Redeemer Weekend Sermons

/> ### MESSAGE NOTESWalking The Way | Fasting | Week 7 | June 23, 2024Teacher: Adam Barnett/> “In many ways the stomach is like a spoiled child, and a spoiled child does not need indulgence, but needs discipline.” - Richard Foster /> Fasting – the deliberate abstinence from physical gratification for a greater spiritual goal. /> 1. Should we fast? /> “When you fast…” – Matthew 6:16 /> 2. Why should we fast? /> Then John’s disciples came and asked him, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?” Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast. - Matthew 9:14-15 /> “Fasting helps us to express, to deepen, and to confirm the resolution that we are ready to sacrifice anything, even ourselves, to attain the Kingdom of God.”– Andrew Murray /> 3. Why should we not fast? /> “When you fast, do not look somberas the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face,so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. – Matthew 6:16-18 /> “The world is not a stage. When you practice some appetite-denying discipline to better concentrate on God, don’t make a production out of it. It might turn you into a small-time celebrity, but it won’t make you a saint.” - Eugene Peterson /> 4. How to start a fast?

/> ### MESSAGE NOTESWalking The Way | Solitude | Week 6 | June 16, 2024Teacher: Adam Barnett/> Psalm 103:1-5, New International Version: /> 1 Praise theLord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name./> 2 Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits—/> 3 who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases,/> 4 who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion,/> 5 who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s./> Psalm 103:1-5, Amplified Bible: /> 1 Bless and affectionately praise theLord, O my soul, And all that is [deep] within me,blessHis holy name./> 2 Bless and affectionately praise theLord, O my soul,And do not forget any of His benefits;/> 3 Who forgives all your sins,Who heals all your diseases;/> 4 Who redeems your life from the pit,Who crowns you [lavishly] with lovingkindness and tender mercy;/> 5 Who satisfies your years with good things,So that your youth is renewed like the [soaring] eagle./> Psalm 103:1-5, Message Translation: /> 1 O my soul, blessGod.From head to toe, I’ll bless his holy name!/> 2 O my soul, blessGod,don’t forget a single blessing!/> 3 He forgives your sins—every one.He heals your diseases—every one./> 4He redeems you from hell—saves your life!He crowns you with love and mercy—a paradise crown./> 5 He wraps you in goodness—beauty eternal.He renews your youth—you’re always young in his presence. /> 1. Comparison. “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above…” - James 1:17/> Comparing leads to coveting. Coveting is lethal to contentment./> Focus (daily) on appreciation, not accumulation./> 2. Complaint. “Do everything without grumbling or arguing.” - Philippians 2:14/> “How are we landing robots on Mars, but our Wi-Fi is so slow?” - Adam Barnett>/ 3. Calamity.“Give thanks in all circumstances…” 1 Thessalonians 5:18 >/ God did not do this to me. God allowed this for me. He is with me./> "For years, I subscribed to the notion of an 'attitude of gratitude.' I've since learned that an attitude is an orientation or a way of thinking and that 'having an attitude' doesn't always translate to a behavior.It seems that gratitude without practice may be a little like faith without works. It's not alive. So, we don't so much want to know if you have a grateful heart, but do you have grateful habits?” - Brené Brown /> 1. Focus on where you see the gracious and active presence of God in the story of your life./> 2. Talk about where you see the gracious and active presence of God in the story of your life.

/> ### MESSAGE NOTESWalking The Way | Solitude | Week 5 | June 9, 2024Teacher: Adam Barnett/> May you be covered in the dust of your rabbi. /> When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers. Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” - Matthew 20:24-28>/ Greatness in the kingdom of God is the polar opposite of greatness in the world.>/ Διάκονος – a household servant (specifically, a waiter); a minister.>/ Greatness is service. To be first, be a servant. >/ “Jesus turns this noble ideal on its head and in one of cultural history’s dramatic reversals he asks, in effect, ‘How can anyone be happy unless one is the slave of everyone else?’” - Dale Bruner>/ Philippians 2:3-4… Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. >/ 1. Slow down>/ 2. Seek opportunities>/ 3. Start new rhythms>/ 4. Serve at Redeemer>/ 5. Spiritual Gifts Assessment

/> ### MESSAGE NOTESWalking The Way | Solitude | Week 4 | June 2, 2024Teacher: Dave Brown/> Sacrament is from the Latin word sacramentum which originally referred to a soldier’s sacred oath of allegiance. /> Two sacramentsBaptismCommunion/> 3 Names to CommunionThe Lord’s SupperCommunionEucharist/> And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.”—Luke 22:19-20/> Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke them. Then he gave them to the disciples to distribute to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.—Luke 9:16-17/> 4 Verbs of the Lord’s Supper1. Take: Jesus takes what we bring him. This offering that Jesus take from us is the first movement of the Eucharist; it sets salvation in the ambience of sheer acceptance. God receives us and what we bring to him, just as we are.2. Bless: What we offer to Jesus, Jesus offers to God with thanksgiving. He doesn’t examine it for flaws, doesn’t evaluate and appraise it, criticize or reject our offerings. He prays these offerings and the lives that back them up, offering what we offer to the Father. This prayer of blessing gathers all of us and everything we are into everything that Christ is and does for us.3. Break: Our gifts don’t remain what we bring. At the Table we are not permitted to be self-sufficient. The breaking of our pride and self-approval is not a bad thing; it opens us to new life, to saving action. We soon discover that God is working deep within us, beneath our surface lies and poses, to bring new life.4. Give: Jesus gives back what we bring to him, who we are; and we receive what he gives. But it is no longer what we brought. It has been changed into what God gives, what we sing of as “amazing grace.” Everything we bring to Jesus is given back, but lavishly…Everything on the Table and everyone around the Table becomes gospel and is distributed to all who hunger and thirst after righteousness.—Eugene Peterson

/> ### MESSAGE NOTESWalking The Way | Our Practice | Week 2 | May 26, 2024Teacher: Dave Brown/> Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.—Matthew 13:18-23/> Music and silence—how I detest them both! How thankful we should be that ever since Our Father entered Hell—though longer ago than humans, reckoning in light years, could express—no square inch of infernal space and no moment of infernal time has been surrendered to either of those abominable forces, but all has been occupied by Noise—Noise, the grand dynamism, the audible expression of all that is exultant, ruthless, and virile—Noise which alone defends us from silly qualms, despairing scruples and impossible desires. We will make the whole universe a noise in the end. We have already made great strides in this direction as regards the Earth. The melodies and silences of Heaven will be shouted down in the end. But I admit we are not yet loud enough, or anything like it. Research is in progress.—C.S. Lewis /> Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus often withdraw to lonely places and prayed.—Luke 5:15-16 /> In the world there are many other voices speaking—loudly: “Prove that you are beloved. Prove you’re worth something. Prove you have any contribution to make. Do something relevant. Be sure you make a name for yourself. At least have some power—then people will love you; then people will say you’re wonderful, you’re great.’ These voices are so strong. They touch our hidden insecurities and drive us to become every busy trying to prove to the world that we are good people who deserve some attention.—Henri Nouwen/> Solitude confronts our escapism. /> In solitude we not only encounter God but also our true self.—Clowning in Rome /> The discipline of solitude allows us gradually to come in touch with the hopeful presence of God in our lives, and allows us also to taste even now the beginnings of the joy and peace which belong to the new heaven and the new earth.—Henri Nouwen /> We practice solitude to know and be known. /> Why is it so important that we are with God and God alone on the mountain top? It’s important because it’s the place in which we can listen to the voice of the One who calls us the beloved. Jesus says to you and to me that we are loved as he is loved…To pray is to let that voice speak to the center of our being and permeate our whole life. Who am I? I am the beloved. If we are not calming that voice as the deepest truth of our being, then we cannot walk freely in this world.—Henri Nouwen /> We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check….The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.—James 3:2-8 /> Why do we insist on talking as much as we do? We run off at the mouth because we are inwardly uneasy about what other think of us.—Dallas Willard/> The practice of silence helps us to listen and to observe, to pay attention to people. How rarely are we ever truly listened to, and how deep is out need to be heard. I wonder how much wrath in human life is a result of not being heard.—Dallas Willard/> We practice silence to listen and to serve /> Far too often we are busy trying to “do something.” Perhaps it would be better if instead we learned to “be something.” /> We cannot be human if we are not existing in the present, for the present is where God meets us. If we avoid the details of the actual present, we abdicate a big chunk of our humanity.—Eugene Peterson

