Jeremy Hoover

We grow spiritually by making a plan, focusing on the "next steps" of that plan, and taking action.

Read the sermon study notes, preview the slides, or study the sermon outline for Sunday.

Introduction: What do you think about when you think about perseverance?

• Me: persevering through 8 long months without LOST
• Others (more seriously)
• persevering through uncertainty (unknown job statuses)
• persevering through a bad start (is this really God's work if it stalled out? stopping food pantries and clothing banks because of a bad start, etc.)
• persevering through trial (Haiti earthquake survivors)

1. Joseph persevered through uncertainty. Genesis 39:20.

• Joseph faced numerous trials that created uncertainty: tossed in a well; sold into slavery; working in a strange land; false accusations; tossed into jail; forgotten in jail; negotiating Egyptian politics as a ruler.
• He recognized through all this uncertainty that God meant it for good.
• Perseverance enables us know certainty even during uncertainty. Genesis 50:20.
  

2. Moses persevered through a bad start. Exodus 5:6-7.

• When Moses first challenged Pharaoh, Pharaoh responded by making the work harder for the Jews.
• When Moses finally freed the people, they ended up wandering in a desert for 40 years before they received the promised land.
• Perseverance enables us to finish strong.
  

3. James teaches us to persevere through trials. James 1:2-4.

• James knew that we all face different things that test our faith.
• We only grow by facing these tests head on and persevering through them.
• Perseverance enables us to mature in faith and become complete.
  

Application

• We progress through perseverance
• Where are you?--uncertainty, bad start, trials?
  
• How do you persevere? Focus not on the trial but on what is being done in you. [counter-intuitive]
• Do not focus on the uncertainty, the slow start, or the trial. Focus on what God is doing in you.

Improper bible reading gives up on the bible too easily, focuses too much on acquiring knowledge, and promotes pride. Proper bible reading, on the other hand, transforms you: it leads to worship, good works, and stronger faith. Be transformed by reading the bible, making a plan to minister, and taking action.

Improper bible reading gives up on the bible too easily, focuses too much on acquiring knowledge, and promotes pride. Proper bible reading, on the other hand, transforms you: it leads to worship, good works, and stronger faith. Be transformed by reading the bible, making a plan to minister, and taking action.

Below is a short outline of my sermon for Sunday. I tackle the difference between improper and proper bible reading and what that means for our transformation. Any feedback? Is anything unclear? What would you like me to expand?

True bible reading is transformative and teaches us how to do God's will.

Introduction.

• Compare a bible to a novel in number of pages, size, time to read, etc. Why do we read one [the novel] over the other [bible]?

Transition: Reading the bible, when we get to it, is challenging. These challenges can lead to several ways we improperly read it.

Improper bible reading will not transform you.

• Improper bible reading gives up too easily [challenge of sticking to a bible reading plan].
• IBR focuses too much on acquiring knowledge [all answers, no action].
  
• IBR promotes pride [looking down on others because you know more or attend more].

Transition: We learn about transformative, proper bible study in Neh. 8:1-10.

Proper bible reading transforms you.

• leads to worship (6).
  
• leads to good works (10).
  
• leads to stronger faith (10) [also include Romans 12:1-2].
  

Transition: So if we know what happens when we read the bible reading properly, how do get there? How can the bible transform us?

The Best Bible Reading Plan Ever.

• Read (not study) the bible [explicate the difference].
  
• Meditate and make a plan ["world's best bible reading plan"].
  
• Take action [do something].
  

Application step: Read the bible, make a plan, and take action.

God established Jesus as the True King and the True Servant in Jesus' baptism (with reference to promises from the First Covenant). Likewise, in our baptisms, we covenant with God to submit to Jesus' authority, to live like him as a servant, even in suffering, and to follow him into ministry.

Watch a slideshow presentation of Sunday's sermon, or listen to or download just the sermon audio below.

Study notes for this sermon are available here.

Download these notes (PDF).

As everything can't, and shouldn't, be crammed into a sermon, here are some additional study notes for you to reflect on ahead of, and after, Sunday's sermon.

