First Alliance Church ATL

01-24-21 Kevin Goins - The 10 Commandments of Worship

“The Ten Commandments of Worship” 
Psalm 15
What do you do to prepare for worship?  Before we can ever prepare ourselves for worship, we need to understand what God requires of those who would come into his presence and worship him.  We find these requirements for the worshiper in Psalm 15.                   

I What does Psalm 15 have to do with worship?

A. While the temple in Jerusalem stood, pilgrims from o________________ Israel would travel to Jerusalem to worship in the temple.

B. These pilgrims would ask the priest on duty at the entrance to the temple this question:  “Who may e_______________ into the Lord’s temple?”  And the priest would respond by quoting ______________ ______.

C. Verse one asks the question:  “Who can come into God’s presence and worship him?” or “Who is p__________________ to worship the Lord?”

II Who is prepared to enter God’s presence and worship?

 A. First, “He whose walk is b____________________” (15:2a).

1. The Hebrew word translated “blameless” means to be w_____________ or c___________________.

2. If you watch how a pure person, a person with integrity, responds to the demands of life, you will see u_____________, c________________, and w_________________.

B. Second, the one who can enter the presence of the Lord and worship him is the one who “does what is r_____________________” (15:2b).

 1. There are ________ things about this righteousness we need to highlight:

a. First, David sees it in ________________ terms, not in ______________________ terms.

b. Second, doing right is a _______________ tense activity.

2. The question is:  Are the things we are doing consistent with the person God d______________ us to be and are they consistent with the person we c_____________ to be.

3. We do not have enough righteousness in o______________________ to give us the right to enter into the presence of God and worship him.

B. Third, the one who can enter into the presence of God and worship him is a person “who speaks the _____________ from his heart” (15:2c).

1. Sometimes we Christians put all our emphasis on what a person says he ______________, but what we should really notice is how he _______________.

2. If our words do not come from our _______________, then we are not prepared to enter God’s presence and worship.

01-17-21 Kevin Goins - How Jesus Taught Us To Pray

“How Jesus Taught us to Pray” 
Matthew 6:9-13
We usually spend the month of January emphasizing the spiritual disciplines, including prayer.  This year we are looking at prayer and worship.  Last week we saw that the first petition of the Lord’s Prayer teaches us to be begin our prayer with worship.  Today we want to look at the remaining petitions of the Lord’s Prayer.                  

I Last Sunday we saw that Jesus teaches us to pray to the Father “who is in ______________” (6:9).

 A. What is heaven distinguished by?  E_______________ w________________.

B. Jesus teaches us that prayer must begin with ____________________.

II The nest ________ petitions of the Lord’s Prayer go together; they are inseparable: “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (6:10).

A. The Kingdom of God is people who treat God as their ____________, and when we treat God as king, we want his ______________ to be done.

B. Those who belong to the Kingdom of God v____________ God’s will so much we pray that his will would be accomplished in us and in our world.

C. When we ask God to grow his kingdom and use us to do his will, we are asking him to make us r________________________ for the cause of Christ.

D. The kingdom of this world is opposed to the Kingdom of God and so those who really care about the advance of God’s Kingdom must be ______________.

III Now we come to the petition with which we often spend most of our time:  asking for our ______________________ needs (6:11).  Jesus taught us to pray, “Give us this day our daily _________________.”
  
A. Why is this important?

1. It is important, first, because it means that Jesus v______________ bread.

a. It is e___________ for us to focus most of our prayer on physical needs.

B. Jesus says to pray for bread, and bread is not just bread, it is also b________________ and b_________________. 

C. The point is that by teaching us to pray for the physical needs of life Jesus gives d______________ to the physical nature of our existence. 

2. This petition is important, secondly, because Jesus tells us we should pray it d_________________.

3. There is one more thing that is important about this petition:  It is not a p_______________________ request, it is a c___________________ request.

a. How can we pray for our needs and ignore those who are in even w______________ need?

b. But if we do not first ask God to give to __________, we will not have anything with which to meet the needs of ______________.

