monument

Good Friday

2010-03-19T13:47:00.000-07:00

Join us Friday, April 2nd 7:30pm for a Good Friday get-together at the Walkers.

Good Friday is a day of remembrance, when as Christians we solemnly remember the death of our Savior Jesus on a Roman cross to pay the penalty for our sin. This was done prior to his resurrection, conquering, Satan, sin and death; which we celebrate on Easter.

“No one takes it from me. I give my life of my own free will. I have authority to give my life and authority to take my life back again. This is what my father ordered me to do.”
- Jesus Christ

Why?

2010-02-24T07:39:00.000-08:00

by Justin Taylor

Don’t rush through this. It is worth reading slowly and repeatedly, for in it there is deep and profound wisdom.

So often the initial reaction to painful suffering is Why me? Why this? Why now? Why? . . .

[God] comes for you, in the flesh, in Christ, into suffering, on your behalf. He does not offer advice and perspective from afar; he steps into your significant suffering. He will see you through, and work with you the whole way. He will carry you even in extremis. This reality changes the questions that rise up from your heart. That inward-turning “why me?” quiets down, lifts its eyes, and begins to look around.You turn outward and new, wonderful questions form.

Why you?

Why you?

Why would you enter this world of evils?

Why would you go through loss, weakness, hardship, sorrow, and death?

Why would you do this for me, of all people?

But you did.

You did this for the joy set before you.

You did this for love.

You did this showing the glory of God in the face of Christ.

As that deeper question sinks home, you become joyously sane. The universe is no longer supremely about you. Yet you are not irrelevant. God’s story makes you just the right size. Everything counts, but the scale changes to something that makes much more sense. You face hard things. But you have already received something better which can never be taken away. And that better something will continue to work out the whole journey long.

The question generates a heartfelt response:

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and do not forget any of his benefits, who pardons all your iniquities and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion, who satisfies your years with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle.

Thank you, my Father. You are able to give true voice to a thank you amid all that is truly wrong, both the sins and the sufferings that now have come under lovingkindness.

Finally, you are prepared to pose—and to mean—almost unimaginable questions:

Why not me?

Why not this?

Why not now?

If in some way, my faith might serve as a three-watt night-light in a very dark world, why not me?

If my suffering shows forth the Savior of the world, why not me?

If I have the privilege of filling up the sufferings of Christ?

If he sanctifies to me my deepest distress?

If I fear no evil?

If he bears me in his arms?

If my weakness demonstrates the power of God to save us from all that is wrong?

If my honest struggle shows other strugglers how to land on their feet?

If my life becomes a source of hope for others?

Why not me?

Of course, you don’t want to suffer, but you’ve become willing: “If it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not as I will, but as you will.”

Like him, your loud cries and tears will in fact be heard by the one who saves from death.

Like him, you will learn obedience through what you suffer.

Like him, you will sympathize with the weaknesses of others.

Like him, you will deal gently with the ignorant and wayward.

Like him, you will display faith to a faithless world, hope to a hopeless world, love to a loveless world, life to a dying world.

If all that God promises only comes true, then why not me?

—David Powlison, “God’s Grace and Your Sufferings,” in Suffering and the Sovereignty of God (pp. 172-173).

WHY BOTHER WITH LENT?

2010-02-18T07:46:00.000-08:00

WHY BOTHER WITH LENT?
By Elliot Grudem and Bruce Benedict
Christ the King Presbyterian Church
www.ctkraleigh.org

The Lenten season starts on Ash Wednesday. For many recognizing Lent, that day marks the first day of a forty-day fast from something.
The day before Ash Wednesday is known as Shrove Tuesday, Fat Tuesday, or Mardi Gras
(French for “Fat Tuesday”). Many people have at least a day of feasting before the season of fasting. Perhaps no city in America celebrates Mardi Gras better than New Orleans.

The weeks leading up to Mardi Gras (again, the Tuesday before the first day of Lent) as well as the actual day are a season of parties and parades throughout New Orleans. Many revelers— especially those who have traveled to New Orleans to celebrate—gather on Bourbon Street on Tuesday evening. The party goes long into the night, ending at Midnight on Tuesday night. Since

Lent starts at 12:01 a.m. on Ash Wednesday, the New Orleans Police Department gather at Midnight on Mardi Gras, form a wall of officers and horses, and use that wall to clear Bourbon Street.

In the minds of many, that‟s a great picture of Lent: Party up to the last minute before the Lenten season starts. Get what you can before you have to give it up. Feast before you have to fast. It‟s the reason the celebrations associated with Mardi Gras are often referred to as Carnival—a word that comes from the Latin for “goodbye meat.”

In the minds of others, that‟s also what makes the Lenten season at best a disappointment and at worst a farce. It seems almost hypocritical to celebrate the Seven Deadly Sins before suppressing them.

Read the rest here...

Lent

2010-02-17T07:57:00.000-08:00

Lent is starting today! What are you giving up?

Battling the unbeleif of Anxiety

2010-02-04T10:39:00.000-08:00

from Justin Taylor by Justin Taylor

In my opinion, the most biblically practical of all of John Piper’s books may be one of his least known: Battling Unbelief: Defeating Sin with Superior Pleasure.

He defines “anxiety” as “the loss of confident security in God owing to feelings of uneasiness or foreboding that something harmful is going to happen.”

Here’s an outline of verses that can be used as weapons to combat the lies and false promises of the Evil One in contrast to believing the great promises of God:

Battling Anxiety in General

Lamentations 3:22-23; 1 Corinthians 10:13; Deuteronomy 33:25; Psalm 56:3; 1 Peter 5:7; Philippians 4:6-7

Battling Anxiety About Being Useless

1 Corinthians 15:58; Isaiah 55:9-11

Battling Anxiety about Feeling Weak

2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Battling Anxiety about Difficult Decisions

Psalm 32:8; Psalm 25:8-9

Battling Anxiety about Opponents

Romans 8:31

Battling Anxiety about Afflictions

Psalm 34:19; Romans 5:3-5

Battling Anxiety about Aging

Isaiah 46:3-4

Battling Anxiety about Not Persevering to the End in Faith

Philippians 1:6; Hebrews 7:25; Jeremiah 32:40

Battling Anxiety about Death

Romans 14:7-9

Distrubing Christmas

2009-12-22T08:38:00.000-08:00

by CJ Mahaney

The days before Christmas can be a tiring season of preparation, planning, shopping, and wrapping. But I think as we prepare for the Christmas celebrations, dinners, travel, and gift giving, it’s equally important that we pause and prepare our souls for Christmas.

During this time of year, it may be easy to forget that the bigger purpose behind Bethlehem was Calvary. But the purpose of the manger was realized in the horrors of the cross. The purpose of his birth was his death.

Or to put it more personally: Christmas is necessary because I am a sinner. The incarnation reminds us of our desperate condition before a holy God.

Several years ago WORLD Magazine published a column by William H. Smith with the provocative title, “Christmas is disturbing: Any real understanding of the Christmas messages will disturb anyone” (Dec. 26, 1992).

In part, Smith wrote:

Many people who otherwise ignore God and the church have some religious feeling, or feel they ought to, at this time of the year. So they make their way to a church service or Christmas program. And when they go, they come away feeling vaguely warmed or at least better for having gone, but not disturbed.

Why aren’t people disturbed by Christmas? One reason is our tendency to sanitize the birth narratives. We romanticize the story of Mary and Joseph rather than deal with the painful dilemma they faced when the Lord chose Mary to be the virgin who would conceive her child by the power of the Holy Spirit. We beautify the birth scene, not coming to terms with the stench of the stable, the poverty of the parents, the hostility of Herod. Don’t miss my point. There is something truly comforting and warming about the Christmas story, but it comes from understanding the reality, not from denying it.

Most of us also have not come to terms with the baby in the manger. We sing, “Glory to the newborn King.” But do we truly recognize that the baby lying in the manger is appointed by God to be the King, to be either the Savior or Judge of all people? He is a most threatening person.

Malachi foresaw his coming and said, “But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap.” As long as we can keep him in the manger, and feel the sentimental feelings we have for babies, Jesus doesn’t disturb us. But once we understand that his coming means for every one of us either salvation or condemnation, he disturbs us deeply.

What should be just as disturbing is the awful work Christ had to do to accomplish the salvation of his people. Yet his very name, Jesus, testifies to us of that work.

That baby was born so that “he who had no sin” would become “sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” The baby’s destiny from the moment of his conception was hell—hell in the place of sinners. When I look into the manger, I come away shaken as I realize again that he was born to pay the unbearable penalty for my sins.

That’s the message of Christmas: God reconciled the world to himself through Christ, man’s sin has alienated him from God, and man’s reconciliation with God is possible only through faith in Christ…Christmas is disturbing.

Don’t get me wrong—Christmas should be a wonderful celebration. Properly understood, the message of Christmas confronts before it comforts, it disturbs before it delights.

The purpose of Christ’s birth was to live a sinless life, suffer as our substitute on the cross, satisfy the wrath of God, defeat death, and secure our forgiveness and salvation.

Christmas is about God the Father (the offended party) taking the initiative to send his only begotten son to offer his life as the atoning sacrifice for our sins, so that we might be forgiven for our many sins.

As Smith so fitly concludes his column:

Only those who have been profoundly disturbed to the point of deep repentance are able to receive the tidings of comfort, peace, and joy that Christmas proclaims.

Amen and Merry Christmas!

Turkey Bowl

2009-12-07T09:01:00.000-08:00

Turkey Bowl pics from Nov. 27th in Casa Grande. Thanks for coming out!

Hunting Tiger

2009-12-04T09:12:00.000-08:00

Hunting Tiger Woods
by C.J. Mahaney 12/3/2009 3:10:00 PM
Tiger Woods wants his privacy back.

He wants the media entourage to disappear from his life.

He wants to be left alone so he can manage his personal problems in private.

Not a chance.

The story began unfolding in the early hours of last Friday when he crashed his Cadillac Escalade into a tree and a fire hydrant near his Florida home. He refused to speak with the police about the incident, raising curiosity about the circumstances. The story has now escalated into allegations of marital infidelity, and that generated a blog post from Tiger that stated, “I have let my family down and I regret those transgressions with all of my heart.” This statement by Tiger has led most to believe that the allegations of infidelity are true.

Hunted by the Media

As expected, the allegations of adultery involving a public figure are attracting a media pile-on. This is a big story with a big audience and it’s a story that will not disappear soon. Tiger Woods is being hunted by the media.

But let us make sure we do not join the hunt. A Christian’s response to this story should be distinctly different. We should not be entertained by the news. We should not have a morbid interest in all the details. We should be saddened and sobered. We should pray for this man and even more for his wife.

And we can be sure that in the coming days we will be in conversations with friends and family where this topic will emerge. And when it does, we can avoid simply listening to the latest details and speculations, and avoid speaking self-righteously, but instead we can humbly draw attention to the grace of God in the gospel.

Hunted by Sin

But Tiger is being hunted by something more menacing than journalists. Tiger’s real enemy is his sin, and that’s an enemy much more difficult to discern and one that can’t be managed in our own strength. It’s an enemy that never sleeps.

Let me explain.

Sin Lies

The Bible in general, and the book of Proverbs in particular, reveals an unbreakable connection between our character, our conduct, and the consequences of our actions. These three are inseparable and woven by God into His created order.

Deception is part of sin’s DNA. Sin lies to us. It seeks to convince us that sin brings only pleasure, that it carries no consequences, and that no one will discover it. Sin works hard to make us forget that character, conduct, and consequences are interconnected. And when we neglect this relationship—when we think our sins will not be discovered—we ultimately mock God.

Sin Hunts

We’ve all experienced it: Sin lies to us. We take the bait. And then sin begins to hunt us.

One commentator on Proverbs articulated this truth like this: “The irony of a life of rebellion is that we begin by pursuing sin…and end up being pursued by it!….You can ‘be sure your sin will find you out’ (Num. 32:23…).”* In other words, sin comes back to hunt us.

In light of this fact, sin is an enemy Tiger can’t manage. He can’t shape this story like he does a long iron on a par 5. Tiger doesn’t need a publicity facelift; Tiger needs a Savior. Just like me. And just like you. And if by God’s grace he repents and trusts in the person and work of Christ, Tiger will experience the fruit of God’s promise that “whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy” (Proverbs 28:13).

Conclusion

Tiger cannot intimidate this enemy like he can Pebble Beach or any of the field of professional golfers. And there is no privacy he can claim from this enemy, regardless of his resolve, his silence, or the name painted on his yacht. It’s likely Tiger only perceives the press hunting him out of a vain “curiosity about public figures.” But Tiger is being hunted and hounded by a far greater foe: the consequences of his sin.

And this story should humble and sober us. It should make us ask: Are there any so-called “secret sins” in my life? Is there anything I have done that I hope nobody discovers? Is there anything right now in my life that I should confess to God and the appropriate individuals?

And this should leave us more amazed by grace because there, but for the grace of God, go I.

-----------------

*John A. Kitchen, Proverbs (Fearn, Scotland: Mentor, 2006), 294–295.

How to Celebrate Advent

2009-12-03T13:53:00.000-08:00

You can observe the season of Advent in any way that participates in the narrative birth of Jesus and fits your context. Often churches observe this season with a dedicated time given to remembering the glory of Jesus’ birth and praying for his imminent return. They sing hymns and songs to reinforce these truths. They spend time clearing out parts of their lives that have gotten between them and their king.
1. Music

Churches often sing the traditional songs of Advent and Christmas (look up ‘Advent’ and ‘Christmas’ in any traditional hymnal), and so participate with the wider historical church in affirming things like Jesus’ historical and sinless birth, the entrance of God into the world, the implications of his coming, and his promised return.
2. Wreath

Another way that some churches mark the time of this season is with an Advent wreath. The evergreens help to symbolize the new and everlasting life brought through Jesus Christ. The wreath consists of five candles; four candles around the wreath and one white “Christ” candle in the center.

One candle is lit each week with a corresponding Scripture reading until all are lit. The growing light and development of the story progressively reminds us that Jesus is the light of the world that comes into the darkness of our lives to bring newness, life, and hope.

Each candle is typically assigned a specific theme that diverges considerably amongst the various churches. Two common themes are:

* Week 1: Prophecy or Hope
* Week 2: Bethlehem or Peace
* Week 3: Shepherds or Joy
* Week 4: Angels or Love
* Week 5 (Christmas Eve or Day): Christ Jesus

3. Sermons

Advent sermons can cover a variety of topics—as long as they tell the story of Jesus. Mark Driscoll has a helpful post on preaching during the Christmas season.
4. Devotionals

The Advent season is a time when individuals and families want to read about Jesus and his birth. Our church, Christ the King Presbyterian Church, has created two devotionals to help individuals and families do that. You can download them here.
5. Fellowship and Hospitality

People expect to get together around the Christmas holiday. Recognizing Advent allows you to encourage your congregation to gather with one another for times to express their unity in Christ. It also allows you to encourage your congregation to demonstrate Christian hospitality to their neighbors through everything from informal gatherings to formal dinners.
6. Service

People want to serve others during the Christmas season. Advent provides you with an opportunity to love and serve your city—which is a blessing to the city and a way those in your congregation can become more like Jesus, who “came to earth to taste our sadness, he whose glories knew no end; by his life he brings us gladness, our Redeemer, Shepherd, Friend.”

By Elliot Grudem and Bruce Benedict.

Why Advent? pt. 2

2009-12-03T09:42:00.000-08:00

The Scriptures don’t require us to do anything different during the Advent season. Recognizing Advent as individuals, families, or as a church doesn’t make you better or more spiritual than a church that doesn’t recognize Advent.

That said, there are some real advantages for a church to recognize and celebrate the Advent season.
1. It’s Expected

Individuals in your community expect the church to at least recognize something is different during the month of December. Traditions (individual and cultural) form people to observe this holiday season.

Observing Advent can be one of the more subversive acts that a congregation can do. Because our culture still observes the Christmas season, there are a lot of natural connection points between the church and culture during the holiday season. How a church embodies its participation in the time and events of Advent can communicate a lot to the community around them about the importance of the story of Jesus.
2. It Tells the Story about Jesus

During Christmas time, Christians get a bunch of press as they fight over which words and religious symbols the culture must use to recognize the coming of the Prince of Peace. They put on elaborate pageants and concerts to celebrate the king who was born into poverty, in an obscure town, to a couple of young, first-time parents. The story of Jesus can get lost in the celebration.

During Christmas time, those who have little to do with the church gather with family, host elaborate parties, decorate their houses, and give money and presents away. Again, the story of Jesus can get lost in the celebration.

When you celebrate Advent through songs, Scripture readings, sermons, and the Lord’s Supper, you get to tell God’s great story of redemption. You can tell of the need for redemption highlighted throughout the entire Old Testament. You can tell of the coming of Jesus, “born a child and yet a king.” You can tell of how the angels proclaimed and the Magi demonstrated the global implications of Jesus’ birth. You can tell of how his now longed-for second coming will be horror for those who don’t believe and wonder upon wonder for those who do believe.

Advent gives your church a wonderful opportunity to tell the story of redemption from all the Scriptures.
3. It Tells the Whole Story

Advent is about much more than gifts and good deeds. The story isn’t all fun and wonder. There is darkness and gloom. There is longing. There is joy and light. There is redemption and grace. There is judgment and final victory. In a way, recognizing Advent is expected. In another way, it’s counter-cultural.

Advent allows you to both show the horror of sin and the blessings Christ came to make known, “far as the curse is found.” When you recognize the season of Advent over a number of services before Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, you get to talk about these things. You help your people understand why the inbreaking of God’s kingdom through the birth of Jesus is “good news of a great joy that will be for all people” (Luke 2:10).

For example, during Advent you can talk about how to observe the humility of Christ’s birth amidst the gaudy overindulgence of our consumer-frenzied Christmas. You can talk about how crying out, “Come, thou long-expected Jesus” counters our demands for our best life now. You can encourage your people to a global mission as you talk about pagan astrologers who followed a star to worship the one born king of the Jews.

These are a few reasons to recognize Advent. In the next post, we will offer some ways your church can observe the season in a way that participates in the narrative birth of Jesus and fits your context.

To be continued.

By Elliot Grudem and Bruce Benedict.

Learning to Advent pt. 1

2009-12-03T09:41:00.000-08:00

When Jesus was born, the heavens broke wide open and an army of angels sang:

Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!

In announcing Jesus’ birth, the angels said they were bringing “good news of a great joy that will be for all the people.”

Since the fourth century, the church has used the season of Advent as a time to celebrate that “good news of great joy.”
What Is Advent?

