“The Promise of Unity!”

Jesus prayed for unity of His disciples in John 17:11: “I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are.”

The key motive for our unity is the very essence of God! God is unity and we are to be like God!

The promise of unity is at the heart of God and how God has revealed Himself to us throughout the Bible and through His Son Jesus Christ because God within God’s self is a perfect unity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Listen to the ancients in the Athanasian Creed (approximately 450-600 AD) call us to a unity of faith in the unity of the Godhead:

[Our] faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; Neither confounding the persons nor dividing the substance. For there is one person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Spirit. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit is all one, the glory equal, the majesty coeternal. Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Spirit. The Father uncreated, the Son uncreated, and the Holy Spirit uncreated. The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, and the Holy Spirit incomprehensible. The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Spirit eternal. And yet they are not three eternals but one eternal. As also there are not three uncreated nor three incomprehensible, but one uncreated and one incomprehensible. So likewise the Father is almighty, the Son almighty, and the Holy Spirit almighty. And yet they are not three almighties, but one almighty. So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God; And yet they are not three Gods, but one God. So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Spirit Lord; And yet they are not three Lords but one Lord. For like as we are compelled by the Christian verity [true foundational principle] to acknowledge every Person by himself to be God and Lord; So are we forbidden by [our faith] to say; There are three Gods or three Lords. The Father is made of none, neither created nor begotten. The Son is of the Father alone; not made nor created, but begotten. The Holy Spirit is of the Father and of the Son; neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding. So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Spirit, not three Holy Spirits. And in this Trinity none is afore or after another; none is greater or less than another. But the whole three persons are coeternal, and coequal. So that in all things, as aforesaid, the Unity in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped. He therefore that will be saved must thus think of the Trinity.^[1]

I like the old creeds. Of course, all creeds are secondary to rightfully interpreting Scripture. The history of creeds and councils is focused on the unity of the faith and our fellowship. They sought to clarify through creeds what we believe about God. They sought to give the Church a consistent and reliable language for a great unity of faith and practice.

Paul was passionate about the unity of the Church, too! He opened his first letter to the Corinthians with a plea for unity in 1 Corinthians 1:10-17:

Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment. For I have been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe’s people, that there are quarrels among you. Now I mean this, that each one of you is saying, “I am of Paul,” and “I of Apollos,” and “I of Cephas,” and “I of Christ.” Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one would say you were baptized in my name. Now I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized any other. For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void.

In their excellent book Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes: Removing Cultural Blinders to Better Understand the Bible, E. Randolph Richards and Brandon J. O’Brien explain about the situation Paul was communicating to the Church in Corinth:

We might ask ourselves what caused the divisions in Corinth. All we know is what Paul tells us: “One of you says, ‘I follow Paul’; another, ‘I follow Apollos’; another, ‘I follow Cephas’; still another, ‘I follow Christ’” (1 Cor 1:12). What likely goes without being said for us is that the church was divided either theologically or over devotion to different personalities. These are two common causes of church divisions in the West. We tend to fall out along doctrinal lines or because we are drawn to one charismatic pastor over another.

It is possible, though, that the divisions among the churches in Corinth were not theological. We may be failing to note ethnic markers that Paul sprinkled all over the text. Apollos was noted as an Alexandrian (Egyptian) Jew (Acts 18:24). They had their own reputation. Paul notes that Peter is called by his Aramaic name, Cephas, suggesting the group that followed him spoke Aramaic and were thus Palestinian Jews. Paul’s church had Diaspora Jews but also many ethnic Corinthians, who were quite proud of their status as residents of a Roman colony and who enjoyed using Latin. This may explain why Paul doesn’t address any theological differences. There weren’t any. The problem was ethnic division: Aramaic-speaking Jews, Greek-speaking Jews, Romans and Alexandrians.^[2]

Built on this deep disunity, that still exists today, Paul said to the Church in Corinth in 1 Corinthians 3:21-23, “So then let no one boast in men. For all things belong to you, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you, and you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God.”

I am joining with Paul in declaring 2,000 years later that we only have one unity, and it is the same unity that the Church has been declaring and defending through councils and creeds for thousands of years: Jesus Christ crucified, risen, and coming again!

The unity of God’s people is intended, by God, according to Jesus’ prayer, to reflect the very unity of God Himself! This is our greatest gift and our hardest fruit—our unity which bears the character of Christ, the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23)! This is our mission; along these same lines, Paul said in multiple places such teaching as Galatians 3:26-29,

For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.

Based on this teaching on the promise of unity, I call you to three mindsets, which are action items for our congregation and for the Church through the world:

With this rich understanding that our unity needs to rise above all human boundaries and distinctions, as well as all human fear and ambition, let us hear Jesus’ prayer for His Church from John 17:20-26:

I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me; and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.

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FOOTNOTES:

[1] Historic Creeds and Confessions, electronic ed. (Oak Harbor: Lexham Press, 1997). For a diagram that visualizes this creed see https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athanasian_Creed.

[2] E. Randolph Richards and Brandon J. O’Brien, Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes: Removing Cultural Blinders to Better Understand the Bible (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2012), 66.

The Promise of the Father’s Discipline

Hebrews 12: 5-11

— Kids’ time: 

Do your parents ever tell you ‘no’?

What is something your parents have said NO to, or told you that you can’t do that you really want to do. Why do they do that? Don’t they want you to just be happy?

What would happen if you got everything you think you want?

Do they ever make you do something you don’t want to do?

What would happen if you never had to do something you didn’t want to do?

(Examples: What would go wrong if you never…. cleaned your room? went to school?)

SOMETIMES there are things we really, really want, something that seems so good and we think it would make us so happy, but it’s actually not good for us. And in fact, not only would it not make us happy, it would make us hurt or sad.

And SOMETIMES there are things that don’t seem appealing at all, things we really do NOT want to do or have, but they’re actually very important and we need them very much.

God gave us parents to help us know the difference, because right now you’re little and you need help making decisions. At some point, you’ll be big and your parents and the people who take care of you, they won’t tell you what to do anymore (well, not if your family is functional and healthy, although you might end up like Everybody Loves Raymond). But mostly, parents stop telling you what to do and at some point its YOUR job to take care of yourselves.

You know what though? They tell you no sometimes and make you do things sometimes because they love you very very much, and they want to help protect you and keep you safe so that you eventually make it to THIS big, and so you’ll know how to be a good, and kind, and wise person who has a healthy and meaningful life. That’s what they want. They want you to be ok and to be well.

Read Hebrews 12: 5-11

Background:  This passage written by a preacher, who is not currently with his congregation. The preacher wants to encourage his people because they’re weary and at risk for simply giving up their pursuit of Jesus. They’re worn out. Hebrews is written to a group of Christians whose commitment (for some) is waning and attendance is lax. Perhaps the challenges of their lives had demoralized them, because they had hoped Christ’s return would have come sooner, and they are losing hope. So the preacher is encouraging them to not give up but keep going with Jesus.

The Christian life is hard. Following Jesus and having faithful and obeying God is hard. Sometimes it may feel like it’s not even worth it, and maybe it would be easier to just stop trying to have faith and obey God. The preacher reminds them that they aren’t alone, that their struggle is the great struggle of all Christians, in all times and all places. It’s not just you; this struggle is our common experience as brothers and sisters, here and globally, now and for hundreds of years. “True participation in the Christian faith always carries a price.” Life is hard for everyone- but for a Christian, in the midst of all the common challenges of being a human, faithfulness to Jesus is especially costly.

The preacher here is like a night nurse coming to the bedside of his hurting congregation to reassure them that the pain they feel is not a destructive anguish but a healing one. The suffering they are experiencing may seem like it is generated at random from the harsh forces in this world, but it is actually the expression of God’s parental discipline, which is a good thing.

How is God’s correction a good thing?

To a child, something that is very appealing might actually not be good for them, and consequently something that is very unappealing may be exactly what is needed. So the rules, demands, correction, words of advice are not arbitrary at all, but full of purpose and meaning, like the guide wires on a young sapling, helping it have the best chance to grow tall and strong and healthy.

**The idea that all of human suffering is the result of God trying to teach us a lesson is untenable. This is not meant to be an absolute principle, but a pastoral encouragement, a way to make sense of the struggle to be faithful, and encouragement to not give up. He is not trying to explain all suffering. This passage is not meant to be interpreted as a broad theology for suffering. We may not find useful lessons in things like war and famine. God is not cruelly creating pain to teach us things. This is a pastor trying to encourage his congregation to see how God is at work in their challenges, because often those very circumstances make us stronger, wiser, more faithful and loving. That doesn’t mean we look back on our suffering and say, “sorrow has its lessons” but rather we look back and say “Thank you Jesus for being faithful to help me”. He is offering them a perspective on their struggles, that will encourage them and also help them to see what they are going through not as evidence of God’s anger and rejection, but a sign of his care and embrace.

Vs. 1-4 give us the example of the suffering of Jesus, as a MODEL, (not as a judgement), of how to endure struggles. It’s not that “what you’re going through is nothing compared to what Jesus went through”, but rather, “you can get through this if you keep your eyes on Jesus, who was victorious over every kind of struggle and can carry you through your own”.

Vs.12-13 concludes with an exhortation, to a group of people who were stumbling and faltering, to recover their strength and stay the course. Don’t fall down- don’t quit. Keep going. Renew your trust and commitment.

What is the big idea of this passage?

God disciplines us because he loves us and wants us to grow up to be like him.

Consider how God wants to teach and develop you through the difficult challenges of life. If you’re feeling weary and starting to give up, don’t. Don’t quit. Resolve to trust Jesus, look away to him, and endure what life is throwing at you. God is not abandoning you or being cruel to you- he is a good and caring father. He wants to make you more like himself so that your life will actually be full of joy and goodness and peace.

Read: Lamentations 3:19-33

Questions to ponder: 

Where in your life is God trying to discipline and shape you?

Are you resisting Him, or submitting to Him?

Can you trust that He knows what is truly best for your life?

You can listen to the message here:

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The Promise of Provision

2 Corinthians 9:6-10

Also:  Isaiah 58:11; Psalm 37:25:  Philippians 4:6-9,19; Ephesians 6:6-8, 10-18

2 Corinthians 9:6-10

“⁶ Remember this—a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop. ⁷ You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.” ⁸ And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. ⁹ As the Scriptures say, “They share freely and give generously to the poor.  Their good deeds will be remembered forever.”

¹⁰ For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you.”

Before I even begin this message, let me preempt it by this is not a message on tithing or giving. But rather, it is a message to show you who is the one blessing you and giving you all that you have so that you can be His vessel used to bless others.

Provision is defined as “an amount or thing supplied or provided; supplies of food, drink, or equipment, especially for a long journey.” It is all the things you need…not want, but need!  Tina and I use this concept of ‘want vs need’ to help keep our budget in check. Is this item we are looking to purchase a want or a need? Even if it is on sale or on clearance, does it fulfill a need in our lives?

The scriptural basis for the statement we have probably heard many times in church “Where God guides, He provides” is found in Isaiah 58:11:

“The Lord will guide you continually, giving you water when you are dry and restoring your strength. You will be like a well-watered garden, like an ever-flowing spring.”

From the very beginning of time, God has provided for all of mankind’s needs…Adam and Eve in the garden; Noah with the plans for the ark to save his family and the animals; a wife for Isaac; blessing everything that Joseph put his hand to do, and the list goes on and on. If God is the same yesterday, today and forever, wouldn’t you think that He is still doing those same things today?

Testimony of provision: My electrician (I had the money, but God provided a blessing)

I. Physical Provision

Testimony from David:       Psalm 37:25

“I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread.”

Exodus 13:21-22

“ The Lord went ahead of them. He guided them during the day with a pillar of cloud, and he provided light at night with a pillar of fire. This allowed them to travel by day or by night. ²² And the Lord did not remove the pillar of cloud or pillar of fire from its place in front of the people.”