B. Jesus told us to a____________ and to ask e__________ d______________.

IV Now we come to the fifth petition:  “Forgive us our d______________ as we also have forgiven our d___________________.”

A. Jesus died to pay our debt, so that when we trust in him we can ask God to f__________________ us and, because of _______________, he will.

B. “As” is a comparative and it means “to the s____________ extent that.”  So, what we are praying is:  “God forgive me to the same extent that I have been w____________ to forgive the one who wronged me.” 

c. Our greatest privilege as believers is to confess our sins and ask God to forgive us, but we f_______________ that right when we are not willing to forgive the one who wronged us.

V With the last petition Jesus reminds us that we are in a spiritual b___________________:  “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”

 -“Lead us not into temptation” means draw us away from the temptation we do not know is h______________ around the corner, and, when we do encounter temptation, then “_________________ us from the evil one.”

11-15-20 Dr. Mick Noel - Portraits of Gratitude and Ingratitude

Sermon from Luke 4

11-01-20 Kevin Goins - After 2020 Can We Look to 2021 with Hope? Annual Report

After 2020 Can We Look to 2021 with Hope?
Romans 8:18-30 
I In Romans 8:18-30 Paul gives us ___________ reasons why we should face the coming year with hope.

II First, we ought to hope because only hope can help us see our disappointments in the _________________ way.

 (8:18) “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”

 A. What does Paul mean?

  1. First, suffering p________________ us for the glory which lies ahead.

(1Peter 1:6-7) “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.  These have come so that your faith – of greater worth than gold – may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”

  2. Second, suffering helps us to see things as they ____________ are.

(2 Corinthians 4:17-18) “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  So we fix our eyes, not on what is seen, but what is unseen.  For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

B. Paul reminds us that for a Christian there is far more happening in our lives than what we can _______________.

III Second, we ought to hope because God has built hope into his entire _________________.

 (8:19-23) “The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.  For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.  We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.  Not only so, but we ourselves who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly and as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.”

 (Genesis 3:17) “Because of your sin, cursed is the ground because of you.”

A. The effect of the physical creation being cursed is that nature is now _____________ _________________.

B. Because the physical world is c__________________ to us, it too is seeking what we are seeking:  It wants God to make things ______________.

(Revelation 21:1) “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.”

IV Third, we ought to hope because our hope does not depend on what we can see with our p_______________ e_________.

 (8:24-25) “For in this hope we were saved.  But hope that is seen is no hope at all.  Who hopes for what he already has?  But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.”

 A. Pastor Jennifer Bliss-Criswell (Worship Report)

 B. Paul and Nancy Gieschen (Discovery Class Report)

 C. Margaret Goins (ESL Report and Children’s and Youth Report)

V Fourth, we ought to hope because the one who makes hope possible is the ______________ ______________ who lives within us.

 (8:26-27) “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness.  We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.  And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.”

VI Finally, we ought to hope because for the Christian, hope is never a __________________.

 (8:28-30) “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.  For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.  And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.”

VII We have hope as a church because a church is made up of people who know _______________ and everyone who knows __________________ has hope.

Hebrews 6:19 “We have this hope as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul.”

08-09-20 Kevin Goins - The Church's Ministry of Healing - John 9 Conclusion

“Anatomy of an Illness: The Church’s Ministry of Healing” (Conclusion) 
John 9:30-41-23 

