Sermon by Brandon Clements on March 31, 2024.
From Luke 24:1-9 we looked at the resurrection of Jesus through the eyes of a few women who loved and followed him, even to his tomb. The question the angel asked them still rings today: "Why do you seek the living among the dead?"
Sermon by Michael Bailey on March 24, 2024.
As we conclude the book of Ruth, we find out there’s more to the story. It’s not just about God’s faithfulness to Ruth and Naomi but about God’s faithfulness to His people throughout all time.
This series is part of our Year of Biblical Literacy initiative.
Sermon by Michael Bailey on March 17, 2024.
Last week in Ruth 2, we were introduced to a new character: Boaz, Ruth’s "kinsman redeemer." In chapter 3, we’ll see the risk Ruth takes to make sure God provides for her and Naomi.
This series is part of our Year of Biblical Literacy initiative.
For this episode, we interviewed Dr. Jay Sklar. Jay Sklar is vice president of academics and professor of Old Testament at Covenant Theological Seminary. He has written commentaries on Numbers and Exodus (forthcoming with Crossway), and two on Leviticus (TOTC and ZECOT). He has also published a website of resources to help those preaching or teaching in Genesis through Deuteronomy.
Timestamps:
2:22 - What were your initial impressions of the Bible?
6:24 - Why did you decide to pursue doctoral work in the Old Testament?
9:08 - Why did you decide to specialize in Leviticus?
10:12 - How would you broadly summarize Leviticus?
11:59 - What makes Leviticus so tricky to understand?
17:35 - How do we make sense of impurity laws?
28:42 - Is the Day of Atonement really the centerpiece of understanding Leviticus and the Torah?
33:22 - How do we understand Leviticus in light of the New Testament?
37:24 - If Jesus fulfilled Leviticus, why should we even bother reading it?
40:32 - How do we extrapolate and practice the wisdom principles from the commands in Leviticus?
43:15 - What does abiding with Jesus in Scripture and prayer look like for you?
Leviticus: An Introduction and Commentary (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries) by Jay Sklar
Numbers (The Story of God Bible Commentary) by Jay Sklar
Preach and Teach the Bible website
Also Dr. Sklar has a number of (free!) commentaries and articles available on The Gospel Coalition that you can check out here.
Check out MidtownBiblicalLiteracy.com for videos, book recommendations, and Bible reading plans
And check out our other site on the spiritual practices…FollowingJesusTogether.com
Ghosts and Ancestors: Torah Stories sermon series - Lexington | Downtown | Two Notch
Ruth sermon series - Lexington | Downtown | Two Notch
Throughout the year, we want to know the concepts and passages you wrestle with. We'll answer some of these questions in podcast episodes throughout the year.
To submit your topic or question, text either "DOWNTOWN", “LEXINGTON”, OR “TWO NOTCH” followed by your topic to 855-855-0655.
Music by Levvy and Midtown Music
Sermon by Brandon Clements on March 10, 2024.
Last week, we looked at Ruth chapter 1 and how, in roughly ten years, Naomi’s dreams of a better life are ruined. Chapter one then implicitly asks the reader, “How will God provide?” In chapter 2, we’ll see God’s invisible hand at work through seemingly ordinary faithfulness.
This series is part of our Year of Biblical Literacy initiative.
Sermon by Michael Bailey on March 3, 2024.
Stories have the power to move us. They have the ability to affect us like facts, and bullet points can’t. A good story doesn’t leave us where it found us. That is especially true of biblical stories.
Over the next four weeks, we will journey into the true story of Ruth. Ruth is a story with ups and downs, conflict and loss, joy and laughter. There are compelling characters who we are meant to learn from both in good and bad.
It’s in this story that we are faced with a question we must all ask in our lives at one point or another, will we entrust ourselves to a sovereign and faithful God?
This series is part of our Year of Biblical Literacy initiative.
Sermon by Brandon Clements on February 25, 2024.
If you knew God was with you no matter what, what do you think your life look like? As we’ll see in our final week of the series, Joseph goes through pain, suffering, and exile, yet the Bible says, “The LORD was with him.”
Sermon by Michael Bailey on February 18, 2024.
This week, we look at Exodus 32: God's people have left Egypt, but as we'll see, there's still a lot of "Egypt" left in God's people. So, how can we faithfully follow Jesus when external and internal pressures compel us to make God in our image?
