My Time

The advertising, sales, and marketing industries have figured out that one of our most valuable possessions is our time. I made a list of 50 supposed time saver things that I could think off the top of my head. This is by no means in order or a complete list:

1.   Self-service gas pumps 
2.   Self-service checkout lines at the grocery store
3.   Washing machines & clothes dryers that can send a text message when done
4.   Dishwashers
5.   Microwave ovens

My Gift

'Tis the season for this topic!  There is no better time to think and talk about gifts than at Christmas.  For the vast majority of Americans, Christmas is all about the gifts.  Find the right gifts.  Balance the gifts out exactly between everyone.  Lots of people take a look at what others are doing.  Trying to be consistent with what others are doing.  Keep up with the Joneses.  I don’t want anyone to be disappointed or left out.

On the other side, how do we think about gifts?  What are we expecting?  How will we react to what we get?  How will react if we don’t get what we expect?  Gifts are so much a part of the American Christmas season that we respond to it as a right or an entitlement.  Gifts are what we do at Christmas!  The retail economy of our nation keys off of gift giving as their most profitable time of the year.

My Rights

Welcome! Today we continue our series entitled Mine, in which we explore the Biblical standards of ownership, stewardship, and lordship. Today’s message focuses on rights.

Although the concept of “rights” is muted in some cultures around the world, here in America, it is huge. You could almost say it is in our DNA – it is in our Declaration of Independence, almost from the very beginning:

“When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”

My Stuff

Welcome! Today we continue our series entitled Mine. In this series we are exploring the implications of ownership, stewardship, and lordship in various areas of our lives. Last week Tim did a wonderful job investigating this topic in the area of relationships. Tim pointed out our relationship with Christ is to be above all other relationships; Jesus uses some extremely provocative wording about this, saying that we are to “hate” our mothers, fathers, spouses, children, and so on, in comparison to our love for Christ. We also looked at the account of Abraham being asked to sacrifice Isaac; apart from the messianic foreshadowing of this event, it was a test of Abraham, to see if his love for and trust in God went beyond even his love of his long-awaited son. We of course are to love our families, but God wants it to be a godly love, an agape love, not a selfish love. And a godly love of others keeps God above every human relationship. 

My Relationships

Today we start a new series of 5 messages relating to the issue of lordship and ownership. The image I have in my mind starting out is of a toddler holding a favorite thing, maybe a toy, yelling, “Mine! Mine!” – screaming and struggling all the more insistently if someone would try to take it away. We smile at the thought that a small child would consider that they actually own anything, since everything they have has been given to them. But actually, too often as adults even we are guilty of exactly the same behavior before God, who has given us everything. What does it actually mean that Jesus is Lord? How should that affect our attitude toward the things that we consider “ours” – our relationships, our stuff, our rights, our gifts, our time? Those are the topics of these 5 messages. Today we will look at relationships. Do our kids actually belong to us? What rights do we have in our family? What does it mean for me to love my neighbor as myself? What relationships do we have that might even be idols, getting in way of our relationship with God? If Jesus is Lord, he needs to be Lord of everything in our lives. Everything. How much are we willing to trust him?

Victory/Our Glorious Captain

Welcome! Today we conclude our series called Facing Your Enemy; today’s message is entitled Our Glorious Captain. Throughout this series we have explored the Bible’s military analogies to our roles and positions as Christian soldiers, looking at the battles we face, both from within and without, battles for our hearts, battles for our desires, battles for what we are to do while we remain on this earth. We are called “soldiers” on multiple occasions in Scripture, and part of our role as soldiers is to spread the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ far and wide, being Christ’s hands and legs and mouth as we proclaim the salvation that is only found in Christ. 

Our roles on this earth include being godly parents, being godly spouses, being godly singles, being people who seek to remain pure and undefiled in this world, being people who seek to share the knowledge of Christ’s love all around us, being people who seek to work with other believers to demonstrate Christ’s love in “body life,” and so much more. All of this, even in an earlier age, could make one quite busy; in our modern times, with all the modern demands on our time, all of this can seem to be quite exhausting. 

