Today in the Town of David

Luke 2:1-20

Let's take a moment and pray that the Lord would speak to us by His Holy Spirit.

Lord Jesus, thank you for coming as a baby more than 2000 years ago. Thank you for stepping down out of the majesty of heaven to endure scorn and squalor beyond comprehension. You could only have done it out of love. There is no other motivation that could cause One who is perfect and has all things to leave it behind for a chance to redeem ones who rejected You from the start. Your compassion knows no bounds and Your glory will know no end. All praise to You, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

I don’t know how you find Christmas. When you stop to think about it, there are a couple of ways to take the question, “How do you find Christmas?” I imagine my meaning is not quite what you would expect. At first, what I mean to say is given all the hubbub and commercialism and fictional storybook trappings, what do you think of Christmas and what the season has become? What impressions do you take away from the entire Christmas experience? What is Christmas like? How do you find Christmas to be?

His Mercy Extends

Luke 1:46-55 & 67-79

The song we sang earlier is a really good song. It says, “Come though expected Jesus, come to set Thy people free.” And in Acts chapter 3 it’s really interesting because it says that Jesus actually came into the world to bless us by turning us away from our sins. And so I think that’s really cool just to remember that is one of the ways God’s been merciful to us, is that He blessed us to turn us away from our sins. And as that song said He came to set us free. So that’s God’s mercy thinking about how He doesn’t really give us what we deserve. If we turn from our sin that means that we are not going to get what we deserve which is an eternity in hell. So that’s really cool to realize this Christmas season, even as we look at the topic today of His mercy, the fact that His mercy extends. Let’s look in Luke Chapter 1. As you turn there I will open us up in prayer.

God, we just thank you for this morning. We just really pray that you would speak to our hearts. Pray that you would remind us of how great your mercy really is. How you have been merciful to us over and over and over and over. God I just pray that you would help me to step aside this morning and let you speak God and take away any desire that I might have that would want people to look at me God but I just pray that people would look at you this morning God. That we just really meet together this morning so we can bring attention to you. So we can lift you up so we can magnify you. And God I pray that we would open our hearts to your words and that you would cause us to be people that would be changed. And we just give you thanks. Amen.

Blessed is the Child

Luke 1:26-45, 56-66, 80

Good morning, are you ready to continue on in the Christmas story? Today, we’re going to look at the rest of the narrative, the story, in chapter 1 of the book of Luke. Last week, Fred spoke about the angel Gabriel coming to Zechariah to proclaim that even in their old age, his wife Elizabeth would conceive, get pregnant, and have a son. Their son would be called John, and he would be a kind of Elijah, a forerunner of the Messiah. John’s ministry would “make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” After 400 years of prophetic silence, we have the announcement of the one who will prepare the way for the ultimate fulfillment of prophecy: the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Make Ready a People

Luke 1:1-25

I am really encouraged by this message. I hope it brings you a spiritual blessing this morning.  I think it will be different than you expect and so I hope the Holy Spirit just really moves your heart to be encouraged by this message this morning.  The Christmas message really starts off about 400 years before the first Christmas in the book of Malachi chapter 4.

Malachi 4:1-6

“Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire,” says the LORD Almighty. “Not a root or a branch will be left to them. But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall. Then you will trample down the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I do these things,” says the LORD Almighty. “Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel. “See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse.”

Rejoicing and Being Content

 Philippians 4

Welcome! Today we finish our series on the book of Philippians, focusing on Chapter 4. Last week, in Chapter 3, we were warned to watch out for those who imply that practicing certain external things (basically, living as Jews) made people more godly. Paul, the author of Philippians, instead explained that our focus should be on knowing Christ Jesus, that so-called righteousness produced by external practices and self-effort were worse than useless, that instead what we should pursue is our relationship with Christ, that in this pursuit we would find righteousness that comes from God. It is Jesus, and not our feeble attempts at self-effort, that transforms us into His image. If I may summarize: If our goal is to know Christ, we will find Christ and righteousness; but if our goal is righteousness, we will find neither Christ nor righteousness. After encouraging us to stand firm, Paul, led by the Spirit to pen these words, writes this:

I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to agree with each other in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you, loyal yokefellow, help these women who have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life. – Phil. 4:2-3

Knowing Christ and Pressing On

 Philippians 3

Welcome! Today we continue our study of Paul’s letter to the Philippians. This week on several occasions I had the opportunity to talk with people about matters of faith, and repeatedly I heard the idea that religious belief systems are all about what one must do to be “good”. I heard the idea that the essence of religion is the desire to better oneself, and that there is value in religion in that it motivates and inspires people to be better than they “naturally” are.

