August 29th, 2010

Scripture focus:  Matthew 10:24-39 (click here for audio)

Today we are picking back up in Matthew.  Let’s take a moment to review.  Remember, we are covering the four gospels in four week segments during each semester as part of our scripture calendar, focusing on three to five chapters each time.  In Matthew 1-4 we discovered the preparation for Jesus’ ministry – His lineage and birth (chapter one), providential protection (chapter two), baptism and calling (chapter three), and testing in the wilderness (chapter four.)  In Matthew 5-7, we studied the preaching of Jesus’ ministry as delivered through the Sermon on the Mount.  During this month, we will delve into the practice of Jesus’ ministry.  Here, Jesus shows compassion to the crowds and outsiders, and pours Himself into His followers.

In Matthew 8-9, Jesus transitions from the mountain of mission to the valley of miracles.  These chapters record ten miracles performed by Jesus.  Most of them involve ministering to the outcasts of society – lepers, demoniacs, gentiles, and cripples.  Jesus also makes His most shocking choice of followers during this period – the tax collector for whom our gospel is named.  Tax collectors were considered agents of the Romans, making them collaborators.  They had a reputation for being dishonest.  Matthew is just one more example of Jesus ministering to the outcasts.  It seems no matter how many lives Jesus turns around, He faces criticism from the religious authorities.  At the conclusion of chapter 9, they accuse Jesus of being demon possessed!

Matthew 9:35-10:39 contains Jesus’ second sermon recorded in Matthew.  The first was the Sermon on the Mount, the second is the Sermon on the Mission.  The first dealt with the life of the disciple.  Jesus now turns His attention to the work of the disciple.  Like the first sermon, this one begins with Jesus being moved by the great neediness of the people.  He begins by sharing from His heart, calling on the disciples to pray, and gifting them with power to meet the people’s needs.  He spends the rest of the sermon giving instructions to the disciples on how to use their power.  He gives them travel instructions (vs 5-15), trouble instructions (vs 16-23), and trust instructions (vs 24-39).

In today’s scripture, Jesus promises His disciples that in the same way He is being criticized, His servants will be as well.  However, Jesus encourages them to be brave and keep speaking the truth anyway.  There was no need for them to fear what anyone can do to them except God, and the good news is that God cares for them!  Anything in the Bible that is numbered is greatly cared over.  If the hairs on the disciples’ heads were numbered, God must care for them greatly.  Jesus warned the disciples that His message would always cause conflict.  Verse 38 is the first mention of the cross in the gospel, and here symbolizes total commitment, even above our closest relationships.

CrossGroups

• Go around the table and share prayer requests. Have someone lead in prayer.

• Let everyone who would like share anything exciting from their week.

• Ask these three questions. Let as many answer each one as would like.

1) Is there anything in today’s scripture that especially speaks to you?

2) What questions would you like to ask about today’s scripture?

3) In what ways are we called on to put our commitment to Christ above that to our families today?

Today’s Sermon

• Jesus told the disciples to be bold.
• We are also called to boldness.
• God counted the disciples.
• God counts us, too!

Assignment – Pray daily September 19th.

August 22nd, 2010

Today’s scripture focus: Job 19

Today we end “season one” in the story of Job. Next summer we’ll conclude with “season two”, and find out the fate of Job and his friends. Today’s scripture focus contains Job’s response to his friend Bildad’s second speech. Remember the cycle of Job – each of his three friends speak to Job, attempting to convince him of his wrongdoing, and Job responds to each friend in turn, defending himself. As the speeches progress, it is obvious that Job’s friends are simply talking over him, rather than listening and understanding, which simply adds to his misery. In each response, Job becomes more and more defensive. We will leave Job today in the middle of the second round of this cycle.

