February 27th - Count the Cost

Prayer Requests
Pastor Aaron Preaching
Swift Cantrel Preaching
Indian Christians murdered
David - College
Kyle - Mt. Paran
Greyson - Mom health, Uncle health, Job interviews
Tyler - Job interviews
Kari - Friend in hospital, Dance teacher's husband cancer
Tyler McIntosh's collar bone
Jennifer - Magnet Decisions

Text - Nehemiah 1

We're starting this morning the book of Nehemiah. There are many different types of writing in the Bible, the Epistles are letters which are to instruct and edify. Zechariah, which we just finished, is prophetic, it is teaching through dreams and visions and word-pictures. Other types are the poetry of Psalms, the wisdom of Proverbs, and the Narrative of the Gospels and Acts of the Holy Spirit. Each of these requires a slightly different teaching style, and Nehemiah, which is a Historical Narrative, will be best taught not line-by-line, but so that you see the major theme of each major event. If you get lost or confused it is imperative that you ask questions, because something that may seem totally obvious to me might be lost on you, since I've spent so much time already in this book.

Nehemiah comes as a package deal with Ezra, so much so that sometimes this book is called Ezra-Nehemiah. They are split up mainly because of scroll length when they weren't written in books, but on scrolls. The reason we are not going to Ezra right after Zechariah is because Ezra is an extremely fast paced, numbers-based, book which is really useful for giving us the timeframe of Zechariah, Haggai, Nehemiah, and Esther, but with not a lot of didactic material of its own. It would literally take us years to get through Ezra because every chapter would have us going to another minor prophet.

The reason we chose to do Nehemiah after Zechariah is because in Zechariah the major rebuilding effort was the Temple, now the major rebuilding effort in Nehemiah will be the wall of Jerusalem. Both of these books happen after the Babylonian exile, Zechariah in 522-518BC, and Nehemiah quite a bit later in 445BC. Remember that Jerusalem was burned in 586BC, so the fact that Jerusalem lay in rubble for so long is a very important point as we get a little farther into Nehemiah.

After the Jews were allowed to go home after the Babylonian exile, starting about 535BC, there were two major returns. The first was when Zechariah and Zerubbabel and Joshua led many back. The second was led by Ezra, quite a bit later. During this time there were trickling of Jews back in, but even as we see in the book of Acts in the AD40's that many Jews had not come back but had lived in foreign lands for hundreds of years.

It is very important to remember that God dwelt in a temple in Jerusalem during this time, so to have no interest to be near to Jerusalem was to have no interest to be near to God. In our days though, we remember that Jesus Christ, God the Son, created for himself a temple of flesh and dwelt in it; that if anyone is born again then the Holy Spirit dwells in them and they are a temple of God.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

It is massively important that we recognize that a Jew living willingly outside of Jerusalem in the 5th century BC was rejecting God. To the contrary, Daniel was forced to live outside of Jerusalem and he reacted this way,

Daniel 6:10 When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously.

Daniel knew where God dwelt, and prayed towards him, not at all happy that he was a prisoner in a foreign land. Remember this point, because it will be very important for our application at the end.

So that brings us to Nehemiah. Nehemiah is a man born outside of Israel in Persia (Modern Day Iran), he is probably about 60 years old, and many think he was probably a very smart and handsome man, because of his job he had as the Cupbearer of the king of Persia. A Cupbearer isn't just a waiter, it is a much more trusted position. It can be so high as to be the second in command of a nation. The Cupbearer is responsible for making sure the king is not poisoned, so it is a very trusted position. There have been no lack of Cupbearers in history who have betrayed their kings to death in order to try to steal the throne.

The Cupbearer is privy to all manner of military and kingdom secrets, and his advice is readily sought and desired by the king. So the first thing we learn about Nehemiah is that he has done very well for himself in the world, he is probably the richest and most powerful Jew in the world at this time, more so than even the governor of Jerusalem.

At this time, the land of Israel/Judah aren't even called by their names, but are called the "Province Beyond the River." Which river do you think it's beyond? The Jordan. It is a dark, dark day for Jerusalem, but Nehemiah seems to be oblivious, so let's start into Nehemiah,

Nehemiah 1:1-3 The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah. Now it happened in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Susa the capital, that Hanani, one of my brothers, came with certain men from Judah. And I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile, and concerning Jerusalem. And they said to me, "The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire."

The twentieth year is the twentieth year of Artaxerxes, so that definitively dates this book to 445BC. The month of Chislev is November, this will be more important in a bit, but not right now. There was constant traffic from Jerusalem to Susa, a capital city of Persia, some of whom would be Jews. Nehemiah talked with his brother named Hanani, who was either just coincidentally in Susa where Nehemiah was, or more likely perhaps Hanani sought Nehemiah out to try to improve the condition of Jerusalem. Nehemiah asks, basically, "How is the rebuilding of Jerusalem coming?" I don't think he gets the answer he was expecting at all, he is told they are shamed, in great persecution from surrounding peoples, and that their walls are still in shambles and the gates are wide open to any oppressor. The Holy Spirit greatly convicts Nehemiah and Nehemiah instantly goes into mourning.

Nehemiah 1:4-5 As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven. And I said, "O LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments..."

Nehemiah goes into great mourning, both for the condition of Jerusalem, but I think more so for his own sin of being so affluent in a sinful place.

His prayer is fantastic, he starts here by quoting Daniel's prayer in Daniel 9. He shows himself to be well versed in the Hebrew scriptures, he quotes Daniel, Moses, and Ezra, and I love his beginning to this prayer, to the Lord God of Heaven. This prayer is asking both for forgiveness of the people Israel, and also for Nehemiah, and I think his opening shows that he has not mixed any of the Persian gods into his worship, but sees that God is the only God and Saviour. His prayer continues,

Nehemiah 1:6-7 Let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Even I and my father’s house have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, and the rules that you commanded your servant Moses.

Nehemiah confesses great sin before God, starting with the nation, then to his own house, then even himself. He is totally broken over this sin, as evidenced by his fasting and weeping for days, not just minutes. He continues now by appealing to God's faithfulness and that he responds to repentance,

Nehemiah 1:8-9 Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, 'If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples, but if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there I will gather them and bring them to the place that I have chosen, to make my name dwell there.'

Nehemiah confesses that Israel's sins led to the exile and the condition of Jerusalem now, but he continues the verse from Deuteronomy, that if they repent then they will be returned to a place where God dwelt. Nehemiah is hoping for this repentance to lead to God turning his eyes and ears back in favor towards Jerusalem.