Introduction (Luke 3:15-20)
We're studying Jesus' baptism and the implications of it as reported in the Gospel of Luke 3:21-23. John the Baptist has been preaching and leading people to be ready for Jesus, but a misunderstanding has arisen and some are wondering if John himself might be the Messiah!

John corrects this in Luke 3:15-17 by proclaiming that one "more powerful" than himself is coming. The difference between the two is in their baptisms--John is a baptizer in water, the Coming One will baptize with the "Holy Spirit and fire." This is simply a biblical way of saying that the Coming One's baptism will judge-and-purify the repentant one being baptized and will also unite that one with God through the Spirit. (Many biblical references testify to the power of the Spirit to guarantee our salvation with God; for example, Ephesians 1:14; Acts 2:38-39.)

Although the Gospel of Luke reports that John's "fire and brimstone"-style of preaching is "good news," the downside to John's testimony is that he suffers imprisonment that eventually leads to his murder. Sometimes being on the front lines for Jesus means taking on risk that you won't be accepted...or worse. Yet, Jesus still calls us to remain faithful to him.

Jesus' Baptism (Luke 3:21-22)
Jesus' baptism itself is presented to us differently in Luke than in Matthew or Mark, where the emphasis is on the new age being brought into place in Jesus (Mark) or on who is doing the baptism and what this means (Matthew). In Luke, the Gospel neither tells us who or how Jesus was baptized. But we learn that Jesus prayed after his baptism, and that during that time heaven opened--which is another biblical way of telling us God was doing something new and important in Jesus--and a voice speaks!

The voice is not directly attributed to God the Father, though the language used makes clear it is this God who is claiming Jesus as his own beloved Son. This language is interesting also for what it tells us about Jesus and his relationship to God and role as the Messiah, God's anointed one who would save the world.

Psalm 2:7
There are two aspects to God's speech that tie in to Old Testament promises. First, God calls Jesus his "Son." Specifically, the voice says, "You are my Son." This is a direct quote from Psalm 2:7, in which God is speaking to the king of Israel. God calls the king his son and tells the king that he--God--has become his father. The function of the psalm was to bestow legitimacy upon the king as an agent of God, rather than that agency wresting solely among the priests. Yet, it took on a messianic function as well, and was used by Jews to think about the coming new age when God would restore their fortunes. The Messiah would be God's Son. And here, in Luke 3:22, God claims his Son, the King--Jesus.

Isaiah and the Servant Songs
Secondly, God claims about Jesus that he loves him and is well pleased with him. This phrase is connected to Isaiah 42, and to the set of hymns in Isaiah that are known as the Servant Songs. In these Songs, a representative of Israel is set up who will suffer to atone for the sins of Israel (in this way, the representative serves Israel). These songs became messianic prophecies, and here, in Luke 3:22, God claims Jesus as his suffering servant, foreshadowing the ministry (and death) Jesus would have.

The language from Luke 3:22 is specifically linked to Isaiah 42:1, in which God says, "Here is my servant, whom I uphold, / my chosen one in whom I delight; / I will put my Spirit upon him...." Of course, Jesus receives God's Spirit in Luke 3:21, and this concept is picked up again in Luke 4:14-30 (which references a different of the Servant Songs).

Summary
One last thing to note in Luke 3:21 is that nothing special occurred around Jesus' baptism (only after). In fact, Luke clearly tells us that Jesus was one of many who were being baptized. This is important because it relates to us Jesus' common humanity with us. He is not different or "above" us--he is one of us. As Hebrews says, we are Jesus' brothers and sisters (Heb. 2:11).

Yet, in sharing a commonality with us, Jesus is distinguished in being our representative as well. ("Servant" [cf. Isaiah 42:1] often carried the notion of being someone's "trusted envoy" in ancient near eastern culture.) Yet he is also our King (Psalm 2:7). In leading us, he represents us, and suffers for us, so that we can be made whole before God and rescued.

Is it too much to submit to our king's authority and to live like him?