Practical Applications Bible Study, 3/9/11

Songs

• Because Of Your Love
• Jesus Messiah

Introduction

– Scott Shepherd

We wanted to reiterate the purpose of this series. It is not to give you a set response to every question. I want to remind you of what Jesus said to the disciples:

The disciples walked, talked, and had a relationship with Christ. If we seek out that same relationship, that same communion with God, we won’t have to seek out the words to speak; we’ll have the words to answer. So this series is not to give you the words, but to give you the concepts and the confidence you need.

Why Bother Going To Church?

– Adam Paine

> I’m a Christian. Why should I have to go to church?

A co-worker of mine came to me and said, “I used to go to church when I was a little kid. But now I pray; I study my Bible, and I’m okay with that.” I don’t doubt it. I said, “That’s great. But is God okay with that?” We have to let that be our focus. It’s not about what we want, but about what God wants.

People who ask this question believe they have a relationship with God. You don’t hear people say, “I don’t believe in God. Why should I have to go to church?”

What is “going to church”? Obviously, we’re here on Wednesday because we have so much fun on Sunday that we said, “Let’s do it on Wednesday, too.” But the main church day for most people is Sunday. The word “sabbath” is referenced in the ten commandments. One of the ten things written in stone was to observe the sabbath.

The sabbath is observed on the seventh day, in remembrance of God resting on the seventh day from all his work.

When you look at the sabbath, you think “Okay, it’s a celebration of God resting.” But did God rest? No. The sabbath is a gift from God. Creating the world in seven days did not wear God out. He didn’t say “I want to sit back and watch football.”

So it’s for everybody in the “children of Israel”. We know that Jesus came, and now we are counted among the “children of Israel”.

The Jews have 89 rules about what you can and cannot do on the sabbath, but these are rules created by man. This gets into what we call “legalism”. But God just said to observe the sabbath.

Here in Mark it says that Jesus and the disciples were working through the fields and began to pluck the corn; in Matthew it says they rubbed the kernels between their hands.

So this is Jesus making reference to something that David did. The story is, David and his men were hungry, so they went to the high priest. The high priest said, “All I have is the shewbread.” Now the shewbread, according to one of those 89 rules, was something you couldn’t eat. Nobody could eat it but the high priest. But David said, “We’re all sanctified; feed us,” and he did. If you want to read more, it’s in 1 Samuel chapter 21.

Saturday or Sunday?

Some Christians observe the sabbath on Saturday; some observe it on Sunday. That’s kind of why we have a five-day work-week and a two-day weekend, because we didn’t know which day to observe the sabbath on, so we get both. You gotta love the American way.

It’s about having a good conscience toward God.

There are many reasons people give about not wanting to go to church on the sabbath, but when you get down to the heart of the issue, it’s a Lordship problem. We are bought with a price. That means we are owned by God. A lot of people say, “Well, this works for me.” You hear about people “church-shopping” like we shop for shoes.

When we talk about the fact that we’re sinners, I’m not going into it in depth; Jonathan did a very good job of that in week one.

We’re all members of the body of Christ, and the body has a diversity of gifts. I think there are many people we will meet in heaven who have never been to church in their life. But if you’re in a place that God has provided to you, to grow in the truth, and you are forsaking that, that’s what we’re talking about tonight. So if you are forsaking all that, you are forsaking the gifts that God has for you. And if you say that you don’t need those gifts, then the gift you lack is the gift of self-awareness.

So this is a recapping of, “Here are gifts; here is how they are placed in the church. Nobody has them all; the body of Christ has them all.” Saying that we don’t have to go to church is like saying that I’ll do all my lifting with my right hand. God gave me two hands.

That’s a brief outline. Now let’s cover some of the excuses that people use for not going to church:

I get all my spiritual needs at home

Some people say that they don’t need to go to church because they get all their spiritual needs at home. I can respect that viewpoint, but it is self-centered. Number one, those people are thinking about nobody but themselves. Number two, we will never get all we need in Christ without the teachers that God has provided for us.

Let’s talk about Philip and the eunuch. God calls Philip, and he goes to the eunuch. The eunuch was reading Isaiah. He didn’t have the New Testament yet, so he was reading the most up-to-date stuff there was. …

The New Testament is filled with stuff we’re supposed to do for one another. We’re supposed to comfort one another, confess our faults one to another, pray for one another. How can we do those things if we forsake the gathering of ourselves together.

There are 52 Sunday mornings in a year. If you come to every one, there’s a chance that you’ll get your cup filled 26 times. There are some days when you get exactly what you needed. On other days, you might help minister to someone else. You can get-get-get on your own, but you can’t give-give-give on your own. It’s kind-of like basketball. Everybody wants to play offense, but you’ve got to play defense half the time. That’s just how it worked.

> I said I’d never tell it to a living soul, > How he wrought salvation and made me whole. > But I found I couldn’t hide this love, > That Jesus did impart.

If you’re living your life as a Christian, then it’s going to shine through you. We see that example in Paul. New Testament, he’s basically the Starbucks of Christianity. Everywhere he went, he built churches. So we have an example of what to do.

It’s boring and predictable.

> It’s boring. I went there last week. I don’t want to go this week, because I know what’s going to happen.

I feel that way about work sometimes. Everything we do in life, we have routinely. We eat routinely. We sleep routinely. We even have fun routinely. What’s the expression? “I need a little ‘me’ time.” If I slept once a month (because I slept last night – I don’t need to do it again), it wouldn’t be healthy.

If you don’t go to a church that preaches the true Christian gospel, you’re living on junk-food. It’s like three meals a day of Snickers and ice-cream: “It tastes great! I love it! But I feel awful all the time.”

The keyword there is “abide”. So we’re talking about doing something with consistency.

I had a bad experience.

I was hurt. I was betrayed. Somebody did something that hurt me.

I don’t know what that feels like. A lot of us don’t. But it is important to never minimize people’s pain. We act as an ambassador for God, laying ourselves naked before God, and somebody betrays that trust. How do you get over that? A lot of people don’t.

Here’s what we have to remember. One, God is a god of reconciliation. Another thing is, whatever was done to them was done by man. They may have done it in the name of God, and that’s a shame. But God gave himself for us, the ultimate sacrifice, so we wouldn’t have to suffer. Don’t let a man come between you and God. If somebody does something bad to you, and you let that come between you and God, then you have put that man before God. I don’t mean to minimize the pain, but we have to go to God for reconciliation. When you’re in trials., in pain, that’s when you need him the most.

We’ve got to remember, we’re always pushing God, not our church social club. I like church. All my friends go there; I spend a lot of time there. But we’ve got to keep our focus. Why do we go to church? Because God wants us to learn there.

Practical application (mock Q&A)

Question

So Adam, I know you go to church, but I don’t know if I should. The last time I went, they seemed more worried about how I look than if I needed God.

Answer

I’m sorry you had a bad experience. The reason I go to church is that I’m always looking to strengthen my relationship with God. The church is the family that God has called me to.

Question

I have a lot of bad memories associated with church. My mom used to force me to go. I feel like I was treated poorly, and it’s too painful for me to go. It just brings back bad memories.

Answer

I’m not hearing you say that you’re against God; you just have a problem with church. If you want to have a relationship with God, what do you think the best way to go about that?

That’s good. I like to follow up these questions with more questions. And I ask not because I’m trying to say the right thing, like I’m selling them a car or whatever. I ask because I genuinely want to know.

Question

I grew up in a church that says you have to go church on Saturday. Your church goes on Sunday. How do I know I’m not breaking God’s commandment by going on Sunday instead of Saturday.

Answer

Jesus said that the sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath. I don’t think it matters when we observe the sabbath; only that we do observe it.

Question

I know you go to church, but I pray on my own; I read the Bible, and I don’t feel like I need to go to church.

Answer

In your daily life, do you ever come across things you don’t have answers for? I find that when I go to church, if I don’t understand something, I usually find someone who has an answer. There are a lot of people who have experience and answers that I don’t have.

I like that, because Pat based his answer on personal experience. He shared about why he goes. If you can’t tell someone about why you go, you can’t expect them to want to go.

Question

I’m not a big church guy. It seems like the “same-old, same-old.”

Answer

I can’t tell you why you should go, but I can tell you why I go. I enjoy meeting and having fellowship with other people. I’m blessed by the music and the message, and it gives me the fuel I need to continue throughout the week. I couldn’t imagine not going.

Question

I used to love church, but I had a bad experience, and I just don’t see myself going back.

Answer

I’m sorry that you had a bad experience. You had a real hurt in your life, and I think you should ask God about what kind of church you should go to. Maybe you can even ask your dad to go along.

This is about God’s church. I want to be clear on that. I love Christian Fellowship, but this not a commercial for Christian Fellowship. This is about being a member of God’s church.

