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First Alliance Church Weekly Sermons
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Tuesday Aug 17, 2021
Tuesday Aug 17, 2021
“Who’s Who in the Drama of Salvation: The True Shepherd”
John 10:1-5
Last Sunday we looked at the false or unworthy shepherds. Today we focus our attention on the one Jesus says is the true shepherd.
I First, the true shepherd enters the sheep pen in the _____________ way (10:1-2).
A. What does it mean that Jesus is the true shepherd who deserves to have access to the sheep? It means he is not a f___________ shepherd or a p_____________ Messiah.
B. Who, then, is the true shepherd Messiah? Jesus says it is the one who enters through the g________________ rather than climb in some other way.
C. The Old Testament prophets have given lots of c________________ about the identity of the Messiah.
D. There were more than _________________ specific prophecies about the coming of the Messiah and Jesus f________________________________ every one of them.
II Second, the true shepherd calls his sheep ____ _______________ (10:3)
A. There are two things about this that are very important:
1. First, Jesus knows our name even when ____ ________ else knows it.
-Jesus is the shepherd who remembers us even when our own l___________ o___________ have forgotten us.
2. The second thing that is important is that Jesus says, “He calls his own sheep by name and _____________ them _________.”
-Jesus says he calls us by name so that we will get up and f_________________ him.
B. How many times have we heard him call o_______ name and how many times have we r____________________ to respond?
III Third, the true shepherd l____________________ his sheep (10:4).
A. Notice the sequence: First he b_____________ o__________ his sheep.
B. Second, he g_________ a____________ of them.
-Since Jesus is going before us that means everything that happens to us he has already e_____________________________.
C. Third, the sheep follow because they know his v____________________.
IV Finally, the true shepherd has sheep who are l____________________ (10:5).
A. Stranger is the Greek word allotrios which means “belonging to a_________________”.
-To follow a shepherd who does not belong to God is to follow someone whose motivations and desires are not g____________, and that is dangerous.
B. Sometimes, however, we are d______________________, but the true shepherd’s sheep are never p_______________________ deceived.
C. The only way to hear the shepherd and to be loyal to him is to c___________________ every voice we hear with the voice of God’s Word.
Tuesday Aug 17, 2021
Tuesday Aug 17, 2021
“Who’s Who in the Drama of Salvation”
John 10:1-10
There are many times in life when we want to know who’s who. We want to know who’s who when we go to a play, or a concert, or a baseball game. When it comes to the drama of salvation, however, we must know who’s who so that we can make sure we are playing the part our Savior wants us to play and not the part the enemy wants us to play. In John 10 Jesus tells a story which makes very clear who is who when it comes to the story of how the human race can be saved.
I In John 10 Jesus mentions __________ major players or characters in the drama of salvation.
A. First mentioned is “the t________________,” who is also called “the robber,” and later “the s________________________ .”
B. Second, there is “the S____________________ of the sheep.”
C. Third, there is “the w_______________________________________.”
D. Fourth, there is “the g________________ for the sheep.”
E. Lastly, there are “the s_________________________.”
II We need to say three things about the story before we proceed:
A. First, this story is t__________________.
B. Second, this story sums up the history of the human d______________________, the history of our s____________________ predicament.
C. Third, this story is about the most important aspect of human life: our r_______________________ with God.
III With all this in mind, let’s look at who’s who in the drama of salvation. First, there is “the t___________________.”
A. Why begin here? Only one reason: this is where _________________ begins.
B. The story Jesus tells has a bad guy, but this bad guy is not just someone who steals f__________________ sheep.
IV The first thing we need to ask about the thieves is, ____________ are _____________?
A. Prior to the sixteenth century, when Bibles were first divided into chapters and verses, n______ o_________ would have wondered who the thieves are in John 10.
-People would know, because in there Bible there would have no chapter b__________________ to separate chapter nine and ten.
B. Who appears in John 9 who is identified by Jesus in John 10 as thieves? Clearly, it is the _________________________.
V The second thing we need to ask: Is it only c___________________ that identifies the Pharisees as the thieves, or is there additional biblical evidence?
