Testing TruthJohn | Week 8July 5, 2020 | Wopsle--Week 8 Devotional Page 67John 8:12 NIV When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”John 8:31b-32 NIV …Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”Criteria for Testing Truth:CorrectionDoes it make you want to correct other’s mistakes?Or do you want to work on yourself?ConvictionDo you feel condemned because you have areas that need work?Or do you feel FREE to run—to go and sin no more?ChallengingDoes it only confirm what you already feel and believe?Or does it challenging some of your thoughts and behaviors?John 8:58-59 NIV “Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.John 9:5 NIV “I am the light of the world.”John 8:6b NIV “Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger.”John 9:6 NIV Then he spit on the ground, made mud with the saliva, and spread the mud over the blind man’s eyes. John 9:25 NIV He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”

Redeemer Weekend Sermons

Testing Truth • John Week 8

The Forgiven WomanJohn | Week 7June 28, 2020 | Adam Barnett --John 8:2-6a NIVAt dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.John 8:6b-8 NIV But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. John 8:9 NIV At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.John 8:10-11 NIV Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”Forgiveness is the chief gift of the New Testament gospel.Jesus' grace empowers holiness.

The Forgiven Woman • John Week 7

Spiritual ThirstJohn | Week 6June 21, 2020 | Bill Clark--John 7:16 NIV My teaching is not my own, it comes from him who sent me.Jesus claimed he was speaking for God, not about him.John 7:37-39 NIV On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.Everyone has spiritual thirst—they may just not know it.What if there is a God?

Spiritual Thirst • John Week 6

Bread of LifeJohn | Week 5June 14, 2020 | Adam Barnett--John 6:14–15 NIVAfter the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.John 6:26–27 NIVI tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.They saw the sign, but they didn’t see what it signified.John 6:30 NIV“What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do?"“Show us something, Jesus. Do one of your cool tricks and we will believe in you.”John 6:31 NIVOur forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’John 6:35–40 NIVThen Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”John 6:43–51 NIV“Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus answered. “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day. It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me. No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”God has designed the entire universe to reveal Jesus!“The Argument from Desire.” C.S. Lewis“Make a meal of me! Enter into me, and I into you, and live forever!”

Bread of Life • John Week 5

The Work of JesusJohn | Week 4June 7, 2020 | Daniel BunnJohn 5:1-18 NIV Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”“Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.”But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ”So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?”The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.What was the work that Jesus was doing?Jesus performed the work of healingThe central tension of this passage is that Jesus has broken the sabbath and made himself equal with God.The work of overturning unjust systemsFollowing Jesus is not optionalDo we fear, or do we trust?

The Work of Jesus • John Week 4

The Gathering GodJohn | Week 3May 31, 2020 | Bill Clark--John 4:4-26 NIV Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.Now he had to go through Samaria. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”“Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”“I have no husband,” she replied.Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”“Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”John 4:10 NIV Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”This is the Gathering God.

The Gathering God • John Week 3

Light Brings FreedomJohn | Week 2May 24, 2020 | Wopsle--John 3:19 NIV This is the verdict: Light has come into the world,John 3:19 NIV This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.John 3:20-21 NIV Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.James 5:16 NIV Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.Exposed sin has no power.Freedom is living in the light.What if I don't understand what the light is?———Prayer:Heavenly Father,I believe in the verdict. Light has come into the world! I believe that light came in the form of your Son, Jesus, and He was crucified for my sins, died, and rose from the grave in order to bring me into the light.I know that a great price was paid for me and I receive your love in my heart right now. Please show me how to live a life empowered by the Holy Spirit, living in the light so that my deeds may glorify you.Thank you God. Amen.———If you have made a decision for Christ today, please let us know.

Light Brings Freedom • John Week 2

In the Beginning was the WordJohn | Week 1May 17, 2020 | Adam Barnett--John 1:1-5 NIV 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 NIV In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.When did the story of Jesus begin?Isaiah 55:8-9 NIV “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."John 1:2 NIV He was with God in the beginning.John 1:3 NIV Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.John 1:4-5 NIV 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.Psalm 36:9 NIV “With you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light!”Darkness cannot overcome the light of Christ.John 1:12 NIV Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.

In the Beginning was the Word • John Week 1

Enabled to LoveThe Holy Spirit | Week 4May 10, 2020 | Bill Clark--Galatians 5:22-23 NIV But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.Love is a verb, an action; it's something that we do.Galatians 5:13 NIV ...serve one another in love.

