We Are Family

This morning we tackle the doctrine of the church and the new community that God continues to build on the Rock of His Son Jesus. It is to be a warm, open, pulsating, dynamic, loving and attractive place that people can meet and experience family the way He desires. It has been said that the church is the hope of the world and so how do we embrace all that the Father desires for us? We will see ourselves for who we really are, oneness in unity, diversity of gifting and extravagant in love. We are here to turn this world upside down and it is my prayer that we will embrace becoming what He has designed us to be!

Our Foundation Is Jesus Matthew 16:13-19

It was Peter who correctly identified the truth that Jesus was the Rock on whom the church would be built on. The authorization to preach the forgiveness of sins through the Spirit empowered preaching of the gospel comes through the words of Christ when he taught us the truth that whatever you (plural) bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you (plural) loose on earth will be loosed in heaven (v18) We proclaim His forgiveness, His release, His freedom for all!

It is important that we realize this phrase, “I will build my church” Jesus is the architect and has the grand master plan.

"Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain... In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat--for he grants sleep to those he loves" (Psalms 127:1-2).

God has to build the house. It is His House, it is His name on the line. We can never become the caretakers of His house. Our love can ran dry, our spirit of hospitality can wane, our courage can only take us so far, but in His house we can “trust in God's unfailing love for ever and ever” (Psalm 52:8).
We are subject to fatigue, weariness, but God never sleeps and never slumbers and sometimes it is just enough to get people here like the paralytic’s friends in Mark 2. We don’t always have the right words, but He does. Sometimes it is powerful just enough for them to hear God’s Word and let it speak for itself.
We can stay awake with them in their pain and suffering, we can care for others like family, but the house in which the suffering find unfailing love is the Lord’s. This is the house to which we must bring them. This is the house in which we must live. We are talking about something bigger than a building built by human hands. Lead the soul sick and the weary to the house of Christ.Jill Carattini, a Christian writer states, it is…

a house built not by human hands, but held up by the beams of the Cross. Here our souls find a house with rooms prepared for them and a table set with room for our enemies. God has invited us into the kingdom ; the doors of a great house are opened wide. And it is a house where hospitality is an extension of Christ's invitation: Come to me, all who are weary and I will give you rest. Peter continues to give us the blueprints of this house as he writes in 1 Peter 2: 4-6

As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in Scripture it says: "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.

You might think of living stones and be led to picturing a house here and the idea of bricks, but again the picture of what Peter had in mind were stones that were carefully shaped and placed into position much like the work of a stonemason that carefully sets them into place to complement each other paying great attention to detail and design.

You will never be put to shame. You see shame is the belief that I am defective, that I am wrong at the core. Guilt is different – it says I have made a mistake. Shame says I am a mistake.

It is such a powerful statement because the confidence of my hope does not rest in me. It rests in the trust that I put in Christ. My heart is secure and steadfast because He has told me I am precious to Him and I have a perfect fit in His House, I am part of a holy priesthood!

Unity in Diversity 1 Corinthians 12:12-24

The church in order to function properly means that we all have a part to play. We are not in the cloning business and so we all have unique giftings and passions that serve every area of the ministry here. All of us together make up the body and it takes the active participation of all of us. Should a foot or a hand become numb or paralyzed, it should and will affect the overall health of all of us.

Oneness is impossible if the constituent parts of the body are all the same. Sameness results in uniformity. The world hates diversity and seeks for everyone to be conformed to its standards and be branded by its labels.



Ephesians 3:10,11

His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We are to bring Christ’s presence to our world. Everyone who is a believer in Jesus and follower of Him is a minister. We are all called to minister and the way that it happens is through our acceptance of our God given gifts and talents. We are all needed. The variety of the gifts should be exploited for ministry for the benefit of all. We are here to defeat the enemy of our souls and pray for those still had captive, for their release into the true freedom and expression in Christ. There is no competition or comparison in the body. According to Paul the eternal purpose of God is for the church to become the supreme expression of His wisdom forever and ever. Our purpose and place in the church continues to solidify and evolve as we continue to be His workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God has prepared in advance for us to do.




We are all ONE or all in this together… 1 Corinthians 12:25,26

to steal a line from HS Musical, but the realization is that we are there for each other. We are to be one flesh like husband and wife, we are in Christ. We are His bride and so fully understand how intertwined we really are. Your sorrow, your pain, your joy, your healing is all of our sorrow, is all of our pain, is all of our joy and is all of our healing to claim in Christ.

but come back to John 17 because it is significant here in Jesus’ High Priestly prayer that as he prayed looked to his death. You see you discover something about someone facing their death. They normally want to have their family close enough to them to possibly express one last blessing. It is there that the very last thought of a person usually expresses the passion of their life. We want to be there to hear that word, to receive that blessing as I did with my father. It was in his last few days that I sought His blessing to marry Sharon and to see his smile, his affirmation, his desire to help pay for it which I course I told him wasn’t necessary. However in that he longed to be my provider.

I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name – the name you gave me- so that they may be one as we are one. John 17:11

So, here in these final words of Jesus before going to the cross, the disciples listen in on His prayer and He didn’t just pray. He implored God the Father to protect the oneness of His followers. Jesus knew that this was central to the mission that there was an incredible sense of community in such a fragmented and community starved world. Jesus knew it was the church that properly functioned as a whole that would expand beyond the initial disciples.

Jesus taught us community by His prayers as well. He taught them to say, ‘Our Father, give us our daily bread, forgive US, deliver US. He had trained them to think of themselves as a community not as individual relating to a private God. Matthew 6:9-13

Galatians 3:26-29

There are no distinctions anymore when we become part of His church. The only differences that really matter are now those which pertain to ministry. The differences we have now are based on our gifting and where we fit into the whole.

Oneness is only as effective as there is free and total participation of each person in the body


We are Extravagant In Love John 17:23


The essential characteristic of this community is love in v23 Love is the divine reality that existed before time came into existence, before the world was created. It was in the heart of God that sent His Son to the world. We need to love each other well, go to bat for each other, go to the wall, stand in the gap for each other’s family.

We love each other into a

Shared faith and purpose – to bring people to the cross Philippians 3:10
Shared lifestyle – a lifestyle of purity Colossians 3:1-11, a life of compassion Matthew 9:36,37: James 1:27 a life of giving 2 Corinthians 9:13,
Shared authority – the authority to confront – Matthew 18; the authority to restore Galatians 6:1; the authority to baptize in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Matthew 28
Shared worship – John 4:24; 1 Corinthians 14:24,25; communion – we are called to remember 1 Corinthians 11


The Takeaway

When the church is done well, it is a community that is irresistible!

It is irresistible because its head, Jesus has done away with shame.
It is irresistible because it is shared and experienced together,
It is irresistible because the church gifts and empowers us
It is irresistible because it loves unconditionally and it is a love that gets messy




Questions For Discussion and Small Groups

1. What are some of the elements of authentic community?
2. Describe the differences between viewing the church as a hierarchy and as oneness.
3. What does the mission of Southside mean to you? Our mission is: To pursue Jesus passionately and connect people to their God given family
4. What is the most challenging part of loving someone into the body of Christ? Is it a shared lifestyle, a shared authority or a shared faith and purpose? Why?

Imago Dei

There is a new game show catching a lot of attention. It is ‘The Moment Of Truth’ and this game show takes contestants, straps them to a lie detector test, and asks them 21 intensely personal questions. With close family just off center stage watching they have to answer each question and if they answer right, they win more money. However, there is a price to pay and that price is in those close to them discovering the real answer. One person was asked the question, ‘do you care about the starving kids in Africa’ and her response was no which turned out to be the truth.

We are studying the doctrine of anthropology and discovering the truth of what God says about human beings. Apart from an understanding of being made in God’s image we have no reference point for the value of life. If we are mere random happenings, then our lives and personhood have no more significance then what is attributed to us by the powers that be. It is the lack of this belief that leads us to the greatest of human atrocities when humans are left at the mercy of whatever criteria may seem popular at the time. When we recognize God as the intentional designer of life, then life acquires infinite worth and significance. We will discover our image in God’s transcendence, our inmost design and our dynamic authority. We will also face the reality of the Fall of Man in Genesis and God’s plan to restore what a sinful nature has stolen.