For this episode, we interviewed Dr. Gary Schnittjer. Gary Edward Schnittjer (PhD, Dallas Theological Seminary) is distinguished professor of Old Testament in the School of Divinity at Cairn University in Langhorne, Pennsylvania, and author of Old Testament Use of Old Testament (Zondervan Academic, 2021), Torah Story, 2nd edition (Zondervan Academic, 2023), and Old Testament Narrative Books: The Israel Story (B&H Academic, 2023).
Timestamps:
8:20 - What were your initial impressions of the Bible and what changed?
11:44 - What made you want to pursue PhD work in the Old Testament?
16:10 - Why did you want to write a textbook on the Torah?
20:06 - What do you think people have to know about the Bible before reading it? How does the Torah fit into it?
26:36 - How exactly does the gospel begin in the Old Testament?
30:34 - How do we read Old Testament narratives?
38:18 - How do we think about the biblical laws?
40:09 - What have been helpful Bible reading practices and resources for you?
Check out MidtownBiblicalLiteracy.com for videos, book recommendations, and Bible reading plans
Torah Story, Second Edition: An Apprenticeship on the Pentateuch by Gary Edward Schnittjer
Old Testament Use of Old Testament: A Book-by-Book Guide by Gary Edward Schnittjer
Old Testament Narrative Books: The Israel Story (Scripture Connections) by Gary Edward Schnittjer“
Why We Need the Bad News of Israelite History” by Gary Edward Schnittjer from The Gospel Coalition
Ghosts and Ancestors sermon series - Lexington | Downtown | Two Notch
Throughout the year, we want to know the concepts and passages you wrestle with. We'll answer some of these questions in podcast episodes throughout the year.
To submit your topic or question, text either "DOWNTOWN", “LEXINGTON”, OR “TWO NOTCH” followed by your topic to 855-855-0655.
Music by Levvy and Midtown Music
Sermon by Michael Bailey on February 11, 2024.
This week, we study one of the most prominent characters in the Torah: Moses. In Exodus 3, we'll see how Moses' commissioning raises many doubts and objections and how God replies in a way we may not expect.
Timestamps:
2:35 - What does the word “Torah” mean and what’s its purpose?
7:45 - How do we read the Torah as a unit?
11:55 - Breaking down the Torah book by book
12:31 - How Genesis fits into Torah
13:32 - How Exodus fits into Torah
16:11 - How Leviticus fits into Torah
22:24 - How Numbers fits into Torah
26:40 - How Deuteronomy fits in Torah
30:52 - What are the main themes of the Torah and how does it point us to Jesus?
32:05 - Tool one: Biblical Theology
36:15 - Tool two: Typology
Check out MidtownBiblicalLiteracy.com for videos, book recommendations, and Bible reading plans
Dominion and Dynasty: A Theology of the Hebrew Bible by Stephen Dempster
Adam as Israel: Genesis 1-3 as the Introduction to the Torah and Tanakh by Seth D. Postell
Torah Story, Second Edition: An Apprenticeship on the Pentateuch by Gary Edward Schnittjer
Ghosts and Ancestors sermon series - Lexington | Downtown | Two Notch
Throughout the year, we want to know the concepts and passages you wrestle with. We'll answer some of these questions in podcast episodes throughout the year.
To submit your topic or question, text either "DOWNTOWN", “LEXINGTON”, OR “TWO NOTCH” followed by your topic to 855-855-0655.
Music by Levvy and Midtown Music
Sermon by Brandon Clements on February 4, 2024.
This week, we examine an oft-overlooked ancestor in the Torah, Leah. As we'll see in Genesis 29, Leah teaches us something profound about viewing reality outside of one's circumstances.
Timestamps:
1:40 - Why does the Old Testament even matter?
8:22 - Ok, but what is the Old Testament about?
10:48 - What about the Christian vs the Hebrew order of the Old Testament?
19:15 - What makes reading the Old Testament so difficult?
28:25 - How do I start reading the Old Testament?
Check out MidtownBiblicalLiteracy.com for videos, book recommendations, and Bible reading plans
Dominion and Dynasty: A Theology of the Hebrew Bible by Stephen Dempster
Adam as Israel: Genesis 1-3 as the Introduction to the Torah and Tanakh by Seth D. Postell
Torah Story, Second Edition: An Apprenticeship on the Pentateuch by Gary Edward Schnittjer
Ghosts and Ancestors sermon series - Lexington | Downtown | Two Notch
Throughout the year, we want to know the concepts and passages you wrestle with. We'll answer some of these questions in podcast episodes throughout the year.
