Podcasts about new testament paul

⁠Sign Up for Prayer⁠: ⁠https://orbisprayer.org/⁠ ⁠Donate⁠: ⁠http://tinyurl.com/yfe3974h⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ In this episode of God is Not a Theory with Ken Fish, Ken Fish and Grant Pemberton explore one of the most debated passages in the New Testament—Paul's “thorn in the flesh.” Together, they unpack the cultural, biblical, and theological implications of this thorn, challenging commonly held beliefs about its nature and purpose. From its connection to spiritual opposition to its relevance for understanding healing, the conversation provides fresh insights into this controversial topic and equips listeners with a deeper understanding of Scripture. Key Topics Discussed: What was Paul's thorn in the flesh? Biblical references to thorns in the Old Testament How misunderstanding Paul's thorn impacts beliefs about healing The role of spiritual warfare in Paul's ministry Applying lessons from Paul's experience to modern-day faith How to Engage with Orbis: Check out Ken's book, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠On the Road with the Holy Spirit⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ For more information on the Travel Grant Match to keep Ken's travel down in 2025, send an email to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠bryan@orbisministries.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Become a ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠monthly partner⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Are you interested in learning about Holy Spirit-led ministry? ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Visit Orbis School of Ministry⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or email our Registrar, Jo McKay, at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠jo@orbisminstries.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Upcoming Orbis Ministries overseas ministry trips are posted on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠orbisministries.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ under the Train-Join an International Ministry Trip link behind the registration/login portal. Do you want to join Ken's private Facebook discussion group, "God is not a Theory?" Please send a Facebook Direct Message to Bryan Orbis and a friend request to be added to it. If you'd like to receive Ken's monthly prayer letter, please go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠orbisministries.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and scroll down to the bottom right for "Prayer Letter Signup."

Text: Prov 1:8-19 (ESV)   8 Hear, my son, your father's instruction, and forsake not your mother's teaching, 9 for they are a graceful garland for your head and pendants for your neck. 10 My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent. 11 If they say, “Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood; let us ambush the innocent without reason; 12 like Sheol let us swallow them alive, and whole, like those who go down to the pit; 13 we shall find all precious goods, we shall fill our houses with plunder; 14 throw in your lot among us; we will all have one purse”— 15 my son, do not walk in the way with them; hold back your foot from their paths, 16 for their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed blood. 17 For in vain is a net spread in the sight of any bird, 18 but these men lie in wait for their own blood; they set an ambush for their own lives. 19 Such are the ways of everyone who is greedy for unjust gain; it takes away the life of its possessors.   LISTEN TO YOUR PARENTS   Chapters 1 to 9 are focused to the relationship of parents to children. Here in the first chapter of Proverbs, we see Solomon giving the same exhortation to follow the wise instruction of parents. Children are commanded to honor them.[Ex 20:12] This goes beyond simple obedience, and includes the ideas of respect and consideration. In the New Testament Paul points out to us that this command is the first which comes with a promise. (Eph 6:1-4). Paul also commands fathers to raise their children in the "discipline and instruction of the Lord."   The wise instructions of a parent are like fine jewelry. Jewelry is a status symbol and serves as an item of beautification. Solomon gives a clear picture that parents, specifically their instructions, are not to be despised. Instead, they should be cherished as treasures.   The number one instruction from a godly parent is for children not to indulge in sin. Solomon is not saying "if" sinners entice you, he is saying "when" sinners entice you. Verse 11-14 is a personification of sin to pressure in tempting naïve kids, that is; 11 If they say, “Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood; let us ambush the innocent without reason; 12 like Sheol let us swallow them alive, and whole, like those who go down to the pit; 13 we shall find all precious goods, we shall fill our houses with plunder; 14 throw in your lot among us; we will all have one purse”—   The purpose of the example is to help us recognize and reject those "sales tactics", peer pressure, ends justifying the means, personal gain, and glory. Solomon's plea to children is to not even pay attention to these kinds of temptations.[v.15] The terms he uses here are "do not walk," and "hold back your foot." In other words, don't even let them get a word out, don't listen at all, "stay completely away from the path. In no way, shape, or form should we cooperate with those who are pursuing evil. This is an all-too-common plea from parents to their children: "Don't make the same mistakes I did."   Parents who have learned the hard way are the best teachers. They see the end from the start. As Solomon sees the consequence, that is; 16 for their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed blood. 17 For in vain is a net spread in the sight of any bird, 18 but these men lie in wait for their own blood; they set an ambush for their own lives. 19 Such are the ways of everyone who is greedy for unjust gain; it takes away the life of its possessors.   We have a wise saying in the Philippines, “Ang mga matatanda ay nagsasalita, ang mga bata ay nakikinig” This is no different to what Solomon says. The wisest thing to do is to listen and consider.   Listen and FOLLOW us on our podcast ------------------------- Visit and FOLLOW Gospel Light Filipino on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram

Solomon spends a lot of time describing the fool. In fact, the words fool and foolish appear in the Book of Proverbs close to 80 times. Solomon states numerous ways that we can make fools of ourselves: be self-reliant, don't seek counsel, don't consult God for guidance; don't learn from your mistakes; make sure others know you are always right; be sure to keep your eyes on the world; blame God for your problems; and forget about self-control. In the New Testament Paul tells us that it is actually okay for us to be fools— as long as we are fools for Christ's sake!

Solomon spends a lot of time describing the fool. In fact, the words fool and foolish appear in the Book of Proverbs close to 80 times. Solomon states numerous ways that we can make fools of ourselves: be self-reliant, don't seek counsel, don't consult God for guidance; don't learn from your mistakes; make sure others know you are always right; be sure to keep your eyes on the world; blame God for your problems; and forget about self-control. In the New Testament Paul tells us that it is actually okay for us to be fools— as long as we are fools for Christ's sake!

Series: Guard the TreasureTitle: How to Keep the Faith in Uncertain TimesScripture: 2 Timothy 1:1-18 NIVBottom line: We keep the faith in uncertain times by standing tall, suffering well, following the pattern of sound teaching, and guarding the deposit together. INTRODUCTIONCONTEXTSERMON OUTLINECONCLUSIONNOTESQUESTIONS TO CONSIDER OUTLINESDISCUSSION QUESTIONSMAIN REFERENCES USEDINTRODUCTION“There was no doubt that Timothy could do this. He was a prime candidate because, in Oswald Chambers's words again, ‘All through history God has chosen and used nobodies, because their unusual dependence on him made possible the unique display of his power and grace. He chose and used somebodies only when they renounced dependence on their natural abilities and resources.'God is looking for a few good "nobodies" —people who know they cannot succeed in serving him in their own strength.” -Hughes, P. 195CONTEXTSerious uncertainties exist:Timothy's struggles in Ephesus continueNow Paul is imprisoned with execution imminentFeels like the future of the Church hangs in the balanceWe live in uncertain times as well:Threat of WW III (Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan, Sudan, Nigeria)Threat of Enemy attack on US (EMP, power grid, southern border, bio warfare, terrorism)Threat of civil war over the culture war (Blue vs Red states)Threat of corrupt leaders at the highest levelsThreat of the basics (college; jobs; retirement; healthcare; inflation; energy indedependence)SERMON In light of these uncertain times, we can keep the faith despite the fears if we'll embrace Paul's 4 commands to Timothy also living in uncertain times. These 4 commands include:Stand tall. (“Don't be ashamed”)Suffer with me.Follow the Pattern of Sound teaching.Guard the Deposit.Paul believes in the power of the Gospel made possible by grace through faith in the power of the Holy Spirit. We must depend on Him. We embrace being a nobody by depending on Christ alone. If we're a somebody, we must do the same or lose the faith. CONCLUSION“As a young preacher from Zimbabwe so memorably expressed it:‘I'm part of the fellowship of the unashamed. I have the Holy Spirit's power.The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made; I'm a disciple of His! I won't look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still...I won't give up, shut up, let up, until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up, and preached up for the cause of Christ. I am a disciple of Jesus.'” -Hughes, p. 194Bottom line: We keep the faith in uncertain times by standing tall, suffering well, following the pattern of sound teaching, and guarding the deposit together. What is God saying to me right now?What am I going to do about it? Write this down on a sheet of paper. What I hear you saying, Lord, is ___________________.[my name] is going to believe/do __________________________________________________ as a result.Finally, share this with your Home or Mission group this week when you gather as a testimony about what God is doing in your life. You don't have to get too specific to give him praise.PrayNOTES“This was not something Timothy was to work out for himself or was entitled to enlarge. It was divine revelation committed to his care.? In the fifth century St. Leo gave Timothy's charge classic expression:What is meant by the deposit? That which is committed to you, not that which is invented by you; that which you have received, not that which you have devised; a thing not of wit, but of learning; not of private assumption, but of public tradition; a thing brought to you, not brought forth of you; wherein you must not be an author, but a keeper; not a leader but a follower. Keep the deposit.”1 Tim, p. 176Kent HughesOther imagesMamertine dungeonNot ashamedGuard the gospel/depositDepositPowerLoveSelf-discipline FlameGiftTearsGrandmotherMotherPrisonHoly SpiritTo Claude.ai I wrote, “We know that in 2 Timothy of the New Testament Paul called for Timothy to come to him in Rome. About how long would that trip have taken?”It replied:The journey from Timothy's location (likely Ephesus or somewhere in Asia Minor) to Rome during the time of Paul and the early church would have been quite arduous and time-consuming. Here's an estimate of how long it may have taken:- The total distance from Ephesus to Rome was around 1,500-1,600 miles (2,400-2,600 km).- Travel in ancient times was done mostly by walking, riding animals like horses/donkeys, or sailing by ship when possible.- Land travel speeds averaged around 15-20 miles per day on foot or by animal.- Sea travel by ship could cover 50-100 miles per day depending on winds and currents.So if Timothy traveled only by land, walking and riding animals, the journey would have taken around 3-4 months to reach Rome from Asia Minor, covering 15-20 miles per day.However, it's more likely he combined land and sea travel, which could significantly reduce the time:- A ship from Ephesus across the Aegean Sea to Athens was around 5-7 days.- From Athens overland to the port of Brindisi in Italy was around 2 weeks.- A ship from Brindisi up the Italian peninsula to Rome was 5-7 more days.Using this combined route, the total journey could have taken around 1-1.5 months with favorable winds and no delays. Of course, bad weather, shipwrecks, or other issues could have extended this considerably in ancient travel conditions.So in summary, Paul summoning Timothy from Asia Minor to Rome would likely have required at least 1-2 months of very difficult travel in the 1st century AD.QUESTIONS TO CONSIDERWho is God?What has he done/is he doing/is he going to do?Who am I? (In light of 1 & 2)What do I get to do? (In light of who I am)How do I do it?Let's ask some summary sermon questions:Q. What do I want them to know?A. Q. Why do I want them to know it?A. Q. What do I want them to do about it?A. Q. Why do I want them to do it?A. Q. How can they begin to do this?A. OUTLINESOutline Bible (Willmington)—OUTLINE (by WW)“The essentials for a successful ministry have not changed: courageous enthusiasm, shameless suffering, and spiritual loyalty.” -WWTHE PASTORAL APPEAL—chapter 1A. Courageous enthusiasm—1:1–7 4 Encouragements:Paul's love. (1-2)Paul's prayers. (3-4)Paul's confidence in Timothy. (5)God's gift to Timothy. (6-7)B. Shameless suffering—1:8–12Be not ashamed of the Lord's testimony. (8-10)God gives us power. (8)2 Timothy 1:8 (The Bible Exposition Commentary): “Years ago, I read about a Christian who was in prison because of his faith. He was to be burned at the stake, and he was certain he would never be able to endure the suffering. One night, he experimented with pain by putting his little finger into the candle flame. It hurt, and he immediately withdrew it. “I will disgrace my Lord,” he said to himself. “I cannot bear the pain.” But when the hour came for him to die, he praised God and gave a noble witness for Jesus Christ. God gave him the power when he needed it, and not before.” (WW)God has called us by his grace. (9)Christ has defeated death. (10)Four reasons not to be ashamed of his association with Paul, the prisoner:Paul was called by God. (11)A herald—official messenger of the kingAn apostle—one sent with a commissionA teacher—shepherd to the local churchPaul was confident in Christ. (12)C. Spiritual loyalty—1:13–18Be loyal to God's word. (13-14)Be loyal to God's servant. (15-18)Outline by MeridaI. A Gospel-Centered LetterII. A Gospel-Centered Leader (1:1-7)A. Paul: Called by the will of God (1:1)The origin of Paul's apostleship (1:1b)The purpose of Paul's apostleship (1:1c)B. Timothy: Shaped by the grace of God (1:2-7)A personal mentor (1:2-4)A godly mother (1:5)The Spirit and the gifts (1:6-7)OUTLINE by WWKey theme: Preparation for the ministry in the last daysKey verses: 2 Timothy 1:13–14I. THE PASTORAL APPEAL—chapter 1A. Courageous enthusiasm—1:1–7B. Shameless suffering—1:8–12C. Spiritual loyalty—1:13–18II. THE PRACTICAL APPEAL—chapter 2A. The steward—2:1–2B. The soldier—2:3–4, 8–13C. The athlete—2:5D. The farmer—2:6–7E. The workman—2:14–18F. The vessel—2:19–22G. The servant—2:23–26III. THE PROPHETIC APPEAL—chapter 3A. Turn away from the false—3:1–9B. Follow those who are true—3:10–12C. Continue in God's Word—3:13–17IV. THE PERSONAL APPEAL—chapter 4A. Preach the Word—4:1–4OUTLINE by BKCI. Salutation (1:1–2)II. Call to Faithfulness (1:3–18)A. Thanksgiving for Timothy (1:3–7)B. Call to courage (1:8–12)C. Call to guard the truth (1:13–14)D. Examples of unfaithfulness and faithfulness (1:15–18)III. Challenge to Endurance (2:1–13)A. Enduring hardship for Christ (2:1–7)B. Christ's example of endurance (2:8–10)C. A faithful saying (2:11–13)IV. Marks of a Good Workman (2:14–26)A. Faithfulness in ministry (2:14–19)B. A clean instrument (2:20–21)C. Faithfulness in conduct (2:22–26)V. Predictions of Faithlessness (3:1–9)VI. Challenge to Faithful Preaching (3:10–4:8)A. Faithfulness in the face of opposition (3:10–13)B. Faithfulness to God's Word (3:14–4:5)C. Faithfulness of Paul (4:6–8)VII. Reminder of God's Faithfulness in Paul's Adversity (4:9–18)A. Paul's enemies and friends (4:9–16)B. Paul's deliverance by the Lord (4:17–18)VIII. Final Greetings (4:19–22)DISCUSSION QUESTIONSDiscovery Bible Study process: https://www.dbsguide.org/ Retell the story in your own words.Discovery the storyWhat does this story tell me about God?What does this story tell me about people?If this is really true, what should I do?What is God saying to you right now? (Write this down)What are you going to do about it? (Write this down)Who am I going to tell about this?Find our sermons, podcasts, discussion questions and notes at https://www.gracetoday.net/podcastAlternate Discussion Questions (by Jeff Vanderstelt): Based on this passage:Who is God?What has he done/is he doing/is he going to do?Who am I? (In light of 1 & 2)What do I get to do? (In light of who I am)How do I do it?Final Questions (Write this down)What is God saying to you right now? What are you going to do about it?MAIN REFERENCES USED“1 - 2 Timothy,” by David Helm, Preaching the Word Commentary, Edited by Kent Hughes“1 & 2 Timothy” by John StottExalting Jesus in 1 & 2 Timothy & Titus, David Platt, Daniel Akin, Tony Merida“Look at the Book” by John Piper (LATB)“The Visual Word,” Patrick Schreiner (VW)“The Bible Knowledge Commentary” by Walvoord, Zuck (BKC)“The Bible Exposition Commentary” by Warren Wiersbe (BEC)Outline Bible, D Willmington (OB)Willmington's Bible Handbook, D Willmington (WBH)NIV Study Bible (NIVSB) https://www.biblica.com/resources/scholar-notes/niv-study-bible/Chronological Life Application Study Bible (NLT)ESV Study Bible (ESVSB) https://www.esv.org“The Bible in One Year 2023 with Nicky Gumbel” bible reading plan on YouVersion app (BIOY)ChatGPT https://openai.com/blog/chatgptAnswerThePublic.comWikipedia.com“The Treasure Principle” by Randy Alcorn

With Pastor Justin Smith from Christian Life Church Wednesday 4-10-24 https://my.bible.com/events/49242182

Questions Covered: 06:47 – Are there any independent sources of the murder of the Holy Innocence? 12:23 – Should the Saturday vigil mass only be for those who can’t go to mass on Sundays in a strict sense such as paramedics etc.? 18:17 – What does it mean to retain sins? 31:10 – Regarding the Church's stance on abortion. What does the Church stand when it comes to rape, incest and the life of the mother? 45:35 – How do I respond to my protestant friend who claims the early Church quickly fell into error? His evidence is that in the New Testament Paul was already correcting errors, and that the Old Testament says God’s people are continually falling away. 52:30 – Mt.16:24, What did Jesus mean when he said that everyone needed to pick up their cross and follow him if he had not yet been crucified when he said it? …

