Introduction:

See if there is a clip from the Bible movie of this:

Let’s look at prayer and miracles:

A new study shows prayer helps people stay in control of their emotions and behavior. According to a story in the DailyMail, those who pray when their lives become demanding find themselves better able to cope with temptation and control their emotions.

The study, by researchers at Saarland University and the University of Mannheim in Germany, recruited participants from all faiths, agnostics and atheists. The team reported that “a brief period of personal prayer buffered the self-control depletion effect.” Previous findings by scientists show that people who try to control their emotions and thoughts suffer from more aggressive outbursts and binge drinking/eating.

“These results are consistent with and contribute to a growing body of work attesting to the beneficial effects of praying on self-control,” concluded the team.

Okay, so that is prayer, right? Now, let’s talk about miracles or the unexplained…:

The brand new pastor and his wife were assigned to their first church in Brooklyn and were to reopen it. They arrived in early October excited about their opportunities. When they saw the church, it was run down and needed a lot of work. They set a goal to have everything done in time to have their first service on Christmas Eve. 

They worked hard, repairing pews, plastering walls, painting, and on December 18 were ahead of schedule and just about finished.
On December 19, a terrible driving rainstorm hit the area and lasted for two days. After the rain stopped, the pastor went over to the church. His heart sank when he saw that the roof had leaked, causing a large area of plaster about 20 feet by 8 feet to fall off the front wall of the sanctuary just behind the pulpit.
He cleaned up the mess on the floor and decided to postpone the Christmas Eve service. 

On the way home, he noticed that a local business was having a garage sale for charity so he stopped in. One of the items was a beautiful, handmade, ivory colored, crocheted tablecloth with exquisite work, fine colors and a Cross embroidered right in the center. It was just the right size to cover up the hole in the front wall. He bought it and headed back to church.


 
By that time, it had started to snow. An older woman running from the opposite direction was trying to catch the bus. She missed it. The pastor invited her to wait in the warm church for the next bus which would arrive 45 minutes later. She sat in a pew and paid no attention to the pastor while he got a ladder and hung the tablecloth as a wall tapestry. The pastor could hardly believe how beautiful it looked and it covered up the entire problem area perfectly.


Then he noticed the woman walking down the center aisle. Her face was like a sheet. “Pastor,” she asked, “where did you get that tablecloth?” 

The pastor explained. The woman asked him to check the lower right corner to see if the initials, EBG were crocheted into it there. They were. These were the initials of the woman and she had made this tablecloth 35 years before, in Austria. 

The woman explained that before the war she and her husband were living in Austria. When the Nazis came, she was forced to leave. Her husband was going to follow her the next week but he was captured, sent to prison and she never saw her husband or her home again.
The pastor wanted to give her the tablecloth but she told him to keep it for the church. The pastor insisted on driving her home, which was the least he could do. She lived on the other side of Staten Island and was only in Brooklyn for the day for a housecleaning job.

On Christmas Eve, the church was almost full. The music and the spirit were great. At the end of the service, the pastor and his wife greeted everyone at the door and many said that they would return. One older man from the neighborhood continued to sit in one of the pews and stared. The pastor wondered why he wasn’t leaving.
The man asked him where he got the tablecloth on the front wall. The pastor explained and then the man said it was identical to one that his wife had made years ago when they lived in Austria before the war and wondered how there could be two tablecloths so much alike.


He told the pastor when the Nazis came he forced his wife to flee for her safety and he was supposed to follow her, but was arrested and put in a prison. He never saw his wife or his home again.


The pastor then asked if he would allow him to take the man for a little ride. They drove to Staten Island, to the same house where the pastor had taken the woman three days earlier.
 He helped the man climb the three flights of stairs to the woman’s apartment, knocked on the door and that day, he saw the greatest Christmas reunion he could ever imagine. as this husband and wife embraced each other of the first time 35 years. 

God shows up in the unexpected. Have you ever been there?

We are going to continue teaching and preaching through the book of Acts. Today, I want to look at Acts 9:32-43. We are going to look at a passage where Peter heals two people. This is the power of God at work. This is the power of the Holy Spirit at work. As we look at this passage notice Peter was willing to be involved, Peter exalted Christ and Peter let the Gospel produce fruit. Let’s read the passage:

Acts 9:32-43:

As Peter traveled about the country, he went to visit the Lord’s people who lived in Lydda. ³³ There he found a man named Aeneas, who was paralyzed and had been bedridden for eight years. ³⁴ “Aeneas,” Peter said to him, “Jesus Christ heals you.Get up and roll up your mat.” Immediately Aeneas got up. ³⁵ All those who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord.

³⁶ In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (in Greek her name is Dorcas); she was always doing good and helping the poor. ³⁷ About that time she became sick and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upstairs room. ³⁸ Lydda was near Joppa; so when the disciples heard that Peter was in Lydda, they sent two men to him and urged him, “Please come at once!”

³⁹ Peter went with them, and when he arrived he was taken upstairs to the room. All the widows stood around him, crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them.

⁴⁰ Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning toward the dead woman, he said, “Tabitha, get up.” She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up. ⁴¹ He took her by the hand and helped her to her feet. Then he called for the believers, especially the widows, and presented her to them alive. ⁴² This became known all over Joppa, and many people believed in the Lord. ⁴³ Peter stayed in Joppa for some time with a tanner named Simon.

1. First exhortation is to be willing to get involved. Notice that Peter was willing to get involved. Verse 32 says that he was traveling through the regions. He was busy, yet something was about to happen and he was not too busy to be used of God.

One of my favorite pastors, Charles Swindoll was willing to get involved, listen to this story:

Somewhere along the many miles of southern California shoreline walked a young, 20-year-old woman with a terminal disease in her body and a revolver in her hand.

She had called me late one evening. We talked for a long time. A troubled young woman, her mind was filled with doubts. She had advanced leukemia. The doctors told her she would not live much longer. She checked herself out of a hospital because, as she put it, she “couldn’t take another day of that terrible isolation.”

Her husband had left her. 
Her two-month-old daughter had recently died. 
Her best friend had been killed in an auto accident. 
Her life was broken. She’d run out of hope.

She and I spoke calmly and quietly about what was happening. I did a lot of listening. There were periods when there was silence on the phone for thirty to forty-five seconds. I didn’t know where she was. I still don’t know her full name. She spoke of taking her husband’s revolver and going out on the beach to finish it all. She asked me a lot of questions about suicide.

In what seemed an inappropriate moment . . . I felt peace, a total absence of panic. I had no fear that she would hang up and take her life. I simply spoke very, very quietly about her future. I made no special promise that she would immediately be healed. I knew that she might not live much longer, as her doctors were talking to her in terms of a very few weeks—perhaps days. I spoke to her about Christ and the hope He could provide. After a sigh and with an ache that was obvious, she hung up.

