The Christian and Failure

Good morning! Today we will have a shorter message followed by a time remembering the Lord with the bread and cup, and then we will have a sharing time. Our sharing time will focus on lessons the Lord has taught you in 2010 as well as things you desire to see the Lord do in your life in 2011. I realize we have just gone through Christmas, and it may be hard to even think about 2011 so soon, but this will be what we try to do.

First though, I want to talk a bit about failure. My message at Faithwalkers this year is entitled The Christian and Failure, and what I share now is a portion of what I will share in that message. So if you are going to Faithwalkers, when you are there, don’t listen to me, but go to one of the other sessions when I am speaking.

Have you ever struggled with feelings of failure? Most, if not all of us have. Some of us know what it is to be paralyzed by a fear of failure, to be “bitten once,” so to speak, and then to be afraid to act in such a way so as to be hurt in the same way again. This too is pretty common.

The World Needs A Savior

As I was preparing for this message, I kept coming back to the simplicity of the title. It pretty well covers the subject for today. I think most everyone would agree that the world needs a savior.

In the message today, I want to try and answer a few questions. Obviously, we'll talk about why the world needs a savior. Then, since it is pretty evident that the world needs a savior, what kind of savior is needed. Finally, we'll talk about how the savior will “save the world.” In conclusion, we'll go to the Bible and talk about the Savior of the world.

Let's begin with why the world needs a savior. Wherever we turn, we see conflict and the ravages of sin. By sin, I mean an offense carried out one person against another. For example, we see natural disasters turn into even worse tragedies because of the sinfulness of man.

Overcoming Stumbles

Nehemiah 13

Good morning! Today we finish our series on Ezra and Nehemiah. To remind you of the big picture: The book of Ezra begins with the Israelites in Babylon, a humbled and captured people, living under their captors far from the home God had promised them. But those promises God made were conditional on their continuing to serve and live for God, and the Israelites, over a period of centuries, had continually rebelled against God, not following His commandments, worshiping other Gods, and ultimately becoming just as wicked as the heathen nations around them. 

Although our God is a patient God, there is a limit to His patience, and at long last, the nation of Israel fell, its people killed or taken captive, and its capital city, Jerusalem, sacked and destroyed. The wall surrounding the city was destroyed, the residences and government and public buildings in Jerusalem were destroyed, and even the Temple itself was destroyed; God’s Spirit left the Temple, symbolic of how God had at last left the people to reap the consequences of their sin, and symbolic also of how the people had for generations left God.

Overcoming Silence

Nehemiah 11-12 Welcome! Today we have our next-to-last message in our sequence of messages on Ezra and Nehemiah. To understand the context of today’s passage, let’s first turn back to Nehemiah 7:4:

Now the city was large and spacious, but there were few people in it, and the houses had not yet been rebuilt. – Neh. 7:4

It has been about 100 years since the first Israelites had come back to Jerusalem after enduring the seventy years of captivity in Babylon. Things that were destroyed close to 200 years ago are still destroyed. This is a really long time. If you wander around South Carolina, you won’t find very many signs of life from nearly 200 years ago. There are exceptions, of course, places that were never abandoned, like Charleston. But abandoned places can become really “ruined” after only a few years. Look at pictures of the parts of New Orleans that still have not been rebuilt. Or just look at what was the Holiday Inn on Highway 123 here in Clemson.

Overcoming Failure

Nehemiah 9-10

Today, we are going to cover Nehemiah chapters 9 and 10. If you remember from last week in Nehemiah chapter 7, the wall had been completed in 52 days, a miracle of the Lord in the face of great opposition. God's blessing on the Israelites was so clear that it even demoralized their enemies. Then in chapter 8, the people of Israel had gathered together and Ezra read the Book of the Law of God from daybreak until noon. And, the people were weeping as they listened, but Nehemiah, Ezra, and the Levites stopped them and encouraged them to celebrate. The next day, they read of the feast of tabernacles or the feast of booths. Hearing that this feast should occur during the seventh month, they went out and prepared booths. Nehemiah 8:17 said “From the days of Joshua son of Nun until that day, the Israelites had not celebrated it like this. And their joy was very great.”

And so, the Israelites celebrated the feast with great joy through 8 days. According to Numbers 29, the feast would begin on the 15th day of the seventh month and last 8 days ending on the 22nd day of the seventh month. Now, we pick up at the beginning of chapter 9, just a couple of days after the feast.

