Podcasts about redeemer presbyterian

Shepherd Community Center's Chief Learning Officer Tim Streett and Redeemer Presbyterian lead pastor Charles Anderson discuss how Christians can interact with love and kindness for their neighbors, friends, families and coworkers during a time of deep political polarization and tension.

In this episode, Amy sits down with Doug Turner, President of GenerosityOS, to talk about how church giving strategies have evolved (spoiler alert: episodic capital campaigns are so 2004). Doug brings decades of experience from helping churches like Willow Creek and Redeemer Presbyterian fund their vision, and he's got some fresh insights on why year-round generosity and vision clarity are the new power couple in church finance. If you're tired of the same old “pass the plate and pray” approach, this conversation is for you. Doug unpacks why traditional capital campaigns are shifting, how to build a culture of generosity that doesn't feel like a permanent fundraiser, and why churches need to stop trying to fund unclear visions (seriously, stop it). Plus, he shares practical first steps for church leaders ready to level up their generosity game. Whether you're a pastor who breaks out in hives at the mention of money talks or a church leader looking to build a more sustainable funding model, this episode delivers the straight talk you need about modern church giving.   This Episode Is Brought to You by PlainJoe: Are you considering adding a second or third campus to your growing church? Need help telling your church's unique story across every location? PlainJoe, a Storyland Studio, has you covered. Their team of creative storytellers, talented designers and innovative architects are passionate about helping churches tell their stories through spatial, interactive and strategic storytelling.  Reach out to learn more at plainjoe.net.   Join the Conversation on Social Media We use hashtag #unstuckchurch on X and on Instagram. 

On Friday May 19, 2023, we lost an incredibly influential brother in Christ and leader in the Faith Driven Movement when Dr. Tim Keller went to be with the Lord at the age of 72. Tim was a faithful husband, father, grandfather, author, and pastor who modeled what it looked like to love Jesus and others well in our contemporary setting.He was also a pioneer in the Faith Driven Entrepreneur movement who helped empower business leaders to influence the culture through the marketplace. In addition to his work at Redeemer Presbyterian, City to City Network, and Redeemer's Center for Faith and Work, Tim has generously contributed to Faith Driven conferences, video material, podcasts, and books and has influenced so many in the movement. We wanted to honor Dr. Keller with a podcast that paid tribute to his faithfulness. In this episode, we hear how his life and work has affected our hosts as well as Chip Ingram, Lecrae, and JD Greear, and then close with a talk Tim gave about keeping our identity in Christ. What an appropriate send off for a man who was so clearly rooted in the love of his savior.

In this episode we discuss...awareness regarding the value of rural churches in broader culture with special guest Dr. Glenn Daman, author of The Forgotten Church. He'll answer questions like:Why do you care so much about churches most people overlook?In your book, the church in forgotten places, you make an argument for the value of the rural church and you go so far as to say that the urban church cannot ignore the plight of rural America. Are you suggesting that the health of some small church in the middle of nowhere USA somehow impacts churches like Redeemer Presbyterian in NYC or Capitol Hill Baptist in Washington DC?What are some ways rural churches and urban churches can work together?  Why should they?How has the importance of the rural church changed since COVID?Reach Dr. Daman at:ruralministry.netglenncdaman@gmail.comStuff Rural Pastors Can Use Review:Need an affordable and stylish way to redo an old wall? Consider using faux shiplap!Our Quote of the Day:Jesus calls us to his rest, and meekness is His method. The meek man cares not at all who is greater than he, for he has long ago decided that the esteem of the world is not worth the effort.  - A.W. Tozer, "The Pursuit of God"CONTACTCall and leave a message at (570) 724-3741Email: ruralpastorstalk@gmail.comWebsite: http://ruralpastorstalk.buzzsprout.com/SOCIAL MEDIAFacebook: http://facebook.com/ruralpastorstalkTwitter: @ruralpastorsLISTENItunesSpotify

Preacher: Jeremiah Fyffe Scripture: Mark 13:32–37 WHAT DAY? WHAT HOUR? v32b - NO ONE KNOWS v33 - KEEP AWAKE v34 - EACH HAS WORK v35-36 - LEST HE FIND YOU ASLEEP v37 - A CALL TO ONE AND ALL Study Guide from Redeemer Presbyterian in New York There is little consensus among Christians with regard to the details of what the Bible teaches about the ‘end times' (The theological term for this area of inquiry is eschatology). On the one hand, we must remember that the basic teaching of the New Testament on this could not be clearer: Jesus Christ will return visibly and personally at the end of time to judge and renew the whole world. Revelation 5:1–5 (ESV) Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.” Psalm 16:1–2 (ESV) Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge. I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.” Psalm 16:11 (ESV) You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Stay Awake means: * Prayerful Dependence * Faith-filled Obedience * Worshipful Proclaimation

