Restoring Focus: The Urgency of Forgiveness in Christ
Devotional
Sermon Summary
Bible Study Guide
Sermon Clips
### Quotes for Outreach
1. "We go out into the marketplace and we engage with people, usually praying for them, but then praying. We hope God will bring people to us to engage in spiritual conversations and invite them to church. And it's been fantastic. I'm an introvert. I am like not like street preacher kind of guy, but I can't tell you how much fun it's been. It's probably the funnest part of my week now, for real." [27:45]
2. "There has been an interesting little competition developing, if you've noticed. I don't know if you know if you've paid any attention to our posts, but I've asked this a few times and the first time I asked it, somebody went back and shared and liked every post on every channel that we had. Somebody saw that and then they went and did the same thing. And then somebody else has gone through and literally liked and shared every single post from every... It's kind of nuts. You would think that that wouldn't be a big deal, but just those three people doing that has boosted our reach. More people see the stuff that we put out there. More people hear about Jesus. It's the easiest evangelism gig you will ever get." [29:22]
3. "My favorite part of the gospel stories, it's not the miracles, not even the parables, as great as they are. My favorite part of the gospel stories is watching Jesus play 4D chess with his enemies, the scribes and the Pharisees. I love how Jesus is able to set them up and knock them down. If you're not familiar with that term, 4D chess, it comes from, out of, it's a metaphorical expression, comes out of the game of chess itself, which uses, of course, complex strategies and thinking and planning ahead to beat your opponent." [33:39]
4. "He was the only Christian there. Everybody else was in rabbinical studies, Hebrew studies. He was the only guy there who had not memorized Torah. To this day, people still do that. These guys, even more so in a memory culture, they had memorized the Old Testament. They knew all the prophets. And when he starts talking about the authority of the Son of Man, the authority given to the Son of Man, that would have rung a bell, like a big bell in the back of their mind." [48:28]
### Quotes for Members
1. "We've been going through the book of Matthew, talking about the miracles and how they are establishing Jesus' authority. And today, Jesus has, is going to claim authority for the most remarkable thing possible. He's established his authority over sickness and death. He's established his authority over nature by calming the storm. He's established his authority over super nature by kicking out demons with a word without even a fight like we talked about last week. What all that means is that he has the power of God and the authority of God even to forgive sins in the world." [31:21]
2. "And the gospel gets pushed to the side and out of the way. There are churches and religious movements who are making their entire identity around sexual freedom. There are churches that are making their entire identity about success in this life. And all of it ends up overshadowing the gospel. We've been in a 100-year slide at least 40 last years, 40, 50, 60 years, where Christianity in the West has slowly shifted from being a religion or spiritual practice or about God coming to earth and saving men from their sins and from the threat of death and hell as the priority to being a religion that is about primarily helping you to overcome the problems in your life." [43:33]
3. "Can we really say that we believe the most important and urgent problem in the world is the forgiveness of sin, and that we believe that Jesus has the power to forgive sin if we never talk to anybody about Jesus? Can we really say that? Well, listen, let's wrap this up. Jesus tells the man on the mat, he says, rise and walk. Now, that's a sign and a symbol of Jesus' forgiveness of sin. It's also a sign and a symbol of what salvation is supposed to be like for us. Jesus did not say, you're healed, stay on your mat. He didn't say, I heal you. When you get around to it, get up, but you can, you know, you can kick it for a while. He said, rise and walk. I've given you a new body. Flex it." [55:37]
4. "He's been alluding to it. There's some sort of connection between the sign of the healing, the sign of the exercising of demons, and something higher spiritually. And here, he just lays it out for the first time by prioritizing and saying, first, your sins are forgiven. What's his point? The point is that the sign, the healing proves the reality. The point is that just as Jesus has the power, demonstrates the power to, with a word, on the spot, instantaneously restructure this man's molecular makeup of this paralyzed man, commands his molecular structure to straighten out and become healthy with a word, which is a power only God can wield. It proves that Jesus also has the power to forgive sin." [46:25]
5. "Jesus has authority to forgive sins and give eternal life. Why? Because he is the anointed one, the Messiah, the son of God. He is the God-man who incarnated on earth. He has been given authority by the Father and dominion over all things, which means he has the authority to forgive sin and give eternal life. All you have to do is get to him and you're good. The most important pressing problem you could ever face will be dealt with. It should be the best news ever. It should control every other aspect of our life. Does it?" [51:28]
