Elk Point Baptist Church: Recent Episodes
Elk Point Baptist Church
The call of God has less to do with cultural engagement and more to do with the Church, being the Church. Introduction to 1 Corinthians
We lost our audio feed in the beginning on our youtube channel, so it starts off in the middle of Mr. Tim Goodbrand reading and praying.
We had a small power outage, to watch the beginning of our service, check back one video on our youtube channel, both are Sept 21/25
This Sunday Service was our annual Orientation Sunday.We discussed all the new programs for the upcoming year:Kidz R.O.C.K Tuesdays 3:30-5:00pm for Children grade 6 and underLadies Bible Study Wednesday mornings 9:45-11:45am with Bring your own lunch afterwards.Thursday Evening Mixed bible study-rotating homes-contact Dick for more infoMens Breakfast, last Saturday of each month'Old Guys" bible study Wednesday afternoon @1:30pm at Dicks homeSunday School starts up Sept 21/253 Childrens groups, and 2 adult groups.
Presentation from Pastor Rolly of the Dasal Baptist church in the Philipines and our fall upcoming programs.
In the Proverbs that we are looking at today, the father is preparing his son for marriage. You could entitle this Proverb: Marital Faithfulness. There is a frankness and an openness to this Proverb. I would think that a wise preacher would tailor his sermon as to the degree of explicitness depending on his audience. Today, you can expect generalizations from me. I will stick carefully to what the Bible itself is saying. I will neither dramatize it nor will I dismiss it. This Proverb could be divided into 3 main headings and that is what you will hear today: 1. Son, Dont Touch. (5:1-14)2. Son, Touch. (5:15-20)3. Son, Be Warned. (5:21-23)
We are a society that lives under constant threat. We have home protection systems. Recently the Quebec health system was destabilized under a cyber-attack. We no longer leave our homes and vehicles unlocked. Our media devices are pass locked. Newer vehicles have systems that can render them immobile if they are stolen. Every day we do something to protect and guard what we have. In todays 7th speech by a father to a son, the dad is pleading his son to protect and guard something very important. We are all the sons here. God, the Father is laying before us this call. Its found in verse 23: Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. (Proverbs 4:23, ESV).
So, the parent pleads with the child not to forget or dismiss what theyve been taught. Why? Throughout Scripture there is a general principle that obedience to Gods Word brings long life and abundant life. This is true many times in our human existence. It is ALWAYS true for those who believe Christ and receive Him as Savior and Lord (John 3:16; John 10:10) for it contains the promise of eternity. Now the parent adds another dimension to their instruction. It might sound this way: Now Mary let me also remind you that if you follow my instruction, you will not stumble and fall into moral confusion and ruin. Four times the writer introduces the idea of stumbling in this passage. The repetition is intentional. Godly parents weep with a pain that is indescribable when they see their children continue to accumulate moral failure after moral failure. There are few pains as deep as that. The parents in verses 14-19 build on this idea of walking and stumbling. The Mom or the Dad tells the young person that the wicked (those who disregard the pursuit of Gods wisdom) become consumed by sin. They cause others to fall in the wake of their wicked lives. Their path is ever-increasing darkness until they too stumble and fall.
What is very unique about this speech is that there are three generations in view. The father tells his sons what his father told him. When I was a son with my father, tender, the only one in the sight of my mother, he taught me and said to me . . . (Proverbs 4:34, ESV). This is very similar to a classic text in Psalm 78:56 (ESV), 5 He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, 6 that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children. . .. The psalmist recalls that the fathers of Israel were commanded to teach their children the law of God and we notice what is in view as these parents obeyed: they were in fact teaching a generation yet unborn. Why? It seems to be a very natural tendency to pass on to our children the things that our parents taught us. Of all the things that one generation passes to the next, this proverb reminds us what is the most important thing to pass on.
This is a new section1but it is not entirely unrelated to the latter. In the study of verses 1-10, Pastor Josh encouraged us to trust the Lord. We are being called to trust the Lord even in times of discipline and reproof. The main point is to WELCOME GODS DISCIPLINE. Thats not easy. The Scriptural passage today in Hebrews 12 makes it very clear that for the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant."
If I asked you what the first commandment that comes with a promise, would you remember what it is? That phrase comes from Pauls letter to the Ephesian Christians: Honor your father and mother (this is the first commandment with a promise), that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land. (Ephesians 6:23, ESV) This is the only one of the Ten Commandments with a promise. From Exodus 20:12 (ESV) we read, Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. The land of Palestine was supremely important to Israel. If they remained faithful to God, they would experience all His blessings in the land. For God to remove Israel from the land indicated punishment and cursing. To be taken from the land meant to be taken from the Temple the presence of God. In New Covenant terms the idea of the land is similar. It means the presence of God and His blessing in our lives. So, to live an obedient life to the Biblical teaching of your parents comes with a promise of Gods presence and blessing. Thats the point of todays message.