The celebration of Advent (which means “coming” or “arrival”) helps us focus our attention on Jesus Christ’s birth and ministry as well as his promised return. It starts the fourth Sunday before Christmas and ends on Christmas Eve.

Celebrating Advent helps us cut through all the distractions of the Christmas season and focus our attention on Jesus Christ’s birth and ministry as well as his promised return. Since we can’t anticipate the day or the hour of Christ’s return, we are filled with both a sense of joyful expectation and humble reverence, with our spiritual focus being on lives of prayer and preparation.

Throughout the season we are constantly reminded that Jesus Christ is the promised Messiah and Savior of the World.
Why Recognize Advent?

The Scriptures don’t require us to do anything different during the Advent season. Recognizing Advent as individuals, families, or as a church doesn’t make you better or more spiritual than a church that doesn’t recognize Advent.

That said, there are some real advantages for a church to recognize and celebrate the Advent season. In the next few posts we will explore reasons to recognize Advent and offer some ways to celebrate it.

To be continued.

By Elliot Grudem and Bruce Benedict.

2009-12-01T09:35:00.001-08:00

Why So Many Words in Worship?

2009-11-05T12:40:00.001-08:00

Why So Many Words in Worship?

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Adoption

2009-10-26T08:51:00.001-07:00

J. I. Packer:

You sum up the whole of New Testament teaching in a single phrase, if you speak of it as a revelation of the Fatherhood of the holy Creator.

In the same way, you sum up the whole of New Testament religion if you describe it as the knowledge of God as one’s holy Father.

If you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he makes of the thought of being God’s child, and having God as his Father.

If this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship and prayers and his whole outlook on life, it means that he does not understand Christianity very well at all.

For everything that Christ taught, everything that makes the New Testament new, and better than the Old, everything that is distinctively Christian as opposed to merely Jewish, is summed up I the knowledge of the Fatherhood of God.

Evangelical Magazine 7, pp. 19-20, cited in Knowing God, p. 201. Packer says on p. 202:

Our understanding of Christianity cannot be better than our grasp of adoption.

Galatians 6

2009-10-25T14:46:00.001-07:00

Galatians 6:2–5 As a Christian, we should sincerely have concern for people. This concern should compel us to speak truth into their life, which can include everything from pointing out sin to giving wise counsel, and intercede for them before God.

Still, as a Christian we cannot take responsibility for everyone and everything for which we have concern. As finite beings, there is only so much we can do and we must discern whom God has called us to help. When we take responsibility for people and things we ought not, we are sinning by taking off someone’s shoulders a load God has called them to carry and sinning against our own health, family, and priorities by offering to carry it for them.

Driscoll says , "I envision that everyone has a backpack with responsibilities that God has given for them to carry. Some people’s backpacks are big, and others are small. Nonetheless, God has called us each to fill up our pack with specific responsibilities. Some people are lazy and try to take things out of their pack and get others to carry them instead. Examples include the able-bodied man who lives with his mom, making her responsible for his housing and food; the lazy employee who cannot keep a job and expects his or her friends and family to always give money; and the irresponsible young women who assumes the government, her family, or a wealthy boyfriend will pay the price for her foolish life choices. Tragically, for many, the whole definition of someone being loving, godly, and spiritual is that they are willing to carry the loads God has called others to carry. This is not ministry. This is co-dependency, co-idolatry, and sin.

At first glance, this Scripture passage seems contradictory. It says that everyone should carry whatever load God has placed in their backpack. It also says that Christians should take some burdens out of the backpacks of some people and carry them out of love. In Greek, the difference is between “load” and “burden.”
A “load” is a light enough pack that one should be expected to carry alone. Practically, this means that the typical person needs to find a job, pay their bills, read the Bible, attend church, pursue Christian friends, pray, repent of sin, share their faith, watch their diet, exercise, and look after themselves and their spouse and children if applicable.

A “burden” is a heavy load that is simply too much for one person to bear without the loving help of Christian friends. Practically, the person with cancer or another debilitating ailment, the mother of young children who is abandoned by her husband, the poor elderly widow who cannot pay her bills, and others like them should not feel guilty for seeking reasonable. Rather, the church exists in part to help lessen their burden by taking some of the financial, emotional, and practical weight out of their pack and carrying it for them.

Are you someone who is expecting too much time, energy, money, and/or investment from people? Which loads do you need to just buck up and carry without whining until someone else does your job? Have you manipulated others’ concern for your load to get them to take on your responsibilities as their burden in the name of loving Christian community?"

Are you weighed down by all the loads you are carrying for others who need to carry their own load? How have you sinned by allowing concerns to become your burden?

GAL 5:6 One way to bear the burdens of those who carry major responsibilities of teaching in the church is to support them financially so that they can be free for prayer and study. Evidently there was some problem with this in Galatia. We don’t know what they were saying, but we do know that of all the burdens Paul could have mentioned, he chose to mention the material burden of those who teach God’s Word.
He had learned the principle from Jesus. When Jesus sent out the 70 to preach, he told them not to take their own food because “the laborer deserves his wages.” Paul picks this up in 1 Timothy 5:17, 18, “Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching; for the scripture says, ‘You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain,’ and, ‘The laborer deserves his wages.’ ” Probably the closest parallel to Galatians 6:6 is 1 Corinthians 9:11 where Paul says, “If we have sown spiritual good among you, is it too much if we reap your material benefits?”

The Ministry of the Word and Giving I see four implications of Galatians 6:6.
1. Teaching the Word of God is essential in the church. We will not know without.
2. Those who carry the main responsibility of teaching need freedom to study and meditate and pray. Teaching, it takes much time and effort.
3. It follows that pastor-teachers should be paid so that they don’t have to do other work to support themselves. Some, like Paul, may renounce this right, but those who are taught the Word ought to be eager to free up their teachers financially.
4. When you give your money to support the teaching ministry, you are fulfilling the law of Christ according to verse 2 (helping bear the teacher’s burden). So when Paul says in verses 9 and 10 that we should do good to all especially to those of the household of faith, he has in mind at least the use of our money to support those who teach us the Word of God.

God Is Not Mocked Verse 7 comes in now to reinforce the command of verse 6. God is mocked when his messengers are treated with scorn (2 Chronicles 36:15, 16).
We honor God and his Word when we take our money, which might have bought us some comfort or security or prestige, and give it to support the ministry of the Word (domestically and on the frontiers). But if we are deceived and think that more happiness comes from spending that money on our private pleasures, then we mock God, and our greed will come crashing back upon us. We will reap what we sow.
Sowing to the Flesh and to the Spirit verse 8 makes clear what is really at stake and gives us hope. What is at stake in your attitude to the teaching of God’s Word and the use of your goods is eternal life? I know that for some that sounds like a return to salvation by works which Paul has demolished in this letter. But it isn’t. Works are the attitudes and actions of a heart that looks to itself for the achievement of virtue, which expects to be credited for its achievement. Nobody can save himself by such works. But love is not a work of the flesh; it is a fruit of the Spirit. There are attitudes toward money and the teaching of God’s Word which cannot continue to coexist with true saving faith in the all-sufficiency of Christ.
The hope of verse 8 is that eternal life can be enjoyed simply by sowing to the Spirit. “He who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.” What does this mean? If you look to “your flesh” to produce fulfillment, you will get corruption. But if you look to the Spirit, you will get life. **When you get your paycheck, do you look to the Spirit for how to turn this money to best advantage for God’s kingdom, or do you invest it in the field of the flesh for private use?

Exulting in Nothing but the Cross. That is very strange. Like: exultation in the electric chair. Exultation in the gas chamber. Exultation in the lethal injection. Exultation in the lynching rope. That is very strange: exultation in the cross. But that is exactly what is being said here.
If you exult in God, you are exulting in the cross of Christ. Why is this the case? Because for redeemed sinners, every good thing—indeed every bad thing that God turns for good—was obtained for us by the cross of Christ. Apart from the death of Christ, sinners get nothing but judgment. Apart from the cross of Christ, there is only condemnation. Therefore, everything that you enjoy in Christ—everything you boast in, everything you exult in—is owing to the death of Christ. And all your exultation in other things is to be an exultation in the cross where all your blessings were purchased for you at the cost of Christ’s life.

We are sinners and, by nature, children of wrath apart from Christ. So, how did we come to have such a gift for our good? Answer: Christ died for our sins on the cross and took away the wrath of God from us and secured for us, even though we don’t deserve it, God’s omnipotent grace that works everything together for our good. So when I exult, I am exulting in the cross of Christ.

Crucified with Christ Look at the rest of verse 14: Boasting in the cross happens when you are on the cross. Is that not what verse 14 says? The world has been crucified to me, and I have been crucified to the world. The world is dead to me, and I am dead to the world. What? We learn to boast in the cross and exult in the cross when we are on the cross.

Now what does that mean? When were you crucified? The answer is in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” When Christ died, we died. That death, that he died for us all, takes effect as our death when we are united to Christ by faith.

Dead to the World And how can you become that radically cross-centered—so that all your exultation is traced back to the cross? Answer: realize that when Christ died on the cross, you died; and when you trusted him, that death took effect in your life.

Meaning: when you put your trust in Christ your bondage to the world is broken, and the overpowering lure of the world is broken. You are a corpse to the world, and the world is a corpse to you. Or to put it positively, according to verse 15, you are a “new creation.” The old you is dead. A new you is alive. And your faith exults in is not the world, but Christ, and especially, Christ crucified.

The world is no longer my treasure. It’s not the source of my satisfaction and my joy. Christ is.

So are you dead to the world? I could be. I hope I am. Because being dead to the world doesn’t mean going out of the world. And it doesn’t mean not feeling things about the world—some negative and some positive (1 John 2:15; 1 Timothy 4:3). It means that every legitimate pleasure in the world becomes a blood-bought evidence of Christ’s Calvary love and an occasion of boasting in the cross.

Galatians 5

2009-10-25T14:41:00.000-07:00

Freedom to Love Galatians 5:1-15 at issue was nothing less than the future of the church at Galatia because unless the people returned to their freedom in Jesus and love for each other it would die a slow, painful, and ugly death as brothers and sisters in Christ feasted upon one another in hate.

Christ Has Set Us Free 5:1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. 2 Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. 3 I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. 4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. 5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.

7 You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? 8 This persuasion is not from him who calls you. 9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump. 10 I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view than mine, and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is. 11 But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed. 12 I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!

13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.
Would you rather eat flesh of Men or Fruit of God?

Spirit and Flesh Galatians 5:16-26 The human problem is not that we do not know good, or that we are incapable of even desiring it. Our problem is that we cannot obtain it because we are mastered by our flesh instead of being lead by the Holy Spirit.

Walk by the Spirit 16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

Listen carefully now. This is utterly important for your life. Yet it is understood by so few. It is possible to undertake the most sacrificial acts and still not please God. Give away all your goods and your own life, too, and come to nothing in God’s eyes. It is possible to be eulogized by the world as the greatest philanthropist or the most devoted martyr and still not please God. Why? Because what pleases God is walking by the Spirit and being led by the Spirit and bearing the fruit of the Spirit! The great problem in Christian living is not learning the right things to do but how to do the right things. The problem is not to discover what love looks like but how to love by the Spirit. For Paul it is absolutely crucial that, if we came to life by the free and sovereign work of the Spirit, we will learn to walk by the free and sovereign work of the Spirit.

Regeneration is monergistic, God's work alone. Sanctification, the process by which we are made holy, is synergistic, God's work with us.

(Gal. 5:1) The Way of a Slave or the Freedom of a Child A slave tries to become acceptable to his master by presenting him valuable service; but the heir trusts that the inheritance of his father is his by virtue. A slave is never quite sure he has done enough to please his master. A son rests in the standing he has by virtue of his birth.

So in 5:1 Paul reminds the Christians that through Christ, God has adopted them into the freedom of a child. They don’t have to work to get into the family. They don’t have to put themselves in the position of slaves any more. Don’t do that, he says. Why do you want to treat God like an employer instead of a Father?

PRODIGAL SON We are like the elder brother in the parable of the prodigal son in Lk 15:25–31. You recall how the father with overflowing grace received the broken, contrite, poverty-stricken younger son. The father didn’t make him a slave to earn his way back into favor.

But what was the response of the elder brother? He would not go into the feast. He answered liked the false teachers in Galatia: Hey, these many years I have SERVED you, and I never disobeyed your command …

The elder brother had the mindset of a slave. And as long as he insisted on treating the commandments of his father as a job description for slaves, he would be cut off from Christ.

Christ is at the feast with broken, forgiven sinners who have learned that their service is utterly inadequate. And he invites you to forsake the mindset of a slave and accept the gift of adoption. “To as many as received him to them gave the power to become children of God” (John 1:12).

5:2–3. Rabbis said that the law was a whole, and one had to keep all of it; rejecting any part of it was tantamount to rejecting the whole thing.

5:4. Although most Jews believed that they were born into the covenant by virtue of being Jewish, they recognized that one could be cut off from the covenant by disobey it. But because salvation is only by Christ, Paul declares that seeking it any other way leads to being “cut off”.

5:5–6. The heart which is acceptable to God is not one which depends on its works—whether right wing circumcision or left wing uncircumcision—but rather one which trusts so fully in God’s grace that the result is a life of love. Love is an essential part of the process of salvation. It is not optional whether you love one another. No one can say, “I am saved by faith regardless of whether I love people or not.” For the only faith which saves is “faith working through love”. Saving faith always gives rise to love and love gives evidence of genuine faith.

5:7–8. Ancient writers often compared the moral life to running a race. Paul here speaks of someone “cutting in”, which throws the runners off balance and perhaps out of the race.

5:11. If Paul were simply converting Gentiles to Judaism in the ordinary manner (circumcision for the men, baptism for both men and women), he would not be experiencing Jewish opposition—to which his opponents in Galatia have succumbed (6:12–13).

5:12. “cut off” could mean to cut themselves off from the community, but most think Paul is saying, “While trying to circumcise others, I hope the knife slips and they cut off themselves.”

5:13–14. Paul prefers this summary because this was the summary Jesus offered (Mk 12:31).

5:15. The ancients used the metaphor of being eaten by others as a grotesque description of inconceivable wickedness (cannibalism horrified ancient sensitivities even more than now).

The main point of the text is, “through love be servants of one another.” If you do this, you fulfill the whole law; if you don’t, you destroy yourselves. We are called in our freedom to desire and seek the happiness of others with the same zeal that we seek our own.

5:16. How do you allow the Spirit to control you? I want to try to show you that the answer is, you allow the Spirit to control you by keeping your heart happy in God. The Spirit reigns over the flesh in your life when you live by faith in the Son of God who loved you and gave himself for you and now is working everything together for your good.

How, then, do we walk by the Spirit? The answer is plain. We stop trying to fill the emptiness of our lives with a hundred pieces of world, and put our souls at rest in God. The Spirit will work the miracle of renewal in your life when you start meditating on his unspeakable promises day and night and resting in them.

5:17. “Flesh” is human weakness and mortality, and means the best (or worst) anyone can do in himself or herself. Because flesh has nothing in common with God’s power, one can be either a person of the Spirit (a Christian) or a person of the flesh (one who runs his or her own life without depending on God); one cannot have it both ways (5:16, 18).

5:18. Philosophers often said that the wise man needed no laws, because he would simply choose to do what was right by the law written in his heart; the Old Testament also speaks of the law’s being written in one’s heart, a benefit of the new covenant (Jer 31:31–34).

5:19–21. Paul sets up what your flesh is capable of (best).

5:22-23.The Spirit fights against sin not merely in defense but also in attack by producing in Christians the positive attributes of godly character, all of which are evident in Jesus in the Gospels. Love appears first because it is the greatest quality in that it most clearly reflects the character of God. Joy comes in at a close second, for in rejoicing in God's salvation. Christians show that their affections are rightly placed in God's will and his purpose. Peace is the product of God having reconciled sinners to himself, so that they are no longer his enemies, which should result in confidence and freedom in approaching God. Patience shows that Christians are following God's plan and timetable rather than their own. Kindness means showing goodness, generosity, and sympathy toward others. Goodness means working for the benefit of others, not oneself. Faithfulness means consistently doing what one says one will do. Gentleness is a quality Jesus attributes to himself in Matt. 11:29; it enables people to find rest in him and to encourage and strengthen others. Self-control is the discipline given by the Holy Spirit that allows Christians to resist the power of the flesh. Against such things there is no law, and therefore those who manifest them are fulfilling the law.

5:24. Paul nearly always uses verbs in the past tense for this death; one does not die to sin gradually by works, but one accepts one’s completed righteousness by faith and learns to live accordingly (5:19–23).

5:25. “walking by the Spirit” is something the Holy Spirit enables us to do by producing in us strong desires that accord with God’s will. This is what God said he would do in Ezekiel 36:26, 27: A new heart I will give you and a new spirit I will put within you … I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes. Thus when we “walk by the Spirit,” we experience the fulfillment of this prophecy. The Holy Spirit produces in us desires for God’s way that are stronger than our fleshly desires, and thus he causes us to walk in God’s statutes.

5:26. Paul returns (5:15) to a call to harmony. Eat the fruit of the spirit, not the flesh of circumcision.

Prodgial God

2009-10-23T10:45:00.000-07:00

We will study Luke 15 for the next few weeks. Hope you can come.

John Stott

2009-10-23T10:22:00.001-07:00

John Stott, writing 27 years ago (I Believe in Preaching, p. 69):

It is difficult to imagine the world in the year A.D. 2000, by which time versatile micro-processors are likely to be as common as simple calculators are today.

We should certainly welcome the fact that the silicon chip will transcend human brain-power, as the machine has transcended human muscle-power.

Much less welcome will be the probable reduction of human contact as the new electronic network renders personal relationships ever less necessary.

In such a dehumanized society the fellowship of the local church will become increasingly important, whose members meet one another, and talk and listen to one another in person rather than on screen. In this human context of mutual love the speaking and hearing of the Word of God is also likely to become more necessary for the preservation of our humanness, not less.

DCB Concert

2009-09-21T11:38:00.000-07:00

So, for the show on Oct. 9th I didn't get front row.(bummer, I know...)But, I didn't let you down...DCB has given me some backstage passes for an after party with them. Let me know if you're interested!

New Website...

2009-09-21T11:35:00.002-07:00

It's almost here! it should be up sometime this week at monumentbiblechurch.org

Galatians 2

2009-09-21T11:35:00.001-07:00

Paul Accepted by the Apostles

2:1 Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. 2 I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those who seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain. 3 But even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. 4 Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in—who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery— 5 to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. 6 And from those who seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)—those, I say, who seemed influential added nothing to me. 7 On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised 8 (for he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles), 9 and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. 10 Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.
Paul Opposes Peter

11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. 13 And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. 14 But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”
Justified by Faith

15 We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; 16 yet we know that a person is not justified [1] by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

17 But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! 18 For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. 19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness [2] were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.

