Women's Bible Study - September 4th, 2024 - First Week on Matthew with Deborah Buckingham

September 4, 2024 · Deborah Bacamino · Matthew

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Series · Matthew · Week 10 of 12

Scripture referenced 8 passages

The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.

Psalm 1 the psalmist meditates on God's word and is like a tree planted by streams of water, yielding fruit and prospering

1 Blessed is the man who doesn’t walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand on the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers;
2 but his delight is in Yahweh’s law. On his law he meditates day and night.
3 He will be like a tree planted by the streams of water, that produces its fruit in its season, whose leaf also does not wither. Whatever he does shall prosper.
4 The wicked are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away.
5 Therefore the wicked shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
6 For Yahweh knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked shall perish.

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Psalm 34

when the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles

1 I will bless Yahweh at all times. His praise will always be in my mouth.

2 My soul shall boast in Yahweh. The humble shall hear of it, and be glad.

3 Oh magnify Yahweh with me. Let us exalt his name together.

4 I sought Yahweh, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears.

5 They looked to him, and were radiant. Their faces shall never be covered with shame.

6 This poor man cried, and Yahweh heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.

7 Yahweh’s angel encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them.

8 Oh taste and see that Yahweh is good. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.

9 Oh fear Yahweh, you his saints, for there is no lack with those who fear him.

10 The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger, but those who seek Yahweh shall not lack any good thing.

11 Come, you children, listen to me. I will teach you the fear of Yahweh.

12 Who is someone who desires life, and loves many days, that he may see good?

13 Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking lies.

14 Depart from evil, and do good. seek peace, and pursue it.

15 Yahweh’s eyes are toward the righteous. His ears listen to their cry.

16 Yahweh’s face is against those who do evil, to cut off their memory from the earth.

17 The righteous cry, and Yahweh hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles.

18 Yahweh is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves those who have a crushed spirit.

19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but Yahweh delivers him out of them all.

20 He protects all of his bones. Not one of them is broken.

21 Evil shall kill the wicked. Those who hate the righteous shall be condemned.

22 Yahweh redeems the soul of his servants. None of those who take refuge in him shall be condemned.

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Isaiah 40

waiting on the Lord will renew your strength

1 “Comfort, comfort my people,” says your God.

2 “Speak comfortably to Jerusalem; and call out to her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received of Yahweh’s hand double for all her sins.”

3 The voice of one who calls out, “Prepare the way of Yahweh in the wilderness! Make a level highway in the desert for our God.

4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The uneven shall be made level, and the rough places a plain.

5 Yahweh’s glory shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken it.”

6 The voice of one saying, “Cry!” One said, “What shall I cry?” “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory is like the flower of the field.

7 The grass withers, the flower fades, because Yahweh’s breath blows on it. Surely the people are like grass.

8 The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God stands forever.”

9 You who tell good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who tell good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with strength. Lift it up. Don’t be afraid. Say to the cities of Judah, “Behold, your God!”

10 Behold, the Lord Yahweh will come as a mighty one, and his arm will rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.

11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arm, and carry them in his bosom. He will gently lead those who have their young.

12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and marked off the sky with his span, and calculated the dust of the earth in a measuring basket, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?

13 Who has directed Yahweh’s Spirit, or has taught him as his counselor?

14 Who did he take counsel with, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?

15 Behold, the nations are like a drop in a bucket, and are regarded as a speck of dust on a balance. Behold, he lifts up the islands like a very little thing.

16 Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor its animals sufficient for a burnt offering.

17 All the nations are like nothing before him. They are regarded by him as less than nothing, and vanity.

18 To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to him?

19 A workman has cast an image, and the goldsmith overlays it with gold, and casts silver chains for it.

20 He who is too impoverished for such an offering chooses a tree that will not rot. He seeks a skillful workman to set up a carved image for him that will not be moved.

21 Haven’t you known? Haven’t you heard? Haven’t you been told from the beginning? Haven’t you understood from the foundations of the earth?

22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in;

23 who brings princes to nothing; who makes the judges of the earth like meaningless.

24 They are planted scarcely. They are sown scarcely. Their stock has scarcely taken root in the ground. He merely blows on them, and they wither, and the whirlwind takes them away as stubble.

25 “To whom then will you liken me? Who is my equal?” says the Holy One.

26 Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these, who brings out their army by number. He calls them all by name. by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power, Not one is lacking.

27 Why do you say, Jacob, and speak, Israel, “My way is hidden from Yahweh, and the justice due me is disregarded by my God?”

28 Haven’t you known? Haven’t you heard? The everlasting God, Yahweh, The Creator of the ends of the earth, doesn’t faint. He isn’t weary. His understanding is unsearchable.

29 He gives power to the weak. He increases the strength of him who has no might.

30 Even the youths faint and get weary, and the young men utterly fall;

31 But those who wait for Yahweh will renew their strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run, and not be weary. They will walk, and not faint.

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Lamentations 3

Jeremiah depressed but calls to mind God's unending love, mercies new every morning

1 I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.

2 He has led me and caused me to walk in darkness, and not in light.

3 Surely he turns his hand against me again and again all day long.

4 He has made my flesh and my skin old. He has broken my bones.

5 He has built against me, and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.

6 He has made me dwell in dark places, as those who have been long dead.

7 He has walled me about, so that I can’t go out. He has made my chain heavy.

8 Yes, when I cry, and call for help, he shuts out my prayer.

9 He has walled up my ways with cut stone. He has made my paths crooked.

10 He is to me as a bear lying in wait, as a lion in secret places.

11 He has turned away my ways, and pulled me in pieces. He has made me desolate.

12 He has bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.

13 He has caused the shafts of his quiver to enter into my kidneys.

14 I have become a derision to all my people, and their song all day long.

15 He has filled me with bitterness. He has stuffed me with wormwood.

16 He has also broken my teeth with gravel. He has covered me with ashes.

17 You have removed my soul far away from peace. I forgot prosperity.

18 I said, “My strength has perished, along with my expectation from Yahweh.”

19 Remember my affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the bitterness.

20 My soul still remembers them, and is bowed down within me.

21 This I recall to my mind; therefore I have hope.

22 It is because of Yahweh’s loving kindnesses that we are not consumed, because his compassion doesn’t fail.

23 They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness.

24 “Yahweh is my portion,” says my soul. “Therefore I will hope in him.”

