Prayer Requests
Pastor Aaron Preaching
Bethany's mom's cousin's wedding
Geil homecoming
Allison from Riverfest Witnessing
Text – 1 Thessalonians 1:4
Last week I made a mistake, we were talking about the priesthood of believers and Hannah asked, “We’re priests?” and I said yes, but that is minorly wrong, Hannah, you’re a priestess, which is equal to a priest, just in the feminine.
In the same way, who do you think is a saint? Is it a really really good person? Is there such thing as any good persons? Again the Catholic Church has mixed up the Bible by saying that some believers are saints. The word for saint is in Greek Hagiazo, this word means something that was terrible, dirty, unworthy that has been cleansed, purified, and consecrated (made holy). Every person purchased into the family of God and cleansed by the blood of Christ is a saint.
But it’s not the same as priest and priestess…there aren’t saints and saintette’s, and if you call someone a saintette they probably won’t like it. The fact that there aren't degrees of Christianity, but that you are either saved or not saved, is a matter relating to today's topic.
1 Thessalonians 1:4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you,
First things first, when Paul writes this to the brothers or brethren, this is an all encompassing word that is referring to all believers at Thessalonica.
Beloved and chosen are two similar things, describing people who are saved. This is a hot-button issue that has led to huge fights in the past, but the Bible says what it means and means what it says. A person can be a Christian on either side of this debate and I encourage you to ask your parents what they believe about this.
The first place we see someone being chosen is the people Israel, who we see through the Old Testament had no redeeming traits on their own but were chosen only to show God’s goodness, patience, and mercy. They are constantly referred to as stiff-necked people. What stiff-necked means is in the context of guiding a horse, a well-trained and good horse can be guided by just moving the reigns, but a stiff necked horse has to be pulled and beaten to get it to obey.
Israel is in the spotlight on their disobedience, but really no other people group is any better.
God chose Israel, Israel did not choose God. This is directly related to the issue of predestination, the doctrine that God chose those who he would save before time began. The reason that people get mad at this is because they think everyone should have an equal opportunity to be saved. It is a gross misunderstanding of the sinfulness of sin and the holiness of God. God, if he were fair, would send everyone straight to Hell for their transgressions, but because God is not fair, he is better than fair, he chose to save some despite our total depravity.
The issue stems from the human beings ability to do good.
Genesis 6:5 The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
Romans 3:11-18 None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one. Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.
Faith is good, repentance towards God is good; if these things are good, we are incapable of doing them. We’re always talking about salvation being a “free gift” that will cost you nothing, but it’s really a free gift that will actually cost you everything. Jim Elliot puts it this way, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”
Every religion in the world, except for Christianity, believes they are working their way to Heaven and that their good deeds will be weighed against their bad. We know that good deeds have no influence on our bad deeds, try it in front of a judge, “Judge, I know I got pulled over for going 85 mph through a school zone, but I washed your car this morning before court…” It’s not going to work, is it?
Christianity is counting on works to get to Heaven too, but the works are accomplished by God through Jesus Christ’s finished work on Calvary’s cross and the Holy Spirit’s work of regeneration in our soul. We are required to repent and believe in order to be saved, both of these are works, but we can’t do them, they are gifts of God.
2 Timothy 2:24-26 And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.
2 Peter 1:1 To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ…
It comes down to why Christ came. It is really popular these days to say that God created the universe because he was lonely or because he wanted to see who would choose him. I will unabashedly call these paganism and heresy. For one, if God were trying to convince people to believe, he did a very bad job at creating the universe to have all this incredible evidence of him that requires the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit to see. Also, God doesn’t get lonely, because he has perfect fellowship in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
The purpose of this world is show several things;
First is the creativity and power of God; he created an infinitely big universe where no star, no human being, no snowflake is exactly the same as another.
Second is to show us how bad sin is, that it has led to the death of everything, that it causes unbelievable suffering, and that it is contagious.
Third is to show us that good can only come from God, and apart from God, not even the angel Lucifer can put together a working planet, having been labeled the ruler of this world. I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to find out that Lucifer is not purposefully evil but is trying his hardest to make earth a godless utopia.
Fourth is to put these three together; it shows how amazingly good and genius God is, that he is capable of saving us from sin but only by willingly going to the cross and taking our punishment, then showing his power by defeating death and bestowing his goodness on us.
This is what is called a Supralapsarian view, that God is above the fall, he knew it was going to happen and has led history to happen precisely in order to better magnify himself, demonstrate the sinfulness of sin, and show his amazing grace.
A very brief exposition on the varying views of the fall (lapse) are:
Supralapsarianism - Everything that has happened exactly as God has intended for it to happen, including Adam and Eve's sin in the Garden, every historical event, and Christ's propitiatory atonement which was intended to save a certain number of prechosen people from Hell. He is concerned with definitive examples of the sinfulness of sin in order to magnify his saving grace.
Infralapsarianism - God gave Adam and Eve a choice in the Garden, he was prepared for them to stay obedient or fall, and after their fall has used it for his glory.
Sublapsarianism - God was surprised by the fall. Because he is powerful, he was able to save many despite the unexpected nature of sin. This view is heresy of the highest order, but is becoming more and more popular in the Methodist and Episcopalian churches. It is also known as "Open Theism" which limits God's power and knowledge while constraining him to time.
The Westminster Confession, one of the greatest nonbiblical documents ever written (except for article 28 which is almost completely wrong), which reads like the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 which Summit follows, says that the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. It is not to choose God or pick God, or accept God, it is to be a trophy of grace rescued from despair by the God of Salvation.
John 15:16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide…
We will pick back up on this subject next week and delve into personal responsibility more.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Sunday, September 21, 2008
September 21st - Prayer
Prayer Requests
Pastor Aaron and Denise
Riverfest in Canton
Fireproof the movie and those that will get saved
Adam's Soccer Tournament
Matthew's team to win some games
More students in class
1 Thessalonians 1:2-3 We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Prayer is the most important thing a Christian can do. I get carried away when talking about prayer because it is such an interesting and vital thing in the church. You have been granted the most incredible privilege ever conceived: an audience with Almighty God. And yet most Christians completely forsake this privilege, praying only on Sundays at church.
Leonard Ravenhill said something we should all remember, “If weak in prayer, we are weak everywhere.” Paul started the letter to Thessalonica with the most important weapon they have, prayer, and reminds them to pray and that they are prayed for.
Jesus prayed ALL THE TIME, if we’re seeking his example, then we should pray ALL THE TIME. Jesus Christ prayed all the way to his death on the cross, but not for himself, but for those doing the crucifying. He said, “Father forgive them, they know not what they do.”
James 5:16 The prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
The Bible a lot of times speaks of individuals in the masculine, like in this verse, “the prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” This doesn’t mean that the prayers of Hannah don’t avail much, the prayers of Jessica don’t avail much, the prayers of Da’Kayla don’t avail much; what the Bible means a lot of the time (not all of the time) when it says he or man is that it is the duty of each individual to do something, in this case it is to pray. The ESV Bible tried to capture this without going too far, in this case it says, “The prayer of a righteous person has great power…”
People through history have believed that the priest or the shaman or the sooth-sayer have more efficacious prayers and so have neglected their own duty to pray in order that they pay someone to pray for them. This is called, in part, sacerdotalism, which is the belief that certain religious people have a higher standing in the eyes of God. In the dark ages, there were priests specifically paid to pray a certain number of times a day for their town, people, and livestock. I read one story of a priest who was supposed to wake up at 4am every day in order to pray for the day to come before everyone else was awake. One day he slept in, and trying to be a “good man”, he confessed his failure, and he got thumped for his failure to wake and pray for the town.
The Catholic Church is notorious for their superstitious prayers, believing they are bribing God by being faithful to say ritualistic prayers so many times a day. Hail Mary’s and Our Father prayers are pagan practices adopted by the Roman Catholics and specifically prohibited by Christ. There is another problem; you have to be perfect in order for God to hear your prayers.
1 Peter 3:12 “The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
God hears the prayers of the perfect, but turns a deaf ear to the unrighteous.
Romans 3:10 “None is righteous, no, not one;”
Uh-oh…does that mean that we’re praying in vain when we pray? If you’ve got to be perfect when you pray if you want God to hear you, what is standing in our way for God to hear us?
Sin, sin is always getting in the way, it ruins everything and I really want to instill a hatred of sin in you so that you will see your perfect sinless Saviour as someone exceedingly wonderful and special.
What is sin? 1 John 3:4 “Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.”
Give me some examples.
Can we develop our own righteousness?
Isaiah 64:6 “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.”
Paul Washer puts it this way, “The greatest, most commendable deeds of men are nothing but a few filthy rags before God.” A leper is a person whose nerves and skin is dying, they have open wounds, and the worst of them have an odor you wouldn’t believe. “One might clothe a leper in the finest, white silk to cover his sores, but immediately, the corruption of his flesh would bleed through the garment, leaving it as vile as the man it seeks to hide. So are the “good works” of men before God. They bear the corruption of the man who does them.”
How do we get righteousness?
Romans 3:20-22 “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.”
Jesus Christ lived a righteous life and faced a sinners’ judgment so that we can live a sinner’s life and face a righteous judgment. On the cross Jesus Christ cried out, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” The reason is clear, he was made sin for us and God turns his face from the unrighteous. Our sin tore the Father from the Son, and through this incredible showing of love we can receive Christ’s righteousness through faith, and this faith, if from God, will immediately produce repentance; a hatred for sin and a love of God.
So now you have God’s righteousness, how do we pray?
Hebrews 4:16, “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
Remember from 1 Peter 2:9 that we are a royal priesthood. We have been given the privilege of prayer bought at an incredible price on the cross by Jesus Christ so that we can become the righteousness of God in him, and are allowed to approach the holiest of places, the throne of God. An unrighteous person who approached God would be incinerated, because God cannot tolerate sin in the same way the sun cannot tolerate an ice-cube. God’s holiness consumes all unrighteousness.
Prayer is for YOU, God already knows what you’re going to ask and if it aligns with his will, it is going to happen whether you ask or not.
Leonard Ravenhill said it beautifully, “We've said that prayer changes things. No! Prayer doesn't change things. Prayer changes people and people change things. We all want Gabriel to do the job. God says do it yourself - with My sufficiency and My strength.”
Types of prayer,
Petitioning – Asking for something for yourself
Intercession – Praying for God to do something for someone
Supplication – Asking God to do something through someone
Thanksgiving/Praise – Thanking God for doing
Pastor Aaron and Denise
Riverfest in Canton
Fireproof the movie and those that will get saved
Adam's Soccer Tournament
Matthew's team to win some games
More students in class
1 Thessalonians 1:2-3 We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Prayer is the most important thing a Christian can do. I get carried away when talking about prayer because it is such an interesting and vital thing in the church. You have been granted the most incredible privilege ever conceived: an audience with Almighty God. And yet most Christians completely forsake this privilege, praying only on Sundays at church.
Leonard Ravenhill said something we should all remember, “If weak in prayer, we are weak everywhere.” Paul started the letter to Thessalonica with the most important weapon they have, prayer, and reminds them to pray and that they are prayed for.
Jesus prayed ALL THE TIME, if we’re seeking his example, then we should pray ALL THE TIME. Jesus Christ prayed all the way to his death on the cross, but not for himself, but for those doing the crucifying. He said, “Father forgive them, they know not what they do.”
James 5:16 The prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
The Bible a lot of times speaks of individuals in the masculine, like in this verse, “the prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” This doesn’t mean that the prayers of Hannah don’t avail much, the prayers of Jessica don’t avail much, the prayers of Da’Kayla don’t avail much; what the Bible means a lot of the time (not all of the time) when it says he or man is that it is the duty of each individual to do something, in this case it is to pray. The ESV Bible tried to capture this without going too far, in this case it says, “The prayer of a righteous person has great power…”
People through history have believed that the priest or the shaman or the sooth-sayer have more efficacious prayers and so have neglected their own duty to pray in order that they pay someone to pray for them. This is called, in part, sacerdotalism, which is the belief that certain religious people have a higher standing in the eyes of God. In the dark ages, there were priests specifically paid to pray a certain number of times a day for their town, people, and livestock. I read one story of a priest who was supposed to wake up at 4am every day in order to pray for the day to come before everyone else was awake. One day he slept in, and trying to be a “good man”, he confessed his failure, and he got thumped for his failure to wake and pray for the town.
The Catholic Church is notorious for their superstitious prayers, believing they are bribing God by being faithful to say ritualistic prayers so many times a day. Hail Mary’s and Our Father prayers are pagan practices adopted by the Roman Catholics and specifically prohibited by Christ. There is another problem; you have to be perfect in order for God to hear your prayers.
1 Peter 3:12 “The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
God hears the prayers of the perfect, but turns a deaf ear to the unrighteous.
Romans 3:10 “None is righteous, no, not one;”
Uh-oh…does that mean that we’re praying in vain when we pray? If you’ve got to be perfect when you pray if you want God to hear you, what is standing in our way for God to hear us?
Sin, sin is always getting in the way, it ruins everything and I really want to instill a hatred of sin in you so that you will see your perfect sinless Saviour as someone exceedingly wonderful and special.
What is sin? 1 John 3:4 “Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.”
Give me some examples.
Can we develop our own righteousness?
Isaiah 64:6 “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.”
Paul Washer puts it this way, “The greatest, most commendable deeds of men are nothing but a few filthy rags before God.” A leper is a person whose nerves and skin is dying, they have open wounds, and the worst of them have an odor you wouldn’t believe. “One might clothe a leper in the finest, white silk to cover his sores, but immediately, the corruption of his flesh would bleed through the garment, leaving it as vile as the man it seeks to hide. So are the “good works” of men before God. They bear the corruption of the man who does them.”
How do we get righteousness?
Romans 3:20-22 “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.”
Jesus Christ lived a righteous life and faced a sinners’ judgment so that we can live a sinner’s life and face a righteous judgment. On the cross Jesus Christ cried out, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” The reason is clear, he was made sin for us and God turns his face from the unrighteous. Our sin tore the Father from the Son, and through this incredible showing of love we can receive Christ’s righteousness through faith, and this faith, if from God, will immediately produce repentance; a hatred for sin and a love of God.
So now you have God’s righteousness, how do we pray?
Hebrews 4:16, “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
Remember from 1 Peter 2:9 that we are a royal priesthood. We have been given the privilege of prayer bought at an incredible price on the cross by Jesus Christ so that we can become the righteousness of God in him, and are allowed to approach the holiest of places, the throne of God. An unrighteous person who approached God would be incinerated, because God cannot tolerate sin in the same way the sun cannot tolerate an ice-cube. God’s holiness consumes all unrighteousness.
Prayer is for YOU, God already knows what you’re going to ask and if it aligns with his will, it is going to happen whether you ask or not.
Leonard Ravenhill said it beautifully, “We've said that prayer changes things. No! Prayer doesn't change things. Prayer changes people and people change things. We all want Gabriel to do the job. God says do it yourself - with My sufficiency and My strength.”