Each person who believes in Jesus has a battle going on inside. Between the desires of the flesh, and the work of the Holy Spirit. Each one. Sometimes we feel as though it's a battle we're losing, even though we've already won. How can we actually live out that victory? How can we walk in in the Spirit?   THE FLESH AND THE SPIRIT One of the most encouraging things God has ever said to me in His Word, the Bible, the most powerful thing I think, is that He is not surprised or perturbed or put off His purposes for me, one little bit, because of my sin. I mean, He doesn't like it; He doesn't want it to be the norm in my life but it is no surprise to Him. How do I know that? Well, simple. The Apostle Paul writes that very thing in the Book of Romans, beginning at Romans chapter 7, verse 22. Paul says of himself: Look, I delight in the law of God in my innermost self but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who is going to rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh I am a slave to the law of sin. And this is from a man who wrote almost half the books in the New Testament – Paul the Apostle. And you know what Paul was going through is exactly the same thing that you and I go through. There's a war going on between our flesh (the original Greek word for ‘flesh' is ‘carne', from which we get ‘carnal' – right?) and the work of the Spirit in us. And that battle can get us so down – it seems some days as though we are never going to win the battle – but Jesus has already won. “Who is going to save this wretch from this body of sin and death?” asks Paul, “Thanks be to God, Jesus Christ our Lord.” And that's the fantastic news I want to share with you today. Are you ready for it? One of the things I don't hear much chatter about in Christian circles is this reality of the battle that is raging within us between the flesh and the spirit. And when I finally go to be with the Lord, I want to find Paul and thank him for being so direct and honest and real about this reality in his life. He tells us here in Romans chapter 7, that he knows the right things to do – I mean he even wants to do them – he just can't seem to do them. That's the problem. Not that he doesn't know, not that he doesn't want to, but that he just can't. And our mate Paul wasn't some woos. He was no airy fairy weakling. Paul was tough as nails when he had to be. He was driven, he was focused, he was an achiever, he poured out his life for the Gospel and even he had this very same problem. Can I go on record and say I had this very same problem happening in me? And I know, I know absolutely, that you had the same thing going on in you. That's why church is never perfect because it's full of people like you and me – people who are growing and improving and changing but people who are, never the less, a lot like Paul. And his answer to everything is the grace and the power of Jesus Christ. I am going to share with you now what he goes on to say about how to win this battle that rages between the flesh and the spirit because the answer has everything to do with the power of the Holy Spirit in us. Are you ready to settle down and join me for this wonderful passage? Romans chapter 8, beginning at verse 1. He comes straight of the back of this problem that he is talking about and says, look: There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set us free from this law of sin and death. Because God has done what the law, weakened by our flesh, simply could not do: by sending Jesus, his Son in the likeness of our sinful flesh to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk, not according to the flesh any more but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those of us who live according to the Spirit, we set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind on the flesh, frankly, is death, but to set our minds on the Spirit, that is life and peace. It is for this reason that the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God's law – indeed it cannot, and those who are in the flesh simply cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, because the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ in them, does not belong to God. But if Christ is in you, though the body might be dead because of our sin, the Spirit is life because of God's righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, then, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through the Spirit that dwells in you. So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to our flesh, to live according to the desires of our flesh, for if you live according to the flesh, you are going to die; but if by the Spirit you will put to death the deeds of the body and you will live. I love this! Because what it is saying is: look, boys and girls, I don't care how bad things are, God's not going to condemn you if you put your trust in Jesus. “There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Your slate has been wiped clean and that is your starting point of your relationship with God. But now we have to deal with this battle that everybody has between the desires of the flesh and the work of the Holy Spirit in you. And the way we do that is by sorting out what we really want. Do you really want to follow the nasty desires of your humanity – greed, anger, sexual immorality, hatred, selfishness? Is that what you really want for your life? And if it is, then set your mind on that and that's what you are going to get! If that is what you set your heart on, friend, it's going to kill you. But if you set your mind and your heart and your desires and your focus and your attention on the Holy Spirit, that's going to bring you life. Your body may well be dead in sin, but set your heart and your desires on Christ and you will have life. Seems to me that whatever we set our hearts on; whatever we turn over and over in our minds, it's what we end up living. Set your heart and your mind on the Spirit of God and you will end up walking in the Spirit. Elsewhere in writing to his friends at Philippi, Paul puts it this way, really powerful. Philippians chapter 4, beginning at verse 8. He says, look: Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just and pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, then think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me and the God of peace will be with you. You see, our thoughts are where our actions come from. And that's something effectively, that you and I already know. I am in the process at the moment of shedding a few kilos of weight and often times I would just love not to go out for a walk after work and miss out on that calorie burning exercise. And often times I think, “Gee, look at that piece of cake. That would be nice for morning tea.” Do you know what keeps me on track? I keep thinking about what it will be like when I reach my target weight. God has already given His Holy Spirit to each person who has put their trust in Jesus. We already have the Spirit of God – we have the power. What God is calling us to do here is to turn that over and over in our minds; to keep focused on that; to keep thinking about how wonderful it will be when we finally overcome our anger or overcome our selfishness or whatever it is that's plaguing our lives. If there is anything commendable or excellent or praiseworthy, think about those things and the result of that is that we will end up doing the things that we have learned and received and heard from God. Thinking comes before walking. And so when it comes to walking in the Spirit and seeing the power and the blessings of that walk flow out into our lives, all we need to do is to set our hearts and minds and desires on the Holy Spirit and discover that by doing that we engage His power – the power to do the things that, in our own strength, we simply could never do. It's good news, hey?   CHILDREN OF GOD One of the greatest blessings in my life was my parents. Now, no one's parents are perfect and I know there are a small percentage of them who are absolutely horrendous. But what I got from my parents as I grew up in the Dymet family, in the small but comfortable home just south of Sydney in Australia, was safety and security and nurture. And I try to imagine sometimes what it would be like to be a child growing up in fear – afraid of being beaten, afraid of being abused, afraid because they are completely alone. Sadly many, many children grow up like that. Their parents have died or they live in poverty, completely alone. I can't imagine what it must be like to live in fear as a child – at a time when you are weak and vulnerable and defenceless. There is something precious about belonging to a family. We are made to need that sense of belonging and frankly, we are not made to live in fear. Over these last few weeks we have been chatting about walking in the Spirit; living our lives and journey in the presence and the comfort and the guidance and the nurture and the blessing of God Himself because His Spirit dwells in us. God Himself dwelling in us! And today we are going to finish off by looking at the powerful sense of family and belonging that comes through walking in the Spirit. Earlier we were chatting about how to walk in the Spirit – laying hold of the Spirit, rather than the desires of our flesh in our day to day walk. And it comes down to this one simple thing, according to God's Word: … those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. It is for this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; does not submit to God's law – indeed it cannot, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. It's about where we set our minds and what we desire in our hearts. It's a powerful thing! Because when we set our hearts and minds on God; on the Holy Spirit, it's like putting a car into gear and letting out the clutch. By faith we are engaging the power of the Spirit! And there are two other things that the Apostle Paul has to say about walking in the Spirit. The first … the first of those has to do with family, belonging to God's family. If you have got a Bible, open it. Romans chapter 8, beginning at verse 14. He says: For all who are led by the Spirit are children of God. See, you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry out, “Abba! Father!”, it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are in fact, children of God and if children, then we are heirs, we are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ – since we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him. See, the Spirit of God in us witnesses the truth to us, that we have been adopted into God's family. When we give the Holy Spirit full sway in our hearts, through Him we know that we know that we know that we know that we are children of God – precious in His sight. And here is the thing about being a child: what happens whether we live with our natural parents or whether we have been adopted into a family, is that we take on many of the traits and the mannerism of our parents. You may have heard me tell this story before but I remember the first time I saw myself interviewed on television – I was completely gob-smacked at how much I was like my father. The mannerisms, the way I spoke … it just completely blew me away. How could this be? Well, because he's my dad and some of the things I had inherited genetically from him and others, without ever realising, I had learned by mimicking him over the years. I was an absolute revelation to me. As we come to the realisation that God is our Father; that you and I are His children, I have to tell you, exactly the same thing happens. We start looking like Him and sounding like Him and thinking like Him and loving like Him and sacrificing like Him – right? And that's what is meant to happen. Being a child of God takes the fear away from our lives – the fear of being alone, the fear of not belonging – because when we are adopted back into God's family (which is actually where we were always meant to be in the first place) we know the blessedness of having God as our Father. And when we cry out to Him, “Father”, “Abba”, “Dad”, right then and there the Holy Spirit tells us that we are His kids. But secondly, children aren't just children. Children are heirs and in this case, we are co-heirs with Christ when we put our faith in Him. In other words, walking in the Spirit gives us the certainty that we have a destiny … an eternal destiny. Let's go on and read the second part, beginning at Romans chapter 8, verse 17. Paul goes on to write. He says, look: … if we are children of God, then we are heirs, heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ – since we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him. I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. For the creation waits in eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation has been subjected to this futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning like…..like in labour pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Holy Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for this adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were saved. So, Paul is saying, look, indeed there is going to be suffering – Jesus suffered, we certainly will but because the Holy Spirit is in us every moment of every day, we know that we have a destiny … an eternal destiny. As we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we need fear no evil, because God is with us and He is witnessing to us that we have a future – not just here on this earth, but a future with Him for all eternity. One day this world as we know it will cease to exist. One day you and I will no longer be alive on this planet and when either of those two eventualities takes place – whichever one happens to come first, we will spend the rest of eternity with God if we have placed our faith in Jesus today. We will be there with Jesus, so the suffering we are travelling through just doesn't compare to the glory of our eternity with God. Anyone who walks in the Spirit as the days and the weeks and the years pass by, knows that more and more in their hearts because the Spirit of God speaks it to us in a way that it becomes a part of us. Friend, walking in the Spirit is about experiencing the presence and the power and the promises of God. Let me say that again – walking in the Spirit is about experiencing the presence and the power and the promises of God. And that happens when we yield our lives to Jesus and set our hearts and our minds and our hopes and our dreams and our passions and our desires on the things of God; the things of the Spirit, rather than on the things of this world. And a huge part of that is setting our hearts on the destiny we have because of Jesus. And all of a sudden – and many of you figured this out way, way before I ever did – then all of a sudden we get the things of this world into perspective – the pleasures and the pains, the triumphs and the trials. We walk through each and every experience with power and peace, focused on the end-game; focused on the reality that we are saved in Jesus Christ; we are here to do His work; we are here to sacrifice our lives for Him. And one day we will be there with Him for all eternity, to worship Him and to rejoice with Him in His glory. Friend, that is God's plan – nothing more, nothing less – for those who choose to walk in the Spirit. Hey, that's quite a plan, isn't it?   GLORY, GLORY, GLORY!! So let me ask you – this fantastic stuff we have been talking about, not just today but over the last few weeks on the programme – is it just all too much to believe? Do you look around sometimes and think, “Yea, well, maybe for that preacher on the radio, maybe that stuff is happing in that guy's life, but mine … holy good night!” If you are thinking that right now, you wouldn't be alone and from time to time, to tell you the honest truth, that's how I feel too. You see, things happen in your life and you think to yourself, “Is God really in this place?” Well, seems the Holy Spirit knew exactly what you and I would be thinking when He had Paul pen Roman chapter 8. Have a listen with me. Just let the wonder of God's Word melt into your heart. Listen as though He had Paul write this for you, because you know what, He actually did. Romans chapter 8, beginning at verse 18. Paul says, look: … the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. … For in hope we were saved. And hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what they can see? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. So the Spirit helps us in our weakness; because we do not know how to pray as we should, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.  We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, and for those who are called according to his purpose … What then should we say about these things? If God is for us, who can possibly be against us? … Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? … I am convinced that neither death, or life, or angels, or rulers, anything in the present, anything in the future, no power, no height, no depth; nothing else in all creation, will ever be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. What is God saying? He is telling it just the way it is. There will be suffering and pain and all that stuff, but right here in the middle of this, the Holy Spirit is interceding for us; right here in the middle of this mess, God Himself is working things out together for good; working things out for His glory. And this Apostle Paul who went through all of the things he lists here – all of them: hardship, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword – has experienced the presence of God, the very Spirit of God, right there with him in the middle of all that stuff. And as a result, because of that experience, he is convinced absolutely nothing: not death, nor life, not angels, nor rulers, things in the present, things to come, powers, height, depth … nothing in creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ. Halleluiah!! Friend, this is what it means to be filled to overflowing in the wondrous Spirit of God. It's what it means to be baptised in the Spirit, drenched in the Spirit, drowned and changed and transformed in the Spirit. To live life, all of life, all of the ups and downs – two steps forward, three steps back – in the certain knowledge God is here in this place with us. God's Spirit is at work in us, changing us, cleaning us, pruning us, growing us. Halleluiah!! Friend, it takes power to live as Christ. It takes power to forgive as Christ forgave those who crucified Him. “Forgive them Father, they don't know what they are doing,” as they gambled over the very clothes on His back. And it takes that very same power – the power of the cross; the power that raised Jesus from the dead – that same power that is alive and effective in you and me as we yield our lives to Jesus, as we are filled with the Holy Spirit just as Jesus promised. Isn't that what you want for your life? Well, in Christ it's yours!

Episode Synopsis:I'm very excited to kick off season three of the Blessed Hope Podcast because we are taking up one of the most interesting and challenging letters in all the New Testament–Paul's first letter to the Corinthians.  This is a letter which is practical in the best sense of the term and we will spend a great deal of time going through it in some detail.One of the first things we will notice in Paul's First Corinthian letter is that he is not writing a systematic treatise (as he does in Romans and Ephesians).  Instead, Paul is responding to a number of important matters which have come to his attention that were troubling the Corinthian church.  But Paul is in Ephesus when he gets this information and cannot get to Corinth (some 425 miles away) any time soon.  So Paul must address these issues by letter.  We know Paul wrote at least three letters to the Corinthians (we are in possession of two of them – 1st and 2nd Corinthians) and we'll tackle them consecutively in our usual verse by verse manner.There are an number of controversies in 1 Corinthians with which we've all wrestled, and which are addressed by Paul.Perhaps you've heard the expression, “Christians are to be in the world, but not of the world.”  What does this mean, and why is it that so many Christians in Corinth remain “of the world, but not in the world?”  Paul tackles this question.What about the gifts of the Spirit?Maybe you or someone you know finds speaking in tongues to be the high point of the Christian life.  Perhaps you think it tied to the apostolic age and something not to be practiced today–what does Paul say about speaking in tongues and how it is to be practiced?What went on in a worship service in the apostolic church?  Paul gives us our only description of such worship in 1 Corinthians 11-14. What are we to do with those who profess faith in Jesus Christ, but who then do things which are utterly at odds with their profession of faith?  What is church discipline and why do Reformed churches practice it?Why does Paul spend so much time and energy in his discussion of the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15?  What does he say about the resurrection of our bodies and how we will dwelling in God's presence for all eternity?And this is just scratching the surface.  So, there will be much more to come as we work our way through Paul's first letter to the Corinthians.For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here: https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

The life and writings of the Apostle Paul are God's gift to the church. It's fair to say that we wouldn't understand the Gospel, theology, or missions well apart from Paul's example and letters. So, we read the New Testament and are encouraged to prioritize the Gospel of Jesus Christ and His church. Paul's example also teaches us to be team players, stick to priorities, and have a big heart for those supporting and serving alongside us.

Tithing in The New Testament - Paul Nichols - 11-19-23 by Border City Church

Week 6, Day 30 of our Prayer and Fasting Devotional journey.

Pastor Bryan White Hillspring Church - Richland, WA (hillspringtc.org)

Pastor Bryan White Hillspring Church - Richland, WA (hillspringtc.org)

The essence of your story in Christ (testimony) is: what it used to be like, what happened, and how it is today. Five times in the New Testament Paul's testimony is recorded (Acts 9, 22, 25-26, Philippians 3, 1Timothy 1), because your story is a powerful tool to reach others for Christ. Learn to share your story with others as we consider Paul's testimony.

The essence of your story in Christ (testimony) is: what it used to be like, what happened, and how it is today. Five times in the New Testament Paul's testimony is recorded (Acts 9, 22, 25-26, Philippians 3, 1Timothy 1), because your story is a powerful tool to reach others for Christ. Learn to share your story with others as we consider Paul's testimony.

