Sermon Notes

While many Jesus followers love the picture of Jesus flipping over tables (he did this twice by the way, marking the beginning and the ending of his ministry) and forming a whip out of chords, driving out livestock and merchants out of the Court of the Gentiles due to the zealousness of a house dedicated to his Father, every other action was GENTLE. I want us to notice one area that Jesus was gentle where we might not react or judge the situation the same way. Would you be gentle?

Your Faith is in God, Not People
Malachi 3:6-15

Mary was standing outside the tomb crying, and as she wept, she stooped and looked in.
“Mary!” Jesus said. She turned to him and cried out, “Rabboni!” (which is Hebrew for “Teacher”).

The next day, the news that Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem swept through the city. A large crowd of Passover visitors took palm branches and went down the road to meet him. They shouted, “Praise God!”

This is an ongoing theme. Misguided individuals looked to the teachings of the Major and Minor Prophets of the Old Testament and bent their understanding to the idea of who, when, and where the Messiah would be. Their idea of the Messiah was a political leader, a liberator, a king. Notice how the Pharisees investigated everything they knew about Jesus

After this, the people see a Powerful Prophet, and their future king. Finally, they could get their nation back after 765 years for Samaria (what use to be the northern kingdom of Israel (Assyria) and 620 years for Judah (Babylon))

While we could easily take the issue of the Armor of God as a war with dark powers, we often look past the things that these verses of Scripture are talking about. The premise of the dark power that we are battling against, Paul sets up in the preceding verses. They are ALL RELATIONAL:

We must imitate God? Isn’t this odd? But when you break it down, isn’t this what we are to do? Think of it this way instead. Check out the latest fad of “imitation” foods.