IBC Madrid Podcast: Recent Episodes
Immanuel Baptist Church
We are an English-speaking international community of believers in Jesus Christ seeking to glorify God as we know Him and make Him known through our spheres of influence in Madrid and around the world.
Message from Dr. Timothy Faulkner, Gen. Sec.-Int'l Baptist Convention on November 3, 2024
Introduction: Jesus is one or the other: either the rock that holds you steady and firm (your sure foundation), or the stumbling block that will ultimately expose the falseness of your life and bring about your downfall. Our life cannot be true, genuine, and authentic until we allow the worthy King of the universe His rightful place in our heart (the only One who can rescue us from ourselves and fine-tune our priorities, values, goals, relationships, etc.).
In Ps. 35 David is facing a raging enemy, so he speaks vividly of his weapons and their usefulness.But he knows that victory is not ultimately in his hands; he depends on Someone much higher. So he asks the Lord,“Say to my soul, I am your salvation!” Remind me again and again: that true salvation comes from beyond myself!Make me understand this: that the battle is much more than this visible struggle, that You are the only source oftrue salvation! Actually we’re all hungry for salvation, though most people today don’t often relate to that term.Our “hunger” is more focused on our multiple and hyper-stimulated appetites – we think “heaven” is whateversatisfies those! We’re especially hungry for our primal needs to be met: for recognition, acceptance, fulfillment,security and love; our ambition to achieve something significant, be somebody, project a positive image; or just torepeat the thrill of an adrenalin rush (from gaming, other diversions, an exciting challenge). But “salvation” seemsto speak of dire situations and crises that don’t normally happen to you in everyday life: maybe when you lose yourjob, have an accident, fall prey to a scam, develop a serious illness, or need a residence permit or work permit;think how desperate refugees in Spain are for some “salvation” these days! Or maybe it’s your marriage that needssaving (the stories are heartbreaking!). But soul salvation – who thinks in those terms?
Who’s reigning inyour household? And in your life this new year? Who’s on the throne of your heart? We want to talk about kingsthis morning; although the title of the message says, “Singing the Lord’s Song in a Foreign Land,” the underlyingquestion here is, “who’s your king?!” This question came up as far back as the early days of Israel when the peoplelooked around at other nations and decided they wanted to be more like them! (That’s dangerous!) In fact, theythought that to have a king like other nations was the solution to all their problems. Of course, in effect they weretelling God they didn’t want Him for their King – they wanted a visible human king, and it was the beginning of somany problems, since the first king (Saul) turned out not to have the spiritual maturity for the job. And it’s soimportant for us to realize that we don’t have the spiritual maturity to be king of our own lives! But as you’llremember, their second king set a higher standard – a man after God’s own heart – in spite of some serious flawsand failures that later revealed he didn’t have the maturity to rule God’s people either. But God promised KingDavid that one of his descendants would ultimately come to reign on his throne forever, and He would be theperfect King, desired of all nations, the one who was truly fit to govern rightly.
We welcome you to Immanuel Baptist Church today as we celebrate this final service of 2023. Pastor David will invite us to meditate on the year’s end from several biblical texts, and consider how we can face the challenges of this new year. Will we remain the same as always, or will we decide to be transformed? A summary of today's sermon is available below. Our streaming service begins at 11:00 h.
Today’s crises are multiple, in just about every field of human knowledge: in education, religion,politics, finance, marriage and family; in other words, it’s a quite generalized crisis and overwhelming! Supposedly“A.I.” is going to fix everything for us (already been made a religion, thanks to Anthony Levandowski, supposedlyhelping people gain a spiritual connection with A.I., even using typical religious jargon, so that it helps and guidesthem in a way that we would formerly refer to ‘God’). I.e., the human crisis deepens as humanity turns more andmore to its own wisdom, and more openly turns against our Maker, the true Creator, King, and Redeemer. On theinternational scene, the crises abound in a lot of places besides the Ukraine and the Israeli-Gaza wars. Those aresimply the places where the “human volcano” is presently erupting the most fiercely. But all over the worldinnocent lives are being jeopardized, damaged, and lost every day (how about Prague last Friday?!), and it’s allbecause of the continuing crisis of humanity’s selfish, warring nature, exacting a terrible toll, the fruit of ournegative response to God’s loving authority over His universe … This is the underlying cause!
Mark Noll is a well-known evangelical historian who wrote a book in 1995 entitled The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind, in which he contends that the scandal is that there’s simply not much to the evangelical mind. That’s how he starts off this award-winning intellectual history and critique of the evangelical movement. His underlying concern is, why the largest single group of religious Americans –who enjoy increasing wealth, status, and political influence– have contributed so little to rigorous intellectual scholarship in North America. If we truly nourish believers in the simple truths of the gospel, why would that cause evangelicals to flounder when it comes to sustaining a serious intellectual life? Are these two somehow at odds? Why would we not promote a strong evangelical witness in the realms of high culture? His answer has to do with a certain evangelical characteristic that tends to cloud the intellectual horizon: the strong focus on emotions and sentimentalism, which Noll sees as a tendency inherited from Pietism.
