Wednesday Evening Service, 7/29/09

Songs

• I Have A Hope

Message: Reason

Pastor Thomas

Pastor Paine, Dan Lantis, and I were on a motorcycle ride in Oregon once, and every morning you’d get up and it would be that kind of overcast, drizzly day, but I knew that on the other side of those clouds there was sunshine. Don’t look at what you’re going through and complain; this too shall pass. You’re going to get through it.

I was reading an article last week, and it really ticked me off. A message has been brewing ever since.

The article, called “Reason,” was by written by Jeffrey McDonald of Religion News Service.

> Up until last summer, Jennifer Gray of Columbus, Ohio, considered herself “a weak Christian” whose baptism at age 11 in a Kentucky church came to mean less and less to her as she gradually lost faith in God.

> Then the 32-year-old medical transcriptionist took a decisive step, one that previously hadn’t been available. She got “de-baptized.”

> In a type of mock ceremony that’s now been performed in at least four states, a robed “priest” used a hairdryer marked “reason” in an apparent bid to blow away the waters of baptism once and for all. Several dozen participants then fed on a “de-sacrament” (crackers with peanut butter) and received certificates assuring they had “freely renounced a previous mistake, and accepted Reason over Superstition.”

> “It was very therapeutic,” Gray said in an interview. “It was a chance to laugh at the silly things I used to believe as a child. It helped me admit that it was OK to think the way I think and to not have any religious beliefs.”

> Within the past year, “de-baptism” ceremonies have attracted as many as 250 participants at atheist conventions in Ohio, Texas, Florida and Georgia. More have taken place on college campuses in recent years, according to Hemant Mehta, chair of the board of directors for the Secular Student Alliance, a group that promotes atheism among high school and college students.

> “If we’re having a winter solstice or summer solstice get-together or some other event, we might say: ‘Who wants to get de-baptized?’ ” said Greg McDowell, the Florida state director for American Atheists, an advocacy and networking group. “It’s a bit of satire. People will play the fool by waving their arms in the air and saying, ‘I got de-baptized!’ But the paperwork is still legit.”

> Some of the so-called “de-baptized” have used their certificates to petition churches to remove their names from baptismal rolls. One argument: they were baptized without their consent as children and should now be declared de-baptized.

> Some churches, however, aren’t budging on what they regard as an irreversible sacrament.

> Atheist Gary Mueller recently mailed his de-baptism certificate to St. Bonaventure Catholic Church in Concord, Calif., and asked to be dropped from its baptismal record. The church told him, in effect, that he was all wet.

> “While we do not remove a name/person from a Baptism register, we can note alongside your name that ‘you have left the Roman Catholic Church,’ ” the Rev. Richard Mangini replied in an e-mail. “I hope that God surprises you one day and lets you know that He is quite well.”

> In Christian theology, baptism can’t be undone. If a Southern Baptist renounces his or her baptism, then that person is usually presumed to have never received an authentic baptism in the first place, according to Nathan Finn, assistant professor of Baptist studies at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C.

> For mainline Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox Christians, baptism is commonly understood as a sign or means of grace and a covenant that God maintains even when humans turn away, said Laurence Stookey, professor emeritus of preaching and worship at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington. He said “de-baptizers” misunderstand baptism when they caricature it as an attempt at magic.

> Baptism “is a kind of adoption where you become a child of God, of the church and of the family,” Stookey said. “You can renounce your physical parents, (the church and God), but they cannot renounce you because you are their child. Anybody who makes fun of baptism probably hasn’t gone into it in enough depth to know that.”

> De-baptism efforts have been growing internationally in recent years. More than 100,000 Britons downloaded de-baptism certificates from the National Secular Society (NSS) between 2005 and 2009, according to NSS campaigner Stephen Evans. Upwards of 1,000 Italians requested de-baptism certificates prior to Italy’s “De-Baptism Day” last October, according to Italy’s Union of Rationalist Atheists and Agnostics.

> “For a long time, non-religious people in the Bible Belt just kept quiet, but they aren’t keeping quiet anymore,” Zuckerman said. “I think that’s largely a reaction to George W. Bush’s presidency. (Atheists) were saying, ‘The government is being taken over by very religious people. We need to stand up and say: ‘We’re here. We’re secular. Deal with it.’ “

I think this is the one that upset me the most.

> Atheist groups expect more de-baptisms in years ahead. Mehta, of the Secular Students Alliance, says college groups already bring blow driers to campus recruitment events, offering to de-baptize undergraduates on the spot.

I wonder if they have the college Bible Studies groups recognized to recruit people into their study groups?

> Meanwhile, organizers of de-baptisms are broadening their mockery to include other religions. At the American Atheists’ national convention in Atlanta last April, the de-baptism event included a dance where women in burqas stripped down to red-sequined leotards, according to Blair Scott, the group’s national affiliate director.

> The goal, he said, was to say blasphemy shouldn’t be prohibited.

> “We made fun of Islam, we made fun of Hinduism, we made fun of Christianity with intent to be blasphemous on purpose to make a point” about a proposed anti-blasphemy initiative at the United Nations, Scott said. “It’s not done with malice or intent to offend. But anytime you criticize religion or poke fun at what atheists would call the sillier parts of religion, you’re going to offend somebody. There’s just no way around that.”

Wow! There are such incredible beliefs and attitudes that are in the world today. We who believe must be able to stand up and reason with those who don’t believe.

I wanted to go over some scriptures about what the purpose of baptism is, and what it isn’t. Then I’d like to focus on why we should stand up and uphold baptism as an important part of Christian life.

Baptism isn’t a ritual to join the church.

You don’t get baptized to join the church. You don’t get baptized because you’re afraid, and so “just in case, I’ll get baptized.” You hear the message of salvation that Jesus has to offer, and stand up like the men in the book of Acts and say, “My heart and pricked; what shall I do?” The first message to a lost person isn’t baptism; it’s repentance. You’ve got to acknowledge the sin in your life and ask God for forgiveness. Then, in that acknowledgement, you must be buried in baptism. Sprinkling isn’t burial. If you put a dead body in a cemetary with a handful of dirt sprinkled over it, they’d arrest you! Burial means putting the body into the ground, covering it with dirt, and leaving it there. The problem with the church today is that people want to dig that old man back out of the ground.

Baptism is far more than getting wet.

Reason

1. a cause, explanation, or justification for an action or event;
* good or obvious cause to do something: we have reason to celebrate.
* Logic: a premise of an argument in support of a belief.

2. the power of the mind to think, understand, and form judgments by a process of logic: there is a close connection between reason and emotion.
* what is right, practical, or possible; common sense: people are willing, within reason, to pay for schooling.
* (one’s reason) one’s sanity: she is in danger of losing her reason.

(verb, intransitive) think, understand, and form judgments by a process of logic.

(verb, transitive) (reason something out) find an answer to a problem by considering various possible solutions.
* (reason with) persuade (someone) with rational argument: I tried to reason with her, but without success.

God said,

God want to reason with you; he doesn’t force you to live for him.

