Church At The Cross

Scripture: Matthew 25:31-46 Key Takeaways: + The Identity Jesus Claims Daniel 7:13-14 Acts 17:30-31 "I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God? That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic-on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg-or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to." – C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity. "The sane man does not believe tha

Scripture: Matthew 25:14-30 Key Takeaways: + Live the life you are going to one day wish you had lived + We have God-given resources corresponding to our God-given capacities and are responsible to God for how we steward them Psalm 24:1 + Urgency + Energy + Intentionality + Everyone will give an account to God for how they lived their lives and managed their God-given resources Matthew 16:27 1 Corinthians 4:5 2 Corinthians 5:9-10 1 Corinthians 3:10-15 + We will be evaluated NOT based on our capacities but based on our faithfulness with the capacities and opportunities entrusted to us. + The Day of Judgment will reveal the true nature of a person’s relationship with God

Scripture: Matthew 25:1-13 Key Takeaways: + There is life and longing in the delay Ephesians 5:25 John 14:3 2 Peter 3:9 + When he returns, it will be too late to get ready + You cannot transfer faith + Be ready for the return of the bridegroom + How do you live ready? Matthew 7:21-23 Matthew 25:11-12 “Tomorrow is the devil's day, but today is God's. Satan does not care how spiritual your intentions are, or how holy your resolutions, if only they are determined to be done tomorrow.” - JC Ryle

Scripture: Matthew 21:28-33 Key Takeaways: + Only those who demonstrate repentance and faith through wholehearted obedience to the will of the Father will enter the kingdom of heaven. + Repentance Is Necessary and Good + Repentance Should Be the Lifestyle of the Christian + Repentance Leads to Obedience John 15:5 + You Become Like What You Behold Philippians 2:5–11

Scripture: Matthew 20:1-16 Key Takeaways:   + God is radically generous and free with His grace   Psalm 145:8-9 Micah 7:18   + Everyone is equal in the Kingdom of God   Ephesians 1:3 1 Peter 5:1-2   + It is never too late to come into the Kingdom of God   Psalm 92:12-15

Scripture: Matthew 18:21-35 Key Takeaways: + Forgiveness is a lifetime pursuit + Forgiveness is the cancellation of a debt -       Forgiveness doesn’t mean removing healthy boundaries -       Forgiveness does not exempt us from justice + Forgiveness must be experienced -       Luke 7:36-50 + Experienced forgiveness allows us to extend forgiveness  “Forgiveness is granted before it is felt.” – Tim Keller + Forgiveness reflects the Gospel

Scripture: Matthew 13:44-46 Key Takeaways:  — Finding — Assessing — Selling — Rejoicing — Buying + Jesus is the one thing worth losing all things just to have + This is how we become a Christian — Jesus is not your Savior unless He is your Treasure “How sweet all at once it was for me to be rid of those fruitless joys which I had once feared to lose… You drove them from me, you who are the true, the sovereign joy. You drove them from me and took their place, you who are sweeter than all pleasure… you who outshine all light… you who surpass all honor…O Lord my God, my Light, my Wealth, and my Salvation.” – Confessions, IX, 1. — Philippians 3:4-11 + This is how we live as a Christian — Philippians 3:7-8 + This is how we overcome temptation — Hebrews 11:24-26

Scripture: Matthew 13:31-33 Key Takeaways:  + The Kingdom of God is humble in its start and unstoppable in its spread. Acts 6:7 Acts 12:24 Acts 19:20 + A Global Dimension   Ezekiel 17:22-24 Matthew 24:14 + A Societal Dimension  “I call myself a cultural Christian. I’m not a believer, but there is a distinction between believing in something and being steeped in the culture of it.” – Richard Dawkins, Atheist “You cannot take the fruit of Christianity and then say you don’t want the tree.” – Douglas Murray, Atheist Cultural Critic + A Personal Dimension  Philippians 1:6

Scripture: Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 Key Takeaways:  + Two Destinies  + One Day + Listen and Live + Patience and Persuasion 1 Peter 3:14-16

Scripture: Matthew 13:1-23 Key Takeaways:  + The Seed explained  “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” – Thomas Edison + The Soil explained The Path Rocky Ground Thorns + For me to live is ______ and to die is ______ The Good Soil

Scripture: Genesis 11:1–9 Key Takeaways: Genesis 9:1 + Pride seeks to construct a life apart from God -       Do I consistently spend time seeking God in his word and in prayer? -       Do I often spontaneously voice to God my admiration of Him, gratitude to Him, and need for Him? -       Do I often lose arguments with God? -       Do I pray and seek wisdom in God’s word and from God’s people before I make a major decision? -       Do I arrange my life around God’s priorities? -       Am I generous toward God? Psalm 4:6-8 + Pride is always resisted by God Luke 14:11 + Jesus is the Anti-Babel Philippians 2:5-11 + Jesus reverses Babel Acts 2:4-11

Scripture: Genesis 8:20–9:17 Key Takeaways: + God will not let evil prevail + God saves by grace -       1 Peter 3:20–21 + God honors faith -       Hebrews 11:7 + God has another Day of Judgment coming -       Matthew 24:36–44

Scripture: Genesis 7:11-8:19 Key Takeaways: Genesis 1:31 Genesis 3:15 + God’s judgement is severe Genesis 7:11-23 -       a. It’s devastating Genesis 7:21-22 -       b. All encompassing + God’s character is consistent -       a. In His standard Genesis 7:16 -       b. In His grace Genesis 8:1 + God’s salvation is sufficient Genesis 7:17 -       a. It overcomes death -       b. It sustains in the midst of death -       c. It delivers through death Genesis 8:13-19 Genesis 3:15 Isaiah 53:10

Scripture: Genesis 6-7:5 Key Takeaways: Isaiah 46:8-11 Malachi 3:6 Psalm 18:30 + God grieves/regrets = A providential, heartfelt response resulting in a planned course of action + 2 Truths of God’s Grief The Seriousness of Sin  ·       The Justice of God + Big Question – Why is Noah spared? 

Scripture: Genesis 4:1-16 Key Takeaways: + The Nature of Worship True Religion vs Transactional Ritual Hebrews 11:4 1 John 3:11-13 + The Nature of Sin + The Nature of God Hebrews 12:24

Scripture: Acts 1:1-11 Key Takeaways: + Lifted up to a Place of Honor John 17:4–5 Philippians 2:5–11 “Human history is the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.” – C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity + Lifted up to a Place of Intercession Hebrews 7:22–26 1 John 2:1–2 Luke 22:31–34 + Lifted up to a Place of Authority Ephesians 1:19–22 Matthew 28:18–20

Scripture: John 12:20-33 Key Takeaways: + By his death, Jesus opens up heaven to the world. + By his death, Jesus shows us how to truly live. Galatians 6:14 + The world no longer tells me how to live and the world no longer tells me if I’m truly living.

Scripture: Genesis 3:7-24 Key Takeaways: + The Ruin “The effects of sin touch all of creation; no created thing is in principle untouched by the corrosive effects of the fall. Whether we look at societal structures such as the state of the family, or cultural pursuits such as art or technology, or bodily functions such as sexuality or eating, or anything at all within the wide scope of creation, we discover that the good handiwork of God has been drawn into the sphere of human mutiny against God. ‘The whole creation,’ Paul writes in a profound passage in Romans, ‘has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time’ (Romans 8:22).” – Creation Regained, Albert Wolters. -       Loss of Perfection -       Loss of Peace -       Loss of Presence   The Restoration -       The Search -       The Seed -       The Skins Revelation 21:1–5 Revelation 22:1–6