SERIES OVERVIEW
Pastor Greg continues his 4-part Easter-themed series this week called “THE WHOLE STORY.” During this series, he is showing us how one, consistent, story of redemption, starring Jesus at the center of it, is woven throughout the entire Bible from the first verse of Genesis to the very last verse of Revelation.
This second week picks up where Pastor Greg left off last week with the introduction of sin into God’s perfect world and our need for redemption because of our active embracing that sin. This week is called WE NEED A HERO.
MESSAGE NOTES
The truth is, at any moment, God is doing 10,000 miraculous things in your life. You may be aware of three of them.
And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. ~ Romans 8:28
LAST SUNDAY RECAP
Have you ever experienced a perfect moment?
Have you ever experienced a perfect day?
3 PRONGED PLAN FOR PERFECT MOMENTS
1) Love the Lord Your God with all your heart soul, mind and strength.
2) Love your neighbor as yourself.
3) Remember you are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand for you to do.
We often fail at this plan because of “SIN.”
Sin is something that is exactly contrary to God’s nature.
Sin is the absence of God’s character and glory.
The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.” ~ Genesis 2:17
For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.’ ~ Leviticus 17:11
For the wages of sin is death… ~ Romans 6:23a
Moed (HEBREW) ~ Festivals/Feasts (ENGLISH)
Ordinance, observance, convocation, divine appointment, dress rehearsal.
Ha Mashich (HEBREW) ~ The Messiah (ENGLISH)
The Anointed One.
A voice is calling, “Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness; make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.” ~ Isaiah 40:3
He said, “I am a voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.” ~ John 1:23
The next day John saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” ~ John 1:29
On the next day the large crowd who had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet Him, and began to shout, “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel.” Jesus, finding a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written, “Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your King is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.” ~ John 12:12-15
GO DEEPER
INTROSPECTIVE BIBLE STUDY
ALOHA GROUP QUESTIONS
READ: Romans 8:28
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1) Pastor G said “The truth is, at any moment, God is doing 10,000 miraculous things in your life. You may be aware of three of them.” Do you believe that? Why or why not?
2) Can you share an example of a time when you realized God had been working behind the scenes of your life, where you were completely unaware but when a solution presented itself later you realized God had been involved?
3) Pastor Greg shared that Romans 8:28 is often misunderstood and people sometimes take a fatalistic interpretation that every single thing that happens in their life is literally being “caused” by God. What is wrong with that idea? What is this verse actually promising?
READ: Genesis 2:17
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1) Why do you think God wanted to keep man and woman away from the knowledge of good and evil? Isn’t that a good thing, to know the difference between right and wrong? Or is there something else deeper going on here?
2) Why would this knowledge bring about the deaths of man and woman?
READ: Leviticus 17:11
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1) How does the spilling of the blood of a sacrificed animal make atonement for our own sins? Would it upset you to have to sacrifice a life every time you committed a sin? Why do you think God chose this painful solution for our sin problem?
READ: Romans 6:23 and Romans 5:6-14, 17-21 &1 Corinthians 15:45
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1) Why is price tag of our sin, death? Why must our life (or a substitute’s life) be the payment? Why such an extreme price? Could God have chosen a cheaper price for us to pay off our sin debts? Why or why not?
2) The Romans 5 passages are very deep and theologically profound. Read them a couple of times aloud, slowly, and ponder each line carefully. Link them to 1 Corinthians 15:45. Given these passages, how would you, in your own words, explain to a non-Christian, what Paul means when he refers to Jesus as The Last Adam. What did Jesus do that was similar to Adam? What did Jesus do that was different from Adam?
READ: Romans READ: Isaiah 40:4 and John 1:23
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1) As you read Isaiah’s prophecy and as you remind yourself of John the Baptist’s ministry, what was his primary purpose in life? What were the good works that God had created him to perform? How is John’s purpose similar to your own purpose? How is it different?
READ: John 1:29
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1) Based on the overview of the Old Testament sacrificial system and Pastor Greg’s recap of the basics of the Passover night, how would you explain to a non-Christian what John meant when he called Jesus “The lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world?”
2) In what ways is Jesus similar to the Passover lamb?
READ: John 12:12-15
AN OBSERVATION:
Jesus was killed on Good Friday, which was Passover, the fifteenth of the month. He rode into Jerusalem on Sunday, the tenth of the month. As the men of Jerusalem were bringing their Passover lambs into the city through one gate, Jesus, the ultimate Passover Lamb, was riding into Jerusalem through another gate.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
When you put The Whole Story together so far: 1) We were created for a perfect life in a perfect place. 2) We broke that perfect life and perfect place by embracing sin. 3) God taught and prepared us for thousands of years to expect an ultimate solution to the problem we created. 4) The Old Testament Sacrifice System was a foreshadowing, a teaching moment that all pointed to the ultimate Hero that was to come. 5) Jesus is that Hero who has arrived on the scene to make things right again.
1) If you didn’t know what you already know about Jesus, if you were hearing this story for the first time, what would you expect Jesus to do now that He has arrived in Jerusalem as the king?
2) With everything He had going for Him, why didn’t everyone immediately recognize Jesus as the Messiah they had been waiting for, even after He died on the cross?
CHALLENGE: Retell The Whole Story, so far, as a five minute “Bed Time Story” using your own words.
ARTISTIC?: Try telling it as a poem or a song or a painting or a sculpture.