October 25th - A Firm Foundation

Prayer Requests
Pastor Aaron Preaching
Summit in General
Pastor Carey Cash
Atlanta Gay Pride Outreach
Zach Salvation

Text – 1 Peter 2:4-8

The section of scripture we are going to look at today is a great passage; I used to think that Peter stuck it in here because he wanted to say it and didn't know where else to say it; I didn’t realize he was maintaining a theme.

I mean, how could he go from talking about being born again and then go to talking about rocks without a transition? But there is definitely a progression here and this passage is where it is for a reason.

Last week we talked about something that Peter tells us we need to desire if we want to grow up in salvation, what is it? Spiritual Milk. What exactly is that? Specifically it’s the Bible, and the only way we will desire spiritual milk is if we have tasted that the Lord is good.

This is important because it sets our affections on the right thing. I heard a comic last week who was not a Christian and didn’t understand why Christ is so great, and he got big laughs by saying, “What if you got to Heaven and they gave you a harp and a cloud and said, ‘Have fun.’?”

If our goal is Heaven because we want to forever be without pain, there will come a point where it gets boring. If we our goal in Heaven is to fellowship with the saints, then some trillion years down the road we will know everything there is to know about everyone. If our goal in Heaven is to learn everything, there will come a point when we know everything there is to know.

The comedian went on to say that he asked some Mormons what the benefit of Mormonism would be for him, and the answer was that he would get to spend eternity with his family. He answered, “I spent eternity with my family once, it was a road trip, and it was Hell on Earth.” A misunderstanding of Heaven draws from the fact that we so often miss the goal, that we taste that the Lord is good, and he is our goal forever and ever.

In one of Robin Williams’ movies, he goes to Heaven and asks where God is, and an angel tells him that God is up there. The Heaven of Hollywood is without God. Shai Linne has a song that says, “I don’t wanna go to Heaven if God is not there.”

The reason Heaven will be so great is because God will be there, and we will need eternity to love, learn about, and fellowship with our infinite God.

Psalm 73:25-26 Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

So once we’ve realized that, once we’ve tasted that the Lord is good, then we desire the pure spiritual milk to grow up into salvation. The first thing we need is a firm foundation, so despite Peter not having a transition, he is moving toward a definite purpose. Now Peter is going to accomplish four things in the following verses, first he is going to tell us why we need to build our foundation on Christ through the scriptures, then he is going to refute any idea that he is the first pope, then he is going to tell us who we are in Christ, and finally what happens if you fail to include Christ in your foundation.

1 Peter 2:4-8 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Scripture: "Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame." So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone," and "A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense." They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.

The Roman Catholic Church is built on a foundation made up of two things, first, the Mass, the resacrificing of Christ over and over for the forgiveness of sins, and second that Peter was the first pope. Ironically, and showing their pagan roots, they never cite from Peter’s Epistles to back that up, but from a way misinterpreted verse in Matthew.

Matthew 16:13-20 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" And they said, "Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" (Note: The context here is who is Christ, not who are the Apostles) Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.

Based on this passage, the Catholic Church has made up a pretend succession of popes throughout history. Really the first person who wanted to be pope was Constantine in the 4th century. He was a pagan and totally wrecked Christianity by making it the legal religion of the Roman Empire and making everyone call themselves a Christian no matter what they believed or if they were saved or not. He called himself the Pontifex Maximus, or the “Great Bridger”. He set himself up as a mediator between God and men. It wasn’t for another hundred and fifty years did another guy try to be in charge, Leo the First in AD461 called himself the Chief Bishop and the “Supreme Head of all Christendom.” But it wasn’t for over another hundred years after that that someone would be called papa, father, and that was Gregory the First in AD590. The Roman Catholics believe that there is a Papal Succession from Benedict the 16th to Peter, but that’s ridiculous, they’ve had to make up popes to fill the void. In general there has always been a bishop in Rome, so some of the people they pick were genuinely in charge of the Roman church, but some they just made up. Was Peter ever a bishop? No. He was an Apostle, as evidenced by the first verse of First Peter, what he ever in charge of any church? No, he hung out in Jerusalem and James was the bishop of that church, at best Peter was a Presbyter, of which we will talk more about at the end of chapter four and beginning of five.

In about AD1400, there were two popes operating in two different locations, both chosen legitimately by Roman Catholic councils. In 1414 they picked another pope to supersede those two, and so for a couple of days there were three popes operating at once. There is no such thing as papal succession, and Peter wasn’t the first rock.

In Greek, Jesus would have said, “You are Petros, and upon this Petra I will build my church.” Petros is a piece of rock, slightly bigger than a Lithos, a stone, and Petra is a complete rock. So the proper interpretation is that “You are a piece of the rock, and on the Rock that I am the Living God manifest in the flesh is where I will build my church.” So this passage is going to shed more light for us that the great rock is made up of the smaller rocks. We are the Corpus Christi, the body of Christ.

The main gist of the passage we are in is that it is imperative to have Christ as the foundation.

v.4-5 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house...

We come to Christ as our firm foundation, and as we come to him, we ourselves are building blocks to build up a house. This is reminiscent of what Christ said in his Sermon on the Mount.

Matthew 7:24-26 Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it."

When Peter speaks of us building on the living stone of Christ, Peter is saying two things here, first likening the body of believers to a temple that is made up of many stones, and second the "house" that he is talking about is referring to the collection of people. Like the royalty of England is the House of Windsor, or the House of Tudor, or the House of Normandy. This is important when we consider that Peter uses the world "living" to describe these stones, that he isn't just talking about rocks, not just talking about doctrine, but he is specific to be talking about people and specifically the Person of Jesus Christ.

So a house is both a building and/or a collection of royal people, so the house here, Peter tells us is,

v.5 to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Are any of your last names Cohen? In this day and age, if your last name isn't Cohen, then you're probably not a descendent of Levi. Since Israel and Jerusalem we given to the Jews, there has been a massive effort to determine who the priests are so that they can minister in the new temple, if/when it is built. Cohen is Hebrew for priest. Peter was likely not from the Tribe of Levi either, probably from Simeon albeit that is not 100% sure; Paul was from the Tribe of Benjamin but he agreed with Peter that all Christians are priests, he makes an extremely audacious claim as a Benjamite,

Romans 15:15-16 I have written you quite boldly on some points, as if to remind you of them again, because of the grace God gave me to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles with the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God...

So which priesthood do you think we are a part of if we're not Levites, and one that Peter and Paul could be members of? And especially Jesus, he had no claim to the Levitical priesthood either,

Hebrews 7:14 For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, and in connection with that tribe Moses said nothing about priests.

This is important because a king couldn't be a priest and a priest couldn't be a king under the old covenant, and God did that to show that he was the great High Priest and King of Israel, not a fallible man, and the priesthood we belong to and that Jesus Christ belongs to is one of much older lineage than Aaron in the tribe of Levi,

Hebrews 7:15-17 This becomes even more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek, who has become a priest, not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent, but by the power of an indestructible life. For it is witnessed of him, "You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek."

I wish we had more time to spend on Melchizedek, but consider this just a foundation and introduction to his life. He was the priest that ministered for Abraham, he was never born, and he never died, his name means the King of Righteousness, he was declared to be the King of Salem, or the King of Peace. Does anybody know where Salem was? It was Jerusalem before Jerusalem became Jerusalem; the first time we hear it called Jerusalem, new Salem, was when it was conquered by Joshua. Melchizedek was both priest and king, he was Jesus Christ manifest in the flesh, and now we are priests under our Great High Priest, and as Paul and Peter tell us, our duty is to proclaim the gospel of God, and to offer spiritual sacrifices to God through Jesus Christ.

What is a spiritual sacrifice you can offer? Your life (Romans 12:1-2), your words and praise (Hebrews 13:15), your works and sharing what you have (Hebrews 13:16), your prayers (Revelation 8:3), and bringing others to Christ (Romans 15:16), all of this walking in love (Ephesians 5:2); I wish I had time to share with you the verses that say these things, I've included them on the website if you want to look. This was and is one of the most important concepts of the Reformation, that there is one priesthood of believers, in Latin it is Sola Sacerdos, that Jesus Christ is our only intercessor, that a priest cannot confess your sins for you, and that all Christians stand on equal footings of grace before Almighty God.