Title: Characteristics of the Cursed - Part 2 Text: II Peter 2:17-22 FCF: We often struggle knowing who to listen to and when to follow. Prop: Because false teachers promise what they do not have because they are slaves to their nature, we must remember what we've been taught and obey the command we have been given. Scripture Intro: [Slide 1] Turn in your bible to II Peter 2. Last week Peter began a character sketch of the false teachers that will soon be or have already targeted the congregations throughout Asia Minor. He describes them as men who in their arrogance and insolence, irreverently spurn authority. Even authority that is created higher in order. Like fallen angels. But they are also brazen. They flaunt their sin practices and even try to entice others to participate. It is interesting to note that for Peter discussing these people as false prophets or teachers – he has focused up to this point on their lifestyles and not their actual doctrinal beliefs. Today he will continue to flesh out who these people are, and we'll see where he goes. I am in II Peter 2 starting in verse 17. I'll be reading from the NET today which is on page 1370 in the pew bible. But you can follow in whatever version you prefer. Transition: We have the longer of the 2 part sermons this week. There is much to cover. So buckle up and lets dive in. I.) False teachers look good on the outside but are empty within, so we must remember what we have been taught and obey the command we have been given. (17-19) a. [Slide 2] 17 – These men are waterless springs i. Peter continues his characterization of the cursed by adding two metaphors to describe the third characteristic of these false teachers. ii. Imagine a dessert place, dry and weary. A land empty of moisture and life. iii. But you are accustomed to the heat. You are from this area. So, you plan a journey according to where you can get water. iv. In your planning there is no way to arrive at your destination without stopping at a natural spring. You know it will be crowded but such a spring will sustain you long enough to get to the next city. v. So, you set out and make your journey. You use your resources you brought without any hesitation, knowing that you will arrive soon at the oasis where you can fill your bottles with the water from the spring. vi. But when you arrive you find it barren. Empty. Waterless. And has been for some time. vii. The natural spring – has dried up. viii. Not only are you unable to fill your bottles, but you don't have the supplies to get to the next city. ix. In a word – you are trapped. x. These men, are springs promising abundant life and providing none. b. [Slide 3] And mists driven by a storm, i. This image is less clear. ii. Either this is reaffirming that they promise something they cannot deliver (like clouds without rain), or it illustrates how they are driven away (by a storm) from the truth because they have forsaken the way of righteousness. c. [Slide 4] For whom utter depths of darkness have been reserved. i. Because they have abandoned the way of truth and because they are waterless springs, they have been reserved for utter darkness. ii. Their judgment will come. Just as the angels who left their place, just as the world in Noah's day, just as Sodom and Gomorrah. God knows how to reserve the wicked for judgment. d. [Slide 5] 18 – For by speaking high-sounding but empty words they are able to entice, with fleshly desires and with debauchery, people who have just escaped from those who reside in error. i. Going back to waterless springs and clouds that promise rain but never deliver, Peter breaks through the metaphor to spell out exactly what he means by that. ii. The false teachers are charismatic. They are energetic. They have a message that is well articulated and seemingly well thought out. They can “prove” it from the scriptures. iii. Yet these are empty words. They have no substance. iv. But if it really is empty and if it is antithetical to what the apostles taught, why are these words, no matter how well spoken, how are they able to entice people? v. How was the snake able to entice Eve? Pleasing to the eyes, good for the body, and able to make us wise. vi. What they are offering feeds the basic sin nature we are all born with. It offers something that looks good. Something that is natural and normal. Something that is a great benefit to us individually. But we must reach out and take it ourselves. And to reach out and take it for ourselves, we must violate a command of God. vii. But the final component here that completes this transaction, is that the people they are able to entice are those who have just escaped from those who reside in error. What does that mean? viii. Quite simply these are very new believers. Those who have made a profession of faith and have separated themselves from the world. ix. Enter the snakes to tempt them with a half step version of Christianity. x. “You've gone too far!” They might say. “You've isolated yourself. Don't worry about these things that the apostles are calling sins. It isn't like Jesus is going to judge you for them. Remember your sins are forgiven. There is no judgment to come! So, live like you want. Jesus loves you.” xi. As seasoned Christians we smell the stink of death and the smoke of hell all over such statements. But when you have a young believer, easily influenced, these words could entice them to follow their desires into sin. e. [Slide 6] 19 – Although these false teachers promise such people freedom, they themselves are enslaved to immorality. i. Seasoned Christians have no doubt heard this argument countless times. ii. “God just wants to keep you from all the best stuff.” iii. “Why does your God want you to be such Puritans!” iv. “I couldn't be a Christian, I'd feel too trapped.” v. Or even today – “Christianity is a religious tool used by white oppressors to keep minorities and women suppressed. We need to break free from Christianity's chains. Only then will we have a truly free society.” vi. Yeah – false teachers promise freedom. vii. But these false teachers offer a freedom that that they do not have themselves. They offer freedom from the law, but in reality, they are slaves to immorality or more likely – depravity. viii. Enslaved by A sin – sure – but more likely enslaved by a sin NATURE is what Peter is saying. f. [Slide 7] For whatever a person succumbs to, to that he is enslaved. i. Whatever overcomes you… ii. Whatever overpowers you… iii. Whatever undoes you… iv. Whatever dominates you… v. That is your master. vi. There is no such thing as spiritual freedom. vii. You are either a slave to your flesh, Satan, sin, and death, inheriting the whirlwind of the wrath of God. viii. Or you are a slave to Christ and His righteousness, inheriting life and life everlasting. ix. Either way you are a slave. But as the apostles found… slavery to Christ… redefines the word freedom. Can you call it slavery when it is the best thing that could ever happen to us? Can you call it slavery when it was exactly what you were made for? x. Is the Phillips head screw a slave to the turning of the Phillips head screw driver? Maybe… but this was the reason that screw was created. To turn with the screw driver and be anchored into the wall. xi. True freedom only exists in slavery to Christ. g. [Slide 8] Passage Truth: So, Peter teaches his audience the third characteristic of the cursed. They offer great promises of freedom and comfort, but are themselves enslaved to their own sin nature. h. [Slide 9] Passage Application: So, Peter's audience must mark these men, refusing to follow them in their sin, and protecting new believers from their influence. i. [Slide 10] Broader Biblical Truth: Zooming out to all of scripture we find that false prophets in the Old Testament would frequently tell the King of Israel what they wanted to hear. It made them very popular. In fact, Jonah's first prophesy was that the northern Kingdom would expand its land. When we studied Jonah in Foundations, we wondered if that was one reason Jonah did not want to preach a message that would lead to the conversion of one of Israel's greatest enemies. And in the New Testament Paul warns that people in the last days will have itching ears and accumulate for themselves teachers who will tell them what they want to hear. But the warning here is sobering. There is only freedom in knowing and obeying Christ. All other freedoms are false. So when a prophet, preacher, apostle, or seer tells you what you want to hear, what feeds your flesh, what gratifies your natural desires… he is false. j. [Slide 11] Broader Biblical Application: So CBC, we must be careful to preach Christ and His commands. We must not be too light on sin, for even though we know that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ, we have been predestined to be conformed to Christ and to grow into His full stature. Our goal is perfect submission and flawless obedience. We know we will never achieve it in this life, that is why we must be merciful to one another when we fail. But we also bear each other's burden in this and help each other to stand and obey again. We also must mark those who encourage us to sin in ways the scripture expressly forbids. Whether through a “new interpretation” of scripture or not using the scripture at all, we must be wary of someone who is light on sin, or who indicates in any way that God is not all that offended by our transgressions. And finally, we must pay particular attention to those who are new believers, young in the faith. They are particularly vulnerable to the lies of apostatizing teachers. Let us grow them in the faith so they may stand firm against the fiery darts of the evil one. Transition: [Slide 12 (blank)] Peter has almost concluded his character sketch of the cursed. He has only one more characteristic he wishes to make plain. But in here we find some fairly chilling words. II.) False teachers are slaves to their sin nature, so we must remember what we have been taught and obey the command we have been given. (20-22) a. [Slide 13] 20 – For if after they have escaped the filthy things of the world through the rich knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they again get entangled in them and succumb to them, their last state has become worse for them than their first. i. This is a notoriously difficult verse to consider. ii. Why is that? iii. Well in the doctrinal landscape of this country there are very few… remarkably few who would ever say that a person can actually lose or reject their own salvation. iv. Even some of the most hard-core advocates for human free will would really balk at the idea that once a person is saved, their own will could deconvert or unsave them. v. So most American or Western Christians would come to this verse and be very uncomfortable with what Peter is saying. vi. But before we rush to any judgments, let's dig in. vii. [Slide 14] If they have escaped the filthy things of this world 1. What could this phrase mean? 2. So first, Peter puts this in an if…then construction. This could set up a hypothetical on Peter's end, however, the verbs in the sentence do not use the Greek mood that is normally used to set up a hypothetical. 3. So Peter is probably not considering an if…then construction that is improbable or impossible. In fact, he is speaking of a real condition. Something that is fairly axiomatic. It is almost proverbial. 4. Then Peter describes the protasis, that if they after having escaped the filthy things of the world… we'll pause here. Turn back to verse 4 of chapter 1 with me. Let's read that together 5. “Through these things he has bestowed on us his precious and most magnificent promises, so that by means of what was promised you may become partakers of the divine nature, after escaping the worldly corruption that is produced by evil desire.” 6. That sounds pretty similar to what he says here of these apostates doesn't it? 7. Well, just wait, it only gets more difficult… viii. [Slide 15] Through the rich knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, 1. So, Peter has actually talked about the knowledge of Christ quite a bit so far. a. In 1:2, Peter wishes for God's grace and peace to be lavished on his audience as they grow in the rich knowledge of God and Jesus. b. In 1: 3, Peter says that it is through the rich knowledge of God that God's power gives all that we need for a godly life. c. And in 1:8, we are assured that if we can be described with increasing spiritual virtues, we will be kept or protected against being lazy in pursuing the knowledge of Christ and from being unprofitable in our knowledge of Christ. 2. So, what does he say here? That they were able to escape the filthy things of this world through a knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 3. My friends, Peter is using Christian jargon to describe these people. All indicators in this passage point to a person who was genuinely converted to Christ. 4. Peter describes a person who left the filthy things of this world as a direct result of the saving knowledge of Christ. 5. But after doing this… ix. [Slide 16] They again get entangled and succumb to them. 1. Those same filthy things of the world… 2. That same corruption they escaped by knowing Christ… 3. They once again entangle themselves in them and are defeated or give in. 4. So, Peter's if…then… presents a person who by the knowledge of Christ has escaped the corruption of sin, only to find themselves in it once again, but not just in it… defeated by it. Succumbing to it. Loving it. 5. If all this is true… what is the REAL conclusion? x. [Slide 17] their last state has become worse for them than their first. 1. Peter does not elaborate on this statement at all. 2. He simply suggests that as an entrapped and defeated person in the filthy things of this world, they are in a worse predicament now than they were prior to receiving the knowledge of Christ and escaping the filthy things. 3. Peter goes on… b. [Slide 18] 21 – For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than, having known it, to turn back from the holy commandment that had been delivered to them. i. What do we make of this statement? ii. How is it better to be a sinner who never hears the gospel, the holy command to repent and believe on Christ, to be holy, to love God and to love others… how is it better to never hear such things than to hear them, receive them, begin in them, and then turn back? iii. Peter does not explain. He doesn't actually give us the answer. iv. But before we move on, let me just say this. v. According to what we just saw, Peter is most assuredly teaching, not only that it is possible to be truly saved and reject your salvation… but that to do so, means you will never return from it. vi. “Ok Chris… where's the but…” vii. No buts. viii. Peter is warning the false teachers, the new believers, and everyone in the churches in Asia Minor about this real truth. There is no forgiveness for someone who receives Christ and is washed from his sin only to return to and be dominated by it. ix. Like Lot's wife, who escaped the city but was destroyed because she turned back… so are apostates. x. Peter stops short of calling these men the elect or children of God… but the description of them before they went back to be dominated by their sin again… is the same description he uses earlier to talk about Christians. xi. “So… are you saying that the bible doesn't teach eternal security?” xii. No. “Whew!” xiii. What I am saying is, that these two verses do not teach eternal security. xiv. “Oh boy. So, what does that mean for us? The bible has contradictions? How can the bible both teach that those who are Christians are eternally secure and that those who are Christians can reject their own salvation by going back to and being defeated by their previous sins?” xv. I am tempted to conclude the sermon here. xvi. The force of Peter's words on the original audience would have been like jumping into icy water. xvii. It would be difficult to achieve that today with our desire to quickly microwave all our problems away. xviii. To end the sermon here would leave you as uncomfortable as his original audience probably felt. xix. But Peter concludes his thought in verse 22… and as it is, verse 22 gives us the harmonization we seek. c. [Slide 19] 22 – They are illustrations of this true proverb: i. Peter is going to give us a proverb. ii. He says it is one proverb which means that both statements are actually the same truth encapsulated in parallel illustrations. d. [Slide 20] “A dog returns to its own vomit,” And “A sow, after washing herself, wallows in the mire.” i. I have, just, so much to say on this little proverb, that it is a little overwhelming to try to figure out how best to construct my thoughts. ii. First, this is the 3rd and 4th time in the characteristics of the cursed that Peter has mentioned the animal Kingdom in reference to these men. This is beyond a pattern… this is a thread of Peter's thought. So, what has he said so far about animals? 1. These men are like animals when they irreverently rebuke fallen angelic beings. Why? a. They prove themselves to be foolish, unreasoning, and unthinking – acting by nature- on instinct. b. They submit themselves to the capture and destruction of these fallen angelic beings as they become tools to be used by them and taken in their destruction with them. 2. These men are like Balaam who though claiming to be a seer was more foolish than his donkey who rebuked him for his greed. 3. And now here they are compared to dogs and pigs. iii. Before we analyze the proverbs themselves, we must make an observation. Throughout the 1st century world, both pagan and Jewish culture considered dogs and pigs to be filthy and appalling beasts. Throughout the scriptures, including in Matthew 7 – dogs and pigs are viewed as wicked or unholy creatures. Creatures that eat garbage and generally are shunned. iv. So, when we read this proverb don't think “man's best friend” and teacup pig ok? Think rats and cockroaches. v. But what is said specifically? 1. A dog returns to his own vomit. a. Not being a “dog person” – and I just alienated like half of you. Look I don't mind dogs… at your house. Anyway – not being a dog person, I wondered… is this true? Is it true that dogs eat their own vomit – often enough to conclude it as an axiom? b. After a quick google search it was fairly unanimous. Yes. Dogs eat their own vomit. Many sites (that were not Christian sites) mentioned first and foremost that it is actually natural instinct. It is a response to the stimuli. The vomit smells like food so they eat it. c. Indeed, a veterinarian site, responding to the question “should I stop my dog from eating his own vomit?” stated… no. There is no harm in them doing it. It's natural. d. And you wonder why I'm NOT a dog person? I think y'all have more explaining to do