This weekend we are wrapping up our series on contentment and gratitude called Thank Full. In the last few weeks, we've defined Contentment is defined as accepting and finding satisfaction with one's situation and lot in life. I want to have a conversation about Worry. Worry is a contentment killer. Many times when I'm struggling with contentment, it's not that I'm greedy about something- and that I need to have more…. it's just that I'm worried about something. And so it steels my joy and my contentment. And there's been no lack of things to worry about lately with everything hitting the headlines. Each day is a new crisis and something to become worried about. And I think that this is somehow unique and new- but I know that if you talked with people 100 years ago or 150 years ago, they would probably say the same thing. This is a message I feel like God's Spirit has asked me to preach. In part because it's a journey God has been taking me through, and I think it's a Word he wants his church to hear this weekend because it's something we all deal with. And even as I bring up the word “Worry” some of you may think I'm talking directly to you- if so, that's God's Spirit working because I'm promise you I'm not addressing anyone in particular, but to all of us in principle. And so as we begin, I just want to ask you to consider this question: What's your relationship with worry? Is it something that occasionally strikes or is a constant companion for you? Some of you may think; of course who doesn't worry about making it to work on time or if you're gonna pass the test. Those are normal worries. That may be you, but there are also seasons of life for many and you'd say “i really struggle with worry”. Raise your hand if you are a world class worrier. Maybe worry isn't something that's occasional— worry is something that controls more of your life than you really want it to. It controls your life when we get up in the middle the night at 3 AM we come back to bed and because of our bladder in our brains are possessed by the devil we end up thinking about things over and over and over again like a washing machine with a garment tossing in about. I thought enters our head and we play it over from every single aspect in possibility and what if this happens and what if that happens. And then we have a task that enters our brain we can't let it go in so we stay up at night thinking about that project that's due the next morning and we need to wake up in time to take them to the airport and so we worry. •We worry about our health, we worry about the pandemic. •We worry about the future of our kids and our country. •We worry about our finances. How am I gonna make payment on all these bills? What's gonna happen when the prices go up further and we are already stretched to the max? •We worry about our family members that just seem to keep taking a nose dive into addiction and self-destructive behaviors. •We worry about the tasks we have to do tomorrow…. and then the day after that and the day after that. •I worry that what's inside of me is not strong enough to deal with what happens to me. Worry is the spin cycle. It's circular. It's not just we think about the task, challenge or threat once and move on, it sticks with us. It's being concerned about something and playing that concern fear or anxiety over and over again in your head. In many ways it holds our thoughts and our emotions hostage. We are trying to deal with other things in our life, but it's like our brain is split and it's preoccupied with this mental spin cycle. I'm trying to be present with my spouse or my kids, but I can't shake the worry about how unstable work has been lately. It's got a hold on me and splits my attention. In fact, in the greek language the root word that gets translated into worry means to divide and separate. That's meaningful to me, because when I'm in a state of worry- i feel like there is a part of me that's divided. I'm not able to be present, I'm distracted. My body may be present but my heart and my soul is in the spin cycle of worry. There's all sorts of research about the effects of worry and stress. that is can actually kill a person. In fact, stress has been labeled as the silent assassin. Stress and worry along with anxiety can cause damage to a person's heart and create blood clots that keep a person's blood from flowing properly. Stress/worry and anxiety can lead to heart disease and eventually lead to a person having a heart attack. The trio of stress/worry/anxiety can be the one of the leading causes of high blood pressure, heart disease, ulcers, stomach problems, panic disorders, headaches, sleep disorders and chronic depression. There's a group of you, when you hear that, you start thinking: That sounds terrible, I should stop worrying. And the more you think about worry, and the more we talk about worry, the more you worry. You worry about worrying too much. That's why it will never work to simply say “Hey you know… have you ever thought about this— you shouldn't worry so much”. It's not enough to sing with Bobby McFerrin and say “don't' worry be happy”. When someone says that you just want to smack them. The problem is worry is an emotion that is competing for control over our lives. Worry controls our thoughts which control our actions. It becomes the filter through which we engage with the world. And maybe for a moment you can turn it off enough to manage that interview or make that new friend. But it's still in the background silently controlling us. And I know you and I know me- no one wants to be controlled by something other than themselves. So our goal is not to get rid of worry, but it's simply to be able to say to worry; “you're not the boss of me.” Worry, you aren't the boss of me. You're in my life, you are working to protect me from threats upon my life, But you're not gonna be the controlling force in my life. But what we do know is that worry is something that most of us struggle with- me included. I think Jesus was doing life with people who were living with worry as well. When Jesus showed up on the scene, he was surrounded by people whose felt needs were so pronounced that they couldn't get past them. •They were poor. •They were being taxed by an unjust government, and they had no means to protest that and they had no representatives to defend them. •They were being led by hypocritical religious leaders that had sold out to Rome. •They had their wealth stolen from them and there was no justice for them. •Their children were being confused with the infusion of Roman and Greek values. •They felt abandoned by God, no Messiah, no promises kept. And Jesus has the audacity to say to this very needy group and to us. 25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, Now just for some passage context: Jesus is describing what it means to be in the kingdom of God and he was encouraging them to approach life from an eternal perspective. Don't just live for these 80 years on this earth but for the 80 million years of eternity. And to do this he focused on their money. He know if he could get them to think eternally about their money, everything else would follow. For this reason; since we are to think eternally and not just temporarily… He says don't worry about your needs. Don't be anxious or fearful about the unknown. Don't' let these things consume your thoughts and emotions. You think you're gaining control of the situation, but the situation is really gaining control of you. Don't let that worry steer your life and rob your joy. Now, Jesus isn't calling for irresponsibility. It's not a “Don't worry be happy” bobby McFerrin song. You don't see Jesus living his life that way. He was a carpenter, he was a hard worker. He cared deeply about the pain and suffering around him and he took action and even had a holy discontent to make right the wrongs around him. When 9/11 happened, Redeemer Presbyterian in Manhattan grew from 2000 to 5000 in one week, because so many people were flocking to that church that Sunday. Tim Keller was preaching from John 11 where Jesus came to the tomb o this friend Lazarus. The text says that when he reached the tomb of Lazarus, Jesus was Deeply moved. Keller explained “the translators are afraid. The greek word here means “to roar or snort with anger alike an animal, line a lion or like a bull. SO the best translation would be “bellowing with anger he came to the tomb' that must as least mean his nostrils were flared with fury, it may even mean he was yelling. Jesus was angry at death. He didn't shrug it off. He was neither indifferent nor irresponsible with life and difficulty. On the contrary- he's active and he's concerned. But what he does is he immediately sets up two categories of need we are not to be anxious about. 25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. it's funny because often times my wife says “Hey i wish you'd think a little more about what you eat and put a little more thought into what you wear.” So first he says don't be anxious about your critical needs. These are things that pertain to your survival. Because you gotta eat and you gotta drink. Now maybe you worry about those things, but most of us may not worry about that, because at least we'll be able to get food from someone else. But for us, we are worried about our survival level economically and physically. •Will i be able to make ends meet? •Can we even put food on the table. Can we put good food on the table. •Will I be able to find a job that can actually pay enough to live here? But he also sets up non-critical needs— your body what you will wear (so things that have to do with our appearance or our reputation. •Some of us are worried about our advancement in our company. Will there be any opportunities for me here? Am I gonna hit a glass ceiling? •We may be concerned about our reputation - what are they gonna think about me if I'm still in this same position 5 or 10 years later? •How am I gonna compare with my brother in law who's business just keeps growing? •Will I get recognition for my hard work and faithfulness in this company? •Will I get married… I'm not getting any younger you know? •Will we ever get pregnant…. what if we never get pregnant?? What if the treatment doesn't actually work? •Will I get into my first choice of college? Because if I don't get into this kind of school, I never get this kind of job. •Will I get the deal, can we afford the house, will I ever find a dress for the event? And then Jesus asks us the first question - and it's so penetrating; Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? What is life all about? And whatever it's about, shouldn't that be the focus of your concern? Is life about simply surviving and looking good in the process? Or is there something more? Would having those two things really satisfy you? At the end of your life would you want someone to say “you know they survived— and they kept up appearances” If someone were to follow you around for a week and listen in on all your conversations and have access to your checkbook and Credit Card statement, would she conclude that life for you is simply surviving and trying to look good? Is that where your time and your focus are? Don't stop short by focusing on food and clothing. There is more to life than what you eat, and there is more to your body than what you wear. And then Jesus, probably pausing to point out what's around him. He offers a little perspective on our needs. He gives us two illustrations to put our critical and non-critical needs in proper perspective. 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. They aren't worrying a bit, and yet their critical needs are being met. Our heavenly father feeds them. It's not just their natural instincts kicking in- it's God establishing the food cycle and weather patterns, he's setup the migration patterns and natural events that cares for their critical needs. Are you not much more valuable than they? He's your heavenly father. He is merely their creator. But you are made in his image. He is particularly fond of you. So you don't need to worry. Jesus asks a question that is so profound, that it really needs to make us all pause a moment when we are tempted to let the spin cycle of worry continue. Even if you're unsure about following Jesus- you should listen to this question he asks because when you start to ask it- it will help you say “worry, you're not the boss of me” - the question he asked that was so powerful 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? Has worry ever contributed to anyone's survival? What is this worry adding to my life? Is it helping me live longer? Nope? Science tells us how negative it is. Is it helping me cope better, probably not. Is it helping my relationships? Not if i your worry is causing you to micromanage your kids decisions. When we start getting pushed around by anxiety, fear and worry, ask this question: can I add one hour to my life by worrying? Is it keeping you from getting sick?…. maybe…. for a while at least. But eventually, something you couldn't see coming or couldn't control from coming is going to make you sick. Even in the lockdown my family still caught bugs. It's interesting that in the original language, it also means how many of you by worrying can add a single cubit to your height. In other words, it's obvious that no amount of trying harder is gonna help you grow taller. In the same way, worry is not gonna make your life longer. Its not gonna make you happier, its not going to enrich your relationships, its not gonna make life better for you or you better at life- but there's one thing it will do- it will kill your contentment. Worry only makes your life worse. It doesn't bring any certainty in uncertain times. It only continues the spin cycle. Again, he's not advocating irresponsible living. He's not asking us to be foolish. Wisdom is always the right policy because it's God's policy. He's just telling us to do what we know to do and trust God to fill-in the gaps. 28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you— The emphasis here is not on survival, it's appearance. With no effort at all, these lilies look great. Have you ever seen flowers with colors that didn't work together? Of course not, they are stunningly made and stunningly presented. ILLUSTRATION God is an expert in fashion design. He's an expert in making things look good. He doesn't need any help or suggestions. The lily did nothing - when it was what it was made to be it was at it's best. Some of us are so concerned with looking good in front of other people that we fail to be who God made us to to be. We don't serve a vanilla God. He didn't hold back when he made you anymore than he held back when he created the lilly or the butterfly. To fear that God is going to make your life boring is to demonstrate limited knowledge of God. You need a good dose of the discovery channel. you need to visit the national botanical gardens- then cruise to your favorite clothing store- and tell me who is into color and variety. My point is; if God gave this much attention to detail on a plan that is going to die in a few days, what business do we have being worried about something; the dress for prom, the right tie, the killer car, the haircut. This is just image stuff. Then Jesus really boils it down: Oh you of little faith Here's the problem. We don't trust him. We don't' think he's interested in us. We think he has overlooked us. In times of worry and uncertainty, we think he has lost power. This is the message that God has been giving me. That my worry about things with the church's facility was really an issue of my disbelief in him. I didn't trust him. So I had to worry about it. You may not want to hear your pastor struggling with faith— but in my worry i wanted to get it all figured out because I feel like so much of the future is uncertain and I wanted to control it. But what God spoke to me is “scott, do you really trust that I'm going to provide for the church, and for you and your family?” The fundamental question I have to wrestle with is: Do I trust God? Then he repeats his command just in case we missed it… 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?' or ‘What shall we drink?' or ‘What shall we wear?' If we serve God who can be trusted and has proven it over and over again, we have no business worrying about all of that, it doesn't even make sense. 32 For the pagans run after all these things, This is what it looks like for a pagan. Now a pagan is not someone who doesn't believe in the supernatural. A pagan was someone who believed in the gods.... plural. And their relationship with the gods was at the whim of nature and circumstance at worse or it was contingent on their performance at best. If they did something that made their gods angry, they wouldn't have enough cabbages for the year. Their sheep wouldn't multiply. So they were always worrying that what they did was enough. They were always toiling, always spinning , always sowing, always storing up because while their god was pleased with them now, who knows how long that's gonna last? But Jesus would say “not so with you… because you're not a pagan…. you have a heavenly father- and he loves you”. So don't spend time seeking after those things; because that's what people who don't' trust God do. They run after those things- they are frantic about them. they worry about them. For them this is all that life is about— and who can blame them. But for a christian, when everyone else around us worries, when they run after those things frantically- we have a different provider. We have a heavenly Father who loves us. Its been interesting to watch my three children contending for resources in my home. The thing is I'm a third child as well. I have two older siblings and one younger brother. So I can remember those days of fighting over how many peanut butter wafer bars were left in the pantry or who is gonna get the last bowl of cereal. My siblings and I would have all out fights over who gets how much of what. I remember my brother and i would even fight in church over who would get the biggest piece of the unleavened bread in communion. (Tell story) Now as I watch my kids, I see it in them too. I see them hide food from the others, take it up to their room, I know because I find their dishes later when they haven't cleaned them up either. And every couple months when we have done a deep cleaning of their rooms, we'll move their beds away from the walls and find piles of wrappers. What they don't know is that they are really making a statement about what they believe about me. That I won't provide for them. That I won't care for them. What I feel like telling my kids is - You don't have to act like we never have food. We have plenty of food, and I recognize that you may not have the capability of replenishing food, I do. I'm not gonna let you go hungry - at least for long. I may press you into wise dietary decisions, but you're not gonna starve. So You don't have to worry. You don't have to hoard. You don't' have to manipulate or deceive. You don't' have to spin or toil about it. Because i'm your father and I love you. Your heavenly father knows that you need these things, and he has the power to provide for you. How would you live if you heard God say, "I know you need that; trust me”? Now Jesus answers the questions he posed in vs 25: what is life about? What are we to concern ourselves with? 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. What is the thing we are to spin and toil and labor for? God's Kingdom and his righteousness. That's what we are to be preoccupied and “worried” about. It's interesting that it's actually the same greek root word for running after/seek in verse 32- it's just there it has a sense of panic. Here it means to concern yourself with and to focus on that. So rather than getting spun up about impressing people at school by what I wear, we should be focused on building God's kingdom in our school. helping more people become kingdom minded people. Rather than isolating and running away from people who may make us sick, we should find wise and reasonable ways to engage people for God's Kingdom and trust in God's protection and provision. Rather than worrying about our rights being taken away, a kingdom minded person lays down their rights and preferences to build God's Kingdom. Instead of saying “well one day we'll have a church building, then we can advance God's kingdom here” We say “God how can we be faithful to build your kingdom in whatever the circumstances.” Being Kingdom minded rather than worry-minded shows tremendous faith and trust in God. And faith was the one thing Jesus was ever impressed by. Jesus says when you make God's Kingdom your center of focus, all these things will be given to you as well. Jesus says, "You look after my deal and I'll look after yours." Don't go through life stressed over stuff that I have taken responsibility for anyway. Besides, where do you think it all came from in the first place? The talent, opportunities, breaks, education, chance encounters. Did you think that was you? That all came from me anyhow. So Don't worry about your ability to sustain my blessings. Seek my kingdom. I'll look after yours. And the whole time God is asking, "Is there anybody down there concerned about my kingdom and my righteousness?" 1. Is anybody worried about disconnected people? 2. Is anybody worried about the next generation of teenagers? 3. Is anybody worried about the children who have never heard? 4. Is anybody worried about the people in other nations who still haven't heard? 5. Is anybody going to talk to your boss? Neighbor? Friend? Here's the promise: concern yourself with what concerns me and "all these things shall be added to you. You take care of my deal, and I'll take care of yours.” So what do you do? Memorize vs. 27. Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? Get up tomorrow morning and make the trade-just for the day. Say, "Today, when I begin worrying about me, I'm going to offload that on you and look for ways to further your kingdom. I'm not going to allow uncertainty to take a toll on my character. Worry, you're not the boss of me. PRAYER

