Alright, sorry fellas I’m always so late on these things. But I have been working on this Friday’s message and I’m pretty darn pumped about it. So check it out…
I decided to kick off the series on the NT (Matthew) by doing several chunks of it and bringing it back to these two main questions, “What is this teaching me about Jesus and what Jesus is teaching me?” I really want to emphasize that the gospels are all about Jesus. Sometimes we make them about ourselves and that takes away from really knowing and understanding Christ and letting Him transform you.
The 3 main chunks of Matthew I’m going to go over is
Matthew 13 Parable of the farmer scattering seed
Main points: Jesus is deep and like the crowds on the lakeshore that day, our task, again and again as we read scripture and think about God’s work in our own day, is to think it through and figure it out. It won’t always be easy. Christianity isn’t about cozy little lessons to make us feel better. It’s about what God is doing in the world-what he’s already done in Jesus and what he wants to do through us today.
Matthew 14 Jesus feeds five thousand
Main points: Jesus in compassionate. Whenever someone is close enough to Jesus to catch a glimpse of what he’s doing and how they could help. We come in with our ideas, loaves, fishes, money, a sense of humor, time, energy, talents, love, artistic gifts, and skill, whatever we have to offer. He holds them before his Father with prayer and blessing. Then, breaking them so they are ready to use, he gives them back to us to give to those who need them.
Matthew 28 The resurrection
Main points: Jesus is awesome. Take away the resurrection and you take away the gospel from Matthew. Take away the resurrection and you take away everything we believe in. Nothing matters if Christ didn’t die on the cross and rose again. Our faith, our Friday nights, and our lives would be a huge waste. But, the one who walked this earth and spoke God’s kingdom message in parables, the one who showed compassion to those in need and fed five thousand, the one who gave up his life and sacrificed everything is now the risen Lord.
hey jon.
ReplyDeletei think the 2 questions that you have are good. i would say when you go through each passage be sure to draw and answer those questions which will make it easy to follow. it's true that we too often try to make the Bible about ourselves, but really it's all about Christ. that's a great point to hit.
are you going to address each passage equally in terms of time? i think it would be good to have some type of connection between your passages, so like a good transitional sentence or two between the passages so that they tie together. so something that ties everything together to help the whole of your message flow.
also, is your conclusion going to be hitting on the resurrection and ending there? i like what you have there by the way, that last sentence is well said.
i'll be praying for you as you continue to prepare.
Jon -
ReplyDeleteLooks good bro. I agree with Eugene. One thing you might want to do is make it very clear how all these passages are fitting together. Sometimes as speakers we forget that students don't know where we are going, and we can lose them if we don't clearly state the point we're making.
Make sure that you make it very clear why you're talking about each passage. You might want to lay out your argument in the beginning of the message, so the kids know what's coming.
Also... i love your main thesis - how we can make the gospels about ourselves instead of Jesus. Don't just touch on that point - try to hit it in each passage. Like "this is how we make the passage about us, but this is how it's all about Jesus!"
Good stuff... have fun preparing.