When someone writes “Reason” on the side of a blow-dryer, that doesn’t make sense. Where is the persuasion? You can’t blow away guilt. You cannot blow away sin. You cannot blow away a promise made to God. That is an impossibility. It’s not logical; it’s not reasonable to think that you can. We need to understand that the purpose of baptism was for cleansing and purification. Look at the use of water in God’s plan for the church, and for the world.

After that, man lived in the garden, transgressed, and spread out over the land. Man sinned in not recognizing God as God, and in doing whatever he wanted without regard to God’s commandments. So God buried the whole earth in water. He saved Noah for his righteousness, but he didn’t save his wife and children because of their righteousness. He saved them because of Noah’s righteousness. Who would you be able to save in an ungodly world because of your righteousness?

When Lot left the side of Abraham, he left the source of his blessing. While he stayed with Abraham, everything he had was blessed and grew. But as soon as he left, he was taken captive. After being restored by God’s grace on Abraham, he still didn’t learn his lesson. He turned back toward the city. When God sent an angel to tell him to leave, he tried to persuade his family to come with him. But because Lot lived a life of compromise, only his two eldest daughters and his wife came with him.

God wants you to live a life without compromise, so that God can spread an umbrella of righteousness over you.

We know the story of the flood. Later on, God saved Israel by leading them through the Red Sea. Israel passed through the water again.

When Israel was in danger of dying of thirst in the wilderness, God brought forth water out of a rock, which was symbolic of the water that came forth from Christ’s side.

We learned last week that the priests had to wash in water before they entered the holy place. It wasn’t for cleansing from dirt. It was a symbol of purification.

When a woman had her time, she had to sit without the camp for seven days. And before she came back in, she had to wash, as a symbol of purification.

Purification isn’t just an Old Testament thing.

In the church, you should have an understanding of baptism and purification, so that you can reason with those who would come against the gospel.

God wants us to make that choice of our own will, saying “I am unclean; I want to be clean. I am ungodly; I want to be godly. I have no peace; I want peace.” God says, “Your sin is terrible, but I can offer you eternal life. I can offer you joy. I can offer you stability.”

After the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness, God brought them through the waters again, when they crossed the Jordan river.

When I talk to somebody about death, I talk to them about crossing the threshold into a new existence. We don’t understand it, but we have the promise that God went to prepare a place for us. Getting baptized is also a crossing into a new existence. That crossing over, that getting baptized, is a choice we must willingly make. That’s why we don’t baptized infants. We’ve decided that we won’t baptize anybody under the age of twelve, because a child of seven or eight can’t really understand what the choice entails. When a child becomes a man or woman, when they reach that age of reason, then they can really make that choice in understanding.

In today’s church there is no “casual Christian.” You can’t be a lukewarm Christian. You’re either going to be righteous or you’re going to be lost. You’re going to understand the choice that you made or you’re going to be lost. God is not going to judge you for eternity based on what you did for an hour or two in this building. God is going to judge you based on what you did while you were home with your family and while you were out by your self.

God says we should hate the garment spotted by the flesh. Ladies, you’re careful to guard your purse. We must take the same care to secure your eternity.

The church, God’s church, (not the building), has reasoned and determined to follow God. As a pastor, I’ve laid hands on people and seen God do miracles. It wasn’t me, but I was in touch with God and God used me to touch somebody else.

Your salvation has got to matter. You’ve got to keep your mind cleansed. Don’t look back across that river and say, “I’d rather go back into captivity.” Elisha showed his power by parting the water with Elijah’s mantle. Naaman was cleansed not because he was washed in the Jordan river, but because he was obedient.

There is a story about three truck driver who went to a job interview. The employer called them in one at a time and showed them a picture of a hairpin curve on the side of a mountain. You could see in the picture where trucks had missed the curve to crash in the rocks at the bottom of the cliff. The employer asked the first driver, “How close can you come to the edge of that curve without going over?” The driver answered confidently that he could get within four inches with no problem. The employer said, “Thank you; that’s all. We’ll call if we need you.” The second man was called in and asked the same question. He answered, “I’ve got a good steady eye; I can get within a foot. The response again was, “Thank you; that’s all. We’ll call if we need you.” The third man was called in, but as soon as he saw the picture, he got up to leave. “Wait; where are you going,” asked the employer. “I’m sorry, sir, but I’m not your man. I’m going to stay as far away from the edge of that cliff as I can get.” The employer said, “You’re hired.”

God doesn’t want you to see how close you can get to the world. Why use words that sound like swear-words? Why use a vocabulary that sounds so close to profanity that people have to ask you what you said? God wants righteous, holy, godly, pure, cleansed people. He doesn’t want people who wear a mask to look like everybody else. If you’re married, would you want your wife to hang out with everybody else and come home once in a while? Would you want your husband to visit only when he wants his clothes washed? But that’s what we do to God! You say, “God I love you,” but then you go whoring after the world!

Can people tell by your conversation that you’re a Christian? Or do they wonder? You can look at a crowd and tell if there’s a Marine in it. Everybody wants to wear the uniform, but they don’t want to go lie in the mud getting shot at in Afghanistan. There’s a price to pay to wear that uniform. And there’s a price to pay to call your

We know that when Christ’s side was pierced, there came forth both water and blood.

It doesn’t say they are like one; it doesn’t say they agree in one; it says they are one.

What do they agree in? Salvation requires all three. You can’t get half-baptized. That’s like getting half-born.

I remember when a guy came up to Pastor Paine on the streets of Waukegan and confronted him, saying “You can’t show me one place in the Bible where it says you have to be baptized for salvation!” Pastor Paine opened up his Bible to 1 Peter 3:21 and read it. The guy just grabbed his Bible and stormed off.

If you planned to get baptized but never did it, know that there are only two books going to be opened in heaven, the book of works and the book of life. There is no book of intents. God doesn’t care what you “intend”; God cares what you do.

This decision we make is a decision for life; not a decision of convenience. If you live a life of convenience, you’ll answer for that.

Our circumcision is a circumcision of the heart. Is your heart toward God, or is it toward the world?

Just because you’re religious, or have a belief in God, or had someone prophesy over you, doesn’t mean that you’re saved. A decision you made ten years ago doesn’t mean you’re saved today. What makes the difference is that you cherish that decision every day.

God lets you know when you’re going astray. I remember a few hours after I got baptized, God spoke to me and said, “You will never return to sin, because if you do, I’ll take your life.” It was a powerful experience. I said, “Okay, God; I’ve got the message.” But I was twenty-four years old, and at twenty-four years old, you’re invincible. At twenty-four years old, you’ve got Alzheimer’s. You remember what you want to. So when I went home on leave and got in touch with some old friends, I did some things I shouldn’t have. When I got back, Pastor Davis said to me, “Son, I don’t know what you’ve been doing, but I see the death angel over your shoulder.” I prayed to God for another chance, and I’ve never had Alzheimer’s on that subject ever since.

The book of Romans talks about being grafted in.

If you live an ungodly life, God will separate you. But if you love and honor him, God will love and honor you.

That scripture isn’t about asking for new sneakers or a better car. That scripture is about asking for what you need to fulfill your ministry.

When Saul spoke with God, God told him to go to Damascus and wait there. Can you imagine what was going through his mind? He had talked with God and couldn’t see. Then a man said, “Brother Saul, receive thy sight.” But he wasn’t saved until he got baptized.