Episode 167 – Paul’s Places – Part 8: Ephesians and Colossians 2 Welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” The goal of Anchored by Truth is to encourage everyone to grow in the Christian faith by anchoring themselves to the secure truth found in the inspired, inerrant, and infallible word of God. Script: Stand firm therefore, having belted your waist with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, … taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Ephesians, chapter 6, verses 14 thru 16, New American Standard Bible ******** VK: Hello! I’m Victoria K. Welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. We’re grateful to be with you today. We are currently doing a series on Anchored by Truth that we are calling “Paul’s Places.” By “Paul,” of course, we’re referring to the Apostle Paul who wrote at least 13 of the books out of the 27 books that comprise the New Testament. In this “Paul’s Places” series we are taking a look at Paul’s letters to the churches that are identified in our Bibles by the names of the cities, or the region, to which they were sent. This is our 8th episode in this series. So, for anyone who has missed any of the previous lessons we would strongly encourage you to go to our website, crystalseabooks.com, and check out the earlier episodes as well as any of our series. Today we’re going to continue our look at Paul’s letters to two churches that were located in modern-day Turkey. Last time on Anchored by Truth we began our look at Ephesians and Colossians. In the studio today we have RD Fierro, an author and the founder of Crystal Sea Books. RD, why don’t you remind us of the reason we wanted to do this Paul’s Places series? RD: Well, I’d like to start by thanking our listeners for joining us here today. When many, perhaps most, people read the Bible they tend to read the books individually. By that I mean when people read books like Ephesians or Colossians they tend to read or study that one book. And, while of course we’re pleased when anyone is reading the Bible, if we isolate on just one book at a time we tend to miss some of the patterns and connections that are present in scripture. And that means we don’t always develop a full appreciation for the richness of scripture and for the glorious message of redemption that it contains. So, one of the things we wanted to do with this “Paul’s Places” series is help people see a couple of things. First, that the content of the letters that Paul sent to the various churches to which he wrote corresponds to the character of culture of the places where those churches were located. Second, that the letters that Paul wrote make sense from a human and church history standpoint. Paul’s letters are both consistent with both the history and events of the Roman Empire in which Paul ministered, but they are also consistent with the phase of development that the early church was in. But to develop a good sense of all this fits together it’s necessary to sometimes look across Paul’s epistles and not just within them individually. VK: It’s not that people can’t learn and grow from studying books individually but it is important to remember that the entire Bible is God’s Word. And long before video games put “Easter eggs” in the games to reward especially diligent gamers, God put treasures in His Word that are only seen by diligent students of the Bible. Now, we want to make it clear. We are not talking about some sort of “secret wisdom” that some spiritual traditions focus on. We are not saying that there is anything in the Bible that isn’t available to everyone. To the contrary, we strongly believe God wrote the entire Bible for everybody. But as with anything, people who make the Bible a priority in their lives will derive things from studying it that casual readers will miss. RD: Amen. And a simple example of that was one we mentioned last time. Both the letter to the Ephesians and the letter to the Colossians contain the name of Tychicus. Tychicus was one of Paul’s traveling companions and ministry partners. Tychicus probably carried the letters to the churches in Ephesus and Colossae but strictly speaking it wasn’t necessary for Paul to have sent the letters with Tychicus. If Paul had just wanted to have someone carry the letters he could have used Onesimus who is mentioned in Colossians, chapter 4, verse 9. VK: Colossians, chapter 4, verses 7 through 9 say, “Tychicus is the dear friend, who faithfully works and serves the Lord with us, and he will give you the news about me. I am sending him to cheer you up by telling you how we are getting along. Onesimus, the dear and faithful follower from your own group, is coming with him. The two of them will tell you everything that has happened here.” That’s from the Contemporary English Version. RD: Right. So, if you just read Colossians you might wonder why Paul sent Tychicus and Onesimus to carry two letters. Certainly, either one could have handled the task. VK: But if you realize that the pair of them were also carrying another letter to Colossae, Tychicus’ likely role becomes clearer. In addition to the letters to the Ephesians and the Colossians the pair was also carrying a letter to Philemon [phi-lee-mon]. Philemon either lived in Colossae or the vicinity and Onesimus had either been a servant or a slave of Philemon’s. Paul wrote a letter to Philemon to essentially tell Philemon to be kind to Onesimus when he returned. Paul went out of his way to be as forceful as he could, given the delicacy of the situation. RD: Why don’t you read a section from Paul’s letter to Philemon from verses 10 through 20? Philemon is only one chapter so this is going to be an extract from the Amplified Bible’s version of that section. VK: “I appeal to you for my [own spiritual] child Onesimus, whom I have fathered [in the faith] while a captive in these chains. Once he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you as well as to me. I have sent him back to you in person, that is, like sending my very heart. I would have chosen to keep him with me, so that he might minister to me on your behalf during my imprisonment for the gospel; but I did not want to do anything without first getting your consent, so that your goodness would not be, in effect, by compulsion but of your own free will. … So if you consider me a partner, welcome and accept him as you would me. But if he has wronged you in any way or owes you anything, charge that to my account; I, Paul, write this with my own hand, I will repay it in full (not to mention to you that you owe to me even your own self as well). Yes, brother, let me have some benefit and joy from you in the Lord; refresh my heart in Christ.” RD: So, we see from that section that Paul was intensely interested in seeing that Onesimus was well treated. VK: And you think that it’s possible that is one of the reasons Paul sent the two of them together? RD: I certainly think that might have been in Paul’s mind when he made his decision not just about writing the three letters but in deciding how to get them to their destinations. Tychicus was, in effect, a senior member of Paul’s group so his presence in Colossae would have added weight to Paul’s request to Philemon that he treat Onesimus kindly. At a minimum it would have made the trip from Rome, where Paul was imprisoned at the time, a lot more bearable for Onesimus. So, that is a simple example of how we learn more about what was going on when we read them together than if we never looked at the total context. But it is also true that each letter always contains evidence that Paul was always fully aware of the individual cultural conditions of the churches to which he was writing. VK: Can you give us an example of what you’re thinking about right now? RD: Sure. Let’s take a look at some of what is mentioned in the letter to the Ephesians. The most famous architectural feature of Ephesus in the time of Paul was the temple of the Roman goddess Diana. VK: Diana was the Roman equivalent of the Greek goddess Artemis. Both were often labeled the “goddess of the hunt” although their sphere of control went beyond just hunting. They both were considered to have special influence over the countryside, vegetation, and wild animals – and, interestingly enough, childbirth. RD: The temple of Diana was so magnificent and famous that it was considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. So, the goddess Diana was especially important to the town of Ephesus in Paul’s time. VK: And that’s consistent with what we know about the cultures of cities within the Roman Empire. Each city tended to have a god or goddess that was particularly important to them. In this series we noted that Venus was especially worshipped in the Greek city of Corinth and Athena or Minerva in the Greek city of Athens. RD: Right. The local god or goddess were thought to provide special protection to their city and Diana’s temple was so magnificent that it was a tourist attraction. The temple brought a lot of visitors to Ephesus so there was a flourishing trade in Ephesus for making souvenirs that tourists could take home with them – especially ones made out of silver. So, just like with many major cities of today the culture and economy of Ephesus were tied together. VK: The temple and worship of Diana were so important to Ephesus that in Acts, chapter 19, verses 23 through 41 we hear about a riot that occurred that was led by a silversmith named Demetrius during the time Paul was ministering in Ephesus. Demetrius was so concerned about how many people were being converted to Christianity by Paul’s teaching that he was concerned the souvenir and silver trades were going to suffer. RD: Yes. The riot was bad enough that shortly after it occurred Paul had to leave Ephesus for his own safety and the safety of the church. But years later when Paul wrote to the Ephesians he could not help but contrast the difference in the relationship between Christ and His church with how the Ephesians viewed Diana. In Ephesians, chapter 5, verse 29 Paul says, “None of us hate our own bodies. We provide for them and take good care of them, just as Christ does for the church.” That’s from the Contemporary English Version. The believers in Ephesus would have appreciated the contrast that Christ provides for his people rather than the people having to provide for the gods and goddesses. The non-Christians in Ephesus saw themselves being “nurturers” of Diana. We know that from an inscription found in the city. Diana, in turn, is said to make Ephesus “the most glorious” city in Asia. So, in Ephesians Paul reminds the church that Christ makes His church “glorious and holy.” VK: So, in effect, what Paul is saying to the Ephesian church you are not giving up anything by belonging to Christ instead of worshipping Diana like most of your neighbors. Christ does everything for you that your neighbors believe Diana does for them – and even more. Christ, in fact, provides you with every possible spiritual blessing. Ephesians, chapter 1, verse 3 in the New International Version says, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.” RD: Yes. Again, we have to remember that the churches in Paul’s day would be relatively small by comparison to today. Most believers met in house churches – individual gatherings of, say, 10 to 30. And they were surrounded by a culture that was at best skeptical and at worst openly hostile. VK: Sounds kind of like today. RD: Well, we’re headed that way but thankfully we’re not there. And I pray the church can become the witness our culture needs to never get there. At any rate, it would have been easy for believers in Ephesus to think they were missing out. At a minimum they probably weren’t attending public feasts and festivals like their neighbors because attending them would have meant worshipping or celebrating the false gods and idols prevalent throughout their culture. To us, the fact that Paul promises us spiritual blessings and that we will be made holy and glorious is good news. But to those early believers, who didn’t even have the Bible for comfort, the messages Paul brought were food for starving souls. VK: And that’s part of what we want listeners to understand through this “Paul’s Places” series. In writing the epistles that are the books of our New Testament Paul wrote scripture but first and foremost he was pastoring his flock. He was trying to impart not only doctrinal and instructional information but also comfort and encouragement. And he had to do so in a way that didn’t set off automatic claims that his letters were seditious. People living within the Roman Empire were expected to pledge allegiance to the emperor. And in the first century the Roman state had begun to practice a form of emperor worship. That was a relatively recent development in their history and was a change from the earlier days when Rome’s government was a more republican form of government. But under the first Caesars the emperor came to be viewed in the way some of their conquered entities, such as Egypt or Persia, had viewed their royalty – as god’s on earth. So, to not be willing to profess Caesar as Lord, not just a civic leader, was tantamount to sedition. RD: Yes. So, when you read Paul’s letters you see that he is both bold but also careful. He straightforwardly proclaims Christ as God but in Paul’s letters you don’t see him demeaning the local gods or the state’s leaders. He lets the truth of the gospel push away the idols but he minimizes the impediments believers will face by not calling out the local belief systems by name. For instance, in writing to the Ephesians he does not demean Diana by name. Rather he proclaims the superiority of Christ over all perceived spiritual and celestial powers. VK: And Ephesians actually contains one of the most famous of the Bible’s discourses on the reality of spiritual warfare in Ephesians chapter 6. Surely, one of the most famous verses in all the Bible is Ephesians, chapter 6, verse 12. “We are not fighting against humans. We are fighting against forces and authorities and against rulers of darkness and powers in the spiritual world.” That’s from the Contemporary English Version. RD: And in the verses that follow Paul provides another of the best known passages in the Bible where he talks about spiritual armor. VK: You’re referring to Ephesians, chapter 6, verses 14 through 17. “Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared. In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” That’s the New Living Translation. RD: So, let’s take a closer look at one part of that section – the “sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” The Greek word that Paul used that is translated “sword” is “machaira.” Like most Greek words it is very precise. It refers to a relatively short sword that could be up to 19 inches long. One commentator, Patricia Holbrook has said this about the machaira. “Of all the swords that a Roman soldier could use, this one was the deadliest. Indeed, the “machaira” could be as long as 19 inches, but it was often shorter, resembling a dagger, therefore it was usually used in close combat. It was razor sharp on both sides of the blade and its very end turned upward, causing the point of the blade to be extremely sharp and deadly.” VK: Sounds pretty dangerous! RD: It was – to the enemy - but that is only part of the reason I want to draw attention to Paul using that particular word. The machaira was the sword that was most often used by the ordinary Roman infantryman of his day. So, now I’m going to go into a bit of military trivia for a moment. VK: Oh boy. Well, you did go to West Point. But let’s keep it family friendly. RD: We will. Military historians will often talk about how it’s always necessary to study tactics and weapons together. Without wanting to dwell on it too much successful armies have always had to combine the right tactic with the right weapon. Ancient Greece armies were known for using the phalanx as a military formation. It was a formation where the warriors were extremely close together, often interlocked shields, and carried an 8 foot, or longer, spear. That long spear enabled them to engage the enemy at a distance. But, for all its effectiveness, the phalanx had a downside. VK: Which was? RD: The coin of the realm in infantry combat in ancient times was how many warriors you needed to cover a particular amount of frontage. The job of the infantry is typically to seize and hold ground. So, men tightly packed together in a phalanx is good for mutual protection but you need a lot of warriors to cover much ground. One of the fighting formations used by the Romans was the square. In a square on an open battlefield the Romans didn’t interlock shields but left a small gap between soldiers. This sounds dangerous but wasn’t when the soldiers each new their role. They kept the formation intact by slashing anyone or anything like a spear head that came through a gap. VK: So, in that kind of fighting a short sword was more effective than a longer sword. The soldier could hold his shield with one arm while keeping the other arm free for deploying his sword cutting down anything that began to penetrate the formation. A sword that was too long in that situation couldn’t have been used as effectively. RD: Right. And needless to say the Roman army trained their infantry in how to fight in such formations on open terrain. It allowed them to cover more frontage with fewer men while preserving their lethality. The square was a very effective offensive formation and it was also effective at defense when the various units maintained the appropriate distances. It would allow archers or javelin throwers to go in front to launch their missiles and then quickly move behind the infantry by going through spaces between squares. The Roman military training, discipline, and effectiveness was legendary and that’s one of the reasons they were so effective and building and maintaining their empire. VK: And this short sword carried by the ordinary Roman soldier was an important part of that system. I see what you’re saying. The tactics and the weapon had to go together. But how does that fit in with the lessons we’re learning from the letter to the Ephesians? RD: In Ephesians 6:14 – 17 we have the Apostle Paul doing something good writers routinely do – using a metaphor to teach important principles to his readers. Paul used images that were common in his day. They would have been images familiar to his audience. Well, it is easily confirmed that the images Paul used were historically consistent with what we know about the time and place that the epistle to the Ephesians was written and read. Everyone in that day knew the common parts of an ordinary Roman soldier’s armor and armament. So, the fact that Paul used the correct term to define the “sword of the spirit” not only imparted additional meaning to his teaching but also confirms the authenticity of the letter. VK: What you’re saying is that we see no anachronisms in Paul’s letters to the churches. If Paul had said, “take up the musket of the spirit” we would instantly be alerted that the letter wasn’t genuine. Even if he had said the “sarissa” of the spirit we would be alerted to a problem. The “sarissa” was the extremely long spear carried by Greek warriors but it would have not been part of a Roman soldier’s normal arms. In other words, we have confirmation that Paul was writing during a period when people were well familiar with how a Roman soldier was equipped for battle. Paul’s metaphor would have made far less sense if he weren’t writing in the 1st century AD and he wasn’t writing to people who knew the Roman army well. RD: Exactly. Another quick illustration. Roman shields were most often wood frames covered by layers of dried animal hides. These shields were strong enough to provide an effective defense but light enough to be maneuvered in battle. Well, it was common for soldiers to dip their shields in water before a battle. We all know what happens to leather when it gets wet. It gets hard and stiff – but it would also be helpful for shedding flaming arrows or darts of the kind we heard about in our opening scripture. VK: In a way these are small, incidental details – so small you almost think they weren’t important. But the point of noticing them is that they illustrate the main point of this Paul’s Places series. The epistles Paul wrote to the churches are not, and do not read, as some critics assert, like myths or fairy tales. Instead, they are straightforward letters of encouragement to readers who lived within the Roman Empire during the latter half of the 1st century AD – which of course was the period immediately following the life of Jesus on this earth. RD: Amen. When we realize that Paul was being accurate in such small details as correctly identifying the Roman soldier’s normal sword we can be sure that when Paul writes about the resurrection, ascension, and intervention of Christ he is not any less accurate. The mundane information Paul provides, without a second thought, confirms the reliability of the supernatural mysteries that Paul was conveying. Christians live their lives in the here and now but we are already connected to the spiritual plane by virtue of the indwelling Holy Spirit and the intercession that Christ makes for us with the Father. Paul’s letters to the various churches illustrate that connectivity superbly. In chapter 1 Paul is telling us about the supernatural redemption we have through Christ and in chapter 6 Paul is telling us how to make that redemption real in our own lives by using an illustration of military equipment with which all of his readers were familiar. VK: This reinforces the big point that we are making in this “Paul’s Places” series. The epistles, the letters, Paul sent to the various churches we know in our Bibles by geographic labels are consistent not only with geography and culture but also with the history of the latter part of the 1st century AD. In the very first verse of the first book of the Bible it connects heaven and earth. Properly read every book after that reinforces that same connection. Paul could use the armor of an ordinary Roman soldier to accomplish an eternal purpose. We should do the same. This sounds like a great time to go to prayer. Since we are so close to anniversary of the day that America declared her independence, today let’s listen to a prayer for God’s blessings to remain with this nation. ---- PRAYER FOR RESTORATION OF THE WORSHIP OF THE ONE TRUE GOD VK: Before we close we’d like to remind our audience that a lot of our radio episodes are linked together in series of topics so if they missed any episodes in this series or if they just want to hear one again, all of these episodes are available on your favorite podcast app. To find them just search on “Anchored by Truth by Crystal Sea Books.” If you’d like to hear more, try out crystalseabooks.com where “We’re not perfect but our Boss is!” (Opening Bible Quotes from the New American Standard Bible) Ephesians, chapter 6, verses 14 thru 16, New American Standard Bible

God has been contiually calling His own people a stiff-neck, stubborn headed people, who will not listen to His word -instruction, advice, counsel- given to them by His Prophets. In the New Testament Paul tells us there's a time coming when men will not endure sound doctrine, which is the falling away-the great Apostacy-. That time seems to be right now more than ever, making His true believers to contend for the faith once delivered unto the Saints, seeing there's a famine of hearing the word, or really doer's of the word, Jesus say they honor me with their lips but their hearts are far from Him.

This is the last in our sermon series on Paul's letter to the Church in Philippi. You may want to consult the following commentaries for personal Bible study. NIV Application Commentary: Philippians by Frank Thielman New International Commentary on the New Testament: Paul's Letter to the Philippians by Gordon Fee

Sermon Outline The source of Christian joy is the right relationship with Jesus Christ. Jesus is the object of our joy. When should we rejoice? Always. Because we have a powerful confidence in God and His kindness. To rejoice in the Lord always is an attitude of contentment and hope that transcends circumstances. Why should Christians rejoice always? Because our joy is based on the promise that our God is strong enough and wise enough to make all things work together for our good. Our joy is anchored in God's work and promise. Sermon Application Have you found joy in Christ? What is keeping you from rejoicing in the Lord? If you have not rejoiced before, begin rejoicing today. The joy of the Lord in us is always the sign and symbol of our faith. Sermon Series Our fall sermon series is on Paul's letter to the Church in Philippi. As we go through Philippians, you may want to consult the following commentaries for personal Bible study. NIV Application Commentary: Philippians by Frank Thielmanhttps://www.foccusinc.com/login.aspx New International Commentary on the New Testament: Paul's Letter to the Philippians by Gordon Fee Questions? Do you have a question about today's sermon? Email Anthony Kowbeidu (AKowbeidu@StAndrews.Church).

Bible Study Don't just take our word for it . . . take His! We would encourage you to spend time examining the following Scriptures that shaped this sermon: Philippians 3:15–21; Mark 10:42–45. Sermon Outline “Do I show the world a Jesus worth crucifying?” Something like this question is what Paul wants to prompt in the hearts of his beloved Philippians. Philippi is, as we have seen, a remarkably vibrant and healthy choice, well established in the gospel of Jesus. But trouble lurks; and therefore Paul exhorts the Philippians to “walk according to the example you have in us” and not to “walk as enemies of the cross of Christ.” This is an exhortation to grow as a Christian, not just through information, but through imitation. Feet first; fingers follow (verses 15–16) Belly worshippers lose out (verses 17–19)Their goal Their god Their glory High hope for humble people (verses 20–21) Sermon Application How would you respond if Jesus appeared on the street? Would you treat him as a benign teacher? If not… as what? What matters threaten to push the gospel to the periphery of your life? Do you have a more mature (!) Christian in your life, whom you can imitate? How is your belly? What might it look like to entrust your leisure time to God? What guidelines could you (and if applicable, your family) cultivate to help you carry this vision out? Ask the Holy Spirit to apply this promise of verses 20–21 to your heart. If you are in a small group, pray for this promise to be of comfort to one another. Sermon Series Our fall sermon series is on Paul's letter to the Church in Philippi. As we go through Philippians, you may want to consult the following commentaries for personal Bible study. NIV Application Commentary: Philippians by Frank Thielman New International Commentary on the New Testament: Paul's Letter to the Philippians by Gordon Fee Questions? Do you have a question about today's sermon? Email Sam Fornecker (SFornecker@StAndrews.Church).

Bible Study Don't just take our word for it . . . take His! We would encourage you to spend time examining the following Scriptures that shaped this sermon: Philippians 3:10-14; John 17:14-26 Sermon Outline A Focused Urgency Consuming Desire A Sure Foundation Sermon Series Our sermon series on Paul's letter to the Church in Philippi continues. As we go through Philippians, you may want to consult the following commentaries for personal Bible study. NIV Application Commentary: Philippians by Frank Thielman New International Commentary on the New Testament: Paul's Letter to the Philippians by Gordon Fee Questions? Do you have a question about today's sermon? Email Steve Wood (SWood@StAndrews.Church).