What is good everyone!I am increasing my releases this month. We are wanting to end the year at 200 episodes. I am very excited to hit that number. my next guest has gone thru quite a bit. She survived 911 and wrote a book about it. Please welcome Christina Stanton. A little bit about Christina: My name is Christina Stanton, and I am a 51-year old Florida native who has lived in New York City for the past 27 years. I had a successful career as a singer in musical theatre before turning my full attention to my job as a professional, licensed NYC tour guide. I have worked for 25 years total as a guide, and my tours have been written up in multiple publications and featured on travel channels. I've led thousands of people on tours over the years, and I truly enjoy it. Since 2009, I also worked as the Director of the Short Term Missions Ministry at Redeemer Presbyterian Church (Founder, Dr. Timothy Keller). I revamped the ministry, increasing its scope from two trips of 30 people each year to 14 trips per year with more than 200 people participating. My years of leading mission trips have helped me pinpoint some unmet needs, so in 2017 I founded a nonprofit called Loving All Nations (www.lovingallnations.org). My husband, Brian, has worked as Redeemer Presbyterian's Chief Financial Officer since 2002. We've been married since 2000, and we're one of Match.com's original couples! We are longtime residents of the Financial District. To follow her, find her books or reach out to her, head to the links below:http://christinaraystanton.com/Support for Label Free Podcast is brought to you by ​MANSCAPED™​, who is the best in men's below-the-waist grooming.  ​MANSCAPED  offers precision-engineered tools for your family jewels. They obsess over their technology developments to provide you the best tools for your grooming experience. MANSCAPED is trusted by over 2 million men worldwide! We have an exclusive offer for my listeners - 20% off + free shipping with the code: LabelFree20 at   https://www.manscaped.com​ As always thank you for the support, to contact me directly follow the link below: https://www.labelfreepodcast.com​ Stay Healthy, Stay Ready- Deanna Marie Kuempel #ad​​ #sponsor​

What is good everyone!I am increasing my releases this month. We are wanting to end the year at 200 episodes. I am very excited to hit that number. my next guest has gone thru quite a bit. She survived 911 and wrote a book about it. Please welcome Christina Stanton. A little bit about Christina: My name is Christina Stanton, and I am a 51-year old Florida native who has lived in New York City for the past 27 years. I had a successful career as a singer in musical theatre before turning my full attention to my job as a professional, licensed NYC tour guide. I have worked for 25 years total as a guide, and my tours have been written up in multiple publications and featured on travel channels. I've led thousands of people on tours over the years, and I truly enjoy it. Since 2009, I also worked as the Director of the Short Term Missions Ministry at Redeemer Presbyterian Church (Founder, Dr. Timothy Keller). I revamped the ministry, increasing its scope from two trips of 30 people each year to 14 trips per year with more than 200 people participating. My years of leading mission trips have helped me pinpoint some unmet needs, so in 2017 I founded a nonprofit called Loving All Nations (www.lovingallnations.org). My husband, Brian, has worked as Redeemer Presbyterian's Chief Financial Officer since 2002. We've been married since 2000, and we're one of Match.com's original couples! We are longtime residents of the Financial District. To follow her, find her books or reach out to her, head to the links below:http://christinaraystanton.com/Support for Label Free Podcast is brought to you by ​MANSCAPED™​, who is the best in men's below-the-waist grooming.  ​MANSCAPED  offers precision-engineered tools for your family jewels. They obsess over their technology developments to provide you the best tools for your grooming experience. MANSCAPED is trusted by over 2 million men worldwide! We have an exclusive offer for my listeners - 20% off + free shipping with the code: LabelFree20 at   https://www.manscaped.com​ As always thank you for the support, to contact me directly follow the link below: https://www.labelfreepodcast.com​ Stay Healthy, Stay Ready- Deanna Marie Kuempel #ad​​ #sponsor​