[Acts 22;13-16]

Even if someone convinces you that you can take a blow-dryer and get “de-baptized”, you can still come back to God. When you come to your senses, God will welcome you back, put the ring on your finger and bring out the fatted calf. Your reward will be different, because of that period of disobedience, but that’s a different Bible study.

What is preventing you from spending time in fellowship? How many of you call your brothers and sisters at lunchtime, just to have a prayer with them? The church has got to stay in touch with God, and you can stay in touch with God through your brothers and sisters. But if you separate yourself from prayer, from fellowship, from study, why are you surprised when you find yourself in sin?

Anything that won’t last for eternity doesn’t really mean anything. Cherish your eternity, church. If we only had hope in this life, if we didn’t have the promise of eternal life, we’d be of all men most miserable. But I’m not miserable. I might be going through some rainy days, some financial difficulties, some family problems, but that doesn’t matter. I know that the sun is shining on the other side of those clouds. What matters is my relationship with Jesus Christ.

Your salvation matters to God. He paid the ultimate price: he suffered on Calvary not so that you could do whatever you want, but so that you could wear the family name. God doesn’t care how many mistakes you make, as long as you keep coming back to him.

We must care about people’s salvation. We’ve got to wear that breastplate of salvation. That article should anger you. God has something better for you. Be persuaded in your own mind. Come, let us reason together.

Wednesday Evening Service, 7/1/09

Songs

• [ Majestic]
• [ All The Earth Will Sing Your Praises]
• [ One Less Stone]
• [ In The Name Of Jesus]
• [ Can’t Feel At Home In This World Anymore]
• [ Light The Fire Again]
• [ Holy Is The Lord God Almighty]

Blessings

• Pastor Lantis’ nephew was rushed to the hospital with kidney failure; we all prayed for him and the next day he was fine.
• Carlyle Miller found by experience the benefits of giving to God first.
• Dwight Hohnes was able to share a testimony with a minister whose church had burned down.
• Todd Morgan spoke with people on base who had met this ministry in other parts of the world.

Pastor Thomas

God answers prayer in many different ways. Most of us in this room probably wouldn’t pick the other people in this room as friends, when we were lost and in the world. What brings us together isn’t the music or the activities, but Christ and our salvation. That’s what keeps us going in the right direction. That’s why I appreciate Pastor Paine’s message. You can hear all kinds of evil report, but when you listen to God, great things happen.

We have just begun to scratch the surface of what God can and will do with this ministry.

Pastor Paine

Who has a scripture on your heart?

• Jeff Wiedenhoeft

• John Connors

• Pat Mahoney

My father had some expressions when I was a young man, and I didn’t realize until I was older the impact they had. My father said silly things like “No good deed goes unpunished.” He meant it as humor, but if that’s what you rehearse in your mind, you begin to believe it. That’s why it’s important to rehearse the scriptures. As we gather together and reconnect, what has been happening over the past several weeks has been a blessing. It’s a good reminder for the church that ministry doesn’t have to happen in the church building, although there is some ministry that does happen in the building.

Jasmine and Matthew, would you please stand? Jasmine and Matthew are getting baptized at the conclusion of this service.

Some of the great moments of ministry happen when we gather together. Some of them happen when we have a few moments to sit down with somebody and share. Some of the ministry we do doesn’t happen in the building.

There is a spiritual battle that we fight every day. Some of the battles we fight over and over, and maybe one day God will allow us to move on to another battle. For some, it’s lustful thoughts; for some it is anger; for some it is laziness. I encourage you to keep fighting that “good fight of faith.”

Some of the battles that we fight are unseen. We don’t even recognize them.

Here we are, in a Christian church, on a Wednesday night, talking about Jesus. Why do we have to be wise as serpents? In today’s vernacular, maybe that’s saying you’ve got to be “street-wise.” Not every “good deal” is a good deal.

I’m talking to the church family now. I don’t want to, but I’ve got to talk about Facebook. No, I don’t think it’s the antichrist. Some people use Facebook for good, and some people, if you don’t pay attention, will get you on their friends list, and you’re communicating with people that you don’t know.

Do you know there are people who hate Walmart, and think they’re part of the antichrist? Do you know there are people here who think that Disneyland is part of the antichris?. There are those who hate this ministry, and we have not escaped them. Just in the last three or four weeks, I’ve had several people tell me that they’d been invited to be friends with somebody on Facebook, and after accepting the invitation, had found that the friends of that “friend” are people who hate us and who are working against us.

To give just one example, we were scheduled to have a high-ranking Navy official here to speak with us, and on the day he was due to appear, he was contacted by several people from Facebook who hate us. They told him several things that, if he hadn’t been very careful about who he listened to, might have convinced him not to come. But after he came and looked around, he realized that what he’d been told wasn’t true. So be careful.

I’m excited about what Jesus is doing for me, and I’m excited about what I’m doing for Jesus. I’m excited about living a life that matters. I don’t mean that in a self-centered way, but I’m thankful to have the privilege to preach the gospel message.

I hope that somehow, someway, God blessed you and refreshed you. Some Wednesday nights we have much more teaching. Some nights it’s all praise and worship. Tonight it was a mixture of family meeting and praise and scriptures. But however, it’s good and pleasant for us to gather together.

Wednesday Evening Bible Study: Pastorship

Todd Morgan

A pastor is a shepherd; someone who watches over our soul so that we can be spiritually healthy and successful. A pastor is not a babysitter, but he will help you and challenge you. You can give your tithes and offerings or not; it’s your choice. If you know to do it, then it’s your blessing.

The pastors want to help us, but we have to ask for that help. I caught myself today and called Pastor Paine about something that really should have gone through him. And he said that he appreciated that I’d taken steps to do better the next time.

The world doesn’t understand pastorship; they’ve got it all mixed up.

That’s something that we can trust is of God. Pastors are ordained of God, not elected by men. They follow God, not the money.

We need to pray and support the pastorship; we don’t know the half of what they deal with on a daily basis. We need to make it easy for them. We shouldn’t be “high-maintenance” spiritually. But that doesn’t mean that we just stay out of their way. We should want to learn from them and draw from what they know. We don’t worship the man, but we honor and respect them.

A lot of times people are afraid of authority, because the flesh doesn’t like authority.

When you’re in church, watch the pastors. Watch their example. Ask yourself, “why did Pastor Paine do that?” I’m not saying they’re perfect, but there are a lot things you can pick up by watching them. They have the experience, the knowledge, and understanding that God gives them, and we can learn from that.

There’s church-work and there’s the work of the church. We have to do a certain amount of church-work to be good stewards, but the most important thing is doing the work of the church.

It is important to establish a pattern of good works. Look at what you’ve done that has been successful, and pattern your actions after that example.

There’s a definite framework and structure of the ministry; it’s not all helter-skelter. Everyone has a part to play in the ministry; everyone has a place in the overall structure.

In those documentaries in Africa they show the attacking animal looking for the weaker animals who can’t stay with the pack. When you’re in the pack, you’re stronger. We can liken that to the unity of the fellowship. When you stray out on your own, you’re weak. So Pastors are like shepherds, looking after the flock and gathering up those who have wandered astray.

