calvarywolfeboro: Recent Episodes
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When you think about joy, you probably don't think about suffering. When you consider the grace of God, you probably don't think about persecution. Yet, in Philippians 1:29, the apostle Paul ties belief in Jesus and suffering for Jesus together as a package deal. It's not that God inflicts us supernaturally once we give our lives to Christ. Suffering is simply the normal result of a life lived "worthy of the gospel." "All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted," wrote Paul in II Timothy 3:12. But lest we think that this kind of suffering will rob our joy, think again. Suffering, too, for a follower of Christ, produces joy.
"There was once a fiddler who played so beauitully that everybody danced. A deaf man who could not hear the music considered them all insane.
Those who are with Jesus in suffering hear this music to which other men are deaf. They dance and do not care if they are considered insane."
-Richard Wurmbrand, Spent 14 years in a Communist Romanian prison where he endured severe torture for his faith in Jesus Christ.
Anyone older than 40, remembers the Timex watch commercials from last century. In most, especially the early ones, timex watches were exposed to extreme, wet conditions and shown to be still ticking afterward. The toughness of their watches was even captured in the company slogan, "Takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin." Timex watches were made to be resilient, to withstand the tests of water exposure and extraordinary jarring motions. The Gospel is also resilient. For almost 2000 years it has withstood the test of time and great opposition. In Philippians 1:12-18, we find the resilience of the Gospel on display and Paul uses a teachable moment in the lives of the Philippians and points to the fact that opposition to both the message and the minister of the gospel has only furthered the mission.
Interest groups abound. It doesn’t matter how obscure a person’s interest is, there is a group of people out there somewhere with the same interests. The google search “international association of” results in over 100 million websites. There’s even a union of international associations; Yep, an association for associations. This idea of common interest groups has even infiltrated the mindset of the church. There is a church in Southern California that in 2005 was reported as having 9 different worship venues. Another way to think of it is that the church was divided up into 9 distinct worship interest groups. Which begs a question. What is it that Christians should have in common in order to gather as a local church? Let’s find out as we continue through the book of Philippians.
Of all the emotions that human beings have, joy or happiness is the most sought after. Blaise Pascal, the famous Mathematician, Physicist and Theologian of the early 1600s observed, "All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. The will never takes the least step but to this object. This is the motive of every man, even of those who hang themselves." And yet, as important as it is, it is also the most elusive emotion for the vast majority of people in this world. For most people joy is fleeting. But this should not be the case for the Christian. As we begin our verse by verse study through the book of Philippians, the first thing we need to consider is that joy should be a defining characteristic of the life of a follower of Christ.
The fork in the road. It's a metaphor that describes the times in our lives where one decision will lead us in one of two very different directions. This same idea applies to human history. There are events that have forever divided the path that humanity has taken. The events of Genesis 4 describe one such fork in the road. Two men, Cain and Abel, take very different paths and the paths they take become those that every human being will take. One path is the life of faith. The other is the existence of unbelief. One is taken by most people. The other is chosen by few. Let's consider this fork in the road and how the sons of Adam and Eve became examples for us all.
One of the most profound lies that modern humanity has swallowed - hook, line, and sinker - is that human beings are fundamentally good. This, of course, flies in the face of the evidence all around us. In order, then, to perpetuate this lie, an explanation must be given for why it doesn’t seem like humanity is fundamentally good. The most common secular explanation for this apparent contradiction is that men and women do bad things because of external forces at work like oppression, suppression and injustice, just to name a few. Remove or change the external realities, it is proposed, and humanity will return to it’s natural “good” self. We come to Genesis 3, however, and we find the beginning of a very different explanation for why humanity does evil things: We are fallen. It’s the best explanation we have, of course, because it’s God’s explanation. And guess what? We got ourselves into this mess. But although the Fall is humanity’s own fault, God doesn’t expect us to get ourselves out of it. He will. For where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more.
What is a person's gender? Until very recently in human history this question had a simple answer. It is still the case when one looks up the definition. Merriam-Webster, for example, states that gender is "a: SEX - the feminine gender; b: the behavioral, cultural, or psychological traits typically associated with one sex." Understood from this definition, gender is understood as synonymous with the titles, "male" and "female". In other words, there are two genders. Now enter the question, "How many genders are there?" into your favorite search engine. That question does not produce such a simple answer. In fact, even the first page of answers produced by the most popular search engine cannot agree on a number. One says 63, another, says 51. There are even those who claim that the number of genders has now exceeded 100. Into all of this confusion we need the input of God's timeless revelation. After all, God is the one who created male and female. He established gender. Perhaps we need to go back to the beginning, once again, and discover that He has left us answers to these same questions and more.
“Beginnings matter. The start of a race often determines its winner. The foundation of a house establishes the strength of its entire structure. So it is with the ideas that shape our lives. Their beginnings matter more than most people even realize. And yet so few consider the beginning of the greatest book ever written, the Bible. In it’s first book, Genesis, we find a treasure trove of truths about the beginnings of everything that matters. We will begin, no pun intended, with the beginning of creation.”
Many people experience the blues after Christmas. The emotional high and unusual nature of the season gives way to an emotional low and the valley of the ordinary. It's not just Christmas that has this affect. For many people, the entire year is lived just trying to make it from one high point to the next. Whether it's a birthday or a vacation or the end of a busy work week, the extraordinary can often set the tone for all of life. Mary and Joseph experienced one of the most extraordinary events in human history. But this emotional high soon gave way to normal life. As it was the Mary and Joseph, so it is for us. Let's consider how we can find purpose in the ordinary and not allow the extraordinary to rob us of that purpose.
At some point in ever human being's life a rescue will be necessary. It could be physical rescue, like a severe car accident. It could be financial rescue, like a monetary gift during a season of job-hunting. It could be relational rescue, when marriage is falling apart and divorce is imminent. Whatever the case, there will be a time when our own individual resources and abilities are not sufficient to get us through. Ruth and Naomi knew this reality all too well. But as we wrap up our study in Ruth, we see highlighted another reality that applies to all human beings too. There is a Rescuer. For Ruth and Naomi their need was met by a kinsman redeemer named Boaz. But as we tie a bow on the story of Ruth we turn our focus back to the Kinsman Redeemer of Christmas and we answer the question, what need do I still have that only my Kinsman Redeemer can meet?
Promises are only as good as the character of the person making them. When a drug addict comes to you and promises to pay you back for a loan that they desperately need in order to buy food, not only do you question the truth of how they’re going to spend the loan, you seriously doubt that they’ll come through on their promise. Drug addicts are not typically faithful to their promises. On the other hand, if a man like Boaz tells you he is going to do something and then takes an oath in the name of Yahweh, it’s as good as done. What about the promises God has made to us? Do we live in such a way that one thing is obvious: we believe the promises of God? Let’s consider that question as we dig into the third chapter of Ruth.
It seems that every day lately there is another sexual harassment or sexual assault scandal taking someone famous down. You might be hard-pressed to think of a truly noble man in a place of significant leadership in our country today. Enter Boaz the Ephrathite(that just means he's from Bethlehem). Ruth 2:1 records that he was, "a worthy man." As the story continues we discover that the word "worthy" falls short in describing the noble character of this wealthy land owner in Judah. Into the desperation of Naomi and Ruth's lives Boaz brings hope and provision. Throughout the interaction between Boaz and Ruth we will find our own hope rekindled as we are reminded that good men and good women still exist under the providential love of a good God.
We've all heard the cliche, "Desperate times call for desperate measures." It's believed that Hippocrates, the Greek physician, coined the idea in relation to the treatment of serious disease. His belief was that a severe disease required equally severe treatment. The book of Ruth opens with a desperate situation. There is a famine in Judah. In Bethlehem, a man named Elimelech decides to uproot his family in search of relief from the famine. A desperate measure is carried out. On the surface it seems noble. What self-respecting man wouldn't take extreme measures to ensure his family survives? But do desperate times always call for desperate measures? One thing is for sure. Desperate circumstances are common in this world. A world that has never been more desperate for help than now. Let's consider this as we begin our series in Ruth: Advent of a Redeemer, with a challenge to "Remember the Desperation."
For the follower of Christ, surrender is par for the course. As it was for the Savior, so it is for His servants. Like Jesus, we must deal with sin, die to self, and dwell in submission. Of course, Jesus didn’t have to deal with the sin in his own life, he had to deal with our sin. And yet, even though He never sinned, his life was the prototype of the surrender that means for us giving up your life in order to save it. How did Jesus do it? Where did the strength He needed to surrender His life come from? The Father, of course. For although he was a man, he was also God the Son. His dependence of the Father for strength provides for us another example to follow. We, too, need a strength outside of ourselves in order to live a life of surrender. If we try to do it our own strength we will only end up discouraged and defeated. If we learn how to delight in God, we will have all the grace we need to live a life of surrender.
John MacArthur recently spoke about the rebellious culture we live in. "We’ve all been witnessing civil disobedience; A developing culture of people that has no sense of responsibility to anybody. No sense of submission to authority...There is a rebel spirit that is unleashed in our culture and it's pervasive in our society.” This is most obvious, culturally, in the heroes who fill the screens of our movies. Good luck finding one who isn’t primarily rebellious. Certainly there are situations where rebellion is warranted. There is a place for righteous rebellion. But there is very little of that happening right now. The vast majority of the rejection of authority that is happening around us right now is not righteous. Let’s consider with hearts and minds wide open what God’s Word has to say about authority and it’s place in our call to surrender.
In the February 3rd, 2003 edition of the New York Times, Psychologist Lauren Slater wrote an article entitled, “The Trouble With Self-Esteem.” Her conclusion was that low self-esteem wasn’t really a problem in the United States. She states that, “people with high self-esteem pose a greater threat to those around them than people with low self-esteem.” This flies in the face of all the gurus of “self-help” who constantly bombard us with new ideas to improve our self-esteem. But if having better self-esteem isn’t the solution, does that mean that we should have a low self-esteem? According to Jesus the solution isn’t to think less of myself either. The real solution isn’t to think more or less of myself but to think of myself less. This is what it means to die to self and this is our next installment in the Call To Surrender.
Did you know that the average person spends 2 years of their life just waiting in lines? In the age of high speed internet an TV on demand, we hate waiting. But waiting is one of the tools that God uses to mold and shape us. The question we have to ask is not whether or not we like waiting, but what should we be doing while we wait on God.
Evil and injustice will not have the final word. Every wicked word, every immoral deed will be dealt with. There will be an ultimate judgment. That’s what the third from the last chapter of the entire Bible makes clear. But before you celebrate the final end to sin, consider this. All of the sinful things that you’ve ever done will require judgment too. We’ve all lied, we’ve all cheated, we’ve all said mean things, we’ve all sinned. Everything we’ve ever done or thought has been recorded by God. One day, all those records will be opened and if your record isn’t perfectly clean, then you will be sentenced everlasting torment. That is unless your name is written in another book - the book of life. Anyone whose name is written in that book will be spared from judgment. Want your name to be in the book of life? Think your name is written in the book of life? Are you sure? Find out the answers these questions and more as we conclude the Sermon on the Mount, this week in the Creed of the Kingdom.