The Rescuing Soldier

Hello and welcome to everyone!  Our God is so good, so faithful, and so true.  I want to pray again before we start this message.  My prayer is that He would speak into our time today.  We come to this place expecting to worship Him and to hear His Word proclaimed.  And yet, I do not want to presume upon our great God.  We have the promise that we can approach His throne with boldness and confidence.  

This week, I was reading in the book of Mark.  I read the story of blind Bartimaeus.  Bartimaeus was a blind beggar on the road leaving Jericho on the way to Jerusalem.  He heard that Jesus was passing by amongst a great crowd.  He began crying out, “Jesus, have mercy on me!”  The people rebuked him and told him to shut up.  But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

Jesus stopped and said to the people, “Call him.”  They called the blind man, and it says Bartimaeus threw off his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus.  Jesus heals him and says, “Go your way.”  He immediately recovers his sight and follows Jesus on the way.

The Depressed Soldier

In this series of Facing Your Enemy we have looked at Choosing your Battles, Knowing Your Gear and Choosing Your Army.  We also looked at the Anxious Soldier, the Ashamed Soldier, the Coveting Soldier, the Lusting Soldier, the Bitter Soldier.  Today we will look at the Depressed Soldier.

Some of the objectives that I would like you to meet as a result of this message are:

1. Be able to identify the typical Depressed Soldier.

2. Be able to recognize the Depressed Soldier’s enemies and their locations. 
3. Be able to recognize some of the common symptoms of the Depressed Soldier.

4. Be able to provide the Depressed Soldier with immediate First Aid (we must learn how to do our part in helping the Depressed Soldier out of his or her depressed state).

The Bitter Soldier

Good morning! Today we continue our series entitled Facing Your Enemy. This is my third consecutive week in this series. In the past, my other co-pastors have jokingly (and maybe not so jokingly) remarked that I seem to give the hardest topics to them, saving the “choice lands” for myself. Well, last week I taught on the difficult topic of lust, and the week before that, on coveting, so I think I have had at least a share of the challenging topics. This week we shift our focus to the cheery topic of – bitterness.

What exactly is bitterness? In the Bible there are two main word roots for bitterness: mar or marah or maror in Hebrew, and pikraino or pikria or pikros in Greek. In these languages, as in English, the words have multiple meanings and connotations. In English, as an adjective, the four main meanings are:

1.  Having a sharp, pungent taste or smell.

2.  Painful or unpleasant to accept or contemplate.

3.  Extremely harsh; for example, intensely cold.

4.  Anger, hurt, or resentment because of one’s experiences or a sense of unjust treatment.

The Lusting Soldier

Good morning! Today we continue our series entitled Facing Your Enemy. This series has explored the Biblical view of Christians as soldiers, and I think there are two main ways this view of ourselves is helpful. First, it reminds us that we are not just here on Earth to enjoy its pleasures; we are here for a purpose, to be Christ’s hands and feet and mouth as we expand the Kingdom through telling people the good news of the Gospel. As soldiers, we are taking back ground for God; as each additional person comes to their own personal saving faith in Christ, Satan’s world gets a little smaller. We are involved in a rescue operation, freeing the captives, replacing darkness with light, despair with security and hope. We are on a glorious mission as we reveal to the world the true glory of Christ.

Second, although we are on the winning side, we are under attack, by multiple enemies. From I Peter 5:8, Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. And from I John 2:16, For everything in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life – comes not from the Father but from the world. Satan and the world and even our own flesh seek to conspire against us, to make us abandon the field of battle, to make us useless and completely ineffective as soldiers. This week, our focus is on this second aspect of being a soldier, especially as it pertains to the area of lust. This is a difficult topic to teach on, and it is a difficult topic to hear, because it is so personal, so private. But it is a terribly important topic to discuss because it is a stumbling block for so many believers.