As we start off this new fall season, we want to avoid falling into our same old patterns and ruts from last year! We don’t want to be stuck in our old carnal mentality, but learn how to GROW in Christ. The invitation to follow Jesus is not about following a set of rules and practicing religious rituals (“moralism”). Moralism focuses on keeping moral rules geared toward producing a set of “proper behaviors.” But our first problem in life is not about following rules and staying within legal parameters; our first problem is relational, and this is why the solution had to be relational. God’s law was introduced through Moses precisely in order to guide His people toward right-relatedness – to God Himself and to one another. But our sin nature (our inclincation toward idolatry = our rejection of His authority) was too deeply rooted in humanity’s heart to be undone by our attempts at rule-keeping.
With this prayer-poem the psalmist invites us to enter the intimacy of his confident praise, celebrating the name and greatness of God, His works, His character, and His kingdom. All of these themes the psalmist develops in order, with enormous faith and fervor, including a recitation of God’s self-definition to Moses in Exodus 34:6 (v. 8), and the use of God’s sacred name of Yahweh no less than ten times through the song (underscoring the deep value that these elements of Jewish faith had for David himself). In the troubled times we’re living through, it’s deeply worthwhile to meditate on the attitudes the psalmist manifests here, since he is so sure of how this God of the covenant cares for Israel, and so deeply in love with this One He calls the true King, who would ultimately make Himself known to all the world through the Son of David and His self-sacrifice on our behalf.
Scripture teaches that there is a whole celestial drama going on that we do no see. God’s original heavenly council proved unreliable, so God is preparing us to assist him in ruling the new heavens and the new earth.
What does it mean to be “after God’s heart?” If David is indeed a man after God’s heart, what can we learn from him? What can we take? We learned last week that David’s rise to power came with great cost. After defeating Goliath of Gath, he rose to great popularity; then, at the hands of King Saul, he lost everything of value to him … except God.
Our sermon will revolve around the theme of the heart of the man who was referred to as “the man after God’s own heart.” After a brief summary of David’s rise to power as the king of Israel, we will drill more deeply into his adoption of King Saul’s grandson, Mephibosheth. This loving kindness touches on the very heart of God and his loving kindness to us through our Messiah Jesus.
As during past Sunday’s, we continue seeking comfort and wisdom from the Psalms and in particular this morning from Psalm 121. Life’s journey is full of many dangers. We typically start out oblivious to most of them, but as our journey progresses we soon become increasingly aware of their effects on our lives. So, faced with whatever it is that troubles us, where do we turn to for help? This is the question the psalmist voiced so many centuries ago, but which is pertinent throughout human history, past, present and future: “from where does my help come?”, he cries out, and in so doing encourages us to think carefully on which is the source of ultimate and everlasting help. We are so influenced by the world’s philosophy, with its emphasis in self-reliance and human rationality that we do well in tapping into God’s Word to seek His perspective to recalibrate our compass as we travel along of life’s bumpy road.
All of God’s Word is totally relevant in today’s society, but certain parts seem to leap off the page because of their “up-to-date” significance, like the Psalm we will explore today. We continue our probing of the Psalms, “gymnasium of the soul,” God’s therapeutic counseling sessions for His saints. This time we pick up on another selection from the Sons of Korah that reads like a news report hot off the press from the front lines, with releases about natural calamities and disasters of earth-shattering magnitutde, the collapse of kingdoms and empires, wars and rumors of wars that only a superpower from beyond this world could ever bring under control – all of which contrasts dramatically with the simultaneous description of a source of peace and security that definitely transcends this world while at the same time penetrating its deepest recesses and impacting its destiny.
The particular psalm we want to look at today is Psalm 42, perhaps best known for its metaphor of the deer panting for streams of water. In the first half (vv. 1-5), the psalmist sets forth the motive of his depression: he is far from home, far from Jerusalem, and thirsty for the refreshment of God’s presence; to make things worse, he has to hear discouraging words and scorn for his faith. He does his best to lift his spirits through probing self-talk. Then in the second half (vv. 6-11), the psalmist enters fully into dialogue with God, remembering Yahweh and His faithfulness, unburdening his soul of the deep questions that are troubling him, and laying his pain and sorrow before the Lord. He ends with the same probing question and exhortation to his own soul as in v. 5. Psalm 43, originally part of the same psalm according to a number of ancient Hebrew manuscripts, represents a kind of afterthought on the same theme. He further elaborates on the threat from his adversary, his doubts and sorrow, his hope for God’s light and truth to guide him, and affirms his intention to worship at God’s altar, ending again with the same probing self-talk of Psalm 42.
In Psalm 27, David’s meditation shows us the depth of his faith and his ardent seeking of the Lord that are truly exemplary for us. In vv. 1-3, we see the basis and extent of his confidence in the Lord. In vv. 4-6, he gives expression to his longing for God’s presence; 13 times through the psalm he addresses Him using the sacred name of Yahweh, which he clearly treasures. In vv. 7-12, he gives us insights into his vigorous and honest prayer life, opening his heart in both confession and petition. Then in vv. 13-14, he reaffirms his confident hope and his patience to wait on the Lord. Isn’t this psalm relevant to your life?
