John 2:13-17

Jesus and love are always in conflict with Satan and sin.

• Matthew 4:8-11, 17

• Jesus was never about tolerating sin. He was against sin from the beginning!

• John 8:34-36

• Acts 26:15-18

• James 4:4

• I John 2:15 – Don’t love the sinful things of the world!

• I John 5:2-3

• We need to be like Jesus and condemn sin.

  • Matthew 25:41

• Jesus never made conflict for the sake of conflict.

  • Matthew 18:15

Truth must always be prioritized.

• Mark 8:38

• Over relationships

  • Matthew 10:32 – Jesus is more important than all other relationships.

  • Luke 11:27-28

• Over supposed experts

  • Luke 11:39-54

• Over decorum

  • Luke 7:36-39

  • Luke 11:37-38 – Jesus broke decorum to start a teaching opportunity.

  • Luke 8:1-3 – Women were involved in teaching, despite this being against cultural norms.

• We have to thicken our skin enough to stand for the truth.

  • Acts 15:1

  • Galatians 2:11

  • Matthew 19:9; Romans 1:26-27; Ephesians 5:4; I Timothy 6:10 – Many of Jesus’ teachings are controversial today!

Psalms 78:1-7

Book: So the Next Generation Will Know

Show the connection between God and good thinking

• I Thessalonians 5:21; Isaiah 1:18

• John 7:45; Mark 12:37 – Jesus’ reasoning could not be refuted.

• John 3:1-2

• John 20:30-31

• “Generation Z is the least religious of all generations…”

• Many young people report that they have left their faith because of science and evolution.

• Many resources are available from ApologeticsPress.org.

Live like Christ yourself

• John 2:6

• Deuteronomy 6:7, 5, 13, 17 – We have to live like Christ and be good examples to our children and grandchildren.

• I Corinthians 11:1

• Hypocrisy in religion is a huge problem in the world.

Stimulate the challenging of their faith

• Proverbs 13:20; James 1:2-4 – It’s okay for our faith to be questioned!

• Acts 16:1

Joel

• Written by Joel, who we don’t know much about. There is much disagreement about the date of writing, anywhere from 900-350 B.C.

• Joel 1 – God was bringing destruction on Judah. The locusts may or may not be figurative.

• Joel 2 – God calls for repentance. God promised to restore the people if they would repent.

  • Joel 2:28-32 – Quoted in Acts 2:17-21 in Peter’s sermon on Pentecost.

• Joel 3 – God pronounces judgment on the nations. These nations may be figurative here, with Israel being spiritual Israel and Tyre and Sidon being those who are enemies of God’s people.

  • Joel 3:10 – See Isaiah 2:4. God’s people were to prepare for a spiritual battle.

  • Joel 3:18 – See Ephesians 1:3.

  • Joel 3:20 – Spiritual Judah can never be destroyed!

The church doesn’t really grow successfully if we only increase in numbers. We must also strengthen and build each other up.

Factors that cause the church to grow:

• Loyal to divine authority

  • Romans 1:16; Acts 8:4

  • Acts 4:18-19; 5:19 – Peter and John were loyal to divine authority.

  • Colossians 3:19

  • II John 1:9

• Diligent in teaching

  • Acts 2:42

  • Acts 7 – Stephen was so steadfast in preaching that he was stoned to death.

  • Acts 8:5, 12 – Philip was steadfast in preaching.

  • Paul suffered and worked much to grow the church through teaching.

• Consistent in practice

  • Acts 2:42; 8:4

  • II Thessalonians 2:13

• Purity in life

  • Without purity, others will see our hypocrisy and we will accomplish nothing toward God.

  • Romans 6:4

  • I Timothy 5:22

  • II Corinthians 6:14-16

  • I Corinthians 6:19-20

  • Ephesians 5:25

• Unity in service

  • Acts 2:46; 4:32

  • The apostles were of different backgrounds, but they all loved the same God. We are all one in Christ Jesus.

  • Galatians 3:29

• Liberal in giving

  • II Corinthians 8