This sounds good, doesn’t it? After all, our world is a dark place, and there are all kinds of pressures to bring us down to our baser instincts, to have us give in to our most selfish desires, to take because we can, to live out the Darwinian so-called law of “survival of the fittest.” Not only this, but there is satisfaction in revenge, there is release in acting upon anger, there is even a pleasure in power, and this pleasure is not diminished by the means one uses to obtain this power.

Sending and Serving

 Philippians 2:19-30

Welcome! Today we resume our study of the wonderful book of Philippians. I want to start by giving a recap of some of the things we have discussed over the past few weeks. In Chapter 1, Paul gives thanks for the Philippians, calling them his partners in the gospel. And he says that, because they are his partners, he “prays with joy” for them. He then tells them his prayer, that their love “may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight.”

Paul then talks briefly about his chains, as he is in prison, but he then says he rejoices. With Christ’s help, he expects and hopes not to be ashamed, but to exalt Christ, whether he lives or dies. He then calls on the Philippians to conduct themselves in a manner worthy of the gospel, contending for the faith without fear, even if they are persecuted or suffer.

In Chapter 2, Paul then calls on them to have the love of Christ, being one in spirit and purpose, and he says that this will make his joy complete. You can see how joy is a major theme of Philippians; Paul has joy as he thinks of the Philippians, he rejoices as he thinks about his personal situation, in prison, chained to a soldier at all times, and he says that seeing the Philippians living together in love and unity and purpose together will be, in effect, the icing on the cake of his joy.

For the Joy Set Before Him

Good morning! Today we will have a short message followed by a time remembering our Lord and Savior with the bread and cup, and then we will gather together in a circle and those who desire can share what the Lord has been teaching them. Our church service takes this format once a month, because we truly believe Scripture when it says that God desires to use all members of His body to speak into and build up and encourage one another in the Lord.

One of the many things I love about our body, that is, I love about all of you, is the freedom we give each other to try things, even to fail, because we shower one another with grace and love. Today, I am going to break some well-known rules about public speaking and read a longish passage of fiction to you because it hits my heart, and I hope, hits your heart, in a way that I know no other way to express.

The passage I am going to read to you is from the novel Hinds’ Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard. The story is highly allegorical in nature, using a style of writing similar to that of the classic Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan. I recommend both books, if you are looking for edifying things to read.

Humility and Obedience

Philippians 2:1-18

John Farmer started this series in Philippians last week and today I am going to continue where he left off.

First let’s pray and ask God to glorify Himself and bless us through His Word this morning.

Just for the benefit of you who missed John’s message last week, he talked about Philippi being named after King Philip, Philip the Conqueror, who was Alexander the Great's father. So the Philippians had a prestigious name from a prestigious heritage and really proud men who went on to conquer the world. But Paul wanted to address some of that pride in his letter to the Philippians.

Now let’s look at Philippians 2:1-2

If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.

Circumstances and Attitudes

 Philippians 1

Today we begin a new four week series on the book of Philippians.  To most of us, it is a familiar book.  It is one where we can go for encouragement and perspective on our circumstances.  It is a book from which we have committed verses to memory.  In chapter 1 (v.6), “Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will perfect it [carry it on to completion] until the day of Christ Jesus.” 

Then in chapter 2 (v.3-4), “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.  Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”

And then from chapter 4 (v.5-7, 8, 11-13, 19), “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

He Who Lives Forever

 Daniel 9:24-27, 11:35-45, 12

Welcome! Today we finish our series on the Book of Daniel, looking at Chapter 12 as well as portions of Chapters 9 and 11. In case you have not been going through this series with us, or have missed some of the lessons, let me give you some context. Daniel was taken away from Jerusalem, from Israel, from everything he had known, during a series of terrible events known as the great exile. The people of Israel, from the days of Moses, had been given this land and had also been given the Law, and in the Law, it was explained that the gift of the land, the blessings of the land, and God’s blessings on the people, was conditional on their remaining true to God, loving Him and following His decrees and commandments. Over the centuries, the people had again and again strayed terribly far from God, and in the years leading up to the exile things had only become worse and worse. And so finally, God removed His hand of protection from Israel, and Daniel, with many others, was taken as slaves to Babylon.

