Awake Us Now

True faith is not simply a matter of knowing certain truths. It is a matter of knowing Him who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and allowing the Holy Spirit to change us from the inside out!

Day 1 of our story

Today's story takes place in Caesarea - Acts 10:1-8. Cornelius, a Roman soldier, a Centurion, lives there. (Pastor shares pictures of this city, still visible today!) Cornelius was one who worshiped the God of Israel but was not a full convert. He and his family were devout and God-fearing. Then he receives a vision of an angel. The angel tells him to bring a man from Joppa named Simon known as Peter. We see Cornelius respond immediately to what the angel told him to do.

Day 2

Story moves location to Joppa where Cornelius' servant and one of his soldiers are headed - Acts 10:9-23a. Meanwhile, Peter goes up on the roof of the house he is at and goes into a trance and sees the heavens open and a sheet with all kinds of 4-footed animals, reptiles and birds. (Unclean animals according to the Torah) Then a voice tells him to eat them, but Peter says, I've never eaten anything impure or unclean. I've obeyed the Torah! The response from heaven, three times was, "Do not call anything pure that God has made clean." And the sheet was taken back into heaven. While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision, the men Cornelius sent found him. The Spirit tells Peter to go downstairs to the men that were sent. They tell Peter about the vision Cornelius had seen and Peter invites them in.

Day 3

Now our story goes on the road- Act 10:23b. Peter and some witness head, with Cornelius' servant and soldier, to Caesarea.

Day 4

They arrive in Caesarea - Acts 10:24-48. (Pastor shares more pics of the area) Cornelius has a crowd of people gathered at his home to hear Peter when he arrives. Peter knows he's on God's mission: "You are aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile. But God has shown me I should not call anyone impure or unclean." Cornelius retells his vision and says now they are in the presence of God to hear everything Peter has to tell them. Peter responds that he now realizes how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation those who know the Good News of Jesus Christ, Lord of ALL. He recounts the Gospel story of Jesus, He tells of the Savior's Good News and all that believe in Him receive forgiveness of sins through His name. Then suddenly the Holy Spirit fell on all of them, including the Gentiles. They were baptized in Jesus' name and ask Peter to say for a few more days.

What do we learn from this story?

Then + Now

God's Agenda - God sets the agenda for His people, for individuals and for human history.

God is fulfilling the New Covenant - That the day would come when the NATIONS would come to God. These are new covenant times!

God Shows No Partiality - it is easy to be in our own groups and only see people like us and avoid people who don't fit our mold. But Jesus died for ALL. We are called to reach the world - therefore no partiality - God wants them all.

Jesus is LORD - He is the New Covenant. Will we acknowledge His Lordship? He is the judge of the living and the dead. He is the Messiah, the Savior of the Nations, the Anointed Son of God who gave His life for all, rose, ascended and is coming back.

Spirit Guided Life - God is not in a box, He sets the agenda, not us. Everything needs to be the way He deems it!

Pastor closes with the questions:

1. Are you listening to God's Agenda for your life?
2. Do Jesus and the Scriptures inform your daily living and actions?
3. Do you sense and heed the Holy Spirit's promptings?

This week's READING ASSIGNMENT:

Acts chapter 10 - 11.

Now What? Learn about God at https://www.awakeusnow.com EVERYTHING we offer is FREE.

Check out this video series from our website: https://www.awakeusnow.com/god-acts-then-now

Or watch from our Youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/@AwakeUsNow/videos

Join us Sundays live or on demand from our website

https://www.awakeusnow.com/sunday-service

God assures us that eternal life is ours through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, through trusting in His sacrificial death and resurrection, living lives of genuine faith. Like Daniel, we now have just a glimpse of what is to come - and it is glorious!

The Bible is more than just a fascinating book! It was written by an author who loved us enough to die for us, and it is a book that leads us to the One we worship.

Prayer is not about rules and obligations! It is how God invites us to talk with Him in order to build a personal relationship. Discipleship, then, is about living that relationship in our daily lives.

In Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus states that He has been given "all authority on Heaven and on Earth," and with that authority gives us our marching orders - make disciples of all nations, baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy spirit, and teach them to obey everything He has commanded. But this isn't just about His command, this is about God's faithfulness and His desire for us to experience that faithfulness.