Types of prayer,
Petitioning – Asking for something for yourself
Intercession – Praying for God to do something for someone
Supplication – Asking God to do something through someone
Thanksgiving/Praise – Thanking God for doing
Imprecation – Asking God to squish someone
So now, what are Paul, Silas, and Timothy praying for?
We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Thanksgiving for all of them, for their works that show their faith, their labors of love, and their steadfastness in the face of persecution. While intercession and supplication are not named, they are here, asking God to continue their steadfastness, and to continue using those at Thessalonica for his glory.
1 Corinthians 13:13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
The word for constantly really means constantly, all the time; remember Paul, and especially Timothy, haven’t been out of Thessalonica for very long and they are praying, interceding and supplicating, for the continued ministry of this infant church. Whether they were praying daily or hourly or more often is unclear, but it is clear that their prayer was often.
1 Timothy 4:4-5 Everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.
We give thanks for our food, but this is also a great time to pray for other things. I don’t get asked to bless a lot of meals, because I tend to go into full fledged prayer during the blessing. When you’re praying for your food is a great time to remember other people who you are praying for or said you’d pray for.
Also, sometimes it is beneficial just to mention someone’s name in prayer, maybe not even something specific, just say, “Lord, I bring the name of Sydney, Matthew, Hannah, and Jessica before your throne today that your will would be evident in their lives and that you use them for your purposes."
The key here is communication with God, he already knows what you’re going to ask for, and he knows better than you what you need. Besides us wording our prayers, they are intercepted by the Holy Spirit and sent on to the Father.
Romans 8:26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
Finally is the way that we end our prayers,
1 John 5:14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.
We end prayers, “In Jesus Name”, but what we should be meaning and maybe saying is, “We ask these things hopefully in the will of God.” Jesus didn’t end a single prayer, “In the name of me, amen.” Or anything like it, so you shouldn’t feel confined to that sort of ending. However you end your prayer though should have a note of finality if you’re praying out-loud so people will know the prayer is over. Amen means truth, or sincerity, and is sort of like signing a letter, “Sincerely,”
In conclusion, praying with your non-Christian friends is a great way to preach at them; when you’re praying for an unbeliever, always bring their name before the Throne of Grace with the authority granted to you by Jesus Christ.
Whatever you pray for, remember the price that was paid so you can communicate with God, and be thankful for his willingness to listen, intercede, and act on your prayers, provided they align with his will.
Follow-up:
So now, what are Paul, Silas, and Timothy praying for?
We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Thanksgiving for all of them, for their works that show their faith, their labors of love, and their steadfastness in the face of persecution. While intercession and supplication are not named, they are here, asking God to continue their steadfastness, and to continue using those at Thessalonica for his glory.
1 Corinthians 13:13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
The word for constantly really means constantly, all the time; remember Paul, and especially Timothy, haven’t been out of Thessalonica for very long and they are praying, interceding and supplicating, for the continued ministry of this infant church. Whether they were praying daily or hourly or more often is unclear, but it is clear that their prayer was often.
1 Timothy 4:4-5 Everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.
We give thanks for our food, but this is also a great time to pray for other things. I don’t get asked to bless a lot of meals, because I tend to go into full fledged prayer during the blessing. When you’re praying for your food is a great time to remember other people who you are praying for or said you’d pray for.
Also, sometimes it is beneficial just to mention someone’s name in prayer, maybe not even something specific, just say, “Lord, I bring the name of Sydney, Matthew, Hannah, and Jessica before your throne today that your will would be evident in their lives and that you use them for your purposes."
The key here is communication with God, he already knows what you’re going to ask for, and he knows better than you what you need. Besides us wording our prayers, they are intercepted by the Holy Spirit and sent on to the Father.
Romans 8:26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
Finally is the way that we end our prayers,
1 John 5:14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.
We end prayers, “In Jesus Name”, but what we should be meaning and maybe saying is, “We ask these things hopefully in the will of God.” Jesus didn’t end a single prayer, “In the name of me, amen.” Or anything like it, so you shouldn’t feel confined to that sort of ending. However you end your prayer though should have a note of finality if you’re praying out-loud so people will know the prayer is over. Amen means truth, or sincerity, and is sort of like signing a letter, “Sincerely,”
In conclusion, praying with your non-Christian friends is a great way to preach at them; when you’re praying for an unbeliever, always bring their name before the Throne of Grace with the authority granted to you by Jesus Christ.
Whatever you pray for, remember the price that was paid so you can communicate with God, and be thankful for his willingness to listen, intercede, and act on your prayers, provided they align with his will.
Follow-up:
Sunday, September 14, 2008
September 14th - Introduction to 1st and 2nd Thessalonians
Prayer Requests
Dave, Brooke, and Jimmy in Mexico
Pastor Aaron and Denise
Kari's Dad's Job-situation
Our persecuted brothers and sisters around the world
Paul’s Epistle to Thessalonica
To listen to Darlene Deibler Rose's story, visit Way of the Master Radio - September 3, 2007 and start listening at 14 minutes 55 seconds.
History
Thessalonica is in a strategic position in Macedonia, which is now part of Greece, it was a major harbor as well as being located on the Egnatian Way, a major road across this part of the world. The cross-roads of Thessalonica made it especially useful for spreading the Gospel. This was a theme for spreading the Gospel, first in Jerusalem, then in Thessalonica, then Corinth, then Ephesus, and finally Rome.
Us, in Acworth, are sort of off the beaten path, we have a major thru-way called I75, but nobody stops in Acworth to talk to the locals and find out about news of the world. But we do have something very close, we have Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, the busiest airport in the world. I’ve talked to people from Armenia, Italy, California, and Wisconsin there, probably someone from every country in the world passes through that airport every day. The next time you go on a flight or to pick someone up, make sure you take some tracts and spread the Gospel in our major crossroad.
Thessalonica has a name which no-one knows for sure what it means. Thessaly is the name of the province that the town is in. Thessaly may come from two words, Therma and Salos which mean warmth and waves, and since Thessaly is on the Thermaic Gulf, the name may mean “Warm Waves” it is hard to say for sure though because these words have to be stretched to match the name.
We know for sure that the name of Thessalonica means, “Place where Thessaly was conquered.” Who in this class knows what nike means? Nike is Greek for victory.
Thessaly – Nike.
If you went to Greece today and tried to buy a train or ferry ticket to Thessalonica, they’ll probably look at you like you are crazy, because the name has been changed to Salonica, but the town is still in the same place it was in when Paul visited and when he wrote this letter.
Paul founded this church with Silas.
Acts 17:1-10 Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, "This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ." And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women. But the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd. And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, "These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus." And the people and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things. And when they had taken money as security from Jason and the rest, they let them go. The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue.
Paul, as a devout Jew, always wanted to declare the Messiah to his kinsmen first, but Christ had specifically sent Paul to the Gentiles, to the non-Jews, who ranged from refined Greeks to outright barbarians. He was following the Egnatian Way through Greece, stopping to preach in the Synagogues, and so far he had been stoned to the point that those stoning him thought he was dead, as well as chased out of town, and beaten. Yet he continued going to the Jews, finally in Corinth he abandoned the Jews to preach solely to the Gentiles.
Many believe, and I am among them, that the letter to the Hebrews was written by Paul, but left unsigned in order that he could still reach out to the Jews without them rejecting the letter because he wrote it. Though he finally heeded Christ’s command to go to the Gentiles, he never lost his desire to see Israel saved.
He arrived in Thessalonica at the end of AD 50, and spent about five months there before the Jews ran him out of town for converting so many people. They went to Berea, where the Jews compared what Paul was saying to the Old Testament, and they believed that Jesus was the Messiah, but Paul’s preaching had made the Thessalonian Jews so mad that they found them in Berea and chased them out of the region all together.
Paul was worried that the new churches in Thessalonica and Berea would succumb to persecution and so first sent Timothy to be their interim pastor, then wrote them this letter in order to strengthen their resolve and provide them with information they needed to know in order to maintain the church and see the souls saved that were passing through the important cross-roads of Thessalonica.
The letter points to the church being made up of almost entirely Gentiles, both by references to their old gods, and through a total lack of old-testament quotations. The letter begins by telling the Thessalonian church who they are now that they’ve been saved, then goes on to tell them how to live as Christians and what to expect from this life. Many think that First and Second Thessalonians are only eschatological epistles, in other words, that they only deal with end-times theology and the return of Christ. Dr. John MacArthur rightly points out that these epistles are pastoral first, and eschatological second.
Verse 1:1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace.
This is a standard greeting, identifying who it is from, who it is to, and a greeting.
Paul and Silas started the church, Silas was a Jew, but here Paul wrote his name as Silvanus, which is the Greek rendering of his name. Timothy is included since he lived amongst them and reported their progress back to Paul.
The church of the Thessalonians is referring to the body of believers, and not the church building. We’ve lost an important element in language by saying, “I’m going to church…” because you are the church, Christ is the head, we are the body, and the church at Summit will go to Heaven, where-as the building will not. Some churches have gone so far as to call their buildings “assemblies” or “meeting places” in order to try to alleviate the issue of mistaking the church building for the church body. I don’t think it’s particularly important to make this distinction as long as you remember, like we said last week, that going to church doesn’t make you a Christian in the same way that going to the garage doesn’t make you a car. Only the redeeming work of the Spirit in your soul based on the payment of Christ on the cross can make you a Christian.
After Peter preached in Jerusalem on Pentecost, “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?’ And Peter said to them, ‘Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins…’” (Acts 2:37-38) Paul writes to the church of the Thessalonians in God and Jesus. When Peter said, “Repent and be baptized…” he didn’t mean, “repent and get wet…” he meant, “repent and be immersed in the name of Jesus Christ…” Baptism is first and foremost an immersion, it is not just a dunking in water, and we have to realize that we aren’t Christians because we’ve been baptized in water, we’re Christians because we’ve been immersed into God and our Lord Jesus Christ. This epistle to Thessalonica states that well by Paul calling them “in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Grace to you and peace was a common greeting in the early church. It is kind of blocky for us to say, which is why I think it has lost its use in English, but it was common to say, "Grace to you, and peace", which in Greek is charis humin kai eirene. What it means is reminding the Christian of the unmerited favor in which they have been saved by Jesus Christ and the peace that we've attained with God through the cross of Christ.
Remember that:
Justice is when you get what you deserve, which in this case is Hell for transgressing God's laws.
Mercy is when you don't get what you deserve, which would be if God gave you a reprieve from Hell but wouldn't let you into Heaven.
Grace is when you get what you don't deserve, not only did Christ pay your fine on the cross, he gave you his righteousness so that you can go to Heaven.
Questions Afterward
- Why do some people in the Bible have their names changed?
Short answer, because out of time: names are changed in order to show an outward sign of the inward work of Grace in our lives. I'll try to research a good write-up on this in order to share here and in class.
Dave, Brooke, and Jimmy in Mexico
Pastor Aaron and Denise
Kari's Dad's Job-situation
Our persecuted brothers and sisters around the world
Paul’s Epistle to Thessalonica
To listen to Darlene Deibler Rose's story, visit Way of the Master Radio - September 3, 2007 and start listening at 14 minutes 55 seconds.
History
Thessalonica is in a strategic position in Macedonia, which is now part of Greece, it was a major harbor as well as being located on the Egnatian Way, a major road across this part of the world. The cross-roads of Thessalonica made it especially useful for spreading the Gospel. This was a theme for spreading the Gospel, first in Jerusalem, then in Thessalonica, then Corinth, then Ephesus, and finally Rome.
Us, in Acworth, are sort of off the beaten path, we have a major thru-way called I75, but nobody stops in Acworth to talk to the locals and find out about news of the world. But we do have something very close, we have Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, the busiest airport in the world. I’ve talked to people from Armenia, Italy, California, and Wisconsin there, probably someone from every country in the world passes through that airport every day. The next time you go on a flight or to pick someone up, make sure you take some tracts and spread the Gospel in our major crossroad.
Thessalonica has a name which no-one knows for sure what it means. Thessaly is the name of the province that the town is in. Thessaly may come from two words, Therma and Salos which mean warmth and waves, and since Thessaly is on the Thermaic Gulf, the name may mean “Warm Waves” it is hard to say for sure though because these words have to be stretched to match the name.
We know for sure that the name of Thessalonica means, “Place where Thessaly was conquered.” Who in this class knows what nike means? Nike is Greek for victory.
Thessaly – Nike.
If you went to Greece today and tried to buy a train or ferry ticket to Thessalonica, they’ll probably look at you like you are crazy, because the name has been changed to Salonica, but the town is still in the same place it was in when Paul visited and when he wrote this letter.
Paul founded this church with Silas.
Acts 17:1-10 Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, "This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ." And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women. But the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd. And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, "These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus." And the people and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things. And when they had taken money as security from Jason and the rest, they let them go. The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue.
Paul, as a devout Jew, always wanted to declare the Messiah to his kinsmen first, but Christ had specifically sent Paul to the Gentiles, to the non-Jews, who ranged from refined Greeks to outright barbarians. He was following the Egnatian Way through Greece, stopping to preach in the Synagogues, and so far he had been stoned to the point that those stoning him thought he was dead, as well as chased out of town, and beaten. Yet he continued going to the Jews, finally in Corinth he abandoned the Jews to preach solely to the Gentiles.
Many believe, and I am among them, that the letter to the Hebrews was written by Paul, but left unsigned in order that he could still reach out to the Jews without them rejecting the letter because he wrote it. Though he finally heeded Christ’s command to go to the Gentiles, he never lost his desire to see Israel saved.
He arrived in Thessalonica at the end of AD 50, and spent about five months there before the Jews ran him out of town for converting so many people. They went to Berea, where the Jews compared what Paul was saying to the Old Testament, and they believed that Jesus was the Messiah, but Paul’s preaching had made the Thessalonian Jews so mad that they found them in Berea and chased them out of the region all together.
Paul was worried that the new churches in Thessalonica and Berea would succumb to persecution and so first sent Timothy to be their interim pastor, then wrote them this letter in order to strengthen their resolve and provide them with information they needed to know in order to maintain the church and see the souls saved that were passing through the important cross-roads of Thessalonica.
The letter points to the church being made up of almost entirely Gentiles, both by references to their old gods, and through a total lack of old-testament quotations. The letter begins by telling the Thessalonian church who they are now that they’ve been saved, then goes on to tell them how to live as Christians and what to expect from this life. Many think that First and Second Thessalonians are only eschatological epistles, in other words, that they only deal with end-times theology and the return of Christ. Dr. John MacArthur rightly points out that these epistles are pastoral first, and eschatological second.
Verse 1:1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace.
This is a standard greeting, identifying who it is from, who it is to, and a greeting.
Paul and Silas started the church, Silas was a Jew, but here Paul wrote his name as Silvanus, which is the Greek rendering of his name. Timothy is included since he lived amongst them and reported their progress back to Paul.
The church of the Thessalonians is referring to the body of believers, and not the church building. We’ve lost an important element in language by saying, “I’m going to church…” because you are the church, Christ is the head, we are the body, and the church at Summit will go to Heaven, where-as the building will not. Some churches have gone so far as to call their buildings “assemblies” or “meeting places” in order to try to alleviate the issue of mistaking the church building for the church body. I don’t think it’s particularly important to make this distinction as long as you remember, like we said last week, that going to church doesn’t make you a Christian in the same way that going to the garage doesn’t make you a car. Only the redeeming work of the Spirit in your soul based on the payment of Christ on the cross can make you a Christian.
