meet your teacher


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MASTERCLASS: BECOME THE MAN YOU WERE MEANT TO BE SESSION 1 WINTER 2019

MEET YOUR TEACHER A Master Class is a course taught by one who is considered to be distinguished in his field. It’s a class for students who are ready to learn at an advanced level. Our Master Teacher this semester is the Master himself, Jesus. Each week we will see why and how Jesus lived the incredible, one-of-a-kind life he did. OUR TEACHER’S CREDENTIALS – From Nonbelieving Historians H. G. Wells (1866-1946): We (find in Jesus) the figure of a being, very human, very earnest and passionate, capable of swift anger, and teaching a new and simple and profound doctrine—namely, the universal loving Fatherhood of God and the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven. He was clearly a person … of intense personal magnetism. He attracted followers and filled them with love and courage. Weak and ailing people were heartened and healed by his presence … The doctrine of the Kingdom of Heaven … is certainly one of the most revolutionary doctrines that ever stirred and changed human thought. … (It) was no less than a bold and uncompromising demand for a complete change and cleansing of the life of our struggling race, an utter cleansing, without and within. … Is it any wonder that the Roman soldiers, confronted and amazed by something soaring over their comprehension and threatening all their disciplines, should take refuge in wild laughter, and crown him with thorns and robe him in purple and make a mock Cæsar of him? For to take him seriously was to enter upon a strange and alarming life, to abandon habits, to control instincts and impulses, to essay an incredible happiness. W. E. H. Leckey (1838-1903): It is the character of Jesus “which throughout all the changes of eighteen centuries has inspired the hearts of men with an impassioned love; has shown itself capable of acting on all ages, nations, temperaments, and conditions; has been not only the highest pattern of virtue but the strongest incentive to its practice and has exercised so deep an influence that it may be truly said that the simple record of three short years of active life has done more to regenerate and to soften mankind than all the disquisitions of philosophers, and all the exhortations of moralists. No life has more changed the world for good than the life of Jesus. The idea that all persons are created equal – the idea that generated the concepts of human rights, civil rights, and equal rights – comes directly from the teaching of Jesus that every life is of __________________ in the sight of God. These ideas, revolutionary when they were being proclaimed by Jesus, are so woven into our morals, our laws, our understanding of justice and our culture that we take them for granted.

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J. M. Roberts (1928-2003): We could none of us today be what we are if a handful of Jews nearly two thousand years ago had not believed that they had known a great teacher, seen him crucified, dead and buried, and then rise again. Nicholas Kristof: There also are many, many secular aid workers doing heroic work. But the people I’ve encountered over the years in the most impossible places … where anyone reasonable has fled are disproportionately unreasonable because of their faith. Two thousand years after his death, the world is better; human existence has been elevated; people are more kind and compassionate; and individuals are still being inspired to sacrifice their time, their talents and their treasure for their neighbor and for those they have never met in ways that are completely unreasonable because of the ______________ and the teaching of Jesus. Adapted from a sermon by James Allen Francis “(Twenty) long centuries have come and gone, and today he is the centerpiece of the human race and leader of the column of progress. I am far within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, all the navies that have ever sailed, all the parliaments that have ever sat and all the kings that have ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as has that one solitary life.” When it comes to winning at the game of life, nobody knows more, nobody did it better, nobody has his credentials, and nobody has more to teach us than Jesus. Learn what he has to teach and your life will be more fulfilling, your impact on the lives of others will be more ____________, your family will be grateful that you are in their lives, and you will leave this planet with no regrets. The Hebrew word for rabbi is translated as either “teacher” or “__________.” The literal meaning of the Hebrew root word from which “rabbi” is derived simply means “_________.” A rabbi was a man whom a young Jew believed to be great enough to learn from as a teacher and to _______ as a master: in essence, a “master teacher.” That’s how the men who followed Jesus would have first encountered him – as their rabbi, as their master teacher. The goal of a disciple in the time of Jesus was to find a rabbi who could teach him the law. For the Jews learning and following the law rightly was learning a ________________ that made one righteous and worthy of respect. It was learning how to live in this world in such a way that God would be honored and pleased.

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The goal of learning from our Rabbi, our Master Teacher Jesus, is more than picking his brain, listening to his teaching, and learning what he knew. The goal of a disciple was to be able to live the same way the rabbi lived. It meant being remade into the rabbi’s ________. The disciple’s purpose was to become like his rabbi because the disciple believed his rabbi was a ________ man who could show him the way to live a great life. Why did the early disciples of Jesus follow him before they knew he was divine? Because they believed Jesus could make them _________ men. He could show them the way to live a truly great life. They watched Jesus and their hearts told them that’s who I want ____________, that’s the life I want to live, that’s the rabbi I want to follow. You better figure out what life is all about and what it means to live well. You better find a power that will enable you to live that way. You better find a grace that will allow you to forgive yourself when you fail – and you will fail – so you can start over again with hope and strength. What I am more sure of than anything else is the answer to those questions will all be found in _________. James Stewart (1896-1990): Jesus was the meekest and lowliest of all the sons of men, yet he spoke of coming on the clouds of heaven with the glory of God. He was so austere that evil spirits and demons cried out in terror at his coming, yet he was so genial and winsome and approachable that the children loved to play with him, and the little ones nestled in his arms. No one was half so compassionate to sinners, yet no one ever spoke such red hot, scorching words about sin. A bruised reed he would not break. His whole life was love, yet on one occasion he demanded of the Pharisees how they ever expected to escape the damnation of hell. He was a dreamer of dreams and a seer of visions, yet for sheer stark realism he has all of us self-styled realists soundly beaten. He was a servant of all, washing the disciples’ feet, yet masterfully he strode into the temple and the hucksters and the money changers fell over one another from the mad rush and the fire they saw blazing in his eyes.

MISSION TRIP TO HONDURAS: The men of Quest will head to Tegucigalpa, Honduras for the 14th time, April 11-14. We will build a church, build a house and pour concrete floors for families living in shacks with dirt floors. Cost is $1400. To register go to https://missions.thewoodlandsumc.org/ and click on “Find a Trip.”

The Woodlands United Methodist Church www.thewoodlandsumc.org