Introduction

We are made in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26-27).

1. God is Triune, Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, aka the Godhead. Three Divine Persons eternally existing in One.
2. We were made from “Us”; from “Our”. These are plural pronouns.
3. In the beginning Adam lived with God in perfect harmony and there was no sin in the world, thus no consciousness of sin.
4. Yet, God said, “It is not good for man to be alone. Therefore I will make him a helper comparable to him.”. (Genesis 2:15)
5. This was not good because it was not reflective of God, not the design of man as created by God. WE were not created to live alone because we are social beings and we need one another.

1 Corinthians 12:21 NLT – The eye can never say to the hand, “I don’t need you.” The head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you.”

Jesus Started a Small Group

1. Jesus began his ministry of preaching teaching and healing. This was an integral part of his mission; it was part of the work that the Father gave him to do.
2. Interesting Point: On the cross Jesus cried out “It is finished” (John 19:30). The work of redemption had been completed.

However, He said in His High Priestly prayer, “I have finished the work which you have given Me to do” (John 17:4).

 Jesus was Ordinary

(in highlighting our theme)

• He was born into poverty.
• He was born in Nazareth. Nathanael said, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?
• Isaiah 53:2 TPT – He possessed no distinguishing beauty or outward splendor to catch our attention – nothing special in his appearance to make us desire him.

Jesus’ Disciples were Ordinary

• Four to five months after Jesus was baptized in the River Jordan He began to build a small group (John 1:35-36).
• These were ordinary, Jewish, teenage boys: some brothers, some mama’s boys, some unstable and talkative; a tax collector and a zealot who wanted to overthrow Rome.
• After being in His ministry for 10 to 11 months, Jesus said, “Come follow Me and I will make you I will make you fishers of men.
• His approaching them suggests that they were rejected by other rabbis to follow them, thus had to return to their family business.
• When a rabbi recruited you he was saying, “I believe in you and I believe you can be like me.”

To Experience Fellowship

Statement of Affirmation: You need to belong and connect. You need fellowship to grow.

The Greek word for fellowship is “koinonia”, which means “mutual participation”, “sharing in common”, and “communion”. There is more to this definition that I will share later.

We all have Jesus in common and we participate because of Jesus and for Jesus, this fellowship existed in the early church and still exists today. There are two very clear biblical expressions of this:

Larger Gatherings, which were known as ‘temple gatherings’ which we know today as attending church.

Hebrews 10:24-25 NKJV – And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, exhorting one another and so much more as you see the day approaching.

Statement: “you cannot grow into God’s fullness meaning becoming more like Christ and serving with your gifts and talents without fellowship.

Smaller Gatherings, which was referred to as ‘house to house’, which we know today as small groups.

Acts 2:46 NKJV – So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house they ate their food with simplicity and gladness of heart.

God’s plan for His church is that every member consistently experience both.

“Why is community and small groups so important?”

Her answers…

So you can receive healing.

James 5:16 NKJV – Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective and fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

So you can be restored.

Galatians 6:1 NKJV – If a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted.

So you can be cared for.

To Experience Friendships

Note: Deepening friendships are a part of the definition of “koinonia” and is enhanced level of friendship, which is the next stage in fellowship.

Two considerations for this deeper level of fellowship called friendship.

You can be yourself (even when you’re not your best self)

• Example of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane with His 3 closest friends…
• He’s crying out loud
• He’s got blood on His face
• He’s wrestling with the will of the Father

You Help Each Other Grow in Christlikeness

In the times of Jesus, it was desired and critical to study with the rabbi, but it was considered as essential to have one or two people who can learn with you. rabbi said to sit together and exchange.

Early rabbis said: When two sit together and exchange Words of the Torah, then the Divine Presence dwells among them.

Jesus said for two or three together in my name, I am there in the mist of them in an orthodox Jewish seminary.