Let's begin by contrasting genuine faith with mere religion:

⁃ Relationship vs. Religion ⁃ Knowledge of God/Knowing God vs. Information/Knowing ABOUT God ⁃ Trusting in God vs. Believing only certain things ⁃ Obedience because we trust God vs. Acceptance of only certain things

We are to keep on growing in faith - to know and experience Him - to follow and obey Him. In our verses today, His desire is that we not only obey, but that we teach others to obey Him. He gives us the command to "Make disciples," and to encourage us He gives us the promise of His faithfulness "to the end of the age."

Jesus opens today's teaching with "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me." - Authority of Jesus: Why? because of His death and resurrection, His sacrifice on the cross and His glorious triumph AND His obedience to the Father. Thus we live in His authority, living by faith in the power and authority of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus continues, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations." ⁃ Priority of Discipleship: Note that He didn't say make church members. He didn't say make Christians. He didn't say make converts. He said make disciples (followers of Jesus) - build up each other in the faith.

Jesus goes on with, "baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." ⁃ Unity of God: three, yet One.

And then He says, "and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." ⁃ Necessity of obedience: we are not saved by obedience, but when we know Him and are empowered but the Holy Spirit, our desire is to obey Him.

Then Jesus closes with, "And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." ⁃ This is His assurance! His promise! And this gives us strength, hope, power, encouragement and peace, because God is faithful. God is good but above al else He is faithful and God can be trusted no matter what is happening in our lives.

Pastor goes on to share a very powerful and very personal story centered on his grandfather. It is an amazing story of God's faithfulness. (Grab a tissue…)

Our good God is calling us to walk with him, to know him more and more, to experience the fullness of His presence, His Holy Spirit and His astonishing love in Jesus ,our risen and returning Savior, the One to whom all authority has been given, the One who tells us, "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 we can do this because He ends this Great Commission with this great promise, " And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

https://www.awakeusnow.com

We dig into Acts 9:15-16: "But the Lord said to Ananias, 'Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name."

This isn't about Saul being punished for who he used to be, but rather there is a cost to following Christ, but we see Saul understanding it is worth every penny of the cost. We see persecution taking place right after his conversion.

As Saul went from synagogue to synagogue preaching of Jesus, people didn't trust him and wanted to kill him because they felt he was guilty of blasphemy against God by claiming Jesus to be God's son. They saw him as a religious traitor.

Acts 9:23-30

⁃ Conspiracy to kill him in Damascus

⁃ Shunned in Jerusalem

⁃ Befriended by Barnabas

⁃ Received by the Apostles

⁃ Conspiracy to kill him by the Hellenistic Jews

⁃ Returned to hometown of Tarsus

In 2 Corinthians 11:23b-27 we read of his imprisonments, exposure to death, beatings, stonings, whippings, shipwrecks, and being in constant danger, facing daily his concern for the body of believers.

This news of Saul's persecution causes us to:

1. Admire him for his courage in sharing the Good News of Jesus.

2. Recognize that he was saved from hell by direct intervention of Jesus. Jesus' intervention resulted in Saul knowing everything he has is a gift from God. We too have sinned and are saved by Jesus resulting in the free gift of salvation - and so we live for Him. We may suffer like Saul/Paul - under the enemy's attack. But our courage is found in God and in Saul's encouraging last written words. "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race. I have kept the faith, henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord will award on that day!"

God is good, and He brings His people through each and every day, including the darkest ones.

Now What? Learn about God at https://www.awakeusnow.com EVERYTHING we offer is FREE.

View live or on demand: https://www.awakeusnow.com/tuesday-bible-class

For the full list of videos in this series, Dig Deeper, https://www.awakeusnow.com/dig-deeper

For more check out our Sunday series, God ACTS! https://www.awakeusnow.com/god-acts-then-now

Join us Sundays

https://www.awakeusnow.com/sunday-service

Or watch from our Youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/@AwakeUsNow/videos

Watch via our app. Text HELLO to 888-364-4483 to download our app.

This is a question Pastor has received over and again throughout the years, "Will our bodies be resurrected?" The answer is "yes!" Even through there is biblical teaching and a recognition of the resurrection by believers throughout the centuries, there are still many questions from believers and non-believers when it comes to the future resurrection.

