Biblical Truths from West Palm Beach church of Christ

What an unexpected turn of events Joseph has just experienced! Joseph is 17 years old and his older brothers hate him. They hate him so much that they want to kill him. But rather than kill him, they sell him to some passing traders, figuring he will not survive what is in store for him. God had given Joseph dreams that showed that he would have authority over his brothers and over his family. But now he finds himself in Egypt, far from his family, and far from the promised land. We are looking at where God is in the midst of suffering. This is certainly an important question to ask as Joseph’s life has been completely turned upside down…

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Condemned by the Sanhedrin council, Jesus is bound and led away to stand before Pilate, the governor of the region of Judea (Matthew 27:1-2). Now you have to appreciate what the Jewish leaders have to do to get Jesus before Pilate. Pilate is a Roman governor and would have no concern if Jesus called himself their Messiah or blasphemed their God or their temple. So what is the charge that the Jews will generate to give reason for Pilate to hold a trial against Jesus? The answer is to say that Jesus was misleading the people by calling himself a king (cf. Luke 23:2). So this is why Pilate asks Jesus the question, “Are you the King of the Jews?” They say that you are going around saying that you are a king. Are you their king? Do you claim to be their king?

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We are beginning a new series today called God In The Midst of Suffering. One of the hardest aspects of trials and suffering is wondering where God is in the moment. It does not look like God is with us. It does not feel like God is with us. So we are going to spend our time in this series looking for God in the midst of suffering. Our source text for this study will be from Genesis as we look at the life of Joseph. Take your copies of God’s word and open it to Genesis 37…

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Jesus has been arrested and taken to the high priest where a trial has started. The trial is not a seeking of the truth. The trial is to find false witnesses that will give a false testimony about Jesus so that the ruling Jewish council can have him executed. All of the disciples abandoned Jesus at his arrest and ran away. However, we are told that Peter has returned to follow Jesus at a distance as they go to the high priest for trial (Matthew 26:58,69). Last week we read what was going on inside during Jesus’ trial. Now the scene moves outside, where we see Peter sitting in the courtyard of the high priest and he is awaiting the results of the trial…

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In Jeremiah 3 God is explaining why the people’s lack of guilt and shame has been a problem to the relationship. We noticed in our last lesson that God expects us to experience guilt and shame so that we will have clarity about what we have done, be genuine about our sin which then will ultimately lead to a true repentance rather than stubbornness. We concluded that lesson by God making promises about what he was going to do through Christ in the future. Here in Jeremiah 3:19-4:4 we are going to see more promises that God gives to his people. God is going to proclaim the hope that comes from the shame and guilt we are experiencing…

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It is a secluded place in the darkness of the middle of the night. Jesus and his disciples are on the Mount of Olives. They have been told that they were all going to fall away tonight. Jesus has spent this time preparing with prayer. The disciples have spent this time sleeping. But now the moment has arrived. As Jesus tells his disciples that his betrayer is near, Judas is coming forward. But Judas is not alone. Judas is not coming to rejoin the disciples. Judas is not coming to rejoin his Master whom he has followed for the past three years. Judas is coming with a large crowd. Is Judas coming with a large crowd who want to hear Jesus’ teaching? Is Judas coming with a large crowd with a new set of potential disciples? No. A large crowd is coming with Judas and you can imagine them carrying torches into the darkness of this mountain. But it is not a friendly group as we are told in Matthew 26:47 that this large crowd is carrying swords and clubs. These are people who are ready for a fight. What we are going to see are three different responses in this moment. This is the hour of trial. This is the moment Jesus has predicted and prepared for. What will be the response of those who are in Jesus’ sphere of influence?

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Open your copies of God’s word to Jeremiah 3. As you are turning to this place in the scriptures, I want to remind you about what the prophet Jeremiah is doing. God has called Jeremiah to preach to the nation of Judah, the southern nation that remained after Assyria destroyed the northern nation, Israel. Jeremiah has been telling the people about how they are addicted to their sinning. The people are unable to see the foolishness and emptiness of following their sinful hearts. We looked at these points in chapter 2. The people have traded away living waters for broken cisterns. They have exchanged life for death. What Jeremiah is going to talk about in Jeremiah 3 is about the need for guilt and shame…

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Jesus has designated that Judas will be his betrayer. After sending him away, Jesus has taken the Passover and reconstituted it into a new memorial in which the disciples will remember his body and his blood of the covenant. The disciples are instructed to remember his sacrifice and remember the effect of his sacrifice. It is now late at night and Jesus is taking his disciples to the Mount of Olives. If you will open your copies of God’s word to Matthew 26 we will look at these final hours of Jesus’ life beginning in verse 30…

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We have been looking at the meaning of the blood of the covenant. Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, called his disciples together and instituted the Lord’s Supper as a permanent memorial. As we have been studying the scriptures we have been seeing that the blood of the covenant has a rich meaning for God’s people. This will be our final lesson in our study as we look at the fourth dimension of the meaning of the blood of the covenant. Please open your copies of God’s word to Hebrews 10…

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In our last lesson we carefully considered the purpose and meaning of the memorial Jesus gave to us. In Matthew 26 we saw that Jesus is living during his final hours. During the Passover time Jesus gave a memorial so that we would remember him and what he accomplished for us. But before we move forward in the account, I think it is important to spend another lesson on the importance and purpose of the Lord’s Supper. It is easy for us to inadvertently fly through the Lord’s Supper and not really have a strong focus on what we are doing and why we are doing. So I want to take one more lesson here to talk about our need to remember Jesus together. Please take your copies of God’s word and turn to 1 Corinthians 11 and we are going to spend our time there…

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