Gospel

Love: The Catalyst of Missions

Love: The Catalyst of Missions

Guest Speaker - Jay Armstrong - 10/1/2023

Key Passage: 1 Timothy 1:5

Missions Emphasis Week - Part 1

What do we mean when we say Gospel / Disciple?

- The gospel that you preach determines the disciples we produce.

Axiom: Christianity without Discipleship is always Christianity without Christ

- “Christianity without Discipleship is always Christianity without Christ.” - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

A Better Question: Jesus, how am I doing loving the people you’ve given me to love?

- What are we practicing?

- How are we preparing?

Grow in Grace

- Grace is God at work on our behalf to help us become and do what we could never become nor do on our own for our best good and His highest glory.

- Titus 2:11-15

The Disciple’s Process

1. Believe like Jesus

2. Live like Jesus

3. Love like Jesus

4. Serve like Jesus

5. Lead like Jesus

The Royal Command

- Love God. Love People.

- Matthew 22:32-40

A Divine Example

- As I have loved you

- John 15:11-17

A Disciple’s Duty

- Live as people of love

- Can we ever really say, we love God whom we haven’t seen if we are not willing to love the people he commands us to love who live right next door?

- Information alone doesn’t create transformation.

The Church: a community of faithful love.

- Motivated by relationships built on love, not on traditions, personalities, finances, programs, buildings, or events.

Relationships

- The end

- The means

- The message

Without Wax

- When love is sincere

Defining Love

- Love is the ongoing sacrificial pursuit of God’s best for another person.

Paul’s Purpose

- 1 Timothy 1:5

- The goal of our instruction is love

Two Goals

1. Love more people than we’ve ever loved before

2. Love people longer than we ever have before

Axiom:

- it’s more important to be than do

- It’s more important what happens in you than to you.

- You cannot give to others what you do not posses yourself.

Before the Throne of God

Before the Throne of God

Ryan & Bethany Reedy - 4/30/2023

Key Passage: Isaiah 6

Method • Questions

What Stood Out To You from Isaiah 6?

  • The overlap between the heavenly and earthly realms

  • Isaiah’s response to a holy God.

What Questions do you have? 

Who is King Uzziah?

  • Uzziah was a pretty good King, but the people of his time were not! 

    • 2 Chronicles 27

Who/What are the Seraphim?

  • Isaiah 6:2

    • The burning ones

  • Numbers 21

    • venomous snakes

  • Ezekiel 10, Revelation 4

    • Other passages that depict similarly strange heavenly creatures 

Shaking and Smoke?

  • Isaiah 6:4

    • The building shakes but doesn’t break at the voices of these beings

    • Both of these things point to God’s glory.

What do we learn about God from this story?

What did Isaiah experience?

  • He saw

    • A high and lofty throne

    • His robe filled the temple

  • He heard

    • Holy Holy Holy

      • Supremely and completely

  • He felt 

    • The shaking

  • He smelled

    • The smoke

A Special Name of God

  • Yahweh Sabaoth

    • Lord of Hosts

    • Lord Almighty

    • Lord of Heaven’s Armies

  • Also seen in Psalm 46

    • This name reminds us of God’s protection. He’s there when we call out in times of need.

What do we learn about people from this story?

  • Isaiah 6:5 - Isaiah’s response to seeing God is complete humility.

    • He is overwhelmed and undone.

  • Isaiah is completely dependent on God’s grace and mercy 

    • Romans 5:6

  • Isaiah doesn’t reject God, He receives God’s gift.

Isaiah’s response

  • Woe is me

    • Isaiah 6:5

  • Here I am. Send Me

    • Isaiah 6:8

What is OUR response to God’s presence and invitation in our lives?

How do the people of Isaiah’s time respond?

  • Rejection (Isaiah 6:9-10)

    • John 12:37-43

  • Remnant (Isaiah 6:11-13)

Before the throne of God

  • Revelation 7:9-10

  • “Missions exist because worship doesn’t”

How do I live out what I learned?

  • I have seen the King

  • Here I am. Send me.

  • Lord, how long will this go on?

Sent. Commissioned. Empowered.

Sent. Commissioned. Empowered.

Dave Riddle - 4/16/2023

Key Passage: John 20:19-31

They Locked Themselves Away in Fear

  • John 20:19

    • John 19:38

  • We gather together today, not in fear, but with joy!

Peace Be With You

  • John 20:19, 21

  • eirene: a national state of tranquility, harmony, and safety. In a Christian context: the tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation

  • Peace: the absence of chaos.

Sent On A Mission For The King

  • John 20:21 - “as the Father has sent me, I also send you.”

    • Sent in the same way He was sent.

      • This mission is going to come with chaos, confusion, and resistance.

      • Yet, he calls us to peace.

He Breathed on Them

  • John 5:22

  • A preview of Acts 2

He Validates their Message

  • John 5:23

  • their message is His message

The Purpose of This Gospel

  • John 20:30-31

  • So that you may believe!

    • That you may come to believe (an evangelistic purpose.)

    • That you may keep on believing (an edifying purpose)

    • BOTH!

What is Communion?

Message begins around 30:00

What is Communion?

Dave Riddle • 07/27/2022

Key Passage: 1 Corinthians 11:24-28

Communion: A Jesus-ordained ceremony 

  • Baptism is the other “ordinance” that we regularly practice

  • Matthew 26:26-28

An Act of Commemoration 

  • Remember

    • 1 Corinthians 11:24

      • Remember who Jesus is, and what he has done for us.

    • Exodus 12:2-3, 6-7, 12-14

      • A permanent statute

      • A lasting ordinance

      • Jesus fulfilled the old Passover and, in a sense, instituted a new Passover.

