Palm Sunday - A Triumphal Entry

Palm Sunday - A Triumphal Entry

Paul Trulock - 3/24/2024

Key Passage: Matthew 21:1-11

No longer hiding the fact that He is the messiah

• Matthew 21:3

The King had arrived

• Prophecy fulfilled

• Matt 21:5

• Hosanna, save us, son of David

• Matt 21:9

Who is this?

• They missed who Jesus truly was.

• Matthew 21:10

• They expected a different kind of King/Savior/Messiah.

• They wanted to submit to a King, but not this kind of King.

What’s your triumphal entry experience?

• Where you cry out “Hosanna, save me”, but Jesus responds differently than expected?

• where your spiritual high doesn’t connect to who Jesus really is?

• Where you find yourself asking, “where are you Jesus?”

Where is your devotion?

• Crucified with Christ

• Galatians 2:20

• I no longer live but Christ lives in me.

Do you see Him?

• You may not know where you’re being led, but do you know the one who leads you?

Has Jesus made a triumphal entry into your heart? Have you submitted to His reign?

We His People - We Become

We His People - We Become

Dave Riddle - 9/17/2023

Key Passage: Philippians 2:5

Spiritual Formation/Development

- “The process of being formed in the image of Christ…” – M Robert Mulholland Jr. - Invitation to a Journey

- Luke 6:40

- We should be becoming more like Jesus.

- Matthew 28:19-20

- We should be forming others to be more like Jesus.

- Teaching for transformation, not just information.

Imitators of Christ

- John 14:15 - If you love me, keep my commands.

- 1 John 2:4-6

- …walk just as Jesus walked.

- 1 Peter 2:21

- Ephesians 5:1-2 - be imitators of God

- 1 Corinthians 11:1 - imitate me as I imitate Christ

- Galatians 2:20a

- …I no longer live but Christ lives in me.

Belonging and Becoming are intrinsically tied together

- We are meant to walk and grow together.

How do we do this?

Philippians 1:6

- God is at work in you!

- Surrender, listen to the Holy Sprit

- Walk with brothers and sisters in Christ

Hebrews 12:1-3

- Jesus starts and finishes the work

- Our job? Throw off all the weight that entangles us.

2 Corinthians 3:18

- be transformed

Galatians 5 - Fruit of the Spirit

- are you filled with these things?

- Are you growing in them?

“The process of being formed in the image of Christ for the sake of others” – M Robert Mulholland Jr. - Invitation to a Journey

If we aren’t becoming more like Jesus, what’s the point?

- “the church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christs. If they are not doing that… [it’s] simply a waste of time. God became man for no other purpose.”

- CS Lewis

We His People - We Believe

We His People - We Believe

Dave Riddle - 9/3/2023

Key Passage: John 3:14-16

You may have heard “Hope is not a strategy”

• There is some truth to that popular saying.

• But hope IS an essential part of our faith.

• 1 Corinthians 13:13

• Hebrews 11:1-3

• Romans 15:13

We Believe

• We are people of faith.

• John 3:14-16

• Ephesians 2:8-9

• Saved by faith though grace.

• Romans 5:1-2

• Faith and hope

We often struggle to live by faith

• So often, we walk by what we see, know, and feel, rather than walking by faith.

• Galatians 2:20

• 2 Corinthians 5:7

• walk = peripateo (Greek: περιπατέω) literally: to tread all around, walk at large. Figuratively: to live, to make one’s way, to regulate one’s life, to conduct oneself

• Are you living in a manner consistent with your confident belief in God’s promises?

• 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

• We do not focus on what is seen!

On what our whom do you set your eyes?

• What/who are you chasing?

• Are we people who live by faith?

• Romans 8:24-25

The Canaanite Woman’s Faith 

• Matthew 15:21-28

• Great faith is powerful

The Disciples failure to heal

• Matthew 17:14-21

• Little faith is powerful

The Fiery Furnace

• Daniel 3

• We have faith even if God doesn’t answer our prayers.

• We have faith even in death.

Do you believe?

• John 11:25-26

Make Your Life Count For The Kingdom

Make your life count for the Kingdom

Paul Trulock - 5/28/2023

Key Passage: Matthew 25:14-30

What is the Kingdom like?

• Matthew 25:14-30

The Master

• God. The creator and sustainer of all things.

• Sovereign over all things.

The Servants

• You and me.

• Entrusted with responsibility

The Talents

• The responsibilities God has entrusted us with.

• Time 

• Talent/Gifting/Spiritual Gifts

• Treasures (material resources)

• Matt 25:14 - all things belong to God and have been given to us to steward.

First & Second Servants

• Matthew 25:15 - …according to their ability.

• Luke 16:10 - faithful with little…

• They took what they were given and “Immediately put it to work”

• Delayed obedience is disobedience

Third Servant

• Matthew 25:18 - He dug a hole and hid his money.

