A Jesus Timeline

We just began a teaching series on Sunday evenings - "Journey Through The New Testament". Below is part of the outline from week one  - "The Gospels". This is a brief (limited) timeline of Jesus' time on this earth according to the Gospel accounts.

Autumn, A.D. 28:

•          Jesus left Nazareth and went down for Him baptism

•          Right after His baptism He went into the mountains to be tempted by Satan

•          Then He went back to Salem, and then to Cana

◦          The first disciples were from there – John, Andrew, Peter, Philip, and Nathaniel

Spring, A.D. 29:

•          The first miracle was at the wedding in Can

•          Jesus then moved to Capernaum, where he established His base of operations.

•          While Jesus was at Passover in Jerusalem, Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews, came to Him at night and Jesus explained the need to be “born again” (John 3:16)

•          This was about the time of John the Baptists last testimony

 

Winter, A.D. 29:

•          Jesus met the woman at the well at Sycar

•          Jesus went back to Cana and healed the son of a royal official

•          Jesus healed a man at the Pool of Bethesda

Spring, A.D. 30:

•          John the Baptist had been imprisoned in  Jerusalem

•          In Galilee, Jesus began to broaden His public ministry

•          At the synagogue, in Nazareth, Jesus read from Isaiah and the townspeople tried to throw Him off of a cliff

•          Jesus left Nazareth and went back to Capernaum

◦          There He called four more disciples

•          Peter's mother-in-law and a leper were healed

 

Summer, A.D. 30:

•          Jesus healed a paralytic in Capernaum

•          Matthew was called

•          Jesus and His disciples picked grain on the Sabbath

•          Jesus healed a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath

•          Jesus preached the sermon on the mount 

Fall, A.D. 30:

•          Jesus healed a blind and dumb man in Capernaum and was accused of doing this by the powers of Satan

•          From this point on Jesus spoke publicly only in parables

•          The seven kingdom parables in Matthew 13 were spoken

•          The people accused Jesus of being Satan

•          Jesus rebuked the storm

•          Jesus encountered the demonic man in the region of the Gadarenes and permitted the demons to go into a heard of pigs

•          The disciples went back to Capernaum

Winter, A.D. 30

•          Jarius's daughter is raised

•          A woman with an issue of bleeding was healed

•          Two blind men and a dumb man were healed

•          Jesus arrived back in Nazareth and opffened people.

•          John the baptist was beheaded

•          The Apostles were sent out in pairs

•          Jesus returned to Capernaum

Sprint, A.D. 31:

•          The twelve apostles returned to Capernaum

•          Jesus then returned to Bethsaida, which became a major base

•          Jesus fed 5,000

•          Jesus walked on water and returned to Capernaum

•          Jesus preached His sermon on “the Bread of Life”

•          Jesus was accused of eating with unwashed hands

•          Jesus went to the region of Decapolis

•          Jesus healed a deaf and dumb man and fed 4,000

•          Jesus went to Magdela where the Pharisee's demanded a sign

•          Jesus took a ship to Bethsaida where he talked about the yeast of the Pharisee's

•          Jesus traveled north to Caesarea Philippi

•          Jesus went up on the Mount of Transfiguration

•          Jesus healed a possessed boy and returned to Capernaum

•          Jesus went down to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles where He declared Himself to be the Living Water

•          He forgave a woman of adultery and returned to Galilee

Winter, A.D. 31:

•          The Samaritan's rejected Jesus

•          Jesus went to Perea, east of the Jordan and presented several parables

◦          the good Samaritan, the unrighteous steward, the rich man and Lazarus

•          Jesus sent out the seventy disciples

•          Jesus traveled to Jerusalem and healed a man born blind

•          Jesus stayed at Bethabara

Spring, A.D. 32:

•          Jesus traveled to Bethany

•          Lazarus was raised from the dead

•          Jewish leaders plotted to kill Lazarus and Jesus

•          Jesus moved to the village of Ephraim

•          Jesus encountered ten lepers and gave a number of parables

•          James and John's mother made the request that Jesus make her sons one and two

•          Jesus traveled back to Jericho where He healed blind Bartimeus

•          Jesus called Zaccheus and presented the parable of the ten talents

•          Jesus went to Bethany for His final week – the “Passion Week"

God Does Not Need Help

As a Pastor of a church - expected to speak to, hold the attention of, and introduce life transformational ideas to people week after week - I often search for interesting stories and illustrations for sermons and teachings. Often the stories and illustrations come up well short - rarely do I find a gem. More often, I will use a story from my own life, a lesson that I have taken from a life experience, or an illustration from my family or home life.

Yet - truth be told - I am sometimes in need of the perfect gen for a sermon or a teaching that I  create a story of my own. There is nothing wrong with that! Other times, I am down to the wire and I will adapt someone else's account to make it work in my situation. I don't see anything wrong with this! However, there are a few times that I have taken a life experience of my own or of someone else's life and I have embellished it - added to the details - to make it "better" or to make it more fitting to what I want to convey.

This morning I thought of a recent story that I had told and I realized the error of my ways. I was trying to help God by adding to the details of something that He had done in my life. And, whether we are willing to accept it or not, God does not need any help from any of us.

God does not need any help from any of us.

School Starts

School starts this week with our daughter headed into the second grade, our oldest son headed to preschool. As we prepare to send the kids off to begin another year of school many thoughts - even fears - fill my mind; what will they be taught, will they have good friendships, are they safe, etc.