Overcoming Depression

Nehemiah 7-8

Welcome! Today we continue our series on Ezra and Nehemiah, focusing on Nehemiah 7 and 8. The walls of Jerusalem are rebuilt! This is what we saw at the end of last week’s message. Despite the persecution, despite the threats, despite the many devious plots against them, the walls and gates were finished. Jerusalem was once again a walled city. As we read last week,

So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of Elul, in fifty-two days. When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God. – Neh. 6:15-16

Overcoming Oppression

Nehemiah 5-6

Welcome! Today we continue our series on Ezra and Nehemiah, focusing on Chapters 5 and 6. The year is 445 BC, and the location is Jerusalem.

In Nehemiah 1 and 2 we were introduced to Nehemiah as the cupbearer of the Persian King Artaxerxes. Nehemiah learned of the state of disrepair of the walls of Jerusalem as well as of the downcast “defeated” mindset of the people there, and he wept and prayed for them, praying specifically that God would use him to help the situation. After several months of prayer and fasting, through a miraculous series of events, the king decided to send Nehemiah himself to take charge of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem.

Christ the Overcomer

Before we talk about Christ the Overcomer, we ought to briefly talk about why Christ needs to overcome at all. And what must Christ overcome?

After seeing the horrors of the twentieth century, the Jewish Holocaust preeminent, but the many other wars and the devastation that man has brought against man, it is apparent that evil abounds. Not only that, but the decay of ethics and integrity continues. The housing bubble and the economic collapse of 2008 and 2009 in large part was due to the greed of everyone who thought that they could get something for nothing. Scandal after scandal seems to befall those in political office. The continual increase in sexual sin, and I'm not just talking about the rise of homosexuality. The rise of sex outside of marriage and the increase of promiscuity. More and more children born out of wedlock. More and more broken marriages and single parent homes.

There's road rage and murder-suicides and suicide bombers and child abuse and child pornography and modern-day slavery. Problems and problems and more problems. There is a whirlwind of bad news every day. It just keeps coming. There is something wrong with our society. There is something wrong with our world.

Overcoming Opposition

Nehemiah 3-4

Welcome! We are continuing our series on Ezra and Nehemiah, today looking at Nehemiah chapters 3 and 4. Last week we looked at the first two chapters of Nehemiah, and we saw Nehemiah, cupbearer to King Artaxerxes, learn of the state of disrepair and discouragement of the people in Jerusalem. After several months of prayer and fasting, the king asked Nehemiah why he seemed sad, and Nehemiah told him of the situation in Jerusalem among his people. In a miraculous answer to prayer, the king had profound sympathy for Nehemiah and sent him to take charge of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. 

Upon arriving in Jerusalem, Nehemiah looked over the walls one night, and then he spoke to the people and encouraged them to begin rebuilding the walls under his leadership. They agreed, and despite some initial opposition in the forms of taunting from several non-Israelite leaders of surrounding regions, they began to rebuild. This brings us to today’s passage.

Overcoming Inertia

Nehemiah 1-2

Good morning! We are about to enter the wonderful book of Nehemiah. Last week we finished the Book of Ezra, and it is helpful to know that these two books are really two parts of one story. In fact, in the original Hebrew Old Testament, as well as in the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament (a translation into Greek made about 2000 years ago), Ezra and Nehemiah were actually combined into a single book. The separation of the book into two separate works seems to have been first done by one of the early church fathers, Origen, who lived from 185-254 AD (plus or minus a year or two). He was an expert in Hebrew who studied and compared various translations of entire Old Testament. 

It is possible that the separation was never meant to be deliberate, but a simply a practical thing because he wrote on scrolls of fixed length. When Jerome, about 150-200 years later, translated the Old Testament into Latin, he continued this practice, and it became established to keep them as separate books. Regardless of why the split into two books came to be, the important thing to understand is that we are continuing the story of the history of the Israelites in Jerusalem after the end of the exile that had followed the destruction of Solomon’s Temple.

Leaving Behind

Ezra 9-10 

Welcome! Today we will look at the last two chapters of the book of Ezra. As a brief review, Ezra starts with the decree of Cyrus, after 50 or 70 years of exile (depending on from where you start counting), that allowed the Israelites to go back to Jerusalem. We saw how they overcame persecution and trials to rebuild the temple, and how, after a period of about 80 years after the decree of Cyrus, Ezra came with a group of exiles to Jerusalem to serve as high priest at the rebuilt Temple. Once there, they sacrificed burnt offerings at the Temple to the Lord, thankful beyond words for how the Lord had protected them (and all of the valuable artifacts for the Temple they had carried) and, more fundamentally, for how the Lord had given the Israelite people back what had been lost due to the forsaking of God by their ancestors some 150 years prior.