Ask a question about this sermon
1. "We go out into the marketplace and we engage with people, usually praying for them, but then praying. We hope God will bring people to us to engage in spiritual conversations and invite them to church. And it's been fantastic. I'm an introvert. I am like not like street preacher kind of guy, but I can't tell you how much fun it's been. It's probably the funnest part of my week now, for real." [27:45]
2. "There has been an interesting little competition developing, if you've noticed. I don't know if you know if you've paid any attention to our posts, but I've asked this a few times and the first time I asked it, somebody went back and shared and liked every post on every channel that we had. Somebody saw that and then they went and did the same thing. And then somebody else has gone through and literally liked and shared every single post from every... It's kind of nuts. You would think that that wouldn't be a big deal, but just those three people doing that has boosted our reach. More people see the stuff that we put out there. More people hear about Jesus. It's the easiest evangelism gig you will ever get." [29:22]
3. "My favorite part of the gospel stories, it's not the miracles, not even the parables, as great as they are. My favorite part of the gospel stories is watching Jesus play 4D chess with his enemies, the scribes and the Pharisees. I love how Jesus is able to set them up and knock them down. If you're not familiar with that term, 4D chess, it comes from, out of, it's a metaphorical expression, comes out of the game of chess itself, which uses, of course, complex strategies and thinking and planning ahead to beat your opponent." [33:39]
4. "He was the only Christian there. Everybody else was in rabbinical studies, Hebrew studies. He was the only guy there who had not memorized Torah. To this day, people still do that. These guys, even more so in a memory culture, they had memorized the Old Testament. They knew all the prophets. And when he starts talking about the authority of the Son of Man, the authority given to the Son of Man, that would have rung a bell, like a big bell in the back of their mind." [48:28]
### Quotes for Members
1. "We've been going through the book of Matthew, talking about the miracles and how they are establishing Jesus' authority. And today, Jesus has, is going to claim authority for the most remarkable thing possible. He's established his authority over sickness and death. He's established his authority over nature by calming the storm. He's established his authority over super nature by kicking out demons with a word without even a fight like we talked about last week. What all that means is that he has the power of God and the authority of God even to forgive sins in the world." [31:21]
2. "And the gospel gets pushed to the side and out of the way. There are churches and religious movements who are making their entire identity around sexual freedom. There are churches that are making their entire identity about success in this life. And all of it ends up overshadowing the gospel. We've been in a 100-year slide at least 40 last years, 40, 50, 60 years, where Christianity in the West has slowly shifted from being a religion or spiritual practice or about God coming to earth and saving men from their sins and from the threat of death and hell as the priority to being a religion that is about primarily helping you to overcome the problems in your life." [43:33]
3. "Can we really say that we believe the most important and urgent problem in the world is the forgiveness of sin, and that we believe that Jesus has the power to forgive sin if we never talk to anybody about Jesus? Can we really say that? Well, listen, let's wrap this up. Jesus tells the man on the mat, he says, rise and walk. Now, that's a sign and a symbol of Jesus' forgiveness of sin. It's also a sign and a symbol of what salvation is supposed to be like for us. Jesus did not say, you're healed, stay on your mat. He didn't say, I heal you. When you get around to it, get up, but you can, you know, you can kick it for a while. He said, rise and walk. I've given you a new body. Flex it." [55:37]
4. "He's been alluding to it. There's some sort of connection between the sign of the healing, the sign of the exercising of demons, and something higher spiritually. And here, he just lays it out for the first time by prioritizing and saying, first, your sins are forgiven. What's his point? The point is that the sign, the healing proves the reality. The point is that just as Jesus has the power, demonstrates the power to, with a word, on the spot, instantaneously restructure this man's molecular makeup of this paralyzed man, commands his molecular structure to straighten out and become healthy with a word, which is a power only God can wield. It proves that Jesus also has the power to forgive sin." [46:25]
5. "Jesus has authority to forgive sins and give eternal life. Why? Because he is the anointed one, the Messiah, the son of God. He is the God-man who incarnated on earth. He has been given authority by the Father and dominion over all things, which means he has the authority to forgive sin and give eternal life. All you have to do is get to him and you're good. The most important pressing problem you could ever face will be dealt with. It should be the best news ever. It should control every other aspect of our life. Does it?" [51:28]
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