After Peter preached in Jerusalem on Pentecost, “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?’ And Peter said to them, ‘Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins…’” (Acts 2:37-38) Paul writes to the church of the Thessalonians in God and Jesus. When Peter said, “Repent and be baptized…” he didn’t mean, “repent and get wet…” he meant, “repent and be immersed in the name of Jesus Christ…” Baptism is first and foremost an immersion, it is not just a dunking in water, and we have to realize that we aren’t Christians because we’ve been baptized in water, we’re Christians because we’ve been immersed into God and our Lord Jesus Christ. This epistle to Thessalonica states that well by Paul calling them “in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Grace to you and peace was a common greeting in the early church. It is kind of blocky for us to say, which is why I think it has lost its use in English, but it was common to say, "Grace to you, and peace", which in Greek is charis humin kai eirene. What it means is reminding the Christian of the unmerited favor in which they have been saved by Jesus Christ and the peace that we've attained with God through the cross of Christ.
Remember that:
Justice is when you get what you deserve, which in this case is Hell for transgressing God's laws.
Mercy is when you don't get what you deserve, which would be if God gave you a reprieve from Hell but wouldn't let you into Heaven.
Grace is when you get what you don't deserve, not only did Christ pay your fine on the cross, he gave you his righteousness so that you can go to Heaven.
Questions Afterward
- Why do some people in the Bible have their names changed?
Short answer, because out of time: names are changed in order to show an outward sign of the inward work of Grace in our lives. I'll try to research a good write-up on this in order to share here and in class.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
September 12th - Blasphemy
We've been talking a lot, both in class on Sunday, at Trek on Wednesday, and elsewhere, about the elevation of God's name and how much emphasis he puts on us using it rightly and with reverence.
For reference sake, here is an article I wrote a little while ago as a Gospel tract for unbelievers, please take a moment to read through it in order to hone your personal language and discernment of the holiness of the name of God.
God Will Not Hold Him Guiltless That Takes His Name in Vain, by Canyon Shearer
Many of the names that are blasphemy because they are used wrongly are not inherintely blasphemous. Such as refering to Jesus Christ as Goodness and Gracious is not blasphemous at all, if used reverently. An example of this that I like is Jars of Clay in their song, Oh my God
And Daniel 9:19, "O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name."
For reference sake, here is an article I wrote a little while ago as a Gospel tract for unbelievers, please take a moment to read through it in order to hone your personal language and discernment of the holiness of the name of God.
God Will Not Hold Him Guiltless That Takes His Name in Vain, by Canyon Shearer
Many of the names that are blasphemy because they are used wrongly are not inherintely blasphemous. Such as refering to Jesus Christ as Goodness and Gracious is not blasphemous at all, if used reverently. An example of this that I like is Jars of Clay in their song, Oh my God
And Daniel 9:19, "O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name."
Sunday, September 7, 2008
September 7th - Assurance of Salvation
Prayer Requests:
Pastor Aaron
Orissa State in India
Taste of Kennesaw
Dave and Brooke in Mexico
Assurance of Salvation
Text: Jet Tour Through John's First Epistle
Last weekend we went to Celebrate Freedom and did a lot of evangelizing. One thing I noticed what the immodest dress of everyone there, and the joyless looks on many of the peoples’ faces. Nick and I saw a big group of high-schoolers and we could tell there was something different about them, for one thing, the girls all had on clothing that covered their bodies. Next I asked how they were getting to Heaven, and none of them said, “By being a good person.” One of them said, “On the merits of Jesus Christ and his death and resurrection.” There isn’t a better answer than that.
I haven’t called any of you Christians yet in this class, I don’t know any of you well enough to do that. We’ve spent about four hours together, and while I’ve very much enjoyed it and have been impressed by you all, I haven’t had the opportunity to see how you react if someone steps on your toe, or how you talk with your friends at school, or how you treat your mom and dad.
It is very dangerous for me to say that you’re a Christian if you’re not, I would hate for you to fool me into saying you’re a Christian if you’re not, because I don’t want any of you to go to Hell thinking you’re saved because I haphazardly told you you were. The worst thing you can do for your soul is pretend to be godly without being regenerated. These tests are for you, I don’t need to know the answers unless you want to go deeper into them, because you can fool me, you can fool your parents, you can even fool yourself, but you can’t fool God.
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. – 1 John 5:13
First John was written so you can KNOW you’re a Christian, it uses the word gnosko, which means “know”, 32 times. God wants you to know you’re regenerated. First John has several tests to see if you’re a Christian, here are 11 of them…
1 John 1:7 “if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another” You enjoy being in church around other Christians.
1 John 1:8 “we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” Remember we were talking about how almost every person will proclaim their own goodness. God’s definition of good is perfect, so if you claim to be a good person, you’re claiming to be blameless, or sinless, and not only do you deceive yourself, but the truth is not in you.
Check out Revelation 19:11, my favorite verse in the whole Bible. “And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.” Jesus’ very name is True, in John 14:6 he said, “I am…the truth…” If you claim to be a good person according to God’s standards, there is no way you are a Christian; tough statement, but the Bible said it, not me.
1 John 2:3-4 “by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says "I know him" but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him…” Strive to keep the commandments, don’t purposefully break them. Look at verse 1, it is written in a somewhat strange, but exceedingly beautiful, way, “I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” May not sin means our goal is perfection; but we still have a sin nature, we will sin.
Paul said, “Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more...”(Romans 5:20) should we then sin all the more so that grace may further abound? Heaven forbid! If we are dead to sin, we will do our best to keep the commandments and stop sinning.
There is a colloquialism that says “Heathens dive into sin while Christians fall in.”
If we slip into sin, we know that we have an advocate, a mediator, a great high priest pleading our cause and washing away our sins, Jesus Christ the Righteous One, who died to redeem us and defeated death three days later.
Compare 1 John 2:29 “If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.”
1 John 2:15 “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” This is a tough one, especially when there are so many interesting things in the world to love, especially above God. You watch Hannah Montana instead of reading your Bible, you work on Sunday instead of going to church, you do things the way your non-Christian friends do them instead of trying to make them Christians…there are a lot of different examples,
but ultimately James said, “Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” A good test is whether you would rather do ministry or go to the mall.
1 John 2:19 “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.” AW Tozer said, “You knew one thing about a man carrying a cross outside of the city, you knew he wasn’t coming back.” If you’ve been crucified with Christ and resurrected in his life (Romans 5:10), then it is permanent, because it isn’t you who lives anymore, but Christ who lives in you. (Gal 2:20) If you are a Christian, you will continue being a Christian.
1 John 2:23 “No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.” Jesus Christ is One Person of a Triune God, he is eternal, co-existent, and co-equal with the Father and the Holy Spirit, but a distinct Person from the Father and the Spirit, fully man, and fully God. If you don’t believe this, then you don’t have God the Father either. There are lots of people who believe Jesus was created, some believe he was just a good man, others believe he was an angel, they are believing in idols named Jesus Christ, and this idol cannot save them. The infinite payment that was due for our salvation could only be paid by God himself.
Compare Isaiah 43:11 “I, I am the LORD, and besides me there is no savior.” with John 4:42 “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.” and 2 Peter 1:1 “To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ…”
1 John 3:2-3 “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.” We’re growing in holiness to be conformed to the Living Christ, in hopes of being pure as he is pure, which will be completed when he returns.
1 John 3:8-9 “Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.” These are planned sins, purposeful sin, with no effort to stop sinning. If you’re looking forward to sin, then you’re in trouble because you haven’t been born of God.
Sin is fun, I know it’s been popular in the church to say that sin is no fun and that you won’t find happiness through sinning. I don’t know where they found that in the Bible, but the truth is that sin is fun, if it wasn’t fun, people wouldn’t do it. I guarantee you that you will fall into some sin sometime in your life that will temporarily consume your affections. The enjoyment of this sin can last a lifetime, but the consequences at the end are not worth it.
God hates it, it grieves the Holy Spirit, and Jesus Christ died for it. If it doesn’t hurt your conscience to sin, the very thing that crucified your Saviour, then you haven’t been born of God.
If it does hurt your conscience, then you will work to stop doing that sin, no matter how enjoyable it is. Because God is so good, he has given us many things that are good, but these can be abused. For example, water keeps us alive, but used wrongly you’ll drown, fire keeps us warm, but too much will burn you, sex is a wonderful gift between husband and wife, but abused it will lead to your damnation.
1 John 3:14 “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers.” Remember that word love, usually when it’s referring to God and Christians, it is not the ushy gushy love, but a love in action. Not only do we deeply care about our brothers and sisters, but we’re willing to help them in their time of need.
Compare 1 John 3:18 “Let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.”
1 John 4:6 “We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.” Our beliefs and theology are in line with other Christian’s beliefs and theology. There should be no parts of the Bible where you say, “I’m not sure I believe in this…” You will have doubts in your life, but they should not be lingering doubts, find the answer, be content with it, and move on. If you have any doubts, like I said in a previous class, there is an answer to every supposed contradiction, and the Bible is 100% trustworthy, please don’t hesitate to ask me, Dave Snyder, Jenny, Channing, your parents, whoever you want, and we’ll be able to find you an answer.
As you read your Bible, you’ll be able to pick out true and false preachers, you’ll know they’re true because their sermons will be about Jesus from the Bible, and not about them with some Bible verses sprinkled in. Compare Hebrews 5:14 “But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.”
1 John 4:15 “Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.” Confess, out loud, telling people what Christ has done for you, what he’s done for them, what he requires, what the consequences are for rejecting him, and who he is. Don’t confess it to me, confess it to a friend a school, a stranger in the park, an unsaved aunt. Preaching Christ and him crucified (1 Cor 2:2) to everyone who will listen should be your highest priority as a child of God.
Charles Spurgeon said, “If you do not have a passion to see lost souls saved, you are not saved yourself, be sure of that.”
Those are the tests, I want to let you know why they are important…
First, if you are a Christian, having taken these tests allows you to stop worrying whether or not you’re saved or can lose your salvation.
Second, if you’re not a Christian, you have some repenting and trusting to do. Think about the sinless Jesus Christ hanging on a cross stained red by his blood which was poured out because of your sin. The Son was cut-off from the Father because your sin made him repulsive to the Holy God of the Universe. The wrath of God was demonstrated against his perfect Son, because he hates sin and will not allow it into his presence. This was accomplished so that you can be reconciled with him and made blameless in his Son. Compare 1 John 2:12, "your sins are forgiven for his name’s sake." CJ Mahaney said, "Before we can begin to see the cross as something done for us, leading us to faith and worship, we have to see it as something done by us, leading us to repentance. Only the man, the woman, who is prepared to own his share in the guilt of the cross may claim his share in its grace."
Third, once you know you are saved, you can stop worrying about your salvation and start worrying about the salvation of others. If you’re still not sure if you’re saved, start evangelizing; history is replete with preachers saved under their own preaching, and the Holy Spirit will testify with your spirit if you are saved during your witnessing when he emboldens you and helps you to remember Bible verses and push forward with the conversation.
Fourth, you will know better how to act as a Christian so that you are not representing God’s name wrongly.
Questions Afterward
Is the world going to end on December 21st, 2012?
Jesus said, "But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father." (Mark 13:32) We have no way to know when Christ is returning, the only thing that keeps him from coming back right now is so that more people can be saved. (2 Peter 3:9)
Every generation has believed they were the last generation, so we might be, we might not be, we'll be discussing this more as we study First and Second Thessalonians over the rest of the year.
In the 1850's, William Miller predicted a date and it ended up being a bust, but out of his false prophecies, we've seen the birth of the cults of Jehovah's Witnesses, Seventh Day Adventists, and Branch Davidians. Watch as 2012 draws near and we'll probably see some pretty wild cults rise up.
Follow Up Video:
True and False Conversion Video
Next Week
For next week, please read the first chapter of 1 Thessalonians.
Pastor Aaron
Orissa State in India
Taste of Kennesaw
Dave and Brooke in Mexico
Assurance of Salvation
Text: Jet Tour Through John's First Epistle
Last weekend we went to Celebrate Freedom and did a lot of evangelizing. One thing I noticed what the immodest dress of everyone there, and the joyless looks on many of the peoples’ faces. Nick and I saw a big group of high-schoolers and we could tell there was something different about them, for one thing, the girls all had on clothing that covered their bodies. Next I asked how they were getting to Heaven, and none of them said, “By being a good person.” One of them said, “On the merits of Jesus Christ and his death and resurrection.” There isn’t a better answer than that.
I haven’t called any of you Christians yet in this class, I don’t know any of you well enough to do that. We’ve spent about four hours together, and while I’ve very much enjoyed it and have been impressed by you all, I haven’t had the opportunity to see how you react if someone steps on your toe, or how you talk with your friends at school, or how you treat your mom and dad.
It is very dangerous for me to say that you’re a Christian if you’re not, I would hate for you to fool me into saying you’re a Christian if you’re not, because I don’t want any of you to go to Hell thinking you’re saved because I haphazardly told you you were. The worst thing you can do for your soul is pretend to be godly without being regenerated. These tests are for you, I don’t need to know the answers unless you want to go deeper into them, because you can fool me, you can fool your parents, you can even fool yourself, but you can’t fool God.
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. – 1 John 5:13
First John was written so you can KNOW you’re a Christian, it uses the word gnosko, which means “know”, 32 times. God wants you to know you’re regenerated. First John has several tests to see if you’re a Christian, here are 11 of them…
1 John 1:7 “if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another” You enjoy being in church around other Christians.
1 John 1:8 “we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” Remember we were talking about how almost every person will proclaim their own goodness. God’s definition of good is perfect, so if you claim to be a good person, you’re claiming to be blameless, or sinless, and not only do you deceive yourself, but the truth is not in you.
Check out Revelation 19:11, my favorite verse in the whole Bible. “And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.” Jesus’ very name is True, in John 14:6 he said, “I am…the truth…” If you claim to be a good person according to God’s standards, there is no way you are a Christian; tough statement, but the Bible said it, not me.
1 John 2:3-4 “by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says "I know him" but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him…” Strive to keep the commandments, don’t purposefully break them. Look at verse 1, it is written in a somewhat strange, but exceedingly beautiful, way, “I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” May not sin means our goal is perfection; but we still have a sin nature, we will sin.
Paul said, “Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more...”(Romans 5:20) should we then sin all the more so that grace may further abound? Heaven forbid! If we are dead to sin, we will do our best to keep the commandments and stop sinning.
There is a colloquialism that says “Heathens dive into sin while Christians fall in.”
If we slip into sin, we know that we have an advocate, a mediator, a great high priest pleading our cause and washing away our sins, Jesus Christ the Righteous One, who died to redeem us and defeated death three days later.
Compare 1 John 2:29 “If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.”
