Matthew 26:1-29
What does this have to do with me?

1.  Foolish people – no matter how powerful – can set themselves against the Lord God. But their schemes and opposition will come to nothing.

2.  The story of our lives can tempt us to see the various episodes and chapters of our lives as random or haphazard. 

3. Who had the greater insight into Jesus' words, and Jesus' death?  

4.  We cannot read any one passage or book in isolation; we must read the Bible as a whole.

Not A Conglomeration

Matthew 26:36-46

What does this have to do with me?

1.  Come with Him into this war and fight. Join Jesus in the fight.

Matthew 26:45–46
“Get up, let us go. Look! My betrayer is approaching!”

2.  Do you want to make a difference in this world? He has taught you in Gethsemane how to fight. 

“Get up, let us go.”

This Means War

Matthew 27:15-21
What does this have to do with me

1. He was our penalty substitute. 

2 Corinthians 5:21
God made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we would become the righteousness of God.

2.  The perennial madness of the crowd's choice. 

Matthew 27:25 
In reply all the people said, “Let his blood be on us and on our children!” 

3.  We are guilty of the same kind of decision that prefers a Barabbas to the true son of the Father, The Lord Jesus Christ.

4. There is a need for a decision and a need for a decision now.  

5.  If you have never believed, put your trust in The Lord Jesus and abandon all other trusts.

God In The Hands Of The Guilty

Matthew 25:1-13
What does this have to do with me?

1.  You don’t have to hear the words “I do not know you!”

Verse 13
Therefore stay alert, because you do not know the day or the hour.

2.  Be spiritually awake!

3.  Use everything God has given you to know Him and love Him and trust Him.

The Engaged King

Matthew 28:1-10; 16-20
What does this have to do with me?

1. Do you have an appetite for this kind of Savior? Infinite power! Immeasurable kindness! Unswerving purpose! 

2.  Confess the blindness and apathy of the past and set yourself on the road of faith and obedience and expect Him to meet you on the way.

The Risen Christ

Matthew 25:31-46
What does this have to do with me?

1. The point of life in Christ is to feature the mercy of God in Christ. So, we must build our lives on the mercies of God. That’s why we exist.
2. If we are the true church, and true disciples of Jesus, mercy must flow toward Christ Followers or we are self-deceived.
3. If we are the true church we will show mercy to people far from God so they might come to know Christ.

Called To Mercy

Philemon
What does this have to do with me?

1. Every Christ Follower was once a fugitive. 
2. Our guilt was great and our penalty was severe.
3. Grace allowed the right of appeal. 
4. Christ paid the debt of our sin. 
5. We are accepted and adopted into God’s family.

Charge What He Owes To Me

Psalm 78:1-8
What does this have to do with me?

Parents are the primary stewards of caring out God's purpose with the next generation. 

Parents need help in keeping a God-Centered vision of parenting alive.

Parents need a deep confidence in God.

Parents need the motivation to persevere consistently.

Parents need encouragement when everything seems to go wrong.

Parents need relief occasionally from the strain of parenting.

Parents need help in boiling down the Truth of God into essential, transferable, age-appropriate training.

Parents need help in teaching subjects and skills where they lack expertise and time.

Parents need solutions to tough problems raised by children.

Parenting is to be done in community.

The Next Generation

Will The Next Generation Know?

1 Timothy 4:12
What does this have to do with the rest of us?

1.  We do not want our children to just be rule keepers.

2. The shaping and sustaining power of the gospel is the key to successfully equipping the next generation.   

3.  Life in Christ begins with the gospel that empowers, shapes, and sustains it. 

4.  Pray, love, and teach our young people until Christ breaks in on their hearts and becomes their most valuable treasure.

5.  Pray that God gives us vision for the next generation that glorifies the gospel of Christ, and leads young people to the cross where they find forgiveness of sins, humility, and courage to rebel against low expectations.

6.  Pray for our young people to set an example inside the church and outside in their speech, conduct, love, faithfulness, and purity.

The Next Generation - Part Three

2 Samuel 19:24-30
A Prototype Of Love For Jesus
1.  Great admiration for the king.
2.  Utter submission to the king’s wisdom.
3.  Being amazed by grace.
4.  A sense of having no rights or claims.
5.  A deep sense of unworthiness.

The Next Generation - A Dead Dog Like Me

"You can experience worship on a personal level but that is not the entirety of worship. Worship is also meant to be experienced in community when the Church gathers. True and proper worship leads to unity in the Church." - Pastor Kevin Canterbury

The Pilgrimage to Worship God

Questions

Psalm 4:1-8, David and Absalom.
“Before we choose to follow God’s will, a crisis must develop in our lives. This happens because we tend to be unresponsive to God’s gentle nudges. He brings us to the place where He asks us to be our utmost for Him and we begin to debate. He then providentially produces a crisis where we have to decide— for or against. That moment becomes a great crossroads in our lives.”  - Oswald Chambers

“Complain if you must, but don't lash out. Keep your mouth shut, and let your heart do the talking.”  - Eugene Peterson

In The Cave

Psalm 42. 
What does this have to do with me?