Question

I like taking care of my spiritual needs in the middle of the week, so my weekends are free for competitive bowling. What do you think about that?

Answer

I can read the word and pray, but there are a lot of things in the Bible that I don’t understand. There are people who are called to teach and preach the word a lot better than I can. So I go to church, and God speaks through his people. For me, I go to church because there are a lot of souls out there who don’t understand the word, and I want to be able to share with them.

Sunday Morning Service, 3/6/11

Songs

• Not Ashamed
• You Are Worthy Of My Praise
• Come Now Is The Time To Worship
• At The Cross
• Hide Me
• Power Of Praise
• When The Praises Go Up
• Gloria

Vision

– Pastor Paine

It’s great to be here today. As Pastor Thomas mentioned, we said goodbye to our friend Frank Williams yesterday, but he’s in our hearts. Kathy, thank you for letting us be a part of the celebration of Frank’s life yesterday. He lived a great life, and he was ready for the next.

We’ve been in a series about vision. Pastor Thomas will bring one more message in this series next Sunday, and then the next topic will be “Edification.”

I want to tell you what God’s laid on my heart for the message today. First, I’d like you to share with me some clear examples in scripture where someone had an absolute change of vision. Someone was looking at things one way, and then however it happened, they began to see things a totally different way.

> (Calls on some volunteers to share.)

After that, I’d like to share from the 51st Psalm where David had a complete change of vision, then from the sermon on the mount. If you don’t think your vision needs changing, I’d ask you to remember that David thought the same thing until the prophet Nathan came to him.

– Pat Mahoney

I had a difficult tossup between Peter and Paul. Peter actually stood before the Lord himself. He had his own vision, but it just seemed like he didn’t quite get it. That probably speaks to a lot of our lives; I know it speaks to mine. It really took some quiet time before the Lord for him to really show me where my life is going.

So Peter stood before the Lord, and the Lord said, “Peter, lovest thou me?” I look at my life and my testimony, and I have to say, “God, do I really love you?” We know that Peter said, “Lord, thou knowest that I love you.” A lot of people think that when Peter stood up on the day of Pentecost and talked about baptism in Jesus’ name, he didn’t know what he was talking about. But I believe that he did, because by then, he had been converted.

– Holly Santiago

Naomi and Ruth were on their way back to Bethlehem from the land of Moab. Naomi has her two daughters-in-law, all three of them widows. So Naomi makes this passionate plea to them, saying “Turn around and go back to your father’s household, because if we continue on, we’re committing to a life of poverty.” Orpah kissed her and turned back, but Ruth gave her the famous speech, saying “Where you go I’ll go, and I will die with you. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.” That’s when Naomi had her change. It says she left off speaking to Ruth. That’s when she let her guard down.

– Paul VonFange

This is the story in 2 Kings about the man of God praying that God would open his servant’s eyes.

Sometimes we can have the victory all around us, and not even know it.

– Richard Brand

I guess I’ve got to pick on Peter, too. He saw a vision of a great sheet being brought down, and the voice of the Lord saying “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” Then God told him to go into a Gentile’s house, which is something that was contrary to Peter’s vision. Later in that chapter, even those who were with Peter were astonished at the vision change, because even on the Gentiles was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. Then Peter solidified the vision change when he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. You can read about it in Acts chapter ten.

– Okiema Perry

That put me on the spot, because that was the one I was thinking of.

> What about Paul?

Yeah. What can you say about Paul? The man consented to the death of one of the disciples. He was hard-core about getting a job done. If you got a letter and Paul was at your door, you were done! But he got knocked off his high-horse on the way to Damascus. And when you do things ignorantly, you may have a right heart and a right intention, but if you don’t have an understanding, it makes things hard. Paul said later, ‘I will pray with my understanding, and I will sing with my understanding.” So that was the turning point that changed his life totally. Even though he suffered many things for the Gospel’s sake, I don’t think he ever regretted that turning-point.

– Pastor Paine

So we talk about this idea of seeing things God’s way. We have this young David, anointed. He sees things God’s way, and God loves him. Then somehow, someway, his vision became clouded. He looked in the mirror and saw only himself there. Somehow, this great warrior lost the vision. He know that God wanted to bless him; he knew that God wanted good things for him. But somehow, on the journey of life, he somehow got it out-of-focus. And if you know the story, when he saw Bathsheba on the rooftop, and he brought her to himself, he brought sin to himself. When Bathsheba told him she was pregnant, he had her husband killed, thinking only of himself. When the prophet came to him and asked, “What should be done to such a man?”, David saw that he had done wrong, and he sought to make it right.

David always knew the God was good, and powerful. But because David had been given many victories, David saw himself in center stage. And if that ever happens to you, I hope someone like Nathan comes to you and lets you know you’re wrong. And if I represent Nathan to you, I hope you get it right.

Maybe you’ve never had a relationship with God. You’ve heard of God, and maybe even believe in God, but you’ve never accepted him into your heart. This is your invitation today, to accept God in this matter of life and death.

He didn’t say “renew.” I think the word “create” is interesting here. “Create” means you start with nothing. God didn’t create the world out of molecules; he created the molecules! David remembers that there was a time when he had the right spirit, when he gave God glory. He said to Goliath, “You come to me with a sword, but I come to you with the glory of God.” But he forgot that somewhere in his journey. So now has he says,

He remembers the joy that he once had, and the free spirit that God gave him, so he says:

When I think of this passage, I think of the boxer on the mat, perhaps face-down, and he hears the counting of the referee. And he’s thinking, I either lay here and let him count me out, and be defeated, or I get up and complete the task that I came here to complete. Right there, he’s got to have one of two pictures in the center of his mind. It’s either a picture of him laying there and being counted out and defeated, or a picture of him getting up and doing what he came to do and being victorious.

Let me ask you: what possible right does David have to think, in that moment of his life right there, to be victorious anything? David has just been painfully reminded of his sin. But David knew that God is the God of second chances. And for my sake, I’m glad he is also the God of third and fourth and fifth chances.

Let’s go to Matthew and the sermon on the mount. The Lord was talking to people about seeing it through his eyes, not their own eyes. Have you ever had to realize that the way you’ve been looking at something is completely wrong? It’s hard to admit you’ve been wrong, and self-centered, and arrogant. It’s hard to admit that when you said, “I’m right, and that’s the end of it,” you were wrong. Let’s turn that over and look at the other side. Isn’t it a wonderful gift, to be able to look back and say, “I’ve been wrong, but it doesn’t have to be that way anymore.”

I was on a journey one day, and I knew what highway I wanted to get on, and I took what I thought was the on-ramp. It wasn’t too long before I saw some headlights coming toward me, and a sign that said, “Wrong Way: Do Not Enter”, and I quickly got the car turned around. I could have said, “You can’t tell me I’m going the wrong way! I’ll go where I want to!” But I learned my lesson. And I am fortunate in that I learned my lesson without the help of one of Virginia’s Finest. I’m one of those drivers who likes to tell other drivers about how they’re driving. (looking up) I’m still working on that one, Lord. My wife tells me that the other drivers can’t hear me when I say,

> Where did you get your license from, K-Mart?

I think that the other drivers can hear me…

It’s a blessing when you find that you’re going the wrong way, and you still have time to correct it.

In verse 21, Jesus says, “It doesn’t matter how it looks to others; it matters how it looks to you and me.”

As I read the next verse, this is going to sound familiar to some of you, where you are at now.

It rains on the just and the unjust; we will have times of plenty and times of famine. But he says to the unjust in verse twenty-seven:

As we close, I’d like each of you to ask yourself:

> God, are you speaking to me? Are you telling me to change? Have I heard from you, God? And if I have, am I willing to change? Am I willing to say, as you taught in the Lord’s prayer, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

Don’t leave here frustrated. The day is not over; God’s book is not closed. His ear is not heavy that it cannot hear, and his hand is not shortened that it cannot save.

Men’s Fellowship Bible Study, 3/4/11

Testimony

– Ken Portal

I’m going on deployment tomorrow night. All week, I’ve been packing and repacking. This morning, our Base Commander gave us the day off to spend with friends and loved ones. I was so tired, I just wanted to sleep in. But at seven o’clock this morning, the spirit moved me to put together a Bible study. I sat down and the spirit just dictated scripture after scripture about water baptism. Then God told me to share with my co-worker, and this afternoon she got baptized in the name of Jesus.

Study: Sharpening Your Vision

– Jay Ugali

I used to work at LensCrafters in Waukegan. I think I pre-tested some people here, teaching them how to wear contact lenses. If you’re around 40 or 45, you tend to lose your vision. You tend to find yourself doing this.

> (holding Bible at arm’s length and trying to read it)

That’s natural. I learned that it’s because of a muscle in your eye that is no longer able to flex the way that it used to.

