1 Timothy 3:1-16¹ Here is a trustworthy saying: if anyone sets his heart on being an overseer desires a noble task. ² Now the overseer is to be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, ³ not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. ⁴ He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect. ⁵ (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?) ⁶ He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. ⁷ He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap.⁸ Deacons likewise are to be men worthy of respect, sincere, not indulging in much wine, and not pursuing dishonest gain. ⁹ They must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience. ¹⁰ They must first be tested; and then if there is nothing against them, let them serve as deacons.¹¹ In the same way, their wives are to be women worthy of respect, not malicious talkers but temperate and trustworthy in everything.¹² A deacon must be the husband of but one wife and must manage his children and his household well. ¹³ Those who have served well gain an excellent standing and great assurance in their faith in Christ Jesus. ¹⁴ Although I hope to come to you soon, I am writing you these instructions so that, ¹⁵ if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth. ¹⁶ Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great:He appeared in a body,     was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels,     was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world,     was taken up in glory.

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, ² To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.³ We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, ⁴ since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, ⁵ because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, ⁶ which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing-- as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, ⁷ just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf ⁸ and has made known to us your love in the Spirit. ⁹ And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, ¹⁰ so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. ¹¹ May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, ¹² giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. ¹³ He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

1 Peter 1:1-5“The Duty of a Shepherd”So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: ² shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; ³ not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. ⁴ And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. 

Romans 13:1-7 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. ² Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. ³ For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, ⁴ for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. ⁵ Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience. ⁶ For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. ⁷ Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

The Spirit-ual Practice of Forgiveness If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ² Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. ³ For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴ When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.⁵ Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. ⁶ On account of these the wrath of God is coming. ⁷ In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. ⁸ But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. ⁹ Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices ¹⁰ and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. ¹¹ Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.¹² Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, ¹³ bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. ¹⁴ And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. ¹⁵ And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. ¹⁶ Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. ¹⁷ And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Matthew 18:15-20 The Practice of Church Membership ¹⁵ "If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. ¹⁶ But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. ¹⁷ If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. ¹⁸ Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. ¹⁹ Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. ²⁰ For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them."Sermon Notes

 Ephesians 6:5-9                ⁵Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. ⁶Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. ⁷Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, ⁸because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free. ⁹And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.   The Three P’s of Christian Work  --Perspective     --Purpose     --Passion

Acts 3:1-10The Passionate Spirit-ual Practice of Care for the Body Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. ² And a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the Beautiful Gate to ask alms of those entering the temple. ³ Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms. ⁴ And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, "Look at us." ⁵ And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. ⁶ But Peter said, "I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!" ⁷ And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. ⁸ And leaping up he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. ⁹ And all the people saw him walking and praising God, ¹⁰ and recognized him as the one who sat at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, asking for alms. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

What point did you find helpful and encouraging from the sermon? Did it bring you hope?

Tim pointed out that Joel 2:17-32 was fulfilled in one person first – Jesus Christ. The ultimate day of the LORD’s wrath is still to come upon all his enemies outside of (i.e., not trusting in) Christ. The ultimate day of God’s saving work is still to come upon all his people in Christ.

Regarding the Apostle Paul’s letters Dr. Tom Wright notes, “[Paul’s] theology has the character of inaugurated eschatology, that is, of a sense that God’s ultimate future has come forwards into the middle of history, so that the church is living within – indeed, is constituted precisely by living simultaneously within! – God’s new world and the present one.” He goes on to write, “Restorative justice, this covenant faithfulness through which creation itself will be redeemed, has been unveiled already, in advance, in the apocalyptic events of Jesus’ messianic death and resurrection.” (Paul, 57)

If you were to use a different set of words to communicate “inaugurated eschatology” what would they be? Imagine you wanted to explain this to your non-Christian neighbor or a 3rd grader in Christian Education.

Read Paul’s letter to the Colossians 2:9-15.

How does “realized eschatology” help you to understand Paul’s meaning?

Read 1 Thessalonians 5:1-10.

How should “realized eschatology” impact our life?Socially?Emotionally?Psychologically?Missionally (activity done for the sake of God’s mission to bring blessing to all the families of the earth)?

What if "realized eschatology" were not true. How would that change the nature of Christianity?

Who is someone that comes to mind when considering the theme of “hospitality”? Is there someone who comes to mind who is the opposite of “welcoming”? Tell a story to explain.In Romans 14:3 and 15:7 Paul writes that God the Father and the Son have welcomed the people of God. How has Jesus Christ welcomed us; what does God the Father require of us to be a part of his Kingdom? (If you are stuck then read Romans 3:19-28)Do you sense that you are warmly welcomed into God’s family? Do you have a sense of your citizenship being secure through the welcome our hospitable God has provided?

Since God has sacrificed in order to make our gatherings possible, how can we likewise welcome one another (Romans 15:7)? In other words, what sorts of sacrifices might we need to make in order to make all kinds of Christians feel welcomed at gathered worship on Sunday?

Luke 22:14-22 relates Jesus’ institution of the Lord’s Supper. Why is our regular practice of Communion one way of helping us to learn that gathered worship is hospitable?

How aware and knowledgeable are we that we have a covenant with God?Do you think that worshippers at Crossroads sense a need to respond to God during worship?What do you think it means to renew our covenant with God during a worship service today?Read 2 Corinthians 4:5-6Where do you see the theme of a suzerain-vassal covenant in these verses?How is this covenant we have connected with looking into the face of another?Read Revelation 22:1-5How is worship in the fully restored heavens and earth presented with regards to God’s face?When you look back over the course of your life do you sense that worship is a very interpersonal event on Sundays?

How would you like to see your worship on Sunday improve interpersonally?

Seeing that God has made each individual different how does that inform the personal nature of congregational worship?

If a neighbor or co-worker were to ask you what the Pastor spoke about on Sunday how would you summarize the sermon in one sentence?

You can’t understand sacrifice of Jesus until you understand sacrifice in Leviticus. Leviticus 16 is about the Day of Atonement? How was the Day of Atonement like spring cleaning?

An atoning sacrifice is also known as a ransom in Leviticus. Let’s consider how a ransom works.Jay Sklar writes, “In the Old Testament, a ‘ransom’ has the following characteristics:1. It is a legally or ethically legitimate payment;2. It delivers a guilty party from a just punishment that is the right of the offended party to execute or to have executed;3. It is a lesser punishment than was originally expected;4. It is up to the offended party whether or not to accept the payment; and5. Its acceptance serves both to rescue the life of the guilty and to appease the offended party, thus restoring peace to the relationship.

Exodus 21:28-30 is an example of how a ransom works in human-to-human relationships. Read Exodus 21:28-30How can a man whose ox has gored others multiple times avoid the death penalty?Is the offended party required to place a ransom upon the offender?How would you view the offended party’s action?Read Leviticus 17:11Just as God mercifully provided for a ransom in human-to-human relationships Lev. 17:11 is about how ransom, or atonement, also works in God-to-human relationships. Sacrifice in Leviticus is a ransom for those who deserve death.Read Mark 10:45How does Jesus’s death on the cross meet the requirements of ransom above?How is Jesus’ ransom payment even better than that required in the Old Testament?How much of the debt has not been paid by Jesus? How does this help us to understand why the New Testament speaks of Jesus’ saving work as a gift (see Romans 6:23 and Ephesians 2:8)?