First Alliance Church ATL

04-12-20 Kevin Goins - Defeating the Status Quo, Conclusion

“Defeating the Status Quo” (Conclusion)

In the first century “life as usual” for the people of Israel included poverty, illiteracy, hunger, sickness, and being under the thumb of the Roman empire. “Life as usual” is what we mean by the status quo, and for Israel the status quo was depressing, to say the least. But then Jesus came, and through his teaching and healing and feeding the hungry, he overcame many of the most negative elements of the status quo. Then he was put to death on the cross, but what followed his violent and humiliating death brought about the greatest reversal of the status quo the world has ever seen. In what ways did the resurrection of Jesus defeat the status quo?

I When we look at the Passion Story, we see, first, that Jesus said No to the status quo of lying to protect oneself.
II When we look at the Passion Story, we see, second, that Jesus said No to the status quo of hating those who hate us.
III When we look at the Passion Story, we see, third, that Jesus said No to the status quo of separation.
IV Finally, when we look at the Passion Story, we see, finally, that Jesus said No to the status quo of ______________.
A. There is no better illustration of what status quo means than the human m_________________ rate. The Latin term status quo literally means “the state i_____ w______________.”
1. We are all on a journey toward ____________.
2. Sartre said that there is no ____________ from this life with its inevitable death sentence. He called us “beings t___________ death.”
3. The more we try to hold on to each day, the ______________ each day seems to slip away.
B. There is only one foundation that can enable us to die in __________________, and that foundation is the resurrection of Jesus.
1. Oftentimes, at Easter, we talk about all the historical evidence for the resurrection of Jesus, but the most obvious evidence is staring us in the face: that evidence is ___________.
2. There was no Christian ______________ and there was no Christian ________________ before the resurrection of Jesus.
3. Christianity was only a tiny movement when Jesus died, and when he died his followers looked for ________ to __________ into to escape the same fate Jesus had experienced, and that fate was being _________ to a cross.
4. If Jesus had not walked out of the tomb, there would have been nothing powerful enough to t_________________ the fear of a tiny ragtag band of followers into the w_________________ force that Christianity is today.
V When the status quo is changed, it does not take long until the ________ change becomes the _________ status quo. But here is what is so amazing about Jesus: the changes he brought about are still just as profoundly r____________ today as they were two-thousand years ago.

04-11-20 Kevin Goins - Defeating the Status Quo, Part 3

“Defeating the Status Quo” (Part 3)

In the first century “life as usual” for the people of Israel included poverty, illiteracy, hunger, sickness, and being under the thumb of the Roman empire. “Life as usual” is what we mean by the status quo, and for Israel the status quo was depressing, to say the least. But then Jesus came, and through his teaching and healing and feeding the hungry he overcame many of the most negative elements of the status quo. Then he was put to death on the cross, but what followed his violent and humiliating death brought about the greatest reversal of the status quo the world has ever seen. In what ways did the resurrection of Jesus defeat the status quo?

I When we look at the Passion Story, we see, first, that Jesus said No to the status quo of lying to protect oneself.
II When we look at the Passion Story, we see, second, that Jesus said No to the status quo of hating those who hate us.
III When we look at the Passion Story, we see, third, that Jesus said No to the status quo of s___________________.
A. The separation that troubles the human race today began with r______________ against God and the decision to d______________ his Word.
1. As a result of their disobedience, Adam and Eve were separated from e_________ o___________.
2. But what caused their separation from each other was the fact that they had first separated themselves from __________.
3. God is holy and will not t____________ the sin of rebellion.
B. Since it was the sin of disobedience which caused our separation from God and from each other, Jesus had to find a way to r____________ our sin.
1. Matthew and Mark tell us that when Jesus breathed his last, “the curtain of the temple was torn in two from ________ to ___________.”
2. This curtain hung in the temple for one reason: to separate sinful human beings from the p____________ of God.
3. When Jesus died, he offered to God a p___________ sacrifice, the sacrifice of his perfect and s_______________ life.
4. The curtain was v______________ ripped in two – it was s____________ to show that nothing can now close off our a___________ to God.
C. That is why we can now overcome the separation that exists between us and the ___________ around us, because Jesus ended the separation between us and ____________.

04-10-20 Kevin Goins - Defeating the Status Quo, Part 2

“Defeating the Status Quo” (Part 2)

In the first century “life as usual” for the people of Israel included poverty, illiteracy, hunger, sickness, and being under the thumb of the Roman empire. “Life as usual” is what we mean by the status quo, and for Israel the status quo was depressing, to say the least. But then Jesus came, and through his teaching and healing and feeding the hungry he overcame many of the most negative elements of the status quo. Then he was put to death on the cross, but what followed his violent and humiliating death brought about the greatest reversal of the status quo the world has ever seen. In what ways did the resurrection of Jesus defeat the status quo?