Thirty minutes later my phone rang again. It was the same young woman. She had a friend who was a nurse, who used to come to our church. The nurse had given her a New Testament in which she had written my name and phone number and had said, “If you really are in deep need, I think he will understand.” By the way, the nurse—her closest friend—was the one who had been killed in the auto accident. She had nothing to cling to from that friendship but memories and this Testament. She read from it.

I said, “What does that little Book say to you?”

“Well, I think the first part of it is biography and the last part is a group of letters that explain how to do what’s in that biography.” (That’s a good analysis of the New Testament.)

I said, “Have you done that?” And she had called back to say, “Yes, I’ve done that. I decided, Chuck, that I would, without reservation, give myself to Jesus Christ. I’m still afraid; I still have doubts. I still don’t know what tomorrow’s going to bring, but I want you to know that I have turned my life over to Jesus, and I’m trusting Him through this. He has given me new hope . . . the one thing I really needed.”

It’s very possible that someone reading these words right now feels the very same way. You’re thinking thoughts that you have never entertained before, and you’re thinking them more often and more seriously. Without trying to use any of the clichés on you, I would say that this hope Christ can bring is the only way through. I have no answer other than Jesus Christ. I can’t promise you healing, nor can I predict that your world will come back right side up. But I can promise you He will receive you as you come in faith to Him. And He will bring back the hope you need so desperately. The good news is this: That hope will not only get you through this particular trial, it will ultimately take you into God’s presence when you die because you have received the gift of eternal life through faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ your Lord.  

1. In verse 33 he found this man named Aeneas. This man was bedridden for 8 years. Or, the text could actually say, “since he was 8 years old,” either way, Jesus heals him. We’ll come back to that in a minute. 
2. Again, then in verse 36, this woman named Tabitha is dying and dead. Peter is busy. Peter is traveling. If there is anyone busy it has got to be Peter, right? Yet, he jumped at the chance to go and raise her back to life in verses 38-39.
3. How do you and I do with interruptions? How are we with interruptions?
4. I must look at the Bible, I must look at this passage like a mirror. I tend to plan out my day and I am on my way somewhere and then a family member calls, right? Maybe that interruption is ministry, possible? Is it possible?
5. I know of opportunities when I stop to help someone or even go out of my way to help someone and I am glad that I did. So, the exhortation here is to be willing to get involved. Peter was.
1. The second exaltation is to Be Christ exalting.

I read the following:

Now, one of the interesting things, I think, that we saw on our trip to the city of Rome and then on to Israel, was St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome, Vatican City. I’ll never forget going in that masterpiece of Michelangelo, which absolutely just beggars description. Takes your breath away even to behold the thing. And we walked in there, and I…one thing caught my eye, and I walked up to it, and it was a…a black statue of Peter about twice life size sitting on a…a little kind of a chair, a throne, really, and on about a four-and-a-half or five-foot pedestal. I noticed as I looked at the statue that his right foot was protruding, but the toe was removed. There was no toe, really, and just a shiny kind of a stub. Then I proceeded to watch, and I watched a series of people who came up and kissed that toe. A line of people just coming up kissing the toe of Peter, and I…I had two reactions. My first reaction was the same reaction that I had when I was in St. Mary’s Church, and I watched people climbing up stairs on their knees, promised that they would get one year off of purgatory for every stair they went up; and my first reaction was sorrow. Sorrow over the tragic fact that they can’t accept the word that Jesus said on the cross when He said, “Tay tellusty, it is finished.” And that they think that they must earn some salvation and that these people are trapped into worshiping these, which really are idols, graven images. Sorrow was my first reaction.

My second reaction was I thought about Peter. I thought, “This must sicken the heart of Peter.” This is just exactly what he got irritated about with Cornelius. He grabbed him, and he yanked him up, and said, “Get up.” He knows…my mind thinks about that, you know, you could almost visualize that statue coming to life and saying, “Stop doing that.” Because the one thing that Peter would’ve hated above everything would be for a whole religion to revolve around people worshipping him. He doesn’t want that. He doesn’t want that at all. All Peter ever wanted was to lift up Jesus. That’s all he ever wanted. When he was gonna be crucified, he demanded that he be crucified upside down, because he didn’t wanna be crucified like his Lord was…so he said, “Jesus makes you well.”

Peter was about exalting Christ in this passage and in his life.

1. A thought that I have is as follows: I cannot impress people with myself and I must stop trying to do so. I must only impress people with Jesus Christ.
2. In the next chapter, Acts 10:25, Cornelius will try to worship Peter and Peter will stand him up and only exalt Christ.
3. Notice in verse 34: Peter said, “Jesus Christ heals you…” We do not want to draw people to ourselves because we cannot do anything for them. We need to draw people to Jesus.
1. The third exhortation is to be Fruitful:
   1. Watch Jesus bear fruit as He did in this passage.
   2. In each of these miracles it is about the Gospel.
   3. Verse 35 it says all heard about the miracle and turned to the Lord and then again in 42 the same thing, all heard and believed in the Lord. 

I read the following

You know, I was sitting with a faculty of unbelievers, unbelieving faculty of this school and I sat in the midst of them and the headmaster of the school wanted me to take the time to do it…talk with them. Anyway, I had spoken at the school for three days in a row and shared Christ with them. We had a wonderful time about, oh I don’t, 25 students received Christ, the football coach received Christ and we had a chance to work with him. But he said, I want you to come and talk to the whole faculty. So last week I sat down with this whole faculty. And of course, a lot of them had all these philosophical arguments against Christianity, all kinds of things, you know. And so I sat there and they were pumping questions. And so they had really been rapping my commitment to Christianity and why I thought Christianity was so great. And that they were offended and I don’t buy it and all this kind of stuff.

And so finally, the headmaster says, you know, he says, I teach economics and he says I don’t mind if people get excited about free economics and you don’t mind…he pointed to this guy in English, he says you don’t mind if people get excited about poetry and you don’t mind they get excited about higher mathematics and you don’t mind if they get excited about history and you don’t mind…and he said, well, why are you guys so uptight when somebody gets excited about Jesus Christ? And he looked at me and said couldn’t you answer that? Hmmm?

I was ready let me tell you. So I simply said this. I simply said it’s very easy to explain. All those other things are just an addition to your life. What is so offensive about getting excited about Jesus Christ is you’ve got to crucify your ego, recognize you’re a vile sinner, reject everything you’ve lived for turn around and go God’s way and that’s offensive. Got very quiet. Jesus isn’t a turn on, He’s a turn around. And aren’t you glad they turned to Him?

If you want an effective personal ministry, just do two things, get involved in what God’s doing already and live to lift up Jesus Christ.

