A Sunday morning series designed to
help open God’s Word to YOU!

We want to know Him.  We want to hear from Him.  We need His words of love, affirmation, direction, correction and encouragement.  We need daily marching orders for the battle we are called to fight against the powers of darkness.  So, we open the Scripture.  We’re ready.  We’re primed.  We start to read…and feel completely lost.  This is the experience of so many who believe in Jesus – and who truly want to hear the Father’s voice.  

But the Scripture really is the Word of a Father given to His sons and daughters.  It is incredibly personal and each of us can – and must – learn to read, study and apply His words for ourselves.  Otherwise we remain spiritual toddlers, spoon-fed and spiritually anemic, ill-equipped to even face – let alone do battle – in a fallen, broken world.

So, from September to May this year, we are on a mission – a mission to make the Scripture more understandable, more accessible – so that we can feel confident to open His Book of Words…to us…and know that we will walk away with the love, affirmation, direction, correction and encouragement we desperately need.  There are 27 New Testament books and we will tackle one book each week, focusing on background like the human author, the intended ancient readers, the historical and cultural context, and the main theme and themes – anything that will encourage us that we CAN read the Scripture and hear God’s voice to us.  We will also take a look at a few of the most significant passages in that particular book – so that we will have something from the Lord to take with us that very day!

The world is waiting for mature followers of Jesus Christ who live and love like Him.  The world – our community – is waiting for you and me to be those mature followers.  So, let’s make a commitment to each other, but mostly to our Heavenly Father, to take the next 9 months and grow ourselves up, to begin to feed ourselves from His book, the very Words of God…to you, to me, to us.  

The Words of God to You
Part I: The Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles

   September 14                           “Where did the New Testament come from anyway?”

Did it drop out of the sky?  How did the authors “hear” from God and know what to write?  How did some books get “picked” and some get left out?  How were the documents preserved?  How do we know the New Testament is the true story of God coming to earth – and not just myth?  And what was going on 2,000 years ago in culture and history that made the timing absolutely perfect for the delivery of the life story
of Jesus and His followers preserved in the pages of the New Testament? 

 

   September 21                           “Matthew: Jesus, the King”

Each gospel is one author’s take on the life of Jesus of Nazareth.  Matthew [also known as Levi], a tax collector and one of Jesus’ 12 closest followers, writes primarily to the first century Jewish Christian community and portrays Jesus as the true King of the Jews – and thus, of course, our King!  This is also the gospel that speaks most about God as our personal, good, caring, sovereign Father in heaven.

   September 28                           “Mark: Jesus, the Suffering Servant”

John Mark was a traveling companion of Paul and Barnabas in Acts.  A strong historical tradition suggests that Mark was close to Peter late in his life and became the scribe for Peter’s take on the life of Jesus.  Over half of Mark’s gospel is taken up with the passion of Jesus – Mark 8-16 is all about Jesus heading for Jerusalem and His cross.  So to Mark, Jesus is most clearly seen as “the suffering servant of Yahweh” who calls the early suffering believers in Rome [his primary audience], and each of us today, to take up our own cross and follow Him.

   October 14                                  “Luke: Jesus, Messiah of the Nations”

A very early tradition ascribes authorship to Luke, “the beloved physician” and friend of Paul spoken of in Colossians 4:14.  From the opening lines, Luke’s gospel explicitly claims to be a historically researched, “orderly” account of the life of Jesus – written specifically for a man named Theophilus.  Luke’s larger audience seems to be Gentile [non-Jewish] believers and his gospel is filled with Jesus connecting in love and compassion with every kind of historically marginalized human being – a powerful reminder that Jesus also wants to connect with each one of us.

 

   October 12                                  “John: Jesus, God in the Flesh”

John’s gospel is the most theological of the four New Testament accounts of Jesus’ life.  Likely written by one of the 12, John “the beloved disciple”, the theme is explicitly stated in John 20:30-31 – “…that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.”  This is the only gospel expressly designed for non-believers, intending to provide a strong, deeply historical apologetic that Jesus Christ is truly God in the flesh, the only possible Savior of the world…and thus the only possible Savior of each one of us .

 

   October 19                                  “Acts: The History of the Early Church”

Whoever wrote Luke seems to have also written Acts.  Luke’s purpose is to continue the historically accurate account of the life of Jesus – now extended to the life of His 1st century followers.  Trust me, this is NOT dry history but the unlikely and thus incredible story of how a group of devastated, frightened men and women took the message of an obscure, supposedly dead Jewish prophet to the ancient world - corrupt, divided, and wounded by the Roman Empire.  It is also the story of how that message, Jesus’ good news of life over death, changed that world forever.

 

The Words of God to You
Part II:  Romans – Philippians will begin November 2nd!