The design and structure of the Book of Proverbs points to 10 speeches given by a father to a son. We should be reminded that although its the fathers voice speaking, he is speaking on behalf of his wife. This is consistent within this literature. The fathers voice is complimented at the end of Proverbs by the voice of Lemuels mother (Proverbs 31). You might wonder, Are all daughters excluded from the conversation? The answer is no. You will recall that the Proverbs are intended for simple ones (1:4). That is not intended to be derogatory. The purpose of Proverbs is for the children and the untaught. In fact, the word that Solomon uses my son in Hebrew includes all youths regardless of gender. But the author is portraying is a conversation between himself, the father, and his son. The father is collaborating with his wife; and his son is representing all children. The Apostles, in fact, never resisted applying Proverbial literature to the whole Church. So, in this series I will apply this as parents to children. This is the first speech.
Are you teachable? Do you intentionally stretch yourself in studies of Gods Word and topics that challenge you? Or are you a minimalist. Do you do enough to get by. Do you ask questions, dig deeper? Do you openly ask for evaluation and critique? How willing are you to seek help? Do you find that in conversations you do all the talking? Is it hard for you to listen and probe questions of someone else? How concerned are you to read, listen, research viewpoints that are different than yours? Todays message is all about humility and teachability. Theres good reason to think that they go together. You cant have one without the other.
Do you hate it when your neighbour wakes you up too early in the morning? What do you think when youre in a room where someone is talking too much? Do you answer a foolish person, or do you not answer a foolish person? Have you ever lived with someone that reminds you of a dripping tap? Have you ever had company that over-stayed their welcome? The Old Testament Book: Proverbs is full of such wisdom. This morning I want to introduce you to this unique piece of Biblical literature. How intend to go through what might be called a W5 approach sort of a what, who, where, etc. At each heading I want to give you a practical application.
Biblical Justice is then treating others, in all areas of life, in such a way as to uphold Gods revealed standards of righteousness and holiness. It means to each of us, as you have opportunity, do good. It means for our nation to uphold the same standard and punish wrongdoers and reward the injured accordingly.
Thus ends the Gospel of John. Jesus of Nazareth is affirmed by John as the Christ. He is like none other. He is the Father personified as the Word, the Second Person of the Trinity. Because He is God His work, and His words are true. Because He is God His salvation is certain. The verdict that Johns evidence demands is, Do you believe that Jesus is Lord? If you believe that faith will change your life and secure your destiny. If you choose not to believe you will perish.
Elders are to care for the church of God (Acts 20:28). This is a legacy passed down to Elders from Christs apostles. As the early Church developed there was a gradual shift from Apostles to Elders. The Biblical term Elder is synonymous with pastor and bishop. Paul wrote to Titus, This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you (Titus 1:5, ESV). The responsibility of the Elders to replicate themselves. As Paul said to Timothy, You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also. (2 Timothy 2:12, ESV). Even Peter who plays a major role in our message today experienced this transition from Apostle to Elder. He writes, So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: 2 shepherd the flock of God that is among you. So, the message this morning is going to particularly apply to Elders. But if youre not an Elder, please dont close you ears because you will see that you also have a significant importance in the message.
Preachers are taught to be able to summarize the message in one sentence. Heres my attempt here: THE WAY v1 THAT JESUS REVEALSv1,14 THAT HE IS THE RISEN LORD ISBY DOING A MIRACLE SIMILAR TO HIS PRE-RESURRECTION MINISTRY. John has just gathered a mountain of evidence to show His readers that Jesus is the Christ. What is his final word to them: Trust the evidence! Christianity is an evidence-based faith. You will hear people use words like a blind leap of faith. The Christian faith is not wishful thinking, not hoping, not positive thinking, not faith in faith. The Christian faith is based on solid, historical, evidence. Think of the title to Josh McDowells successful book, Evidence That Demands a Verdict. Thats the final word to Johns readers: Theres the evidence now you are required to decide on it.
It is important that we do not see the New Covenant as just one of many biblical covenants that stands alone and apart from the rest. The New Covenant is the ultimate fulfillment of ALL the Old Testament covenants.