25 Yahweh is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.

26 It is good that a man should hope and quietly wait for the salvation of Yahweh.

27 It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.

28 Let him sit alone and keep silence, because he has laid it on him.

29 Let him put his mouth in the dust, if it is so that there may be hope.

30 Let him give his cheek to him who strikes him. Let him be filled full of reproach.

31 For the Lord will not cast off forever.

32 For though he causes grief, yet he will have compassion according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses.

33 For he does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.

34 To crush under foot all the prisoners of the earth,

35 to turn away the right of a man before the face of the Most High,

36 to subvert a man in his cause, the Lord doesn’t approve.

37 Who is he who says, and it comes to pass, when the Lord doesn’t command it?

38 Doesn’t evil and good come out of the mouth of the Most High?

39 Why does a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?

40 Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to Yahweh.

41 Let us lift up our heart with our hands to God in the heavens.

42 “We have transgressed and have rebelled. You have not pardoned.

43 “You have covered us with anger and pursued us. You have killed. You have not pitied.

44 You have covered yourself with a cloud, so that no prayer can pass through.

45 You have made us an off-scouring and refuse in the middle of the peoples.

46 “All our enemies have opened their mouth wide against us.

47 Terror and the pit have come on us, devastation and destruction.”

48 My eye runs down with streams of water, for the destruction of the daughter of my people.

49 My eye pours down and doesn’t cease, without any intermission,

50 until Yahweh looks down, and sees from heaven.

51 My eye affects my soul, because of all the daughters of my city.

52 They have chased me relentlessly like a bird, those who are my enemies without cause.

53 They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and have cast a stone on me.

54 Waters flowed over my head. I said, “I am cut off.”

55 I called on your name, Yahweh, out of the lowest dungeon.

56 You heard my voice: “Don’t hide your ear from my sighing, and my cry.”

57 You came near in the day that I called on you. You said, “Don’t be afraid.”

58 Lord, you have pleaded the causes of my soul. You have redeemed my life.

59 Yahweh, you have seen my wrong. Judge my cause.

60 You have seen all their vengeance and all their plans against me.

61 You have heard their reproach, Yahweh, and all their plans against me,

62 the lips of those that rose up against me, and their plots against me all day long.

63 You see their sitting down and their rising up. I am their song.

64 You will pay them back, Yahweh, according to the work of their hands.

65 You will give them hardness of heart, your curse to them.

66 You will pursue them in anger, and destroy them from under the heavens of Yahweh.

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Genesis 1

God made humanity in His image

1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

2 The earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep and God’s Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters.

3 God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

4 God saw the light, and saw that it was good. God divided the light from the darkness.

5 God called the light “day”, and the darkness he called “night”. There was evening and there was morning, the first day.

6 God said, “Let there be an expanse in the middle of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.”

7 God made the expanse, and divided the waters which were under the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so.

8 God called the expanse “sky”. There was evening and there was morning, a second day.

9 God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered together to one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so.

10 God called the dry land “earth”, and the gathering together of the waters he called “seas”. God saw that it was good.

11 God said, “Let the earth yield grass, herbs yielding seeds, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with their seeds in it, on the earth”; and it was so.

12 The earth yielded grass, herbs yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit, with their seeds in it, after their kind; and God saw that it was good.

13 There was evening and there was morning, a third day.

14 God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs to mark seasons, days, and years;

15 and let them be for lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth”; and it was so.

16 God made the two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He also made the stars.

17 God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light to the earth,

18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good.

19 There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.

20 God said, “Let the waters abound with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the sky.”

21 God created the large sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed, after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind. God saw that it was good.

22 God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”

23 There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.

24 God said, “Let the earth produce living creatures after their kind, livestock, creeping things, and animals of the earth after their kind”; and it was so.

25 God made the animals of the earth after their kind, and the livestock after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind. God saw that it was good.

26 God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

27 God created man in his own image. In God’s image he created him; male and female he created them.

28 God blessed them. God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

29 God said, “Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree, which bears fruit yielding seed. It will be your food.

30 To every animal of the earth, and to every bird of the sky, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food;” and it was so.

31 God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. There was evening and there was morning, a sixth day.

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Genesis 2

God breathed His own life into Adam, making humans eternal spiritual beings

1 The heavens, the earth, and all their vast array were finished.

2 On the seventh day God finished his work which he had done; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done.

3 God blessed the seventh day, and made it holy, because he rested in it from all his work of creation which he had done.

4 This is the history of the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that Yahweh God made the earth and the heavens.

5 No plant of the field was yet in the earth, and no herb of the field had yet sprung up; for Yahweh God had not caused it to rain on the earth. There was not a man to till the ground,

6 but a mist went up from the earth, and watered the whole surface of the ground.

7 Yahweh God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

8 Yahweh God planted a garden eastward, in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed.

9 Out of the ground Yahweh God made every tree to grow that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food, including the tree of life in the middle of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

10 A river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it was parted, and became the source of four rivers.

11 The name of the first is Pishon: it flows through the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;

12 and the gold of that land is good. Bdellium and onyx stone are also there.

13 The name of the second river is Gihon. It is the same river that flows through the whole land of Cush.

14 The name of the third river is Hiddekel. This is the one which flows in front of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.

15 Yahweh God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate and keep it.

16 Yahweh God commanded the man, saying, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden;

17 but you shall not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.”

18 Yahweh God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make him a helper comparable to him.”

19 Out of the ground Yahweh God formed every animal of the field, and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. Whatever the man called every living creature became its name.

20 The man gave names to all livestock, and to the birds of the sky, and to every animal of the field; but for man there was not found a helper comparable to him.

21 Yahweh God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. As the man slept, he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place.

22 Yahweh God made a woman from the rib which he had taken from the man, and brought her to the man.

23 The man said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She will be called ‘woman,’ because she was taken out of Man.”

24 Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother, and will join with his wife, and they will be one flesh.

25 The man and his wife were both naked, and they were not ashamed.

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John 1:1

in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

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Romans 10:9

confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart He was raised, and you are saved

9 that if you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

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Recap

The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.

