Malachi 2:1-9 “From the Word”
This is a charge to the leaders it spills over to the hearers
The charge was that they heard the Word but they did not listen by doing what it says.
Vrs 1-2a The accusation against was they were not giving glory to God.
How do we give “glory” to God who already has glory, does He need it from me? He does not, but He finds pleasure in the glory we give Him.
As we learned two weeks ago we understand His glory by observing the ways He loves us and realizing we can’t do anything without Jesus and last week that everything we do can be worship to Him. We lift Him up by the things we say and do to promote His name. Work, school, family, friendships, hobbies our talents, money and time we can lift the name of Jesus up.
The problem is…we mess this stuff up so bad that those who don’t trust Jesus see it and make generalizations and judgments on us.
A few quotes I have come across over the years that illustrate Christians not lifting up Jesus’ name but agendas or themselves. “Lord save me from your followers” “I love Jesus but I don’t understand His wife” (These two statements are due to the fact that Christians don’t act like Jesus)
By a study of the Gospels people are compelled to love Jesus but unfortunately our bad examples stand in the way.
Vrs 2b “Curse” is to take away blessings because you do not “take it to heart” This is a problem, we expect God to bless us no matter how we act, why would He bless you if you don’t care or listen to Him or ”take it to heart” and willfully disobey like the priests were doing?
I am talking to Christians
Do you get good grades in school if you don’t study and go to class?
Do you keep your job when you don’t show up?
Do you have good relationships if you are a bad friend?
But apparently Jesus is a push over and He should ignore our willful disobedience…
As a Christian what do we do with our willful disobedience? Repent of it change of mind. Pray about it Psalm 19:13 David prayed
The result of continuing in a life of sin is ineffective witness for Jesus and dead faith.
Vrs 3 “Rebuke descendents” Bad teaching and bad examples affects those who come after.
The Priest when they brought the Sacrifice were to cut open the lamb take out all the unclean parts bring them outside and burn them then wash himself and change clothes.
You make a mess and the mess spreads because you don’t leave it outside and burn it.
-The mess of our sin can disqualify our witness and discourage our service
-God does desire that you see the mess and realize you can’t clean it up yourself. You need Jesus to clean it up.
Vrs 4 The covenant of Levi (Jacob’s Son)- there is no covenant with Levi laid out in the Bible. The Lord chose the tribe of Levi to be a priestly tribe (the directives are found in Leviticus) and in that choice it was a covenant a unilateral covenant. God it saying it is my desire to use you
As a believer in Jesus the Father wants to use your life for good and He wants good for you.
Vrs 5a The correct preaching of the Gospel of Jesus will bring “life and peace” GOSPEL
Vrs 5b The early Levitical priests realized the task of the ministry and took it seriously and because of that there was a blessing
The response fear and reverence
As a believer in Christ we become a royal priesthood 1 Peter 2:8-10
***The next section is thing to hear in a message and I struggled with what the benefit of you hearing this is because it is almost a message that you would share with a room full of people going into to ministry to instruct them on how they should act.
But then I realized there are extreme benefits for all of us.
1. If you ever leave our church you know what to look for in the preaching and leaders.
2. You can hold me accountable so that I am not doing too much or too little and what is preached
3. You can understand the call of a pastor/leaders.
4. You know what to expect each week
5. Pray for your pastor/leaders
Let me first say we follow Jesus and not people, people are used by God and we can be encouraged by their lives and their personalities in teaching the Scriptures but we follow no one other then Jesus.
Vrs 6-9 the judging of the pastor/leaders.
1. v6a Is it purely biblically based? This is not a given anymore with self help and blended Christian/whatever else on the rise a Christian preacher may be preaching New Age philosophies also legalism. Test the GOSPEL that is preached. 2 Timothy 4:1-3
2. v6b Turn people from sin. A goal of preaching is to inspire people to ask Jesus to help clean their lives of sin up. We need to be reminded of our sin.
3. v7 Look at the credentials of the preacher, schooling is important for sound training and it also shows motivation. If I had a desire to be a doctor and I said that I didn’t need any schooling how would you feel about me operating? 2 Timothy 3:16-17 & Ephesians 4:11-12
4. v8 Look at the character of the preacher, this could be tough but if a man is not living what is preached or not willing to admit failures there is a problem. How does he run his house? 1 Timothy 3:1-7
5. v9a Look at the fruit of the work that Lord has called him to, if there is no lives changed or anything really happening in and around the ministry he is called to that may be a clue that he is not following. Matt 7:15-20
6. v9b “Shown partiality in the law” Use their position to promote agendas and people and promote them positions they are not qualified for.
If the leader fails these criteria the people will start to notice 9a
A preacher of the Word has to realize that if their preaching is no longer being blessed by God the people will be a sounding board of that. When there is an uprising of people saying that the teaching is dry, uninspiring and in some cases false this needs to be the time in which the preacher either leaves or changes his ways.
If they do not bow out or drastically change the work is ineffective and the witness for Jesus is no longer evident.
It is a trickle down effect if the leaders are not doing well the people will not be doing well.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Malachi's Burden: "Attitude in Worship"
Malachi 1:6-14
Worship is… attributing worth to someone or something giving honor
We all worship, what that is, is what is the most important to you. What you use your time, talent and treasure on.
I feel there are two areas in which we can look at the worship of the Lord.
1. Our lives Rom. 12:1-2. 1 Cor 10:31, Col 3:17 How we live our lives reflects the conditions of our hearts
2. The worship service- The importance we place on a worship service and how we respond in a worship service also tells the condition of our hearts.
These next verses in Malachi show us that the Jewish people’s worship (in the temple) was displeasing to the Lord which in turn shows that their heart condition was a mess so when they came to worship it was mess.
How you respond here for an hour a week has everything to do with how you have been living all week.
-If you are broken, you look at the service as a way to be fixed,
-If you are doing well you look at the service as a way to share that and get more.
-If you are full of pride you look at the service as something to criticize.
-If you are thankful you look at the service as a place to use your abilities and resources and give back to God.
-If you are willfully disobeying God you look at the service at something you want to stay away from.
Vrs 6a Honor-high respect. and reverence- a gesture of deep respect in worship
Because we cannot see God many times we don’t give Him the respect that He is due. So he compares Himself to Fathers and Masters
Vrs 6b “despised” this shows hatred or a lack of importance of God
Vrs 7 Under the Mosaic law the were ways the food needed to be prepared before it was offered and they were treating this food as ordinary.