A lot of things have been going on in our ministry. Satan is really trying to tear us up. We are the men, and we are the backbone, and God has chosen us.

When we first get saved, we get a lot of things thrown at us. How many of you remember hearing the message when you first got saved, and saying, “Wow! I never heard this before!”

I remember thinking that if there was a Buddhist God, then I wouldn’t be able to understand him unless I was born in India. I didn’t know who God was; I didn’t know what to believe. I remember the teachers sharing with me that there’s not a Catholic heaven or a Buddhist heaven – it’s all the same God for everyone.

How many times do we do that? Sometimes things cloud our vision, and we allow them to blind us.

So who was this man of God? Who was supposed to be the chief priest? Who was supposed to know it all? Eli.

Here’s one thing we know about Eli. He put his sons above God. We are a royal priesthood. What are we putting above God? What examples do we see in the Bible of men of God putting God above their own family? How about Abraham? Things of this world will cloud our vision. That’s why we should set our affections on things above. (Colossians 3:2) The Bible says that sins are pleasurable for a season. (Hebrews 11:25) All things are lawful, but all things are not expedient. (1 Corinthians 6:12) The Bible says to lay aside every weight and sin that besets us. (Hebrews 12:1)

I drive a schoolbus, and I find myself saying to the kids, “Hey! Stop doing that!” They keep doing it. And guess what can happen while I’m paying attention to those kids? I could get in an accident. So I’ve got to focus. I hear them saying, “Mister Jay, are we there yet?” And I’ve got to say, “Not now; I’m driving!”

So the rest of it is about Eli losing the priesthood. And in the next chapter:

It says that Samuel ministered to the Lord, but what was he doing? The Bible says that in those days there was no open vision. So did God speak to Eli, or did he speak to Samuel?

So right now, Eli is catching a clue, but Samuel, oh my gosh, he is getting it.

A lot of us are just starting to get to know Jesus. God loves you. God wants to work with you. Samuel was just a little child. You’re going to see a lot of “old-heads” who don’t want to do anything for Jesus. But don’t allow anybody to cloud your vision. People will mess up and offend you, but you focus on your walk and don’t let them get in your way.

So how do you think Samuel is feeling, hearing this? We can look in our lives right now and think of the people who taught and shared with us. A lot of them are not around anymore. But what is more important? The word of the Lord, or people’s feelings? So God called Samuel, and he paid attention. And God said, “All right!” and he told him what was going on.

I read that and I think, “C’mon, Eli! No repentance? What are you going to do about it? Come on, set your house in order!”

Stay faithful, all you young people who are just getting started. You never know what God has for you. The answers are right in front of you. Do any of you wear progressive bifocals? How many of you know that the prescription is inscribed right there at the bottom of the lens? Can you read it? Why not? It’s right in front of your face. I used to make glasses, and I used to tell people their prescription, and they’d have to take my word for it. Sad but true.

The Bible says in Romans 10 that people had a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. (Romans 10:2) So have a zeal of God, but continue to get knowledge. Look to your own personal ministry.

Oh. My. Goodness. A lot of talk doesn’t mean anything. We tend to hold onto the old ways, but God wants you to be on fire. Don’t depend on what you did last week or last year. Be on fire for God now. You’re on the plow, looking forward. What does the Bible say happens if you look back? You’re not fit for the kingdom. (Luke 9:62) What happened to Lot’s wife? So keep looking forward.

We know the story of God telling Moses to send out spies to spy out the promised land. So they went out, and they said, “Yeah, this is the promised land.”

So how many people think they believed that this was the land of promise? Oh, yeah. They wanted to show it off.

So they were already convinced. They saw it with their own eyes, and the witness came out of their own mouth. But what happened? They started looking around and saw the enemies that were all around. It’s like Peter walking on the water. He took his eyes off Jesus and saw the waves, and started to sink.

That’s the attitude we’ve got to get. “Hey, we can do this!” God blesses us with a great opportunity. He touches us in some way; he does a miracle in our life. We look at it and say, “Wow!” But is that the end of it? It shouldn’t be. It’s like Peter. He saw Jesus, and he saw the miracles, and he said, “Wow!” Then … “Hey, guys, you wanna go fishing?” And you read in Acts chapter one, they’re still doing it. Jesus went up, and they stood there staring, and finally God had to send an angel to say, “What are you guys doing! Get to work!” And what about the transfiguration? They saw Jesus and Moses and Elijah and they got all excited. It’s like they saw some celebrities, and they said, “Hey; let’s build three altars. We’ll build one for Moses, and one for Elijah, and one for you. What do you think, Jesus?”

I believe that David knew about this story when he went to slay his giant. So he heard this guy blaspheming God, and he said, “Who does this joker think he is? C’mon, guys, we can do it!”

My goodness, they didn’t even go into battle yet! You’re going to get a lot of crybabies in church. This is proof. “Oh, I get persecuted so hard! Oh!” I just wanna slap people, sometimes.

Where is your focus? Where is your vision? They were looking back, and saying “It was better in Egypt. And they wanted to make a captain. They wanted to stone Moses and Aaron.” So all you young ones, don’t let the nay-sayers bug you. They’re like black holes; they just suck.

Who? Who? All the congregation.

This is what I love about Moses, man.

So where was Moses’ focus in this situation? He was taking care of the children of Israel. God was even bargaining with him. God said, “Separate yourself from these people, and I’ll make of you a greater and mightier nation than they.” But Moses argued with God. Isn’t it awesome to have such a relationship with God that you can convince him to change his mind?

What does the Bible say about love? You’ve got to love your neighbor as yourself. That’s the hard part: you’ve got to love the naysayers, too. You’ve even got to love your enemies.

I was thinking about Job, also. A lot of bad things happened to Job. He lost everything; his money, his children, his servants. And the one who was supposed to be closest to him, his wife, said “Curse God and die.”

We read about the children of Israel looking at all their enemies and not wanting to fight. But without a battle, there can be no victory.

There are people around us that are lost. Our focus has got to be about sharing with them. Some of you don’t know this, but I had a bus assistant, and we were always talking about the word of God. And just before the holidays, she was shot and killed. When I think of all the times I shared with her, it’s kind of sad. But we’ve got to keep focused.

See, here’s the problem. We’re going to go through battles.

Why do we go through all that? Let’s not focus on those things we’re going through. Let’s focus on heaven. Hey, those who live godly in Christ Jesus what? Shall suffer persecution. (2 Timothy 3:12)

Manifest where? In our body. People who want to know Jesus need to see how we live. Let your light so shine before men. (Matthew 5:16]

That’s Paul taking charge, and talking to the church. Hey, we know that not everyone who comes to church will be the same mind as Christ. But you’ve got to keep a right attitude.

It’s a lot of work, sharing with people. Think about the people who used to look you up and make sure you get invited out to church. I used to think it was the most annoying thing in the world. This one brother used to come into my barber shop to invite me out to church. I used to be a runner and a dodger. I used to see Bill Griffith and just cringe inside. I knew he’d have something encouraging to say, like “Praise the Lord” or something. But now I look back and I think, “Those guys were really looking out for me. If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be here.”

God has called us to work together, so we can go out there and be a testimony. The world teaches you to hang out with your own.

I hear that and think, “How dare you call my affliction ‘light’?” You should say, “our heavy affliction.”

So all those trials and tribulations, don’t even put them on the same level. Imagine experiencing heaven for just five seconds. Snap! And you’re in heaven. “Wow! Look at all this stuff!” and Snap! You’re back here. Then imagine experiencing five seconds of hell. Snap! “Oh, the pain!!!!” Snap! How much different would we be?

Practical Applications Bible Study, 3/2/11

Songs

• The Glory Of It All
• Blessed Be Your Name

Introduction

– Adam Paine

Jonathan has a study prepared, so let’s introduce what we’re doing. We surveyed a lot of people and asked, “What are the most common questions that people ask you as a Christian? What do people want to know?” We took five of the top answers, and we’re going to go over one topic each week. Our goal here is not for you to memorize a script; our goal is for you to learn these topics. The best way to handle a question is to know the answer.

Our topics are:

1. If God is good, why do so many bad things happen?
2. Why bother going to church?
3. Does God hate gay people?
4. Why bother getting married?
5. How do you know your way (Christianity) is the only way to get to heaven?

As we begin these topics, it’s important to keep a few things in mind.

This series is not a forum for questions and answers; it’s a forum for practicing our answers. So after each study, we’re going to hold a mock “Q & A”. If you’re willing, we’re asking you to join us. We’ve asked the pastors to join us in the fellowship hall for answers to your real questions.

I heard a pastor ask one time, “Do you win people? Or do you win arguments?”

Here, we’re learning the Bible, and we’re learning how to win an argument, but remember that the goal is always to win people.