John wrote his Gospel with a prologue (Chapter 1); 11 Chapters of Christs life and teaching; 8 Chapters of Christs final days ending 20:29 and then the remainder of Chapter 21 is the Epilogue. We are currently reading about the appearances of Jesus. In chronological order the appearances can be understood as: a. First to Mary Magdalene. Jesus said to her, Mary. She turned and said to him in Aramaic, Rabboni! (which means Teacher). (John 20:16, ESV)b. Secondly to the other women. And behold, Jesus met them and said, Greetings! And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. (Matthew 28:9, ESV)c. Thirdly, the two disciples on the road to Emmaus (One is unnamed; the other is named Cleopas1). And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. (Luke 24:31, ESV)d. Fourthly to Peter alone. The two disciples that met Jesus on the road to Emmaus reported that Jesus had appeared to Peter saying, The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon! (Luke 24:34, ESV). This is confirmed by 1 Corinthians 15:5 (ESV), and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.e. The Apostle John records the Fifth and Sixth appearance of Jesus in our sermon passage. No Video available due to technical difficulties.
Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus body, early Sunday morning, only to find it empty. When angels at the tomb tell them that Jesus has been raised from the dead, the women react with both fear and joy. At this point I become somewhat confused. It uncertain to me why the angelic message didnt register with Mary Magdalene, but it appears that she runs ahead of the other women to find Peter and John, who, upon being told of the bodys disappearance, rushes with Mary to the empty tomb. Peter and John examine the tomb and John at least goes away convinced that Jesus has risen as He said. Then John records: Then the disciples went back to their homes. (John 20:10, ESV). Jesus himself appears to Mary Magdalene there by the tomb, and then to the other women who are still on their way back from the tomb to tell of the resurrection.
There have been many theories floating around about the resurrection of our Lord. One was the swoon theory that Jesus just fainted on the Cross and was mistakenly placed in the tomb, then revived and was snuck away. The most common theory at the time of the crucifixion was the conspiracy theory. The Jews spread the rumor that Christs disciples stole his body and made up the story of the resurrection. e read of that in Matthew 28:1115 (ESV), 11 While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. 12 And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers 13 and said, Tell people, His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep. 14 And if this comes to the governors ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble. 15 So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day. Johns Gospel seems to be seeking to refute the impossibility of that. Our Scripture text is
This morning I want to talk about The New Covenant. I intend to teach: 1. What is the New Covenant? 2. Does the New Covenant apply to Christians? 3. What encouragement can we gain from the New Covenant?
John uses the most unusual, most bizarre evidence to corroborate the burial of Jesus. Who would make up a story that included two members of the Sanhedrin, the ruling Council the very Council that called for Christs execution, to care for the body of our Savior in His burial?
The purpose of Johns record of the crucifixion of Jesus is to provide credible evidence to the fact thatJesus is the Christ the promised Messiah, the Son of God who would come, suffer, and would actuallyand truly die on the Cross, for the sins of Gods people.
During the two trials before Pilate, Jesus was proclaimed to be innocent seven timesi by Pilate, the governor of Judea. Christs leading Apostle, Peter, wrote, He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. (1 Peter 2:22, ESV). John, the author of this Gospel, in his first letter wrote, You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. (1 John 3:5, ESV). Jesus Christ was sinless. It points to the greatest injustice in all time. History is replete with injustices include genocides, forced slavery, torture, mass expulsions of peoples. Our own national heritage is awash with injustice to our First Nations peoples. This weeks news amplifies that horrors of that. For political, economic, religious, or ethnic reasons, our nation has often abused or allowed the abuse of specific minorities. But the greatest injustice of all time was the trial of Jesus Christ. But the injustice of the sinless, blameless, perfect, innocent, impeccable, holy Son of God was necessary for our salvation.
Jesus is taken to the Roman governor of Judea, Pilate. Please note this carefully: Pilate could not convict Christ of sedition, rebellion, civil unrest, or civil disobedience. Why? This may make no sense right now. But the question is why could he not convict on those grounds? The short answer is because Jesus was blameless. The answer John gives is this: because Pilate had no category for the Kingdom of God. Pilate knew Jesus was king king of something, but it made no sense to him. This morning we will read Johns account and I choose to unpack it under 4 headings: 1. Pilates failure. 2. Pilates friend. 3. Pilates frustration. 4. Pilates finding.
And then, by Gods grace I want to apply what we learn.
On the night that Jesus was arrested there were two people on trial: Peter and Jesus. Last Sunday we looked at Peters trial and made some observations. This morning we are going to examine the first phase of Jesus trial. Just to give you the big picture, it is important to know that Jesus went through 3 religious trials and one civil trial that was organized in three parts. This morning we are going to look at Jesus religious trial.
- It is possible to love Jesus dearly and deny Him severely.2. It is certain that Jesus predicts and foreordains our sins.3. It is self-evident that those who deny Christ whom they love are bitterly broken and repentant.
