Category Archives: Notes

Posts with attached teaching notes.

Our

Experiencing Grace Podcast

Disciples’ Prayer 1 | Our | Ep. 13

00:00 / 41:27

The Disciples’ Prayer Series – Part 1

When Jesus taught his disciples to pray, he intentionally used the word “Our” in the opening line – “Our Father in heaven…” This wasn’t an accident.

By using “Our” instead of “My”, Jesus was encouraging a spirit of unity and community among his followers. In John 17, he prayed for his disciples to be one, just as he and the Father are one.

The message is clear – Jesus wants his followers to approach God together, with a shared sense of purpose, rather than as isolated individuals. Unity is at the heart of the Christian life.

As the body of Christ, we’re called to a profound oneness. When we achieve this oneness, it brings glory to God and empowers us to boldly further the gospel without fear.

The benefits of unity are immense. It allows us to better declare the second coming of Christ, just as John the Baptist did for the first. It brings corporate blessings like God’s anointing. And on an individual level, it fosters love and humility.

By maintaining one mind and one voice, we can more effectively glorify God and advance His kingdom. Unity is essential for experiencing the fullness of what God has for us – we can’t attain it alone, but must do so together, through humility and submission.

So let’s hold fast to the unity of the Spirit. When we do, we’ll never be alone. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are always with us, and so is the family of believers.

Agree? Share your thoughts below.

I hope you enjoy the notes and audio of the message available on this post.

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Jesus Fulfilled the Law

Experiencing Grace Podcast

Jesus Fulfilled the Law | Ep. 12

00:00 / 10:32

When I taught my message again on “What is Love,” I added a short section at the end to discuss how it is not the goal of the Christian to fulfill the Old Testament Law. I decided to emphasize this fact because of how often I’ve heard it said, and how often I’ve said myself, that Jesus explained that the first and greatest commandment along with the second commandment (to love God with everything and love your neighbor as yourself) are what the Law and the Prophets hang on. In saying this, he conveys the idea that if any individual had been able to do those two things perfectly–loving God and loving man–then they would have been able to fulfill all the Law and the Prophets.

My concern is that those hearing this may walk away with the misconception that we must love God and love man so that we can fulfill the Law. Jesus made it clear that he came to fulfill the Law. So, we don’t have to. In this short clip (just over ten minutes), I walk through the scriptures to explain how it is not the goal of the Christian to fulfill the Law of Moses. I believe that it is worth your time to take a listen.

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What Is Love, again?

Experiencing Grace Podcast

What is Love? | Ep. 11

00:00 / 34:52

In 2014 I posted a message that I taught at my church called “What is Love?” This message has remained in my heart. Now, a decade later, I taught it again with some updated notes.

If God is Love, then what does 1 Corinthians 13 tell us about the character of God? It shows us 16 distinct characteristics of God as it describes what true love is: Patient, Kind, etc.

In this lesson I do a “mini-deep-dive” into each of these ideas from scripture. I hope you enjoy listening to what has become a favorite lesson at my local church and download the notes to guide you to dig in deeper into your own Bible study time.

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Mercy

Experiencing Grace Podcast

Mercy | Ep. 10

00:00 / 41:54

In this lesson, I dig into the topic of Mercy in the Bible and explain how God’s mercy is one of the most exciting things for a Christian to understand.

I discuss what it actually means for mercy to triumph over judgment. I also go into depth about how God giving mercy greatly contrasts with our keeping rules (or keeping the law).

There has long been debate over whether or not the message of mercy (and/or grace) should be tempered with a stern warning about how folks still “better live right”.

In this teaching I discuss why it is wrong for Christians to present the message of mercy with a safe padding of “holy living” built up around it. Many in the church have tried so hard to be sure that people approach the mercy and grace of God with a sense of sober warning hanging over their heads like, “Yes God is merciful, but you better watch out if you don’t straighten up.”

For far too long some people have believed that they have to eek out a life of holy living in order to maintain God’s grace and mercy on their lives rather than embracing, with reckless abandon, the fullness of His grace and mercy, and letting the revelation of God’s kindness lead to repentance and then ultimately into living a holy life.

This message presents a biblical case for why we need to strip all padding away, and give people direct access to God’s grace and mercy. It also explains why, if we don’t, all we will be producing are sons of hell rather than lovers of God.

DISCLAIMER: The last 8 minutes or so of the audio are of a question and answer time/discussion time that spontaneously happened at the end of the message. The audio quality during this part is not as clean because I had to adjust the levels somewhat to try to get the questions from the congregation somewhat audible. So, please forgive the extra noise that may occur when other people are talking. Thanks!

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Forgive Us Our Debts

Notes:
JasonGraham_ForgiveUsOurDebts_DisciplesPrayerSeries.pdf Download

The Disciples’ Prayer Series – Part 8
This small phrase from the Disciples’ Prayer takes us on quite a ride through legal theology. Now, on the surface that may sound thick and boring, but ultimately it proves to the believer why they should live with absolutely no fear of judgment.

If you are a believer and are worried that when you stand before God that there may be some little something that may tip the scales and send you to the lake of fire, then you need to listen to this lesson. Why? Because you are thinking wrong, and you need to understand the truth found in the scripture about believers in the time of judgement. Knowing the truth sets us free.

In this lesson we will look at several things such as:

What debt do we have? What do we owe it to?
How is it forgiven?
What does being forgiven of debt have to do with Jesus saying that He had come to declare the acceptable year of the Lord?
Are we now lawless?
- HINT: The answer is No, but we aren’t still tied to the Law of Moses. The scripture introduces a new law in very plain language, and we can never be free of its demands. It is the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus. Also called the Law of Liberty, the Law of Christ, and the Royal Law in scripture.
- I’ll discuss how the scripture tells us to keep this new law.
Finally, I go into detail about the judgement of believers and explain how we aren’t even judged with those who go to the lake of fire. That is a separate judgement that those who cannot take part in the second death will not attend.