1 John 2:15 “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” This is a tough one, especially when there are so many interesting things in the world to love, especially above God. You watch Hannah Montana instead of reading your Bible, you work on Sunday instead of going to church, you do things the way your non-Christian friends do them instead of trying to make them Christians…there are a lot of different examples,
but ultimately James said, “Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” A good test is whether you would rather do ministry or go to the mall.
1 John 2:19 “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.” AW Tozer said, “You knew one thing about a man carrying a cross outside of the city, you knew he wasn’t coming back.” If you’ve been crucified with Christ and resurrected in his life (Romans 5:10), then it is permanent, because it isn’t you who lives anymore, but Christ who lives in you. (Gal 2:20) If you are a Christian, you will continue being a Christian.
1 John 2:23 “No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.” Jesus Christ is One Person of a Triune God, he is eternal, co-existent, and co-equal with the Father and the Holy Spirit, but a distinct Person from the Father and the Spirit, fully man, and fully God. If you don’t believe this, then you don’t have God the Father either. There are lots of people who believe Jesus was created, some believe he was just a good man, others believe he was an angel, they are believing in idols named Jesus Christ, and this idol cannot save them. The infinite payment that was due for our salvation could only be paid by God himself.
Compare Isaiah 43:11 “I, I am the LORD, and besides me there is no savior.” with John 4:42 “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.” and 2 Peter 1:1 “To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ…”
1 John 3:2-3 “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.” We’re growing in holiness to be conformed to the Living Christ, in hopes of being pure as he is pure, which will be completed when he returns.
1 John 3:8-9 “Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.” These are planned sins, purposeful sin, with no effort to stop sinning. If you’re looking forward to sin, then you’re in trouble because you haven’t been born of God.
Sin is fun, I know it’s been popular in the church to say that sin is no fun and that you won’t find happiness through sinning. I don’t know where they found that in the Bible, but the truth is that sin is fun, if it wasn’t fun, people wouldn’t do it. I guarantee you that you will fall into some sin sometime in your life that will temporarily consume your affections. The enjoyment of this sin can last a lifetime, but the consequences at the end are not worth it.
God hates it, it grieves the Holy Spirit, and Jesus Christ died for it. If it doesn’t hurt your conscience to sin, the very thing that crucified your Saviour, then you haven’t been born of God.
If it does hurt your conscience, then you will work to stop doing that sin, no matter how enjoyable it is. Because God is so good, he has given us many things that are good, but these can be abused. For example, water keeps us alive, but used wrongly you’ll drown, fire keeps us warm, but too much will burn you, sex is a wonderful gift between husband and wife, but abused it will lead to your damnation.
1 John 3:14 “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers.” Remember that word love, usually when it’s referring to God and Christians, it is not the ushy gushy love, but a love in action. Not only do we deeply care about our brothers and sisters, but we’re willing to help them in their time of need.
Compare 1 John 3:18 “Let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.”
1 John 4:6 “We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.” Our beliefs and theology are in line with other Christian’s beliefs and theology. There should be no parts of the Bible where you say, “I’m not sure I believe in this…” You will have doubts in your life, but they should not be lingering doubts, find the answer, be content with it, and move on. If you have any doubts, like I said in a previous class, there is an answer to every supposed contradiction, and the Bible is 100% trustworthy, please don’t hesitate to ask me, Dave Snyder, Jenny, Channing, your parents, whoever you want, and we’ll be able to find you an answer.
As you read your Bible, you’ll be able to pick out true and false preachers, you’ll know they’re true because their sermons will be about Jesus from the Bible, and not about them with some Bible verses sprinkled in. Compare Hebrews 5:14 “But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.”
1 John 4:15 “Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.” Confess, out loud, telling people what Christ has done for you, what he’s done for them, what he requires, what the consequences are for rejecting him, and who he is. Don’t confess it to me, confess it to a friend a school, a stranger in the park, an unsaved aunt. Preaching Christ and him crucified (1 Cor 2:2) to everyone who will listen should be your highest priority as a child of God.
Charles Spurgeon said, “If you do not have a passion to see lost souls saved, you are not saved yourself, be sure of that.”
Those are the tests, I want to let you know why they are important…
First, if you are a Christian, having taken these tests allows you to stop worrying whether or not you’re saved or can lose your salvation.
Second, if you’re not a Christian, you have some repenting and trusting to do. Think about the sinless Jesus Christ hanging on a cross stained red by his blood which was poured out because of your sin. The Son was cut-off from the Father because your sin made him repulsive to the Holy God of the Universe. The wrath of God was demonstrated against his perfect Son, because he hates sin and will not allow it into his presence. This was accomplished so that you can be reconciled with him and made blameless in his Son. Compare 1 John 2:12, "your sins are forgiven for his name’s sake." CJ Mahaney said, "Before we can begin to see the cross as something done for us, leading us to faith and worship, we have to see it as something done by us, leading us to repentance. Only the man, the woman, who is prepared to own his share in the guilt of the cross may claim his share in its grace."
Third, once you know you are saved, you can stop worrying about your salvation and start worrying about the salvation of others. If you’re still not sure if you’re saved, start evangelizing; history is replete with preachers saved under their own preaching, and the Holy Spirit will testify with your spirit if you are saved during your witnessing when he emboldens you and helps you to remember Bible verses and push forward with the conversation.
Fourth, you will know better how to act as a Christian so that you are not representing God’s name wrongly.
Questions Afterward
Is the world going to end on December 21st, 2012?
Jesus said, "But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father." (Mark 13:32) We have no way to know when Christ is returning, the only thing that keeps him from coming back right now is so that more people can be saved. (2 Peter 3:9)
Every generation has believed they were the last generation, so we might be, we might not be, we'll be discussing this more as we study First and Second Thessalonians over the rest of the year.
In the 1850's, William Miller predicted a date and it ended up being a bust, but out of his false prophecies, we've seen the birth of the cults of Jehovah's Witnesses, Seventh Day Adventists, and Branch Davidians. Watch as 2012 draws near and we'll probably see some pretty wild cults rise up.
Follow Up Video:
True and False Conversion Video
Next Week
For next week, please read the first chapter of 1 Thessalonians.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
August 31st - Evangelism
Prayer Requests –
Pastor Aaron and Denise
Taste of Kennesaw
Celebrate Freedom
3on3 Basketball
Homeless Outreach
More Students in Class
Harvesters for God's Fields
1 Peter 2:9-10 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
- a chosen race,
- a royal priesthood,
- a holy nation, (set-apart, sanctified)
- a people for his own possession
- called out of darkness into his marvelous light.
- Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people;
- once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
- That we may proclaim the excellencies of him who did all of these things.
The end goal of evangelism is the glory of God. When you share the Gospel with God as the goal, you don't have a tendency to water down the message, and a result of this is that people get saved. If the end goal is the salvation of men, then we have a tendency to change the Gospel and soften the message, and no-body gets saved. For example, no where in the Bible does it say to "Ask Jesus into your heart" and it's ridiculous to tell someone to do so. Jesus said "Repent and believe the Gospel, for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand!" (Mark 1:15) we should say the same.
Proclaim His Excellencies
Evangelism is a running theme through the Bible
Notice that you have to speak...
Romans 10:14-17 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!" But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?" So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
Psalm 126:6 He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.
Ephesians 4:25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.
Luke 10:2 And Jesus said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.
Matthew 10:27 What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.
Isaiah 6:8 And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" Then I said, "Here am I! Send me."
1 Corinthians 3:5-9 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.
1 Chronicles 16:8-9 Oh give thanks to the LORD; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples! Sing to him; sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works!
Jude 1:22-23 And have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.
Jude said, “Hating even their garments stained by sin…” (Jude 23)
Psalm 5:4-6 For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you. The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers. You destroy those who speak lies; the LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.
I have a replica of a Civil War Bullet here, if this bullet was used to kill someone, who would be responsible; the bullet, or the assassin? It would be foolish for God to hate the bullet, the sin, and not the assassin, the sinner.
It is imperative that we don’t say, “God hates the sin but loves the sinner…” The problem is that if the sinner thinks that God loves them no matter what they do, then when Christ was crushed, humiliated, and hated on the cross won’t make sense to them, because they don’t realize that Christ was hated in our place. When we witness to people, we're dealing directly with enemies of God, but God follows his own rule that you are to love your enemies. God’s Love in the Bible is always associated with an action, “God demonstrated his love for us that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) “Here is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John 4:10)
Here are some verses that pertain to us,
John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
Romans 9:2-3 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.
We should love people in the same way Christ loved us, through action. We must not condone their sin, but we don’t want to let them die in it either, even though they deserve Hell, like we did, there is reconciliation available with God.
2 Corinthians 5:19-21 In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Just as Jesus said, "Blessed are the peacemakers..." (Matthew 5:9), we are declaring peace available with God through Jesus Christ.
How do we do it?
Once again, I’d like Jesus to show us how to do it instead of me telling you how to do it. Remember we read Psalm 19 where it says that the Law of God is perfect at converting the soul (v. 7), the Commandment is pure, enlightening the eyes (v. 8)? Galatians 4:24 says that the Law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. Paul said, “I had not known sin but by the law.” (Romans 7:7)
Text: Luke 18:18-27 And a ruler asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: 'Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.'" And he said, "All these I have kept from my youth." When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, "How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God." Those who heard it said, "Then who can be saved?" But he said, "What is impossible with men is possible with God."
Proverbs 20:6 says that almost everyone will proclaim their own goodness, which is what the young man who came up to Jesus was doing, and Jesus told him straight out, there is none good but God.
Then he listed off some things, do you recognize which list he was quoting?
It was 5 of the 10 Commandments, and when the young man said he had kept those five, Jesus took him to the 1st Commandment, which is to keep God first in your heart, and it became clear that the young man loved money more than God. Jesus earlier said, “You can either serve God or money, you cannot serve both.” (Luke 16:13)
Using Luke 18 as a Template
Ray Comfort has come up with a great scripted witnessing tool using this verse to witness to people. It is easy to remember and starts out inoffensive but quickly shows each sinner that they are woefully lacking in God’s eyes. It goes like this,
“Would you consider yourself to be a good person?” – 99% of people will say yes.
“Would you like to take the good person test?” – 99% of people will say yes, they want to know just how good they are…
“Have you ever told a lie?” We start with this one because it is the least offensive, because everyone will admit to telling at least one lie. Some people will say, “Only when I didn’t want to hurt someone’s feelings.” In most cases this is called discretion and while maybe a lie in God’s eyes, skip the argument, and ask “I mean a regular, bold-faced lie, like your mom asked, 'Did you do that?' and you said no when you really had done it.”
“What do you call someone who lies?” – Most people will say a liar, if they won’t say, “It starts with L and rhymes with fire.” The goal is to get them to say liar so you don’t have to call them a liar, but that they admit to it themselves.
“Have you ever stolen anything, irregardless of value?”
“What do you call someone who steals things?” – Many people will say, “Stealer”, here is an opportunity for some humor to keep the conversation light at this point. Say, “Only if you’re from Pittsburg, if you’re from Atlanta, then you’re a thief, right?”
“Have you ever taken God’s name in vain?” – Most people will admit to it, but won’t know what it is called, so we say,
“That’s called blasphemy, it’s a very serious sin, the Bible says that God will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.”
“Final question…” (2 you can use here, I’ll let you guys pick which one you want)
- …You’ve heard it said of old, thou shalt not commit adultery, but Jesus said, ‘Whosoever looks upon someone to lust after them has committed adultery with them already in their heart.’ Have you ever looked with lust?”
- …You’ve heard it said of old, thou shalt not murder, but Jesus said, ‘If you hate someone you will be judged as a murderer.’ Have you ever hated someone?”
“Here’s the bad news, you’re not a good person, by your own admission, you’re a lying, thieving, blasphemous, adulterer/murderer at heart, and you have to face God on Judgment Day. Based on your admission of guilt, is he going to find you innocent or guilty?” – Many people will say innocent, some will say guilty. If they say innocent, tell them that,
“The Bible says that all liars will have their place in the Lake of Fire (Revelation 21:8), that no thief, blasphemer, adulterer (or murderer) has any inheritance in the kingdom of Heaven.” (1 Cor 6:9-10)
“Does it concern you that if you died tonight, God would be justified in sending you to Hell for eternity?” – Watch facial expressions, you’ll see things in their faces or hear things in their voice that they will be too proud to say.
“Do you know what God did so you don’t have to go to Hell?” – Some people will know, but won’t understand, some will just say no.
“2,000 years ago, Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh, was born of the virgin Mary, and he lived a perfect sinless life. He was tempted in every way that we've been tempted but he never succumbed. He was the only good man ever to walk the earth, the only man who deserved Heaven, but because he loved us, he stepped in and paid our fine by dying the most horrific death imaginable on the cross. He bore the full wrath of God so that we can be forgiven. Does that make sense?”
Most people will say that it does make sense, ask, “Do you know what you have to do to receive this forgiveness?” Most will say no.
“Jesus commands that you repent of your sins (Acts 17:30-31), which means to turn away and forsake them, and then trust completely in him and that his death on the cross was sufficient for your salvation. Then you can go to Heaven when you die, not because you’re a good person, but because you’re a bad person forgiven by a good God who paid your fine on the cross.”
“Do you have any questions?” Most people won’t have any questions. If you probably won’t ever see them again, consider giving them a Summit card, Canyon’s card, or with your parent’s permission, one of their cards, in case they think of questions later. Ask them if they have a Bible and tell them to read the Gospel of John to get a good idea of who Jesus is and how he wants them to live for him.
Example Videos:
Witnessing is the scariest thing you’ll ever do. I’ve been shot at and still giving someone a Gospel tract or witnessing to them is the scariest thing I've ever done. If it was easy, everyone would do it. The reward afterward is incredible though, and you’ll be walking on air afterwards no matter the outcome because you’ve been obedient to your Saviour, who is actually the one who is going to do any saving that occurs.
Jeremiah 1:4-9 Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations." Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth." But the LORD said to me, "Do not say, 'I am only a youth'; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, declares the LORD." Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the LORD said to me, "Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.
Follow up:
Put away falsehood; Share the Truth, by Canyon Shearer
Benediction
May the Lord of the Harvest employ you this week to labor in his fields, may he give you the words to speak and send you to those who need to hear. May he protect you, bless you, and use you for the glory of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, Amen.
Pastor Aaron and Denise
Taste of Kennesaw
Celebrate Freedom
3on3 Basketball
Homeless Outreach
More Students in Class
Harvesters for God's Fields
1 Peter 2:9-10 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
- a chosen race,
- a royal priesthood,
- a holy nation, (set-apart, sanctified)
- a people for his own possession
- called out of darkness into his marvelous light.
- Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people;
- once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
- That we may proclaim the excellencies of him who did all of these things.
The end goal of evangelism is the glory of God. When you share the Gospel with God as the goal, you don't have a tendency to water down the message, and a result of this is that people get saved. If the end goal is the salvation of men, then we have a tendency to change the Gospel and soften the message, and no-body gets saved. For example, no where in the Bible does it say to "Ask Jesus into your heart" and it's ridiculous to tell someone to do so. Jesus said "Repent and believe the Gospel, for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand!" (Mark 1:15) we should say the same.