We can find many incredible examples and promises throughout the bible of the power of God's Word and ways in which people were used by the Lord to release his word in order to bring breakthrough into impossible situations. In the New Testament Paul wrote to the Ephesians exhorting them to take the sword of the Spirit which is the “Word” of God and to pray. In the Old Testament God told Moses to "speak to the rock" so that its water would be released.  As we take hold of the word of God over our lives, we are able to speak to different situations in our lives and in the world around us and release the promise, provision and breakthrough of the Lord into seemingly impossible situations. This is part of our mandate and inheritance as children of God.

Bible Study Don't just take our word for it . . . take His! We would encourage you to spend time examining the following Scriptures that shaped this sermon: Philippians 2:5-11; John 17:1-5 Sermon Series Our sermon series on Paul's letter to the Church in Philippi continues. As we go through Philippians, you may want to consult the following commentaries for personal Bible study. NIV Application Commentary: Philippians by Frank Thielman New International Commentary on the New Testament: Paul's Letter to the Philippians by Gordon Fee Questions? Do you have a question about today's sermon? Email Steve Wood (SWood@StAndrews.Church).

Bible Study Don't just take our word for it . . . take His! We would encourage you to spend time examining the following Scriptures that shaped this sermon: Philippians 1:27–2:4; Luke 18:9–14. Sermon Outline Paul's message to the Philippians had clear political shades—his gospel, about the resurrected king of David's line, showed that Caesar was a pretended. The Philippians were to be encouraged that the defining order of their lives was not to be the greasy ladder of Roman social mobility, suspended under Caesar, but the fellowship in Christ and the Holy Spirit that unites the church. The radical implications of this message are sometimes lost on affluent modern westerners, who understand little of the pressures of social exclusion in the ancient world. But what if Paul's message challenges us where it really counts—our desire for an identity and purpose defined by “me and me alone”? Sermon Application Can you identify with what Rieff says about the “psychological man”—the person who finds his/her sense of self by looking inward? How does this passage challenge such an approach to life? If you know and love the Lord Jesus: do you identify more with the “scrawny saint” or the “beefy believer”? Which of the two—Paul's encouragement or warning—might you need to remember this week? Do you sometimes find yourself “canvassing for public opinion”? Are there traces of rivalry or self-justification in your relationships with others? Do you frequently operate out of a desire for attention, affirmation, and applause? Perhaps using a journal—so that you can record God's faithfulness later—repent of these things. Ask God for His help. What concrete, little expressions of humility can you practice this week towards other members of our church family with whom you have nothing in common but Christ and the Spirit? What do you find yourself thinking about when you are alone, or when you are with the people you love most? Is it possible that this flows from a desire to attain some identity and purpose and comfort, apart from Christ? Sermon Series Our fall sermon series is on Paul's letter to the Church in Philippi. As we go through Philippians, you may want to consult the following commentaries for personal Bible study. NIV Application Commentary: Philippians by Frank Thielman New International Commentary on the New Testament: Paul's Letter to the Philippians by Gordon Fee Questions? Do you have a question about today's sermon? Email Sam Fornecker (SFornecker@StAndrews.Church).

Don't just take our word for it . . . take His! We would encourage you to spend time examining the following Scriptures that shaped this sermon: Philippians 1:12-26 Sermon Series Our sermon series on Paul's letter to the Church in Philippi continues. As we go through Philippians, you may want to consult the following commentaries for personal Bible study. NIV Application Commentary: Philippians by Frank Thielman New International Commentary on the New Testament: Paul's Letter to the Philippians by Gordon Fee Questions? Do you have a question about today's sermon? Email Steve Wood (SWood@StAndrews.Church).

Bible Study Don't just take our word for it . . . take His! We would encourage you to spend time examining the following Scriptures that shaped this sermon: Philippians 1:3–11; John 15:4–5. Sermon Outline In the midst of suffering, how can anyone experience joy? The Bible takes this question seriously. The apostle Paul, in particular, had much to say on the subject. In fact, his answer to this question lay at the heart of how he understood his own relationship with the Lord Jesus, as well as the nature of his missionary ministry. Indeed, this question – how anyone can experience joy in suffering – is the hidden question, animating the joyful prayer with which Paul opens his letter to the Philippians. Sermon Application What perspective do you tend to take on God in the midst of suffering? Take this perspective to Scripture: how does this perspective measure up against God's character as he has revealed it in the Bible? In what ways did Paul's opponents in Galatia and Corinth uses Paul's hardship as evidence that God was against him? How did Paul respond? (If you want to dig deeper, see Galatians 4:13–14; 2 Corinthians 4:7–18). Compare Philippians 1:7 and 2 Corinthians 2:14. Where in your life may God be using some weakness or hardship as a means of spreading the "aroma" of Jesus? The word behind "partnership" (v.5) and "partakers" (v.7) is a root word meaning "fellowship," "association," or "community." Christians have often understood community as a fellowship united by common objects of love. Write a list of a dozen or so of the most significant objects of love in your life. With whom do these objects bond you? What area of your life or perspective might the Holy Spirit be prompting you to reexamine, in order better to share in the suffering of your Christian brothers and sisters? Memorize Philippians 1:6. Pray for God to strengthen you with the assurance that he is at work in you to bring your faith to fruition. Sermon Series Our fall sermon series is on Paul's letter to the Church in Philippi. As we go through Philippians, you may want to consult the following commentaries for personal Bible study. NIV Application Commentary: Philippians by Frank Thielman New International Commentary on the New Testament: Paul's Letter to the Philippians by Gordon Fee Questions? Do you have a question about today's sermon? Email Sam Fornecker (SFornecker@StAndrews.Church).

Bible Study Don't just take our word for it . . . take His! We would encourage you to spend time examining the following Scriptures that shaped this sermon: Philippians 1:1-11; Mark 1:14-15 Sermon Series Today we begin a sermon series on Paul's letter to the Church in Philippi. As we go through Philippians, you may want to consult the following commentaries for personal Bible study. NIV Application Commentary: Philippians by Frank Thielman New International Commentary on the New Testament: Paul's Letter to the Philippians by Gordon Fee Questions? Do you have a question about today's sermon? Email Steve Wood (SWood@StAndrews.Church).

Great Bible Truths Podcast Episode 129 The Promises of God Talk 10 The Promise of an Inheritance   In earlier talks we have seen that, among the promises included as part of our salvation, there are promises of righteousness and adoption as God’s children. These are closely related to the subject of this talk, the promise of a wonderful inheritance.   Titus 3:7 tells us that having been justified (made righteous) by God’s grace we have become  heirs according to the hope of eternal life.   And Romans 8:16-17 assures us that we are God’s children and that as his children we are heirs - heirs of God and fellow-heirs with Christ.   Paul puts it slightly differently in Galatians 3:29 where he says:   ...if you are Christ’s, then you are... heirs according to promise.   So the promises of God to his children include a wonderful inheritance. But  what will it be like, why will we receive it, and when? The answers to these questions are neatly summarised in 1 Peter 1:3-5 :   Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.   What will it be like? The NIV translates verse 4 as follows:   and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you...   Our inheritance can never perish The word imperishable immediately reminds us of the new bodies we will receive when Jesus comes again (1 Corinthians 15:50-54). As we have already seen, life in the coming kingdom of God will require a body that’s very different from the mortal bodies we have right now. Our new bodies will be immortal and imperishable. And clearly it will not just be our bodies that will be imperishable. The kingdom of God itself is imperishable. It’s unthinkable that there could be anything that would perish in his kingdom! So what we inherit will be forever. We have treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal (Matthew 6:20). Our inheritance can never spoil Many years ago, when my wife’s father died, her mother asked me if I would like to have two of his suits. As I was about the same size as he had been, I gratefully accepted them. One of them was almost new and fitted me perfectly and it lasted me for several years. The other one, however, turned out to be of no use to me as I discovered a stain on the left arm. And although we tried everything to remove it, the stain stubbornly refused to go. Apart from the stain, it was a nice suit, but it was unwearable because of the stain. My inheritance was spoiled! How glad I am that there will be no stain on the robes of righteousness that will be part of our inheritance in heaven (Revelation 7:13-14).   Our inheritance will not fade away Auntie Min was loved very much by all her nephews and nieces and on her seventieth birthday we gathered with all the wider family to celebrate with her. While we were there, my mother (Auntie Min’s sister) gave me some good news. Auntie Min had made her will and I was among the beneficiaries. Great! But of course nobody wanted Auntie to die and it would be many years before we would expect to inherit anything.   About 15 years later Auntie died and I was privileged to preach at her funeral. After the service my mother said to me, ‘David, I’m afraid you won’t be inheriting anything from Auntie Min. She lived so long after she made her will that all the money she had has been spent’. Little by little my share in the inheritance had diminished until there was nothing left. My inheritance had ‘faded away’. But there’s no such danger with our heavenly inheritance. It can never fade because it’s kept in heaven for us.   Why do we receive it? Notice what Peter tells us in verse 3.   Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,   It’s because of God’s great mercy It’s because we’ve been born again - i.e. because we’re God’s children It’s because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead   But to understand more completely why receive it we need to go back to Romans 8:17 which tells us that as God’s children we are heirs - heirs of God and fellow-heirs with Christ. The Greek word translated here as fellow-heirs is sunkleronomos. The word for heir is kleronomos. The prefix sun means with.  So a sunkleronomos is someone who shares an inheritance with someone else. This means that in Romans 8:17 Paul is telling us that we actually share in Christ’s inheritance! Now to appreciate this more fully we need to understand what is sometimes called our identification with Christ.  When we heard the gospel and believed it we were included in Christ:   And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed...(Ephesians 1:13 NIV).   Everything we have - and will have - springs from this. In the New Testament Paul uses ten different Greek verbs, all with the same prefix, sun, to express this wonderful truth:   We were crucified with Christ We died with Christ We were buried with Christ We were made alive with Christ We have been raised together with Christ We are seated with Christ in heavenly places We suffer with Christ We will reign with Christ We are workers together with Christ We are heirs with Christ.   But back to the word sunkleronomos. Apart from its use in Romans 8:17, it occurs only three other times in the New Testament and these reveal three ways in which it is possible to become a fellow-heir.   By sonship The first way you can become a fellow-heir is by sonship.   Hebrews 11:9 By faith he (Abraham) went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise.   Jacob was the son of Isaac who was the son of Abraham. As a result, Isaac and Jacob were fellow-heirs with Abraham. When I was about 10 years old I went into my father’s shed where my bike was kept and attempted to tighten up a screw which had become loose. I looked in my father’s toolbox for a screwdriver and started to tighten the loose screw, when my father came into the shed and said, David, stop. That’s not a screwdriver, that’s a chisel. He explained the difference to me and then went on to say that I should carefully look after his tools because they had belonged to his father before him and one day they would be mine. My father had inherited from his father the box of tools and I became a fellow-heir with my father of the same toolbox which I still possess today. We both inherited the same thing by virtue of being sons.   By marriage The second way you can become a fellow-heir is by marriage.   1 Peter 3:7 Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.   Husbands and wives are fellow-heirs. This means that what belongs to my wife belongs to me and what belongs to me belongs to her! When my wife inherited several thousand pounds when her father died I was glad to be her fellow-heir. She, of course, is welcome to the toolbox!   By grace The third way you can be a fellow-heir is by grace.   Ephesians 3:6-8 This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace, which was given me by the working of his power. To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ   These verses teach that Gentile Christians have become fellow-heirs with Jewish Christians simply by the grace of God. If you were to leave me something in your will – and I’m not suggesting that you should - since I am neither your son nor married to your daughter I would become a fellow-heir simply by your kindness, your grace.   So the three ways you can become a fellow-heir in the New Testament are by sonship, by marriage, and by grace. And that is precisely why we too are fellow-heirs with Christ. We are God’s children, we are part of the bride of Christ, the church, and it’s all because of his wonderful grace. We inherit what he inherits! That’s what it means to be a fellow-heir. And Hebrews 1:2 tells us that he has been appointed heir of all things!             When will we receive it? So, finally, when will we receive this wonderful inheritance? 1 Peter 1 tells that:   It’s kept for us in heaven (4) It’s part of our future salvation - ready to be revealed in the last time (5)   So I’m afraid you’re going to have to wait for it. We will only enter fully into it when Jesus returns.   But actually that’s not quite the whole story. A foretaste of our inheritance is available to us right now.   Ephesians 1:13-14 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.   The Greek word translated guarantee here is arrabon which can also be translated pledge. In Greece today, as in New Testament times, it’s used to mean an engagement ring. But it  also carries the sense of a foretaste. When we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit we receive not only a guarantee of our inheritance but actually a wonderful foretaste of it. As Hebrews 6:4 tells us, in the gift of the Spirit we have already tasted of the powers of the age to come.   But that must wait for next time, when our subject will be:   The Promise of the Holy Spirit.     For more on arrabon see the final chapter of my book, The Holy Spirit - an Introduction.

     The Ten Commandments are the beginning of the Mosaic Law code that was given specifically to Israel as a redeemed people (Lev 27:34), and they were not given in written form to anyone else. The Ten Commandments not only revealed the holy character of God, but gave the Israelites an objective standard for right living, both before God and others. Though the Law was given specifically to Israel, there is a sense in which God’s Laws are written on the hearts of all people, even those who are not saved. Paul wrote, “For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them” (Rom 2:14-15). Warren Wiersbe writes: "God did not give the Law to the Gentiles, so they would not be judged by the Law. Actually, the Gentiles had “the work of the Law written in their hearts” (Rom 2:15). Wherever you go, you find people with an inner sense of right and wrong; and this inner judge, the Bible calls “conscience.” You find among all cultures a sense of sin, a fear of judgment, and an attempt to atone for sins and appease whatever gods are feared."[1]      According to Paul, God has placed His Law within the heart of every person, which Law informs us concerning God’s standard of what is right; and, God has given every person a conscience. The word conscience translates the Greek word συνείδησις suneidesis, which refers to “the inward faculty of distinguishing right and wrong.”[2] Conscience does not instruct us concerning what is good or evil, for that is determined by God; rather, conscience is that inner voice that urges us to do right. However, because of sin’s corrupting influence, the human conscience it is not always a reliable gauge of right and wrong. It would seem that conscience functions cognitively in a judicial role, evaluating thoughts and actions and determining guilt or innocence based on moral laws. This would make sense, as Paul describes the conscience as “bearing witness” with regard to some behavior, and the mind serving as the courtroom, “accusing or defending” the action.       Human conscience, when operating properly, serves as God’s moral compass placed within each person. People instinctively know that God exists (Rom 1:18-20), and that the Law of God is good (Rom 2:14-15). We don’t have to persuade anyone. It’s already written on their hearts. God placed it there. They know God exists, that He is good, and that actions such as murder, lying, stealing, and adultery are wrong.      Those who have a relationship with God and pursue a life of faith will have a healthy conscience that operates as God intends. This starts when “the blood of Christ…cleanses our conscience” so that we may “serve the living God” (Heb 9:14).[3] In the New Testament Paul spoke of the “good conscience” that was connected with “genuine faith” (1 Tim 1:5, 19; cf. Acts 23:1; Heb 13:18), and he personally served God with a “clear conscience” (1 Tim 3:9; 2 Tim 1:3). Paul also described believers at Corinth whose “conscience is weak” (1 Cor 8:7, 10, 12). These were immature believers whose consciences had been corrupted by years of sinful living before their conversion and who had not fully restored their conscience to normal operation. Learning God’s Word recalibrates our conscience, and advancing spiritually strengthens it. In a negative way, there are some who progressively turn away from God and indulge in sin, and whose “conscience is defiled” (Tit 1:15), or who have “an evil conscience” (Heb 10:22). Paul wrote of some “whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron” (1 Tim 4:2). The word seared translates the Greek word καυστηριάζω kausteriazo, which means to burn or cauterize with a hot iron. Just as one’s flesh can be severely burned so that it becomes hard, without sensitivity, so the conscience can become hardened and without feeling. This is obvious in the person who lives in prolonged sin and no longer blushes at their wicked behavior. I once knew a man in prison who bore the moniker “Naughty.” I once heard this man boast, with smile and laughter, of having sexually abused a helpless woman whom he greatly degraded, and he did this without any remorse. I cringed as others laughed at his stories. Here were consciences that had become seared because of sinful behavior.      The believer, though having a conscience damaged by years of sin, can have it cleansed by means of the cross-work of Christ, and then recalibrated by means of God’s Word, which provides an objective standard for righteousness. But this will not happen quickly. Just as we exposed ourselves to many years of worldly thinking, which corrupted our consciences, so it will take time to unseat the human viewpoint and restore the conscience to normal function as God intends.   [1] Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 520. [2] William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 967. [3] The “blood of Christ” refers to Jesus atoning work on the cross, in which He bore our sin and paid the penalty that rightfully belonged to us. This was in contrast to the OT sacrificial system which could never take away sin, only cover it for a short time. When we believe in Christ as Savior (1 Cor 15:3-4), we are forgiven all our sins (Eph 1:7), given new life (John 10:28), and gifted with God’s own righteousness (2 Cor 5:21; Phil 3:9). At the moment of salvation, there is relational peace between us and God (Rom 5:1), and we have become part of His family (Eph 2:19), will never be condemned (Rom 8:1), and made free to serve Him in righteousness (Rom 6:11-14; Tit 2:11-14). In this way, the “blood of Christ” has cleansed our conscience from any notion that religious.