A wolf in sheep’s clothing. It appears harmless, friendly, and familiar but it's intentions are anything but good. In the animal kingdom there are examples of this. The Zone-Tailed Hawk, for instance, looks like a turkey vulture, a scavenger of already dead animals. This disguise tricks prey into a false sense of safety. In Matthew 7:15-20, Jesus warns his followers about men and women who will come into the church pretending to be representatives of Him, while all the time they are actually predators. Then He tells us how to recognize them. Let’s consider together what we learn when Jesus calls out the deceivers among us.
G.K. Chesterton has famously been quoted as saying, “Christianity has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found hard and not tried.” For many people in the Church today, this doesn’t make sense. Christianity in America has been overrun in many places by a counterfeit that says following Jesus will make your life easier. This lie ignores what Jesus clearly teaches. There is a cost to following Him. The Sermon On The Mount exposes counterfeit Christianity. Jesus says it so clearly, “the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life.” It’s hard being a disciple of Jesus. Let’s consider that truth and discover the hope for all who decide that the cost is worth it.
There are many aspects of childhood that we should grow out of as adults. Temper tantrums and not being able to tie our own shoes are a couple things that immediately come to mind. But, according to Jesus, there are some aspects of being a child that we should never outgrow: “Truly, I say to you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” What does He mean? Find out this week as the Sermon on the Mount continues with a description of what it means to have faith like a child.
There is a fine line between dealing with sin as a holy Church and being judgmental. By the time we get to the third and final chapter of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus has set the bar high. He has called His people to perfection in dealing with anger, being sexually pure, esteeming marriage, checking motivation, being selfless with others, and in having an eternal focus. That standard of perfection leaves only two options. Either a Christian will recognize their inadequacy and seek Jesus for ongoing strength and forgiveness OR that same Christian will take the route that Jesus addresses in the first six verse of Matthew 7 - he or she will become judgmental. How does this happen? Find out as we put ourselves once again at the feet of Jesus.
"For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?" Jesus posed this rhetorical question to make a point: material success is no success at all unless it has heavenly purpose. The person who gains the whole world but forfeits his soul is the person consumed by avarice. This slavery to the material world manifests itself in many different ways. It causes greed, stinginess, penny-pinching, and coveting. Materialism causes anxiety and destroys faith. It must be eradicated. So, in Matthew 6:19-34, Jesus describes four ways in which we can lead the movement against materialism.
Christian, how different would your life look if no-one knew about any of the good things that you do? Would you prioritize things differently if there was absolutely no human recognition for the work you do as a minister of the Gospel? The answer to those questions are quite revealing. What our answers to these question reveal is the motives behind why we serve other people, why we pray, and why we seek to live holy lives. In other words, who is your audience? We're all performing. What Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:1-18 is that our performance should only be for an audience of One.
Justice is intuitive. It’s part of the fabric of our nature as human beings. That’s why for thousands of years civilizations throughout the world have lived by the axiom, “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” This is justice. It is good. A civilization without justice will quickly devolve into chaos. What isn’t intuitive is “turn the other cheek.” This is the radical proposition of grace. In Matthew 5: 38-48 we find Jesus introducing, as climax of all that He has said so far, a new concept that was historically unheard of: “Love your enemies.” This is not justice. This is not fair. But this is how Jesus says we are to live as citizens of the Kingdom. These are some of the hardest words Jesus ever spoke. How He lived them out is clear. This is the crux of grace - loving the unlovely.
“Do you promise?” If someone feels the need to ask you this question, you might not be a person of your word. For the person who consistently does what they say they’re going to do, this question is unnecessary. That’s Jesus’ point in Matthew 5:37, “Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.” Into a culture where even legally binding oaths don’t matter anymore, it’s refreshing to be a part of a community where a person’s word is the only oath needed. That community is the Church. This week Jesus elevates our verbal commitments back to the place they belong. Your word is your bond.
The institution of marriage is dying a slow and painful death. In the United States there is one divorce every 36 seconds. The CDC reports that 41% of first marriages, 60% of second marriages, and 73% of third marriages end in divorce. How desperately our world needs Jesus’ words concerning divorce. The Church is the only hope for revitalizing God's first social institution. We have the responsibility to not only defend the Biblical definition of marriage but to live it out in our own lives and communities by not rushing into divorce. For citizens of the Kingdom, divorce should be almost unheard of. Let’s consider how we create kingdom marriages in a culture of divorce.
Anger is a powerful emotion. So rarely is it not destructive that the apostle Paul even writes specifically about it in Ephesians 4:26, "in your anger, do not sin." In other words, don't let it become destructive. Sinful anger is always destructive. It's like a poison that can go airborne and wreak havoc in the church. Jesus compares it to murder and says that just like murder deserves judgment, so does sinful anger. His clarion call in Matthew 5:21-16 is that Christians take anger seriously; That we root it out in ourselves. And, that when we have opportunity, we help our brothers and sisters by being the antidote for their anger. This is The Creed of the Kingdom, our verse by verse in-depth study of the Sermon on the Mount.
Anger is a powerful emotion. So rarely is it not destructive that the apostle Paul even writes specifically about it in Ephesians 4:26, "in your anger, do not sin." In other words, don't let it become destructive. Sinful anger is always destructive. It's like a poison that can go airborne and wreak havoc in the church. Jesus compares it to murder and says that just like murder deserves judgment, so does sinful anger. His clarion call in Matthew 5:21-16 is that Christians take anger seriously; That we root it out in ourselves. And, that when we have opportunity, we help our brothers and sisters by being the antidote for their anger. This is The Creed of the Kingdom, our verse by verse in-depth study of the Sermon on the Mount.
Evangelical Christians are taught from the beginning of their spiritual lives that it is by grace that they are saved, not by works. That there is no amount of righteousness that can make a person worthy of forgiveness. Put another way, in order to be acceptable to God we must be given a foreign righteousness. All of this is certainly true. But it makes these words of Jesus initially confusing, “unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” So which is it? Is entrance into the Kingdom the result of our own righteousness or not? That's the question we will seek to answer this week as we continue through the Sermon on the Mount and our series, Creed of the Kingdom.
“When Jesus told his disciples that they were the salt of the earth, He wasn’t focused on, primarily, the preserving nature of salt. His emphasis, in Matthew 5:13, was on salt’s ability to enhance flavor. His point was that his followers were to enhance the flavor of the earth like salt enhances the flavor of foods. How do followers of Christ make the world taste better? That’s the question we will focus on this week as we continue through Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.”
For quite a few years Snickers, the candy bar, had the slogan, “Snickers really satisfies.” Capitalizing on the fact that its loaded with peanuts, the candy bar claimed that it would satisfy not just a sweet tooth, but a legitimate hunger. When Jesus led his disciples up on a mountain to share with them what we now call the sermon on the mount, He began his sermon by appealing to their need for satisfaction. Nine times Jesus repeats the phrase, “blessed are…” Each time bringing to light another ingredient for a satisfied life. This, Jesus tells his disciples, is the sweet life. This is what really satisfies!
Throughout the history of the church major battles over doctrine have been focused, primarily, on the nature of God and salvation. Orthodoxy is what has come as a result of these battles. To be orthodox is to hold to the Biblical teachings in these critical areas of truth. In other words, the church has expended a lot of energy, and rightfully so, on what we should believe. Unfortunately, the Church has failed to expend the same amount of time and energy on how we should live. But the New Testament has even more to say about how we should live than it has to say about what we should believe. And no where in the pages of Scripture is there a more concise summary of how a follower of Jesus should live than in the Sermon on the Mount. This week we begin with an introduction to the Sermon on the Mount by understanding what Jesus called, “The Kingdom of Heaven.”
No child enjoys correction. That’s especially true when that correction includes the rod. Good parents don’t enjoy spanking, but done right, the rod is a necessary part of restoring a rebellious heart. The same truth holds for all of God’s children spiritually. We, too, have a Father who corrects his adult children with the spiritual rod of discipline. The apostle Peter, in John’s final narrative of his gospel shines light on the final restoration of Peter. And just like a child who has disobeyed a loving parent, Jesus restores Peter with a firm rebuke. It’s not fun but it’s necessary. Sometime Jesus must check.
Spiritually speaking. Where are you today? Stuck in doubt wondering where Jesus is in your life? Trying to follow Jesus but feel like your life is one pointless struggle after another? Maybe you’re at a point of decision. Jesus has spoken and told you what you need to do but you haven’t obeyed yet. Perhaps you’re doing the work of God and have been for awhile but you’re growing weary, wondering if it will ever produce any fruit. The Disciples experienced all the things we do. They too, like us, were called to the work of spiritual fishing. In John chapter 21 Jesus gives His disciples an object lesson for all of us. Let’s listen in as He takes his disciples through an introductory course. We’ll call it Spiritual Fishing 101.
What would cause a man to give away 100% of the profits of his multi-million dollar company? In a word, purpose. A very specific one. In the case of Stanley Tam, that purpose was to provide financial resource for God's work in evangelizing and discipling the world. The company is U.S. plastics and since its inception the profits given to the work of God in international missions, church planting, and discipleship is over 120 million dollars. That's an amazing impact made as the result of a man understanding and obediently carrying out his God-given purpose. In John 20:30-31 we read the words of John describing the purpose he was following in the writing of the gospel. Why did he choose the specific scenes he chose? Why didn't he include certain miracles that Jesus performed not found in his gospel? In a word, purpose. Purpose is important.
Try to Imagine that you are blind. Now try to imagine that you are blind and deaf. This was the world of Helen Keller. Robbed of the faculties of vision and hearing she experienced reality without shape, color, or sound. Amazingly, she learned how to communicate but not without difficulty. So many people live without a different faculty that is even more critical. Faith. Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Secular humanism would say that there is nothing outside the realm of our 5 senses. Jesus would disagree. In our passage for this week’s edition of the GodMan series we find words quite to the contrary, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Remember that time in science or math class when you realized you had no idea what the teacher was talking about? It’s not that you didn’t hear what your instructor was saying, you just didn’t understand it. Something similar happens in churches around the world every week. People listen to Biblical truth but don’t understand it. This, however, is a different meaning of the word, “understand”. In math class, understanding is a matter of comprehension. Some concepts are really difficult to comprehend. When it comes to God’s truth, understanding is more than just comprehension. In Matthew 13, Jesus calls it understanding with the heart. It includes something in addition to comprehension. What is it? Find out this week as we look at the parable of the soil and a perfect metaphor for the heart of every human being.
Living a life that is pleasing to God can be a difficult thing at times. Jesus knew this all too well during His time spent here on earth which is why he told us we would need to take up our cross to follow Him, die daily to ourselves, and commit our ways to Him. In today's study we take a look at an Old Testament figure who lived in this manner. A man who did what was right even if it came at a great cost to himself, a man who stood firm in the face of pressure, and a man who encouraged the young woman God had entrusted to him to act with boldness in the hopes of saving God’s people. Let's take a look at some of the lessons we can learn in how to live right by examining the life of Mordecai.
What’s the most memorable memorial service that you’ve ever attended? Think for a minute. Got it? Ok, good. Now, think about what made it so memorable. Setting aside the ones that are memorable for bad reasons - a really long service, an awkward mistake, or a fight breaking out between sides of a family - the most memorable are probably the ones for a man or woman whose life was truly significant. The ones that leave behind a legacy. Long after the person’s gone, their death is still creating new life. Jesus’ death on the cross is the quintessential example of this. His death produced new life. But what was it about his death that was unique and how can we live in such a way that our death will produce life?