Galatians 1

2009-09-15T08:26:00.000-07:00

Don't confuse the gospel with religion
To prevent doing this, talk about Jesus (who he is and what he has done) all the time. If you don't, students will think Christianity is really about something else, like morality, philosophy, piety, social justice, or a religious experience. If you start talking more about what they should do instead of what Jesus has done, you're preaching another gospel (Gal. 1:6-9), which is to put heavy burdens on them (Matt. 23:2-4).

Galatians

2009-09-10T08:33:00.000-07:00

It's back to church Sunday this week! School's in, fall shows are starting, and Football is back. So, that must mean EVERYONE is back to fall schedule, which includes for many going back to church. Invite a friend this Sunday! We are starting a new book series on Galatians.

nehemiah 11

2009-08-19T20:20:00.000-07:00

The Leaders in Jerusalem

11:1 Now the leaders of the people lived in Jerusalem. And the rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of ten to live in Jerusalem the holy city, while nine out of ten [1] remained in the other towns. 2 And the people blessed all the men who willingly offered to live in Jerusalem.

3 These are the chiefs of the province who lived in Jerusalem; but in the towns of Judah everyone lived on his property in their towns: Israel, the priests, the Levites, the temple servants, and the descendants of Solomon's servants. 4 And in Jerusalem lived certain of the sons of Judah and of the sons of Benjamin. Of the sons of Judah: Athaiah the son of Uzziah, son of Zechariah, son of Amariah, son of Shephatiah, son of Mahalalel, of the sons of Perez; 5 and Maaseiah the son of Baruch, son of Col-hozeh, son of Hazaiah, son of Adaiah, son of Joiarib, son of Zechariah, son of the Shilonite. 6 All the sons of Perez who lived in Jerusalem were 468 valiant men.

7 And these are the sons of Benjamin: Sallu the son of Meshullam, son of Joed, son of Pedaiah, son of Kolaiah, son of Maaseiah, son of Ithiel, son of Jeshaiah, 8 and his brothers, men of valor, 928. [2] 9 Joel the son of Zichri was their overseer; and Judah the son of Hassenuah was second over the city.

10 Of the priests: Jedaiah the son of Joiarib, Jachin, 11 Seraiah the son of Hilkiah, son of Meshullam, son of Zadok, son of Meraioth, son of Ahitub, ruler of the house of God, 12 and their brothers who did the work of the house, 822; and Adaiah the son of Jeroham, son of Pelaliah, son of Amzi, son of Zechariah, son of Pashhur, son of Malchijah, 13 and his brothers, heads of fathers' houses, 242; and Amashsai, the son of Azarel, son of Ahzai, son of Meshillemoth, son of Immer, 14 and their brothers, mighty men of valor, 128; their overseer was Zabdiel the son of Haggedolim.

15 And of the Levites: Shemaiah the son of Hasshub, son of Azrikam, son of Hashabiah, son of Bunni; 16 and Shabbethai and Jozabad, of the chiefs of the Levites, who were over the outside work of the house of God; 17 and Mattaniah the son of Mica, son of Zabdi, son of Asaph, who was the leader of the praise, [3] who gave thanks, and Bakbukiah, the second among his brothers; and Abda the son of Shammua, son of Galal, son of Jeduthun. 18 All the Levites in the holy city were 284.

19 The gatekeepers, Akkub, Talmon and their brothers, who kept watch at the gates, were 172. 20 And the rest of Israel, and of the priests and the Levites, were in all the towns of Judah, every one in his inheritance. 21 But the temple servants lived on Ophel; and Ziha and Gishpa were over the temple servants.

22 The overseer of the Levites in Jerusalem was Uzzi the son of Bani, son of Hashabiah, son of Mattaniah, son of Mica, of the sons of Asaph, the singers, over the work of the house of God. 23 For there was a command from the king concerning them, and a fixed provision for the singers, as every day required. 24 And Pethahiah the son of Meshezabel, of the sons of Zerah the son of Judah, was at the king's side [4] in all matters concerning the people.
Villages Outside Jerusalem

25 And as for the villages, with their fields, some of the people of Judah lived in Kiriath-arba and its villages, and in Dibon and its villages, and in Jekabzeel and its villages, 26 and in Jeshua and in Moladah and Beth-pelet, 27 in Hazar-shual, in Beersheba and its villages, 28 in Ziklag, in Meconah and its villages, 29 in En-rimmon, in Zorah, in Jarmuth, 30 Zanoah, Adullam, and their villages, Lachish and its fields, and Azekah and its villages. So they encamped from Beersheba to the Valley of Hinnom. 31 The people of Benjamin also lived from Geba onward, at Michmash, Aija, Bethel and its villages, 32 Anathoth, Nob, Ananiah, 33 Hazor, Ramah, Gittaim, 34 Hadid, Zeboim, Neballat, 35 Lod, and Ono, the valley of craftsmen. 36 And certain divisions of the Levites in Judah were assigned to Benjamin.

Good Parenting Resources

2009-07-23T08:47:00.000-07:00

http://theologica.blogspot.com/2009/07/parenting-seminars.html

MP3 files and PDFs below from various parenting seminars hosted at Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, MD:

Parenting Ages Infant to 5 (by Brian Chesemore)

* Training, Discipline, and the Rod | Outline (PDF)
* Biblical Principles of Parenting | Outline (PDF)

Parenting Ages 6 to 10 (by Kenneth Maresco)

Overall Outline (PDF)

* Biblical Principles of Parenting
* Shepherding Toward Conversion
* Shepherding Your Child’s Heart

Additional Resources:

* “Sowing Plan” (PDF)
* Plan to Overcome Complaining (PDF)

Parenting Ages 11 to 14 (by Greg Somerville)

Overall Outline (PDF)

* Changing Relationships
* Emerging Convictions in a Changing World
* Changing Bodies and Minds

Parenting Ages 15 to 18 (by Kenneth Maresco)

Overall Outline (PDF)

* God’s Role and Our Role
* A Teen’s Relationship with God
* The Importance of Relationships in a Teen’s Life
* Question and Answer Session

Parenting Ages 19 to 22 (by Bob Kauflin)

Overall Outline (PDF)

* Hopes and Goals
* Rules and Relationships
* College and Careers
* Question and Answer Session

New LOGO

2009-07-22T10:13:00.000-07:00

So, Whatcha think? It's fresh, but keeps the original look. Hopefully, you will be seeing it everywhere.

Between Two Worlds

2009-07-09T08:25:00.001-07:00

I thought this was really relevant to last weeks sermon that dealt with anger.
-James

Between Two Worlds

Posted using ShareThis

Tripp: Christ Died to Make You Good and Angry at the Same Time
Paul Tripp, A Quest for More, pp. 190-191:

It is true that most of our anger is dangerous and destructive. This is because it is idolatrous anger. I do not get angry because of your brokenness or the world's brokenness, but because in your brokenness you get in the way of what I crave! On the cross, Christ died to free us from this kind of anger, but not from anger. . . .

Jesus died to produce a culture of people who are so in love with him, so committed to his righteous cause, and so distressed by what sin has done to them and their world, that they cannot help but be angry every day. This is not the old, selfish, unholy anger. These people are good and angry at the same time.

This new anger is an unquenchable zeal for God's cause and an uncompromising distaste for sin.

It is the anger of compassion that cannot help but seek to relieve people who are suffering from sin's damage.

It is the anger of mercy that responds to the foolishness of sin with understanding and grace.

It is the anger of restoration that refuses to condemn, but believes that rebels can be built into the likeness of Jesus.

It is the anger of service that finds delight in helping burdened pilgrims bear their load.

It is the anger of peace that hates division that sin has birthed in our world and does everything that can be done to restore harmony.

It is the anger of forgiveness that hates sin's guilt and despises its shame.

Jesus died not only to free you from your anger, but to enable you to take up his righteous anger.

He died so that you would not rage inside because people and circumstances loom as constant obstacles to the realization of your little kingdom cravings.

He died so that you would not be captive to the self-absorbed anger of your claustrophobic little kingdom.

He died so that you would be angry with sin and the way it has harmed you and everyone around you.

He died so that you would be angry at the way sin has damaged the world you live in.

He died so that your anger would be holy and pleasing to him.

He died so that your anger would propel you to act in deeds of mercy, love, forgiveness, compassion, restoration, and peace.

(Emphasis and spacing breaks mine.)

For more, check out Tripp's seminar, How to Be Good and Angry (DVD or CD).

2009-07-06T19:31:00.000-07:00

Intro: Wealth and Worship is our first topic, Scripture has more than 800 verses on the subject of money. Jesus had a lot to say about money. Roughly 25% of his teaching was on money, including how money reflects our hearts priorities and how someone cannot worship God and money. (Matt. 6:19-24) Nehemiah’s eyes are opened to the oppression of the poor around him and he is convicted to confess his own sin and call those also doing injustice to repent and seek restitution.

The Outcry: Ne 5:1-5. As people are sacrificing their time and lively hood to rebuild the wall for the good of the city, others are taking advantage of them while at the same time benefiting from their labor.

• How has building the wall made people vulnerable to being taken advantage of?
• Where do you see examples of that in the city today? In the church as a whole?
• In what ways can we be the cause of internal fighting that distracts us from the mission?
• How do we prevent this from happening? (Eph 4:2,3, Heb. 10:23-25)

5:1 Now there arose a great outcry of the people and of their wives against their Jewish brothers. 2 For there were those who said, “With our sons and our daughters, we are many. So let us get grain, that we may eat and keep alive.” 3 There were also those who said, “We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards, and our houses to get grain because of the famine.” 4 And there were those who said, “We have borrowed money for the king's tax on our fields and our vineyards. 5 Now our flesh is as the flesh of our brothers, our children are as their children. Yet we are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves and some of our daughters have already been enslaved, but it is not in our power to help it, for other men have our fields and our vineyards.”

Righteous Anger: Nehemiah 5:6-8
• Think about the response of Nehemiah to the injustice he sees?
• Does it bother you that Nehemiah become angry? Why or why not?
• What makes you angry?
• What is the difference between righteous anger and anger that is sin?

6 I was very angry when I heard their outcry and these words. 7 I took counsel with myself, and I brought charges against the nobles and the officials. I said to them, “You are exacting interest, each from his brother.” And I held a great assembly against them 8 and said to them, “We, as far as we are able, have bought back our Jewish brothers who have been sold to the nations, but you even sell your brothers that they may be sold to us!” They were silent and could not find a word to say.

Repentance: Nehemiah 5:9-13
• What does Nehemiah do to right the injustice he sees?
• How does he practice what he preaches?
• What do you think enables the nobles to respond the way they did?
• What does that tell us about transforming the city for Jesus?
• What should we do with our righteous anger for the examples we see above?

9 So I said, “The thing that you are doing is not good. Ought you not to walk in the fear of our God to prevent the taunts of the nations our enemies? 10 Moreover, I and my brothers and my servants are lending them money and grain. Let us abandon this exacting of interest. 11 Return to them this very day their fields, their vineyards, their olive orchards, and their houses, and the percentage of money, grain, wine, and oil that you have been exacting from them.” 12 Then they said, “We will restore these and require nothing from them. We will do as you say.” And I called the priests and made them swear to do as they had promised. 13 I also shook out the fold of my garment and said, “So may God shake out every man from his house and from his labor who does not keep this promise. So may he be shaken out and emptied.” And all the assembly said “Amen” and praised the Lord. And the people did as they had promised.

Humility and Hospitality: Nehemiah leads by example through his repentance, the sacrifices he makes for the sake of his mission, and his desire to honor God. This short passage in Nehemiah shows, through the actions of Nehemiah, the humble character of leaders that God calls to accomplish His purposes.

An Example of Leadership: Nehemiah 5:14-19 Note that Nehemiah is not boasting but rather calling leaders to his example of compassion and care for the people.
• If you were to be honest, where do you find your security and hope?
• What does it mean for you to live by the integrity of Nehemiah?
• What privileges or rights are you willing to set aside for the sake of the kingdom?
• Can you think of an example where you did this?
• What does it mean to you to bear the cost of the Gospel out of your own pocket?
• Would you be comfortable praying the prayer in verse 19? Why or why not?

14 Moreover, from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year to the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes the king, twelve years, neither I nor my brothers ate the food allowance of the governor. 15 The former governors who were before me laid heavy burdens on the people and took from them for their daily ration forty shekels of silver. Even their servants lorded it over the people. But I did not do so, because of the fear of God. 16 I also persevered in the work on this wall, and we acquired no land, and all my servants were gathered there for the work. 17 Moreover, there were at my table 150 men, Jews and officials, besides those who came to us from the nations that were around us. 18 Now what was prepared at my expense for each day was one ox and six choice sheep and birds, and every ten days all kinds of wine in abundance. Yet for all this I did not demand the food allowance of the governor, because the service was too heavy on this people. 19 Remember for my good, O my God, all that I have done for this people.

1. A great cry (Neh. 5:1–5) In the midst of a “great work” for a “great God”, a “great cry” (5:1) was heard. They were crying against their own people!, and the economic situation had become so desperate that even the wives (who usually kept silent) were joining in the protest.
Four different groups of people were involved in this crisis.
1. There were the people who owned no land but who needed food (v. 2).
2. Landowners who had mortgaged their property in order to buy food (v. 3).
3. Debtors borrow money (v. 4).
4. The wealthy Jews who were exploiting their own brothers and sisters by loaning them money and taking their lands and their children for collateral (Lev. 25:39–40).

2. Repentance (Neh. 5:6–13) It is one thing to confront foreign enemies and quite something else to deal with your own people. A young Moses learned that it was easier to dispose of an Egyptian master than to reconcile two Jewish brothers (Ex. 2:11–15). Nehemiah showed true leadership in his responses.

1. Anger (Neh. 5:6). This was not the flaring up of a sinful temper but the expression of righteous indignation at the way the businessmen were oppressing their brothers and sisters. Moses expressed this kind of holy anger when he broke the stone tables of Law (Ex. 32), and so did Jesus when He saw the hardening of the Pharisees’ hearts (Mark 3:5).

2. Consultation (Neh. 5:7). Nehemiah put his heart and his head together as he pondered the problem and sought God’s direction. “He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty” (Pr. 16:32). If a leader can’t control himself, he will never control others successfully.

3. Rebuke (Neh. 5:7–11). Nehemiah’s rebuke consisted of six different appeals.
a. He appealed to their love by reminding them they were robbing their own brothers (7).
b. His appeal was based solidly on the Word of God, for the Law of Moses forbade Jews to exact interest from one another. The Bible has a lot to say about the use of money.
c. He reminded them of God’s redemptive purpose for Israel (Neh. 5:8). In the past, God redeemed Israel from Egypt; and recently, He had redeemed them from Babylon. Their selfishness put both themselves and their creditors into bondage.
d. He appealed to Israel’s witness (v. 9) God calls us to be a “light to the Gentiles”, How could some build the wall on the one hand but enslave their neighbors on the other?
e. He appealed to his own personal practice. Nehemiah practiced what he preached :10–11
f. He appealed to the judgment of the Lord (vv. 12–13). Nehemiah had them take an oath in the presence of the priests. 2 options; worship our wealth or worship with our wealth.

Rather than merely allowing the guilty to repent, Nehemiah demanded that they also practice restitution, a Christian practice that sadly has not been as widely practiced as it should be. If those who had sinned merely repented, the sinning would have stopped, but apart from restitution, the victims would have still remained with devastated lives. It is often not enough to simply say we are sorry to God and others for our sins and sweep it under the rug. We also need to repay and restore what we have stolen and broken. Nehemiah was himself guilty of this same sin, and rather than making excuses, he led by example of repentance and restitution.

3. A great example (Neh. 5:14–19) As children of God, our example is Jesus Christ and not the leaders of this world (Luke 22:23–30). “A cross stands in the way of spiritual leadership,” writes J. Oswald Sanders, “a cross upon which the leader must consent to be impaled”.

• A GODLY LEADER PUTS THE MISSION ABOVE THEIR PERSONAL INTERESTS. It was customary in that day for political leaders, like Ne, to collect additional taxes to increase their own wealth. Some of it was reasonable, to pay a governor a salary, living expenses, staff, a generous budget. Nonetheless, Nehemiah didn’t raise taxes for himself. To do so would have harmed his pastoral witness to the poor, from whom he would have amassed his wealth. The result; Nehemiah willingly denied many of his own personal interests for the sake of the mission.

• A GODLY LEADER MUST BE WILLING TO GIVE THEIR LIFE TO A CAUSE IF THEY HOPE TO SUCCEED. Nehemiah devoted 12 yrs of his life to this project. He demonstrates the simple leadership principle that real change takes time because there are no shortcuts to success. Eugene Peterson calls this kind of leadership “long obedience in the same direction.”

• A GODLY LEADER OFTEN OPENS THEIR HOME TO PRACTICE HOSPITALITY Among his requests to the King, Nehemiah asked that a large home be built for his personal use. While some would criticize him for such a request, we see that he used it as his base of operations and welcomed 150 people there every evening for dinner as a lavish demonstration of hospitality. It is one way the character of God and the gospel can be made visible.

• A GODLY LEADER MUST MAKE GREAT FINANCIAL SACRIFICES TO BEGIN A NEW WORK Not only did Nehemiah forego the usual wealth given a leader, he also paid for all his personal and ministry expenses out of his own pocket. This included formal dinners with high quality meats and wine. He is an example of someone righteous and rich. He spent his money in ways that helped people.

• A GODLY LEADER STORES UP TREASURE IN HEAVEN Jesus Himself taught that the treasures we amass on earth will one day disappear, but through good works done out of a heart of love for God in light of His grace to us, we can store up eternal treasures in heaven (Matt 6:20, Luke 18:22). Nehemiah prays for just that-that God would remember his life and service when he arrives home at heaven one day.

The one true God is an eternal community of father, Son, and Spirit (Matt 28:19) and we were made in His image for friendship and community (Gen 1:27), which explains why it is not good for us to be alone (Gen 2:18). But, because of sin we are separated from God and each other and are strangers to God (Is 59:2, Eph. 2:12). Though Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, however, we are welcomed into friendship with God as Christians and into friendship with fellow Christians as the church. Likewise, when we welcome strangers to become friends, we are living out the doctrines of the gospel and showing God’s grace.

