Livermore Alive

This We Believe

Part 6: Jesus is the Only Way

Eric Gjerstad Preaching

Review

-The truth starts with love. 1 Corinthians 13:1-3

-We need to humble ourselves with a heart of submission for Gods truth to take shape in our lives. 1 Pet 5:6; 2 Chron 7:14; James 4:6; Matthew 23:12; Micah 6:8

-The great I am wants me for Himself Gen 1:1; John 1:1; 1 Cor 2:7; Eph 1:11; Rom 8:19-21; Col 1:15-23

-God has some things He wants to say to me. Psalm 33:6-9 Psalm 29:3-9; John 1:1-2; Hebrews 4:12-13

-I need a savior. Rom 3:22-24

6 essential characteristics of the nature of Jesus, that make him eligible to be our Savior.

1) We believe the Jesus is _____________and _____________, one person in two natures. Philippians 2:6-8

2) We believe Jesus is conceived of the _____________and born of the ____________. Romans 5:12,19; Col 1:18

3) We believe Jesus lived a ____________life. Heb 4:15; Heb 5:7-9; Luke 22:42

4) We believe Jesus was _____________under Pontius Pilate. Rom 6:23

5) We believe Jesus ____________________ death. Rom 4:25; Col 1:18; Rom 6:23; Rev 1:18

6) We believe Jesus ascended into heaven. Now He is our _____________and _______________interceding on our behalf. Hebrews 10:11-12, 19-23

This We Believe

Part 5: I need a Savior

Selected Scripture

Luke Brower Preaching

What are your impressions of the human race?

What do you find fascinating about human beings?

What about us is confusing?

In what ways are we living up to our potential?

In what ways do we fall short?

There are a lot of questions surrounding the human race, but the most prominent is the question: Are human beings basically good with a bad streak or bad with a good streak? I mean we know humans aren’t perfect, but how are we supposed to understand human nature? It’s a really important question because what we choose to believe about people significantly impacts how we choose to live.

Article #3 outlines what we believe:

The Human Condition-

We believe that God created Adam and Eve in His image, but they sinned when tempted by Satan. In union with Adam, human beings are sinners by nature and by choice, alienated from God, and under His wrath. Only through God’s saving work in Jesus Christ can we be rescued, reconciled and renewed.

When you read the article, what are the main points that stick out to you?

How do they compare with your beliefs about the human race?

The article itself focuses on two main ideas

#1- That God created people in His image

#2- That through the line of Adam, human beings are sinners by nature and by choice

It’s a pretty interesting contrast

Based on this statement, on the one hand, God never intended sin. It’s actually quite the opposite, He set human beings apart from the beginning, made them perfect and designed them to be like Him in order to share a special relationship with them. But (and it’s a pretty big but) when Adam and Eve chose to disobey God they drastically altered God’s intentions, completely marring His image in them, almost beyond recognition. We went from looking an awful lot like Him to looking extremely different than Him (See chart on the back of the page).

What is your reaction to this chart?

What do you think about the idea that the image of God in us has been severely marred?

No matter what, the reality is, if this statement of faith is accurate, then we all need a Savior

The truth of the week simplifies it, I need a Savior

The biggest question is:

Am I ready to acknowledge and confess the reality of my sin nature and once again submit myself under the authority of my Creator?

Am I ready to put of the white flag and admit I am a sinner?

Why or why not?

The condition of the human race before our Holy God
The Nature of God-The Great I AM is: Human Being made in the image of God- We are: Human Nature in sinWe are:

Eternal

Made to live forever

Spiritually Still born and all face death

Holy:

Infinitely perfect

Perfect:

Created to experience nothing but holiness; not even knowing the difference between good and evil

Sinners:

Rebellious in our very nature

Love

Created to experience a love relationship

Cut off from our relationship

King

Made to rule with God

Slaves

The Wonderful Cross

When I survey the wondrous cross

On which the Prince of glory died,

My richest gain I count but loss,

And pour contempt on all my pride.

VERSE 2:

See from His head, His hands, His feet,

Sorrow and love flow mingled down:

Did e’er such love and sorrow meet

Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

CHORUS:

Oh the wonderful Cross, oh the wonderful Cross

Bids me come and die and find that I may truly live

Oh the wonderful Cross, oh the wonderful Cross

All who gather here by grace draw near and bless Your name

VERSE 3:

Were the whole realm of Nature mine,

That were an offering far too small;

Love so amazing, so divine,

Demands my soul, my life, my all!