It was C.S. Lewis who popularized the apologetic “trilemma”(A necessary choice between three options as compared with a “dilemma" which has only two options) that Jesus must be one of three people to every reader of Scripture: a liar, a lunatic, or Lord. In other words, if Jesus made the statements the gospels report Him having made, then one must logically arrive at one of these three conclusions about him. For the 13 individuals and 2 groups reported in the gospels to have been witnesses to Jesus' crucifixion, we see the beginnings of what would become the greatest trilemma of all time. To each of these, the options were not exactly the same as C.S. Lewis’ trilemma, but they were close. Let’s dig in to John 19 and see who thought Jesus a liar, who scorned him as a loser, who loved him, and who recognized that he was the Lord.
Mel Gibson’s movie, “The Passion of the Christ,” was a lot things, watered down it was not. Especially when it came to the Roman flogging that Jesus endured. Anyone who doesn’t have a hard time watching the scene when Jesus is first beat with rods and then whipped with a scourge is sadistic. And that’s just the graphic nature of it. If you love Jesus it’s even harder to watch for a completely different reason. And it gets worse, the scourging is only the precursor to the cross. The real torture is yet to come. If there ever was a clear picture of what hate looks like, what hate does, this is it. Jesus suffers under the hand of hatred - the hatred of the religious leaders in Israel. But as bad as it was, as painful as it was, in the end hatred lost. Love conquered hate that day. How? Let’s look at the suffering, silent, and steady Jesus and see what we can learn for ourselves about how love conquers hate.
"What is Truth?” The most well-known line Pontius Pilate (the Roman procurator who presided over Jesus’ crucifixion) ever spoke. A rhetorical question to be sure, he never intended to give Jesus the opportunity to answer him. His point? There is no truth. Pontius Pilate was right in one sense. Truth had lost it’s influence in the world of his day. It’s authority being replaced, as it always is, by power. In the case of Rome, the power of Caesar and his military might. But Pilate was also wrong. Truth can never be destroyed. It can only be chained up. Augustine compared truth to a lion and wrote, “you don’t have to defend it. Let it loose; it will defend itself.” The problem is that when truth is put behind bars, humanity suffers. How? That’s what we’ll find out this week in the GodMan Series, a verse by verse exposition of the Gospel of John.
Followers of Jesus love the apostle Peter. What’s interesting is the reason we love him. It’s not because of his courage in proclaiming the gospel like it is for, say, Paul. The reason Christians love Peter is because of his faults. Of course we know that all the disciples had them - frailties - but Peter’s are so prominent in the gospels. His foibles make us feel better about our own frailties. That’s not all we should do with Peter though. We mustn’t stop at viewing his life as an answer to the question, “Does God use imperfect people?” We need to take our consideration of Peter a step further. On the night before Jesus’ crucifixion, as Jesus predicted, Peter denies that he even knows Jesus. He blows it. The question is, what can we learn from his failure? How can we be better prepared the next time some person or some situation presents us with the question, “You aren’t one of Jesus’ disciples too, are you?”
"Throw off the yoke of tyranny!" shout the purveyors of candy-coated bondage. They sell what tastes, at first, like sweet freedom. But the sweetness eventually gives way to a bitter core of rebellion and ruin. Church, there is no liberty without submission. Need proof? Consider the life of Jesus in his final hours. The road that Jesus took to provide freedom for all mankind was paved with submission. Ultimately he was submitting to the Father. But along the way he showed us many times and in many ways how to submit, directly, to human authority - regardless of how undeserving that authority was. The Godman series moves one big step closer to the cross. This week we consider the night of Jesus' arrest.
On the night before his crucifixion Jesus prayed for his disciples and every one who would believe through their testimony. If you're a follower of Christ, that means Jesus prayed for you. In His prayer he states, "As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world." If you've ever heard the expression, "in the world, but not of it", this prayer is the source of that principle. But what does it mean? How are we to live as citizens of heaven but residents in the world? These are the questions we will seek to answer this week as we continue The Real Lord's Prayer in John 17.
The disciples once asked Jesus how to pray. His response became known throughout church history as The Lord's Prayer, "Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name..." It's an amazing prayer, but was it really the Lord's prayer? Or would it not more accurately be described as the disciple's prayer? After all it was the answer to their question about how they should pray. We know that Jesus spent a lot of time in prayer but we have very few of His actual prayers captured for us in the pages of Scripture. One such prayer is found in John 17. And unlike Matthew 6 where Jesus is simply giving the disciples a model prayer, this is a communication between God the Son and God the Father. This is the real Lord's Prayer. What treasures we will find as we listen in to the words Jesus speaks to the Father, beginning with a plea for restored glory.
“You got it?” Familiar words for anyone who has taken a heavy load from another person. The question has two meanings. The first is the obvious. Do you actually have control of the package? The second is less obvious but just as important. Are you able to handle the weight without dropping it? This becomes particularly important when the load is extremely heavy and very valuable. Think, grand piano. Jesus is about to handoff the load of the ministry He started to His disciples. They are about to feel the weight and Jesus wants to make sure they are ready to handle it. Put another way, He reminds them, in John 16: 33, that they have all they need to find peace under pressure.
“In the name of Jesus, be healed!” says the televangelist as he pushes the forehead of the sick person standing on stage. Their body falls backward into the carefully choreographed embrace of another. You’ve probably seen the charade. No doubt you’ve heard about the scams, the phonies, and the fake healings done "in the name of Jesus". For those of us who love Christ, these con artists make us sick. What’s worse is they distort and devalue the very phrase which throughout the New Testament is overtly attached to miraculous events: “in the name of Jesus”. At least 32 times this phrase is associated with the work of God in and through the early church. What did it mean then? What does it mean now? Let’s find the answers to these questions and in the process redeem the phrase.”
There is an incredible reality about childbirth that is amazing to observe. A mother in labor, who for hours of excruciating pain has been enduring the delivery of her child, all but forgets what she has just been through once the baby is in her arms. Jesus uses this astonishing fact to describe what the disciples are about to go through with the death and resurrection of their rabbi. “You will be sorrowful,” he says, "but you sorrow will turn into joy.” What if this same pattern held for any pain, any sorrow, any tragedy? Does God intend joy to be the product of every difficulty? Let’s find out as we return to the upper room and more of Jesus’ final words to his disciples.
Why is the work of the Holy Spirit in this world largely unrecognized and invisible? After all, in the Gospel of John, Jesus makes it clear that the role of the Holy Spirit in the work of God is critical. He is the helper, the guide, the comforter, and more. Then in verse 8 of chapter 16 Jesus reveals some specifics about what the Holy Spirit will do. “He will convict the world of sin, and righteousness, and judgment.” How does the Holy Spirit carry out these critical objectives? The answer to that question also answers the question of why His work is invisible. Both of them will be our focus this week as we continue through the Gospel of John and find out that we, as God’s People, are right in the center of the Holy Spirit’s plan.
The world is full of ideas on how to increase productivity. Whether it's manufacturing a widget or writing a book, for millions of people, principles for productivity are priceless. God wants His children to be productive too. In John 15, Jesus calls our productivity fruit. He even told His disciples that they would glorify the Father by bearing much fruit. In other words, God wants us to be maximally productive. But how? Are God's principles for productivity the same as the surrounding culture's? The answer is no. Let's dig in to the first 17 verses of John 15 and find out God's principles for a productive life.
As Christians in the 21st century we don’t talk a lot about the conditional love of God. We hear quite a bit about God’s UNconditional love but not the other. For example, at weddings the vows that are shared speak of a covenant that is “for richer, for poorer, in sickness, and in health” - unconditional. But in John 14 verses 15-31, Jesus states very clearly that there are conditions required for believers to experience God’s love. Our faith is a necessary ingredient for our lives to fully benefit from God’s goodness. Charles Spurgeon put it this way, “Little faith will take your soul to heaven, but great faith will bring heaven to your soul.” And when our soul is struggling, heaven is what we need.
When was the last time your heart was troubled? A lot of situations can cause distress. In fact, along with death and taxes, dealing with a troubled heart, is common to man. On the last night of Jesus’ time on earth, he shares with his disciples that he will soon be leaving. That was troubling enough. Then he told them that they couldn’t come with him. That turned their worlds upside down. Jesus knew what they were experiencing. He knew they were distraught. So he tells them, “let not your hearts be troubled.” Then he places himself right back in the middle of their distress and gives them the key to overcoming a troubled heart. Himself. Jesus is the cure for a troubled heart, theirs and ours. Let’s consider afresh what it means to believe to be brave through the troubling times in life.
How do you know if a one hundred dollar bill is authentic? There are several ways to tell. One of them is what’s called a watermark. If you hold a bill with a watermark up to the light, all of the sudden you see a special marking that points to the maker of the bill. In the case of our money, that maker is the Federal Reserve. Only bills made by the United States Government bear the watermark of the Fed. Did you know that Christians have a watermark too? Our maker has given us a special marking that points to Jesus as our maker. What is it? Find out this week in the GodMan Series where we go verse by verse through the Gospel of John.
It’s the last night of Jesus’ time on earth. The next day, He will go to the cross and, shortly thereafter, be back in heaven. After three and half years with his disciples, he has one more night with them. How does he begin the night? By washing their feet. It’s become the quintessential act of brotherly love. But before it became our example, it was Jesus’ heart. He loved his disciples. So He served them. Then He told them to do the same thing for one another. Let’s find out what foot washing is really all about.
Remember Lassie? If you're forty or older, you've certainly seen at least a few reruns of the classic show about a dog who always saved the day. It didn't matter what the crisis was, Lassie found a way to help - every time. Sometimes it was her intelligence that made the difference. Other times is was her bark. But what set Lassie apart was not either of these things, or any other special abilities. What made Lassie a special was that she was faithful. Faithfulness is next to godliness. In fact, it is the faithfulness of God that makes trusting Him possible. So it is with the church. If we are the presence of Christ in the world, then we will be faithful too. It follows, then, that If we're faithful, people around us who need God will trust us. What does it mean to be faithful. Let's take the time this week to make sure that we have a clear understanding of this most important attribute of a healthy church.
In the 1984 movie, the karate kid, Daniel LaRusso is tasked with trusting and following the directions of Mr. Miyagi if he wants to learn to become a karate campion. The things Mr. ,Miyagi asks Daniel to do seem crazy and ridiculous at first, but eventually Daniel realizes that he was being trained and growing exactly as he needed to. There are times in our lives where God is going to test us, and we have the choice of putting our faith into action or remaining as we are. In Genesis chapter 22 God asks Abraham to sacrifice his only son Isaac as an act of obedience to him. Abraham demonstrates an example of faith and obedience that all of us should hope to achieve, and as always God demonstrates his gracious and loving heart towards us before Abraham has the opportunity to complete this task. What is it in our life that God is asking us to do that will require great faith and obedience? And when we know what that is Are we willing to take the steps necessary to follow him and obey Him?