After these things had been done, the leaders came to me and said, "The people of Israel, including the priests and the Levites, have not kept themselves separate from the neighboring peoples with their detestable practices, like those of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians and Amorites. They have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and their sons, and have mingled the holy race with the peoples around them. And the leaders and officials have led the way in this unfaithfulness." – Ezra 9:1-2

Bringing Along

Ezra 7-8

Good morning, after a week off to take communion and have a sharing time, we're back to our series on the book of Ezra. Today, we get to meet Ezra, the man himself. Before we get started, let's take a moment and pray. I encourage you to take a moment and ask the Lord to speak into your own hearts. Let's bow silently for a minute.

Father God, that is our prayer. Speak Lord to us. We are yours. Thank you that Your Word accomplishes its purpose and that it does not return void. Bring the truth and lessons of Ezra to us in the present day. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Okay, let's go directly to Ezra chapter 7, and meet Ezra.

After these things … Ezra 7:1

Come to the Table

Welcome! Today we will remember the Lord with the bread and the cup, just as Jesus instructed His disciples to do about 2000 years ago. Following this, we will have a sharing time, where anyone can share what God has been teaching them, what God has been doing in their lives. In preparation for this time of communion, I have a short message today entitled, “Come to the Table.” Now, the table you may have in mind when I say this might be the communion table that holds the bread and juice, and on one level you would be right. But I also have another table in mind, one that fits in with our current series on the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. The table I have in mind is first mentioned in Exodus 25.

"Make a table of acacia wood—two cubits long, a cubit wide and a cubit and a half high. Overlay it with pure gold and make a gold molding around it. Also make around it a rim a handbreadth wide and put a gold molding on the rim. Make four gold rings for the table and fasten them to the four corners, where the four legs are. The rings are to be close to the rim to hold the poles used in carrying the table. Make the poles of acacia wood, overlay them with gold and carry the table with them. – Ex. 25:23-28

Rededicating

Ezra 5-6

Welcome! We are continuing our series on Ezra and Nehemiah. Last week, we looked at how the Israelites, back in Jerusalem after 50 to 70 years of exile, begun to rebuild the Temple. But we also saw how opposition led to them feeling afraid and discontinuing the work. One of the things we saw last week was how the people procured giant cedars from Lebanon, and I mentioned that I would try to look up what specifically they were used for. Well, we know that the new Temple was modeled after Solomon’s Temple. The building of this Temple was assisted by the Phoenician king of Tyre, Hiram, who was friends with both David and Solomon; Hiram built a palace for David and two palaces and the Temple for Solomon. For this reason, you can learn more about the structure of these buildings by studying Phoenician architecture from this period.

Rebuilding

Ezra 3-4Welcome! Today we continue our series into Ezra, focusing on Chapters 3 and 4. Last week we looked at Chapters 1 and 2, and we gave the setting for the events in Ezra and Nehemiah. We looked at the big picture of the relationship between God and the people He had chosen to forge a relationship with, the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the Israelites. Through Jacob’s son, Joseph, God saved the people from famine by having them settle in Egypt, and then through Moses and, after him, Joshua, God saved the people from the tyranny and slavery of Pharaoh by bringing them out from Egypt, ultimately to the promised land. But in getting there, and in staying there, the people were almost continually in rebellion to God. 

Returning

Ezra 1-2

Welcome to our new series, Ezra and Nehemiah! As we begin this series, I want to talk a bit about how we will approach these books of the Old Testament. First of all, we want to directly understand what these books are saying. These are narrative books, historical books. They tell the true story of one point in the history of God’s dealing with people. We want to understand what happened; we want to understand the context of what happened in light of the rest of Old Testament history; to the degree that Scripture tells us, we want to know why the things that happened did happen. And we want to know how the things that happened led to what happened next. This approach to Scripture, seeking to understand its direct meaning, is critically important.

Hard Questions: Nay sayers?

Today, we are going to look at a couple of questions of nay sayers, or people who say that God does not exist or the Bible is disproved for one reason or another. These types of questions can be uncomfortable for us because we do not feel like we have sufficient evidence to refute their claims.

In the last 150 years, no single area has provided a jumping off point for turning away from God or saying no to God like the realm of science. There has been a dramatic push to take God out of public education, in part, under the guise of the “impartiality” of science.

Scientific investigation, by definition, is “the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment.”  So what does the Bible say about the physical and natural world?

Hard Questions: God’s Goodness

Welcome! Today we continue our series on hard questions. Last week we talked about God’s power, and we addressed the question of why, despite an all-powerful God, there is suffering and evil in the world. We also briefly talked about how to respond to those who suffer. This week we are going to focus on God’s goodness, and we will look at several questions that often are borne out of doubting the goodness of God.

Is God really good? (I realize there is a bit of a play on words here, with that word “really.”)