Face Like Lightening

 Daniel 10-11:39

Welcome! Today we continue our series on the Book of Daniel, looking at Chapter 10 and portions of Chapter 11. Two weeks ago we looked at Chapter 9, but did not study the last several verses. I have decided to put these verses off one more week, and we will look at them together with the end of the book of Daniel, because they have more in common thematically with this part of the book than with what we will look at today. We have a huge amount of verses to look at, so let us jump right in.

In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia, a revelation was given to Daniel (who was called Belteshazzar). Its message was true and it concerned a great war. The understanding of the message came to him in a vision. At that time I, Daniel, mourned for three weeks. I ate no choice food; no meat or wine touched my lips; and I used no lotions at all until the three weeks were over. – Daniel 10:1-3

The Anointed One

 Daniel 9:1-26

Welcome! Today we continue our study of the Book of Daniel, focusing on Chapter 9. First, I want to briefly remind you of the big picture, of the context of the Book of Daniel in the history, the true story of God and His interaction of people, in the Old Testament.

At the time of Moses, the Israelites had been delivered from Egypt and promised the land of Israel, but the promise was a conditional promise; it depended on the people continuing to follow after God, obeying His commands and remembering Him in worship and in day-to-day living. Well, the people forgot God, ignored His commands, and even sought to do the very things He had forbidden, such as worshiping false gods. And through Israel’s history, God raised up prophets who spoke warnings that unless the people repented and turned back to God and followed His ways, they would lose the land, Jerusalem and especially the Temple built by Solomon, the place where God’s Spirit dwelled, would become desecrated and destroyed.

Prince of the Host

Daniel 8

Welcome! Today we continue our series in the Book of Daniel, looking in depth at Chapter 8. There is a lot of fascinating stuff to get into today, so I am going to get started with the chapter right away.

In the third year of King Belshazzar’s reign, I, Daniel, had a vision, after the one that had already appeared to me. In my vision I saw myself in the citadel of Susa in the province of Elam; in the vision I was beside the Ulai Canal. – Daniel 8:1-2

Son of Man

Daniel 7

 Welcome! Today we continue our series in the Book of Daniel, beginning the second half of the book and focusing in on Chapter 7. In the first six chapters we saw primarily a historical account of the events surrounding the life of Daniel, with a little prophecy thrown in. In these second six chapters, we see the reverse: primary a series of prophecies, with a little historical account thrown in.

I believe it is helpful to start with a very brief review of the highlights of the first 6 chapters. Daniel was captured with his friends from Jerusalem at the time of the fall of Israel, the culmination of centuries of warnings from God’s prophets and the fruit of centuries of disobedience, ignoring God’s laws and increasingly forsaking God altogether. And so Daniel, likely a teenager at the time, was made to serve in a foreign nation, the nation of Babylon.

Jesus: The Deliverer

When I was a kid growing up, at some point a cat “adopted” us. What I mean by this is that this cat consented to let us admire it, pet it, and give it the free reign of our property. The cat had no tags but was actually a very pretty cat, and as most cats do, it took very good care of itself. I was somewhat indifferent to it until I realized that my mom didn’t like it, and at that point I became much more interested, and even, you could say, a “fan” of that cat.

One reason my mom didn’t like the cat is that it wanted free reign not only of our property, but of our house. When my mom would be carrying groceries into the house, the cat would try to run in. Well, my mom would have nothing to do with that, and so she decided to start spraying the cat with a water hose when it came around. The cat did not like that at all. And for a while it seemed that things had more or less settled down – the cat ran away when it saw my mom, but when it was just the rest of our family outside, the cat would happily walk between our legs and consent for us to give it a gentle scratch at just that place behind the ears which would make it loudly purr.

Out from the Tomb

Daniel 6

Welcome! Today we continue in our study of the Book of Daniel, focusing in on Chapter 6. To begin, I want to give a bit of a recap of where we have been.

Daniel was a Hebrew, an Israelite, who lived in Israel during his childhood years at a very turbulent time in Israel’s history. For generations, even going all the way back to Moses, God had warned that His promises of blessings on Israel were conditional on the people remaining true and faithful to God, practicing His commandments and decrees, and refusing to worship false gods. Over the centuries, Israel had strayed farther and farther away from God, and at last, God’s warnings were coming to pass. Removing His protection, God now began to allow foreign nations to attack into the heart of Israel, including Jerusalem, and take apart the nation piece by piece.

The Human Hand

Daniel 5

Welcome! Today we continue in our study of the Book of Daniel, focusing in on Chapter 5. I want to start today by giving you a reminder of what has happened in the first 4 chapters.