I First, sickness gets our attention and it gets the attention of Jesus (9:1).
II Second, sickness makes us uncomfortable (9:2).
III Third, sickness is caused by alienation (9:2).
IV Fourth, oftentimes our best theological or commonsense explanations for sickness are not good enough (9:3a).
V Fifth, sometimes sickness happens for a good reason, so that God can be glorified in our life (9:3b).
VI Sixth, all believers in Jesus are called to help sick people find health (9:4).
VII Seventh, sickness is a work of the kingdom of darkness; healing is a work of the Kingdom of light (9:5).
VIII Eighth, the how of healing is very important (9:6).
IX Ninth, sickness can be overcome by divine healing, but healing does not happen without some action on our part (9:7).
X Tenth, divine healing will always arouse doubt (9:8-9).
XI Eleventh, the response to the healing of sickness is often questions (9:10-12)
XII Twelfth, healing is not only a debated topic, it is also a very divisive issue.
XIII Thirteenth, people who are healed enter into some kind of relationship with the Healer.
XIV Fourteenth, both sickness and healing take place within the context of family.
XV Fifteenth, every testimony of the healing power of Jesus is unique.

XVI Sixteenth, the healing ministry of Jesus shows that he stands at the very _____________ of life.

A. First, Jesus stands at the center of life because he can do for us what no one ever thought _________________ (9:30-33).

1. First, he shows how r______________ was their claim that they didn’t know where Jesus was from.

2. Second, he says (9:31) “We know that God doesn’t listen to __________________.  He listens to the ____________ man that does his will.”

3. Third.  He reminds the Pharisees that this wasn’t just any miracle.  It was a miracle of the _______________ order.  (9:32) “____________ has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind.  If this man were not from God, he could do _________________.”

B. Second, Jesus stands at the center of life because only he can call people to a t____________________ life (9:34-38).

1.  Being born blind is not why the Pharisees call this man a sinner.  They call him a sinner because they are reasoning b__________________.

a. First, he dared to disagree with them, the r______________ l_____________ of Israel, and only a sinful man, they believed, would do that.

b. Second, they see that he f_____________ Jesus and they see Jesus as a sinner, so anyone who follows a sinner must be a sinner.

2. We would expect Jesus to say. “Here I am; I am Jesus who healed you,” but he d________________ himself from the healing and starts to talk about the Son of Man.

3. By saying, “Who is he?” the man makes it clear he wants a personal f________ to f_________ encounter with the Son of Man.

C. Lastly, Jesus stands at the center of life because only he determines whether people _________ or whether they are ______________ (9:39-41).

06-20-20 Kevin Goins - The Church's Ministry of Healing, John 9:17

“Anatomy of an Illness: The Church’s Ministry of Healing”
John 9:17

I First, sickness gets our attention and it gets the attention of Jesus (9:1).
II Second, sickness makes us uncomfortable (9:2).
III Third, sickness is caused by alienation (9:2).
IV Fourth, oftentimes our best theological or commonsense explanations for sickness are not good enough (9:3a).
V Fifth, sometimes sickness happens for a good reason, so that God can be glorified in our life (9:3b).
VI Sixth, all believers in Jesus are called to help sick people find health (9:4).
VII Seventh, sickness is a work of the kingdom of darkness; healing is a work of the Kingdom of light (9:5).
VIII Eighth, the how of healing is very important (9:6).
IX Ninth, sickness can be overcome by divine healing, but healing does not happen without some action on our part (9:7).
X Tenth, divine healing will always arouse doubt (9:8-9).
XI Eleventh, the response to the healing of sickness is often questions (9:10-12)
XII Twelfth, healing is not only a debated topic, it is also a very divisive issue.

XIII Thirteenth, people who are healed enter into some kind of _______________________ with the Healer.

A. First, behind every case of sickness there is a real ___________________(9:17a).

1. “Finally” is not just an indicator of ___________, it is also an indicator of ex___________________ on John’s part.

a. Sickness cannot exist by itself; sickness cannot exist without __________________.

b. One of the things I have noticed during this pandemic is how easily we turn sick people into ______________________________.

c. The religious authorities treated this man as if he was just a piece of e___________________ that could be used either to c_______________ Jesus or to glorify him.