When you subject yourself to the pastorship, you have to be humble. Don’t be afraid of rebuke; we all fall short; we all get rebuked. But the humble person can learn from instruction. If your brother says something that totally convicts you, then it’s good to recognize the holy ghost and learn from it.

When we see a lack of communication with the pastors, we need to pick up the pace. If we see a lack of communicate in some thing, it’s important to get it right the next time around. It takes effort; it takes sacrifice; but effective communication is worth it. Communication makes for a tight-knit group.

It’s easy to criticize leadership; Satan will help you with that. But it’s far more worthwhile to step up and make things better, by doing your part and praying for the rest. It’s important to communicate ahead-of-time, to plan ahead.

The flesh doesn’t like the phrase “rule over you,” but that’s where you have to have a humble heart. Everything God does is to help us, and the pastors are there to make things better, not worse. The pastors love hearing from you, but they’re not going to beg you to communicate.

We don’t worship a man, but we respect and honor the man of God. They’re not asking us to do anything they aren’t doing; they set the example.

If the pastor doesn’t hear from you, he’s going to wonder how you’re doing.

It says “let every soul be subject…” Every soul; every one of us is subject to that power, the authority in leadership that is given to them by God. So don’t be afraid; just do good. The pastors see you developing in the ministry, and it encourages them. But you still need to communicate. Send an email or something. Shake their hand when you walk in the room. Their whole concern is the care of the churches; we just have to do our part. When we show up for fellowship, it’s important to both give and receive.

After the civil war, many communities set aside a special day for remembering those who had died in battle. Because the most common way to remember the dead was to take flowers to their graves, the day was originally called “Decoration Day.” A national organization of Union Veterans participated in these memorials, by order of their Commander-In-Chief, John Logan. His General Orders No. 11 set aside May 30 as a day to “tenderly remember our heroic dead”. He said in part, “If other eyes grow dull and other hands slack, and other hearts cold in the solemn trust, ours shall keep it well as long as the light and warmth of life remain in us.”

After World War I, the day was used to remember all Americans who had died in wartime. In 1971, Congress declared this “Memorial Day” to be a national holiday and moved its observance to the last Monday in May, in order to create a convenient three-day weekend.

On Memorial Day Service of 2009, Pastor Paine quoted from Lincoln’s famous Gettysburg Address, which dedicated a field to the memory of the soldiers who had died there. Ironically, the point of Lincoln’s message was that the deeds of those men should be remembered far longer than the words that he spoke. Today, most people can quote Lincoln’s speech from memory, or at least the “Four score and seven years ago” part. We remember the words because we’ve heard them rehearsed dozens of times. Like the children of Israel, without this “rehearsing in our ears”, we soon forget even the great lessons of history. And like the children of Israel, we pay more attention to ceremony and observance of tradition than to the historical lessons they were created to preserve. For many people, Memorial Day is a day for picnics, just as Christmas is a day for presents and Easter is a day for baskets of candy. But I encourage you, as John Logan did, to keep the solemn trust, though others eyes grow dull and other hands slack. This memorial day, I took out time to study some history about the civil war. I put it in my heart and made it personal. I’ll probably share what I learned with many of you. That’s how I intend to keep the memory alive. I hope that each of you take out time to look beyond the ceremony and observance of tradition. I encourage you to make it personal; make it powerful. Remembering the past is not something that comes naturally; it takes diligent effort.

The Early Church, Part 1 of 3

Larry Glander

When you think of the early church, you probably think of Paul, Peter, Matthew, and John. But the church existed before then; Jesus said “I came not to destroy the church, but to establish it.” The early church started, in fact, with Abraham.

What if I told you that Abraham was a squatter? In Haiti, they build walls around their land before they build a house on it. The reason they do that is that, if they built the house first, and then they left it alone for a few hours, another family would move in and it would become their house.

About 3,700 years of recorded history occurred before the birth of Christ, and we’re now in the second millenium afterward. But believing that takes faith. Science and God differ on their history. Science says that a dinosaur bone is millions of years old, but God could have planted it pre-aged.

Abraham’s vision was to establish the nation of Israel. Let’s draw some parallels with America. Why was America established?

• Freedom of religion
• Freedom from oppression
• Failure of due process
• Laws being set aside at the king’s whim

The key word is freedom. We still hear it today, right? Today we’re talking about freedom, about the pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness.

The whole existence of the nation of Israel is based on their belief in God. Is it any wonder that their whole history is filled with wars for their freedom? In America we pursue the same goals. It’s part of our culture.

Hebrew

The people who crossed over.

Without that element of freedom and belief in God, Abraham would be no more than a land-squatter who wanted his own kingdom.

What was the purpose of the sacrifice? The purpose is that a person would be accepted by God, in spite of their sins. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission.

There were a lot of different sacrifices, and each had their own purpose, and each one was given by exact instruction from God.

We know that God has all wisdom and all knowledge. They didn’t have refrigerators back then, so they had to do something to make sure they didn’t die from their food.

The rest of the chapter has a lot more. The first time I ever heard that, I got all confused. What is all these parting of hooves and chewing of cud for? Let me break it down. They didn’t have refrigerators. God knew what was clean and what was not. God knew that if they ate that pork and it wasn’t cooked to at least 160 degrees, they would get sick and die. Mozart died that way. But all the things that God listed were safe to eat.

See, fat is bad for you. Even God said so. In those times, the fat held the disease and bugs that they couldn’t get rid of. Our American cows these days are taken care of so their fat doesn’t have those things, but they didn’t have that advantage back then.

The regular fish are safe to eat, but bottom-feeders like catfish, and crustaceans like shrimp and crab can carry disease or poison.

In Jerusalem, in Jesus’ day, the church had already been established for a long time. So they had a ruling council called “The Sanhedrin.” Later on, they had another council called “The Jerusalem Council” which were made up of Christians. But the Sanhedrin were Jews, and they didn’t get along with Jesus.

If somebody comes into your office and starts using your computer and doing your work, how does that make you feel? Not happy at all, right? That’s your realm responsibility, and you like to do it. If Pastor Paine is up there preaching, and somebody else were to get up there and start preaching, it would get taken care of pretty quickly. So imagine the Sanhedrin, who wore these big symbols on their forehead to show how holy they were, and along comes this Jesus.

Around 37 B.C., King Herod separated the functions of the high priest and the secular rulers, forcing the priests to limit their authority to the religious activities of the church. So these guys weren’t happy to begin with. First King Herod took away most of their power, and then Jesus started preaching that people could go straight to God without consulting them, first. He was taking their power away. Think about that the next time you watch “The Passion of The Christ.” Remember the scene where they were going around at night, rousing people up for the next day? They had to do it at night so the Roman soldiers wouldn’t find out.

Let’s talk about the wise men. Were there three? We don’t really know; there were three different gifts. Who were they? We know that they came from the East, so it’s possible they were descendants Abraham. Remember that Abraham gave gifts to his sons and sent away to the East.

This is the verse that shook up Herod, because it challenged his rule.

It took them a while to get there. The scriptures hint at it by calling him a child rather than a baby. That’s why Herod killed all the children under two years of age, to make sure he got them all.