Resurrection:

• Doubt and Denial existed among the educated elite (Acts 17:32), religious elite especially the Sadducees (Matthew 22:29), and church members (1 Corinthians 15:12)
• Old Testament does not say a lot about the resurrection, but there are mentions of it and people did look forward to the resurrection. Job is one who looked to the resurrection (Job 19:25-27), as did Solomon (Ecclesiastes 3:11), Isaiah (Isaiah 26:19) and Daniel (Daniel 12:2)
• Jesus' Teaching in the New Testament - Jesus was clear that resurrection was what was ahead for believers. Jesus talked of the resurrection of both the good and the evil (John 5:28-29), the resurrection comes on the Last Day (John 6:40), Jesus talks about His identity being tied to the resurrection (John 11:25-26). The clear declaration of Jesus is that we will be raised!
• There is a tie between Jewus' resurrection and the resurrection of those of us that follow Him. There are consequences if we don't believe (1 Corinthians 15:13-14), the implications of the resurrection - our salvation is dependent on the resurrection of Jesus. Jesus' resurrection guarantees that we also will rise (1 Corinthians 15:16-18), and Jesus is the "First Fruits" of those who will rise from the grave (1 Corinthians 15:20-23),
• What Kind of Body are we going to have? The New Testament gives us only a glimpse of what our bodies will be like, God has not yet revealed fully what it will be like (1 Corinthians 2:9), there is an analogy of the seed that is used to describe the resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:35-36), we also learn that our bodies will be transformed from a perishable body to an imperishable body and that it is beyond our ability to comprehend (1 Corinthians 15:43-44), Continuity will continues as we will be able to recognize each other, irregardless of the change that will happen. What it it will all be like is not yet known, but we know we will be like Christ and will see Him as He is - risen! (1 John 3:2-3), and because of Jesus we have the Final Victory (1 Corinthians 15:55-57)

When we realize the resurrection is what is ahead for us as believers, the outcome is that we want to serve the Lord even more faithfully, to concentrate on the things that are important to eternity, to be immersed in the things of God, to love our Creator, to love Jesus, love the Holy Spirit and to love others (even our enemies).

Knowing what we know about resurrection, calls us to a dedicated life as a follower of Jesus. We are not called to sit back and wait for the end, we are called to be people of faith and prayer, a people of goodness and generosity, of faithfulness and kindness. We are to be a people who mirror the very nature of our Jesus in the way we deal with one another and the world.

Our victory through Him is what we hold on to and eagerly anticipate. We will be raised to be in God's presence forever!

Now What? Learn about God at https://www.awakeusnow.com EVERYTHING we offer is FREE.

Check out this video series from our website: https://www.awakeusnow.com/whats-the-answer

Join us Sundays

https://www.awakeusnow.com/sunday-service

This is a controversial topic. The Shroud of Turin is the most studied, most scientifically tested artifact in history. It has been subjected to literally hundreds of thousands of hours of intensive study by people of multiple disciplines.

What do we know for certain…. The Foundation:

1 Corinthians 15:1-5 "Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born."

Paul is calling us to anchor our faith in the Biblical foundation:

• Heed the Prophetic Scripture - God will send the Messiah, and here's how to recognize Him, and then the Messiah comes as Jesus
• Eyewitness Testimony - from the early believers who saw Jesus post-resurrection and who were willing to share that news at the risk of their lives
• Holy Spirit's Witness - Jesus said the Holy Spirit leads us to understand who He is.
• Historical Confirmation - from ancient authors who were not believers in Jesus, who were not christian, but who freely confessed the fundamentals of the christian faith: that there was Jesus, that He did remarkable things, that He was crucified by Pontius Pilate, that His tomb was empty on the third day, that His followers spread rapidly, that many were brought to faith in a short time, and that the christians were willing to die for what they believed in.

50 years later:

We still can not duplicate the image - it has stumped scientists.

The physics contradicts the chemistry and the chemistry contradicts the physics.

The Contradictions:

• Depth - why is this just a microscopic image - why didn't it seep through the cloth
• Contact - chemical reactions on the Shroud happened outside the area that was touching the body.
• Heat - If this image was produced by a burst of energy - it should have burned through the cloth and it did not..

Is it the real thing? Pastor says he doesn't know. He's read from both sides, he's not certain…. But he says there are two possibilities:

1 Inexplicable Art

2 Incomparable Artifact

Is this possibly the burial shroud of Jesus? - Pastor says, "Yes, it could well be, and also there's evidence that maybe may not be." Pastor goes on to say that he wouldn't be surprised if it is The burial Shroud of Jesus. He goes on to explain why it would not surprise him.