/> ### MESSAGE NOTESWalking The Way | Our Practice | Week 2 | May 19th, 2024Teacher: Adam Barnett/> www.redeemertulsa.org/walkingtheway/> “The way of Jesus”/> Being like Jesus is the result of being with Jesus./> “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practiceis like a wise man who built his house on the rock.The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”– Matthew 7:24-27/> “Salvation isn’t just about getting you into heaven. It is about getting heaven into you. Salvation is not a transaction. It is a transformation.” - John Mark Comer/> 1) Be with Jesus /> 2) Do as Jesus did./> [Video: Be Like Mike - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0AGiq9j_Ak]/> “May you be covered in the dust of your rabbi.”

/> ### MESSAGE NOTESWalking The Way | Silence and Solitude | Week 1 | May 12th, 2024Teacher: Adam Barnett /> www.redeemertulsa.org/walkingtheway /> “The way of Jesus.” /> Before we learn and follow the practices of Jesus, we must seek and know the Person of Jesus.“Do not let your hearts be troubled.You believein God;believe also in me.My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going thereto prepare a place for you?And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come backand take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.You know the way to the place where I am going.” Thomassaid to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus answered,“I amthe wayand the truthand the life.No one comes to the Father except through me.– John 14:1-6 “The realm where God’s way is done is the ‘kingdom of God.’ It is from everlasting to everlasting. What changed with the birth of Jesus was God’s gift of a way in. To those who receive Christ as king, he gives the power to become powerless—to give up supreme rulership of our own little kingdoms and become like children. Children of the King, happy to follow in the Father’s footsteps and ready to trust him with our lives.” - Grace Pouch /> Being like Jesus is the result of being with Jesus. /> Pay attention to what you are paying attention to. /> Focus on where you see the gracious and active presence of God in the story of your life.

/> ### MESSAGE NOTESBecause of Love | Partnership in Mission | Week 4 | May 5th, 2024Teacher: Dave Brown /> On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with[a] water, but in a few days you will be baptized with[b] the Holy Spirit.” Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.— Acts 1:4-9 /> Power because we’re going to need it. /> What does it mean to be a witness? /> We have over spiritualized our salvation as well as the mission of God. Millions of Christians in many parts of the world still think the cross means “Jesus died for my sins so that I can go to heaven.” The “mission” of the church, then, becomes a matter of explaining to more and more people that he dies for them too and urging them to believe this, so that they too can go to heaven…That way of looking at the gospel and mission both shrinks and distorts what the Bible actually teaches.—N.T. WrightCan we seriously believe that God would establish a plan for us that essentially bypasses the awesome needs of present human life and leaves human character untouched? Would he leave us even temporarily marooned with no help in our kind of world, with our kind of problems: psychological, emotional, social, and global? Can we believe that the essence of Christian faith and salvation covers nothing but death and after? Can we believe that being saved really has nothing whatever to do with the kinds of persons we are?—Dallas Willard/> “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind,to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”—Luke 4:18-19 /> Our mission is to be with Jesus, to become like Jesus, and to do as Jesus did. The people who are rescued by the cross and the love it reveals will then be shaped by the cross and the love it will reveal through them to the world…This is how we learn not only to tell the story of Jesus, but also to live the story of Jesus.— N.T. Wright /> Jesus did not simply die to save us from our sins. Jesus also lived to save us from our sins. /> When the prophets Daniel and John envision the empires as vicious beasts, what they’re saying is, Beneath all the wealth, power, and excess of these dazzling empires lie grotesque monsters, trampling everyone and everything in their path. And when they depict God as tolerating, then restraining, and finally destroying these monsters, what they’re saying is, The story isn’t over; even the greatest empires are no match for goodness, righteousness, and virtue.—Rachel Held Evans /> The Bible is a collection of resistance stories because all of it anticipates or announces the Kingdom of God and the rule and reign of Jesus Christ.

/> ### MESSAGE NOTESBecause of Love | The Church | Week 5 | April 28, 2024Teacher: Adam Barnett /> 18 And I tell you that you are Peter,and on this rock I will build my church,and the gates of Hadeswill not overcome it. – Matthew 16:18“… like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” – 1 Peter 2:5Εκκλησιά– an assembly of people meeting for a common purpose./> 42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teachingand to fellowship, to the breaking of breadand to prayer.43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles.44 All the believers were together and had everything in common.45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.And the Lord added to their numberdaily those who were being saved. - Acts 2:42-47/> 1. Worship.Therefore, I urge you,brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice,holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.– Romans 12:1To be a living sacrifice isn’t just getting on the altar, but choosing to stay there./> 2. Truth. In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearingand his kingdom, I give you this charge: 2Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebukeand encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. – 2 Timothy 4:1We accept the Holy Scriptures, the Old and New Testaments, as the word of God and the only perfect rule for faith, doctrine, and conduct.We are INVITED to BE disciples of Jesus, and EXPECTED to MAKE disciples for Jesus.Disciples make disciple-makers./> 3. Community.

/> ### MESSAGE NOTESBecause of Love | Spiritual Gifts | Week 4 | April 21, 2024Teacher: Dave Brown /> Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit./> There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.—1 Corinthians 12:1-7 /> No one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.— 1 Corinthians 12:3b /> 1. The first Spiritual Gift Paul mentions is accepting Jesus as Lord.Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.— 1 Corinthians 12:7 /> 2. Everyone is given a gift from the Holy Spirit. /> 3. These gifts are meant to be used in community. /> 4. Paul is calling us into unityAnd yet I will show you the most excellent way. If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.— 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 /> 5. The Greatest Gift of All is LoveLove is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails…—1 Corinthians 13:4-8a But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.—1 Corinthians 13:8b-10 Paul’s description of the attributes of love in verses 4-7 offers a picture of habitual actions and dispositions. One cannot merely decide in a day’s time to start doing these things. They are learned patterns of behavior that must be cultivated over time in the context of a community that models and supports such behavior…far too little attention had been given in our communities to this character-forming task of the church. We must deliberate carefully about how to reform the church so that we can more fully devote our energies to learning how to love.—Richard Hays /> The gift of love is the only gift that lasts for all eternity. Here, Paul is inviting us to participate in eternity today.