If God Is So Good, Why Do So Many Bad Things Happen?

– Jonathan Santiago

Suffering. Talking about suffering is like walking through an emotional minefield. This is a Bible study. I’m finishing my masters at Regents right now. I remember one of my first assignments was to write a definition of faith. I thought, “That’s easy; I’ll use James.” But they said, “You can’t use the Bible. Use Christian theology.” If the fact that I’m going to use the Bible is a turn-off to you, I’d ask you to listen to the study anyway, because the Bible is a guide for how we should behave as Christians.

The people who will ask these questions are going to be one of two types. The first will be atheists or people who basically don’t believe the Bible. But we’re going to address the second type, because we’re going to use the Word of God to answer these questions. There is power in the word of God. It’s what you believe, anyway.

So if someone asks, “If God is so good, why is there so much evil?” You could say, “Because of free choice.” And that’s the correct answer, but it doesn’t always help. Suppose a woman says, “I gave birth to a stillborn. You can’t honestly tell me that God is good, can you?” That’s the same question, isn’t it? To answer this type of question, you have to know the scriptures and live them. You have to internalize them.

No matter how long you’ve been saved, suffering is a part of life. It’s easier to feel the love of God on your wedding day than when you’ve fallen on tough times. It’s easier to feel the love of God when you get a raise than when you’ve been fired. It’s easier to feel the love of God when your loved ones are healthy than when they’re dying of cancer. It’s easier to feel the love of God when you’re winning than when you are losing.

> (prayer for the study)

We’re going to talk about suffering in general.

1. God loves us.
2. God is more concerned with our spiritual well-being than your physical well-being.
3. God is no respecter of persons.
4. God is just.

God loves us

You can never assume that people know that. You can never emphasize it enough.

Those are a lot of things. It covers the angels and the supernatural; it covers life and death and anything else that can come along. It could have been said a lot shorter, but it’s like a love poem. “How does God love me; let me count the ways.”

What is “slack” ? It’s like slow, right? And what is longsuffering? It means patience, forbearance, slow to anger, slow to punishment.

A lot of times we say, “I wish God would punish him right now!” But at some time, someone was probably saying the same thing about us. So I’m glad that God is long-suffering.

God is more concerned about our spirit than our flesh.

The scripture says that we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. But then it says we are conquerors. How can this be?

God is not particularly concerned with our bodies. He loves us, but our bodies won’t go to heaven.

You can’t give a spirit physical things and expect them to be of much use. Our spirits yearn to please God and to be more like him.

We’re talking about life and peace. Peace is a fruit of the spirit. A lot of times, we’ll look for the fruits of the spirit in fleshly things. But there is no peace in the flesh. There is violence. There are things that are contrary to peace in my life. But do you have the peace of God in your life?

Technically, our bodies should be considered dead, anyway. So I’m going to put my stock in spiritual things.

God is no respecter of persons.

Have you heard the story of Job? Job was so righteous that he prayed for other people in case they sinned. He said, “It may be that my family has sinned,” so he prayed and gave sacrifices for them.

God allowed Job, a just man, to have much suffering. If you ever get confused about suffering, read the story of Job. So God allowed Satan some leeway with Job. And Satan timed it perfectly. He was sitting down to dinner, and one by one, people came in and reported that he had lost his servants, his wealth, and his family, except for his life.

Sometimes we think that rich people don’t suffer enough, but what is happening to them, spiritually?

God is just.

In general, you would think that parents know how to give good things to their children. Imagine a perfect parent. That’s what God is. I remember when I was a child, I was going to run away, so I put my cat in a box, and I got out my bag, and my Dad said, “I’ll help you pack.” So he filled it so full that I couldn’t lift it. I struggled and

So was Jesus good? Yes, he was perfect, as a matter of fact. But he said, “As long as you’re flesh, you’re not going to be good. Only your father in heaven is good.”

I’m not saying that you guys aren’t good people and do good things; but the Bible says that spiritually, there is none of us good.

What are wages? If you got to the end of the month, and your boss didn’t pay you, you would say “That’s not fair.” And it’s not fair. So if the wages of sin is death, and God doesn’t punish us, that’s not fair, either.

So thank God he isn’t fair.

Another way to ask the same question is, “Why does salvation happen to bad people?” Maybe we should be asking, “How can a holy and just God allow any of us into heaven?”

Why Is There Suffering?

Let’s talk about five reasons why.

1. Free will. There is evil, and people have a choice to do evil. If you’re one of those people who don’t believe in free will, then I don’t know what to tell you.
2. So God will be glorified.
3. So we can grow; so God can shape us and use us.
4. Sometimes suffering is self-inflicted.
5. Mysterious Suffering

Free Will

In the Bible, Joshua told the children of Israel, “Choose ye this day whom you will serve.” God gave them free choice.

So God Would Be Glorified

On Sunday, we talked about the man blind from his birth. I don’t know which would be worse, losing your sight or never having it. So the disciples asked, “Who sinned, this man or his parent?” Nobody did. It just happened so that God would be glorified. God will do whatever it takes.

God wants to use us and shape us.

The image of a potter is a good analogy.

Self-inflicted Suffering

If there’s a flame and I stick my hand in it, I’m going to get burnt. If I didn’t know it was hot, I should have read the manual.

Mysterious Suffering

Sometimes we just don’t know.

God created us and everything we have. We couldn’t really give anything back to him physically if we wanted to.

Remember we were talking about Job? After God has stripped Job of everything he has, but hasn’t struck him with sickness.

This is God in heaven, having a conversation with Satan. Job can’t see that. Job can’t see that God would use him to be glorified. At the end, God blessed Job. Did he have to bless him? Sometimes our blessings come in physical form, and sometimes they don’t.

When you are suffering, and nobody knows it, not even your pastor, that’s a good place to be.

How should we react to suffering?

Some of you are suffering right now. Others might not be in the season of suffering. If so, that’s good. You can help those who are suffering; you can help bear their burdens.

We can’t waste our suffering. We have to put it to use. That’s God trying to use us. Read about the fruits of the spirit: love, joy, peace, long-suffering. If those fruits aren’t present during adversity, you won’t stand out before anyone. We can’t use anger, frustration, or emotions as an excuse to lash out. When we have those emotions of anger and strife, they’re the works of the flesh. We have to overcome them with the fruits of the spirit.

I’d rather suffer than to have God’s face turn away from me. Suffering is not the worst thing that can happen to us. Having the face of God turned away is. Being the enemy of God and going to hell is far worse than suffering.

People who are in the world are suffering, whether as drug addicts, prostitutes, or whatever. Our primary goal isn’t to relieve their suffering. That’s great if it happens, but our primary goal is to lead them to Jesus. So go ahead and serve in a soup kitchen, but share with somebody about Jesus when you do.

Summary

Suffering in General

1. God loves us
2. Spirit versus Flesh
3. God is not a respecter of person
4. God is just

Reasons for suffering

1. Free will.
2. So God will be glorified.
3. So God can shape us and use us.
4. Sometimes suffering is self-inflicted.
5. Mysterious Suffering

Mock Q&A

– Adam Paine

Explain to me, if God is good, why he allows people to suffer?

– Jonathan Santiago

That’s a good question. Sometimes it happens because of free will. Sometimes it happens so that God would be glorified. Sometimes it is self-inflicted. And sometimes we just don’t know. As I look back on my life, God has never let me down, spiritually. God has proved himself time and time again.

– Adam Paine

So basically, as a Christian, no matter what happens, it’s all God’s will, so it’s all just fine.

– Jonathan Santiago

As Christians, we walk by faith. We trust in things that we can’t see and can’t understand. But I thank God that there are some things that are clear, and they’re in the Bible. When we follow God, he gives us gifts in our life; they’re called the fruits of the spirit. Some of them are love, peace, joy, and long-suffering. Can I tell you a little more about them?

– Adam Paine

So that’s one way to answer the question. Would anyone else like to demonstrate how to answer that question? Rick Hahn, come on up.

– Jonathan Santiago

If your God is good, why is there war? Why do bad things happen?

– Rick Hahn

Jonathan, I think it’s about perspective. God created all things. Your life is a gift. If God gave one man a year, and another man a hundred years, is God unjust? But from God’s perspective, everything we suffer is nothing; it’s a knee-scrape compared to eternity. I’d rather focus on eternity. I’d rather focus on the gifts that God gave me.

– Jonathan

Jesse, what’s up with people like Hitler and people who do evil things. That doesn’t make any sense. How can you serve a God who allows that?

– Jesse Rairdon

We’re all evil. How can God love us? But he loves us, every one. And nothing can separate us from that love. We can’t stop the evil; it’s going to be here until the Lord takes us home.

