First Alliance Church ATL

02-19-17 The Discipline of Fasting - Conclusion

“The Discipline of Fasting” (Conclusion)  Matthew 6:16-18

One of the great joys of life is eating good food. That explains why, of all the spiritual disciplines, fasting is probably one of the least popular. But the discipline of fasting is something which can greatly enrich our spiritual lives. In fact, Jesus says fasting can be very rewarding. What are the rewards of fasting? We have already looked at four; today we will see four more:
I Fasting allows us to reach up to God as whole persons.
II Fasting gives us a concrete way to express repentance.
III Fasting provides a way to share in the sufferings of Christ.
IV Fasting helps our prayer.

V Fasting helps us overcome ____________________.

VI Fasting helps us express our g______________.

VII Fasting provides a way to respond to the ________ of ____________.

VIII Fasting provides a mean to experience God in a _______ _________.

02-12-17 Why Baptism? Paul Gieschen

Baptism Sunday! Elder Paul Gieschen speaks to why it's important to follow Jesus' example by being baptized. The testimonies of those being baptized are not available online because of the sensitivity of their content. 

 

02-05-17 The Discipline of Fasting Part 3

“The Discipline of Fasting” Matthew 6:16-18
One of the great joys of life is eating good food. That explains why, of all the spiritual disciplines, fasting is probably one of the least popular. But the discipline of fasting is something which can greatly enrich our spiritual lives. In fact, Jesus says fasting can be very rewarding. What are the rewards of fasting? We looked at three last Sunday; we are looking at one more very important reward of fasting today:
I Fasting allows us to reach up to God as whole persons.
II Fasting gives us a concrete way to express repentance.
III Fasting provides a way to share in the sufferings of Christ.

IV Fasting helps our p____________.

-How can fasting assist our prayers?

A. First, we need to know that fasting cannot help our prayers by f___________ God to a____________.

B. There are several obvious ways in which fasting can help our prayer:

1. Fasting r___________ us to pray.

2. Fasting removes d_______________.

3. Fasting gives us confidence by making it clear that our h__________ is really in our prayer.

C. What kind of prayer calls for fasting?

1. We ought to fast when we pray for our ____________.

2. We ought to fast when we pray for the ___________.

3. We ought to fast as we pray for ______________.

4. We ought to fast as we pray for God’s K_________ w______ to be done by ___.

01-29-17 The Disciple of Fasting - part 2

“The Discipline of Fasting” (Part two)  Matthew 6:16-18
One of the great joys of life is eating good food. That explains why, of all the spiritual disciplines, fasting is probably one of the least popular. But the discipline of fasting is something which can greatly enrich our spiritual lives. In fact, Jesus says fasting can be very rewarding. What are the rewards of fasting?
I Fasting allows us to reach up to God as w___________ p___________.

II Fasting gives us a concrete way to express r_____________________.

III Fasting provides a way to share in the s_________________ of ____________.

01-22-17 The Discipline of Fasting

“The Discipline of Fasting”  Matthew 6:16-18
For the past few weeks we have been looking at the Spiritual Disciplines. These disciplines are patterns of behavior which can help us grow spiritually. But while they can strengthen our
relationship with God, they cannot do everything. They are not magic. For example, in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus gives us his evaluation of the discipline of fasting by looking first at the negatives and then at the positives. Today we are going to look at the negatives of fasting. There are three “NO’s” of fasting:

I   The first “NO” of fasting is the No many e__________ C_____________ have said to fasting (Matthew 6:16a).

Why have many Christians said “NO” to fasting?

1. It is because the forces of our culture have led us to the unbiblical view that our physical body is the e_________ of the ________.

2. We have often associated fasting with what C____________ do.

3. Some evangelicals are critical of fasting because they see it as a w__________.

4. The major reason we have a bias against fasting has nothing to do with the things of the Spirit – it has to do with our c____________ m_____-s_____.