/> ### MESSAGE NOTESBecause of Love | Grace | Week 3 | April 14, 2024Teacher: Adam Barnett The grace of God is undeniably and entirely a gift. /> “Grace is love that seeks you out when you have nothing to give in return. Grace is love coming at you that has nothing to do with you. Grace is being loved when you are unlovable… Grace has everything to do with the lover, not the beloved. It has nothing to do with weights and measures. It has nothing to do with my intrinsic qualities or so-called ‘gifts,’ whatever they may be. It reflects a decision on the part of the giver, the one who loves, in relation to the receiver, the one who is loved, that negates any qualifications the receiver may personally hold. Grace is one-way love.” - Paul Zahl /> For you know the grace of out Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor so that you through his poverty might become rich. 2 Corinthians 8:9 /> "Grace is free, nut it is not cheap" /> So what do we do? Keep on sinning so God can keep on forgiving? I should hope not! If we've left the country where sin is sovereign, how can we still live in our old house there? Or didn't you realize we packed up and left there for good?That is what happened in baptism. When we went under the water, we left the old country of sin behind; when we came up out of the water, we entered into a new country of grace - a new life in a new land!Romans 6:1-3 (MSG) /> My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.2 Corinthians 12:9

/> ### MESSAGE NOTESBecause of Love | The Holy Spirit | Week 2 | April 7, 2024Teacher: Adam Barnett /> 1. Rejoice in the Resurrection. /> 2. Remember your Baptism. /> 3. Return to Habits of Spiritual Formation. /> 4. Reflect on the Gift of the Church. 5. Renew your Commitment to Mission. /> “If you love me, keep my commands.And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocateto help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth.The world cannot accept him,because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will bein you. – John 14:15-17 /> But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocatewill not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. – John 16:7 /> Acts 2:1-4 - When the day of Pentecostcame, they were all togetherin one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.All of them were filled with the Holy Spiritand began to speak in other tonguesas the Spirit enabled them. /> We affirm a conscious dependence on the Holy Spirit. /> 1. Pray:“Father, Son, Holy Spirit.” /> 2. Light a candle. /> 3. The Holy Spirit is a Person. /> 4. Practice routine prayers.

/> ### MESSAGE NOTES"Resurrection" | Easter Sunday | March 31, 2024Teacher: Adam Barnett /> HEAVEN JUST STARTED COUNTING TO THREE. /> Matthew 28:1-10-1 After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.2 There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. 4 The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.5 The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6 He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”8 So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him.10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.” /> 1) Salvation. Romans 6:23 –For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. /> 2) Status. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.– John 1:12/> 3) Security. /> Romans 8:1 –Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus./> Jesus, I believe in you. You are the resurrection and the life. I believe you died on the cross for me. I believe in your resurrection. Will you make me a new creation today? I am sorry for my sins. Please forgive me. I ask you to live in my heart and to fill me with your Holy Spirit. I want to live this life, and the life to come, with you. Through the name of Jesus, my Lord and Savior, I pray … Amen!

/> ### MESSAGE NOTESPalm Sunday "Hosanna in the Highest" • March 24, 2024Teacher: Adam Barnett --/> Luke 9:51 "As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem" /> Luke 19:28-34 "After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.As he approached Bethphage and Bethanyat the hill called the Mount of Olives,he sent two of his disciples, saying to them“Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here.If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it.’”Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them.As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?”They replied, “The Lord needs it” /> Zechariah 9:9 "Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey" /> Luke 19:35-38 "They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it.As he went along, people spread their cloakson the road.When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” /> John 12:12-13 "The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the king of Israel!” /> Hosanna (English) ---> ὡσαννά (Greek) ---> hoshiya na (Hebrew) /> Psalm 118:25 "LORD, save us! LORD, grant us success!" /> Psalm 118:26 "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord" /> "Darkness fell, His friends scattered, hope seemed lost… but heaven just started counting to three."— Bob Goff

/> ### MESSAGE NOTESFinal Words"Into Your hands I commit My spirit." • March 17, 2024Teacher: Dave Brown--/> 1. Here is your son. Here is your mother.2. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?3. I thirst.4. It is finished5. Into your hands I commit my spirit./> Of all the Evangelists, Luke is the most intentional, and the most skillful, in narrating the story of Jesus in a way that joins it seamlessly to Israel’s story…Luke is seeking to write the continuation of biblical history.—Richard Hays/> It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last. The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.” When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away. But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.—Luke 23:44-49>/ In you, Lord, I have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame; deliver me in your righteousness. Turn your ear to me, come quickly to my rescue; be my rock of refuge, a strong fortress to save me. Since you are my rock and my fortress, for the sake of your name lead and guide me. Keep me free from the trap that is set for me, for you are my refuge. Into your hands I commit my spirit; deliver me, Lord, my faithful God. I hate those who cling to worthless idols; as for me, I trust in the Lord. I will be glad and rejoice in your love, for you saw my affliction and knew the anguish of my soul. You have not given me into the hands of the enemy but have set my feet in a spacious place.Praise be to the Lord, for he showed me the wonders of his love when I was in a city under siege. In my alarm I said, “I am cut off from your sight!” Yet you heard my cry for mercy when I called to you for help. Love the Lord, all his faithful people! The Lord preserves those who are true to him, but the proud he pays back in full. Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord.—Psalm 31:1-8, 21-24/> In Jesus’ mind, his horrible and humiliating condition in no way jeopardizes his relationship with God, whom he thus continues to address with the characteristic appellation, “Father.”— Joel B. Green/> This prayer from the cross is particularly difficult to keep in its crucifixion context and still pray it. A childlike relaxation into the arms of Jesus when everything is going well and we are surrounded by those we love and trust, yes. But a deliberate, trusting committal into the hands of the Father when we have been blindsided on a Golgotha intersection and out life has been totaled? Lovely as Jesus’ prayer is, it is not likely to come spontaneously from our lips in such circumstances.—Eugene Peterson/> What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.—Romans 8:31-39

/> ### MESSAGE NOTESFinal Words"I thirst." & "It is finished." • March 10, 2024Teacher: Leanne Benton--/> John 19:28-30:Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” /> ‘My mouth is dried up like a potsherd and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; You lay me in the dust of death.” Psalm 22:15 /> Hebrews 2:17:“For this reason he had to be made fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.” /> A Testimony of His…Suffering, Submission, Sureness /> “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 4:13-14 /> “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?” Psalm 42:1-2 /> “After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said “I thirst!” John 19:28 /> Completeness Triumph Satisfaction Confidence /> “I have brought you glory by finishing the work you gave me to do.”John 17:4 />“No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.” John 10:18 />“Death has lost the battle! Where is its victory? Where is its sting? Sin is what gives death its sting, and the Law is the power behind sin. But thank God for letting our Lord Jesus Christ give us the victory!” 1 Corinthians 15:55-57

/> ### MESSAGE NOTESFinal Words"Eli, Eli lama sabachthani?" • March 3, 2024Teacher: Adam Barnett--/> 25 It was nine in the morning when they crucified him. 26 The written notice of the charge against him read: the king of the Jews. 27 They crucified two rebels with him, one on his right and one on his left. 29 Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, 30 come down from the cross and save yourself!” 31 In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! 32 Let this Messiah, this king of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.” Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him. – Mark 15:25-32 /> 33 At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. - Mark 15:33 /> 34 And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”). - Mark 15:34 /> 1. To be forsaken did not change God’s identity. /> 2. To be forsaken did not change the Father’s love. /> 3. To be forsaken was not a sin of despair. /> Psalm 23: The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

/> ### MESSAGE NOTESFinal WordsFather, forgive them. • February 25, 2024Teacher: Dave Brown--/> Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing./> Today you will be with me in paradise./> Here is your son. Here is your mother./> My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?/> I thirst./> It is finished/> Into your hands I commit my spirit./> The first three phrases display Jesus’ character./> 1. Love your enemies/> 1. Father forgive them/> 2. My yoke is easy and my burden is light/> 2. Today, you will be with me in paradise./> 3. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends./> 3. Here is your son. Here is your mother./> Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection has a two-fold meaning for us./> It offers us mercy and grace/> It is the example of what it means to be truly human./> Our lives are lived well only when they are lived on the terms of their creation, with God loving and us being loved, with God making and us being made, with God revealing and us understanding, with God commanding and us responding.—Eugene Peterson/> Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face…—Mike Tyson/> Who are we when following Jesus gets hard?