Acts 16:16-40

~It was providential that they would be there.

~They were released, but stayed to lead the jailer and his family to know Jesus

Exodus 15-16

~Fresh water from different sources (later it came from a rock)

~Daily bread (aka manna)

From Keith Green’s “So You Wanna Go Back to Egypt”

Manna hotcakes, flaming manna soufflé, manna waffles, manna burgers, manna-cotti, bamanna bread.

They had water, a carb and a protein!

Matthew 14:13-21

~Limited resources

~God gave the increase, they all ate as much as they wanted and had leftovers!

II. Spiritual Provision and Protection

Ephesians 6:10-18

~Full Armor…not pick and choose. Belt of truth, Breastplate of righteousness, Shoes of the gospel of peace, Shield of faith, Helmet of salvation, Sword of the Word.

*Special note….no back piece, because it is God who has our back!

~We have to be the ones to put it on. Then and only then will we be able to stand against the schemes of the devil!!!

Ephesians 6:12

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”

I could easily get on a soapbox right now and talk about why I believe and feel convicted about not practicing certain holiday traditions, or read certain books or watch rated R or horror films. Then it becomes a thing of “that’s what you believe, or your religious upbringing.” So instead, I want to pose this question…

Is God being glorified in what you are doing/reading/watching?

The devil is doing all he can to desensitize us to the real ‘spiritual warfare’ that is going on around us. A friend pointed out that C.S. Lewis wrote of this in The Screwtape Letters, about how we get distracted and waste the most precious of our gifts…time!

“…you will find that anything or nothing is sufficient to attract his wandering attention. You no longer need a good book, which he really likes, to keep him from his prayers or his work or his sleep; a column of advertisements in yesterday’s paper will do. You can make him waste his time not only in conversation he enjoys with people whom he likes, but also in conversations with those he cares nothing about, on subjects that bore him. You can make him do nothing at all for long periods. You can keep him up late at night, not roistering, but staring at a dead fire in a cold room. All the healthy and outgoing activities which we want him to avoid can be inhibited and nothing given in return, so that at last he may say…’I now see that I spent most my life in doing neither what I ought nor what I liked.”

― C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

We cannot be complacent to that which is going on and just write it off as a part of life. We as a church are called to be the game changers, not us changing to be like the world. We should be bringing God’s grace, truth and love into mix! We are called out to ‘not be conformed to the world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds’, getting rid of the stinking thinking like Jerry talked about last week. It is not about us and what we want, but rather what God wants.

Let me re-read a portion of the scripture passage for today from the ESV

“And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. ⁹ As it is written,

“He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor;
    his righteousness endures forever.”

¹⁰ He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. ¹¹ You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.”                                                                                                     

2 Corinthians 9:8-11

It is not just about the provision, but rather what that provision truly is…God’s grace! God’s grace is freely given to us and we are to freely give it to others. We cannot truly show God’s love if we are giving to meet a need, but looking down our noses at them. Remember, there but for the grace of God, go I! This is where the rubber meets the road on showing who we are truly serving.

Paul gives us the recipe for success, and Pastor Jerry shared it last week, but needs to be repeated.

Turn to Philippians 4:6-9

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.  Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.  Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.”

If we are doing this, then there is not time for idle talk, because we will be talking about what Jesus is doing in our lives. If we are filling our minds with the good things of God, then we won’t have space for the sinful thoughts to take up residency. For it is God’s peace that we need to experience and have as the protection and provision of our hearts and lives.

God loves us so much that He has given us the tools/provisions to be able to go through this life’s journey. If we are needing anything in our lives, we need to take it to Him in prayer and believe that He will provide just what we need.

You can listen to the message here:

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The Promise of Peace (Pt 3)

Ephesians 2:13-16 (NAS95)

We are in the third and final message of a three-week sermon to teach you how to live victoriously in God’s promise of peace. It is my desire that you will experience the power of the promise of peace in your everyday life, to the glory of God!

This promise is one of the most relevant promises we can manifest to our culture that is currently experiencing a national panic attack (or is it a temper tantrum?). We, the people of God, have the solution; so, let’s bring the peace of God (Jehovah Shalom!) that transcends all human understanding to the world (The indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit), by first experiencing Him for ourselves and allowing His presence in us—God’s peace is Himself—to make us both holy and whole. We are called to pass the peace of God to others—the ministry of reconciliation that has been given to all followers of Jesus Christ!

Here is a very quick review that leads us into today’s teaching:

Peace with God that guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus means that the promise of peace is not just a vertical and internal reality, it is our greatest witness as it brings external peace between us and other people. Listen to Paul in Ephesians 2:13-16 as he gives the larger context of our memory verse for today:

But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity.

This is the Church’s mission! This was radical thinking for the first century Jewish listeners. It is still radical today! In their minds, God loved His people, but the Gentiles were not His people (Hosea 2:23). Passages such as what I just read and John 3:16 were shocking to them because Jesus was challenging the idea that God loved Israel exclusively. Jesus was declaring the parts of their Scripture that the people had ignored: God would ransom the Gentiles through the seed of Abraham—Jesus Christ. This is what Paul was talking about in Galatians 3 and concludes his argument about the seed of Abraham being fulfilled in Jesus Christ in Galatians 3:26-29:

For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.

Experiencing the peace of God in both our holiness and wholeness allows us to give God’s love and grace towards others because we have received (faith) and internalized (baptism) it in our own lives—we are now children of God (1 John 3:1). By the Spirit we are to build bridges with people to unite them in Christ alone—our peace through His shed blood on the Cross of Calvary!

Let’s be clear though: God’s peace means that we can have peace with God, we can have peace within, and we can act without hostility toward others. But it doesn’t mean we can avoid all conflict. It doesn’t mean that the battle of the flesh or the brokenness of the fall or the prevailing darkness of the prince of this world won’t be brought to us. As Paul says in Ephesians 6:12, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

The gospel ministry of passing the peace is for every follower of Jesus because peacemakers are commanded to be ministers of reconciliation during this ancient conflict—we, the Church are a liberating force seeking to save that which has been bound up by evil and the fall! Paul explained this in 2 Corinthians 5:16-21:

Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

The ability to pass the peace to others is only possible because you have a peaceful heart yourself. The holiness of God (Christ in you!) manifests as your ministry of loving your neighbor as you have learned to love yourself. That is why I keep pointing out to you that these three directions of God’s peace align to Jesus’ teaching on the Greatest Commandments. Jesus taught us this in Matthew 22:37-39: “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ “This is the great and foremost commandment. “The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’

Furthermore, Paul emphasized in Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” The “us” in this passage is critical to our ability to pass the peace. It’s not a “me” thing—it’s an “us” thing!

Why are we commanded to love others and pass the peace of God? Because we recognize that God loved “us” (all of us!) first. Our love for ourselves (and for others) isn’t something that we “work up”, it’s a recognition and submission to His love for every man and woman. It’s a love that is transferred upon us through the righteousness of God—His love dwells in our hearts!

Listen to John teach us this in 1 John 4:17-21,

By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because He first loved us. If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.

We are brought back into a relationship with God the Father through Jesus’ relationship with His Father. The holiness or righteousness of God flows into our lives from the Father through the way of the Son by means of the Holy Spirit. As we become whole through the progressive process of sanctification, we become the answer to Jesus’ prayer in John 17:20-26:

I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me; and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.

The ministry of passing the peace that you first received is truly the work of the Holy Spirit! Allow me to pray for you and all of us, in agreement with Jesus’ promise of peace, that in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we walk as His people of peace. Let us pray … Amen!

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The Promise of Peace!” (Part 2)

Philippians 4:6-9 (NAS95)

Last week I started a three-week sermon to teach you how to live victoriously in God’s promise of peace. It is my desire that you will experience the power of the promise of peace in your everyday life, to the glory of God!

This promise is one of the most relevant promises we can manifest in our composure and speech to our culture that would be attractive and impactful in today’s world situation and our current national panic attack (or is it a temper tantrum?). We, the people of God, have the solution; so, let’s bring the peace of God that transcends all human understanding to the world, by first experiencing it for ourselves and allowing it to make us both holy and whole.

Brothers and sisters, this is biblical maturity, it is the discipline of good mental hygiene, just like good dental hygiene. You brush, you floss, you gurgle because you don’t want stinky breath, nor do you want tooth rot or gum infection. We are invited to care for our souls and our bodies, our hearts and our minds! All of this belongs to God, and we are but stewards of it!

In the same way, you take in God’s Word, you meditate upon it and memorize it, pray God’s Word, and apply it to your life so that at the right time you can seize the moment. No one wants to be face-to-face with you if you have either stinky breath or a stinky attitude. A mature Christian is characterized by their wholeness, which flows from their holiness.

Setting apart times with God that bookend your day helps you experience being the person of peace. These inform and influence the discipline of walking in the ways of Jesus by learning to take on His yoke and learn from Him how to be gentle and humble in heart (Matthew 11:28-30).

Learning how to walk in the promise of peace as daily mental health practices is a key spiritual discipline to our living out the Greatest Commandments. We represent Jesus the best—passing the peace—when we are both holy (peace with God!) and whole (sound mind!).

We need to realize that the Bible teaches us good mental hygiene practices that are fundamental to our well-being just as the many good dental hygiene habits are ingrained in most of our daily lives. As this becomes more normalized and less stigmatized in the church, then mental health practices and check-ups will be as common as dental health practices and check-ups. When there is an illness or acute crisis that occurs, we support the person and help them through it.

This promise of peace not only restores us back into right relationship with God, but because of the love of God working in us we can now have peace with ourselves, then with others. It is through this peace that we can ultimately put on display our holiness through our wholeness. The way this happens is by passing the peace through living out the Greatest Commandments.

We are to love our neighbor as we love ourselves—by the grace of God and the peace that He has bestowed upon us by the work of the Cross and empowered us to live in through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit!

You can listen to the message here:

You can watch the video by clicking HERE.

The Promise of Peace (Part 1)

Over the next three Sundays, I want to teach you about God’s promise of peace. I first introduced this promise to you at the church picnic on August 1 when we met at Memorial Park for our service in the park. I will now take the next three weeks to help you know about and experience the power of the promise of peace in your everyday life.

• The promise of peace with God (vertical) from John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.”
• The promise of peace with yourself (internal) from Philippians 4:6-7 “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
• The promise of peace with others (external) from “The Promise of Peace!” (Part 3) Ephesians 2:14 “For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall.”

There are three aspects to this peace that I will invite you to experience as the provision of God’s promise for you: (1) peace with God is your salvation—it manifests as your holiness; (2) peace with yourself is your mental health or peace of mind—it manifests as your wholeness; and (3) peace with others (a peaceful heart)—it manifests as your ministry. These three aspects of the promise of peace are a cord of three strands (Ecclesiastes 4:12) for us to experience the joy of the Lord and to fulfill His Greatest Commandments for our lives (Matthew 22:37-40).

This promise is part of a larger teaching of Jesus found in the revelatory passages of John 13-17, the night before the crucifixion. Listen to John 14:23-31,

If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me. These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. You heard that I said to you, “I go away, and I will come to you.” If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. Now I have told you before it happens, so that when it happens, you may believe. I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in Me; but so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded Me. Get up, let us go from here.

Jesus is preparing the hearts and minds of His disciples for His death and promising the coming of the Holy Spirit, who can only fulfill the promise of peace in any person because of Jesus’ saving work on the cross, which is the only way to restore our peace with God!

Jesus defeated the power of death and the forces of evil to restore us back into right relationship with the Father; it is only “in Christ” that we can have “peace” or “access to” or relationship with God. When we talk about having peace with God, we must remember first and foremost that peace is the very essence of God—He is Jehovah Shalom (Judges 6:34-34). Peace is God’s presence—His wholeness in a situation! That is what shalom means and this is God’s desire for His covenanted people (Isaiah 26:3, 12; 54:10; 66:12)—peace with Him!

