Downtown Church: Memphis, TN

1. Chosen Unconditionally 2. Chosen to be blameless 3. Chosen to be holy 4. Chosen in Him 5. Chosen in His presence

1. Grace: Proof of God’s love. 2. Peace: Product of God’s Grace. 3. Praise: Bless God because, by His Grace, we have Peace. Blessing: #1 God chose you in him before the foundation of the world. Verse 4 #2 Adopted you to himself according to the purpose of his will. Verse 5 #3 Redemption and forgiveness of our trespasses, because of the riches of his grace. Verse 7 #4 Inheritance. Verse 11 #5 Sealed with the Holy Spirit which is the guarantee of your inheritance. Verse 13

Main Idea: God's Word has the power to transform our lives, cities, and the world. 1. God uses SUBMITTED hands to accomplish His plans. Verse 8-12 Ways Paul Proclaimed: 1. Bold 2. Reasoned 3. Persuasive 4. Consistent 2. God uses COMPETING hands to accomplish His plans. Verse 13-17

Main Idea: Jesus being alive gives us reason to rejoice. 1. Jesus is Alive Hymn: I serve a risen Savior I serve a risen Savior, He’s in the world today I know that He is living, whatever men may say I see His hand of mercy, I hear His voice of cheer And just the time I need Him, He’s always near Refrain: He lives, he lives, Christ Jesus lives today! He walks with me and talks with me along life’s narrow way. He lives, he lives, salvation to impart! You ask me how I know he lives? He lives within my heart. 2. Jesus is Accessible 3. Jesus is more than an Acquaintance. He is our Brother.

Big Idea: Because of God’s infinite authority we are sent out to the nations to make disciples. John 17:18 (ESV): “As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.” John 17:20–21 (ESV): “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”

Central Idea: FORGIVEN PEOPLE FORGIVE. Because God has forgiven us, we forgive others. 1. The What of Forgiveness 2. The Why of Forgiveness Reason #1: Jesus commands us to. "Forgiveness is not an emotional response but an act of obedience to God." Reason #2: God is OUR Father 3. The How of Forgiveness. Luke 23:34: "Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do."

The following audio is from Downtown Church, a Kingdom focused, Gospel-centered, multi-ethnic, multi-class ministry in Memphis, TN. This week we continue our series, "Marks of a Disciple." Drawing from 2 Timothy, Dr. Julian Russell explains the importance of knowing God's Word and how to defend it. For more information, visit downtownchurch.com.

Main Idea: ​​“God’s word answers life’s key questions.” Question #1 PROVISION: Will God Provide? Verse 3-4 Question #2 POWER: Is God Able? Verse 5-7 Question #3 Purpose: Who will you Worship? Verse 8-10 Whatever you live for is who and what you worship. What you worship defines your life’s purpose. Benefits of God’s Word: 1. Teaches Our Identity and Position 2. Teaches Truth and Protects us from Deception.

Guest Speaker Jason Cook from Fellowship Bible Church - Roswell, GA

Know who God is Experience God 1 – Speech about the Lord as Shepherd (vv 1-3) 1a – Speech to the Lord as Shepherd (v4) 2a – Speech to the Lord as Dinner Host (v5) 2 – Speech about the Lord as Host (v6) 1. Know who God is 2. Experience God Pray about who God is Pray to God in need Pray for and with others

Big Idea: We must live as godly people so that know we are disciples of Christ. 1. Dependent upon Christ alone vv 5-8 2. Hide God’s Word In Your Heart vv 9-11 3. Love One Another vv 12-13

Bottom Line: Following Jesus is free but requires a complete willingness to suffer for and with Jesus. 1. “Following Jesus requires you to do hard & unpleasant things” V 23 Self Denial means: Submitting your natural/fleshly demands of the body to God’s Word so that you don’t give in to sin. Self-denial means removing oneself as the center of existence and recognizing Jesus Christ as one’s new and true center. Colossians 3:5-8: 2. Following Jesus requires constant self-reflection V 57-58 3. Following Jesus requires focusing on God’s kingdom. V. 59-62

1. Jesus' Pursuit 2. Jesus' Promise Jesus has a vision of who you are to BE and a purpose that you are to DO. Follow Jesus: 1. INTENTIONAL in spiritual growth 2. TRUST His will for your life 3. OBEY His commands 4. READ His word to know his character 1 Corinthians 4:14-16 "Therefore I urge you to imitate me. 17 For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus. 3. Jesus' Purpose

1. Live the gospel 2. Live in unity 3. Live in confidence

Big Idea: When God reveals who He is, it forms our understanding of who we are thus we must walk in truth. (The truth will set you free) #1 walk in fellowship with God v.6 #2 walk in the light v.7 #3 walk not in deception v.8 #4 walk in confession v.9 #5 walk in righteousness v.10

Big Idea: Jesus reveals divinity through signs and wonder so that we will know & proclaim Him. Scene One: We must be certain of our proclamation vv.13-17 Scene Two: We must count the cost of following Christ vv. 18-23 Scene Three: We called to be worshipers & witnesses of God (not merely thinkers of God) vv.24-34 Scene Four: We are to live free from all guilt vv.35-41 And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known. I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them. They are turned back and utterly put to shame, who trust in carved idols, who say to metal images, “You are our gods.” (Isaiah (42:16–17)

Today's Scripture (John 9:1-12) 9 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6 Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud 7 and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing. 8 The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some said, “It is he.” Others said, “No, but he is like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” 10 So they said to him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” 11 He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed and received my sight.” 12 They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.” Jesus Sees Us Jesus Can Do Something About It. Jesus Sends Us

Today's Scripture John 8:42-59 “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires.”(John 8:44) The Principle is this: you do what your father says.  Main idea: Relationship with your spiritual father either produces good or evil in and through your life depending upon if that spiritual father is the devil or God! So, the question is, “Who’s your daddy?”  I. When your father is the devil, you live his lies. “We don’t need answers from God, we need attachment with God.” (Waymaker, Voskamp, Ann) The primary lie that the devil wants us to believe is “You are a fool to trust God." Reference (John 8:31b-32) Reference (John 8:39b-42) Reference (Genesis 15:5-6) Reference (John 8:44-45) II. The Devil is a familiar father.  Reference Ezekiel 28:13-17 “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour." (I Peter 5:8) “…who accuses them day and night before our God (Rev. 12).” III. The truth will set you free, but such freedom comes only as we bring the lies we believe into the light.  Reference (II Corinthians 12:2-3) Reference (James 4:7-8) 1. Identify the lies that have taken root in your own heart. 2. Counter by speaking the truth of God’s Word into your heart. 3. Be still and know He is your God (Ps. 46:10).  “So the Jews said to him, ‘You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.’” (John 8:57-58) “As long as Christ remains outside of us, and we are separated from him, all that he has suffered and done for the salvation of the human race remains useless and of no value for us…All that he possesses is nothing to us until we grow into one body with him.” John Calvin

Main Idea: Jesus shows us that freedom is found when we hold on to and surrender to His Word as Truth. Today's Scripture John 8:31-41 ESV 31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 33 They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?” 34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave[a] to sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 37 I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. 38 I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.” 39 They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, 40 but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. 41 You are doing the works your father did.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God.” 1. God, not us, determines and defines what Truth is. 2. Rejecting God’s Word as Truth is accepting a life of slavery. 3. Submitting To God and abiding in his Word actually frees you to live the life that you yearn for. V34-36

Today, Pastors Artez Henderson and  Sirgregory discuss the truthfulness and relevancy of the Bible in our lives today.