Change (Romans 6:1-14)

• If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
• What do you wish you could cut out OR add to your life forever, instantly?

1. How might you answer someone who says that it is no big deal for a Christian to sin, since grace will cover it (Rom 6:1; 5:20)? [Why did Paul's Jewish opponents oppose his teaching of grace (Rom 6:15?]

Death (Psalm 49) and Judgment (Psalm 50)

“But God will redeem me from the realm of the dead; he will surely take me to himself” (Ps 49:15). Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High, and call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me (Ps 50:14-15).

Psalm 49: The Brevity of Life, the Certainty of Death and the Futility of Wealth.

• What are 2 unavoidable guarantees and certainties in life (Heb 9:27)?

Hope in Times of Fear: The Resurrection, Tim Keller, 2021

• Why is it that "my head believes," but "my heart is not moved"?

Faith is the work of the Holy Spirit and is a mixture of reason [truth] and experience, intellect and emotion, the rational and the existential, the theological and the practical, the head and the heart. Thus, faith is not solely a matter of intellectual assent to certain theological propositions, but also involves the experiential and practical aspects of life.

Only in the cross is divinity and humanity reconciled. With the church there will always be attrition and retention.

• What is the difference between relative hope in human agency and infallible hope in God? 210-211.
• Christian hope means that I stop betting my life and happiness on human agency and rest in God alone.
• If you know--and keep remembering--that resurrection happened and is coming, you won't ever be in utter darkness. 215-216. Epilogue (Ps 118:22-23).

Healing and Refreshment (Acts 3)

“Whoever confesses his sins … is already working with God. God indicts your sins; if you also indict them, you are joined with God. Man and sinner are, so to speak, two realities: when you hear ‘man’ – this is what God has made; when you hear ‘sinner’ – this is what man himself has made. Destroy what you have made, so that God may save what he has made … When you begin to abhor what you have made, it is then that your good works are beginning, since you are accusing yourself of your evil works. The beginning of good works is the confession of evil works. You do the truth and come to the light.”—The Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Acts 3-7 describes the life and increase of the early church in Jerusalem (Ac 1:8a), and the simultaneous opposition to it from the Jewish religious leaders. Acts 3-4 is a drama in 3 parts:

1. The mighty work (3:1-10). Healing of a man lame from birth.
2. The mighty word (3:11-26). Peter preaches to the crowd his temple sermon, his 2nd sermon.
3. The mighty ones (4:1-21). The bold, brave courageous and ordinary apostles on trial.

1. 
   What can you learn about prayer from Peter and John (Ac 3:1; 2:42; 4:24; Lk 18:1; Mk 1:35)?
• How have they changed (Mt 18:1; Mk 9:34; Lk 9:46)?
• [The temple hours of prayer were set at the 3rd, 6th and 9th hours.] Can you pray 3 times a day (Ps 55:17; Dan 6:10).
2. What was the strategy of the lame man and/or those who "carried" and "put" him daily  at the temple (Ac 3:2-3)?
• Putting yourself in the place of the beggar (Ac 4:22), how would you have felt about your life?
3. Why did Peter say, "Look at us!" (Ac 3:4)?
• Do you feel comfortable looking at and asking beggars to look at you? What was the beggar expecting (Ac 3:5)?
4. Did Peter have "silver and gold" (Ac 3:6; 2:45)?
• What is the value of "the name of Jesus" (Ac 3:6, 16; 4:10)? 
• Whose faith healed the lame man (Lk 5:20; Mt 9:22 Mk 5:34; 10:52; Lk 8:48; 18:42)?
• How do you respond when others ask for help? What do you have to give them?
• What has Peter and John experienced over the past 60 days that has changed them?
5. How quickly was the lame man healed (Ac 3:7)? What did he do (Ac 3:8)?
• What similarities do we all share with this lame man (Ac 3:2; Gen 8:21; Ps 51:5; Rom 3:23; Eph 2:8-9; Ac 1:8; Rom 1:16)?
6. How did the people respond (Ac 3:9-11; 2:22, 43)? To whom did the crowd attribute the miracle (Ac 3:12)?
• When God blessed and used Peter to perform such a great miracle what temptation is there for him (Dt 9:4-6)?
• Does church leadership draw attention to the leader or to their particular church? Is the leader holier, better, closer to God and with superior powers that others do not have access to?
• Could God use you to be part of a miracle? Why or why not?
7. Why did Peter connect Jesus with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Ac 3:13a)?
• What did Peter accuse the Jews of doing (Ac 3:13-15; 2:23, 36; 4:10)? Is this a justification for anti-Semitism? Was it only the Jews who had Jesus killed? Are you responsible for the death of Christ? Do you speak boldly against sin? What did God do (Ac 3:15b)?
• In serving God, do you do so "by faith in the name of Jesus" (Ac 3:16), OR do you depend on your good intentions, your gifts and talents, your money, your zeal and passion, your past experience, you position of authority, etc?
8. Why did Peter say that the Jews and their leaders were ignorant in killing Jesus (Ac 3:17; Lk 23:34)? Are there not then consequences? Are they then not responsible?
• Who had foretold that the "Messiah would suffer" (Ac 3:18)?
9. What 4 successive blessings follow when you repent (Ac 3:19-21, 26)?
• What does it mean to repent (Ac 2:38; Mk 1:15)? Is it to feel sorry and feel bad about your sins? Is it mainly about self-improvement? Doing better? Do only non-Christians need to repent? What about Christians (Rev 2:4-5, 16, 21-22; 3:3, 19)?
• Are you confident that you have "turned to God" [be converted]?
• Can you explain refreshment that follow repentance: rest, respite, relief, restoration, regeneration, renewal (Mt 11:28; Jn 14:27; Phil 4:7)?