In chapter 18 we find Bildad’s words to Job. As has been the pattern thus far, he only addresses Job directly in the first few verses. He then spends the duration of the chapter expounding on the fate of all wicked people. Bildad considered Job beside himself a man no longer acting fully responsiblly (18:2). He resents Job’s belittling attitude, accusing him of obsessive self-focus. He considered Job weak on the subject of divine retribution, since Job continued to emphasize how the righteous suffer and the wicked prosper. Bildad insists that all wicked people get paid in full in this life. He contrasts how their lamp goes out, only to be replaced with a tent of fire. Death is their final punishment.

Job’s reply is contained in chapter 19. In verses 2-5, Job shows increasing irritation over his counselor’s shameless attacks and his impatience with their superior claims. If he is in error, it is between him and God. Following this we find Job expressing his feelings of abandonment by God. He paints a word picture of a God at war with him. He believes God is attacking him, and is wrong to do so. Job blames God for alienating him from his family, his friends – even his wife (19:17). Verse twenty is another that presents translation difficulties, but apparently the only part of Job’s body unaffected by his illness were his gums. From this comes the popular English expression for narrow escape.

Then, something drastic happens. Amazingly, Job transitions from lament to a triumphant hymn of praise to the One who will champion his cause. Job believed after his death, he would be proved innocent. We learned about the word “redeemer” (19:25) in our study of Joshua. Job would have a blood avenger! Job and his friends didn’t understand the concept of life after death. That was why it was so important to their theology that reward and punishment must be meted out in the present. God, however, used their struggle to give us a beautiful picture of what awaits the redeemed when earthly life is over. Job 19:23-27 is often shared at gravesides today as a message of hope in life eternal.

CrossGroups

• Go around the table and share prayer requests. Have someone lead in prayer.

• Let everyone who would like share anything exciting from their week.

• Ask these three questions. Let as many answer each one as would like.

1) Is there anything in today’s scripture that especially speaks to you?

2) What questions would you like to ask about today’s scripture?

3) How important is the concept of life after death to your faith?

Today’s Sermon

• Job had an Accuser.
• We have an Accuser.
• Job had a Redeemer.
• We have a Redeemer!

Assignment – Pray daily for the manifest presence of God in our worship.

In chapter 11, the third of Job’s friends – Zophar – gave his response to Job. As Job continued to deny any wrongdoing worthy of God’s punishment, his friends’ speeches became increasingly harsh. Zophar was enraged by Job’s accusations against God. He was a severe man who lacked compassion and was extremely judgmental. He told Job that he was getting much less than he actually deserved from God. Surely Job’s sin was so great that God had caused him to forget it! Adding insult to injury, Zophar attacked Job’s wisdom, and doubted he would ever change. He compared Job to a wild donkey! Nevertheless, Job was once again instructed that if he would only admit wrongdoing, God would stop punishing him.

Beginning in chapter 12, Job gives his longest response to date. His patience was wearing thin and he began to return some of the harshness doled out by his friends. “Wisdom will die with you” – in other words, Job sarcastically accuses them of being the only wise men in existence. Job informed them there was nothing said he didn’t already know. In fact, he knew it all better than his friends knew it. Even nature itself knew that God punished the unjust and rewarded the righteous. Job expounded his thoughts with a three stanza poem. Job once again stated his problem, he expanded it to the whole creation, and stressed God’s of using His unlimited power to make suffering worse.

Job told his friends that he could talk about God just as skillfully as they, only he would be honest. Job was confident that given the opportunity he could state his case before God, for he knew the accusations of his friends (that he was being punished for wrongdoing) were false. According to Job, he had been smeared with lies by his friends. Job went so far as to accuse his counselors of lying on God’s behalf! He assures them they will not escape judgment for their use of empty maxims and nice sounding cliches. Job was so sure of his own vindication that, once again, he demands a hearing before God, even if he was slain in the process.