Proclaim His Excellencies
Evangelism is a running theme through the Bible
Notice that you have to speak...
Romans 10:14-17 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!" But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?" So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
Psalm 126:6 He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.
Ephesians 4:25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.
Luke 10:2 And Jesus said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.
Matthew 10:27 What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.
Isaiah 6:8 And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" Then I said, "Here am I! Send me."
1 Corinthians 3:5-9 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.
1 Chronicles 16:8-9 Oh give thanks to the LORD; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples! Sing to him; sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works!
Jude 1:22-23 And have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.
Jude said, “Hating even their garments stained by sin…” (Jude 23)
Psalm 5:4-6 For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you. The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers. You destroy those who speak lies; the LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.
I have a replica of a Civil War Bullet here, if this bullet was used to kill someone, who would be responsible; the bullet, or the assassin? It would be foolish for God to hate the bullet, the sin, and not the assassin, the sinner.
It is imperative that we don’t say, “God hates the sin but loves the sinner…” The problem is that if the sinner thinks that God loves them no matter what they do, then when Christ was crushed, humiliated, and hated on the cross won’t make sense to them, because they don’t realize that Christ was hated in our place. When we witness to people, we're dealing directly with enemies of God, but God follows his own rule that you are to love your enemies. God’s Love in the Bible is always associated with an action, “God demonstrated his love for us that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) “Here is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John 4:10)
Here are some verses that pertain to us,
John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
Romans 9:2-3 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.
We should love people in the same way Christ loved us, through action. We must not condone their sin, but we don’t want to let them die in it either, even though they deserve Hell, like we did, there is reconciliation available with God.
2 Corinthians 5:19-21 In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Just as Jesus said, "Blessed are the peacemakers..." (Matthew 5:9), we are declaring peace available with God through Jesus Christ.
How do we do it?
Once again, I’d like Jesus to show us how to do it instead of me telling you how to do it. Remember we read Psalm 19 where it says that the Law of God is perfect at converting the soul (v. 7), the Commandment is pure, enlightening the eyes (v. 8)? Galatians 4:24 says that the Law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. Paul said, “I had not known sin but by the law.” (Romans 7:7)
Text: Luke 18:18-27 And a ruler asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: 'Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.'" And he said, "All these I have kept from my youth." When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, "How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God." Those who heard it said, "Then who can be saved?" But he said, "What is impossible with men is possible with God."
Proverbs 20:6 says that almost everyone will proclaim their own goodness, which is what the young man who came up to Jesus was doing, and Jesus told him straight out, there is none good but God.
Then he listed off some things, do you recognize which list he was quoting?
It was 5 of the 10 Commandments, and when the young man said he had kept those five, Jesus took him to the 1st Commandment, which is to keep God first in your heart, and it became clear that the young man loved money more than God. Jesus earlier said, “You can either serve God or money, you cannot serve both.” (Luke 16:13)
Using Luke 18 as a Template
Ray Comfort has come up with a great scripted witnessing tool using this verse to witness to people. It is easy to remember and starts out inoffensive but quickly shows each sinner that they are woefully lacking in God’s eyes. It goes like this,
“Would you consider yourself to be a good person?” – 99% of people will say yes.
“Would you like to take the good person test?” – 99% of people will say yes, they want to know just how good they are…
“Have you ever told a lie?” We start with this one because it is the least offensive, because everyone will admit to telling at least one lie. Some people will say, “Only when I didn’t want to hurt someone’s feelings.” In most cases this is called discretion and while maybe a lie in God’s eyes, skip the argument, and ask “I mean a regular, bold-faced lie, like your mom asked, 'Did you do that?' and you said no when you really had done it.”
“What do you call someone who lies?” – Most people will say a liar, if they won’t say, “It starts with L and rhymes with fire.” The goal is to get them to say liar so you don’t have to call them a liar, but that they admit to it themselves.
“Have you ever stolen anything, irregardless of value?”
“What do you call someone who steals things?” – Many people will say, “Stealer”, here is an opportunity for some humor to keep the conversation light at this point. Say, “Only if you’re from Pittsburg, if you’re from Atlanta, then you’re a thief, right?”
“Have you ever taken God’s name in vain?” – Most people will admit to it, but won’t know what it is called, so we say,
“That’s called blasphemy, it’s a very serious sin, the Bible says that God will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.”
“Final question…” (2 you can use here, I’ll let you guys pick which one you want)
- …You’ve heard it said of old, thou shalt not commit adultery, but Jesus said, ‘Whosoever looks upon someone to lust after them has committed adultery with them already in their heart.’ Have you ever looked with lust?”
- …You’ve heard it said of old, thou shalt not murder, but Jesus said, ‘If you hate someone you will be judged as a murderer.’ Have you ever hated someone?”
“Here’s the bad news, you’re not a good person, by your own admission, you’re a lying, thieving, blasphemous, adulterer/murderer at heart, and you have to face God on Judgment Day. Based on your admission of guilt, is he going to find you innocent or guilty?” – Many people will say innocent, some will say guilty. If they say innocent, tell them that,
“The Bible says that all liars will have their place in the Lake of Fire (Revelation 21:8), that no thief, blasphemer, adulterer (or murderer) has any inheritance in the kingdom of Heaven.” (1 Cor 6:9-10)
“Does it concern you that if you died tonight, God would be justified in sending you to Hell for eternity?” – Watch facial expressions, you’ll see things in their faces or hear things in their voice that they will be too proud to say.
“Do you know what God did so you don’t have to go to Hell?” – Some people will know, but won’t understand, some will just say no.
“2,000 years ago, Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh, was born of the virgin Mary, and he lived a perfect sinless life. He was tempted in every way that we've been tempted but he never succumbed. He was the only good man ever to walk the earth, the only man who deserved Heaven, but because he loved us, he stepped in and paid our fine by dying the most horrific death imaginable on the cross. He bore the full wrath of God so that we can be forgiven. Does that make sense?”
Most people will say that it does make sense, ask, “Do you know what you have to do to receive this forgiveness?” Most will say no.
“Jesus commands that you repent of your sins (Acts 17:30-31), which means to turn away and forsake them, and then trust completely in him and that his death on the cross was sufficient for your salvation. Then you can go to Heaven when you die, not because you’re a good person, but because you’re a bad person forgiven by a good God who paid your fine on the cross.”
“Do you have any questions?” Most people won’t have any questions. If you probably won’t ever see them again, consider giving them a Summit card, Canyon’s card, or with your parent’s permission, one of their cards, in case they think of questions later. Ask them if they have a Bible and tell them to read the Gospel of John to get a good idea of who Jesus is and how he wants them to live for him.
Example Videos:
Witnessing is the scariest thing you’ll ever do. I’ve been shot at and still giving someone a Gospel tract or witnessing to them is the scariest thing I've ever done. If it was easy, everyone would do it. The reward afterward is incredible though, and you’ll be walking on air afterwards no matter the outcome because you’ve been obedient to your Saviour, who is actually the one who is going to do any saving that occurs.
Jeremiah 1:4-9 Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations." Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth." But the LORD said to me, "Do not say, 'I am only a youth'; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, declares the LORD." Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the LORD said to me, "Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.
Follow up:
Put away falsehood; Share the Truth, by Canyon Shearer
Benediction
May the Lord of the Harvest employ you this week to labor in his fields, may he give you the words to speak and send you to those who need to hear. May he protect you, bless you, and use you for the glory of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, Amen.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
August 24th - Creation vs. Evolution
For Next Week, we will study evangelism. If at all possible, invite an unsaved friend to come to class!
Prayer Requests-
- Pastor Aaron
- McIntosh's moving
- Praise Report from KSU outreach
Recap - Week 1 - How to get to Heaven
You are saved by grace through faith, not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, so that no man may boast. - Ephesians 2:8-9
Justice is when you get what you deserve, which in this case is Hell for transgressing God's laws.
Mercy is when you don't get what you deserve, which would be if God gave you a reprieve from Hell but wouldn't let you into Heaven.
Grace is when you get what you don't deserve, not only did Christ pay your fine on the cross, he gave you his righteousness so that you can go to Heaven.
We are saved entirely by Christ's gracious payment on the cross and resurrection, this gift is received through faith, so that God gets all the credit and is the one that gets to boast.
Recap - Week 2 - Why the Bible
"This book will keep me from sin,
and sin will keep me from this book."
"A Bible that is falling apart almost always belongs to a person who isn't."
There are over 200 English translations of the Bible, and almost of all of them say the same thing about how to get to Heaven. The reason there are so many is for a lot of reasons. One is translation style, ensuring that certain aspects are emphasized, others are merely for monetary gain, the Bible is the all time best seller and publishers have a lot to gain in having a version. The worst reason is to force presuppositions into the text. Lets look at some different translations.
Good
English Standard Version (ESV) - Essentially literal, maintains poetic language of KJV, a beautiful and faithful translation of the Bible. Canyon prefers this Bible.
Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) - Preferred by Pastor Aaron and many others, very good Bible.
New American Standard Bible (NASB) - As literal as possible, literalness makes it blocky sometimes. Dave Snyder's preferred Bible.
New International Version (NIV) - Translated to remove ambiguity and improve readability. Is looked down upon by many but is a faithful and useful translation.
New King James Version (NKJV) - Attempted to make KJV more readable, but ran into some copyright issues. Still a good translation and easy to read.
Mediocre
King James Version (KJV) - Excellent translation of the Bible, preferred version for over 350 years, but readability is suffering and the English language has changed so much as to make the KJV very difficult to read. Impeccable translation, but not recommended due to difficulty of reading.
Today's New International Version (TNIV) - Gender inclusivity (neutrality) is teetering dangerously on modifying the Bible. Many good aspects, but with fatal flaws.
New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) and New American Bible (NAB) - Catholic Bibles, well translated in most points, but containing the Apocrypha (extra books). These Bibles will work if nothing else is available.
Bad
New World Translation (NWT) - Jehovah's Witness Bible, specifically edited to remove divinity of Christ.
Contempory English Version (CEV) - Dangerously plays down the sinfulness of sin. This Bible is becoming more and more popular amongst liberal churches.
Amplified Bible (AMP) - More of a running commentary than a translation, the authors force their presuppositions upon the reader and attempt to speak for the Bible.
The Message - A paraphrase of the Bible with damning presuppositions. Very liberal and strays far from biblical intent.
It is important to remember that the Bible is perfect in the original Greek and Hebrew, it is
Infallible - It is true yesterday, today, and forever.
Inerrant - There are no errors or contradictions. If someone shows you a contradiction, contact me or Dave Snyder or Google it, and I guarantee there will be an easy answer, no matter how difficult the "contradiction" seems to be.
Timeless - The Bible is as relevant today as it was when it was written as it will be 'till the end of time.
Most translations have minor translation errors, most of these do not change the meaning of the Bible. Reading at least two good translations will alleviate this issue. Overall the Bible can be trusted.
An example of a translation error is the King James Version, Genesis 1:21 which reads And God created great whales... The word for whales does not mean whales in any way shape or form. The word translated whales is tanniyn which means dragons. The King James Translators in 1611 had never seen a dragon and probably didn't believe they existed outside of the imagination, so they probably chose a large animal that was created on the 5th day, which is the whale. In the 1800's skeletons of dragons were discovered all over the world, their name has since been changed to dinosaur. The Bible speaks of giant reptiles in the sea in the 21st verse.
Elsewhere that dinosaurs are mentioned are Job 40:15-24, the author describes a Brontosaurus,
Behold, Behemoth,
which I made as I made you;
he eats grass like an ox.
Behold, his strength in his loins,
and his power in the muscles of his belly.
He makes his tail stiff like a cedar;
the sinews of his thighs are knit together.
His bones are tubes of bronze,
his limbs like bars of iron.
"He is the first of the works of God;
let him who made him bring near his sword!
For the mountains yield food for him
where all the wild beasts play.
Under the lotus plants he lies,
in the shelter of the reeds and in the marsh.
For his shade the lotus trees cover him;
the willows of the brook surround him.
Behold, if the river is turbulent he is not frightened;
he is confident though Jordan rushes against his mouth.
Can one take him by his eyes,
or pierce his nose with a snare?
And while we don't know what killed the dinosaurs, Isaiah tells us in his 27th chapter, verse 1, In that day the LORD with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will slay the dragon that is in the sea. God killed the dinosaurs, probably to demonstrate his power over these massive animals which men had a hard time killing.
Evolution is a religion with the end goal of saying there is no God, that men are evolving to become gods or as close as they feel is possible. They probably will try to teach you this in school, and we want you to be ready.
Below is a comparison chart:
1 big problem for both Creation and Evolution, there are stars at least 78 billion light years away according to the Hubble Telescope. Neither belief is old enough to account for this distance, however Einstein's Theory of Relativity says that speed is not as constant as we think it is, and therefore we don't have to worry about this since it is a problem for both beliefs, neither side can claim it.
It is estimated that there are enough stars for each person on Earth (7 Billion people) to own 11 Trillion stars personally. God knows all of the names of all of the stars (Psalm 147:4) and measures the width of the universe with the span of his hand. (Isaiah 40:12)
Evidence of Creation -
Complexity - Your eye contains 137 million light sensitive cells in the size of a postage stamp. It takes in a crystal clear image, focuses faster than you can think, determines distance automatically, has built in moisturizers and windshield wipers. Its complexity and perfection in design warrants a Creator in the same way a camera proves a camera maker.
Laws - The Laws of Gravity, ThermoDynamics, and Sin and Death (Romans 8:2), among many others, are so reliable that scientists never fear that gravity might change and ruin their experiments. These laws point to a Law-Giver.
7 Day Week - The year is based on rotation around the sun, the day is based on rotation on an axis, the lunar calendar is based on the moon's rotation, seasons are based on the tilt of the earth, but the 7-day week has no natural purpose. God created the Universe in 6 days and rested on the 7th, and now ~10,000 years later we still recognize a 7-day week.
Irreducible Complexity - Your heart is one of the most incredible pumps ever created, it pumps 2,000 gallons of blood a day continuously for decades with no external maintenance. But without blood it is useless, and blood without lungs to put oxygen in is useless, and oxegenated pumped blood is useless without arteries and arteries are worthless without veins. All of these are worthless without a body, and a body is worthless without a brain. Each of these must be in place to have a working circulatory system, and therefore could not have evolved, but must have been created whole.
Wall in History - History is fairly clear until ~2200 BC when everything gets fuzzy. The Bible tells us that just before this there was a great flood. We see evidence of this flood in rock layers, oil deposits, fossils, and a panoply of flood stories from all over the world.
Conclusion
Both Creation and Evolution are religions. One comes from God, the other comes from men. There is no doubt from a scientific basis that a world-wide flood occured, and that dinosaurs are in the Bible and other places in history.
Follow-up
Dinosaur Cave Paintings and Pottery
Creation Science Evangelism
Answers in Genesis
The Dying Religion of Evolution, by Canyon Shearer
If you run into a teacher who believes in Evolution, please consider standing up to him or her and simply tell them that your Bible Study Teacher says that evolution is a dying religion. Feel free to have them call me.
Don't forget to invite a friend to class next week, 8/31!
