Storyside Church

Matthew 26

20 In the evening Jesus was sitting at the table with his 12 followers. 

21 They were all eating. Then Jesus said, “I tell you the truth. One of you 12 will turn against me.”

22 This made the followers very sad. Each one said to Jesus, “Surely, Lord, I am not the one who will turn against you. Am I?”

22 And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began every one of them to say unto him, Lord, is it I?

Table: A piece of furniture with a flat top and one or more legs, providing a level surface on which objects may be placed, and that can be used for such purposes as eating, writing, working, or playing games. 

70% of meals in America are eaten outside of the home.

Take care of your body. It's the only place you have to live.

— Jim Rohn 

80% of teenagers claim family dinner is the time they are most likely to converse with their parents. 

90 Minutes 

12 Minutes 

38.5 Minutes / Week 

America’s drug problem is not going to be solved in courtrooms or legislative hearing rooms by judges and politicians. It will be solved in living rooms and dining rooms and across kitchen tables – by parents and families.

All great change in America begins at the dinner table.

— Ronald Reagan

Family Dinners

You are as much serving God in looking after your own children, training them up in God’s fear, minding the house, and making your household a church for God as you would be if you had been called to lead an army to battle for the Lord of Hosts.

— Charles H. Spurgeon

The goal of parenting isn’t to create perfect kids. It’s to point our kids to the perfect God.

There is a 0.0296% chance that your child will become a professional athlete.

There is a 0.0086% chance that your child will become a famous celebrity.

There is a 100% certainty that your child will stand before Jesus.

Psalm 90

10 Our lifetime is seventy years or, if we are strong, eighty years. But the years are full of hard work and pain. They pass quickly, and then we are gone.

12 Teach us how short our lives really are so that we may be wise.

What does Satan say to you? 

What do others say to/about you? 

What do you say to yourself?

What does God say to/about you? 

What does Satan say to (about) you? 

John 8:44 — Your father is the devil, and you do exactly what he wants. He has always been a murderer and a liar. There is nothing truthful about him. He speaks on his own, and everything he says is a lie. Not only is he a liar himself, but he is also the father of all lies.

1 Peter 5:8-9 — Be on your guard and stay awake. Your enemy, the devil, is like a roaring lion, sneaking around to find someone to attack. But you must resist the devil and stay strong in your faith. You know that all over the world the Lord's followers are suffering just as you are.

What do others say to you? 

You never know when a moment and a few sincere words can have an impact on a life.

 — Zig Ziglar 

Ephesians 4:29 — Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.

1 Corinthians 14:26 — Well, my brothers and sisters, let’s summarize. When you meet together, one will sing, another will teach, another will tell some special revelation God has given, one will speak in tongues, and another will interpret what is said. But everything that is done must strengthen all of you.

What do you say to yourself? 

Impulse 

Emotion 

Logic 

Matthew 9

20 A woman who had been bleeding for twelve years came up behind Jesus and barely touched his clothes. 

21 She had said to herself, “If I can just touch his clothes, I will be healed.”

22 Jesus turned. He saw the woman and said, “Don't worry! You are now healed because of your faith.” At that moment she was healed.

What does God say to you? 

S – SCRIPTURE

O – OBSERVATION

A – APPLICATION

P – PRAYER

1. Is there any example for me to follow?

2. Is there a command for me to obey?

3. Is there any error for me to avoid?

4. Is there any sin for me to forsake?

5. Is there any promise for me to claim?

6. Is there any new thought about God?

Live For Jesus 

Love People 

Share Your Faith 

Come To Church 

Value Serving 

Keep Unity 

Give To The Vision Offering 

Matthew 7:1 — Do not judge, or you too will be judged.

Romans 14:10 — So why do you judge your brother or sister in Christ? Or why do you think that you are better than they are? We will all stand before God, and he will judge us all. 

2 Corinthians 5

9 Our only goal is to always please the Lord, whether we are living here in this body or there with him. 

10 We must all stand before Christ to be judged. Everyone will get what they should. They will be paid for whatever they did—good or bad—when they lived in this earthly body.

Romans 1

25 They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen. 

26 That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. 

27 And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved.

28 Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. 

29 Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. 

30 They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. 

31 They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. 

32 They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too.

Romans 1:32 — Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

Hebrews 9:27 — Everyone must die once. Then they are judged. 

Everyone 

Matthew 10:28 — Don’t be afraid of people. They can kill the body, but they cannot kill the soul. The only one you should fear is God, the one who can send the body and the soul to be destroyed in hell.

John 8:24 — That is why I said that you will die in your sins. If you do not believe that I am the Christ, you will die in your sins.

Where will you go when you die?