This was the opening session of the JH Women's Bible Study at First Baptist Jackson, a nine-week study through the book of Matthew. Deborah Bacamino introduced the study and laid the groundwork for what it means to not just know about Jesus, but to actually know him. She drew on a framework from John Mark Comer to identify four forces that work against that kind of real, experienced relationship with God.

What was said

Deborah opened by explaining why Matthew is the right book for this moment. It bridges the Old Testament and the New, and it covers 129 places where Jesus specifically fulfilled promises made centuries before he was born. She pointed out that there are 456 Old Testament prophecies about Jesus that only Jesus fulfilled, some of them written a thousand years before his birth, with specifics about where he would be born, where his family would flee, and even the manner of his death. That level of evidence, she said, means Christian faith is not blind. It is a response to what is actually there.

She made a distinction between two Greek words for knowledge. "Gnosis" is head knowledge, knowing facts about God. "Epinosis" is experiential knowledge, actually encountering God and letting what he says change how you live. She said you can attend every week, do every homework assignment, and memorize scripture, and nothing will change if it stays in your head. The whole point of the study, she said, is to move truth from the head down into the heart.

The first force working against that kind of relationship, she said, is the narrative we believe about God and about ourselves. She described how Thomas Jefferson once sat in the White House and literally cut and pasted the New Testament, keeping only the parts he liked, and she said the American church does the same thing today. She was direct: Matthew does not give us the option to pick and choose. Jesus asks for a full yes or nothing.

The second force is drifting habits. She talked about the spiritual disciplines, time in the word, prayer, community, and worship, not as burdens but as the portal into a more intimate relationship with Jesus. She referenced Psalm 1 and its image of the tree planted by streams of water, and she was honest that building spiritual muscle memory takes time. She used a long story about learning golf to make the point: the club does the work, you just have to show up and let it. The Holy Spirit, she said, works the same way.

The third force is overextension, saying yes to everyone and everything until there is nothing left. She said she damaged her own adrenal glands doing exactly that before she moved to Jackson. God's design, she said, is for boundaries and for iron-sharpening-iron friendships, the kind where people rejoice with you and mourn with you, and where what you share in small group stays in small group.

The fourth force is giving up on God when life gets hard. She said Jesus himself tells us in Matthew that trouble is coming. But she drew on Psalm 34 and Isaiah 40 to say that God's promise is not to remove the hard circumstances, it is to deliver us from the despair those circumstances bring, and to renew our strength while we wait. She quoted apologist John Lennox: a Christian is not someone who has solved the problem of pain and suffering, but someone who has come to love and trust a God who himself suffered.

She closed by pointing anyone who had not yet received Christ to Romans 10:9, and she prayed that as the group opens Matthew in the coming weeks, the words would move from the page into their hearts.

Doing a Bible study?

Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.

Deborah talked about the difference between gnosis, knowing facts about God, and epinosis, knowing God through lived experience. Where do you personally feel the gap between those two kinds of knowing right now?
Deborah described the narrative we play in our heads, shaped by childhood, past failures, relationships, and what others have said about us. What is one narrative you carry that you know does not line up with what God says about you?

and 3 more questions in the guide

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Speaker 2Lucas, is there any chance that Hill can get me in that monitor? And then could you turn up my monitor just a little bit, my guitar? Perfect. Thank you. And at Nancy and Lanisha.

They're so ready for worship. Standing attentive, making eye contact with me. And do We're do do We're Let's just make this our prayer. Just talk to him this morning. Don't let these just be words to a song today, but a cry of your heart of worship to him.

Oh, we surrender to you. Never gonna let me die. Speak this over yourself today. You're never gonna you're Yes. You're good.

You're good all the time. Yes. You're good. You're good all the time. Yes.

You're good despite all the circumstances. Yeah. Just overlay his goodness over whatever situation is burdening you today. Just remind yourself he is good. He is constant and he is faithful.

To that. Do to never let us do down because We're you're a good, good father. We ask for peace in this room today over troubled hearts, hearts that come in here burdened, heavy laden, maybe far from you. Lord, sometimes I just get so overwhelmed with your mercy and your grace over us that we can come into a space like this. As human as we are with all our faults and all our burdens.

And let's be honest, all our sin, and you're right here ready to receive our repentance, open arms of forgiveness today, again, this morning, fresh and new. So as we sing this bridge again, you're never gonna let me down. If there's sin that would keep you, anything that would separate you from God this morning, he already knows it. Just bring it before him today. Ask him for forgiveness.

Maybe it's a lack of faith. Maybe it's a blatant repetitive sin. Just bring it to him again today. Maybe you need him to wrap you up in his love today. Whatever it is, he's here in this place, and he cares about each and every one of you and everything that you're going through.

He longs for you to know him, to really know him, not just know about him. And somehow, someway, you are his most favorite picture on his refrigerator. Somehow, someway, each one of us because he is that big and he is that strong and he is that powerful and he is that good of a daddy. So just overlay this over your life right now and ask him by the power of his spirit that it would go from your head, from your thinker down to your heart, your knower, to really know him today. You're gonna let, You're never gonna let me die.

You're never gonna let. You're never gonna let me die. I believe it. I love this song because it just tells the entire story of the gospel. What a beautiful name.

Sing it together. Think about these words. You didn't want heaven without us. A wonderful name is my name of Jesus. So think about your problem and then think about the mighty God that you serve today.

That death could not hold him. There's nothing impossible for him. Sing this out. Let's Jesus. Sing this again.

Let's bet this build our faith today that we worship a risen savior. We worship you, Jesus. You. We're you. Gonna In all I do, I'll honor you.

Oh, Lord, you know when I sing that, that's my heart's desire. I know that all that I do and say doesn't always honor you, but that is my heart's desire. Would you help me? Would you help me with obedience? Would you help me to dig in and really know you, God?

We tell you we love you in this place today. What beautiful, beautiful worship. See each and every one of your daughters here today. Meet each and every one of us. We tell you we love you.

Thank you that you always meet us. You don't have to, but you always do. Thank you for your presence in this place. We give you all the praise and all the glory. And everybody said, amen.