We all know that COVID 19 is undeniably one of the deadliest diseases that humanity has ever seen. It continues to affect the lives and livelihood of people appallingly across the world. In today's podcast episode, Christina Stanston talked to us about her jaw-dropping first-hand experiences of 9/11 and COVID, and how Christina was able to find the blessing in the midst of tragedy, and what happened on that day left her more susceptible to the coronavirus.  Christina Stanton is a 51-year old Florida native who has lived in New York City for the past 27 years. She had a successful career as a singer in musical theatre before turning her full attention to her job as a professional, licensed NYC tour guide. She has worked for 25 years total as a guide, and her tours have been written up in multiple publications and featured on travel channels. She led thousands of people on tours over the years, and she truly enjoyed it. For the past 10 years she also worked as the Director of the Short Term Missions Ministry at Redeemer Presbyterian Church (Founder, Dr. Timothy Keller). She revamped the ministry, increasing its scope from two trips of 30 people each year to 14 trips per year with more than 200 people participating. Her years of leading mission trips have helped me pinpoint some unmet needs, so in 2017 she founded a nonprofit called Loving All Nations (www.lovingallnations.org). Her husband, Brian, has worked as Redeemer Presbyterian's Chief Financial Officer since 2002.  Reach out to Christina: https://christinaraystanton.comInstagram: @doingbusinesswithgod @unikorntrybeFacebook Group: Clubhouse ConnectorsWebsite: www.unikorntrybe.comClubhouse: @unikorntrybeJoin the club: @unikorntrybe and @women collaborative What you'll learn from this podcast episode: 3:16 - How their faith made the relationship 6:10 - Her inspiring entrepreneurship journey12:16 - What are the types of tour guides in new york city  15:13 -How she handles her non profit 18:40 - Structure of the non-profit 21:54 - How she does business with God26:45 - Her COVID-19 story 32:30 - What she does for fun34:36 - Advice for new entrepreneurs 36:52 - Her mantra in life Etsy Shop: www.etsy.com/shop/mattieleesdelightsThe Plant Lady - I specialize in Indoor Plants for the Beginning and New Plant Parents visit my etsy shop for all your needs.Mattie's Lee Delights - We specialize in all things tantalizing to the tongue such as Coconut Macaroons, Clarified Butter (Ghee), Infused Olive Oil, Infused Extra Virgin Olive Oil, and Apple Cider VinegarReady to monetize your business schedule your session, please visit www.linktr.ee/unikorntrybeSchedule your Difference Maker Call, B.E. A. C.E.O., group coaching program is now open. Click the link linktr.ee/unikorntrybe to schedule your appointment todayIf you or someone you know wants to be on the Doing Business with God podcast or be an advertiser or sponsor click the link https://bit.ly/doingbusinesswithgodpodcast to fill out the application. I am so excited to talk with you and have you on the show. Be sure to share this episode with your friends and community to help us grow. Take a screenshot and tag us on Instagram stories @doingbusinesswithgod. Be sure to leave us a review on whatever platform you are listening to us on. We want to reach more people. We will see you in the next episode. Have the most amazing day ever!!!

Do you remember where you were when you learned of the brutal terrorist attacks on 9/11? For Christina Ray Stanton, that day will forever be imprinted upon her heart and mind in a way that many of us could not even imagine. It is for that reason, I count it a privilege and honor to have Christina on the podcast during the 20th anniversary of 9/11. Living only six blocks from the Twin Towers, Christina and her husband Brian, as well as their dog, felt and saw the attack first hand. Not only did they endure a harrowing escape from Manhattan by boat to New Jersey, they found themselves homeless and desperately in need of the kind of volunteerism and generosity in which they would have normally been on the other side.Christina's testimony of God's provisions and faithfulness will not only encourage you but also challenge you to see life from a new perspective. Her accounts of the kindness of strangers and friends alike, will inspire you to live more intentionally, compassionately, and courageously. Christina Ray Stanton is an award-winning author and licensed NYC tour guide, and has been featured in print and TV many times in her 25-year career. For a decade she worked as Redeemer Presbyterian's short-term missions director, and she is the founder of the nonprofit organization Loving All Nations (lovingallnations.org). She and her husband, Brian, still live within blocks of the World Trade Center. To learn more about Christina, please visit christinaraystanton.com.Helpful LinksOut of the Shadow of 9/11: An Inspiring Tale of Escape and Transformation by Christina Ray StantonLoving All Nations Embrace the benefits of Life Coaching, starting with a Discovery Session!Become a More to Be Podcast Community MemberThe More to Be Podcast is supported by our Patreon Podcast Community. You can become a valuable member and get access to exclusive downloadable resources, courses, coaching, and more at patreon.com/moretobe/. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Christina Ray Stanton is an award-winning author and licensed NYC tour guide, and has been featured in print and TV many times in her 25-year career. For a decade she worked as Redeemer Presbyterian's short-term missions director, and she is the founder of the nonprofit organization Loving All Nations (www.lovingallnations.org). She and her husband, Brian, still live within blocks of the World Trade Center. https://christinaraystanton.com/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/richard-lamonica/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/richard-lamonica/support

In this episode, we discuss the rhetorical method of finding a "third way" which is popular in Reformed Evangelicalism and show why it is insufficient to deal with the challenges of our world. We break down what it is, where it came from, what is good about it, and what is wrong with it. Trinitarian Formation: https://amzn.to/3fDI10a

In 2013 Bill Hybels foretold a looming succession crisis for churches. He ended up being more right than he knew. He observed that there had been an explosion of mega-churches, many still led by a founding pastor approaching retirement age.His prophecy has very much come true. Not only did his own succession not go well, we've seen several succession plans unravel recently. John Piper's successor at Bethlehem Baptist recently resigned. There are pastoral searches underway for two of the three major locations at the spin off churches of Redeemer Presbyterian in New York City. And the challenges facing David Platt and McLean Bible Church likely also have some roots in succession.There are three major models of succession: the internal successor, the external peer successor, and the unofficial interim. In this podcast I discuss these models, as well as other considerations of succession.  Given high profile succession challenges we've seen at churches run by world class leaders, this is an area requiring significant attention. 

A new MP3 sermon from Redeemer Presbyterian is now available on SermonAudio with the following details: Title: Trinity Part VIII Subtitle: Lessons on the Trinity Speaker: Chris Gottilla Broadcaster: Redeemer Presbyterian Event: Sunday School Date: 7/25/2021 Length: 45 min.

Dr Brad Vermurlen is a sociologist at the University of Texas and author of The Reformed Resurgence. He is a frequent guest on the podcast because of PHD dissertation was on New Calvinism. This week on the podcast he returns to discuss what he observed in three of the most influential New Calvinist churches. We go all the way from East Coast with Redeemer Presbyterian, stop by Bethlehem Baptist and end at Mars Hill of Seattle.  Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi

In the past year, Covid has presented us with many challenges and as our collective stress level has been steadily rising, we have seen the pressure of the pandemic lead to a surfacing of issues that are now causing significant levels of division both in our country, our communities, and sadly, even in our churches. In this episode, Dan Cody from our Church Management Solutions team had a conversation with Scott Sauls, Senior Pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church in Nashville, Tennessee. Scott is the author of several books, including his most recent work, A Gentle Answer, in which he discusses how followers of Jesus can live and love like Christ in a defensive and divided era. They talk about what it means to abide in the gentleness of Christ and why it is imperative that we model our posture after Him in the way that we share our strong convictions. For a list of resources, visit the episode page on our website. SCOTT SAULS Scott Sauls is husband to Patti, dad to Abby and Ellie, and serves as Senior Pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church in Nashville, Tennessee. Prior to Nashville, Scott was a Lead and Preaching Pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian in New York City after planting two churches in Kansas City and Saint Louis. Scott has authored several books, including Jesus Outside the Lines and his most recent work, A Gentle Answer. He blogs regularly at scottsauls.com. His work has been featured in Christianity Today, Relevant Magazine, Qideas, Catalyst, Leadership Magazine, Outreach Magazine, annvoskamp.com, The Gospel Coalition, and several other publications.

In this panel, four pastors from diverse contexts discuss how the church can remain gospel-centered and united as it engages with the topics of justice, racism, and diversity. Bios: Michael Lee currently serves as the lead pastor of All Nations Community Church. He also serves as a council member and the Executive Director of the SOLA Network. Originally from Atlanta, Michael majored in philosophy at the University of Southern California and received his Masters of Divinity from Talbot School of Theology. He is a huge USC Trojan football fan, avid golfer, and donut aficionado. He resides in Pasadena with his wife, son and daughter, and dog. P.J. Tibayan is a pastor-theologian of Bethany Baptist Church in Bellflower, CA, where he lives with his God-fearing and beautiful wife and their five children. He writes at gospelize.me, helps lead The Gospel Coalition LA Regional Chapter and the Shepherd LA Conference (for pastors), and serves on the SOLA Editorial Board. He is currently a doctoral student (DMin) in Biblical Theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary working on the book of Revelation. Bobby Scott is the Pastor of Discipleship at Community of Faith Bible Church in South Gate. He loves teaching the Word of God and through the power of the Holy Spirit watching God's Word transform lives (2 Cor 3:18). Pastor Bobby is passionate about strengthening the urban church. He has pastored for over twenty-five years and enjoys writing. You can follow Pastor Bobby on Twitter @pastorbscott. Pastor Bobby married up when God blessed him with his wife, Naomi. He loves his six kids (ages 15-24). As a UCLA alumnus, his two favorite two teams are UCLA and whoever is playing SC. Go Bruins!!! Scott Sauls is husband to Patti, dad to Abby and Ellie, and serves as senior pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church in Nashville. He was also a lead and preaching pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian in NYC after planting churches in Kansas City and Saint Louis, where he also taught homiletics at Covenant Seminary. Scott has authored five books including his most recent, A Gentle Answer. He writes weekly at scottsauls.com and can be found on Facebook or Twitter/Instagram at @scottsauls. Shownotes: Watch the video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/hycz6507MGs Read the article transcript: https://sola.network/article/race-gospel-local-church-ministering-2020 More from SolaCon21: All Content https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAoJ5wNGQQE2hIRu3cUCl76WF0xklNIC9 More from SolaCon21: Plenary Speakers and Panels https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAoJ5wNGQQE3zRPZBsZUjX4KFRrGW8RpB More from SolaCon21: Microtalks and Interviews https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAoJ5wNGQQE05DKlOea0N_ScPArVSpnz- More from SolaCon21: Behind the Scenes https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAoJ5wNGQQE2VhtNvTxK-oHGkyZMHX0x7 Links: Weekly Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/sola/tgif Monthly Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/sola/newsletter Website: https://sola.network

