Bulletins - St. Luke's Church Faribault

What A Friend We Have In Jesus
Jesus Messiah
Jesus
- - Isaiah 60:1–6NIV2011
  - Philippians 2:1–11NIV2011
Pray
Anybody love to read biographies?My Father loved to read biographies. He was always fascinated by the back story of famous people. He loved to find out what it was that drove them to their accomplishments. Biographies can be very motivational. Most of the time very successful people came from humble beginnings. Sometimes, they started out with even less than we did. Rarely, do they rise to the top from the start. Often they have many failures before they have successes. That is the excitement found in biographies. Finding out how they overcame their obstacles. Then we cant’t help but try and apply it to our story.
We try to learn from their wins and losses, and use that to motivate ourselves. The problem is our story is usually different from their story. The circumstances, maybe similar, but different enough that makes applying it difficult.
The other challenge is while we can learn from the biography, we don’t have access to that person. We don’t have the means or the same resources they have. We don’t have them available for questions or for help. What would be really nice is if we could find someone that had been through the same things we had been through. Who knew exactly what we feeling or thinking, and then if that persona could actually walk us through our story helping us make the right choices, following us along. It would be helpful if that person could give us access to the same resources they had. Or at least what if that person was there to cry with us in our failures, and was there to cheer us on in our victories. What is that person was an advocate for us, always speaking highly of us, even when we felt like failures. What of there was a living biography like that?
We don’t have the same resources they have. We don’t have access to them to ask questions or for help. What would be really nice is if we could find someone that had been through the same things we had been through. Who knew exactly what we were feeling or thinking, and then if that persona could actually walk us through our story helping us make the right choices, following us along. It would be helpful if that person could give us access to the same resources they had. Or what if that person was there to cry with us in our failures, and was there to cheer us on in our victories. What if that person was an advocate for us, always speaking highly of us, even when we felt like failures. What if there was a living biography like that?
Biographies can be very motivational. We take what made that person successful and we try and learn from it, and use it to motivate ourselves. The problem with that is that our story is not exactly like their story. We don’t know what they have been through. We may have had similar
The main problem
Well, there is. And I going to tell you about it today.

Romans 1:1–7 NIV
Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God— the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake. And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ. To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 1:1–7 NIV
Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God— the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake. And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ. To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 1:1–8 NIV
Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God— the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake. And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ. To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world.
ro 1:1-

This is the introduction of Paul’s letter to the Romans.Paul first establishes who He is and what He is called to do. That is what I challenged you to do these past two weeks. Reflect, focus---- better yet make a statement and write down who you are and what you are called to. I’ll put this slide back up from last week to refresh your memory.

Paul is
a servant of Jesus Christ,
called to be an apostle, and
and set apart for the gospel of God.
set apart for the gospel of God.

Romans 1:2 NIV
the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures
In the next verse, Paul talks about this gospel, the gospel he was set apart for, this gospel of God. Paul writes