Jesus is our “Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). Listen about God’s peace that Jesus promises us:

• John 16:33, “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation but take courage; I have overcome the world.”
• Colossians 1:19-22 – “For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven. And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach.”
• Romans 5:1-10 – “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”

Today, our focus has been on our holiness, that must flow from the Cross of Calvary and Jesus’ imputed righteousness. Next week we will focus on our wholeness, our peace of mind, and the mental health only God can give to us as we learn to walk in His ways and be transformed by the renewing of our minds through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. As we will learn our wholeness flows from our holiness.

You can listen to the message presented today here:

You can watch it by clicking HERE.

The Promise of Silence!

Psalm 46:10 (NIV)

Jakob to read Psalm 46.

Today’s promise comes with hard practice and one that is counter-cultural, not just with the broader culture, but with most church cultures. The practice is to be still—to cease and intend your attentions to the Lord’s presence! This is often called the practice of silence and solitude but allow me to be clear in the Christian faith it is silence and solitude with a focus.

Personally, I have had seasons of glory walking in this promise, but I have also had many seasons of drought because of my struggle to use my set aside times and places of silence and solitude for the intent of attending to the presence of God.

Ultimately, as you may relate, I find it difficult to do the things I know I should do. There is an enemy of our soul who has animated our culture to be against times of experiencing our union with the eternal godhead of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Silence and solitude sound like torture to our souls, not the promised liberation of our souls that God promises them to be!

Here is the hard truth of this promise in today’s frenetic 24/7 culture: The promise of silence requires of us to disconnect from the feeds and all else that has captured our attentions and intentions to experience the rhythm of being still by intending our attention to the presence of God during times of silence and solitude!

We are hyper-connected, yet many of us are lonely; we are over-committed, yet many of us are bored. We love our activism (religious, political, economic, entertainment, etc.), yet our souls languish from the drought and exhaustion of not being still before the Lord. We are too focused on our own important plans and activities to prioritize and protect intentional times of tending to our souls through the promise of being still and knowing that He is God, and that He will be exalted among the nations. We are too busy exalting ourselves and our opinions to sit at Jesus’ feet and listen to His own, so we end up tired and burned out (Luke 10:38-42).

Be still = cease striving = practice living in the unforced rhythms of grace found in the easy yoke of Jesus Christ! Listen again to what Pastor Ken reminded us of last week when he taught us the promise of waiting: Jesus’ words from Matthew 11:28-30 (this time from the Message):

Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.

Is there a greater sanctifying opportunity for a productive people than to wait upon the Lord?

The purpose of the promise of stillness is to remember that God’s will cannot be thwarted—“I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth” (Psalm 46:10b).

God makes Himself known in places of silence and solitude because it is in these times and places that God reveals to us the truth about ourselves and how worried and bothered we are by so many things that we cannot simply rest in His loving embrace and be accepted for who we are and not have to consume or produce, perform or prod, control or manipulate.

Because most of us are in the full time of job of making life work out for ourselves based on our own desires, here is a great experiment: sit in silence for twenty minutes and see what happens to you and where your mind goes. No radio or TV, no background noise, no active study or message, no scheming or planning, just you intending your attention on the presence of God.

Step out of the social media, network news, and talk show “traffic” and stop being seduced by the unceasing discontentment—these are the birth pangs of the Lord’s return so stay focused while there is still time; the Day of His return is imminent so please stop wasting time on lesser things that will fade away with the next news feed or next political agenda item!

Practicing the promise of stillness disciplines your worship of the Sovereign God!

With this promise and its practice set before us in our current historical context, I want to help you by inviting you to take times to be still, just like Jesus did. When you look at the bookends of Jesus’ ministry, Jesus intended His attention on the presence of God: Jesus prayed at His baptism (Luke 3:21) and then immediately went off for a prolonged forty days of silence and solitude in the wilderness (Luke 4:1-2). Jesus gave Himself to the Cross after a time of being still before the Lord, as was His custom, in the Garden of Gethsemane. Listen to Luke 22:39-42,

And He came out and proceeded as was His custom to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples also followed Him. When He arrived at the place, He said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” And He withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and began to pray, saying, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.”

Here are 4 practical steps to putting into action the promise of silence so that you, too, can pray with Jesus and mean it, “not my will, but Yours be done”:

While we know the importance of community and fellowship; let’s never forget that Jesus modeled for us the ministry of the Holy Spirit in comforting us in times of need. While people are wonderful instruments of God’s grace in our lives, they cannot and should never replace the direct ministry of the Holy Spirit, who is always available to us.

The final practice of silence and solitude is to cultivate your intention to attend to the Holy Spirit by learning to quiet the noise of your heart (emotions and desires) and mind (thoughts and ideas). This yokes with the promise of peace of God which promises to guard your heart and mind with the peace of God that transcends all understanding.

The good news is that I will be taking the next three weeks (October 10, 17, and 24) to teach you about the promise of peace and how to experience it as a follow-up to this message.

In conclusion, as you do these things, you will learn that the practice of silence and solitude helps you cultivate a greater awareness of the Lord’s presence and His peace that is yours through union with Him. Intentionally go to a secluded place and be alone with God and allow Him to heal your soul of loneliness and boredom!

Learn to rest in His presence and then bring His peace into every moment of your life. You will find solitude in a crowded room and silence in the cacophony of culture. You will find rest for your soul, not from the circumstances of your life, but as you walk with Jesus through the circumstances of your life (Isaiah 40:31).

You can listen to Pastor Jerry’s message by clicking below:

You can watch the message by clicking HERE.

The Promise of Waiting

Isaiah 40:28-31

Testimony by Cindy Sheffer

Scripture reading:

 “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”

Let’s face it, being told to wait tends to automatically set us up for a negative attitude. We don’t like to wait in the drive thru line (which is happening a lot more lately). We don’t like to have to wait in the doctor’s office (don’t you find it funny they call us ‘patients’, especially since it tests our patience most of the time.) And we don’t like to have to wait on someone to show up when we said we were meeting at a certain time, and they are late…again!

In these cases, the wait (W A I T) becomes a weight (W E I G H T) that weighs us down, causing us to be more concerned about how we feel and missing out on what God has for us. (REPEAT) We all know that God wants only the best for us. So why are we settling for something good or better when we can have the best.

First, did you realize that God wants to prosper you while you wait?

Don’t we have that backwards? We heard a few weeks ago that we are to serve one another in love; that the world will know we are Christians by our love for one another in how we serve one another; and that we are to do everything for the glory of the One we serve …GOD! Rather than being impulsive in our actions, we need to learn to be mindful of what God is leading us to do. Love comes first in all of these. Don’t believe me? Look at 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth.  Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never ends…”

Love must be the center of all we do. We are to Love God with all our heart, soul, mind & strength and to love our neighbors as ourselves. We see in the above verses what love is and what love is not. And the first thing it says is that love is patient and kind. That means willing to wait.

Our memory verse tells us the benefit of those who wait, Isaiah 40:31:

“but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”                                                                        

When we do things under our own strength, we find we will ‘run out of gas’ sooner. In the previous verse, it reminds us that even the youth will grow tired (how many of us have seen a child play and wish we could bottle up some of that energy?) And the young adults will eventually fail. (For us “older folks”, we tell others to ‘enjoy it while you are still young’). But not so for those who wait on the Lord. Why? Because He is the everlasting God, Creator of all things and promises to provide all of our needs. Our God is the everlasting source! He never grows tired or weary. He gives power to those who are struggling and strength to the weak! And this is not just a one-time thing. Last week, we were reminded that we need to fully trust and fully obey. This includes when we are told to wait! In the waiting, He wants to prosper you, recharge you, rejuvenate you!

Waiting requires us to rest.

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”                                                                                 

Pastor Jerry preached a whole series on these verses. But how many of us truly listened and have put this into practice? That is why the Lord had me put this verse back in front of us. There is a benefit in waiting! Not only do you get to rest, but you also get to dump off the heavy load that is causing you to grow tired! It is wonderful when you have a friend or family member who helps you carry or move heavy items (many hands make a load light). But all too often, we are bull headed like me, thinking that we can get it done by myself. And that may have been true when we were younger, but not so much anymore. The body reminds us of just how much we have abused it, when we should have been asking for help all along.

My Life Lesson: Moving dirt

We need to wait upon God with an expectation.

          “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”   Hebrews 11:1

When we choose to wait on God, we’re assured that what we are waiting for will surely come. Remember, hope is when we truly trust in God. While we may not be able to visibly see it, God is at work, working all things together for our good! Our faith in God is demonstrated as we cooperate and depend on Him, waiting for His timing, and letting Him do things according to His will. Too many times, we do something and then ask God to bless it. In reality, we need to ask God first what He would have us do, follow His lead and then see Him bless it. We will find that God will strengthen us in the waiting and make us grow according to His plans for us.

Yes, we may be waiting for an answer to prayer, or for renewed strength, or for spiritual healing, but the question is HOW are you waiting? Are you patiently waiting in His presence to hear His voice? Or are you growing impatient and trying to do things on your own, like a hungry person who is angry as well? We need to calm the hangry feelings and rest in the waiting. We are told to wait on the Lord! This includes tarrying in His presence AND serving our Lord and Savior.

Did you also realize that we, all Christians, are waiting for something? The Day of His return! He promised that He would return some day to take us all home to the place He has prepared for us. So, while we are waiting, how are we doing this? Are we spending daily time with God? When we come and gather together as a church, are we encouraging each other with our testimonies and our worship? Finally, are we giving God time to talk to us in response to the worship service, which includes the songs and the message?

I kept this message short today because I wanted to allow time for you to respond. I grew up in church and there was always a time to call people to the altar. There were always certain songs that were sung and the pastor would pray and the Holy Spirit revealed to him special needs. I remember hearing people say that someone must have told him or that the songs were just done to play with their emotions. But I always knew that it was God, calling and wanting His children to know that He loved us and He was waiting on us to spend some time with Him. That same God is here today and wants to spend some time with those He loves.

You can listen to Pastor Ken’s message by clicking below:

You can watch the message by clicking HERE.

“The Promise of Church Family!

Matthew 19:29 (NAS95)

Let’s listen to it in its full context found in Matthew 19:27-30,

Then Peter said to Him, “Behold, we have left everything and followed You; what then will there be for us?” And Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name’s sake, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last; and the last, first.”

Jesus is answering Peter’s question when He gives the promise of increase, which includes church family. But what motivated Peter to ask this question? To answer that question, we need to listen to how Jesus responded to the rich young ruler in Matthew 19:16-26,

And someone came to Him and said, “Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?” And He said to him, “Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good; but if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.” Then he said to Him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not commit murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; Honor your father and mother; and You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The young man said to Him, “All these things I have kept; what am I still lacking?” Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But when the young man heard this statement, he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property. And Jesus said to His disciples, “Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” When the disciples heard this, they were very astonished and said, “Then who can be saved?” And looking at them Jesus said to them, “With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

As we now see, it was Jesus’ response to the rich young ruler who was following the commandments of God that caused Peter to first ask, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus essentially says, “You can’t save yourself, but God can save you.”

Seemingly, Peter started feeling a little insecure and needed further clarification after hearing Jesus tell the rich young ruler that if he wanted to be perfect, he had to sell everything he had and give it to the poor.

Was this a bridge too far for Peter? Peter had recently left his business as a local fisherman to follow Jesus as Matthew 4:18-20 recorded:

Now as Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. And He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed Him.

In our scripture lesson for today (Matthew 19:27), Peter seems to be reminding Jesus of this: “Behold, we have left everything and followed You; what then will there be for us?”

Jesus then gave the promise of church family for all who do the same in 28-30:

“Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name’s sake, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last; and the last, first.”