Let's give the Lord praise. You are worthy, Jesus. Yes, Lord. Alright. Fill up your coffee if there's any left.

Have a seat, and Julia's gonna come up, and she's gonna give us some announcements. And tell us what's coming up next.

Speaker 3Good morning, ladies. Good morning. Being being such a large group of ladies, know if I didn't interrupt you, you would talk till noon. Okay. We have standing room in the back, and if you have an empty chair at your table, would you please raise your hand?

We're a little backed up back there. Ladies, look for a raised hand so you can find a seat. This is a good problem to have. Wow. What a morning.

Welcome. Welcome. I'm so happy to see so many familiar faces here and new faces. It's like, a homecoming. And what a blessing it is to have a sanctuary so full of hearts that are hungry to learn more about Jesus and and how to best follow his ways.

I'm Julia Stanley, I'm the administrator, I'm the Oz behind the curtain. All those emails that you get that say, the JH Women's Bible Study, duh duh. That's me on behalf of the team. Thank you. Before I get going, would you please silence your phones?

That's one thing we don't you don't wanna be that person when Deborah is speaking. When I tell you that the JH Women's Bible Study team is thrilled to have you here, we mean it. We truly mean it. We know that you aren't here by accident. Some of you felt moved to attend because you missed us and you've been here before, but some of you are here by an invitation that you were maybe nervous to take whoever invited you up on.

Good job. Some of you are here out of curiosity, like what's going on at first b every Wednesday? I wanna know what's going on, so you're here. Or maybe you just really don't know why you're here, but you're here. And I can assure you that you're here because the Holy Spirit wants you here and you are not here by accident.

So if you don't accomplish anything else today, I want you to know that you accomplished obedience in listening to the Holy Spirit. And, I am going to encourage you to do it over and over again over the next several weeks as, we grow our faith in both the Lord and his word and with one another. You are going to build amazing relationships in this room. These are as Deborah would say, the best women in all of Jackson Hole. I would at this you know, it's such a pleasure.

It is such a pleasure to manage the database and I get to see all the new names come through and I have not had an like I did this morning. Would all of you that are new to this study, whether you RSVP'd or not and you just came today which is fine, if you're new to this study, would you please stand? Welcome, welcome. We had about 30 new women enroll and I told Deborah a day or two ago, I said, well, we're at 24 and then last night, you know, there's little critters that run around between 11PM and 3AM. You know who you are.

You jump on and you go, oh, I'm Tammy Bartlett. I didn't sign up yet. So Julia gets up at five and sees who the critters are. But we had even more show up today. So I'm gonna say we have more than 30 new women here and praise God.

Again, thank you for thank you for coming. All of you have been assigned to a small group and it got maybe the small group, small group leaders, just so you know your group really grew in the last thirty minutes. We may have to revisit a few things, but, I'm going to ask our small group leaders to stand. Each of you were told who you were going to be with when you checked in. If you missed that, you'll go back out to the table and they'll let you know.

So I'd like to introduce the small group amazing women. These women are truly, devoted to God's word. They are disciples of Christ, and they are following their, hearts in discipleship to, fellowship with all of you. Nancy Irwin is here. If you were assigned to Nancy Irwin's group, you'll stay here in the sanctuary.

Lucky you. You don't have to move. Christina Fates is right here. Christina's group will be meeting downstairs in the council room. There's a note there's notes on the doors downstairs, so if you're you'll see the rooms named.

Casey McHughey and Jill Stradley, we've got Jill Stradley here and Casey, you, will be meeting in the library downstairs. You are the moms. And if you were a mom with little ones and you aren't in Casey or Jill's group, please let me know because some names came through and I didn't know if you were a mom. Sammy Robinson and Christy Hammond right here, and they will be meeting downstairs in the East Classroom. Heidi Summers and Mandy Dornan will be meeting in Fellowship Hall, which is on this floor, just go to the kitchen where all good parties end up.

Kathy Hare oh, Cath yes. Kathy Ward and Addie Hare. Addie, I think, is not here today. Okay. If you're with Kathy Ward and Addie Hare, you're in the Nursing Room, which is downstairs.

Janet Whitmer and Bobby Daly. These two ladies will be meeting right in here in the sanctuary as well. And Arlen Eshtorza, Eshtorza is right here, and Erin Leininger with her, and you are in the classroom which is next to the nursery downstairs. Alright. And again, if you don't know who you were assigned to, Anne Marie or one of the check-in team members can help you with that.

We have a few pretty pleases to request. Oh, you know, I also wanna thank would Susie Baldock and Casey stand up, please? Alright. These two ladies get here and they make all the coffee and they set it all up and then they stay and they clean it all up. So thank you, thank you.

And then also I'd like to have Susie Felipe and Carol Pugmeyer and Chris Smith stand. Oh, they're still out greeting people. Oh, there's Carol. Oh, there they are. Okay.

Alright. These are these are three other faces that if you don't know what to do, just go ask them. Yeah. They'll talk to you for a while. Yeah.

They will. They'll yeah. You might you might be late. Okay. We have a few pretty please requests.

Pretty please leave yourself plenty of time on Wednesday mornings to accomplish what you need to accomplish and get here on time. We do start promptly at ten, and so if you want to come in and park and take if you have children to get to the nursery, if you want to get your coffee, please plan, accordingly because we close the doors and it's kind of like yoga, you don't want to walk in when someone's in down dog. Okay. On pretty please, come prepared with your workbook and Bible. If you don't own a Bible, please let Deborah or myself know and we'll make sure that you get one.

It's it's, you know, a Bible is the most important thing in your almost the most important thing in your life. The relationship comes first. But, we wanna be sure that we get one to you, and it is something that you're gonna write in, you're gonna fill it with lots of notes, it's gonna get ripped and torn, it's it's your closest, most comforting companion. And I always say, if you have a question, you don't Google it, you Bible it. So use this as your resource and you're going to become great friends.

Please, please, please go directly to your small groups when Deborah's done. We tend to lose a little bit of time in chit chatting. If you can go directly to your room, that that time that we have together is so precious and there's never enough of it, so we wanna just encourage you to move along. And then after 12:00, when you're excused, come back in and mingle or go to lunch and chitchat. Pretty pleased watch the lesson online if you're unable to attend.