The Image of Transcendence

Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Divine transcendence was defined as a characteristic of God and what sets Him apart from all of creation. However the way in which we as humans have been created and our relationship to the rest of creation sets us apart as different and above the rest of creation. We were the climax of God’s creational achievement.

The Hebrew word for image is tselem and in ancient Near Eastern culture there was a specific cultural image being painted in their minds. It would be said of a king that he was to rule in the image of his god. King Tut’s full name was Tutankhamen meaning the living image of the god Amon. He was the embodiment of that god and to see the king was to see their god.

Psalm 8
5 You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.
6 You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet:
Here we see the distinction conferred upon us.

Genesis 2:7 the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

God put the breath of life into us so that we would become responsive and responsible living beings. In essence this teaches us our personhood and ability to relate to God.

To make sure Adam thought that the woman was of no less value than him was that God reached right into his chest and took the part right next to his heart, his rib and created her. Two complementary facets of God’s image were now in existence. He split them apart and then declared them one flesh. We see the character of God in both male and female. Paul captured the essence of this in how he related the growth process of developing believers in

1 Thessalonians 2:7 but we were gentle among you, like a mother caring for her little children. 8We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us. 9Surely you remember, brothers, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you.

Now some of you might say but didn’t God refer to Eve as Adam’s helper?? Well, I’m glad that you brought that up….

Genesis 2:18 The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him."

The Hebrew word for helper is used as a designation for someone who saves or rescues from difficult situation. The English again loses the essence of the word in that an English translation would define it as a subordinate assistant. We find a number of great examples where this same word is used of God in designating Him as our helper in Exodus 18:4; Deuteronomy 33:7; Psalm 33:20; 70:5…

We now see this word in a whole new light. The woman was the God appointed rescuer who would help preserve the divine image in human life therefore her name becomes even more significant Eve = life as she becomes the mother of all living. Genesis 3:20

Take the image of God one step further in that Jesus taught that entrance into the kingdom of heaven meant that we must enter as a child in Matthew 18 and that as we celebrate and welcome children in His name we welcome Him, we become like Him in every way.

As we protect the image of God in children, we honor God

Checking out the Makeup!

I want to take a few minutes to focus on the many facets of our immaterial makeup that reflect various aspects of the whole and at times overlap as well

Soul – nephesh – in Genesis 2:7 a living being, the center of emotional experiences. It is from this core of the being that we experience the ranges of sympathy, despair, bitterness, hate, love…
Spirit – ruach, pneuma - Hebrews 12:9; I Corinthians 2:11 In Paul’s teaching, he directly focuses on this part of man as the immaterial part of us that can be awakened by Christ, but is always present like the soul and is the center of one’s thoughts and emotions as well. It was the transformation of this area of life for Paul and that we let Christ be the determining factor here

Heart – is used as the center of our intellectual, emotional and volitional life as seen in OT and NT alike from Deuteronomy 8:5 to Matthew 15:19,20. There are a few instances to the real organ but 955x it speaks to this part of a person.
Conscience – the witness that is inside of us to teach us what is right and wrong. Acts 23:1

Mind –Romans 3:11 Paul speaks of this as an area that can be darkened, we are also taught to take every thought captive in 2 Corinthians 10:5

Flesh – Galatians 5:17 This term is used to describe our disposition to sin and oppose God

Will - The Bible speaks more about the will of God than the will of man, but the will is certainly implied as part of man in Romans 7 in Paul’s tug of war between the Spirit and the flesh.

The Fallout From The Fall:

There are many aspects to touch on including loss of the most beautiful place on earth, but I want to talk about the most painful and devastating losses -

Image Lost

We only have to read further in Genesis, 3 specifically to see what we lost and God trying to undo the affects of the Fall. What was the temptation ultimately? It’s your turn now, your turn to be God, your turn to be equal with Him. It is your turn to define the value of life and so man did and only one generation after the first couple exited the garden do we see the first murder committed by Cain against Abel.
What is the very essence of sin? It is the rejection of God’s sovereignty over human life and to declare yourself sovereign – to dismiss God and to make yourself God. Sin is ultimately a declaration of independence from God.

Image Distorted Genesis 3:7 states that their eyes were opened and their shame was revealed. They were now alienated from God

Friendship Broken - there was a loss of a sense of oneness with God in the communion that they once experienced. They would not only experience lonliness apart from God, but in their own selfishness experience lonliness between each other. Adam in defending himself shifts the blame to Eve alienating himself from her as well.

So God gave us His image to bear, He gave us gender and He gave us something to do – take care of His world.

John 10:7-10


Replacing What Was Stolen!

Romans 8:29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son,

What did Jesus do with the image bearers… He reconnected our eyes with the thoughts and intentions of our hearts. He made us connect again and become what being fully human is in Matthew 5.

When people aren’t treated as fully human, that is called hell and Jesus railed against that.

Instead of seeing labels, poor, invalid, handicapped…He showed us how to see humans.


Rob Bell in his most recent book tells the story of the Bergen Belsen concentration camp and the British Red Cross that arrived with a very large quantity of lipstick. They were screaming for other supplies. But there they were, women, dying, with red scarlet lips. At last someone had done something to make them individuals again. No longer were they just tattooed with a number on their arm. They could take an interest in their appearance and that little act in itself started to give them their humanity back.

What is in your “makeup” that you need to give away???


Our job is to become a little Jesus with a small j


The Takeaway

The goal for us is to live and represent the image of God by protecting and esteeming it in others.

It is in this way that we get to the place where we are conformed to the image of Christ, the ultimate human reflection of God. We are to be the embodiment of that to all those around us.

Questions For Discussion and Small Groups:

Do you agree with this statement. “How you treat creation reflects how you feel about the Creator.” Why?

What attitudes, conversations, gestures, comments, decisions that you can make to protect the image of God in others.

What has the enemy robbed you of and what part of God’s image do you need most restored in you?

So Great A Salvation

• We can all too easily fall into the trap of taking for granted the things that we have. I vividly remember one of my earliest messages on being thankful for the simple things in life from the joy of laughter to the beauty of sight. However as easy as it is to enjoy these things, a study of the intricacy of the eye leads you to such a depth of awareness and then there is a whole science behind laughter teaching us that it releases endorphins in our brain. In our study of the great doctrines of the faith, we come to soteriology, the doctrine of salvation. You might be thinking, ‘I know I’m saved,’ but it is my desire to teach you a profound understanding of that salvation and how amazing it really is. We will discover the richness of our atonement, justification, ransom, reconciliation and adoption!
  
  
  SALVATION IS:
  
  1. Holiness Served
  
  Atonement
  
  1 John 2:2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
  
  But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
  
  The word for here is translated ‘hyper’in the greek meaning in the place of, a substitute.
  
  We speak of healing in the atonement of Christ. Atonement comes from the word ‘at one’ and it relates to the sufficiency of Christ’s sacrifice and the satisfaction of the demands of a Holy God
  
  Justification
  
  This is a legal word used in a court of law to declare someone, “not guilty’. We are only declared this because the sentence has been served by Christ. Romans 3:23-26
  
  
  2. Freedom Received
  
  
  Ransom
  
  Christ’s gift of life as ransom shows that a transaction has been made to secure our freedom Mark 10:45; 1 Timothy 2:6; 1 Peter 1:18.19. ‘Give me back my son!’ like Mel Gibson in his passionate cry in Ransom is how God is jealous to pay the price for our freedom to release us from the grip of sin and the enemy of our souls.
  
  Salvation
  
  The word also comes with the meaning of deliverance, liberation. It paints the picture of people who have been rescued and who have been caught in a hopeless situation. It captures the image of the realization that we were all held in the stronghold of death until Christ came and through His death overcame the enemy of our souls, saved us from his power and set us free. Mark 3:23-27; Colossians 1:13,15; 1 Thessalonians 1:10
  
  3. Relationship Restored
  
  
  
  Chosen By God!
  
  All biblical statements about predestination have a direct correlation to a collective reality. God has decided that there will be a community of faith. It is clear that when God speaks about individuals and salvation, we see the teaching of free will in the statement, ‘whosoever will’.
  