I When we look at the Passion Story, we see, first, that Jesus said No to the status quo of lying to protect oneself.
II When we look at the Passion Story, we see, second, that Jesus said No to the status quo of h___________ those who h_________ us.
A. Good Friday is the time when we recall the s_____________ of Jesus. The Gospels tell us that there were m___________ aspects to that suffering:
1. We tend to emphasize the p_______________.
2. If we know our New Testament theology, we also recognize the s_______________ aspect of his suffering.
3. But we often forget the r__________________ aspect of his suffering.
a. Jesus didn’t suffer in p_____________.
b. The crowds around the cross did not praise Jesus for who he w_______, they cursed him for what they b__________ him to be in that moment. They saw him as:
1. a would-be p______________ leader
2. a m___________ unstable person
3. a f______________.
c. The crowd could not accept the necessity of the c_____________.

B. But Luke says that from the cross Jesus looked out at these h_______-filled people and said, “Father, f___________ them for they do not k__________ what they are doing.”
1. But that was not only the attitude of Jesus as he hung on the cross, refusing to hate the haters was his p______________ way of dealing with life.
2. And what is even more shocking is that he expects _______ to do the same.

04-09-20 Kevin Goins - Defeating the Status Quo Part 1

“Defeating the Status Quo”

In the first century “life as usual” for the people of Israel included poverty, illiteracy, hunger, sickness, and being under the thumb of the Roman empire. “Life as usual” is what we mean by the status quo, and for Israel the status quo was depressing, to say the least. But then Jesus came, and through his teaching and healing and feeding the hungry he overcame many of the most negative elements of the status quo. Then he was put to death on the cross, but what followed his violent and humiliating death brought about the greatest reversal of the status quo the world has ever seen. In what ways did the resurrection of Jesus defeat the status quo?

I When we look at the Passion Story we see first that Jesus said No to the status quo of lying to protect oneself.
A. The religious leaders wanted to kill Jesus because he claimed to be the long-awaited Messiah, but they knew the Romans would not allow them to execute Jesus for r________________ reasons.
1. So, they accused Jesus of p______________ wrongdoing by saying that he claimed to be the King of the Jews.
2. The Romans punished rebellion, or treason, as a c______________ crime. In other words, they e______________ anyone who claimed to be any kind of King.
3. That is why Pilate asked Jesus the question, “Are you a King?” That is the only thing that m______________ as far as Pilate was concerned.
B. In John 18:37 Jesus says to Pilate, “You are right in saying I am a King.” There are two things here that are very much u___________________:
1. First, Jesus got himself into a f___________ predicament by saying that he was indeed a king.
2. The second thing that is unexpected is that there seems to be a non sequitur here. A non sequitur is when a statement does not f__________ logically from a previous statement.
3. Jesus admits to being a king and then, in the middle of the sentence, he suddenly changes the subject to t___________.
4. I believe that what Jesus is doing here is to shine some light into the darkness of P_____________ life and career.
5. Jesus speaks as if being born a King and telling the truth are o_______ and the s_________ thing.
6. Jesus was not only speaking to Pilate, second, he was speaking to all the people who would read the G______________. He was letting us know that we can t___________ him.
7. Jesus understood that if anyone claiming to be the Savior sent by God ever spoke a lie, then we could never be c___________ of our salvation.
8. What Does all this mean to us? It means that lying to protect ourselves is a part of the status quo that we must learn to f________________.

 

04-06-20 Kevin Goins - The Church's Ministry of Healing, John 9:5 pt 3

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

John 9:5 (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).

This verse makes 4 very important points:

A. First, Jesus came to this world to be our light.
B. Second, healing is a work of the Kingdom of light.

C. Third, sickness is a work of the kingdom of _________________.

1. We said that sickness is the end-product of _____________________.

a. Adam and Eve had _______ and un-______________ access to God.

b. Since God is the only one who has the power to give life and to heal, to be separated from God is to be confined to the land of ________________ and ____________.

2. Suddenly, there is something in the world of sickness that is a potential threat to ______________________.

a. If we have never been aware of it before, we should be able to see it now: something is ____________.

b. What is wrong is that there is _______________ in the first place.

c. We are sick today because there is _______________ in this world.

d. God did not send ______________ into this world; he did not send _______________ into this world; and he did not send ______________ into this world. By choosing __________ over ___________ we opened the door to all these things.
D. Fourth, we are to fight against the kingdom of darkness, and all its devices, including _________________.