Building upon Nehemiah’s example, the NT says that church elders are to practice hospitality (1 Tim 3:2), and that their example is to be followed by all Christians (1 Peter 4:9). Futhermore, hospitaltiy is menat to be extended to family (1 Tim 5:8), friends (Prov. 27:10), Christians (Gal 6:10), and non-christians (Lev. 19:34) In Bowling Alone, Harvard prof chronicles the national demise of hospitality, community, and friendship over the past 20 yrs:
• The social activity of playing cards together is down 25%
• The frequenting of bars, nightclubs, and taverns is down 40%
• The # of full service restaurants is down 50%, but fast food is up 100%, as more people eat alone
• Having a social evening with someone from your neighborhood is down 33%
• Family dinners is down 33%
• Having friends over to your home down 45%
• Making new friends is down 33%

Missional communities are the primary way we connect with others and live our lives on mission. WHAT IS A MISSIONAL COMMUNITY? It consists of a core of believers (10-20 PEOPLE) who live out the mission of God together in a specific area by demonstrating the gospel in tangible forms.

Each missional community meets regularly to eat, learn, pray and be together on mission, living out the Gospel in real and tangible expressions. To clarify, a Missional Community is NOT primarily a small group, Bible study, support group, social activist group, or weekly meeting.

Our hope is that every person who is committed to the Monument Bible Church mission will be fully involved in a missional community and eventually the missional communities in a region will multiply and together form a new (Church plant).

EACH MISSIONAL COMMUNITY WILL:
1. Be led by a missionary committed to leading, shepherding, equipping a community on mission.
2. Grow together in understanding and application of the Gospel to who we are.
3. Live out the week as a family on mission together (Listen, Celebrate, Eat, Bless and Serve)
4. Identify, equip and release new leadership to begin new Missional Communities.

IN CONCLUSION: Nehemiah emulates the same principles as the greatest leader in history of the world, our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus humbly entered history to suffer and die and thus put the MISSION of our salvation above His own personal interests. Jesus left the wealth of heaven and made great sacrifices to minister free of charge while on earth. He lived a life of poverty. Jesus gave His life for the cause of our salvation because that is what success required. Jesus often enjoyed hospitality during His life on earth; He ate the last Supper with His disciples and instituted The Lord’s Table for us to partake of until, we are welcomed into His heavenly home to enjoy His hospitality at the wedding supper of the Lamb (Rev 19), which will have the best meats and wines (Isa 25:6). On that day, Nehemiah and those who serve God faithfully also will be rewarded according to their deeds. (Matt 25:31-36). In this we see that God honors the humble who give their lives to Him and to others.

Ne 4: Workers and Warriors

2009-06-29T19:43:00.000-07:00

The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because they are generally the same people.”- Chesterton

As long as the people in Jerusalem were content with their sad lot, the enemy left them alone; but, when the Jews began to serve the Lord and bring glory to God’s name, the enemy became active. Satan wanted to use problems as weapons to destroy the work, but God used them as tools to build His people.
Referring to Satan, Paul wrote, “For we are not ignorant of his devices” (2 Cor. 2:11). This chapter presents four of Satan’s devices for opposing the Lord’s work, and it also tells us how God’s people can be steadfast and defeat the enemy. If you start building, you will soon be battling; so, be prepared!

TAUNTS: 4:1-6 Think about the taunts and Nehemiah’s response. How do they attempt to undermine their resolve? Where have you faced mockery in your life as you tried to live for Jesus? Who mocked you? Why where they angry? What emotions do you struggle with during?

4:1 Now when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry and greatly enraged, and he jeered at the Jews. 2 And he said in the presence of his brothers and of the army of Samaria, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they restore it for themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they finish up in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, and burned ones at that?” 3 Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, “Yes, what they are building—if a fox goes up on it he will break down their stone wall!” 4 Hear, O our God, for we are despised. Turn back their taunt on their own heads and give them up to be plundered in a land where they are captives. 5 Do not cover their guilt, and let not their sin be blotted out from your sight, for they have provoked you to anger in the presence of the builders. 6 So we built the wall. And all the wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.

PLOT 4:7-10 Here we see that the response of the people to trust God and continue work on the wall continues to anger the enemies of Gods work. Consider the response to the rumors of their enemies plotting to attack. Where have you felt rumors and plotting against the church or in your personal life? How do these rumors affect your resolve?

7 But when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabs and the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem was going forward and that the breaches were beginning to be closed, they were very angry. 8 And they all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it. 9 And we prayed to our God and set a guard as a protection against them day and night. 10 In Judah it was said, “The strength of those who bear the burdens is failing. There is too much rubble. By ourselves we will not be able to rebuild the wall.”

THREATS 4:11-14: At this point there are actual threats against the people of Judah. Now those friends and family who didn’t volunteer to help are urging to stop the work out of real concern for their safety. Have you ever felt threatened for your faith? Where have you experienced the pressure from friends or family? Does remembering God and his attributes give you courage for living a life in Christ against opposition?

11 And our enemies said, “They will not know or see till we come among them and kill them and stop the work.” 12 At that time the Jews who lived near them came from all directions and said to us ten times, “You must return to us.” 13 So in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in open places, I stationed the people by their clans, with their swords, their spears, and their bows. 14 And I looked and arose and said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.”

On Guard: 4:15-18 Consider what it must have felt like to work under the threat of war at any moment. How do you think it would feel to work under that kind of pressure? How does a heightened sense of danger help in building the wall? What dangers do YOU face when you put down your sword to work, your protection to pray?

15 When our enemies hear that it was known to us and that God had frustrated their plan, we all returned to the wall, each to his work. 16 From that day on, half of my servants worked on construction, and half held the spears, shields, bows, and coats of mail. And the leaders stood behind the whole house of Judah, 17 who were building on the wall. Those who carried burdens were loaded in such a way that each labored on the work with one hand and held his weapon with the other. 18 And each of the builders had his sword strapped at his side while he built. The man who sounded the trumpet was beside me.

Rally Cry: 4:19-20 (read Gal 6:1-10) What’s the purpose of the trumpet? How does this correlate with you belonging to a church body? Do we practically rally to thwarts of attacks on the church? When we rally for one another where does our courage and strength come from? How does this affect your understanding of community? How does that excite or discourage you from being a part of community?

19 And I said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “The work is great and widely spread, and we are separated on the wall, far from one another. 20 In the place where you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us.”

Be Prepared: 4:21-23 Are you prepared for spiritual battle? Why were the workers sleeping on the wall? How do you live out these principles in your call to build the kingdom of God? When have you not been prepared? What did it look like? What was the consequence?

21 So we labored at the work, and half of them held the spears from the break of dawn until the stars came out. 22 I also said to the people at that time, “Let every man and his servant pass the night within Jerusalem, that they may be a guard for us by night and may labor by day.” 23 So neither I nor my brothers nor my servants nor the men of the guard who followed me, none of us took off our clothes; each kept his weapon at his right hand.

TROWL: What has God burdened you to build?
1. A Spiritual Life?
2. A Marriage?
3. Children?
4. Business?
5. Ministry?

SWORD: How can you best defend what you are building?
1. A Spiritual Life?
a. Defending against apathy with a vision to glorify God in all things
b. Defending against false teaching with study
c. Defending against demonic attack with prayer
d. Defending against isolation with meaningful Christian friendships
2. A Marriage?
a. Defending against division with a unified theology
b. Defending against temptation with accountability and regular intimacy
c. Defending against folly with wise friendships
d. Defending against bitterness with forgiving grace
3. Children?
a. Defending against danger by carefully choosing who has access to you children
b. Defending your daughters by fighting for their purity
c. Defending your sons by fighting for their masculine dignity
d. Defending against financial ruin by saving, investing, and insuring.
4. Business?
a. Defending against law suits with good bookkeeping and records
b. Defending against employee turnover and theft with adequate hiring, fair compensation, and respect.
c. Defending against purposelessness by connecting your business to a meaningful kingdom purpose
5. Ministry?
a. Defending against sin by modeling and proclaiming repentance
b. Defending against false teachers by fighting for the truth
c. Defending against insufficient funds with generous tithing.
d. Defending against distractions and competing agendas with a clear focus on Jesus.

How to Become a Member at Monument Bible Church

2009-06-28T08:22:00.000-07:00

How to Become a Member at Monument Bible Church
Sunday, July 5th @ 5pm in the Cafeteria.

This class meets for 1 hour before church. Becoming a member is a three-step process:
1. Connect

Sign up for a class, tell us who you are, and learn what we believe.
2. Covenant

Affirm our doctrine and the expectations of membership.
3. Conversation

Meet with an Elder for the final membership interview.

Easily Edified

2009-06-22T09:45:00.000-07:00

Easily edified.

Isn't that a wonderful goal--a sign of good mental health and genuine obedience of faith?

I'm afraid that far too often an accurate assessment of myself would reveal:

* easily annoyed
* easily irritated
* easily impatient
* easily hurt
* easily angered
* easily distracted
* easily arrogant

But wouldn't it be great if those who knew us best could honestly say, "It is so easy to edify him. It doesn't take much. It doesn't need to be the best sermon ever preached or the most excellent song ever composed or the most powerful book ever written or the most theologically eloquent statement ever uttered. Just the simplest truth was enough to refresh his heart in Christ."

Not a bad way to pray--for ourselves and for others.

Nehemiah 3

2009-06-21T08:34:00.002-07:00

1. The purpose of the work
Nehemiah was concerned about only one thing, the glory of God. “Let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach” (2:17). The Gentiles delighted in mocking their Jewish neighbors by pointing out the dilapidated condition of Jerusalem. If God loved Jerusalem so much, why were the walls in ruin and the gates burned? Why didn’t the Jews do something?
For the most part, the world today ignores the church. If it does pay any attention to the church, it is usually to condemn or mock. Whether Christians like it or not, we are living in a day of reproach when “the glory has departed” (1 Sam. 4:21).
The purpose of all ministry is the glory of God. The words of Jesus in His priestly prayer ought to be the motivating force in all Christian ministry: “I have glorified Thee on the earth; I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do” (John 17:4). God has a special task for each of His children (Eph. 2:10); and in the humble, faithful doing of that task, we glorify His name.
Of course, the rebuilding of the walls also meant protection for the people. Jerusalem was surrounded by enemies. We need to accept the size of the mission God has set before us. We need to build the church as a city within the city.

2. The pattern of the work 38 individual workers are named in this chapter, and 42 different groups are identified, each worker was assigned a place and a task.
1. Work needs to be distributed amongst all. Nehemiah constructs teams to work together, “you work on this neighborhood, this gate, this part of the wall.
2. These teams are built around pre existing relationships. Family, friends, co-workers
3. These teams are unified, Theologically, all love the same God
4. These teams have missiological unity; all want to accomplish the same task
5. These teams have relational unity; all know and love each other
6. The bigger the organization, the more trust that is needed. Trust is gained slowly, and lost quickly. We need trustworthy people to lead the mission. Unity is important. Jesus prayed for it. It’s a big deal. WORK on your aspect of the mission. Focus on your gate.
7. Nehemiah Connects air war to the ground war
a. Air War: Preaching , Worship, Website, info to the masses
b. Ground War: Leadership classes, Community groups, Accountably groups
c. Without a ground war we will no transformation. Nehemiah builds teams, deputizes leaders, assigns them to projects, give them a specialization, then connected his air war and ground war.
d. Some of us are just part of the air war, we come to church, we listen to the sermon but were not plugged in. Not a member, partner, or community member.
e. We want to build our ground war. Air war is OK, ground war is hurting.
f. We need to be doing the “one another’s” of the New Testament.
8. Nehemiah works on the organization
a. Leadership development, management, systems,
b. If you take someone to a ship, who is the most important? Boat builder.
c. With bad budget, vision, mission, facilities, systems, the boat will sink.
9. Nehemiah looks for old stones
a. Used the ruined stones, 141 yrs, to rebuild the walls.
b. Old buildings, land, and we can turn them into churches
c. Mature Christians, who have been there, done that. Need examples or Christian parents.
10. All work is Holy
a. These people are picking up rocks, what are they doing? Ministry.
b. Anyone who knows God is in full time ministry.
c. Whatever you do, do it for the glory of God.
d. Jesus carpenter 30 yrs, holy. Last 3 yrs was Holy. It was all pleasing the father.

3. The people in the work
God uses all kinds of people. The chapter mentions rulers and priests (vv. 1, 12–19), men and women (v. 12), professional craftsmen (vv. 8, 32), and even people from outside the city (vv. 2, 5, 7). There was a place for everyone, and a job for everyone to do.
1. God works thru people
a. Is he using them?, no he loves them. He wants us to share in his joy.
b. God is our father, and when we labor with our dad it’s a joy.
c. God loves to take his kids to work, so that we can share in his joy.
Leaders must set the example (Neh. 3:1). That the high priest used his consecrated hands to do manual labor shows that he considered the work on the wall to be a ministry to the Lord. “whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31). Eliashib enlisted the other priests to work at the sheep gate. Since the sacrifices came into the city that way, the priests would be especially interested in that part of the project.
Sad to say, Eliashib did not remain true to his calling (Neh. 13:4–9). Some people who enthusiastically begin their work may drop out or turn against it for one reason or another.
Leaders must lead
a. Pastors are the ones who go 1st. No lazy pastors
b. Don’t ask your people to do what you are unwilling to do yourself.
c. Where is your humility? Jesus came to serve, became a slave, got on his hands and knees even for his betrayer Judas.
d. God opposes the proud. God economy = humility, not pride.
Some people will not work (Neh. 3:5). The nobles refused to work. Were these “aristocrats” so important that they couldn’t do manual labor? Yet Paul was a tentmaker (Acts 18:3), and Jesus was a carpenter (Mark 6:3). Some people do the dirty job. Dung gate, hauling the poop out. A ruler, someone important volunteered, he understood humility.
Some people do more work than others (Neh. 3:11, 19, 21, 24, 27, 30). Most workers are glad to lay down their tools when their job is finished, but these people asked for additional assignments. It isn’t enough for us to say that we have done as much as others; we must do as much as we can as long as the Lord enables us. Jesus asked, “What do you do more than others?

Some do their work at home (Neh. 3:10, 23, 28–30). People repaired portions of the wall nearest to their own houses. If we followed this example, our neighborhoods would be in much better shape! Christian service begins at home “Let them learn first to show piety at home”.
1. Some people work from home
a. Your home is an auxiliary church
b. Church is the big gate, your home is a little gate
c. Do you have a heart for your street?
d. We would train you to be missionaries to work from home, not a contrived outreach ministry at the church building, but living in Missional Communities
e. Serve together as a family. Watch your kids spiritual gifts develop.
Some people work harder than others (Neh. 3:20). Baruch is the only worker whose work was done “earnestly”. The Hebrew means “to burn or glow”. Baruch burned a lot of energy! “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might” (Ecc. 9:10). Paul admonished the slaves to work hard for their masters because they were really working for Christ (Eph. 6:5–8). Lazy workers not only rob themselves and the Lord, but they also rob their fellow workers.

4. The places of the work Nehemiah began his list of the “work stations” with the Sheep Gate (Neh. 3:1). Then he moved counterclockwise around the walls. In his record, he describes the work on the north wall (vv. 1–7), then the western wall (vv. 8–13), then the southern point (v. 14), and finally the eastern wall (vv. 15–32).
The Sheep Gate (Neh. 3:1, 32). This was the gate animals were brought into the city, including the temple sacrifices. It was logical that the priests make this their special project by the temple.
This gate reminds us of Jesus, the Lamb of God who died for the sins of the world (John 1:29; 5:2). Nehemiah chose to begin and end the report with the Sheep Gate. Jesus is the “Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending” (Rev. 1:8). Apart from Him and His sacrifice, we would have nothing eternally satisfying. Nothing is said about the gate’s “locks and bars,” for the way is never closed to the lost sinner who wants to come to the Savior.
The Fish Gate (Neh. 3:3) used when they brought fish from the Mediterranean Sea.
The Old Gate (Neh. 3:6) the Hebrew word means “new quarter” (Zeph. 1:10). In Nehemiah’s day, the northwest section of the city was the “new quarter”. What a paradox: the old gate leads into the new quarter! But it is from the old that we derive the new; and if we abandon the foundation, there can be nothing new built (Jer. 6:16 / Matt. 13:52).
The Valley Gate (Neh. 3:13) is where Nehemiah began his investigation. Every Christian needs a “valley gate,” for God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble (1 Peter 5:5–6). Only as we yield to Christ can we truly enter into the fullness of the life He has for us (Phil. 2:1–11).
The Dung Gate (Neh. 3:14) was located at the south side. It was the exit to where the city disposed of its garbage. Jesus used this area as a picture of hell, “where their worm dies not, and their fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:44). The sanitary disposal of waste materials is essential to the health of a city. It reminds us that, like the city, each of us individually must get rid of whatever defiles us, or it may destroy us (2 Cor. 7:1; 1 John 1:9).
The Fountain Gate (Neh. 3:15) was where the source of water entered the city. In the Bible, water for drinking is a picture of the Holy Spirit of God (John 7:37–39), while water for washing is a picture of the Word of God (Eph. 5:26; John 15:3). Spiritually speaking, we have moved from the Valley (humility) to the Dung (cleansing) to the Fountain (fullness of the Spirit).
The Water Gate (Neh. 3:26) If the Fountain Gate reminds us of the Spirit of God, the Water Gate reminds us of the Word of God. In fact, it was here that Ezra explained the Scriptures to the people (8:1). This gate is not said to have been repaired. The Bible does not need to be repaired or improved. The Word of God stands forever and will not fail (Ps. 119:89; Matt. 24:35).
The Horse Gate (Neh. 3:28) reminds us that there is warfare in the Christian life (2 Tim. 2:1–4) and that we must always be ready to do battle (Eph. 6:10–18).
The East Gate (Neh. 3:29) led directly to the temple, know today as the Golden Gate. Tradition says that Jesus entered the temple here on Palm Sunday. Jewish and Christian tradition both connect the Golden Gate with the coming of the Messiah, Muslims associate it with judgment.
Ezekiel saw the glory of the Lord depart from the temple at the East Gate (Ezek. 10; 11), and the Lord will return to the city the same way (43:1–5). So, we have every reason to associate this gate with the coming of the Lord and to remind ourselves to “abide in Him; that, when He shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before Him at His coming” (1 John 2:28).
The Gate Hammiphkad (Neh. 3:31) “the Inspection Gate.” This is where the army was reviewed and registered. When our Lord returns, He will gather His people and review their works in preparation for giving out rewards for faithful service (1 Cor. 3; 2 Cor. 5; Rom. 14).

