Sermon #1 in the "I AM" Statements of Jesus. John 10:11 “I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd gives His life for the Sheep.” John 10:14 “I am the Good Shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own.”
Ever felt like a “Stray Cat?” Ever taken in a “Stray Cat?” In Leviticus 19:18 God speaks-You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, “but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.” In light of Today’s Bible Tellin - Its “A Crazy Little Thing - Called Love”
Christ’s Physical Resurrection enables Our Spiritual Resurrection and Makes our Faith Real: “But now Christ IS risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep… so in Christ all shall be made alive.” 1 Corinthians 15:20, 22b
His Resurrection was Accomplished By God’s Power: Acts 2:24: “Whom God Raised Up” By Christ’s Power: John 10:18. “I have the power to lay my life down and I have the power to take it up.” By the Spirit’s Power: Romans 8:1. “If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the Dead…”
Meditation: “The Last Palm” After the Crowd’s “Hosanna,” what was left behind? To pick up, clean up, the pieces of Meaning, that were left over, and that we might have missed, in our familiarity with the Palm Sunday Story. Make Something Useful, of what was left behind.
The Blessings of God found in Psalm 121: Where does help from come? What IS the help that comes? Can I trust that God will help me, no matter what befalls me?
Where does help from come? From looking up to God in prayer. What IS the help that comes? God’s Creative & Preserving Power. Can I trust that God will help me, no matter what befalls me? God will preserve our Souls, and our goings and comings.
WE SAINTS are: LOVED
S - Saved by God (Salvation)
A - Available to God (Disciples)
I - Indwelled with God (Holy Spirit)
WE SAINTS have: LOVE
N - Need of God (Know Their Need)
T - Trust in God (Faith & Hope)
S – Serenity of God (Sanctification)
SAINTS ARE VISIBLE & INVISIBLE
God has made everything… Acts 17:27…so that they (humanity) should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’