To submit your topic or question, text either "DOWNTOWN", “LEXINGTON”, OR “TWO NOTCH” followed by your topic to 855-855-0655.
Music by Levvy and Midtown Music
Sermon by Michael Bailey on January 28, 2024.
This week, we look at Jacob and the question that seems to haunt his life: “Who am I?” As we’ll see in Genesis 32, God answers that question in a surprising way.
Sermon by Michael Bailey on January 21, 2024.
This week, we look at our first ghost in the series: Esau. As we will see, the Torah provides us with a cautionary tale - the danger in trading what you want most for what you think you want right now.
Timestamps:
4:15 - Our one-sentence summary of what the Bible is about
6:22 - How do we understand that the Bible is written by both God and man?
12:00 - How exactly does all of the Bible point us to Jesus?
21:00 - How do I get started when it comes to reading the Bible?
32:43 - What are good resources to get started reading the Bible?
Check out MidtownBiblicalLiteracy.com for videos, book recommendations, and Bible reading plans
Ghosts and Ancestors sermon series - Lexington | Downtown | Two Notch
Throughout the year, we want to know the concepts and passages you wrestle with. We'll answer some of these questions in podcast episodes throughout the year.
To submit your topic or question, text either "DOWNTOWN", “LEXINGTON”, OR “TWO NOTCH” followed by your topic to 855-855-0655.
Music by Levvy and Midtown Music
Sermon by Brandon Clements on January 14 2024.
How would you define "faith"? Church culture throws that word around a lot, but it's pivotal in understanding what the Torah and the rest of the Bible want to communicate to its audience. The Bible answers this by showing us the life of Abraham, "the man of faith," in the book of Genesis.
Timestamps:
1:20 - What makes this different from what we normally do? Why now?
4:20 - How will we be approaching Sundays this year?
9:20 - What can we expect regarding the supplemental resources for this year?
11:40 - With all these resources, where’s the best place to start?
14:20 - What are you most excited about for this year?
Check out MidtownBiblicalLiteracy.com for videos, book recommendations, and Bible reading plans
Ghosts and Ancestors sermon series - Lexington | Downtown | Two Notch
Throughout the year, we want to know the concepts and passages you wrestle with. We'll answer some of these questions in podcast episodes throughout the year.
To submit your topic or question, text either "DOWNTOWN", “LEXINGTON”, OR “TWO NOTCH” followed by your topic to 855-855-0655.
Music by Levvy and Midtown Music
Sermon by Brandon Clements on January 7, 2024.
It’s often said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
As we look at the first five books of Scripture, stories abound of those who trusted God and those who did not. Some, through faith, went on to be ancestors who blessed those after them. Others proved to be ghosts that haunt their lineage with heartache and pain.
As we learn to interpret the narratives in the Torah, both the negative and the positive, we’ll see how God works in the midst of it all and calls us into his story, inviting us to walk in the steps of our ancestors who came before us.
During our Embodied series, we had over 70 questions texted in. To cover these questions more fully, we’re releasing a handful of extra podcast episodes to further equip you.
Timestamps:
1:28 - How do you parent a child with gender identity questions or who experiences SSA?
16:58 - Are you living in sin if you don’t have sex as an older married couple?
19:44 - Why do people elevate sexual desires above all else? What desires should we have?
23:20 - Would you officiate a LGBTQIA+ wedding?
30:15 - How do we think through when churches deny a biblical sexual ethic?
37:13 - Are people who identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community and saved Christians still a child of God?
41:18 - My workplace encourages using pronouns to introduce ourselves. As a Christian, how should I think about this?
46:44 - What do we mean when we refer to “culture”?
51:10 - If you were born to a single-parent does that mean you were born into sin and less worth saving?
BOOKS:
10 Questions Every Teen Should Ask (and Answer) about Christianity by Rebecca McLaughlin
The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith by Tim Keller
SERMONS:
“Incarnation/Agape” sermon by Midtown Fellowship Lexington | Downtown | Two Notch
“Theology of Sex” sermon series by Midtown Fellowship Lexington | Downtown | Two Notch
“Mountains, Molehills, and Which Ones to Die On” sermon by Midtown Fellowship Lexington | Downtown | Two Notch
“Q+A” sermon by Midtown Fellowship Lexington | Downtown | Two Notch
Music by Levvy and Midtown Music