The history of the Israelites in the Bible is not a pretty one. From the days of Moses until the fall of Israel, times in which the people worshiped God and obeyed His commandments were the exception rather than the rule. Finally, after nearly continuous warnings from prophets, people God spoke to directly to warn them to change or else witness the fruit of their forsaking Him, it really happened. God raised up Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and turned the nation of Babylon into the strongest, largest, most terrifying empire the world had ever known. Syria, Phoenecia, Tyre, and even Egypt were overwhelmed and absorbed into this empire. And the tiny nation of Israel, just a dot on the map compared with some of these other nations, lost God’s protecting hand and was overtaken as well. God’s presence left the Temple made by Solomon, and the Temple was looted and destroyed. 

Message from Heaven

Daniel 4

Welcome! Today we continue in our study of the Book of Daniel, focusing in on Chapter 4. To get started, let me remind you of the highlights of Chapters 1 through 3.

Recall that God had used prophets in Israel to warn them that unless they changed from their wicked ways, unless they stopped rejecting and forsaking Him, He would allow foreigners to come in and overtake the land, effectively putting an end to the nation of Israel. Some of her people would be killed in the process, and others would become captured and taken away to other lands to serve as servants and slaves under foreign kings who worshiped foreign gods. And this is exactly what happened.

Jesus: The Light

I John 1:5 tells us that God is Light. And for us, those who believe in Him, He is our light.

Let’s take a moment and pray:

Jesus, you are the light of the world. In You there is no darkness at all. Your light shines in us and through us. We pray that you would light our paths through your Word today. We are dependent on Your direction. Apart from You, everything is darkness and confusion to us. Shine on us and through us Lord Jesus. Amen.

The last 3 weeks, we’ve begun studying through the book of Daniel. Last week we talked about the fiery furnace. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were joined in the furnace by a fourth man. This fourth man had a different appearance than the three friends. He is described by Nebuchadnezzar as a son of the gods and later as an angel. Likely, the fourth man had an appearance of light or brilliance to gain such a description.

Two weeks ago, we talked about how God miraculously revealed Nebuchadnezzar’s dream to Daniel. King Nebuchadnezzar said he would not tell his dream to anyone but that his wise men had to prove their worth by telling him the dream and interpreting it. Otherwise, he would kill all the wise men. Daniel stepped in and asked the king for time. That night, God revealed the dream to Daniel. Daniel had a beautiful prayer at that point.

The Fourth Man

Daniel 3

Welcome! Today we look at a familiar passage of Scripture, Daniel chapter 3. This passage is often summarized in children’s Bible story books, and so some of us have known this story since before we could read. But I think there is plenty here that is interesting, plenty that is “meaty,” and plenty that we can apply to our lives.

Let me first remind you of the background for the book of Daniel. Daniel and his friends, Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael were captured by the Babylonians in one of several raids that ultimately led to the total downfall of the Israelite nation, or more precisely, the split nation consisting of Israel and Judah. This downfall was repeatedly prophesied by the Israelite prophets, who said it was sure to happen unless the Israelite people truly repented and turned from worshiping false gods and performing other detestable practices all while abandoning the Law given to Moses generations earlier.

The Rock

Daniel 2

Welcome! Today we continue in our study of the wonderful Book of Daniel, focusing on Chapter 2. To get started, let me remind you of the context of the book of Daniel and briefly review what happened in Chapter 1.

The book of Daniel takes during and after the fall of the land of Israel. God allowed Israel to fall, in fact, He repeatedly warned His people that the fall was coming, because they had forsaken God. God, who is the orchestrator of all of history, used a man named Nebuchadnezzar son of Nabopolassarto do this. Nabopolassar started things by delivering Babylon from its dependence on Assyria and destroying Nineveh. While Nabopolassar still reigned, he sent his son Nebuchadnezzar to lead military campaigns, and under Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonians defeated the Egyptian army and drove them back to their homeland, essentially ending the Egyptian empire for good. Nebuchadnezzar continued with other military campaigns to defeat the Syrians and the Phoenicians, and Nebuchadnezzar returned to Babylon after his father’s death to take the throne of what we call the neo-Babylonian Empire, the greatest empire in terms of might and reach the world had yet seen.

The Test

 Daniel 1

Today, we begin a new series. Over the next 11 weeks, we will study the book of Daniel. This book is familiar to most of us. Many of the events of Daniel’s life we learned about as children in Sunday school or vacation Bible school. Daniel in the lions’ den.Daniel interpreting dreams. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednago in the fiery furnace. The writing on the wall.