/> ### MESSAGE NOTESFinal WordsFather, forgive them. • February 18, 2024Teacher: Adam Barnett--/> 1. A time of repentance./> 2. A time of renewal./> 3. A time of self-denial./> Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots. - Luke 23:32-34/> “The crucifixion is not a spectator sport. I cannot simply watch it on the sidelines. Something bursts within me—revulsion, hatred, disappointment—but I am not left untouched. The cross, acknowledged or not, leaves its own kind of wound in us. It sets us voyaging within ourselves.” — Alan Jones

/> ### MESSAGE NOTESLiving the WayBlessed at the peacemakers... • February 11, 2024Teacher: Otis Garrison--/> BLESSED ARE THE PERSECUTED/> Matthew 5:10, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” NKJVI. KINGDOM OF HEAVEN /> What does Jesus mean - For theirs is the kingdom of heaven? /> Many of Jesus’ parables focus on the kingdom of heaven /> The kingdom of heaven is established in and through us as we are poor in spirit and live righteous before the Father. II. PERSECUTED FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS SAKE/> The first 7 Beatitudes happen because we make a choice to do what Jesus is saying. /> With this last Beatitude - “persecuted for righteousness sake” it is a choice someone else or some outside force makes for us. /> In the case of this beatitude - persecution happens because of loyalty to righteousness, /> Matt 5:11, “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.” NKJV/> Revile - means to use scornful or abusive language. To treat or regard with contempt or disdain; to reject or to mock…/> Question - what does it mean if we are never persecuted?/> Acts 4:29, “And now, O Lord, hear their threats, and give us, your servants, great boldness in preaching your word.” NLT/> Jesus, Himself, was reviled and mocked - Leaving us an example to follow…/> 1 Peter 2:21-23, “For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in his steps. He never sinned, nor ever deceived anyone. He did not retaliate when he was insulted, nor threaten revenge when he suffered. He left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly.” NLTMatt 5:11, “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.” NKJVMatt 5:12, “Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” NKJV

/> ### MESSAGE NOTESLiving the WayBlessed at the peacemakers... • February 5, 2024Teacher: Adam Barnett--/> Matthew 5:9 – Blessed are the peacemakers, for the will be called children of God./> You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. Romans 5:6-11/> Reconciliation is not only of God, but from God, and to God./> All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. - 2 Corinthians 5:18-21/> “The word of the beatitudes penetrates us with the power of the Holy Spirit in order to break up our interior soil.” - Jonathan Pennington/>“The word of the beatitudes penetrates you with the power of the Holy Spirit in order to break up your interior soil.” /> “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. - Matthew 5:43-45/> 1. Pray for your enemies. /> 2. Pray for peace. /> 3. Do all you can. /> Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love.

/> ### MESSAGE NOTESLiving the WayBlessed at the pure in heart... • January 28, 2024Teacher: Adam Barnett--MESSAGE NOTESLiving the WayBlessed at the pure in heart... • January 28, 2024Teacher: Adam Barnett--/> Μακάριος: happy, supremely blessed, fortunate; to be envied./> The Beatitudes are not only instructions on how to live, but directions to where God can be found. /> Living the way of the kingdom is admitting that God’s way is better than our own./> Matthew 5:8 – Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God./> I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. – Galatians 2:20/> 2 Corinthians 5:17 - Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here./> Proverbs 4:23 – Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it./> Our hearts are vulnerable when we get distracted. /> 1 John 2:15-16 - Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not from the Father but from the world.

Living the WayBlessed are the merciful... • January 21, 2024Teacher: Adam Barnett/> ### MESSAGE NOTESLiving the WayBlessed at the merciful... • January 21, 2024Teacher: Adam Barnett--/> Matthew 5:7 "Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy."Mercy – the compassionate disposition to forgive someone or to offer aid, assistance, or help to someone in need.The conduct God demands of us includes a continuous nature of showing mercy to others./> Matthew 18:21-22"Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times? Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times."/> Matthew 18:23-26“Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.“ At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.'/> Matthew 18:27"The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go."/> Matthew 18:28-30“But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded. “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’ “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt."/> Matthew 18:31-35"When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened. “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.“ This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.” When I am unmerciful, it shows I lack gratitude and true acknowledgement of God’s mercy for me.

Living the WayBlessed are those that hunger for righteousness... • January 14, 2024Teacher: Adam Barnett/> Μακάριος (blessed) – happy, supremely blessed, fortunate/> Μακάριος (blessed) – happy, supremely blessed, fortunate; to be envied./> “We can compare the work of the beatitudes to that of a plow in the fields. Drawn along with determination, it drives the sharp edge of the plowshare into the earth and carves out a deep wound; a broad channel. In the same way, the word of the beatitudes penetrates us with the power of the Holy Spirit in order to break up our interior soil. It cuts through us with the sharp edge of trials and with the struggles it provokes. It overturns our ideas, reverses the obvious, thwarts our desires, and bewilders us, leaving us poor and naked before God. All this, in order to prepare a place within us for the seed of new life.” — Jonathan Pennington/> Read the Beatitudes not only as instructions on how to live, but directions to where God can be found.\_Matthew 5:6_\/> "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled."/> Do I hunger and thirst for the wrong things? \_Jeremiah 2:12-13_\/> “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.” \_Isaiah 55:1-2_\/> "Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live."\_Matthew 5:20_\"For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.""If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world." – C.S. Lewis

Living the WayBlessed are the poor in spirit... • January 7, 2024Teacher: Adam Barnett\_Matthew 7:28-29_\> "When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law."> “The realm where God’s way is done is the ‘kingdom of God.’ It is from everlasting to everlasting. What changed with the birth of Jesus was God’s gift of a way in. To those who receive Christ as king, he gives the power to become powerless—to give up supreme rulership of our own little kingdoms and become like children. Children of the King, happy to follow in the Father’s footsteps and ready to trust him with our lives.” - Grace Pouch> To serve, or not to serve?> “The Sermon on the Mount is the most complete description anywhere in the N.T. of the Christian counterculture. Here is a Christian value-system, ethical standard, religious devotion, attitude to money, ambition, lifestyle, and network of relationships — all of which totally oppose those in the non-Christian world. And this Christian counterculture is the life of the kingdom of God, a fully human life indeed, but lived out under the divine rule.” - John Stott\_Matthew 5:1-3_\> "Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them. He said: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”> Living the way of the kingdom is admitting that God's way is better than our own.> Living the way of the kingdom of God involves a present responsibility and a future privilege.

The Kingdom of GodChristmas Eve • December 31, 2023Teacher: Dave Brown

O Holy NightChristmas Eve • December 24, 2023Teacher: Adam Barnett> Let all within us praise His holy name!\_Luke 2:8-20_\> “And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests. When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about. So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.”> The shepherds glorified and praised God for all the things they had heard and seen.> And He walks with me, and He talks with me, and He tells me I am His own. And the joy we share, as we tarry there… none other has ever known.\_Isaiah 9:6_\> “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

O Holy NightAdvent • December 17, 2023Teacher: Adam Barnett--**O Holy Night** "In His name, all oppression shall cease." • December 17, 2023 _Teacher:_ **Adam Barnett**> In His name, all oppression shall cease.\_Luke 4:18-19_\> “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”> 1. The prisoner will be released.> 2. The blind will see.> 3. The oppressed will be set free.\_Revelation 21:4_\> "He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."> Our Father in heaven,hallowed be your name,your kingdom come,your will be done,on earth as it is in heaven.Give us today our daily bread.And forgive us our debts,as we also have forgiven our debtors.And lead us not into temptation,but deliver us from the evil one.For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever.Amen.