Chapter 14 is one of the most familiar in Job. After answering Zophar, Job began to address God, as has been his pattern. He turned right back to his hopelessness, asking God to just leave him alone for the brief time he has left on earth. Men, Job claimed, were like flowers that sprang up and then withered away. Why would God bother to even judge them, especially since all they did was determined by Him anyway? Nevertheless, Job had a brief moment of hope in 14:14-17, when he acknowledged that God could bring him back from the grave. For those who continue to call on God from the darkness of their troubles, there are always brief, sustaining flashes of hope.

CrossGroups

• Go around the table and share prayer requests. Have someone lead in prayer.

• Let everyone who would like share anything exciting from their week.

• Ask these three questions. Let as many answer each one as would like.

1) Is there anything in today’s scripture that especially speaks to you?

2) What questions would you like to ask about today’s scripture?

3) Go around the table, and have everyone share three good things that are going on in their lives today.

Today’s Sermon

• Job had nothing but complaints.
• We sometimes have complaints.
• God reminded Job of His presence.
• God’s presence is here today.

Assignment – Pray daily for the manifest presence of God in our worship.

Last week we focused on Job’s response to the speech of his first friend, Eliphaz, which in reality became a response to God. This week, Job has responded to the speech of his second friend, Bildad, found in chapter 8. As in his previous rebuttal, Job first responded to his friend (chapter 9), then turned his sites on God (chapter 10.) All three of Job’s friends had the same disagreement with Job, though they each approached it from a different perspective. All three argued from the doctrine that bad things happen only to those who sin. They couldn’t be made to consider any other possibility. The argument of each friend boiled down to “God can’t be the problem: therefore it must be you.”

Meanwhile, Job couldn’t accept any responsibility for wrongdoing. He knew he hadn’t sinned, though he admitted no one could be perfect compared to God. There was no way God could be punishing him for personal sin, though. Job and his friends were at an impasse throughout the story. While Job’s first friend, Eliphaz, approached him gently, Bildad took a harsh approach. He immediately chastised Job, even throwing the death of his children in his face. Job had admitted to not understanding God’s justice in chapter six, but Bildad twisted Job’s words, claiming Job had accused God of perverting justice. To Bildad, Job was a hypocrite, and would continue to suffer. However, if he would only repent, he might laugh again (8:21).

In Job’s response to Bildad (chapter 9), he professed agreement with his friends: God truly only punished the guilty, and no one could be the cause of Job’s suffering except God. In fact, Job spent much of the chapter extolling God’s praise with a hymn describing God’s power. Yes, God’s power even made the armies of Rahab (the demonic power associated with the sea) cower at his feet. Yet, Job yearned to maintain his innocence of wrongdoing! How could he possibly hope to defend himself against such a powerful God? Job could only plead for mercy, but he believed God wouldn’t even listen, and would probably only crush him. In chapter ten, Job decided to plead his own case before God.

Job’s words became increasingly bitter. He demanded an answer from God – “tell me what charges you have against me” (v 2). Job couldn’t understand how the God who had created him could then turn His back on him. Job had created a God in his mind that was a monster – angry without cause, capricious, and vengeful. Job had reached about as far as a human can go into the depths of despair. Yet, he still called on God. This chapter speaks especially to the bitter in spirit. In our despair, we too depict God inaccurately. However, as long as we call on God, He still listens. It is the one who quits looking for answers that is truly hopeless.

CrossGroups

• Go around the table and share prayer requests. Have someone lead in prayer.

• Let everyone who would like share anything exciting from their week.

• Ask these three questions. Let as many answer each one as would like.

1) Is there anything in today’s scripture that especially speaks to you?

2) What questions would you like to ask about today’s scripture?

3) How do Christians become depressed?  How do we come through it before we become bitter?

Today’s Sermon

• Job had become bitter.
• We can become bitter.
• God was patient with Job.
• God is patient with us.

Assignment – Pray daily for the manifest presence of God in our worship.