Pauls approach is to establish a theological principle that should govern all believers as they partake of the Lords Table. Then in vv33-34 he applies those theological principles to the individual situation in Corinth. Corinth had a reputation for sexual immorality, pluralism, and corruption (just like Canada in 2021). We are commanded to do a heart check. Do we approach the Table of the Lord with an honourable and holy appreciation of the Body of Christ? Do we approach the Table of the Lord with dissension, division, to other Members of Christs Church? Do we approach the Table of the Lord while being in contempt and conflict with other Members of the Body? If so, God treats this seriously. The Holy Spirit writes that those who do violence to His Church, His Body are no different that those who did violence to His physical Body on the Cross. Gods mercy and grace may be disciplining even today those who do. We are to carefully examine ourselves to ensure we are not numbered among those who do. We are to make things right so we do not partake as hypocrites.
It is with those amazing words that Christ ends His prayer to the Father. The petition that we would forever be with Him is followed by a promise that He will constantly impress us with the righteousness of the Father resulting in the Fathers love for us.
Christians are distinguishable in many ways, e.g., by gifting, calling, culture, etc., yet they are to be so joined in oneness they not only speak with a unified will and purpose, but act with such oneness that when one acts it is if the others are acting they act as one person. And not that alone, when the Body is on display is it being expressed in oneness with the Triune God. So, its not just a oneness with one another, its a oneness with one another AND the Trinity.
We believe that this section, Jesus prays for His disciples, the Eleven that are with Him. We get that primarily because of the words that follow: I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, (John 17:20, ESV). To preach this text Im going to ask a few W5 type questions like, Who is Jesus praying for; Why is He praying for them; and What does He pray for them? It is this last point that we will linger over for we find that there are 3 specific petitions that Christ prays for on behalf of His disciples.
Recorded by John in the first 5 verses of John 17, is the prayer of Jesus to His Father. He is hours away from His crucifixion. His prayer contains, 1) HIS PETITION; 2) Next a review of HIS PURPOSE; and then 3) there is an important PARENTHESIS.
After leaving the Upper Room and heading into the Garden of Gethsemane, Christ Jesus brought comfort and encouragement to the Eleven. And then we read these words: When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven . . ..[1] We are now entering into what we often call Jesus High Priestly Prayer. By all accounts it is The Lords Prayer. It is the inner sanctum of the heart of Christ. It is holy ground. Justin Taylor wrote: Jesus high priestly prayer (John 17) is only about 650 words. It takes only 3 minutes and 30 seconds to read it aloud. But it will take all eternity for us to fully understand it![2]
One of the great expressions of love that a person can give to their loved ones is to prepare for their own death. Although many people know this, it is often a hard thing to do. Recorded by John, in 3 chapters of His Gospel, is our Lords preparation of His disciples for His departure. He wants them to feel loved, not abandoned. He wants them to feel confident, not fearful. He wants them to be joyful, not discouraged. This day of His departure has been something that He has anticipated since the Wedding of Cana in John 2:4. Again in John 7:30 and 8:20 we read of his hour that had not come yet. In our passage of study this time-stamp is evident in the words of Jesus. Note: 1. 16 A little while. Present Sorrow Turned to Joy. 2. 23 In that day. Prayer Directly to the Father, through the Son. 3. 26 In that day. Positiveness of the Fathers Love 4. 32 Behold, the hour is coming. Peace that Christ has Overcome the World.
This teaching on the Holy Spirit that Christ has embarked on with His disciples forms the basis and foundational understanding of the Spirits work. Much is done in the name of the Holy Spirit today as it has in the past. The bottom-line is that the Holy Spirit came to lead His Church in Truth truth we have today in the inspired text of Scripture; and He came to bring glory to Jesus Christ. These form the best criteria for discerning the Spirits presence. A. When there is a love for the Truth as found in the Scriptures, you can be sure the Spirit is at work.B. When Christ is revealed and preeminent in the hearts and minds of His Church, the Spirit is at work.
How should Christians respond to the worlds hatred? I. Dont stop witnessing. II. Dont fall away. III. Dont ignore the Holy Spirit. God has chosen to reveal the Gospel through the Spirit-empowered witness of His Church. Atonement has been made. Christ is seated in glory, ruling from Heaven. The Spirit and the Church are to proclaim the Gospel. We have learned that it is the Holy Spirit that brings conviction to the world. That is His work. He does it well. It is His job to prove people wrong. When Pentecost came and the Spirit-inspired Peter got up to preach, notice the convicting work of the Spirit in Acts 2: Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, Brothers, what shall we do? (Acts 2:37, ESV) Thats the convicting work of the Spirit. He applies the Gospel causing men and women, to whom Christ calls, to cry out, What shall we do?
Jesus took his disciples out of the Upper Room and led them toward Gethsemane. En route He taught them of His love and how to remain in that love. Suddenly his topic turns from love to hate. In the passage we are going to consider He mentions hate about 8 times. He makes this assertion: If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. (John 15:18, ESV) Using 6 conditional clauses, Jesus provides 6 reasons why the world hates Christians.