  Probably the best illustration of this is found in the OT. The chosen people of Israel did not automatically get their admission into the ranks of the chosen. Being born a Jew certainly helped, but it did not seal their fate either way. The original covenant given to Abraham was that he would be the father of many nations in Genesis 17:5. So, being chosen was not limited to a certain race even before Christ. The basis of being chosen was dependent on a free decision on their part. They had to obey God and keep his commands…the Schema…Deuteronomy 6. To experience God’s blessing, God always expected them to respond to Him in love, walking in His ways and holding fast to Him.
  
  In the NT, we see this illustrated in the story of the wedding banquet in Matthew 22. A wedding banquet would last several days in Jesus’ time. The invitations are sent out but the king’s offer is turned down, no one chooses to rsvp or for that matter the invitation is abused. As a result, the king’s offer is taken to the streets and all were offered a chance to come to the banquet and the ones who do become His guests. They become the ‘choice’ group because they freely responded to the opportunity. The king did not predetermine the decision of those who would come. Becoming chosen had been part of their choice all along.
  
  Predestination, foreknowledge are all terms used to describe those who have come to faith. It is a beautiful term for those who believe and these terms are addressed to a believing community. We do not find Scripture that teaches God predestined people to hell and separation from Him. The lack of choosing to accept God’s sacrifice in His Son Jesus is a self destructive decision.
  
  It is clear from Scripture that God definitely calls and chooses individuals for specific types of ministry. Before Jeremiah was even born, he had been appointed as a prophet to the nation, Jeremiah1:5. He accepted his calling reluctantly but followed through. God even chooses the unsaved to perform specific tasks to be used to advance God’s purposes such as the monarch in his time, Cyrus, who was instrumental on his behalf in Isaiah 44,45. Paul is another example with his dramatic commissioning to ministry on the road to Damascus.
  
  
  Reconciliation
  
  1 Timothy 2:3 This is good and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth. 5 For there is only one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus. 6 He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone. This is the message God gave to the world at just the right time. NLT
  
  Everybody Matters To God!
  
  Luke 15:3-7 In fact, one sheep is so important to Him that He is ready to pull out a search and rescue operation and throw everything He has at it, including His one and only Son.
  
  James 4:5 Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely? The note on this verse states that God jealously longs for the spirit that he made to live in us. He doesn’t want you to worship anyone else but Him! He has a jealous love for you.
  
  Don’t you ever for one moment think that God does not care about you. That is a lie from the enemy. Romans 2:14 teaches us that instinctively we know that there is a God because He has written His laws on our heart.
  
  John 1:12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. People like to talk about rights a lot today and God put salvation right in your court!
  

Adoption Romans 8:15-17

Regeneration

This is a word to describe the process of rebirth that we go through and respond to God’s call on our life. It is the miracle of transformation that goes on inside our hearts and is best described in 2 Corinthians 5:17. It is that point where God intervenes in our life and works a miracle through the forgiveness of sins. The dormant spiritual nature in our life becomes activated by God and we begin the process of change more and more into God’s image. Colossians 3:10; 2 Peter 1:4; Titus 3:5 The renewal is meant to be so personality shaking that it is likened to a resurrection from the dead!

It begins with negative conviction, a realization of our own guilt and need. The conscience is stirred up with dissatisfaction about life and one’s own inability to fill that God shaped vacuum This sense of loss can take a person over so completely that they strive to fill it through human relationships, addictions and work. 2 Corinthians 7:10

There is also positive conviction which leads a person to the question “what must I do to be saved?’ It is positive in the sense that one realizes it cannot come from within and the openness to the source of mercy and love in God.

Conversion or coming to faith in Christ is made up of two elements, one negative and one positive and they are repentance and faith.

repentance

A great example of repentance is David’s prayer in Psalm 51. It is the prodigal son crying out, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.” in Luke 15:18. God be merciful to me sinner. Luke 18:13 It is that place where we come completely honest before God and see ourselves for who we really are in His sight. It is also accompanied by a realization of the need to ask for forgiveness.

As repentance brings us to our knees, faith makes us rise up in newness. As we ask for forgiveness in repentance, faith now comes and receives it. It is the prodigal son accepting his father’s embrace

faith

Hebrews 11:6 Without faith it is impossible to please God.

The absolute, unshakeable definitive act of His love is the cross. The cross draws us heavenward because Jesus gave us Himself and with outstretched arms paid for our forgiveness and shows us mercy.

Repentance and faith produce together what makes regeneration possible. Apart from God we are disconnected and through salvation we experience what we lost in the garden…intimacy and communion.

Sanctification- means to be set apart for holiness, to purify, to make free from sin. It is the process of becoming more Christlike. Ephesians 4:13;24 Colossians 3:10

Can salvation be lost? John 10:25-29


The Takeaway

Salvation is the holiness of God served in my life so that my freedom is gained in Christ that I may walk in the Spirit with Him.

It is what I was always intended to do from the beginning.

As we come to communion, I want to say this…

We often worship God because of His grace. More often than not, we come to God with songs of praise when we can see the blessings. God is providing, our family is in harmony, we have great friendships, but what happens when the bottom falls out? What happens when we aren’t talking with those close to us, when our kids are in trouble, when we are someone close to us in battling a dreadful disease.

You see that is why we are urged to worship God… in view of His mercy in Romans 12:1. We can worship God because we aren’t getting what we do deserve. To remind ourselves because our salvation alone, we aren’t getting what we do deserve. To learn that God is good all the time even when life isn’t good or whether you feel like worshipping or not.

We can still worship Him for His mercy alone.

Questions For Discussion and Small Groups:

1. Relate your salvation story to the outline today. What part of your salvation do you experience most at the time of your conversion? (holiness served, freedom gained or relationship restored) What part of your salvation are you most experiencing now?

2. What is a sure fire way not to doubt your salvation?

3. Does justification mean becoming righteous?
4. Is there any connection between sanctification and the image of God?

The Wind of The Spirit

In Ephesians 5:13 we are commanded to be filled with the Spirit. The word for be filled in the Greek is ‘plerousthe’ meaning constantly being filled. There are some who have likened this to the picture of bottle filled to overflowing but a better word picture would be that of sailing or windsurfing. To move, you constantly need to be filled. If there is no wind, you are basically dead in the water and drifting with whatever current is flowing. You have no power to direct your course or steer and it is downright frustrating. You have to determine the direction of the wind and either pull hard on your sail in or cut it loose while adjusting your rudder. You then find your sweet spot to as you get the correct angle. Being filled with the Spirit is being constantly yielded to His control, to God by faith to go in His direction and living life the way He wants me to. This morning we will explore the work of the Spirit and how we experience Him in His fullness! Get ready to feel the breeze!

Today we will study of pneumatology which comes from pneuma, the Greek word for breath.

Well, let’s start with the metaphors that Scripture uses – because a picture is a thousand words!
Jesus referred to the HS as a wind—in John 3:8 - a metaphor which seems to make the obvious realization that the Spirit works and moves in wonderful and mysterious ways. It is not something that you can track with relation to the nature of his moving in the hearts of people to give them life and bring them to faith
In connection with his personal and glorious ministry to people, Jesus referred to him as water in John 7:37-39. This picture speaks to the Spirit filling the depths of longing in our souls to enjoy eternal life in John 4:14; 17:3. As such, water of promised messianic blessing and the presence of the kingdom in a new and powerful way in Isaiah 12:3 32:15; 44:3; Ezekiel 39:29. In Matthew 3:22 and paralleled in each gospel we see the Spirit descending out of heaven as a dove. The symbol of the “dove” best represents the beginning of an age of blessing, the inauguration of Christ’s ministry
Another metaphor for the Spirit is clothing in Acts 1:8. This idea involves being dressed by another person so that one we are clothed in power from on high! In the case of the Spirit, it refers to his gift of power to us so that we might live in unity with the gospel as we boldly take it to the nations
The Spirit is also referred to as a guarantee or pledge of the Christian’s glorification Ephesians 1:22; 2 Corinthians 1:22,23. In this case, the present gift of the Spirit is the guarantee that the totality of what has been promised to us will someday be fulfilled in Romans 8:30 The understanding of ‘guarantee’ has been described as the first installment, deposit, down payment. It secures a legal claim and makes a contract valid.
Closely related to the idea of a seal or the One with whom Christians are sealed by God. In 2 Corinthians 1:22 and Ephesians 1:14; 4:30. Christians are said to be “sealed” by the Spirit of God. A “seal” in the ancient world referred to a “mark (with a seal) as a means of identification so that the mark which denotes ownership also carries with it the protection of the owner in Rev. 7:3
The Pentecost Spirit is also likened to tongues of fire in Acts 2:3. Fire represents the holy presence of God, as for example, in Exodus 3:2-5 and the “burning bush

Also, the final picture is that of new wine in Matthew 9:17. The ministry of the Spirit is a new thing and cannot be contained in the old way of the ceremonial law. The expression of the Spirit gives birth to freedom of worship

2. The Person of The Spirit


The Holy Spirit is a person, the 3rd Person of the Trinity and Jesus referred to another (allos) meaning just like Him who would come and take His place. The word used is parakletos (enabler, encourager, comforter counsellor, one that comes in a personal way.)