This is a common point of attack used by atheists and others who question or reject Christianity. Often the question has the form “How can a loving God…” followed by whatever particular charge is made against the claim that God is good.

Hard Questions: God's Power

Welcome! Today we continue our series on hard questions. Last week we talked about how we know that Christianity is true (the Holy Spirit) and how we show that Christianity is true focusing on why it is plausible that there is a Creator, and if there is a Creator, why it is plausible that He would communicate to us through something like our Bible. We then talked about reasons to believe the Bible. I don’t think I said this last week, but I want to emphasize that when you talk with unbelieving friends, a huge goal and prayer should be that they actually get into reading the Bible – with you, without you, in a group, whatever, but that they read it. It is when they read that the Holy Spirit can powerfully speak into their hearts, convicting them of sin and convincing them of the reality of what they are reading.

This week’s message is entitled God’s Power, and next week’s is God’s Goodness. These topics are very much interrelated; many, many hard questions boil down to arguing that if God is all powerful, He isn’t all good, and if instead He is all good, He must not be all powerful. Because the topics are linked, these messages are very much linked as well; we will deal both with God’s power and God’s goodness this week and next. To begin, I want to start with the question of God’s power straight up.

Hard Questions: The Bible

Welcome! Today we begin a new series – the topic is hard questions. We will start with a question so big that at first glance most people don’t know where even to begin. Here is the question:

How do you know that Christianity is true?

The first thing to think about, and apologist Dr. William Lane Craig has pointed this out, is that there is a profound difference between knowing Christianity to be true and showing it to be true. The most important reasons a believer has for knowing that the Bible is true may be totally inadequate, even frustrating or “useless,” to an unbeliever.

What Will God Find?

2 Cor. 12:11-13:14Welcome! Today we come to the end of our series on 2 Corinthians. We started way back in March, and I thought it would be good today to split the message into two halves. In the first half, we will simply review some of the themes we have seen in this book. This list is by no means comprehensive, by no means complete. In fact, it is very biased – it is a list of some of the things that have struck me the most as we have progressed through the book. In the second half of the message, we will look at today’s passage and see how Paul, guided by the Holy Spirit, wraps up this powerful letter to the Corinthians. And so, here are the twelve things that have most struck me in this letter. I would encourage you to write these down, and to put a star beside any that seem to really speak to you at this point in your life. Our past messages are online, so if you want more details about one of these, or you were out of town for some of them, know that they are available.

Love the Lord Jesus Christ

John 14:21-26 “He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him. Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, Lord, what then has happened that You are going to disclose Yourself to us and not to the world? Jesus answered and said to him, If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. He who does not love Me, does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me."

Luke 4:42-44 "When day came, Jesus left and went to a secluded place; and the crowds were searching for Him, and came to Him and tried to keep Him from going away from them. But He said to them, I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose. So He kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea."

The Upside-Down Boast

2 Corinthians 11:22-12:10

Welcome! We are coming down to the last few weeks of our series on Second Corinthians. As we get into today’s passage, I want you to think about resumes. Maybe you’ve never made a resume, or it’s been a long time since you needed one. Or maybe you’ve needed one quite recently or are sending it out to people now.

In America, because we live in a “secular” culture, we usually limit what we put on resumes to things that relate directly to the job we wish to apply for. We are so used to this that we don’t think it at all strange. We even have a “don’t ask, don’t tell policy” when it comes to job interviews. We are not supposed to reveal anything about our personal lives, and we are really not supposed to ask anything, if we are the interviewer. In fact, you can get in a heap of trouble if you do.

False Teachers in Your Life

2 Corinthians 11:1-21
Welcome. I cannot think of a better introduction for my message than to start with the Apostle Paul’s first sentence in 2 Corinthians 11: “I hope you will put up with a little of my foolishness.” My first thought in reading this is to think, well, if Paul was foolish, what does that make me? I don’t think the English language has words that will do justice to the comparison.

But I actually want to start today by having you think back on a favorite teacher, you have had, whether in school, or college, or in music or art or athletics. Do you have a favorite teacher? Looking back, I can think of several. Frankly, the ones that come first to my mind are the ones who were the most entertaining, who did the most outrageous things to keep my attention. Just thinking back on them makes me smile. But is that necessarily a good measure of what makes a good teacher? I don’t think so. Certainly a teacher shouldn’t be so boring that it makes you fall asleep in you chair in five minutes, but there has to be more to it than that.

God's Measuring Stick

2 Corinthians 10:1-18
As you can see, today’s title is “God’s Measuring Stick.” What is a measuring stick? It is a stick of a standardized length by which other lengths, other distances, can be compared. But how does one define the standardized length? Today, one of the themes of our passage, Chapter 10 of Second Corinthians, is the idea of a standardized measure of goodness, of righteousness.