In a defensive, divided, politically and socially hostile “cancel culture,” how can Christians live counter-culturally by loving others as Christ has loved us, even when we were his enemies? How can we become the kind of people who turn away wrath with the fruit of Christ's gentleness (Proverbs 15:1)? In this message, Nashville pastor Scott Sauls will explore what a gentle answer can look like in our hearts, homes, churches, and world. Bio: Scott Sauls is husband to Patti, dad to Abby and Ellie, and serves as senior pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church in Nashville. He was also a lead and preaching pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian in NYC after planting churches in Kansas City and Saint Louis, where he also taught homiletics at Covenant Seminary. Scott has authored five books including his most recent, A Gentle Answer. He writes weekly at scottsauls.com and can be found on Facebook or Twitter/Instagram at @scottsauls. Shownotes: Watch the video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/T_jTRbsD2ZU Read the article transcript: https://sola.network/article/rising-above-cancel-culture-fruit-of-gentleness More from SolaCon21: All Content https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAoJ5wNGQQE2hIRu3cUCl76WF0xklNIC9 More from SolaCon21: Plenary Speakers and Panels https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAoJ5wNGQQE3zRPZBsZUjX4KFRrGW8RpB More from SolaCon21: Microtalks and Interviews https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAoJ5wNGQQE05DKlOea0N_ScPArVSpnz- More from SolaCon21: Behind the Scenes https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAoJ5wNGQQE2VhtNvTxK-oHGkyZMHX0x7 Links: Weekly Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/sola/tgif Monthly Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/sola/newsletter Facebook: https://facebook.com/thesolanetwork Instagram: https://instagram.com/thesolanetwork Twitter: https://twitter.com/thesolanetwork YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqsoKbSYBbZZoovA24PhqAg Podcast: http://anchor.fm/solanetwork Website: https://sola.network

In this panel, four pastors from diverse contexts discuss how the church can remain gospel-centered and united as it engages with the topics of justice, racism, and diversity. Bios: Michael Lee currently serves as the lead pastor of All Nations Community Church. He also serves as a council member and the Executive Director of the SOLA Network. Originally from Atlanta, Michael majored in philosophy at the University of Southern California and received his Masters of Divinity from Talbot School of Theology. He is a huge USC Trojan football fan, avid golfer, and donut aficionado. He resides in Pasadena with his wife, son and daughter, and dog. P.J. Tibayan is a pastor-theologian of Bethany Baptist Church in Bellflower, CA, where he lives with his God-fearing and beautiful wife and their five children. He writes at gospelize.me, helps lead The Gospel Coalition LA Regional Chapter and the Shepherd LA Conference (for pastors), and serves on the SOLA Editorial Board. He is currently a doctoral student (DMin) in Biblical Theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary working on the book of Revelation. Bobby Scott is the Pastor of Discipleship at Community of Faith Bible Church in South Gate. He loves teaching the Word of God and through the power of the Holy Spirit watching God's Word transform lives (2 Cor 3:18). Pastor Bobby is passionate about strengthening the urban church. He has pastored for over twenty-five years and enjoys writing. You can follow Pastor Bobby on Twitter @pastorbscott. Pastor Bobby married up when God blessed him with his wife, Naomi. He loves his six kids (ages 15-24). As a UCLA alumnus, his two favorite two teams are UCLA and whoever is playing SC. Go Bruins!!! Scott Sauls is husband to Patti, dad to Abby and Ellie, and serves as senior pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church in Nashville. He was also a lead and preaching pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian in NYC after planting churches in Kansas City and Saint Louis, where he also taught homiletics at Covenant Seminary. Scott has authored five books including his most recent, A Gentle Answer. He writes weekly at scottsauls.com and can be found on Facebook or Twitter/Instagram at @scottsauls. Shownotes: Watch the video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/rl8SM4KgqJE Read the article transcript: https://sola.network/article/race-gospel-local-church-stories-of-hope More from SolaCon21: All Content https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAoJ5wNGQQE2hIRu3cUCl76WF0xklNIC9 More from SolaCon21: Plenary Speakers and Panels https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAoJ5wNGQQE3zRPZBsZUjX4KFRrGW8RpB More from SolaCon21: Microtalks and Interviews https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAoJ5wNGQQE05DKlOea0N_ScPArVSpnz- More from SolaCon21: Behind the Scenes https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAoJ5wNGQQE2VhtNvTxK-oHGkyZMHX0x7 Links: Weekly Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/sola/tgif Monthly Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/sola/newsletter Website: https://sola.network

Pastor Scott Sauls shares about some of the key witnesses in his own life that led him to faith in Christ, as well as some major lessons that he's been learning in this past season. He also identifies some of the major challenges and opportunities for the Church and provides a word of encouragement to church leaders. Bio: Scott Sauls is husband to Patti, dad to Abby and Ellie, and serves as senior pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church in Nashville. He was also a lead and preaching pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian in NYC after planting churches in Kansas City and Saint Louis, where he also taught homiletics at Covenant Seminary. Scott has authored five books including his most recent, A Gentle Answer. He writes weekly at scottsauls.com and can be found on Facebook or Twitter/Instagram at @scottsauls. Shownotes: Watch the video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Dh3-Wl5Al3M Read the article transcript: https://sola.network/article/reflection-on-the-past-year-interview-scott-sauls More from SolaCon21: All Content https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAoJ5wNGQQE2hIRu3cUCl76WF0xklNIC9 More from SolaCon21: Plenary Speakers and Panels https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAoJ5wNGQQE3zRPZBsZUjX4KFRrGW8RpB More from SolaCon21: Microtalks and Interviews https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAoJ5wNGQQE05DKlOea0N_ScPArVSpnz- More from SolaCon21: Behind the Scenes https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAoJ5wNGQQE2VhtNvTxK-oHGkyZMHX0x7 Links: Weekly Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/sola/tgif Monthly Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/sola/newsletter Facebook: https://facebook.com/thesolanetwork Instagram: https://instagram.com/thesolanetwork Twitter: https://twitter.com/thesolanetwork YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqsoKbSYBbZZoovA24PhqAg Podcast: http://anchor.fm/solanetwork Website: https://sola.network

If you have not read any of Tim Keller’s work, you are missing out on some of the deepest reflective writing ever published. Pastor Keller started Redeemer Presbyterian in New York with just a hand full of people and it grew into 5,000 adult worshippers weekly. He retired from his position 3 years ago. During […]

Casey Smith and Ronnie Martin sit down with Scott Sauls for a conversation about wholehearted leadership, ministry friendships, and why church planting is good for the ego. Scott is married to Patti, and dad to Abby and Ellie. He also serves as senior pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church in Nashville, Tennessee. He was previously a lead and preaching pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian in New York City after planting two churches in Kansas City and St. Louis. He’s a pastor, church planter, husband, father, author, and lover of all things barbecue. Judging by some of the quotes below, you're going to love this conversation."I pass the test of adversity a lot better than I pass the test of prosperity. Be careful what you wish for.""I think the reason why it's so hard for pastors to have close friends in the church is that most of the time, you as the pastor are more committed to your people than your people are to you.""The beginning of your maturing process is when you decide to stay in a community when things get hard. American Christians are too soft, too fragile, and we peace out too quickly. We peace out before the maturing process begins."“Pastors, take heart. Your weakness is something God delights to use in order to bring hope into the lives of others.” CREDITSThis episode of This is Harbor Network is a production of Owens ProductionsProduced by Casey Smith and Mark OwensEdited and Mixed by Mark OwensMusic by Marc Wallach, Ayden Blackbird, and Flash Fluharty

A new MP3 sermon from Redeemer Presbyterian Church is now available on SermonAudio with the following details: Title: Why REDEEMER Presbyterian? Subtitle: Our Beliefs - Redeemer PC Speaker: Chip Byrd Broadcaster: Redeemer Presbyterian Church Event: Podcast Date: 11/10/2020 Length: 1 min.

