June 21, 2009 - LifeWORDS:

"Tell my Brothers to Go to Galilee ..." (Matthew 28:10)

Key Focus:

• Jesus called the disciples His "brothers" even after all they had done to let Him down
  • These "brothers" have proven themselves ...
    • They were not faithful
    • They had failed Him in His hour of greatest need
    • They were now fearful of those who had put Jesus to death!

  How could he do this? Think about it -- they betrayed, denied, and forsook Him in hours of greatest need. They couldn't even stay awake with Him while He prayed? They hid for fear after His death? They disbelieved Mary and the other women who told them Jesus was raised from the dead. They didn't trust Peter's testimony either! And it would take two meetings with them before they would follow Jesus completely!

  • The fact is that the disciples do eventually go to Galilee where Jesus told them to go ...
    • ... but only after he appeared to them twice behind locked doors, showed them his scars and ate fish in front of them to prove it was truly Him
    • ... and even then, some didn't fully believe while others worshiped Him and they had to be confronted and called again to ministry and commissioned to share the good news
    • ... but this is the beginning of their reclamation: they are forgiven, their fear is overcome, and their focus is set on honoring Jesus and taking His teaching to the world!
  • Calling them brothers was Jesus way of giving them another opportunity to show by their obedience they were who He saw they could be!
    • Bottom line, Jesus is the ultimate Man of La Mancha - the one who is able to see more in us than we can see, willing to bear our sins so that we can see, and is willing to call us to be more than who we imagine ourselves to be and see ourselves as He sees us!
      • We are given another opportunity to be his brothers and sisters: people chosen by grace, made holy at great cost, and proven by obedience
• Why is it more important to be redemptive when the sin of someone else wounds us rather than us proving ourselves correct or our trying to get even?
• What lessons are we to learn from this or what meaning does it have?
  • The meaning of disciples being identified as brothers of Jesus in other places in the N.T.
    • Matthew 12:48-50
    • Romans 8:28-29
    • Hebrews 2:11-17
    • Seems like to me that the suffering emphasis of Romans 8:28-29 and Hebrews 2 are picked up by the showing of the scars! Theirs will be a costly call!
• Jesus called the disciples back to Galilee, their home and place of ministry, to reveal Himself fully to them.
  • Why is important to face the people who know when we have failed? ... or even when we have succeeded?
  • Why would Jesus tell His disciples to meet Him in Galilee?
    • Place of ascension and commissioning (re-living their call to fish for the hearts of all people)? (Matthew)
    • Place where they were to be confronted with their failures? (John 20)
  • Where is our Galilee today?

• LifeWORDS is the key emphasis for our time in the word
• Father's Day is a crucial video emphasis for the day
• Prayer over the Mounts & the Podryachidkovs as they enter their missions
• SBA starts next Sunday
• Sack Sunday next Sunday

• Matthew 28:10 tniv

10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”

• Ephesians 4:32 tniv

32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

• Matthew 6:9-15 tniv

9 “This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,a
but deliver us from the evil one.b’
14 For if you forgive others when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Drama, Media, & Connecting Pieces:

• Pre-video: Corbett will help pick
• Video Piece: Father's Day Video (Corbett) for both services
• LifeWORDS confessional Scripture: Matthew 6:14
• Communion Emphasis:
  • Share the Lord's Prayer after Communion and emphasize especially Matthew 6:12, 14-15
  • This is a time when we choose to forgive as we have been forgiven! Ephesians 4:32

Time in the Word Focus:

• Jesus called them His "brothers" even after they failed Him! Don't you find that incredible? Think of all the ways they failed Him and let Him down. Yet His forgiveness of them, and His reclamation of them, was crucial in fulfilling God's mission through Him. Isn't that true of us as well!
• Those we love can hurt us more deeply than anyone else on earth -- whether they are family or friends or spiritual family. Yet if we are not forgiving in this context, how can we claim to be redemptive?
  • But redemptive forgiveness is costly (see Matthew 18 and also Matthew 20:28).
• Jesus challenged His disciples to come back to where they were known when they began to follow Him. -- to begin their transformed lives after meeting their resurrection Savior in the place where it all began and people know them for who they "were"
• We are called by Jesus, as His brothers and sisters, to ...
  • ... be given another opportunity, after our faithlessness, failures, and fear, to live for Jesus and make a difference in our world!
  • ... live this same kind of forgiving lifestyle in the places we are best known, our Galilee -- our families, friends, among our co-workers, those with whom we go to school -- those who have seen us be hurt by those we must forgive!

Daybreak Focus: (See emphasis above! Team Working on Planning Order - Marisue & Ed)

Refresh Focus: (See emphasis above! Team Working on Planning Order - Wade, Phil, Trace & Robyn)