So they were spiritual. They listened to God.

Even there, God had a plan. He sent the wise men and gave them a dream. You might ask, “Why would Herod send soldiers with the three wise men?” They wouldn’t have led them to the child. They were smart; they would have gone another way.

So it wasn’t just Bethlehem.

God had a plan. He took this man Abraham out of his land, and said “Here is a new place for you; I want you start a country with its basis on worshipping God.” That basis still stands today.

Handout: Christ and the New Testament Tabernacle

Hebrews 9:1-10:10	The New Covenant
Exodus 25:8-9	The Old Tabernacle
Exodus 27:9-21	One Door
Exodus 27:1-8	The Altar of Sacrifice
Exodus 30:18-21	The Lavern
Exodus 26:1-33	The Holy and Most Holy Place
Exodus 25:10-22	The Ark and Mercy Seat
Exodus 25:23-33	The Table of Shewbread
Exodus 25:31-39	The Candlestick
Exodus 30:1-6	The Altar of Incense
John 8:24	Christ Our Tabernacle
John 10:7-10	One Door
John 12:23-32	Our Altar of Sacrifice
Mark 16:16; 1 John 5:6-8	Water
John 6:48	Bread
John 8:12	Light
John 14:13-14	Prayer

Who Is This King of Glory (part 3 of 3)

Pat Mahoney

• Christ’s Ministry and Authority
• Recognizing God in us
• Messianic Prophecies Fulfilled

Christ’s Ministry and Authority

A lot of people at that time saw Jesus as the flesh, not the spirit. Even his parents looked at him as a child, not as the fulfillment of prophecy. But he knew that his life’s purpose was to serve his father’s will. We know that he was in the flesh and subject to all the temptations of the flesh, but without sin.

One of Christ’s very first examples in ministry was to establish baptism as an act of obedience to fulfill all righteousness. This happened even before he called his disciples. As leaders go, before you have a following, you have to set the example yourself. Otherwise, you followers won’t have much confidence in your ability.

When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, he knew God’s word and used it to withstand Satan. He was establishing his ministry and authority by the power of God’s word, not through the flesh. For homework, read Matthew 14:1-11.

So they were amazed at his ability to convey God’s word with authority that the Scribes and Pharisees didn’t have. Yet they fell back on their fleshly understanding, saying, “Is this not Joseph’s son?”

Read all of John 5, where Jesus withstood the religious hypocrites by healing on the Sabbath and using his works to prove that God had given him authority. They wanted to kill him because he made himself equal to God.

When Jesus commanded the unclean spirit to come out, he didn’t call on any higher power to do so.

Jesus had uncommon mercy, because he was able to see into the heart of man.

Jesus had authority over the creation. He even had power to raise the dead.

Before this, Jesus had stayed away so that it couldn’t be said that he had healed Lazarus rather than raising him from the dead. Again, he didn’t call on any higher power or name; he simply said, “Lazarus, come forth.” And by the power of his own word, it was done. So his ministry bears witness that he was more than just a man.

That’s a pretty bold statement for “just a man” to make. There has been discussion and debate on how Christ, being flesh, could have the authority of God.

Recognizing God In Us

In the Old Testament, we studied the relationship the Jews had with God, through the law. But now in the New Testament, we have a relationship through the “inward man.” This inward man is the one that God “made in his own image.” Jesus said that he came that we might have life more abundantly. This more abundant life is in the inward man.

The law of the inward man is grace. Grace influences us spiritually, binds us to, and compels us to live according to the word of God. It is both desire and motivation, not out of fear, but out of love.

Worldly knowledge won’t do this for us. As a converted Pharisee, Paul was aware of the contrast between the Old Testament law and the New Testament grace, which has appeared to all men.

This law of the inward man rests upon us all, but it is not brought to fulness until we are baptized in Jesus’ name and risen to walk in newness of life.

Paul discussed the great tribulations and distresses faced by the New Testament Christian.

Though we suffer tribulation, we can take comfort from the Holy Spirit to continue on.

Man can destroy the body but cannot destroy the soul. So we should fear the Lord more than men.

This passage would be meaningless if men were made of unholy material and not subject to spiritual influences.

So there is an extra measure, like “spiritual vitamins” that helps you keep on going. It’s like having a deep desire, as an individual, that keeps you going. Thomas Edison used to work late nights, and sleep in his workshop, because of his dedication. Paul said he lived of the gospel. This is something more than “taking your sacrifice to the temple” because you’ve done something wrong. This is a constant effort of will.

God foretold that this law of the inward man would be established in the New Testament.

When you consider all the weight of the law, all the “do’s” and “don’ts”, it’s amazing how much simpler it is in the New Testament.

So simple, yet so against the nature of man. To be more like Christ is to love more, and thus to fulfill the law. The Children of Israel had to be accountable to the myriad requirements of the Old Testament law: the sacrifices, the offerings specific to each sin.

If you don’t have the understanding of that love in your heart, which is only given through the Holy Ghost, it will seem to be foolishness. There is a law that the world doesn’t understand, and it can live within us, if we have that relationship with God.

At the beginning of this study, we talked about how important it is to have the word of God and to know it accurately. In order to have it brought to our remembrance, we had to study it first.

Messianic Prophecied Fulfilled

One of the biggest problems in the Trinity doctrine is Jesus Christ being God in the flesh. How can a man in the flesh be God? This study will center on Christ’s oneness of God as the Father. We’ll forego the study of Jesus being the fullfilment of the prophecies concerning the messiah, because most people know and agree with them.

Last Sunday we heard that Jacob wrestled with an angel, and asked for his name. The angel answered, “Why do you ask?” In another passage, another angel answers, “Why do you ask, seing it is secret?” Even the name “Jehovah” literally means “The mighty name of God.” It isn’t really a name. When Moses asked God for his name, God said, “Say that ‘I AM’ sent you.” So God had a name reserved, to be revealed at a later time.

Sometimes that’s not enough for people to understand that Jesus was “God in us.” They explain it away saying, “It was the presence of God with him,” or something like that.

Here we see a literal reference to the name of God being revealed:

manifest

Made known to the senses.

The only name manifested was “Jesus”.

God said in Isaiah 53 that he was the savior, and there is none else. But it says here that the name Jesus Christ was the only name given whereby we must be saved.

That was God talking.

I don’t think that Jesus was saying, “Bow to me, but confess to God.” I think that God had made Jesus “both Lord and Christ.”

The wording is kind-of odd here. God speaking through the prophet said, “they shall look upon me whom they have pierced”. I don’t think the prophet was speaking of himself. And when it says, “his only son”, and “his firstborn”, I don’t think it was just a play on words.

This is an exact prophecy of the crucifixion of Christ.

Note the echoing of “I will declare thy name,” and compare with John 14.

Whether you want to talk about God the father or about Christ, the name is Jesus.

Again, the word “manifest”, meaning “revealed” or “made known.” This verse is a pretty good description of Christ’s ministry.

Some say that God was on vacation and said, “Take over, son; I’m retiring.” But I believe that God has the power to work however he wants to; he doesn’t have to be divided to manifest his power in a different way.