Romans 1:2 NIV
the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures
Remember, gospel means literally good news. So we could think of it this way. Paul, set apart for the good news of God. What good news? Is this some new news? A new and novel approach to God? Do we just throw away everything we already new about God and believed for these thousands of years? No this gospel or good news, is the same good news that were promised beforehand, years ago. hundreds of years ago by the prophets, and written down. There is a real basis for this happening. people didn’t just make it up, it was written down in all kinds of places.
Actually, I have heard some Pastor’s say there are over 300 prophecies. I looked up a source that says there are 414 prophecies concerning Jesus in the Old Testament. Personally, I think both those numbers are low. I had a professor who was doing extensive work showing how through the whole Old Testament there are even more than that. He used to tell us to avoid that number because he had work that showed extensively higher numbers, but here are the ones you may be most familiar with.
Isaiah 7:14 NIV
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.
and
Micah 5:2 NIV
“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”
Mica 5.2
and
Isaiah 9:6–7 NIV
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.
and
Zechariah 9:9 NIV
Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
and
Zechariah 12:10 NIV
“And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.
and
Ezekiel 36:26 NIV
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.
Ezk 36.26
That is just 7, we could go on. Three hundred times, or 400 times, or according to my professor, even more. That took about a minute. Now using the conservative estimate and reading just the verses, it would take me about 45 minutes just to read through the verses, using the 414 for the number of prophecies and it would take over an hour, that is reading just the verses, not even paging to them. Just reading them out loud, and the actual number could be quite a bit higher. The point I am trying to make, is the point the apostle Paul is making.
This Gospel, this good news from God has been promised long beforehand, at the fall actually, and written down in God’s word. Then and only then did Jesus come to live it out, exactly as it had been written. This was not a random occurence. It was God, telling us how he would save then doing it-through Jesus.
pause
Then, so that we are absolutely clear what the center of the gospel is Paul writes this.
Romans 1:3 NIV
regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David,
The gospel is inseparable from his son, Jesus.
The gospel is the story of who Jesus is, and what He has done.
The good news is who Jesus is and what he he has done.
Who Jesus is
and what He has done.
Jesus is the sinless, God-man son of God. What he did was died on the cross for our sins and rose from the dead three days later. You remember that from our series on what is the gospel it is straight out of 1 Corinthians chapter 15. The Gospel of God is inseparable from Jesus it is regarding Jesus.
It does not have the word social in front of it. You may have heard of a social gospel. Do not be fooled. The social gospel is not the same as the gospel of God, because the social gospel is not regarding Jesus. The social gospel has an emphasis on good works. It has an emphasis on social justice cause which are good. But the social gospel seeks to remove Jesus, the social gospel has its origins in man not in God. The social gospel removes Jesus because Jesus is offensive to people who do not follow Him.
Now don’t get me wrong, those social causes are good, and they should be dealt with, but hear me carefully-- they are dealt with as a product of the Gospel of God taking hold in peoples lives, and not as result of man doing good works. People hear the gospel of God, are transformed by it, want to be like Jesus so they do right things. The Gospel of God brings people to Jesus. Jesus people do not oppress, do not commit injustices. How do stop injustice, oppression, crime? Bring people to Jesus.
There are stories of when revival was happening in Britain and Colonial America in the 1700’s called the great awakening, that whole cites were turning around, the economies were booming bars were literally closing due to lack of customers. This happened not because of an outbreak of the social gospel but because of the outbreak of the Gospel of God, regarding Jesus, His son.
Not reading verse-on screen only
Romans 1:3 NIV
regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David,
Who as to His human nature
Who as to His earthly life was was a descendent of David.
This might not mean a lot to us, but the jewish people in Rome, and even to the non-jews it would be hard to miss this significance of this phrase. We don’t have royalty here. We have not lived under Kings, even for the most part in the world Kings are getting fairly rare. But there still are a few monarchies here and there. The thing about Kings, you are born a king. You become King by being in the family. It is passed down.
The family line of David was the ruling Kingly family of the Nation of Israel. In order to be King of Israel, you needed to be born into the family line of David. However there was this problem. The Roman empire came in and conquered the nation of Israel. They then gave the throne away to a puppet King. SO Paul is reminding the church in Rome. The church in the capital city of this Roman empire, that Jesus was the rightful descendant to the throne. Paul is kind of laying out a biography of Jesus for the roman church.
Romans 1:4 NIV
and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Spirit of Holiness, is referring to the Holy Spirit, The Holy Spirit raised Jesus from the dead.

Romans 8:11 NIV
And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
Romans 8:11 NIV
And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
o 8.11
Jesus by the Holy Spirit was appointed or in some translations declared to be the Son of God. Do not be confused by that. It is NOT saying that somehow Jesus was not the Son of God, then by His resurrection from the dead somehow became the son of God. The text is saying that Jesus who was raised from the dead by Holy Spirit now is seen differently among people, because He was raised from the dead, by the Holy Spirit He is now seen in His role as son of God in power.
Back to
Not read
Romans 1:4 NIV
and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.

Jesus raised from the dead- by the Holy Spirit was appointed. Or in some translations declared to be the Son of God in power.
Do not be confused by that phrase. It is NOT saying that Jesus was not the Son of God, then by His resurrection from the dead became the son of God. Jesus was always the Son of God. He always existed co-eternal with the Father.
What the text is saying-is that Jesus, who was raised from the dead by Holy Spirit, now is seen differently among people, Jesus is now fulfilling a different role than living an earthly life. Because He was raised from the dead, by the Holy Spirit He is now living in His role as son of God in power. Paul is laying side by side these two aspects of Christ to show us who Jesus is intentionally. Jesus was in the Flesh, He existed in the flesh, walked the earth was here, and then has raised form the dead by the spirit, He now lives in the resurrected power.
It is a little more apparent if I move to a different translation and read them together.
Romans 1:3–4 NASB95
concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord,
RO 1:3-5
Now this theme, this living in the flesh and living in the spirit will be a major theme in chapters to come in Romans as Paul unfolds more of the story of salvation. In Chapter 6, and 7 Paul will talk about life living in the flesh. With its passions and desires, chained and enslaved to sin. Then he will lay it alongside of life in the spirit where we live by the power of the Holy Spirit, living in the new found freedom to be free from sin, and walking in a new life in the spirit.
Then Paul ends this sentence with three names for Jesus

