Sheep and Goats | Matthew 25:31-46

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Scripture: Matthew 25:31-46

Key Takeaways:

+ The Identity Jesus Claims

Daniel 7:13-14

Acts 17:30-31

"I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God? That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic-on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg-or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to." – C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity.

"The sane man does not believe that he is God; the sane man does not believe that he will rise from the dead. If Jesus said those things, He was either speaking the truth, or He was insane." – G. K. Chesterton, The Everlasting Man.

+ The Judgment Jesus Delivers

+ The Criteria by which Jesus Judges

John 10:14–15

Matthew 10:40–42

1 Corinthians 4:9–13 

Galatians 6:10

1 John 3:14

1 John 3:16–18

3 John 5–8

The Talents | Matthew 25:14-30

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Scripture: Matthew 25:14-30

Key Takeaways:

+ Live the life you are going to one day wish you had lived

+ We have God-given resources corresponding to our God-given capacities and are responsible to God for how we steward them

Psalm 24:1

+ Urgency

+ Energy

+ Intentionality

+ Everyone will give an account to God for how they lived their lives and managed their God-given resources

Matthew 16:27

1 Corinthians 4:5

2 Corinthians 5:9-10

1 Corinthians 3:10-15

+ We will be evaluated NOT based on our capacities but based on our faithfulness with the capacities and opportunities entrusted to us.

+ The Day of Judgment will reveal the true nature of a person’s relationship with God

Be Ready | Matthew 25:1–13

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Scripture: Matthew 25:1-13

Key Takeaways:

+ There is life and longing in the delay

Ephesians 5:25

John 14:3

2 Peter 3:9

+ When he returns, it will be too late to get ready

+ You cannot transfer faith

+ Be ready for the return of the bridegroom

+ How do you live ready?

Matthew 7:21-23

Matthew 25:11-12

“Tomorrow is the devil's day, but today is God's. Satan does not care how spiritual your intentions are, or how holy your resolutions, if only they are determined to be done tomorrow.” - JC Ryle

Saying Yes Isn't Enough | Matthew 21:23-32

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Scripture: Matthew 21:28-33

Key Takeaways:

+ Only those who demonstrate repentance and faith through wholehearted obedience to the will of the Father will enter the kingdom of heaven.

+ Repentance Is Necessary and Good

+ Repentance Should Be the Lifestyle of the Christian

+ Repentance Leads to Obedience

John 15:5

+ You Become Like What You Behold

Philippians 2:5–11

Unforgiving Servant | Matthew 18:21-35

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Scripture: Matthew 18:21-35

Key Takeaways:

+ Forgiveness is a lifetime pursuit

+ Forgiveness is the cancellation of a debt

-       Forgiveness doesn’t mean removing healthy boundaries

-       Forgiveness does not exempt us from justice

+ Forgiveness must be experienced

-       Luke 7:36-50

+ Experienced forgiveness allows us to extend forgiveness

 “Forgiveness is granted before it is felt.” – Tim Keller

+ Forgiveness reflects the Gospel

The Treasure and the Pearl | Matthew 13:44-46

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Scripture: Matthew 13:44-46

Key Takeaways:

— Finding

— Assessing

— Selling

— Rejoicing

— Buying

+ Jesus is the one thing worth losing all things just to have

+ This is how we become a Christian

— Jesus is not your Savior unless He is your Treasure

“How sweet all at once it was for me to be rid of those fruitless joys which I had once feared to lose… You drove them from me, you who are the true, the sovereign joy. You drove them from me and took their place, you who are sweeter than all pleasure… you who outshine all light… you who surpass all honor…O Lord my God, my Light, my Wealth, and my Salvation.” – Confessions, IX, 1.

— Philippians 3:4-11

+ This is how we live as a Christian

— Philippians 3:7-8

+ This is how we overcome temptation

— Hebrews 11:24-26

The Growth and Advance of the Kingdom | Matthew 13:31-33

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Scripture: Matthew 13:31-33

Key Takeaways:

+ The Kingdom of God is humble in its start and unstoppable in its spread.

Acts 6:7

Acts 12:24

Acts 19:20

+ A Global Dimension  

Ezekiel 17:22-24

Matthew 24:14

+ A Societal Dimension  

“I call myself a cultural Christian. I’m not a believer, but there is a distinction between believing in something and being steeped in the culture of it.” – Richard Dawkins, Atheist 

“You cannot take the fruit of Christianity and then say you don’t want the tree.” – Douglas Murray, Atheist Cultural Critic 

+ A Personal Dimension

Philippians 1:6