Don't let yourself get behind, then, you know, otherwise you may be putting it off and hurrying through or missing lesson completely, so allow yourself the grace to give yourself that time. It's really, really important. I know everyone else wants your time, but your time with the Lord is is the most most important, and we know that growth comes through our relationship with him. So please allow yourself plenty of time and and and you'll be blessed. We try to have the videos posted within twenty four hours.

You'll go directly to the JH website that you signed up on for this class and there will be a video, drop down and you can choose the day that you missed and follow along. And let's see what else did I have. Oh, I encourage you to find a place in your home where you can leave your study open, your Bible open, as a reminder that the Lord's sitting there waiting for you, and that we really, sometimes you only have fifteen minutes. Don't don't think that you have to sit down and do the whole, you know, thirty minute or hour at at once if you just can't, busy moms in particular. So give yourself, oh, I'm just gonna get this page done, and, you know, while the water's boiling, get another page done, and and, you know, that's not the very best if you can carve out the quietest, you know, sixty minutes to sit and be with the Lord, that that's the best, but keep it out where you'll see it.

We wanna really practice the art of Bible meditation and really communion with the Lord, so make it a daily habit. This Bible study is run by all volunteers and, we do ask for, if you're felt to be moved to make a love offering, Anne Marie has a box out in front at the registration table. We pay for setup, we pay for takedown, we pay for coffee, printing, babysitters, so there is a cost to it, and if you ever feel moved, we just have a little box for a love offering out there, and you can participate, when you feel moved to do so. And finally, I some of some of you may have felt the same way when you moved to Jackson Hall, many of you have been here a long time, but you're kind of like, where am I? Who am I going to find to hang out with?

You found it, you're right here, and I went through that same thing and was very blessed to meet Deborah Buckingham early on, and this woman has spent countless hours in research, reading commentaries, cross referencing scripture for accuracy between old and new testaments to write the workbook that's sitting in front of you. And you're going to spend the next weeks, eight weeks in it. Not only is this her passion, but it's her calling and she is an excellent example of using the spiritual gifts that we are all given to further the kingdom of of God. She listens to the Holy Spirit, she's obedient to his word, and he has just so blessed her. Her light shines bright and we are very fortunate to have Deborah as part of our community, and it is my pleasure and privilege to introduce my friend and mentor, Deborah Bacamino.

Deborah BacaminoThank you, Celina. Thank you so much. Thank you. Okay. Am I on?

Yes. Wow. Welcome. Welcome to Bible study and you're probably like, how did I end up in Bible study? Some of you new gals.

I promise you, if you hang in there with us, you're gonna love it and you're gonna be a different person when this is over than today when we're just starting. For the next nine weeks, the next eight weeks actually, we're gonna be going through the book of Matthew and I have to tell you, I was hiking with a girlfriend this summer and I said, I cannot wait to get into this book and she's like, what's your favorite thing about it? And I said, I don't even know how to answer that. It has literally everything you and I need. I really feel like that.

It answers those questions that bounce around in our head, who is God? And Matthew focuses on he is the king of kings. It answers the question of who are who am I and what am I supposed to be doing here and it even answers the question of where are we going? How does this all end for us? Matthew is the perfect bridge from the old covenant, old testament.

Do you know what that word covenant means? That word covenant means it's something greater than a contract. You know, we make contracts with each other but we can break them. Right? But God says, I wanna make something greater with you and it's called a covenant.

It means God isn't gonna break it. It's a promise he doesn't break and in the Old Testament, there are many promises laid out for us and Matthew's like that bridge that funnels those promises into being fulfilled. In fact, Matthew covers a 129 times how Jesus specifically filled those old testament promises. Did you know there are 456 prophecies in the Old Testament about Jesus that only Jesus completely fulfilled. Very specific prophecies written David wrote one a thousand years before Jesus and some of them were hundreds of years, fifteen hundred years, very specific things where he would be born, Bethlehem.

That his family would have to escape to Egypt for safety but that they would return and he would be raised in Nazareth. Very specific promises. David, a thousand years before Jesus prophesied that Messiah would come to earth, the government would come down on him, reject him, his own people would reject him and he would be crucified. Now, David didn't use that word crucified because crucifixion wasn't even practiced then. It wasn't even a known thing and then Jesus is crucified.

Very specific promises that only Jesus fulfilled. I was just telling the girls at my table, I have been faithfully in the word most of my life but just something happened when I was just digging deep in Matthew and it's like my faith just took a whole new level deeper because I realized just how our faith in Jesus, it isn't blind. Our faith in Jesus is responding to a lot of evidence and Matthew gives us a lot of that evidence and it's not just biblical evidence. We have writings from historians of that time. Josephus was a famous historian who did not follow Jesus, who wrote some of the same things that Matthew wrote.

We have mounds of archeological evidence that point to a temple. We've found articles in that temple, the same things that Matthew and the other writers talk about. So, our faith responds to the evidence that we're given and I was just, you know, that song that Lissa sang that our king is alive and I was just, I've been thinking about that a lot this week in my prayers. I've just been going, thank you Jesus that I am praying to you an alive God. I mean, about this.

Every other prophet, every other religion, they're dead now. They're dead. Jesus did what only God could do and Matthew shows us many of these miracles that he fulfilled that only he as God could have done. But, the greatest thing he did that we'll unpack at the end is he died and then came back to life and this just isn't recorded in scripture. There are Roman leaders and educated Roman governors who wrote about this because they're like, this is kinda crazy.

This guy that was on the cross is eating and drinking and talking with people. The Bible tells us over 500 people saw him but we know when the Bible gives a number, it doesn't always include the families and friends. So, were literally thousands of people that saw him walking and talking and eating after he was resurrected. So, you and I worship an alive God. So, what does that mean?

I don't know, that encourages me because when I'm praying, I visualize him listening to me and he says he sits at the right hand of our father interceding for us, listening to us and moving on our behalf. I love how Matthew, you know, each of the gospels kind of focus on a different aspect of Jesus. Matthew focuses on the king, that he is the king of kings and the Lord of lords. Mark focuses on his on his servanthood. Even Jesus says, even though I'm God, I didn't come to be served, I came to serve you.