• Our lives will never count for the kingdom if we live a hidden life.

First & Second Servants Received:

• Praise

• Praise for their faithfulness, not their fruitfulness.

• The fruit is the product of the Holy Sprit.

• Our job is to be faithful. The results are up to God.

• More responsibility 

• Invitation of special fellowship

The Third Servant

• Matthew 25:25 - I was afraid

• The opposite of faith is not doubt. God can work with our doubt. The opposite of faith is fear.

• Hebrews 11:6

• He is described as: Wicked, Lazy, Worthless.

Attend your own funeral

• Galatians 2:20 - Die to self. Live by faith.

What’s the point of Baptism?

What’s the point of Baptism?

Dave Riddle - 5/21/2023

Key Passage: Romans 6:3-11

John the Baptister 

• Jewish ritual purification based on laws from Leviticus.

• John took it a step further. He required people to repent. Turn from sin. Turn towards God.

Jesus makes a local phenomenon a global one

• Matthew 28:19

• An imperative to make, baptize, and teach disciples.

Why Immersion?

• The grammar says so

• baptizo (Greek: βαπτίζω) - to dip repeatedly, to immerse, to submerge (of sunken vessels); to cleanse by dipping or submerging, to wash, to make clean with water, to wash one's self, bathe.

• Clarity from a recipe for Pickles

• It’s consistent with what we see in the New Testament.

Baptism is…

An Identifier

• It is open identification with Jesus and his death

• Romans 6:3

Impactful

• A picture of the impact of Jesus’ transformative work in our loves.

• Romans 6:6-8

Sufficient

• Baptism displays the sufficiency of Jesus’ Sacrifice

• Romans 6:9-10

• 1 Peter 3:18

A Reminder

• It reminds each believer of the call to follow Jesus.

• Romans 6:11

• Galatians 2:20

House Rules

House Rules

Dave Riddle - 9/18/2022

Key Passage: Ephesians 2:19

We are a family!

• Ephesians 2:19

  • …members of God’s household

  • oikos (Greek: οἶκος) - an inhabited house, a physical dwelling place. Also, the inhabitants of a house, all the persons forming one family - a household.

• Galatians 6:10

  • …do good to everyone, but especially to the family of God.

• 1 Timothy 3:15

  • God’s household=the church

• 1 Peter 2:4-5

  • A spiritual house

• Hebrews 10:19-21

  • Jesus is the head of our family

Gospel of Jesus – Priority 1!

• Romans 1:16

  • The gospel is the power of God that brings salvation!

• 1 Corinthians 9:16

  • Sharing the gospel is a necessity.

  • …Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel.

God’s Greatest Commands

• Mark 12:29-31

  • Love God

  • Love People

God’s Great Commission

• Matthew 28:19-20

  • Make disciples, baptize, teach.

Genuine Discipleship

• Luke 9:23 - Follow me

  • Be on the same road

• Galatians 2:20 - crucified with Christ

  • We no longer live, but Christ lives in us!

Targeted Spiritual Development

• Luke 6:40

  • We should become more like Jesus

• 1 Timothy 1:5

  • The goal of our instruction is love.

The Word of God- Our Way of Life

• 2 Timothy 3:15-17

  • The Word changes us and equips us.

What is Communion?

Message begins around 30:00

What is Communion?

Dave Riddle • 07/27/2022

Key Passage: 1 Corinthians 11:24-28

Communion: A Jesus-ordained ceremony 

• Baptism is the other “ordinance” that we regularly practice

• Matthew 26:26-28

An Act of Commemoration 

• Remember

  • 1 Corinthians 11:24

    • Remember who Jesus is, and what he has done for us.

  • Exodus 12:2-3, 6-7, 12-14

    • A permanent statute

    • A lasting ordinance

    • Jesus fulfilled the old Passover and, in a sense, instituted a new Passover.

A Gospel Proclamation 

• Proclaim

  • 1 Corinthians 11:26

    • Communion preaches the Gospel.

An Opportunity for Contemplation 

• 1 Corinthians 11:28

  • dokimazō - to test, examine, prove, scrutinise (to see whether a thing is genuine or not). To recognise as genuine after examination.

• Galatians 2:20

• Romans 6:11

A Way to Celebrate Unity

• koinōnia (Greek: κοινωνία) - fellowship, association, community, intimacy, joint participation (the share which one has in anything), communion.

• 1 Corinthians 10:16-17

  • One body (the Church)

  • One loaf of bread (Christ)

• John 17:9-11

A Cause for Hopeful Anticipation

• 1 Corinthians 11:26

  • “…until He comes”

• Matthew 26:29

What Are You Seeking?

Message begins around 31:00

What Are You Seeking?
02/20/2021 - Dave Riddle 
Key Passage: Colossians 3:1-2

Keep Seeking Christ

• Colossians 3:1

  • zēteō (ζητέω): to seek by thinking, meditating, or reasoning. As a Hebraism: to worship God.

