A. What is YOUR answer to each of these questions:
1. Who is Jesus?
2. Is He your personal Savior?
3. Is He the center of your thoughts?
4. Do you accept the total redemption He paid for you or do you think you have to earn it somehow?
5. Do you have to pay penitence for your sins?
6. Do you love Him? He said if you love me, you will keep my commandments.
7. What kind of a relationship do you have with Jesus?
B. These are some of the ATTRIBUTES and CHARISTERISTICS of Jesus:
1. Jesus is our Lord and Savior.
2. Jesus was the Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world.
3. Jesus is our provider. He made a provision for us to go directly to God.
4. Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. He is the door.
5. Jesus is our brother and friend.
6. We are heirs with Him.
7. He is God's Son!
8. He came to show us the Love of God our Father.
9. We are also children of God because of what Jesus did.
10. Jesus tore the wall down so we had free access to God ourselves (John 16:25-27).
11. Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith (Heb 12:12).
12. Jesus was a carpenter. He's building a home for us in Heaven.
13. Jesus was the Word made flesh. (Jesus is the Godhead bodily).
14. Jesus helped God build the earth. He was there when all was being created.
15. We were made in His image.
16. Jesus experienced what it is like to live in this fallen world. Yet he did not sin.
17. Jesus has the power over death (Hebrews 2:14).
18. Jesus is the great high priest (Hebrews 4:14).
19. Jesus is there in the time of need (Hebrews 2:18 and Hebrews 4:15).
20. Jesus sets people free.
21. Jesus is faithful (Hebrews 3:1).
22. Jesus is my teacher, master, Rabbi.
23. Jesus is the great physician.
24. He has all things under his feet (Hebrews 2:8).
25. Jesus sits at the right hand of God, making intercession for us.
26. Jesus is the sole expression of God's glory.
27. Jesus is the very imprint of God's nature.
28. He is higher than the angels.
29. Jesus is light.
30. Jesus is life.
31. Jesus is light and in him is no darkness.
32. Jesus was obedient.
33. Jesus sits on the throne beside God (Hebrews 12:2).
34. Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2).
35. Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8).
****QUESTION: Do you believe that Jesus is the answer?
C. The CHARACTER and NATURE of Jesus
1. Jesus Christ is: (REFER to 1 Corinthians 13)
Very patient, Kind, Never jealous or envious.
Never boastful or proud
He will be loyal to you.
He doesn't demand His way
He's not irritable or touchy
He doesn't hold grudges
He is never glad about injustice.
He rejoices whenever truth wins out.
He loves you
Never haughty or selfish or rude
He will always believe in you.
You can always expect the best of Him
He will always stand His ground in defending you.
2. God, the Father, identifies us IN Christ Jesus.
3. "And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus" (Eph 2:6-7 NIV).
"…let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,' declares the Lord." (Jer 31:34)
D. You Take His BREATH Away.
1. You took His breath away to create the Universe.
"By the word of the LORD were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth. (Ps 33:6 NIV)
2. You took His breath away when He formed You.
"The time came when the Lord God formed a man's body from the dust of the ground and breathed into it the breath of life. And man became a living person." (Gen 2:7 TLB)
3. You took His breath away when you chose Him as your Lord and Savior.
"Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven." (John 20:21-22 NIV)
4. Now, it is your turn to let Him hold you so close that He takes your breath away because ever since the beginning of time, you have been taking His breath way every moment of every day.
"You have ravished my heart, My sister, my spouse; You have ravished my heart With one look of your eyes, With one link of your necklace. 10 How fair is your love, My sister, my spouse! How much better than wine is your love, And the scent of your perfumes Than all spices!" (Song 4:9-10 NKJV)
E. You Have Been REDEEMED.
1. Only the shed blood of Jesus can redeem us.
"and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." (Romans 3:24)
2. Jesus provided the ransom payment. He bought you. He paid the price with the infinite, eternal value of His blood.
"In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace." (Ephesians 1:7)
3. He bought you out of the marketplace of sin, and you now belong to Him by right of purchase.
4. Once Jesus purchases you, you will never be sold back because Jesus has set you free, and now, "you will be free indeed." (John 8:36)
F. You Have Been FREED From The Curse Of The Law.
1. Jesus redeemed you from the curse of the Law because He became the curse.
"Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree." (Gal 3:13)
2. We are no longer under Law but under grace.
"For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace." Romans 6:14
3. Sins dominion was through the Law. The inability of human beings to keep the Law manifested in our sin nature and brought us under the curse of the broken Law.
4. Faith in Jesus released us from the obligation to a broken law and from any obligation to keep it.
"So, my brothers, you also died to the Law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God. For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the Law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the Law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code." (Romans 7:4-6)
PRAY – CAN WE ALL COME TO AGREEMENT ON THIS SECTION?
"Lord Jesus, I believe that you died for my sins and were resurrected so I may be alive to You and live in obedience. Lord, I consider my old sinful life dead now and buried with you in baptism. I now consider myself alive with You in resurrection by the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus, please help me know and feel this as reality in my heart with all understanding. Please lead me and train me in making choices to follow You from this point forward. In Your name, I pray, Amen."