The best way for me to explain this teaching is through stories:

During the summer and into the fall of 2003, I resigned my commission as an officer in the US Army to enter seminary and full-time pastoral ministry. We left behind the security and support of being a part of the military community and received many times as much from our local church in family and support. We were blessed and loved and cared for those next 6 ½ years.  

While it was difficult and sad to leave that church family, the LORD’s promise was proven true again as He called us to leave that to answer His call again. As we entered the winter of 2009-10, we drove to New Castle, Indiana to begin my service as the Senior Pastor of this congregation. Again, the LORD provided through the promise of church family with an abundance of love and support as we moved 2,500 miles to a new home where we had no biological family or existing friend group but received many times as much.

Kimberly and I know the truth of the Lord’s promise as a pastor’s family and can tell you from experience that the practice of this truth is “TRUST and OBEY!” Trust that God’s calling is right and true! Trust that God will provide for you when you are obedient to the next step of faith!

This is such a challenge among our culture, even for Christ followers. The need for prosperity and control that governs our society creeps in to govern our minds and hearts and decisions. God calls us to something that is “more” in the sense of the Kingdom, but “less” in the eyes of the world. Jesus promised in verse 30, the “first will be last; and the last, first.”

Listen to some amazing truths about this principle:

The next story is that of the Apostle Paul found in Acts 9:19b-31, the second part of his story:

Now for several days he was with the disciples who were at Damascus, and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.” All those hearing him continued to be amazed, and were saying, “Is this not he who in Jerusalem destroyed those who called on this name, and who had come here for the purpose of bringing them bound before the chief priests?” But Saul kept increasing in strength and confounding the Jews who lived at Damascus by proving that this Jesus is the Christ. When many days had elapsed, the Jews plotted together to do away with him, but their plot became known to Saul. They were also watching the gates day and night so that they might put him to death; but his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a large basket. When he came to Jerusalem, he was trying to associate with the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took hold of him and brought him to the apostles and described to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that He had talked to him, and how at Damascus he had spoken out boldly in the name of Jesus. And he was with them, moving about freely in Jerusalem, speaking out boldly in the name of the Lord. And he was talking and arguing with the Hellenistic Jews; but they were attempting to put him to death. But when the brethren learned of it, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him away to Tarsus. So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace, being built up; and going on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it continued to increase.

When telling Paul’s story, we usually tell the first part of the story as that is the supernatural part of it, but it is in this second half and throughout the rest of Paul’s letters that we read about the promise of church family. Paul lost everything he had built in his old life when he followed the Way of Jesus Christ. That is why he wrote in Philippians 3:4b-7,

If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more: circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless. But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

Paul’s heritage, his station, his status, his reputation—none of those things were worth keeping if it meant forsaking Christ. These are not empty words, as Paul is referencing the much that he gave up! When Paul answered God’s call upon his life, God brought the promise of increase to his life through the Church and in the Kingdom of God, but from the eyes of the world he fell from his pedestal to lose everything he had built towards. But He no longer found them worthwhile because the first had become last and the last had become first!

This can be your testimony too because when you trust the promise of church family, you will trust God enough to be willing to listen and obey to what your next step of faith is to walk closely with Jesus.

Trust and obey, for there’s no other way. To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

You can listen to Pastor Jerry’s message by clicking the link below:

You can watch the service by clicking HERE.

The Promise of Gathering!

Hebrews 10:24-25 (NAS95)

My family has spent the last few weekends working on a big landscaping project to create a fire pit area to sit around and enjoy one another. Our investment is not in the landscaping itself, but in our family’s relationships. Kimberly and I are intentionally creating a set apart place to gather—to talk and share, to build memories, to have places our children want to join with us as they get older, and to have a place where they can invite their friends and bring our future family.

Think of the campfire as a metaphor—each of us are the coals of the fire and the more of us that gather the brighter the fire. When one of us is removed from the fire pit, it not only diminishes the overall warmth and brightness of the fire, but it puts that one individual coal in danger of losing its heat and light.

How does this apply to the Church of Jesus Christ and its individual members?

This week’s promise is, “The Promise of Gathering!” and it provides the answer.

It is not surprising that the Scripture teaches us to, “not [forsake] our own assembling together” because the Church of Jesus Christ is not just a random gathering like a concert, but rather the assembly or the gathering of those who are called out of the world and into relationship with God through the call of Jesus Christ—the Head of the body.

Jesus is the One who gathers us—He calls us out by name! We gather in obedience to Jesus because it has always been and always will be His idea and not our own. We have corrupted the gathering of the Church as a personal preference and that has only diminished our witness. When we make something about us and forget who it is about, we destroy it by making it in our own image. We are designed to be in the image of God and to shine His light for His glory!

You are the Church and to forsake the assembly is to forsake your very identity as a member of the body of Christ. Without all the coals in the fire, we have no ability to be the very “light of the world” that Jesus calls us in Matthew 5:14-16:

You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

The concept of a city is significant here. A person wouldn’t call a single light in the distance a city. But the clustering of several lights in one space is often identifiable, even from outer space, as a city. There is strength and significance in numbers. This is why we gather!

When you don’t gather you are taking your coal out of the fire, and it goes from being bright to being dull. When you don’t gather you are taking your light from the city, and it goes from being visible to being invisible. God’s will for your life is for you to be the best version of you—burning true and bright for the world to see His love through you—and God designed that to happen in community! From the beginning, God intended you to be His Image Bearers. Jesus came to redeem you to this original purpose, so that the world may know of God’s love.

The promise of gathering comes with a practice—the habit of prioritizing first things first!

We must put on our schedule first what eternally matters to God and stop forsaking the assembling on a consistent basis. Each of us is going to miss from time to time. I miss being at FBC four to six times per year, but it is my habit to prioritize assembling with you, my church family as an intentional spiritual discipline of my walk with Jesus.

It is like prioritizing prayer before meals or Bible intake before media exposure! It’s like protecting a day of rest once per week and reciting Psalm 23 before going to bed. These are the rhythms of grace that we are invited to live in so that we may experience the promises of God.

According to Hebrews 10:24, we gather “to stimulate one another to love and good deeds.” We are gathered to bring God glory and make God’s glory visibly brighter to the world!

Let’s be clear at this point that our gathering was never intended to be restricted to only Sunday morning worship services. In the New Testament Church, the people would gather daily. Listen to a powerful witness of the promise of gathering found in Acts 2:37-47:

Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. “For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation!” So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls. They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles. And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common; and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need. Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.

The promise of gathering is a priority of you putting first things first, day by day! We find time for that which we prioritize. Is once per week truly enough to shine brightly and consistently?

Sometimes we come to the gathering with barely a light left in us, but when we are thrown back in the fire, we are fanned into flame by our brothers and sisters around us! I have found this true at every mid-week prayer service—I come in exhausted, but I leave refreshed by the Spirit’s work in our corporate gathering of prayer, worship, and Bible reading!

The promise of gathering invites each of us to have a participant mentality and not a spectator mentality! While athletes appreciate being cheered on and supported, it is the participants who memorize the play book, train themselves, listen for the Coach’s voice, and run the plays as a team. We are inspired and encouraged best by those who are on the playing field with us!

As we gather as gospel participants and not church spectators, we are transformed by the renewal of our minds through our Spirit-filled time of worship in song, prayer, and Bible teaching to bring thriving to the community for the glory of God. I encourage you to prioritize first things first and not just for the once per week gathering, but as a rhythm of life throughout your week—not just in this building, but throughout the community!

Why more frequently? Because Hebrews 10:24-25 teaches us that we gather to “[encourage] one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near.” We need one another because it is so easy to become a critical spectator of the religious game rather than being an active player running the plays in need of huddle time to be reminded and encouraged by the other players.

We are participants, not spectators! We are the many coals in the fire pit that when together, they each burn brighter to become a bright and shining lights in the world. Listen to Paul describe how this happens in Philippians 2:14-16,

Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain.

Did you hear the daily discipline of prioritizing first things first for the glory of God?

You can listen to Pastor Jerry’s message by clicking the link below:

You can watch the service by clicking HERE.

The Promise of Serving!

John 13:1-17 (NAS95)

Reader: John 13:1-17

Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. During supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray Him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God, got up from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself. Then He poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. So He came to Simon Peter. He said to Him, “Lord, do You wash my feet?” Jesus answered and said to him, “What I do you do not realize now, but you will understand hereafter.” Peter said to Him, “Never shall You wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, then wash not only my feet, but also my hands and my head.” Jesus said to him, “He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.” For He knew the one who was betraying Him; for this reason He said, “Not all of you are clean.” So when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments and reclined at the table again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? “You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. “If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. “For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. “Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. “If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.

It is important that we see how this promise flows from the last few messages. We have been discussing the promises of the community of God—of how the Church is composed of both leaders and members, and how we all are called to belong to God and to one another as His body. As His body, we now turn to the promise of serving—doing that which Jesus Christ modeled and commanded for us to be and do.

The body of Christ is made up of lots of individual members who can only fit together and work together if we have the humility and heart of Jesus Christ. Jesus’ words in Matthew 20:25-28 are our call to the promise of serving, because they are the call to following Jesus’ example:

You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.

The Lord set an example not only in washing the feet of His disciples on the night He was betrayed, but Jesus set us free by taking our sins on the Cross of Calvary.

Service is the way of Jesus and Jesus made it clear that we are to follow His example and obey His commands! Service is the way of His disciples. To be a disciple of Jesus is to have Him as your master; to be His apprentice. To live life like He lived life! That means we will live a life of service, from the inside out. This requires us to become “gentle and humble in heart” like Jesus because the promise of service comes with the praxis of humility!

Never forget, that to be Jesus’ apprentice we are to copy what the master does, but this will become a heavy burden if it doesn’t flow out of our character. Jesus didn’t serve the disciples by washing their feet so that they would feel entitled. Entitlement is a huge issue in our culture, but it should never be an issue for follower of Jesus Christ!

Jesus washed their feet as the Lord and the Teacher to show His current and future disciples the new way of life—the life of love and service, flowing not from our flesh, but from the emptying of our flesh and in the infilling of the Holy Spirit who empowers our lives in Christ.

The Apostle Paul emphasized the way of Jesus in Philippians 2:3-11:

Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Allow me to share one of the hardest realities of our call to serve as Jesus served. We will be treated like Jesus was treated. The greatest test of a servant is to be treated like a servant! Therefore, the praxis of this promise is the cultivation of our character—to be gentle and humble in heart like Jesus. You may think that the practice of serving would be to serve, and while that is true, the ultimate spiritual discipline is to think more highly of others than you think of yourself.

I am privileged by God to be examined frequently in this area of my character development: as a parent and as a pastor. The true indicator of my motives is what happens when things don’t go the way I think they should go, when someone says “no” to me, when my family or the church does not head in the direction I had hoped for or worked so hard for or gave so much for.

My true motives are made clear to me in that moment.

What is my response when I am treated like Jesus? What is my response when life is not going the way I think it should?

While serving often has a purpose or goal behind it, at its heart, serving is not about what you can do or get done (your productivity); it is about who you are becoming and what God does through you (your transformation)! While it is important what we do and how we do it, it is essential to God why we do it, who we do it for, our motives and motivations.

Are you serving for an audience of One and His nail-scarred hands?

It is in the context of serving in the church or serving your family that you find out the truth of your relationship with Jesus. And God will use people to refine you to be more and more like Jesus, especially when they are acting out of the fullness of their human tendencies to exert their personalities to get what they want or what they deem right.

God uses people and God uses circumstances, not to increase your productivity, but to put you on the fast track of transformation! Serving is an essential part of this life-giving process because it is always God’s will for you to be conformed to His character.

Volunteers bail all the time; whereas servants stay true to the course because they are serving God, not self-serving in the name of God. Keep your focus on Jesus and never forget who you serve or why you are serving—to become like Jesus and bear the image of God.

Let us be one body who serves the One who is our Head, Jesus Christ, crucified, risen, and coming again.