In order to finish this passage, and stay true to Peter's flow, we'll talk more about priests next week briefly on the requirements of being one, and more about how to be a good priest of the Most High God.

From here Peter sums it up beautifully on why we must build on the firm foundation of Christ and what happens if we try to build on anything else but him.

v. 6-7 For it stands in Scripture: "Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame." So the honor is for you who believe,

For those who believe, there is honor and glory and blessing forever,

v.7-8 but for those who do not believe, "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone," and "A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense." They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.

The Pharisees were in love with the Bible, they weren't so in love with the God that the Bible points to, but they loved being authorities on the Bible and trying to make people obey every last law and then some laws they made up, in order to go to Heaven. They couldn't keep the commandments either, but they were harsh on those who failed. When they met a Man who did keep all of the commandments, they didn't like him, they refused to see that he was the God whom the Bible pointed to, and they rejected him as their Great High Priest.

Even as they rejected him, he still stands in their way and was the downfall of them. They stumbled over Christ because they disobey the Word, as was the plan for everyone who rejected the Chief Cornerstone, the Foundation of Life and godliness.

So in conclusion, we learn four major things from this passage.

First, that Peter was not the first pope, nor is there any Papa other than our Father in Heaven, whom we are able to call Abba, Father, because we are sons and daughters of God adopted and sanctified by the blood of Jesus Christ. There is one mediator between you and God, it is not any mere man, but it is the Godman Jesus Christ, he is the only one that can intercede on your behalf to the Father, having borne your burden to the cross and paid your fine in his own life's blood.

Second, Jesus Christ is the only firm foundation. If you try to build your life and hope on anything else, great will be your fall.

Third, we are figuratively being built on that foundation to the full body of Christ in the church, and literally we are priests, Sola Sacerdos, of God after the line of Melchizedek, offering spiritual sacrifices to God through Jesus Christ.

Fourth, if you reject Jesus Christ, be assured that he will be your downfall. The stone that the builders rejected is the cornerstone of believers and the stumbling stone of the unbeliever, and when they fall, great will be their demise.

October 18th - The Pure Milk of the Word

Prayer Requests
Dan + Leon Preaching
Fall Festival Results
Pastor Carey Cash

Giles, York, and Miano's in their family losses this week

James' friend Aaron move to Pennsylvania

Text - 1 Peter 2:2-3

Short Lesson, Hannah did the introduction, and we had missionaries visit from the fifth grade.

The verse we are going to read and look at today is a continuation of chapter one, especially the idea of being born again. So some review, our earthly life mirrors our spiritual life.

Conception – Seed Planted (1 Corinthians 3:5-6)
Gestation – Seed Growth/Danger of no Birth (Galatians 4:19)
Birth – Rebirth (1 Peter 1:3)
Newborn – Spiritual Babes (Hebrews 5:13, 1 Peter 2:2)
Adolescence – Maturing (Hebrews 5:14)
Maturity – Able to Minister to Souls (Hebrews 5:12)

There needs to be a direction to this, if you stop moving towards maturity for any lengthy period of time that is not good, the important thing is that there is a progression. Peter's Epistle mirrors this progression, he starts the letter out by talking about being born again and he concludes talking to the elders. How do we get from being newborns to elders?

1 Peter 2:2-3 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

What does a baby want when it is first born? Steak? Coca-Cola? Pepperoni Pizza? Or the pure milk from its mom?

Does it have any desire for anything else? Nope, because the milk is what it needs. What happens if you try to give a newborn a potato chip? They don't want it, they know what they need.

So a newly Reborn Christian is told to do what by Peter? Desire the pure spiritual milk. Let me give you a personal example, after I got saved, I had two weeks off from work because I had just returned from the middle-east, where you get to save up all of your weekends, and so I read the Bible from cover to cover in those two weeks. I missed a lot of things, but it gave me a great foundation of Christianity.

This milk contains all sorts of incredible things that most food doesn't have, and is super concentrated. First of all, it is heavy in omega-3, which is a fatty acid that is fantastic for brain-growth. You can eat fish and get this same stuff, but you won't get the same benefit as the baby, because the milk also comes with this stuff called "lipase" which is an enzyme that greatly helps the baby digest the omega-3 so that more of it goes into its brain.

This is just like the Bible, where is the best place to grow your spiritual knowledge? It's from reading straight from God's Word. I can teach it to you, and while I hope you're getting a lot out of this class, I'm certain there is a lot of stuff you're missing too...this is just how our brains work, God wants us to seek him, not somebody talking about him. Similarly, the Bible, when it is interpreted for you by the Holy Spirit will be much more absorbed into your brain.

Next, milk has very specific proteins in it that are perfect for the baby's body to absorb to make stronger bodies and better immune systems. This milk is completely absorbed and used because it is made for the body. On the other hand, cow's milk has protein in it, but it is so hard for your body to get out that what your body gets from cow-milk protein isn't enough to replace the protein it took to get it. It's like me buying a $1 bill from you for $5. You don't drink cow's milk for the protein, but for the vitamins.

That goes straight to the Bible. The Bible contains things that your spiritual life can totally use. On the other hand, you read a book by a great preacher, or hear a great sermon or lesson, and the spiritual truths may be great and true, but the effort the preacher spent to get that truth to you took forever in research and prayer. A preacher should be giving you application along with your truth, these are the reasons we listen to preachers who ought to be exhorting.

Next, milk has huge amounts of sugar in it, that makes it taste good for the baby. This also makes it easier to digest.

In Seminary, they make you read up to three books a week, and while some of these books are really good, when you read the Bible after that, you realize that God's Word is so much sweeter than mans' words.

There is more, according to a Dr. Frank Oski who is a leading pediatrician for Johns Hopkins Medical School, there are at least 400 reasons milk is better than formula or baby food, but those are the really neat ones I thought, plus one more that I think is fantastic. Milk has natural antibacterial agents in it that kills bad germs (not all germs are bad), but doesn't kill babies. While you have to boil bottles and keep baby food sealed, milk is ready to go from the source.

Chapter 1 of First Peter talked about how we are being refined, through trial and obedience, but that we have eternal life. The Bible kills sin and purifies us, but won't kills us...there is an if coming up...

v.3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

None of these promises are for unbelievers, people who have not been born-again, but only for the believer.

So where is Peter telling us to look for spiritual growth? The Bible. Let's see where he got this quote in verse three from.

Hmm, it seems to be the Bible; one of the reasons I picked these Epistles to go through is because they quote the Old Testament like crazy. First Thessalonians didn't quote it a single time, so I felt it would be good to look at an Epistle that quotes and/or alludes to the Old Testament a ridiculous number of times.

Peter is quoting Psalm 34:8, this is an absolutely wonderful Psalm, maybe my favorite, and also maybe Peter's favorite because he quotes it several times and holds close to its themes. The verse here that Peter quotes wasn't just stated, I believe it was an emotional outburst,

Psalm 34:8-11 Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! Oh, fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack! The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing. Come, O children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD.

The taste the Lord directly relates to the spiritual milk, what happens if you try to feed a baby something that isn't spiritual milk? He's going to spit it out, because he knows there is something so much better. The same with someone who has seen the perfection of God, the absolute pleasure that comes from knowing him, from resting in his grace and finding refuge in his mercy. Imagine someone came to us and said, "I will give you each a trillion dollars if you will never talk about Jesus ever again or pray or use this money for any Christian endeavor. You can do whatever you want with it, as long as the cause of Christ is not furthered." Our response should be, "Ew, are you serious, that is the last thing in the world I want, because my desire is the Living God, he is what I want." That would be your response if you have tasted that the Lord is good.

I believe I started out on the right track, I didn't have Christian books or teachers around to corrupt me or get me caught on something else, I had the pure spiritual milk of the Word. This is one reason I get so defensive when somebody talks about the myth of Free-Will, or say to get saved you "ask Jesus into your heart", or any number of goofy things. We add these manmade things and it takes the sweetness out of the Bible.

I think one of the reasons the Christian church is so caught up in other things is because when someone gets saved, they don't go to the Word, but they go to Sunday School or church or books about how to be a Christian while neglecting the Bible. Look at America, we know that we ought to eat healthy, but we love things that taste good to us, the Bible has never been shown to most Christians to be so sweet and so good and so good for us.