We should come top church preparing ourselves to hear the word and respond in thanks to Jesus. Church service is not just something to do it is something that should be central to our lives and is commanded that we not forsake the gathering.
Vrs 8a Worship cost them something. The attendees and facilitators
1. This is a good practical lesson, does coming out to church on Sunday cost you anything? Does it just fit into your schedule and if it does not work out you just don’t go. Is it a priority? You can see what and who is a priority in peoples lives by what they actually do with their time.
Facilitators
2. Is what is going on in the service just thrown together or well, prayed out and planned out?
Your service is worship, so coming late and unprepared is showing communicating to God it is not important. We have people coming as early as 2 oclock worshipping Jesus as they set up for everyone else to come at 5pm. It cost them something, Jesus is so worth it.
Vrs 8b God’s response is give that to your governor. Even the un-believing world can see that something is not important by how much you put into things.
I believe things should be done the best for the Lord but there is a line that needs to be drawn, we don’t want to train people up to be church consumers. Problem is everyone is a judge on American Idol
There needs to be heart of worship in everything that is done.
When it comes to church worship I believe that there are two mistakes that can be made. Martha and Mary Luke 10:38-42
1. Too concerned with how great it sounds and miss the heart, this is an easy trap because there is no other venue in the world that a musician is using their talents to promote someone other then themselves.
2. Letting anyone do it because they seem like they have a heart for it. Why? Because it is not edifying to the hearers and can distract their worship. “I have a heart to fix your car”
What do you do if someone criticizes your act of worship? Use it as a learning experience, take the true and ignore the untrue be humble.
It is healthy for people who are serving to evaluate what we are doing.
How do we combat those two mistakes? Pray that God will continue to send people that their heart is into worshipping Jesus and they have the skill sets to do it. I have to say I am impressed with the attitudes of all who are involved in the music part of the worship
Vrs 9a Repent stop it and change
Vrs 9b Rhetorical question will God accept worthless worship? No! so repent
Vrs 10 There must be someone who can stand up and say no no stop, that is the job of pastors and leadership in the church. If they don’t stand up and stop the madness the entire body of believers is contaminated.
“In Vain”= “without a cause” we want worship to have a point and we want to create something that shows the worth of Jesus and has a point. If you are going to check off that you came to church, there is a problem.
Some churches should close their doors because they don’t lift up Jesus they lift themselves up and church is a social thing.
Vrs 11- Prophecy- True worship will happen with people who God has worked in their hearts through the saving work of Jesus. GOSPEL
Vrs 12 “profane” –treat as ordinary and contempt (disrespect)
Gives an example…This is how God feels that you hate coming to worship
Vrs 13 “weariness” I don’t wanna go to church, “when I was a kid ill”
Vrs 14 You have it in you to be excited for the Lord because you are excited for other things (surfing, going on vacation etc.) “Deceiver” Don’t be fake it.
So what do we want to accomplish in the worship service?
What is the biblical mandate of a worship service? Acts 2
-Everything we do should lift up the name of Jesus
-Give an opportunity to praise Jesus by singing, contemplating words sung or quiet contemplation while listening to music. (That is what we should be doing when instruments are playing)
Facts about music
Thomas Jefferson while writing the Declaration of Independence played the violin when he had trouble figuring out the wording. and Albert Einstein played violin to figure out math problems
Responses to music are easy to be detected in the human body. Classical music causes the heart beat and pulse rate to relax to the beat of the music. As the body becomes relaxed and alert, the mind is able to concentrate more easily. Furthermore, classical music decreases blood pressure and enhances the ability to learn. Music also affects breathing rate and electrical resistance of the skin. It has been observed to cause the pupils to dilate, increase blood pressure, and increase the heart rate.
King George I of England. King George had problems with memory loss and stress management. He read from 1 Samuel 18 the story of King Saul and recognized that Saul had experienced the same type of problems that he was experiencing. George recognized that Saul overcame his problems by using special music. With this story in mind King George asked George Frederick Handel to write some special music for him that would help him in the same way that music helped Saul. Handel wrote his Water Music (Morning Has Broken) for this purpose.
Napoleon understood the enormous power of music. He summed it up by saying, "Give me control over he who shapes the music of a nation, and I care not who makes the laws" .
Piper Said “the music opens the heart to the true joy of God-centeredness
Music has extreme power and can influence and emotionally move people, therefore it is no surprise that the Bible is filled with musical praise of the Lord.
-Corporate prayer
-Communion & Baptism
-Do these things in unity
-Teach the truths of the Bible, God’s wisdom not man’s we will talk about this next week
Worship is… attributing worth to someone or something giving honor
We all worship, what that is, is what is the most important to you. What you use your time, talent and treasure on.
I feel there are two areas in which we can look at the worship of the Lord.
1. Our lives Rom. 12:1-2. 1 Cor 10:31, Col 3:17 How we live our lives reflects the conditions of our hearts
2. The worship service- The importance we place on a worship service and how we respond in a worship service also tells the condition of our hearts.
These next verses in Malachi show us that the Jewish people’s worship (in the temple) was displeasing to the Lord which in turn shows that their heart condition was a mess so when they came to worship it was mess.
How you respond here for an hour a week has everything to do with how you have been living all week.
-If you are broken, you look at the service as a way to be fixed,
-If you are doing well you look at the service as a way to share that and get more.
-If you are full of pride you look at the service as something to criticize.
-If you are thankful you look at the service as a place to use your abilities and resources and give back to God.
-If you are willfully disobeying God you look at the service at something you want to stay away from.
Vrs 6a Honor-high respect. and reverence- a gesture of deep respect in worship
Because we cannot see God many times we don’t give Him the respect that He is due. So he compares Himself to Fathers and Masters
Vrs 6b “despised” this shows hatred or a lack of importance of God
Vrs 7 Under the Mosaic law the were ways the food needed to be prepared before it was offered and they were treating this food as ordinary.
We should come top church preparing ourselves to hear the word and respond in thanks to Jesus. Church service is not just something to do it is something that should be central to our lives and is commanded that we not forsake the gathering.