Have you ever wondered why so many Christians act like there's an Old VS New Testament battle going on when they read the Bible? Megachurch pastor, Andy Stanley, went so far as to suggest that churches should "unhitch" from the Old Testament. This idea isn't new. It's been around pretty much since the Day of Pentecost. And it's all because most Christians have spent 2,000 years with their biblical paradigm upside-down. This is a big no-no, and I'll prove it to you in less than 10 minutes. Looking for a resource to go DEEPER into the Jewish context of Scripture? Check out Reading the Bible With Rabbi Jesus by Lois Tverberg! The Bible Nerds Show is a PAY IT FORWARD podcast! We don't have sponsors, but if you're interested in giving back because of the show, check out OneChild. Learn more! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thebiblenerdsshow/message

What does the Bible say about Racism? In the New Testament Paul speaks to Christian slaves...

Title: Defend the Faith Text: II John 4-11 FCF: We often struggle with how to respond to those who teach a false gospel. Prop: Because true children of God walk in truth, love and obedience, we must defend the faith. Scripture Intro: [Slide 1] Turn in your bible to II John. In a book that only spans 13 verses, it may be a little surprising to see that we will be covering the vast majority of them in this sermon. There are all kinds of different preachers out there. Some preachers tend to be a little more topical and cover large portions of scripture in their sermons. Others tend to be more exacting of the text and cover sometimes only a word per sermon. My philosophy has always been to try to capture the thought of the author. Paragraphs typically serve as good indicators for where the author’s thought begins and ends – the only problem of course – is that the manuscripts we have of the text of scripture from the original languages did not include any punctuation at all – much less paragraph markings. I really did try this week to separate this sermon into two. However, what became apparent was verse 4 through 11 has no obvious thought break. Starting in verse 4, he makes a point and continues to run with that point until he starts to say his goodbyes. I suppose we should expect in a letter this brief that he would probably only have 1 point to communicate clearly and then say his goodbyes. There are two dangers. If I divided his thought we may miss his meaning, if I don’t you may lose some details. I decided the latter was the better option, but I need your help. There is a lot in this sermon – so you must keep paying attention. I am in II John, I’ll begin reading in verse 4. I am reading from the NET but you can follow along in whatever version you prefer. Transition: The last couple weeks I have let you off easy with a couple shorter sermons. Well this week is where we make up for it. We are covering a lot of ground, so do your best to pay attention. The folks at home have the luxury of a pause feature, but for those who are here, do your best to stick with me ok. I.) Genuine Christians walk in truth, love and obedience, so we must live in truth, love and obedience. (4-6) a. [Slide 2] 4 – I rejoiced greatly because I have found some of your children living according to the truth, i. There are two ways we could read this. One is fairly passive aggressive and the other is not. ii. John could be saying that he is rejoiced to find out that not all of the people in the church there had stopped living in the truth. iii. Or, John could be saying that he met some of the church there and was overjoyed to find that of that small sampling, all of them were living according to the truth. iv. I don’t think John would have pulled any punches and worded it this way if it was the former. So, the latter interpretation is preferred. Not being the elder or leader of the church in question, he may not have had opportunity to meet with many of the church there. But, what a joy it would be, after seeing the fallout of the church from I John, to meet others from another church who remained faithful. b. [Slide 3] Just as the Father commanded us. i. If you have not picked up on the line of reasoning by now that God expects obedience from those who are truly His people – I’d say that you may be a visitor here and this is your first time in this church. ii. God’s command to His true children is to live according to the truth. To walk in obedience. To live as if you are the ongoing recipients of His grace, mercy, peace, and love. Because you are. iii. But John is not just going to complement this church… now he will exhort her. c. [Slide 4] 5 – But now I ask you, lady () that we love one another i. In the next couple verses there are parenthetical statements that disrupt the flow of thought. I have approached this by excluding those phrases from consideration until we finish the thought. ii. I feel as though this will help us not get distracted. iii. John’s charge is that we love one another. It is interesting. iv. He is not charging her exclusively – but all of Christianity including himself. With what command? v. To love one another. vi. So why is he commanding her to do this? Is this church failing to do this? vii. Well that is where the parenthetical statement comes in… d. [Slide 5] (not as if I were writing a new commandment to you, but the one we have had from the beginning) i. It is not that this church had been failing to love one another. ii. In fact John said before that he loved them in truth. And since, at least some of them were walking in truth, it is logical to conclude that they also were continuing to love one another. iii. Rather this is a standing order from the Father that all His children love His children with the love of Christ. iv. From the beginning is not the beginning of time but rather the beginning of their conversion. v. Jesus said that he gave a new command that they love one another as He had loved them. vi. And so this command is the marching order from conversion to glory. e. [Slide 6] 6 – () This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning; Thus you should walk in it. i. The first part of this is another parenthetical statement so continuing John’s thought, he says ii. That this command to love one another, since it IS something you were given from the beginning that adds weight to the fact that you should walk in it. That you should live it. iii. But parenthetically John wants to define his terms. iv. What does it mean to LOVE one another? f. [Slide 7] (Now this is love: that we walk according to His commandments.) i. Obedience to God is love. ii. So obeying God equals loving other believers. We need to adjust our understanding of what it means to love one another. iii. As we pointed out in our I John series – we love others by loving God. And we cannot love God if we do not obey Him. Our love toward our brothers and sisters is not, in fact, aimed at them at all. Our love is aimed at Christ in them. iv. To obey the second greatest command, you must obey the first. v. And so here again as we saw in I John these three evidences of being fathered of God continue to exist. vi. In I John we noted that a person who has growing faith, enduring selfless love, and progressive obedience is a person who has been fathered of God. vii. In II John Truth contains all the giftings of God the triune to His beloved children. And John has commended some of this congregation for walking in truth. Now he asks them to walk in love which He says is walking in obedience. Truth, love and obedience. viii. This sounds an awful lot like Faith, love and obedience from I John. ix. And as we discovered in our Wednesday bible study this past week – separating truth, love, obedience, grace, mercy, peace, is a fool’s errand. They are one – all-encompassing gift of God to His dear children in Christ. x. So, what then is the command that they should walk in? They must love… and if love is defined as obedience to God, and if love flows from truth, then all three are commanded. We love in truth and to love we must obey God. xi. So the command is to walk in truth, love and obedience. g. [Slide 8] Passage Truth: John tells his readers that the commands that God has given them from the beginning of their new life in Him, endures even now. h. Passage Application: That they must walk in truth, love and obedience and continue to do so. He will build and expand on this and what this means in the text to follow. i. [Slide 9] Broader Biblical Truth: Zooming out from the text to I John, to Romans, to Ephesians, to Leviticus, to Deuteronomy, to Isaiah, to Micah – we see that God has always and will always command His people to walk in truth, love, and obedience. And no matter which covenant context you are in, the life of those in covenant with God continues to bear the same fruit. j. Broader Biblical Application: And now – in the New Covenant, we who are IN Christ bear all the more the responsibility and the capability of walking in truth, love and obedience. Transition: [Slide 10(blank)] But John is only getting started. He needs to expand on this to bring out a specific expression of this application. II.) Genuine Christians walk in truth, love and obedience , so we must watch out for deceivers. (7-8) a. [Slide 11] 7 – For many deceivers have gone out into the world, i. So the segue to this next point is difficult to realize. ii. John says “for” for is a word of subordination. It means that whatever follows is somehow related to what has been said before. iii. So John desires greatly that this church continue to walk in truth, love and obedience. iv. So related to that thought is this one… v. Many liars have gone out into the world. This implies that they were once not in the world. This is not John’s way of expressing someone who has rejected or lost their salvation, but rather a person who has left or rejected the confession of the church proving they were never part of them. vi. Now we may balk at that and wonder what does one of these have to do with the other, but it seems fairly obvious. vii. If all believers have been commanded to and will continue to walk in truth, love, and obedience – then when you find some “believers” who do not… you should take note. They are liars. viii. But how do we know they are no longer walking in truth, love, and obedience? b. [Slide 12] people who do not confess Jesus as Christ coming in the flesh. i. Doctrinal confession and adherence is included in walking in truth. It is not the sum total – but it is included. And therefore, one sign that they are not walking in truth, love, and obedience is that they deny doctrinal truths. ii. What particularly is their brand of lie –the specific context in which John writes here is the teaching that Jesus Christ was a human. iii. This is a teaching we should be extremely familiar with although it is somewhat disconnected from our culture. Most people today assume Jesus was a human just not God. iv. John’s words here affirm both though. Jesus as Christ coming in flesh. He was the Messiah of God that came in flesh. Both God and Man. c. [Slide 13] This person is the deceiver and the antichrist! i. John had similar language to refer to these folks in I John. ii. Definite articles in Greek do not function with the strength that they do in English. iii. This is rightly translated the deceiver and the antichrist – but we dare not think or assume that he is saying that such liars are THE deceiver and THE antichrist. iv. The man of lawlessness and Satan Himself are not somehow absorbed or in possession of a person who is an apostate who denies Jesus’ humanity. Such a statement stretches the Greek article farther than it can go. v. But we should walk away from this text with the strong language that John has used. vi. Such people – who were once part of the assembly, who now deny Christ come in flesh, who deny his atonement, who deny the Sonship to Yahweh, who deny the Old Testament program set in motion and fulfilled in Christ – such people who deny core Christological truth… vii. Are they confused? Deceived? Are they victims? Ought they be coddled? Ought they be plead with to repent? viii. John calls them the deceiver and the Antichrist. What does this mean? ix. They are working for their master Satan and in the spirit of the man of lawlessness that is to come. x. Those… are VERY strong words. Words we ought to be mindful of when we speak about people who have “deconverted” – specifically those who have deconverted and now adamantly oppose or teach against their former confession. xi. It is not that they are simply unsaved. It is not that they have been deceived. THEY ARE NOT VICTIMS! xii. Rather – they are agents of darkness. They are anti- Christ. They are God’s enemies. xiii. So what is John’s call upon his readers? How will they walk in truth, love, and obedience in reference to those who have gone out? d. [Slide 14] 8 – Watch out, so that you do not lose the things we have worked for, i. Beware! Beware! John says. ii. Jude says they are dangerous reefs leading only to shipwreck iii. Beware oh Christian! They only destroy! iv. If you do not beware, what will happen? We will lose what we have worked for. What does that mean? v. Well this is somewhat of a subject of debate. 1. Some have looked ahead to verse 9 and seen it as a plainer expression of what John says here. In other words, to lose what we have worked for, is to prove that they were never truly converted. This church will lose what the apostles had labored over in their community – specifically the conversion of their souls. This however, seems to present more questions than it does answers. 2. The other way to approach this is to define this as the ministry of the gospel. Although Jesus has given a guarantee that His church will be victorious over the gates of hell – that does not mean every local visible church. Some churches will be (and indeed have been) ravaged by apostates and false teachers. If they are allowed to persist. If they are coddled. If they are not seen for what they are… They will destroy all that we have worked for. vi. This second interpretation is what I prefer when I look at this text. It makes more sense to me that John is not necessarily talking about the church’s status in relationship to salvation, but rather the church’s status in relationship to the work of God in the world. vii. So the negative reason they should beware is that these apostates are sure to destroy what God is doing in their community if they allow them. viii. The positive reason though is… e. [Slide 15] But receive a full reward. i. So that the full reward in that day when we approach that throne will be given to us. ii. That we who have been found faithful in the little things will be given more. iii. How we conduct ourselves in ministry here on earth does have an effect on our reward in the kingdom to come. And while are not told precisely what that means or how that works – John’s point is this… iv. Do not underestimate the destructive power of the apostate. If you do, you will watch as the entire ministry crumbles around you. v. Instead – beware and mark them. Prepare each other for their lies. And stand firm and defend the faith so that you will be found faithful and rewarded accordingly. vi. We have the hope for eschatological reward. That great kingdom of which we are ambassadors now. The kingdom is coming and now is. Be sure to receive your full reward. Beware of these people. f. [Slide 16] Passage Truth: Since, as we noted the word “for” includes subordination, the truth that all believers walk in truth, love, and obedience remains. As an extension to that ongoing truth, John warns that there are those who will not endure in truth, love and obedience. So what is to be done with them? g. Passage Application: John teaches his readers that they ought to beware – to keep on guard for who have left and are now teaching doctrine opposed to what they had heard about Christ. For two reasons. 1.) so that the work they began may not come to nothing and 2.) so that they may receive their full reward. h. [Slide 17] Broader Biblical Truth: Again – since “for” indicates subordination- A believer walking in truth, love, and obedience would never be one of these people who fail to confess a proper Christology. And so, the only conclusion is that these people are liars. This was in I John, it is in Galatians, it is laced throughout the Scriptures. What they believe and teach is how we determine if they are false or not. If they are a liar or not. So the only question is - what do we do with these liars? i. Broader Biblical Application: From Old to New Testament the teaching is the same. Beware. Mark them. They only destroy and rob you of God’s reward. Transition: [Slide 18] For us this teaching is very difficult. How is it that walking in truth, love, and obedience can also include excommunicating someone from the truth, excluding them from love, and dismissing them from the community of obedience? We will see this in the next words of John. III.) Genuine Christians walk in truth, love, and obedience, so we must not welcome false teachers. (9-11) a. [Slide 19] 9 – Everyone who goes on ahead and does not remain in the teaching of Christ does not have God. i. This serves as a doctrinal reminder of what John was saying in verses 4-6. ii. To run ahead, to excel, to separate yourself from the pack, is usually viewed as a good thing. iii. But to run ahead past the teaching of Christ is actually to run away from the bonds of saving faith. iv. Perhaps John is quoting his enemies, who may have said, “we have gone beyond the simple teachings of Christ to more excellent things.” v. The teaching of Christ here is not the teaching Christ taught but rather the teachings about Christ. vi. It is not ok for someone to leave the Christological truths that we have received to form some novel iteration of Christological truth. vii. There are a great many areas of life that coming up with new ideas is something to be desired. Theology is not actually one of them. viii. John says plainly if you ever depart what you have learned of Christ and cling to other teachings not already revealed – then you cannot be God’s child. b. [Slide 20] The one who remains in this teaching has both the Father and the Son. i. If the first point was true so is this. ii. The one who remains, safe and secure in Christological truth has both the Father and the Son. Why? iii. Because to have the Father you must go through the Son iv. And to have the Son you must have the right one. One who is not God, not a man, not the messiah, not the atonement, not the high priest, not the king, not the prophet, not the intercessor, not the mediator – that one is not the Son. v. So what relationship does this statement have to what John said previously about losing what we’ve worked for and attaining a full reward? Potentially, John extends his warning beyond just the ministry in their community and even into their very hearts. Not only could you lose the gospel’s impact – but at some point, if you succumb to the teachings too – you may yet prove that you were never God’s in the first place. c. [Slide 21] 10 – If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house i. Anyone – actually broadens John’s thought. Before, apostates were in view (those who had gone out) but now it is anyone who does not bring what they had taught. Or to put it positively, anyone who brings a message other than normal Christological confession. What do you do with these folks? ii. Not even receive them into our houses? Wow. That seems kinda harsh right? iii. This could mean either deny hospitality or even deny them entrance into a house church. In either case the point is made that they ought not to bring these false teachers in among them and effectively approve of their message. iv. This is a far cry from how we treat false teachers today. Many reach out and carefully attempt to lovingly woo them into the fold. Some even invite them to their churches to debate and lovingly correct. John says don’t even let them in the door. v. But wait – there’s more. d. [Slide 22] and do not give him any greeting. i. Do not even say to them – Good day! Hello! Good Morning! ii. Wow, really? iii. The greeting here no doubt implies an expression of welcoming and even (as we see in letters) a recognition of what is true of them in Christ. How can you express welcome or truth about them when all that is simply not true. John is basically saying – don’t lie. iv. Why? e. [Slide 23] 11 – because the person who gives him a greeting shares in his evil deeds. i. Welcoming them into your home and expressing to them what is true of a Christian but what is definitely not true of them – only serves to confuse. ii. That is the evil deeds of the apostate and false teacher – he sows confusion and destruction. iii. Expressing your welcome and even indicating that certain things are true of them when they aren’t – makes you the cause of confusion and destruction as well. f. [Slide 24] Passage Truth: John reiterates his point – that true children of God continue to walk in truth, love, and obedience. They do not stop. g. Passage Application: So what do they do with those who have stopped? Those who have left the faith and are now teaching a different gospel? Are we only to look out for them – or can we do more? John says to be unwelcoming to them and their teachings. h. [Slide 25] Broader Biblical Truth: All true believers continue to walk in truth, love and obedience. We know this. We have seen this truth taught in various contexts. So what else do we do with those who are false teachers? i. Broader Biblical Application: In order to walk in truth, love and obedience, you and I must have a passion to keep God’s church pure. To keep His gospel pure. Why? Because the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. And anytime we add to or take away from the gospel that has been revealed, we make it something else entirely. When confronted with an apostate or false teacher who preaches an anti-Christ message… what does it mean to walk in truth, love, and obedience? It means to politely, without violence, have nothing to do with them. We see those false prophets of the old testament punished with death by stoning. In the New Testament Paul says if anyone, me, and angel, another apostle – if ANYONE presents another gospel to you – LET THEM BE ACCURSED! Let them be punished forever and ever. Transition: [Slide 26 (blank)] So how then can we live? Conclusion: Friends in the last year, so many people have deconverted from Christianity. So many have said, they once believed in God and Jesus, but now they see that the teachings of scripture are antiquated and out of touch and simply untenable. Added to this, there are so many voices out there – influential voices – voices that masquerade themselves as evangelical – yet do not teach the gospel of Jesus Christ. I’m not talking about those who might water down scripture – although they aren’t much better. Specifically, I am speaking of those who preach a Christ, a cross, a God, a Spirit that is not of the bible. Recently – one of these teachers was publicly exposed as a false teacher in a documentary that is now on Netflix – that if you haven’t seen, you should go see, called American Gospel. In addressing this confrontation this false teacher called the film demonic and dangerous. Probably because it had the audacity to suggest that his peddling of the prosperity gospel was in fact not the gospel at all. What ought to be our response to those who peddle a gospel that is less or more than the scripture tells us? Seriously! What are we to do with them? Pray for them? Seek to help them? Reach out to them? What? We are, in a word, unwelcoming of them. Let them be accursed. We ought to oppose them. “But I thought Christ tells us to pray for our enemies.” Yes pray for OUR enemies. But John has revealed them to be not OUR enemies but God’s. Just as we do not pray for Satan to repent – so also we do not pray for apostate false teacher to repent either. Let them be accursed. Why? That seems so unloving! That is because your love is focused on the wrong person. You are trying to love the enemy of God when you should be focused on loving first the children of God. For the sake of the purity of the church and those who are young in the faith – Let them be accursed. There is too much at stake, the work is too great, the time too short to waste our time praying for and lovingly welcoming false teaching apostates. Now I do want to clarify. John is not talking about your Christian friend who has a few things loose in his theology. John is not talking about the atheist, Satanist, wiccan or Muslim down the street that denies the God of the bible. He is specifically talking about those who were among us, who confessed the same things that we have or at least appeared to, and have left that behind to confess something different. Specifically, he is talking about Any person who claims to have or have had the gospel of the bible, but preaches something different… that is what he is talking about. John gives us clarity on how we are to respond to those who teach a different gospel than we have heard. They are enemies of God, so we reject them and their message. Not in a violent way, but in an aggressive way, not to harm them, but to defend the faith. This is walking in truth, love, and obedience. This is an expression of all who are genuine children of God. We defend the faith.