So the application is straightforward. Love this book, read this book, find how great and glorious God is through this book, so that you progress in your Christian life, moving from spiritual rebirth to being an elder, and never stop progressing. Christian teachers, books, and sermons are wonderful, but they are not the Bible. Your main diet should be from this Bible and things on top of it should treats or snacks.

Finally, how many times do you eat a day? Two? Three? Six? What happens if you skip a few days? You get weak, you pass out, you die... How many times do you read your Bible a day? Ever skipped a few days? A few weeks? A few months?

Don't get me wrong, you can't lose your salvation by not reading your Bible, but if you're not subsisting on your Bible, then your spirit probably isn't alive in need of nourishment, but is still dead in sins and transgressions. What do the dead eat? If there is no Bible-input, then it is likely that the spirit is dead, and the need is to be spiritual raised so that you taste that the Lord is good.

October 11th - Christopher Columbus

Prayer Requests
Pastor Aaron Preaching
Fall Festival - No Rain
Hannah and her Dad Camping
Kari and her Class Camping
Bethany's Braces
Joshua and Cassandra's Birthdays

Text - 1 Peter 2:10...sort of...

We're going to briefly step out of First Peter to do a topical look at Christopher Columbus. Tomorrow is his day and his life has been so ignored and misrepresented that I think it will benefit us all to look into his life. 1 Peter 2:2 is also Hannah's favorite verse and she couldn't be here today, so I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to take a week off for something different. I think Hannah misinterpreted and took 1 Peter 2:1 a little too literally, it tells us to rid yourself of all Geil... (KJV)

What is Christopher Columbus famous for? The world will tell you it is for discovering the New World, and that's true, but what he is famous for in Heaven is his devotion to Jesus Christ and desire to see the gospel spread.

Columbus was born in Genoa Italy in 1451, his father was a wool-worker, which Columbus trained to follow, but Columbus wanted to be a sailor. His education is fairly spotty in detail, we do know that he learned Latin because all of the best nautical books were in Latin. Which other great book was in Latin at this time? The Bible. Columbus was put in an interesting privileged position to read the book that most people at his time could not read, and he took it very seriously. On one of his first trips he was in Greece, here was all sorts of political and religious unrest and if I had to put my finger on where Columbus got saved, I'd say it was either in Greece, or because of Greece that he would have looked deeper into his Catholic faith. Ironically, his first voyage to Greece was the closest he would ever get to India.

His profession of faith is, "I am a most noteworthy sinner, but I have cried out to the Lord for grace and mercy, and they have covered me completely. I have found the sweetest consolation since I made it my whole purpose to enjoy His marvelous Presence."

He took his name, Christopher, exceedingly literally; this name means "The Christ Bearer" and he made it his life's goal to see Jesus Christ glorified through his life. His last name seems to have some Jewish roots, albeit we're not really sure what it means. Columbus claimed to be able to trace his lineage all the way up to King David. This may seem strange, but it is totally plausible, conservative Jews take lineage very seriously, and while David, Jesus, and subsequently Christopher would have been from the line of Judah, if you ever meet someone from the line of Levi, they can take you straight up the list of their genealogy to Aaron. Paul said don't get caught up in this, but it's neat that people are able to do it.

Columbus shares a similar last name with Columba who was a missionary to Scotland in the sixth century who converted the Picts. I wanted to mention him because with Columbus we're going to be discussing lots of science and the Bible, and Columba has writings about him that he encountered huge lizards, aka dragons, in Scotland. One of them almost ate his friend. Today we call them dinosaurs, and they certainly didn't live millions of years ago, but only recently vanished from the earth.

So, back to Columbus, the Italian. He was a Catholic, but his letters and journals are very biblical and I have very little doubt that he was saved. On the other hand, he went to Spain to try to get funding for a Western expedition to the Indies. The king and queen of Spain, Ferdinand and Isabella, were thoroughly Catholic and almost guaranteed not to be saved. One evidence is that they hated Jews, and they kicked all of the Jews out of Spain, which is ironic because Columbus was a Jew, albeit a Christian Jew.

If you research this, and I always encourage you to look into these things, you'll find some very flattering language to a "Queen" who many Catholics will want you to believe was Mary, but you'll find if you search it in context, that it was about Queen Isabella and her support of Columbus. One reason I feel that Columbus was actually saved is because even though he was a Catholic, he only worshipped and prayed to Jesus Christ and his Father. One of the ships they gave him was the Santa Maria, Saint Mary, but he didn't name her, she was named after her home port, which was called El Puerto de Santa Maria. Various crew members named her various things, the devout Catholics called her Elegant Mary, the heathens called her Dirty Mary, and others called her by the city she was made in, La Gallega. Interestingly, the name of the Santa Clara was changed to the Niña, which means little girl; the captain of this ship's name was Juan Niño, so it was a play on words.

While God can use pagans (Catholics and others) to do amazing things, I'm certain that Columbus disagreed with much of the Catholic faith and held to a more orthodox Christianity, albeit not perfectly orthodox.

In the 1400's, practically no-one believed the world was flat. Your text books are going to lie to you, because they hate God and the truth. We're going to talk about that more later. Columbus started to research a different route to China and Indonesia, a straight shot rather than going around Africa; few people believed it was impossible, but most felt that it was way too far to sail. And, if there was no land-mass between Spain and China, it would have been way too far to sail.

Columbus heard of a land possibly to the West so he decided to research it, and he did so both from the Bible, and from secular history. It started off when he heard of a body that was found floating across the Atlantic Ocean that was neither black nor white but seemed oriental. At this point, he realized that winds around the equator blew West, and winds farther north blew East, and he felt he could sail West on one and home on the other, no-one purportedly had thought of that before.

In his research he discovered a writing by Diodorus Siculus, a first century BC Greek historian, who recorded that he had heard of a very great island many days journey from Africa. A great scientist and a Catholic named Dr. Mirabilis in the 1200's believed that the sea between Spain and India would be navigable if the winds were right, albeit he never tried it.

Columbus started to search the Bible to see what it said on the matter. He had absolute authority that the world was round,

Isaiah 40:22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in...

Job 26:10 He has inscribed a circle on the face of the waters at the boundary between light and darkness.

A circle of light would require a sphere, and so there was no doubt in Columbus', or most people of his day, that the world was round.

I'm fairly certain Columbus' favorite book was Isaiah, he loved and held to the frequent mention of all types of people in all different locations following after the Living God. Columbus felt like he was divinely guided by God to sail West to fulfill a prophecy in Isaiah 60. I don't know exactly how he picked this prophecy, because looking back, I don't know if I would ascribe him to it, but it's very interesting and it very well may be a direct prophecy of Columbus.

Isaiah 60:9 Surely the islands look to me; in the lead are the ships of Tarshish, bringing your sons from afar, with their silver and gold, to the honor of the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has endowed you with splendor.

Where is Tarshish? Tarshish is in Southwestern Spain. Where did Columbus sail from? Spain, specifically Palos, which is very near to where Tarshish was in Jonah's day, albeit they are not exactly the same place so it is dangerous to force this prophecy.

Columbus had seen enough islands in his travels; Ireland, Iceland, the Azores, the Canaries to believe that there would be islands across the whole ocean until he reached India. He also believed that along with the winds, he would have help by ocean currents which were largely unknown of at the time, and this would keep the distance from being too long because the speed of the ships would be faster.

Psalm 8:8 ...passes along the paths of the seas.

Similarly, in the 1800's, a sailor named Matthew Fontaine Maury read this verse and started to map the ocean currents and do more research on them. He is known today as the Father of Oceanography.

No one could accuse Columbus of lack of research, he would write, "I have met and I have had discussions with wise people, ecclesiastics and laymen, Latins and Greeks, Jews and Moors and with many others of other sects. To this I found our Lord very favorable to my desire and I received from Him the spirit of intelligence: in seamanship he made me abundant, of astrology he gave what was needed, and so of geometry and arithmetic and ingeniousness in the soul and hands to draw the sphere..."

