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First Alliance Church Weekly Sermons
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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.
Thursday Apr 15, 2021
Thursday Apr 15, 2021
“Fourth Sunday of Lent: The Enemy of Disappointment”
Psalm 107
Psalm 107 begins as a call to worship and to give thanks to the Lord. It then turns to a very detailed examination of the causes of disappointment. Fortunately, however, it also includes a repeated emphasis on how we can deal with disappointment.
I First, disappointment is u_________________ (107:2-3).
A. We are raised to believe that happiness comes by m______________ and accomplishing goals, but the truth is, accomplishing goals c________________ protect us from disappointment.
B. The American novelist John Cheever said, “The main emotion of the adult American who has had all the advantages of wealth, education, and culture is ________________________.”
II Second, disappointment comes in all s____________ and s_________________ (107:4-32).
A. First, we see people who remind us that being l_____________ is a terrible disappointment (107:4-9).
1. There are young people who know exactly where they want to end up, but they have no idea how to g___________ there.
2. There are people who think they know where they want to go, but midway through their life journey they realize that they are not h_________________.
3. If you are lost in a dangerous place, the key to survival hinges on one thing: k_______________ and a_________________ that you are lost.
B. Second, we see people who remind us that being b_________________ is a terrible disappointment (107:10-16).
1. The U.S. has the _________________ incarceration rate in the world.
2. We can be bound in many ways: h__________, addictions, l__________, sins, fears, and unhealthy r_______________________________.
C. Third, we see people who remind us that being s_______________ is a terrible disappointment (107:17-22).
1. The Bible makes it clear that sometimes sickness comes to people as a p_____________________ for sin.
2. But the book of J____________ and the words of Jesus in J___________ chapter ______ make it clear that sometimes sickness is not caused by sin.
3. Sickness can bring about all sorts of disappointment:
a. We can be sick because we have sinned, and when we realize that we are to blame, we feel disappointed in o_________________________.
b. Sickness, if we feel we do not deserve it, can make us feel disappointed with _____________.
c. We can come to God and ask him to heal us, but if we are not healed, we experience what is perhaps the g__________________ disappointment of all.
D. Fourth, we see people who remind us that d_______________________ can fill us with disappointment (107:23-32).
1. The disaster which the Psalmist describes here is obviously s_______________, but that isn’t the only kind of disaster that can assail us.
2. The fact is, no life is s____________ from disaster and that can fill us, not only with f___________, but with disappointment that life will never be able to guarantee our safety.
III Third, it does not matter whether we have done anything to d______________________ disappointment or not.
A. In the second and third vignettes, the victims were r________________________ for what happened to them.
B. In the first and fourth vignettes, the victims did n__________________ wrong.
IV Finally, the only hope we have in the face of the disappointments of life is that God will h________________ us when we c___________________.
Tuesday Mar 23, 2021
Tuesday Mar 23, 2021
Welcome & Invocation: Dr. Kevin Goins
Worship: Jennifer Bliss-Criswell, Mike McGuiness, Megan Bliss
Yes and Amen, Wonderful Merciful Savior, This We Know
Scripture Reading: Sue Burton, Ruth Snell
Song of Songs 2:10-13 TPT, Ephesians 3:14-21 NLT
Reflections from the congregation
Reflections from the family: Richard Bliss
My Savior’s Love
Sermon: Dr. Kevin Goins
Great is Thy Faithfulness
Benediction: Dr. Kevin Goins
Monday Mar 08, 2021
Monday Mar 08, 2021
“Third Sunday of Lent: The Lie That God Is silent”
Psalm 19
Psalm 19 is a great hymn of praise to God and its first verse has been memorized by most believers. This Psalm, however, does more than praise God. It exposes as false one of the most common lies about God prevalent in our world today: the lie that God is silent.
I First, God speaks to us through his p________________ c____________________ (19:1-6).
A. When we see what God has created, it is impossible to think of him as a l_______________________. When it comes to his power and glory, God is a h_______________________.
B. “To pour forth” means to bubble up like a s______________ and here it has the idea of bubbling up with p__________________.
C. The sun, moon, and stars speak by merely b_______________; their e______________________ is their message.
d. David’s description of the sun is p_______________, not scientific, and it is expressed from the point of view of someone who lived in ___________ _____.
II Is there anything about the universe that speaks to us in a less poetic and more s____________________ way?
A. First, the universe proclaims, in a very powerful way, the message that God i________________, that God e_______________.
1. The most important discovery of the twentieth century is that the universe did have a b________________________.
2. Francis Collins says, “The very fact that the universe had a beginning implies that _________________ was able to begin it. And it seems to me that someone had to be o___________________ of nature.”
3. Stephen Hawking said, “The odds against a universe like ours emerging out of something like the Big Bang are enormous. I think there are clearly r___________________ implications.”
B. Second, the universe proclaims the i________________, the vastness, the greatness of God.
1. Astronomers now believe that in addition to our own Milky Way galaxy, there are another 100 to 200 _______________ galaxies and that each of these galaxies contains up to 100 ______________ stars.
2. The diameter of the universe is the distance light would travel in ______ ___________________ years.
C. Third, the universe proclaims God’s great l__________ and c___________ for human beings.
1. Our universe seems to be precisely designed to support l______________ on e________________.
2. Stephen Hawking, in A Brief History of Time, states, “It would be very difficult to explain why the universe should have begun in just this way, except as the act of a God who i_______________ to create beings like us.”
III Second, God speaks to us through his ___________________.
