Journey 2016 - Journey to Jerusalem 2-28-16

For the next five Sundays, including yesterday, up through Easter, our Journey 2016 will be focusing on the events in the last days of Jesus' life on earth.  Today we Journey to Jerusalem.

Text:  Luke 19:37-38New Living Translation (NLT)

When he reached the place where the road started down the Mount of Olives, all of his followers began to shout and sing as they walked along, praising God for all the wonderful miracles they had seen.  "Blessings on the King who comes in the name of the Lord!  Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!"    

People on the journey to Jerusalem were excited.  They were going to the Holy City for the Passover.  Many had heard that Jesus would be there, or at least were hoping He would be.  They had heard about the miracles he had performed, or perhaps even saw Jesus when He touched the blind man and gave him his sight; or healed the crippled man; or even raised Lazarus from the dead.  Some of the people had heard Jesus speak at the Sea of Galilee when He gave His "sermon on the mount".  They began to have hope that perhaps Jesus was the promised Messiah, or their new coming King.  They came to Jerusalem wondering and asking each other "Who is this Jesus?"  There are four answers to this question that we give our attention to today:

1.  Jesus is the prophet from Nazareth...a great teacher.  However, Jesus wasn't only the messenger, He was the message!

2.   Jesus is a great miracle worker.  He did do a lot of miracles, but He is still a miracle working God today.  His greatest miracle of all is to take a sinner and transform him into a child of God.  He heals both the body and the soul.

3.  Jesus in the King of Israel.  When Jesus approached Jerusalem, people laid palm branches down before him for his donkey to walk on.  Palm branches back then were a symbol of a political nation, like our flag is to the United States.  Jesus was the King coming to bring peace to their nation, and people honored Him with the palm branches.

4.  Jesus is the Lamb of God.  Jesus descended into Jerusalem on a Sunday, the one before Passover.  People came to Jerusalem on that day to select a lamb for their sacrifice on Passover.  It had to be as flawless as possible.  Jesus came on selection day as the Lamb who would be sacrificed on the cross for all people, to cover the sins of all.  He was the perfect Lamb of God.  In Him there were no spots or blemishes, no sin.   

We have arrived in Jerusalem.  Next week we will journey to the Upper Room.

(This material I am sharing on Journey 2016 is a summary of the sermons our Pastor has been preaching since the first Sunday in January.)        

Journey 2016 - Concentrate

Luke 9:51 (NLT):
As the time drew near for him to ascend to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.

To concentrate is to focus with intensity.

Jesus' ministry was around the Sea of Galilee with Capernaum being His home base.  The last six to seven months of his ministry He had the goal to go to Jerusalem.  He was preparing to face the cross, but His gaze was set on returning to His Father in heaven.  He knew He must go to Jerusalem to fulfill His Father's will.  

There are five things we must know in order to concentrate on our journey.

1.  Be clear about God's will for your life.  If you do not know, pray through until God reveals it to you.

2.  Be willing to pay the price to do God's will.  There are no discounts or bargain sales in choosing to follow His will.

3.  Mark 8:33 - Jesus turned around and looked at his disciples, then reprimanded Peter. “Get away from me, Satan!” he said. “You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.  Just like Jesus had to rebuke Peter, we will also face discouragement along the way.  We cannot allow opinions of others to distract us or sway us away from what God has called us to do.  

4.  Do not allow a bad attitude or spirit to get in the way.  We must not be ready to "zap" others with a critical spirit, or be filled with pride.  You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. (Philippians 2:5)

5.  Know Whose you are and where you are going, keeping your eyes on Jesus.  James 4:13-16:  Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.” Otherwise you are boasting about your own pretentious plans, and all such boasting is evil.

Next week the Pastor's sermons will start focusing on the Easter events.  We will be heading to Jerusalem in our Journey 2016.

Journey 2016 - Compassion (2/14/16)

Luke 7:11-14 New Living Translation (NLT)

11 Soon afterward Jesus went with his disciples to the village of Nain, and a large crowd followed him. 12 A funeral procession was coming out as he approached the village gate. The young man who had died was a widow’s only son, and a large crowd from the village was with her. 13 When the Lord saw her, his heart overflowed with compassion. “Don’t cry!” he said. 14 Then he walked over to the coffin and touched it, and the bearers stopped. “Young man,” he said, “I tell you, get up.”