A. It turns out that this problem of the spiritual leaders of Israel being bad leaders appears t___________________________ the Bible.
B. What we see in all the biblical examples is that spiritual leaders are often tempted to a___________________________ those they lead.
VI The third thing we need to ask: ___________ did the Pharisees act this way?
A. We sinful human beings have the idea that if anyone does what I do, then he or she is my c________________________________. If anyone else does what I do and he or she is lifted up, that automatically l________________________ me.
B. The Pharisees loved s__________________________________.
C. When we resent another ministry’s success or growth, we become s_______________ b_______________________ in the drama of salvation.
VII In this story the Pharisees are the “thieves and robbers,” but a character in a story like this can represent _______________ than one person outside the story world.
A. The Pharisees were thieves, but the most depraved of all thieves is the one who comes o______________ to steal, kill, and destroy.
B. The presence of evil in our world has become so appallingly vicious that our best i______________________ explanations for it no longer satisfy.
C. The Bible tells us about the devil:
1. The Devil tries to steal our peace by overwhelming us with a______________________.
2. The devil’s mission is to kill, not just the body, but the _________________.
3. The devil seeks to destroy God’s c_____________________________.
D. The Bible says that the enemy, as formidable as he is, himself has an enemy, and his enemy is the S___________________________ who lays down his life for the sheep.
Tuesday Aug 17, 2021
Tuesday Aug 17, 2021
“The Test We All Should Take”
Proverbs 4:20-27
After a six-month sabbatical, we return today to our study of Proverbs and John. When last we looked at Proverbs we had just completed Proverbs 4:18-19, which compares the path of the righteous with the way of the wicked. In the beginning of chapter four Solomon exhorts us to walk the road of wisdom. We may believe that we are doing just that, but is there a way we can know for sure? We can know by taking the test that Solomon gives us. By asking ourselves the five questions which these verses raise, we can see whether we are, in fact, walking the road of wisdom:
I First, what do we allow into our _______________ (4:20-22)?
A. Sometimes our ears are solidly c____________________ to certain people and solidly d__________________________________ from others.
B. The crucial question is not, “What do we hear each day?” The real question is to what do we _________________________.
C. Since our God is a s___________________ God, and Jesus is the _____________ of God, if we do not hear him speak to us, it can only be because we are not listening.
II Second, what do we allow into our ___________________________ (4:23)?
A. There is nothing that needs g_______________ so much as our heart.
B. We know we must guard our physical heart, but we also must guard our emotional, i____________________________, moral, and spiritual heart.
C. Solomon reminds us here that God is not interested in how much we ____________ we love him, but in whether our deepest and most secret thoughts reveal a real love for God.
D. We may have ____________ control over the ungodly thoughts that flitter through our brain, but we ____________ have control over what we choose to do with that thought.
E. Our mind cannot focus on everything at the same time, so if we bring God-honoring thoughts to the _________________ of our mind, then wrong thoughts will die of n________________.
III Third, what is on my ______________________ (4:24)?
A. Spiritual contamination in our heart will often reveal itself in our ________________.
B. The word “_______________” appears more than forty times in Proverbs
C. What we say can never be u __________________. That is why our self-examination must include an analysis of our words.
IV Fourth, what is in front of my _______________________ (4:25)?
A. If we are Christians, we are not only looking f________________________, we are also looking toward ________________________.
B. Seeing Jesus not only enables us to walk s_____________________________, as he did, but it enables us to go forward without q_____________________.
C. We need to ask ourselves, “Am I looking straight down the road at Jesus, or am I looking to either side of the road at what lies in the ______________________.”
V Fifth, where is my path _________________________ (4:26-27)?
A. Some think they have total _________________________ over their future.
B. Still others, including some Christians, reject the idea that they have ____________________ control.
C. Do we have total control over our future? No, we are f___________________ people.
D. Do we have no control at all? No, the Bible sees us as moral d____________________-m____________________.
E. Solomon says that when you decide the direction of your life t_____________, you decide where you want to end up t___________________.