In an Orthodox Jewish Seminary you would see a group study a text, but each student is also studying with a haver, which is literally a friend.

You’re friends are people you can:

1. Share your struggles and victories with.
2. Listen to with empathy.
3. Pray for and with.
4. Share a verse or bible passage with.
5. Ask questions to.
6. Develop vision, goals and directions for your life.

To Expand the Experience by Expanding Small Groups

Remember, Jesus created community.

1. He dwells in community with the Father and the Spirit since eternity past.
2. His 12 disciples
3. Then, 70 disciples
4. Then, 120 in the upper room
5. Then 3,120 after Peter preached (Acts 2:41)
6. Then 8,120 after Peter preached (Acts 4:4)

The Commission of Jesus

Matthew 28:19-20 NKJV – Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 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. Amen,

1. The church was exclusively Jewish in the beginning and it had not gone into all the world and made disciples of all nations.
2. Their ethnic, historical and religious background created a filter which caused them not to fully grasp or understand the gospel was for all, not just for the Jewish people.
3. It took them 10 years to get moving and step into what God wanted done in the world.
4. Today you have an opportunity not sit and wait, but to respond to what God is doing in the world through the church and what God is doing her at Zoe Center.

The ASK: The Application – 2 Questions

1. Would you be willing to sign up to become a Small Group Leader her at ZC?
2. Would you let us know what kind of small group you would be interested in leading?

(i.e mens, womens, single, hiking, fishing, walking, etc.)

 

© Pastor Ken Mulkey., 2024

Introduction

Purpose of the Series:

1. To see how special ordinary people are
2. To see how ordinary special people are
3. To compel you to treat everyone with dignity, respect and honor.

Review

We Are All Made in the Image of God

Genesis 1:27 (ESV): ²⁷ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Genesis 4:13–15 (ESV): ¹³ Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is greater than I can bear. ¹⁴ Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground, and from your face I shall be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.” ¹⁵ Then the Lord said to him, “Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the Lord put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him.

The Image of God is a Natural Status Symbol

Genesis 9:6 (ESV): ⁶ “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.

The Image of God Places a Demand on Us

We disrespect God when we disrespect what He values.

Genesis 4:15 (ESV): ¹⁵ Then the Lord said to him, “Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.”. . . .

Romans 12:19–20 (ESV): ¹⁹ Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” ²⁰ To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.”

Romans 12:21 (ESV): ²¹ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

The best way to overcome the evil of your enemy is to present the opposite spirit of the one your enemy is presenting to you.

Matthew 5:21–22 (ESV): ²¹ “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ ²² But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.

• Sins God equates with murder:
  • “Everyone who is angry”
    • “He goes to the cause of murder and includes being angry in the scope of the command.” [Leon Morris, The Gospel according to Matthew, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: W.B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press, 1992), 114.] 
  • “Whoever insults his brother”
    • The specific insult referred to here is the utterance of the word “Raka”
    • “The precise meaning of this word is uncertain, but it is clearly an expression of contempt that evidently was used by angry people.” [Leon Morris, The Gospel according to Matthew, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: W.B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press, 1992), 114–115.]
    • The word translated “council” is the word Sanhedrin. “It is used mostly in the New Testament for the high council of the Jews. It comprised priests, elders, and scribes, and the high priest was its president. It was the highest authority among the Jews, not only in religious affairs, but in governmental and legal matters also. Here the term may be used of a local council. Jesus is saying that the insolent and insulting person is not guiltless: he must give account of himself.” [Leon Morris, The Gospel according to Matthew, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: W.B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press, 1992), 115.] 
  • “Whoever says, ‘You fool!’”
    • The meaning is unclear. Some think it is just the Greek expression of the word “Raka. [Leon Morris, The Gospel according to Matthew, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: W.B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press, 1992), 115.]
    • It appears that. . .it is” a word uttered in haste for the purpose of expressing anger. “Jesus is” reprimanding “the attitude that brings forth the epithet. [Leon Morris, The Gospel according to Matthew, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: W.B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press, 1992), 115.]
      • This is clearly more than about the word itself, but also the spirit in which the Word is spoken
      • This all ties back to matters of the heart (Matthew 15:18–19 (ESV): ¹⁸ But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. ¹⁹ For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.)
    • “The person who is angry enough to utter this derogatory word “is guilty enough to go into the hell of fire” (BAGD). [Leon Morris, The Gospel according to Matthew, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: W.B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press, 1992), 115.] 