We are living in amazing day and an amazing age that has seen gigantic discoveries:

• Scriptural - Dead Sea Scrolls - confirmed the present day scriptures
• Archaeological - discoveries over the last 70 years confirm biblical locations, items, etc
• Scientific - evidence is overwhelming in support of a brilliant Creator
• Prophetic - fulfilled in the last 70 years - 1948 the nation of Israel was born. 1967 the Jewish people reoccupied the city of Jerusalem.

These are things that ought to call all people into examining what the Bible says and what the gospel of Jesus says because the evidence for the Bible's truth is incredibly powerful.

If the Shroud is genuine - then God took the first selfie!!

And we are looking into the face of the Lord Jesus!

The Shroud of Turin's image reminds us of the Scripture's truth:

• Christ died for our sins
• He was buried
• He rose on the third day
• He appeared to His disciples

Whether the Shroud of Turin is real or not we know that God has broken into our world in the person of Jesus and because He is risen, our lives are not the same.

He is real and He is coming back. He calls us to receive Him now - to turn from our old ways and turn to the Gospel message of His love for us in Christ.

Now What? Learn about God at https://www.awakeusnow.com EVERYTHING we offer is FREE.

Check out this video series from our website: https://www.awakeusnow.com/whats-the-answer

Join us Sundays

https://www.awakeusnow.com/sunday-service

Today's class is about how God Himself moves things, moves people, moves history, moves events to accomplish everything He desires, to fulfill His plan of winning the world into the knowledge of Living God and today we will see an amazing part of that plan coming to fruition.

Today's story is truly a story of how God ACTS - how He acts in the heart of Saul, a persecutor of followers of Jesus, working to imprison believers.

As Saul was walking on the way to Damascus suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him and he fell to the ground as he heard a voice saying, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" His response, "Who are you, Lord?"

This is an important question! The response he hears is, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting." Note "I am", this is significant because these are the very words God calls Himself - the "I Am." These words show that

Then and Now:

• Jesus is alive! And thus there is hope, a future and life transforming power!
• Theophany - a visible manifestation of a deity
• burning bush at Sinai
• Israel at Mount Sinai - voice of God from heaven and the mount on fire
• transfiguration of Jesus
• And now Saul encounters God
• Jesus is who He said He is!
• Jesus gives sight to the blind. Saul is left blind following the encounter with The Light (Jesus). The others with him, led him to the city and for three days he was blind and did not eat or drink anything. However, while he was physically blind his heart was opened and could "see" who Jesus is. When we don' know Jesus - we are blind, but He gives sight to the blind when we come to know Him.

As we continue reading: A disciple name Ananias. through a vision from the Lord, was told to go to see Saul because God tells him that He has given Saul a vision of a man named Ananias who will restore his sight. That Saul will be expecting him. However, Ananias knows who Saul is and is hesitant to go. But the Lord says, "Go! This man (Saul) is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name."

• Knowing Jesus changes everything! Ananias goes to Saul and says, "Brother Saul, the Lord - Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here - has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit!" This is a personal Pentecost for Saul. Then scales fell from Saul's eyes and he is able to see and was baptized. Saul's heart was changed when he met Jesus. Our lives, too, are changed by Jesus. Knowing Jesus changes our hearts, our lives and our eternal destiny.
• Knowing Jesus brings new purpose to life! Now this man that was sent to Damascus to arrest Jesus followers, is now in the synagogues preaching that Jesus is the Son of God! People were astonished to see the change in Saul. Saul continued preaching growing more and more powerful, baffling the Jews by proving that Jesus is the Messiah. Saul went from being a persecutor of Jesus Followers to sharing the Good News of Jesus and gaining more Jesus Followers for God's Kingdom. Saul was sold out to Christ and nothing but sharing Jesus' story was important to him.

This week's READING ASSIGNMENT:

Acts chapter 9-10 (read and reflect on these two chapters together).

Now What? Learn about God at https://www.awakeusnow.com EVERYTHING we offer is FREE.

Check out this video series from our website: https://www.awakeusnow.com/god-acts-then-now

Or watch from our Youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/@AwakeUsNow/videos

Join us Sundays live or on demand from our website

https://www.awakeusnow.com/sunday-service