07/13/2020
Welch Members....
Please see this week's copy of the sermon rewind for your self or group study. God Bless!
Welch St. Church of Christ Sermon Rewind
July Sermon Series: Building Bridges
What is Sermon Rewind?
Sermon Rewind provides a high level overview of the past Sunday’s Sermon and creates an opportunity to:
1) Engage in additional study
2) Make life application,
3) Identify actions needed to promote next level growth.
SERIES OVERVIEW
Lesson Text: Text: 1 Timothy2:1-7
Key Verse: (5-6): “For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people…”
God has always been a bridge builder! If anyone has had a reason to walk away from His people, God has. To the contrary, however, he has repeatedly made the effort to extend and connect himself to us. Ultimately, Jesus serves as the Bridge, mediator between God and man and God. Though sin once separated us from God, our relationship with Jesus allows us to once again bask in divine fellowship with our Creator.
In light of the very divided world that we live in, if there is anything that we can learn from God, it is how to build bridges rather than fences. Fences divide us while bridges connect us. Throughout history, we can observe how God has dealt with his people. Despite the constant lack of faith and obedience, God has repeatedly chosen to value relationship and so should we. How much better would this world be if we learn to build bridges rather than fences? Three key values are emphasized in this series to promote bridge building: Compassion, Empathy and Sacrifice.
Sermon Rewind
Building Bridges: Lesson 2 – The Value of Compassion
(Sunday, July 12, 2020)
Opening Thoughts & Discussion
• When mankind truly shows compassion towards one another, it truly paints a beautiful picture.
• Think of and discuss examples of times when people came together for the greater good of humanity.
• Paul opens up this text communicating that every Christian has a responsibility to pray for All people! Paul approaches this with a sense of urgency and even uses 4 different words for prayer to make his point.
1. Petitions (deesis) have to do with supplication (asking God, who supplies our every need)
2. Prayers (proseuche) is a more general word for prayer.
3. Intercessions (enteuxeis) are prayers for others
4. Givings of thanks (eucharistias). meaning thankfulness, thanksgiving, or gratitude.
Text Hi-light(s): (I Timothy 2:1)
A. He urges prayer for “All” people (good, bad or indifferent)
B. He makes a point to mention Kings, or in our context, and example would be presidents or government leaders.
C. He further identifies authorities, which could include anyone who has some degree of authority over people or responsibilities (local government, law enforcement, teachers, church leaders, managers, etc)
Key Observations:
1. Paul understood clearly that not all who are in authority were “good” people, and knew the implication of what he is asking Christians to do. Case in point…A horrible king by the name of Nero, who persecuted Christians during Paul’s ministry, would be included in this prayer for “all”.
2. Perhaps Paul, having also been one who persecuted Christians in his past, truly understood the power of prayer, as he had personally experienced the fact that people can change, Glory to God!
Application & Discussion:
• If we believe in the power of prayer, what greater blessing can we give someone (even an enemy) than to pray for them?
• It’s so tempting to verbally abuse people who we have identified as exhibiting behavior that does not align with our values, but we indeed have a responsibility to pray for them.
• Have a discussion about people who are “hard to love”.
• Prayer is a sense is like medicine because it is hard to feel hatred or ill feelings for someone that you are praying for on a consistent basis.
Text Hi-light(s):
A. Paul then shares with us from our text, the reason why it is God’s will that we prayer for all people.
B. Timothy 2:3-4 “This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.”
C. Simply put, it is God’s desire for “All” people to be saved! Not a few, not a select group…But All!
D. If our desires align with God’s, as they should, we will desire salvation for all.
Key Observations:
1. Too often, we try to make the determination of who is worthy of salvation!
2. In the story of Jonah, God commanded him to go to Nineveh and preach the gospel so that the people might be saved. The very reason Jonah disobeyed was because he didn’t feel like the Ninevites deserved to be saved. He had history, prejudices and personal feelings against this group of people and did not want them to be saved. There was no way that he was going to take the saving power of the gospel to this group of people, so instead he ran from God.
3. We too, at times, struggle with the “Jonah Syndrome”, not only in a broad sense that implies racism, elitism and personal bias, but also in a narrow sense, such as a spouse, friend or co-worker whom one may not feel is deserving of our compassion and forgiveness.
4. Jonah chose to side with his personal feelings or preferences over God.
Application & Discussion:
• How we “see” people makes a difference!
• Observe how Jesus sees people in Matthew 5:43-48. He looked at the crowd of helpless and hurting people and was moved with compassion.
• Isn’t it amazing how God looks not at the outward appearance but at the heart? (I Samuel 16:7)
• Paul also reminds us is I Corinthians 6:9-11 that we too were sinners (“such were some of you”). We have simply been washed in the blood of the lamb. We should never forget our life before we came to Christ. We were just like the people that we often look down on.
• Even now, STILL have our personal struggles with sin! We are a work in progress, and this too should humble us.
• No one has a reason to look down on others, and it is certainly not our job to determine who is worthy or not worthy of salvation.
• Always remember, there is some good in the worst of us and some bad in the best of us no matter the race, ethnicity, socio-economic status or the like.
Call To Action:
1. We need to extend to others the grace that God extends to us.
• Grace is unmerited favor! None of us deserve grace, but God still provides it for us.
• Read Matthew 18:21-35 about the servant whose master forgave him of the large debt that he owed, but he in turn would not do the same for one who owed him a small debt.
2. Take time for personal evaluation to identify the potential presence of the “Jonah Syndrome”.
• Do we struggle with seeing people like Jesus?
• Do we have a tendency to look at the outer man? Do we seek to know the heart?
• Has our judgment been tainted by past experiences or hurts?
3. Seek to develop a mature prayer life
• Move our prayers from being “petition heavy” to “intercession” heavy. (pray for others)
• Look for opportunities to pray for those who we may not ordinarily pray for.
4. Take on the challenge of learning to love your enemies
• You may need to pray to God for strength and discernment in this area.
• Read over Matthew 5:43-48 and look for opportunities to demonstrate the love of God.