Sunday Morning Service, 2/27/11

Songs

• Rejoice
• All The Earth Will Sing Your Praises
• I Have A Hope
• Show Me Your Face
• Better Is One Day
• O Praise Him
• I Will Follow

Seeing Like Jesus Sees

– Pastor Ulysse

Jesus has a vision that we need to take a look at so that we can see what he sees and how he sees things. We don’t want to look at things one way and find that he accepts them another way. We are in this flesh, and the Bible says that we will not see things as clear as they are. Paul said:

So the way we look at things right now, we see might not see perfectly, but the time will come when we will see things as they are.

I chose a scripture story this morning to show some key points about what kind of vision, what kind of eyes Jesus had. He had some amazing ways of looking at things. I don’t think it is anything we cannot do, because he came as our example; we are supposed to do what he did.

When you get the time, read all of John 8, but here we pick up on the last few verses:

This was not a good things, because the Jews believed in one God.

They were not acting like kids, throwing snowballs. They wanted to kill him, because he had blasphemed.

In John 9, that’s where the story starts. We see that Jesus was running for his life, going through the midst of the people.

He was running for his life, because they were after him! And while running for his life, he still had time to see. While his own personal life was in danger, he still took time to see. We’re not talking about an inconvenience; we’re talking about his life. People were looking for him to stone him. But he still had time to see.

Now the way he sees when he looked at the man; the man was blind, but he still had eyes of compassion. What was going on in his mind was different from what everybody else saw. He had eyes of compassion, mercy, and also of summons. He saw a work to do.

When we see a work to do, we should take time; not just run by. We should ask ourselves, “Why me, Lord? Is it just my eyes catching something, or is it a work to do?” Everyone else may say, “Oh, this man is a sinner; he must have done something bad.” But Jesus saw something different.

Jesus was running outside of the temple; that’s why he saw this man. He was not in the temple. Our eyes must be open when we are not in the temple. Why was this man outside the temple? He was born blind; he doesn’t know what he’s missing. It is the same thing for people who don’t have an experience with Christ yet. You are enjoying it, but don’t think that they are just choosing not to enjoy Christ. They don’t know what they are missing. Jesus saw this man outside. And we know that we are not righteous. Paul wrote, quoting the Old Testament.

Those who are outside the temple are not going to ask us to show them; they don’t know. Jesus had to go to him, as we should go to those who are blind, because they don’t know. I remember meeting a lady in Haiti who was a teacher and she basically was blind. She could barely read a paper right in front of her face. I talked to her and asked what was the matter. The doctors had said that she needed an operation, but she was too spiritual. She would not let a man touch her eyes. So I was in debt, but I still said, “If you ever change your mind, call me and I will try to help.” She finally became totally blind, and called me. They operated on one eye, and she could see and she started to enjoy life. She wouldn’t let me pay for the operation on the second eye; she struggled and paid for it herself.

So when Jesus saw this man blind, the disciples said:

That was the only way they could see it. It was like the lady in chapter 8, caught in adultery:

According to the law, they were right. And they were more than willing to stone her. So they asked Jesus, “What do you see in that?” And he said, “Of course, if it says in the law to stone her, then must stone her. Only, he that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.”

When we see condemnation, Jesus sees a second chance. Sometimes, Jesus sees that in people that we just don’t like. Don’t you know that the Bible says “God so loved the world.” So if we see things differently, and we start condemning people and killing people, God says “Come on; you need to love. That’s why you are here.”

So the disciples asked this question, and they were waiting for an answer of either this man, or his parents. They had been taught by the Rabbis that human hurt was the result of human sin. Whenever someone because hurt or injured or sick, the first thing they asked was, “Who did sin?” When Jacob and Esau struggled before birth, they took that as a sign that you can be in sin from your mother’s womb. They saw that God would visit the iniquity upon the third and fourth generation, and they took that as a sign that sin lasts through several generations. But Jesus did not command that.

In general, though, sin comes because of our nature. If you look at me and see gray hair, that’s because of sin. If I forget something, that is because of sin. It might not be a specific sin, but because of sin, we are all going down. You can look at the smartest person or the most famous sports star, and they are all going to decay and die one day. This is what we inherited from Adam and Eve.

But also, they used sin to show their own righteousness. They looked at the blind man and said, “I don’t know what he did, but I’m glad I’m not in his shoes.”

So these people were searching for favor from Christ, telling him of how bad those Galilaeans were. And Jesus said, “Oh, is that what you think? Are you telling me that you are better than they were? I’m telling you right now, that except you repent, you will perish likewise.”

You remember when Job’s friends came to visit, they looked at Job and said, “Oh, Job. I’ve never seen anything like this. God is so merciful and loving, before he could have done something like this, you must have done something … exceptional.” So basically these men were saying to Job, “I know I’m bad, but I’m not that bad.”

If you know the story of husbands and wives, you know that we argue. Even at the honeymoon, we find fault and argue. So this Christian husband and wife were arguing, and finally the wife said, “The only way this will be solved is if God takes one of us to heaven right now. And when He does, I will go live with my sister.”

So the disciples asked Jesus who had sinned, that this man was born blind.

Keep in mind; Jesus is still running for his life. But he has put his life behind him. It is like when the disciples were hungry, and Jesus said, “My food is to do the work of my Father.” He saw the urgency; he said, “I have to do a work right now.” He was saying, “Now is not a good time to ask about the reasons and causes; I must do the work now.”

We need to see the urgency today. If Jesus were here today, he would say “Now is not the time to ask questions about theology.” If you see a house on fire, would you stop and ask questions about how it happened? We have a work to do right now. And we must work, because we know the words that we want to hear Jesus say when we get to heaven. Do you know what those words are?

> Well done, thou good and faithful servant.

He will not say, “Well said.” So Jesus turned back to the blind man:

I think there were six miracles where Jesus opened blind eyes, but this was the only time where he healed a man who was blind from birth. I don’t think Jesus was so interested in the physical eyes as the spiritual eyes. He could have just spoken the words, “Receive your sight.” But he had a different approach. I know it’s not far from where the temple was to where the pool was, but think about it, being blind. Jesus told him to do something, and he had to do something. This man was blind; he had to find his way around. He at least had to ask for help. When he got there, he probably needed help to find the pool without falling in. It was a process. To me, it is like the process of the spiritual eyes opening, for us to see as Jesus sees. We see that after he received his sight, he did not know Jesus. First of all, he was blind; he didn’t see anybody. Yesterday in fellowship with Jay Hunemuller, he pointed out in the scripture that other people tried to convince him of who Christ was. But this man was convinced. He said, “I was blind. If you want to believe something else, but I am convinced. I was blind, and now I see. To me his is a great man.” And no one could convince him otherwise. It is like when your spiritual eyes are opened, and you see Jesus, and no one can convince you otherwise.

It was that easy. It was not complicated; it was simple. But notice that he said, “A man, that is called Jesus.” He does not know much. But look in verse 17 what he says further:

And you know that they tried to convince him of false witness toward Christ. And as they continued arguing, trying to convince him. he said:

Of course, they cast him out of the temple; they kicked him out. And when they kicked him out, Jesus met him.

So he came from “man” to “prophet” to “Lord.” His eyes were opened. When your eyes are opened, you will see things differently. When you have a personal relationship with him, then you will start calling him Lord. That is my prayer for you.

And remember, in everything be practical. When you see a work to do, take it as an emergency, because we may not have tomorrow.

Wednesday Home Bible Study, 2/23/11

Songs

• He Is All I Need
• Because He Lives

Message: The Word Of God

– Clarence Willis

There are three parts to this study

1. Purpose
2. Importance
3. Salvation

Purpose

This is what the word of God is for – to help us cleanse our ways. And even though it says “young man”, the same applies for the aged and for women.

There the mystery of the kingdom of God is revealed. What does the Word provide, when it falls on good ground? Fruitfulness. The Word of God is for us to bear fruit. In this Bible Study, I threw some seeds out. Maybe it will help you later on when you’re feeling depressed, or maybe you’ll be able to share it with someone else. The Word is always available for us, to help provide that fruitfulness.

So the purpose of God’s word is to cleanse our ways, help us to not to sin against him, and to help us to bear fruit.

Importance

The Word of God is our doorway into faith, and into hearing what God says. Without it, we’ll just have our own philosophies and our own ways of doing things. God has provided a way for us to know for sure what His will is for us on this earth. So if you want your life to have spiritual meaning and direction, you need the Word of God.

We’re not left without direction; we don’t have to go blindly through life, wondering if we’ll make it to heaven. But the Word can only guide us if we listen to it.

God gives us his word, but God is not ink on paper.

There you go. You have the spirit of God and his truth. We don’t just have the Bible to figure out on our own; God’s spirit is there to guide us and lead us into all truth. (John 14:26)

The Word of God is a judger of our actions and the purity of our souls.