The sayings of the wise represent a distinct type of literature in the Old Testament. Moses and the prophets received their messages directly from God, but Wisdom authors looked to God’s creation to determine truth. The pursuit of wisdom was not a secular endeavor, for Israel believed that God placed the principles of wisdom in the created order. Foundational to wisdom is the belief that God created the world in justice and righteousness. By choosing the path of truth, one may suffer for a time, but eventually obedience will lead to a long life with prosperity. By contrast, the foolish refuse the disciplined life in favor of one governed by self-gratification. Job-Songs make up the Wisdom section of scripture.

The book of Job is named after its chief character. The actual author is not identified. We may be sure the author was an Israelite, since he (not Job or his friends) uses the covenant name for God (Yahweh; NIV “the LORD”). Job is one of the most difficult books in the Old Testament to translate. It uses a large technical vocabulary of words from astronomy, mining, hunting, and law. Job is a carefully crafted literary masterpiece. It contains prose, poetry, dialogues, laments, hymns, and proverbs. The main structure of the book is divided into three parts: a short prose prologue (chapters 1-2), a long section of poetic dialogue between Job and others (3-42:6), and a short prose conclusion (42:7-17)

In last week’s CrossWords assignment, we read how, after Job is afflicted with sores all over his body, his three friends came to minister and grieve. After seven days of silence, Job begins his lament, cursing the day he was born. In chapter four, his first friend, Eliphaz the Temanite responds. Teman was an Edomite town noted for wisdom (Jer. 49:7). The speeches of Job’s friends contain elements of truth, but they must be interpreted in context. The problem is with what the friends did not know: God’s high purpose in allowing Satan to buffet Job. Eliphaz tells a of a hair-raising dream he had which revealed the truth of Job’s situation. He tells Job to be thankful for God’s correction.

Today’s scripture focus begins the second half of Job’s response to Eliphaz’s speech. After appealing for sympathy in chapter six, he now addresses his complaint towards God in chapter seven. “Hard service” usually refers to military service, though it came to be commonly used to refer to the Babylonian exile. For post-exilic Jews in Palestine, suffering had become a way of life. Would relief only come in death? We all go through difficult times, but Job is especially meaningful to the chronic sufferer – those for whom life seems one long, sleepless night. During these times when we feel that our friends aren’t hearing us, we can take comfort that God is indeed listening. Surely He has borne our sorrows!

CrossGroups

• Go around the table and share prayer requests. Have someone lead in prayer.

• Let everyone who would like share anything exciting from their week.

• Ask these three questions. Let as many answer each one as would like.

1) Is there anything in today’s scripture that especially speaks to you?

2) What questions would you like to ask about today’s scripture?

3) When is it ok to complain to God?  How do we know God is listening to our troubles?

Today’s Sermon

• Job had a long night.
• We have those long nights, too.
• God was listening to Job in the night.
• God listens to us, too.

Assignment – Pray daily for the manifest presence of God in our worship.

The book of Job introduces us to the section of scripture known as “Wisdom” (or “the writings” in the Hebrew bible.) “Wisdom” is not intelligence, but a philosophy that produces success in life. Wisdom literature uses poetic forms to teach key truths about life, chiefly that happiness comes from worshiping God (The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom – Proverbs 9:10.) We treat wisdom writings a little differently than other parts of the Old Testament. Much like the parables of Jesus in the New Testament, the stories in this portion of scripture are not to be treated historically, but as conveying principles about how life works. The other Wisdom books are Psalms, Proverbs, Song of Songs, and Ecclesiastes.

The story of Job was an ancient epic that was probably popular during the same time as the events of Joshua and Judges. At that time, the story would have consisted of simply the first two chapters and the last chapter of the current book (bad things happened to Job, then good things happened to Job.) Centuries later – probably after the Babylonian Exile – the author of Job either collected or added the poetry section in the middle, thus giving us the book in its final form. The main concern of Job is the problem of suffering, or “Why do bad things happen to good people?”. Scholars refer to this issue as “theodicy” (theo – God, dice – justice).