O Holy NightJoy • December 10, 2023Teacher: Adam Barnett--**O Holy Night** Joy • December 10, 2023 _Teacher:_ **Adam Barnett**Chains Shall He Break, for the Slave is Our Brother – Philemon> American Christianity is consumer focused. Therefore, it is me-focused.> Jesus is making things right - in all people, for all people, and between all people.> Chains shall he break, for the slave is our brother.**Philemon 1:1-16**> 1 Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our dear friend and fellow worker—2 also to Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier—and to the church that meets in your home: 3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 4 I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, 5 because I hear about your love for all his holy people and your faith in the Lord Jesus. 6 I pray that your partnership with us in the faith may be effective in deepening your understanding of every good thing we share for the sake of Christ. 7 Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the Lord’s people. 8 Therefore, although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do, 9 yet I prefer to appeal to you on the basis of love. It is as none other than Paul—an old man and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus— 10 that I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, who became my son while I was in chains. 11 Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me. 12 I am sending him—who is my very heart—back to you. 13 I would have liked to keep him with me so that he could take your place in helping me while I am in chains for the gospel. 14 But I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that any favor you do would not seem forced but would be voluntary. 15 Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back forever— 16 no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother. He is very dear to me but even dearer to you, both as a fellow man and as a brother in the Lord.**Colossians 3:22**> Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord.**Colossians 4:1**> Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven.**Max Anders**> “Slavery mocks Christian compassion and brotherhood. It assaults the biblical principle of equity before God. Through forced subjection and inhumane practices, slavery tramples on God’s creation. But rather than attacking social structures and relationships, Christianity works within the human conscience. In this way, a more thorough and lasting change occurs. When Christian ethics and cultural practices conflict, the Christian response is reformation of the heart and mind rather than revolution over social institutions.”> When the human heart is captured by love, truth, and compassion, social evils disappear.>What unjust rights or privileges do we enjoy that God calls us to renounce with acts of grace?> The incarnation breaks the chains of our captivity.

O Holy NightPeace • December 3, 2023Teacher: Adam Barnett-- His law is love and His gospel is peaceLuke 10:25-28 NIV“Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”Augustine“All who do not love God are strangers and antichrists. The fountain of life does not belong to them. But if you have love, that fountain is yours. The Spirit of God exhorts you to drink from it, and in doing so, to drink from himself.”Bob Goff“Love is never stationary. In the end, love doesn’t just keep thinking about it or keep planning for it. Simply put: love does.”Isaiah 9:6-7"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end."Jesus is making things right - in all people, for all people, and between all people.Lt. Kurt Zehmisch“How marvelously wonderful, yet how strange it was. The English officers felt the same way. Christmas, the celebration of love, managed to bring mortal enemies together as friends for a time.”If love is coming, let’s love now.If peace is coming, let’s be peaceful now.If justice is coming, let’s be just now.

Love One AnotherThrough • November 26, 2023Teacher: Dave Brown-- Truly He Taught Us to Love One AnotherJohn 13:34-35 NIVA new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.David KinnamanOne crucial insight kept popping up in our exploration. In studying thousands of outsiders’ impressions, it is clear that Christians are primarily perceived for what they stand against. We have become famous for what we oppose, rather than who we are for.UnchristianChristianity has become bloated with blind followers who would rather repeat slogans than actually feel true compassion and care. Christianity has become marketed and streamlined into a juggernaut of fear mongering that has lost its own heart.UnchristianMost people I meet assume that Christian means very conservative, entrenched in their thinking, antigay, antichoice, angry, violent, illogical, empire builders; they want to convert everyone, and they generally cannot live peacefully with anyone who doesn’t believe what they believe.1. Evangelicals care more about being right, than they care about acting right.2. They spend more time caring about what a person believes, then they spend caring for the person.3. They are often more indoctrinated than they are biblically literate.How do we go about loving one another?Our love for one another must look like Jesus’ love for us.Jesus’ love was humble.Rick WarrenHumility is not thinking less of yourself; It is thinking of yourself less.N.T. WrightAt the heart of Christian ethic is humility; at the heart of its parodies, pride. Different roads with different destinations, and the destinations color the character of those who travel by them.Jesus’ love was other focused.American Christianity is consumer focused. In this way, it is me focused.Eugene PetersonIf people are not satisfied, we’ll find a way to woo them back with better publicity and glossier advertising. We’ll repackage church under fresh brand names. Since Americans are the world’s champion consumers, let’s offer the gospel on consumer terms, reinterpreting it as a way to satisfy their addiction to More and Better and Sexier. The huge irony is that the more the gospel is offered in consumer terms, the more the consumers are disappointed. The gospel is not a consumer product; it doesn’t satisfy what we think of as our “needs.”

A Purpose for my PainThrough • November 19, 2023Teacher: Adam Barnett-- Our pain connects us to people.2 Corinthians 1:3-6 NIVPraise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer.The comforted are to be comforters.Comforting others is a form of evangelism.2 Corinthians 11:30, 12:9-10 NIV“If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. [The Lord] said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you; my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in my weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”My pain is a platform to share the gospel!Philippians 1:12 NIVI want you to know, my dear brothers and sisters, that everything that has happened to me here has helped to spread the Good News.

Getting through with intentional stages of griefThrough • November 12, 2023Teacher: Adam Barnett, Melanie Fell, Leanne Benton, Dave Brown, Alison Myers, and Garland Tackett-- Leanne Benton:Rick WarrenThere is no life without change. There is no change without loss. There is no loss without pain. But grief is a choice.John 11:33-35 NIVWhen Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. “Where have you laid him?’ He asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied. Jesus wept.Psalm 34:18 NIVThe Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.1 Peter 5:10:RestoreConfirmStrengthenEstablishPsalm 23:4 NIVEven though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.2 Corinthians 1:3-4 NIVPraise be to the God… of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. Dave Brown:Romans 8:18-22 NIVI consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Alison Myers:Matthew 26:36-39 NLTThen Jesus went with them to the olive grove called Gethsemane, and he said, “Sit here while I go over there to pray.” He took Peter and Zebedee’s two sons, James and John, and he became anguished and distressed. He told them, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”Surrender became my pathway to peace.The Serenity Prayer“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

Getting Through With the Help of CommunityThrough • November 5, 2023Teacher: Adam Barnett-- 1. Receiving help during a tough time.2. Giving help during a tough time. 1 Corinthians 12:12, 27 NIVJust as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.Saint Basil“The Creator arranged things so that we need each other.”Ephesians 4:25 NIV“… we are members of one another.”I am not meant to walk through _____________ alone.Henri Nouwen"No one person can fulfill all your needs. But a community can truly hold you. The community can let you experience the fact that, beyond your anguish, there are human hands that hold you and show you God’s faithful love.”Dan Meyer“Life is hard. Do it in groups.”Galatians 6:2 NIVBear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.Galatians 6:2 MSG“Stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed. Share their burdens, and so complete Christ’s law.”Romans 12:15b NIV“… weep (mourn, lament, or sob) with those who weep.”“… give helpful advice to those who weep.” - Romans 12:15“… offer an opinion or explanation to those who weep.” - Romans 12:15“… cheer up those who weep.” - Romans 12:15To bear a burden is to make someone else’s struggle or sorrow your own.