At this point we see that it was very clearly the sins of Israel that led to their great pain and destruction. Sometimes when bad things happen, it is the result of sin, especially in the context of a whole nation. But it is not always the result of sin. Like if you stub your toe you shouldn't go to try to figure out, "Which sin was it that God is punishing me for in the stubbing of my toe?" As children of grace, we do not expect every sin to receive a retribution, since they have been paid for on Calvary's cross. But we also have to see in the falling of nations and bad things that happen to cities can be seen to be punishment from God,

Amos 3:6 Does disaster come to a city, unless the LORD has done it?

Does that mean that cities that have disaster in them are worse and cities that are safe was better? No, Jesus answered that question by saying, "Unless you repent, you shall likewise perish." (Luke 13:1-5) Disaster is a punishment for sinners, and also a warning. This is a complex issue and I encourage to read Psalm 73 when you get a chance, which tackles it a lot deeper. Not everything bad that happens is a result of sin, but some things are. Like the condition of Jerusalem right now in Nehemiah's day is definitely a result of sin. Nehemiah is praying that God will forgive them and build them back up,

Nehemiah 1:10-11 They are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand. O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name, and give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man."

This is recognized as one of the greatest intercessions in the Bible, asking God to listen and save and rescue his people. We'll see much more next week on how Nehemiah brings it to fruition, but we need to remember that the beginning of all success starts with prayer. When I'm witnessing I like to remember that we have to talk to God about people before we talk to people about God.

John 9:31 We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him.

We see in this case that Nehemiah is a worshipper of God, but he needs to do his will. It is impossible to be a follower of God and not be changed. Nehemiah at this point is a great sinner, he lives in absolute wealth and extravagance while his people perish. We'll see next week that he does God's will, he is changed, he does act on his worship of God.

This is very similar to one of my favorite conversations Jesus had in Luke 18,

Luke 18:18-30 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." And Peter said, "See, we have left our homes and followed you." And he said to them, "Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life."

There is a young man very like Nehemiah who has the world by the toes, he has every good thing, wealth, food, respect, power, and yet he is confronted with the fact that these things have become his idol. You can't go to Heaven by selling everything you own and giving it to the poor, what you must do is love God more than anything else, and we see that this young man wouldn't repent, and walked away sad, walking away from the greatest treasure in the universe. Jesus said that it was easier to get a two-ton dromedary through a 1 millimeter hole than to get a sinner into Heaven.

Jesus' followers recognized that they wouldn't make it either, so they said, "That sounds impossible." This is similar to Nehemiah's condition, in that he is the Cupbearer of the king, he cannot leave. He has all sorts of classified information, he knows where armies are, how big they are, how major campaigns are being waged, the tactics of the Persians, building projects and weaknesses of cities and provinces...if he asks to leave, it is very unlikely that the king will let him go. We'll see next week that what is impossible with men, is possible with God. After four months of praying, Nehemiah is allowed to return to Judah, leaving all manner of wealth behind him.

And this is not a call to leave all money and comfort, but it is a call to love God more than money and comfort. In the New Testament we see Christians with families and houses and wives and parents and children and even some with great wealth (Lydia), but these must not be your idols, or they will keep you out of the kingdom. Whatever you lose in this world will be repaid many times over in Heaven, Jesus calls us thusly,

Matthew 6:19-21 Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

None of us should enter lightly into following Christ. He does not say, "Try it for a little while and if you don't like it, then go on your way." He does not say as many have dubbed "Pascal's Wager" that "It is better to believe in God and be right than not to believe in God and be wrong." or "If I'm right, then I'm fine, but if you're right, I'm fine."

No, Jesus calls for a much deeper and more committed discipleship. It is a discipleship that says if your own brother hates you for being a Christian, that you continue to be a Christian. It is a discipleship that says if you lose your life you will rejoice, if you lose your house you will continue to follow, if none go with you, you will walk alone with Christ.

Luke 14:25-33 Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.' Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

So your application today is to not love the world or the things in the world, but to recognize that there is salvation and hope and everlasting happiness in only One. He requires much, but he also promises much, do not enter into his discipleship lightly, endeavor to be the best disciple he has ever had, or don't claim to be a disciple at all. Nehemiah prayed for 4 months before he decided to leave his worldly paradise to do the work of God, please be likewise praying and counting the cost, knowing that whatever you lose in Christ will be repaid to you many times over in Heaven.

Also, pray for your nation, for your church family, for your biological family, and for yourself, that you would be strengthened to withstand the temptations of the world, that you would be accurate representations of Christ in the world, and that through your life and ministry many would be saved. When we pray we don't pray towards Jerusalem, but towards Heaven, knowing that through Christ we are heard and that our prayers have great power because of him who has effected them.

Finally, as we'll look at next week, that Nehemiah is a type for Christ, he shows us some things about Christ which wouldn't take place for almost 500 years. Jesus Christ, God our Comforter, (Nehemiah means God comforts), stepped out of the kingdom of Heaven to be poor, to exchange our spiritual poverty for his spiritual affluence, he came to save his people, and he has secured salvation for those who once were exposed to the world without hope. Set your affections on this Christ, know that he always lives to make intercession for his saints, know that he has paid for all of your sins, both confessed and unconfessed, that he took our sins on himself and confessed them for us, so if we follow him, repenting towards him, and placing our full faith in him, then we are totally forgiven and will be welcomed into the kingdom of Heaven.

March 28th - Be Excellent to Each Other

Prayer Requests
Pastor Aaron Preaching
PasXa outreach – April 2nd
Praise - Shawn Holes in Scotland
Praise - Kari's Dad's New Job
Cherry Blossom Festival Outreach
Mark's Family at the Loss of His Grandmother

Text – 1 Peter 3:8-12, 4:7-11

Before we start, we're not meeting next Sunday due to Easter. Our Good Friday outreach will be from 6:30-9:30pm on Friday, it's going to be awesome so make sure you bring friends. One thing I want to touch on about Easter before we start is the sign you often see above Jesus' head on the cross, it's often abbreviated "INRI", and I've long wondered what it meant. It's not scriptural to be an acronym, but I finally looked up what it means to find out why it's up there.

John 19:19-22 Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews." Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, "Do not write, 'The King of the Jews,' but rather, 'This man said, I am King of the Jews.'" Pilate answered, "What I have written I have written."

It stands for:

Iesous - Jesus
Nazareth
Rex - King
Ioudaios - Jews

So moving on, the passages we’re going to look at today are what are called “bracketing” or “book-ends” or “sandwiching” passages, they say basically the same thing but have a major theme in the middle. As you are reading your Bibles it’s not particularly important to be looking for things like this, although when you find them they can really add a lot to the passage, and these today really do add a lot to the theme of chapter 4 and 5.

The way you find things like this is that a phrase will be repeated, for our passage today that theme is “so your prayers may not be hindered” and “for the sake of your prayers.”