Why did Jesus exhort His followers to be salt and light in the world? Because salt has the property of preserving and preventing decay, and light provides illumination in the dark, so both are very relevant metaphors for the roles that Christ-followers are called to play out in the world. But what if salt loses its flavor, as Jesus asked on one occasion (Mt. 5:13); and what if the light in us is darkened, as Jesus hypothesized another time (Lk. 11:34-35)? These seem to be serious possibilities that Jesus was posing, and should therefore cause us no little concern. What would it look like for Christians to be truly “salty” and to radiate light?
The marvel we feel at the love and grace of God is what Tom calls “gospel astonishment.” As we come to know Christ more deeply, His Spirit moves us to find new ways to express that astonishment, first of all, in our community of faith, which Tom refers to as “gospel commu-nity.” Then the second impulse of that amazing love moves us to reach out and touch a world not yet in Jesus’ embrace, which Tom describes as “gospel movement.” In other words, gospel astonishment builds gospel community, and gospel community fuels gospel movement. And all of it is empowered by the Spirit of Jesus to bring humanity under His shepherding care for the glory of His name and kingdom!
When sharing the Gospel, it’s very important to speak the right language, but the message must also be contextualized for age and life circumstances. This means that knowing something about people’s worldview is just as important as knowing which language to use in talking to them. Worldviews are “lenses through which we see and interpret the messages and events around us,” and they are often unique to particular cultures. When you share the gospel from your own worldview with a person from a different worldview, will they be able to understand it? Even more important, will it resonate in their heart deeply enough for them to be able to act on it?
Pentecost was the revival of God’s people according to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which included the indwelling and empowering of the Holy Spirit, so that the Gospel would be carried to the ends of the earth, embracing all peoples, nations, tribes, and tongues. Does the Gospel still offer that kind of power to believers today? The revival of God’s people down through history has always been the work of the Holy Spirit: King Hezekiah got rid of the idols, purified the temple, and invited even the northern tribes to return to the Lord, resulting in a major revival of God’s people; a few generations later, King Josiah rediscovered God’s Word and led the people in a time of repentance and returning to the Lord; after the return from the Babylonian exile, Ezra and Nehemiah were used to help bring God’s Word to the people, resulting in revival; then several centuries later, when John the Baptist came preaching that the Kingdom had come near, another season of repentance and revival came to God’s people.
“Uncertainty surrounds us, and can cause stress, anxiety, and doubt. There are many examples in Scripture of uncertainty in people’s lives and how they responded to it, like Joseph and his family situation (Gen 37-50), Malachi questioning God (Mal 1:1, 2:17), the invalid man that Jesus healed in the gospel (Jn 5), Paul in prison, and the list could go on. There are many ways that we see in the Bible to help us overcome anxiety. We need to remind ourselves of God´s love for us as that is ultimately reassuring (1 Jn 3:1-3), helps us to focus on loving him and others, and not on our uncertain situation (1 Pet 4:8-19). We also need to remind ourselves of checking our responses to the situations in our lives. How we respond is a large part of who we are as a person, and can help us temper our approach to uncertainty. We also need to surround ourselves with friends who will go the extra mile in speaking truth to us and encouraging us in our walk (Mk 2:3-11). We also need to feed our faith that God will always provide. If we don’t feed our faith, complacency can set in, and complacency breeds uncertainty and discontentment. This can be done by expressing gratitude to God (Ps 9:1-2). If we ask God to help us do all these things we talk about, it won’t get rid of uncertainty in our lives, but it will certainly help how we respond to it and approach it.”
The Bible’s truth claims have never been disproved – challenged, yes – but the Bible has outlived all its challengers and overcome all its detractors. The question is whether today’s Christians will survive the latest onslaught of redefinitions that postmodern culture seeks to impose on humanity.In the 17th century, Deism was trying to redefine God, even as the 18th-century Enlightenment would try to redefine reason and authority. The 19th-century continued trying to redefine reality with movements such as Marxism, Darwinism, and Liberalism, and the 20th-century sought to redefine life itself in terms of science and materialism, existentialism, and nihilism. So, Christians today, in the “age of post-truth” and relativism, must be keenly aware of the culture around us and its redefinitions: sin is no longer sinful, humanity is no longer “made in God’s image,” sexuality is no longer related to biology, and Christianity is nothing more than an outdated cultural “metanarrative” that has outlived its relevance and usefulness.How do we resist the fierceness of these redefinitions crashing into our society like a tsunami?! A key aspect of the biblical worldview is to let our Creator tell us who we are (God’s anthropology), clarifying the depths of the pit humanity has fallen into through our rebellion (God’s diagnosis of our condition), and explaining what He has done to provide us a way out of the fiercest dilemma we face (the Gospel of Jesus).If we do not remain tightly anchored to God’s revealed truth (Scripture), rehearsing it and renewing our vision of it regularly, we will be dislodged from the only safe place in the world – God’s reign over our hearts and minds in Jesus.