With a special focus on the Chorus:

What do you believe about your position before God?

How do you react to the idea that the cross of Jesus calls us to come and die so that we can truly live?

What is your reaction to the grace of Jesus?

What does it mean to accept Him as your Savior?

This We Believe

Part 4: God has some things He wants to say to me

Selected Scripture

Luke Brower Preaching

Questions and thoughts to reflect on in a group or by yourself:

When looking at your life, what influences shape the person you are?

Especially in times of uncertainty, where do you go for answers?

Last week we talked about what we believe about God; specifically using the story of when God introduced Himself to Moses in the burning bush and gave Himself the name I AM. We said, The Great I AM is the Beginning, He’s holy, He’s love and He is King. This is what we believe our God is like. But whenever you make statements about what God is like it always brings up a question, “How do you know?” As followers of Jesus our answer is simple, “He told us.” We believe God has revealed Himself to us. Our God is a talking God. It’s the heart of Article #2 in our statement of faith:

We believe that God has spoken in the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, through the words of human authors. As the verbally inspired Word of God, the Bible is without error in the original writings, the complete revelation of His will for salvation, and the ultimate authority by which every realm of human knowledge and endeavor should be judged. Therefore, it is to be believed in all that it teaches, obeyed in all that it requires, and trusted in all that it promises.

As you ponder that statement take a second to reflect on these questions:

What has been your experience with the Bible?

What were you raised to believe about it?

How does your experience and belief affect the way you read it?

What do you think about the idea that our God is a talking God?

The reality is, over and over the Bible pictures God communicating with His people through His Word(s):

He spoke creation into existence- (Genesis 1:3, Psalm 33:6-9)

He word is active and accomplishes things in our world (Psalm 29:3-9, Isaiah 55:10-11)

Jesus is described as the Word of God with skin on- (John 1:1-2, 14)

The Word of God is Alive (Hebrews 4:12-13)

The Word of God is not just air; it is an active living presence among us. The problem is as human beings we often struggle to get quiet enough to hear Him. Not only does business get in the way, but it very difficult to hear God truth when you are always making it up for yourself. But how about you:

What keeps you from being able hear God in a personal way?

How would it change if instead of defining your own truth you took a posture of worshipful, active listening in every part of your life?

The reality is, if we really want to know God personally, He has to tell us who He is we can’t tell Him who He is. But part of listening requires us to understand how He chose to communicate. God has revealed Himself in two main ways: General Revelation- Making Himself known through creation; and Specific Revelation- Personally speaking His truth through relationships with people (i.e. the Bible).

What do we know from the Bible through General Revelation?

Even though general revelation is a great start, it doesn’t answer all our questions. It doesn’t tell us the meaning of life; it doesn’t explain pain and suffering our world; it doesn’t tell us what happens when we die; etc. etc. That’s why to fully know God and understand ourselves, we need Him to come into our lives and reveal Himself in a more specific way, which is exactly what we believe He has done. But the way He chose to do it comes as a bit of a surprise.

God chose to reveal Himself through relationships; specifically in a relationship with one man; a man named Abraham. God chose Abraham, made a promise to Him to be His God and the God of His descendants after Him, and told Abraham that through him and his offspring (the people of Israel) He would reveal Himself to the whole world. That promise culminated in Jesus who was born in the line of Abraham.

And that’s what the Bible is about. It’s the story of God gathering together a people for Himself from every nation through Abraham and his offspring. Its specific revelation.

The truth is God has some things He wants to say to me

The real question is, “Am I ready t listen?”

What are some things you can do today to open your heart up to be ready to hear God?

Scriptures Referenced in the Message on Sunday:

Psalm 29

3 The voice of the LORD is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
the LORD thunders over the mighty waters.
4 The voice of the LORD is powerful;
the voice of the LORD is majestic.
5 The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars;

7 The voice of the LORD strikes
with flashes of lightning.
8 The voice of the LORD shakes the desert;

9 The voice of the LORD twists the oaks
and strips the forests bare.
And in his temple all cry, “Glory!”

Psalm 33:6-9

6 By the word of the LORD the heavens were made,
their starry host by the breath of his mouth.
7 He gathers the waters of the sea into jars;
he puts the deep into storehouses.
8 Let all the earth fear the LORD;
let all the people of the world revere him.
9 For he spoke, and it came to be;
he commanded, and it stood firm

Isaiah 55:10-11

10 As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

This We Believe

Part 2: Truth Requires My Full Submission

Job 38-42

The word submission is pretty intense. It is a word that carries with it a lot of emotion.

