The Sermon, More Gospel!

Hello, today the sermon was full of the Gospel! Her preached on Luke 11:1-4 which says,

“One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”

² He said to them, “When you pray, say:

“‘Father,^[a]
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come.^[b]
3 Give us each day our daily bread.
⁴ Forgive us our sins,
    for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.^[c]
And lead us not into temptation.^[d]’””

He went almost immanently to the Gospel. He said that the Jews at that time did not usually say “Father” in their prayers. Then the Pastor mentioned that one of the only times that Jesus did not call God Father was at the cross. He said, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”

Then the Pastor said that when you are forgiven of your sins, you should rejoice and get up on the table and dance. He said if you don’t, then it’s like diminishing what Jesus did for us on the cross.

Peace and love, Joy Cleveland

Destroy the Bad

The word that God has given me and my sister today is in Zephaniah 2:11 which says:

“The Lord will be awesome to them
 when he destroys all the gods of the earth.
Distant nations will bow down to him,
all of them in their own lands.”

The Lord would destroy the gods of the earth so that distant nations would bow down to Him. They would worship Him even though they were not the chosen nation of God. We are like those distant nations; we were sinful and we despised God. But God did something that allowed us (even though we are not Jews) to become the remnant of Judah! The Spiritual remnant of Judah!

What did God do? And why? God sent His one and only son down from heaven to die for us sinners on the cross. And the truth is that He didn’t only die for those who are not Jews, He died for the Jews as well (because even the Jews were sinful). So why did Jesus do that? Because of John 3:16:

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (NIV)

God loved us so much, even though we were sinners. He loved us so much that He gave His son for us on a cross with all of our wrath and sin on Him! He atoned for our sins so that we could live!

Grace and truth, Charity Cleveland and,
Peace and love Joy Cleveland

Sermon

Hi there, today the pastor preached a sermon more geared towards teaching Christians (which is understandable because the passage was not exactly full of the Gospel). However, we will show you the Gospel in the passage He preached from. He preached from Luke 10:38-42 which says:

“As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one.[a] Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.””

When we went over the passage, we found the Gospel. When Jesus came into Mary and Martha’s home it is a symbol of how Jesus came into our lives, and when Jesus taught Mary it is a symbol of how Jesus poured out His life for us on the cross.

This passage isn’t full of the Gospel, but this is how we found it.

Peace and love, Joy Cleveland and,
Grace and Truth, Charity Cleveland

Remnant of Judah

Hi there, today my sister and I are writing our post together on Zephaniah 2:7 which says:

“That land will belong
to the remnant of the people of Judah;
there they will find pasture.
In the evening they will lie down
in the houses of Ashkelon.
The Lord their God will care for them;
he will restore their fortunes.”

This passage is talking about a time when “the remnant of Judah” would have rest, and would be cared for my God. But who exactly is the remnant of Judah? Physically you could say that those who were left in Judah were the remnant of Judah. However, spiritually the remnant of Judah is much more. In fact, it is all believers all over the world! How? Because Jesus (God’s son) gave us the right to become children of God, to become the remnant of the true spiritual Judah.

This passage also say that they would lie down in pastures where the houses of Ashkelon had stood. And in Psalm 23 David says “He makes me lie down in green pastures…”, this is all pointing forward to us! We are given spiritual rest in Jesus because He died for us and took all of our troubles onto Him. I’m not saying we won’t worry or have any problems, but Jesus gives us rest.

This passage also says “The Lord their God will care for them; He will restore their fortunes.” Since we (believers) are the remnant of Judah, and it is saying that God will care for the remnant of Judah; then that means that God will care for us! In fact, He has already cared for us and loved us so much that He sent His son for us on the cross. Now, God will continue to care for us; whatever need we have we can give to Jesus.

Grace and Truth, Charity Cleveland, and
Peace and love, Joy Cleveland

Sermon

Hello, today the pastor preached the Gospel! I’m so happy!

He preached on Luke 10:27-37 which says:

“27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’[a]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b]”

28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”

29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him.34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii[c]and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”

Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.””

The Pastor said that some commentaries he looked were saying that this was how to train disciples, but this “expert in the law” wasn’t even “in the family”. He said that this passage was really about the Gospel, in that Jesus lay down his life for us on the cross.

Praise God!

Peace and love, Joy Cleveland

The Sacrifice Prepared, and the Day of Doom

Today my sister and I are going to write on Zephaniah 1:7 and Zephaniah 1:15. Zephaniah 1:7 says:

“7 Be silent before the Sovereign Lord,
for the day of the Lord is near.
The Lord has prepared a sacrifice;
he has consecrated those he has invited.”

What sacrifice could the Lord have prepared? The Israelites had been offering sacrifices since they had been led out of Egypt. What’s so special about this sacrifice? This sacrifice was perfect, this sacrifice wouldn’t just atone for Israel’s sins, He would atone for the sins of the whole world! Jesus, God’s one and only son, became a sacrifice for us.

“2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.”

Jesus is our atonement, and He only needed to die once. He is the sacrifice that takes away the sins of the past and the future (and the present)!

Verse 7 also says “He has consecrated those He has invited.” We are the guests, we have been invited and consecrated through Jesus’ death and resurrection! We certainly didn’t deserve to be consecrated, but God (out of His love for us) cleansed us and consecrated us!

Zephaniah 1:15 says:

“That day will be a day of wrath—
a day of distress and anguish,
a day of trouble and ruin,
a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and blackness—”

The Lord is saying here that He would make a day of wrath to punish the people for their sin. He is saying that it would be a horrible day for mankind. There would be distress anguish, trouble ruin, darkness and gloom. This is actually a prophecy for a long time from this passage. This is prophesying about the cross.

At the cross, God poured out His wrath on the sin of mankind. But He didn’t pour His wrath out on us; He poured His wrath out on His perfect son. He crucified Jesus on the cross, so that we could go free. This prophecy was completely fulfilled… there was anguish, wrath, trouble, ruin, gloom, and even darkness, gloom, clouds, and blackness:

“From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land.” (Matthew 27:45)

The blackness of our sin covered Jesus, so that we might be saved. He died in our place. Praise God!

Grace and truth, Charity Cleveland and,
Peace and love, Joy Cleveland

Sermon

Hi there! Today the pastor preached the Gospel! He preached on Luke 10:17-24:

“The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.”
18 He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. 20 However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
21 At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.
22 “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”
23 Then he turned to his disciples and said privately, “Blessed are the eyes
that see what you see.24 For I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.””

The Pastor got the Gospel by saying that it wasn’t being able to cast out demons that made Jesus rejoice. What made Him rejoice was saving us! He said that Jesus was happy to have saved us and given His life for us on the cross.

Jesus isn’t the only one rejoicing; we should be rejoicing as well! We rejoice because we are saved; we rejoice because we have eternal life because of Jesus. Even though we may be compelled to rejoice because of the work that God is doing in the church (which is a matter worth being glad about), it shouldn’t be the prime thing we rejoice about. The one thing that we should be very happy about is that we have been written in God’s book of life!

Rejoice!

Peace and love, Joy Cleveland and,
Grace and truth, Charity Cleveland