F. We must ask ourselves, whatever our age, do I know where I want to ________ in life, and do I have a ______________________________ to get there.
Tuesday Aug 17, 2021
Tuesday Aug 17, 2021
Graduation Sunday
“The Parable of Potential”
Matthew 25:14-30
The parable we are looking at today is one of the most well-known of all the parables of Jesus. Its message is relevant to people in all walks of life, but perhaps none more so than graduates who are on the verge of proving their potential.
I In Matthew 25 Jesus tells a parable about potential and we call it the parable of the __________________________.
A. The master implies that his assets are valuable because they can accomplish much, so he asks his servants to make the ____________ of them.
B. The parables of Jesus are meant to s________________ us and anyone listening to this one would be amazed at the amount which this man is willing to trust to his servants.
C. Paul says to Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:6, “I remind you to s____________ u________ the gift of God which is in you” – God has given us gifts, but sometimes we let them go to s__________________________.
D. These servants had years and years, maybe a whole l_______________________, to do something with the talents they were given.
E. As Origen says, the master in this parable is obviously ____________ - through our Kingdom sowing he h_____________________ souls for his kingdom.
II This parable has several points to make:
A. First, don’t waste your potential doing only what you feel c________________________ doing – Instead set your sights on what you see as your best possible life, a life where you accomplish a________ God created you to do.
1. The one-talent servant did not take any c_________________, he did not even _____________, because he was afraid he would fail and look bad.
2. Giving into fear does not bring p____________________; it often exposes us to more and greater h_____________.
3. In the end, it will not be your talents and abilities that decide if you succeed or fail. That will be determined by whether you allow fear to e_______ u________ your dreams.
B. Second, this parable teaches us that we cannot afford to waste our potential on nothing but the o__________________________________.
1. It doesn’t take any t____________ or e_____________________ to let a jar of money sit in the ground.
2. Our big life goals often get crowded out by day after day of t_______________ inconsequential living.
3. It is easy to fill up our life with the ordinary, while we tell ourselves that we will work on our big plans t____________________.
C. Finally, this parable reminds us that as we use our potential, we have an obligation to r____________________ the one who gave it to us.
1. The point Jesus wants to drive home is that it is __________ who has given us all our potential.
2. Planning for how we will __________ life’s adventure is the biggest and most important rock in the jar of our life.
Tuesday Aug 17, 2021
Tuesday Aug 17, 2021
“A Mother’s Day Parable”
Matthew 13:51-52
The parable of the householder speaks not only to mothers, but to all disciples of Jesus. It asks whether we see in our lives the attributes or virtues that identify one as a good learner, teacher, and director of a household.
I The first virtue required of mothers, disciples, and householders is modeled by Jesus and it is the virtue of i________________________ (15:31a).
A. Mothers understand that to be a good parent you must master the virtue of a________________ the right q__________________.
B. When was the last time we asked our children or grandchildren: “Do you understand what it means to f__________________ Jesus?”
C. But these hard questions are not just for us to ask our children or grandchildren – it might be good for us to ask e__________ o_____________.
II The second virtue required of mothers, disciples, and householders is non-judgmental a__________________________ (15:31b).
A. Are we willing to accept people where they are in their spiritual development, or do we feel compelled to be always pointing out the things that are ________________?
B. Our response to disobedience should be: “Your behavior is not acceptable to me, but you, you are acceptable to me because you are my _____________________.”
III The third virtue required of mothers, disciples, and householders is balance -- specifically, providing a balanced diet of _______ and _________ (15:32).
A. For a householder the storehouse is the p_________________, and the treasure is the p_____________________________ for the household.
B. Our newest generation in the U.S. is generation ______________.
C. Parents, we need to stop fearing all that is ____________; life is about c_____________.
IV But when Jesus talks about the new and the old he also has something very s_______________ in mind.
A. In this parable Jesus says that we mothers, fathers, and disciples are like householders who bring out of our s______________________ treasures new and old.
-but while the earthly householder brings out food, we bring out the treasures of God’s ______________.