Summary:Why do we long for a hero? Why do our heroes always let us down? This Sunday, we will begin a new Advent series, and look at how all these longings point to Jesus. He is the quintessential hero, the chosen one, the Messiah. Who He is makes Him the only hero who can truly save us, and what's He's done proves He's the only hero who will never let us down.Audio Transcript: You're listening to audio for Mosaic Boston Church. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston and our neighborhood churches, or donate to this ministry, please visit mosaicboston.com.We are starting a new sermon series today. I'm excited. Advent is here. Christmas is coming. We've got our first snow day in the books, and I love December in Boston. It is that like one magical time of year where everything slows down, people chill out a little bit. You might even have someone smile and say hi to you on the T as they shove you out of their way. I don't know. I'm not a particularly sentimental guy, but I can appreciate the sentiment around Christmas, and a lot of us have a lot of nostalgic, cherished memories of Christmases growing up.For me, one of my things that I always look forward to as a kid, and this might make some of you sad because I don't think this is even a thing anymore, but I loved, I waited. I couldn't wait for that massive JC Penney catalog to come in the mail, just page after page of pure plastic joy. It always got my greedy little heart like right in the Christmas spirit. I'd take that thing and I would just comb through it and I'd assess the inventory, and I'd very carefully make my decision. I'd find a big red marker and I'd go through and I'd circle everything that I wanted on my list.The strategy was you had to first circle a few little things, like a few practical things, because then grandma would see how humble and pure your heart was and your odds would just be that much better when it came to circling that ridiculous thing that was like way over priced and out of your league. Grandma always came through though.It's hard to talk about Christmas without talking about gifts. And we can bemoan, right, the materialism and the commercialization of the holiday season, but the reality is at the center of the Christmas story is a gift, an unimaginably costly gifts that God loved the world to such an extent that he gave his most valued treasure, his beloved, his only begotten son, Jesus Christ.Over the next four weeks, we are going to be looking at four distinct ways in which Jesus is God's gift to us. Next week, Pastor Andy is going to be talking about how God gave Jesus to be our prophet. The week after that, Pastor Jan is going to be talking about how God gave Jesus to be our priest. And then the week of Christmas, our Mosaic Teen director Tyler Burns is going to be talking about how God gave Jesus to be our king. Prophet, priest and king. Jesus is not just a prophet, priest, and king, but he is the prophet, priest, and king that every other prophet, priest, and king points toward and finds their fulfillment in. So remember those three titles, those three offices, prophet, priest, and king. We're going to be talking about those over the next couple of weeks.Today though, we're going to start by looking at how first and foremost God gave Jesus to be our Messiah. Now, I don't know what comes to mind when you hear that word, because it's not a word that we really use very often in our modern vernacular. You might hear it has almost like a mystical, a mysterious sound to it, but it's actually a very meaningful title.We're going to be looking at it today, and as we do it, we're going to be looking at a passage of scripture found in Isaiah chapter nine. Isaiah nine was a prophetic passage written about the birth of Jesus Christ, but it was actually written hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus Christ and it communicates the hope, the hope that ancient Israel had as they longingly waited for the Messiah for that first advent, the Adventist, the Parousia, the unveiling of the Messiah to be born.To really get us in the Christmas spirit, we're going to be framing up our time with three familiar points this morning. Point number one, Long lay the world in sin and error pining. Point two, a thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices. And point three, his law is love and his gospel is peace. We're going to be in Isaiah chapter nine. If you have your Bibles, you can follow along. Otherwise, you can follow along on the screen as well.Isaiah nine starting at verse two. "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who dwelt in the land of deep darkness, on them light has shown. You've multiplied the nation. You've increased its joy. They rejoice before you as with the joy at the harvest as they are glad when they divide the spoil, for the yoke of his burden and the staff of his shoulders, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian. For every boot of the trampling warrior and battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire.""For to a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders. And his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this."Would you please pray with me before we get into the sermon? God, we thank you for your Holy inerrant, inspired, and authoritative word, and we pray today that by the power of your Holy Spirit, you would write these words, these truths on our hearts. Help us to understand them. Help us to not only that, but help us to believe and to love and to obey them. God, we pray that as we do, the hope, the love, the joy, the peace of Jesus Christ would come to rule in our lives and in our church. We ask this in his name. Amen.Just to set the context, of the prophet Isaiah, this is a prophet writing in the Old Testament to the nation of Israel, and he's writing to a people who are on the brink of doom. The Assyrian empire, this massive war machine, is looming on their horizon ready to strike, and it is going to come down and it's going to crush them at any moment and carry them off into exile. It's hard for us to relate to their context of what it would be like to live in such a dangerous and volatile place. While we might not be able to relate to their specific context, all of us can relate to one degree or another of what that those feelings of fear and anxiety are like.The prophet, he describes this. He paints this vivid picture of the land. It's a land that is covered in deep and constant darkness. Even that, the weightiness of that, it's easily lost on us. We live in a world where the light is always just a flip of the switch away. Now, they lived in a world that was lit only by fire, and it's hard to imagine the despair, but we need to try to feel what he wants us to feel here. The feeling that he's trying to convey is that of hopelessness, of lostness. We need to understand this, because to properly understand this prophecy, we need to understand this is not just about Israel. He's also talking about us.One of the things that you need to understand when you're reading scripture, and particularly when you're reading prophecy in scripture, is that prophecy in scripture almost always has a threefold fulfillment. What that means is there's usually an immediate fulfillment that happens within the same historical context of its original audience, but if you really look closely at these prophetic passages, you realize there's something deeper going on, that there's the immediate fulfillment, but there's also this greater fulfillment. We see that greater fulfillment often being fulfilled by Jesus Christ, either through his birth, through his life, through his ministry, through his death, through his resurrection, or through his reign over the church. Then even beyond that, there is an ultimate fulfillment that we see in many of these prophecies that will not take place until Christ returns in glory.We see the prophet Isaiah. He's writing, and on the one hand, he is addressing the contemporary political climate of his day and he's trying to warn the people of Israel. He's trying to prepare the people of Israel to see how God's sovereign hand of judgment and of redemption is working through their circumstance.But when you really look closely at this passage, you see there's something deeper going on as well, that the physical oppression of the Assyrian empire, as bad as it was going to be, and it was going to be bad, it was merely a temporary manifestation of the spiritual oppression that all humanity faces from Satan, sin, and death. The reality is that the crisis of humanity is, when properly understood, even greater than the crisis of Israel, that all of us, we have an inward enemy of sin. We have a sinful nature. Our hearts are these darkened battlefields, enemy occupied territory. Most of us might even be afraid to really take a hard look inside, because when we do, we see these desires that are twisted, that are perverted, that are sometimes even evil, and it can scare us. Even at our best, our motives are tinges with selfishness, with pride, with greed. We understand we have this inward enemy.We also have an outward enemy. Scripture talks about there's demonic powers at play in reality that are against us, that Satan, he's described as our adversary, our tempter, our accuser. He roams around like a roaring lion seeking who to devour. We have an inward enemy, an outward enemy, and then we have the ultimate enemy of death, completely inescapable, always looming on the horizon, able to strike at any moment.Pastor Jan did a great job. He talked about this in detail last week. These are enemies that we cannot defeat, that we cannot battle on our own. We know this about death, but it's true about Satan and sin as well. We need something from outside ourselves to save us.One of my favorite Christmas carols, it puts it like this. It says, "Oh, come though rod of Jesse," referring to the Messiah. "Oh, cones are out of Jessie. Free thine own from Satan's tyranny. From depths of hell thy people save and give them victory over the grave." We need something to rescue us from these three enemies that we face.You've probably thought about this before. If not, just take a moment to think about the stories that we tell through books, TV, movies, comic books, whatever. Why are we so obsessed with heroes? Why are we so fascinated with superheroes? Why do we have so many tales of a chosen one, born for the sole purpose of fulfilling some great destiny on behalf of mankind? You think about Beowulf, King Arthur, William Wallace, Aragorn, Luke Skywalker, Neo, Link, my favorite Goku.As I was writing this, it was Tuesday and our kids were home from school because they had a snow day. My wife and I, we both worked from home, and so the great thing about working from home is when your kids don't have school, you still have work, and so you've got to try to figure that out. They get to watch a lot of movies. Disney+ is a great babysitter and relatively inexpensive.I'm sitting there writing my sermon, they're sitting next to me and they're watching The Lion King. What is The Lion King? You think about it, a chosen son, born to be king, celebrated at birth, fighting for his rightful throne. He falls at the hands of evil, oppression. All seems lost. He's presumed to be dead. Then he comes back. He saves his people. He establishes a kingdom of justice and peace.It's as if we cannot even help ourselves from telling these messianic tales. They're written on our hearts. We tell them to our kids. We're inspired by them ourselves. But the strange thing is we always want to keep them confined to that realm of myth, of legend, of fairy tale. Like something inside them screams out that there's something inherently true about them, yet we're on the other hand a little bit afraid to believe them. We all have these longings for a Messiah impressed into our being and yet feel it's maybe just empty, optimistic sentiment to believe in such a thing. That's for children, but not really for adults. I would submit that part of the reason is because we're right, that these stories really are in a sense too good to be true, that such a one could not actually exist.The Old Testament is packed with prophetic announcements and descriptions of a Messiah who would come. And actually the earliest of these happens right in the very beginning of the opening pages of scripture in Genesis chapter three. Immediately after the fall, as God is pronouncing the curse upon the serpent who tempted Eve, Adam and Eve, God says this. He says, "I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring. And he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel." This is known as the protoevangelium, meaning the first gospel, that a child would be born, an offspring of Eve who would be destined to crush the serpent's head and save humanity.Now, we read that and we immediately want to jump to Jesus, but like hold on for a second. Think about what is said in the very next chapter, the very first verse. Genesis 4:1 says this. It says, "Now Adam knew Eve, his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain saying, 'I've gotten a man with the help of the Lord.'"What are they thinking? Maybe this is the one. This is the offspring that God promised. He's going to come. He's going to crush the serpent's head. He's going to bring us back to Eden. He's going to restore our relationship with God. And then you read the story, and not only does Cain fail to crush the serpent's head, he becomes enslaved by the serpent to crush his brother's head instead. He murders his brother Abel.Then following that, you read through the rest of the Old Testament and it's just failed Messiah after failed Messiah after failed Messiah. Even the greatest of the prophets, priests, and kings, they all sinned. They all fell short, and none fulfilled that promise.This is the paradox, that only an offspring of Eve can stand in the place of humanity to pay the price of our redemption. Only a human life could be a substitute for humanity's sin. But the only person worthy to do such a thing would have to be perfectly innocent and perfectly powerful. In order to pay for the sins of others, they would first need to be guiltless of sin themselves, and then in order to bear the weight of that redemption, they would need to do so without being crushed and destroyed by it themselves.What we see is that the curse of Adam in the sinful nature that we all inherit, it on the one hand puts us each in dire