John 3:16-18. How would you answer someone who asked you why you’re a Christian? There are some different ways you could answer that question, but I want us to look at one today from a very well-known verse in the Bible, Jn. 3:16. It has been called the “golden text” of Scripture. I want you to see that that Jn. 3:1-21 is all one conversation between Jesus and this leader among the Pharisees, Nicodemus, who came to see Jesus. So, the famous vs. 16 was said inside this private conversation. You can see in vs. 1-21 that Jesus takes time to explain God’s plan of salvation to Nicodemus. And in this one verse we can share with someone seven reasons to be a Christian.

Acts 17:16-34. Imagine being at the most prestigious university in the world and surrounded by intellectuals and telling them about the answers to life’s biggest questions. That’s where Paul was. He was by himself for a while in the great city of Athens. Some consider his ministry in Athens a failure. But, no doubt, it was a success.

And in this setting, Paul preached about “Jesus and the resurrection”. Those were foreign words to this crowd. But they were curious and wanted to hear more.

Micah 6:6-8. Does God ask too much of his people? Is God hard to please? Have you ever felt that way? That’s the way God’s people felt at the time Micah wrote these words. But God will respond in a way they didn’t expect, describing to them “3 Responses God’s Wants from His People”. It’s what he’s always wanted and he told them long ago in his laws.

Exodus 34:6-7. One Hit Wonders are songs by an artist that you may not even know the name of, but you know the song and it was a huge hit. Maybe you bought the artist’s album, to find that they actually did only have one good song. In this new series, you get to decide if there are any hits, but each lesson is a stand-alone lesson. They’re connected in one way in that each lesson has a number in it, but they don’t have the same theme.

In Ex. 33, Moses asks God to show him his glory. It's chapter 34 when does on top of Mt. Sinai. This is also when God inscribes new stone tablets of the Ten Commandments for Moses. In showing his glory, God proclaims his name, which includes his personal name and six descriptions of his character that are significant for us to understand if we are going to truly know God.

James 1:22-25. Our youth minister, Kenley Dover, preached this morning for our Back-to-School service, but the message was for everyone as he taught us to not just be hearers of the Word of God, but also doers.

Isaiah 9:6-7. Today, we’ll see how David pointed us to Jesus and in that we see the heart of God for us. We’ve got to be people of changed hearts. People whose hearts belong to Jesus, completely love Jesus, and are totally transformed by Jesus. That’s the only way your faith is going to make a true difference in your life.

Jesus is the true and better David. The truly faithful one and the true King over God’s people. Jesus fulfills all of Isaiah 9. He is the eternal King over God’s kingdom, his people, the church. The heart of David points us to Jesus. Our hearts should point others to Jesus. We’ve got to be changed, transformed by Christ, to love him with all our hearts, worship him with all our hearts, and serve him with all our hearts.

Psalm 103:1-22. Friends and family would use many different words to describe you, wouldn’t they? Kind, helpful, a good friend, fun to hang out with, loves God. One way we can describe David is that he was thankful and full of praise for God. And in Ps. 103, we’ll learn how we can be more thankful and full of praise for God because of all his goodness towards us.

Psalm 119:47-48. You would not think it unusual if you heard someone say something about how much they loved Jesus, would you? It wouldn’t be unusual to see something on a friend’s social media post about their love for Jesus. What you don’t hear much is someone saying how much they love the Bible, or to post something about that on social media. Some of the greatest words recorded in Scripture about treasuring the words of God are found in Psalm 119. In this lesson, we're going to look at verses 41-18 and verses 47-48 in particular and find four insights that will help us love God's word more.

1 Samuel 17:1-58. We find that the Philistines, one of the main enemies of Israel in the OT, have drawn up for battle against Israel. Saul was king of Israel, and he had his army lined up ready for battle. They stood on either side of a valley, ready to fight. Then, out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath of Gath. He was a real giant!

This was common battle strategy. You could have one person from each army fight, and the winner would win the entire other nation. If you lost, your whole country lost. That’s what your “champion” did. He went before you and for you and fought on your behalf. And the Israelites were terrified. Soon, David hears and sees Goliath himself and decides to face him. David’s confidence and courage wasn’t in himself, or armor, or even in his weapons. But only in God, and David tells Goliath, today you’re going to fall. This event didn't happen so we could face giants like problems in our life. It happened because we are the terrified Israelites and we need a champion. We need someone to go before us and fight the battle on our behalf. David is a picture of Jesus.

Matthew 16:13-19. Matt Perkins preaches on the origins of the Lord's church. In this lesson we see where Jesus said he would establish his church on the confession of faith in him. His church was also foretold in the Old Testament when God gave Daniel a vision about a great and eternal kingdom. Jesus only established one church and the terms of admittance to the kingdom are the same as Peter made clear in Acts 2:38.