed in the patterns and conduct of the world and another in the lifestyle of Christianity. This is a false reality for the two are incongruent with one another. Even the goodness of the world and the social norms that might jive with our biblical worldview cannot be our goal. The world does good in order to be seen as good. The Christian does good in order to point to our good God.

“Advance in the Christian life comes not by the work of the Holy Spirit alone, nor by our work alone, but by our responding to the grace the Holy Spirit initiates and sustains.” –Donald S. Whitney

Conclusion:

We have been saved with a great purpose. Yes, we personally benefit from the rescue we’ve received, but ultimately, our salvation is not about you and me. The glorious reality of our redemption is to be proclaimed for the sake of those who still yet need it, all for the glory of our Redeemer. Therefore, we must take seriously our calling to live an otherworldly life. With our feet firmly planted on the bedrock of Christ’s character and provision, we get to live out our calling as a child of God, with all the hope of an eternal future with our glorious King.

Marriage: Profound Mystery About Christ And The Church! pt. 4

Part 4A:

Part 4B:

Full Message:


Main Bible Verses: John 14: 6 Ephesians 5 I Corinthians 6: 17


This Message Series:

Living Into This Challenging Christian Life With Jesus! #15

Introduction:

The gospel can be summarized as participation with Jesus Christ. There’s nothing we have to make-up, or anything apart from Jesus, but only something that Jesus gives to us as a gracious gift as we walk with Him while He lives and does His life in and through us.

In light of Jesus and what has revealed to us about himself and who we are, the Christian life is a life of repentance. We are in a season of Lent –which means we remember our need to be in “dust and ashes” about the way we thought life was apart from Christ. Lent, then, is about something all Christians do and that is, REPENT. To turn from our way of thinking and receive what God has to say about us.

(SIDE-NOTE: Scripture: Job 42: 16Lent has to do with ashes because throughout the Old and New Testament ashes means humility and repentance.)

In this series, we’re coming into repentance about marriage because we think marriage is primarily about a husband and wife, our humanity, our own subjective marriages, but Paul is causing us to take more seriously that marriage is primarily about Jesus Christ (The Bridegroom) and His Bride (The Church). That is what marriage is really about. All our marriages are really signs pointing away from themselves to Christ, so we should not see our marriages here as ideal but see them as a real and true participation with Christ on earth as a sign. A sign that JESUS is really present in our marriages to lead them into their ultimate fulfillment in Him.

“Relying on God has to begin all over again every day as if nothing had yet been done.”― C.S. Lewis

John 14: 1- 6

Theological Theme:

The primary goal of Jesus as The Way, The Truth and The Life is to be in relationship His Father (God-Father-Son-and-Holy Spirit). Jesus wants us to know His Father and His Father’s heart as He has always known and will know His Father so that we may be more in union with Him and the Father in the Spirit. When we see Jesus, we see the Father at work and repent of forgetting the Father and the Spirit, but rather remember God in His distinction and relationship.

Christ Connection:

1 Corinthians 8: 6

We were created in, through and by for Jesus Christ. Being a Christian means to be in Christ, in union with Christ by the Spirit. God is One in Being and Three in Person so when we talk about marriage relationships we are ultimately referring to union with God, and getting our definition of love from Who God is revealed to be. Love is a WHO, not a what.

SIDE-NOTE: 1 Cor 6: 13-17 Ephesians 5: 29. These set of passages are to remind us that we are in union with Jesus Christ (with God in Him!)

God – Father-Son and Holy Spirit’s true image in flesh is Jesus Christ, not us or our marriages. We are made in the image of God’s Image (Jesus!) as man and woman together. Jesus is the Father’s Son, (not just The Son), in The Spirit. Jesus is The Mediator between God and man. Jesus is the true humanity. Jesus is the Bridegroom, so marriage, scripturally, has something more to do with the relationship of Jesus to His Body to His Church, more than it does us to each other in our distinct marriages. JESUS is THE TRUE SUBMISSIVE HUMAN BEING AND HEAD OF HIS BODY. HE is THE RESPECTFUL ONE. WE participate with Him in HIS submission and respect of the other by the Spirit.

THE OBJECTIVE GOSPEL:

Diagram From Sermon:

What’s true of everyone in Jesus Christ:

God took on ONE human nature that was the same human nature of every human. Jesus became sin for us, without sinning to deliver us and our nature from sin.

The three qualities of God:

  1. God is distinct – Father, Son and Holy Spirit
  2. God is equal – No one is above the other. No specific roles.
  3. God is Unity – Act as one. Can’t break them apart.

God made marriage and love to reflect His relationship in The Trinity. (The Father-Son-and-Spirit relationship)

What we are founded on:

Before everything was created, God had already decided that He would pay the cost and be crucified and resurrected in Christ for our sins.