B. The heart of the Gospel, the heart of the New Covenant, is ______________________.
V But we have a problem: grace is much easier to define than to d________________________.
A. The issue is that we Christian parents want our children to make us look successful as parents, but making us look good is not a ____________________ for our children.
B. We know how to define grace, but would our children say that our parenting d___________________ God’s grace?
C. The New Covenant treasure of God’s grace cannot replace the Old Covenant treasure of God’s ____________________________.
Tuesday Aug 17, 2021
Tuesday Aug 17, 2021
“Life in a Resurrection Body” (pt. 3)
John 20:1-29
For the past three Sundays, beginning with Resurrection Sunday, we have been looking at life in our resurrection body. Thus far we have seen three things about our resurrection body. Today we will look at four more.
I First, life in our resurrection body will be about seeing and loving each other for who we are on the inside.
II Second, life in our resurrection body will be marked by glory unlike anything we have known in our old body of flesh and blood (Luke 24:13-24).
III Third, life in our resurrection body will hold onto the knowledge of God’s Word and the knowledge of our calling which we gained before death (Luke 24:25-27).
IV Fourth, life in our resurrection body will be devoted to pursuing relationship and to practicing hospitality (Luke 24:28-32).
V Fifth, life in our resurrection body will leave the reality of __________________ behind (John 20:1-9).
A. The question is: What did John ________ inside the tomb that made him believe?
B. The linen strips were lying flat as if the form that had given them shape had simply e______________________ and now the strips collapsed onto themselves.
C. The soudarion, or headcloth, was r____________ u_______ in an oval loop, the shape it would have had when it was around the head of Jesus.
D. John, therefore, would have been impressed by two things:
1. The body was not stolen, because a thief would never have taken the time to r____________________ the strips of linen.
2. The linen cloths and the face mask perfectly preserved the o______________ of where the body had been.
E. When you have a resurrection body, you do not need b________________ clothes or a casket or a grave in the cemetery. We will need those things b_____________ Christ returns to this earth, but not after.
VI Life in our resurrection body includes both c__________________________________ and t________________________________ (John 20:10-18).
A. Mary Magdalene is looking for continuity when she goes to the tomb: she wants to s___________ and a________________ the body of the one she had loved and served.
B. But she cannot do it because the body is m________________________ and that is why she weeps.
C. Rabboni is the diminutive form of rabbi and it means “my _____________ rabbi,” or “my _________________ teacher.”
D. Mary cannot hold onto Jesus because the relationship Jesus will have with his followers from now on will be d____________________________.
E. Jesus will be permanently present with his followers, not through his resurrection appearances, but by the giving of his _____________ ______________.
F. The only way the resurrected Jesus could have a relationship with his followers was by t__________________________ the way he related to them.
G. So also, for ___________ resurrection body there will be continuity and transformation.
VII Seventh, life in our resurrection body will be free of physical l____________________________ (John 20:19-20).
A. The disciples are l___________ a_____________ in a secret place and suddenly Jesus is there standing in the middle of them.
B. Was it really Jesus?
1. Yes, look at the continuity: (verse 20) “He showed them his _______________ and his ____________________.”
2. Was there transformation? Yes, he passed t____________________ the locked doors as if they weren’t even there.
C. There are other places in the Gospels where the resurrected Jesus a________________ and d________________________ at will.
VIII Finally, life in our resurrection body will show the reality of both our s____________________ and God’s triumphant p_________________ (John 20:24-29).
A. The nail prints were the evidence that God used the suffering of Jesus to give us v________________________ over the power of sin and death.
B. We will keep our wounds, not as memories of tragedy, but as emblems of the power of God’s peace to give us victory in e______________ circumstance.
C. Our resurrection body will display our wounds so that throughout eternity we can look at each other’s wounds and c____________________ together the victory of God’s peace.
Tuesday Aug 17, 2021
Tuesday Aug 17, 2021
“Life in a Resurrection Body” (pt. 2)
Luke 24:13-32
While Christians believe that Jesus defeated death by rising bodily from the grave, many today do not envision bodily resurrection as the high point of life after death for them. Though the New Testament recognizes the reality of spiritual resurrection in the interim period before the return of Christ, it attaches far more importance to bodily resurrection. What will life be like in our resurrected body?