So if you want an honest opinion of yourself and where you are with God, you can look in the Word of God. You can ask me and I can tell you that you’ve got a great walk with God, but God knows. Everyone and everything is naked before him. Sometimes we even fool ourselves, but never God.

What is trusting in God? It’s trusting his word. And in order to trust in his word, you have to know his word. So how do you know you’re not wise in your own eyes? You check what you know and what you say by the Word of God. Many people think they’re not leaning to their own understanding, but if you compare what they say to what the Word of God says, you’ll know for sure.

Salvation

How does all this relate to salvation? We read in Romans

So in order to know what you need to believe and do, you’ve got to dig into the Word of God. Whether that’s through a message from a Pastor, or through a Bible Study, or through the technology of the internet, ultimately, we have to hear and obey the Word.

When we obey the Word through baptism, God plants a seed in our lives, and continues to nurture it.

If the Word of God says it, that’s what we’ve got to do.

We’ve got to put on Christ. How? Through baptism in Jesus’ name. It’s pretty simple, but people complicate it by leaning to their own understanding. Does the water save us? No, the placement of God’s spirit in our lives saves us.

God loves us and wants his spirit to continue in our lives. How do we let that happen?

If we stick to that simple formula, the Word of God will tell us what to do to be saved, stay saved, and make it to heaven. It’s not a guess; it’s a fact.

Sunday Morning Service, 2/20/11

Songs

• You Are Welcome In This Place
• Mighty To Save
• Not Ashamed
• Everlasting God
• The King Is Coming
• Send Me
• God Of Wonders

360-Degree Focus

– Pastor Ulysse

You may say “Hey, I thought we were supposed to focus on one thing at a time.” But remember, we are spiritual. The natural man cannot understand the things of the spirit, but the spirit understands all things.

We don’t know what angle he’ll be coming from, so we definitely have to be focused 360-degrees, all the time.

I was in Florida when an airplane crashed into the Miami Everglades. The indicator light for the landing gear did not come on, so everybody was focused on that, when all of a sudden the plane crashed, and everybody died. More recently, a plane crashed because the pilot was not paying attention and just missed the destination.

It is sad that all those people died in the crash, but if you lose your soul, that’s all eternity. I hope that we all pay attention so that after we live this life, we can hear the words, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”

Even if someone is your enemy and doesn’t like you, that doesn’t mean you can’t sit down to eat. Jesus used this opportunity.

So according to their tradition, they were supposed to wash their hands. They noticed that Jesus did not wash; he just sat down to eat. They didn’t like that, and they let him know.

Now you are invited to eat. I don’t know how that works, but Jesus did not let their invitation intimidate him into not telling the truth. I know there is an Old Testament scripture where Moses was told not to accept gifts, because gifts can influence you to make wrong decisions. But Jesus did not let the gift influence him; he said “Ye fools.” I don’t know how the rest of the dinner went, but he said it.

Of course you did well by giving your tithes and offering. But the problem is that you pass over judgement, which is justice, and the love of God. These things you ought to have done without neglecting the other ones.

I don’t know if you know the story behind the long hats that the priests wore. That’s because if you went to church and you didn’t know who the pastor was, the pastor wants to be known. But when new people would come, they were not recognized. So they decided to wear different clothes and a different hat so that wherever they went, people would know “This is a Pharisee. This is an important spiritual man.” So they loved the uppermost seats and to be greeted in the marketplace. But if everybody looked the same, they were not recognized. They loved outward appearance.

The story behind that is that in Israel, if you walked over a grave, you were unclean. You had to spend one week to clean yourself. That’s why they painted them white, so they would stand out. Jesus is saying that they are like graves, but they are not painted. So people just step over them without knowing.

Now, the lawyers weren’t like we have now; they were lawyers of the word of God. He said, “I know you are not talking about us, but the way you say it, we are part of what you are saying. So Jesus says, “If it wasn’t clear unto you, my friend, I will make it clear to you also.”

So everyone is interested in their own selves, how good they are or whatever, but they are missing things.

This is like going to college and majoring in the minors. The things that matter the least, that’s where you majored; that’s where you get your pride from. In Christ, you can give without love. You can even say that you love while you are giving, but you don’t have to love. But if you love, you will give. So which one is the major and which one is the minor? Love is the major. We have to major in love.

In Haiti, there are complaints of women especially neglecting their homes, and their husbands don’t come to church because they complain of Jesus stealing their wives. They want to spend 24 hours a day in church, praying or whatever, and they neglect their house. There is a true story I heard about a 90-year-old lady who never missed Sunday School for over 80 years. She is proud of the fact that even when her husband was sick and dying, she didn’t miss church because she wanted to keep her record clean. She neglected her children and her home, and even when it was cold and snowing, she made it to church so she could say that she went.

This is majoring in the minors. This is serving your ministry rather than serving God. We need to serve God. If you’re serving God, then everything else will come naturally.

The Bible talks about knowing to do good and doing it not.

There are different types of sins. Among them we find the sin of omission; this is a direct disobedience of God. These are sins that you commit by not doing what you know is good. You also have presumptuous sin, and other sins. But now we are looking at the chief of all sins, which is knowing to do good and doing it not. The pilot of the jet, I’m sure he knew that he was supposed to be focused. There was an engineer on-board, checking things. He knew he was supposed to be focused. And everything else went bad because he wasn’t doing what he knew to be right.

Is it possible to put your brain and mind in neutral? Have you ever tried to do that? Your mind is still working, be it good or bad. You always have something in your mind, but only one thing at a time. If you focus on the good, then the bad is gone. If you turn on the light, then darkness is just gone. All you have to do is turn on the switch. If you do what is right, then everything else will be right. But if you do not, you will die in your sins.

The reason this sin is very special, and why we should deal with it, is that it’s easy to see when someone is doing something that is sinful. But the sin of omission cannot be seen. It’s easy to take pride in what we do. “Look at what I’m doing!” How many of us know that we’re supposed to forgive, and we don’t forgive? How many of us know we’re supposed to love, and we don’t love? It seems that we feel okay for the things that we don’t do. This will set us to hell. Nobody knows about it, and we feel comfortable, and Satan is happy. He says, “Yes, I’ve got them.” We need to focus on these things, because they are what keeps us from doing what is right.

I know that the weakest times in my life are when I don’t do what I’m supposed to do. It’s like you feel weak and you think back to the last time you ate, and if it was a week ago, then of course you feel weak! If I don’t read my Bible for a long time, then I feel weak. If you don’t concentrate on the word of God, then of course you are somewhere else! If you don’t focus on doing what is right, then of course you will be a weak Christian. The more you spend time in study, the more time you spend with God, the stronger you are. It’s either one or the other.

After Jesus died, Peter was supposed to encourage the others. Everybody looked at him as their leader. After sitting down in Haiti, we call it “…” After a while, a man that was very zealous and encouraged said, “I’m going fishing.” And everyone else said, “I’m going, too.” But what would have happened if he had said, “Let’s go out and do the things that Jesus taught us.” They would have taken a different path.

It’s not really the things that we do that will take us to hell. It’s the things that we don’t do. Yeah, we are so concentrated and focused on the things that everybody does, but the 360-degree focus should take us back. Then Satan will not be happy at all, because he knows that we have been neglecting this side. And if you do that thing, it will take care of many other things.

This is what Jesus said about dividing left from right:

You did the right thing. You did it.

This is faith in action. Faith without works is vain. Then he turns around and says to those on his left:

As individuals, as a ministry: we need to definitely see ourselves in these scriptures. Of course we have done stuff. But what about the things we don’t do, and know are right? What are we majoring in? Have we chosen the easy path to major in? This is a sign of laziness, when you have a bunch of stuff to do and you choose the easiest one. You choose the convenient one, and then make pride out of it, saying “I did this; I did that.” Then when you hear Jesus saying, “Hypocrites and fools”, you say “Yeah, tell ‘em Jesus! That’s what they are.” Then when he gets close to you, you say, “Wait a minute; Jesus. You are getting too close.” Are these the words that you would like him to tell around your table?

You cannot serve two masters; just one at a time. (Matthew 6:24)

I hope this message brings fruit, because it definitely changed my life. One thing that I know has changed, is the matter of forgiveness and love. So many times you know the right thing to do, but you say “I cannot do it.” You say, “I forgive, but…” or “I love, but…” It’s conditional. Do you know it is the right thing? Then do it. If you know it is the right thing and you do not do it, then it is sin.

Know these scriptures, and allow them to change your life. God bless you.

Sunday Morning Service, 2/13/11

Songs

• All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name
• Praise Song
• Declare Your Name
• You Are Worthy Of My Praise
• The Glory Of It All
• Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing
• Worthy Is The Lamb
• Praise Him In Advance

How I See It

> Pastor Thomas

How many of you need glasses?