Only a perfect sacrifice or priest could establish the New Testament.

No man or fleshly being could contain all of the spirit of God.

All the fulness of the godhead bodily means “everything that could be known of God”. And it was all found in Christ.

It is helpful in understanding the role of Christ to consider that the flesh is of no importance to God. God doesn’t want the flesh to be glorified. I think it’s relevant to consider that Mary Magdalene didn’t recognize Jesus in the garden. I don’t think it was because the flesh had decayed in three days; it was because Jesus didn’t want the flesh to be lifted up, or glorified.

Who Is This King of Glory? (part 2 of 3)

Mike Jackson

For this week, we’re talking about the Old Testament God, and how God communed with man in the Old Testament. Then we’re going to look at the New Testament as it relates to prophecies of the Messiah. Next week we’ll put it all together by looking at the New Testament and how God communes with man today.

We looked at the Godhead last week, especially as it contrasts with the doctrine of the Trinity.

In the times of Isaiah, the people had many different cultures and many different gods. But the God of Abraham was always quick to remind them that he was the only true God, and they should worship no other god but him.

God wasn’t denying the existence of those other cultures and their gods; he just said that there was none beside him. You can take that two ways. When God said it was him and him alone, there was no dispute. The Trinitarian doctrine hadn’t been invented yet. But another way to look at it is, there are other gods, but they are all false. None of them can stand beside the one true God, as Elijah showed to the prophets of Baal.

Even though the children of Israel had been taught the magnificence of God; even though they knew his omnipotence, God had to continually remind them, lest they succumb to the influences all around them.

Here we have the story. Elijah told the people, let’s make two piles of wood, and call on our gods, and whoever answers by fire, let him be God.

Elijah wanted there to only be one God. Whoever disputed that, there was no more use for them.

Here’s God telling them again that he was it; there is no other god. Even though there were all kinds of people and cultures who worshiped other gods, God was making it clear that for the children of Israel that he was the only one.

God’s relationship with man in the Old Testament

God showed people in the Old Testament, time and time again, that if they went against him, there would be consequences.

What the Law Is

The law is holy. It was. That’s what God established to commune with man, and to show us when and where we erred. At the time, the law was just and holy, because it was brought forth by God for man.

Secondly, the law is spiritual. Those who followed the law were spiritual, because they followed what God had laid down for them. We understand that God gave the law to bring the guilty man to the understanding of his sin.

What the law can and cannot do

The law was necessary. In the Old Testament, man could only find salvation through the law.

Man got to the point that there was no conviction in following the law. Whatever sin there was, they did what the law required, but there was no repentance. When that happened, the law could not save us.

Since the law was imperfect in bringing salvation to man, God diminished the law. And the only way he could do that is to take all the sacrifices of the law, and roll them all into one perfect sacrifice, of Jesus Christ.

The law was unable to bring men salvation, so God abolished the law in order to bring a more perfect salvation through his sacrifice on the cross.

In the New Testament, we understand that as believers, we are not under the law, but under grace.

We are under grace, because it says that the law is not of faith. There was no faith in the law; it was all right there before them; it was all seen. There was no conviction in following the law. Now we are under grace, through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

So what was the difference between the Old Testament law and the New Testament grace? In the Old Testament, there was no escape from sin; therefore sin always had dominion over them.

Read Romans chapter 7 for a better understanding of this principle.

God chose to do away with the law, to come down in the flesh and make himself a sacrifice. Let’s look at this sacrifice through the prophecies of the Old Testament. Next week, we’ll look at their fulfillments in the New Testament. As homework, I’m going to ask you to find some of them yourselves.

You may ask, “Where does it talk about the coming of Christ in there?” There are scriptures that make reference to this in talking about Jesus. This scripture talks about the serpent, that evil spirit, and the emnity between it and the seed of the woman.

It’s talking about the messiah back in the time of the prophet Moses. God said, “I will put my words in his mouth.” Next week we’ll look at the manifestation of that prophecy.

This is talking about Christ the messiah being born in Bethlehem. We all know that Christ was born in Bethlehem, and next week we’ll see it in the scriptures.

All the things we see in the prophecies, Jesus did in the New Testament. But the Jews refused to receive him, because they were looking for a mighty warrior to deliver them from their enemies by force. That’s not what they got.

This is Isaiah prophecying that Jesus would be brought to die, without guilt or shame, as a perfect sacrifice. Next week we’ll look in the New Testament and see that it all happened exactly as the prophet said. We’ll look at how the One God of the Old Testament decided to commune with man in the New Testament. We’ll also talk about the authority of Christ as he walked the earth.

Who Is This King Of Glory, Part 1 of 3

Pat Mahoney

The title of this study comes from Psalms 24. “Who is this King of Glory” is something that a lot of people want to know.

We will be covering the following subjects:

• The King James Bible and other versions
• Historical References
• Manifestations of God and God’s Roles

The Godhead is one of the most misunderstood doctrines in Christianity today.

Definition of Godhead

Strongs Greek 2304 theios (from 2316)

Divine in nature or essence. The nature of God, especially as used in three persons, or when combined with “The” as in “The Godhead” (Webster’s)

The supreme being; the holy trinity. Divinity, godhead, a god or goddess, a deity (Dictionary.com)

Divinity or Godhead, the Christian God, especially a trinity. (American Heritage Dictionary)

These Greeks had a shrine or monument to the unknown God. God doesn’t want us to worship him ignorantly. He wants us to have an understanding of his word and his essence.

1. Not all versions of the scriptures, or “Bible” are complete and accurate.
2. The “authorized” or “King James” version of 1611 is found to be the most literal in its translation of the original texts.
3. The Bible shows the different roles and manifestations of God.

For the purpose of understanding the Godhead, it is important to understand that not all versions of the Bible are complete and accurate in their translations. Our understanding of God can only be as pure as the word upon which it is based.

Some examples of omissions in different versions of the Bible include:

In the NEB and RSV, this whole verse is removed. Somebody somewhere thought it was not appropriate to talk about “blood”, so they took it upon themselves to remove references to the blood of Christ. But without the blood, there is no salvation.

Some versions take out the word “Father” and replace it with “He”. The pronoun is pretty ambiguous. Maybe it refers to God, or the Holy Spirit, or maybe it refers to some guy down at the deli; I don’t know.

In some versions, the word “God” is removed from these scriptures. In those versions, the fact that Jesus is God is not evident.

If God the Father, Christ, and the Holy Spirit are one, then we understand that the Spirit, the blood of Christ, and the water of baptism agree in one.

In other versions, verse 8 is combined with verse 7 or omitted entirely.

The Word of God must be pure; we need the most accurate translation available to be sure that we have understood the original intent. Some versions, even when they don’t corrupt the actual text of the verse, cast doubt upon it through footnotes which question its authenticity.

The Trinity

Catholics, the largest group of so-called Christians, created the trinity doctrine. Historically, the Jewish religion (from which Christianity springs) worshipped one God.

The trinity doctrine was created by theologians to justify corrupted translations fully three hundred years after the ascension of Christ.

Here are some excerpts concerning Trinitarian doctrine, taken from christadelphia.org.