Vrs 8a Worship cost them something. The attendees and facilitators
1. This is a good practical lesson, does coming out to church on Sunday cost you anything? Does it just fit into your schedule and if it does not work out you just don’t go. Is it a priority? You can see what and who is a priority in peoples lives by what they actually do with their time.
Facilitators
2. Is what is going on in the service just thrown together or well, prayed out and planned out?
Your service is worship, so coming late and unprepared is showing communicating to God it is not important. We have people coming as early as 2 oclock worshipping Jesus as they set up for everyone else to come at 5pm. It cost them something, Jesus is so worth it.
Vrs 8b God’s response is give that to your governor. Even the un-believing world can see that something is not important by how much you put into things.
I believe things should be done the best for the Lord but there is a line that needs to be drawn, we don’t want to train people up to be church consumers. Problem is everyone is a judge on American Idol
There needs to be heart of worship in everything that is done.
When it comes to church worship I believe that there are two mistakes that can be made. Martha and Mary Luke 10:38-42
1. Too concerned with how great it sounds and miss the heart, this is an easy trap because there is no other venue in the world that a musician is using their talents to promote someone other then themselves.
2. Letting anyone do it because they seem like they have a heart for it. Why? Because it is not edifying to the hearers and can distract their worship. “I have a heart to fix your car”
What do you do if someone criticizes your act of worship? Use it as a learning experience, take the true and ignore the untrue be humble.
It is healthy for people who are serving to evaluate what we are doing.
How do we combat those two mistakes? Pray that God will continue to send people that their heart is into worshipping Jesus and they have the skill sets to do it. I have to say I am impressed with the attitudes of all who are involved in the music part of the worship
Vrs 9a Repent stop it and change
Vrs 9b Rhetorical question will God accept worthless worship? No! so repent
Vrs 10 There must be someone who can stand up and say no no stop, that is the job of pastors and leadership in the church. If they don’t stand up and stop the madness the entire body of believers is contaminated.
“In Vain”= “without a cause” we want worship to have a point and we want to create something that shows the worth of Jesus and has a point. If you are going to check off that you came to church, there is a problem.
Some churches should close their doors because they don’t lift up Jesus they lift themselves up and church is a social thing.
Vrs 11- Prophecy- True worship will happen with people who God has worked in their hearts through the saving work of Jesus. GOSPEL
Vrs 12 “profane” –treat as ordinary and contempt (disrespect)
Gives an example…This is how God feels that you hate coming to worship
Vrs 13 “weariness” I don’t wanna go to church, “when I was a kid ill”
Vrs 14 You have it in you to be excited for the Lord because you are excited for other things (surfing, going on vacation etc.) “Deceiver” Don’t be fake it.
So what do we want to accomplish in the worship service?
What is the biblical mandate of a worship service? Acts 2
-Everything we do should lift up the name of Jesus
-Give an opportunity to praise Jesus by singing, contemplating words sung or quiet contemplation while listening to music. (That is what we should be doing when instruments are playing)
Facts about music
Thomas Jefferson while writing the Declaration of Independence played the violin when he had trouble figuring out the wording. and Albert Einstein played violin to figure out math problems
Responses to music are easy to be detected in the human body. Classical music causes the heart beat and pulse rate to relax to the beat of the music. As the body becomes relaxed and alert, the mind is able to concentrate more easily. Furthermore, classical music decreases blood pressure and enhances the ability to learn. Music also affects breathing rate and electrical resistance of the skin. It has been observed to cause the pupils to dilate, increase blood pressure, and increase the heart rate.
King George I of England. King George had problems with memory loss and stress management. He read from 1 Samuel 18 the story of King Saul and recognized that Saul had experienced the same type of problems that he was experiencing. George recognized that Saul overcame his problems by using special music. With this story in mind King George asked George Frederick Handel to write some special music for him that would help him in the same way that music helped Saul. Handel wrote his Water Music (Morning Has Broken) for this purpose.
Napoleon understood the enormous power of music. He summed it up by saying, "Give me control over he who shapes the music of a nation, and I care not who makes the laws" .
Piper Said “the music opens the heart to the true joy of God-centeredness
Music has extreme power and can influence and emotionally move people, therefore it is no surprise that the Bible is filled with musical praise of the Lord.
-Corporate prayer
-Communion & Baptism
-Do these things in unity
-Teach the truths of the Bible, God’s wisdom not man’s we will talk about this next week
Friday, May 22, 2009
Malachi's Burden: "The Way God Loves"
Malachi 1:1-5
Intro: Malachi = “My (God’s) messenger wrote between 430-420 BC
Malachi was the last of the prophets, prophesied B.C. 420. He reproves the priests and the people for the evil practices into which they had fallen, and invites them to repentance and reformation, with promises of the blessings to be bestowed at the coming of the Messiah. And now that prophecy was to cease, he speaks clearly of the Messiah, as night at hand, and directs the people of God to keep in remembrance the law of Moses, while they were in expectation of the gospel of Christ.
Vrs 1 The “Burden” =heavy sentence, stern, warnings and rebukes “to” Israel.
Vrs 2a Israel’s question “How have you loved us?” They doubted God’s love for them because times were not good for the Jewish people after a 60-70 year exile from the land they were back but their rebuilding efforts did not go well, they rebuilt the wall but did not have a good military to protect them from enemies, they rebuilt the temple but is was nothing like the temple Solomon built, there was drought and their farms were not doing well, they had economic problems, they had no king but a Persian appointed as the governor so they little freedom.
Maybe you have had this question
You question God’s love? Because the loss of on a loved one, divorce, financial trouble, marital difficulty, disobedient children, overbearing parents, lousy friends. Don’t get what we want.
As Tim Keller says we accuse God because He did not give us our Idol
Maybe your life is not what you expected or want and it causes you to ask God, do you really love me?
So like the Israelites you have reasons to question God, but are they JUST reasons?
How does God feel when we doubt or misunderstand His love?
The Gift Bible Illustration:
Lets look at Israel
The root of their sin was their doubt of God’s love and claiming they had no examples of His love they looked at what was gone not at what remained. We cannot say that God does not love us because problems come into our lives.
As we will see through a study of this book they were not innocent and brought on many of these problems themselves.
God responds to them..
Vrs 2b-"Yet I loved Jacob and I hated Esau, that is, took Jacob into covenant, the blessing on him and his, but refused and rejected Esau.’’