A Gospel Proclamation 

  • Proclaim

    • 1 Corinthians 11:26

      • Communion preaches the Gospel.

An Opportunity for Contemplation 

  • 1 Corinthians 11:28

    • dokimazō - to test, examine, prove, scrutinise (to see whether a thing is genuine or not). To recognise as genuine after examination.

  • Galatians 2:20

  • Romans 6:11

A Way to Celebrate Unity

  • koinōnia (Greek: κοινωνία) - fellowship, association, community, intimacy, joint participation (the share which one has in anything), communion.

  • 1 Corinthians 10:16-17

    • One body (the Church)

    • One loaf of bread (Christ)

  • John 17:9-11

A Cause for Hopeful Anticipation

  • 1 Corinthians 11:26

    • “…until He comes”

  • Matthew 26:29

Proclaim! So They Can Hear

Proclaim! So They Can Hear.      

1/2/2022 - Global Partner 

Key Passage: Romans 10:13-15

ROMANS 10:13-15 

  • Disciples are sent.

  • Disciples preach the gospel.

  • Lost people hear.

  • Some believe and are justified.

  • They call upon the name of the Lord in repentance and are saved.

ALL PEOPLE NEED TO HEAR THE GOSPEL.

  • “Faith comes from hearing and hearing from the Word of God.” Romans 10:17

ALL DISCIPLES SHOULD PREACH THE GOSPEL.   

  • 2 Corinthians 5:18–20

  • Our witness may include more than the spoken Gospel, but it should never include less than the spoken Gospel. 

THE LORD SENDS ALL HIS DISCIPLES TO PROCLAIM THE GOSPEL. 

  • Matthew 9:37-38

  • John 20:21

  • Mark 16:15 

  • “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

    • People don’t even know that there is a saving message to hear.

    • They don’t even know that they need to believe and call on the Lord.

GOD SENDS ALL OF US TO PROCLAIM THE GOSPEL SO PEOPLE CAN HEAR, BELIEVE, CALL ON HIM, AND BE SAVED.

Practical Ways to Share Bible Stories

Message begins around 14:50

Practical Ways to Share Bible Stories
Global Missions Emphasis 2021
Ryan and Bethany Reedy

Key passage: Acts 17:16-34

What Stood Out?

  • Paul’s grief about the idols

    • Acts 17:16 (provoked, upset)

  • Paul took time to understand the culture.

    • Acts 17:23 (unknown god)

  • Where Paul went

    • Acts 17:17 (synagogue, public square)

  • Paul’s emphasis on the resurrection

    • Acts 17:18

What question might someone have about this story? 

  • What is an Areopagus?

    • Acts 17:19 - a place to discuss religion, culture, philosophy

    • Acts 17:18

      • Epicureans: focused on pleasure, pain avoidance. Agnostic.

      • Stoically: Pantheistic. Strived for virtue.

  • Who are these poets Paul mentions?

    • Acts 27:28 - Paul learned their culture to connect with the people he was ministering to.

What do we learn about people?

  • The people love to discuss and debate ideas.

    • Acts 17:21

  • We are committed to the idols and gods that we’ve created in our own lives.

    • Acts 17:22-23

  • Two different response to truth.

    • Rebellion - Acts 17:32, 18

    • Humility - Acts 17:34

  • People need to repent

What did we learn about God?

  • There is one true God

    • Acts 17:24-25

  • God isn’t made by human hands or imagination.

    • Acts 17:29

  • God made us to know, love, and honor him

    • Acts 17:27

  • God has been patient, but he will eventually judge us.

    • Acts 17:29

Two Ways to Live

How do I live out what I learned?

  • Are we following the one true God or the idols of our own making?

  • How do we respond to this truth?

  • Do we have a burden/conviction for the people around us who are caught up in their own idolatry?

Who can you tell this story to this week?

  • Pray and ask God to convict and burden our hearts to share this good news with others.

Nicodemus - Four Object Lessons

Nicodemus - Four Object Lessons

The Gospel of John - Part 5 - 9/13/20

Key passage: John 3:1-21

Nicodemus - John 3:1-2

  • A Pharisee (3:1)

    • Very strict adherence, in all possible ways, to the rules.

  • A “ruler of the Jews” (3:1)

    • Well educated

    • Wealthy aristocrat

  • He came to Jesus at night (3:2)

    • He, most likely, wanted to be discrete.

  • “These signs must be from God” (3:2)

Four Object Lessons

Birth - John 3:3-7

  • “Unless someone is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

    • How can this be?

  • Jesus was using imagery that Nicodemus should have understood as a Pharisee.

  • “Born of the water”

    • Could be a reference to baptism or simply a reference to natural birth.

Wind - John 3:8-10

  • John 3:8 (HCSB): The wind  blows where it pleases, and you hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going.  So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

    • Ezekiel 36:26-27

    • There is some mystery when it comes to this transformation.

  • “How can these things be?”

    • John is using Nicodemus’s density as an ironic foil for Jesus’ wisdom.

    • John 3:10 (HCSB): Are you a teacher  of Israel and don’t know these things?”

Snake - John 3:14-18

  • Just as Moses lifted up the snake... the Son of Man must be lifted up.

    • Numbers 21:4-8

    • In the same way that the Israelites suffered from snake venom, we all suffer from the venom of sin in our lives.

    • In the same way that the snake was lifted up to save the Israelites, Jesus was lifted up on a cross to save all who look to Him.

      • John 3:16-18

      • Romans 8:1 - there is now, therefore, no condemnation for those in Jesus Christ.

Light vs Darkness - John 3:19-21

  • The light came into the world, but the people loved darkness. (3:19)

  • Everyone who does evil hates the light. (3:20)

  • Those who live by truth come to the light (3:21)