What do you think of when you hear the word submission?

How does the word make you feel?

Even though this word has connotations that are confining, there is a kind of submission that can actually free us up to discover all we were created to be. And it all starts with those moments of deep reflection we all have at certain moments in life. You know those times where you are laying awake in bed at night right before you go to sleep and all the huge questions about the universe and the meaning of life and death come pouring into your mind. That’s where I want us to go,

Take a moment and talk about those moments with each other:

Do you have those moments?

What inspires them?

When do they come?

What do you think about?

How do they make you feel?

Regardless of what inspires them it’s in those moments that we really have a chance to come face to face with the reality of how small we are and come face to face with the truth, just like Job.

(Take a moment to make sure everyone understands Job’s story)

Although it brings up many other issues, the story of Job centers around one question; a wager between God and Satan as to whether there is any such thing as unbought, unconditional devotion to God among human beings. Satan is determined to prove that all human worship is tainted by ulterior motives; he believes that humans only serve God because of what He gives us. And it’s an important question:

Is there any such thing as unconditional worship?

Does anyone worship God simply because He is God and we are not?

Or do we worship God only because of what we can get from Him?

Think about it for yourself, is your worship conditional?

What God wants more than anything is for His creatures to recognize the goodness of submitting to Him. And in Chapter 38, Job comes face to face with that truth (Read Job 38:1-7). The majestic description of God’s ultimate authority goes on for 3 chapters and at the end Job is left with only one option, to fully submit to the truth of God whether he understands it or not.

And that’s the real question for us today-

What does it mean to fully submit to truth?

On the back of this sheet is a song that represents the prayer of a person wrestling with this question. Take some time to look at it together and discuss:

What do you think about the idea that we as people are living our entire lives before a Holy God who never tires of judging sin?

How do you feel about the idea of having God lay you bare and tell you who you are?

What does the last line of the chorus really mean, “I want everything you are to make me- me?

“So this is what we believe, but why does it matter?”

This We Believe Part 1: All Truth Starts With Love

1 Corinthians 13

Luke Brower, Preaching

What is a Statement of Faith?

A statement of faith is a Creed; a document outlining the most essential points of a common belief system.

Why a statement of Faith?

A statement of faith has four basic functions:

1. Baptismal- It creates a point of entry that unifies people around certain truths

2. Doctrinal- It draws and clarifies the line between what is true and false

3. Instructional- It creates an outline of essential truths that must be held up and taught

4. Liturgical- It both inspires and focuses worship

One major problem with Statements of Faith:

People put them together

The Bible paints a very clear picture that God is the source of all truth, but at the same time God is love. That means all truth comes from His heart of love Or as our Life Giving Truth says it:

All Truth Starts With Love

That means that for something to be true it has to be stated in a loving way. Truth Spoken without love is not of God. It is laced with pride and misrepresents His heart. If you say something is true, but do it without love you have basically lied.

What is your first reaction to that idea?

Have you ever had someone speak the truth to you without love? How did it feel?

What do you think about the idea that if you speak without love, even if you say something true,

you have actually lied?

In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul writes the most thorough description of love found anywhere in the whole Bible. You may have read this before but I want us to look at it again,

What stands out to you in this picture of love?

Is it easier or harder to live out this kind of love or tell somebody a truth you want them to believe in?

Which one do you think people are more likely to respond to?

How would it change your understanding of the mission of Jesus if you saw this description of love as the primary way people are introduced to life in His Kingdom?

All truth starts with love. The incredible thing about love is that it is universal; it never fails. Where prophecies will one day cease and knowledge passes away, where words fall flat and our capacity for understanding reaches its limit; love never fails. Instead of trying to fight for the truth, or make an attempt to convert people to it, or try to force them in some way to see our way, we have to follow Jesus in simply living for the truth, holding it out for people to see, standing for it, walking in it and ultimately giving our lives so that others might find it. But in order to do that God is going to have to do a work in our hearts.

Take some time in your group to pray that God would work this kind of love down into your heart so that you can be a living representation of His truth in the world.