Canyon
928-606-6906
Prayer Requests-
- Pastor Aaron
- McIntosh's moving
- Praise Report from KSU outreach
Recap - Week 1 - How to get to Heaven
You are saved by grace through faith, not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, so that no man may boast. - Ephesians 2:8-9
Justice is when you get what you deserve, which in this case is Hell for transgressing God's laws.
Mercy is when you don't get what you deserve, which would be if God gave you a reprieve from Hell but wouldn't let you into Heaven.
Grace is when you get what you don't deserve, not only did Christ pay your fine on the cross, he gave you his righteousness so that you can go to Heaven.
We are saved entirely by Christ's gracious payment on the cross and resurrection, this gift is received through faith, so that God gets all the credit and is the one that gets to boast.
Recap - Week 2 - Why the Bible
"This book will keep me from sin,
and sin will keep me from this book."
"A Bible that is falling apart almost always belongs to a person who isn't."
There are over 200 English translations of the Bible, and almost of all of them say the same thing about how to get to Heaven. The reason there are so many is for a lot of reasons. One is translation style, ensuring that certain aspects are emphasized, others are merely for monetary gain, the Bible is the all time best seller and publishers have a lot to gain in having a version. The worst reason is to force presuppositions into the text. Lets look at some different translations.
Good
English Standard Version (ESV) - Essentially literal, maintains poetic language of KJV, a beautiful and faithful translation of the Bible. Canyon prefers this Bible.
Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) - Preferred by Pastor Aaron and many others, very good Bible.
New American Standard Bible (NASB) - As literal as possible, literalness makes it blocky sometimes. Dave Snyder's preferred Bible.
New International Version (NIV) - Translated to remove ambiguity and improve readability. Is looked down upon by many but is a faithful and useful translation.
New King James Version (NKJV) - Attempted to make KJV more readable, but ran into some copyright issues. Still a good translation and easy to read.
Mediocre
King James Version (KJV) - Excellent translation of the Bible, preferred version for over 350 years, but readability is suffering and the English language has changed so much as to make the KJV very difficult to read. Impeccable translation, but not recommended due to difficulty of reading.
Today's New International Version (TNIV) - Gender inclusivity (neutrality) is teetering dangerously on modifying the Bible. Many good aspects, but with fatal flaws.
New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) and New American Bible (NAB) - Catholic Bibles, well translated in most points, but containing the Apocrypha (extra books). These Bibles will work if nothing else is available.
Bad
New World Translation (NWT) - Jehovah's Witness Bible, specifically edited to remove divinity of Christ.
Contempory English Version (CEV) - Dangerously plays down the sinfulness of sin. This Bible is becoming more and more popular amongst liberal churches.
Amplified Bible (AMP) - More of a running commentary than a translation, the authors force their presuppositions upon the reader and attempt to speak for the Bible.
The Message - A paraphrase of the Bible with damning presuppositions. Very liberal and strays far from biblical intent.
It is important to remember that the Bible is perfect in the original Greek and Hebrew, it is
Infallible - It is true yesterday, today, and forever.
Inerrant - There are no errors or contradictions. If someone shows you a contradiction, contact me or Dave Snyder or Google it, and I guarantee there will be an easy answer, no matter how difficult the "contradiction" seems to be.
Timeless - The Bible is as relevant today as it was when it was written as it will be 'till the end of time.
Most translations have minor translation errors, most of these do not change the meaning of the Bible. Reading at least two good translations will alleviate this issue. Overall the Bible can be trusted.
An example of a translation error is the King James Version, Genesis 1:21 which reads And God created great whales... The word for whales does not mean whales in any way shape or form. The word translated whales is tanniyn which means dragons. The King James Translators in 1611 had never seen a dragon and probably didn't believe they existed outside of the imagination, so they probably chose a large animal that was created on the 5th day, which is the whale. In the 1800's skeletons of dragons were discovered all over the world, their name has since been changed to dinosaur. The Bible speaks of giant reptiles in the sea in the 21st verse.
Elsewhere that dinosaurs are mentioned are Job 40:15-24, the author describes a Brontosaurus,
Behold, Behemoth,
which I made as I made you;
he eats grass like an ox.
Behold, his strength in his loins,
and his power in the muscles of his belly.
He makes his tail stiff like a cedar;
the sinews of his thighs are knit together.
His bones are tubes of bronze,
his limbs like bars of iron.
"He is the first of the works of God;
let him who made him bring near his sword!
For the mountains yield food for him
where all the wild beasts play.
Under the lotus plants he lies,
in the shelter of the reeds and in the marsh.
For his shade the lotus trees cover him;
the willows of the brook surround him.
Behold, if the river is turbulent he is not frightened;
he is confident though Jordan rushes against his mouth.
Can one take him by his eyes,
or pierce his nose with a snare?
And while we don't know what killed the dinosaurs, Isaiah tells us in his 27th chapter, verse 1, In that day the LORD with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will slay the dragon that is in the sea. God killed the dinosaurs, probably to demonstrate his power over these massive animals which men had a hard time killing.
Evolution is a religion with the end goal of saying there is no God, that men are evolving to become gods or as close as they feel is possible. They probably will try to teach you this in school, and we want you to be ready.
Below is a comparison chart:
| Creation Proven Man caused death Evidence points to design - Genesis 1:1 Purpose Getting Worse Chicken 6,600-10,000 years old Admit we know very little Life begits life | Evolution Disproven Death caused man Evidence forced to fit model 2 Peter 2:5-6 Accident Getting Better Egg 16 Billion years old Think they know a lot Abiogenesis disproved |
1 big problem for both Creation and Evolution, there are stars at least 78 billion light years away according to the Hubble Telescope. Neither belief is old enough to account for this distance, however Einstein's Theory of Relativity says that speed is not as constant as we think it is, and therefore we don't have to worry about this since it is a problem for both beliefs, neither side can claim it.
It is estimated that there are enough stars for each person on Earth (7 Billion people) to own 11 Trillion stars personally. God knows all of the names of all of the stars (Psalm 147:4) and measures the width of the universe with the span of his hand. (Isaiah 40:12)
Evidence of Creation -
Complexity - Your eye contains 137 million light sensitive cells in the size of a postage stamp. It takes in a crystal clear image, focuses faster than you can think, determines distance automatically, has built in moisturizers and windshield wipers. Its complexity and perfection in design warrants a Creator in the same way a camera proves a camera maker.
Laws - The Laws of Gravity, ThermoDynamics, and Sin and Death (Romans 8:2), among many others, are so reliable that scientists never fear that gravity might change and ruin their experiments. These laws point to a Law-Giver.
7 Day Week - The year is based on rotation around the sun, the day is based on rotation on an axis, the lunar calendar is based on the moon's rotation, seasons are based on the tilt of the earth, but the 7-day week has no natural purpose. God created the Universe in 6 days and rested on the 7th, and now ~10,000 years later we still recognize a 7-day week.
Irreducible Complexity - Your heart is one of the most incredible pumps ever created, it pumps 2,000 gallons of blood a day continuously for decades with no external maintenance. But without blood it is useless, and blood without lungs to put oxygen in is useless, and oxegenated pumped blood is useless without arteries and arteries are worthless without veins. All of these are worthless without a body, and a body is worthless without a brain. Each of these must be in place to have a working circulatory system, and therefore could not have evolved, but must have been created whole.
Wall in History - History is fairly clear until ~2200 BC when everything gets fuzzy. The Bible tells us that just before this there was a great flood. We see evidence of this flood in rock layers, oil deposits, fossils, and a panoply of flood stories from all over the world.
Conclusion
Both Creation and Evolution are religions. One comes from God, the other comes from men. There is no doubt from a scientific basis that a world-wide flood occured, and that dinosaurs are in the Bible and other places in history.
Follow-up
Dinosaur Cave Paintings and Pottery
Creation Science Evangelism
Answers in Genesis
The Dying Religion of Evolution, by Canyon Shearer
If you run into a teacher who believes in Evolution, please consider standing up to him or her and simply tell them that your Bible Study Teacher says that evolution is a dying religion. Feel free to have them call me.
Don't forget to invite a friend to class next week, 8/31!
Canyon
928-606-6906
Sunday, August 17, 2008
August 17th - Why the Bible
Prayer Requests -
- Pastor Aaron
- KSU Outreach with Jud and Canyon
- Middle School Class Start-up
The main reason we need to know the Bible is so that we recognize when people are using it wrongly. For example, Psalm 14:1 very clearly says, "There is no God"
When we read it in context, we learn that what it actually says is,
The fool says in his heart, "There is no God."
They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds,
there is none who does good.
There are a lot of things people come up with, like the Emergent Church and Christus Victor which believes Christ came to save us from sickness and sadness instead of the wrath of God.
There will always be attacks on the Bible, but it has survived so far and I promise you will survive until Christ returns. It has been called, "The anvil that has been wearing out hammers for 2000 years."
I found a write-up I liked a lot from 1891 in a Messianic Jewish journal,
If the permanency of Scripture itself is a marvel, no less marvelous is the romance of Criticism with whcih it is inseparably associated. We call it romance, because there as been no theory too wild to be fastened to it, no view too absurd to be connected with its stories and chronicles. The rise and decline of such schools of criticism have been constant. Each believe that it has discovered a secret; each prides itself on superior scholarship. Each claims to be based on the latest discoveries, and lo! each passes away with all its positiveness and erudition and the Bible remains.
Last eve I paused beside the blacksmith's door,
And heard the anvil ring the vesper chime.
Then looking in, I saw upon the floor
Old hammers worn with beating years of time.
How many anvils have you had? asked I,
to wear and batter these hammers so?
Just one, said he, then said, with twinkling eye,
The anvil wears the hammers out, you know.
And so, I thought, the Anvil of God's Word
For ages sceptic blows have beat upon.
Yet, though the noise of falling blows was heard,
The anvil is unharmed - the hammers gone.
2 Timothy 3:14-17 As for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.
-The Bible will make you wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.
-It reveals everything we need to know about life, Heaven, holiness, and especially God.
-It is valuable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness.
-It will straighten out weird and wrong views just by reading it, and you can find the answer to the questions you have about God contained within.
John 1:1,14 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Here we see that Word is referring to Jesus. He was in the beginning, he was with God, and he is God. It is great mystery on how Jesus relates directly to this Bible, because the Bible I hold before you is not physically God, but it does contain the revelation of God and words that can lead to Eternal Life.
Hebrews 1:1-2 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.
Everything we need to know is recorded in this Bible. It is the only revelation of God to mankind, and it is all we need. It is sufficient to bring us to repentance and faith in Christ, and when people say they've heard from God, if it didn't come out of the Bible, they have not heard from God.
John 14:23-26 Jesus answered him, "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me. "These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
There is a direct correlation to loving Christ and his Word, and God welcoming you into his family.
Everything that Christ said was from the Father.
What Christ spoke was later written down by his Apostle's and direct disciples, what they wrote was straight from the Holy Spirit helping them to remember. While I can write something with a pen, it is the pen actually marking the paper, but I am controlling the pen, the same with the writers of the Bible, they were doing the work, but the Holy Spirit was controlling them to write accurately and truthfully.
I think it was probably a joy to be writing, like the Apostle John, and saying, "I forgot Christ said that!" It must have been a treat to be used by God in such a powerful way as to convey the revealed Word of God to so many.
John 21:25 Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.
What we have here is a snippet of Christ's life, and what is written is what God wants us to know. He has purposefully chosen the parts of Christ's life that we will know and learn from. It helps us to have a book we can be familiar with, instead of a library which would be impossible for a person to learn in a lifetime. When different books come up, like the Gospel of Thomas or other books that haven't historically been in the Bible, you can know that God specifically chose the Bible for you to read and know. He is in control.
Hebrews 4:12-13 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
We're not trying to convince people the Bible is true, because it is impossible to convince someone into Heaven, you have to use the Bible as it is intended, as a weapon to defeat their self-righteousness.
I was with my friend Aaron at a Starbucks and he witnessed to the cashier, Merideth, and he asked her, "Have you ever stolen anything?" And she answered, "Well, maybe someone's boyfriend..." and I said, "Uh-oh, that leads to the next one." Aaron quoted Matthew 5:27-28 to her and she physically deflated, you could see her pride go away and she was wounded by the Word of God. Until that moment the Good News of the Gospel didn't make sense to her, but now I am fairly certain we will see her in Heaven.
Charles Spurgeon said, "Defend the Bible? Would you defend a lion? Loose him, and let him go!"
Isaiah 55:10-11 For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
You never know which verse might get someone saved, for me it was 1 Timothy 3:16 quoted by a nut in a park screaming that the reason the world is going to Hell is because women are allowed to speak in the church! Obviously he has no scriptural precedent, the reason the world is going to Hell is because of rampant sin, but he quoted, "Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh..." and it rocked by world-view.
For David Berkowitz, the "Son of Sam", who murdered six people, he read the entire New Testament and then got saved while reading Psalm 34:6, "This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles."
It's not our job to convert anyone, we must preach the Word, because Paul said that faith comes by hearing, and hearing the Word of Christ. (Romans 10:17)
Philippians 2:16 holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.
We hold fast to the Word of Life, we know that we have eternal life if we do what it says. Just as the Olympians right now are competing, we are also competing for crowns in Heaven with the end goal of giving them to Christ. The Bible contains everything we need to know in order to live a God-pleasing life that will end in him being glorified and us going to Heaven.
John 12:48 The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.
The final judgment will be done by the Word of God. It is unchangeable, and we know that there will be no extra rules on Judgment Day.
We won't get to Heaven, having repented and trusting in Christ and his payment on Calvary's cross, only to be turned away because we failed to get the memo that we had to do a pilgrimage to Bethlehem in order to get in. No, the Bible tells us everything we need to know, and the Book of 1st John contains the word "know" 32 times, God wants us to know we have been saved.
Psalm 19:7-11 The law of the LORD is perfect,
reviving the soul;
the testimony of the LORD is sure,
making wise the simple;
the precepts of the LORD are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the LORD is pure,
enlightening the eyes;
the fear of the LORD is clean,
enduring forever;
the rules of the LORD are true,
and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold,
even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey
and drippings of the honeycomb.
Moreover, by them is your servant warned;
in keeping them there is great reward.
All of these are about the Bible,
The law is perfect for conversion,
The testimony is sure, it gives us wisdom,
The precepts are right, they bring us joy,
The commandment is pure; it enlightens our lives,
The fear of God is clean, it lasts forever,
The rules are true and are entirely righteous,
The Bible is better than gold, sweeter than honey, and reading and doing it will result in a great reward.
James said, "But be doers of the word, and not hearers only..." (James 1:22)
Therefore, read your Bible everyday, but make sure you're putting what you read to practice.
On how the Bible was translated, it was originally written in Hebrew (Old Testament) and Greek (New Testament), the Roman Catholic Church translated it into Latin, and Latin it stayed for 1,000 years. John Wycliffe realized that England needed an English Bible and set out to translate the Bible from Latin into English. His translation was far from perfect, being a translation of a translation, but it was better than nothing and the Catholic Church began to fight the translation. Wycliffe died of a stroke before he could be executed.
