Notes:

Text: Exodus 25:1-9

“The central miracle asserted by Christians is the incarnation. They say that God became man.” –  C. S. Lewis

+ Image of Tabernacle in the Encampment of Israel

+The Tabernacle was a Place of Glory

+Image of Book Immanuel

+The Tabernacle was a place of Grace

+Image of Ark of the Covenant

+Jesus is the Truer and Better Tabernacle

+ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. – John 1:1 ESV

+Jesus is the Place of God’s Glory

+Jesus is the Place of God’s Grace

+Jesus Belongs at the Center

+Jesus Makes us a Tabernacle

Notes:

Text:  Psalm 105:37-43

“Hearts on earth say in the course of a joyful experience, “I don’t want this ever to end.” But it invariably does. The hearts of those in heaven say, “I want this to go on forever.” And it will. There is no better news than this.” – J. I. Packer

+ Awkward Christmas Photos

+ Forever Life

+ Full Life

Notes:

Text:  Exodus 12:1-13, 21-28

Typology exists when there is a historical correspondence between events, institutions, and persons found in the OT and the NT. I argue that typology does not merely represent correspondence but a correspondence intended by God. - Thomas Schreiner

“J. Barton Payne identified 1,239 prophetic predictions in the Old Testament that involved some 6,641 verses, or 28.5 percent of the total corpus of the older testament...Payne also found 127 personal messianic predictions in some 3,348 verses in the Old Testament...” Kaiser, Walter C., Jr. 2009. Recovering the Unity of the Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

If you were to calculate the probability of any one person fulfilling, sheerly by chance, all the Old Testament Messianic prophecies that Jesus fulfilled, it would be as astronomical as winning the lottery every day for a century. Even if Jesus deliberately tried to fulfill the prophecies, no mere man could have the power to arrange the time, place, events, and circumstances of his birth or events after his death. - Peter Kreeft. Christianity for Modern Pagans.

+ Paint Your Door

“The answer of course is neither. Because death doesn’t pass over them on the ground of the intensity or the clarity of the faith exercised. But on the ground of the blood of the lamb… It is not the intensity of our faith but the object of our faith that saves.” - D.A. Carson

+Don’t Forget

Exodus 12:13

“The blood shall be a sign for you...”

Notes:

Text: Colossians 1:3-14

“To have found God and still to pursue Him is the soul’s paradox of love, scorned indeed by the too-easily satisfied religionist, but justified in happy experience by the children of the burning heart.” – A.W. Towzer

+The Gospel creates a secure community that loves

+The Gospel creates a witnessing community that multiplies

+The Gospel creates a wise community that pleases God

+The Gospel creates a thankful community with one allegiance

“You cannot know anything about Jesus, anything, if you miss the kingdom of God…You are zero on Jesus if you don’t understand this term. I’m sorry to say it that strongly, but this is the great failure of evangelical Christianity. We have had Jesus without the kingdom of God, and therefore have literally done Jesus in.” – Gordon Fee

-      Remind one another of the Gospel

-      Repent of any ways we’ve lacked love

-      Renew our minds to know what pleases God

-      Respond with thanks to God for bringing us into his Kingdom

Notes:

Text:  Romans 7:7:5-6, 14-25

+Who is the “I”?

+There are many in the Church who fit the description of the “I”.

+There are true believers in the Church who are still trying to live the Christian life by the law and not by the Spirit.

-       Repent of grieving and neglecting the Holy Spirit.

-       Acknowledge the Holy Spirit and cultivate a relationship with him.

-       Surrender to Him daily.

-       Engage in activities in your life that open you up to his presence and power.

+ It’s not the script of the law outside of you; it is the Spirit of God inside of you!

Notes:

Text:  Romans 7:7-13

“…these motions of sin are irritated, provoked, and increased, through the law’s prohibition of them; which is not to be charged as a fault on the law, but to be imputed to the depravity and corruption of man; who is like a mighty torrent of water, which rises, rages, flows and overflows, the more any methods are taken to stop its current, or like a filthy dunghill which when the sun strikes powerfully on it, it exhales and draws out its filthy stench; which nauseous smell is not to be imputed to the pure rays of the sun, but to the filthiness of the dunghill. – John Gill. An Exposition of the New Testament, vol. 2, The Baptist Commentary Series.

+ The law is perfect

-       Psalm 19:7

-       The law of the Lord is perfect

+ The law brings conviction of sin

+ The law brings provocation to sin

+ The law brings condemnation for sin

Notes:

Text: Romans 7:1-6

“Men quietly got in touch with Him... and found themselves doing things they couldn’t do, thinking thoughts they couldn’t think, and loving people they couldn’t love. They were a surprise to themselves and others.” - Mastery, E. Stanley Jones 

+ Christianity is a new relationship with Jesus 

+ Christianity is a new purpose 

+Christianity is a new existence 

• New Master 

• New Husband 

• Effectiveness in the mission of Jesus 

Notes:  

Text:  Romans 7:1-4  

“On your exceedingly great mercy rests all my hope. Give what you command, and then command whatever you will.” - Saint Augustine, The Confessions 

+License (Antinomianism)  

+Legalism 

+The Principle 

• The law is binding on us while we live

+The Illustration 

• Marriage

+The Application 

• You died to the law and are now belong to Christ

+Jesus motivates us by His love and likeness 

+Jesus always supplies what He commands 

+Jesus always forgives when we fail Him 

+Jesus will never leave us 

+Don’t bring yourself back under the law 

+Focus on your relationship with Jesus 

Notes:  

Text:  Romans 6:11-13, 19  

“Grace is opposed to earning, but it’s not opposed to efforts.” - Dallas Willard

• Prayer 

• Fasting 

• Service

- disciplines of community (giving, generosity, confession)

Notes:

Text:  Romans 6:11-23 + Vision

+ Intention

+ Means

“There is no need to despair; hundreds of these adult converts have been reclaimed after a brief sojourn in the enemy’s camp and now are with us. All the habits of the patient, both mental and bodily, are still in our favor.” Screwtape Letter, CS Lewis

• Solitude

• Scripture