• Colossians 3:2

  • Stay focused, set your attention.

Don’t Seek After The Things of Earth

• Colossians 3:2

  • phroneō (φρονέω) To direct one's mind to a thing, to seek, to strive for

• What has your truest, deepest, most foundational affection?

• Philippians 3:17-19

  • Enemies of the cross focus on earthly things.

• Matthew 16 - Peter rebukes Jesus.

  • 16:23 “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me because you’re not thinking about God’s concerns, but man’s.”

Pick up your cross and follow Jesus

• Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wants to come with Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me.

• Galatians 5:24 - Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh.

• Galatians 2:20 - I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live but Christ lives in me.

  • Bonhoeffer- “When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die”

Jesus flips the tables of our lives

• Matthew 21, John 2, Mark 11, Luke 19

  • Symbolic of what he does in our lives.

Why Baptism?

Why Baptism?

Dave Riddle - Baptism Sunday 5/2/21

Key passage: Matthew 28:19-20

Why do we baptise?

• It’s a Perfect Picture

• Dead to sin (dunked) raised to new life in Christ (raised out of the water)

  • Romans 6:4

Why Immersion?

• Seems to be the regular practice in the New Testament and Apostolic Age.

• It’s consistent with what baptism symbolizes.

  • baptizo (Greek: βαπτίζω) - to dip repeatedly, to immerse, to submerge (of sunken vessels); to cleanse by dipping or submerging, to wash, to make clean with water, to wash one's self, bathe.

  • Pickle recipe from 200BC

    • The immersion leads to a permanent change of the vegetable.

• It’s about identification

  • Romans 6:3-4

• It’s a public declaration faith

  • What are we declaring?

    • 1 Peter 3:8

      • What we believe about Jesus

    • 2 Corinthians 5:17

      • What we believe about ourselves. Made new!

  • Who should be baptized?

    • Acts 2:38 - Repent and be baptized...

    • Philip and the Ethiopian

    • Baptism follows salvation.

• It’s a Reminder of Who We Are in Jesus

  • Romans 6:6-7

  • Romans 6:11

  • Galatians 2:20 - ...it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me

A Useful Struggle

Power Within
- 2 Corinthians 4:16
- We are not ekkakeō (ἐκκακέω)
to be utterly spiritless, to be wearied out, exhausted
- 2 Corinthians 4:7-9
- Galatians 2:20
- Lamentations 3:19-24

Useful Struggle
- 2 Corinthians 4:17
- “incomparable” - hyperbolē (ὑπερβάλλω)
metaphorically, superiority, excellence, preeminence
- James 4:14b
- 2 Corinthians 12:10

Different Point of View
- 2 Corinthians 4:18

Baptism

Baptism

Dave Riddle - 09/29/19

Key Passage: Matthew 28:19

Why Immersion?

• Seems to be the regular practice of the New Testament Church.

• baptizo (Greek: βαπτίζω) - to dip repeatedly, to immerse, to submerge (of sunken vessels); to cleanse by dipping or submerging, to wash, to make clean with water, to wash one's self, bathe.

  • ancient pickle recipe

Identification

• immersed into Christ

• Romans 6:3-4

Declaration

• 1 Peter 3:18

• A new identity!

  • 2 Corinthians 5:17

• Phillip and the Ethiopian

  • Acts 8:36

Reminder

• A reminder of the call to obedience

  • Romans 6:6-7

  • Galatians 2:20

• A reminder of Jesus’ great commission for us as believers.

A Strong Word to Would-Be Followers

He Set His Face - A Strong Word to Would-Be Followers

Dave Riddle - 03/24/19

Key Passage: Luke 14:25-34

Luke 9:51 - When the days were coming to a close for Him to be taken up, He set His face resolutely towards Jerusalem. 

• Resolute: purposefully unwavering or determined.

5 Examples to Illustrate 5 Marks of a Follower

1. Family: Love Jesus Supremely

   • Luke 14:26

   • Jesus uses hyperbole to show that nothing should rival the love we have for God.

   • If Jesus is the absolute priority of your life everything else will fall into place.

2. A Cross: Live to Die

   • Luke 14:27

   • Galatians 2:20

   • I no longer live but Christ lives in me

   • Our old self has to die.

3. A Building: All in, to the very end

   • Luke 14:28-30

   • From your entire life, for your entire life.

   • In every facet of life.

4. A War: Surrender to the more powerful king

   • Luke 14:31-33

   • It’s not about winning, it’s about surrendering.

   • How much confidence do you have in your own resources?

   • John 14:27 - Peace eirēnē (Greek: εἰρήνη) - a state of rest, denoting the absence or end of strife. It refers to a state of untroubled, I disturbed well-being. Peace; a state of natural tranquility. 

5. Salt: Reality matches identity

   • Luke 14:34-35

   • Are we marked by our decision to follow Jesus?