You can listen to Pastor Jerry’s message below:

You can watch the service by clicking the link below:

The Promise of Belonging!

Luke 15:11-32 (NAS95)

Reader #1: Luke 15:1-7:

Now all the tax collectors and the sinners were coming near Him to listen to Him. Both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” So He told them this parable, saying, “What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? “When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. “And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ “I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

Reader #2: Luke 15:8-10:

“Or what woman, if she has ten silver coins and loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? “When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I had lost!’ “In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Reader #3: Luke 15:11-32:

And He said, “A man had two sons. “The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me.’ So he divided his wealth between them. “And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country, and there he squandered his estate with loose living. “Now when he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country, and he began to be impoverished. “So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. “And he would have gladly filled his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating, and no one was giving anything to him. “But when he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger! ‘I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men.”’ “So he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. “And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ “But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet; and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’ And they began to celebrate. “Now his older son was in the field, and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. “And he summoned one of the servants and began inquiring what these things could be. “And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has received him back safe and sound.’ “But he became angry and was not willing to go in; and his father came out and began pleading with him. “But he answered and said to his father, ‘Look! For so many years I have been serving you and I have never neglected a command of yours; and yet you have never given me a young goat, so that I might celebrate with my friends; but when this son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.’ “And he said to him, ‘Son, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours. ‘But we had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.’”

The promise of the week is “The Promise of Belonging!”

Last week, we learned from the promise of membership that we are knit together as members of the one body of Christ. This week, we are learning from Jesus’ famous parable of the prodigal son that we are intended to belong one to another.

The Parable of the Prodigal Son can also be called the Parable of the Lost Son. Its placement in Luke 15 is essential because it comes after the parables of “The Lost Sheep” and “The Lost Coin”, which are straight forward parables, but this last one has an important twist in it.

Did you hear the twist as you listened to these three parables, back-to-back?

God is the central character of each parable: God is like the good shepherd who goes to great lengths to find the one lost sheep; God is like the woman who goes to great effort to find the one lost coin; and God is like the father who eagerly waited to receive back the one lost son.

Listeners of these three parables are being conditioned by the Master Teacher to expect someone in the third parable to seek and find! But the twist in this parable is that, unlike the other two, no one went looking for that which was lost. The Father stayed home and eagerly waited for his lost son to come home, back to the family to which he belonged.

Who was supposed to go looking for the younger son?

It was the older brother and Jesus’ original audience knew that to be true. When the older son doesn’t go after his younger brother, we are left confused and hurt! Something is wrong with this story! Something is terribly broken about this family!

Jesus did this on purpose because Jesus’ audience was a bunch of older sons who saw themselves as faithful to the Father but embittered to the Father’s lost children who were not faithful like they were. Listen again to Luke 15:1-2, “Now all the tax collectors and the sinners were coming near Him to listen to Him. Both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

Jesus’ parable invites our hearts to yearn for three things at once:

From the beginning, God designed us to belong, and He is jealous for us to come Home. This is the mission of Jesus Christ and the perpetual mission of His body, the church. Several times we see this in Jesus’ life. Jesus’ ministry reflects the heart of God as Jesus was “moved with compassion” (Matthew 9:36; 14:14; 15:32; 20:34; Mark 6:34; 8:2-3; Luke 7:13; etc.).

Are you moved by compassion to help God’s lost children find their way home?

We were created to have a relationship with God—to belong as members of God’s family, to be His Image Bearers (Genesis 1:26-27), but our sin separated us from Him (Genesis 3:22-24; Romans 3:23). That is what it means to be dead in our sin (Ephesians 2:1-10; Colossians 2:13), it means we are cut off from the Family of God and from Home, our inheritance of eternal life.

God loves us so much that He did something about it—God sent the Elder Son to seek and to save that which was lost (Luke 19:10; John 3:16)! This truth is why we listen to these three parables in a row and know deep down that something is wrong at the end, and we are disturbed!

Jesus did what the elder son in Luke 15 would not do—Jesus restored the Father’s lost children and brought them Home. In Jesus’ parable, neither son, younger nor older, was being faithful to their Father. They were too busy focusing on their current entitlements and future inheritances, on what they can get from the Father, rather than knowing their Father’s heart for His family.

God’s greatest desire for all of us, regardless of age, because this really has nothing to do with whether you are older or younger, but with whether you are struggling with the sin of sinfulness or the sin of self-righteousness, is that we would come Home to Him and belong.

You belong to the Family of God, and we hope that First Baptist Church can be a safe place for you to belong, regardless of whether your issue is that you ran away from God a long time ago and lived a life of sin or that you’ve been in the church your entire life and have become focused on your entitlements and inheritance.

Don’t let either your morality or immorality be a barrier to belonging! Jesus came to give you a new life in Him, the life of God through the Spirit!

You are invited to come Home as the Father wants all His beloved children to belong to Him and to one another. This is the body of Christ, and this work is why Jesus came, once and for all.

You can listen to Pastor Jerry’s message below:

You can watch the service by clicking the link below:

The Promise of Membership!

Romans 12:4-5 (NAS95)

The promise of the week is “The Promise of Membership!” The promise of membership must be built upon God’s Word, not on the world’s view of membership. American Express taught us that membership has its privileges, meaning that if you paid your dues, then you received your benefits. God’s Word teaches us that membership is a privilege and that being a healthy and functional member of the Body of Christ is an essential part of experiencing holiness and wholeness!

You are an essential piece of a living organism, and we, as a church, are only as healthy as each of our individual parts. This is the imagery of God’s Word! We are intended by God to be a mutually dependent people, created in His image of community (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit).

Paul very intentionally gave us the imagery so that we can understand just how important the promise of membership is, not only to us, as the individuals, but to the whole living organism of the church. Remember that Paul was addressing both local congregations and the entire church. Therefore, Paul gave us an extended version of this memory verse in 1 Corinthians 12:12-27,

For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot says, “Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. And if the ear says, “Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired. If they were all one member, where would the body be? But now there are many members, but one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; or again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary; and those members of the body which we deem less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor, and our less presentable members become much more presentable, whereas our more presentable members have no need of it. But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked, so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it.

A third and final scripture that is essential to understanding this word picture from Paul is found in Ephesians 4:11-16, which includes last week’s memory verse, from which the Reverend Mark Thompson did an excellent job teaching us the promise of leadership and the vital importance of community and building up our community by speaking the truth in love to one another:

And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

Where the promise of leadership and the promise of membership intersect is how the church will grow. It’s not an either-or, it’s the both-and of Jesus’ promise to Peter from Matthew 16:18, “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.”

Jesus was very clear that He would build His church and how He does that is through His people—we are the members of the body “according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love” (Ephesians 4:16).

Leaders are members of the body and must take their call to leadership as seriously as you take your call to membership. We pray for leaders who are fully engaged in the work of the kingdom of God, both in the local congregations and throughout the larger church. Imagine what would happen if church leaders took their call to leadership as casually as many people take their call to membership to local congregations and their call to missions in the world. We all need the reviving fires that can only come through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  

Listen to this ancient imagery of how God uses His people as a body to do His will in the world. This is Old Testament imagery from Ezekiel 37:1-10:

The hand of the Lord was upon me, and He brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; and it was full of bones. He caused me to pass among them round about, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley; and lo, they were very dry. He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, You know.” Again He said to me, “Prophesy over these bones and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.’ “Thus says the Lord God to these bones, ‘Behold, I will cause breath to enter you that you may come to life. ‘I will put sinews on you, make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin and put breath in you that you may come alive; and you will know that I am the Lord.’ ” So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold, a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to its bone. And I looked, and behold, sinews were on them, and flesh grew and skin covered them; but there was no breath in them. Then He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they come to life.” ’ ” So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.

Just as God was the only one who could make this happen, only God can do this work today! This is not a heavy pressure on us, but an invitation for surrender to God and revival through the work of the Holy Spirit. It is the work of the Spirit of God to fulfill the promise of membership, just like it is a work of the Spirit of God to provide spiritual leadership for the body of Christ. Let us submit ourselves now to the work of the Holy Spirit so that we will be healthy, functional members of the one body of Christ. As Paul said in Ephesians 4:1-6,

Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.

Membership is a privilege that comes with responsibilities! The health and growth of the body of Christ is intimately yoked with you and your experience of a life-giving faith where you are manifesting the fruit of the Spirit and the peace of God in your life, which I like to call your spiritual vitality. Let us walk together in the easy yoke of Jesus Christ and watch what God will do in and through His body, for Jesus Christ is the only head to which we all—leader and member alike—must submit.

Allow me now to pray for us according to Paul’s prayer for the early church in Ephesians 1:17-23:

[I pray] that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

Amen!

You can listen to Jerry’s message below:

You can watch the service by clicking the link below:

The Promise of Leadership!

Ephesians 4:15

Presented by Reverend Mark Thompson (ABC Regional Pastor)

(The following are notes taken during the message, there may be some misinterpretations of what Rev. Thompson actually said.  Listen to his message to hear for yourself.)

Ephesians 4:15:

Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.

Serving the Lord demolishes all of our preferences.

God exists in community (the Trinity) and He creates us to live in community.

Ephesians 4:11-16:

¹¹ So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, ¹² to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up ¹³ until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

¹⁴ Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. ¹⁵ Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. ¹⁶ From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

¹⁸ “Forget the former things;
    do not dwell on the past.
¹⁹ See, I am doing a new thing!
    Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
    and streams in the wasteland.

God may be calling you into leadership.

Justified – It is “just-as-if-I’d never sinned.  All the labels come off!  (Good & Bad)

Sanctification – We are set apart for God’s purposes.

We think we need time to think about what God wants us to do, to make careful consideration before moving.  We say something like,  “I don’t know all of the things I need to know in order to do all of the things I need to do.  I need to think about it.”

“God calls us to act our way to NEW THINKING, no to THINK our way to NEW ACTING!”

– Mike Mather, a pastor

Ministry takes all of us – and more!

You can listen to Mark’s message here:

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The Promise of Completion!

Philippians 1:6 (NAS95)

If you want to live a victorious life, then learn to focus your mind on the promises of God—to trust in the character and activity of God! This is how we rest and have peace of mind!

The victory you have been given has a 100% guarantee; it will be brought to its fullness because God will persevere in you until you reach the intended finish line of your faith! This is your glorification, which is the fulness of your union with God. The process of completion in this life is your sanctification, which is the process of your ongoing transformation into a redeemed image bearer of God who represents Jesus better today than you did a year ago.

In other words, be convinced that your sanctification, which began at your justification, will be an ongoing process until the day of your glorification. This is your salvation.

Confidence is a determination to act! It is a conviction you have trained into your head and heart. When I was in the Army, I was convinced that my parachute would open after I stepped out of the airplane. So, even though I had normal human emotions about stepping out of a perfectly good airplane while it was in flight, I had the confidence to take the step!

Paul spoke of his confident resolve in Philippians 3:13-14, “Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

The confidence to act according to what you believe is a resolute commitment to take the next step in the process of being conformed to the image of Christ as a redeemed image bearer of God. Confidence has counted the cost, anticipated the sacrifices, and is submitted to running the marathon of life set before you—a long slow discipline in the same direction.

So often, our greatest ministry is found in our faithful and hopeful mindset through the painful process of everyday life. We stay the course because we are convinced that the prize is worth it. As Paul taught in Romans 8:18, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

To “perfect” is to complete, to accomplish the purpose, to bring to maturity, to bring to fullness, to receive the imperishable wreath on the day of Christ Jesus. God’s promise of completion teaches us that even if there are times you don’t act like a champion, you are still one. You don’t have to be perfect, that’s God’s job! Press on to the prize—take the next step—don’t quit!

