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?