Hopeful ExpectationThrough • October 29, 2023Teacher: Adam Barnett-- Isaiah 43:1-2 NIVBut now, this is what the Lord says—he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFTRwD85AQ4The Stockdale Paradox: confronting the brutal facts of our reality with the hope that we will prevail.To lament is to groan under the burden of sorrow; to mourn.1. Lament for lost loved ones.2. Lament for a destroyed city or temple.3. Lament for a crisis in the community.4. Lament for one’s sin.5. Lament for devastating circumstances.a. Sickness and pain– Psalm 38:7-8, Jeremiah 15:18Michael John Cusick“Lament is a posture and way of being that engages with God with our truest self.”b. Complaint – Job 3:11 c. Questioning.– Psalm 22:1-2d. A plea for help. - Psalm 31:1-2Matthew 5:4 NIVBlessed are those who mourn,for they will be comforted.Lament is not a failure of faith, but an act of faith.Soong-Chan Rah“The American church avoids lament. The power of lament is minimized and the underlying narrative of suffering that requires lament is lost. But absence doesn’t make the heart grow fonder. Absence makes the heart forget. The absence of lament in the liturgy of the American church results in a loss of memory. We forget the necessity of lamenting over suffering and pain. We forget the reality of suffering and pain.”

Hopeful ExpectationThrough • October 22, 2023Teacher: Dave Brown-- Matthew 7:24-27 NIV“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”Matthew 7:25 NIVThe rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house.1. StormsA storm is anything that puts us in physical, emotional, or spiritual disorientation or trauma.Give Ourselves the freedom to feel what we feelPray the Lament PsalmsIdentify CommunityEcclesiastes 4:9-12 NIVTwo are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor:If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.2. Deconstruction Matthew 7:24 NIV“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” A lot of American Christianity is not based in the gospel, so it doesn’t stand up in the storm.Acts 12:1 NIVIt was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword.3. ReconstructionCrack the door to hope.What is our hope?Revelation 21:3-5 NIVAnd I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”Remember back to when you felt God’s presence.Psalm 77:6b-12 NIVMy heart meditated and my spirit asked: “Will the Lord reject forever? Will he never show his favor again? Has his unfailing love vanished forever? Has his promise failed for all time? Has God forgotten to be merciful? Has he in anger withheld his compassion?” Then I thought, “To this I will appeal: the years when the Most High stretched out his right hand. I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. I will consider all your works and meditate on all your mighty deeds.”

Thriving in the Middle of TransitionThrough • October 15, 2023Teacher: John Wenrich--Life is full of transitions…1. Change is different from transition.2. Every transition begins with an ending and ends with a beginning.3. The stages are cumulative. The Middle Zone is the space between where we’ve been and where we need to go in order to thrive.1. The Middle Zone is a time of testing. Deuteronomy 8:2-5 NIVRemember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.2. The Middle Zone is a time of feeling lost. Joshua 5:6 NIVThe Israelites wandered in the wilderness forty years until all the men who were of military age when they left Egypt had died, since they had not obeyed the LORD. For the LORD had sworn to them that they would not see the land he had solemnly promised their ancestors to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey.3. The Middle Zone is a time of opportunity.Exodus 24:4 NIVMoses then wrote down everything the LORD had said.The Middle Zone is a:1. time of testing2. time of feeling lost3. time of opportunity1. AviateTim Keller“The Gospel is this: We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.” Deuteronomy 6:4-9 NIVHear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.2. NavigateNumbers 9:15-21 NIVOn the day the tabernacle, the tent of the covenant law, was set up, the cloud covered it. From evening till morning, the cloud above the tabernacle looked like fire. That is how it continued to be; the cloud covered it, and at night it looked like fire. Whenever the cloud lifted from above the tent, the Israelites set out; wherever the cloud settled, the Israelites encamped. At the Lord’s command the Israelites set out, and at his command they encamped. As long as the cloud stayed over the tabernacle, they remained in camp. When the cloud remained over the tabernacle a long time, the Israelites obeyed the Lord’s order and did not set out. Sometimes the cloud was over the tabernacle only a few days; at the Lord’s command they would encamp, and then at his command they would set out. Sometimes the cloud stayed only from evening till morning, and when it lifted in the morning, they set out. Whether by day or by night, whenever the cloud lifted, they set out.3. CommunicateExodus 20:1-3 NIVAnd God spoke all these words: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me…"4. InnovateExodus 18:17-24 NIVWhat you are doing is not good. You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people’s representative before God and bring their disputes to him. Teach them his decrees and instructions and show them the way they are to live and how they are to behave. But select capable men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. Have them serve as judges for the people at all times but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves. That will make your load lighter because they will share it with you. If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied.” Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything he said.Video Link: https://youtu.be/ry55--J4_VQ

How to Wait WellFaith IRL • October 8, 2023Teacher: Adam Barnett--How to Wait WellJames 5:1-3 NIVNow listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days.You have hoarded wealth in the last days.Matthew 6:24-26 NIVNo one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.James 5:4-6 NIVLook! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you.Brian Rapske“The murder here most likely is judicial. Whereby the wealthy landowners take smaller, poorer indebted farmers to court, stripping them of their land and thus of their source of income, and then hiring them back again to work their former property as sharecroppers. With dirt-poor wages, unpaid debts might then lead their new landlords to throw them into debtors’ prison, where they could rot for the rest of their lives. Once in prison, making money to pay one’s debts was not an option, so unless some better financially situated friends or relatives bailed one out, that person often died in jail.”James 5:7-9 NIVBe patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near. Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The Judgeis standing at the door!William Brosend“Christ is coming back, he is coming back soon (at least from God’s perspective), and he will wreak vengeance on the wicked—with absolute justice and equity—something sinful mortals could never do and therefore should not try to do!”1. Be patient2. Stand firmYou must wait; strengthen your hearts [resolutely turn your thoughts and feelings in the direction of the Lord’s return].3. Don't complain Craig Blomberg“Christians often act as though judgment remains far off, a distant future possibility. James argues, however, that Christ’s return lies close at hand, on the threshold of the door way. We ought to behave as people ready for a judgment that has already begun in this life and will culminate quickly at his return.”To wait (for His return) well: be patient, stand firm, don’t complain.

Enemies of GodFaith IRL • October 1, 2023Teacher: Adam Barnett--James 4:4 NIVAnyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.James 4:1-3 NIVWhat causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.James 4:4-6 NIVYou adulteresses [disloyal sinners—flirting with the world and breaking your vow to God]! Do you not know that being the world’s friend [that is, loving the things of the world] is being God’s enemy? So whoever chooses to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”James 4:7-10 NIVSubmit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.Resisting the devil is accomplished through submission to God.Repentance includes remorse.William Baker“James is ordering us to move beyond merely correct outward actions to appropriate heart attitudes of sorrow for our willful, wicked behavior. Once we realize the grievous nature of our sins and how far away we let ourselves get from God, we ought to be upset, crying at the horror of our sins.”James 4:11-12 NIVBrothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?William Brosend“To do so is to set oneself as superior to the one spoken against, is to deny the claim of the law to love the neighbor, and is to presume a role that can be held only by God.”James 4:13-15 NIVNow listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”James 4:16-17 NIVAs it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.