The Practical Value of Treating Other People Well

How we treat ordinary people is of supreme importance to the Lord, both in action and in attitude.

Treating other people well also has practical value.

• Matthew 5:23–26 (ESV): ²³ So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, ²⁴ leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. ²⁵ Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. ²⁶ Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.
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• Proverbs 15:1 (ESV): ¹A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
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• Proverbs 29:11 (ESV): ¹¹ A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back.
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• Proverbs 10:19 (ESV): ¹⁹ When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent.
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• Proverbs 17:28 (ESV): ²⁸ Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent.
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Treat Everyone Well as a Matter of Principle

Galatians 6:10 (ESV): ¹⁰ So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

 

© Joshua D. Smith, Ph.D., 2024

Review

Theme for the Year: “Grown”

Theme Scripture for the Year: Ephesians 4:11–16 (ESV): ¹¹ And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, ¹² to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, ¹³ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, ¹⁴ so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. ¹⁵ Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, ¹⁶ from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

New Insights from Our Theme Scripture

The purpose of ministry gifts is to help us grow.

The Ordinary People We Don’t See

Lessons from the Love Chapter

1 Corinthians 13:1–3 (ESV): ¹ And If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. ² And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ³ If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

1 Corinthians 13:4–6 (ESV): ⁴ Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant ⁵ or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; ⁶ it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

1 Corinthians 13:8 (ESV): ⁸ Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.

1 Corinthians 13:9-10 (ESV): ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.

1 Corinthians 8:1–2 (ESV): ¹ Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up. ² If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know.

1 Corinthians 8:3 (ESV): ³ But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.

1 Corinthians 13:11 (ESV): ¹¹ When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.

1 Corinthians 13:12 (ESV): ¹² For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

1 Corinthians 13:13 (ESV): ¹³ So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

 

© Joshua D. Smith, Ph.D., 2024

Introduction

This series is an invitation to embrace the high call of the single life—if you are single.

If you are married, it is to help you encourage, support and pray for the single people in your lives.

Review

Key Ideas from last week:

• The status of your heart affects the status of your life.
  • Your single life.
  • Your dating life.
  • Your married life.
  • Your divorced life.
• Why?
• Among other things, the heart is a repository for your subconscious thoughts.
  • Subconscious thoughts are deep seated emotions, ideas and motivations that sit beneath our conscious thinking and that drive most of our behavior.
  • The heart can hide intentions at the subconscious level, causing us to think that our motives are purer than they really are.
• We asked the questions: Can the Christain heart (really) be deceitful? (Jeremiah 17:9–10 (ESV): ⁹ The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?)
  • Yes
  • Our hearts become new through the Holy Spirit, but they still retain the capacity to exhibit the qualities of a wicked heart.
• How?

1. When we stop submitting ourselves to the influence of the Holy Spirit.
2. When the influence of the world on our hearts becomes stronger than the influence of the Holy Spirit on our hearts.

Celibacy and the Single Life

The Scripture’s demands for celibacy are the main reasons many people believe that Jesus takes the fun out of being single. 

It is one of the main rebuttals to the main argument of this sermon series: 

• That you should give your singleness to the Lord 

• That if you are not already married, you should become a spiritual eunuch for the sake of the Kingdom unless or until you get married.  

That sounds noble on paper, but when you consider it for yourself, it just looks to you to be a life that is absent of enjoyment, absent of freedom and filled with frustration and FOMO (fear of missing out). 