Time and again throughout the book of Daniel, we see the God of Israel (Yahweh, Jehovah) demonstrating His power and sovereignty. The little “g” gods of Babylon and the wisdom of their followers is shown to be empty and powerless by the one true God.

The Bible is unique in so many ways. It includes history, incredible details about the past. It includes prophecy, miraculous predictions of things to come. It includes instruction on how to live. It includes the explanation of why we are here. It includes the means by which we can have eternal life. It is profoundly concrete. There are mysteries in the Bible, but the Bible is no means a mystical book. You can read it and understand it.

Money Part 2

Good morning! Today we come to the conclusion of our topical series exploring the wisdom of the book of Proverbs. This is also the second part of a two-part message on Biblical guidelines for wisdom in the area of finances. I want to start with a recap of some of the things we talked about in Part I, which we actually covered two weeks ago. (Last week was our monthly communion and sharing time and John spoke about hard hearts vs. hearts soft to the things of the Lord.)

Two weeks ago we looked at a variety of passages not only in Proverbs but also in the teachings of Jesus and came up with the following main points:

I. Seek the Lord in your financial decisions. – We talked about guarding against compartmentalizing our faith with regards to financial decisions. In every significant financial decision, we should pray and seek Biblical wisdom. This is simple to say but can be difficult to do, particularly if we have built up a habit of making financial decisions on our own.

Jesus and Debt

Before we jump into the message, let’s take a moment and ask the Lord to soften our hearts and to speak to us.

Lord Jesus, I do pray that you would soften our hearts. We harden our hearts to protect ourselves from the hurts of this world. We harden our hearts to handle the trials we are facing. We harden our hearts to bear our own burdens. We even harden our hearts to do the things that we know are right. But that’s not how you are and that’s not how you want us to be. Give us ears to hear. Transform us and make us more like you. Soften our hearts that we might love as you do. In your perfect name we pray, Amen.

Do you ever think about your heart? I’m talking about your physical heart, the one inside your chest. As a general rule, I don’t think about it at all. When I was a kid, I would put my hand on my chest and feel my heart beating. I wasn’t fascinated by it, but I do remember at least thinking about my heart and the fact that it was pump, pump, pumping. Nowadays, I hardly think about it at all. It does what it’s supposed to, and I don’t really consider it.

Money Part 1

Good morning! Today we continue our series based on the book of Proverbs and focus on Biblical precepts for wise finances. There is so much to discuss in this area that we will spend two weeks on this topic. Next week we will have our monthly time of communion and sharing together what the Lord is teaching us, so we will finish this topic in two weeks.

I want to start with some foundational verses in Proverbs Chapter 3. The first of these I am sure you all know; we have talked of these before. They are not specifically tied to finances but deal with all of life. But all of life certainly includes finances, and without a proper foundation, details aren’t going to help you much. And so, let’s look at Proverbs 3:5-6.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. – Prov. 3:5-6

Diligence vs. Neglect

Proverbs 10:4
Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth.(NIV)

What makes a man or woman poor? Some would say that if you are born into poverty you are destined to remain in poverty. However, there are many cases where people who were born into poverty worked hard and rose out of their original impoverished state. For example, David was born into a family of shepherds but rose to become king of all of Israel. Abraham Lincoln grew up living in a lean-to with his father yet he became president of the United States. Babe Ruth was raised in an orphanage and grew up to become one of the most famous baseball players of all time. 

Truthfulness vs. Deception

Good morning! Today we continue our series based on the book of Proverbs and focus on truthfulness versus deception. I spent a little time yesterday thinking about some of the most common lies in our culture. With a little help from the Internet, here are a few I came up with:

1.The dog ate my homework.
2.Leave us your resume and we’ll keep it on file.
3.One size fits all.
4.Your baggage isn’t lost, it’s just not here.
5.This will only take a minute.
6.Satisfaction guaranteed.
7.That was the very next thing on my list of things to do!

Peacemaking vs. Contention

Welcome! Today we continue our series in Proverbs and look at peacemaking versus contention. We will start with contention. This is probably a word you do not use in everyday conversation. What I mean by the term is arguing, disputing, the expression of anger, complaining, and just general grumpiness. These types of things never happen in your house do they? The truth, of course, is that contention is more common in our lives than we care to admit.