Forest FiresFaith IRL • September 24, 2023Teacher: Adam Barnett--James 3:1-2 NIVNot many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.James 3:3-4 NIVWhen we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go.James 3:5-6 NIVLikewise,the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.James 3:7-8 NIVAll kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.James 3:9-12 NIVWith the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.1. Filter words through these three questions: Is it true? Is it kind? Is it necessary?2. Submit your tongue to the Holy Spirit, much like you have your heart, mind, and soul.3. Speak the truth in love. And speak the truth in love.

Faith's FuneralFaith IRL • September 17, 2023Teacher: Adam Barnett--James 1:22 NIVDo not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.James 2:14-17 NIVWhat good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.James 2:18-19 NIVBut someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.James 2:20 NIVYou foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?James 2:20-24 NIVWas not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.James 2:25 NIVIn the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction?James 2:26 NIVAs the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.James 2:14 NIVWhat good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them?Craig Blomberg“The answer, throughout all the arguments and examples of 2:14-26, has been a resounding, ‘no.’ faith that does not reveal itself in works – in a changed lifestyle that glorifies God and seeks his heart for the world – is dead, lifeless, workless, and worthless. In reality, it is not faith at all; it is only the shell or the corpse of faith.”Faith without works doesn’t work!

Worthless ReligionFaith IRL • September 10, 2023Teacher: Adam Barnett--James 1:13-15 NIVWhen tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.James 1:16 NIVDon’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters.James 1:17-18 NIVEvery good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.James 1:19-21 NIVMy dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.Proverbs 22:24 NLTDon’t befriend angry people or associate with hot-tempered people.James 1:22-25 NIVDo not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.Luke 11:28 NIV“Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”James 1:26-27 NIVThose who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Is James Crazy, or What?Faith IRL • September 3, 2023Teacher: Adam Barnett--Is James crazy, or what?Jim Samra“James can be a difficult book to teach and preach because of its seemingly harsh tone.”James 1:1 NIVJames, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings.James 1:2 NIVConsider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds,James 1:3 NIVbecause you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.ὑπομονή – endurance; constancy; to hold fast to one’s faith in Christ.ὑπομένω– _hopeful (or cheerful)_endurance; constancy; to hold fast to one’s faith in Christ.Perseverance is not just a discipline, but also a delight.James 1:4 NIVLet perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.James 1:5-8 NIVIf any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God,who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt,because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-mindedand unstablein all they do.James 1:9-11 NIVBelievers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position. But the rich should take pride in their humiliation—since they will pass away like a wild flower. For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich will fade away even while they go about their business.James 1:12 NIVBlessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.1. Rejoice as you face trials.2. Don’t interrupt the trial.3. Ask God for wisdom.

Launch Week: Service & MissionLaunch • August 27, 2023Teacher: Dave Brown, Amy Cenea, and Alison Myers--Dallas WillardSpiritual formation is the process of the transformation of the heart. The heart is being formed in such a way that its natural expression comes to be the deeds of Christ done in the power of Christ. Matthew 5:16 NIVLet your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Redeemer exists to see Christ exalted in our church, community, and world.1. Church1 Peter 4:10 NIVEach of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. 2. Community1 John 4:20-21 NIVWhoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister. 3. WorldHebrews 10:23-25 NIV“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” Matthew 28:18-20 NIVThen Jesus came to them and said,“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Launch Week: Community & DiscipleshipLaunch • August 20, 2023Teacher: Dave Brown & Garland Tackett--Adult Discipleship at Redeemer1. Men's Ministry2. Small Groups3. Sunday School4. Women's Ministry Dallas WillardSpiritual formation is the process of the transformation of the heart. The heart is being formed in such a way that its natural expression comes to be the deeds of Christ done in the power of Christ. [email protected]

Joseph and His BrothersGenesis • August 13, 2023Teacher: Adam Barnett--Samuel Emadi“Joseph’s story is the story of the whole Bible. It’s the story of glory through suffering, exaltation through humiliation. It’s the story of the cross and the crown.” Adversity #1: Joseph was Sold into Slavery.Genesis 37:4 AMPHis brothers saw that their father loved Joseph more than all of his brothers; so they hated him and could not [find it within themselves to] speak to him on friendly terms.Genesis 37:18-24 NIVBut they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him. “Here comes that dreamer!” they said to each other. “Come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams.” When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. “Let’s not take his life,” he said. “Don’t shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern here in the wilderness, but don’t lay a hand on him.” Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father. So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the ornate robe he was wearing—and they took him and threw him into the cistern. The cistern was empty; there was no water in it. Adversity #2: Joseph was Falsely Accused.Genesis 39:1-4 NIVNow Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there. The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. Adversity #3: Joseph was Unfairly Imprisoned.Genesis 39:19-20 NIVWhen his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, “This is how your slave treated me,” he burned with anger. Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined.J. I. Packer“Felt weakness deepens dependance on Christ for strength each day. The weaker we feel, the harder we lean. And the harder we lean, the stronger we grow spiritually, even while our bodies waste away.” Genesis 39:21-23 NIVBut the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. And the keeper of the prison put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners who were in the prison. Whatever was done there, he was the one who did it. The keeper of the prison paid no attention to anything that was in Joseph's charge, because the Lord was with him. And whatever he did, the Lord made it succeed. Genesis 40:14-15 NIVBut when all goes well with you, remember me and show me kindness; mention me to Pharaoh and get me out of this prison. I was forcibly carried off from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing to deserve being put in a dungeon.”Genesis 41:39-41 NIVThen Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one so discerning and wise as you. You shall be in charge of my palace, and all my people are to submit to your orders. Only with respect to the throne will I be greater than you.” So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I hereby put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt.”F.B. Meyer“Joseph, though stripped of his coat, was not stripped of his character.”Genesis 50:19-20 NIVBut Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.Adversity #1: Joseph was Sold into Slavery, but God saw him.Adversity #2: Joseph was Falsely Accused, but God was with him.Adversity #3: Joseph was Unfairly Imprisoned, but God delivered him.

Jacob and EsauGenesis • August 6, 2023Teacher: Garth Bolinder--Genesis 37:1-17 NIVJacob lived in the land where his father had stayed,the land of Canaan. This is the account of Jacob’s family line.Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flockswith his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah,his father’s wives, and he brought their father a bad reportabout them. Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons,because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made an ornate robe for him. When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated himand could not speak a kind word to him. Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers,they hated him all the more. He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.” His brothers said to him, “Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said. Then he had another dream,and he told it to his brothers. “Listen,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, “What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?” His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind. Now his brothers had gone to graze their father’s flocks near Shechem, and Israel said to Joseph, “As you know, your brothers are grazing the flocks near Shechem. Come, I am going to send you to them.” “Very well,” he replied. So he said to him, “Go and see if all is well with your brothers and with the flocks, and bring word back to me.” Then he sent him off from the Valley of Hebron. When Joseph arrived at Shechem, 15 a man found him wandering around in the fields and asked him, “What are you looking for?” He replied, “I’m looking for my brothers. Can you tell me where they are grazing their flocks?” “They have moved on from here,” the man answered. “I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them near Dothan.Genesis 37:18 NIVBut they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him.Luke 19:47 NIVEvery day he was teaching at the temple. But the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the leaders among the people were trying to kill him.