Columbus approached the King of Portugal first, and after hearing his proposal, the king turned him down. People thought he was crazy for wanting to try. Columbus would later write/pray, "At this time I both read and studied all kinds of literature: cosmography, histories, chronicles, and philosophy and other arts , to which our Lord opened my mind unmistakably to the fact that it was possible to navigate from here to the Indies, and He evoked in me the will for the execution of it; and with this fire I came to Your Highnesses. All those who heard of my plan disregarded it mockingly and with laughter. All the sciences of which I spoke were of no profit to me nor the authorities in them; only in Your Highnesses my faith, and my stay. Who would doubt that this light did not come from the Holy Spirit, anyway as far as I am concerned, which comforted with rays of marvelous clarity and with its Holy and Sacred Scriptures."

So he went to Spain and they were all for his voyage, mainly for evangelization purposes, but also they wanted whichever islands that Columbus might discover. Queen Isabella sought help from the Vatican, stating the purpose of the voyage "To bear the light of Christ west to the heathen undiscovered lands." There was also a lot of money to be made, and certainly that is why some people were all for the expedition.

But, the king and queen couldn't pay for it because Spain was broke fighting a war against Muslim invaders. Columbus was going to head for France to seek financing there, which would mean whichever lands he discovered would belong to France, and also Portugal seemed to be changing their minds and were going to finance Columbus, but before that happened three wealthy Spanish men, all nominally Christian Jews, decided to fund Columbus' exploration for Spain. Ironically, it seems that one of their purposes was to seek a new land in which to evade the Catholic church. It is not clear whether they were born-again Christians, non-Messianic Jews, or atheists, however it happened, their goal was to get away from the Roman church.

So Columbus sailed West to go East. They found no islands for a long time and the crew wanted to give up. Columbus told them three more days and if they hadn't spotted land, they would turn-around. At the end of the second day, October 12th, 1492, they spotted land, an island in the Bahamas. They named it San Salvador, the Sacred Saviour. When they landed they met, after a brief search, a people that looked quite oriental, and so Columbus decided they were in India and named the people Indians.

Columbus instantly set out to making friends with the natives, giving them gifts and learning to communicate with them. His first journal entries after landing on October 12th were how important it was for Spain to send missionaries to these people. By November his journaling had changed slightly, he stated that he had begun to try to convert them, and he persuaded six Indians to return to Spain with him to learn Spanish, and possibly to return to their people as missionaries.

I can't sum it up better than Columbus the joy and monumental event that took place when the gospel was introduced to the new world, "Let Christ rejoice upon earth as he does in heaven, to witness the coming salvation of so many people, heretofore given over to perdition."

Columbus is the exact opposite of religious tolerance, he sought a direct route to send missionaries to a people who very much needed Christ. And while much evil came about to the American Indians because of the discovery, many have been saved by Christ and went to Heaven, which they never would have if the New World wasn't discovered. And America wasn't a utopia where everything was peachy. The people that Columbus first met were in imminent danger from cannibals who were systematically working their way around the Bahamas causing the extinction of whole people groups by eating them.

Likewise, later the Spaniards were able to conquer the Mayans and the Aztecs with very little manpower and violence, even though they were outnumbered by ridiculously huge armies. The reason was because many of the Mayans and Aztecs wouldn't fight for their leaders because their leaders were wicked and violent and made human sacrifices. Columbus did infinite good for the kingdom of God and for souls.

But in terms of tolerance, people hate him. One Indian Chief said of him in 1992, "Columbus makes Hitler look like a juvenile delinquent." So the Columbus you're going to be taught about in school, who loved wealth and titles more than anything, is not the Columbus of history who loved Jesus Christ and sought to see souls saved from perdition, Hell, for eternity. Columbus did like money, and sometimes he would go on mini-expeditions just in search of gold and spices. However, he used a great deal of his wealth to fund missionaries not to the New World, but to Jerusalem, and at the end of his life he had very little wealth remaining, but that is how he intended it. On money he would say, "He who has gold makes and accomplishes whatever he wishes in the world, and finally uses it to send souls to paradise."

So what do we learn?

First of all, the Bible is all about science. It is not science versus the Bible, it is science and the Bible versus enemies of God.

Second of all, education is great if you are putting it to action for glorifying God. Trigonometry was reasonably new in Columbus' day, yet without it there is no way he would have been able to find the same islands on his return voyage. Magellan would also use Trigonometry when he sailed around the world.

Third, Columbus used what he was good at to glorify God. He was a great seaman and navigator. It is said that his handwriting was fantastic, so much so that he was offered jobs to be a scribe. He also could have become a wool-worker like his father, but he took what God had made him best at and used it for the glory of God.

Forth of all, Columbus was a great Christian whose main goal was the evangelization of new people who had never heard of Jesus Christ. He took verses like Matthew 24:24, 28:19-20, and Mark 16:15 literally and seriously.

Fifth of all, tolerance is stupid. Lest people repent and turn to Jesus Christ, they will perish, and we need to be doing the same as Columbus did, seeking to convert everyone we run into, and refusing to compromise on the absolute truth of the scriptures.

Sixth of all, you can do pretty much whatever you want to with your money. The best place to invest it is in the kingdom of Heaven, where you use it to win souls into paradise. This is a running theme in my class and the Bible, that we only have one life, and it will soon be past, and only what's done for Christ will last.

Seventh of all, and probably most important, I'll let Columbus sum up, "No one should fear to undertake any task in the name of our Saviour, if it is just and if the intention is purely for His service."

In conclusion, after it became apparent that what Columbus had discovered was not India or China, but was indeed something quite different, he would sum up his whole life in one pithy statement, "God made me the messenger of the New Heaven and the New Earth."

God has likewise made you a messenger of the New Heaven and the New Earth, for without Christ, souls will perish. Find what you are best at and use it to glorify God in your body and your speech. Preach Christ at every opportunity, and trust in his sovereignty that the works you are walking in were prepared before time began so we rightly represent Christ to all the world, for until the gospel is preached to every nation, the end will not come. We want 1 Peter 2:10 to be true for all people groups.

1 Peter 2:10 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.

Finally, challenge your teachers when they try to tell you Columbus was only in it for wealth, and that people thought he would sail over the edge of the world and die, tell them that is stupid and is willfully being ignorant of the truth. We'll talk more about this in Second Peter 3.

October 4th - The New Birth

Prayer Requests
Pastor Aaron Preaching
Fall Festival
Bethany and Canyon's Dentist Appointments
Jeff Duckett City Council
Kennesaw Mountain Game next Friday

Text - 1 Peter 1:22-2:1

I think we’re through the hard part of the epistle, there were so many things smashed into the last ten verses that it was hard to really find a theme and expound on it. It is a beautiful introduction and looking back, I think we would have done better to have just read verses 13-21 and then go onto the rest of the letter which would have explained verses 13-21 better than I did. It’s a lesson learned and I apologize for the disjointed way in which I taught it; I promise there will be a better focus from here on out.

Today we are going to talk about being born-again, a fantastically important topic in the Bible.

1 Peter 1:22-2:1 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for "All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever." And this word is the good news that was preached to you. So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.

v.22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart,

This is something that could be read really wrongly if it were taken out of context. It sounds like we can purify our souls through obedience, but we have to look at the next verse that says since you where born-again. The Galatian church was trying to purify themselves through works,

Galatians 3:1-3 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?

Our purification is begun first of all through being born-again, then afterwards by one of two ways, first through affliction, second through obedience. Either God putting you to the fire, or you putting you to the holiness of God so that we are conformed to his image. For the seventh and eighth graders, do you remember what the names of the two great churches of Revelation were? Smyrna and Philadelphia, how was Smyrna purified? Through persecution, through external purification. How was Philadelphia purified? Through internal purification, by reading the Bible and doing what it says; by loving God and their neighbors. We can purify our hearts after we are born-again by loving earnestly from a purified heart. You cannot purify your heart this way if you have not been born-again and been given a new heart. So lets talk about being born-again.

v.23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God

There is a lot in this passage, but I really want to impress on you how important being born-again is.

I’m going to introduce you to two important men in history, a Rabbi named Nicodemus, and a preacher named George Whitefield. Let’s start with Nicodemus. From extrabiblical history we know that this Rabbi in the First Century was one of the four richest Jews in Jerusalem, he was also a Pharisee and had a great deal of power over people. He came to Jesus to ask him some questions for at least a few other Pharisees; probably Joseph of Arimathea was one of the Pharisees who wanted to know.

So he goes to Jesus and here is what transpires.

John 3:1-13 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him." Jesus answered him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?" Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." Nicodemus said to him, "How can these things be?" Jesus answered him, "Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.