History moment: Jacob and Esau were Rebecca and Issac’s sons. Issac and Ishmael were Abrahams sons. Ishmael is the Father of the Arabs and Issac is of Jacob known as Israel. That is why there is no peace to this day in the Holy Land and Esau comes into play because He married a descendent of Ishmael.
Why does God respond with this? Jacob is the Father of the Israelites and God was reminding them that He chose the Jews to bring forth His plan and blessing on all nations. That is the line in which the Messiah Jesus would come.
I chose to use you and reveal myself to you and save you from your sinful selves.
Does God hate? Scriptures**ill Yes He has to because His nature is justice and holiness but His nature is love as John says “God is love”
Remember there are two types of Grace
Common Grace- which everyone enjoys James 1:16-17, Matthew 5:44-46. This is God’s way of telling everyone, “hey I am here”
Saving Grace- which God’s desire is for us to trust in Jesus. GOSPEL
We love him, because He has first loved us;
So to answer your question: Does God love me? Yes Here is an example of someone from the 5 who recognizes God’s love for him.
It's been a little over a year ago that I stumbled upon the 5 and it has changed my life forever. I am happier now then I have ever been in my life and I owe it all to my relationship with Jesus. While I have learned so much about the word of God over this past year, I feel I have learned a lot about myself and what is important to me. My biggest regret is that I didn't open my eyes to this years ago. I work on being a better Christian every day and I can tell you I'm light years away from where I was a year ago and I can't wait to see what my future holds. I hope to be a better role model and inspire others to join the church.
Challenge: Make a list of all the ways you see Gods love in your life
Vrs 4 This is what life is like when you do not have God on your side, you may work hard but it will not be successful. It is like spinning wheels, it may be built up but it will be destroyed. Pride gets in the way and they think they can do things without the Lord.
1 Corinthians 1:25 foolishness of God is wiser then the wisdom of men.
James 4:6 “God Opposes the proud”
Repentance is the key, the Edomites responded when things get bad “we have been impoverished” instead of turning to the Lord they turn to themselves.
This is similar to the modern self help movements “you have the power to change things”, work harder, try harder, you can do it. But you can’t do it without Jesus
Jacob’s cities are laid waste, but they are rebuilt; Edom’s are laid waste, and never rebuilt. The sufferings of the righteous will have an end and will end well; all their grievances will be redressed, and their sorrow turned into joy; but the sufferings of the wicked will be endless and remediless, as Edom’s desolations
Those that walk contrary to God will find that He will walk contrary to them; for who ever hardened his heart against God and prospered?
Maybe you are trying to parent on your own, school, work, solve marital or family or friend difficulties on your own, achieve goals…
Challenge: Make a list of areas in your life in which you need to repent and trust Jesus because you have been trying to do it on your own. Really the main reasons why you do that is so that you can take the credit, or you are just acting out of ignorance.
Vrs 5 There is two ways of looking at the verse, when others look at Israel they will see the blessing of God or from a prophetic standpoint of Jesus coming and the people (us) beyond Israel will be blessed and Jesus’ name will be lifted up.
God’s goodness being his glory, when he does us good we must proclaim him great, for that is magnifying him. It is an instance of his goodness that he has pleasure in the prosperity of his servants, and for this those that love his salvation say, The Lord be magnified, Ps. 35:27.
The promise, whether the wicked is held down or the righteous is lifted up God’s name will be lifted up.
Next week we are going to learn about Worship, so come with the list on your mind how God has shown you His love and also come with an attitude of repentance for trying to do things on your own.
Intro: Malachi = “My (God’s) messenger wrote between 430-420 BC
Malachi was the last of the prophets, prophesied B.C. 420. He reproves the priests and the people for the evil practices into which they had fallen, and invites them to repentance and reformation, with promises of the blessings to be bestowed at the coming of the Messiah. And now that prophecy was to cease, he speaks clearly of the Messiah, as night at hand, and directs the people of God to keep in remembrance the law of Moses, while they were in expectation of the gospel of Christ.
Vrs 1 The “Burden” =heavy sentence, stern, warnings and rebukes “to” Israel.
Vrs 2a Israel’s question “How have you loved us?” They doubted God’s love for them because times were not good for the Jewish people after a 60-70 year exile from the land they were back but their rebuilding efforts did not go well, they rebuilt the wall but did not have a good military to protect them from enemies, they rebuilt the temple but is was nothing like the temple Solomon built, there was drought and their farms were not doing well, they had economic problems, they had no king but a Persian appointed as the governor so they little freedom.
Maybe you have had this question
You question God’s love? Because the loss of on a loved one, divorce, financial trouble, marital difficulty, disobedient children, overbearing parents, lousy friends. Don’t get what we want.
As Tim Keller says we accuse God because He did not give us our Idol
Maybe your life is not what you expected or want and it causes you to ask God, do you really love me?
So like the Israelites you have reasons to question God, but are they JUST reasons?
How does God feel when we doubt or misunderstand His love?
The Gift Bible Illustration:
Lets look at Israel
The root of their sin was their doubt of God’s love and claiming they had no examples of His love they looked at what was gone not at what remained. We cannot say that God does not love us because problems come into our lives.
As we will see through a study of this book they were not innocent and brought on many of these problems themselves.
God responds to them..
Vrs 2b-"Yet I loved Jacob and I hated Esau, that is, took Jacob into covenant, the blessing on him and his, but refused and rejected Esau.’’
History moment: Jacob and Esau were Rebecca and Issac’s sons. Issac and Ishmael were Abrahams sons. Ishmael is the Father of the Arabs and Issac is of Jacob known as Israel. That is why there is no peace to this day in the Holy Land and Esau comes into play because He married a descendent of Ishmael.
Why does God respond with this? Jacob is the Father of the Israelites and God was reminding them that He chose the Jews to bring forth His plan and blessing on all nations. That is the line in which the Messiah Jesus would come.
I chose to use you and reveal myself to you and save you from your sinful selves.
Does God hate? Scriptures**ill Yes He has to because His nature is justice and holiness but His nature is love as John says “God is love”
Remember there are two types of Grace
Common Grace- which everyone enjoys James 1:16-17, Matthew 5:44-46. This is God’s way of telling everyone, “hey I am here”
Saving Grace- which God’s desire is for us to trust in Jesus. GOSPEL
We love him, because He has first loved us;
So to answer your question: Does God love me? Yes Here is an example of someone from the 5 who recognizes God’s love for him.
