Revelation 3:14-22 -- Laodicea, the lukewarm church; Parallels in modern times; "I stand at the door and knock" often misunderstood; Views on meaning and application of the letters to 7 churches. What does The Book of Revelation say about the future? How does it address the events of today? So many different interpretations — which is the correct one? Is this book scary? — or — Is this book an incredible comfort? Join us as we explore this controversial book together. https://www.awakeusnow.com

Scripture: 1 Samuel 17-51, Ephesians 6:10, 2 Corinthians 10:4, 1 Corinthians 15:57.

Today’s story is the most familiar, famous and well-known battle in the Old Testament - David and Goliath - but is there still something we can learn from a story we know so well?

This is a battle between Goliath and the Philistines and the Israelite army. Goliath challenges them every day for 40 days: “send a man to battle me, if I kill him you become our slaves and if your man kills me we will become your slaves.”

40 days are significant in the Bible - it is a time of preparation and renewal that at its end brings forth mighty things from God.

On the 41st day of the challenge - David arrives with food for his brothers and others in the army and he learns of Goliath’s challenge. David is in his teens - younger than age 20 and he arrives at a critical moment. He is concerned for God’s honor. Seeing this challenge as a spiritual battle, he speaks bravely. His brothers ridicule him - yet he says he will take Goliath on.

To King Saul, David shares stories of past bravery and says the Lord will rescue him from the hand of Goliath. David is Spirit-filled, knows his strength is in God alone, is confident and bold and recognized it is God who saves. David trusts the Lord who delivered him in the past to deliver him again.

So Saul tells David to fight Goliath and he outfits David in his armor but David takes it all off as he’s never worn anything like that before.

Comparisons:
⁃ David a young teen and untrained in battle vs Goliath a well trained warrior
⁃ David is of small stature vs Goliath who stood at 9 feet 9 inches tall
⁃ David is dressed in a shepherd’s simple clothing vs Goliath with a bronze helmet wearing 125 pounds of body armor
⁃ David’s weapons were his shepherd’s staff, a slingshot and 5 smooth stones vs Goliath carrying a 15 pound spear plus a javelin.

And David goes out to meet Goliath and says, ‘you come against us with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the Name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the Armies of Israel and this day the Lord will deliver you into my hands - I will strike you down and cut off your head for the battle is the Lord’s and He will give all of you into our hands.”

David runs toward Goliath and slings a stone hitting Goliath in the head and Goliath falls down dead.

This is not simply an historic battle record - it is clear insight into what the New Testament describes as spiritual realities.

Spiritual Realities
⁃ Spiritual warfare - life is a battle but we know God wins.
⁃ Spiritual weapons - we put on the armor of God: prayer, the Name of Jesus, God’s word, daily filling of the Holy Spirit
⁃ Spiritual victory - is in Christ Jesus.

From this familiar story we are to learn we are to be familiar with the lessons that
⁃ We are in the midst of a battle
⁃ The Lord provides strength to triumph through faith in Jesus Christ.

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Pastor Dodge continues excavating Truth #15: “The stones cry out to our generation.” This week we hear from “hidden stones” as he shares the newly discovered backstory to the healing of the blind man, bringing John 9 and 2 Chronicles 32:30 together in a powerful way!

The Gospel of John - Week 1
Scripture: An overview of John chapters 1-21.

The Gospel of John is different than the synoptic gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. The Gospel of John is unique as 90% of what is written in this gospel is found nowhere else. And John gives us a unique view of Jesus, too.

Pastor Dodge shares with us who John was, and the evidence around John being the author of this book. John was considered Jesus’ best friend and one of Jesus’ inner circle. Also, John and Peter often worked together in their mission work.

It is thought that The Gospel of John was primarily the gospel story written for gentiles. However, this view changed after the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Pastor shares the interesting story of the young boy, tending his sheep, who discovered the Dead Sea Scrolls in Quman Cave 4 around 1946-47 on the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea Scrolls contained copies of the Hebrew Scriptures. After there discovery, the Gospel of John was seen as a book that speaks to all, but was written to let the Jewish people know the Messiah has come.

Pastor shares that recent archaeological evidence points to the accuracy of the Gospel of John and shares several examples.

Simple Outline of John:
⁃ Prologue 1:1-18
⁃ Jesus’ ministry 1:19-11:57
⁃ Passion of Christ and Resurrection 12:1-21:25

From the opening verses of this gospel it is clear it is special. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” John 1:1-5

This book is all about God’s love for us, about Jesus’ identity, who He is and written in a way that proves Jesus is who He says He is. John shows Jesus as being the One who fulfills everything that God promised to His people. We see John’s purpose in the end of chapter 20, “Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” John 20:30-31.

John ends his gospel with, “This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true. Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.” John 21:24-25. Jesus did so much that if we wrote down everything the world itself couldn’t contain the volumes!

Next week we will dive head long into the Gospel of John and move from this broad view to a verse by verse study of the book!

Our website – https://www.awakeusnow.com

Watch the video from our website! https://www.awakeusnow.com/2-year-study-of-the-gospels-upper

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⁃ The Gospel of John study is part five of five of our Two Year Study of the Gospels.
⁃ The Gospel of John may be one of the most powerful books ever written. Many people have come to faith after reading only this book of the Bible. Scholarly and archeological discoveries in recent decades give us new insight on details in the Gospel of John. We can now understand it as the most Jewish rather than the most “Gentile/Greek” of the Gospels, and when we do that we see many things that we missed before.

Our 2 year study of the gospels is great for large group, small group or home group study and can be started at any time!

Revelation 2:18 - 3:13 -- Letters to the churches of Thyatira, Sardis, and Philadelphia; Thyatira - Lydia vs. "Jezebel"; Exhortation to "Wake Up!" What does The Book of Revelation say about the future? How does it address the events of today? So many different interpretations — which is the correct one? Is this book scary? — or — Is this book an incredible comfort? Join us as we explore this controversial book together. https://www.awakeusnow.com

Revelation 2:8-17 -- Format of letters to 7 churches, Letters to Smyrna and Pergamum; Word "Repent" used more in Revelation than in any other New Testament book. What does The Book of Revelation say about the future? How does it address the events of today? So many different interpretations — which is the correct one? Is this book scary? — or — Is this book an incredible comfort? Join us as we explore this controversial book together. https://www.awakeusnow.com