In today’s scripture, we are introduced to Job of Uz, somewhere northeast of Palestine. Job is described as the most righteous and the wealthiest man in the area, and the two are portrayed as going hand in hand. Job acted as priest for his family, and regularly offered atonement sacrifices on their behalf, just in case they sinned! The action then moves to the heavenly court, where angels come and report to God. “Satan” here is not a name but an office (the Hebrew is literally “the satan” or “the accuser”). Satan is commissioned with testing Job, but after chapter two, he disappears from the book and God deals with Job directly. Though Job loses everything, he remains blameless (for now.)

In order to understand Job’s message, we must place it in the framework of covenant history. We learned about the covenant in Joshua and Judges. When Israel obeyed God, they were protected and blessed, but when they worshiped other gods, they were cursed. Over the centuries, though, it was observed that sometimes it seemed as though the righteous were cursed, while the ungodly prospered. How could this be? Job is an attempt to teach through poetic form that ultimately God is in control, and His ways are unknowable. Obviously we still wrestle with these same questions today. We, too, ask “where is God?”. Though often difficult to understand, Job offers light when journeying through the dark night of the soul.

CrossGroups

• Go around the table and share prayer requests. Have someone lead in prayer.

• Let everyone who would like share anything exciting from their week.

• Ask these three questions. Let as many answer each one as would like.

1) Is there anything in today’s scripture that especially speaks to you?

2) What questions would you like to ask about today’s scripture?

3) Whose fault is it when bad things happen – ours?  Satan’s?  God’s?  none of the above?

Today’s Sermon

• Job entered a time of darkness.
• We all go through times of darkness.
• God was on the throne.
• God is STILL on the throne.

Assignment – Pray daily for the manifest presence of God in our worship.

Today we conclude our study of the Sermon on the Mount.  It has been said this sermon comprises a good summary of Jesus’ three most important teachings.  In chapter 5, the focus was on mercy.  Chapter 6 emphasized faith.  Now, in chapter 7, we discover Jesus’ teachings on justice.  The chapter consists of seven short “stories” that could be divided into two main sections.  Verses 1-12 give four short summaries of Jesus’ teachings, and verses 13-29 give three short final warnings to those who do not heed them.  “Don’t judge” serves as a summary of chapter 5′s teachings on mercy, and “Ask…Seek…Knock” provide a summary of chapter 6′s call to faith.  The command “don’t judge” is both the 5th Beatitude in reverse (blessed are the merciful, for they shall be shown mercy) and 5th Petition of the Lord’s prayer in reverse (forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.)  This command has been interpreted in many ways.  Jesus is not speaking here of failure to discern fruit, which He admonishes us to do in verse 15-20, but judging the intent of the heart, which is solely the privilege of God.     Verse 6 serves as a balance to the previous verses – don’t judge, but do think.  In verses 7-12, Jesus summarizes His teachings on prayer.  While chapter six admonishes us not to use vain repetition, here we discover the importance of simple persistence in prayer.  Asking is not unspiritual, but is both the privilege and responsibility of the disciple!  In verse 12, we find some of the most famous words in all of scripture, commonly known as the Golden Rule.  All major religions have a version of this rule, almost always stated in the negative form (don’t do to others what you don’t want done to you.)  Jesus states it as a positive, showing that justice is about actively doing good, not just refraining from bad.  The Sermon on the Mount ends with three warnings – the two gates, the two prophets, and the two houses.  The two gates call us to conversion to Christ alone (the Narrow Gate) and to rugged discipleship behind Him (the Rough Way.)  The two prophets call us to beware of seductive false teachings of super Christians with their seductive charms and charismatic gifts and to be instead simple Christians who do the unspectacular will of God.  The two houses warn disciples that if they are merely admirers of Jesus’ sermon but not doers of it they are building their lives on shifting sands, and are on route to awful judgment.  The two houses also encourage Jesus’ disciples with the promise that if they do build their lives on Jesus’ words they will be able to withstand the storms of this life and the awesome last Judgment at the end of life.  The final verses of chapter seven show us that the greatest impact of the Sermon on the Mount was not Jesus’ words, but Jesus Himself.

