Reactions to Opposition

Luke 13:31–35 (NLT) 

A. Opposition From the enemy/Opposition to stop you:

31 At that time some Pharisees said to him,

“Get away from here if you want to live! Herod Antipas wants to kill you!”

1.Who gave him a warning?  What is strange here?

2. What was the warning?

3. What is the possible motive for the warning?

Faithful to Christ in Spite of Persecution

2 Thes.1:1-12  

3-4 Paul thanked God for the spiritual growth of his readers,

5-10 Encouraged them to persevere in their trials,

11-12 and Assured them of his prayers for them.

He did so to motivate them to continue to endure hardship and thereby develop in their faith.

2 Grace and peace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Apostle Paul wished God's grace and peace for them to express his continuing good will toward his children in the faith.

Grace (God's unmerited favor and divine enablement) and

Peace (the cessation of hostility and the fullness of divine blessing)

The Narrow Door

Luke 13:22–30 (NIV)         

22 Then Jesus went through the towns and villages,

              teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem.

23 Someone asked him, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?”

              He said to them,

Jesus was speaking to a crowd made up mostly of religious Jews. They believed in the one true God.

They were not agnostics or polytheists.They believed in the Hebrew Scriptures and lived in basic accordance with them.In giving His answer, Jesus was not addressing a pagan audience. He was talking to the “church” crowd, most of whom assumed that they would go to heaven because they were good Jews.

And He gives us church folks some important and practical lessons on the subject of salvation:

24-------Salvation requires our earnest effort,

25a------our urgent attention,

25b-29--and our careful self-examination.

A Gospel-Advancing Lifestyle

1 Thessalonians 2:1-12

The Gospel had made an impact in the lives of the Thessalonian believers, in part, because of the way they faithfully received it (1:2-10).

Paul praised them for this;

But another thing that contributed to its success and spread, was the character and conduct of those who preached it to them - specifically Paul, Silvanus and Timothy.

In Titus 2:10, Paul urged Pastor Titus to exhort and teach the people under his care to live in such a way as to "make the teaching about God our Savior attractive." (Titus 2:10).

The success of the Gospel always depends ultimately upon Our sovereign God; but Paul's admonition to Titus reminds us that we can either live in such a way as to promote its advancement, or in such a way as to hinder its progress.

Parables of the Mustard Seed & the Yeast

Luke 13:18-21  

Sometimes it seems as if the other side is winning. Evil people abound and seem to prosper. Godly people are a minority and even some of them fall into serious sins. If we look at what we ourselves have accomplished for the Lord, it seems so insignificant in the face of the huge task of establishing God’s kingdom on this earth.

Luke 13:18 Then Jesus asked,

“What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to?

19 It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden.

It grew and became a tree, and the birds perched in its branches.”

20 Again he asked, “What shall I compare the kingdom of God to?

21 It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.”

New Year’s Resolution

Pray   

Col.4: 2-6

So how is your prayer life? Prayer can be easy or difficult depending on many factors. There are days when we seem to touch heaven with our prayers, and other days when our words seem to bounce off the ceiling.

Did you know that nearly 1,400 verses in the Bible speak about prayer?

Facts and Excuses About Prayer

Prayer makes a difference … we don’t know how … we just know it does.

Prayer brings wisdom.

Prayer provides strength for difficult times.

Prayer convicts us of areas in our life that need changing.

We know these things by heart. We know by experience that “prayer changes things.” We know that prayer changes us and it changes the world around us. We know that God gave prayer to us as a wonderful gift. If that is true (and it is), then why don’t we pray more than we do?

"In the Beginning . . . . God"

 Genesis 1:1

Some foundational truths of our faith & guidance for the New Year-2014

What the Bible teaches us about creation:

1. There was a Beginning

2. God is Eternal

3. God brings meaning out of Chaos

4. God is the Source of Creation

APPLICATIONS:

1. If God is at the Head of the Universe, He should be at the Head of Our lives. If God did indeed create the world, it means He is our superior. He is owed our devotion and respect. If He is the Designer, then He knows how things work the best and so His instructions are far superior to the opinions of men. This means we should use Him as our reference point. He is the one we should measure our lives by.

Many of us go into the New Year with goals for lots of things weight loss, exercise, finances, overcoming various vices ,business…But . . . what goals do we have for strengthening our spiritual life? How deliberate are we in building our spiritual life? You can work as hard as you want... and be as diligent as you want... but if you "don't sharpen your ax" you will drift away from God. It is surprising how many good and innocent things can impede our spiritual growth. It could be our love for reading, or gardening, the Internet, sports, our jobs and even our family.

In the beginning . . . . .God!  Put God first this year.

Mary’s Christmas: Mary, Mission & Miracle

Luke 1:26-38  

The Christmas Season is one of the most joyous times of the year.

However, it can also be one of the most stressful times of the year.

Mary’s  Background of the story:

26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy,

God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee,

There’s a perfect timing, instruments & place for all of us.

The Most Important Decision of your life

Luke 12:49-59  

⁴⁹ “I have come to set the world on fire,

                   and I wish it were already burning!

 The reference to fire suggest judgment. Jesus’ coming is like a fire. You can ignore it and you will perish or You can get on the right side of it and it will purify the dross out of your life. You have to deal with it or it will consume you!

⁵⁰ I have a terrible baptism of suffering ahead of me,

                   and I am under a heavy burden until it is accomplished.

Contentment

Phil.4:10-13                      

      

What is contentment?

Contentment is the belief that I have everything I need at this present moment.

It is also the confidence & certainty that when I need anything else, God will give it to me.

I almost certainly don’t have everything I want. And I probably don’t have everything I think I need. This part of the definition means that God has so ordered the universe that no matter where you are right now you have everything you truly need to be content. 

That’s an awesome statement—and I know it’s one thing to say that on Sunday morning, it’s something else to believe that when your husband or wife or child walks out on you or the doctor says, “I’m sorry. There’s nothing else we can do.”

How do we know this is true? We know it because God has said it is true.