Man’s Religion, by John B. Noss, 1968

The controversy first became heated when Apollinarius, a bishop in Syria … asserted that Christ could not have been perfect man united with complete God, for then there would not have been one Son of God, but two sons, one by nature and one by adoption, the first with a divine, the second with a human will. Such a thing seemed inconceivable, religiously abhorrent.

New Bible Dictionary, 1982

The word trinity is not found in the Bible … it did not find a place formally in the theology of the church till the 4th century. … it is not a biblical doctrine in the sense that any formation of it can be found in the Bible, … Scripture does not give us a formulated doctrine of the trinity …

Harper Collins Encyclopedia of Catholicism, 1985

… scholars generally agree that there is no doctrine of the trinity as such in either the Old Testament or the New Testament.

Encyclopedia Americana, 1956

Christianity derived from Judaism and Judaism was strictly Unitarian (believing in one God). The road which led from Jerusalem to Nicea was scarcely a straight one. Fourth century trinitarianism did not reflect accurately early Christian teaching regarding the nature of God; it was, on the contrary, a deviation from this teaching

New Catholic Encylopaedia, 1967

The formulation “one God in three persons” was not solidly established, certainly not fully assimilated into Christian life and its profession of faith, prior to the end of the 4th century.

Who Is Jesus?, by Anthony Buzzard

The Old Testament is a strictly monotheistic. God is a single personal being. The idea that a trinity is to be found there or even in any way shadowed forth, is an assumption that has long held sway in theology, but is utterly without foundation.

New Encyclopedia Britannica, 1976

Neither the word trinity, nor the explicit doctrine as such, appears in the New Testament, nor did Jesus and his followers intend to contradict the Shema in the Old Testament: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord’ (Deut. 6:4) … The doctrine developed gradually over several centuries and through many controversies. … By the end of the 4th century … the doctrine of the trinity took substantially the form it has maintained ever since.

During the council of Nicea, the emporer Constantine established the doctrine of Trinity, and ever since, people have studied to prove the doctrine instead of studying the truth.

Manifestations of God

We just studied the Trinity doctrine, that there are three persons of God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. An understanding of these manifestations is very important. God has other manifestations, but these are the three that we’ll run into in our study of the Godhead.

Jesus Christ said in one place, “To know the times is not given unto me” yet after his resurrection he said “All power is given unto me.”

In the garden, Mary didn’t recognize Christ after he was raised from the dead; she thought he was the gardener. God didn’t want the flesh to have preeminence; the flesh holds no authority. The flesh was an example of obedience and suffering, but the flesh was not God. God was in the flesh; not all of God, but the fulness of the Godhead bodily. Everything of God that can be recognized in the flesh was present in Christ. He said, “If you have seen me you have seen God,” not because he looked like God, but because he did everything that God did.

If God had no form, why would Adam and Eve hide from him? I know that we sometimes think we can hide from God, but we don’t do it by taking cover behind a bush or a tree. I believe that this scripture shows that God had a form that he used to commune with Adam and Eve in the garden.

So in truth, God had more manifestations than those of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

When Abraham recognized his three visitors, he called only one of them “Adoni” which is the singular form of a Hebrew title used only for God. It might also be noted that the two other men who left were later described as angels.

At that time, there was only one priesthood.

If God wanted to order Christ after a priesthood, I don’t think he would have chosen a priesthood of men. If he was transitioning from the Old Testament law of the flesh to the New Testament law of the spirit, he would not have used an example of the flesh.

God appeared as the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. There’s another manifestation. Maybe it’s not one that is necessary for salvation, but it’s a way that God chose to show himself.

The fourth figure in the furnace was another manifestation of God. At least, Nebuchadnezzar recognized it as such.

God’s Roles

I had considered at the beginning to address the gender of God. I have met people who say, “Why does God have to be male? Why should we address God as ‘He’?” If we think of God in his authority, and he had a son, he fits more in the masculine than in the feminine role.

God is a creator. He is able to create in our lives, and he created the essence of life within us.

In this sense, we see God as a provider. God doesn’t want us to worry; if we have faith in God as a provider, then he will provide for us all things that we need.

We want to think of God as male, or in the masculine role, as a Father to us. There are subcategories or roles that fall under the general heading of “Father.” I could have placed “Creator” and “Provider” under that heading.

This passage provides the roles “Comforter” and “Teacher”. God comforts us in our times of need through the Holy Spirit. Read John chapter 14 for a better understanding of this subject. Don’t just read it; break it down and study it. That chapter brings God the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit together.

God in that passage is the supreme ruler. Some would think that “I am the Lord, and there is none else” would leave out Jesus, but we also read where Jesus fulfilled these Old Testament scriptures. Again, the flesh had no preeminence, but the spirit.

Here we read that Christ is a friend, though not one to be abused or taken lightly. He is someone who we can lean on, to whom we can tell our sorrows. You can pour out your heart to God in human terms, and he will hear you. But like a Father, he will also give you what you need, not what you want.

God is also our savior. We especially know God as our savior in the form of Jesus Christ. That’s why he came: to be the sacrifice, to spread the gospel, to establish the new covenant.

God is a judge. In the New Testament, it says that if our heart is contrary to God’s word, he will reveal this unto us. Even if we are unwilling to judge ourselves, God will judge us. That’s called our conscience. As a father, I fulfill the role of a judge over my children, but God’s judgment is weightier.

God is a healer. Hezekiah was about to die; he cried out to God, and God heard his prayer. (He also warned Hezekiah that he only had fifteen years left.) God reaches beyond our limits to do what we can’t. He heals both physically and spiritually. Sometimes we wonder why God doesn’t heal more physically. The flesh isn’t all that important. Some things are sad for us, but not for God. God doesn’t intervene in all cases; else we would become robots and not creatures of individual choice.

God is a warrior. If it were not so, Paul would not have talked about putting on the armour of God. God wants to teach us how to fight. In the Old Testament, they fought on a physical front, but now we fight against principalities, against powers, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

There are a bunch of roles listed here, but I chose “Counselor.” God will counsel you. Part of good counsel is good judgment. He counsels us primarily through his word.

These are not by any means all of God’s roles, but these are the ones I chose to highlight. You can find many more examples in the scriptures. God has a lot of depth to offer; he isn’t just three manifestations.

Stewardship

Bruce Avants

This series has been a well for me. It is providing the water that will help me grow and carry on.

Four Signs of a Sensible Steward

1. Responsible
2. Relaxed
3. Ready
4. Rewarded

Jesus gave us two commandments that the whole rest of the Bible is built on. Those were to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength; and to love our neighbor as ourself. Stewardship is the application of those two commandments.

There are two books in heaven, the book of life and the book of works. The book of works might as well be named the book of stewardship.

How do you treat yourself?

How responsible are you? Are you responsible for yourself? You should be; yet you shouldn’t be overly critical of yourself. Jesus will judge you; you won’t judge yourself.

Good judgment comes from experience, which usually comes from bad judgment.

Will Rogers

You’re not going to make it through life without making mistakes, without needing to repent.

So we have to be found faithful, not judging ourselves, but overcoming our mistakes and continuing to be faithful. Finding fault is Satan’s job.