I like that Peter writes this way because it’s how I write. If you look on the website I’ve posted a link to an article I wrote on prayer. (http://trustobey.blogspot.com/2009/07/privilege-of-prayer.html) I start it with, “We have a problem, ‘We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him.’ – John 9:31” and conclude with, “We had a problem, now we have a solution. So let’s pray, ‘We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him.’ – John 9:31”

What is the main theme we have we been talking about in 1 Peter 3:13-4:6? The Resurrection, first of Christ, and then of the believer, and how we have a hope of eternal life in Jesus Christ, that just as he suffered and died, he was made alive in the Spirit, and just as we will die, we will be made alive in the Spirit, because he is the firstborn from the dead.

A verse I encourage all of you to memorize is 1 Corinthians 15:55-57: “‘O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Everything we looked at between these two verses was set on Heaven, but on either side of the promise of the resurrection, Peter is telling us to also live holy and Christian lives on this side of eternity. For a bit of context, remember Peter started out by telling everyone how to live under the government, then focused on slaves/employees living under masters/employers, then focused on wives, then focused on husbands, and now he is going to focus on everyone again, on how Christians should live with Christians.

1 Peter 3:8-12 Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. For "Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it. For 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."

1 Peter 4:7-11 The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

3v.8 All of you

This is to all Christians, from the highest pastor to the newest believer.

3v.8 have unity of mind

Holding to Jesus Christ and the Bible as the final rule of faith and belief, not letting the traditions of men cause divisions.

3v.8 sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind

All of these are pretty self explanatory, and Peter is going to give some principles which apply to all of them:

3v.9 Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.

This works for Christians towards unbelievers as well, but Peter's point in this passage is to point it inwards into the church. If you are offended in the church you are to return blessings, not curses. Remember what an imprecatory prayer is? It's a prayer asking God to squish someone; this verse forbids Christians praying these prayers against other Christians. (Based on student interest we looked briefly at Psalm 58 and we discussed if this Psalm, which was prayed against a government, should be prayed today)

So when we are insulted within the church, we don't hold it against the other person or the church as a whole, rather we continue to love both the church and the other Christian. We were called to receive the blessing of eternal life, so we therefore must emulate Christ in blessing all of our fellow believers.

In verse 10-12 Peter quotes from Psalm 34, he's quoted this already once in chapter two about "tasting and seeing that the Lord is good." Here Peter is making his point basically that the church falls under the same guidelines as Israel, and that living an upright life within the church comes with blessings. We can't ever forget that "it is more blessed to give than to receive." There are definitely things you can do to be more effective and happier in this life, but in this passage Peter is going to be very clear that it's not to earn us Heaven.

3v.10-11 "Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it."

Do you want to love life and enjoy good days? I think practically everyone would say yes to this, nobody wants to have a bad day. You can point this at Heaven, but that isn't Peter's intent, he is saying there is something you can do on Earth to have good days and love life. If we were going to point this at Heaven we'd look more in-depth at Psalm 84,

Psalm 84:10 For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.

But we're focusing on our life here on earth. Peter makes a very interesting point by using Psalm 34 in this way, because I've always read this verse as one about prayer, but he's using it as both for prayer and for holy living, and this reminds us of Peter's approach to prayer, that the holier you are, the more you'll pray. Contrasted to Paul's approach to prayer, that the more you pray, the holier you'll be. These aren't contradictory, rather they mesh together perfectly, that the more you pray, the holier you'll be, and the holier you are, the more you'll pray, and the more you pray, the holier you'll become, and as you become holier, you'll pray more, and so on and so on.

I love the verse about keeping our tongues from evil and our lips from deceit. This is one of the quickest ways to tell if someone is a Christian, I believe. A person that curses often cannot possibly have a new heart, a person that takes God's name in vain frequently shows that they are not a child of God but an enemy of God. It's not what goes into a persons mouth that defiles them, but what comes out, for out of the mouth the heart professes.

Psalm 141:3 Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips!

But also know that just because someone doesn't curse often or take God's name in vain doesn't automatically mean they are a Christian.

3v.12 For 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."

At face value, we really need to recognize that God only listens to the prayer of the righteous, so we have to see that in order for God to listen to your prayers, you have to have been justified, made holy, cleansed of your sins, and clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

So even when we are sinning, because of Jesus Christ's righteousness, our prayers are still heard. You can't make God listen to you by being nicer, because you have to be perfect. So you can't make God not listen to you by sinning, because in Christ you are perfect. At first glance it sounds like Peter is saying that you can gain better audience to God by being holy, but that can't be what he is saying. What he is saying is that we seek peace and pursue righteousness, repenting of evil to good, which basically means turning to Jesus Christ, then through Christ God will hear our prayers.

4v.7 The end of all things is at hand;

As we talked about two weeks ago and will talk more about in about a month, the nearness or farness of Christ's return is meant to motivate us to focus on things that really matter, not flitting away our lives or focusing on worthless pursuits. Yesterday at the Cherry Blossom Festival was a very talented puppet-master, probably about 75 years old, and as I watched his show I couldn't help but think that this man has utterly wasted his life entertaining people with something of absolutely no substance. Peter goes on to tell us what then to do with our shortness of time:

4v.7 therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.

Again, for the sake of our prayers, our communion with God, we live lives with a purpose for Heaven, with seriousness in our actions and attempting to do nothing just to do it, but always giving honor to Christ Jesus giving thanks to the Father through him. And again Peter is going to point us at the church:

4v.8-9 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.

Remember from our study of love that there are different kinds. The kind here is better translated as charity, it's not ushy gushy and it's not conditional, it is lovingkindness no matter what the person has done. It covers a multitudes of sins, not sins towards God, but sins towards you. Say someone is supposed to do something and fails to do it and it causes you all sorts of stress and extra work, you show love towards that person instead of freaking out and getting mad and punching them.

This isn't to say that you don't show them what they've done and ask them to try harder next time. I really don't want you think that we ignore sins against us or Heaven, rather we don't hold them against someone, but we correct and rebuke and help others to become holy just as they help us to be holy.

Psalm 141:5 Let a righteous man strike me—it is a kindness; let him rebuke me—it is oil for my head; let my head not refuse it. Yet my prayer is continually against their evil deeds.

When we show hospitality without grumbling, it means to accommodate the needs of the saints without counting the cost, without feeling you are owed or are being treated unfairly, but that you are representing God. Does God give us gifts and salvation so that we will eventually pay him back? No, of course not, he is showing us hospitality without grumbling, showing his love and his grace and through it earning himself glory and blessings and honor, which we'll read in a moment at the end of the passage.

Acts 17:25 Nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.

4v.10-11 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—

According to various places in the Bible (Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4) we all are gifted in various ways to minister for the gospel. Peter puts a different spin on it that we are gifted to serve the church. God didn't give everyone the gift of mercy, he didn't give everyone the gift of discernment, he didn't give everyone the gift of evangelism, he didn't give everyone the gift of leading or of being able to speak multiple languages, they are varied, but together they all work towards one goal.