1. Feelings are productive.
2. Actively pursue a solution.
3. God intended that this would be done together.
4. Take a chance on God.

"Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? Take those thoughts that come to you the moment you wake up in the morning. You have not originated them. But there they are, talking to you. They bring back the problems of yesterday."
Martin Lloyd Jones - Spiritual Depression

Jesus is My Hope!

2 Timothy 2:1–7

What makes it worth the cost?  Or what does this have to do with me?
1.  Those we invest in are the expression of our joy in Jesus. 
2.  We have a joy in God we would not have apart from these disciples.
3.  No greater joy.

The Cost of Making Room

Matthew 6:19-33
What does this have to do with me?

1.  Jesus reminds us of the good news of creation. 
2.  Jesus reminds us of the good news of family. 
3.  Jesus reminds us of the good news of the kingdom.

Forgetting About Eternity

Pitfall 1: We struggle to view our wealth and resources through the lens of eternity.
Pitfall 2: It’s uncomfortable for us to talk about money, but we need to do it anyway.

Tackling the Money Monster

A story of foster care and adoption within our church staff.

Honoring the Call

Open My Eyes "Bible Reading"

The future is now and we want to be ready.

About the Future

Onward to Galilee

A Sheep Gate, A Pool, and Walkways

When Jesus heals this man and intentionally does it on the Sabbath, He is showing us something about himself.

The World that is Coming

Someday we will be raised from the dead. Our deteriorated bodies will respond to the voice of the Son of God. We will rise from the dead and face Him and He will look at our lives for evidence that we were living for Jesus. He will be looking to see if we have been bearing the fruit of love.

Jesus Has Power

Jesus came to set us free from the slavery of approval and the praise of others.

Relentless Impeachment

The measure of truly knowing God, honoring God, and loving God is knowing, honoring, and loving Jesus for who He really is.

The Testimony about Me is True

In this miracle of taking five loaves, a few fish, and feeding over five thousand people, Jesus opens up a window about who He is. He doesn’t do this so we might get excited about getting what we want, but that we might see that he is better than anything we ever wanted.

Trying to Feed on the Wrong Thing

Bread in the Boat

Jesus offers himself to us as the food that is eternal. No amount of working for God can get us to eternity. He is free. He does the work needed on the cross. All we can do is eat, or, believe, and live. And this becomes the treasure that dominates our heart, Jesus. He changes everything.

Treasure That Dominates Our Heart

The ruler who Serves, theServant who rules, Marks account of Jesus ministry continues in Mark 8:27-9:1

The King Must Die

Romans 10:1-2
Hebrews 10:19-22

1. A Zeal for God, but far from God.
2. Draw Near!
3. The Heart of the Gospel
4. Zeal with Knowledge
5. Draw Near with a Sincere Heart.

What does this have to do with me?

Draw Near to God

Colossians 2:16-23
"Bear Shadow" by Frank Asch
Grandma Annii's Story-time
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9Ur_L8PdWs.

Inside and Outside the Church

Acts 17
What does this have to do with me?
Against the rising of indifference, alienation, divisiveness, and hostility in our nation...

1. Embrace the supremacy of God's love and take new steps personally and corporately toward racial reconciliation.
2. Let us cast out every belittling and unloving thought from our minds.
3. Let us put every word, tone, ridicule, or scorn out of our mouths.
4. Let us go out of our way to show oneness with Christ Followers of all ethnic backgrounds.
5. Let us be the salt and the light of our hostile and fearful society with courageous acts of kindness and respect.
6. Let us look to Christ and be forgiven, cleansed, healed, and empowered to love.

Racial Reconciliation

Matthew 6:5-15

What does this have to do with me?
1. Make God's Priority Your Priority 
2. Pray Those Priorities Into Reality
3. Let This Prayer Be Answered in Your Life

Our Father

What does this have to do with me?
1.  Is there a resource that most Christ Followers miss because they only experience church as worship services? 
2.  Is there a real flaw in our understanding of church that may account for untold weaknesses and discouragements in the body of Christ?
3.  Are you living normal New Testament church life in personal spiritual community with others? 
4.  Would you put this to a test?

How Christ Empowers the Church to Grow

Matthew 20:1-15

What does this have to do with me?
1.  Do you fully grasp the extravagance of God given to us who did not work for it nor deserve it?

2.  Do you have the attitude of the last worker who is overcome with joy for receiving the extravagant grace of the Father?

“I am not going to Heaven because I have preached to great crowds or read the Bible many times. I’m going to Heaven just like the thief on the cross who said in that last moment: ‘Lord, remember me.”  - Billy Graham

3.  We are all the last worker, we are all the thief on the cross next to Jesus who receives God’s grace. Let’s go after this week, living in and extending the extravagance of the God of the kingdom.

One Gracious Gift After Another

J. Warner Wallace

Vail Christian Church is a congregation in south-east Tucson that is dedicated to making room in life to connect people with God and others. The teaching each Sunday is grounded in the Word of God and centers on the person of Jesus Christ.

Popular tracks by Vail Christian Church