need of redemption, and on the other hand it makes us completely unable of attaining it. We have to sit in that darkness and feel that despair, that hopelessness, or we're never going to experience the thrill of hope that we're meant to experience in verses six and seven.That brings us to point number two. Looking again at Isaiah, he starts in verse two. It says, "The people who've walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who dwelt in the land of deep darkness, on them has light shown." Jumping down to verse six, "For to us a child is born, unto us a son is given. The government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. And of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it in uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore."I mentioned earlier that it's hard for us to relate to what it would be like living in a world where light was not readily available, to face darkness. About the closest I've ever come to experiencing this was in college. Some of my friends from high school and I, we used to like to go caving. When I say go caving, I don't mean like a commercial cave where you pay money, and you have a guide, and you walk through a path, and the cave is all lit up and beautiful. I mean you go to a forest, you find a hole in the ground, and you'd go into it, and you'd just explore. There were times ... First of all, to do this, you're wearing knee pads. You're wearing a helmet. You're going down, and sometimes you're your army crawling through tunnels. The reward at the end, you'll crawl for 30, 40 feet and all of a sudden it will open up into this massive cavernous room, and it's just amazing. It's a breathtaking experience. But you only need to go about 50 feet into a cave before there is absolutely zero light, zero natural light, complete pitch, black darkness. And at that point, you become completely orderly dependent on this tiny little lamp strapped to your helmet. We would walk for hours sometimes, no idea how much distance it was, but probably up to a mile underground in the darkness.Now, imagine you're an hour into a cave and the lights go out. Maybe even just close your eyes for a moment. I hate it when pastors do this, but I'm preaching today, so try it. Just close your eyes. Imagine this. You're an hour in and the lights go out. You have no sense of direction. You can begin groping your way through the dark, but you really don't know if you're getting closer to escape or if you're getting further away. Minutes turn into hours. Hours turn into you lose track of time. You're hungry. You're cold. You're tired. You're lost.Now, imagine the thrill of hope if far off in the distance you swear you see a glimmer of light. Isaiah says there is a light that is coming into the darkness. Hope is coming. Rescue is coming. You can open your eyes.This hope is coming through a king with a massive army that's going to crush the Assyrians... No, he says it's coming through a baby. It's going to come through a child that will be born to us, a son that will be given to us. It's like why should that bring any hope at all? And the reason that this child is going to bring hope is because there's going to be something about this child that is utterly different from every child born before him and every child born after him, because Isaiah says that this child will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.I know it's Christmas, and we all kind of want to just show up and hear a nice sermon about little eight pound, six ounce, beautiful baby Jesus, but I want to do some like theology today. I want to teach some doctrine today. I want us to think about this for a minute, because this is really important. We're going to do some Christology.Isaiah chapter nine is a Christological prophecy about something that theologians call the hypostatic union of Christ. What this means is that the Messiah would have a truly fully nature. A child would be born. And the Messiah would have a truly fully divine nature. His name would be Mighty God. These two natures would be perfectly united in one person. Not part God, part man, but God-man, fully human, fully divine.A couple chapters earlier, Isaiah 7:14 says, "Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel, meaning God with us." Micah 5:2, another prophesy says, "But you, O Bethlehem Ephratah, who were too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from old, from ancient days."Paul says in Colossian 2:9 that, "For in him, Christ, the full, the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily." Hebrews 1, "Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his son whom he appointed the heir of all things through whom he also created in the world." And John 1, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God and all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." Verse 14, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory of the only son from the Father full of grace and truth."Why does this matter? Why bring in the hypostatic union of Christ? What's the point? I mentioned earlier that the curse of Adam and the sinful nature that we inherit, it puts us in need of redemption and also incapable of attaining it. That on the one hand, only a truly human person can stand in humanity's place to pay the price of their redemption, but it would take only a truly perfect divine person who would be able and worthy to do such a thing. And only Jesus is both. He had to be both.I don't know if you're familiar with the Heidelberg Catechism, but it's a very useful discipleship tool that the church has used for generations. They come to this doctrine and they frame it by asking and answering two questions. The first question they ask is, why must he, why must the Christ, the Messiah, the Redeemer be a righteous man? The answer is that he must be a true man, because the justice of God requires that the same human nature which has sinned should pay for sin. He must be a righteous man, because one who himself is a sinner, he cannot pay for others.So then why must he be God? That's the second question. So that by the power of his divinity, he might bear the weight of God's anger in his humanity and earn for us and restore to us righteousness in life.A slightly modernized version of this comes from Redeemer Presbyterian in New York City. They put together what they've called the New City Catechism, and they frame it with these questions. First, they ask, why must the Redeemer be truly human? That in human nature, he might on our behalf perfectly obey the whole law and suffer the punishment for human sin, and also that he might sympathize with our weaknesses. Why must the Redeemer be truly God? That because of his divine nature, his obedience and suffering would be perfect and effective, and also that he would be able to bear the righteous anger of God against sin and yet overcome death.Jesus had to be fully God and he had to be truly human, because there is no other possible scenario through which he could have fully redeemed us from sin and from death. It is only because of his full humanity that Jesus is able to suffer and to sympathize with us, and it is only because of his full divinity that he is able to satisfy God's wrath and secure our salvation. In his divinity, he is perfectly united to the Father so that by grace through faith we may be perfectly united to him and his humanity, and therefore united to the Father, to the Spirit as well. This is what we're talking about being adopted into the family of God, that we become children of God through Jesus Christ.C.S. Lewis, he put it a lot more succinctly like this. The son of God became a man to enable men to become sons of God. That's the hypostatic union.Doctrine is important. We shouldn't be afraid to study a doctrine and to apply our minds to scripture, but we can't just let that live up here in our minds. We need to take the delight of that truth and we need to work it down into the darkness of our hearts. And this brings us to point three. It's important for us to understand who Jesus is in order to satisfy the reason, the logic of our minds. It's also important for us to understand what Jesus did to satisfy the longings of our hearts.In Isaiah, he gives us a glimpse of who the Messiah would be at the beginning of his book, but then he goes into vivid detail about what the Messiah would do at the end of his book. In Isaiah chapter 53 it says this, "That surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken and smitten by God and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds, we are healed." "We all like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all."The world watched with bated breath to see if Cain would crush the head of the serpent, but he crushes the head of his brother instead. Jesus Christ is born, and he's willingly crushed for his brothers. And in doing so, he crushes the serpent as well. In doing so, he finds a way to slay the serpent and save the sinner, to save all those who would repent and believe in his name. And so we see that who Jesus is makes him worthy, but what Jesus did makes him lovely.This is where it begins to go from our head to our hearts, and we need to fight for this every day. We need to take that truth, and armed with that truth go into that dark battlefield of our hearts and do battle to not only know it, and to understand it, and to agree with it, but to believe it and to love it.Whatever you're going through right now, whatever pain, whatever suffering, whatever despair, whatever darkness it is you're facing, don't miss this. The God of heaven left his throne. He left paradise and stepped down into a cold, dark world. He took on flesh. He bore our griefs. He carried our sorrows. He was crushed and wounded for our healing and peace, and he did this compelled by his love for us.Because often when you're in the dark and when the darkness seems overwhelming, we're all tempted to ask these two questions. Is it that God is not powerful enough to give me justice and peace, or does he not love me enough to care? When you look at the light, when you look at Jesus and what he has done for you, you might not get a clear answer as to why God allows the darkness in your life, and you might not see you exactly what that answer is, but you do see what that answer cannot be, and the answer cannot be that God is not powerful enough to give you justice. He has taken the single darkest moment in human history, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, and redeemed it to such an extent that he used it as the source of greatest light. He used it as the source of the greatest good, the resurrection of Christ and the redemption of God's people. Do you believe that? Do you believe that he can do that for you? His word promises that he will.The answer cannot be that God's not powerful enough to give us justice, but it also is not, it can't possibly be that he doesn't care, he doesn't love us enough to care, because God loved the world to such an extent that he gave that which he valued most, his beloved son, his only begotten son. Jesus loved to such an extent that he gave his life.The Christmas season should be a joyful time, but for many it's a very jarring time. It can be a painful and isolating time of year for a lot of people. Typically what you see is on the one hand, there's a lot of us who are running to the past. We're chasing after some sentimental nostalgic feelings, and we put all this pressure on Christmas to give us these feelings of peace, of joy, of hope, and we're so romanticizing our memories of Christmases past that we are not even able to enjoy the present. That we put these crazy expectations on other people around us that hurt them. Ultimately, we just feel this dissatisfaction, this emptiness as Christmas comes and goes.Some people are running to the past. A lot of other people are running away from the past. Just get me through the holidays. Just keep me from thinking too much about how jacked up my family is, and how messed up my circumstances are, and from dealing with the pain of my woundedness and of my sin. Maybe your life is not turning out the way you want it to.Now, we can easily use the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season as a distraction to avoid dealing with the woundedness, with the sin in our life. But if we do, we run the risk of missing the true power of the Christmas season, because the true power of Christmas is not that Christ is able to give us a seasonal distraction from the pain of real life. The true power of Christmas is that Christ has come down into the darkness to redeem that pain, to use it for our good, that the light is shining in the darkness and the darkness will not overcome it.Deep down we're all still just children afraid of the dark, waiting, longing for someone to come and to tell us that everything's going to be okay. Christmas is a reminder that the Word became flesh to do just that. That 2,000 years ago, a child was born into a cold, dark night to offer hope, love, joy, and peace to all people who would repent and believe in his name; that Christ appears in the darkness of our lives today to offer hope, love, joy, and peace to our present; and that Christ will return in glory to bring hope, love, joy, and peace to perfection.If you have not experienced that today, this is not something that you have to go out and earn. It's not something that comes through your good work, through your righteousness. It is truly a gift to be received. Scripture says that to all who would receive it, to those who would believe in Jesus' name, he gives the right to become children of God, and you can do that today. We pray that that you would. Now would you please join me in prayer before we continue in worship.God, we thank you for the gift of Jesus, our Messiah. Lord, I pray that if there are any here today who have not received that gift, that they would do so now. For those who have received it and who have believed in your name, God, remind us again that by grace through faith we have become your children, your beloved, and that you as a good father are working all things together for our good. God, when we wander, when we doubt, I pray that you would lead us back to the cross and remind us again of your great love and the price that was paid so that we can be set free from Satan's tyranny to live lives of joyful obedience to you. For your name, for your glory, and for your kingdom, we pray this all in Jesus' name. Amen.