For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. 6 Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. 7 Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” 8 We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. 9 We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, 10 nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. 11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. 12 Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. 13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. 1 Corinthians 10:1-13, ESV This is the word of the Lord and it is given to us in love this morning. We are going to be studying 1 Corinthians 10:10-13 this morning, even though we just read the first thirteen verses of 1 Corinthians chapter ten. Have you ever been in a conversation with someone where this person you are in a conversation with suddenly, and you couldn't quite tell why, began to tell you a story? As you are listening to this story, you are experiencing the lift and falls of listening to a story, but you are also experiencing other emotions that are running parallel to whatever the story is about. You are listening and experiencing intrigue, suspense, maybe a little anxiety that really doesn't have anything to do with the story itself. You are having all of these feelings because the question you cannot get out of your head is, “Why are you telling me this?” You are listening to this story and thinking maybe this person just wants to share an experience they had, but sometimes you probably know that people tell you these stories because they want to confront you about something. You see, when we tell stories for this purpose, to confront someone with sin, it's a way around some of their defenses. You draw them into the story, you get them to at least on the surface agree with you. It sort of side steps any defensiveness that might rise if you went to the task directly. As you may know, in 2 Samuel 12, there is a famous story where the prophet Nathan confronts the mighty King David himself about his sin. David had committed this great sin where he had fallen into adultery with a woman named Bathsheba and conspired to put her husband to death. David thinks that everything is going to be okay, no one knows about it. Then the prophet Nathan comes and tells David a story. David is drawn into this story, it's a story about a rich man who has all the wealth he could ever want. He is contrasted with a poor man who has one possession, an ewe lamb that he loves. This ewe lamb is like a daughter to this poor man and his family. In the story, this rich man, instead of providing from his own riches to provide for someone who has come into his midst, he steals the only prized possession of this poor man. David, who is a former shepherd himself, is outraged. He says this man deserves death. That's the point when Nathan stops and says you are the man. What can we do in that kind of a situation? You can't any longer dismiss the issue. You can't get defensive because in fact Nathan had put his finger on a real sin in David's life. This is perhaps what the Corinthians are worried about at this point. We have been hearing about these stories from the Old Testament. Paul has been reminding them about all of these stories about God's faithfulness to the Old Testament people of Israel. Nevertheless, in spite of the sin of the people of Israel, their desiring of evil, their idolatry, their sexual immorality, their putting God to the test, their grumbling; the Corinthians are hearing this and probably wondering why Paul is telling them these stories. They agree with them, they are familiar with them, we think that the Israelites were knuckle heads in those situations. Paul is about to have the other shoe drop. Paul is about to give them, and us, the principle of what he wants to teach them. The principle that he gives them is a principle about perseverance. How is it that any person who professes Christ will make it all the way to the finish line, into the kingdom of God? Paul has been saying in chapter nine that not everyone who professes faith in Christ will make it. Paul has been citing these stories to give us a principle about perseverance that is in fact a paradox. A paradox is something that seems to be absurd or self-contradictory, but the more that you dig into it you find that what seems to be absurd is true. So, Paul is going to give us a principle about perseverance that is paradoxical. Our big idea is this, Christ's power is made perfect in weakness. That's from another passage, 2 Corinthians 12:9. It applies to what Paul is teaching us here. That's a phrase that seems absurd and self-contradictory. Yet, as we will discover this paradox is true. We are going to see three points. 1. The Purpose of Scripture 2. The Paradox of Strength 3. The Paradox of Weakness The paradoxes are two sides of the same coin. The paradox of strength is that strength is not strength. The paradox of weakness is that weakness is not weakness. We will see this more as we get into them. The Purpose of Scripture Let's start with verse eleven. As Paul teaches us about the purpose of scripture, which will lead into his purpose for telling us these stories. 11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. 1 Corinthians 10:11, ESV Now, Paul is telling us in verse eleven, not only that there is something for us to learn but he's also telling us about how we are to learn what he wants us to learn from this passage. He's telling us that as we look at these Old Testament stories about Israel's faithlessness in the midst of God's ongoing faithfulness. He's saying what we should see about these stories is that there a close connection between those stories in the Old Testament and our life and experience and walk by faith now. You may not look at these two things and think that they are anything alike, but what Paul is telling us is that there is a closer connection between these two things than we might at first realize. The way that Paul gets at this is that he explains that this is a typology. The words here literally are, “Now these things happened typologically.” Back in verse six, the same verse for type is used, “Now these things took place as types” (it's translated as examples in the ESV). When Paul tells that, he talks about types and typology, he's talking about a specific technique for interpreting the Bible. We talked about this a few weeks ago but let's go over it again. Typology is when you recognize that there is an event that happens early on. This even that happens is what it is in itself at one level and you are recognizing it for what it is. These Old Testament stories are true history. God's people Israel were enslaved in Egypt. God did deliver them from slavery in Egypt by bringing miracles against Egypt. God did bring them through the Red Sea. God really fed them in the wilderness and gave them water to drink. Israel really did rebel against the Lord sinfully. Those things really happened. They are what they are. But there is a connection between those events and later events that on the surface there doesn't seem to be a connection. You look in the New Testament in the Gospel of Luke, we learn that Jesus' death on the cross, resurrection, and ascension are described as his exodus. We are being told that what happened in the Old Testament when God brought his people out of Egypt and what Jesus did at the cross and in his resurrection and by ascending into heaven, that these two things are connected. On the surface they don't look the same, but there is an organic connection between the earlier events and the later events. By organic connection I mean that they are made of the same stuff. The classic illustration of how typology works is to think of the connection between a little acorn and a giant oak tree. You look at an acorn and you look at a giant oak tree and you say that these two things have nothing in common. It's not like the acorn looks like the shape of the oak tree. What you know is that in the acorn there is all the stuff that is contained in that oak tree. The acorn grows into the oak tree. The DNA, everything that is contained is the instructions for what that oak tree will be is contained in that earlier form of a seed. The acorn is connected to the oak. In the same way, Paul is saying that these Old Testament stories happened and are true. At one level these were the earliest stories of God's people navigating through a sinful, hostile world. That was what it was. But more than this, as we read these stories, we can learn more than the Israelites did. As we look back on the Old Testament stories, we have an advantage that they don't. Namely we can see those stories in the light of Jesus Christ. I had a mentor who talked about reading the Old Testament as though you were going into a museum that has been in the dark. Imagine going to a museum in the dark with all of these wonderful exhibits and artifacts that you can kind of see what's there but not really discern what is interesting about them. Then when Jesus comes the light of the world, the lights come one. You see exactly what these things are. You see the purpose for what they are. In the light of Christ, we not only see those things for what they were at a very basic level, but we see the way in which these things pointed forward to Christ. They have something to teach us who are living in the light of Christ on this side of the coming of Jesus that the original Israelites could not learn. We are learning as we study these stories from the pilgrims, the pioneers, our forefathers in the faith. To walk in the same footsteps of faith that they walked in. Also, by standing on their shoulders to see farther. To understand deeper into the mysteries of God and his salvation that he has revealed to us through Jesus Christ. For those of us who live at the end of the ages, we are living in these last days now that Christ has already come, and we wait for him to return again. What Paul is saying is that we actually need the instruction of the Old Testament. It's not something we can look at and say, “well that was interesting but now we've moved on.” What Paul is saying is now is the only time we can fully glean what God always wanted his people to glean from the original stories of scripture contained for us in the Old Testament. Now, that's a true principle for all of the Old Testament. You could say that kind of thing that is contained in the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament. Yet Paul has a very specific piece of instruction that he wants us to glean from those stories. The specific thing that Paul wants us to take from these Old Testament stories he has been leading us in 1 Corinthians chapter ten, has to do with the issue of perseverance. If many of those who profess faith in Christ will never inherit the Kingdom of God because at one point or another they will fall away from Christ, how do any make it ever? It's a really important question for our day to day life. Paul says there are two aspects to this paradox. There's the paradox of strength and the paradox of weakness. Strength is not strength and weakness is not weakness. This is really two sides of the same coin. Let's look first at what Paul says we should be gleaning from these Old Testament passages about strength. The Paradox of Strength 12 Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. 1 Corinthians 10:12, ESV This makes sense at a basic level, you kind of understand what Paul is saying. Then you start thinking, what is Paul saying here? To understand what he is saying we have to understand what it means for someone to think that he stands and second of all we have to understand what Paul means by falling. The idea of thinking that he stands is fairly straight forward. These are people who believe that they are strong. They have confidence in their strength. Maybe their confidence arises when they look at their external situation. They realize they have membership in the visible church, they are attending corporate worship services, that's great. They participate in the sacraments of the church, baptism and the Lord's Supper, that's great. They do these activities in service to God and to others, that's great. Maybe they are confident because of those external means. Maybe they are confident because of internal issues. They know that they don't struggle with those sins, whatever might be on that particular list for that particular person. These people are careful to lead their lives in a moral way, at least as they see it as being moral. They feel strong and secure in their righteousness. What Paul says is that if that's the way you look at strength, if you think that you are strong in yourself. If you think that you have a claim, a standing of righteousness before God, then your strength is in fact weakness. When we put too much confidence in ourselves, our works, our righteousness, our strength; we begin to ignore the real dangers around us. The real dangers around us in the allure of the world. The real dangers around us in the temptations of Satan. Even the real dangers inside of us in the remaining corruption of our sin. Precisely the things that scripture has given to us to build us up and to preserve us in the truth, to safeguard the church as we read these stories, these are things that we stop looking at. We overlook them, we downplay them, and we discount them. If we think that we stand, we are liable to fall. What does fall mean though? This is a little more difficult to understand precisely what Paul means because there are two good options. Paul could simply mean to fall into sin. When believers are overconfident in our strength, we are the most vulnerable to fall into sin. If you are on the Harvest Bible reading plan, today the reading is from Matthew chapter twenty-six. Matthew 26:41 Jesus tells Peter to watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. When you are watchful, you are sometimes able to see temptations coming and prepare for them. If you are not watchful, if you are sleepy and sluggish like Peter was on that night, you will be very vulnerable to fall into sin. Believers must be, of all people, most aware of our weaknesses. Not so that we can wallow in our weakness. You hear some people use weakness for a justification of sin, they say I'm weak and so I can't help if I sin in this that or the other way. That's not what we are talking about. We need to be aware of our weakness so that we are wary of our vulnerability to sin. We find these vulnerabilities and eliminate them from our lives. Here's the thing, if we don't do this for ourselves, God is very good in his kindness about using even our sin to teach us these lessons. When God allows true believers to fall into sin, he does this to instruct us not to be so confident in our strength. When believers fall into sin, we are chastised and disciplined. When we fall into sin, we understand in a new fresh experiential way how deep the hidden strength of the corruption of our heart goes. We are humbled from our pride and our arrogance. God does this not to condemn us, but to instruct us. He does it to raise us up to a more constant dependence for our support upon him. He wants to make us watchful. If we are not going to watch and pray to avoid this sin, then hopefully we will learn this next time we fall into sin. We need to learn that next time we need to be watchful to watch and pray so that we may not fall into temptation. We want to avoid this, to find the areas of our weakness and to avoid those weaknesses wherever we can. So, fall might simply mean to fall into sin. It might have a bigger sense. Not just to fall into a sin in a particular situation, but rather to fall away, to perish. In the Old Testament when people fell, they died. Paul just used fall in this sense a few verses in verse eight, 8 We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. 1 Corinthians 10:8, ESV In the Old Testament, it's largely just physical death. In the New Testament Paul uses this word elsewhere to talk about eternal condemnation, to be condemned to hell forever. In Romans 11:11, fall means that. In the immediate context, here in 1 Corinthians chapter ten, this is probably what Paul has in mind because this is what he has been talking about. In the end of chapter nine Paul says, 24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it… 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. 1 Corinthians 9:24, 27, ESV Then in 1 Corinthians 10:5, after talking about all the ways in which God was generous and faithful to his people to protect them and provide for them in the Exodus and the wilderness. Nevertheless, with the vast majority of them God was not pleased, and they fell dead in the wilderness. Again, Paul why are you telling us all of these stories? In the case of the Corinthians, they were committing idolatry by eating food sacrificed to idols. The did so because they thought they were strong, and this wouldn't harm them. One commentator, David Garland, gives a great illustration. You think about this thirsty hiker who thinks everything is going his way. He finds a cool mountain stream, reaches down to get some water from the perfectly crystal-clear water but he doesn't realize that there are parasites in there that can do a lot of damage to you. It looks clean and clear; it doesn't look like it would be a problem. But because you are brash and ignorant. Because you think you are strong, you aren't calculating if this will be a good thing to do because you don't think there will be a consequence. Your strength becomes your weakness. This is the paradox of strength. Strength is not strength. When we think we are strong, we are not strong. Strength in fact is weakness. It's a seemingly absurd statement, but Paul says it's true. “Let the one who thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall.” Of course, there is another side of this, the other side of the paradox. This brings us to our third point. The Paradox of Weakness Weakness is not weakness, but weakness is in fact strength. Look at what Paul writes in verse thirteen. 13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. 1 Corinthians 10:13, ESV What temptation is Paul talking about here? He's talking about this sin of meat sacrificed to idols. Why is that such a temptation? Were they hungry? It was more than that. In those days it was a really important thing to eat meat sacrificed to idols because that was the way that you participated in the values of that culture. That culture took a lot of pride in their gods. You can read stories in the book of Acts where people think that Artemis of the Ephesians was despised and there's a riot that breaks out. The people took their gods seriously, so if you were someone who disrespected the gods either a riot was going to break out, or at the very least you were going to face significant suffering and ostracization, maybe even violence or death. That was your lot. So, of course they were tempted to eat just a little meat. It's not like they were bowing down to these idols, what's the harm? They thought they were strong enough. Paul is saying no temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. Or without the double negative, every temptation that has overtaken you is common to man. The temptation we face are serious and the consequences of falling into sin can be severe. Believers in every place in every age have faced these same temptations. The early Christians were ridiculed, persecuted, ostracized and killed because they refused to take part in idolatrous worship. They were called atheists because they didn't believe in the gods, plural. They were seen as unpatriotic and treated with suspicion. They were excluded from financial opportunities. Today around the world Christians are imprisoned, beaten, and executed for their faith. If you are not a subscriber to the Voice of the Martyrs, they tell you where you can pray for where Christians are facing the heaviest, fiercest persecution. Today, here in America. If we face some difficulties because we cut against the grain of our culture, and we do in a variety of ways. If tomorrow we face more difficulties because we cut against the grain of the culture, and almost certainly we will, Paul is encouraging us to put that suffering into perspective. It's common, it's been happening since the beginning. Look at the Old Testament, that's your connection with them back there. They suffered because they didn't worship and serve with the surrounding pagan cultures and they were worried about that. When they turned from trusting in the Lord their God, and instead just doing whatever their culture did to appease the culture, they fell into deep idolatry and sin. They were destroyed over it. Still, knowing that these temptations are common, doesn't completely address them. It's one thing to be reminded in 1 John 3:13, 13 Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. 1 John 3:13, ESV There's an encouraging memory verse you can put on a plaque in your house. It's one thing to be reminded of this, it's another thing to deal with it. In the moment, how do you face temptations knowing that saying no to temptation will bring you serious consequences from the world around you? So, Paul says, “no temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man.” Then here is his gospel assurance, God is faithful. We talked about history last week. As we think about history, part of it is remembering that people don't change. The people of the Old Testament are more similar to us than they are different. People don't change, so we can learn from their circumstances. The other part of learning from history is remembering that God doesn't change. God doesn't change. As we see God deal faithfully with his faithless people. This give us encouragement and boldness as we think about how to deal with the temptations that face us. God is faithful and this means that we do not have to depend on our strength, but on him. We are weak when we depend on our strength. We are strong when we confess freely that we are weak. We don't have anything, but Lord I'm looking to you to do what I cannot do for myself. This is what faith meant in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. The God we serve is unchangeable. Hebrews 13:8 says, 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Hebrews 13:8, ESV You are truly strong when you depend on the unwavering strength of God. Which is based in the unchangeable love of the Father. It's grounded and accomplished by the power, merit and ongoing intercession of Jesus Christ. It's applied to you by the abiding ongoing work of the Holy Spirit. This is where Jesus assures Paul himself when Paul is struggling with his own suffering in 2 Corinthians 12:9, 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 2 Corinthians 12:9, ESV This is a lesson that Jesus knew personally. The power of God was most manifested when he was at his humanly speaking weakest. When he was hanging, bleeding, dying on the cross. In the eyes of the world that is utter weakness and foolishness. In the eyes of God that is the power unto salvation. Just as the power of God was made perfect in the human weakness of Christ, so the power of God is made perfect in you when you most freely acknowledge your weakness. You are strong when you are weak. Practically what this means is that God, in his faithfulness, will not let you be tempted beyond your ability. In the temptation, both in the Old Testament and New Testament, and even today he will also provide the way of escape so that you may be able to endure it. You can endure and resist temptation. Not because of you or your strength. Your strength is nothing, it's weakness, but because of the power of God in your weakness by faith. Application 1. Learn to fear and to follow the Lord Jesus Christ from the whole Bible. This was our big idea from last week. You may have been wondering what applications I should be taking from scripture. We have talked about the three ideas that people don't change, God doesn't change, and God's plan for salvation doesn't change. What Paul teaches us to do as he talks about interpreting the Old Testament typologically as an example for us, given for our instruction. Not that we have less than the Old Testament Israelites did, but more to learn because we see those events in the light of Christ. Here's what we need to look at. People don't change. Study the patterns of the corruption of sin in people's lives. Look at this, this is what Paul is teaching us from the specific examples he is naming. Look at where the sin starts. Follow and trace and connect the dots to see how sin progresses. Look as a warning to see how far sin can sometimes go if left uncheck. Identify the deceitfulness of sin in the lives of the people in the Old Testament. Why did these people give into sin? What did they believe is true that is not true? What justification and rationalizations do they use? Finally, pay attention to the weaknesses. We are so frail. Psalm 90:12 says, 12 So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. Psalm 90:12, ESV Wisdom begins with recognizing that you are feeble and that you will die. In light of your frailty you realize you need to look to the unchangeable, faithful God. Look to the fact that God doesn't change. Study his unchanging character. Learn to love his righteousness and holiness. Seek to grown in you awe of and reverence for him. See that his plan for the salvation of his people doesn't change. See how he cares for his people in the past. Recognize when and how he acts and identify how he works to build our faith. There is so much to study from the Old Testament. Gain everything you can in light of Christ. Learn to fear and to follow the Lord Jesus Christ from the whole Bible. 2. Beware of your strength. Where do you think you are strong? Where do you think where you've had success? In light of that strength and success, where have you stopped being so careful because of your arrogant confidence? Jesus says, “Watch and pray lest you enter into temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Even as much as you want to obey God right now and even as much as you have some strength built up, recognize that you are weak. As willing as you are in the spirit, you are weak. Watch for temptations to come. Do not rely on your own strength. Pray that God will protect you by leading you not into temptation. It's dangerous to be in strength because the corruption of the sin inside of you is stronger than you realize. The cunning of Satan to deceive you is more subtle than you realize. The lure of the temptations of this world are more enticing than you realize. If you are depending on your strength you are putting your confidence in something that cannot sustain or support you. Will power alone will not bring you into the kingdom. This is the paradox of strength. Strength is not strength, strength is weakness. Repent from depending on your strength and your righteousness and your works and your power. Turn from these things and look to Jesus Christ alone. 3. Embrace Christ in weakness. Brothers and sisters, the gospel is better news than any of us could have dreamed up. If we created a system of religion in this world, it would surely award those who did the best in this life. Yet the gospel turns all of that on its head. God does not save the strong. It's not the healthy that the Great Physician, our Lord Jesus Christ, came to heal. It's the sick. God does not save the strong, the smartest, the best looking, the most moral, the most powerful of this world. God save the weak. God saves those who are dead in their sins and trespasses. Not just weakened, but actually dead. Utterly non-responsive to God. God saves the poor and the wretched, the weak and the wounded, the sick and the sore, those who are broken and bruised by the fall. As written in the hymn, “Come Ye Sinners”, “all the fitness”. All the fitness God requires of you is for you to feel your need of him. For you to recognize that you are weak. Do you recognize your weakness? Do you see and sense your sin and your guilt before him? Don't look to your strength. Look instead away from your strength to the strength and the goodness and the power of God in the person of Jesus Christ and in his work, birth, life, death on the cross, burial, resurrection, ascension. He is now at the right hand of God making intercession for you. That's your strength and your power. Come to him by faith as you turn from your sin. Pray with me. Father, we ask that you will give us grace to look to Jesus in faith. Father, we are so weak and wounded, sick and sore. Yet we can deceive ourselves into thinking that we stand even though we are flat on our backs having already fallen. Father, forgive us for our foolishness and our weakness and our self-deceived hardened hearts. We pray Father that you would soften our hearts, open our eyes, open our ears to respond to the gospel. That for all those who know and love Jesus, who turn to him in faith, repenting of our sins and sorrow, that you stand ready and able to forgive. Father we know that this is all for your glory and to your majesty and praise and power, to glorify Jesus in this life and the next, for eternity to come. So, we pray that you would speed the day when we will see all of this brought to completion as we live now, we upon whom the end of the ages has come. We pray that you would sustain us by your word and the power of the Spirit. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Exodus 10 and 11 Pharaoh’s Choices to Reject God: Plague: “Hardened his heart” “Did not   heed them” Didn’t let Israel go “I have sinned” PRE G – 4:21; 7:3 P -7:4, 13 7:4, 13 5:2; 7:3-4, 14   1st P - 7:22 7:22     2nd P - 8:15 8:15     3rd P - 8:19 8:19     4th P - 8:32   8:32   5th P - 9:7   9:7   6th G – 9:12 9:12     7th P - 9:34, 35   9:35 9:27, 34 8th G – 10:1, 20   10:20 10:16 9th G – 10:27   10:27   10th G – 11:10 11:9 11:10     The reality is that for each plague there is acknowledgment that Pharaoh made one or more sinful choices to reject God. Therefore the verses that say “God hardened Pharaoh’s heart” cannot be taken to mean that God overrided Pharaoh’s free choices. Instead, God incorporated Pharaoh’s sinful choices into His certain _________________ to deliver Israel from Egyptian slavery. In the New Testament Paul was an unlikely convert, and was so grateful that God extended His grace to the “chief of sinners.”                  I Timothy 1:12-17 Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron.                   -I Tim. 4:1-2 “The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born.”             -Jesus in Matthew 26:24 The Eighth Plague: The gods of pest invasion are dealt with                  V. 1-20 Senehem was a locust-headed god who protected Egypt from the ravages of pests Pharaoh does listen enough to try and strike a deal in verses 8-11, but in the end he _____________________ them and drives them out. Based on what verse 17 says, do you think Pharaoh was truly repentant? The Ninth Plague: The gods of illumination are dealt with                     V. 21-29 Ra was the god of the sun Horus was the sky god – the sun was his right eye, the moon was his left 3 times in Matthew’s gospel Jesus said that non-believers will be cast into ______________ darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 8:12;22:13;25:30). I have come as a Light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness.                 -John 12:46 How would you compare three days of darkness with the other plagues – where would you place it on your list of hardest to deal with? “Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown.”                      -Jesus in Revelation 3:10-11      Psalm 2 The Tenth Plague will deal with the false god named _______________   11:1-10 What prophecy was verses 2-3 going to fulfill?                     Genesis 15:13-16 You say, “Danny, I can’t understand why God would take the firstborn of Egypt to finally achieve the freedom of the Israelites?” You understand it ____________________ than you think! All of these signs and wonders showed that YHWH is the One True God who alone should be ________________________ and obeyed. But what of God’s heart for the nations beyond Israel? Next time we will see that the way for Jewish people to be spared the death of the firstborn was to _______________ the blood of a sacrificial substitute to their doors. We will also see that some Egyptians turned to YHWH and did the same!