  • Jesus is our wisdom for marriage and dating relationships.
  • Jesus is our Repentance – The great cost of forgiveness has already been anticipated in God’s mind. God is not counting our trespasses against us because of Jesus, so repentance is possible by The Spirit.
  • Jesus is our sanctification – He is the one who has made everything clean and clear again.
  • Jesus is God’s costly Grace – Suffering is included in inclusion.
  • Jesus is God’s unconditional love in your marriages.
  • Jesus is your Righteousness. – Our right relationships. God’s grace is greater that greatest sin that can occur in you marriages. Ephesians 2

Missional Application:

BASIC OVERVIEW:

What we know about God – Father-Son and-Holy Spirit is that there are two ways to be whole as human beings and to live in that relationship.

  1. Married person – which points to the relationship Jesus is going to have with His Father when He is married to the bridegroom (Church)
  2. To live as Jesus did; as a single person.

Life in God’s image as human beings is FEMALE and MALE. As we all draw closer to The Father through Christ and by the Spirit as male and female, we get closer to each other.

Marriages and relationships between male and female are a witness and a sign to Father, Son and Spirit so you must be in relationship with the opposite sex in order to be a human person in the glory of God. We are not required to be in an intimate sexual relationship with the opposite sex to be in the image of God, or to be fully human, but we must be in relation with the opposite sex, like Jesus also was, to be in the image of Jesus and to glorify God as one.

Male and female relationships are a witness and sign to the relationship between The Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This is what it means to be a human individual (one in relationship with the opposite sex) – That is what love is.

Marriage is also a witness and a sign of the relationship between The Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Marriage includes sexual intimacy, and childbearing. Sex in this relationship points to the fact that God is not only One but He indwells the other without becoming the other.

Photo Compliments: https://fiercemarriage.com/

The Method: Missionaries

Acts 13 Missionaries Sent By God

Audio – Part A: 23 min

https://trinityandhumanity.files.wordpress.com/2020/07/19.11.17-the-method-missionaries-part-1-acts-13.1-3-14.8-28-tah-andrews.mp3”

Audio – Part B: 21 min

https://trinityandhumanity.files.wordpress.com/2020/07/19.11.17-the-method-missionaries-part-2-acts-13.1-3-14.8-28-tah-andrews.mp3”

Audio – Full message:

https://trinityandhumanity.files.wordpress.com/2020/07/19.11.17-the-method-missionaries-acts-13.1-3-14.8-28-tah-andrews.mp3”


Bible Verses:  Acts 13:1-3, Acts 14:8-28


Introduction:

God sent out some of the first missionaries through His Church. These missionaries were committed to following Jesus wherever He led them, even if that meant facing opposition to and suffering for the gospel message they proclaimed. God used these missionaries not only to bring others into His family but also to strengthen and encourage the church itself as they saw God at work.

Theological Theme:

God’s kingdom expands through mission to the unreached.

Christ Connection:

Jesus told His disciples that the gates of hell would not prevail against His church. This image helps us see God’s people as “on offense,” taking the powerful and good news of Jesus to places of deep spiritual darkness with full confidence that Jesus will build His church.

Missional Application:

God-Father-Son-and-Spirit calls His Church to send and support missionaries to those who have never heard the gospel.

Photo Compliments YouTube

Jesus Is Risen! So Go…Meet Jesus!

Meet-the-Real-Jesus

 

Audio – Full Message – 20mins:

https://trinityandhumanity.files.wordpress.com/2019/10/19.3.3-jesus-is-risen-so-go-meet-jesus-matt-28-tah.mp3”


Bible Verses: Matthew 28


 This Good News series is about Jesus’ Believers and Disciples Going in Active Participation with Him, Wherever He Says to “Go!…”

Theological Theme:

As Christians called to Christ and in Union with him, Jesus sends the Spirit so that we can be transformed and begin to Organize and Execute our Lives Around the Father with him and his priorities! We no longer live trying to fit Jesus in to our schedules. Believers have died that death in Jesus and now we live unto Christ! The Father’s schedule is our schedule, and is scheduled first! It’s amazing how much Father helps us fit in or put out of our schedules when we are spending time with him and his Son.

Christ Connection:

Immediately following his Resurrection, Jesus began to meet with his disciples, directing them to “Go” in the Spirit.  In this message his disciples are encouraged to go to his disciples, encouraging them to meet up with him and be built up in his faith, hope and love!

Missional Application:

God the Father calls us to embrace a life of participation with His Son, our Savior and Lord, whose mission was only to seek and to do what his Father was doing, in the Spirit.

Photo Compliments: churchbythetracks.com