Acts 3:1-10

I. HEALING IN THE BIBLE

“The time has come,” he said. The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!”

All who believe will be totally healed on that day!

The Kingdom of God is both “now” and “not yet"

The ministry of Jesus

“Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in the synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness among the people.”

The commission of Jesus

II. HEALING IN CHURCH HISTORY

III. HEALING TODAY

Matthew 28:16-20

1. The Command of Jesus (Great Commission)

2. Needs of Others.

3. The Gospel is Good News.

I. PRESENCE

“…if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives.”

II. PERSUASION (not pressure)

III. PROCLAMATION

Invitational

Relational

Telling our own story

IV. POWER

V. PRAYER

Ecclesiastes 4:7-12

A life without connection brings:

a. Isolation

“Rising from the debris of our lost values is the new value on the individual. The ‘me’ generation has given way to a ‘me’ world. The question is, how will the church, the ultimate ‘WE’ organization, adjust?”

Loneliness is a warning light on the dashboard of your life that confirms that you are running low on the primary fuel you need: connection.

b. Exhaustion

c. Frustration

Godly and meaningful connection brings:

a. Production

b. Provision

c. Protection

An unconnected life brings isolation, exhaustion, and frustration but when you enter into a life of Godly and meaningful connection, you’ll see that it brings production, provision, and protection!

Next Steps to Help Live a Connected Life:

1. Surrender to Jesus

2. Join a small group

3. Connect with others through serving

4. Get baptized

5. Attend the “DISCOVER” class

Matthew 19:1-9

The culture does not need from the Church anger and judgment nor accommodation and compromise. The Church’s best posture is to joyfully teach and model God’s original design and intent while loving, accepting and forgiving ourselves and one another when we fall short.

I. Isn’t this much ado about nothing?

II. Why is the Church so focused on these issues?

III. Can’t we agree to disagree?

Contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.

God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator.

Consequently, their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

If the trumpet does not sound a clear call, who will get ready for battle?

IV. Why are some Christians so angry and bigoted?

The goal of our instruction is love, from a pure heart, a good conscience and a sincere faith.

1. Extravagant love for all people.

2. Inside the Church we must be clear about Christian identity.

How do we become more distinctive? We do it by quietly building good marriages, families, churches and friendships. We don’t need better words, we need better demonstrations of God’s best design!

Acts 6:5; 7:54-60

I. Commanded to forgive

More people will be emotionally, relationally, spiritually and physically healed by the power of forgiveness than by any other power.

II. Unforgiveness is destructive

Unforgiveness makes you weak because it makes you subject to the weakness of another.

The great paradox of Christian forgiveness is that as long as I stay in a forgiving mode, I am stronger than those who are pursuing me to hurt me.

III. The grace to forgive

1. Forgiveness is a matter of choice not emotion.

2. God will do through us what we cannot do ourselves.

3. Understand that forgiveness is a process

4. Remember, the power of God to forgive is in you through the person and work of the Holy Spirit.

Exodus 33:1-23

1. What do you Desire?

a. Why wouldn’t I want to desire God?

i. A relationship with God is disruptive, it will cost you something.

ii. Are you willing to be inconvenienced by Jesus?

b. What you do – determines what you want.

c. Moses had to work this out.

d. Moses was still receiving the blessing of God without the presence of

God.

2. God is accessible to anyone.

a. God wants to be seen by you.

b. Make it generational.

3. How do we do this practically?

i. Loneliness is the inability to spend time with God.

ii. Muddy water will only become clear when you give it time to

settle.

a. Word

iii. Memorize the word of God.

iv. Psalm 119:11

v. Spending just 5 minutes a day will change everything.

b. Worship

i. Worship is placing God where He rightly deserves.

ii. Humble yourself.

iii. Get together with other believers, fellowship.

c. Prayer

i. Pray as you can, not as you can’t.

4. Ask God one of these questions.

a. God, what are You like?

b. God, what do You want to say to me?

c. God, what do I desire?

d. God, what do You want me to do?

e. God, who do You say that I am?

Psalm 1:1-3

Introduction to the Bible:

*The most popular/preeminent book

7 billion total, 44 million copies per year

*The most powerful/influential book

The Bible is preeminent in influence. Why? Because it has the power to change lives!

*The most precious book

(Matthew 4:4)

I. A manual for life — God has spoken

Christianity is a revealed faith. We cannot find out about God unless God reveals Himself. God has revealed Himself in a person, Jesus Christ. He is God’s ultimate revelation (Hebrews 1:1-2; II Timothy 3:16-17). If it is God’s Word, then it must be our supreme authority for what we believe and how we live. It’s a manual for life.

II. A love letter from God – God speaks

It is also a love letter from God to you. John 5:39-40 The Bible is only so wonderful and exciting because it is about Jesus. It helps us come into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

*To those who are not Christians

First, He brings faith to those who are not yet Christians.

*To those who are Christians

Become like Jesus (2 Corinthians 3:18); Joy and peace in the midst of a storm (Psalm 23:5); Guidance (Psalm 119:105); Health/healing (Proverbs 4:20-22); Defense against spiritual attack (Matthew 4:1-11); Power (Hebrews 4:12); Cleansing (John 15:3)

III. How do we hear God speak through the bible?

1. Time, Place, Method

Ask God to speak

Read & study the Bible (What does it say and mean? How does it apply?)

Respond in prayer

Put it into practice

Matthew 7:24

I John 5: 1-5, 11-13

“When someone becomes a Christian he becomes a brand new person inside. He is not the same any more. A new life has begun.”

“I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.”

I. The natural order

1. Cosmological argument

2. Evidential Evidence.

3. Moral Argument.

II. The Word of God

III. The Work of Jesus

IV. The Witness of the Spirit

Acts 2:1-21

I. Love

II. Power

God wants to unleash on the world a passionate, focused, disciplined, humble, Spirit-filled church... Authentic in our expression of the love of God, purity of God and power of God.

III. Purity

The unresolved gap between our confession as a Spirit-filled Christian and the conflicted internal condition of our own lives is the crevice into which the post-modern, emergent culture has fallen.

The great witness of the Holy Spirit is, above all else, a changed heart and a changed life.

Matthew 28:19-20

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

Peter replied, ‘Each of you must turn from your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gif of the Holy Spirit.’

I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished!

Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them?

For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him…

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens opening and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “you are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”