2. John next says, “Finally, they t_____________ again….”

a. There is a tendency when someone important to us gets sick, to think more about what their sickness means to ________ than what it means to ____________.

b. To see someone seriously sick means that we are forced to think of what life would be like w__________________ them.
3. Then John says, “Finally they turned again to the _________ ________.”

a. The formerly blind man is not a person with a _____________ to them; he is instead only a sickness, a disease, a thing: “the blind man.”

b. We often tend to treat people with serious illnesses as if they __________ that illness.

c. Sometimes sickness is very hard on relationships because you cannot have a relationship with an i_________________, you can only have a relationship with a p_____________.

B. Second, behind every example of healing, there is a real ________________ (9:17b).

1. Even though much of the crowd and religious leadership are hostile to Jesus, they still expect that this man should ______________ something about the one who healed him and he should be able to _________ them what he knows.

2. This is probably the first time anyone ever asked this man for his o______________ on anything … and it is a very c_________________ question.

3. This man, then, is on the __________________.

4. There was someone behind this unprecedented miracle: there was a ____________________. But some very influential people were very much opposed to recognizing Jesus as _______________.

5. We also find ____________________ in the same situation today: No one is in a better position to talk about the Savior than the ones who claim to have been _____________ by him!

C. Finally, behind every healing there is a person who must decide the ___________ of the one who healed him (9:17c).

1. The Pharisees asked this man for his opinion of who Jesus was…. In response he says, “He is a ___________________.”

2. There are ______________ things to point out about the man’s answer:

a. First, his understanding of Jesus is ________________.

b. Second, his understanding of Jesus is c___________________.

c. Third, his understanding of Jesus is still i____________________.

06-16-20 Kevin Goins - The Church's Ministry of Healing, John 9:13-16, Conclusion

“Anatomy of an Illness: The Church’s Ministry of Healing”
John 9:13-16 (Conclusion)

I First, sickness gets our attention and it gets the attention of Jesus (9:1).
II Second, sickness makes us uncomfortable (9:2).
III Third, sickness is caused by alienation (9:2).
IV Fourth, oftentimes our best theological or commonsense explanations for sickness are not good enough (9:3a).
V Fifth, sometimes sickness happens for a good reason, so that God can be glorified in our life (9:3b).
VI Sixth, all believers in Jesus are called to help sick people find health (9:4).
VII Seventh, sickness is a work of the kingdom of darkness; healing is a work of the Kingdom of light (9:5).
VIII Eighth, the how of healing is very important (9:6).
IX Ninth, sickness can be overcome by divine healing, but healing does not happen without some action on our part (9:7).
X Tenth, divine healing will always arouse doubt (9:8-9).
XI Eleventh, the response to the healing of sickness is often questions (9:10-12)

XII Twelfth, healing is not only a debated topic, it is also a very divisive issue.

A. Four truths stand out in these four verses:

1. First, people are often divided over what kind of authority to consult when a miracle has occurred.

2. Second, in the presence of a miracle people will often create division by looking for some reason to call a miracle of healing into question.

3. Third, in the presence of a miracle, people often create division by focusing on the “how” question rather than the “who” question.

4. Fourth, in the presence of a miracle, people will often divide themselves over how they feel about _______________.

a. How did the Pharisees and the crowd respond to the miraculous healing of the man born blind?

i. First, they tried to d__________ the healing.

ii. Second, they turned their attention to the __________.

iii. Finally, they directed their focus to the ____________.

b. We need to point out several things about their judgment:

i. First, their judgment ignores the c_______________ of the miracle.

ii. Second, their judgement is focused on the character of the o______ w________ performed the miracle.

iii. Third, their judgment is not u____________________.

c. Why is there always division when it comes to Jesus?

i. It happens because Jesus himself p________________ division.

ii. What we see here is that Jesus not only caused division by the __________ he _________, he also caused division by the __________ he _________.

iii. One group of Pharisees thought the most important thing about the miracle was that __________ had accomplished it.

iv. For the other group, however, the most important thing was that Jesus did this miracle on the Sabbath day and that, they believed, was a v____________ of the ten commandments.

d. That raises an important question: _______ did Jesus carry out this miracle on the Sabbath.

i. I believe there were _______ reasons why Jesus did not wait:

A. First there was a p______________ reason: It is quite likely that if Jesus had not healed this man on this particular day, he may ____________ have had another opportunity.