CrossGroups

• Go around the table and share prayer requests. Have someone lead in prayer.

• Let everyone who would like share anything exciting from their week.

• Ask these three questions. Let as many answer each one as would like.

1) Is there anything in today’s scripture that especially speaks to you?

2) What questions would you like to ask about today’s scripture?

3) What’s the most challenging command in chapter 7 for you – “don’t judge” or “ask”?

Today’s Sermon

Faith focus – “I believe in the Holy Ghost”

Life need – What does it mean to follow Jesus?

Key truths -

• Astounding mercy.
• Astounding faith.
• Astounding justice.
• Astounding Jesus!

Assignment – Ask God.

Today’s scripture focus – Matthew 5:1-16

We are picking up today in Matthew where we left off in January. In the first four chapters of Matthew, the focus was on the preparation for Jesus’ ministry. Chapter one details the preparation of history for Jesus’ coming. Chapter two gives us the preparation of Jesus’ culture for His arrival. Chapter three shows us the preparation of Jesus’ calling through baptism, and Chapter four demonstrates Jesus’ preparation for trial through fasting. The end of chapter four is a transition, showing how Jesus took over the ministry of John through calling disciples, preaching, and healing.

In chapters 5-7, we will focus on the preaching of Jesus’ ministry. The Sermon on the Mount is the first of five great blocks of Jesus’ sermons in Matthew.

The first section of Matthew five is known as the Beatitudes, or “blessings.” Jesus is just beginning to gather followers. The crowds have been attracted through His miracles and want to follow Him, but how are His followers to live? In Jesus’ day, being a disciple meant following your rabbi (teacher) everywhere they went, and living according to a code they taught. The Beatitudes lay out the lifestyle code for Jesus’ followers, and the rest of the Sermon expounds on this code.

Jesus went up on a mountain and sat down to teach, as was the custom for rabbis of that time. As the crowd gathered around Him, He began to lay out His radical discipleship lifestyle. We find in Jesus’ teaching that He has a special place in His heart for the poor and oppressed – which would have included most of Jesus’ audience. In contrast to the dominant message of the empire culture (blessed are the rich and powerful), Jesus teaches that it is actually those who know they are poor and suffering who will be able to receive blessings from God. For those in Jesus’ audience who don’t think they are spiritually poor, Jesus will use the rest of His sermon to illustrate their poverty (maybe you don’t murder, but do you hate? Perhaps you don’t touch, but do you look?) While the first four Beatitudes are passive (dealing with being), the next three are active (dealing with doing.) Mercy, purity, and peace are not just virtues to be obtained, but involve a lifestyle of actively seeking to live as Jesus’ lived, influencing others to do the same. The last two Beatitudes show how the world will react when a disciple lives out the first seven, but Jesus promises blessing even in persecution.

In the next section, Jesus moves to the “you are” section of the sermon. By living as Jesus’ followers, we become the salt and light of our world. We bring purity, flavor, preservation, and illumination to a dirty, bland, rotten, and dark culture. Jesus promises the world will hate us for exposing their darkness, just as they hated Him. However, we know that following Jesus offers blessing abundant and eternal, in this world and the life to come!

CrossGroups

• Go around the table and share prayer requests. Have someone lead in prayer.

• Let everyone who would like share anything exciting from their week.

• Ask these three questions. Let as many answer each one as would like.

1) Is there anything in today’s scripture that especially speaks to you?

2) What questions would you like to ask about today’s scripture?

3) Which of the Beatitudes is the hardest to live out today?

Today’s Sermon

Faith focus – “…He rose again from the dead”

Life need – What does it mean to follow Jesus?

Key truths –

• The disciples went up the mountain.

• We must go up the mountain.

• Jesus sat and blessed them.

• Jesus sits and blesses us!

Assignment – Make a list of seekers you know.

