Notes - Wednesday, May 14th

Freedom: you have to admit that you are hurting for Jesus to be able to help you. Otherwise you will keep pushing Him away, and try to fix things yourself.

The Prodigal Son (Read)
We have two ways we can relate to God. As a slave or as a child. God will always see us as His children, but it lies with us to decide if we accept that or not.

Galatians 4:4-9 (Read)
Romans 8:16-17 (Read)
God wants you to relate to Him as your father.
Submission as a slave is submission through fear, but submission as a child is submission through love.
A child's worth never goes down, but the value of a slave fluctuates, and is based on performance.
God doesn't come to you because you deserve it, He comes to you because He loves you.
"Your worth is found in the eyes of God, and the eyes of God alone"
Don't talk yourself out of the freedom God has for you.
He's not interested in what you can do for Him.
What we do for God is an overflow of sonship.

Where do you find your worth?

The Greatest Event in History

"What was the ultimate goal of Jesus' -the son of God- crucifixion?"

This questioned was asked in my church service today, and received many common, yet true, answers; for our sin, so that we can have eternal life, etc. You get the idea. But none of these were the ultimate goal, the ultimate goal, was so we can have a relationship with God.

^{Matthew 27:50-51}

⁵⁰ And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.

⁵¹ At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.

Mark 15:37-38 

³⁷ With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.

³⁸ The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.

Luke 23:45b-46

And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.⁴⁶ Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.

The curtain of the temple was what separated the presence of God from the people, it was many inches thick, separating the people of this world from God. When the curtain was torn, the spirit of God was released to the people. That we can have a relationship with Him, that we can speak freely with Him, and He with us. Without this relationship with Him, we will not be able to enter into the eternity that He wants for us.

^{Matthew 7: 21-23}

²¹ “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²² Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ ²³ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

1 Corinthians 13:1-3

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

If I know about Jesus, but do not know him, I have nothing. Jesus has risen from the dead that we may have a relationship with him, that we might know him. Christianity is not a religion. It is a relationship. A relationship that Jesus paid for with his precious blood. A relationship that we do not deserve. Nor a relationship that we can earn by good works, or looks. 

Take some time to honor the man who gave it all for (your name here).

Bible Study - Acts 20

Read Acts 20

I don't know about you, but when I read first person in the Bible it gives me a different sense of connection. I love that Luke had a heart to write down all of Peters words, but I also love that he puts in his own words and stories. It is a valuable thing to be able to hear a testimony first hand (I know that in the Bible we have translations, and it is written, so it is not perfect, but I get a sense that it's coming right from Luke). It gives the feeling that the stories are more real, because you are hearing them from someone who was there. (All the stories in the Bible are very real, I simply want to put emphasis on the way it comes across) This feeling arouses the question "Well can't God do that with me?" The answer is yes! God is willing to work through your life, you simply have to be willing to do what He tells you to. When you accept that God is willing you will begin to seek Him, and ask for Him to help you through things, and you will want to be welcomed into His home!

Matthew 7:7-8

"Ask and it will be given to you; 

seek and you will find; 

knock and the door will be opened to you.

For everyone who asks receives; 

he who seeks finds; 

and to him who knocks the door will be opened."

Bible Study - Acts 1

Jesus Taken Up Into Heaven

1 In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 3 After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. 4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

6 Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.

10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

Matthias Chosen to Replace Judas

12 Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day’s walk from the city. 13 When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. 14 They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.

15 In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty) 16 and said, “Brothers and sisters, the Scripture had to be fulfilled in which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through David concerning Judas, who served as guide for those who arrested Jesus. 17 He was one of our number and shared in our ministry.”

18 (With the payment he received for his wickedness, Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong, his body burst open and all his intestines spilled out. 19 Everyone in Jerusalem heard about this, so they called that field in their language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.)

20 “For,” said Peter, “it is written in the Book of Psalms:

“‘May his place be deserted;

   let there be no one to dwell in it,’

and,

“‘May another take his place of leadership.’

21 Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus was living among us, 22 beginning from John’s baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection.”

23 So they nominated two men: Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias.24 Then they prayed, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen 25 to take over this apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he belongs.”26 Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was added to the eleven apostles.

These men had walked with Jesus for three years, and He had been the one they all looked up to. Judas had betrayed Jesus to death, this is why Judas was to be replaced. The men at first were scared to be without their leader, unsure of what to do next.

When Jesus left them for the final time, all they wanted was for Him to come back to them. When the men appeared beside them, they were given the strength they needed to do what they knew needed to be done.

A great read: Luke’s Story by Tim LaHaye, and Jerry B. Jenkins