It's been a little over a year ago that I stumbled upon the 5 and it has changed my life forever. I am happier now then I have ever been in my life and I owe it all to my relationship with Jesus. While I have learned so much about the word of God over this past year, I feel I have learned a lot about myself and what is important to me. My biggest regret is that I didn't open my eyes to this years ago. I work on being a better Christian every day and I can tell you I'm light years away from where I was a year ago and I can't wait to see what my future holds. I hope to be a better role model and inspire others to join the church.
Challenge: Make a list of all the ways you see Gods love in your life
Vrs 4 This is what life is like when you do not have God on your side, you may work hard but it will not be successful. It is like spinning wheels, it may be built up but it will be destroyed. Pride gets in the way and they think they can do things without the Lord.
1 Corinthians 1:25 foolishness of God is wiser then the wisdom of men.
James 4:6 “God Opposes the proud”
Repentance is the key, the Edomites responded when things get bad “we have been impoverished” instead of turning to the Lord they turn to themselves.
This is similar to the modern self help movements “you have the power to change things”, work harder, try harder, you can do it. But you can’t do it without Jesus
Jacob’s cities are laid waste, but they are rebuilt; Edom’s are laid waste, and never rebuilt. The sufferings of the righteous will have an end and will end well; all their grievances will be redressed, and their sorrow turned into joy; but the sufferings of the wicked will be endless and remediless, as Edom’s desolations
Those that walk contrary to God will find that He will walk contrary to them; for who ever hardened his heart against God and prospered?
Maybe you are trying to parent on your own, school, work, solve marital or family or friend difficulties on your own, achieve goals…
Challenge: Make a list of areas in your life in which you need to repent and trust Jesus because you have been trying to do it on your own. Really the main reasons why you do that is so that you can take the credit, or you are just acting out of ignorance.
Vrs 5 There is two ways of looking at the verse, when others look at Israel they will see the blessing of God or from a prophetic standpoint of Jesus coming and the people (us) beyond Israel will be blessed and Jesus’ name will be lifted up.
God’s goodness being his glory, when he does us good we must proclaim him great, for that is magnifying him. It is an instance of his goodness that he has pleasure in the prosperity of his servants, and for this those that love his salvation say, The Lord be magnified, Ps. 35:27.
The promise, whether the wicked is held down or the righteous is lifted up God’s name will be lifted up.
Next week we are going to learn about Worship, so come with the list on your mind how God has shown you His love and also come with an attitude of repentance for trying to do things on your own.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Mother's Day "How to Treat your Mom"
This mothers day we would like to honor our moms one way that we honor our moms no matter how old we are is the way that we treat our mom.
Becoming a mom changed your moms life. A mother is an amazing job, the most overworked and underpaid position in the world, like all of you I have a mom and when I am around her I feel like I am 12years old, she still buys me cookies.
And I also have the privilege of being married to mom and observing how my two sons and daughter respond to her. See the boys fall and get hurt and cry for their mommy or pick dandelions from the yard and give them to my wife as gift it reminds me of the special and safe place to be and the place that every child has for the mommy in the heart.
The intuition of a mom is amazing and I already see it in my daughter… everything is a baby and babies have babies, she desires to do housework and cook.
Often times we think about what impact our moms have on us but tonight I want to talk about impact you can have on your mom.
The bible teaches many things about how to treat or moms and tonight I want to focus in on 4 ways the Proverbs guide us into ways to treat or moms in order to have an impact on them.
1. Proverbs 1:8 what is the “law of your mother” you may think it is just… “moms rules” illustration
There is much more to that and chances are from a young age your mom taught or modeled love, compassion, mercy, kindness, patience and if she did not I am sure her intentions were to. Regardless, the bible teaches these things so when we look to our moms we should treat them in the manner in which they would want to be treated.
When we do what is wrong and don’t obey there are consequences Proverbs 30:17 read and
Bottom line is the consequences of living in disobedience are not fun.
So don’t turn your back on the way you mother would want you to treat others or her
2. Proverbs 10:1 The next passage is actually not about how you treat your mom directly but how you live your life will affect how your mom feels.
Sometimes the foolish things we do embarrass our moms like the little girl in the grocery store that her mom was pregnant went up to a man that had a rather large belly and said “my mommy has a baby in her belly too, when is yours going to be born?”
But many times the things that we do and say break our mothers hearts because like Jesus our mom wants good for us and they know that doing the right thing is good for us and regardless of how successful in life we are our moms want us to have a good life and practice what they taught us.
Don’t bring grief to her, challenge, call your mom make things right, maybe you have tried and it is not working. Pray for her
3. Proverbs 23:22 One of two things can happen when you get older, either you age with grace and you become sweeter and more humble or you age with disgrace and you get meaner and grouchier. Much of that depends how you handle what life has dealt out to you.
Ruth Loving Naomi
Love your mother when she is old, even if she put nothing in let her get something out of you because you love Jesus
4. Proverbs 23:25 why would your mom rejoice in you?
2 John1 :4-5 Rejoice in people walking in truth. I am sure it makes your mom happy when you tell the truth. How much more does she want you to know the truth? So what is the Truth? Moms dads sons daughters the Truth is Jesus
Even if we have blown it as a child or as a parent Jesus forgives and in the next life it will be impossible to blow it.
To all you kids young and old God is the mother that you never had “long to gather like a mother hen gathers her chicks”
To all you moms, we love you, we pray for you and we want you to love Jesus so that can spill over into your children’s lives.
Happy Mothers Day!
Becoming a mom changed your moms life. A mother is an amazing job, the most overworked and underpaid position in the world, like all of you I have a mom and when I am around her I feel like I am 12years old, she still buys me cookies.
And I also have the privilege of being married to mom and observing how my two sons and daughter respond to her. See the boys fall and get hurt and cry for their mommy or pick dandelions from the yard and give them to my wife as gift it reminds me of the special and safe place to be and the place that every child has for the mommy in the heart.
The intuition of a mom is amazing and I already see it in my daughter… everything is a baby and babies have babies, she desires to do housework and cook.
Often times we think about what impact our moms have on us but tonight I want to talk about impact you can have on your mom.
The bible teaches many things about how to treat or moms and tonight I want to focus in on 4 ways the Proverbs guide us into ways to treat or moms in order to have an impact on them.