That is the Christian life

Let’s pray

http://www.epm.org/blog/2014/May/14/john-wesley-giving

John Wesley’s Example of Giving

Below is yesterday’s sermon manuscript:

Little House on the prairie Clip:

Laurie Ingalls and her Mother:

Today, I wish to look at 1 Cor. 13: 4-7 in order to talk about some attributes that mothers typically must demonstrate in order to care for their children. Let’s read the passage from the N.I.V.

1 Cor. 13: 4-7:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

The overall theme for today is a mother’s love and yet I want to breakdown a mother’s love at this time. So let’s breakdown this passage this time. Let’s breakdown this passage right now. Now, these are adjectives in the English and verbs in the Greek. I like to think of them as verbs. These are actions. You know the phrase, a mother’s work is never done. Let’s look at the first one.

1.                     Patient:
2.        Think about this for a second, what does it mean to be patient? Now, most of us can easily think of what it means when we are not patient, right? Or, actually, I could easily say that I know what it looks like when I am not patient. When I am not patient I end up irritated and agitated, I end up yelling at those around me. I end up thinking bad thoughts. I end up with road rage I end up thinking bad language.
3.       Those are all descriptive of not being patient, right?
4.        Not moms. Think about mothers of young children for a second. Actually, do more than think. Everyone take out a pencil or a pen that you brought with you, or there should be one in the pew, and write in the bulletin insert (the part of the bulletin with the sermon notes) a few descriptions of how your mother or another maternal influence in your life was patient.

                                                   i.      I think of watching Meagan gently and patiently feeding Mercedes and then Abigail.

                                                 ii.      I think of watching Meagan patiently rocking Mercedes and Abigail.    

1.       Love is patient. Do you ever try to solve arguments without patience? It doesn’t work too well, does it? No and it will not. My illustrations were of Meagan with babies, but you may have illustrations with teenagers. I do remember my mom having patience with me when I was a teenager and it was so very important. Praise God for patient mothers.
2.                   Kind: The Bible says that “Love is Kind.” Think of how your mother’s are kind. Take out your pen or pencil and write down how your mother or another maternal influence in your life was kind or is kind.
3.        Mothers must be kind, right?
4.       It takes great kindness to always take care of the needs of another. Think about this. From the time a baby is born:

                                                   i.      Always feeding;

                                                 ii.      Always rocking to sleep;

                                                iii.      Always soothing;

                                               iv.      Always changing diapers;

                                                 v.      Always worrying;

                                               vi.      Always driving places;

                                              vii.      Always paying for things;

                                            viii.      Always cleaning;

                                               ix.      Always bathing;

                                                 x.      Always listening;

                                               xi.      Always_____ you fill it in okay.

1.        Praise God for kind mothers.
2.       The Scriptures say in Phil. 2:3-4: Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, ⁴ not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
3.       I see that Scripture obeyed in mothers.
4.                 Does not Envy:
5.        I do not need to park here. This is straight forward right. We probably all battle this, but where can we get if we are all always thinking about what someone else has, right?
6.       Don’t compare what you know about yourself, which is everything, with the little bit that you know about someone else. 
7.                 Does not boast:
8.        What good does it do to brag or boast as a mother to your children about everything that you do for them?
9.       Listen, there is no way to repay the parent.
10.        A parent provides for their children out of grace, out of love.
11.                   Is not proud: and this goes along with the previous.

Proverbs 16:16:

Pride goes before destruction,
    a haughty spirit before a fall.

1.                 Does not dishonor others: There is no reason to harm others as a mother raises her own children. No, try to help others and respect others. You know what, that also is modeling the best for your children. 
2.        How does it help your children if they remember you always talking negatively about other parents? (We teach children to honor and respect others by modeling this.)
3.       I remember leaving to many family functions and hearing a parent tell another parent something about someone. I would be in the back seat and hear my parents or a friend’s parents or wherever I might have been I would over hear a conversation of gossip about other people. As children that was overheard. That dishonored others.
4.               Is not self seeking: This goes along with the previous as well. As a godly woman raises her children she is modeling godly virtues.

I read the following:

A MOTHER’S MARRED HANDS

There was a teenager who didn’t want to be seen in public with her mother, because her mother’s arms were terribly disfigured. One day when her mother took her shopping and reached out her hand, a clerk looked horrified. Later, crying, the girl told her how embarrassed she was.
Understandably hurt, the mother waited an hour before going to her daughter’s room to tell her, for the first time, what happened.

“When you were a baby, I woke up to a burning house. Your room was an inferno. Flames were everywhere. I could have gotten out the front door, but I decided I’d rather die with you than leave you to die alone. I ran through the fire and wrapped my arms around you. Then I went back through the flames, my arms on fire. When I got outside on the lawn, the pain was agonizing but when I looked at you, all I could do was rejoice that the flames hadn’t touched you.”

Stunned, the girl looked at her mother through new eyes. Weeping in shame and gratitude, she kissed her mother’s marred hands and arms. 

(Source: Randy Alcorn. From a sermon by Billy Ricks, Suffering, 2/27/2011)

1.             Is not easily angered: There may be days, right? But, anger would be passed down to the children, and we do not want that, do we?
2.                 It keeps no record of wrongs:
3.        What good is this?
4.       What good is this for your children?
5.        You don’t need to give your kids a list at the end of the day do you? No, of course not? Kids will be kids.
6.                   Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth:
7.                 Always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8.        I find this to be a great breakdown for these few verses.

Close:

May use a video clip instead

Corrie Ten Boom in the book, Reflections of God’s Glory (page 69), wrote, “In Africa a man came to a meeting with bandaged hands. I asked him how he had been injured. He said, “My neighbor’s straw roof was on fire; I helped him to put it out and that’s how my hands were burned.
“Later I heard the whole story. The neighbor hated him and had set his roof on fire while his wife and children were asleep in the hut. They were in great danger. Fortunately, he was able to put out the fire in his house on time. But sparks flew over to the roof of the man who had set the house on fire and his house started to burn. There was no hate in the heart of this Christian; there was love for his enemy and he did everything he could to put out the fire in his neighbor’s house. That is how his own hands were burned.”

below is a link to an essay by Dr. Al Mohler regarding someone’s abortion and opinions on it. 

http://www.albertmohler.com/2014/05/08/i-feel-super-great-about-having-an-abortion-the-culture-of-death-goes-viral/?utm_source=Albert+Mohler&utm_campaign=3bc9acfd23-Albert_Mohler_Email_June_7_2013&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b041ba0d12-3bc9acfd23-307773537

Below is a link regarding mental illness and the Bible:

Is Mental Illness Actually Biblical?

I just read a really good article on Church leaders.com and I thought I’d share it with you. It is below:

the links is:

10 Pastors You Should Have MAJOR Concerns About

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It’s not a secret the church has been in decline for a number of years and for a variety of reasons. You can read some statistics and views on why, here and here and here. Everyone has their opinions.