I First, life in our resurrection body will be about seeing and loving each other for who we are on the i_____________________.
II Second, our resurrection body will be marked by a kind of ____________________ which will set it apart from our old natural body (24:13-24).
A. In Luke 24:13-32 we are told about something that happened on Resurrection Sunday, but l______________ in the day.
B. When Luke says, “They were kept from recognizing him,” it must have been the glory of his resurrection body which made him seem d_________________________.
C. Paul tells us what is different about the resurrection body in 1 Corinthians ______:______ and following.
D. The new thing that God will do at the resurrection of believers is to create a new amalgam (m_____________________) of spirit and physical body.
III Third, our resurrection body will hold onto our knowledge of God’s ___________ and the knowledge of our c___________________ (24:25-27).
A. Some think that since Jesus was God, he never needed to l_______________ Scripture, or anything else for that matter. There are three problems with this idea:
1. If Jesus never had to learn anything, then Jesus was not human, because it is the n______________ of humans to learn.
2. If Jesus never had to learn anything, then he cannot s__________________ with our weaknesses as Hebrews 4:15 says he does.
3. The ____________ says that Jesus did learn.
B. Not only did Jesus still recall all his knowledge of the Bible, he was still being driven by the __________________________ given him by God.
C. One of the reasons people are bored with the idea of eternal life is because they believe it will be a life of i____________________________.
D. We human beings are meant to _____________ and to fulfill a mission, and so the resurrected Jesus used his knowledge to accomplish his mission.
-and there is no reason why that should not be true of _______________.
IV Lastly, our resurrection body will be devoted to pursuing r__________________________ and to practicing h____________________________ (24:28-32).
A. What does it mean when Luke says, “Jesus acted as if he were going farther?”
Jesus, though resurrected, still has the very great desire to be i_______________ into the lives of people.
B. As resurrected people we are going to have a_________ the desire for personal connection we have had in the past – in fact, m_______________.
C. And this relationship which the resurrected Jesus seeks includes h_________________________.
D. If we are not good at g____________ and r__________________ hospitality now, we should practice in order to prepare for eternity.
Tuesday Aug 17, 2021
Tuesday Aug 17, 2021
“Life in a Resurrection Body”
Last Sunday we saw that while Jesus defeated death by rising bodily from the grave, many Christians today do not envision bodily resurrection as a vital part of life after death for them. Today we want to look at what the Bible has to say about life in a resurrected body. Before we do that, however, we need to first underscore the reliability of the New Testament’s witness that Jesus did, in fact, rise from the dead.
I There was a time when some tried to disprove the resurrection by saying that Jesus d________ n____________ die on the cross.
A. This came to be known as the S___________________ theory.
B. Few make this claim today because all the evidence is against it:
1. First, the Roman soldiers who put Jesus to death were e___________________ at crucifixion.
2. Second, Roman soldiers were expected to carry out their duty and the penalty for not doing so was __________________.
3. Third, this theory expects us to believe that a victim of crucifixion could somehow c_________________ death.
C. Jesus did not just a____________________ to die; he was dead!
II Those who deny the resurrection of Jesus must have an alternative e___________________ for how belief in the resurrection arose.
A. The only real alternative to the Gospel account is the m_________________________ explanation.
B. The resurrection accounts cannot be explained as myth for three reasons:
1. First, the c_____________________ is against it.
2. Second, the d________________________ in the resurrection accounts are against the mythology theory.
3. Third, the crucial place given to ___________________________ is against the mythology theory.
III We have seen the evidence for the truth of the resurrection accounts, now we turn to what they m__________________ for us today.
A. The problem for us Christians is that this idea of an eternal spiritual existence sounds unbelievably ________________________________.
1. Some Christians try to get excited about eternity by thinking of the f________________ and f________________ we will get to see again.
2. Others see eternity as an unending c________________ s________________.
B. We Can escape the fear of boredom by realizing that eternal life will be spent in a body – ____________ body.
IV How can we know what life in our resurrected body will be like? We only need to look at ___________________.