There are two major types of gifts: speaking and serving. Peter says whichever you are gifted at, do it to the fullness of your ability as gifted by God. Yesterday at the Cherry Blossom Festival people were amazed at how loud my voice is and how God has gifted me to talk to complete strangers, not everybody has received these gifts. Your gifts may be working with children, or organizing church events, or writing books, or teaching, or preaching. Whichever you are best at, hone those gifts and use them for the glory of God. And whichever ones you have, Paul says we ought to strive to also have the others, especially the ability to speak and tell people about Jesus. In all this we do it

4v.11 in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

God gives the gifts, he gives the strength, he gives the blessings, he gives the righteousness, and in that he receives all of the glory and ownership forever and ever. We'll conclude with

1 Corinthians 15:58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

February 21st - Play the Man

Prayer Requests
Leon Preaching
29 Verse Dash
Baby Eden
Bethany's Indianapolis Trip
Kari and Jenna's friends: Taylors Skull Fracture, Laura's Cancer

Announcement – Next Saturday is our class get-together and make-up session. We will meet from 2pm to 7pm and will eat at 5pm. I’m calling it “29 Verse Dash: A Race With Peter” and we’ll look at 1 Peter 3:8-4:19 skipping 13-17 which we already looked at.

Text – 1 Peter 3:7

The more I looked at this lesson and how much time we spent on verses 1-6 I feel that we need to spend another topical lesson on the role of the man in Christianity. What is Peter’s call for women? Let’s read it,

1 Peter 3:1-6 Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, when they see your respectful and pure conduct. Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear—but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening.

This is a gorgeous passage, I love it. It is pointed mostly at women, then Peter devotes a single verse to husbands, but he says a LOT in this one verse.

1 Peter 3:7 Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.

I think Peter’s main point and the point he would want you to take away if you only take one thing away is that women are people. This may sound obvious, but throughout history it has been far less than obvious. Women weren’t even allowed to vote in every state in the United States until 1920. In the 1800’s in London there were debates to determine if women even had souls. Peter wants his male readers to see that women are both cognitive people and heirs of grace which means they have souls.

Some of things we’re going to go over will seem exceedingly obvious, but you’d be amazed at some of the things we take for granted that just years ago people didn’t know, or things that we do that are certainly not biblical but we don’t want to change. For example, today you’d be hard pressed to find someone for or against abortion who will deny that a baby is a baby from conception, but only a few decades ago the big push for the people who wanted abortion to be legal was that it wasn’t a baby but a blob of tissue. Conversely, pretty much every church and school in the United States operates under what is called “Age segregated learning.” This is where learning is separated by age and maturity; this is purely an evolutionary idea and is totally unbiblical. Every lesson I’ve taught you would be appropriate for high schoolers and also for adults. In fact I taught the exact same lesson on angels that I taught to you to adults with practically no changes and none of them felt it was too dumb or low for them. When I first started working with students I fell for the idea that I needed to tailor my speech to their age range, and I talked to students like they were babies. Fortunately I realized that wasn’t working and decided I’d try talking to students like they are capable intelligent human beings, and it worked and I’ve never looked back. Hannah can attest that during VBS I treat the 1st Graders like they are seminary students; I taught them 5 Greek words and several big theological concepts and none of their brains exploded.

Notice in our verse it doesn’t say older wives or younger wives or middle wives; this is all wives, so even though it seems obvious, the first part, “live with your wives in an understanding/knowledgeable/knowing/intellectual way,” is very important and we need to know that women of every age are cognitively equal to men. They are even smart enough to run countries, and even though Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton are totally ignorant when it comes to biblical and rational government, no one can deny that they are not brilliant people with very capable minds. The Bible knows this, look at the Judge Deborah for example, and Isaiah says women in charge is a judgment on a nation,

Isaiah 3:1-2,8,12 For behold, the Lord GOD of hosts is taking away from Jerusalem and from Judah support and supply, all support of bread, and all support of water; the mighty man and the soldier, the judge and the prophet, the diviner and the elder…For Jerusalem has stumbled, and Judah has fallen, because their speech and their deeds are against the LORD, defying his glorious presence. My people—infants are their oppressors, and women rule over them.

We could spend more time on this, but in order to look more at manhood lets keep going. The next part of the verse says,

showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel

What does it mean when it says the woman is the weaker vessel? It can’t be cognitively, because just a second ago Peter says live with them intellectually, and it can’t mean spiritually, because they are heirs of grace, so it must mean physically. Is that true?

And why are men stronger? Both genetics and also because men are supposed to be the ones doing the hard work. Jesus probably had calloused hands and huge muscles, how do you think he got them? Was it by spending two hours a day in the gym? As a carpenter doing physical labor he was naturally strong. Women are naturally smaller and weaker than men.

Where it says, “Showing honor”, is a terrible translation of the Greek, the phrase means, “Bestow Value” or “Show them they are precious.” The word Time literally means paid for. It’s the same word describing how Christ bought us,

1 Corinthians 6:20 ...you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

God really demonstrates this incredibly with Hosea and his wife Gomer. Gomer was a prostitute and God told Hosea to marry her. After Hosea married her, Gomer had two children who weren’t Hosea’s, then she took off and ended up on an auction block for half the price of a slave and Hosea paid the price for this old worn-out worthless prostitute. Notice that Peter gives no condition to honor wives as precious only if they are pretty or nice or redeemable; he says to honor them as precious no matter what.

And if they are worth paying for, are they worth fighting for? We saw that Peter said when Christ was reviled he did not revile back, he showed huge amounts of control not to destroy those that were slandering and beating him. Have you seen the Chronicles of Narnia when Aslan is being beaten? This is a good representation of what Christ’s scourging probably looked like, evil men were taking shots at a lion which could have turned around torn them to shreds with a single bite or slash of the paw. Christ could have probably done a fair amount of physical damage to any of the men scourging him, or he could have commissioned angels to wipe out every person in Jerusalem, or with a word he could have destroyed the whole earth, yet when he was reviled he did not revile in return.

We turn the other cheek when struck, but that is ourselves. We do not turn the other cheek when others are attacked, especially the husband with his wife. When preparing this lesson I considered for a long time if there was ever a time when Jesus stepped in for someone else, and while I couldn’t find a time when he did it temporally, he did it in an infinitely higher sense.

God the Father utterly hated the bride of Christ for a very just and righteous reason, for he hates all who do evil. (Psalm 5:5, 11:5) Jesus Christ, not in a confrontational way but still very bravely, stepped between his offended Father and his beloved bride and became the intercessor, the Saviour of his wife, honoring her as worth paying for even though she had not a single redeeming factor as a worn out old prostitute.

Who is weaker? Jesus Christ or the church? Jesus Christ is the carpenter by which all things have been made; the church is incapable of making even a single grain of sand. Christ upholds the world by the power of his word; the church is utterly helpless without the sustaining work of her God.