Abuse, apostasy and irrelevance are just a few of the words that keep coming up in the search for reasons for the decline. There are a variety of compelling opinions, and I even have a few of my own.

But I suggest there is another area of decline more significant and perhaps much less obvious—and one that certainly contributes to the church’s decline in numbers.

And I think it’s likely a careful analysis would implicate the church’s leadership for this more significant issue.

In other words, I’m concerned about pastors and the role they play in the church’s decline.

 

By saying so, I’m not suggesting this pastor has it all together. Nor am I trying to cultivate (or ratify) some dishonest skeptics’ hate for the church. Rather, I’m hoping to raise some concerns in a conversational kind of way.

Further, I’m not claiming to be the expert in all church issues. However, I have been in some form of pastoral ministry for the last 19 years and feel I have some measure of insight about the issue.

So in an effort to pursue this conversation in a healthy way, here are 10 pastors I’m concerned about.

1. I’m concerned about the pastor who is better at managing church programs than he is at making disciples of Jesus.

Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger addressed this topic somewhat in the book Simple Church, but I’m not sure how many pastors paid attention to the message.

The church is not better because it has more programs. It’s quite possible for programs to hinder its real mission.

2. I’m concerned about the pastor who attracts people with fancy self-help sermons instead of teaching people to be students of the Bible and theology.

Sure, topical sermons can be helpful teaching tools when used appropriately and in moderation.

But to pique interest in the unchurched, church-growth pastors have promoted episodic sermons ad nauseam and to no avail at effectively grounding deeply committed disciples of Jesus, as the statistics provided previously demonstrate.

 

3. I’m concerned about the pastor who is a chief executive instead of a contemplative sage.

The pastor is called to a contemplative life of prayer and study of the word (Acts 6:4, cf. Ephesians 4:11-16). From that life, his ministry flows to the church.

The pastor was never called to be a rockstar communicator or benchmark business leader. He was called to model redemption and shepherd the flock of God (1 Peter 5:1-4, cf. Acts 20:28).

Perhaps pastors should consider putting away their John Maxwell and Nelson Searcy books and picking up the Bible and the church fathers.

4. I’m concerned about the pastor who uses the pulpit to milk members instead of minister to the saints.

It was the angry atheist Richard Dawkins who asked Ted Haggard (back in the day) why he needed a multimillion dollar sound system that paralleled that of MTV to teach people about God. I think that’s a question that deserves an answer.

Why do pastors need to build bigger and better on the backs of God’s people?

I think the answer may be rooted in the human heart. Francis Chan seemed to have caught that vision when he was still pastor in Simi Valley. And if we think we need to build bigger barns, perhaps we should pray about church planting as a viable alternative.

5. I’m concerned about the pastor who makes growing the church the goal instead of glorifying God the goal.

There is no biblical mandate for growing the church. Sure, there is one for propagating the gospel and making disciples. But the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. There is nothing in Scripture, except pride, that drives pastors to drive the flocks they are supposed to be tending.

6. I’m concerned about the pastor who builds his ministry with people instead of building people by his ministry.

It seems I’ve said this already, just differently. But here I’m speaking to a philosophy that often underlies many of the abuses in the church.

For example, a well-known megachurch pastor once advised me to think of people in seven-year terms. He explained that people generally burn out after seven years. And if I wanted to build a big ministry for God, I would need to leverage those seven years.

Funny, I don’t recall God asking pastors to leverage his people for the pastor’s dream of building a big church for God.

 

7. I’m concerned about the pastor who cultivates a culture of dependency on himself instead of cultivating a culture of community within the church.

Of course, I’m not denying spiritual dependency on Christ is biblical. But the pastor is not the people’s savior.

He’s a just man who will burn out and fail himself given enough time and responsibility.

Christians should be taught to depend on Jesus as our Savior, the church as our sanctifying community, the Bible as our word from God and the Spirit as our parakletos.

8. I’m concerned about the pastor who reads and teaches the Bible literally instead of literarily.

This is not to suggest the Bible is not important or any less God’s word. It’s to say the Bible is literature, divine literature to be sure, but literature nonetheless.

That means it needs to be read and understood as God’s word to us (or for us) in the context of its literary genre.

Not all the Bible is prescriptive; and none of it was written to be used as a random list of verses cherry-picked capriciously to beat people up or defend our personal ideas and beliefs.

The Bible is the holy canon which reveals God to us through the person and work of Jesus Christ. Pastors who mishandle God’s word are extremely dangerous.

9. I’m concerned about the pastor who contributes to the culture of consumerism instead of combating idolatry.

Pastors who pander to the consumerism in the church are no different than parents who give their kids everything they want to keep them from throwing a fit or to get them to reciprocate love.

Christianity isn’t a smorgasbord where people get to pick and choose what they like or don’t. It’s a community of believers on a journey and mission of faith who live in communitas with others for the glory of God, the blessing of his people and the advancement of his kingdom.

10. I’m concerned about the pastor who sees the church as a stepping stone instead of seeing it as a custodian of Christ’s kingdom.

Certainly, God moves people. And certainly pastors have a right to pursue other ventures as the Lord leads and gives liberty.

But the church is the primary agent for the stewardship of the gospel and the redemption of the cosmos. It’s the integral institution for advancing Christ’s kingdom and for shaping culture and society. It’s not God’s second-hand agency. It’s not his “Plan B.” Jesus died for the church and it is significant.

These are a few of my concerns about pastors.

What are your concerns? Let me know in the comments.  

 

 

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Scott Postma is a writer and church planter in the beautiful and ugly city of Las Vegas. Raised in Southern Nevada, he married to his high school sweetheart, and has four amazing kids. He has been in pastoral ministry for 19 years, planted two churches, and earned degrees in creative writing, theology, and religion. He’s currently the lead pastor at Northpointe Community Church and is pursuing a master’s degree in Classics and Christian Studies (MACCS) at Knox Theological Seminary. He is passionate about the story of Jesus who calls the poor in spirit to live authentic and significant lives.

More from Scott Postma or visit Scott at www.scottpostma.net/

Intro:

Begin sermon with clip from the Bible movie that I once used

There is current pastor, writer and speaker, who in 1998 was a student at Virginia Tech. he writes:

On Halloween night, 1998, I threw a party in my apartment at Virginia Tech. I was 20 years old and was in the wildest season of my life. I had three girl roommates, a live in girlfriend, and I spent most of my spare time smoking weed, doing lines of cocaine and drinking.

On that Halloween night, I was geared up for what I expected to be a good time.

Because the party was going be so “unforgettable,” I invited an old friend from high school down for the weekend. Dave and I had played hoops and partied together over the years, so I was excited to see him.