B. Second, there was a t______________ reason: Jesus saw two things:

1. He saw how the faith of the Jewish people had become more of a __________ ___________ than a relationship with God.

2. And, he saw that the Pharisees had very little compassion for those who did not live up to their concept of h________________.

ii. It is also very obvious that the Pharisees express no _________ or ____________________ when they first hear of this man and how he was healed.

iii. Jesus saw the Pharisees attempts to protect the Sabbath observance as evidence of the fact that they loved the ___________ far more than they loved ____________.

iv. They thought humans should obey the law for the sake of the law, instead of realizing that God gave the Sabbath law to p________________ people from working themselves to _____________.

e. We should not, however, overlook how r________________ this is to our own day.

i. Do we ever say about people: “Because she does not understand the political issues the way I understand them, she _________________ be from God?”

ii. A person may be ______________ about their interpretation of the Bible on some issue, … because we are not ________.

iii. But even if someone’s understanding of God’s Word is not in total agreement with ours, that does not mean they are o_________________ to God.

iv. Some were judging on the basis of their p______________, and some were judging on the basis of the f___________, and so there was division.

f. Some people cannot believe in miracles because they will not believe in a Savior who would ___________ them enough to do a miracle for them.

g. Here is a question we really need to ask ourselves: Can we accept the healing ministry of Jesus as an act of God’s grace and love which is meant for _________?

06-14-20 Kevin Goins - The Church's Ministry of Healing, John 9:13-16, Part 3

“Anatomy of an Illness: The Church’s Ministry of Healing”
John 9:13-16 (Part 3)

I First, sickness gets our attention and it gets the attention of Jesus (9:1).
II Second, sickness makes us uncomfortable (9:2).
III Third, sickness is caused by alienation (9:2).
IV Fourth, oftentimes our best theological or commonsense explanations for sickness are not good enough (9:3a).
V Fifth, sometimes sickness happens for a good reason, so that God can be glorified in our life (9:3b).
VI Sixth, all believers in Jesus are called to help sick people find health (9:4).
VII Seventh, sickness is a work of the kingdom of darkness; healing is a work of the Kingdom of light (9:5).
VIII Eighth, the how of healing is very important (9:6).
IX Ninth, sickness can be overcome by divine healing, but healing does not happen without some action on our part (9:7).
X Tenth, divine healing will always arouse doubt (9:8-9).
XI Eleventh, the response to the healing of sickness is often questions (9:10-12)

XII Twelfth, healing is not only a debated topic, it is also a very divisive issue.

A. Four truths stand out in these four verses:

1. First, people are often divided over what kind of authority to consult when a miracle has occurred.

2. Second, in the presence of a miracle people will often create division by looking for some reason to call a miracle of healing into question.

3. Third, in the presence of a miracle, people often create division by focusing on the __________ question rather than the __________ question.

a. John says the Pharisees “also” asked the healed man how he was healed because the neighbors, and the crowd who originally witnessed the miracle, had a______________ asked the very same question.

i. Sometimes sick people are miraculously healed and no one is involved except the ___________ person and _________.

ii. If that had been the case with the healing of the blind man, then there would have been n_______________ the Pharisees could say.

iii. The crucial question became this: Was this man healed in a way that __________ or _________ ___________ violate the Sabbath?

b. There were ____________ ways in which Jesus’ actions could have been seen as a violation of how the Pharisees understood the Sabbath.

i. First, Jesus mixed ____________ with __________ to make mud on the Sabbath day.

ii. Second, Jesus sent the man on a journey which may have been l_____________ than what was allowed on the Sabbath.

iii. Third, Jesus, according to the Pharisee’s rules, did not have a good r¬¬¬¬¬_______________ for violating the Sabbath.

c. This means that the Pharisees could have accused Jesus of ____________ Sabbath violations, if the man who was healed had told them all he c_____________ have told them.

