Christview Bible Reading Project
John Turner is working on resources for The Christview Bible Reading Project. The resources will be offered in a way that allows you to use them for design-it-yourself curriculum for a variety of study settings. Watch here for further details in the near future. John will be seeking your input on how to make these resopurces most useful for your purposes.
Topical and Thematic Bible Studies
The Rest and Renewal series looks at the biblical goal of living our lives depending on God's provision and enjoying God's presence.
- Rest and Renewal in Creation (Genesis 1--3) - John Turner
- Rest and Renewal in Redemption (selections from Mark) - John Turner
- Rest and Renewal in New Creation (selections from Hebrews, Revelation, and Romans) - John Turner
The
"Three Strands" series examines the themes of redemption, calling,
and empowerment:
- Three Biblical Strands in the Leadership Rope - Summary Version - John Turner
- Three Biblical Strands in the Leadership Rope - Full Version - John Turner
- The Three Biblical Strands in Luke-Acts - John Turner
- Jesus and Mission in the Four Gospels - John Turner offers a thumbnail version of his studies of these themes in the Four Gospels.
- Scriptural Discernment - John Turner offers a brief companion piece to Judy Turner's Listening for God: Biblical Basis for Discernment
- Personal Salvation and Evangelism: A Ten-Session Bible Study - These ten sessions may be examined individually by clicking the overall title.
From time to time, John Turner will post articles that help deal with Bible issues in the news:
- Responding to the Lost Tomb Claims John offers material that will help you answer questions of people who have been confused by the Discovery Channel program, The Lost Tomb of Jesus.
Book Bible Studies
- A Study of "The Book of Ruth" - John Turner offers a fresh reading of this little book, suggesting new applications that are relevant to the church's evangelistic mission in our present culture.
- Themes That Count in Ruth - This abridgement to A Study of "The Book of Ruth" focuses on three word studies and five thematic applications.
- A Study of "The Gospel according to Mark" - Mark's Gospel can lay the foundation for our becoming bold and fruitful servants of God. John Turner traces the major themes through the book, pointing out many new insights along the way.
- Themes That Count in Mark's Gospel - This abridgement to A Study of "The Gospel according to Mark" focuses on ten themes that appear in sequence through the Gospel.
Bible Study Skills
- Understanding the Bible's Literary Patterns - In this article, John Turner explains how the Bible's literary structure often worked and how structural displays can help our interpretation of Bible passages.
Devotionals
- Disillusioned with God? (Psalm 73) - Judy Turner
- Remembering (Luke 22:17-19) - Judy Turner
Sermons
These sermons offer Bible-based guidance in Christian faith and practice.
Preachers are welcome to use them as sermon starters if they offer proper acknowledgements and do not publish them for sale (see copyright information at the conclusion of each sermon).
Congregations may find that they offer much help with identity, vision, and mission.
Some of the sermons contain significant scriptural content and, because they are so packed, may be more useful as study materials than as sermons.
Some of the sermons have been edited for publication to remove or disguise personal and congregational details that were included in the original versions.
2004
- The Power to Change (Luke 19:1-10) - Judy Turner preached this sermon at First Christian Church, Harrison, AR, October 31, 2004. It shows how Jesus will help us receive a new life...if we will let him.
- My Redeemer Lives (Job 19:25-27a) - John Turner preached this sermon at First Christian Church, Harrison, AR, November 7, 2004. The answer to the problem of unjust suffering is not a philosophical explanation, but a relationship with the living God.
2005
- The Big Three (Romans 5:1-5) - John Turner preached this sermon June 26, 2005, at Thorncrown Chapel and Worship Center, Eureka Springs, AR. The three most basic promises of Christian life (forgiveness, the Holy Spirit, and eternal life) cover our past, present, and future.
- The Turning (Psalm 85) - John Turner preached this sermon August 7, 2005 at Holiday Island Community Church, Eureka Springs, AR. What do we do when our lives are out of synch? We remember gratefully, ask honestly, listen perceptively, and turn to walk hopefully.
- Jesus: Concealer, Revealer, Healer (Matthew 11:25-30) - John Turner preached this sermon August 28, 2005 at Wildflowers Christian Chapel, Eureka Springs, AR. Jesus offers us a relationship with a living God that can produce rest from our heavy burdens and healing for our deepest wounds, but, if we want these benefits, we have to let Jesus be Lord.
2006
Unless otherwise noted, the original versions of the following sermons were preached by John Turner at First Christian Church, Harrison, AR, between January 8 and October 1, 2006. These sermons will receive live links when they have been edited and formatted for publication
- What’s Missing? (Mark 1:9-11; Acts 19:1-7)
1. Ground our church’s message on the authorized teachings of the apostles.
2. Help people reach fullness of life in Christ as God’s royal children, self-giving servants, and
Spirit-anointed agents.
- Come and See (John 1:29-51)
1. Awaken deep hopes and expectations about Jesus.
2. Help people experience a real relationship with Jesus so that they can become his disciples.
- Our Message and Our Mission (Mark 1:14-20)
1. Help people discover that the God who made us, the God who loves us, is powerfully real, powerfully present, powerfully relevant to the living of our lives.