The HS can be grieved – Ephesians 4:30
The HS can be quenched – 1 Thessalonians 5:19 extinguish…we can ill afford any wet blankets on the ministry of the Holy Spirit!

The HS can be resisted – Acts 7:51 stiff necked people proclaimed by Stephen

The Word teaches us that the Spirit searches the things of God 1 Corinthians 2:10 -13 He possesses a mind and teaches people.

The Holy Spirit is God. Acts 16:7; 1 Corinthians 6:11 He has the attributes of God, omniscience – Isaiah 40:13; 1 Corinthians 2:12; omnipresence – Psalm 139:7; omnipotence – by virtue of His work in creation Job 33:4; Psalm 104:30

The Holy Spirit was the agent in the virgin birth, the Spirit was the active presence giving inspiration to the Scriptures.
2 Peter 1:20 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. 21 For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Blasphemy and lying to the Spirit are seen as sinning against God
Matthew 12:31,32; Acts 5:3,4
We see equality with God in Matthew 28:19 in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit ( equality is found in the singular use of the word name.



3. The Practice of the Spirit


He convicts people of sin – the need for a Savior John 16:8
Righteousness – the need to be clothed in the righteousness of the Son
Judgement – the coming judgment for those who do not know the Lord and the awareness of testing of the quality of our service to the Lord.

He baptizes 1 Corinthians 12:12,13

12The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. 13For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.



He directs the activities of followers of Jesus Acts 16:6-11 God gave Paul a vision of the people that he was to minister to and also clearly led him to the exact place where he was to travel.

He guides believers into truth by hearing, speaking and showing John 16:12,13 and the Spirit reveals Jesus v14
The Spirit intercedes Romans 8:26 He enables His people to pray and prayer in the Spirit where words cannot interpret but where God knows.


He Fills Us With More

I was really moved to pray for the 'muchness 'of God to fill the leanness of our souls…it comes through soaking in His presence through prayer….and we receive boldness, passion, life!

Ephesians 5:13 -it comes through surrender and it is empowering and enabling



He Gifts

Joel 2:28
And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. It happened at Pentecost and it is happening again!


The First Three Gifts –

Apostleship –1 Corinthians 12:28; Ephesians 4:11 in the general sense of the word is means one who is sent. It is used of Epaphroditus in Phil 2:25. It is a gift for those who plant new works and is often accompanied by special signs. I have seen real evidence in Ashok Andrews ministry in Kolkota, India.

Prophecy – Romans 12:6; 1 Corinthians 12:10; 14:1-40; Ephesians 4:11 This gift refers to proclaiming God’s truth and the ability to speak into the future. In the OT, the prophetic gift was poured out very selectively and exclusively, but by the time you get to the NT, you can see just how prominent it becomes under the influence of the HS. I believe we are seeing an increase breakthrough and I believe this gift is not just limited to pastors. I believe the HS wants to speak now more than ever before and the question is are we ready to listen to our inner ear for His promptings. He will speak to you through His Word and often it is for us, but He wants you to speak into the lives of others. There are definitely those will an anointing for prophecy

Sharon stopped in at a service center on the 401 on her way back from Windsor this week. As she was eating, she prayed, "God if there is someone you want me to minister to today have them sit right next to me. Well, shortly after a couple sat right next to her with their subs and God confirmed they were the ones. She then asked the Lord what do you want me to say and felt God was telling her the verse in Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart... and distinctly, 'the Lord will provide'. Well she was working up the courage and then went to the washroom. When she got out, they were gone...so she wondered maybe it was just her. As she left she noticed them in the Tim Hortons line up so she said ok, God, if they come out right away, I will tell them. Well, she was pulling out of the parking lot and they started walking down the walkway right towards so her so she was obedient and dropped down her window. She started to speak and studder a bit and tell them the Lord have given her something to tell them. She then asked if they were believers to which they replied yes. She then quoted the verse and said that the word was that the Lord will provide. The lady looked at Sharon and with tears she said, I have a word for you. She told Sharon that were just on the way to meet with a real estate agent to look at buying a house! Amazing. Sharon drove the rest of the way home praising God!

I read an excellent book titled, “You Shall All Prophecy” by Stephen Thompson and I look forward to more teaching on the gifts and how powerful they are if we step into our anointing.

Miracles and Healings – 1 Corinthians 12:9,28,30; John 14:12

This gift to be used of God to see miracles in people’s lives – especially as it relates to healing. There is so much need for inner healing as well. The greatest miracle of all is the transformation of a life – when the gospel gets a hold of a person.

Tongues and Interpretation -

Tongues - 1 Corinthians 12:10; Acts 2 The Holy Spirit can use glossolalia in the life of a believer as a private devotional expression to God and it is edifying to oneself and an expression of our groaning to God. Tongues were also direct languages that authenticated the message of the gospel at Pentecost. Tongues were used in services along with interpretation also brings about prophecy for the mutual edification of the church. They will not contradict the written Word and they are not the evidence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Evangelism – Ephesians 4:11- the ability to express the gospel with exceptional clarity

Pastor – Ephesians 4:11 – refers to the ability to shepherd, provide, care and protect the flock.

Serving –Romans 12:7; 1 Corinthians 12:28; Ephesians 4:12 in the broadest sense of the word to help and support others

Teaching – Romans 12:7; 1 Corinthians 12:28; Ephesians 4;11 The ability to bring understanding to the Word of God – often used in connection with the pastor gift

We just did a whole series on faith and it is a gift, encouragement, discernment, mercy – with the sick and afflicted, giving, leadership, wisdom and knowledge are all needed in the church TODAY!


The Spirit Producing Galatians 5:22,23

The fruit of the Spirit – JOY! If the Holy Spirit is in your life, notify your face! The Spirit brings an overwhelming sense of joy and He brings all the other great characteristics beginning with love. Notice that it is fruit singular. All these manifestations are the evidence of the Holy Spirit in our life. The Holy Spirit brings all of it – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.

The Takeaway

Posture yourself to receive the supernatural.

Meaning this – as you pray, listen and if the Holy Spirit leads you to speak, then speak into people’s lives.

For some of you, this may be hard to believe because it doesn’t fit into what you know. The church suffers from the spirit of judgment and it is pride when we don’t let the Holy Spirit move because we say that can’t be real because it hasn’t happened to me or people that I know….brothers and sisters, that is stinkin thinkin!!

His ways are past finding out and God is doing a new thing. I have had many people inside and outside Southside feel strongly about this. Let us move into this place of revelation and envious blessing! What we focus on is what we will empower. If we doubt, we will not receive. It will be done to us according to our believe…pray to God to help you overcome your unbelief as the boy’s father in Mark 9:24 exclaimed in his desperate desire to see his son healed of an evil spirit.

Jesus said everything is possible for him who believes!

Hurting people hurt people. We need to pray that we will all be ON for God, many of you have dealt with what was stolen and HS is in the business of restoring what was lost! Contend, sweat, wrestle and have patience and God will breakthrough in the supernatural!