When you think about hope, do you think about the past? Probably not. That’s because whether we have hope or not, hope is tied to the present and the future not the past. However dark the present circumstances may be, a person with hope can endure them because their hope points to a brighter reality. The prophet Daniel had every reason in His circumstances to be hopeless. But his book, every chapter, is dripping with hope. The final verses of the book are no different. In them we read of “a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation…”. Then right in the next part of the same verse we read, “but at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book.” This is the “brighter reality” that God’s hope, Biblical hope, always brings. Let’s find it for ourselves in our last study in the book of Daniel.
No genre of film has more of a faithful following than that of the paranormal. Films like The Blair Witch Project and others are popular, in part, because they tap into an innate curiosity human beings have about the supernatural. It seems that human beings have a built in sense that there is an invisible world all around us. And if it’s really there, we want to understand what its like. Is it like the movies portray it? The Bible does reveal that an invisible world exists and although it doesn’t reveal a whole lot about what the spiritual realm is like, it does give us some important information. Such is the case when we open our Bibles to Daniel 10. In a vision, Daniel is given some incredible insight into how the spiritual and physical realms are interconnected, and how the battle going on in the spiritual realm plays out in the physical. All of it should leave us with a sense of balance. We shouldn't ignore or pretend like the spiritual realm doesn’t exist but neither should we fear it. That is, as long as we are on God’s side. If not, we’re sitting ducks.
In what is certainly one of the most incredible acts of God's providence, Israel is taken into captivity, just as Jeremiah predicted, for exactly 70 years. When God makes a promise, He keeps it. So, too, His promise to bring Israel back from exile and restore Jerusalem and the temple. Daniel knew all of this about God. He knew that he could count on God's faithfulness to His word, to His promise. So, in Daniel 9, we find the prophet realizing that 70 years has passed and crying out to God to fulfill His promise and restore Jerusalem. But before Daniel asks God to relent from judgment, he confesses the sins of his own heart and the sins of his people. This, too, is part of God's plan for restoration. There is no short-cut to being restored. It doesn't matter if it's the restoration of a nation or the restoration of a single human life. God's plan must be followed. It's a plan that we find perfectly followed by Daniel and applied by God to the future of Israel, right here in chapter 9 of Daniel. Let's pay attention to Daniel's example and see if might find some application for our own lives. We, too, are in constant need of restoration.
A lot of people claim that they can predict the future. Tarot Card readers, for example, claim that the spirit world reveals the future through the selection and interpretation of symbols on a small card drawn at random. It's doubtful, however, that those who "read" Tarot Cards would be willing to face the testing that a prophet in Israel endured. If someone claimed to know the future but their prediction didn't come true, they would be killed. The stakes were high. But the test was fruitful. What we have been left with is a group of the men we consider prophets whose predictions have stood the test of time and predictive accuracy. Daniel is certainly among this group. But even among the other prophets like Jeremiah, Isaiah, and Ezekiel, Daniel stands out. The revelations that God gave to Daniel are more detailed and specific that any other predictions elsewhere in the apocalyptic genre of the Bible. As we consider the predictions of Daniel 7 and 8 you will find that your faith is strengthened in the supernatural nature of the Bible and in the providential care that God has over all of time. God hasn't revealed everything about the future to us. But He's revealed enough that we can confidently say, I may not know exactly what the future holds but I know who holds the future.
Daniel 6 has one of the most recognized stories in the entire Bible, the story of Daniel and the Lion’s Den. Every list of the most popular Sunday School stories has Daniel in the top ten. The storyline reads like the plot for a blockbuster action adventure drama. There’s power, envy, deceit, intrigue and of course, the miracle of the lions not eating Daniel alive. In the midst of all the intrigue and adventure, there are also some very important lessons. Daniel claimed that God’s protection of him was the result of him being blameless. The narrator of the story states that Daniel wasn’t harmed by the lions because he trusted in his God. So how do we reconcile Daniel’s part in being blameless and trusting with God’s part in being the Deliverer and Rescuer. Furthermore, how do we reconcile the fact that not all who are blameless and trusting in God are rescued (See the life of the Apostle Paul)? We tackle these difficult truths and more, this week in our summer series, Twelve Weeks In Babylon.
"The writing’s on the wall". It’s a phrase that has come to mean impending doom or that something inevitable is about to happen. What you may not know is that the expression came from Daniel 5. We’re introduced to Belshazzar, the last king of Babylon. The story picks up on the evening of not just the last day of his kingdom, but the last day of his life. While the Medo-Persian army is successfully penetrating the gates of the great city of Babylon, Belshazzar, the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, is throwing a huge party. Oblivious or blindly arrogant, Belshazzar mocks God by using the sacred vessels taken from the temple in Jerusalem to drink wine. That act of defiance was the final straw and God responds immediately by writing on the wall a message of certain judgment. When we look around at our world, our nation, and our communities, we can see the writing on the wall too. God has spoken and His judgment on sin is certain. Let’s consider for ourselves what it means that “the writing’s on the wall.”
We all struggle with it. Some of us more than others. Most of us do our best to control it because we know it’s not good. Pride. It has brought down nations, destroyed ministries, and broken up families. God has made it perfectly clear in Scripture that pride always ends the same way. In Daniel 4, God has established Nebuchadnezzar as an example for us all. After 6000 years of recorded history you’d think we would have learned our lesson. When it comes to pride, the only surprise should be that we keep allowing it to wreak havoc.
What would you do if Jesus came to your town? This weekend Christians everywhere celebrate the day that Jesus rode into Jerusalem. His arrival on, what we now call, Palm Sunday was met with all the fanfare of a coming king. Just days later Jesus was crucified. What happened? How did the crowd who treated Jesus like a king get it so wrong? If we are going to make sure that we don’t make the same mistake when Jesus comes to us, we better pay attention. If Easter is a wake up call to the world, “JESUS HAS COME!” then Palm Sunday is a wake up call to the church, “JESUS IS COMING AGAIN!"
It's Valentine's Day weekend. Walk into a Hallmark store around this time and you will find a Valentine's card for anyone and everyone. You can even give a valentine to your pet. When we try to honor every relationship equally then no relationship is truly honored. One relationship is specifically mentioned in the pages of Scripture as honorable. What relationship is it?
Nobody likes to feel judged. But the reality of life is that we must make judgments all the time. It's not just judgment between right and wrong or good and evil either. We must judge people. Although only God can judge the heart, we are tasked with the critical task of judging what people do and what they say. All of this necessary for us to know if a person is someone we should listen to, become friends with, or allow to serve in the ministry of the church. All this takes judgment. So it's not a question of whether we should judge but how. In John 7, we find the answers in a very likely place: from those who passed judgment on Jesus.
In this message, "Digging Deep", part 3 of our look at the Bible, we discover just how vast and deep the Word of God is when we learn how to go past survey reading and actually "Dig" into His Word. There is so much that can be gleaned from and applied to our lives from God's word if we would take the time to study and search out what He is speaking to us through His amazing Word.
In a world where the greatest influence in the minds and philosophies man is the TV we are called, as Christians, to be people of The Book. But too many Christians have no idea how to handle this book that is so central to our existence as Believers. That's the focus of this study.
The third message in the Kerygma series, "What Is the Bible?" looks at whether or not it's reasonable to believe that The Bible is the divine revelation of the Creator. This is fundamental to our appreciating what it has to say about life and righteousness. Before you can move on to apply it's truths, you must first believe that it is what it says it is...The God-breathed message to humanity.
Truth requires action. Like a fork in the road, you can't follow the truth and it's counterpart...the lie. In this message, the second in The Kerygma series, we look at what happens when we come to the fork in the road that is each and every revelation of truth.
Truth...Ask a group of people what truth is and you are sure to find a wide variety of answers ranging from the absurd to the confusing. It seems that no one can agree on what exactly truth is, and this can make life confusing. Is truth relative and open to be interpreted differently depending on the type of person you are, or does truth indeed have a fixed reference point to which we can look and know if we are off track? In this and the following message, we will look at the biblical view of truth and see that it is not only something that we can know without a doubt, but that it is also something that came to earth and walked among us!
Right now, in Syria Christians are dying for their profession of faith in Jesus Christ. In Iraq when a person gets baptized they know that their conversion will mean severe persecution at a minimum. And yet baptisms in the middle east keep happening. In America, many Christians don't get baptized. Not because of the persecution that will ensue, but because they just haven't got around to it. Is this ok? Is baptism optional for a follower of Christ? Find out the answer to this and much more as we take a look at water baptism from a biblical perspective.
When it comes to work, there's one thing that is almost always the case with human beings. We want our work to be appreciated. Noone is completely comfortable with the idea that their labor would never be noticed or valued. This is one of the most powerful realities that the follower of Christ must deal with. Jesus knew this. From the beginning of his time with the disciples he consistently directed their focus from the seen to the unseen, from the physical to the spiritual. This time, in a conversation that takes place immediately after the Samaritan woman heads back to her town to tell everyone about Jesus, He takes their focus on physical nourishment and redirects it onto spiritual nourishment. And what he reveals is that spiritual nourishment comes from spiritual work. For Jesus, as it is for us, work that provides spiritual life is the work of the Kingdom.
Water is expensive. Even in New England where it's not scarce by any stretch of the imagination you can easily pay $4.00 for a small bottle of water. Ok, it might be from Fiji, but it's still just water. As long as people are willing to buy four dollar water, there will be companies that sell it. This week we resume our study of the conversation Jesus had with the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well. Last week we saw Jesus take the immediate physical need for water and spring board off of that into this woman's spiritual need. He tries to take her attention from stagnate well water to living eternal water. This week as the conversation continues we find the woman asking Jesus for some of this "living water". Still not grasping what Jesus is talking about he says something to her that reveals her deeper need. It's then that the woman begins to realize that there is water of more value than all the water in Fiji that has ever been or ever will be sold. The problem? We can't pay the price. The solution? Jesus.
Dehydration is not good. In the extreme case it is deadly. A human being can't live much more than 3 days without water. I doubt any of us have experienced deadly dehydration, but we've all experienced the the mild to moderate versions. You know, getting really thirsty, dry, sticky mouth, headache, even light-headedness. All of these symptoms are probably what Jesus was experiencing that fateful day in Samaria when he, "wearied from his journey," sat down next to a well. Around here water is everywhere. But head west and south to the desert of Arizona and you will understand the incredible joy that fills one's soul when, after hiking for hours with no water in sight, you come upon a creek, or a spring. There's no feeling like it. Here's where the plot twists. Jesus may have been physically thirsty, but the person He encounters had a much deeper thirst. Jesus may have asked for a drink of water, but what He offered was a source of refreshment that only the Son of God can provide; Living water!
John 3:16 is the most familiar verse in the Bible. So familiar is the verse that signs at sporting events need nothing more than the reference. But with all the familiarity there sure is a lot of ignorance about what John 3:16 means. Packed into this little verse of only 24 words(in the ESV) there is a big message. The Gospel. The entirety of the Good News distilled into 4 phrases. God, Love, Belief, Condemnation, Salvation, Eternal Life, and more emerge from the narrative of John and challenge us to never be the same again. But has the profound truths and realities of the Gospel really permeated to the deepest reaches of our hearts? That’s the question. And it’s a critical one. Because until the good news saturates our very being, we will never be able to share it as it should be shared - in power and with passion.