I came so that you and I can be in relationship and I'll do whatever it takes to do that even if it means dying for you. That's a pretty amazing God. Luke was a Gentile doctor, so Luke kind of focuses on the humanity of God to encourage us that in our humanity, we can follow him. And, of course, John was a devout Jew. So, John focuses on his divinity.

John's first words are in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. And that's why we study his word because it's getting a piece of him into us. So, here's the thing about coming to Bible study. This The Lord's just been working this in me for a long time because you probably, like me, know people who've gone to church their whole life or even leaders in the church, pastors, worship leaders, we see this all the time in America that don't act like Christians, right? And how can that be?

How is that even possible? And so, I hope you will just geek out with me for a second here because when I'm in the word, especially the New Testament, I'm always looking up the Greek because that was the language it was written and the Greek has so many layers of meaning to words that our English just doesn't. So, in the Greek, when Matthew is talking about knowing God or knowing Jesus, he isn't just talking about head knowledge. In the Greek, that word is gnosis and gnosis means knowledge. It means laying up some facts up there and that's super important because if we don't know anything about him, we don't have anything to draw from, right?

But the word Matthew and a lot of the other New Testament authors uses is epinosis and epinosis is a totally different word. Epinosis means it's experiential knowledge. It's not just intellectual head knowledge, it's not just knowing facts about God. You know, you can come here every week, do your homework every week, you can memorize 10 Bible verses a week and nothing will change in your life. Why?

Because it's super important what we do when we walk out that door. It's super important that we actually go to the Lord and say, okay, show me how to do this. I mean, it's how am I really supposed to forgive someone or love my enemy? That's what Matthew talks about. It's very counterintuitive to follow Jesus.

It goes against our flesh. It goes against the way we're humanly designed. And, Epinosis turns to the Lord and says, okay, you say that I'm supposed to do this, I'm not supposed to be selfish, I'm supposed to just give. How do I do that? And how do I do that as the Bible says joyfully?

And God shows us how. So, week in your study guide, I've tried to include questions and these aren't questions that you can just chuck off. They're not questions for you to just answer. They're questions for you to think about and chew on. And, each week, I've tried to include application points.

How do I actually put this into practice? How do I actually do this? Because I don't want you to leave with a bunch of head knowledge. I heard a teaching recently and I thought, oh, I'm so using this today by John Mark Comer and John Mark Comer says that there are four forces that work against you and me being in an intimate relationship with Jesus. There are four forces that work against us experiencing him.

There are four forces that work against us trusting him to the point where we're we're not just it's it's sinking from our head into our heart and I wanna talk about those with you today because I think this will tee us up to have an amazing experience as we go through the book of Matthew. The first force that you and I have to push back against is the narrative we believe about Jesus and ourself. The narrative that we believe about Jesus and ourself. The New Testament is very clear that we have an enemy, Peter calls him the devil and he is pushing against us to believe a different narrative than the truth of Jesus. In fact, Jesus himself said he is a liar and the father of lies.

So, as John Mark Comer says, we have to realign our mental maps to be in line with what Jesus says. Do you know not one of us walked in here today with a blank slate? I mean, that narrative just goes on and on and on, doesn't it? It's always playing and the narrative that we play is based on many things. It's based on our childhood, things people said to us, things that teachers said, aunts and uncles, parents.

It's based on our past and present failures and successes. It's it's based on many things and it's based on relationships, past relationships, current relationships, relationships that have been wonderful and relationships that have been very hard. And, we start playing this narrative. Did you know that the founding fathers, I think it was like 98% of them were followers of Christ, which is why America is such a great country because our founding documents were based on these certain rights that a creator gave us. And, one of the guys that didn't really follow Jesus but believed in a God was Thomas Jefferson.

And, did you know that one day he sat in the White House with the New Testament in one hand and a razor blade in the other hand and he cut and pasted out of the New Testament only the things he liked about Jesus and he made his own Bible and he even wrote works about Jesus is a great guy, he's a great moral ethical teacher but Thomas Jefferson, you know, didn't like those those icky kind of subjects of sin and how we're eternal souls going somewhere. And in essence, what was Thomas Jefferson doing? He was creating a God in his image and we see that today in the American church. I mean, why is the American church, when I say church, I mean the big c church, like across America. Why is it so weak?

Why do we see leaders doing awful, immoral things? I mean, why is that? I think it's because they know a lot about God but they don't know him. They don't really experience him in their life or they couldn't do those things that they do. And, I will tell you that one thing that became very clear to me in Matthew is that Jesus does not give us the option to pick and choose what we like and don't like about him.

He is crystal clear about that in Matthew. And throughout the next eight weeks, Natalie and I are gonna unpack that with you. He is clear, you've got to take me a 100% in me or you're not really following me. And here's the thing about that narrative, we have to believe what God says about himself or it really doesn't matter what he says about you and me. It just doesn't matter because we're really not gonna buy into it if we don't believe he is who he says he is.

And can I tell you, when I was raising my kids, I used to carry this paper with me with the names of God because it's hard being a mom and that was a hard season for us with starting our business, and we were just going through a lot, and I would grab my paper with the names of God? Whatever my need was, I would find the name of God that that answered my prayer that day, and I would just look up those verses and I would pray it over and over and over until I believed it. When we had a great need, my Jehovah Jireh, the Lord who provides, and I would say, Lord, you promised to provide exactly what we need, maybe not what I want right now, but you're gonna give me what I need. And, I would say that to myself. I would play that narrative in my head and when you play the narrative, visualize it.

I would visualize Jesus answering my prayers. You Lord, I don't know what to do with this child right now. Jehovah Shammah, the Lord who was there, you're right here, you saw this, she didn't come with a handbook. I mean, I wish they would have came with a handbook, So, give me wisdom and then you put yourself in a position to hear a word from him. You put yourself in a position to hear good teachings, you open the Bible, you listen to praise music but unless we drill down and nail down and sort out who God is, doesn't matter what he says about you and me.

And that really matters because that's going to determine the kind of life we live both now and forever. And, what does he say about you and me? I mean, let's just go back to the beginning for a second. Genesis one, he says, I made you in my image. I mean, this this is why I think our founding fathers were so brilliant because they understood we bear the image of God and because we bear the image of God, there are certain rights that we're supposed to have, like gathering here today and freedom.