Jacob Wrestles... Who?Genesis • July 30, 2023Teacher: Daniel Bunn--Genesis 32:22-32 NIVThat night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sonsand crossed the ford of the Jabbok. After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me." The man asked him, “What is your name?” “Jacob,” he answered. Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.” Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.” But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there. So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.” The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip. Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s hip was touched near the tendon. Interpretation 1: Jacob wrestles GodInterpretation 2: Jacob wrestles an angelInterpretation 3: Jacob wrestles himselfFirst problem: “When he saw that he could not overcome” (v. 25)Second problem: Opponent desires to flee before daybreak (v. 26)Jacob wrestles God: based solely on Jacob’s conclusionJacob wrestles an angel: not based on Genesis, but based on HoseaJacob wrestles himself: not based on the text at allNarrator: “A man wrestled with him” (v. 24)Whoever the opponent is, he (a) cannot overcome Jacob and (b) desires to flee before daybreak.My argument: Jacob wrestles a humanIf a human, then who?Option 1: an unnamed opponentOption 2: his father-in-law, LabanOption 3: his brother, EsauFirst Support: Connections between Genesis 32 and Genesis 33Wrestle: אבק (32:24), Embrace: חבק (33:4)Genesis 32:24 NIVSo Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak.Genesis 33:4 NIVBut Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept. The one who now embraces him is the same one who wrestled him“Face of God” (32:20, 33:10)Second Support: Connection to the Wider StoryThird Support: Jacob and Esau Reconciled?Genesis 33:17 NIVJacob, however, went to Sukkoth... Summary: I think that the narrative of Genesis 32 points toward a human opponent. And if the opponent is human, then I suggest that Esau is the most likely candidate.My e-mail: [email protected]

Jacob and EsauGenesis • July 23, 2023Teacher: Adam Barnett--Isaiah 43:1-2 NIVBut now, this is what the LORD says— he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.Genesis 25:21-34 NIVIsaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was unable to conceive children; and the Lord granted his prayer and Rebekah his wife conceived [twins]. But the children struggled together within her [kicking and shoving one another]; and she said, “If it is so [that the Lord has heard our prayer], why then am I this way?” So she went to inquire of the Lord [praying for an answer]. The Lord said to her, “[The founders of] two nations are in your womb;And the separation of two nations has begun in your body;The one people shall be stronger than the other; And the older shall serve the younger.”When her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. The first came out reddish all over like a hairy garment; and they named him Esau (hairy). Afterward his brother came out, and his hand grasped Esau’s heel, so he was named Jacob (one who grabs by the heel). Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them.When the boys grew up, Esau was an able and skilled hunter, a man of the outdoors, but Jacob was a quiet and peaceful man, living in tents. Now Isaac loved [and favored] Esau, because he enjoyed eating his game, but Rebekah loved [and favored] Jacob. Jacob had cooked stew [one day], when Esau came from the field and was famished; and Esau said to Jacob, “Please, let me have a quick swallow of that red stuff there, because I am exhausted and famished.” For that reason Esau was [also] called Edom (Red). Jacob answered, “First sell me your birthright (the rights of a firstborn).” Esau said, “Look, I am about to die [if I do not eat soon]; so of what use is this birthright to me?” Jacob said, “Swear [an oath] to me today [that you are selling it to me for this food]”; so he swore [an oath] to him, and sold him his birthright. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew; and he ate and drank, and got up and went on his way. In this way Esau scorned his birthright.Genesis 17:20 NIVAnd as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation.Genesis 25:18 NIV“And they lived in hostility toward all their brothers.”John Sailhamer“The author of Genesis patiently waits until the end to thematically express the lesson behind these struggles, using the words of Joseph to his brothers: ‘You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good’ (50:20). Out of each of the struggles, God’s will was accomplished. The point is not so much that the struggles were necessary for the accomplishment of the will of God, but rather than God’s will was accomplished in spite of the conflict.”Elmer Towns“Traditionally, a number of distinct privileges belonged to the firstborn son in a family. Called a birthright, this gave the oldest son, the firstborn, a special claim on the inheritance left by his father and the unique privilege of carrying on the family name to future generations. This birthright had a special spiritual significance. The possessor of the birthright was the one who 1) became heir of the covenant of God, 2) received the promises given to Abraham, and 3) offered sacrifices for the family.” Genesis 27:41 NIVEsau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. He said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are near, then I will kill my brother Jacob.” Genesis 28:10 NIVJacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran.Blessing and Struggle Can Coexist.Look for the blessing in the battle.

Abraham + Eliazar + RebekahGenesis • July 16, 2023Teacher: Leanne Benton--Genesis 24:1-4 NIVAbraham was now very old, and the Lord had blessed him in every way. He said to the senior servant in his household, the one in charge of all that he had, “Put your hand under my thigh. I want you to swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living, but will go to my country and my own relatives and get a wife for my son Isaac.”Genesis 5:29 NIV“He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the Lord has cursed.”Principle 1- Search for answers according to God’s Word.Genesis 24:5-8 NIVThe servant asked him, “What if the woman is unwilling to come back with me to this land? Shall I then take your son back to the country you came from?” Abraham said, “Make sure that you do not take my son back there. The Lord, the God of heaven, who brought me out of my father’s household and my native land and who spoke to me and promised me on oath, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give this land’ —he will send his angel before you so that you can get a wife for my son from there. If the woman is unwilling to come back with you, then you will be released from this oath of mine.”Principle 2- Believe that God is faithful to His word.Joshua 21:45 NIVNot one of all the Lord’s good promises to Israel failed;every one was fulfilled.Genesis 24:10-14 NIVThen the servant left, taking with him ten of his master’s camels loaded with all kinds of good things from his master... He had the camels kneel down near the well outside the town; it was toward evening, the time the women go out to draw water. Then he prayed, “Lord, God of my master Abraham, make me successful today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. See, I am standing beside this spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water. May it be that when I say to a young woman, ‘Please let down your jar that I may have a drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels too’—let her be the one you have chosen for your servant, Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master.”Principle 3- Plead with God to reveal His will.Matthew 7:7 NIVAsk and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.James 1:5 NIVIf any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.Philippians 4:6-7 NIVDo not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.Genesis 24:15 NIVBefore he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder.Genesis 24:16 NIVThe woman was very beautiful...Genesis 24:17-20 NIVShe went down to the spring, filled her jar and came up again. The servant hurried to meet her and said, “Please give me a little water from your jar.” “Drink, my lord,” she said, and quickly lowered the jar to her hands and gave him a drink. After she had given him a drink, she said, “I’ll draw water for your camels too, until they have had enough to drink.” So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough, ran back to the well to draw more water, and drew enough for all his camels.Genesis 24:21, 23 NIVWithout saying a word, the man watched her closely to learn whether or not the Lord had made his journey successful...Then he asked, “Whose daughter are you?Proverbs 14:15 NIVThe simple believe anything, but the prudent give thought to their steps.Principle 4- Observe how God answers your prayer.Genesis 24:26-27 NIVThen the man bowed down and worshiped the Lord, saying “Praise be to the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned his kindness and faithfulness to my master.”Principle 5- Worship God for His work.Genesis 24:50-51 NIVThis is from the Lord; we can say nothing to you one way or the other. Here is Rebekah; take her and go, and let her become the wife of your master’s son, as the Lord has directed.Principle 6- Submit to God’s will.Genesis 24:54-55 NIVWhen they got up the next morning, he said, “Send me on my way to my master.” But her brother and her mother replied, “Let the young woman remain with us ten days or so; then you may go.”Genesis 24:57-58 NIVThen they said, “Let’s call the young woman and ask her about it.” So they called Rebekah and asker her, “Will you go with this man?” “I will go,” she said.Principle 7- Obey God’s call.Adam BarnettWhen God calls us to something, it is natural to think first about the cost, the timing, and the consequences. When we delay, we might miss our window of opportunity.Search. Believe. Plead. Observe. Worship. Submit. Obey.Proverbs 3:5-6 NLTTrust in the Lord with all your heart and do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do