Jesus has honored as precious his bride the church by demonstrating his strength to redeem her and cleanse her and present her as perfect on the final day. The first person that the Christian man is commanded to be willing to die for is his bride.

Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her…

Christ is likewise the greatest friend you can have. How do we know?

John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

The Christian must also be willing to die first for others, especially the church of Christ. Now death is an extreme example, when Christ said to turn the other cheek, he was speaking about absorbing insults, even physical ones. Two years ago in Myrtle Beach I had a group of Middle Schoolers and we were witnessing to an atheist. He got pretty mad and clenched his fists and I was pretty sure someone was going to get hit. I maneuvered myself so that I was between him and them, because there was no way I was going to let him get to them without him having to pummel me first.

Now consider someone is picking on a girl and you step in front of her. There is a chance you are going to absorb a blow that was meant for her, either physically or emotionally. This is the biblical man’s role, it is what Jesus did. He stepped between his Father and his church and absorbed the full wrath against the sinners which comprise the church.

One of the greatest exhortations toward biblical manhood is in First Corinthians.

1 Corinthians 16:13-14 Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.

We read this verse because it puts a huge emphasis on motives. Be watchful means to watch for heretical and unbiblical statements, stand firm in the faith means to stand up for Jesus Christ and the truth. Act like men means to be brave, courageous, and following Christ, and be strong means to be firm in conviction, action, and ability.

Now you can do all of these things and still be wrong. If you do it to elevate yourself or to belittle others then your motives are wrong and no matter how well you did them you will be sinning. The proper motive is that all you do should be done in charity or love; pointing others to Christ, magnifying sacrificial love so Christ’s sacrifice is shown to be magnificent.

Our motives are huge, let me pick something that will probably strike close to many of your hearts. Did you know that soccer can either be pure or sinful? The biblical man, even biblical person, must constantly be checking their motives to make sure they are doing what they are doing for Christ and not for themselves. If you play soccer because it gives you an opportunity to witness to your teammates, hone the skills God gave you and give him the glory, and provides you with ministry, then it is pure. But if you play only because you like it, or because you love the accolades you receive for your skill, or because it’s something to do to pass the time then you need to reevaluate your involvement and set your affections on Heaven.

1 Corinthians 13:11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.

If we had child psychologists or feminists or evolutionists in this class they would be screaming right now. This is utterly and totally different than the world will talk about growing up. We don’t want to be perpetually children, we want to be like Christ, we want to make a difference in eternity, we want to honor Christ the Lord as holy.

Check out Jesus Christ when he was twelve,

Luke 2:42-47 And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom. And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, but supposing him to be in the group they went a day’s journey, but then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances, and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.

Luke 2:52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.

Twelve years old and impressing the rabbis with his spiritual understanding. Beloved, that needs to be us. Our goal is spiritual maturity, for the men it is acting like men, for the ladies it is the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit. We stand up for others, honor others as worth more than ourselves, be gentle and respectful, and keep our affections on Heaven and point others to Heaven. How do we do that?

2 Timothy 2:22 Flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

Flee from things that are only about you and pursue goodness and holiness; instead of being served find a place to serve, instead of being taught prepare to teach, instead of watching tv or youtube produce a youtube video that exalts your Saviour, instead of receiving find a way to give, instead of hanging out at your Fish Club volunteer at your Fish Club; beloved time is short and many things need to be done, find what you are good at and get better at it for the glory of Christ.

Charles Spurgeon said it perfectly, “A good character is the best tombstone. Those who loved you and were helped by you will remember you when forget-me-nots have withered. Carve your name on hearts, not on marble.”

And all of this concludes with one of the reasons that men need to act like men, and later will be talked about for women also, so that our prayers are not hindered. We will talk a lot more about prayer next Saturday, but we see that our actions can hinder our prayer life. Leonard Ravenhill, a great man of God, once said, “If weak in prayer, we are weak everywhere.” We see from this passage in Peter that it also works the opposite direction, if weak in holiness we are weak in prayer also.

Christ, our great example, lived the perfect manly life, and also had the best prayer life of anyone who has ever lived. The holier your life, the better your prayer life, and the better your prayer life, the better your holiness, so then your prayer life will improve, so your sanctification will improve, strengthening your prayers, edifying your life. Do you see this gorgeous upward spiral? For this reason, men we act like men, ladies, you act like ladies and this prepares us for life and ministry, and allows us to with boldness approach the throne of grace to receive help in our time of need.

In conclusion I want to look at the last words of some great Christian men:

Daniel Webster: The great mystery is Jesus Christ—the gospel. What would the condition of any of us be if we had not the hope of immortality? Thank God, the gospel of Jesus Christ brought life and immortality to light. I still live.

David Livingstone: Build me a hut to die in. I am going home.

Andrew Jackson: My dear children, do not grieve for me…I am my God’s. I belong to Him. I go but a short time before you, and…I hope and trust to meet you all in heaven.

Martin Luther: Into Thy hands I commend my spirit! Thou hast redeemed me, O God of truth.

John Owen: I am going to Him whom my soul loveth, or rather who has loved me with an everlasting love, which is the sole ground of all my consolation.

Burned at the Stake:
John Bradford: Be of good comfort brother; for we shall have a merry supper with the Lord this night!

Hugh Latimer: Play the man, Ridley! For this day we shall light such a candle in England as I trust shall never be put out.

Polycarp: Leave me as I am, the one who gives me strength to endure the fire will also give me strength to stay quite still on the pyre, even without the precaution of your nails.... For eighty and six years I have been his servant, and he has done me no wrong, and how can I blaspheme my King who saved me?

John Stam (executed with his wife): We are going to Heaven.

March 15th - Imprecations

Prayer Requests
Channing Preaching
National Revival – Harvesters for the Fields
Sarah Going to China
Olivia Kissinger in the Hospital
Tracy's Thumb
Daniel's Friend's Family
Missy and Randy Health/Jobs

Text – Psalm 94

I prayed long and hard about this topic, not knowing if I should teach it, and I actually wrote a whole other lesson plan…but then on Saturday Dave asked if I could teach the High Schoolers too, and that was an undeniable answer to my prayer, because the passage we’re on in First Thessalonians would make very little sense to you without reading at least the rest of chapter 5. We’re going to be talking about a different kind of prayer today, but I encourage you to keep track of prayers you pray, because I believe you’ll be amazed at how many of them are answered. There is something important going on in the battle for America, and one that we have to look at motives and the Bible to find the truth about what is happening. It doesn't really have anything to do with 1 Thessalonians...

1 Timothy 6:20 O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you. Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called "knowledge"…

The guy in the White House, Barack Obama, lifted a ban on funding Stem-Cell Research in Embryonic Stem-Cells this week. I want you guys to know what this means and why it is so stupid for the government to be doing this and that it isn’t really a matter of science, but them proving how much they hate the Living God.