But to start, I thought it would be interesting to talk briefly about measuring sticks. We all know the yardstick, the yard. We know it is 3 feet. But do you know how many spans it is? (Four.) Do you know how many fingers it is? (Eight.) Do you know how many nails it is? (Sixteen.) But do these identities help us to know how long a yardstick is? No. They are all relative. And their names may imply certain lengths (feet, spans, fingers, and nails), but these vary from person to person, and are not very accurate at all. 

Emergency Exit

Let’s begin with prayer:

"Lord God, I pray that Your Spirit would give me Your Words this morning. We have come to this place to worship You and to hear from You. If all we hear is some anecdotes, then we’ve missed the point. Our very lives are intricately a part of what you are doing in this world. Help us to see what You have called us to do. Not only that, strengthen us and embolden us to do what you’ve called us to do. In Jesus’ name. Amen."

Did anyone notice the title for today’s message before it went up on the screen? Emergency exit is the title. Has anyone been in a situation where you had to evacuate due to an emergency? Up to this point, I have not been in a real evacuation, although I’ve participated in several drills and a couple of false alarms in school and at work.

Abounding Grace

2 Corinthians 9:1-15Welcome! Today we continue our series on 2 Corinthians, looking deeply into some powerful, powerful verses in Chapter 9. Today’s passage, like that of last week, deals with giving, but it also applies in many other areas of life. Now, it may help to briefly recap what we saw last week, in Chapter 8. The chapter begins with Paul talking about the generosity of the Macedonian churches, those in the northern part of Greece, including the churches at Philippi, Thessalonica, and Berea. These people were eager to give to a collection Paul was taking for the Jerusalem church even though they themselves were experiencing extreme poverty and trials and persecution. Paul exhorted the Corinthians likewise to be generous. In I Corinthians, Paul had instructed them to take weekly collections for this purpose, and they had responded by doing so. Now, about a year or so later, Paul instructed them to continue and in fact complete the collection so that when Paul and his companions came to Corinth, they would be ready to give them the funds.

The Grace of Giving

2 Corinthians 8:1-24Welcome! Today we will continue our study of 2 Corinthians, focusing in on Chapter 8. Both Chapter 8 and Chapter 9 deal with the topic of giving. I have a lot of ground to cover today, so let me get right to the passage.

And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints. – 2 Corinthians 8:1-4

Godly Sorrow

II Corinthians 7:2-16

Good morning. Before we get into today’s message, I want to take a moment and pray that God would speak to us today.

Lord God, You are sovereign. You have authority over all things. And, “You have exalted above all things your name and your word.” (Ps 138:2b) I pray that your spirit would stir in our hearts. I pray that I would speak Your words, and I pray that our hearts would receive them and live them out. Thank You for giving us your Word both in Jesus Christ as the Word made flesh and the Bible that we can read every day. Amen.

Okay, so we’re in chapter 7 of II Corinthians. Today’s message will bring us to the end of the first section of this letter. Through the first 7 chapters, Paul wrote to the Corinthians with an apologetic focus. He has been explaining his conduct, his ministry, and his heart.

In today’s passage, Paul is going to make some reference to his travel plans as well as a trip by Titus. So, I’d like to take some time to make an overview of who’s going where when and who’s writing what when and from where. Got it?

A House for My Name

Good morning! Today after a short message we will spend time together remembering the Lord with the bread and the cup, doing what He asked His disciples to do in remembrance of Him. Following this, we will have a sharing time, where whoever wishes to share what the Lord has been doing in their life will be free to do so. Our sharing times are also motivated by Scripture; this was the kind of meetings that the early church had when they met together. And Scripture is also clear that all the members of a local body of believers are gifted by God in different ways, and by sharing and encouraging one another together, Christ’s body, the church, works as God equipped it and intended it to work.

I have titled today’s message “A House for My Name,” in part because my message is based in part on a book of the same title. This book is subtitled “A Survey of the Old Testament,” but it is unlike any survey I have seen anywhere else. This book shows how there are certain grand themes in the Bible, there are some grand questions that are explored and revealed little by little as we go from the creation of the universe up to the writings of the last prophets a few hundred years before Christ. These themes invariably find their ultimate fulfillment and understanding only in the New Testament, and one way or another, they are always fulfilled in the Person or work of Christ. Today I want to look at one of these themes, the one for which the book has its name.