No one could have done all this work. It took leadership and cooperation. Each had a place and a job. So it is today: We must work together if we are to finish the work to the glory of God.

“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Cor. 15:58).

God works thru us. Our work is not in vain. The Lord Jesus is working ON us, IN us, and thru us. Let’s thank him.

How to Become a Member at MBC

2009-06-21T08:34:00.001-07:00

How to Become a Member at MBC
Becoming a member is a three-step process:
1. Connect
Sign up, tell us who you are and learn what we believe. (In order to learn what we believe, prospective members must go through the Doctrine curriculum. We could do this on a Sunday before service)
2. Covenant
Affirm our doctrine and the expectations of membership. (Membership form attached in email, please read it, and let me know what you think)

3. Conversation
Meet with an Elder for the final membership interview. (a leader would go to perspective members house, go over any questions, and collect signed covenant)

Nehemiah 2

2009-06-14T08:35:00.000-07:00

1. He had the faith to wait (Neh. 2:1–3) Since the Jewish month of Nisan, it would indicate that four months have passed since Nehemiah received the bad news. As every believer should, Nehemiah patiently waited on the Lord; because it is “through faith and patience” that we inherit the promises (Heb. 6:12). “He that believeth shall not make haste” (Isa. 28:16). True faith in God brings calmness to the heart that keeps us from rushing and trying to do in our own strength what only God can do. We must know not only how to weep and pray, but also how to wait and pray.
Three statements in Scripture have a calming effect on me whenever I get nervous and want to rush ahead of the Lord: “Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord” (Ex. 14:13); “Sit still...until you know how the matter will turn out” (Ruth 3:18); “Be still, and know that I am God” (Ps. 46:10). When you wait on the Lord in prayer, you are not wasting your time; you are investing it. God is preparing both you and your circumstances so that His purposes will be accomplished.
The king noticed that his cupbearer was carrying a burden. Had Artaxerxes been in a bad mood, he might have banished Nehemiah; but instead, the king inquired. “The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord” (Prov. 21:1). World leaders are only God’s servants, whether they know it or not. “O Lord God of our fathers, are You not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in Your hand, and no one can withstand You” (2 Chron. 20:6).

2. He had the faith to ask (Neh. 2:4–8) It encourages my prayer life when I contrast the earthly throne of Artaxerxes with the throne of grace in heaven. Nehemiah had to wait for an invitation before he could share his burden with the king, but we can come to the throne of grace at any time with any need (Heb. 4:14–16). Artaxerxes saw the sorrow on Nehemiah’s face, but our Lord sees our hearts and not only knows our sorrows but also feels them with us. People approaching the throne of Persia had to be very careful what they said, lest they anger the king; but God’s people can approach His throne and tell Him whatever burdens them.
Not only had Nehemiah prayed for this opportunity, but he had also planned for it and had his answer ready. During those four months of waiting, he had thought the matter through. His reply can be summarized in two requests: “Send me!” (Neh. 2:4–6) and “Give me!” (vv. 7–10)
Nehemiah had done his research well. He knew everything he needed to ask for and received authority from the king.
When Jesus sent His disciples out to minister, He first gave them the authority they needed to do the job; and He promised to meet their every need (Matt. 10:1–15). As we go forth to serve the Lord, we have behind us all authority in heaven and on earth (28:18); so we don’t have to be afraid. The important thing is that we go where He sends us and that we do the work He has called us to do.
The king’s response is evidence of the sovereignty of God in the affairs of nations. We forget that God can also work through unbelievers. He used Pharaoh to display His power in Egypt (Ex. 9:16; Rom. 9:17). Caesar issued a decree that brought Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem (Luke 2:1–7), and two different Roman centurions—saved Paul’s life. We must remember that God is not required to use only believers.
3. He had the faith to challenge others (Neh. 2:11–18a)
Traveling (Neh. 2:9–10). No description is given of the trip from Susa to Jerusalem, a journey of at least two months’ time. When the official caravan arrived, it was bound to attract attention, particularly among those who hated the Jews and wanted to keep them from fortifying their city.
Nehemiah would soon discover that his biggest problem was not the enemy on the outside but the compromisers on the inside, a problem the church still faces today.
Investigating (Neh. 2:11–16). After his long difficult journey, Nehemiah took time to rest; for leaders must take care of themselves if they are going to be able to serve the Lord (Mark 6:31). He also took time to get “the lay of the land” without arousing the concern of the enemy. A good leader doesn’t rush into his work but patiently gathers the facts firsthand and then plans his strategy (Prov. 18:13).
As he surveyed the situation, it was just as his brother had reported: The walls were broken down and the gates were burned. Leaders must not live in a dream world. They must face facts honestly and accept the bad news as well as the good news.
Challenging (Neh. 2:17–20). Nehemiah’s appeal was positive; he focused on the glory and greatness of the Lord. He had been in the city only a few days, but he spoke of “we” and “us” and not “you” and “them.” As he did in his prayer (1:6–7), he identified with the people and their needs. The city was a reproach to the Lord, but the hand of the Lord was with them; and He would enable them to do the work.
It is to the credit of the followers that they accepted the challenge immediately and said, “Let us rise up and build!” They didn’t remind Nehemiah that they had once tried to repair the walls and were stopped (Ezra 4). “We tried that once and it didn’t work. Why try again?”
The good hand of God was upon the leader, and the followers “strengthen their hands” for the work (Neh. 2:8, 18). It takes both. Leaders can’t do the job by themselves, and workers can’t accomplish much without leaders.
Nehemiah was not only able to challenge his own people, but he was also able to stand up against the enemy and deal effectively with their opposition. Just as soon as God’s people step out by faith to do His will, the enemy shows up and tries to discourage them. Sanballat and Tobiah heard about the work (10).
We will see next that they started off with ridicule; they laughed and belittled both their resources and their plans. They even suggested that the Jews were rebelling against the king. Anyone who has ever accomplished anything has faced ridicule. Our Lord was ridiculed during His life and mocked while He was hanging on the cross. He was “despised and rejected of men” (Isa. 53:3).
Nehemiah could have dealt with their ridicule in several ways. In his reply, Nehemiah made three things clear: Rebuilding the wall was God’s work; the Jews were God’s servants; and they had no part in the matter.
Unfortunately, not everybody in Jerusalem agreed with him; for some of them cooperated with the bad guys and added to Nehemiah’s burdens.

let’s ask ourselves whether we are the kind of missionaries God wants us to be. Like Nehemiah, do we have a burden in our hearts for the work God has called us to do? (2:12) Are we willing to sacrifice to see His will accomplished? Are we patient in gathering facts and in planning our work? Do we enlist the help of others or try to do everything ourselves? Do we motivate people on the basis of what God is doing?
As followers of Christ, do we listen to what our Savior says as he shares our burdens? Do we cling to the past or desire to see God do something new? Do we put our hands to the work? Are we cooperating in any way with the enemy and thus weakening the work? Have we found what God wants us to complete?
Were it not for the dedication and determination that came from his faith in a great God, Nehemiah would never have accepted the challenge or finished the work. No matter how difficult the task, BE DETERMINED! “It is always too soon to quit.”

Brethren and sisters, I hope you are all working for Christ. Christ has saved you, can you do otherwise than live to your Savior? If, indeed, your sins are all put away by his precious blood, if you are wrapped in his spotless righteousness, and accepted in the Beloved, I do trust that the love of Christ constrains you to tell to others of the way of salvation, and to seek to bring in the wandering sheep of the house of Israel - Spurgeon

1 Corinthians 15:58: “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord”.

Nehemiah 1

2009-06-07T08:40:00.000-07:00

1. He cared enough to ask (Neh. 1:1–3) Nehemiah was a cupbearer to the ruler of
Persia. A cupbearer was a position of great responsibility and privilege. At each meal, he tested the king’s wine. A man who stood that close to the king had to be handsome, cultured, knowledgeable in procedures, and able to converse and advise him. Because he had access to the king, the cupbearer was a man of great influence, which he could use for good or for evil.
Why would Nehemiah ask about a struggling remnant who lived hundreds of miles away? A century and a half before, the Prophet Jeremiah: “For who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem? Or who will bemoan you? Or who will turn aside to ask how you are doing?” (Jer. 15:5) Nehemiah was the man God had chosen to do those very things!
Some people prefer not to know what’s going on, because information might bring obligation. Nehemiah asked about Jerusalem because he had a caring heart. Closing our eyes and ears to the truth could be the first step toward tragedy for ourselves as well as for others.
What did Nehemiah learn about Jerusalem and the Jews? Three words summarize the bad news: remnant, ruin, and reproach. Instead of a great nation, only a remnant of people lived there; and they were in great affliction and struggling to survive. Instead of a magnificent city, Jerusalem was in shambles; and where there had once been great glory, there was now reproach.
Are we like Nehemiah, anxious to know the truth even about the worst situations? When we read missionary prayer letters, see dying churches in town, do we want the facts, and do the facts burden us? Are we the kind of people who care enough to ask?

2. He cared enough to weep (Neh. 1:4) What makes people laugh or weep is often an indication of character. People who laugh at others’ mistakes or misfortunes, or who weep over trivial personal disappointments, are lacking either in culture or character, and possibly both. Sometimes weeping is a sign of weakness; but with Nehemiah. In fact, Nehemiah was like the Lord Jesus in that he willingly shared the burden that was crushing others.
When God puts a burden on your heart, don’t try to escape it; for if you do, you may miss the blessing He has planned for you. The Book of Nehemiah begins with “great affliction” (Neh. 1:3), but before it closes, there is great joy (8:12, 17). “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning” (Ps. 30:5). Our tears water the “seeds of providence” that God has planted on our path; and without our tears, those seeds could never grow and produce fruit.
Nehemiah spent several days fasting, weeping, and praying. He knew that somebody had to do something to rescue the city, and he was willing to go.

3. He cared enough to pray (Neh. 1:5–10) This prayer begins with ADORATION (1:5). To what kind of a God do we pray when we lift our prayers? We pray to a “great and awesome God” (Neh. 1:5), who is worthy of our praise and worship. If you are experiencing great affliction (v. 3) and are about to undertake a great work, then you need the great power, great goodness, and great mercy of a great God. Is the God you worship big enough to handle the challenges that you face?
The greater part of Nehemiah’s prayer was devoted to CONFESSION of sin (1:6–7). The God who promised blessing and chastening also promised forgiveness if His people would repent.
This humble prayer has REMBERANCE (1:8-9) THANKSGIVING (1:10) and closed with SUPPLICATION (Neh. 1:11). To begin with, he had confidence in the power of God. Nehemiah knew that he was too weak to rebuild Jerusalem, but he had faith that God would work on his behalf.
He also had confidence in God’s faithfulness. He had redeemed them from Egypt (Ex. 14:13–31) and had also set them free from bondage in Babylon. Would He not, in His faithfulness, help them rebuild the city? Nehemiah had confidence that God would raise up other people to help him in his work. He was sure that many other Jews were also praying and that they would rally to the cause once they heard that God was at work.

4. He cared enough to volunteer (Neh. 1:11) God does “exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us (Eph. 3:20). If God is going to answer prayer, He must start by working in the one doing the praying! He works in us and through us to help us see our prayers answered.
While Nehemiah was praying, his burden for Jerusalem became greater and his vision of what needed to be done became clearer. Real prayer keeps your heart and your head in balance so your burden doesn’t make you impatient to run ahead of the Lord and ruin everything. As we pray, God tells us what to do, when to do it, and how to do it; and all are important to the accomplishing of the will of God.
Nehemiah planned to volunteer to go to Jerusalem to supervise the rebuilding of the walls. He didn’t pray for God to send somebody else, nor did he argue that he was ill-equipped for such a difficult task. He simply said, “Here am I—send me!”
The cupbearer would have to sacrifice the comfort and security of the palace for the rigors and dangers of life in a city. Luxury would be replaced by ruins, and prestige by ridicule and slander. And with the help of God, he did it! In fifty-two days, the walls were rebuilt, the gates were restored, and the people were rejoicing! And it all started with a man who cared.
Abraham cared and rescued Lot from Sodom (Gen. 18–19). Moses cared and delivered the Israelites from Egypt. David cared and brought the nation and the kingdom back to the Lord. Esther cared and risked her life to save her nation from genocide. Paul cared and took the Gospel throughout the Roman Empire. Jesus cared and died on the cross for a lost world.
God is still looking for people who care, people like Nehemiah, who cared enough to ask for the facts, weep over the needs, pray for God’s help, and then volunteer to get the job done.
“Here am I, Lord—send me!”

What is the Gospel?

2009-04-29T20:38:00.001-07:00

Living Water International

2009-04-29T14:31:00.000-07:00

Monument Bible Church raised $500 for LWI during the H2O:Lent Challenge. Thanks to everyone who contributed!

The rescue

2009-04-29T14:25:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone who participated in the Invisible Children event this past weekend.

Matt's Birthday!

2009-04-28T21:14:00.000-07:00

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=246345&id=661820631&l=fd17b46edb

Easter Meditation

2009-04-14T08:25:00.000-07:00

ALL WHO SEE ME MOCK ME; THEY MAKE MOUTHS AT ME; THEY WAG THEIR HEADS. — P S A L M 2 2 : 7
Mockery was a large factor in our Lord’s suffering. Judas mocked Him in the garden;
the chief priests and scribes laughed Him to scorn; Herod set Him at nothing; the servants and the soldiers jeered at Him and brutally insulted Him; Pilate and his guards ridiculed His royalty; and on the tree all sorts of horrible jibes and hideous taunts were hurled at Him. Ridicule is always hard to bear, but when we are in intense pain it is so heartless, so cruel, that it cuts us to the quick. Consider the Savior crucified, racked with anguish far beyond anything we can imagine, and then picture that motley multitude, all wagging their heads or making mouths in bitter contempt of the poor suffering victim!

Surely there must have been something more in the Crucified One than they could see, or else such a great and mingled crowd would not have unanimously “honored” Him with
such contempt. Was it not evil confessing, in the very moment of its greatest apparent triumph, that after all it could do no more than mock at that victorious goodness that was then reigning on the cross? O Jesus, “despised and rejected by men,”1 how could You die for men who treated You so badly? Here is amazing love, love divine, love beyond degree.

We despised You in our pre-converted days, and even since our new birth we have given the world a place in our hearts, and yet You bled to heal our wounds and died to give us life. O that we could set You on a glorious high throne in all men’s hearts! We would ring out Your praises over land and sea until men would universally adore you just as they once unanimously rejected You. -Charles Spurgeon

Mens Camping Trip

2009-03-30T19:31:00.000-07:00

charity:water

2009-03-23T08:31:00.001-07:00

Revelation 11

2009-03-18T20:24:00.000-07:00

The Two Witnesses

11:1 Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there, 2 but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months. 3 And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”

4 These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. 5 And if anyone would harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes. If anyone would harm them, this is how he is doomed to be killed. 6 They have the power to shut the sky, that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying, and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague, as often as they desire. 7 And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that rises from the bottomless pit [1] will make war on them and conquer them and kill them, 8 and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically [2] is called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified. 9 For three and a half days some from the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb, 10 and those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and exchange presents, because these two prophets had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth. 11 But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. 12 Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here!” And they went up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies watched them. 13 And at that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.

14 The second woe has passed; behold, the third woe is soon to come.
The Seventh Trumpet

15 Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” 16 And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, 17 saying,

“We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty,
who is and who was,
for you have taken your great power
and begun to reign.
18 The nations raged,
but your wrath came,
and the time for the dead to be judged,
and for rewarding your servants, [3] the prophets and saints,
and those who fear your name,
both small and great,
and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.”

19 Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, [4] peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.

Revelation 10

2009-03-18T20:16:00.000-07:00

The Angel and the Little Scroll

10:1 Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head, and his face was like the sun, and his legs like pillars of fire. 2 He had a little scroll open in his hand. And he set his right foot on the sea, and his left foot on the land, 3 and called out with a loud voice, like a lion roaring. When he called out, the seven thunders sounded. 4 And when the seven thunders had sounded, I was about to write, but I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and do not write it down.” 5 And the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven 6 and swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and what is in it, the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it, that there would be no more delay, 7 but that in the days of the trumpet call to be sounded by the seventh angel, the mystery of God would be fulfilled, just as he announced to his servants [1] the prophets.

8 Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, “Go, take the scroll that is open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.” 9 So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll. And he said to me, “Take and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.” 10 And I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it. It was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it my stomach was made bitter. 11 And I was told, “You must again prophesy about many peoples and nations and languages and kings.”

Revelation 9

2009-03-18T20:04:00.001-07:00

9:1 And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. [1] 2 He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft. 3 Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given power like the power of scorpions of the earth. 4 They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5 They were allowed to torment them for five months, but not to kill them, and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings someone. 6 And in those days people will seek death and will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them.

7 In appearance the locusts were like horses prepared for battle: on their heads were what looked like crowns of gold; their faces were like human faces, 8 their hair like women's hair, and their teeth like lions' teeth; 9 they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the noise of their wings was like the noise of many chariots with horses rushing into battle. 10 They have tails and stings like scorpions, and their power to hurt people for five months is in their tails. 11 They have as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he is called Apollyon. [2]

12 The first woe has passed; behold, two woes are still to come.

13 Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar before God, 14 saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” 15 So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour, the day, the month, and the year, were released to kill a third of mankind. 16 The number of mounted troops was twice ten thousand times ten thousand; I heard their number. 17 And this is how I saw the horses in my vision and those who rode them: they wore breastplates the color of fire and of sapphire [3] and of sulfur, and the heads of the horses were like lions' heads, and fire and smoke and sulfur came out of their mouths. 18 By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed, by the fire and smoke and sulfur coming out of their mouths. 19 For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails, for their tails are like serpents with heads, and by means of them they wound.

20 The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, 21 nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.

2009-03-12T10:39:00.000-07:00

This is an awesome website! It's the bible via LEGO storyboards.
http://www.thebricktestament.com/

drink water

2009-03-04T19:11:00.000-08:00

Revelation 8

2009-03-04T18:22:00.000-08:00

The Seventh Seal and the Golden Censer

8 When the Lamb opened u the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. 2 Then I saw the seven angels v who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. 3 And another angel came and stood w at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with x the prayers of all the saints on y the golden altar before the throne, 4 and z the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel. 5 Then the angel took the censer and a filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth, and b there were peals of c thunder, rumblings, [1] flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.
The Seven Trumpets

6 Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them.

7 The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed d hail and e fire, mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth. And a f third of the earth was burned up, and a third of g the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.

8 The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like h a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea i became blood. 9 A third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of j the ships were destroyed.