How are you treating others?

History is full of examples of people mistreating each other. But if we were living by the first two commandments, these things wouldn’t be happen.

One of the things that hit me in Sunday’s service is that we should be a river, not a reservoir.

We have to be reponsible to God. He has trusted us with his most precious items. He doesn’t care for precious gold, or jewels, or cattle. But he cares about his word, and he trusts us to get that word out.

It all belongs to God. And we are the stewards of all God’s possessions, including the most important ones.

Is that you? Only you can answer. God says that the greatest among you will be servant of all. If I take the glory myself, I’m not giving glory to God.

Being Relaxed

Being relaxed in your stewardship is all about having a made-up mind. A good steward can only relax when he’s done his job well.

If you’ve got a made-up mind, you’re going to have perfect peace.

If you lack wisdom, ask of God. He’s not going to refuse and call you stupid. But you’ve got ask in faith. And you’ve got to be willing to believe and act on the answer that God gives you.

Some of the stuff that Paul is talking about, there’s no way we could overcome them on our own. But Paul had made this determination in his mind, and acted on it.

Why do we have our talents?

Gifts were given to every man to profit thereby. If I can fix a car, and somebody’s car is broke down, then God has given me the ability to help that person.

God gave the positions of the church for the same thing: for the edification of the church, not for their own glory.

Not even Rockefeller or Howard Hughes were rich enough to extend their own lives. Sure, we need money to live, but we should never lose focus of what is most important.

Worry is destructive; it takes your focus away from the solution and places it on the problem. But if you pray for help, count the cost before opening your mouth. If there is a problem in your life, you’ve got to be willing to accept the solution that God gives you.

Ananias and Sapphira were an example of what happens when you open your mouth and then fail to do what was promised.

We’ve got to make sure we pay our vows to God. If you say, “I’m doing this in God’s name,” and then back out of it, what kind of God will people think you serve?

When you make a vow, even if it’s painful, it’s better to keep it.

Focusing on the eternal

Just like God told Jeremiah, you can’t say “I’m a brand-new Christian; I can’t share with these guys!” If you do, God will make you ashamed before them.

This man was afraid to do anything, because God would hold him accountable. It’s like showing up in heaven and saying, “Here I am!” Then the angel asks, “Who did you bring with you?” And you say again, “Here I am!”

Being Rewarded

First of all, you’ve got to know what your reward is. God already told you, so if you study his word, it’s like playing “Deal or No Deal” when you already know that the money is in suitcase number seven.

God says, “In the end, I’m going to serve you. But for now, you’ve got to serve me.” How many other gods or men can make the same promise? We know that we have a short time, so let’s serve him.

Wednesday Evening Service, 1/21/09

Stewardship is Lordship

Patrick Taylor

Jesus is a hard teacher; he gives the test first, and then the lesson.

(paraphrased quote from Vernon Sanders Law)

How many came here prepared to learn? How many came prepared to teach? We’re all going to learn from each other today. To learn something well enough to teach it is to learn it twice. One of our goals is to re-create that experience tonight.

How many of you thought this series would be just about tithes and offerings? C’mon, be honest. How many people still feel that way?

I need someone who was not here the first Sunday when we started this message. Name something that you own in life that is precious to you.

• My dog.
• My flatware.
• My car.

How many of you have had something that was precious, but you don’t own it anymore? My new Ford Maverick was crushed three weeks after I got it.

If we really look at it objectively, we don’t really own anything. There’s a story about a guy who visited his friend on a ranch out west as big as the state of Rhode Island. The rancher, “Look around. I own this land, as far as you can see.” The guy said, “No you don’t.” The rancher said, “Sure I do. I can show you the title.” The guy said, “Talk to me in a hundred years; then we’ll see who owns the land.”

Who can name a scripture from last Sunday’s service that recaps that point?

So let’s go back to “What is a steward?” Who’s got a working definition?

Steward

A steward is a person who looks after another’s property, to take care of it and make sure that it does well and prospers.

Here’s an example for someone on the front row. Seth. Have you ever been here before? No? Here’s my phone. It’s yours. I want it back at the end of the study. Take good care of it. If it rings, just take care of it.

(Rick Hahn asks to borrow the phone and gets refused. Then the phone rings; it’s Chris Mays asking if Pat is there.)

You hear people say, “It’s my body; I can do what I want to, as long as I don’t hurt anybody with it.” Well, that’s true; you have the option to disobey. But your body isn’t really yours. God didn’t ask if you wanted it, just I didn’t ask Seth if he wanted my phone. He didn’t ask if you wanted the height or hair color or eye color or talents or abilities or whatever else you were dealt with. He just gave it to you. So before we deal with the issue of what we do with what God gave us, we have to determine our relationship with him. Are we going to recognize Jesus as Lord? Are we going to obey him?

Seth, is my phone still okay? Is it on? I know you got one phone call already, from Chris there behind you. I’m a licensed realtor in Illinois, so you might get a call from someone wanting to sell their million-dollar home. You might get a call from Pastor Paine; I’m his personal assistant, and he might want something. You might get a call from someone wanting to get baptized. Are you still okay with holding my phone?

Here’s a summary of Sunday’s service:

The evidence of loving God and serving God is obeying God.

The key of our entire relationship with God after first acknowledging him as Lord is our obedience. Who remembers a scripture from Sunday about obedience?

Who is Jesus speaking to? Who is the audience? He was talking to the disciples, who were Jews, God’s chosen people. He wasn’t talking to the masses. He was talking to people who had his commandments. And he was saying to them, to those who had his commandments, “few will find that path.” Why? Because he new who obeyed him.

Who knows what a remnant is?

Remnant

A piece, whether carpet, clothing, or whatever, that is insignificant.

A remnant is so small and insignificant that it can’t be used to make anything new; it’s a scrap piece that you throw away.

How do you feel when you hear “a remnant is going to be saved”? For me, my feeling is that I’m going to be part of that remnant. Do we have any Marines or ex-Marines in here? I’ve worked with Marines when I was in the Navy. There’s a mentality. Even in a profession, if you go to school or whatever, a Marine is a Marine first. There’s a real philosophy behind it. When somebody gives an order, the goal is to react immediately. We understand that philosophy in a military situation, but how about when the Lord of heaven gives an order? When he says “jump” do we jump? When he says to talk to some person, do we run to do it?

When you realize the potential in the first commandment, “Love the Lord with all thy heart, soul, mind, and strength,” then there’s a lot more to obedience than just ten commandments. God told Stephen to go into Gaza, which is desert. He didn’t even tell him that he was going to talk to someone; he just said “go,” and Stephen went. There’s no specific commandment that says “If God says to go to the desert, go.” But as long as we know that God wants us to do something, then not doing it becomes sin.

Three questions:

• Will saying the right words get me into God’s kingdom?
• Will doing the right works get me into God’s kingdom?
• Will obeying God’s will get me into God’s kingdom?

Three steps to get to the place where Jesus is Lord of my life:

1. Come to the Lord and acknowledge him as Lord.
2. Hear his words.
3. Do his words.

The one who built his house on sand heard the words, but didn’t do them.

And that’s really the key. As long as we have the obedience down, everything else will fall into place.