Jesus Leads a Bible Study-1

Let me begin this morning by saying, “Praise God for the Supreme Court ruling announced on Friday!”

Praise God that He heard us as we prayed for almost 5 decades according to:

1 Timothy 2:1–4 (NASB95) First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, 2 for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity [serious reverence]. 3 This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

God heard our prayers and gave us our petitions.

Yes, we would liked to have seen it the same year Roe was handed down in 1973, but because God is sovereign, He gave us the answer in 2022.

Why?

I can think of a lot of reasons, but I will let God tell us once we get to the other side.

I am just VERY thankful that the national mandate to kill babies in the womb has ended after 49 years and over 60 million babies killed.

But please understand, abortion is still legal — it just isn’t required at the national level.

Each state will make laws concerning the killing of unborn children.

So, think about the people who live in New York, California, and 18 other states where babies in the womb are completely unprotected.

20 states where over half of the population of the U.S. lives.

20 states where abortion is completely legal up to the moment of birth (and some would argue even after birth).

I believe that we can trace the demand for abortion back to the fiction of evolution proposed in the middle 1800s and adopted as scientific fact in the early 1900s.

Many believe, myself included, that BELIEF in the fiction of evolution has led humanity to believe it is god and, eventually, that led to the sexual revolution because, as Romans 1:24-25 says: when you walk away from Him, when you deny He is God, He gives you over to the dishonoring of your bodies in sexual impurity.

When humanity leaves biblical sexuality behind (that all sexual relations are to be within the boundary of the marriage of one man to one woman for life) then you have a lot of unplanned, unwanted pregnancies — the primary answer for which seems to be abortion.

So, we see at its heart, this nation STILL needs to turn to God.

As it does, and as it adopts the Biblical view of sexual relations, then the CLAMOR for abortion will decline.

As we obey verses like: 1 Thessalonians 4:3–5 (NASB95) For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, 5 not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God;

In the prayer guide included in your bulletin, the Family Research Council gives us 12 helpful prayer points. I included number 13 at the bottom of the list.

Yes, Roe has been overturned, but the war for the soul of this country is not over.

We must continue to pray and speak the truth in love.

PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING

Jesus Leads a Bible Study

In a few minutes we will partake of the Lord’s Supper together.

What a joy to do so!

To obey the Commands of Jesus:

Luke 22:19 (NASB95) “… do this in remembrance of Me.”

But let’s partake with knowledge of what we are doing.

Let’s understand who Jesus is and what He has done — unlike the disciples in our text.

Luke 24:13-27

So we see in our text, the account of an encounter that 2 disciples had with their Lord, Jesus.

They just didn’t know it was Him.

Maybe their eyes were clouded by unbelief.

They just couldn’t believe Jesus had risen from the grave even after some women had told them AND Peter and John had verified what the women had said.

According to the Gospel according to Luke, this encounter takes place just hours following the resurrection event.

These disciples are struggling with what they have witnessed and heard.

Jesus comes to them incognito and as they travel down the road, He leads them in a Bible study about Himself.

Jesus in Isaiah

Vs. 27 tells us:

Beginning with Moses ...

I believe that like John’s Gospel, Jesus began with Genesis 1:1 and in the time it took for this group to travel the 7 miles to Emmaus, He explained how He was the fulfillment of ALL OT prophecy.

The Lord willing, I will look at more of these teachings in 2 weeks on July 10.

Next week we will be at the Senior Pavilion at Meeks Park and I will be giving a short devotion about Independence Day

But I believe included in what Jesus told these men travelling to Emmause was:

Isaiah 52:13–15 (NASB95) Behold, My servant will prosper, He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted. 14 Just as many were astonished at you, My people, So His appearance was marred more than any man And His form more than the sons of men. 15 Thus He will sprinkle many nations, Kings will shut their mouths on account of Him; For what had not been told them they will see, And what they had not heard they will understand.

Isaiah 53:1–12 (NASB95) Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 2 For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. 3 He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. 4 Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. 6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him. 7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment He was taken away; And as for His generation, who considered That He was cut off out of the land of the living For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due? 9 His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth. 10 But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand. 11 As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the booty with the strong; Because He poured out Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors.

Jesus IS that One who was so marred and disfigured by his beatings that people were astonished but not drawn to Him.

That He was despised and forsaken as He hung on the Cross because of OUR sin — not His, He was without sin — he was beaten with many stripes (certainly more that 40 save one) because He was beaten by Romans/

And yet, by those stripes we are healed.

Because of His stripes we are reconciled to the Father — our relationship healed.

But I believe in physical healing through Calvary.

Brother Barry has been dealing with health issues — as he prays over the bread in a few minutes I believe he can be miraculously healed.

Jesus spilled His blood

The Father saw it and was satisfied.

Through that spilled Blood He justified many

He gives victory

He makes us overcomers.

Thank God Jesus is the fulfilment of Isaiah 52 and 53!

Let’s remember that fulfilment by partaking of the Lord’s Supper together.

The Lord’s Supper

A. Invitation

1. It is Jesus who has made it possible for us to receive salvation AND the Baptism in the Holy Spirit.

2. His sacrifice.

3. The giving of His body to be beaten.

4. The pouring out of His precious blood.

5. We are called to remember that sacrifice by partaking of the Lord’s supper together.

B. Partake in a “right” manner

1. 1 Corinthians 11:27–28 (NLT) So anyone who eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily is guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup.

2. I’m not trying to exclude anyone.

i. I’m encouraging you to repent of your sins BEFORE you partake.

C. Prayer

D. Come:

1. You don’t have to be a member.

2. Break the bread

3. Get a cup

4. Hold elements

5. Stand (or sit) across the front.

6. We will all partake together.

D. Bread

1. 1 Corinthians 11:23–24 (NLT) For I pass on to you what I received from the Lord himself. On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread 24 and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

2. Prayer

3. End prayer with prayer from Seder:

i. Blessed are you, O Lord our God, who brings forth bread from the earth.

4. Partake

E. Cup

1. 1 Corinthians 11:25 (NLT) In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this in remembrance of me as often as you drink it.”

2. Prayer

1. End prayer with prayer from Seder:

i. Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who creates the fruit of the vine.

2. Partake

F. Jesus is coming soon!

1. 1 Corinthians 11:26 (NLT) For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until he comes again.

2. Dismiss with Hymn