10 The third angel blew his trumpet, and k a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on l the springs of water. 11 The name of the star is Wormwood. [2] A third of the waters m became wormwood, and many people died from the water, n because it had been made bitter.

12 The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of o the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of their light might be darkened, and a third of the day might be kept from shining, and likewise a third of the night.

13 Then I looked, and I heard an eagle crying with a loud voice as it flew directly overhead, p “Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, at the blasts of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow!”

Revelation 7

2009-03-04T18:15:00.000-08:00

The 144,000 of Israel Sealed

7 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back u the four winds of the earth, v that no wind might blow on earth or sea or against any tree. 2 Then I saw another angel ascending w from the rising of the sun, with x the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, 3 saying, y “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants [1] of our God z on their foreheads.” 4 And a I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:

5 12,000 from the tribe of Judah were sealed,
12,000 from the tribe of Reuben,
12,000 from the tribe of Gad,
6 12,000 from the tribe of Asher,
12,000 from the tribe of Naphtali,
12,000 from the tribe of Manasseh,
7 12,000 from the tribe of Simeon,
12,000 from the tribe of Levi,
12,000 from the tribe of Issachar,
8 12,000 from the tribe of Zebulun,
12,000 from the tribe of Joseph,
12,000 from the tribe of Benjamin were sealed.
A Great Multitude from Every Nation

9 After this I looked, and behold, b a great multitude that no one could number, c from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, d clothed in white robes, with e palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, f “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” 11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and g the four living creatures, and they h fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 i saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

13 Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, d clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” 14 I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of j the great tribulation. k They have washed their robes and l made them white m in the blood of the Lamb.

15 “Therefore they are before the throne of God,
and n serve him day and night in his temple;
and he who sits on the throne o will shelter them with his presence.
16 p They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore;
q the sun shall not strike them,
nor any scorching heat.
17 For the Lamb in the midst of the throne r will be their shepherd,
and he will guide them to springs of s living water,
and t God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Revelation 6

2009-03-04T18:07:00.000-08:00

The Seven Seals

6 Now I watched when the Lamb opened one of e the seven seals, and I heard f one of the four living creatures say g with a voice like thunder, h “Come!” 2 And I looked, and behold, i a white horse! And j its rider had a bow, and k a crown was given to him, and he came out l conquering, and to conquer.

3 When he opened the second seal, I heard m the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, n bright red. Its rider was permitted o to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.

5 When he opened the third seal, I heard the m third living creature say, “Come!” And I looked, and behold, p a black horse! And its rider had a pair of scales in his hand. 6 And I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures, saying, q “A quart [1] of wheat for a denarius, [2] and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and r do not harm the oil and wine!”

7 When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of m the fourth living creature say, “Come!” 8 And I looked, and behold, s a pale horse! And its rider's name was Death, and Hades followed him. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill t with sword and with famine and with pestilence and u by wild beasts of the earth.

9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under v the altar w the souls of those who had been slain x for the word of God and for y the witness they had borne. 10 They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, z holy and true, a how long b before you will judge and c avenge our blood on d those who dwell on the earth?” 11 Then they were each given e a white robe and f told to rest a little longer, g until the number of their fellow servants [3] and their brothers [4] h should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.

12 When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, i there was a great earthquake, and j the sun became black as k sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, 13 and l the stars of the sky fell to the earth m as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. 14 n The sky vanished m like a scroll that is being rolled up, and o every mountain and island was removed from its place. 15 Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave [5] and free, p hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, 16 q calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of r him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, 17 for s the great day of their wrath has come, and t who can stand?”

Revelation 5

2009-03-04T18:02:00.000-08:00

The Scroll and the Lamb

5 Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne h a scroll written within and on the back, i sealed with seven seals. 2 And j I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” 3 And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, 4 and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. 5 And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, k the Lion l of the tribe of Judah, m the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”

6 And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw n a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with o seven eyes, which are p the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. 8 And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders q fell down before the Lamb, r each holding a harp, and s golden bowls full of incense, t which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang u a new song, saying,

“Worthy are you to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
for v you were slain, and by your blood w you ransomed people for God
from x every tribe and language and people and nation,
10 and you have made them y a kingdom and priests to our God,
and they shall reign on the earth.”

11 Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering z myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a loud voice, a “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” 13 And I heard b every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” 14 And the four living creatures c said, “Amen!” and the elders d fell down and worshiped.

2009-02-24T09:40:00.000-08:00

Bible Study Magazine and Mars Hill are giving away 20 copies of Mark Driscoll’s new book, Vintage Church. Not only that, but they are also giving away five subscriptions to Bible Study Magazine and a copy of their Bible Study Library software! Enter to win on the Bible Study Magazine Mark Driscoll page, then take a look at all the cool tools they have to take your Bible study to the next level!

2009-02-20T08:23:00.001-08:00

Fresh Aesthetics

2009-02-19T15:37:00.001-08:00

FAST!

2009-02-19T09:02:00.000-08:00

Don't fast. from Living Water International on Vimeo.

LENT
The H2O CHALLENGE

How do you prepare for the resurrection of Jesus?

Christians have an ancient tradition of setting aside 40 days to prepare for Easter. Our traditions are powerful. Our roots are powerful. Lent is powerful. Now imagine we harness that power to heal the world.

Imagine us all practicing Lent, journeying alongside Jesus to Jerusalem. Imagine the power if we all were to…

PRAY. Like Christ prayed in Gethsemane.
FAST. Like Christ fasted in the desert—a sacrifice to remind us of Christ’s sacrifice.
GIVE. Like Christ gave his life so that others would have abundant life.

What would it look like to focus our preparation for the Resurrection to PRAY, FAST and GIVE…water?

Men, women, and children are dying every day because they don’t have clean water. It’s our goal to provide clean water to 20,000 families during Lent. But we can only do it together.
equate

Take the H2O Challenge
Sometime during Lent (February 25 - April 11), take the H2O Challenge. For two weeks, make water your only beverage. Save the money that you would normally spend on sodas, coffee, juice, milk, and sport drinks. At the end of the two weeks, send the money you saved to Living Water International for the drilling of wells in needy communities. Challenge your church, your youth group, your class at school, your club, or the rest of your family to take the H2O Challenge with you. Then come back to water.cc to see what happened.

What difference can you make? If you saved a dollar a day for two weeks, you could provide three families with clean water for a year. If you got your friends, your church, or your youth group to do it with you, you could reach a whole village. Or more. Every bit really does make a difference.

Are you ready for something big? Join us, and witness the power of sacrifice.

Join the Facebook Cause to see who else is taking the challenge, to tell your group’s story, and to send in your money when you finish.

Questions? Contact Chris Winter (chris@water.cc | 919-349-8190).

Ready to make your donation? You can do it online: www.water.cc/give or www.causes.com/h2ochallenge.

revelation 4

2009-02-04T18:41:00.000-08:00

The Throne in Heaven

4:1 After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” 2 At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. 3 And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. 4 Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads. 5 From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings [1] and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, 6 and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal.

And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: 7 the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. 8 And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say,

“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,
who was and is and is to come!”

9 And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying,

11 “Worthy are you, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they existed and were created.”

Sermon Audio

revelation 3

2009-01-28T19:09:00.000-08:00

To the Church in Sardis

3:1 “And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.

“‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. 2 Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. 3 Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you. 4 Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. 5 The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. 6 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
To the Church in Philadelphia

7 “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: ‘The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.

8 “‘I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. 9 Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie—behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet and they will learn that I have loved you. 10 Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth. 11 I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown. 12 The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name. 13 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
To the Church in Laodicea

14 “And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation.

15 “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! 16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. 17 For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. 19 Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. 20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. 21 The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”

Sermon Audio

revelation 2 pt 2

2009-01-28T18:43:00.000-08:00

To the Church in Pergamum

12 “And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: ‘The words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword.

13 “‘I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne is. Yet you hold fast my name, and you did not deny my faith [2] even in the days of Antipas my faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. 14 But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality. 15 So also you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. 16 Therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth. 17 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.’
To the Church in Thyatira

18 “And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: ‘The words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze.

19 “‘I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first. 20 But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants [3] to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. 21 I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. 22 Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works, 23 and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works. 24 But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden. 25 Only hold fast what you have until I come. 26 The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, 27 and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father. 28 And I will give him the morning star. 29 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

Sermon Audio

The Tree Of Life

2009-01-15T19:26:00.001-08:00

Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz!!! Duh. (this post is a reference to last weeks sermon, when I could not remember this stupid movie.) If you listen to Revelation 2 sermon podcast, you'll get the reference...

revelation 2

2009-01-15T19:00:00.000-08:00

To the Church in Ephesus

2:1 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands.

2 “‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. 3 I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary. 4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. 5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. 6 Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’
To the Church in Smyrna

8 “And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: ‘The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life.

9 “‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander [1] of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. 10 Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. 11 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.’
To the Church in Pergamum

12 “And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: ‘The words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword.

13 “‘I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne is. Yet you hold fast my name, and you did not deny my faith [2] even in the days of Antipas my faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. 14 But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality. 15 So also you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. 16 Therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth. 17 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.’
To the Church in Thyatira

18 “And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: ‘The words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze.

19 “‘I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first. 20 But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants [3] to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. 21 I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. 22 Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works, 23 and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works. 24 But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden. 25 Only hold fast what you have until I come. 26 The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, 27 and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father. 28 And I will give him the morning star. 29 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

Sermon Audio

Bobby Mikkelson's House

2009-01-10T13:24:00.000-08:00

revelation 1

2009-01-05T18:41:00.001-08:00

Prologue

1 The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God a gave him b to show to his servants [1] the things that must soon take place. c He made it known by sending his angel to his servant [2] John, 2 d who bore witness to the word of God and to e the testimony of Jesus Christ, even f to all that he saw. 3 g Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, h for the time is near.
Greeting to the Seven Churches

4 John to the seven churches that are in Asia:

Grace to you and peace from i him j who is and k who was and who is to come, and from l the seven spirits who are before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ m the faithful witness, n the firstborn of the dead, and o the ruler of kings on earth.

To p him who loves us and q has freed us from our sins by his blood 6 and made us r a kingdom, r priests to s his God and Father, to him be t glory and u dominion forever and ever. Amen. 7 Behold, v he is coming with the clouds, and w every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail [3] on account of him. Even so. Amen.

8 x “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, y “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
Vision of the Son of Man

9 I, John, your brother and z partner in a the tribulation and b the kingdom and c the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos d on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10 e I was in the Spirit f on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice g like a trumpet 11 saying, h “Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”

12 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw i seven golden lampstands, 13 and in the midst of the lampstands j one like k a son of man, l clothed with a long robe and m with a golden sash around his chest. 14 n The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. o His eyes were like a flame of fire, 15 p his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and q his voice was like the roar of many waters. 16 r In his right hand he held seven stars, s from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and t his face was like the sun shining u in full strength.

17 v When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But v he laid his right hand on me, w saying, “Fear not, x I am the first and the last, 18 and the living one. y I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and z I have the keys of Death and Hades. 19 a Write therefore b the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this. 20 As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and c the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and d the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

Sermon Audio

Advent Cospiracy

2008-12-10T09:26:00.000-08:00

The Shack

2008-12-04T09:15:00.000-08:00

The shack seems to be quite the fictional hit this year. Here is a list of different perspectives presented in the book that's unbiblical. The book may be entertaining, but don't let it influence your view of God.

Click here for The Shack review

Genesis 6

2008-11-03T09:18:00.001-08:00

Increasing Corruption on Earth

6:1 When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. 3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in [1] man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” 4 The Nephilim [2] were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.

5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7 So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.
Noah and the Flood

9 These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God. 10 And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

11 Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. 13 And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, [3] for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth. 14 Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. [4] Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. 15 This is how you are to make it: the length of the ark 300 cubits, [5] its breadth 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits. 16 Make a roof [6] for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above, and set the door of the ark in its side. Make it with lower, second, and third decks. 17 For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die. 18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you. 19 And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female. 20 Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground, according to its kind, two of every sort shall come in to you to keep them alive. 21 Also take with you every sort of food that is eaten, and store it up. It shall serve as food for you and for them.” 22 Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.

Genesis 1

2008-09-22T15:11:00.000-07:00

The Creation of the World

1:1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

6 And God said, “Let there be an expanse [1] in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” 7 And God made [2] the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. 8 And God called the expanse Heaven. [3] And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

9 And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry land Earth, [4] and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.

11 And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants [5] yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. 12 The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, [6] and for days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. 16 And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. 17 And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

20 And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds [7] fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” 21 So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” 23 And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.

24 And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. 25 And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

26 Then God said, “Let us make man [8] in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.

28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29 And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. 30 And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

1 Corinthians 16

2008-09-22T15:09:00.000-07:00

The Collection for the Saints

16:1 Now concerning [1] the collection for the saints: as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do. 2 On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come. 3 And when I arrive, I will send those whom you accredit by letter to carry your gift to Jerusalem. 4 If it seems advisable that I should go also, they will accompany me.
Plans for Travel

5 I will visit you after passing through Macedonia, for I intend to pass through Macedonia, 6 and perhaps I will stay with you or even spend the winter, so that you may help me on my journey, wherever I go. 7 For I do not want to see you now just in passing. I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits. 8 But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, 9 for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.

10 When Timothy comes, see that you put him at ease among you, for he is doing the work of the Lord, as I am. 11 So let no one despise him. Help him on his way in peace, that he may return to me, for I am expecting him with the brothers.
Final Instructions

12 Now concerning our brother Apollos, I strongly urged him to visit you with the other brothers, but it was not at all his will [2] to come now. He will come when he has opportunity.

13 Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. 14 Let all that you do be done in love.

15 Now I urge you, brothers [3]—you know that the household [4] of Stephanas were the first converts in Achaia, and that they have devoted themselves to the service of the saints— 16 be subject to such as these, and to every fellow worker and laborer. 17 I rejoice at the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus, because they have made up for your absence, 18 for they refreshed my spirit as well as yours. Give recognition to such men.
Greetings

19 The churches of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Prisca, together with the church in their house, send you hearty greetings in the Lord. 20 All the brothers send you greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss.

21 I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. 22 If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. Our Lord, come! [5] 23 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. 24 My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.

1 Corinthians 15

2008-09-22T15:06:00.000-07:00

The Resurrection of Christ

15:1 Now I would remind you, brothers, [1] of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. 11 Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.
The Resurrection of the Dead

12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in Christ we have hope [2] in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. 24 Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27 For “God [3] has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. 28 When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.

29 Otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf? 30 Why are we in danger every hour? 31 I protest, brothers, by my pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die every day! 32 What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” 33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.” [4] 34 Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.
The Resurrection Body

35 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” 36 You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. 38 But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. 39 For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. 40 There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. 41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.

42 So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; [5] the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. 47 The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall [6] also bear the image of the man of heaven.
Mystery and Victory

50 I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
55 “O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”

56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

1 corinthians 14

2008-09-22T15:04:00.000-07:00

Prophecy and Tongues

14:1 Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. 2 For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit. 3 On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation. 4 The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church. 5 Now I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be built up.

6 Now, brothers, [1] if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I benefit you unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching? 7 If even lifeless instruments, such as the flute or the harp, do not give distinct notes, how will anyone know what is played? 8 And if the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle? 9 So with yourselves, if with your tongue you utter speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what is said? For you will be speaking into the air. 10 There are doubtless many different languages in the world, and none is without meaning, 11 but if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker a foreigner to me. 12 So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church.

13 Therefore, one who speaks in a tongue should pray for the power to interpret. 14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unfruitful. 15 What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also. 16 Otherwise, if you give thanks with your spirit, how can anyone in the position of an outsider [2] say “Amen” to your thanksgiving when he does not know what you are saying? 17 For you may be giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not being built up. 18 I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. 19 Nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue.

20 Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature. 21 In the Law it is written, “By people of strange tongues and by the lips of foreigners will I speak to this people, and even then they will not listen to me, says the Lord.” 22 Thus tongues are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is a sign [3] not for unbelievers but for believers. 23 If, therefore, the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your minds? 24 But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, 25 the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you.
Orderly Worship

26 What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up. 27 If any speak in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three, and each in turn, and let someone interpret. 28 But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silent in church and speak to himself and to God. 29 Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said. 30 If a revelation is made to another sitting there, let the first be silent. 31 For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged, 32 and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets. 33 For God is not a God of confusion but of peace.

As in all the churches of the saints, 34 the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says. 35 If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.

36 Or was it from you that the word of God came? Or are you the only ones it has reached? 37 If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord. 38 If anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized. 39 So, my brothers, earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. 40 But all things should be done decently and in order.

Spiritual Gifts

2008-08-29T09:38:00.000-07:00

As we finish up 1st Corinthians, we have had a special study in Worship (see post below) Now, for a more in depth studying on Tongues and Prophecy read D.A. Carson.

Thug Life

2008-08-26T10:40:00.001-07:00

Tim, James, Clay, and Matt playing golf and eating Hot Dogs for a good cause. The Casa Grande Optimist Club was fund raising for our youth programs in town. You can see we did our part.

WORSHIP: God Transforms

2008-08-26T09:40:00.000-07:00

Sadly, worship has too often been considered merely a style of music or event such as a Sunday church service. And, while worship is big enough to include these things it is by no means reduced only to them. In many ways, to speak of worship is to speak of all of life in its fullness lived to God’s glory and our joy. This ONE TIME gathering is to give a comprehensive biblical understanding of this most important doctrine by answering some of the more common questions related to worship.

* CLAY PITTULLO'S HOME
* THURSDAY NIGHT @ 6:00PM
* 1 hour lesson. 1 hour Q/A.
* Dinner will be served. (No Idol-Sacrificed Meat!)

Hope you can plan to attend!
-James

Where does worship originate?

In his magnificent book Unceasing Worship Harold Best states his thesis saying: “The burden of this book develops the concept of continuous outpouring as the rubric for our worship. As God eternally outpours within his triune self, and as we are created in his image, it follows that we too are continuous outpourers, incurably so. ” (Page 10)

As we studied in the Trinity: God Is sermon, we saw that God is a community of ceaseless outpouring. Although there is one God, the three persons of the Trinity continually exist with a ceaseless outpouring of love, communication, and joy. And, as we studied in the Image: God Loves sermon we saw that human beings are made in the image and likeness of God. As such, we too are ceaseless worshippers pouring ourselves out for someone or something.

