A Life That Demands an Explanation
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Everybody wants to good life
the Left wants to to establish Utopia
There is LIFE cereal
The true church is were there is life
The Life the disciples were living with the resurrected Christ and with each other demanded an explanation
The Sadducees were jealous and angry
Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy.
They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail.
But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out.
“Go, stand in the temple courts,” he said, “and tell the people the full message of this new life.”
At daybreak they entered the temple courts, as they had been told, and began to teach the people. When the high priest and his associates arrived, they called together the Sanhedrin—the full assembly of the elders of Israel—and sent to the jail for the apostles.
But on arriving at the jail, the officers did not find them there. So they went back and reported,
“We found the jail securely locked, with the guards standing at the doors; but when we opened them, we found no one inside.”
On hearing this report, the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests were puzzled, wondering what would come of this.
The word LIFE is used 36 times in the new testament
We have been unlocked from our own fears, inhibitions, ambiguity, and confusion
Like the Apostles, we too have been delivered to declare and dramatize life
Body
Life is a synonym for the Lord Himself
Life is a synonym for the Lord Himself
In him was life, and that life was the light of men.
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.
The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us.
In Christ we see what God is and what we are to become
Life was the synthesis of what Jesus came to be and do
Life was the synthesis of what Jesus came to be and do
Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies;
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
It is life lived by his limitless power, guided by his love, expressed by his grace, and totally indestructible by death
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
The word Life is symbolic of what happens to a person in a relationship with Christ
The word Life is symbolic of what happens to a person in a relationship with Christ
Jesus is Life, incarnate life, and now imparts that life to those who receive him
To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body,
Life is the balance symmetry of our relationship with one another
Life is the balance symmetry of our relationship with one another
Because of Christ’s life in the believer, there is a totally different quality to that relationship with fellow believers
Christ love, forgiveness, esteem, and hope become the basis for our union
Then someone came and said, “Look! The men you put in jail are standing in the temple courts teaching the people.”
At that, the captain went with his officers and brought the apostles. They did not use force, because they feared that the people would stone them.
Having brought the apostles, they made them appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest.
“We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said. “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.”
Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than men!
The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead—whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree.
God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel.
We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”
When they heard this, they were furious and wanted to put them to death.
But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, who was honored by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered that the men be put outside for a little while.
Then he addressed them: “Men of Israel, consider carefully what you intend to do to these men.
Some time ago Theudas appeared, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men rallied to him. He was killed, all his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing.
After him, Judas the Galilean appeared in the days of the census and led a band of people in revolt. He too was killed, and all his followers were scattered.
Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail.
But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.”
His speech persuaded them. They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.
The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.
Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.
There is no question that the effectiveness of the early Church in evangelism was caused by the love the early Christians shared
CONCLUSIon
Our task is not to argue, philosophize, speculate, cajole, but to live a life the demands an explanation
Now that’s living
All the words of this life must become our own experience
Christ just become our life, our consuming passion, purpose and power
Joy is the undeniable makr of the New Life