Right and Wrong Yokes

2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1

Good morning! Today we continue our series on 2 Corinthians by looking at what may be the most well-known passage from the entire book. Unfortunately, I also believe this passage has been misused, used to mean something than other what was intended, more than perhaps any passage in this book as well. So today I want to look at it carefully and discern the context and the correct Biblical meaning of this passage, and then we will talk about how it applies to our lives. So here is the first part of the passage, the portion that is so frequently quoted:

Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? – 2 Corinthians 6:14-16a

Who is Paul talking to? He is talking to Christian believers; the book of 2 Corinthians begins with Paul saying after introducing himself and Timothy, “To the church of God in Corinth, together with all the saints throughout Achaia, grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” He is speaking to believers.

Open Wide Your Hearts

2 Corinthians 6:1-13Well, if you have looked in your program today for the messenger, I guess you’re a little surprised at this point. Yes, the program does say that Carl is the messenger. But no, I am not Carl. And if you don’t already know me, my name is John. Unfortunately, Carl came down with a cold this week, and it has given him a terrible cough. And that is not so good if you have to deliver a message.

Also, if you weren’t aware, we have three pastors here at Clemson Community Church: Carl Baum, Fred Custer, and me, John Farmer.

So, today is one kind of example of why it is good to have a plurality of leadership. Instead of Carl having to come in here sick, he can rest and I can serve him by giving the message today. It brings to mind Ecclesiastes 4 where it says that two are better than one because they have a good return for their work. The same passage also points out that a cord of three strands is not easily broken.

Reconciliation

2 Corinthians 5:6-21

Last week we learned from Carl (in II Corinthians 5:1-5):

For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life. Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge.--II Corinthians 5:1-5

(Note this is not "the force" in Star Wars or Eywa in Avatar.) This week we are going to continue on with verses 6-21.

Eternal Dwelling

2 Corinthians 4:13-5:5

Welcome! Today we return to our series in 2 Corinthians. Let me briefly remind you a bit of where we have been. Three weeks ago we looked at chapter 3 and learned how there is the very glory of God in us, through His Spirit. We saw this glory compared to the glory of God made visible through the glowing face of Moses. After Moses spent time with God, the result was that his face would glow. After telling the Israelites what God had told him, Moses would cover his face with a veil, because the glow was distracting, if not blinding. Over time, however, the glow would fade until which time Moses came back into the presence of the Lord. Our earlier passage in 2 Corinthians explained that the glory that is now in us, as believers in Christ, sealed with the Holy Spirit, is so much greater than that glory that it is not even worth comparing the two. So that is part of what we learned about three weeks ago.

Two weeks ago we looked at the first part of Chapter 4, which described us as “jars of clay.”

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. – 2 Corinthians 4:7

Find Rest

Since the beginning of March, I’ve been to 3 funerals and a wake or visitation for a fourth. The ages of the deceased were 86, 63, 44, and 15 years old. One died of old age. One died in a tragic accident. Another died suddenly and unexpectedly from a heart attack. And one was murdered. Only one of the four was expected to be near death. The other three were shocking and completely unexpected.

In one of the funerals, the pastor said a phrase in passing that really caught my attention. He said, “This is too real.” And so death appears to be when it comes unexpected. It is real because everyone dies. But it seems too real because we’re not prepared.

I share that because it is very important to consider the state of your soul today, right now. How much time any one of us has on this Earth is known only to God. If you were to die today, what would you say to God? If you were standing there before the Lord this very afternoon, and He asked you, “Why should I let you in to my heaven?” What would you say?

Jars of Clay

2 Corinthians 4:1-12Welcome! This is a special Sunday – following our time here we are going to have a picnic at Twelve-Mile Beach and also have a number of baptisms. I love baptisms. But you know, baptisms are kind of funny things. To children they are simple – they understand that it is simply something you do after you have come to have your own personal faith in Christ; they understand that you do it because Jesus said to do it, and of course you want to do what Jesus says to do. But for many adults they are more complicated; some people have been baptized as infants, before they had faith, and so they don’t quite know what to do when they come to faith.

Competence from God

2 Corinthians 3:1-18

Welcome! Today we are going to resume our series on 2 Corinthians, looking at Chapter 3. We are going week by week, line by line, through this entire letter. Since we took two weeks off, appropriately focusing in on the death and resurrection of Christ, I thought it would be good to give you a very quick overview of some of the things we have talked about.

This letter was written by Paul to the Corinthian church, a church that Paul had spent a year and a half founding and building into, a body of believers that Paul had come to love with a special love. After he left Corinth to continue on with his missionary journey, introducing other cities to Christ, the Corinthian church began to develop a number of problems. There were problems with immorality, and even in boasting in that immorality. There were problems with their meetings – people coming just for the food, people dominating the meetings, people being disrespectful with regards to speaking out of turn and then saying that the Spirit made them do it. And there were problems with false teachers and with factions. The people divided themselves, some saying they followed one person and others another.