Outline:
The Gospel’s... I. Origin: “For God so loved...”
II. Object: “...the world...”
III. Offering: “...that he gave his only Son...”
IV. Opportunity: “...that whoever believes in him...”
A. Humble Yourself
B. Submit yourself
C. Entrust Yourself
V. Outcome “...should not perish but have Eternal Life.”
It goes without saying that not everyone in our world believes in Jesus. It shouldn’t surprise us considering that not everyone who actually heard Jesus speak and saw him with their own eyes became “believers”. Nicodemus, a pharisee and probably a member of the Jewish ruling council called the Sanhedrin, came to Jesus by night. We don’t know for sure what his purpose was but we do know that Jesus pointed out to him as well as to us that belief can have barriers. For Nicodemus, it seems, the barriers eventually came down. By the time Jesus is crucified he is seen with Joseph of Arimathea providing a tomb and embalming fluids for His body. What were the barriers to belief that had to be overcome in Nicodemus’ heart? Understanding the answer to this question can help us understand not only the barriers we have in our hearts, but also those that the people we are seeking to share the truth about Jesus have. And make no mistake, until the barriers come down, belief will not happen.
Like so many phrases in the English language (i.e. “That’s Awesome!”or “I Love you, this cheeseburger, and my job) “It’s A Must” has become overused. Literally meaning that whatever you are referring to should be taken out the category of optional into the category of mandatory. From “hey this is a pretty good idea you should do this” to “Whatever it takes, do this, get that, make it happen”, “No price to high.” People will do almost anything for that which they believe “is a must.” Believing it a must for his third wife, emperor Shah Jahan built the Taj Mahal in India. Believing Safety from the Mongolians was “a must” the Ming Dynasty built most of the Great Wall of China. Believing that having the latest iphone when it first comes out it “a must” people have waited as much as 10 days in line. In our text for today, Jesus speaks of something in a completely separate category of “It’s a must”. The reality that hangs in the balance? Entrance into The Kingdom of God. In order to even see The Kingdom of God one must be... Let’s find out.
Outline: “It’s A Must” John 3:1-8 Justin Marbury
I. The Place (The Kingdom of God) A. A Different World
B. A Better Way
II. The Problems A. Can’t See
B. Can’t Enter
III. The Passageway (Second Birth)
If you have ever read or seen in film any of the conspiracy theories surrounding the founding of our nation and the secretive powers that supposedly control the world then you’re are familiar with the “All Seeing Eye”. It’s the symbol that has come to represent the mysterious group that is the Freemasons. And that’s where the conspiracy begins. Because the symbol is on our dollar bills and is also associated with this secretive group, there is plenty of fodder for conspiracy theorists everywhere. But what is “the all-seeing eye”? Simply this. A symbol of omniscience. To the founders of our nation and most certainly the source of it’s presence on our money it represented “the all seeing eye of providence”. That God was superintending over all things because He was not only omniscient but omnipotent and sovereign as well. This fact about God’s nature, also revealed in the person of Jesus produces different reactions in different people. But it was this fact, that “Jesus Knows”, which we find highlighted in our passage for this week.
Outline: I. Seeing Isn’t Always Believing A. They Saw The Signs
B. What The Signs Produced
II. Knowing Is God’s Prerogative A. You Must Have The Wherewithal...
B. ...To Be A Know-It-All
Application
That Jesus Knows will: 1. Pacify
- Provoke
3.Prevail
This past weekend, America celebrated Valentine’s Day. A national holiday devoted to love. And love is big business. The pre-Valentine’s day estimates are in the tens of billions of dollars that Americans will spend on that special someone. And if you buy anything from flowers to candy to balloons the chances are pretty good that something you buy will have the modern symbol of Valentine’s day: Cupid. The Greco-Roman god of love has been cartooned into an adorable little guy on a mission to shoot the arrow of love into the hearts of longing souls everywhere. And to be sure, there are a lot of hearts longing for love. But what is the love that cupid is peddling in our culture? Is the love that we so desperately need found on Valentine’s Day? Or is there something amiss? Perhaps cupid and the cultural force behind his phenomenon is just a conspiracy to rob the hearts of mankind from true love by the clever deception of a counterfeit.
Outline I. Love Is Eternal (1 John 3:11a and 4:8) A. Always has been
B. Always defined by God’s Nature
II. Love Is Commanded (1 John 3:11b) A. Not a Fancy
B. Not a Feeling
III. Love Is Selfless (1 John 3:16) A. Personified in Jesus
B. Demonstrated by Jesus
IV. Love Is Secure (1 John 4:17) A. Presently
B. Ultimately
Imagine if you were at your favorite farmer’s market or county fair when all of the sudden someone comes in with a large handcrafted whip and starts driving the vendors out of their booths and clearing off the tables where merchandise is on display. What would you think? For many who were in the temple courts one day in Jerusalem this is exactly what happened. Jesus cleared the court of the Gentiles, the outermost court next to the temple proper, of the merchants and the moneychangers. And for many who were there that day, gentiles who had very little understanding of what the temple was for, it must have been quite an experience. They saw with their own eyes what the zeal of the Lord looks like. That same zeal that Jesus displayed for the temple is now directed at a different dwelling place for God...Our hearts. How do we avoid turning God’s house into a house of trade?
I. Religious Racket (vss. 13-14) A. The Temple at Passover
B. Merchants and Money Changers
II. Righteous Retribution (vss. 15-17)
A. Jesus’ Zeal Was ___________________________________ (vs. 15)
B. Jesus’ Zeal Was ___________________________________ (vs. 16)
C. Jesus’ Zeal __________________________________________ (vs. 17)
III. Ranging Reactions (vss. 18-22) A. The Racketeers (vs. 15)
B. The “Jews” (vss. 18-20)
C. The Disciples (vss. 21-22)
Application: 1. Personal compromise
- Corporate Compromise
We're continuing our series, "Ready To Run". Last time we focused on the importance of knowing ourselves as preparation for the journey with Christ. In part 2 we focus on having the proper understanding of what the journey looks like...and according to Paul it's like a race...and those who finish strong run with endurance.
We’ve arrived at the last day of John’s play-by-play of the first week in Jesus’ public ministry. Fittingly, it ends with His first miracle. Jesus turns water into wine. Full of controversial realities and extraordinary significance, this narrative is packed with subtle yet profound truths. As we make our way through understanding what Jesus did and how He did it we will be challenged, perhaps, to rethink some of our assumptions. Our final destination though is not controversial at all. Just like Jesus used normal servants as the human agents of His miracle, so he wants to use us, ordinary servants to carry out His extraordinary work!
Since we were last together another day has past in our text. John is taking us through a week in the early days of Jesus’ ministry. On this particular day, we are introduced to His first disciples. These 5 men will become almost half of those numbered among the band of brothers that God uses to change the world. We don’t find out too much about each of them in this passage or, for that matter, in the rest of the gospel. But what we do find is the first words of Jesus recorded by John and three different responses to his question, “What do you seek?” It’s a question that every person who comes to Jesus must answer. And not just once, but every time we come to Him we are seeking Him for something. So the question remains: “What do you seek?”
John (the evangelist, the author of the Gospel of John) picks up the chronology of this first week in the ministry of Jesus with John the Baptist announcing to the crowds around him, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the World!” It’s a phrase that we are pretty familiar with at this point. But don’t let your familiarity breed apathy. You see, God works in the same ways, through the same means, now as He has always worked. The Lamb of God is still taking away sin in the world. Just like the people surrounding John the Baptist the day Jesus came back from being tempted in the wilderness, we need to pay attention to what God is doing in our day.
“Who Are You?” John 1:19-28 Justin Marbury
I. John The Baptist is Questioned “Who Are You?”
A. “I Am Not...”
B. “I Am...”
II. You Are Questioned “Who Are You?”
A. New Nature
B. New Identity
C. New Purpose
For Application: 1. Where do you find your identity? Who do you look to for approval? 2. What purpose drives or motivates your life? 3. Would your life look different if you lived consistently within your new nature, identity, and purpose?
As a society, we love to talk. We love to dream. We love to read. We love to plan. Ask anyone who has a Pinterest account what it's like and they will tell you that once you get on you inevitably find yourself sucked into a never ending black hole of recipes you will never cook, homes you will never live in, decorations you will never make, clothes you will never wear and anything under the sun that looks and sounds great but have little to no chance of ever happening for you. But is that what the word of God is supposed to be for us? Is it something great to look at and read and talk about but never do? Let's see what James has to tell us about this.
“Jesus Grew Up” Luke 2:41-52 Justin Marbury 12/27/14
I. Jesus After Christmas
A. Jesus Grows Up
B. Jesus Goes M.I.A.
II. Jesus After All A. Ignorance About Reality Persists
B. It’s Easy To Forget
C. Parent’s Authority Clarified
D. The Family Business
For Application: 1. What stood out to you from the four aspects of “Jesus After All”? Why? 2. What can you do this week to apply God’s Word to your life?
Part 4 of 4: “Manger Come” Luke 2:1-7 Justin Marbury 12/20/14
The Timing, Not a Coincidence (vs. 1a) Religiously
Politically
Socially
Prophetically
The Setting, Not a Mistake A. The Family of David
The Town of Bethlehem
The Bed of a Lamb
There are no “uh-oh”s with God For the Insider
For the Outsider
For Application: Is there something going on in your life right now that you don’t understand how God can make it into something good? What is God trying to teach you in your current trial?
"8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”[a] 15 When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. 17 And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. 18 And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. 20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.
Luke 2:8-20
“Manger Announced” Luke 2:8-20
Angelic Media (Vs. 9) Shine God’s Glory
Carry God’s Message
Proclaim God’s Praises
Unlikely Audience (Vs. 8) Shepherds
“Migdal Eder”
Late-Breaking Announcement (Vss. 10-14) It’s Seriousness
It’s Scope
It’s Surprise
We addressed the need for the Manger in part 1 of our series - The Fall and Sin and the brokenness that followed...The separation from God that man and creation as a whole experiences as a result of The Fall. The need is just as much 21st Century American as it was first century middle eastern. The evidence of rampant secularism, sensuality, materialism, loneliness and disease, all pointing to the fact of humanity’s need.
But God was not caught off guard, He was not surprised. The depravity and the need for restoration was seen long before the Manger. It began almost as long ago as Sin itself...The Fall, was responded to with God’s gracious and merciful love. On the heels of God expressing regret (not because He had made a mistake but because the depravity of man grieved his heart) He immediately turns to humanity and proceeds to show that humanity will have a future and a hope:
“But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.” Genesis 6:8
calvarywolfeboro.org
Advent(Christmas) Teaching Series "The Manger:Needed,Hoped For,Announced,come"
This is the first installment in a four part series reexamining the reason for the season. The centerpiece of every nativity is the manger. But so many people have no idea why the manger was necessary. What deep need in the heart of every human being is satisfied in the manger? How was the the manger announced? When Jesus came as a baby, what was the response of those who were alive during that time? Here's the series layout: November 29th: "Manger Needed" December 6th: "Manger Hoped For" December 13th: "Manger Announced" December 20th: "Manger Come"
“What if God was one of us, just a stranger on the bus trying make his way home?” The question may sound familiar. That’s because it’s a few of the lyrics from a popular song in the 90s written by Joan Osborne. Rooted in the human desire to know God, it’s a question that gets to the heart of our desire: that God would reveal Himself as a human being so that we could relate to him - see him, touch him, talk to him. Well guess what Joan Osborne? God was one of us...God became a man. We call this the incarnation. And it’s the incarnation, “The Word” becoming flesh and bone, that gives to us, as Christians, our calling: To be the incarnation of Jesus in the lives of people who don’t know Him. That’s what it means to be incarnational.