This is in part because we do not have the full view of God’s plan for us regarding our sexuality—which is rich with peace, joy and contentment.   

And we don’t have the full view because most of the Scriptural content we hear about sexual immorality places a strong emphasis on the passages that would foster the most fear and condemnation.  

Now fear and condemnation are important 

• You need the fear of the Lord. 

• There are practices that must be condemned. 

• You should NOT feel comfortable in sin.  

But you also have to get to the heart of the matter, the heart behind your behavior, which is deeper and more complex than mere behavior management. 

To better understand this, let’s review some of those well-known passages that have framed our thinking about God’s boundaries for sexual practice.

Our Vision for Celibacy is mainly Shaped by Scripture’s most strongly worded Statements about Sexual immorality.

1 Corinthians 6:18 (ESV): ¹⁸ Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.

1 Thessalonians 4:3–4 (ESV): ³ For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; ⁴ that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor,

Matthew 5:28 (ESV): ²⁸ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Ephesians 5:3 (ESV): ³ But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints.

1 Corinthians 10:8 (ESV): ⁸ We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day.

1 Corinthians 6:15–16 (ESV): ¹⁵ Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! ¹⁶ Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.”

Standard Guidance for Addressing Sexual Temptation

Galatians 5:16–17 (ESV): ¹⁶ But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

Galatians 5:24 (ESV): ²⁴ And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

2 Timothy 2:22 (ESV): ²² So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

1 Corinthians 9:24–27 (ESV): ²⁴ Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. ²⁵ Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. ²⁶ So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. ²⁷ But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

The Scripture Addresses the Human Complexity of Sexual Practice

1 Corinthians 7:1–2 (ESV): ¹ Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” ² But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.

1 Corinthians 7:5 (ESV): ⁵ Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

1 Corinthians 7:9 (ESV): ⁹ But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

• Sexual temptation in this context is not addressed with self-control, crucifying the flesh or becoming more spiritual.
• It addresses sexual temptation in this context with something practical:
  • The remedy for single people is to get married.
  • The remedy for married people is to maintain the regularity of having sexual intercourse.

1 Corinthians 6:12 (ESV): ¹² “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. . .

Sexual Practice That Honors God Is Ultimately a Matter of the Heart

God is more interested in what drives your decisions than the decisions themselves.

Psalm 119:9–11 (ESV): ⁹ How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. ¹⁰ With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! ¹¹ I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.

• A sexually pure life is the result of God’s truth registering in you at a heart level
• You have to allow God to really sift through the issues that sit in your heart.

Hebrews 4:7–13 (ESV): ⁷ . . . .“Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” . . . .⁹ So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. . . .¹¹ Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. ¹² For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. ¹³ And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

The Scriptural Command to “Live Right” is a Process, Not and Event

Galatians 5:19–24 (ESV): ¹⁹ Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, ²⁰ idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, ²¹ envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. ²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. ²⁴ And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

© Joshua D. Smith, Ph.D., 2024

 

Introduction

This series is an invitation to embrace the high call of the single life—if you are single.

If you are married, it is to help you encourage, support and pray for the single people in your lives.

Review

Key Ideas from last week:

• God does not press you about marriage. He presses you about motives.
• Why you’re dating or not dating.
• Why you want to get married or not get married.
• Why you want to have children or not have children.

Are your decisions based upon pure motives or are your decision based on based upon impure motives?

• Contaminated
• Tainted
• Deceitful

Jeremiah 17:9–10 (ESV): ⁹ The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

Is the Christian heart still deceitful or does it change when we are born again?

• Ezekiel 36:26 (ESV): ²⁶ And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
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• Jeremiah 31:33 (ESV): ³³ For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
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• Romans 6:17 (ESV): ¹⁷ But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed,
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• Acts 15:9 (ESV): ⁹ and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith.
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Do Christian Hearts Become Fundamentally Different?

Yes AND No.