There are four kinds of stem-cells that we’ve discovered so far. Three of these are very good and there never has been a ban on them, one of these is sinister and was banned because it kills a person.

So first, what’s a stem-cell? It’s sort of the construction worker of your body. Are any of your dads construction workers? My dad is, and since he is, I know there are two kinds of construction worker. There is the kind that builds things from scratch, and there is the kind that fixes things after they are built. My dad has done both jobs, and so can all stem-cells do both jobs, but they have specialties.

A stem-cell can replace pretty much any cell in your body, say a nerve gets damaged, a new stem-cell comes in and fixes that nerve. The same stem-cell can replace a muscle cell, or a skin cell, or a liver cell, they are able to do all sorts of jobs, but once it has decided what it is going to be, that is what it is going to be.

Stem-Cells
Amniotic – Taken from the placenta after a baby is born, nobody dies
Umbilical – Taken from the umbilical cord after a baby is born, nobody dies
Marrow / Adult – Taken from a person’s very own bone marrow, nobody dies
Embryonic – Taken from a baby before it is born, the baby dies

Amniotic and Umbilical stem-cells have shown some promise, healing some basic ailments, but the Adult cell, which is the common name for this type, has shown the most promise. These three types are the fixers.

Embryonic stem-cells have never healed anybody, and in tests in lab-rats they cause cancer instead of healing. These are the builders and they have no interest in fixing things, theirs is to make human beings, not fix problems in human beings.

Yet Barack Obama and other God-haters love the embryonic stem-cell and this is where they want to put all of their money. It is foolishness beyond foolishness. Michael J. Fox wants money to be put into this hopefully so he can be healed of his Parkinson’s Disease, yet he’s going exactly the wrong direction and will suffer the consequences.

Proverbs 8:35-36 For whoever finds [wisdom] finds life and obtains favor from the LORD, but he who fails to find me injures himself; all who hate me love death.

In conclusion, Adult stem-cells are awesome, nobody has to die, they are an incredible gift from God. If we put more money into this research, we will see diabetes go away, paraplegics and quadriplegics walk again, and even many forms of cancer healed. Embryonic stem-cells are stupid, they have no potential, and it is the murder of a baby, and God will judge those who are so happy to destroy human life.

Questions?

In First Thessalonians there is a verse talking to the church at Thessalonica, who has been persecuted like crazy, and Paul tells them this:

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Paul tells this church straight out that the persecution they are going through is God’s will for them. You can’t surprise God, he knew that Barack Obama was going to end up in the White House and within two months was going to sign bills that encouraged the killing of babies. The last time the High School was in here we looked at a verse in Isaiah 57 about Israel killing their babies, lets look at another one in 2 Chronicles 33, everybody turn, please.

A little history, Israel and Judah had some very wicked kings, Saul, Hezekiah, Amon, to name a few, but nobody could outsin Manasseh, lets read what he did:

2 Chronicles 33:1-6 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-five years. He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, following the detestable practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites. He rebuilt the high places his father Hezekiah had demolished; he also erected altars to the Baals and made Asherah poles. He bowed down to all the starry hosts and worshiped them. He built altars in the temple of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, "My Name will remain in Jerusalem forever." In both courts of the temple of the LORD, he built altars to all the starry hosts. He sacrificed his sons in the fire in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, practiced sorcery, divination and witchcraft, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the eyes of the LORD, provoking him to anger.

He sacrificed his sons in the fire. Whenever things get really bad in the Old Testament, you can usually find babies getting killed. But we know from First Thessalonians, as well as many, many other places, that God is in control. Lets look at two real quick,

Lamentations 3:37-39 Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come? Why should any living man complain when punished for his sins?

Job 1:12 The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger." Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.

And my favorite,

Amos 3:6-7 When a trumpet sounds in a city, do not the people tremble? When disaster comes to a city, has not the LORD caused it? Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.

There are so many more we could look at, Romans 1, John 3:27, the whole book of Revelation…but do you get the point? It is God’s will that what is happening is happening, and therefore we better be paying attention to the lesson he is teaching us.

God created the world for four major purposes:
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.

I want to focus on the second, that God is demonstrating to us how bad sin is and why he hates it. I always have to share Psalm 11:5 when talking about this,

Psalm 11:5 The LORD tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.

Just as it is foolish for me to hate the bullet but love the assassin, it is foolish for God to hate the sin but love the sinner. He has an abiding hatred towards his enemies, but a lovingkindness that he sent his Son to absorb the wrath they deserved, so if they’ll repent and believe the Gospel, they will be saved. It is our duty as Christians to hate sinners and enemies of God, but Romans 12 is very clear that we are to leave all vengeance up to God. That leads into where I’ve been driving: imprecations.

What is an imprecation? It is a prayer asking God to pour out his vengeance on someone. 90 of the 150 Psalms contain imprecations, and that is certainly not the only place they are found. Peter Hammond, a missionary to South Africa, kept tract of imprecatory prayers that were being prayed against evil leaders, and many, many of them died. I’ve included a link on the website if you’d like to do a follow-up: http://www.frontline.org.za/articles/praying%20for%20justice.htm

You guys know I love history, so lets look into the past. In the mid-1500’s John Knox began his ministry as a Catholic priest in Catholic Scotland, but then his friend George Wiseheart, and Englishman and Protestant, was sent from King Henry to Mary, Queen of Scots to arrange a marriage between Anglican England and Catholic Scotland. Wiseheart was burned at the stake by the Catholic Church just for proposing that Catholic Mary would marry a non-Catholic. Reform was sweeping Europe and somehow or another John Knox got saved, the details are fuzzy, but it sounds like Knox was saved listening to Wiseheart open-air preach. Anyway it happened went to visit with John Calvin in Geneva. While here he became a radical reformer and headed back for Scotland, his most famous quote is, “Give me Scotland, else I die!”

He stood against Mary, Queen of Scots, admonishing her to her face, and repeatedly bringing her to tears. She said, “I fear the imprecations of John Knox more than all the assembled armies of Europe.”

Her consort, Henry, banned Knox from preaching in his presence, but that didn’t stop Knox from preaching. He would preach to his congregation, then he would go outside and preach to anybody and everybody that would listen. During this time he continued to try to convert Mary and Henry, as well as praying against their efforts to suppress the Reformation. Hundreds, if not thousands, of Scottish Christians would die by their decree. Knox would pray Psalms against Mary, and apparently Henry went so far as throwing at least part of her Bible into the fire, this was at a time when Bibles cost in excess of $50,000 in todays money.

Knox confronted Henry and said, “Have you, for the pleasure of that dainty dame, cast the psalm-book into the fire? The Lord shall strike both head and tail.” Mary and Henry would both die painful deaths.