When Dave arrived, I greeted him and escorted him back to my room where I proudly unveiled the welcome gifts I’d prepared for him. On my desk was a fat bag of weed, a 6’er of his favorite beer and I told him I had a girl he could get to know for the weekend.

But Dave didn’t respond like I expected he would.

Instead, he gently closed the door and sat on the bed. He looked me in the eyes and told me he didn’t do those things anymore. He said he’d become a Christian and that he loved Jesus now and the reason he came to the party was to tell me that Jesus loved me too.

Within a few months this now pastor, Garrett Kell, call his friend and accepted Christ. I’ll come back to him later. My point is that Jesus changes us. Changes transforms us. In the passage we are looking at we see how Jesus transforms Paul the apostle. I saw Garrett Kell speak last fall at a conference and look forward to see him again. The Gospel always changes us.

Let’s read Acts 9:10-19:

applications:

1.        Be a person of prayer
2.        Be submissive to the Lord
3.        The Lord is Sovereign
4.                     As we look at this passage notice prayer.
5.        In verse 10, the text says the Lord visits Ananias in a vision. Now, I have to tell you that the Lord is about to do something dramatic. He is about to change someone who had been breathing murderous threats against the church. About 7 weeks ago we looked at the passage where Paul encountered Christ and now this is the second half of his transformation.
6.       The Lord changes us by prayer. The Lord encounters Ananias in a vision. The Lord talks to him and the Lord says that Saul is praying. That is what he says in verse 11. Notice that. Notice that Saul is praying. Saul has seen the risen Lord (1 Cor. 9:1), now he is praying.
7.        It is important that we are praying. I am going to come back to Garrett’s story later, but it has been said that no one comes to know the Savior without prayer. Saul is praying and he saw a vision of Ananias and at the same time Ananias sees a vision about Saul. When the Lord transforms people it includes prayer. Garrett’s friend, who had become a Christian, who had witnessed to him, he was praying for him. 
8.                   As we look at this passage notice obedience.
9.        Just notice that the Lord said to Ananias and he immediately said, “Here I am!” There was no stutter, or hesitancy.
10.       Then later on, Ananias immediately followed through and went to Saul. Later on, Ananias called Saul, “’brother’ Saul.” He followed through with what the Lord called him to do. Certainly, Ananias made a few remarks and excuses and I could understand that for sure. Paul had been killing Christians!
11.        I can understand this. When I was in school, there was a kid named Denny Smith, and he was the bully and if God told me to lay hands on him I would have been fearful. I dreaded going to school because of him.
12.       But Ananias was obedient.  
13.                 As we look at this passage notice God’s sovereignty.
14.        Just notice verse 15: The Lord says that Saul (remember that Saul is Paul) is a “chosen” instrument of mine. God has a will. God is in charge.
15.       know that there is no way that God cannot be in control and so He had a will and He has a will.
16.                 As we look at this passage notice the importance of the Gospel.
17.        God’s plan was that Saul would take the Gospel to gentiles.
18.       God’s plan was that Saul would take the Gospel to kings.
19.        God’s plan was that Saul would take the Gospel to the Jews.
20.       This all happens by the end of Acts. 

God made us to worship him. Remember the testimony that I began with? Garrett Kell. He writes:

A few weeks later [after the party], I was at home on Christmas break and I was doing a drug called Ecstasy. Sometime after midnight, I became strangely sober and felt an overwhelming burden to call Dave.

So at 2:00 a.m., Dave came up to my house, carrying his Bible, with tears rolling down his cheek.

We sat down and I told him I needed to know more about God. He asked me if I knew what he was doing when I called him.

He went on to tell me that when I called him, he was doing the same thing he’d been doing every night since he left Virginia Tech—he was on his knees praying for me.

Over the next few days and weeks, I continued to read the Bible and have conversations with Dave.

He told me that God made me to love and worship Him.

He explained that the guilt I was feeling was God showing me that I was in rebellion against Him and was on my way to hell.

He explained that Jesus died for sinners like me and then rose from the dead to extend mercy to me if I would turn from my sins and believe in Jesus.

He told me that Jesus would forgive all of my sins, change my life and make me His forever.

I’m not sure if it was that night or in the weeks that followed, but God saved my soul.

I began reading the Bible and it was no longer a book of old stories, but now it was like a spotlight that searched my soul and showed me the depths of my sin and the even greater depths of God’s love for me in Jesus.

Dave made a stand for Christ that night at Virginia Tech. God used him to get a message to me that eternally altered my life. Now, every Halloween night, I call Dave and thank him for the stand. God used Dave’s stand to save my soul and my life from utter destruction.

God changed Garrett, God changed Saul, and hopefully God changed us.

Review:

1.        Be an evangelist
2.        Be a person of prayer
3.        Be submissive to the Lord
4.        The Lord is Sovereign

Let’s pray:

below is yesterday’s sermon:

Intro:

Video from the Bible miniseries or the Passion of the Christ

Jesus’ resurrection is one of a few things that separates Christianity from other faiths.

POSSUMS AND THE GRAVE

I have heard that possums are smart animals. You wouldn’t think so because you hardly ever see one except when it’s dead on the road. There’s a joke that goes, “Why did the chicken cross the road? To prove to the possum that it could be done!” 

But possums, it turns out, are smart. They won’t enter a hole if there’s just one set of tracks going into it. They know there’s something in there. But if there are two sets of tracks. The possum will enter and not be afraid. 

The message of Easter is that we can enter the grave – we don’t have to fear death because there are tracks leading out of the tomb. Paul preached the proclamation of Easter: “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”

This is the message that we need to hear this Easter. Jesus is risen!

BAD NEWS, THEN GOOD NEWS

Nearly 20 years ago at the height of Operation Desert Storm, Ruth Dillow received a very sad message from the Pentagon. The message stated that her son, Clayton had stepped on a landmine in Kuwait and was killed. Ruth later wrote these words, “I can’t begin to describe my grief and shock. It was almost more than I could bear. For 3 days I just wept. I expressed anger and loss. For 3 days people tried to comfort me but nothing worked … the loss was simply too great.”

But 3 days after she received that message the phone rang. The voice on the other end said, “Mom, it’s me. It’s Clayton. I’m alive.”  Ruth said, “I couldn’t believe it at first. But then I recognized his voice and realized he really was alive.”  The message was all a mistake. She said, “I laughed, I cried, I felt like turning cartwheels because my son who I thought was dead was actually alive.”