• Our hearts become new through the Holy Spirit, but they still retain the capacity to exhibit the qualities of a wicked heart.
• How?

1. When we stop submitting ourselves to the influence of the Holy Spirit.
2. When the influence of the world on our hearts becomes stronger than the influence of the Holy Spirit on our hearts.

How Do We Actively Submit to the Influence of the Holy Spirit?

• Spiritual disciplines
  • Prayer
  • Fasting
  • Worship
  • Fellowship (with other believers)
  • Scriptural meditation

Examples of Corrupted Christian Hearts

Christian Hearts can

• Be impure [James 4:8 (ESV): ⁸ Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.]
• Be hardened [Hebrews 3:15 (ESV): ¹⁵ As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”]
• Doubt [Mark 11:23 (ESV): ²³ Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him.]
• Vary in their degree of receptivity (Matthew 13:1-23)
• Be dull [Matthew 13:15 (ESV): ¹⁵ For this people’s heart has grown dull. . .]
• Be absent of illumination (Ephesians 1:16–19 (ESV): ¹⁶ I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, ¹⁷ that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, ¹⁸ having the eyes of your hearts enlightened. . .]
• Be absent of the rule of Christ’s peace [Colossians 3:15 (ESV): ¹⁵ And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.]
• Be absent of richness of the Word and of thanksgiving [Colossians 3:16 (ESV)
• ¹⁶ Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.]
• Be filled by Satan [to lie] [Acts 5:3 (ESV): ³ But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit. . . ?]
• Contrive evil deeds [Acts 5:4 (ESV) ⁴. . . Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.”]

Christians behave ungodly for one of three reasons:

1. They don’t understand.
2. Their hearts are corrupt.
3. They are both ignorant and corrupt.

Solve the Mystery by Following the Corruption Trail

• Ephesians 4:29 (ESV): ²⁹ Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.
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• But where does corrupt communication come from?
  • Matthew 15:18–19 (ESV): ¹⁸ But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. ¹⁹ For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.
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  • Ephesians 4:30-32 (ESV): ³⁰ And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. ³¹ Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. ³² Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
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Is the Regenerated Human Heart the same as the Regenerated Human Spirit?

Conclusions About the Christian Heart

The Christian heart’s purity is

1. Conditional
2. Malleable
3. Must be Maintained

Key Idea: If you don’t draw from the well, you won’t benefit from the water.

Is the Mind the True Culprit?

Some say that the things being said about the heart actually apply to the mind.

They say that the heart is perpetually regenerated after salvation, but that it is the mind that must be progressively renewed.

We should respond to that with the words of Jesus:

• Matthew 15:18–19 (ESV): ¹⁹ For out of the heart come evil thoughts. . .

The heart is a thought center.

Scripture consistently attributes to the heart psychological qualities.

The human being consists of three elements:

• Physical essence
• Psychological essence
• Spiritual essence

The human heart seems to be aligned with our psychology more than any other aspect of our existence.

Besides all the other things that it may do and be, it appears that the heart is a repository for our subconscious thoughts.

Subconscious thoughts are deep seated emotions, ideas and motivations that sit beneath our conscious thinking and that drive most of our behavior.

This is why the heart is deceitful

• It can hide intentions at the subconscious level, causing us to think that our motives are purer than they really are.

Why Our Subconscious Thoughts Must Be Addressed

1. Spiritual giftedness and ministry success and ethical Christian behavior camouflaging an underdeveloped inner life.
2. The decisions we make about celibacy are deeply tied to matters of the heart.
3. The decisions we make about having children or not having children are deeply tied to matters of the heart.

Do our lives belong to us or do our lives belong to the Lord?

How much of our thoughts are not our own, but are really influences of culture (and technology)?

How much of our thoughts are not our own, but inherited from our ancestors?

• Exodus 34:6–7 (ESV): ⁶ The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, ⁷ keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”
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© Joshua D. Smith, Ph.D., 2024

Introduction

This series is an invitation to embrace the high call of the single life—if you are single.