A. What was the resurrected body of Jesus like?
1. The first thing, which is very clear, is that there was a sense in which the resurrected body of Jesus was ________________________________.
a. In the Gospel accounts, when the women encounter angels at the tomb they are t___________________ because they recognize the angels as s_______________ beings.
-But when Mary first sees Jesus, she is not terrified because she does not see him as someone who does not b____________ in this world.
b. There is some indefinable something about Jesus that sets him apart, but he looks like a _______________ ________________.
c. Our resurrection body will be different, but what will make us familiar to each other is not our appearance, but the bonds of ______________________________________.
d. When the resurrection comes, it will mark an end to our inability to see no farther than a person’s e__________________________.
e. Our resurrection body will show people the truth of our relationship with _________ and our relationship with our b______________ and s________________ in Christ.
Thursday Apr 15, 2021
Thursday Apr 15, 2021
Thursday Apr 15, 2021
“Sixth Sunday of Lent: The Enemy of Suffering and Death”
Psalm 31:9-16
Of all the enemies the believer must face, none is more challenging than suffering and death. The text we are looking at today is one of the most unique passages in the Bible because it tells of the suffering of man and God. At the same time, few texts in the Bible give us more hope that we will be victorious over these two most formidable of all our enemies than the passage we are looking at today.
I Those churches who cannot or do not gather on Good Friday use this Sunday to teach about the death of Jesus, and they call it P_______________ S_________________.
A. How do we get Passion Sunday from the book of Psalms? The only Bible the early Christians had was the _________ ______________________ and they found in it everything they needed to know about Jesus and his mission.
B. Psalm 31 is about suffering and death, not just the suffering and death __________ experienced, but also the suffering and death ___________ must face.
II First, we see what suffering and death can do to h_________________ l___________.
A. First, David’s p________________________ (31:9-13).
1. Some are disappointed that David does not tell us s___________________ what is wrong.
2. This Psalm is o_________________ enough in its description of David’s trouble so that a______________ of us can see ourselves in it.
3. In verses 11-13 we find out that there is a p_________________ dimension to his problem.
B. Second, David’s p_____________________ (31:14-15).
1. There is a huge c________________________________ that comes in verses 14-15.
2. But how can David trust when his life is so overwhelmed with heartache? It is because David had been through many difficult t______________ with God.
C. Finally, David’s p_________________________ (31:16).
-Verse 16 concludes our text with __________ petitions:
1. “Let your face s_______________ on me.”
2. He asks God to rescue him with his u___________________________ love.
III Second, we see what suffering and death did to ______________________. This Psalm is a lament by David, but the authors of the Gospels also saw it as a m___________________ i_______________ of what Jesus endured.
A. First the p_____________ of Jesus (31:9-13).
1. Verses 9-10, which speak of David’s distress, anguish, and groaning, clearly anticipate the experience of Jesus on the __________________.
2. What David says about h______________ in verse 13, Luke says about ________________ in Luke 19:47.
B. Second, the p____________ of Jesus (31:14-15).
-At the height of his suffering Jesus cried, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” but his last words on the cross are the words of t_______ p___________, “Father into your hands I commit my spirit.”
C. Finally, the p_____________ of Jesus (31:16).
1. There is a c________________ d___________________ between the prayer of David and the prayer of Jesus.
2. Jesus did not ask God to take the evil of his enemies and turn it back on t_____________; Jesus asked to take the evil on h________________ and transform it into the grace that saves rather than damns.
IV What do we see in Psalm 31?
A. We see that __________________ chose to express his suffering with the same words _________________________ used to express his suffering.
B. What does that mean?
1. First, it means that God h__________ and a__________________ our lament.
2. Second, if Jesus lamented what happened to him, that means he really f_______________ it.
3. Third, it means Jesus f____________ his whole self with every fear, pain, and sorrow the human race has ever known, and he took these things into himself so that he could be v_________________ over them all, and so that people, through their faith and trust in Jesus, could a_________ be victorious.