This morning we come to a story that is very similar. The disciples, family members, those who were at the cross have all received the news that Jesus has died. (From a sermon by David Henderson, “Overcoming Death,” 5/25/2011)

So, now, let’s read the passage that gives us the resurrection account, read with me Matthew 28:1-10:

¹ After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

² There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. ³ His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. ⁴ The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

⁵ The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. ⁶ He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. ⁷ Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”

⁸ So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. ⁹ Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. ¹⁰ Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”

1.                     Notice first that women went to the tomb.
2.        Mary Magdalene and another woman named Mary went to the tomb.
3.       All 4 of the Gospel record this and is a proof of the gospels. Jesus even uses the women later in verse 10 to tell the rest of the resurrection.
4.        Now, these women are very upset. They are mourning. Jesus, whom they were following, had been crucified and now they are going to put spices on His body. The Jewish people did not do anything to prevent the decay of a body. Within three days the body would be decaying. Yet, not in this case.
5.                   Verse 2 records a great earthquake and an angel had descended and rolled away the stone.
6.        Interesting that Matthew records this earthquake and an earthquake previously in chapter 27:51.
7.       I believe this earthquake was caused by the angels.
8.        Why did the angel roll away the stone?
9.       Jesus did not need the stone rolled away. The stone was rolled away to let the world in, not to let Jesus out!
10.       Verse 3 describes the angel and notice in verse 2 the angel is sitting. Sitting means that his work is complete.
11.         In verse 4 the guards, these Roman trained guards were shaking. The word used to describe them is the same root to describe the earthquake, seisma.
12.                 In verses 5-7 the angel tells the women what to do.
13.        The angel acknowledges that they are looking for Jesus.
14.       The angel tells them that He has risen.
15.        The angel tells them to look in the tomb.

In the villages of Northern India a missionary was preaching in a bazaar. As he closed, a Muslim gentleman came up and said, “You must admit we have one thing you have not, and it is better than anything you have.”
The missionary smiled and said, “I should be pleased to hear what it is.”
The Muslim said, “You know when we go to Mecca we at least find a coffin. But when you Christians go to Jerusalem, which is your Mecca, you find nothing but an empty grave.”
But the missionary just smiled and said, “That is just the difference. Mohammed is dead; Mohammed is in the coffin. And false systems of religion and philosophy are in their coffins, but Jesus Christ, whose kingdom is to include all nations and kindreds and tribes, is not here; He is risen. And all power in heaven and on earth is given unto Him. That is our hope.”

1.       The angel tells them to go and tell the others.
2.       Notice again the commonality of the Gospel. Jesus uses women to tell of His resurrection.
3.                 Now, in verses 8-10, they see Jesus.
4.        Notice that they see Jesus and they fell at His feet.
5.       This means humility but it also means that they realize He is not an apparition. They realize He is real. They then worship Jesus.
6.        We must worship Jesus. This is why we worship on Sunday because Jesus rose on Sunday.
7.                   This brings me to something else I want to talk about: why does the resurrection matter? What is the importance of the resurrection?
8.        In 1 Cor 15:3-8, the Scriptures tell about Jesus appearing to the disciples and later over 500 people all at the same time. Again, Jesus showed many that He has been resurrected.
9.       Later on in 1 Cor. 15:13-15, the Scriptures tell us that if Christ was not raised from the dead our faith is in vain! This means that our faith is useless. Later on in that same chapter the Scriptures write about our hope in the resurrection. You see, because Christ rose from the dead we have hope. We have hope that when we die it is not the end. We have hope that when our family members and friends who are Christians die they are not gone, but with Christ in eternal paradise. We can see them again because they will have resurrected bodies as Jesus did. Paul wrote, “Where O death is your sting.” (1 Cor. 15:55) There is no sting because we have eternal life in perfect bodies.
10.        Also, Christ’s resurrection shows that this is not simply His normal body coming back to life. No, this is a renewed body. In John 20:11-18, Jesus enters a room when the doors are locked. It seems as though our resurrected bodies may not be as limited as our current bodies. Jesus’ resurrected body will not die.

                                                   i.      Neither will yours. If you are a believer in Christ, you will have an eternal, perfect body. 

Close:

Our bodies are weak and frail. That is why we die, but the resurrection gives us hope as death no longer has a sting. This happened because Jesus went to the cross. The cross is something that has caused many to stumble. To think that a King should die on a cross!

Cicero, the Roman author and orator, said, “Let the very name of the cross be far away from Roman citizens, not from their bodies only, but from their thoughts, their eyes and their ears.”

But the cross was the way that Jesus died. In His death He paid the penalty for the wrong things we do and then He rose from the dead, the first fruits of the resurrection. Our bodies are frail, but because Jesus went to the cross we have this hope that someday we will have perfect, eternal bodies in an eternal home where there is no death.

One once wrote:

He is risen!

Christ is risen! Sing it out with joyful voice!

He has burst the three days’ prison, let the whole wide earth rejoice! Death is conquered, we are free, Christ has won the victory.[1]

Do you believe that? Do you believe that Jesus died on the cross paying the price for your sins? Sins are the wrong things we do.

The Bible says that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). The Bible says that the penalty for sin is death (Romans 6:23). The Bible says that Jesus is the way the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father except by Him. (John 14:6). The Bible teaches that sin separates us from God (Isaiah 59:2). The Bible says that God will not let the guilty go unpunished (2Thess 1:8-9). Yet, the Bible teaches that God loves the people of the world (John 3:16). That is a dilemma. God can’t tell a lie or He wouldn’t be God (Numbers 23:19). God doesn’t change His mind (1Sam 15:29). That is why God sent Jesus. The guilty must go punished. Jesus took our punishment on the cross. The penalty of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus, who is the way, the truth and the life.

A simple way of saying that is the following:

You can accept Jesus’ free gift of salvation right now.

Pray with me and if you would like to believe in Christ today, pray this:

Dear Jesus, I know that I have sinned. I know that you died to forgive me for my sins. I know that you rose again. Please come into my life, I believe in you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Our closing hymn is:

*Closing Hymn: He Lives (Hymn 220)

As always our closing hymn is an opportunity for you to come forward to signify that you would like to go deeper in your faith journey through baptism or church membership.

Closing Blessing

Notes

1.                      Notice first that women went to the tomb.
2.                   Verse 2 records a great earthquake and an angel had descended and rolled away the stone.
3.                 In verses 5-7 the angel tells the women what to do.
4.                 Now, they see Jesus in verses 8-10
5.                   This brings me to something else I want to talk about: why does the resurrection matter? What is the importance of the resurrection? 1 Cor. 15:55-57

[1] “Resurrection Victory”

Hi All, 

Yesterday’s sermon is now posted below:

Video from the Bible miniseries or the Passion of the Christ

Jesus’ resurrection is one of a few things that separates Christianity from other faiths.

POSSUMS AND THE GRAVE

I have heard that possums are smart animals. You wouldn’t think so because you hardly ever see one except when it’s dead on the road. There’s a joke that goes, “why did the chicken cross the road? To prove to the possum that it could be done!” 