...And He Rose

Christ is risen!

Praise God! What a beautiful and glorious day it is. Isn’t it interesting that for so many, Easter comes in spring? (A quick check on Wikipedia shows 90% of the world’s population lives in the northern hemisphere.) Do you wonder sometimes why God made the world just the way it is? Why do we even have seasons? I know that it’s because of the tilt of the earth. But isn’t it interesting that we get to experience this cycle of rebirth every year. Through creation, we are reminded that there is new life. In winter, trees are cold and grey. With some plants, the foliage dies completely above the ground. I’ve shown a picture of the bloom of a bleeding heart before. I'm including it again below.

He Died...

Remember He did not come to Jerusalem to be made King but to die!

Jesus predicts his suffering and death:

Then He took the twelve aside and said to them, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things which are written through the prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished. 'For He will be handed over to the Gentiles, and will be mocked and mistreated and spit upon, and after they have scourged Him, they will kill Him; and the third day He will rise again.'”--Luke 18:31-33

Q. Why does death exist?

A. The Fall

In the Garden of Eden, God commanded Adam, from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it, you shall surely die.--Genesis 2:17

Forgiving Those Who Disappoint

II Corinthians 2:5-17

Welcome! Today we continue our series in 2 Corinthians. After this we will take a two-week break from this series to focus on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, in keeping with Easter. Following the break, we will resume this series.

Our passage today speaks of disappointment and of forgiveness. It is helpful, when looking at this passage, to be reminded of the context in which this letter was written. As we shared several weeks ago, and as explained in the Book of Acts, the Apostle Paul spent 18 months in Corinth as part of one of his missionary journeys. Unlike his previous stops which were short--sometimes only days or weeks--he spent a year and a half of his life pouring his life into the people, and then church, of Corinth. Later, after leaving, he heard of many serious problems facing the church. There were factions, extremely inappropriate behavior at the communion feasts, misuse of spiritual gifts, severe personal sin that was not being dealt with, and in addition to this there were false teachers who were attacking Paul – his teachings, his character, anything they could attack – so as to gain a following of their own. These issues were tearing apart and destroying God’s work, the Corinthian church.

About Pain

2 Corinthians 1:12-2:4

Welcome! I thank you for coming. It takes courage to come to a message entitled “About Pain.” We are continuing on in our new series on 2 Corinthians. The title I have chosen is neither light nor pleasant-sounding, but I think it fits our passage. There are multiple kinds of pain, and we will see several of them in our passage today. At the same time, we will find much in this passage that is encouraging and building.

Last week, we looked at some background on the setting--the time and place of the writing of 2 Corinthians--and then we looked at the first 11 verses. Following a greeting in which Paul wished his listeners grace and peace, he went on to explain that God is the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all of our troubles. Led to pen this letter word by word by the Spirit, he talked about how the comfort God gives us is an overflowing comfort, and how, with that overflow, we are to comfort our fellow believers who are suffering. I shared how God’s ever-overflowing comfort reminds me of Jesus’ feeding of the five thousand; as people took some bread and fish and passed on the basket, there was miraculously enough for all, with more left over than what existed in total when they started.

The God of All Comfort

2 Corinthians 1:1-11

Welcome! Today we begin a new series lasting about 5 months – a series on the entire book of 2 Corinthians. Over time, 2 Corinthians has become one of my favorite New Testament books, although it didn’t start out that way. When I first read it, I was struck by all the personal information Paul shared, by how his emotions were very apparent in what he wrote, and I thought, “Why is this book part of the Bible?” I was also confused by several parts of the book, and just didn’t understand it. But over the years I have grown to really love and appreciate this book, in large part because it is so personal. Paul is quite literally an open book in this letter, and through his example we learn what it means to really live as a servant of Christ, to really love God with all of your mind as well as all of your heart.

Today’s message has two parts. In the first part, I want to give some background about the time and circumstances that led to the writing of this letter. And in the second part, I want to look at these first eleven verses as they help set some of the themes of the entire book. So first, the background:

Remembrance

At least 275 times in the Bible the word remembrance or a word form of the word remembrance is used. The word forget or a word form of the word forget is used 55 times.

Genesis 9:8-17 (from The Message)

Then God spoke to Noah and his sons: “I’m setting up my covenant with you including your children who will come after you, along with everything alive around you—birds, farm animals, wild animals –that came out of the ship with you. I’m setting up my covenant with you that never again will everything living be destroyed by floodwaters; no, never again will a flood destroy the Earth.”

