Sunday’s main service is NOT held on Sunday due to rigorously held dogma so much, but it IS in respect to the holiness of the Sabbath day as declared by God BEFORE mankind fell. Quite literally the Sabboth was declared holy FROM THE BEGINNING. We know that Sabboth was most likely our modern day “Saturday”, but our Lord was risen on what we call Sunday, so it seems appropriate.
In addition to this, we worship on “Sunday” out of convenience because we believe Jesus’ words which teach us, “Man was not made for the Sabbath but the Sabbath for man.” As such, Sunday is the day MOST OFTEN recognized as the day to worship within Christian circles so that is when we have our main service of the week.
We use this day as the day we press forward as a community of believers into Biblical teachings which our leaders believe God is immediately guiding us into for our maturity and Spiritual growth. We do not have Sunday night services in part due to the fact that we do not want time constraints to dictate our worship.
As a community of grace we are interested in ministering to others, outside our immediate assembly and encourage others to participate in our lessons and grow with us.
Series: In Pursuit of Relational knowledge
Out of all the things that Jesus could have taught, just before going to the cross, just before being separated from His disciples, THIS is the one thing He was led to tell them about.
It was and is a very important lesson. You can get nowhere with God if you are unwilling to embrace the intimacy of vulnerability and dependance. The proud of heart can have no admittance and can bear no fruit!
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Series: In Pursuit of Relational knowledge
We ventured away from John 15 today as we studied correlating scriptures which help up develop a more broadstroked vista of our position as branches in our Vine.
Our spirits have been made alive in and to God, our souls are being converted to think, see, feel and desire as God does, but we live in a physical body which still has both sin and death in it. So while we have very real desires to honor and obey our God and Father, we also have very real enticements from our flesh to do otherwise.
This inward conflict is not simply one of external morality, but one of intrinsic inner character at war with an external hard wiring. As such, like Paul lamented, “I find myself doing the very things I hate!”
Today we learned a little more about this, so as to better understand how to live out our “branchness” and bear fruit pleasing to God.
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Series: In Pursuit of Relational knowledge
Our ongoing study in John 15 is helping us better understand how to properly receive the message of the Kingdom in our hearts. This is so we can do things ON PURPOSE to facilitate knowing Jesus in intimate and fruitfulfulness.
This week instead of pressing forward, we examined where Jesus likely drew this analogy of a vine and branches. It has its roots in Israel from when God first delivered them from Egypt and “planted them as a choice vine” in the promised land. Israel however, never really produced mature and good fruit.
As such Jesus took this illustrative metaphor for Israel and restated it with Himself being the Vine and all who were in the Kingdom… who follow Him in devotion as branches which faithfully produce fruit.
Before returning to John 15, we read the end of John 14 which introduces the Holy Spirit at the One Who facilitates this union.
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Series: In Pursuit of Relational Knowledge
The good heart has attributes the others lack and that makes it a heart which will produce fruit.
• It understands the message of the kingdom.
• It sees the deep value of knowing Jesus in true intimacy and surrenders to that union within His kingdom.
Because of the value this heart places on Jesus, satan seeks to desuade this heart from it’s loyalty through persecution, temptation and being hated even by those they love.
This has a COMPLETELY NON-RELIGIOUS response. This heart, instead of growing distant and cold, draws all the closer to Jesus during times of opposition and it is due to the love and value of Him that they endure.
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Series: In Pursuit of Relational Knowledge
Parable of the Heart Soils
What makes the ‘Good heart’… good?
First, it is incline to understand the message of the kingdom – that it requires surrender to the King of the Kingdom and that for now all who belong to the Kingdom of God will suffer persecution, temptation and hatred.
God offers the Good Heart this understanding because BEFORE the message of the kingdom was planted there it was already worshipping God to the degree that it understood how (consider Cornelius and Lydia).
The other primary attribute of this heart is that even though it knew the cost of entering the kingdom it welcomed the message, clung to the king of the kingdom and through patient endurance it produced the fruit of conformity to Jesus’ likeness over time.
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