1. Proverbs 1:8 what is the “law of your mother” you may think it is just… “moms rules” illustration
There is much more to that and chances are from a young age your mom taught or modeled love, compassion, mercy, kindness, patience and if she did not I am sure her intentions were to. Regardless, the bible teaches these things so when we look to our moms we should treat them in the manner in which they would want to be treated.
When we do what is wrong and don’t obey there are consequences Proverbs 30:17 read and
Bottom line is the consequences of living in disobedience are not fun.
So don’t turn your back on the way you mother would want you to treat others or her
2. Proverbs 10:1 The next passage is actually not about how you treat your mom directly but how you live your life will affect how your mom feels.
Sometimes the foolish things we do embarrass our moms like the little girl in the grocery store that her mom was pregnant went up to a man that had a rather large belly and said “my mommy has a baby in her belly too, when is yours going to be born?”
But many times the things that we do and say break our mothers hearts because like Jesus our mom wants good for us and they know that doing the right thing is good for us and regardless of how successful in life we are our moms want us to have a good life and practice what they taught us.
Don’t bring grief to her, challenge, call your mom make things right, maybe you have tried and it is not working. Pray for her
3. Proverbs 23:22 One of two things can happen when you get older, either you age with grace and you become sweeter and more humble or you age with disgrace and you get meaner and grouchier. Much of that depends how you handle what life has dealt out to you.
Ruth Loving Naomi
Love your mother when she is old, even if she put nothing in let her get something out of you because you love Jesus
4. Proverbs 23:25 why would your mom rejoice in you?
2 John1 :4-5 Rejoice in people walking in truth. I am sure it makes your mom happy when you tell the truth. How much more does she want you to know the truth? So what is the Truth? Moms dads sons daughters the Truth is Jesus
Even if we have blown it as a child or as a parent Jesus forgives and in the next life it will be impossible to blow it.
To all you kids young and old God is the mother that you never had “long to gather like a mother hen gathers her chicks”
To all you moms, we love you, we pray for you and we want you to love Jesus so that can spill over into your children’s lives.
Happy Mothers Day!
"THree to the Power Of One" Part 3
There are three main issues that the Bible teaches which leads to the logical conclusion of the trinity, here are the 3 key issues we will be working with during this series
-There is one God (The Bible teaches Monotheism, one God) Deut 6:4
-God is three persons
-Each person is fully God
(5) We learned about the community aspect, we also learned about the divine dance of mutual love and glory.
Theologians have two categories for the trinity
Ontological (essence of the being) this is a “given” when we read the N.T. not one writer questions the being of the God encompassing three persons of the trinity.
Economical (the outworking of the being) This is the teaching of the N.T.
This is extremely important to understand because the accusation against the trinity is that it was invented by early church fathers and not a teaching of the N.T. But from reading and studying the N.T. we see that the authors freely speak of each person of the trinity in the context of their divinity.
I want to illustrate this point with an important passage Ephesians 1:2-14 is the praise of the Trinity. The three members are working together to accomplish Salvation.
The Holy Spirit is God: Psalm 139:7-9 speaks of the omnipresence of the Spirit, 1 Cor. 2:10-11 speaks of the omniscience of the Spirit
1 Cor. 3:16 Do you not know that you are a temple of God and His Spirit lives within you”
****So how does the Spirit impact our lives?
*John 16:8-11 Brings Conviction
Convicts world of sin, before you came to know Jesus as your Savior you came to the conclusion your sin needed to be forgiven, Godly sorrow produces repentance which leads to salvation 2 Cor 7:9-11
-most of the time we only feel bad or sorry because we are caught, that is worldly sorrow.
Of righteousness, the Holy Spirit makes us realize we need to be made righteous. Sometime we think we are righteous because the people around us are not.
Of Judgment because the Spirit makes us realize there is judgment and a need for judgment
We have a Holy and just and righteous God and that is what He desires from us but we can never compare and the Spirit convicts us so we realize we are not and we need Jesus
*1 Peter 1:2 Brings Sanctification being set apart. If there are no changes occurring in your life there is something wrong. Or if last year or five years ago you were spiritually closer to God there is a problem.
Ez 36:26-27 Prophecy of the Holy Spirit being given to believers
The question becomes for many of you, why am I not being sanctified? What is wrong?
1. Maybe you are not a Christian: you are confused about what a Christian is
2. Maybe you are not exposing yourself to God’s Word
The Bible is the “Sword of the Spirit”
3. Maybe you don’t trust that Jesus is right so therefore you don’t follow the teachings of Jesus. Dumb Oprah book
4. You have fallen into the trap of blame. Like Adam and Eve. If…
5. Maybe you just don’t care. We tend to think of people who are hog wild in sin, but Jesus was always challenging the religious. Did you know that Jesus hates religion.
Maybe you are convicted and you are being sanctified, then guess what you start to stand out in the crowd. When this happens you are open to being persecuted because the world does not understand.
Two Iranian Women in jail
2 Tim 3:12 Yes, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. It is bizarre but it is true that people actually will mock you, hate you and try to harm your reputation because you love Jesus and are living what even the worst of people would think is good.
-Its like making fun of your kid for getting good grades,
-It like a wife yelling at her husband for getting a raise at work
-It is like a teenager telling their parents they hate them for buying them car
It is bizarre to be persecuted for doing good, but that is what happens when we are living for Jesus. Why? Because we become a reminder to those who do not believe.
*1 Peter 4:14 Brings comfort when you are suffering in the Name of Jesus “Spirit rests on you”
How does the Spirit rest on us?
2 Cor 13:14 We have fellowship with the Spirit which implies His personal nature and how the Spirit is the means in which we are united with the Godhead. *Lonely at work or school or home
Romans 5:5 God’s Love is poured out in our hearts. No matter how hard it gets it is an encouragement to know that God loves us and this is something that through the Holy Spirit that we can also experience.
John 15:26 He is the Helper, helps us out of the persecution Paul broken out of prison, during persecution we are tempted to sin. If I give in they will not persecute me any more.
Helps us to escape temptation Jesus in Matt 4
John 14:26 teaches and brings to remembrance “they hated me first”
-There is one God (The Bible teaches Monotheism, one God) Deut 6:4
-God is three persons
-Each person is fully God
(5) We learned about the community aspect, we also learned about the divine dance of mutual love and glory.
