This Week’s Experience – 6/25/2023

Message

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And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Philippians 1:6

I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ.  And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.

-Philippians 1:12-14

Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name's sake. This will be your opportunity to bear witness.

-Luke 21:10-13

 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.  They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father as well.  If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father.  But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’

-John 15:18-25

If I live for Jesus the way He intends me to, the world will soon discover I am with their way of living. And it will likely me something.

At the first Passover belief did not save anyone… did.

The blood over their doorposts did not save them…It them.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.  In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.

-Hebrews 12:1-4

 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

-Ephesians 2:10

Becoming a Christ-follower is the , not the .

Being dissatisfied with merely being a human among humankind will entail:

  • Greater love for others
  • Growing in knowledge and understanding of Jehovah God
  • Greater discernment about how/where to serve/love others
  • Understanding excellence from God’ point of view, trying to be pure, and blameless in our witness
  • Filled with the fruits of righteousness (attached to the vine)
  • For God’s glory and praise and honor (not my own)

LIFE APPLICATION
To discuss during the week with your family, Life Group, or Campus.

1. Which of the scriptures today impacted you? Why?

2. What else stood out to you in this message?

3. What next step is Jesus asking you to take as a result of this
message?