When most people think they must be perfect, they shut down. We don’t have perfect lives, perfect bodies, or perfect attitudes. We don’t have perfect jobs, perfect marriages, or perfect children. Why? Because we are all human and we live in a broken world where there is sin and the effects of the fall upon every area of creation. Our lives are like I-70 or SR-3: well-traveled and in need of constant construction to repair the damage from the wear and tear of high mileage and bad weather.

Here’s the good news: We serve a perfect God who promises to bring us to completion as a part of His glorifying plan to brings all things under His rule in the New Heaven and New Earth. In fact, in this very process we are invited to partner with God in this perfecting work because God will use every pothole and storm to draw us and others closer to Him.

God invites us into partnership with Him, not to take over for Him. Just as you could not begin with Christ apart from the work of the Holy Spirit, you cannot be brought to maturity without the ministry of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 3:3). Paul confirms in 1 Corinthians 1:4-8,

I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus, that in everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you, so that you are not lacking in any gift, awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will also confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Trust God and partner in the work He is doing—in and through you. God promises to not only complete His work in you, but to also provide for the work He has invited you to do with Him, every step of your race. Until you cross that finish line, trust Him to do what He promises to do.

(Tiffany shares her testimony and special music.)

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The Promise of Peace!

John 16:33 (NAS95)

(This was presented at the FBC Picnic in the Memorial Park Shelter House.)

It is clear in God’s word that peace and joy are deeply intertwined! How can we experience the joy of the LORD if we don’t first have peace with God first?

Our memory verse can be applied to all three aspects of peace, but Jesus here is specifically talking about His saving work on the cross, which gives us peace with God! Jesus has defeated the power of death and the forces of evil to restore us back into right relationship with the Father; it is only “in Christ” that we can have “peace” or “access to” or relationship with God.

Listen to this peace that Jesus promises us:

This requires God’s peace to come from above from God, into us, and then flow through us to others. We are conduits of God’s love because His peace is a cord of three strands: vertical, internal, and then external.

Paul practically teaches us about how to walk in this peace. Mental health comes from this internal peace of God, by which we learn to live in God’s grace, from upon high and inside!

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

Learning how to walk in the promise of peace as daily mental health practices is a key spiritual discipline to our living out the Greatest Commandments. We represent Jesus best (external peace to others!) when we are both holy (vertical peace with God!) and whole (internal peace!).

We need to realize that the Bible teaches us good mental hygiene practices that are just as fundamental to our well-being as the many good dental hygiene habits that are ingrained in our daily lives. As this becomes more normalized and less stigmatized in the church, then mental health practices and check-ups will be as common as dental health practices and check-ups.

Peace with God that guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus means that the promise of peace is not just a vertical and internal reality, it is our greatest witness as it brings external peace between us and other people. Listen to Paul explain this in Ephesians 2:13-16:

This is the Church’s mission! Experiencing the peace of God in both our holiness and wholeness allows us to give God’s love and grace towards others because we have received and internalized it in our own lives. By the Spirit we are to build bridges with people to unite them in Christ alone—our peace!

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“The Promise of a Teacher”

Memory Verse:  Luke 12:12

“If you love me, obey my commandments.  And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you.⁷ He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you… I am telling you these things now while I am still with you.  But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you..”                                                                                  

John 14:15-17, 25-26

Miriam/Webster defines the word ‘teach’ as

“to show or explain how to do something; give information about or instruction in a subject or skill; encourage some to accept as fact or principle.”

And then they were instructed to teach their children in Deuteronomy 11:19

“Teach them to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up.”

I. God will provide an Advocate (Comforter, Encourager, Counselor)

He was telling them that, just like God, the Holy Spirit will never leave you. And while Jesus was going to physically leave this earth, He was assuring them that they would not be alone.

How do we find this truth? Jesus once again reminds them of what He told them earlier.

“So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31-32

We are once again shown that the Holy Spirit will lead us and guide us and point us to Jesus the Son, and He, in everything He ever said or did, points us to God the Father. The Father speaks to us through the Holy Spirit, who leads us into all truth, which are the words and ways of Jesus, who brings glory to God…see the cycle?

“If you love me, obey my commandments.” John 14:15 (you will)

“Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me….” John 14:21a

II. The Holy Spirit will be our Teacher

^“But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.” John 14:26

“will be to “lead” them into the full comprehension of all he wants them to know. The Spirit will not present an independent message, differing from what they had already learned from him. Rather, they will be led further into the realization of his person and into the development of the principles he has already laid down. They will also be enlightened about coming events.”

John 16:13-14 states:

“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future. He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me.”

Yes, we have pastors, elders, bible study leaders, discipleship group leaders, small group leaders and accountability partners, but they are all subject to the Holy Spirit teaching the wisdom of God.

Let’s read 1 Corinthians 2:10-12

“For it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets. No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.”

The Spirit searches the depths of God and reveals God’s plans for us, showing us the joy of living a spirit filled life in contrast to the folly of the plans of this world.

• Points on a compass “Never East Sour Watermelon                  
• Names of notes on a staff: (spaces) FACE                                                                       
• (Lines) Every Good Boy Does Fine              
• Planets: My Very Educated Mother Just Served Is Noodles

The ESV version says “He will teach you all things and bring back to your remembrance…”

Solomon was a great wise king who’s wisdom was given to him by God. He wrote in Proverbs 3:5-6:

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.”

So we have to ask ourselves:    

• Am I willing to be a student of the Holy Spirit?                          
• Am I willing to submit my own ideas to that which the Holy Spirit reveals?                                                          
• Am I willing to choose to live this life in the Light of eternity?

“ …for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what needs to be said.”    

Luke 12:12

You can listen to Ken’s message here:

You can watch this message by clicking HERE.

The Promise of Good Works in Christ!

Revelation 5:9

Who is Jesus?  If you take some time to look at things on the internet you will find many think he lived on earth.  Some think he was a good teacher.  Some think he was a philosopher.  Some think his claim to be God ludicrous, and some who believe Jesus to be the Son of God.

There is a lot of talk about fact checking stories these days.  I personally think going directly to the Source of Truth is the best place to do our fact-checking.  The inspired Word of God has a much better answer. 

From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible points to Jesus.  The entire Bible is about Jesus.  It is not about us – although we sometimes think it is just about us. It’s not.

The Bible is clear it is about Jesus, who He is, and what He has already done.

“The Scriptures should be read with the aim of finding Christ in them.  Whoever turns aside from this object, even though he wears himself out all his life in learning, he will never reach the knowledge of the truth.”

You see my friends, when we find Christ in Scripture, we will know better how to be His followers.  We will understand better who He is.  We will also understand better who we are in Christ. 

In Jesus, we find our true identities. 

My Goal Today

My goal today is to help us see, understand, and live in our identity in Christ.  It is my desire that when you leave here today you will have the tools with which to fight your strongest temptations. 

The best way I have found to do that is to know who I am in Christ. I want to help you understand who you are in Christ.

Many of you have heard about Jesus being tempted in the wilderness.  What you may or may not realize is in that passage Satan attacked His identity.  In Luke 4 verse 3 and again in verse 9 Satan says “IF” you are the Son of God.

Satan was daring Jesus to prove His identity by turning stones into bread or jumping off the Temple so angels would catch Him.  Jesus didn’t have to prove His identity.  Jesus knew Who He was.  He understood His identity because He knew what Scripture said about Him. Quoting Scripture withstood temptation.

I would like to attempt to help those of you in the sound of my voice to do the same thing.  Understand your identity IN Christ according to the Truth of God’s Word.  We all need to be able to withstand Satan’s attacks on our identity.  It is my contention that when we know who we are in Christ it makes all the difference in the world.

Satan attacks us by lying to us about our identity too.  We can use Jesus as our example and counter those same attacks with Scripture and let Satan know that we know who we are when we choose to be in Christ, and then he can’t trick us as easily.

If Satan can keep us off balance wondering who we are or what our purpose in life is, he can paralyze us and keep us from fulfilling our God given calling.

All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, (complete) equipped for every good work.

We are to interact with Scripture in order to be equipped for the calling of God in our lives.  And if you profess to know Jesus as your Savior, you have a calling for ministry. 

Those who are in Christ have a responsibility to build up the body.

What we do with and for others depends on what we understand God does with and for us.  What God does with us is what we do with others.  God builds us up and we build others in the body.

So let me remind you of your identity in Christ.  Turn to Ephesians chapter 1.  I will be lifting out the phrase “in Christ” throughout these verses. Please take note.  The prepositional phrase is significant.

1:1 “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will: to the saints and believers in Christ at Ephesus.”

Notice that the object of the people’s faith is Christ Jesus.  They are believers “in Christ.”  The people to whom Paul is writing have come to believe that Jesus is the Christ. 

They have heard the message of the Gospel and believe Jesus is the Son of God, Whose death burial and resurrection is the payment for their sin.  Paul is writing to these believers.

In v 2 Paul offers a blessing to the readers

2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul then follows in V3 with a word of praise.  He is praising God as he writes to the people in Asia Minor. 

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 

The verse starts with praise then what follows are the reasons for that praise worthiness…

If you have a position in Christ, you have something that is absolutely praise-worthy!

First: You are Blessed in Christ.

This is one of the ways we make Scripture about us.  We read we have received blessings and we figuratively or actually kick back and say I can relax.  It says here that God pours out His blessings on me.

What does it mean to you to hear that the God of the universe has blessed you already with EVERY SPIRITUAL BLESSING??  Not just some, not a few, but EVERY blessing! (if you are in Christ).

Maybe you’re sitting there saying my life is not all that blessed.  Being blessed is not my experience – at times maybe – but being blessed with EVERY spiritual blessing isn’t how my life is. 

 Who is your faith in?  Do you have faith in faith, or do you trust in the finished work of Jesus?

“In Christ performs a characteristic role in the description of God’s acts and gifts of kindness toward his people.  In some sense, it would seem, God’s acts towards believers are performed through Christ or are in some way conditioned or associated with Christ…such usages of in Christ primarily have to do with the role of Christ in mediating the work of God toward believers.”

Here is a thought for you.  Maybe the reason you don’t experience blessedness is you have a belly button view of your life.  You have become good at using people to make you feel good instead of living in Christ.  You are not allowing Jesus to mediate God’s love, grace, forgiveness, and blessings in your life because you are too focused on yourself.

Second: We have been chosen in Christ.

Not only are those who are in Christ holy, they are also blameless.  What Paul means here is if you are in Christ, you are seen as being without fault before God.  That is for now… here on earth – not waiting for us in heaven. It is to be lived out here on earth.  That is important!

Third: Those who are in Christ are adopted.

Fourth: In Christ we have redemption

The fourth point is found in verse 7. 

7 In Him (there’s that phrase again) we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace

 Your redemption is the will of God and it’s the work of Christ on the cross.  You cannot earn it, you cannot pay for it, you cannot go out and get it – you receive what has already been done for you.

So far in this message we have seen that it is God who blesses, God who adopts, God who chooses, and God who redeems.  All of this is done in Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. 

Fifth: You are sealed in Christ by the Holy Spirit

V 12b “to the praise of His glory.” (Because Jesus has redeemed)

V 14 “to the praise of his glory” (because the Holy Spirit has sealed us)

You can listen to Jack’s message here:

You can watch this message by clicking HERE.

FOOTNOTE:

^[1] Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., … Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible (Eph 1:5). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

The Promise of Glory!

But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

Paul had an earnest expectation of hope! God’s glory provided ballast to His mind, heart, and soul! His faith prioritized his emotional response to his circumstances, his mental health through the situation, and his priorities of decision making for his lifestyle. That is what the promise of glory gives us—it calms our hearts, orders our minds, and directs our paths.

You weigh your options based on their urgency and their importance. There is a competition for our attention and whatever weighs the most wins! This happens at a level we are not even aware of and we have lots of ways of explaining it: it is heavy, it grabbed me, it caught my attention, it’s got a hold of me, etc.

