We are born into a fallen world of competing voices. In the desert, Jesus is tempted in every way yet without sin, fully living in God’s world God’s way. There we learn from Jesus’ example that the voice of the Father never leads us astray. Thinking like Jesus means listening to the voice of the Father. 

Scripture Matthew 3:16–4:11

Thinking like Jesus requires our whole person. Our doctrine must fuel our devotion, and our devotion, our doctrine. On other words, our love ignites our hunger for more knowledge of the Savior; likewise, knowing Jesus drives our desires and love for Jesus.

Scripture: Mark 12:24-27 & 30

Jesus loves you way more than we think he does and he demands more than we think he does, because he wants more for us. He doesn’t want compartmentalized disciples. He wants disciples who have no secular/sacred divide. Becoming more like Jesus means integrating all parts of us—how we think, love, feel and act. 

Scripture Mark 12:29-31

From the very beginning, our mission has been one thing: to become more like Jesus, and to go and make more disciples who are more like Jesus. It would be easy to fall into complacency and fall into religious consumerism, but with the Spirit’s help, we must guard against this. The church exists to form Christlike Christians.

Scripture: Romans 8:28-29

Our souls wrestle often with the belief that we need to earn God’s love, and it’s an exhausting wrestle. But God wants so much more for all of us. When we consider the life of Jesus, knowing it’s not up to our works but solely dependent on the cross, the hope is we start to become more like him. Scripture: Luke 18:9–14

Psalm 88 reminds us that when Jesus entered into our humanity, he took our sin and God’s wrath and our weakness, and also our pain and abandonment and suffering. Jesus became the blessed man and the cursed man. If Jesus didn’t abandon you in his darkest hour, we can be assured in our darkest hour, he will remain.

As we have learned this month, when we read the Psalms in light of Christ’s finished work on the cross, we see the presence of Jesus throughout these old songs. Psalm 118 especially reminds us of the timeless truth that God is steadfast and our firm foundation when life inevitably gets hard. Even in trials, we rejoice in the one who sustains us.

As we learned last week, reading the psalms through the lens of Christ gives us fresh eyes on an old text. Psalm 32 points to our sins and iniquities, but in light of the forgiveness of God. It reminds the reader that in our humble confession of sin, God’s steadfast love meets us with forgiveness, instruction and gladness.

Key Text: Psalm 32

The Psalms, much like the law, are only understood in light of Christ. In Psalm 1, we see not counsel on how we should live, but confirmation in whom we should trust. Scripture: Psalm 1

In our finale message in this series, we look at the closing remarks of Peter’s letter. Peter speaks of simple wisdom for the Christian to endure faithfully for a whole life: stand firm in grace.

Scripture 1 Peter 5:8–14