In verse 5 of John chapter 1, John introduces a new metaphor to the reading audience: light. Presenting “The Word” as having life, he quickly draws the symbolic connection between life and light. Where there’s light, there’s life and by contrast, where there’s darkness there is no light and there is no life. It’s the first of many contrasts that John will make in his Gospel between truth and lies, between the reality and the illusion. But it’s not just a matter of ideas. It’s not just a matter of life and death intellectually. Real people and real evil beings are right in the middle of all of this. We are too. How? John introduces us to “The Light”, this week in “The GodMan Series”.
The Logos. It’s the title John uses to introduce the Son of God. It should seem odd to us in modern times because we have lost the cultural and philosophical backdrop that surrounded John. Once we understand the historical meaning of Logos in Greek thought, then it becomes pretty clear why John chose this word...which means “word”. And ultimately it was Jesus who chose to be introduced as The Logos in John’s Gospel. So Jesus is “The Word”: eternal, distinct, and fully God. Let’s consider the ramifications of all this.
Matthew presents Jesus as the Jewish Messiah, Mark presents Jesus as the humble servant, Luke present Jesus as the Son of Man, and John presents Jesus as the Son of God. This is our introduction to our verse by verse study through the Gospel of John.
We talk about the Gospel. We know that it’s important and that it has changed our lives. We know that it’s central to the teachings of the Church. But do we really understand what the gospel is? If someone were to come up to the average Christians and ask them “What is the Gospel?” What would they say? What would you say? These are important questions. And the Gospel isn’t important just because it’s true, it contains news that has led to the transformation of humanity.
As more and more "churches" in America close their doors theories abound as to what is going on. Surveys, studies, and blogs are everywhere giving advice to pastors and church leaders on how to keep people from leaving. What's going on? Does the church have a marketing or relevance problem? No. It has an identity problem. Three major problem are plaguing the church right now: The words of popular consensus have usurped The Word of God, fans of Jesus still abound but very few people are followers, and too many people "go" to church instead of figuring out how to "be" the Church.
Being The Church, Part 5: “HE Is Our Guide” John 15:26, 16:7-13 Justin Marbury
I. HE Testifies of Jesus (Vs 15:26)
II. HE Exposes the World (Vss 16:8-11) A. Sin Exposed
B. Righteousness Exposed
C. Judgment Exposed
III. HE Guides the Church (Vss. 16:12-13) A. Into All Truth
B. With His Power
For Application: 1. What aspect of the Holy Spirit’s ministry do you find most lacking in your life: a. Being a living testimony of Jesus Christ, b. The holiness of God in you exposing sin, c. Righteousness and judgment, in others; d. The guidance and power of the Holy Spirit for you to follow Christ? Why?
Being The Church, Part 4: “University in The Holy Spirit” 1 Corinthians 12:12-26 Justin Marbury
I. Accept That Unity Is Central (Vss 12-13)
A. A Perfect Metaphor
B. A Fresh Identity
I. Appreciate That Diversity Is Crucial (Vss 14-20) A. Membership Is Not Optional
B. Every Part is Invaluable
I. Agree That Equality Is Critical (Vss. 21-26) A. What Equality Doesn’t Mean
B. What Equality Does Mean
For Application: Every Christian is a part of the Body of Christ. Do you know your part? If you do, are you ministering accordingly? If not, why? What are you going to do about it? If you are serving where The Holy Spirit has placed you, are you content and finding joy in serving where God has placed you? If not, what are you going to do differently to give God glory? Do you look down upon others who don’t have your spiritual gifts or ministry abilities? Do you underappreciate certain “parts” of the Body? Take some time to better understand the parts that you don’t. Figure out how you can be encouraging and humble and grateful for every part. Do envy or jealousy have any foothold in your life? Prayerfully consider how to get rid of them.
Being The Church, Part 3: “Pursuit Of The Kingdom” Matthew 6:33 Justin Marbury
I. The Object Of Our Pursuit
A. The Kingdom’s Nature
B. The Kingdom’s Culture
II. The Priority of Our Pursuit
III. The Purpose of Our Pursuit
For Application: 1. Read the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). Why would someone experiencing a culture built around Jesus‘ words experience culture shock? 2. How does your life line up with the culture of the Kingdom of God? How is it in direct conflict? Where do you struggle with compromise? 3. What are you going to begin doing differently today to “seek first the Kingdom of God?
Being The Church, Part 2: The Free Society 1 Corinthians 10:23-33 Justin Marbury
I. Our Liberty in Christ (vs. 23)
II. The Law of Christ (vss. 24-33)
A. Inward (“not all things are helpful...”)
B. Outward (“not all things edify...”)
C. Upward (“do all to the glory of God...”)
For Application: 1. Romans 8:1 says, “There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” How does this relate to our study this week? How does condemnation come into a believer’s life? How has it come into your life? 2. What are some examples from your own life where you have caused a brother or sister to stumble by exercising your freedom carelessly? 3. What are some freedoms that others have that you don’t have? (example: having a glass of wine or beer)
In an unlikely place, the writer of Hebrews lays out the foundation for being the Church. It begins with appreciating what God has done through The Cross. Appreciating all that Jesus has done, really appreciating it then lead to dedicating oneself to follow Christ. And following Christ means motivating others to follow him too. That's being the Church...This week at Calvary Wolfeboro. Preaching The Word!
Outline: I. Appreciate (vvs. 19-22)
A. The Great Priest
B. The Purity
C. The Access
II. Dedicate (vs. 23)
A. To What?
B. How?
C. Why?
III. Motivate (vvs. 24-25)
A. Unto Fruitfulness
B. Through Togetherness
C. With Awareness
For Application: 1. Do you Appreciate what you have in Christ? 2. Are you dedicated, unwavering in your commitment to Christ? 3. Are you in fellowship with other believers? Are you committed to being involved in other people’s lives in our church? If you haven’t already, consider joining a homegroup for all of these purposes.
It’s fashionable in today’s culture to believe that right and wrong are relative. That there isn’t and cannot be an objective standard for morality. The thinking typically goes something like this:
“What’s right and wrong today in our culture isn’t the same as what was right and wrong 2000 years ago in a different culture. So right and wrong(ethics) change. If ethics have changed then they should change and therefore they are relative.”
But just because something has changed, doesn’t mean that it should change.
Others point out that presently there are cultures around the world who have a different morality than we do in America:
“How can we say that one morality is correct and another is wrong? Isn’t that arrogant and a form of cultural elitism?”
The answer is that it could be arrogant and a form of elitism. But it isn’t necessarily. It depends on what the source of the standard is. If the source of right and wrong is found from within the culture alone, then it is elitist to claim moral superiority. In order for a standard of morality to transcend all cultures and all times it must come from outside of all cultures and all times. That’s what we have in “the Law”. God, the Creator of the universe, who is not in time or space, gave us the standard for all time and for all people in what we know as “The Ten Commandments”. What we are doing when we judge right and wrong throughout the world is we are measuring according to the ultimate standard that is above and beyond our own culture and time. That is not arrogant.
So God gave the world the ten commandments as a guide for right and wrong. But there’s another really important reason. That's where The Law fits into HIStory. That's what we find out in this chapter of God's Story.
I. The Law In Modern Times A. Differing meanings of the Law
B. Differing responses to the Law
II. The Law in Historical Context
III. The Law in Eternity
IV. The Law in Stone A. Love of God is Sacred
B. Love of People is Sacred
For Application: What does it mean to delight in the Law of the Lord? Do you delight in the Law like David did? Prayerfully consider your own life. Where do you struggle to Love God and Love others? Be specific. What will you do to be more loving from this day forward? How can you share the love of “The Law” with people you know?
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1
“And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.” Genesis 1:31
The outworking of His nature - To be sure, perfectly good. Flowing forth from His eternal, nature all things were made perfectly good. The creation - six days of artistic brilliance. The vastness of space, the beautiful symmetry of the galaxies, the intrinsic order of the solar systems, the radiance of the sunset sky, the majesty of the mountains, need I go on? I could speak of the intricate, delicate, yet immensely complex world of the cell. Like a galaxy unto itself. All confined to a space more minuscule than the tip of the hair on the top of my finger. Words are crippled in their ability to describe what God has made. But it is without a doubt, very Good. And Elohim, one of the Hebrew names for God...in it’s plural form. We understand it now to be three, trinity. And in the Godhead, love, (“agape” as we would eventually understand it to be) eternally existed - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - One in Essence, three in person, One as GOD, but not alone. Eternally Perfect in unity, perfect in relationship, perfect in fellowship. For where one is the number of aloneness, two is relationship and intimacy, three is community and fellowship (koinonia as we would eventually understand it to be). Four adds, in essence, nothing more. My point? Perfectly Good.
This perfection...It’s not our experience though. Goodness has become obscured...eclipsed by evil. But we know why. The source of the obscurity? Well, back up... Back to His perfect nature. Not because His nature is the source of evil - certainly not. God is perfect and God is Love. Love, to be sure, does not exist where there is no object or recipient of it’s pursuit. For God so loved that he gave. To whom? To us. “Let us make man in our image...” We were created as God’s “image bearers”. The title held by no other creature. We are the object of His Love. Adam and Eve, the benefactors of His beneficence. It seems, however, that our progenitors, those two who were the prototypes of God’s crowning creation also realized, long before glamrock and the song, titled the same: “you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone.”
For love requires something more as well.
Love requires Liberty. God’s love for us - the object of His love - involves choice. Our choice? To Love God in return. There was nothing that Adam and Eve did to deserve what God freely gave them. His love was a freewill gift. A relationship, however, involves the love of two. Their part of the deal? What was and is love in return toward God? It’s a concept, captured in a word, one in a long list of GOOD ideals, distorted and twisted into something worse than evil - it has become mundane, boring, passe - in a word, their love, expressed to God would only come in the form of OBEDIENCE. You can eat the fruit of all the trees in the garden (My love for you will be to give you everything you need). But of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, you shall not eat. (Your love for me will be expressed in submitting to me in humble obedience. After all I am the Creator and you are my creature.) Humanity does not love well because Adam and Eve did not love well.
It was their failure to obey, to trust, to LOVE, that resulted in the cataclysmic fracture. The Fall. The source of the Obscurity, the Corruption of His perfectly good Creation was man. The first Adam. Suddenly, in what was certainly an instant, they felt it. They recognized it. They were naked. They were exposed. For Love not only gives, it also covers. And the love that covered Adam and Eve was gone. How did you know that you were naked Adam? What did you do my child?
Love pursues, love covers, love is also just.
Enter the curse. All of creation affected. All of creation. Enter Death. Enter Pain. Enter Corruption Enter Toil Enter fractured man, fallen world, fallen creation.