For example, if there are bills pressing you, making money weighs the most and decisions reflect that priority. If you are in pain or have a pressing medical diagnosis, seeing the doctor and medical treatmentsweigh the most and all else that was important are put in the back seat. If there is a broken relationship, a heavy heart weighs you down and shades your perceptions of everything else.

What weighs us down shapes our perceptions of life and determines our decision making!

Important things, left unattended will eventually become urgent, but if we can prioritize them by the weight of their actual importance before their urgency starts weighing us down emotionally, then potentially we can save ourselves a lot of pain, anxiety, and heart ache. Here is a quick list of everyday examples:

• You don’t take the time to get your oil changed (though it’s important) until the tow truck is taking you to the mechanic after your engine seizes up on I-70 (now it’s urgent). A $50 bill becomes $1000!

And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ; having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

The promise of glory minimizes the emotional hijacking of the urgent, the mental kidnapping of anxiety-producing circumstances, and the physical straight jacket of your stress response to bad news. It allows you to put everything in right perspective to God’s overarching reality—your salvation is signed, sealed, and delivered. You are justified, sanctified, and glorified. Rest! Believe! Trust!

The promise of glory is how you can be a peaceful presence and a loving person in the midst of the raging storms around our world, nation, and community.

The promise of glory is not only the promise of being raised up to Heaven in perfect union with God, but it is the promise of being intimately yoked with the One who walks with you every day to that destination. I can only live that way and think that way because I know my destination is secure and that death is not the reality of my eternity. Therefore, fear, anxiety, and insecurity will not outweigh God’s promise of glory!

I have been raised up because I am in Christ and I have my eyes fixed on His glory—past, present, and future. May God’s glory be your motivation and help you discern your decisions each and every day. May your emotional well-being and mental health be stabilized by the weight of glory in these turbulent times.

You can listen to the message here:

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FOOTNOTE:

The Promise of Freedom!

Galatians 5:1 (NAS95)

Pastor Jerry Ingalls of New Castle First Baptist Church on July 4, 2021

I.  The Yoke Imagery.

The yoke concept within the Hebrew literary traditions is strongly related to the idea of the Sovereignty Covenant. God laid his yoke on his people. His people either bore the yoke (an obedient, proper relationship) or broke off the yoke (a relationship of rebellion). God’s people might choose to attempt to wear the yokes of other gods, which was the same as throwing off the yoke of Israel’s god. Obviously, one could not wear two yokes at the same time. The wearing of the yoke as viewed in Hebrew scripture was the outward sign of an inward relationship. Thus one might bring the offerings and do all of the things of religion and still not be bearing the yoke in terms of attitudes and relationships. Hebrew scriptures can thus view the bearing of the yoke of God’s sovereignty as joy, honor, and privilege rather than tragedy, hardship, and sorrow.^[1]

God is passionate about upholding His covenant with His people as we read in Jeremiah 2:20, “For long ago I broke your yoke and tore off your bonds; But you said, ‘I will not serve!’ For on every high hill and under every green tree you have lain down as a harlot.” God continues in Jeremiah 5:5-6,

“I will go to the great and will speak to them, for they know the way of the Lord and ordinance of their God.” But they too, with one accord, have broken the yoke and burst the bonds. Therefore a lion from the forest will slay them, a wolf of the deserts will destroy them, a leopard is watching their cities. Everyone who goes out of them will be torn in pieces, because their transgressions are many, their apostasies are numerous.

This connection to the concept of the yoke as God’s sovereign rule over His chosen people, as opposed to their bondage to idols and false gods cannot be lost, nor ignored. Jesus aligned His usage of yoke with the Old Testament, as seen in Matthew 11:28-30 when viewed in context with His declaration of the people’s apostasy in verses 20-24.

The yoke imagery would not have been lost on the original New Testament audience. Jeremiah Garrett explains in the Lexham Bible Dictionary, “Some New Testament Letters seem to rely on the Old Testament understanding of yoke as an instrument of slavery (e.g., Gal 5:1; 1 Tim 6:1).”^[2]

You are either in the yoke of faith (trust and obedience to God and His ways) or in the yoke of slavery (rebellion against God’s plan and ways)!

II. The Context of the Promise

That transitions us to our second point of the lesson. Let’s now understand our memory verse and the Holy Spirit’s promise of freedom within its original context by reading Galatians 4:21-31 & 5:1:

Tell me, you who want to be under law, do you not listen to the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the bondwoman and one by the free woman. But the son by the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and the son by the free woman through the promise. This is allegorically speaking, for these women are two covenants: one proceeding from Mount Sinai bearing children who are to be slaves; she is Hagar. Now this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free; she is our mother. For it is written, “Rejoice, barren woman who does not bear; Break forth and shout, you who are not in labor; For more numerous are the children of the desolate Than of the one who has a husband.” And you brethren, like Isaac, are children of promise. But as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so it is now also. But what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the bondwoman and her son, For the son of the bondwoman shall not be an heir with the son of the free woman.” So then, brethren, we are not children of a bondwoman, but of the free woman. It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.

Obviously, Paul just gave us an Old Testament lesson to help us understand his teaching on the freedom Jesus has given us. This promise of God is birthed in the ancient Genesis story of the first Patriarch couple—Abraham and Sarah. I will paraphrase this story from Genesis 15—21.

God promised Abraham and Sarah that they would have a child and through that child their descendants would be more numerous than the stars in the sky. God promised that rulers of nations would come through Sarah’s womb, but into a very old age her womb remained closed. In a desperate moment, they took matters into their own hands and Sarah, the “free woman” gave Abraham Hagar, her handmaiden or as Paul called her, “the bondwoman,” to conceive a child. In this moment of fear and anxiety, Ishmael was born, and the results have been disastrous to God’s people and the world ever since! You hear about it nearly every day!

Let’s now connect that story to Paul’s teaching in Galatians 4. Ishmael is the “son by the bondwoman [who] was born according to the flesh.” Later, God performed a miracle and though Sarah was well beyond her biological capability to have a baby, her and Abraham conceived Isaac and he is called the “son by the free woman through the promise.” Paul says that these two women and their respective babies allegorically correspond to two different covenants: (1) Ishmael and his offspring are the slaves to the Law of flesh and death, corresponding to Mount Sinai and “the present Jerusalem” (that is the Old Covenant based on the Mosaic Law) and (2) Isaac and his offspring are the “children of promise” who correspond to “the Jerusalem above” and are born according to the Holy Spirit (that is the New Covenant based on Jesus Christ and His promised baptism of the Spirit, that we have discussed so often over the last month).

III. The Application

The yoke is easy because God has made a way for you to have a personal relationship with Him through Jesus’ own relationship with the Father, and the burden is light because God gives you everything you need for life and godliness through your baptism of the Holy Spirit!

As Paul teaches us in Ephesians 2:1-10,

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

What is very interesting is that after both Galatians 5:1 and Ephesians 2:1-10, Paul contrasts the distinction between those who are circumcised of the flesh (Old Covenant) and those who are in the Spirit (New Covenant), once again reinforcing today’s teaching and the importance of understanding the New Covenant through Jesus’ fulfillment of the Old Covenant requirements and the pouring out of the Spirit at Pentecost.

Here is the invitation: Believe God, rest in Jesus, and walk in the Spirit. This is the yoke of faith. This is the Covenant of the Spirit—the easy yoke of Jesus shatters all other yokes! The Fear of the Lord drives out all other fears! Greater is the Spirit of God who is in me than he who is in the world!

You must choose today which yoke you will put on and walk in. The yoke of slavery or the yoke of freedom!

The hard yoke of Law is all about you taking matters into your own hands and producing an Ishmael with devastating results to you and others. It is when you strive to make life work out for you the way you think it should work out.

The easy yoke of Jesus leads to freedom through trust in God for His plans and His ways to bring about what He promises you—Isaac! Jesus promises you freedom from the anxiety and fear that tell you that you must take control of your life if you want to see God’s abundance! We can rest in God’s promises!

I conclude with a powerful call to strive to live this life of rest. From Hebrews 4:8-11,

For if Joshua [the Old Covenant] had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that [the New Covenant]. So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience.

Strive to enter God’s rest by taking the yoke of Jesus Christ on to yourself and become like Him, gentle and humble in heart! You will believe God and His promises, and you will experience the fulfillment of all God’s promises. Walk in the Spirit who has given you everything you need for life and godliness.

How do we stand firm and resist the yoke of slavery? We do as the psalmist commands each of us in Psalm 46:10, “Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

You can listen to the message here:

You can watch this message by clicking HERE.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Charles L. Tyer, “Yoke,” ed. David Noel Freedman, The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (New York, NY: Doubleday, 1992), 1026.

[2] Jeremiah K. Garrett, “Yoke,” ed. John D. Barry et al., The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).

The Promise of Adoption!

Romans 8:14-25 (NAS95)

Adoption is the Holy Spirit’s ministry of the Father’s grace towards His lost children. Allow me to share an illustration of what grace is; I’ve shared this with you before, but it has been years since I have:

If a young man is killed through some random act of violence, and his father tracks down the guilty person and kills him, we would call that vengeance. If, however, the father calls the police and the murderer is arrested, tried, convicted, and executed, we’d call that justice. If, at the trials, the father pleads for the guilty man’s life to be spared and the judge and jury consent, we’d call that mercy.  Now imagine this: in addition to pleading for the guilty one to be spared, the father appeals to the judge to release the offender into his custody and care.  Miraculously gaining approval, the father takes the young man into his heart and home, adopts him, and raises him and loves him as his own son…that would be grace! (DeMoss & Grissom, Seeking Him, 86) 

That is a beautiful image, but God’s grace goes one step further!

This adoption by the Father is made possible because God, our Heavenly Father, gave His only son Jesus Christ to take our death for us so that justice was satisfied through Jesus’ propitiation of God’s wrath. Jesus came so that all the sons and daughters could be bought back from the penalty of sin, for the wages of sin is death, and brought Home to God’s forever family through the shed blood of Jesus Christ!

This is a legal transaction! We move from alienation and estrangement from God to welcomed and cherished members of God’s large, forever family. Listen to John teach us this in 1 John 2:2, “[Jesus] Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.” Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the provision of the Father’s love that makes the Holy Spirit’s promise of adoption possible!

The Holy Spirit assures you of God’s grace in your life, forever. Because of the plan of the Father, the provision of the Son, and the promise of the Holy Spirit, you do not get what you deserve, but rather you receive grace upon grace through the ministry of adoption. Rather than being cast aside because of the sin that separates us from our heavenly Father, we are welcomed into a large, forever family. Adoption not only gives us a new heavenly Father, but it also gives us a large, forever family of brothers and sisters.

For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.

Adoption is a part of God’s plan of salvation to redeem all things back to His rightful rule, what the Bible calls the Kingdom of God, which is often taught through the imagery of a family (“familial imagery”). While we are not yet in God’s eternal Kingdom, which will be in the New Heaven and New Earth (Revelation 21-22), we are in the age of God’s grace when it is through the promises of the Holy Spirit that the Church, the adopted people of God who have been grafted into Israel, to declare and make known the Kingdom of God through the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, in word and deed.

Until the Lord returns, this is our purpose as the children of God—the sons and daughters of the King of kings—with rights of inheritance to His presence, His power, and His promises! Amen!

Therefore, there is no reason to fear because you are no longer a slave to fear, but a son of God; you are a child of God with legal rights of inheritance to Jesus’ Victory! Paul proclaims in Galatians 4:4-7,

But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.

You are legally and forever adopted as a member of God’s household because of the plan of the Father, the provision of the Son, and the promise of the Holy Spirit! You are secured by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit of God! God lives in you—He has sealed you for the day of redemption, He has anointed you as His chosen possession, and He has given you power from the heavenlies to be His witnesses to all the wayward children of the nations.

You can listen to the message here:

You can watch this message by clicking HERE.

FOOTNOTES:

The Promise of Power Through the Holy Spirit!