If you are married, it is to help you encourage, support and pray for the single people in your lives.

Review

Key Ideas from last week:

• Single life is as honorable as married life.
• Getting married and having children is not a mandate.
• People can be single or childless for multiple reasons (both practial and spirital), so don’t judge.
• You can choose to be a life-long single for the sake of the kingdom.

1 Corinthians 7:8–9 (ESV): ⁸ To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single, as I am. ⁹ But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

God Can Also Ask Us “Why?”

God does not press you about marriage. He presses you about motives.

God is more interested in what drives your decisions than the decisions themselves.

The test of our loyalty to God hinges on our willingness to submit our beliefs to God’s scrutiny.

God Tests for Our Loyalty

What Jesus calls the greatest commandment is a loyalty test:

Mark 12:30 (ESV): 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’

Jim Brengenberg explains loving God with all your strength at Biblicalleadership.com: “I like to think of loving the Lord with all your strength as loving the Lord with all the things that make you strong or stable in life: your accomplishments, your influence, your paycheck, your talents, your time”

If we explained what Jesus is saying about the inner life in contemporary terms, we’d be talking about your psychology, your will, your emotions, your subconscious thinking, your self-esteem, your imagination, your reasoning, your philosophy, the ways you self-identify, how you see yourself in relationship to other people, how your perceive the world.

All of this must be constantly assessed.

Why?

The Heart is Not to be Trusted

When left to itself, your innermost being is not trustworthy. Its signals are not reliable sources of direction.

The Scriptrue communicates this emphatically:

• Jeremiah 17:9 (ESV): ⁹ The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
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• Matthew 15:18–19 (ESV): ¹⁸ But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. ¹⁹ For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.
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The Power of God’s Scrutiny

Jeremiah 17:10 (ESV): ¹⁰ “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”

Hebrews 4:12–13 (ESV): ¹² For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. ¹³ And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

God addresses the matters of the heart directly through His Word and Spirit.

He also addresses the heart indirectly through the counsel of other people.

The Power of Good Advice

Proverbs 11:14 (ESV): ¹⁴ Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.

Proverbs 15:22 (ESV): ²² Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed.

Proverbs 20:5 (ESV): ⁵ The purpose in a man’s heart is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out.

Giving Our Hearts Back to God

Psalm 51:6 (ESV): ⁶ Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

James 4:8 (ESV): ⁸ Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Psalm 119:10 (ESV): ¹⁰ With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments!

Psalm 139:23–24 (ESV): ²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! ²⁴ And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!

 

© Joshua D. Smith, Ph.D., 2024

 

Review

Theme for the Year: “Grown”

Theme Scripture for the Year: Ephesians 4:11–16 (ESV): ¹¹ And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, ¹² to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, ¹³ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, ¹⁴ so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. ¹⁵ Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, ¹⁶ from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

• The purpose of ministry gifts is to help us grow
• God also uses plant life as an analogy for spiritual growth
  • Like plants, God wants us to flourish
  • We know we are growing when we bear fruit that glorifies the Father.

The “Grown” Series

• The world’s concept of adulthood is a license to act childish:
  • Biblical adulthood is measured by how much we submit our lives to the Father.
    • Jesus is God’s definition of adulthood.
    • The more you are like Christ, the more of an adult you are.
• Becoming like Christ is about inner life development but is reflected in our outer life practice.

The “Jireh” Series

• Many people seek to bypass internal growth to become rich.
• But wealth building God’s way requires that we are first rich internally.
• Because The purpose of wealth is human flourishing.

The “Rest” Series

• We learned that we find rest in the process of spiritual formation.
• Spiritual formation is the process of God forming our inner life in such a way that it is more and more like Christ.