1. While Jesus is in the world, he will minister the light of God’s healing ministry, but when he leaves this world that light will need to be kindled by his _________________.

2. While it is day, before the night comes, we must do the work that Jesus did, and one huge aspect of his work was the ministry of _____________.

3. Jesus has the power to heal, but he also has the power to see to it that __________ ___________ is done in our life.

a. Sometimes he causes God’s will to be done by ____________ us and sometimes he causes God’s will to be done by making us _________________ over a sickness which he does not remove.

b. Then, again, healing may be his ________ for you.

c. With Jesus all things are _______________, even if they ________________ impossible in the past.

4. There are victories to be won: s_________________ victories, e__________________ victories, m_________________ victories, f_____________________ victories, and there are victories of ________________ healing to be won.

5. How sad it would be to refuse to believe Jesus for the wonderful thing he ____________ to do for us!

04-04-20 Kevin Goins - The Church's Ministry of Healing, John 9:5 pt 2

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

John 9:5 (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).

This verse makes 4 very important points:

A. First, Jesus came to this world to be our light.

B. Second, healing is a work of the kingdom of _____________.

1. If we looked at all the occasions in the Gospels when Jesus healed the blind, we would be doing Bible study for ____________.

2. Some argue, not without reason, that Jesus actually spent _______ time _____________ than doing anything else.

3. If healing was a major component of the work of the Kingdom of Light 2,000 years ago, it must ___________ be a major component of the work of the Kingdom of Light ___________.

4. What we need to state clearly is how _______________ the work of “faith healers” is from what Jesus did.

For example:

a. Jesus healed ________________ individuals. There is a tremendous difference between “___________ healing” and _____________ healing.

1. Divine healing is healing that is carried out by __________ in accordance with his ________. “Faith healing” is healing instigated by a human being who claims to somehow be the _________ of God in healing people.

2. Divine healing depends on the power of _________, while “faith healing” is said to depend on ___________.

b. Jesus never asked a person to stand and give a testimony about a healing that had _______ _______ happened.

c. The people Jesus healed never had to worry about their sickness _____________________.

d. Jesus never attempted a healing which was __________________.

e. Jesus never ____________ or asked for ___________ to heal people.

5. There is a d________ s__________ to the ministry of healing. Or, there is a dark side to the _________________________ ministry of healing.

6. For everything that is real and genuine, there will always be the ______________________.

7. We should not put our hope in ______________; we should put our hope in __________.

04-01-20 Kevin Goins - The Church's Ministry of Healing, John 9:5 pt 1

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

John 9:5 (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 ______________; healing is a work of the Kingdom of ___________ (9:5).

This verse makes _________ very important points:

A. First, Jesus came to this world to be our ____________.

-This is a truth which John has already made clear in several passages:

1. First, John ____:______. At the Feast of Tabernacles Jesus used a dramatic o__________ l___________ to declare the truth that he came to this world to bring light.

2. Second, John ___:___-___. John says it was the life of Jesus, the way he lived with ________ and the way he lived with ________, that brought light to us.

3. Third, John ___:___-___. John begins his Gospel thinking about the light of the world, but that is not his only concern. Beginning in verse 9 John describes what we call the i_______________, or the Son of God coming to this earth as a ___________ __________.

4. In the beginning of John the evangelist is concerned primarily about two things:

a. First, how Jesus, who is the Word of God, is our _________.

b. Second, how Jesus ________ to this world, born as a man so that he could bring his light into the world.

5. But notice this: in the account of the healing of the blind man, Jesus himself make the __________ two points that John did in the beginning of the Gospel.
6. This means that what Jesus is doing in John chapter nine is not superfluous or un_______________.

7. Jesus healed because that _____ who _______ is and that is what he came to this earth to ______.

03-29-20 Kevin Goins - The Church's Ministry of Healing, Part 3

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

John 9:4 (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).
A. The first thing this verse tells us is that we are living in the day.
B. Second, this verse says that we are workers with Jesus.

C. Third, ministering healing to the sick is a responsibility of the ______________.

1. Many see the church’s calling as solely and totally the work of _______________ proclamation.

2. The church is called, not just to tell people about Jesus, but to _______ what Jesus did, and here we see him ______________.

a. I say that for two reasons – the first reason is _______________.

