Pastor Jake spoke on the story of Jacob and Esau and how God values our seeking of Him.
Scripture: Genesis 32:22-32
The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.23 He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had. 24 And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. 25 When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. 26 Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” 27 And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.”28 Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel,for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.”29 Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. 30 So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.” 31 The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. 32 Therefore to this day the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket, because he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip on the sinew of the thigh. (ESV)
Pastor Jake had us look at the examples of Mary and Martha in Luke 10, focusing on the importance of listening to Jesus.
Main Points & Outline
Let’s Look at the Women
They were sisters
Martha was sensitive, hard working, had a servant’s heart
Mary is listening to Jesus talk
Let’s Notice a Familiar Problem
Martha was distracted
The accusation
She feels the Lord doesn’t care
She feels the Lord isn’t just
Let’s See How Jesus Responds
He diagnoses the problem
He offers the solution
The solution is cultivating a relationship with the Lord
Scripture: Luke 10:38-42
Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” 41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42 but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” (ESV)
Pastor Jake spoke on Jesus’ conversation with the Sadducees in Matthew 22, and how we have a “God of the Living”.
Main Points & Outline
Humanity’s Haunting Shadow: Death
A natural aversion to death
Sad views of death
Fanciful views of death
The views of the Sadducees
The “trick” of the Sadducees
Jesus’ Assessment: The Compassion of Truth
Two Universal/Fundamental Reasons for Error
They don’t know Scripture
They don’t believe the power of God
Application
Our “temporary” hope: absent from the body & present with the Lord
Our “future” hope: a bodily resurrection at the 2nd Advent
The “basis” of our hope: the resurrection of Christ
Our “final” hope: involves all of creation – a new heavens and new earth
Scripture: Matthew 22:23-33
The same day Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection, and they asked him a question, 24 saying, “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies having no children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.’ 25 Now there were seven brothers among us. The first married and died, and having no offspring left his wife to his brother. 26 So too the second and third, down to the seventh. 27 After them all, the woman died. 28 In the resurrection, therefore, of the seven, whose wife will she be? For they all had her.”
29 But Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. 30 For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.31 And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God: 32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living.”33 And when the crowd heard it, they were astonished at his teaching. (ESV)
Pastor Ben spoke on Exodus 24 and the covenant between God and the Israelites, and the parallels to God’s new covenant with us through Jesus.
Main Points & Outline
God’s Covenant with Israel through Moses
Call for Righteousness
Blood of the Covenant
Union with God
God’s New Covenant with man through Jesus
Call for Righteousness
Jesus is righteous (Matthew 5:17)
Jesus makes us righteous (2 Corinthians 5:21)
We are called to live for Him (2 Corinthians 5:15)
We are called to proclaim Him (2 Corinthians 5:18)
Blood of the Covenant
Jesus is the perfect mediator (Hebrews 9:15)
Jesus is the perfect priest (Hebrews 9:24)
Jesus is the perfect sacrifice (Hebrews 9:26)
Union with God
We can draw near (Hebrews 10:19-22)
We must approach God with a heart of faith (Hebrews 10:22-23)
We must be united as His Church (Hebrews 10:24-25)
Scripture: Exodus 24
Then he said to Moses, “Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar. 2 Moses alone shall come near to the Lord, but the others shall not come near, and the people shall not come up with him.”
3 Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the rules. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do.” 4 And Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. He rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. 5 And he sent young men of the people of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord. 6 And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he threw against the altar. 7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.” 8 And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”
9 Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, 10 and they saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness. 11 And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and ate and drank.
12 The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and wait there, that I may give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.” 13 So Moses rose with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up into the mountain of God. 14 And he said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we return to you. And behold, Aaron and Hur are with you. Whoever has a dispute, let him go to them.”
15 Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. 16 The glory of the Lord dwelt on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. 17 Now the appearance of the glory of the Lordwas like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel. 18 Moses entered the cloud and went up on the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights. (ESV)