The “Hustle” Series

• Don’t let technology, inflation and working conditions bully you into a life that just goes faster and faster to the point of becoming unsustainable.
• At some point, we have to take the time to sit at the feet of Jesus

The “Words of Jesus” Series

Jesus Speaks on Marriage and Divorce

Matthew 19:10-11 (ESV): ¹⁰ The disciples said to him, “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.” ¹¹ But he said to them, “Not everyone can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given.

Getting married and having children is not a mandate.

Eunuchs

Matthew 19:12 (ESV): ¹² For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who is able to receive this receive it.”

• A eunuch is a male who has been castrated for the purposes of serving in a royal court (common in the ancient world in the Middle East, Asia and parts of Africa)
• Jesus uses eunuch as a metonym,
  • Metonym (met – o – nym) /ˈmed̩nim/: (noun) a word, name, or expression used as a substitute for something else with which it is closely associated. For example, Washington is a metonym for the federal government of the US. [Definition from Oxford Languages and Google]
  • In Jesus’ explanation, a eunuch is a kind of single person that represents all other single persons.
• Three categories of single:
  • Birth (physical limitations)
  • Men (social circumstances)
  • Kingdom (spiritual motivation)

A Curious Statement

“Let the one who is able to receive this receive it.”

• “Able” is not about a personality type, but about a heart posture.
  • Submission requires that your heart be subject to God as much as your body.

Sacrifices in Marriage

This is how submission is applied in our married and single lives:

Married and single Christians first give themselves to the Lord before anyone else.

Sacrifices in the Single Life

God’s demands on single people are just as high as they are on married people.

Single people are just submitted to Christ in a different context.

But What If I’m Single by Circumstance and Not by Choice?

Let’s go back to Jesus’ closing statement:

“Let the one who is able to receive this receive it.”

God works at the pace of heart readiness.

The Eunuch as a Metaphor

Eunuchs were people the king could trust because they were dead to their strongest desires.

Some of the most delicate matters of the kingdom were committed to single people (spiritual eunuchs):

• Jesus
• Paul
• John the Baptist
• Mary Magdelene
• Miriam
• Lydia

But What if I don’t Want to Live Like a Nun or a Priest?

This series is an invitation to embrace the high call of the single life.

Our New Series Title: The Sacredness of Singleness

 

Resources:

• Single Today: Conquer Yesterday’s Regrets, Ditch Tomorrow’s Worries, and Thrive Right Where You Are by Ryan Wekenman
• I’m 30 & Still SINGLE | How to Manage Your Single Season, Remain Celibate, & more w- Tim Ross https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWS4XzPgxdY
• Instagram Clip About Singleness: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C8cJ9KnsEvX/?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== (https://www.instagram.com/reel/C8cJ9KnsEvX/?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

 

© Joshua D. Smith, Ph.D., 2024

John 11:14-16 NLT

14 So he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. 15 And for your sakes, I’m glad I wasn’t there, for now you will really believe. Come, let’s go see him.”16 Thomas, nicknamed the Twin,[c] said to his fellow disciples, “Let’s go, too—and die with Jesus.”

 

John 14:1-6 NLT

1 “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. 2 There is more than enough room in my Father’s home.[a] If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?[b] 3 When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.”5 “No, we don’t know, Lord,” Thomas said. “We have no idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?”6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.

 

John 20:19-23 NLT

19 That Sunday evening[b] the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! “Peace be with you,” he said. 20 As he spoke, he showed them the wounds in his hands and his side. They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord! 21 Again he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” 22 Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

John 20:24 NLT

24 One of the twelve disciples, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin),[c]was not with the others when Jesus came.

John 20:25 NLT

25 They told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he replied, “I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side.”

John 20:26-27 NLT

26 Eight days later the disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with them. The doors were locked; but suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them. “Peace be with you,” he said. 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!”

John 20:28 NLT

28 “My Lord and my God!” Thomas exclaimed. 29 Then Jesus told him, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.”

 

© Pastor Kenna Pettaway, 2024

Matthew 4:18-22 (NKJV) ¹⁸ And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. ¹⁹ Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” ²⁰ They immediately left their nets and followed Him.