In the Fall: God Judges sermon we examined how through sin our worship is bent toward people and things other than God who is our Creator in favor of created things. Subsequently, we need God to seek us out as we studied in the Covenant: God Pursues sermon and Incarnation: God Comes sermon to save us from sin and free us to worship as we studied in the Cross: God Dies, and Resurrection: God Saves sermons. In many ways, these theme of worship is a major thread that weaves the entire storyline of the Bible and our Doctrine series together.

Summarizing this thread Best says,

“We begin with one fundamental fact about worship: at this very moment, and for as long as this world endures, everybody inhabiting it is bowing down and serving something or someone—an artifact, a person, an institution, an idea, a spirit, or God through Christ. Everyone is being shaped thereby and is growing up toward some measure of fullness, whether of righteousness or of evil. No one is exempt and no one can wish to be. We are, every one of us, unceasing worshipers and will remain so forever, for eternity is an infinite extrapolation of one of two conditions: a surrender to the sinfulness of sin unto infinite loss or the commitment of personal righteousness unto infinite gain. This is the central fact of our existence, and it drives every other fact. Within it lies the story of creation, fall, redemption, and new creation or final loss.” (Page 17-18)

What is worship?

Quoted from Vintage Jesus Chapter 9

“Worship is living our life individually and corporately as continuous living sacrifices to the glory of a person or thing. This connection between glory and worship is clear in verses like Romans 11:36–12:1, which says, “To him be the glory forever. Amen. I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” …First, we hold a person or thing in a place of glory. Second, we then worship that person or thing. Third, our worship of that person or thing we hold in glory is done by means of making sacrifices.

Glory means weightiness, importance, preeminence, priority, or that which is our greatest treasure, deepest longing, and fountain of hope. Functionally, what we hold in the place of glory is in effect our real god…Practically, worship is making sacrifices for what we are living to glorify.

The biblical word for worship is also sometimes translated “sacrifice.” This insight is helpful because what we make the greatest sacrifices for reveals what we truly live to glorify and worship. For example, if we eat and drink in excess, we are worshipping our stomach and sacrificing our health. If we sacrifice relationships with God and people for a hobby (e.g., sport, music, craft), then we are worshipping that hobby. If we are giving our bodies to sexual sin, we are worshipping sex and/or another person whose glory is our highest aim, sacrificing holiness and intimacy with God in the process. In short, we give our time, energy, body, money, focus, devotion, and passion to that which we glorify most and make sacrifices to worship that person or thing. Because we were made for the express purpose of worshipping God, everyone is a worshipper. The only difference is who/what we worship.”

Another definition is found from Harold Best who says, “I have worked out a definition for worship that I believe covers every possible human condition. It is this: Worship is the continuous outpouring of all that I am, all that I do and all that I can ever become in light of a chosen or choosing god” (Page 18, Italics in original).
What is idolatry?

Idolatry is one of the most frequent and most frequently misunderstood themes in all of Scripture. When thinking of idolatry, images of a primitive person bowing down to a statue or something akin to it come to mind. But, when the Bible speaks of idolatry it does so in a broad manner so as to reveal it as corrupted worship in contrast with true worship. Perhaps the most succinct definition of idolatry is found in Romans 1:25 which says, “they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.” God is our Creator and our worship is to be directed to him alone. But, as sinners we are prone to worship created things rather than our creator God and that is by definition idolatry. In the context of Romans 1, this idolatry can be things God has made such as the human body and its pleasures (especially sexual), or things we have made such as human ideas about God and life that dominate philosophy and spirituality.
How can I find my idols?

As a general rule, it is easier to see the idols in someone else’s life than our own. This is because our idols tend to be seen by us as simply comforts, pleasures, habits, aids, and the like. Biblical counselor David Powlision says, “Idolatry is by far the most frequently discussed problem in the Scriptures.” This is because idolatry is the root that nourishes every fruit of sin. This also explains why the last line of 1 John says, “keep yourselves from idols.” Why, because if we do then we will live in victory over temptations to sin. Therefore, the following categorical questions are offered to help you seek out any idols in your life.
Who/what are your external idols?

* Who/what is my Lord that rules over my life determining how I live?
* Who/what is my Judge I am living to earn the approval of?
* Where do you give the firstfruits of your wealth?
* Where do you give the firstruits of your time?
* What people and things take the majority of your life?
* What do you plan and pray for?

Who/what are your internal idols?

* What false beliefs do you hold about God?
* Which parts of Scripture do you deeply doubt or even disbelieve?
* Deep down in your heart who/what do you love, cherish, treasure, long for the most?
* Deep down in your heart who/what do you despise and hate the most?
* Who/what makes you happiest? Why?
* Who/what makes you saddest? Why?

Who/what is your mediator between you and God?

* Who or what other than Jesus do you use to get closer to God?
* Who or what if taken from your life would cause you to not walk as faithfully with God?
* How do you define yourself, especially when introducing yourself to others?

Where is your functional heaven?

* When daydreaming about escaping this life, what does your functional heaven look like and how is it different from the real heaven?
* On earth, where do you run for your safety or comfort as your hiding place (e.g. the fridge, alcohol, the television, a person, a place, a hobby)?

Who/what is your functional savior?

* What is your picture of hell in this life (e.g. being single, not having children, being poor, etc.)?
* Who or what do you use to save you from what you fear (e.g. a relationship, children, money, shopping, sex, etc.)?

What good thing has become a god thing?

* Which idols are in your life that when appreciated and/or stewarded correctly are means of worship but have become objects of worship (e.g. work, family, health, friendship, pleasure, leisure, hobby, etc.)?
* If you could obtain or change one thing/person in your life what would that be?
* What idols am I selling to others?

How can I nurture my worship?

The pattern for our worship is the redemption that occurred in the book of Exodus. There, God’s people were enslaved for all of their lives and then redeemed and liberated to be free to worship God. The picture of the Exodus is ultimately fulfilled in Jesus who is greater than Moses and conquered our Pharaoh Satan and redeemed us from slavery to sin and death. But, like God’s people in the Exodus we who have been liberated must walk with God all the days of our lives trusting him by faith as a lifestyle of ceaseless worship if we hope to have our lives be lived for his glory and our joy. Sadly, we often like the Israelites build golden calves of idolatry, grumble against God, and long to return to our sin and slavery while walking around in a circle.

The key to getting out of this horrendous loop is found for God’s people at Mount Sinai where God gave to them the 10 Commandments as the heart of his law. And, God begins the 10 Commandments by declaring that he alone is God and that nothing and no one is to be worshipped in place of or alongside him. The rest of the 10 Commandments go on to then illustrate how if these first two commandments are obeyed it will transform the rest of our life into opportunities to worship God with our desires, relationships, possessions, etc. Simply, if we worship God alone we will not worship sex and commit adultery, worship possessions and commit thievery or coveting, worship people’s perceptions of us and lie, worship unrighteous anger and murder, worship our job and never Sabbath etc.

In closing, the key to nurturing our worship of God is ongoing renewal. In a recent time I had with Pastor Rick Warren in California he gave a very insightful talk for pastors on stages of renewal. I share it with you because I find it helpful for this subject of worship. His point is that renewal happens in a pattern of six stages and that without the first the others are impossible. And, people who do not have the first tend to blame the others for their spiritual lethargy or dissatisfaction which is not the real source of their troubles.

Stages of Renewal

1. Personal renewal (love God) – simply everything begins with a renewed passion for Jesus as our greatest treasure and object of worship. Personal renewal occurs as we take time each day for mini-Sabbaths to do such things as pray, read Scripture, and connect with Jesus as well as taking a Sabbath day every week, day or days out of town unplugged from technology to renew every month, and take non-working and spiritually renewing vacation every year. The key for personal renewal is to unplug from all that drains us to plug into Jesus who renews us to be and do what he asks of us in all of life by his strength. Personal renewal does not fix everything in our life, but it sets our hearts and minds aflame with hope to press forward in life.
2. Relational renewal (love others) – once we have personal renewal with Jesus the first effect is that we have new hope for people and pursue them in love. If married, relational renewal begins with our spouse. And, if we are parents our children ensue. Relational renewal allows us to be authentic around others, stop pretending and performing, and simply be in loving community where we are known and know others thanks to the work of Jesus gospel.
3. Missional renewal (love the mission) – once we have personal and relational renewal, the result is that God’s people want to be on mission together doing what God commands of the church. Without personal renewal, a church cannot have relational renewal. And, without both a church has no life or unity that allows them to press forward on mission with God together.
4. Church renewal (love the brothers and sisters) – the fruit of personal, relational, and missional renewal is that a church that has a new culture of grace internally and new passion for lost people externally. In a church this results in people trusting their leaders and one another more, wanting to spend more time together, hanging out longer after services, and singing together more loudly as they see themselves as a unified community.
5. Structural renewal – once the personal, relational, missional, and church renewals have been established so much has changed in how a church operates and people interact that new structures must be built so as to accommodate God’s renewing work. This includes new policies, procedures, and ways of managing the affairs of the church so as to enable further renewal.
6. Institutional renewal – institutions (e.g. denominations, seminaries, publishers, record companies, conferences, etc.) are always the last places of renewal because they function to preserve and sustain the renewal of a previous move of God. Subsequently, they become the equivalent of a trunk on a tree while new growth happens out on the ends of the newest limbs.

The key to a life of worship is ongoing personal renewal with Jesus. Without this, you will be prone to accept mediocrity and even idolatry while blaming your state on the people in your life and church you attend rather than repenting of your own failure to connect with God as he has made possible through Jesus Christ. On this point Best says, “Authentic worship is a continuous outpouring of all that we are and can ever hope to become in light of the saving work of Christ. It reaches into every quarter of our living, informing all of our actions and safeguarding them within the arena of Spirit, truth and sacrificial living.” (Page 111)

So, in closing, how is your ceaseless worship and what needs to change for you to begin with personal renewal?

1st Corinthians 13

2008-08-25T10:34:00.000-07:00

The Way of Love

13:1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, [1] but have not love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; [2] 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

CG COUGARS !! !!!

2008-08-21T21:47:00.000-07:00

If you grew up in Casa Grande, this post may concern you. The class of 1998 is having a semi-formal dinner at Hogan's Clubhouse in Mission Royale for the 10 yr reunion. Tickets are $40 a person. If you want to play in the golf outing on October 4th, pay directly to the club house.

Mission Royale Golf Club and Hogan's Grill
11 Mission Royale South #1
Casa Grande, AZ 85222
www.missionroyalegolfclub.com
520-876-5335

Tickets for the Reunion Dinner

1st Corinthians 12

2008-08-18T18:38:00.000-07:00

Spiritual Gifts

12:1 Now concerning [1] spiritual gifts, [2] brothers, [3] I do not want you to be uninformed. 2 You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led. 3 Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.

4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. 7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.
One Body with Many Members

12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves [4] or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, [5] yet one body.

21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22 On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, 24 which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, 25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.

27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. 28 And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30 Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? 31 But earnestly desire the higher gifts.

And I will show you a still more excellent way.

Remedy Club Tour in Theatres

2008-08-15T14:54:00.001-07:00

DEATH BY LOVE

2008-08-15T13:47:00.000-07:00

Real people. Real sin. Transformed lives. Deep theology meets gritty pastoral experiences as Death by Love explains the practical implications of what Jesus accomplished on the cross. This compilation of heartfelt letters written from a pastor to his people is for all those who have sinned and have been sinned against.
Pick up your copy here.

JJ Heller

2008-08-15T12:17:00.000-07:00

JJ Heller is a Phoenix local who, back in the day, used to play in our college coffee shop. Here is a link to download her latest album for free.

1st Corinthians 11

2008-08-13T20:14:00.000-07:00

Head Coverings

2 Now I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you. 3 But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife [1] is her husband, and the head of Christ is God. 4 Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head, 5 but every wife [2] who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, since it is the same as if her head were shaven. 6 For if a wife will not cover her head, then she should cut her hair short. But since it is disgraceful for a wife to cut off her hair or shave her head, let her cover her head. 7 For a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man. 8 For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. 9 Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. 10 That is why a wife ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels. [3] 11 Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man nor man of woman; 12 for as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman. And all things are from God. 13 Judge for yourselves: is it proper for a wife to pray to God with her head uncovered? 14 Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair it is a disgrace for him, 15 but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair is given to her for a covering. 16 If anyone is inclined to be contentious, we have no such practice, nor do the churches of God.
The Lord's Supper

17 But in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse. 18 For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. And I believe it in part, [4] 19 for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized. 20 When you come together, it is not the Lord's supper that you eat. 21 For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk. 22 What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not.

23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for [5] you. Do this in remembrance of me.” [6] 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

27 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. [7] 31 But if we judged [8] ourselves truly, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined [9] so that we may not be condemned along with the world.

33 So then, my brothers, [10] when you come together to eat, wait for [11] one another— 34 if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home—so that when you come together it will not be for judgment. About the other things I will give directions when I come.

1st Corinthians 10

2008-08-12T20:22:00.000-07:00

Warning Against Idolatry

10:1 For I want you to know, brothers, [1] that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

6 Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. 7 Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” 8 We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. 9 We must not put Christ [2] to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, 10 nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. 11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. 12 Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. 13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

14 Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. 15 I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. 16 The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? 17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. 18 Consider the people of Israel: [3] are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar? 19 What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20 No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. 22 Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?
Do All to the Glory of God

23 “All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up. 24 Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor. 25 Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience. 26 For “the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof.” 27 If one of the unbelievers invites you to dinner and you are disposed to go, eat whatever is set before you without raising any question on the ground of conscience. 28 But if someone says to you, “This has been offered in sacrifice,” then do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed you, and for the sake of conscience— 29 I do not mean your conscience, but his. For why should my liberty be determined by someone else's conscience? 30 If I partake with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of that for which I give thanks?

31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. 32 Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, 33 just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved.

1st Corinthians 9

2008-08-11T20:56:00.000-07:00

Paul Surrenders His Rights

9:1 Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are not you my workmanship in the Lord? 2 If to others I am not an apostle, at least I am to you, for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

3 This is my defense to those who would examine me. 4 Do we not have the right to eat and drink? 5 Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife, [1] as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas? 6 Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living? 7 Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard without eating any of its fruit? Or who tends a flock without getting some of the milk?

8 Do I say these things on human authority? Does not the Law say the same? 9 For it is written in the Law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned? 10 Does he not speak entirely for our sake? It was written for our sake, because the plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of sharing in the crop. 11 If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? 12 If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we even more?

Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ. 13 Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings? 14 In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.

15 But I have made no use of any of these rights, nor am I writing these things to secure any such provision. For I would rather die than have anyone deprive me of my ground for boasting. 16 For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! 17 For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward, but if not of my own will, I am still entrusted with a stewardship. 18 What then is my reward? That in my preaching I may present the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.

19 For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. 20 To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. 21 To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. 23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.

24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, [2] lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

1st Corinthians 8

2008-07-20T20:50:00.000-07:00

Food Offered to Idols

8:1 Now concerning [1] food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up. 2 If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. 3 But if anyone loves God, he is known by God. [2]

4 Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “an idol has no real existence,” and that “there is no God but one.” 5 For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”— 6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.

7 However, not all possess this knowledge. But some, through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. 8 Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. 9 But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. 10 For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating [3] in an idol's temple, will he not be encouraged, [4] if his conscience is weak, to eat food offered to idols? 11 And so by your knowledge this weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died. 12 Thus, sinning against your brothers [5] and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. 13 Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.

Sermon Audio

Baptism Sunday

2008-07-17T19:59:00.000-07:00

Our Monument Flickr Account has all the pictures from the Baptisms over the 4th of July holiday weekend!

1st Corinthians 7

2008-07-17T19:09:00.000-07:00

Principles for Marriage

7:1 Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” 2 But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. 3 The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4 For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. 5 Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

6 Now as a concession, not a command, I say this. [1] 7 I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another.

8 To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single as I am. 9 But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

10 To the married I give this charge (not I, but the Lord): the wife should not separate from her husband 11 (but if she does, she should remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband), and the husband should not divorce his wife.

12 To the rest I say (I, not the Lord) that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her. 13 If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him. 14 For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. 15 But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so. In such cases the brother or sister is not enslaved. God has called you [2] to peace. 16 For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?
Live as You Are Called

17 Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches. 18 Was anyone at the time of his call already circumcised? Let him not seek to remove the marks of circumcision. Was anyone at the time of his call uncircumcised? Let him not seek circumcision. 19 For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God. 20 Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called. 21 Were you a slave [3] when called? Do not be concerned about it. (But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.) 22 For he who was called in the Lord as a slave is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a slave of Christ. 23 You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men. 24 So, brothers, [4] in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God.
The Unmarried and the Widowed

25 Now concerning [5] the betrothed, [6] I have no command from the Lord, but I give my judgment as one who by the Lord's mercy is trustworthy. 26 I think that in view of the present [7] distress it is good for a person to remain as he is. 27 Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife. 28 But if you do marry, you have not sinned, and if a betrothed woman [8] marries, she has not sinned. Yet those who marry will have worldly troubles, and I would spare you that. 29 This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, 30 and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, 31 and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.

32 I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord. 33 But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife, 34 and his interests are divided. And the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit. But the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband. 35 I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord.

36 If anyone thinks that he is not behaving properly toward his betrothed, [9] if his [10] passions are strong, and it has to be, let him do as he wishes: let them marry—it is no sin. 37 But whoever is firmly established in his heart, being under no necessity but having his desire under control, and has determined this in his heart, to keep her as his betrothed, he will do well. 38 So then he who marries his betrothed does well, and he who refrains from marriage will do even better.

39 A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord. 40 Yet in my judgment she is happier if she remains as she is. And I think that I too have the Spirit of God.

Sermon Audio

1st Corinthians 6

2008-07-17T18:24:00.000-07:00

Sermon by Tim Mace
Lawsuits Against Believers

6:1 When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints? 2 Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? 3 Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life! 4 So if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church? 5 I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers, 6 but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers? 7 To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? 8 But you yourselves wrong and defraud—even your own brothers! [1]

9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous [2] will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, [3] 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
Flee Sexual Immorality

12 “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be enslaved by anything. 13 “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”—and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! 16 Or do you not know that he who is joined [4] to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” 17 But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. 18 Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin [5] a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

Sermon Audio

1st Corinthians 5

2008-07-17T18:11:00.000-07:00

Sexual Immorality Defiles the Church

5:1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father's wife. 2 And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.

3 For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. 4 When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5 you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. [1]

6 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? 7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. 11 But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. 12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? 13 God judges [2] those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”

Sermon Audio

1st Corinthians 4

2008-07-17T18:08:00.000-07:00

The Ministry of Apostles

4:1 This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2 Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy. 3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. 4 For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. 5 Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.

6 I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, [1] that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another. 7 For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?