On this Mother’s Day, when we seek to honor our mothers, we recognize that they come in all sizes, shapes, and characters. Some are wonderful and godly in spite of difficult circumstances, while others suffer from unfulfilled expectations or simply never manage to get the right focus on the task. But the Bible doesn’t specify that we should honor only the deserving mothers – it just says you somehow try to dignify and show appreciation for the one whom God has used to bring you into this world, whatever she was like. So the biblical mother we want to focus on today had some special struggles to deal with, but she doesn’t normally receive much attention – a forgotten mother named Leah, the unwanted wife of Jacob. Yet her womb would be opened repeatedly, bearing Jacob a total of six sons and one daughter. And the first four sons and their names tell the story of this mother’s anguish, of her struggle to overcome her inferior status, and her spiritual victory related to the birth of her fourth son. This mother’s story would be repeated for generations, kept in the collective memory of how the tribes of Israel had their start and how the mother of a major portion of Israel was slighted and undervalued, yet learned to change her focus and give God His rightful place in her heart. And when she did so, she gave her descendants the legacy of being called by the name of her son Yehudah (“Judeans” = Jews), which means “praise” or “thanksgiving” to Yahweh. And in their descendant Jesus, all nations would be invited to live to the praise of Yahweh!
Recognizing the threat of becoming lukewarm and thereby avoid the dangers it presents. (See the warnings in 2 Cor. 13:5, 1 Cor. 10:12, Isa. 29:13, and Titus 1:16).
Jesus defeated death and appeared to his followers over a period of forty days during which he taught them about the Kingdom of God. Arise, therefore, and be an instrument of worship for the Lord. Jesus states clearly that He is way, the truth and the Life. No one goes to the Father but by Him.
After the resurrection Jesus appeared to his disciples for forty days before his ascension. In Luke 24:44-49 we can observe how the disciples were promised three important gifts:1. an understanding of Scriptures - which gave them clarity regarding the gospel (vv. 44-45);2. a purpose to proclaim - which gave them a vision of how the gospel will spread to the ends of the earth (vv. 46-48);3. the power to be witnesses - which assured them that they would not be on their own (v. 49) - and power to obey the commission Jesus gave that still applies for us today.
The prophet Isaiah described the human dilemma in terms of a sheet that is spread over all nations, the shroud in which all peoples are wrapped. Another description comes from Psalm 49, where the psalmist saw death as our shepherd, actually “feeding” on us generation after generation. But Isaiah foresees the day when God will prepare a magnificent feast for all the peoples of the world, and the main course will be nothing less than the destruction of death! In fact, he perceives God Himself as the One who will destroy death by “swallowing it up,” devouring it – and then wiping away all the tears and freeing His people from their shame and disgrace. This amazing vision ends with Isaiah’s affirmation that this is the God we’ve been waiting for! This is the salvation we had been longing for!
“Earlier Jesus had wept at the tomb of Lazarus. Lazarus arose at his command. This miracle sealed Jesus’ own death, and the religious leaders intended to make it happen as soon as possible! In today’s lesson we will notice a difference between the weeping at Lazarus’ tomb and the weeping at the sight of Jerusalem. One was audible; the other was silent. Oh, the humanity of the one we call the Son of God! Oh, the divinity of the one who called himself the Son of Man. See his worthiness of praise, and live for him. See his humility, and imitate him. See his heart, and push in to the very heart of God…for all humankind.”
A lot of people are enamored of the new series about the life of Jesus called “The Chosen.” Its very human presentation of Jesus and His disciples, with its creative script, has a lot to recommend it. One episode from the first season focused on the story of Nicodemus (Jn. 3), with its opening scene about Moses at the moment when he was making the bronze serpent to be placed on a pole. Its purpose was so that any Israelite bitten by one of the desert serpents could be healed and not die; but Moses’ assistant Joshua is presented as a bit skeptical because he doesn’t understand or see the reasoning behind what Moses is doing. Later the episode introduces Nicodemus, filling in the portrait with imaginative details. It’s the conversation when he hears those now famous words about his need to be born again, and Nicodemus struggles to understand how he can possibly start over and make such a new beginning when he has accumulated so many years and “baggage.” Later according to the biblical text of John 3, Jesus makes the comparison between the serpent that Moses lifted up in the desert (Num. 21) and His own being “lifted up” on behalf of our salvation. In the message today we want to explore just what Jesus was referring to and what the connection is between that snake on the pole and Jesus’ spiritual battle at the cross.
Challenging times call for a safe refuge, a good source of wise counsel, and courage to move forward in faith. Can we find answers to all of these needs in Scripture? Someone has defined wisdom as seeing ourselves and our world through the eyes of God, and this ability is activated when we acknowledge our need for His presence in our lives and for His lordship over us (the very lordship He confirmed and demonstrated at the cross). Wisdom is responding with all our heart to God’s call to live under His reign (what Jesus established at Calvary). When God’s wisdom rules our heart, then it provides the right response to relational problems, health crises, financial challenges, religious controversies, political turmoil, social instability and upheaval, you name it. We must turn to the Word of God for the wisdom we need to face challenging times. “Maturity” means this is your instinctive strategy and default mode.