Now, I’m not an expert in comedy or humor, but one thing that struck me this week is just how much humor is based on contention. If I were to guess, I would say it is the most common basis of humor. And this is not just in our culture, but seems to be universal. I recently got myself sucked into some Korean drama programs (with subtitles), and the humor is very much the same. If you have watched British shows, again, very often arguments are a central source of humor.

Purity vs Infidelity

What is purity?

According to "Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary" purity is defined as "the quality or state of being pure" and when a substance is referred to as pure, it can also be known as, " spotless, unmixed with any other matter, characterized by no appreciable alteration, marked by chastity, and containing nothing that does not properly belong." Some synonyms of pure are: innocent, guiltless, unblemished, chaste, clean, uncorrupted, unmixed, and genuine. We here people use the term pure gold when speaking of the value of this precious metal.

Even though the value of gold has risen over time, the value of spiritual purity has lowered in our world over time. People continually discover new ways to compromise their spiritual purity and find ways to attempt to justify it to themselves and others.

Wisdom vs. Folly

We are going to continue the topical series on the book of Proverbs that Carl introduced last week. This is a topical series because if you read the Proverbs, it is kind of like reading the dictionary. There are many different topics in a single chapter. The neat thing about that is by reading a single chapter of Proverbs, you are exposed to wisdom applied to a wide spectrum of your life. So, God allowed Proverbs in the best possible way. However, for a message like today, it would be a challenge to go line by line through Proverbs. So, we are going to take a topical approach looking at wisdom and folly.

Wisdom versus Folly. What a title! It is an epic battle isn’t it? Wisdom squares off against Folly in a fight to the finish. Could you imagine?

In this corner, shining brighter than the dawn, radiant in truth, formed by God Himself before the foundations of the world, we have Wisdom. And in this corner, lurking in the shadows, bringing only punishment, causing wounds to fester, is Folly.

Introduction to Proverbs

Good morning! Today we begin a new series on the Book of Proverbs. Today we are going to begin by talking about the book in general and look at the opening verses of the book.

To start, what is a proverb? It is some kind of a saying. It is usually short, and it is meant to make you think and reflect. The proverb is supposed to teach you something, share something of wisdom.

One place you see proverbs in the world today is inside fortune cookies. Did you know that fortune cookies are based on a Japanese cookie not a Chinese one, although the modern kinds of messages in the cookies is a distinctly American custom only going back to the late 1800s. Fortune cookies are almost unheard of in China. About 3 billion fortune cookies are made per year, and almost all of them are consumed in the United States.

The Resurrection of Love

He is risen! Good morning. Today we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, risen from the dead, a historical fact as sure as any you have ever heard. People saw Him. They spoke with Him, and He spoke with them. They touched Him, and He touched them. He was not a ghost. He was not a figment of their imagination. He was real. He was flesh and blood, and yet, somehow, more. I want to start this morning by reading the account in the gospel of Mark.

It was the third hour when they crucified Him. The written notice of the charge against Him read: THE KING OF THE JEWS. They crucified two robbers with Him, one on His right and one on His left. Those who passed by hurled insults at Him, shaking their heads and saying, “So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, come down from the cross and save yourself!” – Mark 15:25-30

If you do not know what irony is, this passage is a good example. Jesus was going to destroy the “temple” and build it in three days, but the “temple” wasn’t the mere building down there in Jerusalem; the place that had been the location of the Holy of Holies, the Holy Spirit. The “temple” was another location of God, the body of Jesus Christ. And no, it wasn’t that He couldn’t come down from the cross; it was that He wouldn’t. He had come to Earth for this very reason, and He was not going to stop. To come down from that cross might have saved Himself, but it would have lost the whole world. Jesus had come to lay down His life, to pay for their sins.

The Death of Love

I want to tell two stories today. One story is about me. The other story is about Jesus.

Last Sunday, a few of us were talking after church. We were marveling at God’s grace toward us in spite of ourselves. Do you know what I mean? Every Christian can tell how they stubbornly sinned and rejected God, but He kept on loving us, He kept on calling us, He kept on sending people after us, until we accepted His love. In spite of whatever we might have done, God wants us to turn to him because he loves every one of us.

Bob Schmitt mentioned that we should put out on the sign in front of the church for everyone to see, “Sinners Anonymous, All are welcome.” The reason is that when we’ve been walking with the Lord for a while, sometimes others can’t really see how the Lord has cleaned us up and put our lives back together. The truth of the matter is that in every single believer, in every single Christian, in every single Christ-follower, there is a messed up sinner who was saved by the grace of God. Any good thing that is in our lives now, any love that we can express to others, any kindness or sacrifice that we can make, it comes from the love of God.