Challenges For Discussion and Small Groups:

Memorize this great verse!! So he said to me, "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: 'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty.

1. Begin tonight’s group by taking time to pray for each person individually through the laying on our hands. Practice listening to what God is saying to you and what He might have you speak into their life.

2. Talk about spiritual gifts, but instead of telling others what you think your gifts are, let others take time to affirm the gifts that they see in you and see if they match up with what you have felt or discovered. The community of the body of Christ is so crucial in enabling us to believe that which God has given us!

3. Commit to go on an ultimate ‘treasure hunt’ as a group sometime in the next month. Begin the night by praying about the people that God may bring on your path and then step out in faith and go to a public place where you each individually may be led to someone to share with. If nothing comes to you to share then take the opportunity to pray blessing into their life. Most people are open to being prayed for.

Knowing The King!

What would you think if I walked into the room and proclaimed, “I’m the King!” Ok, you wouldn’t take me too seriously. When someone speaks of a kingdom or being a king what do you think of? Your mind might go to thoughts of England and the Monarchy. For the record, Sharon bought me this t-shirt and written across it says, “king of nothing!’.

The idea of a king or a kingdom was not a new idea at the time of Jesus. Josephus, the Jewish historian wrote of many messianic pretenders that came and went. So, Jesus begins his ministry and begins to proclaim the message that He is going to inaugurate the kingdom. Hope was set high in the hearts and minds of people, but Jesus let them down. He had much larger plans for His kingdom! Today we will discover who Jesus was in His fullness, His character, not in part, but the whole.

To fully appreciate what is going on here we need to understand what is at stake for these people. They had hopes of freedom, deliverance, the end of persecution and suffering at the hands of the Romans. Many pretenders had arrived on the scene with militaristic plans to advance the cause of the nation. One such character named Simon started his following in the wilderness much like John The Baptist and he self proclaimed himself king! It was towards the end of King Herod’s reign and he took his followers and went after King Herod. He didn’t last long against the very efficient Roman army and Simon lost his head literally. He stirred the hopes of the people to overthrow Rome and liberating the Jewish people. He had hope of leading them to freedom and carving out their own national identity.

Will the real King please stand up!

Jesus most audacious claim was the fact that He claimed to be God, not God’s messenger, not God’s prophet, not the ultimate Bible teacher, GOD. It is for this very reason that He got Himself into so much trouble. Let’s look at who He was:

There has been a lot of focus in the quest for the historical Jesus and peeling away the layers of interpretation to get us back to who He really was. The humanity of Jesus is now one of the least areas of controversy but it was not always so. We have just celebrated His virgin birth and the nativity story which brought his entrance into the world. We now move to the challenge of who He claimed to be. As Josh McDowell so accurately wrote, you have one of three options to take on Jesus…either He was God, a liar or a lunatic…

JESUS – HIS INCARNATION

The great truth of Jesus is to recognize, maybe not fully grasp, but the fact that He was both fully human and fully God. We refer to this as His hypostatic union.

Christ’s humanity John 8:40; 1 Timothy 2:5 – one mediator, the man Jesus Christ
JESUS - HIS DEITY


The Son of Man used 81x

One of the titles you will find of Jesus in the gospels is the “Son of Man’ and people will say that this term basically stresses the weakness and mortality of the human condition. However, one needs to go to Daniel 7:13,14 to understand the context of the ‘son of man’. It didn’t mean that at all…

13"In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. 14 He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.

He uses the phrase "Son of Man" when speaking of his roles of saving and judging (e.g. Mk 10:45; Mt 25:31) and of the future coming of an exalted, heavenly figure (e.g. Mt 13:41, 24:30; Mk 14:62; Lk 18:8).

The Son of God
Jesus does not refer to himself as the Son of God in the Gospels, but the term is used in the writings of Paul (e.g. Ro 1:4, 8:31) and in the epistle to the Hebrews (4:14). The Gospel of John refers to Jesus simply as "the Son," which may have a similar meaning. Paul uses the term for both Christ and Christians, but distinguishes between the two. Christians become sons of God by adoption, but Jesus is the rightful Son of God by nature.
Christ as God
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.... The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. (John 1:1,14)
Thomas said to him [the resurrected Jesus], "My Lord and my God!" (John 20:28)
But about the Son he [God] says, "Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever." (Hebrews 1:8)
JESUS – HIS ROLE


The One Who Forgives Sin Mark 2:4
The One Who is Without Sin
The Perfect Sacrifice For Sin
For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. 2 Corinthians 5:21

The One Who Emptied Himself – kenosis Philippians 2:7Jesus demonstrated non-use of omniscience (Mt. 24:36), omnipotence (Mk. 6:5), omnipresence (Jn. 4:4), righteousness (Heb. 4:l5;9:l4), justice (Jn. 5:30), and infinitude (I Cor. l5:3).

He served a threefold office as Prophet, Priest and King

Prophet Luke 4:24; 24:19
Priest Hebrews 2:14-17
King Revelation 19:11-16
Presently -
To mediate between us and the Father I Jn. 2:l,2; Heb. 7:25
To rule and guide the church Eph. l:20,23
Future-
To take over the world and rule it as king for a thousand years Rev. 19:11-16
Reward the members of the church for their deeds done in the body 2 Cor. 5:10; 1 Cor. 3:10-15

The Challenges

The firstborn over all creation Colossians 1:15 Again recognize what ‘firstborn’ means to us compared to what it meant then. Firstborn means the one who ultimately has all the rights of the father. It means unique one, the supreme heir….but if you still doubt, you read the whole letter Colossians 2:9…in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form.

Jesus in John 14:7 said “If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well.” Loose translation means you look at me, you have a perfect picture of the Father. John 10:30 “I and the Father are one”

JESUS – HIS RESURRECTION and ASCENT

Go to the eyewitness accounts:

Mary Magdalene John 20:10
The other women Matthew 28:8
Cleopas and another disciple on the road to Emmaus Luke 24:13
Eleven disciples Luke 24:33
The disciples with Thomas absent John 20:19
The disciples John 21; Matthew 28:16
At the Mount of Olives before his ascension Luke 24:50; Acts 1:4

I want to zero in on what we can learn about Jesus at this time in His ministry. In Matthew 14, we begin with a picture of Jesus’ humanity. He has just received the news of John the Baptist’s death and he retreats and seeks solitude to grieve the loss of his cousin and forerunner, the one who baptized him. He more than likely reflects on his boldness, his commitment to Him and to the truth….He barely quiets himself and He is swarmed with the demands of ministry again. He had every right in His humanity to push them aside, but that same humanity leads Him to compassion.

The real fast food! v13-18

The nation Israel had experienced conquest by many nations and they had always been living with the hope of a messiah who would redeem them and give them their national identity back. They mistake his breaking of the bread as manna. At that time one of the messianic misconceptions was that they believed that the messiah would come at Passover and repeat the miracle of the manna from heaven like Moses. One Jewish author expressed it this way. “It will happen at that time that the treasure of manna will fall from heaven and they will eat it in those years because the consummation of the age has come.”
The crowds did get it right, He was the Messiah, but He was not the Messiah they expected. He was not a warrior type, He was a deliverer, but not the deliverer they understood.

The I of the storm v22 -33



The time of Jesus appearance was during the 4th watch of the night. They divided the night into 4 three hour segments so the 4th watch was between 3am and 6am
Have you ever been in a crazy, insane storm. In the midst of it, we feel vulnerable, we feel pretty overwhelmed, maybe helpless but the lesson to learn in the storm is that it should also make us realize how awesome God is

27But Jesus immediately said to them: "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid."
But Jesus spoke to them at once. “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “Take courage. I am here! NLT

Recognize what is going on here. Jesus says something very specific. By saying ‘I am’ it is the same word usage, it is identical as what would be translated in the Hebrew as Moses appeared before the burning bush and God said to him, I AM. – meaning eternal, self existent One.

John 8:58"I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!" 59At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.

The grace and power of Jesus rescues Peter. Yes, Peter has an imperfect faith, but they worship Jesus. This is not to be taken lightly. He is the Messiah God in flesh.