So we’ve got this really smart guy, who probably knew the Old Testament backwards and forwards, and I’m sure he sees the necessity of the New Birth, he just doesn’t understand how he can do it. He asks the great question, probably pretty sarcastically, “do I climb back in my mother’s womb? I don’t think I’m gonna fit” Jesus answered him that a person must be born of the Holy Spirit and of water. Some people have thought that this is referring to both the physical birth and the spiritual birth, but then that would condemn babies who are stillborn, and Job tells us that stillborns go to Heaven. (Job 3:16) What the water is talking about is the New Covenant, when we are washed; Nicodemus would have understood this instantly.

Being born again is an external event from us, when God supernaturally makes us alive spiritually.

John 1:12-13 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

We are born of the Spirit by the will of God, and this is when we become children of God. And if you are not born-again, Jesus promises that you can’t go to Heaven. As we leave Nicodemus, lets look at something neat;

John 19:38-39 After these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body. Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight.

It sounds like Nicodemus got saved, sounds like he was born-again; he helped Joseph to bury Jesus. Not all Pharisees were bad, just like not all people in churches are good, and we can see born-again people doing good things in every manner of church, life, and career.

That brings us to George Whitefield. He lived in the 1700’s, he got saved reading a book on the necessity of the New Birth, which is another way of saying being born-again. So few people were experiencing being born-again that it was popular to say that being born-again meant being baptized or trying to clean yourself up. As Whitefield read the book, it became apparent that something big needed to happen to his soul in order for him to go to Heaven. He sought God in prayer and repentance and finally it happened, he was born-again. He instantly set out to preaching, but nobody would let him preach in their church. So he found a stump in a field and stood on it and preached the hope of reconciliation that is available in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He was preaching to coal-miners and when he had finished they had streams of tears down their cheeks where the coal dust had been washed away.

George Whitefield preached for thirty years in America and Britain and multitudes got saved. Whitefield was really the one who birthed the Revolution; Washington, Jefferson, and Franklin helped a little, but without Whitefield, there would be no United States. During his life, George Whitefield preached 18,000 times, and over 1,000 of those sermons were on John 3, specifically John 3:3 that says

John 3:3 Jesus answered him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God."

At the end of his life he was asked, “Why do you preach on being born-again so often?” He answered, “Because you must be.”

Let’s see why it is so important to be born of imperishable seed, of the Holy Spirit, as Peter quotes from Isaiah chapter 40.

v.24-25 for "All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever." And this word is the good news that was preached to you.

Everything that is born of flesh is passing away, it will wither, it will fall, it will die, it will not last forever. But the Word of God remains forever, it is imperishable, it is eternal, it is not corrupted by sin. It is what works in your life and makes you born-again. It’s obviously not just this paper and ink, but the Living Christ that it bears witness to, the Spirit of Christ that is sanctifying you, and the Father of Christ who is controlling it all. And in all of this, the Word has to abide in you, it's not a one time thing, but that it lives in you and works in you.

Romans 8:20-23 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

Our spirit is alive, but our bodies are dying.

Psalm 73:26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

But we’ll get a new body to match our new spirit;

1 Corinthians 15:47-49 The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.

Now let me share with you an illustration that should really drive home the importance of the New Birth and that it is a real thing, and not just something that is superficial and can happen to you without you or someone else knowing.

On the way to church this morning I decided to get on the free-way…I don’t really know why, it took me sort of out of the way. On my way I got a flat tire, so I pulled over to the side and was changing the tire. I was in a hurry and lost hold of one of the lug-nuts and it rolled out into the freeway. I wasn’t paying attention and ran out and got it, right when I picked it up, I looked up and here comes a semi-truck going eighty-miles an hour and it was too late for me to get out of the way, and it ran me over. Long story short, I made it to church and here I am.

Would you believe this story? Why not? If I had an encounter with a semi-truck, you’d expect there to be some evidence, right? Now, let me ask you this question, which is bigger, a semi-truck, or the Living God who created the universe? (Stolen from Paul Washer)

If you claim to have had an encounter with him, that he has saved you, that he has given you a new heart and made you born-again, there should be some evidence of this. Paul says that old things will pass away, and all things will become new, and we will walk in a manner keeping with our confession. Peter says if we are born again then we must

v.2:1 So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.

So beloved, you must be born-again. If you are not, then you will perish, but if you are, then you will see the kingdom of Heaven and will have everlasting life. You must be born-again.

Why is being born-again so important?

Next week Peter is going to jump off of this idea of being born-again and what we should do to grow ourselves in the faith. Being born-again mirrors a real life, and while some of you have heard this, a review won’t be a bad thing.

Conception – Seed Planted (1 Corinthians 3:5-6)
Gestation – Seed Growth/Danger of no Birth (Galatians 4:19)
Birth – Rebirth (1 Peter 1:3)
Newborn – Spiritual Babes (Hebrews 5:13, 1 Peter 2:2)
Adolescence – Maturing (Hebrews 5:14)
Maturity – Able to Minister to Souls (Hebrews 5:12)

Homework

Ask two adults, preferably your parents, how they became born-again.

September 27th - Ransomed by Christ

Prayer Requests
Pastor Aaron Preaching
North Cobb Game and Evangelism
Marble Festival

Flooding
-Hardage Family
-Hogan Family
-Johnson Family
-Others we don't know about

Praise
Kayla and Hannah Singing

Text – 1 Peter 1:17-21

Before we start on this passage, I realized I missed something last week that will only take us a moment to look at, but I think it’s important for several reasons to verses 17-21, so before we begin with today’s lesson, lets read verse 14.

1 Peter 1:14 …do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance…

There are lots of things that make me mad at so called churches in these last days, but maybe nothing more-so than what has become called “moralism” or “be good for goodness sake.” They are all about what you can and cannot do, and a better term for this is legalism. When you take this to its extreme, some people will say that any pleasure or passion is evil.

The pleasure and passion that is mentioned in this passage is a love of sinful things.

Philippians 2:13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

God has pleasure in the sanctification of your life, so pleasure cannot be sinful in and of itself.

Psalm 16:11 You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

If we set our pleasure and passion on the things of God, then we will rejoice and delight in the things of God. Finally, before we jump into the lesson, lets look at what should be our favorite verse.

Daniel 4:2 It is my pleasure to tell you about the miraculous signs and wonders that the Most High God has performed for me.

So it is good to be passionate about the things of God, namely holiness and putting love into action to help people spiritually first, and physically if necessary. As we prepare our minds for this, having set our hope perfectly on the Resurrected Christ, one of the things we need to do is commit that we are going to serve Christ and do the right thing, long before that is necessary.

Let me give you two examples, one of my friends was a policeman and came up on a car on fire on the side of the freeway. Everybody was alright, but the car was a total loss. As he was asking those who had stopped to help for their statements, he found out that one of the men who stopped to help had a fire extinguisher in his semi-truck, but hadn’t brought it out and used it. His excuse was that he wasn’t sure at first if they would need a fire extinguisher, and then when he realized they did, it was too late.

A pastor friend of mine was driving past a gas station and looked over and saw someone on fire from head to foot. He quickly swung into the gas station and with his wife and daughter tried to put the man out. The daughter ran inside the gas station and said, “I need your fire extinguisher!” They wouldn’t give it to her. A big crowd gathered but nobody was helping, my friend said it was the closest thing to Hell on earth you could imagine. The daughter was running back and forth from a spigot on the side of the building with a cup of water, and my friend found a big welcome mat and used it as a blanket to finally smother the fire. The welcome mat was plastic and melted all over the man. It quickly became apparent to my friend that the man was not going to survive, so he laid with him on the pavement for the last minutes of his life explaining to him he could go to Heaven and have all of his sins forgiven if he would reach out and trust in Jesus Christ who died for his sins and rose again. My friend has no idea if the man could hear him, his ears were burned off, his face was practically gone.

The reason was the same in both cases, fire extinguishers are expensive and required by law to be in convenience stores and semi-trucks, so they didn’t want to give them up. Their motivation was wrong, they had extinguishers to comply with the law, not to help people. The moral of the story, according to my police officer friend is that if you have a fire-extinguisher, you have to be prepared to use it, you have to make the choice long before you need it that if there is a fire, you’ll part with the $20, $30, or $50 that you’ll need to pay to recharge or replace your extinguisher. If you don’t make this prior commitment, there is a good chance you’ll have to make the choice in the heat of the moment, and who knows what you’ll choose. So, before I go farther, lets read the passage so you see where I am going with this.