-Notice, how the healed man answers the “How?” questions of the Pharisees:

i. First, he doesn’t say anything about how Jesus made the ____________.

ii. Second, he simply says, “And I washed,” without mentioning his j____________ to the Pool of Siloam.

iii. Third, the formerly blind man does admit that Jesus did heal him on the Sabbath, but he could not deny that and be t_________________.

d. I believe it is still true today that when people are confronted with a miracle … they jump to the ________________ question.

-Why do they do that?

i. First, they want to know how because they want to find a way to explain the miracle that is not m______________________.

ii. Second, people jump to the how question because they are looking for a m________________ which they can use by themselves.

iii. Third, we ask the how question because if we believe the person who claims to be healed, and we decide to seek healing for ourselves, we want to make sure that we do not need to do something that would be u_______________________ or e____________________ for us.

e. When it comes to sickness and healing, not only do people want to focus on the “How,” what is even worse is that they tend to ignore the ____________.

f. In all the healing miracles in the Gospels, it was always the s__________ who. This tells us that it is the who which is the most i_____________ element of healing.

g. We see that the Pharisees were focused on the “how” because they wanted to c___________________ Jesus. The healed man, on the other hand, was focused on the “who” because he wanted to h______________ Jesus.

H. If the who is one who has sufficient power to accomplish anything, then the how question no longer m__________.

06-12-20 Kevin Goins - The Church's Ministry of Healing, John 9:13-16, Part 2

“Anatomy of an Illness: The Church’s Ministry of Healing”
John 9:13-16 (Part 2)

I First, sickness gets our attention and it gets the attention of Jesus (9:1).
II Second, sickness makes us uncomfortable (9:2).
III Third, sickness is caused by alienation (9:2).
IV Fourth, oftentimes our best theological or commonsense explanations for sickness are not good enough (9:3a).
V Fifth, sometimes sickness happens for a good reason, so that God can be glorified in our life (9:3b).
VI Sixth, all believers in Jesus are called to help sick people find health (9:4).
VII Seventh, sickness is a work of the kingdom of darkness; healing is a work of the Kingdom of light (9:5).
VIII Eighth, the how of healing is very important (9:6).
IX Ninth, sickness can be overcome by divine healing, but healing does not happen without some action on our part (9:7).
X Tenth, divine healing will always arouse doubt (9:8-9).
XI Eleventh, the response to the healing of sickness is often questions (9:10-12)

XII Twelfth, healing is not only a debated topic, it is also a very divisive issue.

A. Four truths stand out in these four verses:

1. First, people are often divided over what kind of authority to consult when a miracle has occurred.

2. Second, in the presence of a miracle people will often create ___________________ by looking for some reason to call a miracle of healing into ____________________.

a. Before we can understand the approach that the _______________ take to this miracle, we need to know something about these religious leaders.

1. Most scholars are convinced that the root of the word Pharisee means to s_______________ or to d___________.

2. From what did they separate themselves?

i. Some believe they were p_________________ separatists.

ii. It is more likely, however, that the Pharisees were r__________________ separatists.

iii. Their key verse was ________________ ____:_____-_______.

3. The Pharisees thought their calling was to be holy, which required them to avoid any creature that was considered unclean, such as a _____________, and any human being who had become unclean, such as a ______________.

4. When it came to the law, the Pharisees thought there was one law which was more important than any other, and that was the law about keeping the __________________.

5. There is in the Bible a commandment about the Sabbath; it is the ___________th commandment.

i. The word “Sabbath” comes from a Hebrew word which means to c________________.

ii. But it was more than a time to cease from _______; it was also a solemn time because when you observed the Sabbath you were doing what ________ did when he created the world.

6. There are __________ things about the Sabbath day that are hard for us Christians:

i. First, we Christians do not give to the Sabbath the ______________ which the Jews gave to it.

-Why was Sabbath keeping so important to the Jews?