Enabled to Love • The Holy Spirit

Comfort & JoyThe Holy Spirit | Week 3May 3, 2020 | Adam Barnett & Ruben Cenea John 14:1, 16-17, 25-27 AMP Do not let your heart be troubled (afraid, cowardly). Believe [confidently] in God and trust in Him, [have faith, hold on to it, rely on it, keep going and] believe also in Me.And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper (Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor—Counselor, Strengthener, Standby), to be with you forever—the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive [and take to its heart] because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He (the Holy Spirit) remains with you continually and will be in you.I have told you these things while I am still with you. But the Helper (Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor—Counselor, Strengthener, Standby), the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name [in My place, to represent Me and act on My behalf], He will teach you all things. And He will help you remember everything that I have told you. Peace I leave with you; My [perfect] peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid. [Let My perfect peace calm you in every circumstance and give you courage and strength for every challenge.]Links:Mission of Hope, Haiti

Comfort & Joy • The Holy Spirit

Personal Experiences  The Holy Spirit | Week 2April 26, 2020 | Adam Barnett, Bill Clark, and Tami Roach

Personal Experience • The Holy Spirit

Peace & ComfortThe Holy Spirit | Week 1April 19, 2020 | Adam Barnett--Rejoice in the ResurrectionRemember your BaptismReturn to Habits of Spiritual FormationReflect on the Birth of the ChurchReceive Gifts of the Holy Spirit]Luke 24:39-43 NIV Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate it in their presence.“Typical encounters with the recently deceased do not issue in claims about an empty tomb, nor do they lead to the founding of a new religion. And they certainly do not typically eat and drink, and they are not seen by crowds of up to 500 people, I’m sure of it.” // Rudolph BultmahnJohn 14:1 AMP Do not let your heart be troubled (afraid, cowardly). Believe [confidently] in God and trust in Him, [have faith, hold on to it, rely on it, keep going and] believe also in Me.John 14:16-17 AMP And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper (Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor—Counselor, Strengthener, Standby), to be with you forever—the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive [and take to its heart] because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He (the Holy Spirit) remains with you continually and will be in you.John 14:25-27 AMP I have told you these things while I am still with you. But the Helper (Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor—Counselor, Strengthener, Standby), the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name [in My place, to represent Me and act on My behalf], He will teach you all things. And He will help you remember everything that I have told you. Peace I leave with you; My [perfect] peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid. [Let My perfect peace calm you in every circumstance and give you courage and strength for every challenge.]Is your heart troubled today?Lean into the peace and comfort of the Holy Spirit today.

Comfort & Peace | The Holy Spirit

Jesus is AliveJesus Is | Week 6April 12, 2020 | Bill Clark--John 20:1-18 NIV Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”Jesus said to her, “Mary.”She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them the things that he had said to her.Women were the first witnesses of the empty tomb.Christianity is the only movement that grew after the death of its founder.God has hard-wired us, not just to die, but to have a longing for eternal life.

Jesus Is Alive • Jesus Is Week 6

Jesus is GlorifiedJesus Is | Week 5April 5, 2020 | Adam Barnett--John 12:12-15 NIV The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Blessed is the king of Israel!” Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written: “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.”John 12:16-19 NIV At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him. Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. Many people, because they had heard that he had performed this sign, went out to meet him. So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!”John 12:20-28 NIV Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus. Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me. “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.”John 12:23 NIV "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.”Glorification was accomplished through Jesus’ death on the cross.Glorification is the result of Jesus loving the Father more than His own life.Glorification demands a response from all disciples of Jesus.John 1:12-13 NIVYet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.Prayer of SalvationFather God, I believe with all my heart that Jesus died on the cross for me. I believe He rose from the dead, and that same power makes me a new creation. I renounce my past and ask you to forgive me of my sins. I receive your forgiveness today. I receive new birth in you. Come into my heart, Lord Jesus. Fill me with your Holy Spirit. I long to be with you all of my days here, and for all of eternity. Through the name of Jesus I pray, Amen.If you prayed that prayer today for the first time and accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior, please let us know at this form. We would love to connect with you over email or a phone call and celebrate with you!

Jesus is Glorified • Jesus Is Week 5

Jesus is NearJesus Is | Week 4March 29, 2020 | Bill Clark--Matthew 4:1-11 NIVThen Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’ ”Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ”Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’ ” Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.Where is God in all of this?God is all powerful, therefore God can prevent suffering. But God apparently does not always prevent suffering. Therefore, God is either not all powerful or not all loving.// JAMES MARTINWe are not called to be dismissive; we are called to help.Experience the nearness of Jesus.Despite the tragedy of all this, this time is really a strange gift to us.Opportunity to be still.Let the ever near Jesus come to you and surprise you with joy.

Jesus is Present • Jesus Is

Sermons from the teaching team at Redeemer Church in Tulsa, OK.

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Redeemer Weekend Sermons

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