Theologians have two categories for the trinity
Ontological (essence of the being) this is a “given” when we read the N.T. not one writer questions the being of the God encompassing three persons of the trinity.
Economical (the outworking of the being) This is the teaching of the N.T.
This is extremely important to understand because the accusation against the trinity is that it was invented by early church fathers and not a teaching of the N.T. But from reading and studying the N.T. we see that the authors freely speak of each person of the trinity in the context of their divinity.
I want to illustrate this point with an important passage Ephesians 1:2-14 is the praise of the Trinity. The three members are working together to accomplish Salvation.
The Holy Spirit is God: Psalm 139:7-9 speaks of the omnipresence of the Spirit, 1 Cor. 2:10-11 speaks of the omniscience of the Spirit
1 Cor. 3:16 Do you not know that you are a temple of God and His Spirit lives within you”
****So how does the Spirit impact our lives?
*John 16:8-11 Brings Conviction
Convicts world of sin, before you came to know Jesus as your Savior you came to the conclusion your sin needed to be forgiven, Godly sorrow produces repentance which leads to salvation 2 Cor 7:9-11
-most of the time we only feel bad or sorry because we are caught, that is worldly sorrow.
Of righteousness, the Holy Spirit makes us realize we need to be made righteous. Sometime we think we are righteous because the people around us are not.
Of Judgment because the Spirit makes us realize there is judgment and a need for judgment
We have a Holy and just and righteous God and that is what He desires from us but we can never compare and the Spirit convicts us so we realize we are not and we need Jesus
*1 Peter 1:2 Brings Sanctification being set apart. If there are no changes occurring in your life there is something wrong. Or if last year or five years ago you were spiritually closer to God there is a problem.
Ez 36:26-27 Prophecy of the Holy Spirit being given to believers
The question becomes for many of you, why am I not being sanctified? What is wrong?
1. Maybe you are not a Christian: you are confused about what a Christian is
2. Maybe you are not exposing yourself to God’s Word
The Bible is the “Sword of the Spirit”
3. Maybe you don’t trust that Jesus is right so therefore you don’t follow the teachings of Jesus. Dumb Oprah book
4. You have fallen into the trap of blame. Like Adam and Eve. If…
5. Maybe you just don’t care. We tend to think of people who are hog wild in sin, but Jesus was always challenging the religious. Did you know that Jesus hates religion.
Maybe you are convicted and you are being sanctified, then guess what you start to stand out in the crowd. When this happens you are open to being persecuted because the world does not understand.
Two Iranian Women in jail
2 Tim 3:12 Yes, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. It is bizarre but it is true that people actually will mock you, hate you and try to harm your reputation because you love Jesus and are living what even the worst of people would think is good.
-Its like making fun of your kid for getting good grades,
-It like a wife yelling at her husband for getting a raise at work
-It is like a teenager telling their parents they hate them for buying them car
It is bizarre to be persecuted for doing good, but that is what happens when we are living for Jesus. Why? Because we become a reminder to those who do not believe.
*1 Peter 4:14 Brings comfort when you are suffering in the Name of Jesus “Spirit rests on you”
How does the Spirit rest on us?
2 Cor 13:14 We have fellowship with the Spirit which implies His personal nature and how the Spirit is the means in which we are united with the Godhead. *Lonely at work or school or home
Romans 5:5 God’s Love is poured out in our hearts. No matter how hard it gets it is an encouragement to know that God loves us and this is something that through the Holy Spirit that we can also experience.
John 15:26 He is the Helper, helps us out of the persecution Paul broken out of prison, during persecution we are tempted to sin. If I give in they will not persecute me any more.
Helps us to escape temptation Jesus in Matt 4
John 14:26 teaches and brings to remembrance “they hated me first”
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
"Three to the Power of One" Trinity Part 2
The Son
There are three main issues that the Bible teaches which leads to the logical conclusion of the trinity, here are the 3 key issues we will be working with during this series
-There is one God (The Bible teaches Monotheism, one God)
-God is three persons
-Each person is fully God
One God Verses O.T. Isaiah 45:5-6, N.T. Romans 3:30
Trinity Verses Isaiah 6:8 “who will go for US” Matthew 28:19 unifies them under one name
The trinity in essence is love, if God were not triune there will be no love because before creation God would not encompass love because there would be no one to love. John 16:13-15 & 17:20-24 “before the foundation of the world”
C.S Lewis calls the trinity a dance within itself of mutual submission and joy the Godhead exists for one another.
When the art of real dancing happens
Tim Keller expounds upon this idea in his book “The Reason for God”
Read quotes from book and expound (with paper)
Sin is us trying to make other people revolve around us and because of sin God so chooses to pour out this mutual love He has for the Son and Spirit to us.
When Jesus came He was bringing us back to the position we needed to be in a life centered around God and others and also bringing us in unity with the Trinitarian God.
That is why Jesus says to find your life you must lose it Mark 8:35, and the greatest command is to Love God and others. He knows we find joy, purpose and fulfillment living for Him and others rather then ourselves, that what He does.
For the duration of the message I am going to talk about the person of Jesus as deity Isaiah 9:6, and how He applies to our lives.
I have an acronym
What He was while He was here…
S- Sacrifice John 10:11-18 shepherd
“If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him.” C.T. Studd
T- Teacher Matt 19:17, Jesus was not only being recognized as a teacher but He used the opportunity to say that He was God
Transition illustration Mrs. Satorski
E- Example 1 Peter 2:20-22, Jesus went through life and an excruciating death without sinning, that is the example that we need to follow
What He is now…
A- Advocate 1 Tim 2:5, 1 John 2:1, when we sin Jesus stands before the Father and reminds that He paid for those sins
What He will be…
K- King, Rev 19:15-16, This helps us to understand what the future brings for us. That is why we worship and stand in reverence because He is the King
There are three main issues that the Bible teaches which leads to the logical conclusion of the trinity, here are the 3 key issues we will be working with during this series
-There is one God (The Bible teaches Monotheism, one God)
-God is three persons
-Each person is fully God
One God Verses O.T. Isaiah 45:5-6, N.T. Romans 3:30
Trinity Verses Isaiah 6:8 “who will go for US” Matthew 28:19 unifies them under one name
The trinity in essence is love, if God were not triune there will be no love because before creation God would not encompass love because there would be no one to love. John 16:13-15 & 17:20-24 “before the foundation of the world”
C.S Lewis calls the trinity a dance within itself of mutual submission and joy the Godhead exists for one another.