A. The features of the universe, with its vastness and complexity, reveals God to us, but see him from f____________ a____________.
B. First, in verses 7-9 David praises the different f_________________ of God’s Word and how beneficial they are to us.
C. Second, in verses 10-11, David talks about how d_______________________ God’s words are.
D. God’s Word gives us guidance so we will not r_____________ our life, or the lives of those around us, and it makes life r____________________.
IV Creation is speaking and God’s Word is speaking, but how do we know that we have heard the message? We know we have heard if we are being c___________________ by what we have heard.
Tuesday Mar 02, 2021
Tuesday Mar 02, 2021
“Second Sunday of Lent: Naming the enemy of Ingratitude”
Psalm 22:22-31
Ingratitude is far more than just a mark of bad breeding. Ingratitude is a vicious enemy of the Christian life. In our Lenten text today we see why ingratitude is so corrosive to our faith
I The Bible identifies Psalm 22 as a psalm of ______________, but for many Christians it is actually viewed as a psalm of _______________.
A. There are three reasons why Christians do this:
1. The first 21 verses give us a vivid and startlingly accurate description of the ________________________ of Jesus.
2. Christians view this as a psalm of Jesus because Psalm 22 is quoted ______________ times in the New Testament, and most of these references occur in the Gospel accounts of the ________________ of Jesus.
3. Christians view this as a psalm of Jesus because Jesus quoted verse 1 of this Psalm from the ________________.
B. If we limit Psalm 22 to a psalm about Jesus, then we miss out on a great source of s___________________ for us when we find ourselves facing hard times.
II In our text today, David gives us three reasons why ingratitude is t_______________ to the Christian.
A. First, ingratitude denies God’s __________________ over suffering (22:22-24).
1. The first 21 verses of this psalm testify to the fact that suffering can make us q___________________ the goodness of God.
2. After describing the worst suffering imaginable, David then launches into the most e__________________ invitation to worship God found anywhere in the Bible.
3. Not only has God not despised the afflicted one – not only has he not turned his face from him and rejected him – David says, he “has l_________________ to his cry for help.”
B. Second, ingratitude denies that God is p________________ with us in suffering (22:25).
1. First, we need to see that David is talking about being in a c___________________ worship service.
2. David says, “God, my ability to give you thanks, no matter how great my suffering, comes from s_________________ your presence in the worship service.
3. No matter what our circumstances, recognizing the presence of God brings about c_______________, not only in us, but sometimes in those around us.
4. Those who refuse to thank God when times are bad are d_______________ the presence of God.
C. Finally, ingratitude denies that God is going to ______________ his creation from all the horrible things happening around us.
1. The point of eschatology is this: right beliefs and good attitudes can only take you s_________ f_____________. Eventually, something has got to h______________.
2. It’s simple: If we believe God will one day make every ________________ right, we should have no problem giving him thanks now.
-But when we live with ingratitude, we deny that God is going to ______ what he s__________ he would do.
Tuesday Mar 02, 2021
Tuesday Mar 02, 2021
“Lent: Naming Our Enemies”
Psalm 25:1-10
Lent is a season of preparation for Holy Week and Resurrection Sunday, but Lent is also the time when the believer is led to confront the enemies of the Christian life. One of the worst of these enemies is loneliness. In our text today we see four of the sources of loneliness. Fortunately for us, however, we do not need to be satisfied with only naming the causes of loneliness. The message of Lent is that Jesus has defeated all four of these loneliness-producing enemies.
I Lent is more than a time of preparation. Lent recalls how Jesus faced many e_______________ on his way to the cross to win our salvation.
A. Loneliness can so distort our view of life that we begin to see life as meaningless and without any ____________.
B. “The first Sunday of Lent is the time to look the enemies of the Christian life in the face and n____________ them before God.”
II What is the source of spiritual loneliness?
A. First, s________________ God for who he truly is makes us lonely (25:1-2).
1. How can someone who is not at all ___________ us take away our loneliness?
2. Some try to claim that they are good friends with God, but they do it by bringing God __________ to their level, so that he is ________ them.
3. If you want to get a glimpse of how different God is, consider his ___________________________.
B. Second, the fear of s___________________ makes us lonely (25:3).
1. The Hebrew word translated “shame” in this verse does not refer to an i_______________ feeling but to an o_______________ experience of public embarrassment.
2. Old Testament scholars tell us that verse 3 is a _________________. David prays that ___________ of God’s people will be shamed, but that __________ who hate God will be shamed.
3. Shame makes us lonely. It makes us feel that we do not deserve to be part of the _______________ family or the family of ______________.
C. Third, the r______________________ of past sins makes us lonely (25:4-7).
1. The past cannot always be k____________ in the past.
2. Whatever we ____________ will one day be harvested.
D. Finally, our failure to k__________ the covenant God made with us makes us lonely (25:8-10).
III The Gospel says that Jesus came to call out these four enemies and to engage them in face to face c_________________.
A. What did Jesus do to end the loneliness that comes from seeing how different God is?
-He ___________; in the incarnation, in the physical body of Jesus, God became what we are. He became ______________ to show us who he really is.
B. What did Jesus do to end the loneliness that comes from our fear of shame?
-He experienced the shame of being n____________ to a c____________.
C. What did Jesus do to end the loneliness that comes from remembering our past sins?
-He took our sins on h____________________.
D. What did Jesus do to end the loneliness that comes from our failure to keep the covenant?
-By his death, he created a __________ covenant between us and God.