The right to free speech, the right to study whatever I want in college. We bear the image of God. In Genesis two, when God made Adam, it says that he breathed his own life into Adam and at that moment, we humans became living souls. We make the mistake that we think we're spiritual beings having this physical experience. No.

Genesis two tells us you and I are eternal spiritual beings and we're just having a short temporary physical experience. And that puts things in perspective for us as Christians. Our but our fellowship with God as we see with Adam and Eve was a little bit hindered by this thing called sin. And and our creator, because he loves us so much and we'll see this in Matthew, he doesn't just love us, he is love. He is love and he's like, I want a relationship with you so badly.

I don't want you to just know about me, want you to know me. I wanna do every day with you that he was willing to die for us in order to have that relationship with us. And then if we will just say, okay, I believe that. There's a lot of evidence for me to believe that and I believe that, Lord, then you became you become a child of God. Here's the thing, every human being is made in the image of God but not every human being chooses to be a child of God.

And what happens when we choose to be a child of God and we say yes to him? He says, then I'm gonna give you a deposit of me inside you called the Holy Spirit to do life with you, to help you, to be the spirit of truth, to be the spirit of encouragement and comfort and even conviction. That feeling you have when you're like, oh, I went a little too far in my sharing, I think I got into some gossip and that doesn't feel good, That's the Holy Spirit drawing me back in. The second thing that John Mark Comer says we have to push back against, we have to push back against the narrative. Is the narrative I'm playing about God, is it true?

Because here's the thing, when difficult things happen, what's the first thing that we do? We're like, where are you and you're not good even though he is good? It's because my circumstances aren't good. I have to play the narrative of truth. Jean Marcummer says, we have to push back on our habits.

We as humans, have you noticed how we can just drift through life? How we can just squander days away? How we can just kind of sleepwalk through? We have to push back against that, especially, I think, in this day and age that we live. We can just waste hours scrolling social media and it does absolutely nothing for us, absolutely nothing.

So we have to develop some new habits and you know this word, the spiritual disciplines, it's like, oh, that word, it just sounds so But the spiritual disciplines have worked for Christians for hundreds, thousands of years. Why? The spiritual discipline of spending time in the word, the spiritual discipline of praying, just talking to God, the spiritual discipline of being in community together, the spiritual discipline of praise and worship like Alyssa Lisa said. Why why were the the early church and all those Christians so into the spiritual disciplines? Because the spiritual disciplines are the portal that leads us into a more intimate relationship with Jesus.

The spiritual disciplines help us experience him more. In fact, the psalmist in Psalm one spent time with the Lord and you know what he said? He said, we really are blessed if we open the word of God and we meditate on it, we think about it. The message says if we chew on it, and here's the result that we get from that, that we will be like a tree planted by streams of water which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither and whatever you do, you will prosper. Now, that word in season means you're gonna have a lot of different seasons in life.

Some are better than others and some are really stinking hard. Last week, I flew back to California to be with a friend who's dying and she looked at me sobbing, said, Deborah, is this really for real? Like, really? Is it for real? And I could tell her with confidence, Jesus is real, he's waiting for you.

Okay? Turn your eyes up on Jesus. That's all you need to do right now. Turn your eyes up on Jesus. She texted me yesterday, she was sobbing, it was so brutal, I can't even tell you.

She texted me yesterday and she said, I want you to know I have the peace of God today. And I said, of course you do because when you cry out to him, he's gonna come running. He's gonna answer you. He is a promise keeper, if you seek me, you will find me. And I said, you seek him, don't give up on him.

But here's the thing, know, if if you're brand new to Bible study or brand new to Jesus or brand new to even trying to really have a relationship with him, I just wanna encourage you because you're not gonna have a big muscle memory. You're gonna have very little muscle memory, no spiritual muscle memory, right? We're gonna develop that and it takes time. My husband had been begging me for years to play golf with him and I was like, oh my gosh, that sounds so boring. I am not playing golf with you.

Years he'd been begging me. So, the kids are gone, COVID hits, and he's like, well, there's not much else we can do. So will you come and at least try? And he got me this cute little outfit, and I was like I was like, well, I would like to wear that dress. So, I was a volleyball player and a basketball player, so I thought how hard can this be?

Like, piece of cake. Right? Oh my goodness. It is the most counterintuitive, stupid sport that I that I am now completely obsessed with. But here's the thing about golf, it's so counterintuitive.

So in volleyball, you know, I was taught you never take your eye off the ball, right? I'm watching the ball the whole time. In golf, you line up, you look at the ball and then if you watch the ball, it goes right there. Boop. And it's so embarrassing.

You're like, oh. So you have to train yourself, you have to have muscle memory to keep that head down and then it goes sailing. Also, this is so stupid to me about golf. You you put the club in your hand and volleyball, I was a spiker, so the harder I spiked, the better the results. Right?

Total opposite in golf. In golf, you're squeezing it, I'm gonna muscle this ball and kill it, and it goes right there. Like, oh my gosh. Do you know why? Because the club is meant to do the job for me.

I just show up, I put the club in my hand and the club does the work for me and sends that ball sailing. So, I can tell you after four years, I do have a little muscle memory now. I can, with confidence, step on the tee box and drive that ball down the fairway, but I have a long way to go. And I think that's how our walk with the Lord is. It's a long journey, but when we have the Holy Spirit, you know what he says to us?

Stop muscling your way down the road of life. I'm here to do the heavy lifting for you. That's my job. That's my job. If Jesus loved you and me enough to die for us, do you not think that he loves us enough to help us through our day?

And, I love how Matthew drills down on Emmanuel, God with us. He's never going to forsake us or leave us. Once we're his child, he is with us. The third thing that John Mark Homer says we have to push back against is as a Christian, we're kinda taught, well, I was kinda taught, you say yes to everything and if you say yes to everyone who wants to spend time with you, you say yes to everyone who wants to be friends with you, and you know what happened to me before I moved here? I damaged my adrenal glands because that's not God's best for us.