Everyone knows that we live in a “like” culture. Everyone is searching for “likes.” And without knowing it, we find ourselves living to please others. But we need to ask ourselves: Do we please God? And: How can I please God? In this sermon on Hebrews 13, we will focus on the practical aspects of this question to discover how we can only please God through the one who pleased him in everything: Jesus Christ. In relation to that, we will also talk about the need to please God in different areas of our life, such as right relationships with others, a right relationship with purity, right relationships with money and material things, right relationships with leadership and discipleship.
In John 17 we get a glimpse of the very heart of Jesus. On the night of his betrayal, only hours before his crucifixion, Jesus prayed with his disciples in the upper room. He prayed for himself. He prayed for his disciples. And he prayed for us. His prayer for us was that we would all be “one” so that the world would believe that the Father sent Jesus. Our love for one another is the ultimate apologetic. We tried lots of ways to convince people that Jesus really is the Son of God and that salvation is in him. Perhaps, we should take a fresh look at the way Jesus prayed for… our oneness in him. May we be challenged to live lives of radical unity with other believers in Jesus, motivated by the love of God and empowered by the Holy Spirit.
Today we’re trying to broach the subject of how to grow as mature disciples on a collective level, i.e., as “church,” the Body of Christ. Why is “church” such a challenge for us? Has it always been so? Surely there can be no real maturity without learning to live together in love and harmony. Being the church of Jesus is an even greater challenge today because of the seismic changes our culture is going through; human bonding has become so fragile that precariousness assaults all our relationships everywhere. The family is a serious object of attack from much of society and often shows as many signs of fragility within the church as without. So church is regarded by more and more people in the West as an outmoded form of community, too rigid, not relevant to mainstream society, even an enemy of human progress. So it sometimes seems we’re entering a new kind of Dark Ages. What should our response be?! The church needs a total reset – a return to our roots and to the power of the Holy Spirit, letting go of old cultural baggage that only represents nostalgia for the 20th century, and refocusing on Jesus’ message and mission: He came to humanize God! Can we learn to do that? It will mean distinguishing the institutional church (the organization) from the church as a movement of the Holy Spirit (the organism) … and then letting ourselves be led toward a deep renewal of the Good News: the vision of Jesus in all His true glory and love as God’s personal emissary to the wayward children He so longed for. He’s the One who invites us to participate in this renewal of His Body in the world! Will you pray for this?!
The world is very confused about what love really is or, to put it another way, what real love is. A quick glance at the visual arts, music or advertising industries bring out a few common denominators: love is simply a feeling and its intensity - or lack of it - is conditioned on satisfying desires and reaching expectations. As such, it can be fleeting and, more often than not, blatantly egocentric. A Biblical definition of love is radically different, because it does not start with mankind, but with God. Whether that love is romantic or the love expressed in friendships and family relationships, genuine love comes from God because “God is love” (1 John 4:16). If God is love, then we love others best by loving Him most.
Our Christian faith is very much rooted in Judaism; we cannot -- nor would we want to -- separate ourselves from those roots, because they nourish our understanding of our Jewish Messiah (who is also the universal Messiah), and of His earthly background and all that God did in preparation for His coming (the history of Israel = OT). One of the New Testament images from those roots is of Jesus as our High Priest, a theme especially developed in the letter to the Hebrews. As such, Jesus set an example for us of submission, obedience, sacrifice, and intercession, and He also calls us to imitate that example in the fulfillment of our own priestly role. But in our Scripture focus for today, we see the need first to acknowledge those areas of life where we have been slow to learn, and consequently have not yet fully assimilated basic truths of God’s Word. We must reject our old pattern of knowing good and evil through our fleshly appetites (where Adam and Eve failed), and train ourselves instead on God’s standard. Jesus as our High Priest calls us to follow in His footsteps, learning from Him how to submit and obey, as well as sacrifice and intercede on behalf of a world that is utterly disoriented and lost.
When Jesus asked the disciples what people were saying about Him, it wasn’t because He was concerned about His “image” or the kind of “press” He was getting. He was simply concerned to help them nail down more clearly His identity and purpose. “Who Jesus is” was actually the question all the Gospels sought to answer, but in this particular story (Mt. 16:21-28), Jesus had come to a crossroads in His ministry: He needed to take His disciples to a deeper level of understanding and commitment, and that required linking His identity in their minds with the cross. Scripture uses many metaphors and parables for discipleship, but the cross (Lk. 9:23) is surely the most radical; others, like being born again (Jn. 3), taking on His yoke (Mt. 11), being a clay vessel with a treasure inside, or carrying Jesus’ death in our body (2 Cor. 4:7-11), being “baptized into His death” (Ro. 6:3-4), simply reinforce the same essential message as the cross. What is this discipline that Jesus calls us to in “denying ourselves” and assuming His death as our way of life? What was it He really accomplished there, and how does it help me face my issues, fulfill my purpose, and live life more fully?