Worship is only reserved for deity. Peter confesses that Christ is the Son of the Living God. At the transfiguration, they hear the voice saying, “This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.

We have cluttered images of Jesus growing up. Some emphasize one of His traits higher than another. Jesus is all of these, provider, Saviour, Friend, He is the Lord of the Universe, He is a Shepherd, but He is also a revolutionary. A faulty image of Jesus happens when we focus on one area to the exclusion of all others. Doing this may cause us to lose sight of Him. We need a clear image of who He really is! No matter what the storms of life we face, He will be with us, guaranteed.

The Takeaway

Jesus is fully God; however he showed us in His humanity the way to truly live…by dependence on God and empowered by the Holy Spirit (Jn. 14:10-17).


Questions for Discussion and Small Groups:

1. How did Jesus rescue you? What did Jesus rescue you from?
2. When shame from your past threatens to undermine your acceptance of Jesus’ forgiveness, how do you respond?
3. Jesus described himself as the mirror image of his father God so what are three things that must be true about God?
4. What's the difference, if any, between being a Christian and being a Christ-follower? Which term best describes you?

You Can Handle The Truth!

The Bible has been translated into 400 languages and portions into 2500 languages. In one year alone the United Bible Society distributed 633 million portions of Scripture throughout the world. It was written over 1600 years that spanned 40 generations and by 40 different authors from various walks of life. It was written by political leaders and fisherman, a physician and a tax collector. It was written in prisons and in the wilderness, while on travel and in exile, in times of war and peace from the heights of joy to the depths of despair.

It has been written for you and it is uniquely YOU!

· It was written on three continents, Africa, Asia and Europe. It was written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek
· It has been preserved under attack Voltaire, French atheist who died in 1778, predicted that Christianity would be swept from existence and pass into history within 100 years of his time. 50 years after his death, the Geneva Bible Society bought his home and used his own printing press to produce Bibles!
· Manuscript evidence of the Bible is overwhelming. There are more than 5600 ancient manuscripts of the Greek NT. Add to that 10000 in Latin and 9300 other early versions and you have 25000. No other ancient document comes close. The next is Homer’s Iliad with 643 and all of them partial. The significance is that the scribes would count the words and even the letters to make sure nothing was omitted. The earliest NT manuscript – a fragment of the gospel of John dates from AD 125 – a span of 30 years! Compare that to Iliad which has as its earliest copy 400 years from when it was written.
· What about the OT…well in 1947 a large collection of manuscripts came to light near the Dead Sea as a shepherd kid threw a rock into a cave and heard a crash and documents were found that were stored in earthen jars. Have you ever been part of one of those time capsule experiments?? Well, this was the biggest one on record. Archaeologists found about 100 000 fragments that were pieced into 800 ancient documents now known as the Dead Sea Scrolls. Many of the manuscripts were manuscripts of the OT. Scriptures. They found a complete copy of the book of Isaiah that was 1000 years older than the previous oldest manuscript. They checked out Isaiah 53 and of the 166 words, only 17 letters were in questions and 10 were a simply a matter of spelling, four letters were stylistic and the remaining comprise the word light. There was only one word in question after 1000 years of transmission!
· Proof from archaeology has found and discovered the seal of King Solomon, King David’s name in stone and a bull the Canaanites worshipped. People used to laugh at the OT references to the Hittite people calling it a fabrication of the Bible. Recent archaeological digs have now found hundreds of references to Hittite people over a 1200 year period in the Middle East.

Internal Uniqueness
· The Bible is full of contradictions is also answered by further in depth study and recognition of the fact that different authors will reflect and emphasize different aspects of the same story. It is a recognition of the fact that God fully used the personalities of those who wrote. You can see Peter’s personality through the way that He communicates God’s Word. He covers many subjects in a short amount of time and Paul in many ways wrote like a lawyer with great logic. 2 Peter 1:20,21
· The Canon of Scripture identified the inspired revelation of God and determined that by the book’s authority in its teachings of Jesus and they looked for statements that gave divine authority such as ‘the Word of the Lord came to’ without apology. They also looked at authorship and authenticity to be consistent with all other revealed texts on the matter. One of the most authoritative was Athanasius who was the bishop of Alexandria and at that council in 367AD put all these books to the test.
· Fulfilled prophecy. Isaiah 9:6,7; Psalm 72:9-11,15; There are 61 major prophecies concerning his life written many hundreds of years before His birth! We’ll discover more on that next week.
· God –breathed – Now some will say this is circular reasoning but the Word itself claims it to be inspired in 2 Timothy 3:16,17. In Bible College we refer to the verbal, plenary inspiration of the Word. We affirm that it is all given by inspiration of God…all 66 books, 41 173 verses. God breathed His words into the very hearts and minds of human souls. Verbal inspiration means that we believe God chose the very words and plenary means the whole thing from Genesis to Revelation, not just certain parts. We also affirm its inerrancy in that the Bible simply tells the truth. "Infidels for 1800 years have been refuting and overthrowing this book, and yet it stands today as solid as a rock. Its circulation increases, and it is more loved and cherished and read today than ever before. - H. L. Hastings “No other book has been so chopped, knifed, sifted, scrutinized, and vilified. What book on philosophy or religion or psychology...has been subject to such a mass attack as the Bible? With such venom and skepticism? And yet, the Bible is still loved by millions, read by millions, and studied by millions." - Bernard Ramm
So, you maybe are impressed, but you may be asking WIIFM….well, let’s go to one of the most succinct treatise on WIIFM
The writer of this precious poem in Psalm 19 uses five vivid synonyms to describing different dimensions of God’s Word.
law - instruction, or teaching, God has given by direct revelation
statutes - civil and religious appointment of the Mosaic law
precepts - legal pronouncements or rules of divine administration
commands - authoritative commands used as principles on how to live life
ordinances - declarations God has made about Himself, His nature, and His purposes
Listen to these words about the Word: perfect, trustworthy, right, radiant, sure, and precious. When the children of God hear these descriptive adjectives, their hearts cannot help but exclaim “Amen!” God’s Word is precious!
He wants to change us. His words convert souls. They make the simple wise. They bring rejoicing to hearts. They enlighten eyes. The counsel of the Lord is unchanging; it endures forever.
He has known the deadly damage of sin from the beginning. His instructions, often are not popular, but they are our GPS…it keeps you from making all those route recalculations!
When many of Jesus’ superficial followers turned and walked away, He asked His disciples, “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Peter expressed the sentiment of every child of God: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:67-68).

I fought the Law and the Law won! v7a
The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul.
First, "the law of the Lord." That is the widest term for all the written revelation God has given us. "The law of the Lord is perfect." It is complete, there is nothing left out. It is comprehensive, it does everything that we need it to do. There is no part of your life, no problem that you will ever face in your life, no question with which you will ever be troubled, that the Word of God does not speak to and illuminate and meet. So it is perfect, "reviving the soul."
A better word for reviving is transforming! Scripture has a supernatural way of life change affecting you to the very core of your being. It was through the reading of God’s Word that God spoke to me and forever charted the course of the direction of my life.
Can you share with me the power of a specific verse that God used to transform your life?

Are you in the know?? v7b
The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple.
The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple." Sure means "dependable, reliable." You can count upon this word to be true. Therefore you do not need to know a lot about everything else. The simple person is referring to being open minded in the wrong sense….being so open minded that you brain leaks out! It is the kind of discernment to see that walking into certain situations will only be self destructive. It enables you to make wise choices, being skilled at daily living. As I shared a few weeks ago, we talked about the shift that moves from the soul to action, from action to decision, from decision to habit and finally habit to stronghold
The Word of God is not against knowledge; it is only against knowledge which does not begin at the right place. But even if you do not have a lot of knowledge, even if you are "simple" in terms of education you can still be made wise by trusting Scripture because it is sure, it is reliable. That is why we are challenged:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. {Prov 3:5 RSV}There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death. {Prov 14:12, 16:25 RSV}
It enables you to keep from falling into the same pitfalls or repeating the same mistakes.