This is truly an exciting teaching. I believe that it can serve to set our minds free from the Law of Sin and Death in the same way that our spirits have been set free. You can listen to the audio and download the notes at the top of this post. Please feel free to share this blog and comment below for discussion. God Bless!

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Give us this Day our Daily Bread

Notes:
JasonGraham_GiveUsThisDayOurDailyBread_DPS.pdf Download

The Disciples’ Prayer Series – Part 7

What is daily bread? Why do we need it?

I believe the scripture paints a very clear picture for us of what daily bread really is, and we see it throughout the old and new testament.

In this teaching we look at why daily bread is all about becoming more like Jesus. After all, He is the Bread of Life, and He is available for us daily.

We’ll look at ways that we receive this daily bread, and what it does in our hearts.

Ultimately we’ll learn about how God providing daily bread, and us receiving it, is how we have a living, breathing, dynamic relationship with God as Christ is formed in us. Daily Bread is a gift from God that all at once fills us, tries our hearts, and invites us closer to receive more and more of God.

We’ll also look into the Dark Night of the Soul in this teaching, as it is an important thing to consider in any in-depth conversation about daily communion with God. We’ll talk about what it is, how we should react to it, and how it sets us free from any false images of God that we’ve built up in our own minds. God refuses to be conformed to our image. We, in fact, our conformed to His image through receiving Daily Bread.

You can listen to the message above, and download the notes. Feel free to share this teaching freely, and comment below. I love to hear from you.

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Your Will Be Done on Earth as it is in Heaven

Notes:
JasonGraham_YourWillBeDoneOnEarthAsItIsInHeaven_DPS.pdf Download

The Disciples’ Prayer Series – Part 6

What does it mean for God’s will to be done on earth the way it is done in heaven? In this lesson we seek to provide an answer to that question.

We will also look at:

5 reasons why we should know the will of God.
3 ways that we can be sure that we really do know God’s will.
5 major points of God’s will revealed in scripture that are important for the Christian to understand.

This study will lead us into looking into what it is to be a friend of Jesus and to be a living sacrifice. We’ll also talk about reconciling men to God and the restoration of all things.

I discuss the common misconception of God having two separate wills: a Perfect Will and a Permissive Will. I explain why this idea is not correct, and also offer a reason why I think this wrong idea has grown over time. God has one will, and that will can be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Feel free to listen to the message above, read the attached notes, and comment below. I’d love to hear from you. Thanks.

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Your Kingdom Come

Notes:
JasonGraham_YourKingdomCome_DisciplesPrayerSeries.pdf Download

The Disciples’ Prayer Series – Part 5

The Kingdom of God was preached by the forerunner of Jesus (John the Baptist), by Jesus Himself, by His disciples, and should be preached by us now.

But what is it? How do we preach it? What does it look like?

If you’ve ever wondered about questions such as these, then this message will give you a good foundational understanding of the Kingdom and several other topics that come from a larger study of the Kingdom of God such as:

How does God’s Kingdom come?
Is it already here?
How do we inherit the Kingdom or not?
Humility
Brokenness
Demonstrations of power
Being childlike
The Millennial Reign of Christ
and more…

There is much more that can be said about the Kingdom of God than what is contained in this message; however, it will give a great foundation to anyone who is new to the topic, and will be an encouraging refresher and challenge to others.

God Bless!

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Hallowed Be Your Name

Notes:
JasonGraham_HallowedBeYourName_DisciplesPrayerSeries.pdf Download

The Disciples’ Prayer Series – Part 4

For the longest time I thought that “Hallowed” was an adjective describing God’s name. I mean, honestly, it isn’t a word that we use all that much in everyday conversation, and to me it seemed to describe God’s name–like saying His name is Holy.

However, I have since learned that “hallowed” is actually a verb. So, this phrase is not describing God’s name as much as it is declaring action on our part toward His name. It means “to be honored as Holy”. Yes, His name is holy, but this simple phrase is a challenge to us. We are to honor His name as holy.

How do we do that? How does that affect the way we live our lives? I discuss answers to these questions in this teaching, and go further into explaining what God could have meant when He told us to be holy the way that he is holy. Is that even possible? Did He really mean for us to be holy in the same way that the transcendent creator of all that exists is holy? If so, what happens if we’re not?

The scripture has so much to say about the concept of God’s holiness and His people’s holiness. This message serves as an encouraging look into the dynamics between the two.

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In Heaven

Notes:
JasonGraham_InHeaven_DisciplesPrayerSeries.pdf Download

The Disciples’ Prayer Series – Part 3

After Jesus uses the word Father in the disciples’ prayer, a word that expresses great intimacy, affection, and acceptance in God, He immediately uses a phrase that makes God completely untouchable: In Heaven. Why the great disparity?

On the one hand, we seem invited to accept God as absolutely close and accessible. On the other hand, he is lifted into the cosmos. Ineffable. Unreachable.

How are we supposed to manage such a dichotomy in our daily lives? How do we wrap our theology around a God who is both so imminent and transcendent?

This teaching attempts to give some biblical clarity around these two ideas about God, and shows how–for the believer–God being “In Heaven” doesn’t put him so far away as we may have thought; although, His worthiness of being highly exalted is not diminished in the least.

We will come to this conclusion by looking at scriptures that answer the following questions:

What is Heaven?
What does that make God?
How do we approach Him?
What is our position with the God In Heaven?

I think you’ll enjoy this message. You can read the attached notes and listen to the audio above. Feel free to “like” this post below and leave your comments. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

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