Lessons for Living (Audio)

Pastor Mark will be teaching from the book of Luke, chapter 6. We’ll be hearing about the story of Jesus healing the man with the withered hand – on the Sabbath. The text seems to indicate that Jesus was angry – with the religious leaders – because their blind allegiance to entrenched tradition had sucked the joy out of attending synagogue and the things that being Jewish was all about.

We’ll learn about the faith of the crippled man as well as the unbelief of the Pharisees. And more about Jesus’ prayer life, and Whose priorities Jesus made every effort to discover and then follow.

We have seen throughout the book of Luke that Jesus was in the regular habit of attending Sabbath services, no matter where He was or what He was involved with. The Pharisees, on the other hand, were so focused on the appearance of godliness by their synagogue attendance that they completely missed the reason for being there. Pastor Mark will be teaching that church attendance is an activity we “get” to do rather than what we “have” to do, and that difference is in part because of the benefits we receive from corporate worship and fellowship. We pray this message stirs in your heart a desire to meet with other Christ followers, too.

We have seen throughout the book of Luke that Jesus was in the regular habit of attending Sabbath services, no matter where He was or what He was involved with. The Pharisees, on the other hand, were so focused on the appearance of godliness by their synagogue attendance that they completely missed the reason for being there. Pastor Mark will be teaching that church attendance is an activity we “get” to do rather than what we “have” to do, and that difference is in part because of the benefits we receive from corporate worship and fellowship. We pray this message stirs in your heart a desire to meet with other Christ followers, too.

It is very common for us, as we spend more time in church structure, to begin to equate our opinions about how things should be with God’s actual intent for us. This was the problem that the religious leaders of Jesus’ time had – they were missing God’s point. Jesus, in doing what He did, was trying to get their attention and get them to repent. They were unwilling to really hear what Jesus was saying, so they got the judgment that they deserved. Pastor Mark will be teaching on the importance of Jesus’ focus on man rather than on ritual, and the fact that God made the Sabbath (and other things) to serve man, not the other way around.

It is very common for us, as we spend more time in church structure, to begin to equate our opinions about how things should be with God’s actual intent for us. This was the problem that the religious leaders of Jesus’ time had – they were missing God’s point. Jesus, in doing what He did, was trying to get their attention and get them to repent. They were unwilling to really hear what Jesus was saying, so they got the judgment that they deserved. Pastor Mark will be teaching on the importance of Jesus’ focus on man rather than on ritual, and the fact that God made the Sabbath (and other things) to serve man, not the other way around.

It’s easy to get caught up in the conflict between the Pharisees and scribes and Jesus – the attitudes of the religious leaders makes them kind of unsympathetic characters. We need to be careful to understand that there was a paradigm shift occurring – not just in the way that God was to be approached, but also in who was now allowed to approach Him. Pastor Mark will be teaching about the new wine – grace versus the old wine – law, and how radical this new thinking was for the Jew, whose religious experience was permeated with ritual. God help us to constantly be thinking like Jesus thinks.

It’s easy to get caught up in the conflict between the Pharisees and scribes and Jesus – the attitudes of the religious leaders makes them kind of unsympathetic characters. We need to be careful to understand that there was a paradigm shift occurring – not just in the way that God was to be approached, but also in who was now allowed to approach Him. Pastor Mark will be teaching about the new wine – grace versus the old wine – law, and how radical this new thinking was for the Jew, whose religious experience was permeated with ritual. God help us to constantly be thinking like Jesus thinks.

As we get older, we tend to become more resistant to change in our routine or ways of thinking. The same thing can happen with a business or in a church. This is what happened to the Pharisees – they were so sure they knew how God was doing things, which was the way He’d been doing them for the previous thousand years or so. Pastor Mark will be sharing the dangers of remaining entrenched in what was done before instead of trying to be a part of what God is doing now. Jesus came and challenged the status quo, and eventually He was executed for it – but that didn’t mean that He was wrong.

As we get older, we tend to become more resistant to change in our routine or ways of thinking. The same thing can happen with a business or in a church. This is what happened to the Pharisees – they were so sure they knew how God was doing things, which was the way He’d been doing them for the previous thousand years or so. Pastor Mark will be sharing the dangers of remaining entrenched in what was done before instead of trying to be a part of what God is doing now. Jesus came and challenged the status quo, and eventually He was executed for it – but that didn’t mean that He was wrong.

One of the problems we sometimes have as Christians is being critical of other Christians who spend what we think of as too much time with their non-Christian friends. The Pharisees kind of had the same complaint of Jesus. Jesus, however, was trying to help them understand that it was time for new thinking. Pastor Mark will be introducing three words for today – NEW, STRETCH, CHANGE – and how those apply to the Gospel and to our lives. Jesus sees the potential in every person; we need to do the same. We need to proclaim the Good News – that the Son of Man came to seek and to save those who are lost.