Awake Us Now

Week 4 of our Matthew study is all about John the Baptist and his message of repentance, a message that can be difficult for the religious to accept.

In our study of Matthew this week we look at chapters 2 and 3, with an emphasis on deliverance through Jesus the Messiah and the fulfillment of the New Covenant through Him as well.

This week our study of Matthew takes us into chapter 2 and the story of Jesus’ birth focusing on the Magi, their interaction with Herod, and their interesting gifts to Jesus.

The Gospel of Matthew emphasizes Jesus as Israel’s long awaited Messiah. Jesus is the fulfillment of the prophetic promises in God’s Word, the Deliverer, Savior and King. Matthew zeroes in on Jesus’ call to discipleship. Will we heed this call today and commit fully to the King of Kings, the promised Savior of the world? Matthew chose to follow Jesus and Jesus changed Matthew’s life. If we choose to follow Jesus, He will change our lives, too. Why is the Gospel of Matthew Pastor Dodge's favorite? Why is this Gospel the first book of the New Testament? Jesus changed Matthew's life when Matthew chose to follow Jesus. Jesus still today is calling us to follow Him. If we choose to follow Jesus, He will change our lives just like He did Matthew's.

Scripture: Exodus 20:1-2 What are the Ten Words? We read in Exodus 20:1, “And God spoke all these words.” “Words is referring to the Ten Commandments God spoke on Mount Sinai to Moses. God’s Ten Commandments are found in the rest of Exodus 20 and also in Deuteronomy 5. Because these commandments are unnumbered in the Bible, there have been several ways these 10 Words have been numbered, but it doesn’t matter how you number them - what matters is whether you listen to them or not. Exodus 20:2 God continues, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.”  He is saying He’s the Israelite’s Deliverer from bondage in Eqypt.  We can also see this truth throughout Scripture as well when God promised to send a Savior and then sent the Messiah, Jesus Christ to Deliver His people from the bondage of sin.   Deliverance - God is the One who saves and all commandments flow from this statement of God’s deliverance for His children. It’s not that we are saved by obeying the commands. It

Luke 17:11-19; “Top 10%”  Today’s teaching is a story from the last weeks of Jesus’ life before His arrest, crucifixion, death and resurrection.  This story speaks with immediacy, power and direction to us today. Top 10% - what comes to mind is human achievement- we want to be at the top, but God sees things much differently.  When God speaks of the top 10% He’s talking about those who walk by faith in Him and who are filled with gratitude and thanksgiving. So let’s explore today’s story in light of how God sees the top 10%. The story is about 10 desperate individuals with a need that was met by Jesus and that will show us the importance of recognizing what God has done and giving Him the glory. As Jesus is traveling towards Jerusalem 10 men with leprosy cry out to Him, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”  Jesus!  Have mercy on us! And Jesus has mercy - He is merciful and He simply responds in love and mercy to them with, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” (Because according to the Law - If you had leprosy an

Today’s message is a continued study of Paul’s farewell words of encouragement and warning to the gathering of church leaders. Paul shares honestly that he understands his time left on earth is short. He states how he has proclaimed the whole will of God. What is the Whole Will / Counsel of God? CREATOR - We and the world are intentionally created by a pure, loving, holy creator who shows us how brilliant a Creator / Designer He is. His design points us right back to Him, our Designer. CONDITION - Our condition is that - All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. None of us is righteous.  CHRIST - we all need a Savior and that Savior turns our lives around. Christ is the prophesied Messiah:     Deity - God     Death - on the cross for us - paid the price of our sin by taking it on Himself that we might be saved.     Resurrection - His resurrection ensures our victory over death.  We will be raised on the last day when He returns.     Returning - He will return and we will have eternal life with Him

God’s word is compelling and so very practical.  It thoroughly equips us and it still speaks to us today. Today’s story takes place in the town of Miletus where Paul is speaking to leaders of the church sharing the difficult challenges and testing he experienced in his three years of mission work in Ephesus. He shares how he humbly did the work God gave him even in the most despairing times he humbly hung on tight to God who brought him through it all. What can we learn from Paul’s speech?     1.    Humble Service - we are called to humility before our awesome and mighty God, recognizing all we have and are comes from Him and that we are all in the same condition - sinners. We need a Savior and only God can save us. Humility is needed in understanding this.  We are called to serve God in humility and to humbly server others to use our gifts, time, talents, abilities and opportunities that God gives us to serve Him and bless others.  Our lives are to be lives of Humble Service. Paul goes on to summarize what h

Merry Christmas!

In Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus states that He has been given "all authority on Heaven and on Earth," and with that authority gives us our marching orders - make disciples of all nations, baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy spirit, and teach them to obey everything He has commanded. But this isn’t just about His command, this is about God’s faithfulness and His desire for us to experience that faithfulness. Let’s begin by contrasting genuine faith with mere religion:     ⁃    Relationship vs. Religion     ⁃    Knowledge of God/Knowing God vs. Information/Knowing ABOUT God     ⁃    Trusting in God vs. Believing only certain things     ⁃    Obedience because we trust God vs. Acceptance of only certain things We are to keep on growing in faith - to know and experience Him - to follow and obey Him. In our verses today, His desire is that we not only obey, but that we teach others to obey Him.  He gives us the command to “Make disciples,” and to encourage us He gives us the promise of His fait

Merry Christmas!