10. What did Peter conclude with prophecies from Moses, Samuel and Abraham (Ac 3:22-25; Dt 18:15-16, 19; 2 Sam 7:12; Gen 12:3; 18:18; 17:4; 22:18; 26:4; 28:14)?

www.westloop-church.org/index.php/messages/new-testament/43-acts-messages/689-acts-3

The Gospel in 5 (Double) Truths (Luke 24:44-49)

In Luke's version of the Great Commission, the risen Lord summarizes the gospel in 5 truths:

1. The double event: the death and resurrection of the Messiah (Lk 24:46).
2. The double proclamation: forgiveness [the gospel offer] and repentance [the gospel demand] (Lk 24:47a).
3. The double scope: "to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem" (Lk 24:47b).
4. The double attestation/accreditation: the OT witness (Lk 24:44, 46) the NT witness (Lk 24:48).
5. The double mission. The Great Commission involved a double sending: the sending to them of the Holy Spirit (Lk 24:48) and the sending of them into the world (Lk 24:47, 49). The 2 missions go together, for the Holy Spirit is a missionary Spirit.

Jesus has given us a beautifully balanced and comprehensive account of the gospel. We are commissioned to

• proclaim repentance and forgiveness (Lk 24:47) on the basis of him who died and was raised (Lk 24:46),
• to all humankind [Gentiles and Jews] (Lk 24:47b),
• according to the Scriptures [OT, NT] (Lk 24:44, 46, 48),
• in the power of the Spirit given to us (Lk 24:49).

The Truths of the Death and Resurrection of Christ (1 Cor 15:3-4) are:

1. Central truths--of 1st importance.
2. Historical truths, not myths.
3. Physical truths: 4 events are physical: death, burial, resurrection and appearances.
4. Biblical truths--according to the Scriptures.
5. Theological truths--events of huge significance. We deserve to die for our sins, but Christ died our death instead of us. How great is his love!

Reference: John Stott, Through the Bible Through the Year. Daily Reflections from Genesis to Revelation. 2006.

The coronavirus makes death real and that is good, because death is real

Lewis preached in Oxford at the onset of World War II titled, "Learning in War-Time." Substitute "pandemic" or "coronavirus" in place of the word "war." Then the current Covid19 pandemic helps us re-focus, shatter hopes for finding ultimate fulfillment in this world, point us to the Divine reality, and lead us to peace in this life (Jn 14:27), knowing that our eternal Hope lies in the Lord.

Yet war [Covid19] does do something to death. It forces us to remember it. The only reason why the cancer at 60 or the paralysis at 75 do not bother us is that we forget them. War [Covid19] makes death real to us, and that would have been regarded as one of its blessings by most of the great Christians of the past. They thought it good for us to be always aware of our mortality. I am inclined to think they were right.

All the animal life in us, all schemes of happiness that centred in this world, were always doomed to a final frustration. In ordinary times only a wise man can realise it. Now the stupidest of us know. We see unmistakably the sort of universe in which we have all along been living, and must come to terms with it. If we had foolish un-Christian hopes about human culture, they are now shattered. If we thought we were building up a heaven on earth, if we looked for something that would turn the present world from a place of pilgrimage into a permanent city satisfying the soul of man, we are disillusioned, and not a moment too soon. But if we thought that for some souls, and at some times [like Covid19], the life of learning, humbly offered to God, was, in its own small way, one of the appointed approaches to the Divine reality and the Divine beauty which we hope to enjoy hereafter, we can think so still.¹

^{1 C.S. Lewis, "Learning in War-Time", The Weight of Glory and Other.}

We would rather be ruined than changed

The "Joy" of Death (Gen 25:1-11)

"...he died at a ripe old age, having lived a long and satisfying life" (Gen 25:8, NLT).

Previous passage: The Lord Will Provide (Gen 22:1-14).
Contrasting passage: Lot's End is God's Judgment (Gen 19:1-38)

Death is gut wrenching and crippling to countless billions, to put it mildly. One of my most vivid memories is that of a successful Chicago lawyer in his mid to late 30s. He was a brilliant confident self-made man. He built up his law firm from the ground up, has dozens of lawyers working for him, lives in a 5 million dollar house (25 years ago), has countless luxury cars, and a stunning wife. I met him as a trainee oncologist. He came to see my mentor oncologist with complaints of mild difficulty in swallowing for 3 weeks. He just had a biopsy taken from his throat and came to the oncology office to discuss the findings. He was jovial as he entered the office with his gorgeous wife. He said jokingly, "Doc, am I gonna live?" But the mood soon changed. After some elaborate explanation by the oncologist, it gradually dawned on him what his biopsy report meant when his diagnosis read "small cell carcinoma of the esophagus." The moment arrived when he suddenly realized that he had inoperable terminal cancer and had about 4 months to live.