1. Jesus didn’t only say that we would repeat his m_______________, but he said that we would repeat his a_______________.

2. In fact, Jesus said we would do _________ than he did.

3. We also know that the ministry of healing did not stop when Jesus _______ the earth – It continued after he returned to heaven.

4. Then, in 1 Corinthians 12, Paul describes the gifts of the Spirit and he identifies one of those gifts in verse 9 as “gifts of _____________.”

b. The second reason I say healing belongs to the ministry of the church is ________________.

1. There was a time in history when the only place to find health care for the body was the _____________.

2. Many Christians, without realizing it, are better defenders of __________ than we are defenders of the __________.

3. We believe that the ___________ is what is crucial to life and the __________ is only a throw-away item.

4. Why did Jesus spend as much time healing people as he did preaching the Gospel? Because Jesus knew the creation account, and he knew God saw the physical body as something “_______ _________.”

5. It is amazing how so many Christians have completely d_______________ the care of our physical bodies from the care of our soul.

-This accounts for two things:

a. First, it explains why many “conservative Christians” seem to have so little interest in the issue of __________ _________.

b. Second, this explains why “liberal Christians” seem to have so little interest in _____________ healing.

D. Fourth, this verse teaches us that the ministry of healing is _________________.

1. There are two indications of urgency in this verse:

a. First, Jesus says “we _________ do the work.”

b. Second, Jesus says n________ is coming and when this happens all work will s___________.

2. Sick people need for the church to be ___________ as they face the darkness of disease and disability.

03-01-20 Kevin Goins - Anatomy of An Illness, part 2

“Anatomy of an Illness”
John 9:1-38

Last Sunday we said that John 9 gives us an anatomy of illness. An anatomy is a study of how something works. This chapter shows us how sickness works and how people respond to it. What does John 9 teach us about sickness?

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 _________________________ (9:2).

A. Alienation comes from the word alien which means s____________ or o____________. Alienation is the act of ____________ someone into a stranger or an “other.”

B. There are _________ forms or kinds of alienation that we see in Genesis:

1. First, there is ________________ alienation.

a. Why was there a tree of the knowledge of good _____ evil? Why didn’t God __________ allow them to know good?

b. To be good you must be able to choose good, but you cannot choose good unless you can also choose __________.

c. Because of their sinful choice, Adam and Eve were __________ from the Garden of Eden, which was the place where God used to walk and talk with them.

2. Second, there is __________________ alienation.

-What does social alienation do? It creates ______________; it leads to crime and war and hatred and racism and acts of violence, and it endangers our _____________.

3. Third, there is _________________ alienation.

a. Before the fall Adam and Eve didn’t fight animals or eat animals – instead they ______________ the animals.

b. Now, because of sin we are alienated from the ___________ kingdom and from the _____________ earth, and that alienation has made us __________.

4. Lastly, there is _______________ alienation.

02-23-20 Kevin Goins - Anatomy of An Illness

“Anatomy of an Illness”
John 9:1-38

In 1979 Norman Cousins wrote a groundbreaking book entitled, Anatomy of an Illness. He wrote that book because he was suffering from a connective-tissue disease which had crippled him and he had to try and make sense of it. We may not be at the mercy of such a disease, but sickness is so common that we must make sense of it. The Bible can enable us to do that.

I John devotes an entire chapter to the healing of a blind man so that we can see an illness in all its d________________.

A. You and I cannot afford to see the healing miracles of Jesus in a shallow and superficial way because sickness is a terrible _____________ to everyone.

B. Two decades ago the U.S. ranked eleventh in terms of life expectancy, but we have now fallen to __________-_____________ in the world.

C. There is another statistic we cannot ignore: the mortality rate, and the mortality rate still stands at ___________ percent.

II What do we learn about sickness in this chapter?

A. First, sickness gets our __________________ (9:1).

1. The disciples noticed the blind man, but what John emphasizes in verse one is that Jesus noticed ___________.

2. Why would Jesus go to the trouble of noticing another sick person? Because that was his God-given _______________.

3. According to Isaiah, the work of Jesus in saving us from sin, and his work as healer, are somehow ____________ _________________.

4. That means that just as Jesus could not help but notice s____________, so also he could not help but notice the s___________.

B. Second, sickness makes us ________________________ (9:2).

1. The disciples needed an explanation for the man’s blindness that could keep them from seeing him as a _____________.

2. We are so threatened by the idea that terrible imperfection can exist in our world that we try to find someone to ____________.

3. We feel that something is wrong with a world in which people are born blind and children die of cancer, and the Bible says we are _________.