John 14

1 Jesus said, “Don’t be troubled. Trust in God, and trust in me. 

2 There are many rooms in my Father’s house. I would not tell you this if it were not true. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 

3 After I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back. Then I will take you with me, so that you can be where I am.

Promise 

Place 

Person(s) 

Acts 24

24 Several days later Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish. He sent for Paul and listened to him as he spoke about faith in Christ Jesus. 

25 As Paul talked about righteousness, self-control and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and said, “That’s enough for now! You may leave. When I find it convenient, I will send for you.”

Felix was afraid…

Convenient Christianity 

John 3

16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. 

17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

What does God say about — Divorce?

1 Corinthians 7

8 Now for those who are not married and for the widows I say this: It is good for you to stay single like me. 

9 But if you cannot control your body, then you should marry. It is better to marry than to burn with sexual desire.

10 Now, I have a command for those who are married. Actually, it is not from me; it is what the Lord commanded. A wife should not leave her husband. 

11 But if a wife does leave, she should remain single or get back together with her husband. And a husband should not divorce his wife.

Mark 10

2 Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”

3 “What did Moses command you?” he replied.

4 They said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.”

5 “It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law,” Jesus replied. 

6 “But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’

7 ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife,

8 and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. 

9 Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

The United States of America has a higher divorce rate than many parts of the world. 

64% of men and 52% of women get married again. 

67% — Second Marriages 

73% — Third Marriages 

Couples who live together before marriage are more likely to divorce. 

75% — A lack of Commitment 

60% — Infidelity 

58% — Conflict/Communication

45% — Youthfulness 

38% — Finances 

Around 70% of divorces are initiated by women. 

Couples who have friends that divorce have a 75% increase in the risk of their own marriage ending. 

Motherless Children 

Fatherless Children 

The greatest gift you can give your family and friends is a healthy you.

Deuteronomy 24 

1 Suppose a man marries a woman but she does not please him. Having discovered something wrong with her, he writes a document of divorce, hands it to her, and sends her away from his house. 

2 When she leaves his house, she is free to marry another man.

Matthew 5

31 “Remember the Scripture that says, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him do it legally, giving her divorce papers and her legal rights’? Too many of you are using that as a cover for selfishness and whim, pretending to be righteous just because you are ‘legal.’ 

32 Please, no more pretending. If you divorce your wife, you’re responsible for making her an adulteress (unless she has already made herself that by sexual promiscuity). And if you marry such a divorced adulteress, you’re automatically an adulterer yourself. You can’t use legal cover to mask a moral failure.”

What makes love last?

What is your offense?

What is your defense? 

Why would I want the Holy Spirit?

Do I need the Holy Spirit?

Have I submitted my life to the Holy Spirit?

Acts 1

4 Being assembled with them, He commanded them, “Do not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, of which you have heard from Me.

5 For John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

6 So when they had come together, they asked Him, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”

7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know the times or the dates, which the Father has fixed by His own authority. 

8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

9 When He had spoken these things, while they looked, He was taken up. And a cloud received Him from their sight.

10 While they looked intently toward heaven as He ascended, suddenly two men stood by them in white garments. 

11 They said, “Men of Galilee, why stand looking toward heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you to heaven, will come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”

Without the Holy Spirit, Christian discipleship would be inconceivable, even impossible. There can be no life without the life-giver, no understanding without the Spirit of truth, no fellowship without the unity of the Spirit, no Christlikeness of character apart from His fruit, and no effective witness without His power. As a body without breath is a corpse, so the church without the Spirit is dead.

— John Stott 

The Holy Spirit TEACHES/COUNSELS us. 

John 14:26 — But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

The Holy Spirit HELPS us…

Romans 8:26-27

26 And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. 

27 And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.

The Holy Spirit LEADS/GUIDES us. 

Galatians 5

16 So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. 

17 The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. 

19 When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, 

20 idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, 

21 envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 

23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!

24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. 

25 Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. 

Is the Holy Spirit leading my life? 

The Holy Spirit BUILDS my faith. 

Jude 1:20 — But you, beloved, build yourselves up in your most holy faith. Pray in the Holy Spirit.

Jude 1:20 — But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith, and pray in union with the Ruach HaKodesh.

Isaiah 53:6 — All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the LORD laid on him the sins of us all.

1 Peter 2

24 Christ carried our sins in his body on the cross. He did this so that we would stop living for sin and start living for what is right. And we are healed because of his wounds. 

25 You were like sheep that went the wrong way. But now you have come back to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

John 10

14 I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep, and my sheep know me, 

15 just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I give my life for the sheep. 

Psalm 23 

1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures: he leads me beside the still waters.

3 He restores my soul: he leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Have I submitted my life to The Shepherd? 