Power Revealed

2 Peter 3
 
Welcome! Today we are going to talk about all kinds of interesting things: mortality and immortality, nuclear particles and forces, the nature of time… like I said, all kinds of interesting things! To start, I would like to ask you to raise your hand if you know you are going to die. Well, this is kind of a trick question, because it tests what you really believe about the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. If your first response was to automatically raise your hand and think, "Of course I am going to die!" then this reveals that the second coming of Christ is either something you don’t truly believe or it is something you think will happen in some far away future. Well, if this describes you, I hope that today’s message from 2 Peter 3 will give you the biblical way to think about these things.

We simply don’t know when Jesus will return. It may well happen before we die, in which case we will avoid death. But there is one person who absolutely knew he would die before Jesus’ return. Do you know who this is? It is Peter! During Jesus’ meeting with Peter after the resurrection, the meeting in which Jesus restored Peter and called on him to take care of Jesus’ sheep, to feed Jesus’ lambs, Jesus told Peter this:

Power Corrupted

2 Peter 2

Welcome! Last week and the week before we looked at II Peter Chapter 1 which exhorted us to take radical steps in growing our character. Two weeks ago, we learned that God has equipped us with everything we need to live for Him, and we learned that living for Him means, in part, being like a choir-master, actively striving to assemble a choir of “heroic” goodness, knowledge applied to life, Olympic athlete-like self-control, Winston Churchill-like perseverance, godliness based on the continual worship of God, brotherly kindness based on deep caring for one another, and agape, love that delights to sacrifice self for the sake of others.

The Power of Grace

Welcome! Today we will have a shorter message followed by a time of remembering the Lord with the bread and cup, and then a sharing time. Last week we began to explore the book of II Peter and went in detail into Chapter 1. The chapter exhorts us to take radical steps in growing our character. Today I want to talk about God’s grace and how grace is related to the ideas of this chapter. I will start by rereading the first part of II Peter 1 and summarizing the ideas we talked about last time.

Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours: Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. – II Peter 1:1-4

Divine Power

 2 Peter 1

Welcome! I encourage you to continue praying the secret prayer. Today we begin a journey into the book of II Peter. The message this week is entitled Divine Power. In my opinion, power is a unifying sort of theme throughout the book of II Peter, and we will touch on this as we go through the series.

This series was prayerfully planned several months ago, and it was then that I first saw this theme of power running through II Peter. As you all know, the world has been witness to a different kind of power in the last week and a half. I looked up information on the Richter scale to see just how powerful a 9 point earthquake really is, to get some kind of equivalent measure that I could compare it to. I found that a 9.0 earthquake has the energy release equivalent to 476 megatons of TNT. By comparison, the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 had an energy release equivalent to about 15 kilotons of TNT. In other words, the recent earthquake in Japan had the energy release of more than 30,000 nuclear bombs of the type that destroyed Hiroshima.

Living to Serve

1 Peter 4:12-5:14

Welcome! Today we finish up our look into the Book of I Peter, focusing on the end of Chapter 4 and all of Chapter 5. I will start by backing up a few verses and looking at the verses we ended with last week:

Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. – I Peter 4:12-15

Living for God

1 Peter 4

Welcome! Today we continue our series of messages in I Peter. Today we look at Chapter 4. Because it starts with a “therefore,” I am going to start with I Peter 3:18 and then jump into Chapter 4.

For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit… - I Peter 3:18

Therefore, since Christ suffered in His body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. – I Peter 4:1

Living Water

Welcome! I encourage you to continue to pray the secret prayer. Today I will give a shorter message followed by a time of remembering the Lord with the bread and cup, and following this we will have a sharing time, where all here are encouraged to share what the Lord is teaching them.

Today we are going to talk about thirst. Did you know that the human body is about 60% water by weight? We are constantly losing water in our bodies, through internal processes, breathing, evaporation on our skin, and expelling wastes. As a result, we need to regularly, frequently replenish the water in our bodies. God has designed our bodies such that when we become low in water, we experience a unique sensation of thirst. If we do not pay attention to this signal, it becomes stronger until such point that we do real harm to our bodies. Ultimately, the result of refusing or being incapable of responding to thirst is absolutely certain death.