Luke 2:22-40; “Simeon and Anna”  What is the meaning of the name, Jesus? Do we fully comprehend what this name means? In Hebrew it is Yeshua. It literally means Yehovah, Jehovah, Yahweh saves. “God Saves.” This is the name given to Jesus.  A precious name. “God Saves” is a powerful name, a mighty name and a remarkable name, a name that blesses all who call upon Him, a name that declares God is the One who saves us. Every time we speak His name we are reminded of the truth that God has broken into our world and stepped in to save us. We need this divine intervention. It is God who saves us and not we ourselves. In today’s story we see Jesus, Mary and Joseph at the temple and are introduced to Simeon. The Holy Spirit told him he would not die before seeing the Messiah. Simeon was in the temple as Mary, Joseph and Jesus entered and Simeon was prompted by the Holy Spirit to know this baby was the promised Savior.  Simeon takes Jesus in his arms and speaks, “Sovereign Lord, now dismiss your servant in peace, for m

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Today’s teaching is on enemy territory and the reality of spiritual warfare. In a fallen world the battle is not between people - it is between the Living God and the powers of darkness, It is between the Body of Christ and those under the spell of the devil. Ephesus was the center of worship of Artemis and also a hotbed of the occult, magic, eastern religions, drugs, alcohol and many of the same things we encounter in our world today. Ephesus is where Paul carried out some of his most important mission work and it is where God shows us some important lifetime truths through how He worked in Ephesus nearly 2000 years ago. Where we left off last week was with Paul spending two years teaching daily in the Hall of Tyrannus. Verse 10 of Acts chapter 19 tells us that all Jews and Greeks in the area heard the word of the Lord. Paul and others were training up believers to share their faith and so the Gospel message was shared all over Asia.   During Paul’s time in Ephesus he experienced more push back than ever bef

Scripture: Luke 2: 1-20 The Christmas Story is familiar to most of us - a story we’ve heard over and over, year after year.  When something becomes so familiar we can easily be deceived into treating it too casually without the awe and gratitude this story should cause in our hearts.  Familiarity can cause us to forget this is a REAL story, with REAL people and our REAL Savior.   So let’s look at this very familiar story in Luke 2:1-20 with new eyes and new ears and new hearts. May we experience and receive THE GREAT GOOD NEWS as the best gift ever given. As Pastor reads the Christmas Story he shares insights about the location of where Jesus was born, and other interesting historical information, even specific insights into the shepherds in the fields and the intended use of their lambs. Mary and Jospeph arrive in Bethlehem for a census, Jesus is born, and then the angels announce the Great Good News to the shepherds. When the angels broke through the skies the shepherds went from experiencing great fear at

This week’s teaching shows us the importance of growth in faith. Today’s scripture is on the story of Paul’s mission work in the city of Ephesus. As he begins to meet people he asks several believers if they received the Holy Spirit when they came to faith in Jesus. Their response was no, that they had never heard of the Holy Spirit.  Sadly, this is much the condition of the christian church in America today. The Holy Spirit has often been ignored.  Paul learns that the Christians there had received John’s baptism. They had heard the teachings of John the Baptist and had been baptized in a baptism of repentance. Paul taught them that the One (Jesus) that John had predicted was coming was here and this was Jesus. John had said that Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Paul fills them in on Jesus, the one John had said was coming. So after hearing this they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit came on them and they spoke in tongues. Today speaking in tongu

Luke 1:57-80; “John’s Story”  Pastor Dodge explores Luke’s account of John the Baptist in today’s study.  It’s a story that starts with the miraculous pregnancy of Elizabeth who was well past her child-bearing years, yet God was faithful to His promise to her husband Zechariah. In today’s text John is born and it is the 8th day after his birth, the day that the baby boy would be circumcised and named.  Their family and friends are sure the baby boy will be named a family name after Zechariah. However Elizabeth follows through with what the angel Gabriel had told her husband when the angel had announced they would have a son. And Elizabeth states the child would be named John just as the angel told them to name him. Since the angel’s visit to Zechariah he had become unable to speak because he doubted the word of God through the angel. As family is saying how can you name him John, Zechariah writes on his tablet that the child’s name is John and he is instantly healed and able to speak.  He praises the Lord and

God’s word teaches endurance: how to face the difficulties and challenges of life. The Bible doesn’t tell us we will get through life without difficult days and trials. God’s Word gives us encouragement because God’s word is true, it is genuine and it speaks directly into our lives. Paul at Corinth is a story that shows us how God gives His children encouragement even in the most difficult of times, difficult of places and the most trying of circumstances. Paul went on missionary journey to Corinth (in Greece) a very corrupt seaport city. They had a temple to Aphrodites and Paul found himself very discouraged at the evil he found there. But God brings encouragement in a way that teaches us to see the ways that God ministers to us in the darkest of days. Observations: Provision: Paul meets Aquila and Priscilla - God provides as he brings people into our lives who will minister and encourage us. Support: Silas and Timothy - God’s support through colleagues that helped Paul be able to devote full time effort int