If you have been in a relationship, you know it requires sacrifice. In order to grow in closeness with someone else, we're always checking our selfish impulses against what's best for the relationship. It's just part of the deal. This concept couldn't be clearer than in our relationship with Christ. God, in His omniscience, knows exactly what the perfect relationship looks like. He designed it from day one with Adam and Eve, but mankind chose a different path. So in order to restore that relationship, God made the ultimate sacrifice - Jesus on the cross. Every day, we're faced with challenges to our relationship with God and choices we must make. And every time we choose a path away from Him, we weaken our relationship, rendering us unable to live a powerful Christian life.
In John 10:10, Christ said, "I have come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." I believe He means it for our life here as well as our eternity in heaven. But we have to be willing to die to self so that we can live with the power He promises. This series gives us some tools and topics to open our eyes to the nature of our relationship with God - both where it is and where it could be. It challenges me every time I teach it.
November 28th - John 9: Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind December 5th - Mark 2: Jesus Heals a Paralytic December 12th - John 5: The Healing at the Pool December 19th - Mark 5: Jesus Heals a Sick Woman