God's best for us is to have boundaries in life, and God's best for us is to seek out like minded friends, to seek out a community of women where we are safe and I pray to God that that's what this Bible study is and that's why we break into small group where you can meet people that you can share with, that you can be transparent with, that you can have confidence. They're gonna take what you share with them, they're gonna take it to the Lord and not out in the community gossiping about you. God tells us to find iron sharpening iron friends. We all have so much capacity, So, where are you spending your quality time? With what kind of people?

Iron sharpening iron friends. The Bible even says bad company corrupts godly character. So, we have to be careful who we're giving our heart to, who we're giving our time to. Yes, we love everyone and yes, when we can help, we should help, absolutely. But who are my people?

Mishan, welcome back Mishan. Mishan's been out of country for a while and she was like, you know the thing I miss most? I miss my people. And she's back with her people now, So, ask the Lord to bring those people into your life. You know, those people that scriptures tell us are happy and rejoice when you're happy and who mourn with you when you mourn.

Have you ever had the kind of friend that when you're going through something hard, you're like, I think she she kinda likes that. Or when you're going through something great and they're not happy for you? Okay, red flag, that's not your people. So you gotta move on from that. We find our people and you've heard this saying, I'm sure, that you and I are the sum total of the individuals we spend the most time with.

So, we have to be really careful about that and diligent about that which is why I love Bible study and I love small group. And finally, we have to push back about giving up on God when the going gets tough because it's going to. It is going to. Jesus says in Matthew, you're gonna have trouble here. You're gonna have trouble, you're gonna have sickness, you're gonna have people that you love die, you're gonna die someday, you're gonna have problems.

Psalm 34 says, when the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. And you know what that Psalms means? It doesn't mean that God is gonna change your circumstances like that. It means he's gonna deliver you out of the trouble that's bringing you down in your heart, out of the depression and the despair and the hopelessness. He's gonna give you reasons to hope because he is there with you.

Isaiah 40 says, but you have to wait for him, and in the waiting, he will renew your strength. And waiting on the Lord is good for us. Do you know why? It shows us that he's in control, and I thank God he's in control because he is omniscient. He sees everything, you and I don't.

He's omnipresent. He was everywhere when everything went down and he's omnipotent. He's all powerful, we're not. So, I love that he's in control. The brilliant mathematician John Lennox, and if you ever can't sleep some night, he's an older man, Irish, he's an apologist, which doesn't mean he apologizes for our faith.

It means he defends our faith. He is a brilliant apologist. He's you can watch him on YouTube. He he has all kinds of amazing teachings. I love this guy.

He's he John Lennox, l e n n o x. Like, he this one YouTube I loved, he was debating with Richard Dawkins. Do you know who Richard Dawkins is? So there's these guys who say they're you've heard of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. They say they're the four horsemen of atheism.

And there's Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens and he debates them and he's so humble and he's so smart. I'm telling you, he spanks them every time. I just I love it. But he says a Christian is not so much a person who has solved the problem of pain and suffering, but a Christian is the one who has come to love and trust a God who himself suffered. He identifies with us.

If you all have not watched in the series, The Chosen, I encourage you, we're watching it on Amazon Prime, I think. It is so good because it gives you a glimpse into the very heart of who Jesus was. You know, Jeremiah was in a really bad place. His country had been defeated by the Babylonians. Jerusalem had been seized.

I mean, imagine if China came in and just invaded our land and came into Jackson and took us to China. We had to learn Chinese and learn all all of these new ways and Jeremiah is really depressed about this. And he says in Lamentations three, he says, I am very depressed but I call this to mind and therefore I have hope because of your unending love. I will not be consumed by my depression. Your mercies never cease.

In fact, they're new every morning. They're new every morning. Think about that. They're new every morning because he is so faithful. He is faithful ladies.

And I just wanna say that if there is anyone here that can say, I believe I was made in the image of God, but I am really not a child of God. What are you waiting for? Have you seen what's happening in the world? I mean, it's going down, ladies. It is it gets crazier every day.

I was just telling my husband this morning that in Brazil, if you go on Twitter, you could go to jail. Okay, that's crazy. In England, they're fining people for saying things that the government doesn't wanna hear and you don't think that's coming to America? It's coming. It's coming.

So, why wouldn't you want the king of kings on your side holding your hand, getting you through every day? That's the God that we worship. He's good. He loves you. He died for you.

He wants you. You think you're here today because you got an email from Julia or because your friend invited you? You're here today because the Holy Spirit said get here and get your buns in a chair and I want you to know how much I love you and I want a relationship with you. So, if you have not received him, it is just as easy as this. Romans ten nine, if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and Savior and you believe in your heart he was raised on the third day, you're saved.

Now, start epinosis, start building up that relationship with him. Will you pray with me? Lord, thank you that you are king of kings and you are lord of lords. It doesn't matter what changes in this world, you are the same. You are the same yesterday, you are the same today, and you'll be the same tomorrow.

You are our Lord and our savior. And father, I just thank you for your word. I thank you Jesus for walking this earth and giving us so much evidence that you were the son of man and the son of God and that you love us. And Lord, I just pray that this next coming week when we open the book of Matthew that your those words jump off the page into our heart and you show us how we can live this crazy thing called life out with you by our side. And we just look forward to next week when Natalie teaches us about the temptations.

We just cannot wait. We love you, Lord, and thank you for being here. In Jesus' holy name, amen.

Speaker 2Amen. Amen. Would you just keep your eyes closed for one more minute? I'm just gonna sing this over you. I wrote this just as a love song to Jesus shortly after I surrendered my life to him and just about knowing him and just let's just stay in this place of worship for just one more minute and just tell him, Lord, we desire to know you more.

You. You are all things. You deserve the glory. Lord, we in our small group time today knit our hearts together, and I just pray a special prayer right now over anyone in this room that's feeling lonely. But they're in this paradise of Jackson Hole, but they feel really lonely, they feel alone.

I pray that today that would change. One, because they meet other believers that can come alongside them and also because they found you. They would draw close to you because in you we are never alone. Just be in our conversations, be in the study today. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you for using Deborah's gifts to pour out. We receive all that you have for us today. In Jesus name, amen. Small group time.

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Book Of Matthew Faith And Evidence Knowing God Loneliness Spiritual Habits

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