1 Peter 1:17-21 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

v.17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile…

If you call on him as Father, which pretty much means that if you claim to be a Christian, if you are a Christian, this is Peter’s way of reintroducing the letter, going back to the beginning, pretty much saying, “Every Christian do this.” Next is that he judges impartially, he isn’t looking at the location, socio-economic status, or ethnicity of the Christian, but he’s look at our deeds. We are to conduct ourselves with fear, which means we should be terrified we might misrepresent our God, and should do everything in order to glorify his name. Verse eighteen will tell us why we should do that.

v.18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold,

The reason we live for God is because he is worth it, as we learned last week, and now this verse says we live for God also because he purchased us, and we couldn't purchase ourselves. He didn’t just purchase us with money, but by dying for our sins. In this, we live in a way that glorifies him.

Let me tell you the story of John Harper. He was born in the late 1800’s, and was saved at 13. He instantly became an evangelist and loved to preach. At the age of 24 he started a church and saw it grow to a membership of 500 before he left to become a missionary. His whole life was about the gospel, every chance he got, he would tell someone about Jesus Christ and implore them to be reconciled to God.

He almost drowned three times in his life, first when he was two and he fell in a well, then when he was twenty-six he was swimming in the ocean and was swept out to see by a rip-current, thirdly when he was thirty-two he was returning from a missions trip and the ship started to take on water and barely made it to port.

The fourth time he faced drowning, he didn’t make it. At forty years old he boarded a ship which the crew was fond of saying, “Not even God could sink the …” Which ship? Titanic. April 14th, 1912, Titanic struck a “little” iceberg and it became apparent that she was going to sink. John Harper took his six-year old daughter Annie to a life-boat and kissed her goodbye. Have you seen the movie Titanic? In that movie all of the men are little girls in their demeanor and ability, but in reality there was some very brave men on that ship who did great things; there were also some cowards as well. Harper set out to help in the rescue effort and to help people into life-boats. As the ship filled with water, the stern of the boat lifted and Harper put on a life-vest. The ship broke in two and spilled 1528 people into the 28-degree North-Atlantic, Harper was one of them.

He began to swim from person to person telling them how to be forgiven. He came to one man and asked him if he was saved, and the man said he wasn't. Harper told him how Christ had died for his sins, and that if he would repent, he would be saved, he asked the man if he would receive Christ, and the man said no. Harper took off his life jacket and gave it to the man, he said, "Then you need this more than I do." Harper then swam off to preach to others. Soon enough the coldness of the water dragged Harper's body temperature down and he could no longer swim, and he drowned.

Years later, a Scotsman stood up to give his testimony and explained that out of 1528 people who went into the water, 6 were rescued, and he was one of them. He told how he became a Christian, that John Harper had given him his life-vest so that he could live, and just before Harper sank beneath the waves, he cried out, "Believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved!"

When I speak to parents, I use an illustration from a man named Emeal Zwayne, I ask them, “If your child needed a new heart, and the doctors were certain your heart would fit and save their life, would you give it to them?” I’ve yet to have a parent say no, every parent is willing to die for their child. The question that more are hesitant to answer is, “Well, if you’re willing to die for your child, are you willing to live for them?” The same for us, we need to be living sacrifices, living our lives with a view to eternity, and then if we are faced with an opportunity to live or die for someone else, we will be prepared to do so, because someone in the past was willing to die for us, he purchased us,

v.19 with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

This is what Jesus did for us, he purchased us with his precious blood, which means he died for us. Not to be flippant, but if all that was required for forgiveness was the shedding of blood, Christ could have pricked his finger and been done with it, but when you read about his blood, think of it as his suffering death. It was only worthwhile because he was the perfect lamb of God. Peter is certainly referring here to a story that all of his Jewish readers would recognize, the Passover when the blood of a lamb had to be smeared on the door so that the angel of death would pass by.

How is it that one man can pay for all of the sins of every Christian who ever lived? During the Crusades, if your king or a high-up knight got captured, the Muslims would offer to sell them back for exorbitant amounts of money, even sometimes people. At one point in order to buy back a king, the Muslim leader demanded the queen as his wife, and she complied. This is the price for one man, and the reason that Christ can pay for us is because he is worth more than everyone else in the whole world.

Romans 5:7-8 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

While a king was worth his country paying a lot for, the Bible says we had become worthless, and yet Christ purchased us anyways. Our value is infinite because that is the price paid for us, and now we live for Christ.

v.20-21 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

Here we have multiple descriptions of Jesus Christ, first that he was perfect and without blemish, second that he is before all things, third that he put on flesh and walked the earth, forth that he died and was raised, fifth that he has received glory for his obedience and work, and sixth, that his goal was that you would set your faith and hope on God.

John 1:3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

Titus 2:13-14 [We are] waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

John 8:47-58 Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God." The Jews answered him, "Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?" Jesus answered, "I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he is the judge. Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death." The Jews said to him, "Now we know that you have a demon! Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, 'If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.' Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?" Jesus answered, "If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, 'He is our God.' But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad." So the Jews said to him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?" Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am."

Jesus Christ was before all things, he was before Abraham, there was never a time in which he was not. He created all things, though he himself is not created. He submits himself to God the Father, but he is not any less equal than God the Father. He willingly stepped out of Heaven to seek and save the lost, he poured out his life's blood for our sins, then was raised from the dead by his Father. The application this week is pretty straight forward: go out and serve God.

Paris Reidhead put it this way, "Lord Jesus, I’m going to obey you, and love you, and serve you, and do what you want me to do as long as I live, even if I go to Hell at the end of the road, simply because you are worthy to be loved, obeyed, and served; and I’m not trying to make a deal with you."

Finally, check out three verses what tie the whole Passover thing together.

Exodus 12:5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats

John 1:29 Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

Revelation 5:11-14 Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!" And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!" And the four living creatures said, "Amen!" and the elders fell down and worshiped.

He is worthy, let us conduct ourselves with fear in our exile, rightly representing him, worshipping him, serving him, and setting our hope on God because he has the power to raise the dead and reconcile souls to himself.

September 20th - Holiness

Prayer Requests
Pastor Aaron Preaching
Austin with the Flu
Fall Festival
Jeff Duckett City Council
Bethany's Cousin

Text - 1 Peter 1:13-16

Peter is proving to be a very good writer, the more I read and prepare, the more impressed I am by his structure and ability to drive home a point. I really hope this is coming across in my teaching. At the end of the letter, I'd like to read the whole thing to you, or if one of you wants to maybe memorize it and recite it, that would be awesome. The more I prepare for this letter, the more important it comes across to me that it should be read and comprehended all at once.

Barring that, because it is totally worthwhile to dig into it, let's do a quick review.

Overall, who is this letter to? All Christians, everyone whose citizenship is Heaven but are aliens on earth.

Who is the one that did the saving and regenerating of our souls? God.

How did he do it? Through the death of Jesus Christ who paid for our sins and has given us hope through his resurrection. Pay attention to that hope, it's an important part of the introduction.

Our faith is worth more than what? Everything in this world! But namely gold.

Three groups long to look into the works of Christ, the glorious grace he has bestowed upon us, the Word which he has given to us, and the Holy Spirit by which he gave that Word; who are they? First is the prophets who wrote down the Old Testament before Christ, next are the preachers who interpret the Old Testament to see how it revealed Christ, and last are the angels, who have no need for the gospel other than to see God glorified.

So that is Peter's introduction, and it is beautiful. It's way different writing than Paul, in Romans he takes eleven chapters to get to the point Peter has gotten to in twelve verses. In First Thessalonians, it took Paul three chapters to get to the point that Peter has gotten to in the first chapter. On the other end of the spectrum, James doesn't really give an introduction at all but dives right in. Paul isn't wrong by any means, but it is just so much easier to follow Peter. Paul splits two things up, orthodoxy, and orthopraxy, which mean right believing, and right living. Paul explains the orthodoxy first, then explains how to put it into orthopraxy. Peter isn't going to do that, he intermingles the two. It's awesome, but it's a whole different mindset from Paul. I think this is super-neat in the Holy Spirit writing the Bible, that he has given us absolute truth without imposing himself on the style of the writers.