> (Lots of hands)

How many of you can do anything without them?

> (A few hands)

I’ve got contacts. One day I put them in the wrong eyes, and I didn’t know what was going on. I was just blind as a bat. Have you ever picked up the wrong glasses? My mom and my aunt were always picking up each others’ reading glasses. One day my grandma Hawkins picked up my Dad’s glasses, and he picked up hers. My grandpa didn’t know what was going on. He couldn’t see what he was reading; he couldn’t see anything in the house; he couldn’t find his own glasses. Finally, she chuckled and took off his glasses and said, “Is this what you’re looking for?”

How do we see things? How do we process what we see?

My barber has a plaque in his office. It has a dark background and lighter parts that stick out. When you first look at it, you don’t know what it says, because you’re focused on the light parts. But when you switch and look at the dark parts, it very clearly says “Jesus.” The devil is good at making us focus on the wrong things.

Today we’re going to take a look at the story of David versus Goliath. We won’t read all the scriptures, but when you have some time, I want you to read from 1 Samuel 16:12 through 1 Samuel 17:53.

David was a shepherd, the youngest of eight brothers. Saul had already fallen from the grace of God, so God told Samuel to Jesse’s house to anoint the next king. Now Jesse’s mother was Ruth, the Moabitess. So you see the progression.

So Samuel prepares a sacrifice, and goes up to Jesse and his sons, and as he sees the first son, he says “Surely, this must be the one.”

I saw a movie called “Grown-ups”. There was all these girls around the pool, and they were looking at this big, good-looking, muscular guy. Then he came up to them and he had a high, squeaky voice, and a Canadian accent, and he wasn’t at all what they were expecting.

You know the story with Jesse; none of the sons fit the bill. Then Samuel said, “Is there another one?” His father said, “Oh yeah, there’s David. He’s out in the field.” And they waited.

He wasn’t a great big guy; he was a young man. There have been some discussions and debate on exactly how young he was. Later on, we read about Saul getting angry and going through mood-changes, and he said, “Find me someone who can play for me and soothe my spirit.”

So you heard him described as the youngest son of Jesse, but the servant saw him differently.

Next we read that the Philistines attacked, and Saul called the people to war. Some of you have stood with me in that valley where the battle took place. Pastor Paine and I picked up a lot of stones in that valley, thinking “We’ve got one of the five.” But around the corner, there is a big pile of rocks that is reported to be the tomb of Goliath. Israel has a policy that tombs are sacred; they will not exhume a tomb. If one is accidentally uncovered in an archaeological dig, they study the remains, and then carefully re-bury them and leave the spot untouched from then on. I asked my tour guide why they didn’t use ground-penetrating radar to find out whether the stones really marked the tomb of Goliath, and he responded with a sense of humor, “We don’t want to find out that Goliath really isn’t there. So we just leave it alone.”

Continuing the story, we read that David’s brothers joined the army, and David’s father asked him to take them some food. He was given food not only for his brothers, but also for King Saul and the captain of their unit. As he approached, he heard this big man blaspheming his God. He said, “Send your best man to fight me, and if he wins, we will be your servants. But if I win, you must be our servants.” Nobody wanted to go up against that man. It would be like a high-school boxing student going up against Mike Tyson. It just wouldn’t be fair. But David didn’t know that, so he asked around, “Hey, what’s the guy going to get who goes up against that guy?” His brothers all ridiculed him, but David said, “Is this not a cause? Is it not worth a man risking everything he has to fight this man?” So David went to see Saul, and Saul asked, “Can you do this thing?” David told of slaying a bear and a lion, and this uncircumcised Philistine would be next. Saul knew that David was a righteous, Godly man, so he decided to risk it all on this young son of Jesse. He put all his armor on him. Can you imagine? Saul was described as a big brute of a man who wouldn’t listen to God.

Rod Williams, would you come up here? And Dave Rivera, would you come up here?

> (Both come up)

Here we have Saul and David. Rod, put your coat on Dave.

> (Rod takes off his coat and puts it on Dave.)

If you can imagine the size of Saul’s armor on David, this gives you the picture. Not only did this stuff not fit, but David had never gone into battle with armor before. He hadn’t even used a sword. He was used to trusting God with the skills that God had given him. He was used to a slingshot and a knife. So he gave the armor back, saying “I just can’t use this stuff.” So he went out to stand before Goliath, and Goliath didn’t see the warrior who stood before him. Goliath only saw an embarrassment, an affront to his manhood. So David took one of his five stones, put it in his slingshot, and let fly right into Goliath’s head, then ran up and took Goliath’s own sword and cut off his head.

Of course, the Philistines didn’t want to honor the agreement, so they ran away, and Israel ran after them and slaughtered them.

David was anointed king. Are you not anointed with God’s spirit? We too are anointed by God to be valiant men and women of God. Now, David also had victories over the lion and the bear. Haven’t you had little victories? How many of you remember me telling you to keep a little notebook of your victories? These victories that we have, we’ve got to cherish them. Pastor Ulysse tells a Haitian proverb:

> All that is good is written in sand; all that is bad is written in stone.

Satan does an awesome job of reminding us of all our defeats; it’s up to us to remember the victories.

Now, when David went to stand before Goliath, he didn’t have the spirit of fear that had come upon everyone else. He wondered why everybody else was frightened of Goliath. David saw Goliath as an obstacle that needed to be removed. And David knew that he could do it because God was with him.

Have you removed the obstacles in your life? Or are you afraid of them? Do you face them and stand up to them, or do you run away?

There is nothing that you will face that you don’t already have the spiritual, God-given ability to say no to and defeat. Every sin that is brought before you is an opportunity to grow stronger. God it put it there for you. Our growth takes place not in the mountains of rejoicing, but in the valleys of tribulation.

I watched a documentary on the soccer team who crashed in an airplane. They stayed there for seven days, even though they were eleven miles from a hotel and a highway. Then they started out in the other direction, crossing a mountain before they were finally rescued.

Let’s look at the way David’s brothers ridiculed him. “You’re just a pain in my side, David. You just came here to humiliate us. Who do you think you are?” Does that sound familiar? “You think you’re better than us because you study the Bible!” Yeah, it does. It gives us the tools we need to become better. And David says, “Is there not a cause?” Church, is being a Christian not a cause worth giving your life for?

Even if the Buddhists are right, living as a Christian means you’ve got to come back as something better.

And even if the Atheists are right, we live a happier life than they do.

But since God is right and they are wrong, I believe there is a cause worth living for. It’s called Jesus Christ. It’s called eternity. Our cause is seeing someone else saved. Our cause is reaching out beyond our comfort zone to minister to somebody. Don’t let nay-sayers tell you that you don’t have to do all that. You need to read the word of God for yourself and know the right way to live. There is a cause worth changing your life for. You don’t want to hear “Depart from me, ye that worketh iniquity.” The Bible is our optical lens that allows us to see things clearly.

I once met a man whose eyesight was so good that he could see a baseball go by and read the manufacturer’s logo. He could read a license plate off a car while the rest of us barely got a glimpse of the trunk as it went by. One day he said to his wife, “I’m having trouble seeing things like I used to.” She laughed and said, “You’re just starting to see things like the rest of us.”

He repeats that several times: the whole armor of God. Not part of it, but all of it.

That’s the armor that David had. It wasn’t the leather and the mail and the shield that Saul gave him to put on. It was the spirit of God that delivered him. So he went out, trusting in God, and picked up five smooth stones. Those of you who study the Bible know that there are also five positions in the church.

God didn’t put you in a ministry just so you could sit and listen to somebody for an hour or two on a Sunday. Pastors aren’t picked because they look and sound good. Pastors are supposed to be picked because they can benefit the body of Christ.

How are you getting fed? How many of you have gone to a restaurant where the food wasn’t any good, and you went back for a second meal? Not one of you! I watched a documentary about restaurants that were infested by bugs and failed inspection after inspection. I paid attention to which ones they were, because I don’t want to go to them.

You’ve got to pay attention to the word of God, because that’s what counts. God is not going to judge you by the book of Pastor Thomas and Pastor Paine. We have some stories that we really like, and we’ll probably keep using them until Jesus comes. But you’ve got to know what the word of God says, because you will one day have to give account for your life.

What does Goliath represent in this story? He represented bondage and captivity. Satan comes on you like a giant, saying “I am going to bind you in sin and hold you captive.” And we can look back at him and say, “You may be big, but you have no power over me.”

What kinds of things try to take over your life? Addictions like drugs, sex, and gambling. There is the sin of anger, violence, and harshness. Some say, “That’s just who I am; you’ll have to deal with my irritability.” But that’s not true. We can choose whom to be with. We can say, “I forgive you, but if you ever do it again, I’m out of here. I’m not your doormat.”