Alli & Kathryn discuss the next book in their trek through the New Testament: Paul's letter to the Galatians! During the hot seat this week, the girls share what they're learning. Alli mentions God's faithfulness in prayer, and Kathryn shares about a book by Francine Rivers that is bringing Scripture to life through the women of Jesus' lineage.

In the New Testament Paul uses the analogy of the “Body” when talking about the Church. What can we learn from this analogy to help us better be the People of God? This week I take a deeper look at this analogy and what it teaches us.

National College Training 2015 — Champaign, Illinois

  The normal (Christian) journey of faith Chapter 1: before we begin This series of studies attempts to say some useful things about how the journey of a Christian life is likely to work out. In fact, there are of course so many ways this may happen that to try and say something useful is quite rash – but here goes nonetheless. Before I start I need to define what I mean by “Christian”. Many people, in many parts of the world, think of themselves as Christian because their passports say so, or would say so if they had one. They have been born into a Christian family, in a Christian community, so they, and other people, think of them as Christian. But being a Christian in this sense is not the same as following Jesus, consciously, and determinedly. When I say Christian I mean those who have positively decided that they will follow Jesus, owe allegiance to him, and are practicing Christians, associating themselves with other Christians of the same way of thinking. Not every Christian can identify the moment in which they turned round and set out to follow Jesus. For some it happened so gradually they cannot pin down the time any more than to say that day, or that week, or that month. That does not matter – they have set out to follow Jesus, which is all that matters. Then there are some fortunate few who cannot remember the day when they did not love the Lord even as a young child and they grew up following him from before their days of memory. Great for them and a tribute to their parents! It would more accurate if as I wrote these notes I used the phrase “following Jesus” rather than “Christian” but it would be intolerably clumsy to keep on doing that so I will say “Christian” and mean “following Jesus”. Even before we became Christian, in any of these believing senses, certain things will have been true of us. All of us, everyone who ever lived, have a tension within us. This is an essential part of being human and quite inescapable. We are, you are, I am, made in the image of God, but we are also sinners. We are told that we are made in the image of God in Genesis chapter 1 “God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” Then Adam and Eve sinned in the famous story of the garden of Eden as recorded in Genesis 3 “the Lord God said, The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil” and Paul, in Romans 5 summarizes what all the Scripture acknowledges with the statement “sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned”. That is us. Some people like to think that there is a dividing line between good and evil people (and they, of course, are on the right side of that line!), but it is not so. The dividing line between good and evil runs through each one of us. Some of us are, hopefully, more on the right side of that line than the wrong side, but it is still there, through each one of us. Failure to recognize that has led to many disastrous moments in history. Politicians have often assumed that people are essentially good so you have only got to put them in the right environment and all will be well. Everyone will live in peace and harmony with everyone else. Sadly that is not true. It never has been true and it seems to have become increasingly obvious that it is not in the 20th century. Nazis and Communists have assumed that they can make the world work as they want. But they failed and have continued to fail. Muslim extremists fall into the same trap. On the other hand much of the modern western world proceeds on the assumption that progress is happening always and inevitably. That is true of our technology and science but not of our social and spiritual skills where we seem to be going backwards. There is much good in human beings but there is also a strong tendency to evil. This is the base from which we all start. Why then do we, why does anyone, become a Christian? There are at least three main reasons. 1. From a sense of sin. This is the old classical way to start. Many preachers in this society seem to assume that this is the only way so they pick out the Scriptures that mention sin, or can be bent that way, and preach what they call “a Gospel sermon” whether it applies to the people listening to them or not. It is certainly true, very true, that the purpose of the death of Christ on the Cross was to deal with sin, your sin, my sin. Jesus was both human and divine. He was human so he could substitute for us, dying on our behalf. He was divine so his death was sufficient and effective for all of us. So Paul says in Romans 3:25 “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood —to be received by faith.” But people are unable to understand these words and take them to heart unless they have an idea of God as the pure and holy judge before whom they will eventually have to give an account of their life on earth. If they do not realize that, if they have not been taught that, they will not understand what is being talked about. 2. From a sense of lostness. Peter talks about people being redeemed from an empty way of life (1 Peter 1:18) Many people will feel that the way they are living is empty and is not satisfying and will cast around looking for a better way to live. They want to be good people – drink, drugs, partying, sex, material goods do not satisfy them. They want a reason to live differently, to live the way they want to live but they have a strong sense of needing a reason to break out from their currently unsatisfying life styles. If this is the way they think they are ready to hear a sensitively presented account of the Christian life. Follow me – said Jesus. If they hear that call they embark on a life of faith which is a journey through life – hence the title of this series of studies. 3. From a desire to progress. Unfortunately there is a strong tendency in many churches to present the Christian life as the solution to all one’s problems: practical, social and financial. Some preachers say become a Christian and you will meet all the right people, you will make your fortune, the right partner for you will miraculously appear. I call this unfortunate because such teaching runs directly counter to the whole teaching of the Bible. Jesus is, amongst many other things, our example. He only met the “right” people at his trial; he had no where to lay his head so he did not have a fortune; he had to live a celibate life in a society where marriage was expected. If you are looking for progress in a purely human sense it is a good idea not to become a Christian! Be careful not to believe the false promises of some preachers! Of these three motives for becoming a Christian 1 and 2 are acceptable; 3 is not. In the New Testament Paul emphasizes motive 1, escape from sin; John emphasizes motive 2, desire for purpose in life; Peter is strong on both. These are, I think, the main things that lead people to seek to follow the Lord Jesus. There are others: to some are given dreams and visions of him seen in the night; some fear the judgment, some desire not to be left behind when he returns, and so on. There is something else worth noticing about what often happens to people before they become Christians. God has a lovely habit of speaking to us before we become one of his people. This can be, and often is, in small and scarcely noticed ways that yet can have a major effect on us. For me it was when the family friend who was invigilating an exam that I, a young boy at the time, was taking stopped to pray with me before the exam, which was not something to be expected within the world in which I lived and had a lasting effect on me. So what? Whether as you listen to, or read, this you are a follower of Jesus, or not, it is important to get our thinking about who we are and where we stand before a pure and holy God straight. We are made in the image of God but we are sinners in His sight. As a consequence of that we need a better direction in life. Those two facts make the essential and only correct starting point for our thinking. Secondly we have the opportunity to be the messenger for one of those little events that the Lord God can put in someone else’s way as he did for me through my invigilator’s prayer. Only more than 20 years later did I learn that the wife of the man who prayed with me was ministered to as a young girl by my grandmother. That was a wonderful part of the circle of faith. Click or Tap here to listen to or save this as an audio mp3 file ~ You can now purchase our books! Please do click here to visit our Amazon site! Click on the appropriate link below to subscribe, share or download our iPhone App!

Explore Jesus' use of comedy in the New Testament. Why do we laugh? Consider that God does not mind us laughing but God encourages our laughter. Consider Psalm 126:1-2. Did Jesus laugh? God is not dour. Explore that Jonathan Edwards tried not to laugh on Sunday but his children were born on Sunday and Henry Ward Beecher was not allowed to laugh on Sunday. What is comedy? Comedy is a genre according to Aristotle. There are three theories of the comedic: the theory of superiority (T. Hobbes),the theory of incongruity (E. Kant), and the theory of relief (S. Freud). Aristophanes is known as the father of the comedic. Consider that comedy usually ends in a wedding and usually has a “poneiros.” Comedy often ends with a new city or a better city. Consider comedy and the New Testament. Much of the comedic comes from the use of overstatement and because we are in a different culture, we miss the exaggeration or try to “fix it.” Explore several instances of Jesus’ use of the comedic. In Matthew 19:24-25 we find the camel and the needle. Note that there are attempts to soften the difficulty of this saying. The need for softening comes because of readers ignoring the context. Consider that the context clearly tells the reader that Jesus was speaking of a real needle. In Luke 19:1-4 we find the story of Zacchaeus. Consider Zacchaeus and the comedic in that Zacchaeus was very likely a dwarf. The use of physical descriptions serves the purpose of showing characters’ hearts. Consider that Zacchaeus needed to climb a tree to see over the crowd and needed to run to get to the tree. Both of these actions would be seen as comedic in this period (dancing dwarves).The story ends with a party (close to a wedding) and the “poneiros” changes the world. Understand Jesus as the ultimate "Poneiros". He is unexpected, without power, and He engages in the very action that others would see as crazy. Yet ultimately he overcomes these problems and leads his people to the heavenly city and to a wedding banquet. Explore that in the New Testament Jesus uses humor. Consider Matthew 18 and the humor of exaggeration in the 10,000 talents. In Acts, Peter, the leader of the early Church, is left pounding on the door while the maid, Rhoda, runs to tell the others of his escape from prison. The others respond by not believing that God has answered their prayer. Explore what we read in Acts 12:1 -15. Consider that In the New Testament Paul uses wordplay as in 1 Timothy 6:17-19. Paul's wordplay on "rich," may represent the fullest development of Paul's thought in this regard. This may not be humorous wordplay, but it is wordplay.

The essence of your story in Christ (testimony) is: what it used to be like, what happened, and how it is today. Five times in the New Testament Paul's testimony is recorded? Why? Your story is a powerful tool to reach others for Christ. Learn to share your story with Christ as we consider Paul's testimony.

Pastor Adam continues the amazing series on innovators, focusing on one of the greatest innovators of the New Testament: Paul.