#424 The Jesus Trip, Adopted Into The Coolest Family

#424 The Jesus Trip, Adopted Into The Coolest Family
By: D. Karl Thomas

(Sermon notes, PowerPoint slides and Group Discussion Questions at the bottom of the page)

The Bible: 2 Testaments – Old and New
66 Books 31,102 Verses 1663 Commands 240 Different authors 3237 Different characters.
31 guys named “Zechariah.” 1 STORY

Jesus is in the Old Testament concealed: Luke 24:27 “And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.”
That’s how He got them back into their destiny.

Jesus in New Testament Revealed: John 14:7, 9 “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him … He who has seen Me has seen the Father.”

In the Gospels we see Jesus like a photograph. Matthew 9:35 “Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.”

In Pauls Letters we see a CT Scan of the inner working of the Gospel of Grace: 2 Corinthians 5:19 “…God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.”

Genesis 3:15 “And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.”

Malachi 3:1-4 “Look! I am sending my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. Then the Lord you are seeking will suddenly come to his Temple. The messenger of the covenant, whom you look for so eagerly, is surely coming,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.”

Isaiah 7:10-14 “Moreover the Lord spoke again to Ahaz, saying, ‘Ask a sign for yourself from the Lord your God; ask it either in the depth or in the height above. But Ahaz said, ‘I will not ask, nor will I test the Lord!’ Then he said, “Hear now, O house of David! …”

“… Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.”
God’s committed to your complete victory and reconciliation.

1. The Fact Of Incarnation — The UNION of Divinity with Humanity. God became flesh!
Isaiah 9:6 “For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

John1:1-3 “In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him.”

John 1:14, 16-18 “So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son. … From his abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another …”

… For the law was given through Moses, but God’s unfailing love and faithfulness came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us.”

Carnate:— Invested with, or embodied in, flesh, fleshy Latin:— “carnatus” “con carne”
Incarnate:— Invested with bodily nature and form Incarnation:— a person who embodies a God or deity in the flesh. The joining of the divine and the human in Jesus Christ

Matthew 1:21-23 “‘And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.’ So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: ‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,’ which is translated, ‘God with us.’”

Immanuel :— compound word, (Imm) with, (Manu) us, (El) power of God, hero God, strong and powerful God.
God with us! Literally with us is this strong God, powerful God.
He is with you … not your church, religion, job, city, marriage … YOU!!

Luke 2:27-30 “So he (Simeon) came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the Child Jesus, … he took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said: “Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace,According to Your word; For my eyes have seen Your salvation…”

The INCARNATION is the Spirit of God colliding with the natural realm to manifest His glory in what can be seen. (Christmas) Christ — the Anointed One, to smear, to rub, to pour. Mass — celebration or physical substance and weight. The Physical Smeared By Spirit

Put himself into a lousy, leprosy suit of ours, to expiate our pride and robbery, in reaching after the Deity, and to heal us of our spiritual leprosy; if he had not assumed our flesh he had not saved us. John Trapp

“The central miracle asserted by Christians is the Incarnation…. Every other miracle prepares for this, or exhibits this, or results from this…. It was the central event in the history of the Earth—the very thing that the whole story has been about” C.S. Lewis (Miracles)

“The One who became God and man stayed that way. The One who was touched by a band of Galilean disciples is today worshiped by angels.” John Stevenson
“The mystery of the humanity of Christ, that He sunk Himself into our flesh, is beyond all human understanding.”
Martin Luther

“The incarnation is not simply a past-tense event we celebrate on Christmas. The incarnation is a present reality. Jesus did not evaporate into smoke when He ascended. There is forever a flesh and bone human being seated mystically in the middle of the Trinity. And we are seated right there, woven into the Trinitarian life in the humanity of Christ.” John Crowder

2. The Force Of Incarnation Galatians 4:4-5
“But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children.”

Ephesians 1:5 (NLT) “His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us…”
(Wuest) “having previously marked us out to be placed as adult sons through the intermediate agency of Jesus Christ for Himself according to that which seemed good in His heart’s desire”

Romans 5:15 (NLT) “But there is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ.”

Hebrews 2 14-15, 17 (NLT) “Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. Only in this way could he set free all who have lived…”

“… their lives as slaves to the fear of dying. … Therefore, it was necessary for him to be made in every respect like us, his brothers and sisters, so that he could be our merciful and faithful High Priest before God. Then he could offer a sacrifice that would take away the sins of the people.”

Colossians 2:9-10 “For in Him all the fullness of Deity (the Godhead) dwells in bodily form [completely expressing the divine essence of God]. And in Him you have been made complete [achieving spiritual stature through Christ], and He is the head over all rule and authority [of every angelic and earthly power].“

1 Corinthians 6:17 “But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.”

John 1:12-13 “But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.”

The Jesus Trip, Adopted Into The Coolest Family, notes to print, PDF

The Jesus Trip, Adopted Into The Coolest Family, PowerPoint Slides, PDF

The Jesus Trip, Adopted Into the Coolest Family, Group Discussion Questions – Week #3, to print, PDF