So, I want to look at a prayer the Psalmist wrote against some very wicked people. We don’t know for sure who wrote this Psalm, I believe fairly strongly that it was David, but ultimately who is the Author? God.

Psalm 94:1-3,20-23 O LORD God, to whom vengeance belongs—O God, to whom vengeance belongs, shine forth! Rise up, O Judge of the earth; Render punishment to the proud. LORD, how long will the wicked, How long will the wicked triumph?...Can wicked rulers be allied with you, those who frame injustice by law? They band together against the life of the righteous and condemn the innocent to death. But the LORD has become my stronghold, and my God the rock of my refuge. He will bring back on them their iniquity and wipe them out for their wickedness; the LORD our God will wipe them out.

We are fully and totally authorized to pray imprecations against enemies of righteousness. We should be asking God to either grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, or for him to crush them out of existence so that sin can no longer abound. In this we will be conformed closer and closer to an image of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here is a GREAT verse to commit to memory:

Hebrews 1:8-9 But of the Son he says, "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions."

And what is the fruit of Knox’s prayers? After Mary and Henry fled Scotland, later to be executed in England, Scotland saw a massive return to the Living God. Knox birthed the Presbyterian Church and greatly furthered the Reformation. Mary, Queen of Scots would have a son, his named was James VI of Scotland. Does anyone know his other name? James I of Great Britain, he was the first legitimate king of the whole of Britain, and he was a great friend of John Knox, thoroughly protestant.

What is his crowning achievement? In 1604 he realized that there were a lot of translations of the Bible and none of them were really good in English. He commissioned the Authorized Version of the Bible, otherwise known as the King James Version, or as Dave calls it, the King Jimmy Bible. This was the Bible of choice for over 300 years, Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, John Wesley, and Charles Spurgeon would preach out of this Bible, to name a few.

It is still a really good Bible, but since it was written four-hundred years ago it’s not really in our language anymore, which is why we have the ESV Bible, the NIV, the NASB, the HCSB, and the NKJV which are all good Bibles.

So, to switch gears just slightly. Sarah is going to China. In China they have a similar problem, their Bible was translated in 1919 and it’s not really in the language they speak anymore. In 2007 a brand new translation was completed at great expense and is supposedly a very good Bible, but it is not yet legal to sell this Bible in China. Sarah, I don’t have very many details, but I implore you to take at least one new Bible into China with you and leave it, if not a few. I have no idea what the laws are, but I know you’re allowed a personal Bible.

There is a massive revival going on in China, there are more Christians in China than in America. They are working on a huge missionary outreach between China and Jerusalem. The greatest thing we can do is pray, both for them, and for God to raise up harvesters for our fields.

And finally, we thank God that while we were alienated from him, hostile in mind, doing wicked works, Christ has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present us holy and blameless and above reproach before him, and that we have now become ministers of his Gospel.

This Gospel is the only hope for our country, the only hope for our friends, the only hope for our babies, and the only hope for the world. So I implore you, know it, pray it, live it, and preach it.

February 15th - Prayer

Prayer Requests
Superbowl Efforts at Home and in Tampa
Pastor Aaron & Family & Summit on Prayer
Ben, Holly, and Cecilia
Students & Families Traveling
Bethany's friend's health from school
Michelle Sloan Job

Text - 1 Thessalonians 5:16-20

Summit is having a “Prayer Sunday” today, so I’ve skipped a few verses much to my chagrin, since now we’ve skipped two sections of this Epistle. Next week we will definitely get to chapter 4, verses 9-12.

The section we’re going to look at is on prayer. Paul started out this Epistle in prayer, and now he’s finishing it up in prayer, plus there was some prayer in the middle. Prayer is important. Do you remember what the five types of prayer are?

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, lets read our passage, everybody turn to

1 Thessalonians 5:16-20 Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.

The first thing we see is some of the silly numbering of verses in this passage, look at verse 16, Rejoice always, verse 17, pray without ceasing, then they get to somewhat normal length.
Lets look at some others real quick,

Job 3:2 And Job said:

John 11:35 Jesus wept.

Esther 8:9 The king’s scribes were summoned at that time, in the third month, which is the month of Sivan, on the twenty-third day. And an edict was written, according to all that Mordecai commanded concerning the Jews, to the satraps and the governors and the officials of the provinces from India to Ethiopia, 127 provinces, to each province in its own script and to each people in its own language, and also to the Jews in their script and their language.

Now everybody flip to Mark 7:16, whose Bible has it? The problem with the chapter numbers and verse numbers is that they were put in place by one man, Robert Stephanus, and everybody followed him. He didn’t have the best manuscripts, although he did have some pretty good ones. By the time they realized he had made some mistakes it was too late, and fortunately every Bible you find will match up, which is why I can tell you to look at a certain chapter and verse and we’re always on the same page, no matter the translation.

Other religious books aren’t this way, for a little while I had the idea to convert Muslims, it was an extremely difficult ministry, with very little fruit, but one of the things I’d find is I’d tell them to look up something in the Koran and they’d say, “That verse has nothing to do with what we’re talking about.” So I’d read or post the verse, and they’d say, “oh, that’s not verse 9, that’s verse 17…” It made it very difficult to communicate from their book.

The chapters and verses are in most places very well placed, in others they are horrendously placed, for example, the break-up between Hebrews chapter 4 and 5, and 5 and 6 are terrible, as well as Genesis 1 and 2. These verse break-ups have wrecked theology too, consider

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

It sounds like it stands alone, but this verse was never meant to stand-alone, lets read it in context

John 3:14-18 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

Now it makes sense, just as in Israel when they were beset with poisonous snakes, the only way for them to be saved if they got bit was to look to God’s sign, which was a serpent which Moses had lifted up in the wilderness on a stake. Therefore Christ was saying, if anyone is poisoned with sin, the only way they will be saved is to look to God’s sign, which is the Messiah, lifted up in the wilderness on a cross.

So, that took us a little off topic, but it was important enough that I wanted to share it. The chapters and verses should never be read alone, but in context. A great one that people think deals directly with prayer is

Matthew 18:20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.

Sounds like if there are two or three of us gathered in Christ’s name, then he’s with us? So he must be here?

What about the poor Apostle John exiled on the island of Patmos all alone? Was he without God? Or what about Daniel in the lion's den? Was he all alone? Esther by herself in the palace? All alone? Of course not!

Micah 7:8 Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a light to me.

Matthew 28:20 Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

Hmmm…if we're all alone, should we cry out, “God would be with me if there were two or three of us…but woe is me…I’m all alone!” God is with you always, even to the end of the age, you can pray anytime you want, anywhere you want, with anybody you want, alone if you want to or in massive groups.

Lets read Matthew 18 in context real quick, then we’ll get to 1 Thessalonians 5.

Matthew 18:15-20 If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them."