8 Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! Without us you have become kings! And would that you did reign, so that we might share the rule with you! 9 For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. 10 We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. 11 To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, 12 and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; 13 when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.

14 I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. 15 For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. 16 I urge you, then, be imitators of me. 17 That is why I sent [2] you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, [3] as I teach them everywhere in every church. 18 Some are arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. 19 But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power. 20 For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power. 21 What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness?

Sermon Audio

1st Corinthians 3

2008-07-17T17:53:00.000-07:00

Divisions in the Church

3:1 But I, brothers, [1] could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, 3 for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? 4 For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human?

5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 8 He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. 9 For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building.

10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. 11 For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— 13 each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. 14 If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

16 Do you not know that you [2] are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? 17 If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.

18 Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,” 20 and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” 21 So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, 23 and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's.

Sermon Audio

Religious Americans: My faith isn't the only way

2008-06-23T13:36:00.000-07:00

Religious Americans: My faith isn't the only way

By ERIC GORSKI –

America remains a nation of believers, but a new survey finds most Americans don't feel their religion is the only way to eternal life — even if their faith tradition teaches otherwise.

The findings, revealed Monday in a survey of 35,000 adults, can either be taken as a positive sign of growing religious tolerance, or disturbing evidence that Americans dismiss or don't know fundamental teachings of their own faiths.

Among the more startling numbers in the survey, conducted last year by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life: 57 percent of evangelical church attenders said they believe many religions can lead to eternal life, in conflict with traditional evangelical teaching.

In all, 70 percent of Americans with a religious affiliation shared that view, and 68 percent said there is more than one true way to interpret the teachings of their own religion.

"The survey shows religion in America is, indeed, 3,000 miles wide and only three inches deep," said D. Michael Lindsay, a Rice University sociologist of religion.

"There's a growing pluralistic impulse toward tolerance and that is having theological consequences," he said.

Earlier data from the Pew Forum's U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, released in February, highlighted how often Americans switch religious affiliation. The newly released material looks at religious belief and practice as well as the impact of religion on society, including how faith shapes political views.

The report argues that while relatively few people — 14 percent — cite religious beliefs as the main influence on their political thinking, religion still plays a powerful indirect role.

The study confirmed some well-known political dynamics, including stark divisions over abortion and gay marriage, with the more religiously committed taking conservative views on the issues.

But it also showed support across religious lines for greater governmental aid for the poor, even if it means more debt and stricter environmental laws and regulations.

By many measures, Americans are strongly religious: 92 percent believe in God, 74 percent believe in life after death and 63 percent say their respective scriptures are the word of God.

But deeper investigation found that more than one in four Roman Catholics, mainline Protestants and Orthodox Christians expressed some doubts about God's existence, as did six in ten Jews.

Another finding almost defies explanation: 21 percent of self-identified atheists said they believe in God or a universal spirit, with 8 percent "absolutely certain" of it.

"Look, this shows the limits of a survey approach to religion," said Peter Berger, a theology and sociology professor at Boston University. "What do people really mean when they say that many religions lead to eternal life? It might mean they don't believe their particular truth at all. Others might be saying, 'We believe a truth but respect other people, and they are not necessarily going to hell.'"

Luis Lugo, director of the Pew Forum, said that more research is planned to answer those kinds of questions, but that earlier, smaller surveys found similar results.

Nearly across the board, the majority of religious Americans believe many religions can lead to eternal life: mainline Protestants (83 percent), members of historic black Protestant churches (59 percent), Roman Catholics (79 percent), Jews (82 percent) and Muslims (56 percent).

By similar margins, people in those faith groups believe in multiple interpretations of their own traditions' teachings. Yet 44 percent of the religiously affiliated also said their religion should preserve its traditional beliefs and practices.

"What most people are saying is, 'Hey, we don't have a hammer-lock on God or salvation, and God's bigger than us and we should respect that and respect other people,'" said the Rev. Tom Reese, a senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University.

"Some people are like butterflies that go from flower to flower, going from religion to religion — and frankly they don't get that deep into any of them," he said.

Beliefs about eternal life vary greatly, even within a religious tradition.

Some Christians hold strongly to Jesus' words as described in John 14:6: "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Others emphasize the wideness of God's grace.

The Catholic church teaches that the "one church of Christ ... subsists in the Catholic Church" alone and that Protestant churches, while defective, can be "instruments of salvation."

Roger Oldham, a vice president with the executive committee of the Southern Baptist Convention, bristled at using the word "tolerance" in the analysis.

"If by tolerance we mean we're willing to engage or embrace a multitude of ways to salvation, that's no longer evangelical belief," he said. "The word 'evangelical' has been stretched so broadly, it's almost an elastic term."

Others welcomed the findings.

"It shows increased religious security. People are comfortable with other traditions even if they're different," said the Rev. C. Welton Gaddy, president of the Interfaith Alliance. "It indicates a level of humility about religion that would be of great benefit to everyone."

More than most groups, Catholics break with their church, and not just on issues like abortion and homosexuality. Only six in 10 Catholics described God as "a person with whom people can have a relationship" — which the church teaches — while three in 10 described God as an "impersonal force."

"The statistics show, more than anything else, that many who describe themselves as Catholics do not know or understand the teachings of their church," said Denver Roman Catholic Archbishop Charles Chaput. "Being Catholic means believing what the Catholic church teaches. It is a communion of faith, not simply of ancestry and family tradition. It also means that the church ought to work harder at evangelizing its own members."
On the Net:

* Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life: http://pewforum.org

1st Corinthians 2

2008-06-13T08:29:00.000-07:00

Proclaiming Christ Crucified

2:1 And I, when I came to you, brothers, [1] did not come proclaiming to you the testimony [2] of God with lofty speech or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, 4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
Wisdom from the Spirit

6 Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. 7 But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But, as it is written,

“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him”—

10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 11 For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. 13 And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. [3]

14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. 16 “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

Sermon Audio

1st Corinthians 1

2008-05-13T08:42:00.000-07:00

Greeting

1:1 Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes,

2 To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:

3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Thanksgiving

4 I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, 5 that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— 6 even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— 7 so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 8 who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Divisions in the Church

10 I appeal to you, brothers, [1] by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. 11 For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. 12 What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” 13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? 14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name. 16 (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
Christ the Wisdom and Power of God

18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written,

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. 22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, [2] not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being [3] might boast in the presence of God. 30 And because of him [4] you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Esther 5

2008-04-28T18:26:00.000-07:00

Esther Prepares a Banquet

5:1 On the third day Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king's palace, in front of the king's quarters, while the king was sitting on his royal throne inside the throne room opposite the entrance to the palace. 2 And when the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, she won favor in his sight, and he held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. Then Esther approached and touched the tip of the scepter. 3 And the king said to her, “What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? It shall be given you, even to the half of my kingdom.” 4 And Esther said, “If it please the king, let the king and Haman come today to a feast that I have prepared for the king.” 5 Then the king said, “Bring Haman quickly, so that we may do as Esther has asked.” So the king and Haman came to the feast that Esther had prepared. 6 And as they were drinking wine after the feast, the king said to Esther, “What is your wish? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? Even to the half of my kingdom, it shall be fulfilled.” 7 Then Esther answered, “My wish and my request is: 8 If I have found favor in the sight of the king, and if it please the king to grant my wish and fulfill my request, let the king and Haman come to the feast that I will prepare for them, and tomorrow I will do as the king has said.”
Haman Plans to Hang Mordecai

9 And Haman went out that day joyful and glad of heart. But when Haman saw Mordecai in the king's gate, that he neither rose nor trembled before him, he was filled with wrath against Mordecai. 10 Nevertheless, Haman restrained himself and went home, and he sent and brought his friends and his wife Zeresh. 11 And Haman recounted to them the splendor of his riches, the number of his sons, all the promotions with which the king had honored him, and how he had advanced him above the officials and the servants of the king. 12 Then Haman said, “Even Queen Esther let no one but me come with the king to the feast she prepared. And tomorrow also I am invited by her together with the king. 13 Yet all this is worth nothing to me, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's gate.” 14 Then his wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, “Let a gallows [1] fifty cubits [2] high be made, and in the morning tell the king to have Mordecai hanged upon it. Then go joyfully with the king to the feast.” This idea pleased Haman, and he had the gallows made.

Sermon Audio

Esther 4

2008-04-25T20:09:00.000-07:00

4:1 When Mordecai learned all that had been done, Mordecai tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and he cried out with a loud and bitter cry. 2 He went up to the entrance of the king's gate, for no one was allowed to enter the king's gate clothed in sackcloth. 3 And in every province, wherever the king's command and his decree reached, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting and weeping and lamenting, and many of them lay in sackcloth and ashes.

4 When Esther's young women and her eunuchs came and told her, the queen was deeply distressed. She sent garments to clothe Mordecai, so that he might take off his sackcloth, but he would not accept them. 5 Then Esther called for Hathach, one of the king's eunuchs, who had been appointed to attend her, and ordered him to go to Mordecai to learn what this was and why it was. 6 Hathach went out to Mordecai in the open square of the city in front of the king's gate, 7 and Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, and the exact sum of money that Haman had promised to pay into the king's treasuries for the destruction of the Jews. 8 Mordecai also gave him a copy of the written decree issued in Susa for their destruction, that he might show it to Esther and explain it to her and command her to go to the king to beg his favor and plead with him on behalf of her people. 9 And Hathach went and told Esther what Mordecai had said. 10 Then Esther spoke to Hathach and commanded him to go to Mordecai and say, 11 “All the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces know that if any man or woman goes to the king inside the inner court without being called, there is but one law—to be put to death, except the one to whom the king holds out the golden scepter so that he may live. But as for me, I have not been called to come in to the king these thirty days.”

12 And they told Mordecai what Esther had said. 13 Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not think to yourself that in the king's palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. 14 For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” 15 Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, 16 “Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish.” 17 Mordecai then went away and did everything as Esther had ordered him.

Sermon Audio

Esther 3

2008-04-19T20:38:00.000-07:00

3:1 After these things King Ahasuerus promoted Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, and advanced him and set his throne above all the officials who were with him. 2 And all the king's servants who were at the king's gate bowed down and paid homage to Haman, for the king had so commanded concerning him. But Mordecai did not bow down or pay homage. 3 Then the king's servants who were at the king's gate said to Mordecai, “Why do you transgress the king's command?” 4 And when they spoke to him day after day and he would not listen to them, they told Haman, in order to see whether Mordecai's words would stand, for he had told them that he was a Jew. 5 And when Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow down or pay homage to him, Haman was filled with fury. 6 But he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone. So, as they had made known to him the people of Mordecai, Haman sought to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus.

7 In the first month, which is the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, they cast Pur (that is, they cast lots) before Haman day after day; and they cast it month after month till the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar. 8 Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom. Their laws are different from those of every other people, and they do not keep the king's laws, so that it is not to the king's profit to tolerate them. 9 If it please the king, let it be decreed that they be destroyed, and I will pay 10,000 talents [1] of silver into the hands of those who have charge of the king's business, that they may put it into the king's treasuries.” 10 So the king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews. 11 And the king said to Haman, “The money is given to you, the people also, to do with them as it seems good to you.”

12 Then the king's scribes were summoned on the thirteenth day of the first month, and an edict, according to all that Haman commanded, was written to the king's satraps and to the governors over all the provinces and to the officials of all the peoples, to every province in its own script and every people in its own language. It was written in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed with the king's signet ring. 13 Letters were sent by couriers to all the king's provinces with instruction to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all Jews, young and old, women and children, in one day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods. 14 A copy of the document was to be issued as a decree in every province by proclamation to all the peoples to be ready for that day. 15 The couriers went out hurriedly by order of the king, and the decree was issued in Susa the citadel. And the king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa was thrown into confusion.

Sermon Audio

Esther 2

2008-04-13T15:42:00.000-07:00

2:1 After these things, when the anger of King Ahasuerus had abated, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what had been decreed against her. 2 Then the king's young men who attended him said, “Let beautiful young virgins be sought out for the king. 3 And let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom to gather all the beautiful young virgins to the harem in Susa the capital, under custody of Hegai, the king's eunuch, who is in charge of the women. Let their cosmetics be given them. 4 And let the young woman who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti.” This pleased the king, and he did so.

5 Now there was a Jew in Susa the citadel whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, son of Shimei, son of Kish, a Benjaminite, 6 who had been carried away from Jerusalem among the captives carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away. 7 He was bringing up Hadassah, that is Esther, the daughter of his uncle, for she had neither father nor mother. The young woman had a beautiful figure and was lovely to look at, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter. 8 So when the king's order and his edict were proclaimed, and when many young women were gathered in Susa the citadel in custody of Hegai, Esther also was taken into the king's palace and put in custody of Hegai, who had charge of the women. 9 And the young woman pleased him and won his favor. And he quickly provided her with her cosmetics and her portion of food, and with seven chosen young women from the king's palace, and advanced her and her young women to the best place in the harem. 10 Esther had not made known her people or kindred, for Mordecai had commanded her not to make it known. 11 And every day Mordecai walked in front of the court of the harem to learn how Esther was and what was happening to her.

12 Now when the turn came for each young woman to go in to King Ahasuerus, after being twelve months under the regulations for the women, since this was the regular period of their beautifying, six months with oil of myrrh and six months with spices and ointments for women— 13 when the young woman went in to the king in this way, she was given whatever she desired to take with her from the harem to the king's palace. 14 In the evening she would go in, and in the morning she would return to the second harem in custody of Shaashgaz, the king's eunuch, who was in charge of the concubines. She would not go in to the king again, unless the king delighted in her and she was summoned by name.

15 When the turn came for Esther the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her as his own daughter, to go in to the king, she asked for nothing except what Hegai the king's eunuch, who had charge of the women, advised. Now Esther was winning favor in the eyes of all who saw her. 16 And when Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus, into his royal palace, in the tenth month, which is the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign, 17 the king loved Esther more than all the women, and she won grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins, so that he set the royal crown [1] on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. 18 Then the king gave a great feast for all his officials and servants; it was Esther's feast. He also granted a remission of taxes to the provinces and gave gifts with royal generosity.
Mordecai Discovers a Plot

19 Now when the virgins were gathered together the second time, Mordecai was sitting at the king's gate. 20 Esther had not made known her kindred or her people, as Mordecai had commanded her, for Esther obeyed Mordecai just as when she was brought up by him. 21 In those days, as Mordecai was sitting at the king's gate, Bigthan and Teresh, two of the king's eunuchs, who guarded the threshold, became angry and sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus. 22 And this came to the knowledge of Mordecai, and he told it to Queen Esther, and Esther told the king in the name of Mordecai. 23 When the affair was investigated and found to be so, the men were both hanged on the gallows. [2] And it was recorded in the book of the chronicles in the presence of the king.

Sermon Audio

Esther 1

2008-04-05T15:02:00.000-07:00

Esther 1

The King's Banquets
1:1 Now in the days of Ahasuerus, the Ahasuerus who reigned from India to Ethiopia over 127 provinces, 2 in those days when King Ahasuerus sat on his royal throne in Susa, the capital, [1] 3 in the third year of his reign he gave a feast for all his officials and servants. The army of Persia and Media and the nobles and governors of the provinces were before him, 4 while he showed the riches of his royal glory and the splendor and pomp of his greatness for many days, 180 days. 5 And when these days were completed, the king gave for all the people present in Susa, the citadel, both great and small, a feast lasting for seven days in the court of the garden of the king's palace. 6 There were white cotton curtains and violet hangings fastened with cords of fine linen and purple to silver rods [2] and marble pillars, and also couches of gold and silver on a mosaic pavement of porphyry, marble, mother-of-pearl and precious stones. 7 Drinks were served in golden vessels, vessels of different kinds, and the royal wine was lavished according to the bounty of the king. 8 And drinking was according to this edict: “There is no compulsion.” For the king had given orders to all the staff of his palace to do as each man desired. 9 Queen Vashti also gave a feast for the women in the palace that belonged to King Ahasuerus.

Queen Vashti's Refusal
10 On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha and Abagtha, Zethar and Carkas, the seven eunuchs who served in the presence of King Ahasuerus, 11 to bring Queen Vashti before the king with her royal crown, [3] in order to show the peoples and the princes her beauty, for she was lovely to look at. 12 But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king's command delivered by the eunuchs. At this the king became enraged, and his anger burned within him.

13 Then the king said to the wise men who knew the times (for this was the king's procedure toward all who were versed in law and judgment, 14 the men next to him being Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan, the seven princes of Persia and Media, who saw the king's face, and sat first in the kingdom): 15 “According to the law, what is to be done to Queen Vashti, because she has not performed the command of King Ahasuerus delivered by the eunuchs?” 16 Then Memucan said in the presence of the king and the officials, “Not only against the king has Queen Vashti done wrong, but also against all the officials and all the peoples who are in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus. 17 For the queen's behavior will be made known to all women, causing them to look at their husbands with contempt, since they will say, ‘King Ahasuerus commanded Queen Vashti to be brought before him, and she did not come.’ 18 This very day the noble women of Persia and Media who have heard of the queen's behavior will say the same to all the king's officials, and there will be contempt and wrath in plenty. 19 If it please the king, let a royal order go out from him, and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes so that it may not be repealed, that Vashti is never again to come before King Ahasuerus. And let the king give her royal position to another who is better than she. 20 So when the decree made by the king is proclaimed throughout all his kingdom, for it is vast, all women will give honor to their husbands, high and low alike.” 21 This advice pleased the king and the princes, and the king did as Memucan proposed. 22 He sent letters to all the royal provinces, to every province in its own script and to every people in its own language, that every man be master in his own household and speak according to the language of his people.

Sermon Audio

Easter Sunday

2008-03-30T14:45:00.000-07:00

1 Corinthians 15

The Resurrection of Christ
15:1 Now I would remind you, brothers, [1] of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,

The Resurrection of the Dead
12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in Christ we have hope [2] in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. 24 Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27 For “God [3] has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. 28 When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.

The Resurrection Body
45 Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; [5] the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. 47 The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall [6] also bear the image of the man of heaven.

Mystery and Victory
50 I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.

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Palm Sunday

2008-03-23T14:24:00.000-07:00

How Majestic Is Your Name
A Psalm of David.

8:1 O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
2 Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
you have established strength because of your foes,
to still the enemy and the avenger.

3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
4 what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?

5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings [2]
and crowned him with glory and honor.
6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under his feet,
7 all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
8 the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

9 O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

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two ways to live : : the choice we all face

2008-03-13T09:14:00.000-07:00

click here to face the choice.

New mercies

2008-03-12T14:03:00.001-07:00