When the art of real dancing happens
Tim Keller expounds upon this idea in his book “The Reason for God”
Read quotes from book and expound (with paper)
Sin is us trying to make other people revolve around us and because of sin God so chooses to pour out this mutual love He has for the Son and Spirit to us.
When Jesus came He was bringing us back to the position we needed to be in a life centered around God and others and also bringing us in unity with the Trinitarian God.
That is why Jesus says to find your life you must lose it Mark 8:35, and the greatest command is to Love God and others. He knows we find joy, purpose and fulfillment living for Him and others rather then ourselves, that what He does.
For the duration of the message I am going to talk about the person of Jesus as deity Isaiah 9:6, and how He applies to our lives.
I have an acronym
What He was while He was here…
S- Sacrifice John 10:11-18 shepherd
“If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him.” C.T. Studd
T- Teacher Matt 19:17, Jesus was not only being recognized as a teacher but He used the opportunity to say that He was God
Transition illustration Mrs. Satorski
E- Example 1 Peter 2:20-22, Jesus went through life and an excruciating death without sinning, that is the example that we need to follow
What He is now…
A- Advocate 1 Tim 2:5, 1 John 2:1, when we sin Jesus stands before the Father and reminds that He paid for those sins
What He will be…
K- King, Rev 19:15-16, This helps us to understand what the future brings for us. That is why we worship and stand in reverence because He is the King
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
"Three to the Power of One" Trinity Part 1
“Three to the Power of One” For the next three weeks we will take an in depth look at an important doctrine called the Trinity. This is a doctrine that is frequently attacked and misunderstood. The first and most common line of attack is that the bible itself never actually says the word “trinity”
The earliest known use of the word is by the church father Tertullian in about 200ad is first credited with use of the name. About a century later, in 325, the First Council of Nicaea established the doctrine of the Trinity as orthodoxy and adopted the Nicene Creed.
Wayne Grudem defines the doctrine of the Trinity as follows: “God eternally exists as three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and each person is fully God, and there is one God”
Why? Community, taste of that through marriage Gen 2:24
And through the church 1 Cor 12:27
There are three main issues that the Bible teaches which leads to the logical conclusion of the trinity, here are the 3 key issues we will be working with during this series
-There is one God (The Bible teaches Monotheism, one God)
-God is three persons
-Each person is fully God
We must accept all three of these because they are all truths taught in the Scripture
If we do not we fall into heresies
-Unitarians-One God and one person
-Modalists the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is God in different Modes ex when He is the Father there is no Son. There are series problems with this, one being the baptism of Jesus Mark 1:10-11
-Tritheism-there are three gods
All of these are based on some Scriptures but ignore others, as Christians we need to look at the entirety of Scriptures.
Each week I am going to give you verses that support that there is One God, Trinitarian verses (three persons) and then we will explore each person of the Trinity and their personal Deity and what their function is in toward us.
-One God Verses
Duet 6:4 the shama, Isrealites said this 3 times a day, Duet 4:35 “there is no one else besides Him”
-Trinitarian Verses
Genesis 1:1-3 (compare with John 1), Gen 1:26 3:22
Genesis 19:24 Jehovah used two times, When you are refuting a Jehovah’s Witness a verse like this helps to show that Jesus is Jehovah
Father OT 15 times, Father in NT 245 times
Function of the Father in our lives
1. Authority: Psalm 147:4, Philippians 2:5-11 and Matt 28:18 The Father gives Jesus Authority
Isaiah 64:8 In control or Authority “we are clay and He is potter”
In life we don’t take well to authority, the role of God the father teaches us that there is someone we have to answer too. We will also see in the coming weeks how Jesus and the Holy Spirit respond to the authority of the Father which gives us an example on how we should live.
Sometimes when we have authority we throw it around and abuse it.
App. Questions 1. What authority do you hold in life? Do you use it in a Biblical way? 2. Do you respond in a biblical way to authority in your life?
The earliest known use of the word is by the church father Tertullian in about 200ad is first credited with use of the name. About a century later, in 325, the First Council of Nicaea established the doctrine of the Trinity as orthodoxy and adopted the Nicene Creed.
Wayne Grudem defines the doctrine of the Trinity as follows: “God eternally exists as three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and each person is fully God, and there is one God”
Why? Community, taste of that through marriage Gen 2:24
And through the church 1 Cor 12:27
There are three main issues that the Bible teaches which leads to the logical conclusion of the trinity, here are the 3 key issues we will be working with during this series
-There is one God (The Bible teaches Monotheism, one God)
-God is three persons
-Each person is fully God
We must accept all three of these because they are all truths taught in the Scripture
If we do not we fall into heresies
-Unitarians-One God and one person
-Modalists the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is God in different Modes ex when He is the Father there is no Son. There are series problems with this, one being the baptism of Jesus Mark 1:10-11
-Tritheism-there are three gods
All of these are based on some Scriptures but ignore others, as Christians we need to look at the entirety of Scriptures.
Each week I am going to give you verses that support that there is One God, Trinitarian verses (three persons) and then we will explore each person of the Trinity and their personal Deity and what their function is in toward us.
-One God Verses
Duet 6:4 the shama, Isrealites said this 3 times a day, Duet 4:35 “there is no one else besides Him”
-Trinitarian Verses
Genesis 1:1-3 (compare with John 1), Gen 1:26 3:22
Genesis 19:24 Jehovah used two times, When you are refuting a Jehovah’s Witness a verse like this helps to show that Jesus is Jehovah
Father OT 15 times, Father in NT 245 times
Function of the Father in our lives
1. Authority: Psalm 147:4, Philippians 2:5-11 and Matt 28:18 The Father gives Jesus Authority
Isaiah 64:8 In control or Authority “we are clay and He is potter”
In life we don’t take well to authority, the role of God the father teaches us that there is someone we have to answer too. We will also see in the coming weeks how Jesus and the Holy Spirit respond to the authority of the Father which gives us an example on how we should live.
Sometimes when we have authority we throw it around and abuse it.
App. Questions 1. What authority do you hold in life? Do you use it in a Biblical way? 2. Do you respond in a biblical way to authority in your life?
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