As you look forward to see where you’re going, you also need to look back and see where you’ve been. Look back and ask, “How’s my prayer life? How’s my studying? How’s my teaching?” And if those things aren’t looking so good, then put them in order. That’s your victory. That’s your lion and your bear. That’s what gives you the strength to face your Goliath.

Ask yourself, “In living this disciplined life, not giving in to this world, is there not a cause? Is this not a cause for me?” Make up your mind and get down to business with God, because God will give you all that you need. And then work within the framework of the ministry where God put you.

David trusted in his five stones; trust the church leadership, because you hear my message, and when you study and look it up, you’ll know that I told you the truth. I don’t care if you like me; I care if you know the truth. If the only reason you keep coming is because I made you mad on Sunday, then keep coming. Submit yourself to the leadership that God has provided, because they will help you gain access to that doorway where you’ll hear, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”

Church, I want you to see the world as an opportunity to be a giant-killer.

Wednesday Bible Study, 2/9/11

Songs

• Heaven's Jubilee
• Inside The Gate
• I'll Fly Away

Testimonies

> Pastor Taylor

That song has a lot of sentimental meaning for me. When I was just a teenager, I remember my grandpa singing it to me.

Has anyone tried for one day to not be negative?

 

(Several hands raised)

I’d like three people to come up and share about it.

> Jay Ugali

As you know, I’m a school-bus driver, and some of the kids like to talk about God. They say to each other, “You’re not supposed to that. You go to church. Mister Jay!” I told them, “You know, you guys should come out and visit my church.” Even though the kids come on-board with a negative attitude, some of them were so encouraged by my positive attitude that they asked if I could be their permanent bus driver. To myself, I was thinking “Oh, no!” But I said, “You’ll have to talk to my supervisor about that.”

> Jaucelin Fenelus

I’ve thought about that challenge every day. Since that day, I’ve failed. But I learned that every day is a new day, and a wise man falls seven times and gets back up. The Bible talks about the beam in our eye. God doesn’t compare sin, but he teaches us to focus on improving ourselves rather than the faults of our neighbors.

> Bob Vincent

This actually happened a long time ago. Bruce Avants noticed that I always have a snide remark to make about something, and he challenged me to go a whole week without making a snide remark. So, I bit my tongue a lot, and I think I almost made it. And along the way, the scripture that helped most was:

I learned how to look for the good in things that I didn’t feel good about. And it really helps.

> Pastor Taylor

For those of you who don’t remember, last week I taught on being a living sacrifice, and challenged everybody to go a whole day without saying anything negative.

> Jaucelin Fenelus

It’s funny that the living sacrifice study brought about that challenge. I heard a lot about communication, and that’s what today’s study is about.

Explain how we communicate with God.

Communication is a two-way interaction between God and man. God gave his spirit to pray within, that we may know and understand his will. The one scripture that really jumped out at me was:

This scripture is personal to me. How does the spirit utter things we don’t even know about? People who get saved often look back and remember seeking for things that they didn’t know anything about at the time. I remember looking for a small church. As a single sailor, you tend to spend a lot of evenings watching TV. In my case, I got woken up the next day by a brother inviting me out to church. And when he did, God said, “There’s the answer to your prayer.” I didn’t even know it was a prayer. Communication can make us or break us.

I thought about how I came into the ministry. I remember asking, “Where is God in all this?” I was seeking for a truth, even though I didn’t think there was a truth to be found. God that day did more than I could have asked or thought.

Explain why communication with the pastorship is vital.

I looked up the word “perfecting” because this is what is happening to us.

To complete thoroughly, to repair (lit. or fig.), to make perfect, perfectly joined together, to restore.

When we go to doctors, it sometimes doesn’t feel good while we’re getting fixed. And sometimes we feel injured when we haven’t been communicating, and then we communicate and get a message that doesn’t feel good. It’s like Daniel’s book which was bitter in the mouth and sweet in the belly. Anything worth having won’t come easy.

A lot of times we make the mistake of looking at things with our eyeballs instead of with our spirit. And sometimes we want to shoot the messenger instead of receiving the message. Most of the time, we aren’t communicating because we’re doing something wrong. We don’t want to hear the answer because we already know it’s wrong. I remember communicating with ET2 Glander back in 1993. It was hard, but I thank God for it. I was fellowshipping and sharing with “all these girls!”, but I finally communicated about it, and he shared with me that I was going down the wrong path. How is it that we communicate peace with a lost person? The best thing about our ministry is the people. And the worst thing about our ministry is the people. God uses imperfect people to work his perfect will.

Who is well-pleased?

 

God.

We say, “Who is he to demand anything of me? He’s just a man.” But it’s God that wants us to do this thing. God has placed our pastors there for a reason, and a lot of times we don’t know what they go through.

Explain the importance of communication throughout the body of Christ.

Why are we finding younger brothers and sisters with different doctrines? There was a saying about Christian Fellowship: everywhere you went, people were able to tell, “You must be from Christian Fellowship.” Why? Because there was one mind and one accord. Why is that so tough for the younger brothers and sisters nowadays? We’ve got to share with them. We’ve got to share our victories. We’ve got to share the word of God, standing firm on that foundation. This is the spiritual gas-station.

How can we labor together with no communication? That doesn’t work in the world, either. We’ve got to be a spiritual tag-team. If you can’t do it alone, then pull someone else in. Pastor has said, “Don’t be in such a rush to get to the church building that you run over someone along the way.” Sometimes when we’re in the church building, we’re in such a hurry to get our church-work done that we run over each other, spiritually. I grew up in church. My Dad was a pastor of the church. But when I first got here, I was wondering, “Why are these people so nice? Maybe it’s because I’m new.” But after all these years, I became one of “these people.”

Communication is important. Not only do we need it, but some poor soul that just came in needs it, too. We need to hold each other’s hands and be united to see souls saved. God didn’t allow us to come here just so we could have a club. This last message was about the light-house that was run-down, but the people were alive, until they became an exclusive club. We are a city set on a hill, and we’ve got to shine that light. Even though we’re busy throughout the week, we’ve got to communicate in order to grow and be confident in why we drag ourselves to church on Sunday mornings. Yes, we know why, but that knowledge is reinforced by communication.

We need to be encouraged while we’re here, so we can take the message out there.

If there’s any doubt about whether it’s better to get fellowship than to go it alone, refer back to this scripture.

Sin’s deceitfulness won’t get a chance to enter in, if we communicate. On the topic of assuming:

• My brother looked at me wrong.
• My sister was talking about me.

Then we bring someone else in:

• Did you hear about what so-and-so said to me?

If we’re bold enough to talk to someone else about it, then we should talk to the right person. Gossip is like rats that sneak in through holes in the wall to steal up all our groceries. But communicating the right way is like stopping up the holes. God called us for a global purpose, and Satan definitely desires to sift us like wheat. But the only power that Satan has is the power we give him, when we don’t communicate.

People can’t act on what they don’t know; we’ve got to share. We don’t all know everything; we’ve got to “distribute to the necessity of the saints.”

When it says “let love be without dissimulation,” the word “dissimulation” means hypocrisy.

What are blessings? They are gifts. We can’t earn them. This is the one place in the Bible where I found that God commanded a blessing. Why did he command it? Because it’s our life-line. To not have this unity is committing spiritual suicide. You might as well hang yourself like Judas did. He did that because he was all by himself, alone. Even though the other disciples were there, he wasn’t communicating with them; he was all lone.

God says that he hates those who sow discord. Hate is a strong word, but God used with. See which side we wind up on, right or left, if we keep sowing discord?

Explain why everyone is responsible for communication in the ministry and give examples from the Bible and from daily life.

Whether we communicate or not, God still holds us accountable. How many times have we seen a brother or sister doing something wrong, and we let ourself off the hook by saying, “I’m not going to be a snitch or a tattle-tale?” That attitude was from high-school. But to give an example,

 

(dropping a pen on the floor)

Whose responsibility is it to pick that up?

 

Everyone who sees it.

God holds the pastor accountable for our souls, but how can he give account if we’re not communicating? How can he know what to pray for, or how to minister?

Give two examples of how communication benefits the church body.

If Paul never communicated with Peter about how his actions were causing dissension in the church, where would that have left the church? But he did communicate, and I believe that it benefited the whole world.

First he says, “ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder.”

> You just got saved. You don’t know nothing. You’ve got to listen to me.

But then he says, “all of you be subject one to another.” Shouldn’t we who are older in the faith be clothed with more humility? We’ve all got to be willing to learn from one another.

In that last verse, what does “verily” mean?

 

Truthfully

And who was speaking?

 

Jesus

I believe that Jesus knew what he was talking about. Then he says, “Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” How does that happen? Through our words. Let us be careful to communicate good things.