Today’s scripture focus – Romans 8:12-30

This is our final week in Romans, and our final paraphrase from Eugene Peterson’s The Message:

So don’t you see that we don’t owe this old do-it-yourself life one red cent. There’s nothing in it for us, nothing at all. The best thing to do is give it a decent burial and get on with your new life. God’s Spirit beckons. There are things to do and places to go!

This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike “What’s next, Papa?” God’s Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what’s coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we’re certainly going to go through the good times with him!

That’s why I don’t think there’s any comparison between the present hard times and the coming good times. The created world itself can hardly wait for what’s coming next. Everything in creation is being more or less held back. God reins it in until both creation and all the creatures are ready and can be released at the same moment into the glorious times ahead. Meanwhile, the joyful anticipation deepens.

All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it’s not only around us; it’s within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We’re also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don’t see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.

Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.

God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him.

CrossGroups

• Go around the table and share prayer requests. Have someone lead in prayer.

• Let everyone who would like share anything exciting from their week.

• Ask these three questions. Let as many answer each one as would like.

1) Is there anything in today’s scripture that especially speaks to you?

2) What questions would you like to ask about today’s scripture?

3) What’s causing creation to groan today?  The Church?  The Spirit?

Today’s Sermon

Faith focus – “…He rose again from the dead”

Life need – How can we live righteously?

Key truths –

• The groaning of Creation
• The groaning of Christians
• The groaning of the Spirit
• The goodness of God

Assignment – Identify the groanings of your “nation” (family, workplace, community)

Today’s scripture focus – Romans 6:1-14

Today’s CrossTalk scripture background once again comes from The Message, Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase of the Bible.  You can fine The Message paraphrase of any scripture, as well as dozens of versions and translations, at www.biblegateway.com

1-3So what do we do? Keep on sinning so God can keep on forgiving? I should hope not! If we’ve left the country where sin is sovereign, how can we still live in our old house there? Or didn’t you realize we packed up and left there for good? That is what happened in baptism. When we went under the water, we left the old country of sin behind; when we came up out of the water, we entered into the new country of grace—a new life in a new land!

3-5That’s what baptism into the life of Jesus means. When we are lowered into the water, it is like the burial of Jesus; when we are raised up out of the water, it is like the resurrection of Jesus. Each of us is raised into a light-filled world by our Father so that we can see where we’re going in our new grace-sovereign country.

6-11Could it be any clearer? Our old way of life was nailed to the cross with Christ, a decisive end to that sin-miserable life—no longer at sin’s every beck and call! What we believe is this: If we get included in Christ’s sin-conquering death, we also get included in his life-saving resurrection. We know that when Jesus was raised from the dead it was a signal of the end of death-as-the-end. Never again will death have the last word. When Jesus died, he took sin down with him, but alive he brings God down to us. From now on, think of it this way: Sin speaks a dead language that means nothing to you; God speaks your mother tongue, and you hang on every word. You are dead to sin and alive to God. That’s what Jesus did.

12-14That means you must not give sin a vote in the way you conduct your lives. Don’t give it the time of day. Don’t even run little errands that are connected with that old way of life. Throw yourselves wholeheartedly and full-time—remember, you’ve been raised from the dead!—into God’s way of doing things. Sin can’t tell you how to live. After all, you’re not living under that old tyranny any longer. You’re living in the freedom of God.

CrossGroups

• Go around the table and share prayer requests. Have someone lead in prayer.

• Let everyone who would like share anything exciting from their week.

• Ask these three questions. Let as many answer each one as would like.

1) Is there anything in today’s scripture that especially speaks to you?

2) What questions would you like to ask about today’s scripture?

3) Do Christians continue to struggle with sin?  Why or why not?

Today’s Sermon

Faith focus – “…He rose again from the dead”

Life need – How can we live righteously?

Key truths –

• Sin – the old system

• Sin – the wrong question

• Grace – the new system

• Grace – the right question

Assignment – Identify barriers between sin and grace in your “nation” (family, community, school, workplace.)