Renew in 2022

Renew in 2022

What are the marks of a renewed church? The church is the body of Christ and is paramount to faith! The church is here to represent the body of Christ!

Renew means to make new again. To know the marks of a renewed church we have to look at the marks of the early church. The first mark is a spirit filled church!

Acts 2:42-47

They devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles. This was a bible filled church of believers that studied the scriptures intently! They submitted to the authority of the apostles. Some of us spend too much time studying books about the bible instead of reading the bible! Do your convictions come directly from the bible or another book? Through the scriptures we teach, rebuke, and deal with sin!

They devoted themselves to fellowship! Its members love and care for one another! We are involved in each others lives! We unified through fellowship. Knowing each other and calling each other to the same standard. To be in fellowship you have to be unified. Fellowship leads to breaking bread together.

Devoted to pray is a worshiping church. Through prayer we connect spiritually. We communion together in prayer through the spirit. Through prayer we unite in focus and objectives. Through prayer we find faith, trust, and surrender to God!

God is with us

God is with us

What has been the most painful or difficult thing for you over the past two years?

Matthew 1:23; 2:13-23

Matthew is trying to teach us that God is with us. No matter what you're going through, God is with you! Put yourself in this story. As a teenage bride having to run to another country for safety. Roman soldiers coming to your town to kill your baby. You have to flee in the middle of the night. Maybe you knew people in your village that had their sons killed. What would you be thinking?

This is the three year period of Mary's life until she returned. You go back but are not able to go back to normal. You have to settle in a new town, Nazareth. You have to learn to deal with a new normal. Would your faith be challenged? Would you question whether God was with really you?

In each of the turning points in this story, matthew provides a prophesy from the Old Testament. This first reference in vs 15 is being brought out of Egypt, Hosea 11.

Look at the attached picture for comparisons. In the mist of all this Matthew is saying that God is still there!

The next reference in vs 18, Jeremiah 31:15. One of the worst time in Israels history, the exile to Babylon. Who's Rachel. Why is Jeremiah talking about Rachel? Matthew picks this up and shows that Rachel is still morning but there is hope! God is right there in the middle of our pain. He mourns with us!

The third reference in vs. 23, has no specific prophet given credit. It appears that Matthew is referencing a theme in the prophets that Jesus would come from a place that was unexpected. With nothing to attract us to him. Stricken by God. A tender shoot. Without the material wealth, worldly honor or glory that we would expect of a King. Nonetheless, God was with Him and God is with us!

Jesus was born with a price on his head and He died with a price on his head. Jesus trusted his father in every moment in his life! We have no idea where we God is leading us at times. We have no control. Only the control to make a decision to trust and have faith that God is with us!

Repentance

Repentance

1. What is repentance?
2. What is it not?
3. Repentance is not just a thought or a statement. I'm sorry. I feel bad…etc
4. Repentance is an action. A decision to do the opposite. It requires doing something.
5. 2 Corinthians 7:8-11 "Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it—I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while— yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done. At every point you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter."
6. What are the action parts of repentance that we see in this scripture?
7. Foundational biblical concept that we teach.
8. When is the last time you dealt with a specific sin in your life with that much intensity?
9. What do some of these Godly sorrow characteristics look like in action?
10. Which one is the hardest for you?
11. How do you move from worldly sorrow to godly sorrow?
12. 1 Corinthians 1:18 "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God."
13. Our power and motivation to have Godly sorrow comes from looking at the cross.
14. What sins in your life have you settled for worldly sorrow in?

Justified and sactified

Justified and sactified

Luke 18:9-14

1. What does justified mean?
2. Vs. 9 How do we know if we are justified? Is it based on our opinion or someone else?
3. Vs 10 - two men going to the same place, doing the same thing. Going to the temple to pray. One a respected religious man, the other a despised tax collector. One morally right the other morally wrong.
4. Two different prayers, only one was justified.
5. How do we become self righteous?
6. How do we stay grounded in who we really are in our sinful natures?
7. Justified by our definition or someone else's?
8. Being justified supersedes law. You can break a law if you are justified!
9. What justifies us before God?
10. Justification through the cross. Being justified by God.
11. Justification does not change what happened, (we sinned and deserve death) it just changes Gods view on what happened.
12. God sees Jesus sacrifice and views us as justified.
13. If someone is late they are late. Nothing can change that. If they have a good reason for being late (car accident..etc) it changes our view of why they are late and justifies them for being late!

Romans 4:24-5:2
1 corinthians 6:9-11