About forty years later John Huss of Hungary translated the Bible into his native language, he was not so fortunate as Wycliffe and was taken prisoner by the Catholic Church after being promised safe passage to discuss his translation efforts. Their reasoning was that they did not have to keep their promise to enemies of Rome. (See Matthew 5:33-37 for rebuttal) Huss was burned at the stake and his ashes thrown into the River Swift. At the same time the Roman Catholic Church decided to make an example of translators and dug up John Wycliffe and burned his bones to ashes.
Then the Muslims sacked Constantinople and the Eastern Orthodox Church fled into Europe. They brought original Greek and Hebrew copies of the Bible. Meanwhile the printing press was invented which turned making a copy of the Bible from a year long endeavor to several Bibles a day. Desidarius Erasmus, a Roman Catholic, got ahold of a Greek copy of the Bible and translated it into German. Martin Luther read it, and started the Reformation.
Meanwhile, a small group of scholars was meeting in Zurich. They were studying languages and needed a good book written in Greek. They got the Best Book written in Greek, the New Testament, and nearly all of them were converted. Amongst these were Felix Manz, Michael Sattler, Ulrich Zwingli, Balthasar Hubmaier, and many other famous names of the Reformation.
Felix Manz became convinced that the Bible taught that baptism follows faith, and for his ardent preaching against baptismal regeneration and state-sponsored churches, they decided to baptize him to death in the river in Zurich. He preached all the way, despite opposition pleading with him to follow man-made religion instead of the Bible. His mother followed on the opposite side of the river encouraging him to continue preaching the truth and to stand for God. Manz preached until being pushed into the river with hands and legs tied.
A few months later, Michael Sattler was sentenced to be burnt at the stake. In order to keep him from preaching, they cut out his tongue. By the grace of God, he was still able to preach without a tongue. His friends were not afraid of death, because they knew they would be resurrected with Christ, but they were afraid of dying, because they knew it would hurt. Sattler told them he would give them a sign if dying was bearable. His hands were tied behind his back and he was set ablaze. After a little while the rope burned through and his hands were free. He gave his friends the promised sign by pointing skyward until the flames consumed him.
Maekyn Wenz was a few years later, but she was a great preacher and threat to state sponsored religion. She was sentenced to be burnt at the stake, and her preaching the Gospel was so threatening that her persecutors enlisted a blacksmith to make a tongue-screw which would keep her from being able to preach. It worked, and after the flames had died down, all that was left was the tongue screw.
In conclusion, the Word of God is offensive, those that know it either love it or hate it, and those that are in the middle aren't paying attention. Women are just as capable and responsible to preach the Gospel as men, and we should be prepared to lose friends, property, and life for the Bible, which contains the only Way to Everlasting Life and reconciliation with God.
- Pastor Aaron
- KSU Outreach with Jud and Canyon
- Middle School Class Start-up
The main reason we need to know the Bible is so that we recognize when people are using it wrongly. For example, Psalm 14:1 very clearly says, "There is no God"
When we read it in context, we learn that what it actually says is,
The fool says in his heart, "There is no God."
They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds,
there is none who does good.
There are a lot of things people come up with, like the Emergent Church and Christus Victor which believes Christ came to save us from sickness and sadness instead of the wrath of God.
There will always be attacks on the Bible, but it has survived so far and I promise you will survive until Christ returns. It has been called, "The anvil that has been wearing out hammers for 2000 years."
I found a write-up I liked a lot from 1891 in a Messianic Jewish journal,
If the permanency of Scripture itself is a marvel, no less marvelous is the romance of Criticism with whcih it is inseparably associated. We call it romance, because there as been no theory too wild to be fastened to it, no view too absurd to be connected with its stories and chronicles. The rise and decline of such schools of criticism have been constant. Each believe that it has discovered a secret; each prides itself on superior scholarship. Each claims to be based on the latest discoveries, and lo! each passes away with all its positiveness and erudition and the Bible remains.
Last eve I paused beside the blacksmith's door,
And heard the anvil ring the vesper chime.
Then looking in, I saw upon the floor
Old hammers worn with beating years of time.
How many anvils have you had? asked I,
to wear and batter these hammers so?
Just one, said he, then said, with twinkling eye,
The anvil wears the hammers out, you know.
And so, I thought, the Anvil of God's Word
For ages sceptic blows have beat upon.
Yet, though the noise of falling blows was heard,
The anvil is unharmed - the hammers gone.
2 Timothy 3:14-17 As for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.
-The Bible will make you wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.
-It reveals everything we need to know about life, Heaven, holiness, and especially God.
-It is valuable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness.
-It will straighten out weird and wrong views just by reading it, and you can find the answer to the questions you have about God contained within.
John 1:1,14 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Here we see that Word is referring to Jesus. He was in the beginning, he was with God, and he is God. It is great mystery on how Jesus relates directly to this Bible, because the Bible I hold before you is not physically God, but it does contain the revelation of God and words that can lead to Eternal Life.
Hebrews 1:1-2 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.
Everything we need to know is recorded in this Bible. It is the only revelation of God to mankind, and it is all we need. It is sufficient to bring us to repentance and faith in Christ, and when people say they've heard from God, if it didn't come out of the Bible, they have not heard from God.
John 14:23-26 Jesus answered him, "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me. "These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
There is a direct correlation to loving Christ and his Word, and God welcoming you into his family.
Everything that Christ said was from the Father.
What Christ spoke was later written down by his Apostle's and direct disciples, what they wrote was straight from the Holy Spirit helping them to remember. While I can write something with a pen, it is the pen actually marking the paper, but I am controlling the pen, the same with the writers of the Bible, they were doing the work, but the Holy Spirit was controlling them to write accurately and truthfully.
I think it was probably a joy to be writing, like the Apostle John, and saying, "I forgot Christ said that!" It must have been a treat to be used by God in such a powerful way as to convey the revealed Word of God to so many.
John 21:25 Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.
What we have here is a snippet of Christ's life, and what is written is what God wants us to know. He has purposefully chosen the parts of Christ's life that we will know and learn from. It helps us to have a book we can be familiar with, instead of a library which would be impossible for a person to learn in a lifetime. When different books come up, like the Gospel of Thomas or other books that haven't historically been in the Bible, you can know that God specifically chose the Bible for you to read and know. He is in control.
Hebrews 4:12-13 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
We're not trying to convince people the Bible is true, because it is impossible to convince someone into Heaven, you have to use the Bible as it is intended, as a weapon to defeat their self-righteousness.
I was with my friend Aaron at a Starbucks and he witnessed to the cashier, Merideth, and he asked her, "Have you ever stolen anything?" And she answered, "Well, maybe someone's boyfriend..." and I said, "Uh-oh, that leads to the next one." Aaron quoted Matthew 5:27-28 to her and she physically deflated, you could see her pride go away and she was wounded by the Word of God. Until that moment the Good News of the Gospel didn't make sense to her, but now I am fairly certain we will see her in Heaven.
Charles Spurgeon said, "Defend the Bible? Would you defend a lion? Loose him, and let him go!"
Isaiah 55:10-11 For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
You never know which verse might get someone saved, for me it was 1 Timothy 3:16 quoted by a nut in a park screaming that the reason the world is going to Hell is because women are allowed to speak in the church! Obviously he has no scriptural precedent, the reason the world is going to Hell is because of rampant sin, but he quoted, "Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh..." and it rocked by world-view.
For David Berkowitz, the "Son of Sam", who murdered six people, he read the entire New Testament and then got saved while reading Psalm 34:6, "This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles."
It's not our job to convert anyone, we must preach the Word, because Paul said that faith comes by hearing, and hearing the Word of Christ. (Romans 10:17)
Philippians 2:16 holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.
We hold fast to the Word of Life, we know that we have eternal life if we do what it says. Just as the Olympians right now are competing, we are also competing for crowns in Heaven with the end goal of giving them to Christ. The Bible contains everything we need to know in order to live a God-pleasing life that will end in him being glorified and us going to Heaven.
John 12:48 The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.
The final judgment will be done by the Word of God. It is unchangeable, and we know that there will be no extra rules on Judgment Day.
We won't get to Heaven, having repented and trusting in Christ and his payment on Calvary's cross, only to be turned away because we failed to get the memo that we had to do a pilgrimage to Bethlehem in order to get in. No, the Bible tells us everything we need to know, and the Book of 1st John contains the word "know" 32 times, God wants us to know we have been saved.
Psalm 19:7-11 The law of the LORD is perfect,
reviving the soul;
the testimony of the LORD is sure,
making wise the simple;
the precepts of the LORD are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the LORD is pure,
enlightening the eyes;
the fear of the LORD is clean,
enduring forever;
the rules of the LORD are true,
and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold,
even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey
and drippings of the honeycomb.
Moreover, by them is your servant warned;
in keeping them there is great reward.
All of these are about the Bible,
The law is perfect for conversion,
The testimony is sure, it gives us wisdom,
The precepts are right, they bring us joy,
The commandment is pure; it enlightens our lives,
The fear of God is clean, it lasts forever,
The rules are true and are entirely righteous,
The Bible is better than gold, sweeter than honey, and reading and doing it will result in a great reward.
James said, "But be doers of the word, and not hearers only..." (James 1:22)
Therefore, read your Bible everyday, but make sure you're putting what you read to practice.
On how the Bible was translated, it was originally written in Hebrew (Old Testament) and Greek (New Testament), the Roman Catholic Church translated it into Latin, and Latin it stayed for 1,000 years. John Wycliffe realized that England needed an English Bible and set out to translate the Bible from Latin into English. His translation was far from perfect, being a translation of a translation, but it was better than nothing and the Catholic Church began to fight the translation. Wycliffe died of a stroke before he could be executed.
About forty years later John Huss of Hungary translated the Bible into his native language, he was not so fortunate as Wycliffe and was taken prisoner by the Catholic Church after being promised safe passage to discuss his translation efforts. Their reasoning was that they did not have to keep their promise to enemies of Rome. (See Matthew 5:33-37 for rebuttal) Huss was burned at the stake and his ashes thrown into the River Swift. At the same time the Roman Catholic Church decided to make an example of translators and dug up John Wycliffe and burned his bones to ashes.
Then the Muslims sacked Constantinople and the Eastern Orthodox Church fled into Europe. They brought original Greek and Hebrew copies of the Bible. Meanwhile the printing press was invented which turned making a copy of the Bible from a year long endeavor to several Bibles a day. Desidarius Erasmus, a Roman Catholic, got ahold of a Greek copy of the Bible and translated it into German. Martin Luther read it, and started the Reformation.
Meanwhile, a small group of scholars was meeting in Zurich. They were studying languages and needed a good book written in Greek. They got the Best Book written in Greek, the New Testament, and nearly all of them were converted. Amongst these were Felix Manz, Michael Sattler, Ulrich Zwingli, Balthasar Hubmaier, and many other famous names of the Reformation.
Felix Manz became convinced that the Bible taught that baptism follows faith, and for his ardent preaching against baptismal regeneration and state-sponsored churches, they decided to baptize him to death in the river in Zurich. He preached all the way, despite opposition pleading with him to follow man-made religion instead of the Bible. His mother followed on the opposite side of the river encouraging him to continue preaching the truth and to stand for God. Manz preached until being pushed into the river with hands and legs tied.
A few months later, Michael Sattler was sentenced to be burnt at the stake. In order to keep him from preaching, they cut out his tongue. By the grace of God, he was still able to preach without a tongue. His friends were not afraid of death, because they knew they would be resurrected with Christ, but they were afraid of dying, because they knew it would hurt. Sattler told them he would give them a sign if dying was bearable. His hands were tied behind his back and he was set ablaze. After a little while the rope burned through and his hands were free. He gave his friends the promised sign by pointing skyward until the flames consumed him.
Maekyn Wenz was a few years later, but she was a great preacher and threat to state sponsored religion. She was sentenced to be burnt at the stake, and her preaching the Gospel was so threatening that her persecutors enlisted a blacksmith to make a tongue-screw which would keep her from being able to preach. It worked, and after the flames had died down, all that was left was the tongue screw.
In conclusion, the Word of God is offensive, those that know it either love it or hate it, and those that are in the middle aren't paying attention. Women are just as capable and responsible to preach the Gospel as men, and we should be prepared to lose friends, property, and life for the Bible, which contains the only Way to Everlasting Life and reconciliation with God.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
August 10th - How Do You Get to Heaven?
Prayer Requests -
- Pastor Aaron
Text - Matthew 5:17-48
The background is that Jesus went up on a mountain and sat down to teach his disciples specifically, but then a crowd gathered and he preached the most famous sermon ever, called the "Sermon on the Mount". I believe that this mountain was probably created specifically to have perfect accoustics to share the truths Jesus was about to share, to explain to his listeners how they could attain Heaven.
So, I could tell you how to get to Heaven, but I would much rather let Jesus do it.
v. 17 "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
The Law and the Prophets are two of the three portions of the Old Testament. The Law is the first 5 Books of Moses, from Genesis to Deuteronomy. The Prophets are the writings of those like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah, Micah and many more. Not mentioned here, but mentioned elsewhere (Luke 24:44) are the Psalms, or Writings, which are things like the Book of Proverbs, Psalms, and Ecclesiastes. The Law, Prophets, and Writings is another way to say, "The entire Old Testament."
Jesus was claiming to be the Messiah in this verse, he was fulfilling the Messianic prophecies.
v. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.
Here Jesus is speaking of a different Law, specifically the Law of the 10 Commandments given to Moses on Mt. Sinai. (Exodus 20) This Law is the embodiment of truth and knowledge. (Romans 2:20)
They are:
1. You shall have no others Gods
2. You shalt not make any graven image (money, idols)
3. You shalt not take the name of the Lord your God in vain
4. Honor the Sabbath Day, to keep it Holy
5. Obey your Father and Mother, that your days may be long on the earth
6. Thou shalt not murder
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery
8. Thou shalt not steal
9. Thou shalt not bear false witness (aka lie)
10. Thou shalt not covet
v. 19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
If you keep and teach the Law perfectly, you will be called great in the kingdom of heaven, but failing to keep them has dire consequences.
v. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Scribes and Pharisees were the religious leaders of the day. This could be rewritten today as, "unless your righteousness exceeds that of the pastor and the elders, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." Notice that it says exceeds, Jesus was saying that the Pharisees and scribes, whose job it was to keep religious ordinances, were not righteous enough to enter Heaven.
v. 21-26 "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.' But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, 'You fool!' will be liable to the hell of fire. So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.
Jesus began to confront his listeners with how righteous they must be. He specifically chose the Commandment that most of them thought they had kept, the 6th Commandment which says, "Thou shalt not murder." He showed them that God was concerned both with their actions and the intents of their heart, and if they'd had murderous thoughts, they would be judged as murderers.
The word translated "You Fool" is Raka which does not have a direct English translation. By our best account, this word is similar to the f-word or s-word and is very strong language to express dislike. The Bible calls some people fools (Psalm 14:1 for example) so the main context is being angry without cause, because Christ was frequently angry with cause, and Psalm 7:11 says God is angry with the wicked every day.