Filling and Staying Filled

Welcome! Today is a special day for our church – a little later we will recognize John Farmer as a pastor, as an elder, celebrating the work God has been doing and John has been allowing God to do over the past years to bring John to a point of maturity and leadership here at Clemson Community Church.

First, I wanted to share some thoughts from Scripture about how this journey to maturity happens in believers’ lives. God desires that every believer grow to maturity in Christ. Not only does God desire this, but He provides us with exactly what we need for this to happen. And what has God provided us? His Holy Spirit.

I hope you enjoy the picture above. This is of course a fuel gauge for a gas tank in an automobile, and I cannot think of a more appropriate image to go with our title, Filling and Staying Filled. Now, how many of you have cars, or your families have cars, in which when the needle points on empty, you still have quite a bit of gas left? You are not quite sure how much, but it is still going to be a while before even the warning light will turn on. 

The Fruit of the Holy Spirit

Welcome! Today we will continue our series on the Holy Spirit, and will focus on the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is spelled out most clearly in Galatians 5.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. – Galatians 5:22-23a

One little sentence, and yet, so much to talk about! In the first two-thirds or so of this message, I simply want to expand on this verse, to paint a Biblical picture of what the grand scope of what is being said here, to explore what these words really mean. Let’s start with the word fruit. In Greek, the word is karpos. Karpos literally means, well, fruit! Jesus used the word repeatedly to describe the fruit of trees and vines. But more often, the word was used symbolically; the fruit of a tree or vine was used as a symbol of something else. In such cases, perhaps the best translation of karpos, other than fruit, is result. The fruit of the Spirit is the result of the Spirit. And by the way, this word karpos is singular; it is a singular fruit of the Spirit. What this passage is saying is that the result of the Spirit at work in your life is that your life will exhibit love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control.

The Gifts of the Holy Spirit

Welcome! Today’s message is on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. This is a part of our continuing series on the Holy Spirit. I have a lot I want to cover, so I will get right down to business.

I think a good starting point is to first look at the Greek word for “gift” in the Bible. This word is charisma. The reason I think this is so helpful is because this shows that the word is very closely related to another word, charis, which means “grace,” that is, unmerited favor.

Now, this is so important, I want to go deeper. Herschel Martindale, one of the leaders in our association of churches, the Great Commission Churches, has a wonderful way of talking about grace. He says, and I agree, that although grace is unmerited favor, the definition tends to not connect emotionally with most people. Herschel loves to define grace this way: Grace is God’s love at work in my life. Grace is God meeting our needs. I love grace explained this way because it so clearly communicates the idea that God loves us, not just at the moment when He allowed Jesus to die for our sins on the cross, and not just at the moment of our salvation, when we turned to Christ in faith to save us, but every moment. He is interested in us right now, eager to help us to grow spiritually, eager to help us in all things.

The Holy Spirit Testifies to Christ

Carl Baum has been sharing on the Holy Spirit throughout the month of January. I have been encouraged by this series, as I hope you have. I was impacted on the message about the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament. I was really excited to see the Holy Spirit working to bring about God's purposes without fail, and it was also surprising how few people in the Old Testament were filled by the Spirit, only Moses, seventy elders, a few judges, two kings, and many of the prophets. It is amazing to think how strong a contrast that is to the pouring out of the Holy Spirit at and after Pentecost, even up to the present time.

It's that work of the Holy Spirit until now that I want to talk about. In I Corinthians 12:3, it says,

Therefore I tell you that ... no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit. I Corinthians 12:3

I want to take a little while to testify that “Jesus is Lord,” how I came to Christ, and the role that the Spirit had in it.

The Holy Spirit In Acts

Welcome! Today’s message is on the Holy Spirit as revealed in the Book of Acts. This is part of a two-month series on the Holy Spirit. Previous messages were on the Holy Spirit as revealed in the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit in the Gospels, and Jesus’ Teachings on the Holy Spirit. Audio and text transcripts for these messages are available on our website if you missed them and would like to hear or read them.

I will start today right with the beginning of Acts. Luke explains that Jesus died and was resurrected, and then Jesus over multiple occasions presented Himself to the disciples teaching them.

On one occasion, while He was eating with them, He gave them this command: "Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift My Father promised, which you have heard Me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit." – Acts 1:4-5

Jesus' Teachings on the Holy Spirit

Let me jump right in with two passages in the book of John.

"When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, He will testify about Me. And you must also testify, for you have been with Me from the beginning." - John 15:26-27

But I tell you the Truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. When He comes, He will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin, because men do not believe in Me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see Me no longer; and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned. - John 16:7-11