The 7th item we will need in our Journey 2016 is compassion.  Compassion is an emotional response to a calamity in the life of another.  Three points:

• compassion means "suffering with"
• compassion flows out of God's love...Jesus was compassionate
• the opposite of love is apathy - a lack of feelings for someone, unresponsive to their needs

We must have compassion...it is essential on our journey if we are going to represent Jesus.

1.  Luke 7:11 - Soon afterward Jesus went with his disciples to the village of Nain, and a large crowd followed him.

The most beautiful place to be is in the center of God's will.  Jesus went to the village of Nain, which was an out of the way place.  Our journey may take us some place we never thought we would be.

2.  Luke 7:12-13 - A funeral procession was coming out as he approached the village gate. The young man who had died was a widow’s only son, and a large crowd from the village was with her. When the Lord saw her, his heart overflowed with compassion. “Don’t cry!” he said.

Our journey may introduce us to some down and out people.  In these verses we are told that Jesus joined a funeral procession, in which there was a widow, who was burying her son.  Jesus had compassion on her.  God doesn't send us somewhere without a purpose.  There is someone who needs our compassion.

3.  Luke 7:14 - Then he walked over to the coffin and touched it, and the bearers stopped. “Young man,” he said, “I tell you, get up.”

Our journey will teach us that no one is too broken for Jesus to mend.  The custom in the society that this widow belonged to was that male lineage was very important.  She had lost her husband in death, and now she was burying her only son.  She had lost it all, and would have no place in society.  She was totally broken.  Jesus came along with compassion to this out of the way place, to a broken widow, and touches her son and raises him from death.  Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  Jesus still brings resurrection, and still heals brokenness.  Today we are sent to be Jesus to others, to bring hope in a broken, dark world.

Journey 2016 - Contentment (2/7/16)

Text:  I Timothy 6:6
Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth.

The sixth word in this sermon series is contentment.  Contentment is the state of being satisfied and not displeased.

Apostle Paul shares the secret of being contented as found in Philippians 4:10-14:   How I praise the Lord that you are concerned about me again. I know you have always been concerned for me, but you didn’t have the chance to help me. Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. Even so, you have done well to share with me in my present difficulty.

Many Christians today are discontented.  They sing the song that the Rolling Stones made popular:  "I can't get no...satisfaction.  And I try, and I try, and I try..."

1.  True contentment comes from knowing whose I am.  It is based on a relationship with God.  Philippians 1:21:  For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better.

2.  Contentment comes from possessing an attitude of a servant.  Philippians 2:5:  You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.

3.  Contentment comes from confidence in God's providence.  The Philippians were part of God's plan to meet Paul's needs.  Philippians 4:10:  How I praise the Lord that you are concerned about me again. I know you have always been concerned for me, but you didn’t have the chance to help me.  Philippians 4:19:  And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.  God's resources never dry up.

4.  Contentment is learned.  Philippians 4:11:  Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have...  I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.  (Philippians 4:12-13)

Journey 2016 - Conquest (1/30/16)

Text:  I Timothy 6:12
Fight the good fight for the true faith. Hold tightly to the eternal life to which God has called you, which you have declared so well before many witnesses.

This is the 5th Sunday in the sermon series "Journey 2016".  Thus far we have talked Courage, Caution, Commitment, and Conflict.  We will be faced with conflict continuously in our Christian walk, so having Conquests are very essential.  Conquest is a state of conquering or being conquered.  We must have victories or we will go around as defeated Christians.  That is not what God has planned for us.  No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.  (Romans 8:37)

1.  You have to fight in order to win. Our text tells us we must "fight the good fight".  It is a commandment, not an option, to fight the enemy.  That is how we will be victorious in Journey 2016.  We must keep eternal life in our sight...keep our eyes on Jesus.

2.  Preparation is essential for the fight.  We must be prepared to win.  We take an offensive stance, aggressively facing the enemy.  There are things we will have to get rid of so they do not hinder us from winning.  

• For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows. (I Timothy 6:10)
• Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.  (Hebrews 12:1)

3.  You may lose a battle, but you need to get up and win the war.  satan wants to distract us from winning the goal.  Winning means keep getting up, keep fighting..for we are more than conquerors through Christ Jesus!

4.  Christ is our example of victory.  God is not our enemy, He is our strength.  God knows where we are at, and He is for us, not against us.  Christ showed us how to face adversity when He was facing the cross.  We must stand up against the wiles of the devil, for we are in a battle to win the war.  Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.  (Ephesians 6:11)

We are more than conquerors through him that loved us. (Romans 8:37)