Jesus Christ our Lord-These three names or titles are important they are echoing this idea of who Jesus is.
He starts with Jesu-referring to he is earthly name-Jeshua, it means God saves from
Matthew 1:21 NIV
She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
Christ-Christos-Messiah means anointed one- Have a distinctly jewish flavor and one who is anointed by God.
Matthew 2:4 NIV
When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born.

The Messiah who was to be this descendent of David.
And Lord-Kyrios-Having this Roman flavor, Lord Master The one you submit to. In Rome the government required people to say Ceaser is Lord.
In these few verses, Paul tells us a whole lot about Jesus. Paul has his identity and mission solid, but how he accomplishes that calling hinges on who he is doing it for, Jesus Christ our Lord.
It is almost as if Paul is giving us this miniature biography of Jesus. The story of who Jesus is and what he has done, or the gospel is the driving force or the the motivation behind Paul fulfilling the mission - an apostle set-apart for God’s Gospel.
The Gospel is the driving force of the mission.
For us, everyday, for me and for you, our tendency is this, we read about Jesus, and it stays as just a biography. It seems like the story of Jesus does not exactly meet our current situation. It seems to us that Jesus went through things, but... it is not the same things we are going through.
For us, everyday, for me and for you, our tendency is this, we read about Jesus, and it stays as just a biography. It doe not really meet our current situation, we view him as not having been through what we are going through.
Here is a common problem, for all of us. We hear about Jesus. Who He is, and what He did--we hear the gospel. We believe the gospel- we come to Christ, and we step into becoming followers of Jesus. Then we hear preachers call us to life of serving Christ, a higher mission-a calling, and motivationally we may be on board. We try and serve to fulfill this mission we are called to.

But it is hard, we don’t know what we are doing. We look at the story of Jesus as if we are reading a biography. He is kinda up here, he lived back then, the story is different it feels like. Jesus did not work at my job, or have to deal with the modern problems we have. We think. It can feel like we are left alone here in 21st century America to do our best, on our own, to fulfill the mission we are called to.

But the mission is hard, for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against powers and principalities of this dark world-Ephesians 6.12-And this wars against our mind, and our flesh-And the mission of following after Christ becomes a struggle. Sometimes we don’t have the answers to some questions, because the Bible doesn’t tell us which job to take, or how to get through a specific battle with sin we are facing. The Bible, it may appear says very little about life in 21st century Fairbault.
and that is what we are supposed to do, and that is all fine but I am left alone, here to do what I need to do on my own. And when it gets hard or a struggle or we do not know what we are doing we quit or back off and say it is for someone else not me.
Let me give you a quick example, let’s say you watched the yankees play a world series game, and you fell in love with baseball. You knew you wanted to play and you got a glove and started playing in the backyard. You read biographies about pitchers, and studied them and you became convinced you needed to play on a team. SO you tried out and you didn’t make it. You then quit and go home. You love baseball, you just can’t play on a team. So you watch a game and every once in while you go to one, and while you love the game you stay at a distance.
So, it becomes easier to back off the mission. I obviously do not what I’m doing we say, or it is for someone else. And it is easier to withdraw.
Let me give you a baseball example, let’s say you watched the Yankees play a world series game, and you fell in love with baseball. You knew you wanted to play and you got a glove and started playing in the backyard. You read books about baseball and baseball players, and studied them.You were so motivated you became convinced you needed to play on a team. But you tried out and you didn’t make the team. Because you never really had any coaching. You were doing it on your own, someone was not there helping you play well. Naturally, discouraged, and rightly so you quit. You still love baseball, you just don’t play. So you watch a game and every once in while you go to one. This is what we do in our Christian life.
But suppose there was the same story and instead of reading a biography of a baseball player you actually knew a professional. And suppose that player, spent time with you and mentored you and coached you. Not just for a little while but all the time. What if you could ask Him for help. What if When you pitched your first game and it went bad, what if he cried with you, and when you won what if he cheered with you. Wouldn’t that make a difference. Wouldn’t you end up becoming a baseball player.