But possums, it turns out, are smart. They won’t enter a hole if there’s just one set of tracks going into it. They know there’s something in there. But if there are two sets of tracks. The possum will enter and not be afraid. 

The message of Easter is that we can enter the grave – we don’t have to fear death because there are tracks leading out of the tomb. Paul preached the proclamation of Easter: “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”

This is the message that we need to hear this Easter. Jesus is risen!

BAD NEWS, THEN GOOD NEWS

Nearly 20 years ago at the height of Operation Desert Storm, Ruth Dillow received a very sad message from the Pentagon. The message stated that her son, Clayton had stepped on a landmine in Kuwait and was killed. Ruth later wrote these words, “I can’t begin to describe my grief and shock. It was almost more than I could bear. For 3 days I just wept. I expressed anger and loss. For 3 days people tried to comfort me but nothing worked … the loss was simply too great. 

But 3 days after she received that message the phone rang. The voice on the other end said ,”Mom, it’s me.” It’s Clayton. I’m alive. Ruth said, I couldn’t believe it at first. But then I recognized his voice and realized he really was alive. The message was all a mistake. She said, “I laughed, I cried, I felt like turning cartwheels because my son who I thought was dead was actually alive.”

This morning we come to a story that is very similar. The disciples, family members, those who were at the cross have all received the news that Jesus has died. (From a sermon by David Henderson, “Overcoming Death,” 5/25/2011)

So, now, let’s read the passage that gives us the resurrection account, read with me Matthew 28:1-10

28 After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

² There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. ³ His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. ⁴ The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

⁵ The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. ⁶ He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. ⁷ Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”

⁸ So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. ⁹ Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. ¹⁰ Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”

1.                     Notice first that women went to the tomb.
2.        Mary Magdalene and another woman named Mary went to the tomb.
3.       All 4 of the Gospel record this and this a proof of the gospels. Jesus even uses the women later in verse 10 to tell the rest of the resurrection.
4.        Now, these women are very upset. They are mourning. Jesus, whom they were following, had been crucified and now they are going to put spices on His body. The Jewish people did not do anything to prevent the decay of a body. Within three days the body would be decaying. Yet, not in this case.
5.                   Verse 2 records a great earthquake and an angel had descended and rolled away the stone.
6.        Interesting that Matthew records this earthquake and an earthquake previously in chapter 27:51.
7.       Why did the angel roll away the stone?
8.        Jesus did not need the stone rolled away. The stone was rolled away to let the world in, not to let Jesus out!
9.       Verse 3 describes the angel and notice in verse 2 the angel is sitting. Sitting means that his work is complete.
10.                 In verses 5-7 the angel tells the women what to do.
11.        The angel acknowledges that they are looking for Jesus.
12.       The angel tells them that He has risen.
13.        The angel tells them to look in the tomb.
14.       The angel tells them to go and tell the others.
15.       Notice again the commonality of the Gospel. Jesus uses women to tell of His resurrection.
16.                 Now, they see Jesus in verses 8-10
17.        Notice that they see Jesus and they fell at His feet.
18.       This means humility but it also means they realize that they realize He is not an apparition. They realize He is real. They then worship Jesus.
19.        We must worship Jesus. This is why we worship on Sunday because Jesus rose on Sunday.
20.                   Next, Why does the resurrection matter? What is the importance of the resurrection?

In the villages of Northern India a missionary was preaching in a bazaar. As he closed, a Muslim gentleman came up and said, “You must admit we have one thing you have not, and it is better than anything you have.”
The missionary smiled and said, “I should be pleased to hear what it is.”
The Muslim said, “You know when we go to Mecca we at least find a coffin. But when you Christians go to Jerusalem, which is your Mecca, you find nothing but an empty grave.”
But the missionary just smiled and said, “That is just the difference. Mohammed is dead; Mohammed is in the coffin. And false systems of religion and philosophy are in their coffins, but Jesus Christ, whose kingdom is to include all nations and kindreds and tribes, is not here; He is risen. And all power in heaven and on earth is given unto Him. That is our hope.”

1.        In 1 Cor 15:3-8 the Scriptures write about Jesus appearing to the disciples and later over 500 people all at the same time. Again, Jesus showed many that He has been resurrected.
2.       Later on in 1 Cor. 15:13-15 the Scriptures tell us that if Christ was not raised from the dead our faith is in vain! This means that our faith is useless. Later on in that same chapter the Scriptures write about our hope in the resurrection. You see, because Christ rose from the dead we have hope. We have hope that when we die it is not the end. We have hope that when our family members and friends who are Christians die they are not gone, but with Christ in eternal paradise. We can see them again because they will have resurrected bodies as Jesus did. Paul wrote, “Where O death is your sting.” (1 Cor. 15:55) There is no sting because we have eternal life in perfect bodies.
3.        Also, Christ’s resurrection shows that this is not simply His normal body coming back to life. No, this is a renewed body. In John 20:11-18 Jesus enters a room when the doors are locked. It seems as though our resurrected bodies may not be as limited as our current bodies. Jesus’ resurrected body will not die.

                                                   i.      Neither will yours. If you are a believer in Christ, you will have an eternal, perfect body. 

Close:

Our bodies are weak and frail. That is why we die, but the resurrection gives us hope as death no longer has a sting. This happened because Jesus went to the cross. The cross is something that has caused many to stumble. To think that a King should die on a cross!

Cicero, the Roman author and orator, said, “Let the very name of the cross be far away from Roman citizens, not from their bodies only, but from their thoughts, their eyes and their ears.”

But the cross was the way that Jesus died. In His death He paid the penalty for the wrong things we do and then He rose from the dead, the first fruits of the resurrection. Our bodies are frail, but because Jesus went to the cross we have this hope that someday we will have perfect, eternal bodies in an eternal home where there is no death.

One once wrote:

He is risen!

Christ is risen! Sing it out with joyful voice!

He has burst the three days’ prison, let the whole wide earth rejoice! Death is conquered, we are free, Christ has won the victory.[1]

Do you believe that? Do you believe that Jesus died on the cross paying the price for your sins? Sins are the wrong things we do.

The Bible says that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). The Bible says that the penalty for sin is death (Romans 6:23). The Bible says that Jesus is the way the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father except by Him. (John 14:6). The Bible teaches that sin separates us from God (Isaiah 59:2). The Bible says that God will not let the guilty go unpunished (2Thess 1:8-9). Yet, the Bible teaches that God loves the people of the world (John 3:16). That is a dilemma. God can’t tell a lie or He wouldn’t be God (Numbers 23:19). God doesn’t change His mind (1Sam 15:29). That is why God sent Jesus. The guilty must go punished. Jesus took our punishment on the cross. The penalty of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus, who is the way, the truth and the life.

A simple way of saying that is the following:

You can accept Jesus’ free gift of salvation right now.