So we're through the introduction, and now Peter is going to give us four and a half chapters of applicable theology, both what to believe and what to do with it. I want to take a brief moment to teach you some public speaking that so many people today miss. A good sermon or speech should always start out with an introduction and a thesis. Your thesis tells your audience what your main point is, pretty much, "If you only get one thing out of this, I want you to get..." Next is the body of the text, this is where you support your thesis. It is great to make major points, there is no requirement on how many to give, sometimes there is only a few, sometimes there are several. Then make a few points to back up your main points. Remember Paul's list in 1 Thessalonians 5, there were like fifteen supporting points on how to live at peace within the church. You HAVE to give application too, John Calvin put it perfectly, "We come not to the preaching to learn what we do not know, but to be incited to do our duty." Each of your points may have an application like Peter, or if they are all pointing to the same application, then save it towards the end like Paul. Finally, give a conclusion that should bring it all together. Restate your main points and how they support your thesis; exhort your hearers to apply what they've learned. If you follow this model, you'll be a better preacher/speaker than 90% of Christians in America today.

Moving on, every major good translation of 1 Peter 1:13-16 begins this section with "therefore", which means that Peter is going to now unpack his introduction and tell you what to do with it. The thesis of this lesson is that because of the greatness of our salvation, we should now live for Christ, not to earn your salvation, but because he is worth it.

1 Peter 1:13-16 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy."
The ESV Bible captures something neat in its translation that most translations miss, this is not hugely doctrinally important, but it's neat and I'm glad they caught it. We are to be preparing our minds for action and being sober minded, but our hope is to be set. That is, our minds will never be perfect and we will never be perfectly self controlled this side of Heaven, but we can set our hope fully on Christ. That is, we don't put a little hope on us, and a little hope on Christ, but all of our hope in Christ and no hope on us.

I'm not sitting here full of joy and expectation for Christ's return because of my readiness to go or my goodness, because if it were up to me to be good enough, I wouldn't be going. But, because my hope is totally on Christ and his work, I know that in his revelation I will see the fullness of his grace.

If you're trusting at all in yourself, or in a prayer you prayed, or a time in your life that you asked Jesus into your heart, you're not putting your hope totally in Christ, but in your faith. One of the biggest failings of the church in the last century was to put their hope in their profession of faith, when we need to put our hope in Jesus Christ. You've heard me share in the past, and something I'll share many more times, is that the best way for me to know you were born is not to see your birth certificate, but to see you living. The same with being born-again, the best way to know you were is not that you can tell me there was a time in your life that you trusted Jesus Christ to save you, but that you're trusting him, and him alone, today.

Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Are you saved by grace, or faith? We're saved by grace through faith. But many people think we're saved by faith. You're saved by Jesus Christ, not your faith.

Something neat I heard about the relationship between our sanctification and perfect hope that made it make more sense for me is that grace is glory begun, that is, we have received grace to be forgiven, but we are not yet perfect, but in glory, we will be perfect. So grace is glory begun, and glory is grace completed.

Philippians 1:6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Peter talks about our mind, and while we have a physical brain, he is talking more about our intellect and logic and that we need to be preparing for action. What are some ways to prepare for action? Study, Sunday School, regular school...but here is something we usually don't think about it, it's also putting it into action. I know lots of people who have huge amounts of theoretical knowledge, they know all sorts of things, but they never put it into action, and so their knowledge is useless. We need to be putting our minds to action.

On the other hand, hope has no physical equivalent, we don't have a hope organ. I really want you to get this point, that there is no mystical stuff that is hope or faith. I can't give you a pound of hope, neither does God build things out of faith. This may sound like common sense, but there are cults out there that think God needs your faith to do things, because they think faith and hope are physical things. You can quickly identify them because they talk about "speaking things into existence" and "speaking faith to it." This is setting men up as gods, because God is the only one that can speak things into existence. Do you remember how he created angels? He commanded them to be, and they were.

v. 14-15 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct...
The language of this verse in the modern day would make most people cringe. People don't want to be obedient, because when we're obedient, it means we're willingly giving up our interests for the interests of someone else. I recently heard a story that puts this into better perspective.

In 1849, a young Englishman traveled to California in search of gold. After several months of prospecting, he struck it rich. On his way home he stopped in New Orleans. Not long into his visit, he came upon a crowd of people all looking in the same direction. Approaching the crowd, he realized that they had gathered for a slave auction, one of the last remaining slave auctions in the United States. Slavery had been outlawed in England for years, so this young man's curiosity drew him to watch as a person became someone else's property. He heard "sold" just as he joined the crowd. A middle-aged black man was taken away.

Next a beautiful young black girl was pushed up on the platform and made to walk around so everyone could see her. The bidding began. Soon the bids surpassed what most slaveholders would pay. As the bidding continued higher and higher, it was apparent that two men wanted her. The miner stood as silent anger welled up inside of him. Finally, one man bid a price that was beyond the reach of the other. The girl looked down. The auctioneer called out, "Going once, going twice..."

Just before the final call, the miner called out a price that was exactly twice the previous bid. An amount that exceeded the worth of any man. The crowd laughed, thinking the miner was only joking. The auctioneer motioned to the miner to come forward and show his money. The miner opened up his satchel of money. The auctioneer shook his head in disbelief as waved the girl over to him.

The girl walked down the steps of the platform until she was eye to eye with the miner. She spat straight in his face and said through clenched teeth, "I hate you!" The miner, without a word, wiped his face, paid the auctioneer, took the girl by the hand, and walked away from the still laughing crowd.

He took her to a lawyer and while she waited he had papers drawn up and both him and the lawyer signed, followed by the transfer of more money. The young girl looked away as the miner came out the door. Stretching out his hand, he said to the girl, "Here are your manumission papers. You are free."

The girl didn't look up.

He tried again. "Here. These are papers that say you are free. Take them."

"I hate you!" the girl said, refusing to look up. "Why do you make fun of me?"

"No, listen," he pleaded. "These are your freedom papers. You are a free
person."

The girl looked at the papers, then looked at him, and looked at the papers again. "You just bought me...and now you're setting me free?"

"That's why I bought you. I bought you to set you free."

The beautiful girl fell to her knees in front of the miner, tears streaming down her face. "You bought me to set me free! You bought me to set me free!" she said over and over again.

The miner said nothing.

Clutching his muddy boots, the girl looked up at the miner and said, "All I want to do is serve you--because you bought me to set me free." (Taken from Wayne Rice's Hot Illustrations for Youth Talks: 100 Attention Getting Stories, Parables, & Anecdotes, the story predates him though, as Leonard Ravenhill has preached it on occasion)

John 8:34-36 Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed."

1 Corinthians 7:22-23 For he who was called in the Lord as a slave is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a slave of Christ. You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men.

John 15:15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.

Horace Greely said "It is impossible to enslave mentally or socially a Bible-reading people. The principles of the Bible are the groundwork of human freedom."

So all this to say, be obedient to Christ not out of compulsion, but out of gratitude. Honor him because he is right, not just because he is bigger than you. Train your minds for action, practice self control, and set your hope perfectly on Christ.

v.16 since it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy."

This is quoting Numbers 11:44, 11:45, 19:2, 20:7, and 21:8. Holy refers to clean, set-apart, not defiled, high and lifted up. A verse that really puts a damper on the whole working your way to Heaven thing is

Hebrews 12:14 Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.

So how are we going to be holy?

Deuteronomy 7:6 For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.

God makes you holy, this is pretty much the definition of sanctification. So we strive for holiness, desiring to obey our Father in Heaven, knowing that our only source of holiness and salvation comes through Jesus Christ, whom we have set our hope on completely, and that we are being obedient not to earn salvation, but to honor Christ.

September 13th - Looking into Angels

Prayer Requests
Dave and Brooke’s Mexico Trip

Next Mexico Missions Trip
Pastor Aaron Preaching
Deeper Conference Results

Taste of Kennesaw Witnessing

Deborah feeling better

Hannah feeling better

Palmer's 7th Grade Science Teacher's Heart Attack

Bethany's Cousin

Ms. Sanders from Awtrey continued healing

Text – 1 Peter 1:12

Last week we talked about the supernatural nature of the Bible, that even though the prophets wrote down the Word of God, they still needed to search it out to find out what it meant. Whose job, after Christ has come, is it to search out the meaning of the Old Testament in order to preach it? Preachers and Apostles.