1. First, it set them a______ and gave them a d____________ identity.

2. Second, keeping the Sabbath was a c______________ of God.

3. Third, it was practiced w_________.

4. Fourth, keeping the Sabbath was something to be done at a certain ____________, not in a certain _____________.

ii. Our second problem is that Sunday, or the Lord’s Day, has drawn our attention ____________ from the Sabbath.

iii. Third, as Christians we believe Sunday is of overwhelming importance because it is a r________________ of the resurrection of Jesus.

7. In the fourth century, the Roman emperor Constantine, the first Christian Roman emperor, made it a law that certain types of work could not be done on ______________.

8. In 1234 AD Pope Gregory IX made it the official position of the ___________________ church.

9. Then, 250 years later, the Protestant Reformers stepped into the debate and said that the fourth commandment ought to be understood ________________________.

10. That was the popular approach for Christians until the seventeenth century when rationalism and science led interpreters to suggest that the ___________ Bible should be understood spiritually.

11. After this, Bible teachers began to counterbalance this overemphasis on spiritualizing the Bible with what they thought was the only other alternative, and that was l_______________ the entire Bible, including the fourth commandment.

12. There was, however, another reaction. There were some Christians who began to promote what they called non-Sabbitarianism. This was the view that as Christians, we do __________ have to keep the Sabbath law.

13. I should also point out that there is another approach to all this: the position of the S____________-________ Adventists.

b. We know what the Pharisees thought about keeping the Sabbath because they published their teaching in a ________ call The Mishnah.

1. The Sabbath section of the Mishnah gives a list of _______ “main tasks” which were prohibited on the Sabbath.

2. This list was not p_______________, however, and it was added to as rabbis thought of more activities that violated the Sabbath day.

06-10-20 Kevin Goins - The Church's Ministry of Healing, John 9:13-16, part 1

“Anatomy of an Illness: The Church’s Ministry of Healing”
John 9:13-16 (Part 1)

I First, sickness gets our attention and it gets the attention of Jesus (9:1).
II Second, sickness makes us uncomfortable (9:2).
III Third, sickness is caused by alienation (9:2).
IV Fourth, oftentimes our best theological or commonsense explanations for sickness are not good enough (9:3a).
V Fifth, sometimes sickness happens for a good reason, so that God can be glorified in our life (9:3b).
VI Sixth, all believers in Jesus are called to help sick people find health (9:4).
VII Seventh, sickness is a work of the kingdom of darkness; healing is a work of the Kingdom of light (9:5).
VIII Eighth, the how of healing is very important (9:6).
IX Ninth, sickness can be overcome by divine healing, but healing does not happen without some action on our part (9:7).
X Tenth, divine healing will always arouse doubt (9:8-9).
XI Eleventh, the response to the healing of sickness is often questions (9:10-12)

XII Twelfth, healing is not only a debated topic, it is also a very d_______________ issue.

A. ____________ truths stand out in these four verses:

1. First, people are often divided over what kind of _________________ to consult when a miracle has occurred.

a. In the beginning, the crowd, which included the neighbors of the blind man, did all they could to ____________ the miracle.

b. This is often the response of people today, even among _________________, when people say they have been healed.

c. But when someone claims to have experienced an actual miracle, … at that point we are forced to decide how we are going to ______________ it.

d. Sometimes when miracles of healing are reported, we will turn to a _____________ or clergy person for an explanation.

i. Some churches believe miracles are confined to the ____________ century, that miracles cannot take place in our day.

ii. Others believe that if you emphasize the healing ministry of Jesus you can cause people to feel r______________ if they ask for healing and are not healed.
e. Today it would be much better for Christians who have questions about healing, and who are seeking some authority to speak about it, to come to the one who made healing such a h_________ and v__________ part of his ministry. It would be better if they would come to ____________.

f. There is not a single passage in the entire New Testament which tells believers that they should understand the healing ministry of Jesus as something which was _____________ to the first century.