Have you ever been overwhelmed by the challenges and pains of life? The Apostle Paul knew that feeling. He along with many in the first century (and like many today!) faced the threat of deadly persecution and other tragic life experiences. In 2 Cor. 12:1-10, Paul reminded the Corinthian believers (and us!) of the power of weakness because of the unfathomable grace of God! Somehow, God turns our thorns into victory and works some of his greatest wonders in our weakness. So, watch Him work in your life! Experience the unusual blessing of spiritual growth … as a by-product of pain.
Growing in discipleship to Jesus means giving serious priority to His Word. In a confrontation with the Sadducees over levirate marriage, Jesus chided those religious leaders precisely because of their ignorance of Scripture (Mt. 22:29). A lack of knowledge of God’s Word can negatively impact everything in your life and totally shipwreck any attempt at Christian discipleship. Yet we live in a “post-truth” era because so many people have believed the lie that everything is relative, since they don’t want to be ruled by absolutes. But truth will never cease to impact this world; as Jesus said, “heaven and earth will pass away, but my Word will never pass away” (Mt. 24:35). So His truth will not be dismissed from the earth just because a group of humans finds it offensive or inconvenient! In fact, the biblical parables for the Word tell us just how strong its impact will continue to be until the end of time: it’s compared to a lamp, seed, hammer and fire, bread, mirror, sword, rain and snow, Spirit-breathed, and Jesus Himself is the Logos made flesh. This variety in itself suggests the myriad of functions the Word is intended to play in our spiritual formation. There is no such thing as the “Christian life” apart from saturating our minds with God’s Truth! It won’t happen by accident — it must be intentional. So what is your reading plan to help you assimilate and practice the “whole counsel of God”? (Acts 20:26-27).
Isaiah 55:8-9 tells us that God’s thoughts are not our thoughts and our ways are not His ways, meaning that we have a lot to learn in order to tune in to His view of life! In fact, God’s truth often has to be expressed in terms of paradox: the first shall be last and the last first; to save your life you must lose it; blessed are the poor and hungry and persecuted; we fix our eyes on the unseen and boast in our weaknesses! Who can understand this logic?!
A new year in an “old world” that is far from new can bring to mind a frequent question asked by the psalmists: “How long, O Lord?” Its application to our lives is manifold – in regard to suffering, persecution, illness, separations, injustice and other trials, unanswered prayer, etc. In fact, this became a standard refrain in Israel (see Ps. 13:1-2, 35:17, 74:10, 79:5, 80:4, 90:13, 94:3; even in Jesus’ experience: Mk. 9:19). Thus the ancient Jews lived awaiting the day of their Messiah and their redemption, even as the whole world was awaiting the coming of the universal King. That was the case of those Wise Men, studying the stars and longing their whole lives for this fulfillment. Little did they imagine that the old king they consulted in Jerusalem would be out for the new King’s blood! As for the stream of persecution the Jews suffered under wicked king Herod, we might wonder how long we have to continue putting up with such bad rulers, even today! They certainly whet our appetite for the one King who is worthy – and in Jesus we are already invited to live under His rule! Yet when He finished His earthly ministry and returned to heaven, it’s like we started the waiting all over again: now for His second coming! Developing patience in our walk with the Lord is a matter of learning to work out what He worked in (Php. 2:12-13) — so that in all we do in this new year, we may truly worship the Christ who makes all things new, in our perspective and in our lives!
Doomsayers abound today, with predictions of nuclear war, devastation, and socio-economic collapse. The ongoing bellicose confrontations and political conflicts around our world make us long for the true Prince of Peace. But considering all the brokenness that war brings and the enduring lack of peace in our world, how can Christians claim that the baby of Bethlehem, so celebrated on this day, is really the “Prince of Peace”? Especially with all the wars that have been fought in His name by people claiming to be under His rule?! Yet at Jesus’ birth, the angel chorus declared, “Peace on earth among those whom God has favored!” That message, announced for all humankind, is as necessary today as at any time in history; and all those who put their faith in Jesus find Him to be the true Savior, the King who came and proclaimed His covenant of peace, setting up His “sanctuary” among His people (Ezek. 37:26-28), and lifting His “banner” over us as love (Song of Sol. 2:4). Christmas is about the good news of this revolutionary new kingdom of true peace in Jesus Christ!
“Rend your heavens and come down!” pleaded David (in Ps. 18 & 144). Multiple cultures and legends have evidenced a similar longing for God to “show up on the scene” – fertile ground for what God Himself really wanted to do: become human for our sakes (incarnation). David’s longing was for God to show up with power and vindication, which is what we would often like as well in our personal situations. But God came to us in such a weak, humble form that no one really recognized Him as the Liberator! The All-Powerful One was showing His omnipotent hand, not in the way David had asked, but by making Himself vulnerable like us … in order to bring about the revolutionary deliverance we most needed, but could never have imagined: from our slavery to sin, the evil one, and death. He knew that the only true liberation was from the inside out, and that our “insides” needed a total reset, a rebirth, a spiritual revolution, allowing Him to rule from inside our hearts as the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Today we will explore how God’s vulnerability became our salvation and our model for life.