Verse 25 links the natural world with the spiritual world, Christ showed his listeners that they had a debt to pay against God which was bigger than they could possibly pay. He said, "You will never get out until you have paid the last penny." A sin against an infinite God requires an infinite retribution, and so the punishment of Hell will go on forever.
v. 27-30 "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.
Again Christ showed that God is concerned with the intents of the heart.
Compare Job 31:1-4
I have made a covenant with my eyes;
how then could I gaze at a virgin?
What would be my portion from God above
and my heritage from the Almighty on high?
Is not calamity for the unrighteous,
and disaster for the workers of iniquity?
Does not he see my ways
and number all my steps?
When we make a covenant with our eyes, we look away from things that will cause lust in our hearts. Girls can be just as guilty as the guys that are looking at them if they dress immodestly. (1 Timothy 2:9-10)
Here Hell shows us how much God hates sin, that he will punish it for eternity.
v. 31-32 "It was also said, 'Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.' But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
God hates divorce. One reason is because the church is the Bride of Christ, and our marriages represent his betrothal with the church. It is important to note that Christ will be wedding one church, which is made up of all believers, he is not marrying each individual believer. I will not be wearing a wedding dress, because if Christ married each believer, he would be an adulterer. Be careful while listening to "Christian Radio" because they often refer to Jesus less as our Lord and Saviour and more as our girlfriend and boyfriend, and this is obviously not true and is very insulting to Christ.
v. 33-37 "Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.' But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say be simply 'Yes' or 'No'; anything more than this comes from evil.
I like this verse, because it says what it means, which is to say what you mean. Keep your promises, and don't make promises you know you can't keep.
v. 38-42 "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.
Jesus later said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." (Acts 20:35) This is the summation of this verse, and how Jesus conducted his ministry. He was wronged in more ways than we could count, yet he still gave and gave and is the most followed man in history.
Another way to say the Acts 20:35 verse is, "You receive more through giving than you do by taking." Because you receive blessings by giving.
v. 43-47 "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?
Reach out to others, both friends and non. No-one deserves Heaven, but Christ reached out to us, so should we do the same with others. One way of doing this is through Gospel tracts.
v. 48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Verse 48 brings the whole thing together, first Jesus said their righteousness must exceed the religious leaders' righteousness, then he concluded, "You must be perfect." Many people who were listening to this sermon probably thought they were going to Heaven when it started, and there were probably some parts that made them think they were definitely going, but once Jesus got to hatred being the same as murder and lust the same as adultery, they realized they were not going to make it. Jesus confirmed that by saying they must be perfect.
Is anyone in this class perfect? We're not, so we're also in trouble, we need to have perfect righteousness to get to Heaven. The reason we read the Sermon on the Mount was because you have to see yourself as lost before you can be found, you have to humble yourself before the Lord before he will lift you up.
1 Corinthians 5:21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
My sister likes the phrase, "Jesus lived a perfect life and faced a sinner's judgment so that we can live a sinner's life and face a righteous judgment." Jesus was God in every way, he was born of the virgin Mary, where he lived a perfect, sinless life, and demonstrated his love for us by dying in our place on the cross. He paid every last penny of our infinite debt by facing the full and infinite wrath of God. His perfection can be credited to our account and we can go to Heaven based on his merits.
Verses 3-9 of Matthew 5 explain what we must do.
v. 3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
These are the people the don't think they can make it on their own goodness, who recognize their badness.
v. 4 "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Mourn over your sin and how much it has offended God.
v. 5 "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Fall down at the feet of God and admit to your sinfulness and lostness.
v. 6 "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
This is the hardest one. Do your best to stop sinning and start seeking after godliness. Make a covenant with your eyes, try to keep your thoughts pure, do your absolute best, strive for perfection.
v. 7 "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
Forgive others as Christ will forgive you. Afterall, your offense against God is infinitely bigger than any offense someone can make against you.
v. 8 "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Ezekiel said that sins have made our heart sick. (Ezekiel 16:30) So those with sin are not pure in heart and will not see God. But God says that he will replace our heart with a new heart (Ezekiel 36:26), then our new heart, washed by the blood shed by Jesus Christ, will be pure and allow us to see God.
v. 9 "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
This isn't like someone who stops a war between countries, this is someone who makes peace between men and God. The Bible says we have made ourselves enemies of God (James 4:4), and that Jesus Christ offers the peace treaty (Romans 5:1), therefore a peacemaker is someone who declares the Good News of peace available with God through the cross of Christ.
In all, these 7 verses can be summarized with one word, "Repent" which is a turning from sin to righteousness, instead of running away from God, running towards him.
When you repent and put your faith in Jesus Christ and his atoning death and resurrection, then you can go to Heaven on his righteousness, not because you're a good person, but because you're a bad person forgiven by a good God who paid your fine on the cross.
v. 10-12 "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. "Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
The world will hate us because it hated Christ first. In Myrtle Beach with Tyler M. we made an atheist really mad just by telling him we knew the truth. People have been beaten, exiled, and killed through history for standing up for God, and we shouldn't expect any better treatment.
Follow-up questions:
Which day is the Sabbath?
The Sabbath started on Saturday and remains on Saturday. We are in a unique position as Christians because Christ rose from the grave on Sunday, which we call the Lord's Day. Jesus fulfilled the Sabbath, which was to provide a rest for those waiting for the Messiah, and now we live for Christ every day, we should be reading our Bibles, praying, and loving God every day, because we have found our rest in Jesus Christ.
Some churches believe that by worshipping only on Saturday, they will get to go to Heaven, but we've learned today that they have to be perfect to go to Heaven, and keeping one Commandment impeccably will not make up for the ones they break.
I believe, without much direct scriptural evidence, that the reason the Lord's Day is on Sunday instead of the Sabbath is a matter of inheritance. Adam and Eve were created on Day 6 and were able to enjoy all of creation on Day 7. We have now been moved to worshipping on Day 1, Sunday, and have become inheritors with Christ of every good thing, we are no longer just partakers, but made children of God through adoption.
In all, this is a very tough question, but we should remember that keeping just the 4th Commandment will not earn us Heaven, that we must either be perfect to go to Heaven, or inherit Christ's perfection through his death on the cross and our repentance and faith to go to Heaven. In all, worship God on every day, and thank him that we've found rest in the death and resurrection of his Son.
- Pastor Aaron
Text - Matthew 5:17-48
The background is that Jesus went up on a mountain and sat down to teach his disciples specifically, but then a crowd gathered and he preached the most famous sermon ever, called the "Sermon on the Mount". I believe that this mountain was probably created specifically to have perfect accoustics to share the truths Jesus was about to share, to explain to his listeners how they could attain Heaven.
So, I could tell you how to get to Heaven, but I would much rather let Jesus do it.
v. 17 "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
The Law and the Prophets are two of the three portions of the Old Testament. The Law is the first 5 Books of Moses, from Genesis to Deuteronomy. The Prophets are the writings of those like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah, Micah and many more. Not mentioned here, but mentioned elsewhere (Luke 24:44) are the Psalms, or Writings, which are things like the Book of Proverbs, Psalms, and Ecclesiastes. The Law, Prophets, and Writings is another way to say, "The entire Old Testament."
Jesus was claiming to be the Messiah in this verse, he was fulfilling the Messianic prophecies.
v. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.
Here Jesus is speaking of a different Law, specifically the Law of the 10 Commandments given to Moses on Mt. Sinai. (Exodus 20) This Law is the embodiment of truth and knowledge. (Romans 2:20)
They are:
1. You shall have no others Gods
2. You shalt not make any graven image (money, idols)
3. You shalt not take the name of the Lord your God in vain
4. Honor the Sabbath Day, to keep it Holy
5. Obey your Father and Mother, that your days may be long on the earth
6. Thou shalt not murder
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery
8. Thou shalt not steal
9. Thou shalt not bear false witness (aka lie)
10. Thou shalt not covet
v. 19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
If you keep and teach the Law perfectly, you will be called great in the kingdom of heaven, but failing to keep them has dire consequences.
v. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Scribes and Pharisees were the religious leaders of the day. This could be rewritten today as, "unless your righteousness exceeds that of the pastor and the elders, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." Notice that it says exceeds, Jesus was saying that the Pharisees and scribes, whose job it was to keep religious ordinances, were not righteous enough to enter Heaven.
v. 21-26 "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.' But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, 'You fool!' will be liable to the hell of fire. So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.
Jesus began to confront his listeners with how righteous they must be. He specifically chose the Commandment that most of them thought they had kept, the 6th Commandment which says, "Thou shalt not murder." He showed them that God was concerned both with their actions and the intents of their heart, and if they'd had murderous thoughts, they would be judged as murderers.
The word translated "You Fool" is Raka which does not have a direct English translation. By our best account, this word is similar to the f-word or s-word and is very strong language to express dislike. The Bible calls some people fools (Psalm 14:1 for example) so the main context is being angry without cause, because Christ was frequently angry with cause, and Psalm 7:11 says God is angry with the wicked every day.
Verse 25 links the natural world with the spiritual world, Christ showed his listeners that they had a debt to pay against God which was bigger than they could possibly pay. He said, "You will never get out until you have paid the last penny." A sin against an infinite God requires an infinite retribution, and so the punishment of Hell will go on forever.
v. 27-30 "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.
Again Christ showed that God is concerned with the intents of the heart.
Compare Job 31:1-4
I have made a covenant with my eyes;
how then could I gaze at a virgin?
What would be my portion from God above
and my heritage from the Almighty on high?
Is not calamity for the unrighteous,
and disaster for the workers of iniquity?
Does not he see my ways
and number all my steps?
When we make a covenant with our eyes, we look away from things that will cause lust in our hearts. Girls can be just as guilty as the guys that are looking at them if they dress immodestly. (1 Timothy 2:9-10)
Here Hell shows us how much God hates sin, that he will punish it for eternity.
v. 31-32 "It was also said, 'Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.' But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
God hates divorce. One reason is because the church is the Bride of Christ, and our marriages represent his betrothal with the church. It is important to note that Christ will be wedding one church, which is made up of all believers, he is not marrying each individual believer. I will not be wearing a wedding dress, because if Christ married each believer, he would be an adulterer. Be careful while listening to "Christian Radio" because they often refer to Jesus less as our Lord and Saviour and more as our girlfriend and boyfriend, and this is obviously not true and is very insulting to Christ.
v. 33-37 "Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.' But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say be simply 'Yes' or 'No'; anything more than this comes from evil.
I like this verse, because it says what it means, which is to say what you mean. Keep your promises, and don't make promises you know you can't keep.
v. 38-42 "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.
Jesus later said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." (Acts 20:35) This is the summation of this verse, and how Jesus conducted his ministry. He was wronged in more ways than we could count, yet he still gave and gave and is the most followed man in history.
Another way to say the Acts 20:35 verse is, "You receive more through giving than you do by taking." Because you receive blessings by giving.
v. 43-47 "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?
Reach out to others, both friends and non. No-one deserves Heaven, but Christ reached out to us, so should we do the same with others. One way of doing this is through Gospel tracts.
v. 48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Verse 48 brings the whole thing together, first Jesus said their righteousness must exceed the religious leaders' righteousness, then he concluded, "You must be perfect." Many people who were listening to this sermon probably thought they were going to Heaven when it started, and there were probably some parts that made them think they were definitely going, but once Jesus got to hatred being the same as murder and lust the same as adultery, they realized they were not going to make it. Jesus confirmed that by saying they must be perfect.
Is anyone in this class perfect? We're not, so we're also in trouble, we need to have perfect righteousness to get to Heaven. The reason we read the Sermon on the Mount was because you have to see yourself as lost before you can be found, you have to humble yourself before the Lord before he will lift you up.
1 Corinthians 5:21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
My sister likes the phrase, "Jesus lived a perfect life and faced a sinner's judgment so that we can live a sinner's life and face a righteous judgment." Jesus was God in every way, he was born of the virgin Mary, where he lived a perfect, sinless life, and demonstrated his love for us by dying in our place on the cross. He paid every last penny of our infinite debt by facing the full and infinite wrath of God. His perfection can be credited to our account and we can go to Heaven based on his merits.
Verses 3-9 of Matthew 5 explain what we must do.
v. 3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
These are the people the don't think they can make it on their own goodness, who recognize their badness.
v. 4 "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Mourn over your sin and how much it has offended God.
v. 5 "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Fall down at the feet of God and admit to your sinfulness and lostness.
v. 6 "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
This is the hardest one. Do your best to stop sinning and start seeking after godliness. Make a covenant with your eyes, try to keep your thoughts pure, do your absolute best, strive for perfection.
v. 7 "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
Forgive others as Christ will forgive you. Afterall, your offense against God is infinitely bigger than any offense someone can make against you.
v. 8 "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Ezekiel said that sins have made our heart sick. (Ezekiel 16:30) So those with sin are not pure in heart and will not see God. But God says that he will replace our heart with a new heart (Ezekiel 36:26), then our new heart, washed by the blood shed by Jesus Christ, will be pure and allow us to see God.
v. 9 "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
This isn't like someone who stops a war between countries, this is someone who makes peace between men and God. The Bible says we have made ourselves enemies of God (James 4:4), and that Jesus Christ offers the peace treaty (Romans 5:1), therefore a peacemaker is someone who declares the Good News of peace available with God through the cross of Christ.
In all, these 7 verses can be summarized with one word, "Repent" which is a turning from sin to righteousness, instead of running away from God, running towards him.
When you repent and put your faith in Jesus Christ and his atoning death and resurrection, then you can go to Heaven on his righteousness, not because you're a good person, but because you're a bad person forgiven by a good God who paid your fine on the cross.
v. 10-12 "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. "Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
The world will hate us because it hated Christ first. In Myrtle Beach with Tyler M. we made an atheist really mad just by telling him we knew the truth. People have been beaten, exiled, and killed through history for standing up for God, and we shouldn't expect any better treatment.
Follow-up questions:
Which day is the Sabbath?
The Sabbath started on Saturday and remains on Saturday. We are in a unique position as Christians because Christ rose from the grave on Sunday, which we call the Lord's Day. Jesus fulfilled the Sabbath, which was to provide a rest for those waiting for the Messiah, and now we live for Christ every day, we should be reading our Bibles, praying, and loving God every day, because we have found our rest in Jesus Christ.
Some churches believe that by worshipping only on Saturday, they will get to go to Heaven, but we've learned today that they have to be perfect to go to Heaven, and keeping one Commandment impeccably will not make up for the ones they break.
I believe, without much direct scriptural evidence, that the reason the Lord's Day is on Sunday instead of the Sabbath is a matter of inheritance. Adam and Eve were created on Day 6 and were able to enjoy all of creation on Day 7. We have now been moved to worshipping on Day 1, Sunday, and have become inheritors with Christ of every good thing, we are no longer just partakers, but made children of God through adoption.
In all, this is a very tough question, but we should remember that keeping just the 4th Commandment will not earn us Heaven, that we must either be perfect to go to Heaven, or inherit Christ's perfection through his death on the cross and our repentance and faith to go to Heaven. In all, worship God on every day, and thank him that we've found rest in the death and resurrection of his Son.
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