Exit perfection. Exit Life. Exit Goodness. Exit wholeness.
Enter redemption “and the Lord made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.” Covered once again. But not without the shedding of the blood. “For without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins.”
And it is in this state of corruption that the the creation subsists to the present day.
Waiting...
“For we know,” wrote Paul, “that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.” Romans 8:22 and “the heavens are not pure in His sight.” Job 15:15
Even we, our souls redeemed, new heart, new mind,
Await physical restoration...the redemption of our bodies - resurrection...
But Creation does not wait in vain. Creation does not groan in vain.
Redemption, Reconciliation, The Cross - His work is finished. But not yet fully implemented, realized. We live now in a time of expectation, experiencing a foretaste of coming attractions.
We are waiting to go back...creation is waiting to go back to the Garden, back to Eden. Creation is waiting to be restored...
OUTLINE: I. New Heavens and Earth (Revelation 21:1)
II. New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:2)
A. The Holy City
B. A Prepared City
C. A Beautiful City
II. New Relationship with God (Revelation 21:3)
III. New System (Revelation 21:4-5)
A. No Death
B. No Pain
For Application: What did God speak to your heart from this study of the Restoration of all things? How does understanding the future change the way you should live in the present? What has impacted you the most during our study of HIStory - The Scarlet Thread?
One of the most popular genres of literature is the mystery novel. People love a good mystery. The suspense, the drama, and the challenge of trying to figure out whodunnit. Although God's story, HIStory, is not a mystery novel, it certainly has had it's share of mystery. The apostle Peter reveals that among those observing God's plan unfold are the prophets and the angels, the latter seemingly sitting on the edge of their seat, the mystery being "things into which angels long to look." (1 Peter 1:12)
What is this mystery that the angels didn't see coming? In a word. The Church. The opening of the way to salvation beyond Israel to all gentiles everywhere. And it is this great mystery that is our focus in HIStory this time.
I. The Conspicuous Omission (Ephesians 3:1-6) II.The Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20) III.Our Local Congregation (Acts 2:42) For Application: 1. What was the mystery that Paul talks about in Ephesians 3? 2. What did Jesus commission His followers to do? 3. How have you or will you respond to His commission? Be Specific. 4. Who do you know that is not a follower of Christ? How are you seeking to make them a disciple of Jesus? What can you do if youʼre not doing anything now?
Every story has a plot. The plot will generally include something like this: introduction, story development, conflict, climax, and resolution. The Bible, as a story - HIS story - also follows a plot line like this. And like any story, the best part of God's story is the climax. Everything else in the story points forward or backward to that defining moment. In the "crime drama" genre of film the climax comes when after mounting suspense and intrigue, the villain is revealed. The climax in God's story, the climax of HIStory is redemption. And even more specifically, the Cross.
Since the Fall God has been moving history toward redemption. The sin of Adam and Eve found immediate remedy in the covering that God gave them. But the ultimate remedy would not come until thousands of years later when Jesus the Messiah hung on the cross and spoke the words, "It is finished".
Outline:
“Redemption”, Hebrews 10:1-4
I. Failures Under The Law A. Unrighteousness
B. Self-righteousness
II. Freedom From The Law
Israel has the attention of the entire world. For the serious student of the Bible seeing Israel in the spotlight is not surprising at all. Israel has been in the spotlight HIStory for a long time. But it wasn't always. Millenia before the current struggles surrounding Israel, centuries before Messiah was born a Jew, and many generations before a people called the children of Jacob entered into the land that has just recently been reestablish as Israel, there was a man chosen by God. His name was Abram. An unlikely instrument of God's providential plan, he becomes the father of all who believe. And his descendants will be as numerous as the sands of the sea...at least that what God promises him, this week in HIStory, the scarlet thread.
Adam and Eve committed the original sin when in their pride and self-centeredness they disobeyed God and took what wasn't theirs to take. That sin precipitated The Fall, which was the purview of our study last time. After The Fall it wasn't long before the corruption of sin began to grow. Their own son murdered his brother. A few generations later another murder is reported within the same family - Cain's. Then over the next 1600 years as the population grows so does the corruption. Until finally, after much long-suffering and patience, God judges sin and washes away the corruption in a world-wide flood. But the nature of God is merciful and gracious even in judgment. Find out how this week in HIStory, the Scarlet Thread.
On August 6th, 1945 a uranium atomic bomb name “Little Boy” was detonated over Hiroshima, Japan. Three days later a plutonium atomic bomb named “Fat Man” detonated over Nagasaki. Within the first two to four months of theses bombings, a combined death toll rose to somewhere between 150,000-246,000.
It was a terrible era in human history as hundreds of thousands were destroyed. There’s another bomb that detonated, not over a city in Japan, but much earlier in the history of humanity. Biblical Historians call this cataclysmic event “The Fall”. Interestingly, The bombs dropped on Japan and the one that detonated in the garden of Eden are connected. In fact, were it not for the first bomb, the fall, the second two would never have happened. It's all right there at the beginning of God's Word. Let's look at Genesis 3 and see what happened.
I. The Adamic Bomb
A. The Axis of Evil - The Tempter (vs 1)
B. Assembling the Weapon - The Temptation (vss. 1b-6a)
C. Detonation - Sin (vs. 6b)
II. The Fallout
A. Acute Effects (vss. 3:7-13)
B. Chronic Effects (vss. 3:14-24)
C. Treatment (vs. 21)
For Application: 1. Understand Your Nature, Accurately: We have been redeemed but the flesh still remains. How do you live life differently knowing that your flesh is in conflict with your spirit? 2. Expect Temptation, Regularly: How can you be better prepared to overcome temptation when it comes? See 1 Corinthians 10:13. 3. Deal with Sin, Seriously: Are you dabbling with sin in your life? What do you need to do to get rid of it?
HIStory - The Scarlet Thread Chapter 2: Creation Genesis 1 and 2
Introduction: There is no chapter of Scripture that has produced more controversy in our modern age than Genesis chapter 1. Naturalism, the belief that nothing exists outside of what we can experience with our five senses, has dominated the education system in the U.S. since the end of the 19th century. And it is naturalism that stand in direct opposition to the reality revealed in the first verse of the first chapter of the first verse of the Bible. For in that one verse, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth", there are profound implications that cannot stand in unity with naturalism. But it doesn't end with scientific naturalism. The rest of Genesis chapter 1 along with chapter 2 present a plethora of foundational presuppositions about life. Every life will be built upon a foundation. The only question is, which foundation is your life built on? I. The Reality of Creation A. “In The Beginning...” B. “...God...” C. “...Created...” D. “...the heavens and the earth.”
II.The Attributes of Creation A. Good B. For Man C. Relational D. Sacred
For Application: 1. Consider your own life. If good is that which is in line with Godʼs nature or design, is your life in good shape? 2. Like Adam and Eve, we have been entrusted with some of Godʼs stuff. Are you being a good steward or caretaker of His stuff? 3. It says in the last verse of Genesis 2 that Adam and Eve were naked and unashamed. What does that mean and how can we be like that?
Have you ever seen a photo mosaic? You may not realize it but you probably have. There are different ways to create a photo mosaic. One way is to carefully choose tiny pictures and arrange them in such a way that when you look at a grouping of the small photos they create one larger image. Up close you see one thing, but pull back and gain a different perspective and a completely different "picture" emerges.
The Bible is the same way. There is tremendous beauty and value in the individual verses, events, and lives we read about in the Bible. But there is also a unique value that we find in pulling back and looking at the Bible from a little further out. Like looking at a forest from the mountain top instead of the trail in the valley. Both are good, both are important. Both provide truth.
In HIStory chapter 1 we begin to examine the Bible as a grand story of God's redemptive plan for His creation. It's a story that began at Creation. It's a story that is captured in the pages of the Bible. And it's a story that we can either choose to be a part of or just live life unaware that God's story is still being written today.
Calvary Wolfeboro is now worshipping at 43 Mill Street! Listen to some of the story of our journey as a church and how God's work in and with Israel illuminates our journey. There's a surprise too toward the end of the teaching that reveals Something special about God's work in Wolfeboro.
It was the public proclamation of the Law that turned the hearts of Israel back to Jehovah after 70 years in exile in Babylon. Ezra the priest stood in front of the assembly and read aloud from morning until midday. The Levites would help the people to understand what was being read. In this way, they were the early expositors of God's words.
We have been studying Ephesians expositionally for many months now. 27 studies to be exact. These studies have led us to understand deeply the meaning of Paul's letter to the Church in Ephesus; to understand it not just as the saints would have understood it then but also to understand it for ourselves now. But lest we lose the forest for the trees, we will pull back and consider the letter to the Ephesians from a more panoramic view. Like the nation of Israel we will listen as the entire book of Ephesians is read aloud. May we allow it's truth the permeate our hearts once again, in a fresh way.
Walk On The Book of Ephesians, Week 26 “Prayer: Battle Coverage” Ephesians 6:18-20
In modern warfare and because of technology, at any point in the battle troops on the ground can summon “air support”. Within a matter of minutes, fighter jets can be on the scene with major artillery to put the enemy in its place. When it comes to the spiritual battle prayer is a lot like “air support”. The difference, as we’ll read, is that prayer should never be the last resort or the option taken only when all others are exhausted. It is prayer that connects the saint to the power for the battle. Power is important. And if prayer provides power, then why do so few saints really pray? Why do we often have prayer lives that follow the mantra: “Well we’ve done everything else we can do, I guess we’ll just pray.” Prayer, as Paul reveals in our text for this week, is not an afterthought, but a necessary part of being prepared for battle.
I. Prayer Described (Verse 18) A. Measure: “at all times”
B. Means: “in the Spirit”
C. Make: “all prayer” 1. Recognition 2. Adoration 3. Submission 4. Provision/Thanksgiving 5. Confession/Forgiveness 6. Supplication
D. Mode: “keep alert”
E. Manner: “with all perseverance”
II. Prayer Prescribed (Verses 19-20) A. Corporately
B. Personally
For Application: Take your prayer card(s) and commit to pray for the person or people daily. But before you intercede on their behalf begin your time each day in prayer like Jesus did: Recognizing who God is, Adoring Him as God, Submitting your life(day) to Him, Thank Him for His provision in every way, and ask the Spirit to reveal any sin and confess it to God and turn from it. Then present your request to God.
In what is not even an entire verse, we find Paul’s admonition to be prepared in battle with our most effective weapon for spiritual battle. He calls it “The Sword of the Spirit”. It almost seems like the stuff of comic books. That’s because, unfortunately, the reality of the spiritual battle has become a caricature of fiction. But the spiritual battle is not fictional and “The Sword” is an offensive weapon needed to ensure victory in battle. It was Jesus, after all, who gave us the great example of wielding this weapon in battle against the devil himself. His victory can be ours. But we must take seriously the reality that like any weapon, if we don’t understand it and take time to learn and practice it’s use, it will be no good to us. Or worse, dangerous, like a gun in the hand of a child.