Christmas is not a time of joy for everyone. Many only experience their brokenness more intensely at this season. Brokenness is something we never finish dealing with in this life: whether it’s about lost loved ones (by death or by estrangement), our separation from friends or from more favorable life circumstances, broken family circles that can never be complete again in this world, etc. Distances (whether physical or emotional) can truly break our hearts, and sometimes our brokenness dates back to trauma or woundedness from childhood or youth … All the disillusionments of life can turn Christmas into a time of depression, anxiety, and loneliness for many. Yet our Creator came to earth precisely so that He could walk beside us in all these troubles. John’s Gospel says that “He came to His own, and His own received Him not” (Jn. 1:10) – but He never let that rejection deter Him from His mission: as our Advocate and Comforter, as our Priest and Intercessor. These are the roles we want to explore today as we think about how the incarnation speaks to the problem of our world’s brokenness and pain.
Do you know your eight family surnames? Jesus’ genealogy reveals a steady heritage of Jewish ancestry all the way back, except that when you review the details of Old Testament history, you also find some Canaanites and a Moabitess in His family tree! Not so pure-bred after all! Besides that, Mary was an unwed mother, probably a teenager, so by today’s standards, she was clearly a candidate for eliminating the “undesired fetus.” Couldn’t God have done it some other way? In fact, restoration of the imago Dei in us required this “messy process” through the long chain of human generations that finally led to the incarnation. To reach the place of our true need, it had to be through the “seed of Adam, born of a woman,” so that He could come to us as our Kinsman-Redeemer!
Today we want to delve into perhaps the oldest psalm in the Psalter, written by Moses, whose personal pilgrimage we will review as part of our background study of this psalm. Then we will follow his thoughts as he meditated on the fleetingness of human life and the intensity of God’s indignation toward His rebellious creatures, but we’ll also observe how Moses still dared to plead for God’s tender mercies as the true source of hope and joy for His people. We will seek to pray along with Moses as the Holy Spirit carried him through the whole gamut of a well-rounded conversation with God: from praise and confession to repentance, supplication and intercession.
As we reflect together on the meaning of the ordinance of Baptism, every listener should be moved by its message, either challenged or encouraged. The first lesson we should grasp is that Baptism is not optional, as it is a direct command from the Lord to all His disciples. We must then understand that Baptism is an outward physical act that speaks, in quite a dramatic style, of an inward reality: a) it is a proclamation of our Faith in Christ Jesus, b) it is an expression of our Identification with Christ Jesus and c) it is a proclamation of our Future with Christ Jesus.
The descriptive story of the church at Antioch can help us learn three important lessons about discipleship: 1) they were global disciples in the making (Acts 11:19-26); 2) their discipleship cultivated generosity (Acts 11:27-30); 3) their obedience to the Holy Spirit’s instruction resulted in sending out members for the missionary task (Acts 13:1-3).
The first Sunday of November is celebrated in many parts of the global Body of Christ as the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. So today we will take time to think about the plight of our persecuted brothers and sisters and to pray for God’s strength in their crises. We’ll also look at one of the earliest persecutors of the church, Saul of Tarsus, reviewing the story of his dramatic conversion, where on the road to Damascus, he became aware of the presence of God in a totally new way – in Jesus the Messiah, whom he had previously thought to be accursed because of His death on a cross. In fact, the curse of the cross (Dt. 21:23) could not begin to compare with the power of blessing in Jesus (Gal. 3:13-14).
Isaiah the prophet spoke centuries ago about the mourning that would overwhelm Israel due to the tragedy of her moral decline and spiritual collapse. The psychological devastation would be beyond all imagination. When we compare that society with our own, it may seem we too are on the brink of spiritual disaster. Yet in spite of Israel’s brokenness and depravity, God promised to create praise on the lips of the mourners, with comforting and healing; God would bring “peace to those far and near,” an expression which Paul understood as fulfilled in the arrival of the Gospel to both Jews and Gentiles (Eph. 2:17-18). So in our society today, filled as it is with the mourning of brokenness and desperation, it will only be as we confess Christ and exult in Him that we can ever find true relief and comfort and peace, and God will again create praise on the lips of mourners.
Isaiah the prophet spoke centuries ago about the mourning that would overwhelm Israel due to the tragedy of her moral decline and spiritual collapse. The psychological devastation would be beyond all imagination. When we compare that society with our own, it may seem we too are on the brink of spiritual disaster. Yet in spite of Israel’s brokenness and depravity, God promised to create praise on the lips of the mourners, with comforting and healing; God would bring “peace to those far and near,” an expression which Paul understood as fulfilled in the arrival of the Gospel to both Jews and Gentiles (Eph. 2:17-18). So in our society today, filled as it is with the mourning of brokenness and desperation, it will only be as we confess Christ and exult in Him that we can ever find true relief and comfort and peace, and God will again create praise on the lips of mourners.
Have you ever been overwhelmed by the challenges and changes around you? The Apostle Peter and many in the early church knew that feeling. They were not only flooded by change, but many faced the challenge of deadly persecution. In 1 Peter 1:1-9, Peter reminded them (and us!) of the powerful source of the hope we have in Jesus. It is a living hope based on a past event, looking forward to a future event, and with much to offer even in the present moment.