2. Be sure that God is present in and through our lives.
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Who’s in Charge Here? (Mark 1:21-28; Galatians 2:19b-20)
1. Let Jesus be the Forgiver and Total Deliverer (Savior) of our lives.
2. Let Jesus be the Leader and Absolute Authority (Lord) of our lives.
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Keeping the Mission Centered (Mark 1:29-39)
1. Know what is of greatest worth and what gives us greatest worth: the God of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
2. Know who we are by grace through faith: children, servants, and heirs of God.
3. Know how to recognize God’s guidance: by its consistency with scriptural guidelines for
discernment.
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Touching the Unclean (Mark 1:40-45)
1. Connect people to the cleansing, healing, restoring touch of Jesus so that they may have foretaste of the perfection God plans for us.
2. Remove the barriers that keep broken people from God, not by watering down any moral laws, but by bringing broken people further along toward wholeness as children of God. -
The Authority to Forgive Sins (Mark 2:1-12)
1. Heed the preconditions for forgiveness: faith and repentance.
2. Heed the purpose for forgiveness: putting our sinful past behind us so that we may be
gradually transformed into Jesus’ likeness and thus represent him in active mission before joining
him in his eternal destiny.
- Listen to Him (Mark 9:2-9; 2 Peter 1:16-18) Transfiguration Sunday
1. Listen to Jesus even if he is heading to the cross, even if he asks you to engage in risk-taking
yourselves.
2. Do not settle for less than the adventure to which Jesus calls us.
3. Find the courage we need for bold living, by letting the Holy Spirit give us previews of the
glory of Jesus.
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Ripping Open the Heavens (Isaiah 59:2; 64:6-7, 64:1; Mark 1:9-15)
1. Live in relation to things such as money, sex, and power in ways showing that we believe in the reign of God.
2. Receive Jesus’ challenging teachings as revealing the impurities in our hearts from which we must repent.3. Earnestly seek God’s reviving Spirit in our lives. -
Getting Out of the Way, Getting On the Way (Matthew 16:17-18; Mark 8:31-38)
Get our worldly thinking out of the way and get on the way to godly thinking:
1. seeking to conform to the holy and loving character of God.
2. believing that Jesus the crucified is risen Lord.
3. heeding the inspired scriptures.
4. following the leading of the Holy Spirit.
5. participating in the missionary fellowship of the church.
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Replacing the Temple: Multiplying Points of Contact (1 Kings 8:22-53; Mark 11:11-25; Matthew 21:12-17; John 2:13-22)
Offer multiple points of contact for Christian transformation:
1. representing the glory and character of God.
2. providing answers for the prayers of desperate people.
3. offering forgiveness for penitent people.
4. extending spiritual awakening for all the peoples of the earth.
- The Son of Man Must Be Lifted Up (John 3:13-21)
We need to know:
1. Revelation of God’s absolute truth.
2. Regeneration that purifies us from sin and empowers us for service.
3. Redemption that expresses the loving and holy heart of God.
4. Reorientation as disciples within the light of Jesus.
- I Will Draw All People to Myself (John 12:20-36)
1. The world's deepest need is to see Jesus.
2. We must die to self if the world is to see Jesus through us.
3. The most frightening words in the world, when it comes to our eternal destiny, are
“Have it your way.”
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I Have Seen the Lord (John 20:1-18) Easter Sunday
1. Believe in the resurrection.
2. Open yourself to the experience of resurrection power.
- My Lord and My God (John 20:19-31) Artist Susan Morrison-Woodward assisted with this sermon. It will be given a live link when I have transcribed her portion.
1. Heed the physical evidence for the resurrection.
2. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth.
- He Opened Their Minds to Understand (Luke 24:36-53)
1. Understand how Jesus with his sacrificial atonement, his resurrection from the
dead, and his commissioning of his disciples to world mission, fulfilled the Old Testament.
2. Let the Holy Spirit open the scriptures for us.
3. Experience the Risen Christ through the scriptures.
- I Know My Own, and My Own Know Me (John 10:1-18, 27-30) Graduation Sunday 1. Understand that when we recognize and follow the leading of Jesus, our lives will be better by far, and that this is evidence for the resurrection.
2. The Holy Spirit will help us hear the voice of Jesus.
- Abide in Me (John 15:1-8) Mother’s Day
1. Let the character of Christ define our interaction with the world around us.
2. Let Jesus reveal his presence in any moment at any time.
3. Let little things become big things, and ordinary things become extraordinary.
- I Have Called You Friends (John 15:9-17)
While we await the details of our personal mission:
1. Study.
2. Pray.
3. Prepare ourselves to represent Jesus’ self-giving love and truth.
4. Live consistently with what we already know.
5. Choose encouraging and challenging spiritual fellowship.
6. Persist and dare.
- Sanctify Them in Your Truth (John 17:1-26)
Let Jesus’ prayer that we may be sanctified in truth be fulfilled by following these guidelines:
1. Study God's Word---the Bible.
2. Follow God's Way---Jesus Christ.
3. Seek God's Power---the Holy Spirit.
4. Commit to excellence---never settle for less than God’s best.
5. Think ahead---strategize to defeat temptation.
6. Make helpful friends---let them hold you accountable.
7. Practice recovery---when you fall, get up.
- Wonders and Signs (Acts 2, selected verses) Pentecost Sunday
Remember that:
1. Miracles are wonders; they provoke our marveling at God’s reigning power.
2. Miracles are signs: they are point us toward the saving power of God in Jesus Christ.
3. The purpose of miracles is to aid the mission of sharing the gospel.