Who is the greatest Apostle ever to live, keep in mind we’re in Peter’s Epistles? Paul wrote the most letters, John lived the longest, Andrew’s my favorite. But none of these three are the greatest…the greatest Apostle who ever lived and still lives is Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 3:1 Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house.

The word Apostle just means sent one, albeit when Jesus appointed his Apostles, there was something very special in it, they were given special authority and abilities, but we should do our best to live up to our titles of prophet, one who speaks for God, apostle, one who is sent by God, ambassador, one who represents God, and priest, one who ministers for God. We’re going to talk more about the priesthood of believers in chapter 2.

John 20:21 Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you."

The third group that want to look into the ministry and Word of God through his Messiah are who?

1 Peter 1:12 It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.

We’re going to talk about the angels, and look at the gospel from a different perspective than we normally look at it. We usually look at the gospel from two directions, either as a minister of the gospel trying to get people saved, or as a recipient of the gospel who needs the forgiveness of God. There are five major ways to look at the gospel, we could look at it from Satan’s point of view, that it is waging war on his kingdom. Or we could look at it from God’s point of view, that it is his war and ministry and church, and that the ultimate goal is his glory, or we can look at it from the perspective of the angels.

Board Illustration - Circle in the middle with "Gospel" written in it."

Four arrows pointing out:

top - God (Glory)

bottom - Satan (Warfare)

left - Sinner (Condemnation)

right - Saint (Salvation)

One arrow pointing in - Angels

The perspective of the angels is considerably different, because they don’t need forgiveness, their goal is solely to see God glorified.

At first I thought we’d just read every verse that talk about angels, but there are 273 of them, so we’ll look at the definitive verses. First question, are angels created beings?

Psalm 148:2,5 Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his hosts! Let them praise the name of the LORD! For he commanded and they were created.

And how many angels?

Hebrews 12:22 innumerable angels in festal gathering

There are a lot, the Bible doesn’t say how many. When Christ was going to the cross, he said that he could have twelve legions of angels come to his rescue, a legion at the time was about 6,000 men, so that’s 72,000 angels at least.

There are different kinds of angels too, and ranking.

We usually call good angels, angels, and bad angels, demons. It would be correct though to call them all angels. The Bible differentiates by calling the good ones the “elect” angels, because these were the ones who were not allowed to fall in the rebellion.

1 Timothy 5:21 In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect angels I charge you to keep these rules without prejudging, doing nothing from partiality.

Seraph – This word literally means the “On Fire Ones”
Cherub – The blessed ones (Satan is the most beautiful Cherub)
Putti – Baby Angels (We have no reason to believe they exist)

Archangel – Head angel, a prince of angels. Michael is an archangel.
Herald Angel – Proclaim the goodness of God. Gabriel is a herald.
Guardian Angel – Protect God’s Saints.

Some angels have six wings, some two, and others seem not to have any.

Isaiah 6:2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.

Exodus 25:20 The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, their faces one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be.

Genesis 19:1 The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed himself with his face to the earth

So what do they do, are they just pretty wingy thingies, or do they have a purpose?

Hebrews 1:13-14 And to which of the angels has he ever said, "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet"? Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?

Angels are first and foremost ministers of God for his saints. Besides this though, they also are warriors, guardians, heralds, and they’ll help with the rapture.

I used to wonder what would happen during the rapture if you were inside…would you just go through the ceiling, and what if you were in a reinforced building? It sounds like an angel is going to come get you and carry you skyward.

Matthew 24:31 And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

They are very powerful warriors, in the Old Testament an angel killed 70,000 in one day and was on his way to destroy Jerusalem.

1 Chronicles 21:15 And God sent the angel to Jerusalem to destroy it, but as he was about to destroy it, the LORD saw, and he relented from the calamity. And he said to the angel who was working destruction, "It is enough; now stay your hand." And the angel of the LORD was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

One of the most beautiful stories about angels as our ministers and guardians is when Elisha and his buddy were about to get slaughtered by the Syrians:

2 Kings 6:15-23 When the servant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was all around the city. And the servant said, "Alas, my master! What shall we do?" He said, "Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them." Then Elisha prayed and said, "O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see." So the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. And when the Syrians came down against him, Elisha prayed to the LORD and said, "Please strike this people with blindness." So he struck them with blindness in accordance with the prayer of Elisha. And Elisha said to them, "This is not the way, and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek." And he led them to Samaria.

As soon as they entered Samaria, Elisha said, "O LORD, open the eyes of these men, that they may see." So the LORD opened their eyes and they saw, and behold, they were in the midst of Samaria. As soon as the king of Israel saw them, he said to Elisha, "My father, shall I strike them down? Shall I strike them down?" He answered, "You shall not strike them down. Would you strike down those whom you have taken captive with your sword and with your bow? Set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink and go to their master." So he prepared for them a great feast, and when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. And the Syrians did not come again on raids into the land of Israel.

Elisha is sitting there in Jerusalem, and the Syrians come to destroy them, and they are way outnumbered, or so it looks. But Elisha knows that God has given them a heavenly host to protect them, but instead of waging war, God shows his grace by allowing the Syrians to be taken captive and treated as prisoners of war instead of being killed.

Psalm 91:11 For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.

God is big, and powerful, and in control, and nothing bad will ever happen to you that he didn’t allow and/or have a purpose in using. If and when something bad happens, it is good to step back and ask, “Ok, God told his angels to let this happen, what for?”

So angels are neat, they are powerful, they are beautiful, they are capable, and yet, they are paying attention to the gospel, they long to look into it. Since angels are so impressive, there have been varying people throughout history who have desired to worship them.

The books of Hebrews and Colossians are written against angel worshippers. Many people have thought that Jesus was an angel, or even worse, that angels were higher than him.

Hebrews 1:5-9 For to which of the angels did God ever say, "You are my Son, today I have begotten you"? Or again, "I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son"? And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, "Let all God’s angels worship him." Of the angels he says, "He makes his angels winds, and his ministers a flame of fire." 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."

Angels are created, Jesus Christ is not. But Jesus, in his humility, stepped out of Heaven, left his glory in order to be able to save men.

Hebrews 2:9 But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

A note that I couldn’t figure out where to stick, but I want you to know, is that angels are often compared to the stars, they sing, they’re called flaming fires, Satan is called a morning star, the Star of Bethlehem moved, I’m certain it was a heralding angel…we’ll have to wait ‘till Heaven to figure it out, but there is some link between angels and stars.

Psalm 19:1 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

Angels are not low by any means, we see that angels are great, but they are not nearly so great as Christ. Which is more like God, an earthworm or an archangel? Neither, God is so much higher and holier than them that to even try to compare him to something created is impossible. We should not worship angels, but in them we see something incredible. Is God able to do everything without help? Of course, in fact it says in Psalm 148 that he commanded the angels to be created. But he still uses them as his ministers. It is glorious that even though God is able of doing everything, he employs his creation to make his glory manifest.

And the result is that we will have a higher standing in Heaven, because we have the inheritance of Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 6:3 Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life!

And so the angels search these things out, they want to know so they can better minister for God, they also want to know so that they can know what to expect. So, if the gospel is worthy of angels to look into, whom have no stake in it, then it must be a hugely glorious thing. We see that saints and sinners have a stake, God and Satan have a stake in the gospel, but the angels, who do not have a stake in the gospel still find it magnificent. I hope that it will encourage you to know more about the gospel and the God whom the gospel has reconciled you to so that you can be a minister of that gospel.

Galatians 1:8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.

And one last verse to sum it all up.

Hebrews 13:1-2 Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

When I first read this verse, I was actually a little angry. I thought, “So these angels, who are perfectly capable of taking care of themselves, are taking ministry resources…what’s their problem? Why are they wasting our time?” But then I realized that the glory of God is our goal, not just the salvation of souls or the feeding of hungry, or the giving drink to the thirsty, but we do these things in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to the Father through him. This is why the angels are looking into the gospel, not to see what they can get out of it, but to see how it magnifies and glorifies the name of God.

So, as angels sing holy, holy, holy, lets join them as they sing.


Homework

Read Revelation 22:8-9 and explain why John was in the wrong when he fell at the feet of an angel to worship him.