And, in the midst of these thoughts - and fears - we find comfort as parents. We take comfort in the fact that we can't protect them from everything and we have to let them live their lives. 

The bottom line is that we pray for our children, we teach our children, and we trust our children. 

Arrogant or Ignorant

I've met a lot of arrogant people. I'm sure you have as well. Arrogance is a horrible trait - and it is the trait that probably bugs me the most. As a pastor I've also seen a lot of ignorant people - people who are uninformed or misinformed.

And, although arrogance and ignorance are not be desired by anyone, I would much prefer to be ignorant. And, I would prefer to teach and shepherd people who are ignorant rather than arrogant. 

See, ignorance is the product of a lack if knowledge, and an ignorant person can be taught. But, arrogance is the product of pride and years of boasting, and an arrogant person must be broken before they can be taught. 

When we read the Gospels and we read the people that Jesus encountered we see that He met both the ignorant and the arrogant. With the ignorant we see that Jesus had patience - taking time to talk with and teach them. Yet with the arrogant - the teachers of the law and the Pharisees - we see that Jesus was very stern and direct in His correction.

So, think are you ignorant or arrogant? Neithrr are to be desired. Yet one is far better!

Preaching The Bible

I have heard a lot of sermons over the years, some very good, some not. Yet I can almost always find some aspect to complement the preacher on or some element appreciate for myself. A few months ago I found myself listening to a sermon and taking mental notes on many of the main points. And then it hit me; this is not Biblically based, in fact no Scripture was used at any point in this "sermon".

For the next few days I thought about this "sermon" and about this "preacher" and questioned how a person could claim to preach The Word of God without sharing any of it with their hearers. And, I wondered, how could I avoid falling into this same type of mindset.

That's when it hit me; it's not a manner of falling into this mindset, not jumping into it as a choice that is made, the issue is that many preachers are sliding into it on a very slippery slope. This is due to preachers and church leaders wanting to grow their churches, speak to the felt needs of their congregation and their community and they soon find themselves preaching pop culture and self-help from many sources not built on The Holy Scriptures.

When I came to this conclusion I was convicted to go back to the drawing board on all upcoming sermons in order to base them on Scripture. I was convicted to go back to the calendar and redesign all our upcoming series and teaching plans.

If you are called to be a preacher or teacher of God's Word than you need to teach it and nothing less. We need to be people that teach God's Word because people need to hear it. If we fail to speak The Truth of Jesus Christ, who will. If people are not hearing The Scriptures from us, we are failing them, we are failing ourselves, and we are failing God.

GOD QUESTions

Our new teaching series at the Robinson Free Methodist Church is called GOD QUESTions. If you're in the Robinson, Illinois area between September and October 2010, stop by a join a loving, Christ-focused church family.

Through this series we will take an onest look at many of the questions that we all deal with. Questions about God on our quest for God.

Not only will this be a great teaching series for those unfamiliar with God and the church, it will give the more mature believers to gain a deeper insight.

Sunday September 12th - WHO is God?
Sunday September 19th  - Why do I need God?
Sunday September 26 - What can God offer?
Sunday October 3 - When I need God?
Sunday October 10 - Where can I find God?
Sunday October 17 - How do I walk with God?

surviving the impossible

Just a month and a half ago we moved from northern Indiana to southern Illinois. This, as we knew it would, came with many struggles (can't help but think of the Illinois fans that I have dealt with so far). These struggles started months before we moved with the stress of packing, leaving a church family and a job that I loved and that I felt more than comfortable doing. The anxiety that followed when we considered that our income would change, our insurance would change, our stability, and knowledge of so many of the surrounding elements would change.

I'll take a moment here to mention just how wonderful Kim (my wife) is. She has never questioned the move, the change in jobs, the change in income, or the change in comfort. She has never mentioned that fact that I have taken her (once again) away from all of her friends and have moved here four hours away from her parents. Further, she has taken on so many new duties (such as teaching a Sunday School class), she has taken on new responsibilities (with the additional stress), and she has been my sounding board and listening ear more than I could mention. Bottom line, she's amazing.

One of the biggest challenges for me has been the ability to write a solid sermon every week. And yet, I am not expected to write one sermon, but two sermons (for the morning and evening services). When I stop to consider that fact that every week I am going before people double, triple, even quadruple my age and share with tell a teaching from the word of God, scared is an understatement. The people that I am "teaching" are scholars, executives, business owners, and teachers themselves. At any moment I am expecting one, or all, of the people in the church to stand up and ask "what are you talking about" or "what are you doing up there". Weekly I open my Bible and share a teaching based on truths that are taken from the best selling book of all time, a book that was written by the creator of the universe, the creator of mankind. It is not uncommon for me to ask myself "what are you doing". This is impossible for me! Today a friend of mine reminded me that "God lives in the impossible".

"With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." (Matthew 19:26)

How do we get through the impossible? I know that for me it is through the daily, sometimes hourly, reminder that God has called me to this task. It is when I remind myself of this that the anxiety is lifted and it becomes a joy to write a sermon. This is because I am no longer studying, preparing, or writing, but rather God that is writing through me, it is Christ that is working through me. When we allow The Spirit to use the gifts that He has blessed us with to bring Him glory and to further His Kingdom it is no longer an impossibility or an anxiety but it is a joy to see it His work fulfilled.

May God continue to be glorified as He ministers and does the impossible through me.