Pray with me and if you would like to believe in Christ today, pray this:

Dear Jesus, I know that I have sinned. I know that you died to forgive me for my sins. I know that you rose again. Please come into my life, I believe in you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Our closing hymn is:

*Closing Hymn: He Lives (Hymn 220)

As always our closing hymn is an opportunity for you to come forward to signify that you would like to go deeper in your faith journey through baptism or church membership.

Closing Blessing

[1] “Resurrection Victory”

Some of you may have been thinking of the “Heaven is for Real” movie, below is a blog article:

http://www.epm.org/blog/2014/Apr/18/heaven-real-movie

Below is a great article having to do with the marks of a great worship leader:

9 Essentials of a Great Worship Leader

Finally, I read this really moving illustration:

MISSIONARY Gregory Fisher writes: “What will he say when he shouts?” The question took me by surprise. I had already found that West African Bible College students can ask some of the most penetrating questions about minute details of Scripture. “Reverend, I Thess. 4:16 says that Christ will descend from heaven with a loud command. I would like to know what that command will be.” I wanted to leave the question unanswered, to tell him that we must not go past what Scripture has revealed, but my mind wandered to an encounter I had earlier in the day with a refugee from the Liberian civil war. The man, a high school principal, told me how he was apprehended by a two-man death squad. After several hours of terror, as the men described how they would torture and kill him, he narrowly escaped. After hiding in the bush for two days, he was able to find his family and escape to a neighboring country. The escape cost him dearly: two of his children lost their lives. The stark cruelty unleashed on an unsuspecting, undeserving population had touched me deeply. I also saw flashbacks of the beggars that I pass each morning on my way to the office. Every day I see how poverty destroys dignity, robs men of the best of what it means to be human, and sometimes substitutes the worst of what it means to be an animal. I am haunted by the vacant eyes of people who have lost all hope. “Reverend, you have not given me an answer. What will he say?” The question hadn’t gone away. “Enough’” I said. “He will shout, ’Enough’ when he returns.” A look of surprise opened the face of the student. “What do you mean, ’Enough’?” “Enough suffering. Enough starvation. Enough terror. Enough death. Enough indignity. Enough lives trapped in hopelessness. Enough sickness and disease. Enough time. Enough”

Below is a link to an article regarding the controversy about Jesus having a wife. Below that I have posted yesterday’s sermon:

http://www.albertmohler.com/2014/04/14/its-back-the-gospel-of-jesuss-wife-and-the-state-of-modern-scholarship/?utm_source=Albert+Mohler&utm_campaign=b0ba448ddb-Albert_Mohler_Email_June_7_2013&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b041ba0d12-b0ba448ddb-307773537

Last year I ran my first Marathon. Marathon is named after the Battle of Marathon which took place in 490 B.C. The name Marathon comes from the legend of Pheidippides, a Greek messenger. The legend states that he was sent from the battlefield of Marathon to Athens to announce that the Persians had been defeated in the Battle of Marathon (in which he had just fought), which took place in August or September, 490 BC. It is said that he ran the entire distance without stopping and burst into the assembly, exclaiming νενικήκαμεν (nenikekamen, “we have wοn”), before collapsing and dying.

Do you ever think about victory? Victory is exciting, isn’t it?

Look at this passage with me:

Hebrews 10:11-12:

Today, we are going to look at a passage where Jesus humbly enters the city of Jerusalem. He is hailed as King. He accomplishes His ultimate victory by doing something counter intuitive; He dies for the people He came to save.  He brings victory through death. He offers the one sacrifice for all time.

Luke 19:28-44:

1.                     In verses 28-35 we see the Preparation.
2.        Notice that the Bible says, after He said these things, or after He said this. Jesus had just given the parable of the money usage. Recall that Jesus had been in Samaria for a long time. While there Jesus told many parables and we have talked about some of these.
3.       Another source tells me this: “The elevation at this point is about 2,600 feet, and from it you have a breathtaking view of the Holy City. The Lord was about to do something He had never done before, something He had repeatedly cautioned others not to do for Him: He was going to permit His followers to give a public demonstration in His honor.”^[1] You know what it is like to travel and then you come to this gorgeous view. That’s where they are at, they are about to enter into Jerusalem.
4.        Now, Jesus sends two of His disciples on a mission. They are to go into this other village and find a colt and just take it. When asked they are to say that their Lord or Master has need of it.
5.       They do this, it happens just like Jesus says. They go to the village and someone does ask and they take the colt, like it’s no big deal.
6.                   In verses 36-38 we have the adoration, this is the parade actually.
7.        As Jesus went along people were spreading their cloaks on the ground. Look again at verses 37-38:

When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:

 “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

1.       Notice that Jesus receives worship.
2.        I once had a Jewish Rabbi ask if Jesus ever said He was God. Well Jesus did say that He was the Messiah (see John 4 :26), but Jesus also received worship. Angels told the people not to worship them. (Rev. 22:9) Jesus received worship.
3.       By the way, still notice the commonality of the Gospel. The people worshipping Jesus were the common people. This was a grassroots event. After all Jesus had been going to the common people and He had healed many of them. Jesus is now worshipped.
4.       There is a parade going on. Jerusalem’s population would swell for Passover and it is now during this time that these people are all worshipping Jesus.
5.         One thing I liked about the marathon is it was like a big parade. As I ran along there would be people on the side of the road cheering you on. In this case everyone is cheering Jesus because He is the King, the True King, the eternal King. In fact, throwing their coats on the road was something that meant, “I surrender to you.” It was symbolic of letting the person on the donkey walk over you, but instead of yourself, they walked over your coat. This was submission.
6.        Jesus is now worshipped. This was the adoration of Jesus.
7.       Video of the atheist comedian, even the rocks cry out.   
8.                 In verses 39-44 we have the condemnation by Jesus.
9.        The Pharisees missed Jesus once again. They asked Jesus to make the disciples stay quiet and Jesus said if they were quiet the rocks would cry out.
10.       Now, Jesus approaches Jerusalem and weeps over the city. Then He pronounces judgment.

and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. ⁴³ The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. ⁴⁴ They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”

1.        This was Jesus’ condemnation.
2.       Following this Jesus will go and cleanse the temple.
3.       Then Holy Week will continue until as our King He dies in our place and then He rises again. He was our sacrifice and that is why we meet today. He is Our Mighty Savior, worshipped by common, ordinary men and dying for us.

Hebrews 10:11-12:

Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God…

Close:

The question is do you know Him? I talked about Marathons and the battle of Marathon. The messenger died. Jesus died for us and in a metaphorical way, Jesus calls us to die to Him as well. Luke 9:23-24:

 Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. ²⁴ For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.

Jesus is the King, surrender to the Mighty Savior today.

Pray

^[1] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Mk 11:1). Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books.