Acts 1:8; Zechariah 4:6

This Week’s Memory Verse:   Acts 1:8

Who wouldn’t like some more power?      

Power to get up and face the day (Show the Energizer Bunny)                    

The world defines power (according to Merriam-Webster)

“a source or means of supplying energy; the ability to act or produce an effect; possession of control, authority or influence over others.”

The biblical word used in this specific verse is “dunamis” (doo-ni-mas), which means:

“a description of strength of mind; moral qualities of a person; an inner strength that does not come from or depend on outer things. This is how they will be able to show God to others through their lives.”

Growing up, my parents raised my two sisters and me to be able to do things on our own, to take the initiative to get things done (which took a lot of prodding at first), and to help others when needed, which they led by example. They had us in church, surrounded by people who encouraged us in our walk with Jesus, and showed us that they were to be serving others in love, as the Holy Spirit gave them the power and the strength that they needed to get it done.

I know it was God’s power through the Holy Spirit that was helping them to do this because they could not have done it on their own. They demonstrated to us that they were studying the playbook. In this day and age, we could say that we have an app for that…downloading and plugging in to the right source! But where the problem lies is that, just like a gym membership, it doesn’t work unless we use it or put it to work. The power of the Holy Spirit is not something you use in the case of an emergency. NO! We are to be allowing it to flow in and through our lives each and every day.

I trust you have been listening to Pastor Jerry’s messages the last two weeks. They are key to understanding the differences between being sealed, being anointed, and having the power of the Holy Spirit. Somehow, there has been confusion in the church and many have come to think that these are interchangeable, and that is not the case! They are all part of what He does in our lives so we can carry out God’s plan for our lives. Let’s dig into the playbook (the Bible) and see how these all can work together in our lives.

Today, we will cover

No excuses about fasting. I know some can’t fast from food because of medical conditions. Then fast from Facebook, or television or games on our phone, iPad, or gaming system. Spend that time reading your Bible, praying and journaling. If you can only fast one meal, then take that time to go out to your car and spend that time with God. This is a great way to set a new habit or routine, as some of the other things we do are distracting us from what God is trying to say to us that He wants us to do as believers.

IV. How does He ultimately bring glory to God?

“So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”

1 Corinthians 10:31

“And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.”

Colossians 3:17

The Holy Spirit was moving upon Paul as he emphasized an important message. In his letters to the Corinthians and to the Colossians, he uses almost the same words. Not just some things, but everything, knowing that we are representing Jesus and giving glory and thanks to God. This can only be accomplished through the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Left up to us, trying to do it in our own strength and power, usually ends up a train wreck!

The Holy Spirit is at work in our lives, pointing us to the example of Jesus and helping us become more like Him. Jesus never took credit for the miracles and wonders that He did, but rather always pointed people to give praise to His Father, God. And God loved us so much, that He sent His one and only Son to live among us and give His life for us. Then when He rose again, He ascended to the right hand of the Father to intercede for us, and the Holy Spirit came to comfort and guide us….see the wonderful cycle of love!

This is how we should live our lives…in the fullness of power through the Holy Spirit. This can only be done when we stay in the Word, discipline and train our hearts and minds, listen to the voice of God as He speaks to our hearts and then work together to build His kingdom, all to His glory.

I want to pray this blessing over you as we close out this message:

“I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Romans 15:13

You can listen to the message here:

You can watch the message by clicking HERE.

“The Promise of an Anointing!”

1 John 2:20 (NAS95)

Last week, we learned that when you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior you are sealed by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit of promise. This promise of a seal secures you in two things: 1) your identity as a child of God, and 2) your eternal life with God.

We are signed, sealed, and delivered in the Trinitarian fellowship of God because God has called us to be a part of His team to go into the world and represent Him—we are Image Bearers, ambassadors of Jesus Christ, messengers of His Gospel, ministers of reconciliation. People see God’s love in and through us because it is the Holy Spirit who verifies us as God’s Image Bearers. We are authenticated by the Holy Spirit, sealed for this purpose and anointed to do this very work.

We are now a part of God’s rescue mission and this week’s promise is an essential part of God’s plan of salvation. The play of the week is “The Promise of an Anointing!” The memory verse for this promise is 1 John 2:20, “You have an anointing from the Holy One.”

Let’s look at this promise in the context of 1 John 2:20-27:

But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know. I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also. As for you, let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. This is the promise which He Himself made to us: eternal life. These things I have written to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you. As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.

To summarize, when you are anointed it means you are consecrated or set apart (chosen) as a person for a special work of God. Literally, you are declared holy by God. The anointing means that you have the presence and power of the Holy Spirit “abiding” in you. According to Peter in 2 Peter 1:3, the anointing is “His divine power [that] has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness.”

“Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge.”

And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread through all the surrounding district. And He began teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all. And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, And recovery of sight to the blind, To set free those who are oppressed, To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.” And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.

“You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.”

This is Jesus’ promise of the Holy Spirit! The Holy Spirit is the One who sees to the fulfillment of Jesus’ promises for God’s glory. This is what the Apostle Paul meant when he stated in Philippians 2:13-16,

It is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain.

“Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”

Why are you anointed with the Holy Spirit?  TO MAKE YOU BECOME…  It is the anointing of the Holy Spirit that fulfills in and through us the promise of Jesus Christ to all who follow Him! God is the means by which we can partner with Him to do His will for His glory! All glory to God!

Church, the question is not whether or not you are anointed, because it is impossible for you to be His Church apart from this promise! As a member of the Body of Christ, you are His anointed! 

The question is whether or not you are walking in the anointing and experiencing the fullness of the Holy Spirit in you! 

You can listen to this message from Pastor Jerry here:

Or you can watch the video by clicking Here.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] John D. Barry et al., Faithlife Study Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016), Ex 30:25.

The Promise of a Seal!

Ephesians 1:13c (NAS95)

Two weeks ago we celebrated Pentecost Sunday and the birth of the Church through the infilling of the Holy Spirit, which historically occurred fifty days after Jesus’ resurrection in order to further and more deeply imbed God’s salvific work through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit with God’s work through Israel. We discussed the ancient and biblical doctrine of salvation and the importance of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit for eternal life. The Holy Spirit is an essential part of your salvation and today we are going to learn more.

The play of the week is “The Promise of a Seal!” The memory verse for this promise is Ephesians 1:13c, “You were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise.”

The sealing happens when you receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. If you have not yet received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, then you are still dead in your sins and your spirit has not yet been quickened to life through this indwelling of God’s Holy Spirit in you. As Paul said in Romans 8:9-11,

However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

To understand today’s memory verse, let’s study the context of Paul’s words from Ephesians 1:3-14,

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory. In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.

Amen! Let’s unpack this to reinforce the work of God in our salvation and what Paul is communicating to us about the partnership between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

What does it mean that the Holy Spirit seals us?

Here is a simple explanation of what a seal meant in Bible times. We all know that Jesus’ tomb was sealed. Matthew 27:66 describes, “And they went and made the grave secure, and along with the guard they set a seal on the stone.” The seal they set on the stone “refers to pressing wax or clay between the stone and the tomb entrance and then stamping it with an imperial insignia.”^[1] The seal on the tomb meant that if you rolled the stone away, you would incur the wrath of the Roman government. The stone blocked the way as it was heavy and cumbersome, but it was the power behind the seal that prevented people from removing the stone.

First, the promise of a seal secures our identity in Christ!

Think of all the software that’s out there that does facial recognition or thumbprint recognition. In the context of that image, it’s as if, when our identity is checked, the Holy Spirit’s presence in us allows us to be identified as Christ-like, and not as merely ourselves. We have the thumbprint of Christ in us because we have the Holy Spirit. Holiness is the Holy Spirit in you—God abiding in you—not that you are doing certain things, but that holy activities are flowing from God’s holy presence in you!

In 2 Corinthians 1:20-22

“For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us. Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge.”

The Holy Spirit in our lives is like the seal on milk or drinks, like the seal on medicine. You know it is what it is promised to be when it is sealed. If you find something not sealed, you question whether it is what it says it is or wonder whether it has been tampered with.

This is why we cannot live the Christian life apart from the seal of the Holy Spirit. Just as the gifts of the Spirit demonstrate our ministry, the fruit of the Spirit authenticates that we are in Christ Jesus.

Second, the promise of a seal secures your eternal life with God!

“Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”

When you think of the Holy Spirit, you can think of the mail or a carrier service you trust. We seal, address, and stamp a letter for the USPS expecting it to get to the address it was intended. It is a federal crime to tamper with the mail or impede its rightful delivery. A seal is a sign of both ownership and authorship! When something is sealed, you know who it came from and that they authored it.

The good news is that the Holy Spirit never misses a delivery! The seal of the Holy Spirit allows us to live with the security of God’s grace and love towards us in Christ Jesus! God is the author and finisher!  

“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Our security in Christ is because of the promise of the seal, which happens at our conversion, when we enter into eternal life. We are safe in God! Not from bombs, gunmen, cancer, financial woes, family heartache, accidents, betrayals, or any other messes that occur by living in a broken world, but we are securely embraced by God through His redemption plan for His creation.

We are not only invited and welcomed into a relationship with the Triune God, but the triumphant work of the Holy Spirit is to authenticate God’s presence in our lives by putting His seal on us. We are now a part of God’s redemption plan and how we live our lives matters in God’s plan.

The blood of Jesus Christ has covered all of our sins for eternity (the payment is made!) and the Holy Spirit has sealed us for eternity (the guarantee is given!). It is done!

Why? Because the Holy Spirit as the seal of God’s promise proves we belong to God as His children and authenticates us as His approved representatives to the world. As Paul explained in 2 Corinthians 5:17-20,

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

The Holy Spirit is the visible sign that we belong to God. And we are sent by God to do His will; we are under His authority! The Holy Spirit is the sign—the seal—of the authority and power by which we are authorized, and through which we are empowered, to accomplish God’s will. We are bound together with God and with one another as the body of Christ through the seal of the Holy Spirit.

Over the next two weeks, we are going to learn that the promise of the seal of God goes hand in hand with God’s promises of anointing and power in the Christian life. As we progress in the sanctification process, we have greater awareness and access to the Holy Spirit as He is activated within us, more and more.

While it is important that we feel secure in God’s love because of the work of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we must know that our security is so that we can go out into the world and shine God’s light and love with anointing and power as His ambassadors—we are His messengers, His image bearers!

You can listen to this message from Pastor Jerry here:

Or you can watch the video by clicking Here.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] John D. Barry et al., Faithlife Study Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016), Mt 27:66.

The Promise of Partnership

Exekiel 22:30

I. Introduction to Partnership with God

Parents must be modeling Christ at home for their kids, otherwise church has little chance of getting through to them.

II. Jody Maddy, FBC Children’s Director

Our MISSION is to partner with parents to build a strong Biblical foundation in every child.

Mark 10:13-16 (NLT)

¹³ They brought little children to Jesus that He might put His hand on them. The followers spoke sharp words to those who brought them. ¹⁴ Jesus saw this and was angry with the followers. He said, “Let the little children come to Me. Do not stop them. The holy nation of God is made up of ones like these. ¹⁵ For sure, I tell you, whoever does not receive the holy nation of God as a little child does not go into it.” ¹⁶ He took the children in His arms. He put His hands on them and prayed that good would come to them.

III. Kevin King, FBC Youth Director

⁴ But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, ⁵ made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace!

¹² Don’t let anyone despise your youth, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity.

Jody comments on a recent DtL Café that Kevin held with a Sci-fi theme.

God wants to partner with us so that we can share in the joy of partnering with Him!

IV. In Conclusion

³⁰ I searched for a man among them who would repair the wall and stand in the gap before me on behalf of the land so that I might not destroy it, but I found no one.

How does God want you to partner with Him to share the Gospel?

You can listen to this message from Kevin & Jody here:

Or you can watch the video by clicking Here.