September 2009
"Because of Who You Are"
I John 2: 12-17
September 27, 2009
Question: How do I keep my priorities straight?
Affirmation: By remembering who we are in Christ we can keep our eyes on where we’re going.
Who We Are
I write to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.
1 John 2:12
I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to You. Holy Father, protect them by the power of Your Name--the name You gave Me--so that they may be one as We are one.
John 17:11
I write to you, dear children, because you have known the Father.
1 John 2:13
My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of My Father's hand. I and the Father are one.
John 10:27-30
I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning.
1 John 2:13 & 14
In the beginning was the Word...In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.
John 1:1 & 5
Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God…The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:12-14
I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one.
1 John 2:13
You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.
1 John 4:4
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
Revelation 2:7
I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one.
1 John 2:14
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
2 Timothy 3:16-17
Where We’re Going
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 everything in the world--the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does--comes not from the Father but from the world.
1 John 2:15-16
By faith Abraham…For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
Hebrews 11:8 & 10
Since you call on a Father who judges each man's work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.
1 Peter 1:17-19
The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.
1 John 2:17
But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort.
Luke 6:24
My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.
John 17:14-18
"How Does That Tune Go?"
I John 2:1-10
September 20, 2009
Question: What is the mark of a Christian?
Affirmation: The test of real Christianity is Christ-produced love.
The Old Command
Here is the test by which we can be sure that we know Him: Do we keep His commands
1 John 2:3 NEB
On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "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."
Luke 10:25-28
Hear, 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.
Deuteronomy 6:4-5
Love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.
Leviticus 19:18
"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another."
John 13:34-35
But I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
Romans 7:23-25
The New Way
This old commandment – to love one another – is the same message you heard before yet it is also new. Jesus lived the truth, and you are also living it.
1 John 2:7 NLT
Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.
1 John 2:6
The man who says, "I know Him," but does not do what He commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys His word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in Him:
1 John 2:4-5
Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble.
1 John 2:10
Getting Back
But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.
1 John 2:11
My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have One who speaks to the Father in our defense--Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.
1 John 2:1
He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
1 John 2:2
For in Christ, neither our most conscientious religion nor disregard of religion amounts to anything. What matters is something far more interior: Faith expressed in love.
Galatians 5:6 MSG
To Tell the Truth
I John 1:1-10
September 13, 2009
Question: How do I get past my self deception?
Answer: It is because of Jesus Christ that we can finally stand the truth and stop living the lie.
The Lie - Rationalization
If we refuse to admit that we are sinners, then we live in a world of illusion and truth becomes a stranger to us.
1 John 1:8 Phillips
All have turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.
Psalms 14:3
There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins.
Ecclesiastes 7:20
We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Isaiah 53:6
The Light - Revealing
This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
1 John 1:5-8
Which God will bring about in his own time--God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.
1 Timothy 6:15-16
"Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty." Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for."
Isaiah 6:5-7
The Light - Reacting
This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans 3:22-23
When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." The Pharisees challenged him, "Here you are, appearing as your own witness; your testimony is not valid."
John 8:12-13
This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.
Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.
But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."
John 3:19-21
If I had not done among them what no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have seen these miracles, and yet they have hated both me and my Father.
John 15:24
For if we take up the attitude "we have not sinned", we flatly deny God’s diagnosis of our condition and cut ourselves off from what he has to say.
John 1:10 Phillips
The Life - Restoration
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9
He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.
Proverbs 28:13
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
James 5:16
For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Colossians 1:13-14
Every 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 first fruits of all he created.
James 1:17-18
Hands on Faith
I John 1:1-4
September 6, 2009
Question: How are different types of Christians suppose to get along?
Affirmation: It is by being close to Christ that we are close to each other.
John’s Dilemma
Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love.
Revelation 2:4
We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ.
I John 1:3
John’s Declaration
We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.
II Peter 1:16
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched – this we proclaim concerning the Word of Life.
I John 1:1
Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."
John 14:6
The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:14
John’s Directions
The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you eternal life, which is from the Father and has appeared to us.
I John 1:2
Remain in Me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me.
John 15:4
My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in Me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as You are in Me and I am in You. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that You have sent Me.
John 17:20-21
We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ.
I John 1:3
He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know you have eternal life.
I John 5:12-13
We write this to make our joy complete.
I John 1:4
Because of what Jesus has done I am accepted
September 28, 2008
Ephesians 2:1-10
Rev. Peter Wood
I feel like I am never good enough.
Because of what Jesus has done I am accepted by God.
Dead Men Walking
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins.
Ephesians 2:1
But you must not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, for when you
eat of it you will surely die.
Genesis 2:17
For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is
not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness that
comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God's
righteousness. Christ is the end of the law so that there may be
righteousness for everyone who believes.
Romans 10:2-4
In Jesus I am resurrected
But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us
alive with Christ even though we were dead in transgressions - it is by grace
you have been saved.