Am I fully surrendered to The Shepherd? 

Sheep are often social animals. 

Sheep will settle for less. 

Sheep are not meant to carry weighty burdens or heavy loads. 

Sheep are not created to stay stationary for too long. 

Sheep are often reluctant to go where they can not clearly see. 

Sheep struggle with depth perception. 

Sheep are often uneasy and skittish in storms. 

Sheep do not typically like to drink from rapid or turbulent waters. 

Sheep are considered prey animals and cannot typically defend themselves from predators. 

Sheep can remember peoples faces and voices. 

Sheep have excellent hearing. 

The Shepherd

The Good Shepherd WATCHES over me. 

The Good Shepherd LEADS me. 

The Good Shepherd PROTECTS and PROVIDES for me. 

I am the Good Shepherd. 

— Jesus  

What does God say about family? 

Genesis 2:7 — Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.

Genesis 2:18 — Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.”

Genesis 2:21-22 — So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. While the man slept, the Lord God took out one of the man’s ribs and closed up the opening. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib, and he brought her to the man.

Matthew 19:5 — And God said, ‘That is why a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife. And the two people will become one.’

Ecclesiastes 11:5 — As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.

Jeremiah 1:5 — “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

Psalm 139:13 — For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

Psalm 127:3 — Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. 

There is no perfect family. 

What can I do with my imperfect family? 

Love them. 

Pray for them. 

Point them to God’s perfection. 

Questions 

Hebrews 11:3 — Faith helps us understand that God created the whole world by his command. This means that the things we see were made by something that cannot be seen.

What did God say about sin?

Romans 3:23 — All of us have sinned and fallen short of God's glory.

1 John 3:4 — Anyone who sins breaks God’s law. Yes, sinning is the same as living against God’s law.

“Whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, and takes off the relish of spiritual things—that to you is sin."

— Susannah Wesley 

Mark 7 

20 And Jesus said, “The things that make people wrong are the things that come from the inside. 

21 All these bad things begin inside a person, in the mind: bad thoughts, sexual sins, stealing, murder, 

22 adultery, greed, doing bad things to people, lying, doing things that are morally wrong, jealousy, insulting people, proud talking, and foolish living. 

23 These evil things come from inside a person. And these are the things that make people unacceptable to God.”

Romans 6:23 — For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 7 

21 I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. 

22 I love God’s law with all my heart. 

23 But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. 

24 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?

Remember that if you are a child of God, you will never be happy in sin. 

— Charles Spurgeon

John 1:29 — The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

John 8:24 — If you don't have faith in me for who I am, you will die, and your sins will not be forgiven.

1 John 1

8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and there is no truth in us. 

9 But if we confess our sins to God, he will keep his promise and do what is right: he will forgive us our sins and purify us from all our wrongdoing. 

You may think you can live without Christ, but you cannot afford to die without Him. 

Ephesians 2

1 Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. 

2 You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. 

3 All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.

4 But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, 

5 that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved! 

8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 

Church is not a group of perfect people. 

Church is a group of changing people. 

What Does God Say About ______________?

Matthew 4:4 — Jesus answered him, “The Scriptures say, ‘It is not just bread that keeps people alive. Their lives depend on what God says.’”

Does God really speak?

Would you like God to speak to you?

Will I listen? 

2 Timothy 3

16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 

17 God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.

40+ Authors 

3 Different Languages 

3 Different Continents 

1500+ Years 

2000+ Prophecies/Promises 

Luke 24:27 — Then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

Isaiah 7:14 — The Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’).

Matthew 1:22-23 — All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet: “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son,
and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’”

Micah 5:2 — But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, are the smallest town in Judah. Your family is almost too small to count, but the “Ruler of Israel” will come from you to rule for me. His beginnings are from ancient times, from long, long ago.

Matthew 2:1 — Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem in Judea during the time when Herod was king. After Jesus was born, some wise men from the east came to Jerusalem.

Isaiah 40:3 — A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

Matthew 3:1-2

In those days John the Baptist came to the Judean wilderness and began preaching. His message was, “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.”

Zechariah 9:9 — Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Luke 19:35 — So the followers brought the donkey to Jesus. They put their coats on its back. Then they put Jesus on the donkey.

Isaiah 53:12 — Therefore will I give him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he hath poured out his soul unto death; and he was counted with the transgressors, and he bare the sin of many, and prayed for the trespassers.

Matthew 27:38 — Two thieves were crucified with him, one on his right and the other on his left.

Amos 8:9 — Here is what will happen on that day, declares the Lord God: I will make the sun set at noon, and I will bring darkness on the earth when it should be light.

Matthew 27:45 — At noon the whole country became dark. The darkness continued for three hours.

I will trust God and His Word.