Christ is giving directions on how to judge someone in the church. If someone is sinning, the first thing we do is approach them by ourselves. Say Dave Snyder won’t stop cursing, I go to him and say, “Dave, I’m worried about your soul, because out of the mouth the heart professes, and your cursing is inconsistent with a regenerate soul. So if you’re saved, you’ve gotta stop, if you’re not saved, you need to get saved.” If Dave would turn right there and stop sinning, saying maybe, “Wow, I didn’t realize I was doing that,” or “I didn’t know that was disrespectful to God and misrepresenting Jesus Christ so I'll stop,” then the issue would die. But if he said, “Nope.” Then the next step is I’d grab a pastor and two or three of us would approach Dave. If he still wouldn’t stop, we’d present it to the church. Dave’s choice would be to stop cursing or to be disfellowshipped until he did. We wouldn’t do this to be mean, but to keep blatant sin out of the church, and to let Dave know that we’re serious about his soul, because if we said it was alright, somebody with a major sin problem might think they’re alright, instead of working out their salvation with fear and trembling, repenting towards God and trusting in Jesus Christ that he alone is good and able to save their soul because he died on a cross to pay for all of their sins. We’re looking for fruit keeping with repentance, we’re not going to call out every sin, but look for the big ones or ones that seem to keep recurring.

So the verse that everybody thinks is about prayer is really about bearing witness against a sinning or false brother, that if two or three saints are in agreement with the Bible and confront someone with it, then the Holy Spirit will be there also testifying with them.

So, that was a long ways to say two things;

1. Read everything in context.
2. God is with you in the largest of crowds or the remotest desert island, and he hears your prayers whether you’re with two or three others or all by yourself.
3. Also…call people out when they use this verse wrong, because it really misrepresents God pretty badly to say he will only show up for crowds and not for individuals.

So lets go on with the lesson, now that half the time is up…verses 16 and 18 go together, so I’m going to read them together. Verse 17 will get more focus in a minute.

v. 16,18 Rejoice always, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

We find it easy to rejoice in good things, but hard sometimes in bad things. You guys remember I was told you I wasn’t dating another person until I was certain that was the person I was going to marry? Well I thought maybe I’d found her, truthfully I haven’t known her very long, maybe four months, but I was excited that we became such good friends so fast, I wasn’t sure and was going to continue being friends with her until October when I graduated, then thought I’d start dating her then. Then we went to lunch, just as friends, and she told me she is moving soon…far away…her mind is pretty made up to move, but we had a nice talk about us dating and stuff and decided it just isn’t right right now. Ouch. It’s good in a way, because there is no way I could devote any sort of attention to someone right now in school, but it still hurts.

Or let me give you a much worse scenario, say someone you love a lot dies.

So how do you rejoice in circumstances like that? Well first you cry a little…because nobody says you can’t be sad, but remember we don’t mourn as those who have no hope. But we remember that God is in control and the he has promised to use all things for good to those that love him. (Romans 8:28)

One of my friends was on a missions trip to Africa, and a little four year old girl got really sick. The family had just been converted to Christianity and they asked him to do a miracle of healing on her. Healings are fickle things because it’s totally up to God and he knows what he’s doing. My friend was terrified to pray over the girl because he didn’t know what would happen if she didn’t get better. Lots of people came, both Christians (very few) and Muslims (very many) to hear and watch him pray. The girl didn’t get better and died a week later. The father of the girl wasn’t angry and didn’t reject God, because he knew his little girl was in Heaven and he would see her again.

Where does the rejoicing come in? At the funeral the whole village came, 90% or more Muslim, and they saw that the family did not mourn as those who have no hope, but trusted in God who raises the dead. Several Christians preached about the hope that is within them because Jesus Christ came and died for their sins and defeated death on the third day, and most of the crowd was converted to Christianity at the funeral of this little girl. God was and is and always will be in control.

A lot of things that will happen to you will strengthen you to minister to others or will force you to rely more on God, and in that I rejoice. For example, now when one of you gets a broken heart, and it’s bound to happen, I’ll know better what you’re going through. A much bigger example is two of our members lost a baby, and in seeking answers went to church and got saved. Not only that, but they are both now exceedingly equipped to minister to both Christians and non-Christians who lose children, which unfortunately is a major problem, it is estimated that 1 in 5 babies won’t survive to be born and that’s not even counting abortions.

Wow, this took longer than I expected, I’m going to go into prayer now since we’re running out of time. The beginning of this Epistle was super easy to go verse by verse, the end is not so easy, a lot packed into these verses.

v. 17 pray without ceasing

Other translations may say, “Pray unceasingly.” Does this mean that right now because we’re not all praying we’re wrong? No, it means to have a constancy of prayer about you, pray frequently, there shouldn’t be big blocks of time where you haven’t prayed.

Sometimes things will happen that make you not want to pray, this is the most important time for you to pray. I really didn’t want to pray after everything happened with that girl and finally I did and I felt a lot better afterwards. Sometimes a prayer should be long, sometimes short. I think the shortest I’ve ever prayed was on the way to YEC when a car behind us did something stupid, coupled with me doing something stupid, and he almost hit us and my prayer was, “Help!” There was nothing else I could do, and that car missed us by inches.

I remember a story I heard at a church I went to with a friend where the pastor said as a little boy he used to need to talk to God so he’d sprint home, fly through the living room, down the hall, and his room had a hard-wood floor so he’d slide in on his knees up to his bed and pretty much say the same thing I’d said, “God, I need help!” He’d been so trained by his parents to pray before bed that he thought that was the only place he could pray from. You don’t have to be on your knees or by your bed or in any sort of configuration to pray, but you do have to be a Christian, because God only hears righteous prayers, (1 Peter 3:12, Psalm 34:15-16) and those prayers, as you remember, are made righteous by the Holy Spirit. (Romans 8:26)

Finally, as we’re out of time, Israel in the Old Testament really wanted a king, they wanted a king because everybody else had a king. God said it wasn’t time for them to have a king yet, but they wanted one. Samuel, the prophet at the time, yelled at them,

1 Samuel 12:19-24 And all the people said to Samuel, "Pray for your servants to the LORD your God, that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil, to ask for ourselves a king." And Samuel said to the people, "Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet do not turn aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart. And do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty. For the LORD will not forsake his people, for his great name’s sake, because it has pleased the LORD to make you a people for himself. Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by ceasing to pray for you, and I will instruct you in the good and the right way. Only fear the LORD and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you. But if you still do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you and your king."

They were under a different covenant, they had to keep their salvation, we’re under a New Covenant, Christ has purchased our salvation once for all on Calvary’s cross.

But notice that Samuel said, ‘I will not sin by ceasing to pray for you…’ One of the reasons is because that is a duty of a priest, and we are a priesthood of believers. Our prayers will draw us closer to God, make us look more like God, and help us to trust in him more. Finally, one of the greatest prayer verses in the Bible,

James 5:13-18 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.