II The second “NO” of fasting is the No Jesus says to the a___________ of fasting (6:16-18).

III The third “No” of fasting is the No our p____________ b__________ sometimes say to fasting.

01-15-17 The Discipline of Giving

“The Discipline of Giving”  Matthew 6:21
Of all the spiritual disciplines, there is none as attractive, or as demanding, as giving. On the one hand, giving gives us the opportunity to join God in his Kingdom work or to meet the needs of others, but, on the other hand, giving imposes a cost. When we give, we lose control of something that at one point belonged to us. That is why giving must be motivated by the heart. Jesus talked about this in Matthew 6:21, when he said, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” What does Jesus mean by this? There are three things we need to understand about this statement:

I First, it is significant that Jesus does not say, “Where your m_________ is, there will your heart be also” (6:21).
     There are three basic categories when it comes to things of value:
          A. First, there is _____________.
          B. Second, there is __________.
          C. Third, there are _________ and ____________.

II Second, we all have a p_________ where we p_____ our treasure (6:19-20).

III Finally, Jesus says there is a _____________ between our treasure and our heart (6:21).

Why does Jesus put treasure first? Why didn’t he says, “Where your heart is, there will your treasure be also?” – Two reasons:

     A. First, because we often do not ________ where our heart is.

     B. Second, because our __________ has power over our ___________.

01-08-17 Growing Spiritually in 2017

“Growing Spiritually in 2017”  Matthew 11:29-30

In our text today we hear Jesus ask us to take his yoke upon ourselves, which is a very picturesque way of asking us to do his work in this world.  January is a good month to evaluate how well we have obeyed his command.  But instead of criticizing ourselves for our inadequacies, it would be more profitable to ask ourselves the question:  How can we do better in this new year?  Our text makes four suggestions: 

I    First, we need to realize it is not i______________ (11:28).

II   Second, we need a b____________ b____________ t_____________ (11:29a).

III  Third, we need a m______________ p_______________ (11:29b).

IV  Finally, we need to recognize that the Christian life is not all s_____________ – it includes the b________ as well (11:30).

01-01-17 Deeply Rooted Bearing Fruit

12-25-16 The Light That Transforms

“The Light That Transforms”  Luke 1:26-38, 46-55

In this season of Advent we have been looking at the light that came into the world when the Messiah  was born.  We have seen how that light inspired the prophets, how it encouraged the
shepherds, and how it led the wisemen.  Today we are looking at how this light has the power to transform us and our focus is going to be on Mary and Joseph.  What does their story teach us about the transformation which Advent brought to this world?         

1. First, the transforming power of Advent came at just the r_______ t________ (1:26-28).

2. Second, this transformation was designed for ______________ (1:29-30).

3. Third, this transformation came at a _________ (1:31-38).

 

 

 

 

IV Finally, this transformation c____________ _____________ (1:46-55).

 

12-04-16 The Light That Encouraged the Shepherds Luke 2:8-16

“The Light That Encourages”  Luke 2:8-16
Everyone is susceptible to discouragement, to that feeling that whatever is currently troubling us is hopeless. People even feel discouraged at Christmas time. But that makes no sense. Christmas, or Advent is the good news which ought to drive out discouragement. It certainly did that for the Shepherds. The Shepherds had good reason to be discouraged, but they found even better reason to be encouraged. Today we are looking at how the light of Advent encouraged the Shepherds.

I The Shepherds had good reason to be discouraged:
A. First there was the discouragement of their p___________ (2:8a).

B. Second, there was the discouragement of their r__________ l_____ (2:8b).

II But, the Shepherds found encouragement in three ways:

A. First, they were encouraged to know that God had not r____________ them (2:9).

B. Second, they were encouraged to know that God was s__________ them a S________________ (2:10-11).

C. Third, there were encouraged to know that they had been invited to a p_______________ e___________________ with the Savior (2:12-16).