I’ve got the joy, joy, joy , joy - down in my heart to stay! v8
The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart.
Precepts refer to God’s rulings, His prescription and principles and there is the resulting joy.
Examples:
· They that wait on the Lord will renew their strength
· You reap what you sow
· Those that hunger and thirst after righteousness shall be filled
Jeremiah 15:16 When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight for I bear your name, O LORD God Almighty.
Luke 24:27-32 the disciples reflect on how their hearts burned within them when Jesus explained or expounded the Scriptures concerning Himself to them.

You light up my life! v9a
The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever.
Often people will say that the Word of God is confusing and there are certainly passages that force you to dig deeper, but what I have found is this, when it comes to character development, mainly being conformed to Christ’s image, the Bible is really clear
On the fear of the Lord
If you fear God in this life, you will not have to fear Him in the life to come. James Macdonald
The fear of the Lord is pure. It is without blemish. It is uncompromised, undiluted and is strength from cover to cover. It grants us a source of stability.

It is "enduring for ever." Once you enter into the fear of the Lord in its rightful sense you find that this produces a quality of life which enables you to consider this question…in the light of eternity, how much difference is this going to make….or my mom’s always soothing words to the youngest of five boys…”if this is the worst thing that is going to happen, you are not off that bad!’
Ordinances are not just for reverends! v9b

The ordinances of the Lord are sure, and altogether righteous.
Ordinances – another word is judgment – describing God’s verdict
He will set everything straight guaranteed. He will ultimately right every wrong and silence his critics.
The final word…
They are also wealth-producing, enriching, "more to be desired than gold," he goes on to say. And they are wonderfully pleasant, marvelously pleasure-producing:

sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover by them is thy servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward. {Psa 19:10b-11 RSV}

You might say, "I don't see these things in the Bible. I read my Bible and it's supposed to do that for you, but when I read it I don't find these things." Do you know why'?
It is he who does all these wonderful things for us. It is the Lord who forgives and transforms and cleanses and enlightens and makes us to rejoice. It is God, it is the Lord Jesus. And as we find him in the pages of Scripture these wonderful things happen to us.

The Takeaway

EIIFM...everything is in it for me! As we desire to live a life of godliness and contentment we will find satisfaction here.

From experience I have discovered the Bible to be:

convicting – Hebrews 4:12 I have seen the penetrating power of God’s Word challenge the lives of our people as well as myself
freeing – John 8:32 It has enabled so many to be free debilitating patterns of destructive behaviour.
comforting – Psalm 23 In times of loss or sickness, I have seen it transform a person’s outlook and bring hope and healing.
exactly what I need –

and exactly what I don’t need. John 5:39…It is not to pump my head full of knowledge, but full of love and appreciation for all that He has done for me.
For Small Groups and Discussion

1. What about the Bible’s external uniqueness stands out most to you?

2. Practice sharing in the group how you would share with a non-Christian about how the Bible is inspired?

3. Talk about from experience how you have discovered the Bible to be:

convicting –
freeing –.
comforting –
___________

4. How can guilt be a positive motivating factor in your life? When does it become negative as it relates to spiritual disciplines?
5. How can we be guilty of the same thing Jesus condemned the Pharisees for as it related to God’s Word in John 5:39,40

Who is really deluded anyways?

All religion is from people who want control. It is the bottom of the heap when it comes to those who take authority as truth. Religion has false promises and makes exaggerated claims. Religion can never reform mankind because religion is slavery and it has been used to manipulate and control societies. Raising your children to believe they are members of a religious group is a ludicrous obscenity! Religion poisons everything. This is the heart cry of Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins, the author of the God Delusion and now we have the movie Zeitgeist. As believers we need a theology of who God is and today we will discover His character, His transcendence, His imminence in allowing us to separate fact from fiction, religion from relationship, the lies from the truth.

In three parts, Zeitgeist (which has no credits) attempts to show that 1) Christianity is rehashed pagan sun-worship and is used by the rich and powerful to control people, 2) the 9/11 tragedies were part of an elite conspiracy, and 3) ever since World War I, the ultra-rich have been secretly manufacturing wars and financial collapses to control the populace and to get richer and more powerful. I

The notions that most religions were originally a kind of solar worship, and that the Jesus Christ story recapitulated the mythos of numerous other “dying gods,” were floating around in the late 1700s. Jay Kinney

The main flaw in such arguments is that they are selective and thus superficial. They are selective in that they take only those things that match, and ignore differences. This leads them to be superficial.

However a more serious problem occurs with the films choice of parallels. Most of the first part of the film is linked in one way or another to Jesus being born on December 25th and how this links in with winter solstice celebrations. The problem is that one thing pretty much all scholars agree on, skeptical and believers alike, is that Jesus was not born on December 25th. The NT describes the shepherds in the fields with their sheep at the time of Jesus’ birth (Luke 2:8) which would have been highly unlikely on December 25, and points more to the spring. The reason we celebrate December 25th is because a couple of centuries after the birth of Christ the church set that date deliberately to replace the Winter solstice celebrations, so of course there is a parallel to the winter solstice, but not for the reasons implied in the film. With this fact alone most of the first half of this part of the film falls apart.

Another problematic parallel is the movies’ claim that the cross is actually an astrological cross, symbolic of the zodiac. While again there may be a parallel here it is hardly meaningful, and in fact goes straight to the heart of the problem with such reasoning. What the movie ignores is that there is a very good reason Christians use the symbol of the cross and it has nothing at all to do with astrology. Christians refer to the cross because Jesus was crucified on a cross.
Similar problems arise with the claim that Jesus represents the sign of Pisces whose symbol is 2 fish. Predictably the movie points to the miracle of the feeding of the 5000 thousand. Yet interestingly while they show the text “we only have five loaves of bread and 2 Fish – Matt 14:17” the narrator says “Jesus feeds five thousand people with bread and two fish.” Note the number of loaves of bread is not mentioned by the narrator, while in the text five is spelled out, but not two. Why? The simple reason is that the fish make the parallel they seek, while the bread does not. Wouldn’t a better explanation for the two fish be that, fish were a common food source for that area and in fact if someone would have food, it probably would have been bread and fish?

Similarly the movie claims that people do not know what the fish symbol on their cars is actually “pagan astrological symbolism for the sun kingdom during the sign of Pisces.” Of course the real explanation does not fit their parallel, and so is ignored. Early Christians adopted the fish symbol, not for any astrological meaning, but because the Greek word for Fish, IXTHUS, is an acronym for Greek words “Jesus Christ God’s Son Savior.”

**With thanks to Elgin Hushback for his research on Zeitgeist


The take home message of The God Delusion is this: God is invented by mad, deluded people. Faith is blind trust in the absence of evidence. It is a process of non-thinking. We are the ones who have lost touch with reality. Belief in God is just like believing in the Tooth Fairy and Santa. We need to abandon these beliefs as soon as we are capable of evidence based thinking. The problem that he doesn’t address is why then are people discovering God later in life. The example of Anthony Flew, a noted atheist philosopher who came to know God in his eighties. Then there is Madalyn Murray O'Hair, son, Bill Murray who converted to Christianity in 1980 and was baptised at a Baptist church in Dallas, where he took up work as a preacher.
The book also does a good job of attacking the idea of intelligent design, but to take the book one step further, then who explains the explainer?


“Science has wrecked faith in God, relegating God to the margins of culture where he is embraced by deluded fanatics.”
He also devotes time to showing how science disproves God but unfortunately a lot of scientists do believe in God. It is not that simple of a straw argument that he is trying so hard to exploit. In fact 40% of scientists responded yes to the question, ‘do you believe in a personal God who might be expected to answer prayer?”

He states that believing in God in on the same level as cosmic teapots. Again he is very good at mocking, misrepresenting and demonizing competiting worldviews with his and tries to present them in the most naïve light as possible.

He tries to reduce religion to some single universal trait and tries to escape the universal complexity of it. Try to dumb down even the differences within Christianity and then within evangelicalism. There is great difference even between religiosity and belief in God because there are many who eschew religious behavior, but have incredible belief in God.

He also makes the assertation that the brain is a collection of organs for doing various cognitive functions and religion is a misfiring of these modules and therefore pathological. The question must then be asked, ‘are all ideas viruses of the mind?’