²¹ Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. He called them, ²² and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.

Jesus gave his life for us, that He might give life to us; so that He might live through us.

• Obedience
• Cultivate a Lifestyle of Prayer
• Being Empowered by the Holy Spirit
• Armed with the Sword

Obedience

(The Heartbeat of True Discipleship)

What Does Obedience Have to Do with Following Jesus?

The disciples were asked to put total and complete faith and confidence in Him. They left everything; they stepped forward in obedience.

To follow Jesus is not only to call Him Lord, but to honor Him as Lord by obeying his commands.

Luke 6:46 (NKJV) “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?”

Framework of Obedience (excerpt taken from Whole Hearted – Letting God Shape Your Whole Life by author Floyd McClung

• Believing in Christ
• Forgiving Others
• Surrendering Yourself
• Denying Yourself
• Growing in Faith
• Submitting to Authority
• Enduring Hardship
• Doing Justice
• Loving the Lost
• Doing Good Works

In order to obey, you must have faith, trusting and believing in God and His promises even when you can’t see with the physical eye.

Matthew 4:20 (NKJV)

“They immediately left their nets and followed Him. The disciples had no guarantee of what their life would look.”

Cultivating a Lifestyle of Prayer

Prayer is most effective when it’s a lifestyle we cultivate daily.

We should have a dedicated place and time set aside to spend with the Lord daily.

Matthew 9:38 (NKJV) “Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”

God’s plan to reach the lost is worked through those who already know and love Him.

Ephesians 6:18-19 (NKJV) ¹⁸ praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints— ¹⁹ and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel,

Being Empowered by the Holy Spirit

In following Jesus, we need the Indwelling Power of the Holy Spirit.

It is through the transformative and empowering work of the Holy Spirit that believers can become effective witnesses, drawing others to Christ.

John 14:16 (NKJV) ¹⁶ And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another^[e^]Helper, that He may abide with you forever— ¹⁷ the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.

Acts 1:8 (NKJV) “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.”

The Holy Spirit gives us boldness to share the good news of the Christ.

The Great Commission:

Matthew 28:19-21 (NKJV) “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 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.”

Armed with the Sword

Ephesians 6:17 (NKJV)^17 “And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God”

To follow Jesus faithfully we must immerse ourselves in the word of God

Matthew 4:4 (NKJV)   “Many shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.”

Hebrew 4:12 (NKJV) ^“For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NKJV) “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

God’s Word completes the believers, equipping us for every good work by teaching, convicting, correcting and instructing us.

2 Timothy 2:15 (NKJV) “Study (be diligent) to show thyself approved unto God, a workman who needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

 

Follow Jesus is not an invitation to be saved; it is the call of the believer to service.

Practical Steps:

1. Cultivate a heart for the loss through prayer and intercession
2. We must know what is written
3. Practice sharing the salvation message with family, friends, co-workers

 

© Elder Perrilla Woodard, 2024

From Self-Pity to Worship

(Martha’s Encounter’s with Jesus)

 

Luke 10:38-42 (NIV)

38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to Him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” 41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

• Compassion means that you “feel sympathy for the suffering of others and you take action to ease their pain”
• Self-Pity- an amplified focus of one’s own worries or suffering

Luke 22:41-43 (NKJV)

And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw (Jesus stepped just beyond his disciples), and He knelt down and prayed, 42 saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not My will, but Yours, be done.” 43Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him.

John 11:5

“Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was sick he stayed where he was two more days”…

John 11:14-15

“Lazarus is dead and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”

John 11:20-27

20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home. 21 “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask. 23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” 27 “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

John 11:33

“33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 “Where have you laid him?” he asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied.35 Jesus wept.

John 12:1-3

“Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lives, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. Here a dinner was given in Jesus honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining from the table with him. Then Mary took about a pint of nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.”