Ephesians 2:4-5
In Jesus I am forgiven
Because of one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being
made holy.
Hebrews 10:14
As far as the east is from he west He removes our transgressions from us.
Psalm 103.12
God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the
righteousness of God.
II Corinthians 5:21
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 5:1
In Jesus I am adopted
Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the
right to become children of God - children born not of natural descent, nor of
human decision, or a husband's will, but born of God.
John 1:12-13
Those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not
receive a spirit that make you a slave to fear, but you received a Spirit of
sonship. And by Him we cry "Abba, Father". The Spirit testifies to
our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are
heirs - heirs of God and coheirs with Christ.
Romans 8:14-17
In Jesus I reign
And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly
realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages He might show the
incomparable riches of His grace, expressed in His kindness to us in Christ
Jesus.
Ephesians 2:6-7
By grace through faith
This is the righteousness of God that comes through faith in Jesus Christ to
all who believe. there is no difference, for all have sinned and fall
short of the glory of God, and we are justified freely by His grace through the
redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Him as a sacrifice of
atonement, through faith in His blood.
Romans 3:23-25
Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but an
obligation. However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who
justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.
Romans 4:4-5
For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God
prepared in advance for us to do.
Ephesians 2:10
Christ Centered
September 21, 2008
Colossians 2:6-15
Rev. Peter Wood
Why don't "Born Again" Christians act like it?
We are "Born" in Christ and we need to grow into being what we were created to
be, and not remain spiritual babies.
Delivered
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone,
the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself
through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.
II Corinthians 5:17-18
Distracted
Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to your care. Turn away from
godless chatter and opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge, which
some have professed and in so have wandered from the faith.
1 Timothy 6:20
See to it, then, that no one enslaves you by means of the worthless deceit of
human wisdom, which comes from the ruling spirits of the universe, and not from
Christ.
Colossians 2:8 TEV
Diagnosis
Dear brothers and sisters, when I was with you I couldn't talk to you like
mature Christians, I had to talk as though you belonged to the world or as
though you were infants in the Christian life. I had to feed you milk and
not solid food, because you couldn't handle stronger. And you still aren't
ready, for you are still controlled by our own sinful desires. You are
jealous of one another and quarrel with each other. Doesn't that prove you
are controlled by your own desires? You are acting like people who don't
belong to the Lord.
1 Corinthians 3:1-3 NLT
Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember
the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at
first.
Revelation 2:4-5
Destination
My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.
John 15:12
If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and
follow Me.
Matthew 16:24
Having been buried with Him in baptism and raise with Him through your faith in
the power of God, who raised Him from the dead.
Colossians 2:12
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfected of our faith.
Hebrews 12:2
Since you have accepted Christ Jesus as Lord, live in union with Him. Keep
your roots deep in Him, build your lives on Him and become stronger in your
faith as you were taught and be filled with thanksgiving.
Colossians 2:6-7 TEV
The only way to win
September 14, 2008
Romans 7:14-25
Rev. Peter Wood
Why do I do what I hate?
Christ is the only one capable of bringing real life and bringing control to our
chaos.
Disaster
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can
understand it?
Jeremiah 17:9
All our righteousness acts are like filthy rags
Isaiah 64:6
Diagnosis
For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave
thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were
darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools.
Romans 1:21-22
So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live
as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened
in their understanding and separated from the life in God because of the
ignorance that is in them because of the hardening of their hearts. Having
lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to
indulge every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.
Ephesians 4:17-19
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against rulers and
authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual
forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Ephesians 6:12
Deliverance
Since then you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above
where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things
above, not on earthly things. For you died and your life is now hidden
with Christ in God. Colossians 3:1-4
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet
inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
II Corinthians 4:16
What We're Here For
September 7, 2008
Matthew 28:16-20
Rev. Peter Wood
Is all this church and Christian stuff worth it?
In Jesus, God has given all of Himself for all of each of us and our response
must be total.
Bible Study Question: What's the "therefore" there for?
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations
Matthew 28:19
All Authority
Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something
to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He
humbled Himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him a name that is above
every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on
earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess Jesus Christ is Lord to the
glory of God the Father.
Philippians 2:6-11
All Peoples
And all the peoples of the earth will be blessed through you.
Genesis 12:3
I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation
of everyone who believes; first to the Jew, then for the Gentile.
Romans 1:16
All the Person - Baptizing
Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were
baptized into His death? We were therefore buried with Him through baptism
into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the
glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
Romans 6:4
All the Person - Teaching
Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in
heart and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My
burden is light.
Matthew 11:28-30
All of God
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the
fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
II Corinthians 13:14
Always
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:
"The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a Son, and they will call
Him Immanuel" - which means, "God with us."
Matthew 1:22-23
Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift My Father promised, which you have
heard Me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you
will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.
Acts 1:4-5
God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." So we
say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What
can man do to me?"
Hebrews 13:5-6