I. It’s Source (It Is “of the Spirit”) II Peter 1:21
II. It’s Significance (It Is “The Word Of God”) II Timothy 3:16-17
III. It’s Strength (It Is “The Sword”) Hebrews 4:12 Matthew 4:1-11
For Application: In order to properly wield the Sword of the Spirit we must: 1. Understand It - (Content) - The Seed Read it, study it, consistently, deeply - Get it in you. planted deep within you 2. Believe It - (Conviction) - The Good Soil "Do you really believe that what you believe is really real?" -Dr. Del Tackett What is God saying, today, to me - what does it mean? Water the seed that is planted - meditate day and night 3. Live It - (Application) - The Growth From the Conviction of the Spirit through the Word flows a change in belief, attitude and behavior. “Lord I know if I change my mind, you will change my heart in time.” Share It - (Communication) - The Fruit Evangelism is natural to the person who understands the Word, Believes the Word and Lives the Word.
Faith and Salvation are two of the most familiar words in the Christian lexicon. But as familiar as the words are, too many Christians are unfamiliar with the realities that they represent. As Paul continues through his connecting of Spiritual Armor with each part of the Roman soldier’s armor, we will find that understanding these two pieces of the armor will provide tremendous protection to the Christian engaged in the spiritual battle.
I. Shield of Faith (vs. 16) “...with all these things having taken up the shield of faith, by which you will be able to quench all the flaming darts of the evil one.”
A. Seek the priorities of heaven rather than the pursuits of the World
B. Stand on the promises of God not the principles of Man
II. Helmet of Salvation (vs. 17a) “...and take the helmet of salvation”
For Application: 1. How do you take up the Shield of Faith personally, in other words, how do you trust God daily in specific ways? 2. Do you spend time with God on a regular basis so that He has access to your heart? 3. Who can you pray for that needs salvation?
A combat soldier, corpsman, airman, or sailor would be a fool if he or she found themselves in the field of battle without protection. The personal protection of modern combat is highly advanced tactical gear but it’s basic purpose and function is the same as it was for the Roman foot soldier 2000 years ago. In Ephesians 6 Paul has the armor worn by the Roman foot soldier in mind when he admonishes the Christian, engaged in the spiritual battle, to put on the full armor of God. And, like being found in the field of physical battle without armor is foolish, so is being engaged in the spiritual battle unprotected. In part 1 of our examination of the spiritual armor available to us as Christians, we look at the first 3 pieces of the armor - the belt, the breastplate and the boots.
Outline: I. Belt of Truth “...having fastened on the belt of truth...”
II. Breastplate of Righteousness “...having put on the breastplate of righteousness”
III. Boots of Peace “...as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.”
For Application: 1. Has the Truth permeated your life? Is Jesus, who is “The Truth”, your Lord? 2. Is there any sin in your life that you need to remove as an act of “putting on the breastplate of righteousness? Remember that as a Christian you have all you need to live a holy life. 3. Do you have peace with God because you have trusted in Jesus Christ for salvation? 4. Do you have the peace of God because you trust God daily and depend on Him instead of your own ability or money or...you fill in the blank? Is the good news of peace with God always on your lips(in other words are you ready to share the good news that humanity can be at peace with God through the cross)?
When you hear the name Klebold, Harris, and Lanza, you probably think of the murder of innocent children. At some point you’ve probably experienced feelings of anger toward these murderers as your heart breaks for the loved ones left in the aftermath of evil. It’s easy to see these people as enemies. The same goes for suicide bombers who indiscriminately kill and maim. Osama Bin Laden was the enemy of our nation for years until his assassination. In Ephesians, Paul presents a different reality. He writes that our battle is not against flesh and blood. In other words, human beings are not the real enemy. The Klebolds, Harris’s, Lanzas, and Bin Ladens are just pawns in an invisible war. The real enemy is a spiritual one, he has a name and he has help. Let’s find out how we engage in this invisible war, this week in “Walk On”.
I. The Theater of War A. The Spiritual Realm
B. The Mind
II. The Enemy in Battle A. His Name
B. His Minions
C. His Strategy
III. The Fortification from God A. His Might
B. His Arsenal
For Application: 1. Do you live as someone engaged in a spiritual battle? How is life different for a person who lives with the reality of a spiritual war in their sights? 2. Do you depend on God’s strength or your own to engage in the spiritual battle? What does Ephesians 6:10-13 mean for you? What do you need to change?
Jesus turned the world's idea of greatness upside down when He showed his disciples what true leaders do. They wash feet. They serve those under their authority. Cris Seeley shares Christ's words and His example for us to follow.
If youʼve been a Christian for any length of time one of the first things you learned is that Jesus was crucified with a sign above his head, “King of the Jews”. A mockery of both Jesus and the Jews, this title was anything but indicative of how the crowds in Jerusalem treated Jesus the day of his crucifixion. But back up five days to Jesusʼ entrance into Jerusalem and what you find is a very different scene. What became a title of mockery began as the serious expectation of a new king. Expectations are soon shattered, however, for the kingdom that Jesus established on this day 2000 years ago was a kingdom not of this world but of heaven.
We live in an era where the workplace is more and more dominated by a mindset that makes laziness a virtue and calls theft fairness. Vacation is good. Work is bad. Hump day is the halfway point between one blessed weekend and the next. TGIF is not just a bumper sticker for the masses who hate their jobs, it’s now a restaurant that panders to those who live for the weekend. Employees are being encouraged more and more to “take control” at the office. Several of the most powerful political machines are employee unions. In this climate the words like “Employees, obey your bosses” are not welcome. And yet that’s exactly what Paul writes to the Church in Ephesus. Check it out.
Nothing challenges the very core of our being more often than what happens in the family. You can live with the illusion that you’re a pretty patient and consistently kind until you have a screaming baby, defiant toddler, or a rebellious teenager. And if you’re a child, still living at home, you’ve realized long ago that your parents aren’t perfect, far from it, and it often seems like life would be a lot easier if they would just leave you alone. In the midst of this reality, Paul speaks to the family. And it’s his straight forward prescription that cuts through the emotional haze and gives us our marching orders as Children and as Parents.
God’s design for marriage is being undermined. It hasn’t always been the case in America. In fact, for generations prior to our own, most husbands and wives understood and lived acceptingly within the paradigm of headship. But not today. If “submit” is the most hated word in America, “headship” is it’s handmaiden. Mutual submission and an egalitarian form of marriage has replaced God’s design so thoroughly in both secular and many church marriages that we have to start from scratch if we’re going to establish what God has set forth as the structure of marriage. So let’s talk brass tacks. What is submission? Who is supposed to submit to who? What is headship and how does Jesus fit into all of this? Let’s find out, this week in our latest installment of “Walk On”, the verse by verse study of the book of Ephesians.
There are few words that can quiet a crowded room quicker than the word we will look at this week in our study of Ephesians. It’s not a four-letter word but it arouses the same emotional response in the heart of our culture today as profanity did a century ago. It seems to cut right to the core of what secular culture thinks is wrong with Christianity. Maybe we, as the church, need to remove the word from our lexicon; replacing it with one less controversial. Or, perhaps we just need to redefine what the word means. Removing what progressives deem as an oppressive vestige of antiquated religion. What is this word that creates such passionate disdain? Let’s find out this week as we open God’s Word once again, pull out it’s timeless truths and apply them to our lives today.
One of the most popular films of all time is the Christmas classic “It’s a Wonderful Life”. The story of George Bailey, Bedford Falls, the angel who didn’t have his wings and the huge impact that a change in perspective has in a person’s life. For George, the perspective he gains takes him from suicidal despair to running and jumping and kissing everyone he sees. What George realizes is that his life isn’t worthless, it’s wonderful. It’s a Wonderful Life. Throughout our series in Ephesians you and I have had our perspectives checked too. This week is no different. Our perspective shift isn’t from worthless to wonderful, like George Bailey. The shift the Holy Spirit desires to engender in us as we consider Paul’s words today is from a life that is wandering to a life that is worshipful. What is the worshipful life? Let’s find out.
Sunlight is beyond human ability to mimic. Both it’s strength and it’s diversity are unique. Only a small percentage of the energy that the Sun produces is visible. Scientists call this, appropriately, visible light: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet - the colors of the rainbow. It is this aspect of light that illuminates the darkness. But outside the visible range is an endless array of invisible wavelengths of light. Many of these invisible forms of light are just as crucial to life on earth. In particular, infrared and ultraviolet light are critical. In our passage for this week, Paul uses the metaphor of light to describe that which is in us as Christians and how our spiritual light, like physical Sunlight, should include the full range of wavelengths; especially, the visible, infrared, and ultraviolet.
The Sexual Revolution that defined, in many ways, the 1960s, was a liberation of sexual intimacy from the shackles of traditional marriage. At least that’s what we’ve been told for decades now about how the great progress that the Sexual Revolution made. But pull back the veil and what you find is not progress; at least not moral progress. What we see as a result of the Sexual Revolution of the 60s is a moral slide back to the cultural immorality of many places during the time of Paul the Apostle. One such immoral place was Ephesus. Into this depraved culture, Jesus planted His church. Paul’s message to them, just like it is to us: do not give yourself over to the their sexuality. Hold tight to God’s design and what He has established as sacred. The way forward is back...Let’s find out why.
If there is one thing that Christians should avoid like the plague it is grieving God. But Paul points out that when we continue in our sinful tendencies that dominate our flesh, we do just that - “Grieve the Holy Spirit”. The challenge leveled by our passage this week in “Walk On” is to take seriously that every aspect of the old self must be relinquished, or better yet, destroyed. This is how our lives transform from “grievous” to “gracious”.
There is an epidemic of what medical professionals call “nonadherence”. It’s the tendency with patients of doctors to not follow their doctor’s orders. And the impact is far greater than the individual’s physical health. Hospitalization due to nonadherence is estimated at over 13 billion dollars annually. That’s a lot of unnecessary cost. In Ephesians 4:17-24 Paul gives the church in Ephesus a prescription for Spiritual health. And although it’s not an easy pill to swallow it’s critical to the life and health of God’s Church.
Every sailor knows the ancient axiom, “Red sky at night, sailor’s delight. Red sky at morning, sailor take warning.” Paul warns the church in Ephesus that a doctrinal storm is always around the corner. And if unprepared for it, the storm will wreak havoc within the church. The key to weathering the storm is that every believer have the spiritual ballast to take on the waves and the wind of the doctrinal storm. What exactly is the spiritual ballast so critical to us as followers of Christ? Let’s find out...
A new-born child is given everything it needs to grow by it’s mother. Nourishment, a safe and warm place to rest, clean diapers, all provided by the mother for the infant’s growth. Without this endowment from the mother, a baby will not make it. When Jesus left his disciples and ascended back to heaven where he came from he didn’t only leave them with a promise of the Holy Spirit; He didn’t just leave them with a great commission and purpose for their future; he left them with an endowment for growth. What did Jesus give to the church? That’s what we will find out this week in “Walk On”.
This week we wrap up our two-part message “Resolute to Run” by looking at two verses in Philippians 3 that will help to establish, for us as believers and as a church, our purpose and plan for the next few months. In a few short months we have a goal of being in the town of Wolfeboro and ministering as a local body to the people of this region. Our church will not be just a weekly worship service. What God has established and what we are becoming is a body commissioned by Jesus to proclaim the gospel, preach the good news, call men and women to repentance, baptize, and disciple to maturity. All of this is a 7 days a week, 365 days a year reality.