Have you ever been overwhelmed by the challenges and changes around you? The Apostle Peter and many in the early church knew that feeling. They were not only flooded by change, but many faced the challenge of deadly persecution. In 1 Peter 1:1-9, Peter reminded them (and us!) of the powerful source of the hope we have in Jesus. It is a living hope based on a past event, looking forward to a future event, and with much to offer even in the present moment.
Today Pastor David will lead us in a solemn assembly of remembrance, such as the Israelites held at the end of their Feast of Tabernacles. Last Sunday we saw the significance of the Feast of Tabernacles as a time of thanksgiving and rejoicing because of God’s great mercies. So this week we focus on how they finished out that week with a sacred time of reflection and confession.
Today Pastor David will lead us in a solemn assembly of remembrance, such as the Israelites held at the end of their Feast of Tabernacles. Last Sunday we saw the significance of the Feast of Tabernacles as a time of thanksgiving and rejoicing because of God’s great mercies. So this week we focus on how they finished out that week with a sacred time of reflection and confession.
Today begins the celebration of the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles (or Booths, Oct. 9-16), an important commemoration of the Israelites’ time of wandering in the wilderness, as well as a harvest festival of thanksgiving. We want to examine this final fall celebration of the Jews in order to understand how God used it in Old Testament history to call His people to learn deep lessons in communal living, which also have their application to the church and discipleship. We will even see Jesus’ participation in this festival in the Gospel of John demonstrating its true fulfillment in Him, the living water.
Today begins the celebration of the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles (or Booths, Oct. 9-16), an important commemoration of the Israelites’ time of wandering in the wilderness, as well as a harvest festival of thanksgiving. We want to examine this final fall celebration of the Jews in order to understand how God used it in Old Testament history to call His people to learn deep lessons in communal living, which also have their application to the church and discipleship. We will even see Jesus’ participation in this festival in the Gospel of John demonstrating its true fulfillment in Him, the living water.
Today we are right in the middle of two of the highest Jewish holy days: Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur (Sept. 25-Oct. 5), so important in the Old Testament calendar, and very symbolic of Christian meanings that were in the making. We want to examine these two fall festivals (feast of trumpets and day of atonement) in order to understand their application in Christian doctrine and discipleship. We will see their fulfillment in Jesus’ role as the incarnation of the mercy seat, the sin offering, and His own verdict as Judge of the universe — the Judge whom humanity dared to judge as “worthy of death,” but who declared His beloved creatures “forgiven” by faith in His Name.
Today we are right in the middle of two of the highest Jewish holy days: Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur (Sept. 25-Oct. 5), so important in the Old Testament calendar, and very symbolic of Christian meanings that were in the making. We want to examine these two fall festivals (feast of trumpets and day of atonement) in order to understand their application in Christian doctrine and discipleship. We will see their fulfillment in Jesus’ role as the incarnation of the mercy seat, the sin offering, and His own verdict as Judge of the universe — the Judge whom humanity dared to judge as “worthy of death,” but who declared His beloved creatures “forgiven” by faith in His Name.
As we start up a new academic year, we are meditating on the perspectives we need for facing new challenges. One of our greatest needs is to renew our vision of God as He revealed Himself in Scripture. There is an Old Testament phrase that God used with Moses as His "self-definition": "Yahweh, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness and faithfulness" (Ex. 34:6). This description is repeated eight times in the Old Testament, but only in one fragment in the New. We will explore its meaning as we seek to refresh our own personal relationship to the God of the ages and understand how this description assumed human form in Jesus Christ.
As we start up a new academic year, we are meditating on the perspectives we need for facing new challenges. One of our greatest needs is to renew our vision of God as He revealed Himself in Scripture. There is an Old Testament phrase that God used with Moses as His "self-definition": "Yahweh, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness and faithfulness" (Ex. 34:6). This description is repeated eight times in the Old Testament, but only in one fragment in the New. We will explore its meaning as we seek to refresh our own personal relationship to the God of the ages and understand how this description assumed human form in Jesus Christ.
Thank you for joining with Immanuel Baptist Church for this time of worship and teaching from God’s Word. Today Pastor David will preach on the source of true power in this world – as it appears in God's creation, in the life and work of Jesus, and in the Christian life.
Thank you for joining with Immanuel Baptist Church for this time of worship and teaching from God’s Word. Today Pastor David will preach on the source of true power in this world – as it appears in God's creation, in the life and work of Jesus, and in the Christian life.
Today Pastor David will preach on two great hills in Jesus’ life – the Mount of the Beatitudes and “Mount Calvary” – as paradigms for understanding the Christian life, and encouragement regarding the hills we have to climb in our lives
Today Pastor David will preach on the challenge of the human dilemma that has but one real solution: fixing our eyes on Jesus.
Can you remember when you first began to consider the things of God? Was it because of your parents, or maybe a friend or a coworker? Maybe it was a time of difficulty or a time of transition. How did God first begin to show you that there was a better way? How did God begin to stir your interest and draw you to Himself? It always starts with God.
"We saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him"
“I will also make You a light of the nations . . .” – Isaiah 49:6 NASB