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Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Jesus is God!

Below is some supporting material for my message preached on December 12. I hope this helps...

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Jesus is God

A. Jesus has the attributes of deity.

1. He is eternal.


-John 1:1‑3, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.

-Micah 5:2, But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.

-Isaiah 9:6, For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

-Hebrews 13:8, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

2. He is omnipresent.

-John 3:13, No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.

-Matthew 18:20, For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.

-Matthew 28:20, Teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

3. He is omniscient.

-John 16:30, Now we are sure that You know all things, and have no need that anyone should question You. By this we believe that You came forth from God.

-John 21:17, He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?" Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, "Do you love Me?" And he said to Him, "Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You." Jesus said to him, "Feed My sheep.

-Colossians 2:3, In whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

-John 4:28‑29, The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, "Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?"

-Luke 6:8, But He knew their thoughts, and said to the man who had the withered hand, "Arise and stand here." And he arose and stood.

-It is true that Jesus said that he didn’t know the time of his return and he did ‘marvel’ at the people’s unbelief, and he went to the fig tree expecting figs, but these have explanations...

4. He is omnipotent.

-John 5:19, Then Jesus answered and said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.

-Isaiah 9:6, For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

-Revelation 1:8, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End," says the Lord, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.

-Hebrews 1:3, Who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

-John 5:36, But I have a greater witness than John's; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish‑‑ the very works that I do‑‑ bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me.

5. He is immutable.

-Hebrews 1:12, Like a cloak You will fold them up, and they will be changed. But You are the same, and Your years will not fail.

-Hebrews 13:8, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

B. Jesus has the offices of deity.

1. He is the Creator.

-John 1:3, All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.

-Colossians 1:16, For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.

-Hebrews 1:10, And: "You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands.

2. He is the Sustainer.

-Colossians 1:17, And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.

-Colossians 1:17, He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. (NIV)

-Hebrews 1:3, Who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

C. Jesus has the authority of deity.

1. He forgave sins.


-Matthew 9:2, 6, Then behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you. But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins"‑‑ then He said to the paralytic, "Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house."

2. He will raise the dead in the resurrection.

-John 5:28‑29, Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth‑‑ those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.

3. He will execute judgment.

-Romans 14:10. But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

-2 Corinthians 5:10, For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

D. Jesus claimed to be Yahweh (Jehovah)

-Other words for titles can be used in varying ways.

-Adonai (Lord) can sometimes be used of man.

-Genesis 18:12, Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, "After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my lord (adonai) being old also?"

-Elohim (god) can sometimes be used of false gods.

-Deuteronomy 6:14, You shall not go after other gods (elohim), the gods of the peoples who are all around you.

-YHWH only refers to the one true God.

-Exodus 3:14, And God said to Moses, "I AM (YHWH) WHO I AM (YHWH)." And He said, "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, 'I AM (YHWH) has sent me to you.'"

-Isaiah 44:6, Thus says the LORD (YHWH), the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the LORD (YHWH) of hosts: 'I am the First and I am the Last; besides Me there is no God.

-John 8:58‑59, Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM." Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.

E. Jesus claimed to be equal with God.

-Mark 2:5‑12, When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven you." And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, "Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?" But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, "Why do you reason about these things in your hearts? "Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise, take up your bed and walk'? "But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins"‑‑ He said to the paralytic, "I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go your way to your house." Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, "We never saw anything like this!"

-John 5:21, For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will.

F. Jesus claimed to be Messiah-God.

-When Isaiah talked about the coming Messiah, he called Him, ‘Mighty God.’

-Isaiah 9:6, For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

-Mark 14:61‑64, But He kept silent and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked Him, saying to Him, "Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?" And Jesus said, "I am. And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven." Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, "What further need do we have of witnesses? "You have heard the blasphemy! What do you think?" And they all condemned Him to be worthy of death.

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Hurry up and Wait

Good morning. I hope you had a Merry Christmas.

I've got to share what the Lord showed me in my quiet time this morning. As you know in our Soma Kristou worship services, we just wrapped up a several week series on the Holy Spirit. (I think we spent five weeks.) Of course I knew we didn't cover every Bible teaching on the subject or study the Spirit from every angle, but I thought we were pretty thorough. Then this morning, reading through Acts I stumbled across a very important Holy Spirit truth that we could have spent a whole other week on.

And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, "which," He said, "you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now." ... But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." (Acts 1:4-5, 8)

Does anything odd strike you about those verses? I have read those verses countless times, but it just occurred to me this morning that there is something very puzzling about the events described there. Do you see it?

The Wait! Why the Wait?

The disciples were anxious to receive the Holy Spirit... The Father was able to send the Spirit immediately... The Spirit was certainly prepared to come... The Spirit was desperately needed... So why wait?

Obviously, the Father was trying to teach the disciples and us something with this waiting period. Praying through what those lessons were to them and what they are to me took up the rest of my devotion time this morning.

So what were the lessons? I will leave the question mostly open in case you decide to spend some time thinking and praying through this for yourself, but here are a couple things that came to my mind...

I need to be reminded of the importance of not proceeding with a new project or a new decision without first praying for and secondly waiting for the power, wisdom, and guidance of the Holy Spirit. I don't need to just plunge in (which I am prone to do) with the attitude that God will catch up with me later. I need to be more dependent on and more aware of the ministry of the Holy Spirit in everything I do.

I also need to be reminded that God has a right time for things to happen. I don't need to always understand why (just like I don't completely understand why the delay in sending the Holy Spirit in the Acts 1-2 story), I just need to be sensetive to it. Perhaps God is preparing the hearts of other people, perhaps God is preparing my own heart, perhaps there are circumstances that are about to change... God's timing is perfect. I should be more sensitive to when He wants me to push forward and when He wants me to hold up.

What other lessons can we learn from the wait?
  • We are reminded that God is in control, not us.
  • We can look at what the followers of Christ did as they waited and learn the importance of corporate prayer, and church unity.
  • To dig a little deeper we can learn the importance of the anticipation of the things of God...
  • Many more...

Pastor Noel

Monday, December 15, 2008

Christmas is Here!

We had a great Christmas Celebration last night with our choir and drama team sharing their annual program.

It was so good to see so many new faces from our community join us for the time of worship. The gym was packed and we had to pull out a number of extra chairs to accommodate the crowd. I had the opportunity to meet a ton of new people and everyone had great things to say about the night.

Thanks for everyone who worked so hard to make last night what it was... from Pastor Shawn, to the singers, the drama team, the youth who set up the facility, to the fellowship team that prepared for the after-service fellowship... Great job!

Pastor Noel