As Paul had made clear to this church (and continues to), suffering for the sake of Christ is inevitable. The question ought never to be “Will we face persecution?” but, rather, “How do we respond when we do face persecution? ” We want the same thing Paul wanted – for followers of Jesus to remain unshaken in their faith. In this passage we will explore that faith is much, much deeper than simply “believing certain facts about Jesus”.
As a family rooted in the Gospel there will be times we have to root out rebellion to the Gospel. Paul gives sound and clear and hard guidance on how a church does this and what must be present in a Gospel Rooting family to root out rebellion. Church leaders must be contending for the faith and concerned for the family. As well as church members must also cling to the faith and conform to faithfulness.
Paul instructs Timothy to establish elders and leadership in the various Cretan churches that they had planted together. In his explanation of what the character of an elder ought to be, he demonstrates that this the life that the believer should aspire to. In many ways, there is nothing overly special about the list, but in contrast to the living of the culture, this stands out as radical or bold. Again the emphasis for living an Gospel-centered life does not come from the command itself (legalism) but from the grace of God given to us in Jesus.
Today we look at the final days leading up to the crucifixion of Christ and some of the characters of the cross revolving around the last supper in 3 different sermon segments.
God chooses to display his sovereign might through imperfect people like Moses. The Moses we find in Exodus 4 is much different than the one found in Exodus 2. He has been shaped by his time in the wilderness and his experience with God. In this we discover that the might of God almost always flows through obedience rooted in faith. God pulls Moses away from his selfdoubt and anxiety toward faithful obedience through which God will use Moses powerfully. God wants to use us. He asks us to stopping looking at ourselves and to look up toward Him.
(Colossians 1:1-6;27-29/Galatians 5:6)
(2 Corinthians 5:7 /Matthew 17:20/Hebrews 11:1 /Matthew 14:25-33;15:22,26-28)
(Habakkuk 3:16-19a/Romans 12:12/Philippians 4:10b-13)
(Habakkuk 1:12-2:1/Jeremiah 30:11/John 1:5/1 Peter 1:15-16)
(Habakkuk 1:5-11/Matthew 6:9-10/Romans 12:1-2/James 1:2-4)