He then goes on to suggest that it is a ‘God-meme that has leapt into their brains,’ but even the scientific community largely sees this as a flaky idea.

He makes the bold claim that religion leads to violence, but that flies in the face of Jesus of Nazareth who did no violence. Then he has the audacity to state that there is not the smallest evidence that atheism systematically influences people to do bad things. Does he have selective memory. What about the Soviet era between 1918-1941 with their repression undertaken in an atheist agenda for the elimination of religion…Lenin and Stalin or Hitler with his focus on a perfect race. The reality is that human beings are capable of both violence and moral excellence motivated by their worldviews, religious or otherwise.

A criticism against religion is that on the formation of in groups and out groups yet Jesus completely turned that upside down in His teachings by the command to love our neighbour and enemy…the story of the Good Samaritan – half Jew/ half Greek.

Dawkins is right to identify to redefinition of family values as part of Jesus’ radical demands. However, even with the OT, he is highly selective of his texts leaving out such commands as to urge hospitality to strangers, setting limits on revenge, declaring a jubilee on debt and forbidding infant sacrifice – all in the Pentateuch, namely Leviticus and Deuteronomy.

He also overlooks the research done on physical health by those who follow a personal God to those who don’t as it relates to longevity of life, blood pressure and many other characteristics

Michael Shermer from the Skeptics Society affirms what Dawkins misses and that is this:

For every one of these grand tragedies there are 10 000 acts of personal kindness and social good that go unreported. Religion, like all social institutions of such historical depth cannot be reduced to an unambiguous good or evil.

Research based on The Dawkins Delusion by Alister McGrath


The God that Dawkins does not believe in is “a petty, unjust, unforgiving control freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, on and on malevolent bully.

Well, guess what Richard Dawkins, we don’t believe in that God either!



Here is the God that we affirm!



The Bible simply affirms that God exists and to think otherwise, one is a fool in Psalm 14:1. The Word also claims that the one who seeks God will find him.

Who Is God?

He is a Transcendant Being.

God said to Moses, "I am who I am in Exodus 3:14 meaning that He transcends time and space. He is not contained within time, He is not contained within the universe. He does not need to occupy a place in order to exist. He is omnipresent. His power permeates the whole of our universe and he makes all things hold together. No one can escape the presence of God. Psalm 139:7-11 He is omnipotent and by that He has mastery and sovereignty over all things. The word Almighty is used of God 56x in Scripture. To Moses in Exodus 6:3; to believers in 2 Corinthians 6:18 and to John countless times in Revelation. However there are limits, He cannot be tempted by evil and He cannot sin, He cannot violate His own nature. He is omniscient. He numbers and names the stars. Psalm 147:4 He knows everything about our lives before we were born. Psalm 139:16

Malachi 3:6 teaches us that God is unchanging. He is perfectly consistent within Himself.


2. He is an Immanent Being.

By this I mean He is a Personal Being. We learn that he is capable of experiencing emotions such as pleasure, love, disappointment and indignation.

Immanence speaks of God being a Dynamic Being.

Genesis 1:1 introduces us to God as the one who conceives and designs the work of creation. Every good and perfect gift comes from Him James 1:17

Genesis 1:2 introduces us to God as the Spirit who watches over the works of creation
Genesis 1:3 introduces us to the Word of God, the agency through which God’s will is activated. The trinity of God begins here and is fully expressed through the whole of Scripture. John 1, Colossians 1:15

He continues to be active in His role today. He continues to actively call to himself people who desire to be part of His new creation. He is not willing that any should perish 2 Peter 3:9

3. God is Absolute Goodness.
O LORD, who is like you – majestic in holiness Exodus 15:11

When we view a starry night or snow capped mountain it gives us this awe, this wonder of untouched beauty, completely pristine. God is holy in His eternal nature apart from anything that He does.

God’s holiness is also reflected in His actions. The same Hebrew word that David uses to proclaim, “O taste and see that the LORD is good” appears repeatedly in the Genesis account of creation. Everything that is good is a reflection of His holiness.

The concept of holiness and goodness that describe God also characterize His laws and commands. Romans 7:12 states that “ The law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good. It reflects Him.

Holiness and goodness not only manifest itself in His being and protecting what is good, but in His being of the one who restores goodness that was lost in light of the Fall.

The Genesis account is a love story that describes God acting according to His deepest desire…God so loved that He gave the world.

God is love 1 John 4:8,16

With God we see infinite patience and attention to every minute detail to establish this world capable of life.

He also has come to serve in love. The majestic God of the universe upon discovering the mess that resulted from the Fall searches for Adam and Eve, patiently drawing out the confession and consequences and anticipating the saving ministry of His Son. Genesis 3:15


4. God and the Problem of Evil
We learn that God creates human beings with the capacity to shun Him, defy Him, to thwart His creational purposes, to plunge into the chaos and bring the pollution of sin and death.

The Bible gives us a window into the world of the unseen as it relates to evil. We are introduced to prinicipalities, world rulers of this present darkness, spiritual hosts of wickedness in Ephesians 6:12

The presence of evil also reveals the free will of man granted to them by God. He sets objectives and purposes and even with all the twists and turns of human choices, God fulfills His purposes often bringing about the good through the evil. The ultimate value of God continues to transform and transcend the suffering that occurs in bringing them to realization. He is sovereign within history with those who accept His authority and over history, determining its outcomes.

God reveals that He meets us in our suffering as seen in Job 41:9

The Takeaway

You can choose whose version of God you will believe, man’s or God’s?
Joshua 24:15b But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord

For Discussion for Small Groups - Take time to walk through the names of God

The Names of God

Elohim – It comes from the root word to fear and indicates Deity. In its general sense it is used primarily in the OT. He is the mighty leader, He is supreme. It speaks of God’s transcendence.

A compound name of this word is El Shaddai which connects the Mighty One standing on a mountain. It is the way that God appeared to the patriarchs to give comfort and confirmation of His covenant.

El Eyon is another compound name meaning the most High God emphasizing His strength, sovereignty and supremacy. It was used first by Melchizedek in blessing Abraham in Genesis 14:19

El Olam means the everlasting God and is used of the God of eternity in Genesis 21:33
El Roi is used in Genesis 16:13 as the God who sees in relation to Hagar who gave this name to God in response to her being shunned by Sarai with Ishmael’s birth.

YAHWEH - LORD – the personal, covenanting God. It emphasizes His changeless existence, His presence with people and His connection to work on behalf of His people as illustrated in Israel’s deliverance out of Egypt.

Many compounds of this name

Yahweh Jireh – the Lord will Provide Genesis 22:14
Yahweh Nissi – the Lord is my Banner Exodus 17:15 in response to the defeat of the Amalekites.
Yahweh Shalom – the Lord is Peace Judges 6:24
Yahweh Sabbaoth – the Lord of hosts 1 Samuel 1:3 the Lord, the commander of angelic armies
Yahweh Maccaddeshcem – the Lord your Sanctifier Ex 31:13
Yahweh Roi – the Lord is my Shepherd Ps 23
Yahweh Tsidkenu – the Lord our Righteousness Jeremiah 23:6
Yahweh Shammah – the Lord is there Ezekiel 48:35
Yahweh Elohim Israel – the Lord, the God of Israel Judges 5:3

Adonai / Kurios

Like Elohim, it is a plural of majesty. The singular means Lord, master, owner Genesis 19:2 It conveys God’s absolute authority. The NT equivalent is Kurios. Colossians 3:22 also used mainly by Luke and Paul.

God – Theos

It is the most frequently used in the NT speaking of Him being the only one true God. Matthew 23:9. It teaches His uniqueness1 Timothy 1:17, that He is transcendent Acts 17:24 and the Savior 1 Timothy 1:1 It also is the word that is used of Christ as God in 1 John 5:20

Master

This word connects God to ownership and is used by Peter in Acts 4:24; the martyrs in heaven Revelation 6:10

FATHER


It is used of God in the OT only 15x, but 245x in the NT. God gives His children peace, grace as a salutation in the epistles, He gives good gifts in James and commandments and as we address Him in prayer. Romans 8