See that is what Jesus does for you. Jesus came in the flesh to live the life you can’t live. He is there in your failures. He was tempted, it says in hebrews in every way we are tempted.
Hebrews 4:15 NIV
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.

Better yet, is having a coach who actually pitched. What if your coach showed up and said, you know I read a book about pitching, and here is how you should do it. No, that is ridiculous, you want a coach who actually pitched.
That means He knew lust and greed anger, and hatred pride. Yet Jesus overcame them. He gives us the Holy Spirit to help us overcome the temptations and sins.
1 John 1:1–2 NIV
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us.
1 john
1 John 2:1 NIV
My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.

Jesus knew loss. We wept at the tomb of his friend Lazarus. Jesus knew financial struggles, he had no place to lay his head. He knew what it was to be rejected by the religious leaders, and he knew what it was to rejected by friends. He knew loneliness, and pain. He was fully man just like us. But unlike us He never gave in.
He never gave into the lust pride or greed or anger. He never gave in when the pain was excruciating. When he was tempted with pride or greed, He never gave in. He went to His father for everything in prayer, and He never gave in, He overcame.
And He did all this so when we fail, Jesus is there. When we give in to the pain and loneliness and fear and anger and pride- while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. He overcame in our place. He won the victory for us.
Romans 7:22–25 NIV
For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
He is our advocate, standing in front of the Father, praying for us, stepping when Satan accuses.
Hebrews 4:15 NIV
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.
1 John 2:1 NIV
My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.

Church, Jesus will hold you in your failures. Jesus will stand with you in victories, .
Ephesians 3:16–18 NIV
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,
Jesus is not just biography that is unattainable that is up here, he is with us. His Holy SPirit fills us and helps give us the strength to overcome temtation. WHen we experience pain and loss, Jesus is the hope that these mometary troubles are giving way to a eternal glory that will one day be revealed.
Jesus is with us in our failures and victories. Jesus is not just a biography, that is unattainable-that is up here. He is here with us, by The Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit fills us and helps us. The Holy Spirit give us the strength to overcome temptation. The Holy Spirit helps us get through and heal from pain and loss. Jesus is our hope that these momentary troubles are giving way to an eternal glory that will one day be revealed.
The Holy Spirit fills us with thankfulness and joy as He helps us fulfill the mission we are called to.
Brothers and Sisters this Jesus, the one who was crucified for our sins, rose from the dead in victory and now by the power of the Holy Spirit will walk with you so that you will be able to fulfill the calling you have recieved.
In Jesus name,

There is a core, an essence, a central point about which everything revolves.
- - Romans 1:2NIV2011
- - Isaiah 7:14NIV2011
- - Micah 5:2NIV2011
- - Isaiah 9:6–7NIV2011
- - Zechariah 9:9NIV2011
- - Zechariah 12:10NIV2011
- - Ezekiel 36:26NIV2011
- - Romans 1:3NIV2011
- - Romans 1:3NIV2011
- - Romans 1:4NIV2011
- - Romans 8:11NIV2011
- - Romans 1:4NIV2011
- - Romans 1:3–4NIV2011
- - Matthew 1:21NIV2011
- - Matthew 2:4NIV2011
- - Hebrews 4:15NIV2011
- - Romans 7:22–25NIV2011
- - 1 John 2:1NIV2011
- - Ephesians 3:16–18NIV2011
Open Our Eyes
Doxology
I Love To Tell The Story

Isaiah 60:1–6NIV2011

Philippians 2:1–11NIV2011

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Romans 1:2NIV2011

Isaiah 7:14NIV2011

Micah 5:2NIV2011

Isaiah 9:6–7NIV2011

Zechariah 9:9NIV2011

Zechariah 12:10NIV2011

Ezekiel 36:26NIV2011

Romans 1:3NIV2011

Romans 1:3NIV2011

Romans 1:4NIV2011

Romans 8:11NIV2011

Romans 1:4NIV2011

Romans 1:3–4NIV2011

Matthew 1:21NIV2011

Matthew 2:4NIV2011

Hebrews 4:15NIV2011

Romans 7:22–25NIV2011

1 John 2:1NIV2011

Ephesians 3:16–18NIV2011