Living in Harmony

1 Peter 3

"Likewise you wives, be submissive to your husbands, so that some, though they do not obey the word, may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives, when they see your reverent and chaste behavior. Let not yours be the outward adorning with braiding of hair, decoration of gold, and wearing of fine clothing, but let it be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable jewel of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.So once the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves and were submissive to their husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are now her children if you do right and let nothing terrify you."--I Peter 3:1-6

Before I begin to explain these verses, I must make one thing perfectly clear. The word submissive in this context does not condone a woman doing anything immoral or illegal because her husband has asked or demanded her to do it. Neither does it authorize the husband the right to physically or emotionally abuse his wife if she refuses to obey a request or a demand regardless of whether it is illegal or immoral. 

The Living Stone

1 Peter 2

Good morning. We get to continue in our study of I Peter this morning. Chapter two is falls into two parts covering two topics. The first half of the chapter will conclude the portion dealing with our position in Christ. The second half of the chapter delves deeper into our response to what Christ has done for us and how He went about it.

Last week, we covered chapter 1. The themes that came out last week were:

--We are God's elect, His chosen ones.
--We can have confidence that we are chosen.
--Foreknowledge (God the Father), sanctifying (Holy Spirit), and obedience (Jesus Christ)
--We are God's elect strangers, we are no longer of this world, but passing through .
--Through faith, we are shielded by God's power.
--Our faith is proved genuine by trials.
--Our salvation is a precious gift not to be taken for granted.
--Therefore, we must prepare our minds, be self-controlled and set our hope fully on grace.
--Do not conform to evil desires, be holy.
--We are redeemed not by gold (perishable) but by the blood of Christ (imperishable).
--As a result of this purification, love one another.
--We are born again of imperishable seed, not perishable.
--All men are like grass, but the word of the Lord stands forever.

A Living Hope

1 Peter 1

Today, we start a new series. We are going to study chapter by chapter the books of I and II Peter over the next 8 weeks, a chapter per week. So, you may like to use some of your daily quiet times to read ahead or read the two books all the way through.

I struggled with where to begin today’s message. Since this is a new series, I feel like I ought to tell you a bunch of details about the author, the timing, the recipients, the geography, the themes, and … and … and. While those details are not bad things, I’m afraid that it might possibly distract us from the message and what it might say to us today, right now, and how we can apply these truths in our lives.

So, I apologize if you came in this morning looking for a history lesson. I think you’ll pick up a little history as we go along, but I’m going to skip the lecture and jump straight in to the Word of God.

Hard Questions #5

Welcome! I would encourage you to continue to pray the secret prayer. Today I will give a brief message followed by a time of remembering the Lord with the bread and cup, and following this we will have a sharing time, where all in the body are welcome to share what the Lord is teaching them.

This is our final message in our Hard Questions series. The questions we are going to look at today, like the others in this series, asked by you, are these: How do we tell whether an open door is God’s will? How do we tell whether a “closed door” is God revealing that His will is something else?

Hard Questions #4

Welcome! I would encourage you to continue to pray the secret prayer. Well, I have a lot of ground to cover today, so I will get right to the hard questions. There are three questions we are going to look at today. The first is this: Is there an unforgivable sin?

What is the context of this question? It comes from two passages, one in Matthew 12, and the other in Mark 3. Here is the Matthew 12 passage:

And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come. – Matt. 12:31-32

Hard Questions #3

Welcome! Have you been praying the secret prayer? I would remind you to continue to pray this prayer. If you don’t know what it is, talk to someone in church after the message today. Today, as we continue with our Hard Questions series, we are going to look at a number of questions. The first, a nice, easy question, is this: “Why do some people have easier lives than others?” And the flip side: “Why do some people suffer so much more than others?”

What, that’s not a nice easy question? Actually, no – it certainly qualifies as a hard question. I think it is also a huge question; that is, the question can mean many different things, depending on the questions an individual has behind the question, and thus, there is not one answer, but many. And in general, regardless of the particular “flavor” of the question, the answers are not short and sweet, but complex. To be honest I only feel that I can go a short way towards an answer, but I will give you all that I can.

Hard Questions #2

Welcome! I trust that you have been remembering to pray the secret prayer. If you have no idea what I am talking about, I encourage you to ask someone in church today. I also strongly encourage you to read or listen to last week’s message. Today we continue with our Hard Questions series. There are two questions we are going to tackle today. The first is this: What is a proper Biblical understanding of women’s roles in the church?

I admit that this is a somewhat intimidating topic for me. But they aren’t called hard questions for nothing!

Well, I think the place to start is in Genesis. Much of this will seem basic, but I think it is important that it be said.