Dr. Timothy Keller talks about his new book, his first ever devotional, based on the book of Proverbs. Keller, the now retired senior pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian in New York City, is one of the most powerful theological minds today. Some have called him a modern day C.S. Lewis. His book, God's Wisdom for Navigating Life," he co-wrote with wife Kathy. She joins him in the podcast...a rare interview with both Kellers together.

Our deepest transformation is forged in our continual fight to treasure God's mercy. To support this ministry and help us continue our God-given mission, click here: http://bit.ly/2NZkdrC Support the show (http://bit.ly/2NZkdrC)

In this episode of the Jesus is Better Podcast, I have my two special guests, Dorie and Ja’nya, go through The Gospel Coalition’s New City Catechism with me. This is a great episode your children can practice with as they learn 52 important beliefs about God. The New City Catechism is copyrighted by Redeemer Presbyterian […]

In this episode of the Jesus is Better Podcast, I have my two special guests, Dorie and Ja’nya, go through The Gospel Coalition’s New City Catechism with me. This is a great episode your children can practice with as they learn 52 important beliefs about God. The New City Catechism is copyrighted by Redeemer Presbyterian […]

We finally recorded our 100th episode! Thanks so much for listening and being part of this podcast. We still can't believe we get to do this! This week, we talked about an article by Krish Kandiah about Tim Keller leaving Redeemer Presbyterian in New York and the 5 lessons he has drawn from it. We also talk about the launch of the Nua Film Series and Alan dressing as St. Patrick for the town parade. Listen on iTunes: https://goo.gl/hRnE2o Listen on Stitcher: http://goo.gl/ItvSN5 Read the article: goo.gl/1l16QC Follow the Graveyard Shift on Twitter: https://goo.gl/Ea8GxZ Support the Show on Patreon: https://goo.gl/BOSFEx Buy Graveyard Shift T-Shirts & Merchandise: goo.gl/GihkVr

Did you hear the news about renowned evangelical pastor and author Tim Keller? From CT’s report: Later this year, Redeemer Presbyterian will no longer be a multisite megachurch in Manhattan, and Tim Keller will no longer be its senior pastor. Keller, 66, announced at all eight Sunday services today that he will be stepping down from the pulpit. The move corresponds with a decades-long plan to transition the single Presbyterian Church in America congregation—which has grown to 5,000 members since it began 28 years ago—into three particular churches. His last day as senior pastor will be July 1. This plan has been a long time in the making: The transition follows a vision plan Redeemer set in place back in 1997, and preparing Keller’s three successors—the pastors at each of the new particular churches—ended up as a helpful side effect. “This is not primarily a succession plan,” Kathy Keller said. “It is a vision for not being a megachurch.” Each of the three Redeemer churches will remain collegial and still partner together for programs, but will officially be their own congregations with their own leaders and elders (pending a May 20 congregational vote). They also each will plant churches in three more locations—resulting in nine total daughter churches. Keller has been “typically wise and humble” in how he carried out his pastoral succession, said Capitol Hill Baptist Church pastor and Keller friend Mark Dever. “This as a more constructive model than is often done where a large congregation is built very much around the personality of the preacher, and when that preacher’s gone the whole thing kind of dissolves,” said Dever. Dever joined assistant editor Morgan Lee and editor in chief Mark Galli on Quick to Listen about whether pastors should fight against their church becoming a megachurch, why the senior pastor should share the pulpit, and if pastors should have a say in choosing their successors.

And she could not be more busy doing some phenomenal work for The Kingdom.  Not only was she hand-picked to head the Center for Faith and Work at Redeemer Presbyterian in New York, she is also working with a brand new ministry in Raleigh, North Carolina – along with her current contributions for a handful of other … Continue reading Katherine Leary Alsdorf Works4Him The post Katherine Leary Alsdorf Works4Him appeared first on iWork4Him Podcast.

The Mocking Laugh So the story I'm about to tell you is in no way commending a strategy for discipleship, but I'm just going to tell you something that happened to me, alright? Shortly after I came to faith in Christ, I was discipled very well by a guy at MIT. We met together really almost, I wouldn't say daily, but every couple of days we got together and he did a phenomenal job, Tim Shuman. And one day in particular though, I'll never forget this day. We were at the dining hall there on-campus, and it was Friday, and we were meeting together and having a meal. Now, like many Catholics growing up, I abstained from eating meat on Fridays. That put me into an immediate problem because I hate fish. So I was eating grilled cheeses especially during Lent, every Friday. So we were sitting down at the table and he got the usual, a cheeseburger and all that, and fries, and there I was with my grilled cheese, he said, "I thought you like cheeseburgers." I said, "I love them." He said, "Why didn't you get one?" I explained to him that I don't eat meat on Fridays. This is after I'd come to faith in Christ. He paused, and then he laughed in my face. He just laughed at me, and he actually had trouble composing himself. It took a while. I'm like, "What?" And he said, "Look, that's not in the Bible. You're free to eat whatever you want on Fridays." And it's only been in the recent years as I've studied church history and found out where all that came from, but that was a superstition, really, that was part of my upbringing, but was no part of the Bible. But what I want to tell you is, there was an impact to that laugh, that mocking laugh. I think it was a mocking laugh. And as we come to Isaiah 44, I think we're going to hear God, God's mocking laughter concerning idolatry. This is a humorous chapter about something that's actually not funny at all. And God's laughter is meant to get in our face, and make us realize how ridiculous it is to worship anything but the God of the Bible. How utterly foolish it is to think that we can concoct a god out of our own imagination and then our hands can skillfully shape and craft that god and then we can bow down and worship. The whole thing is ridiculous, and foolish. And yet, how many people do exactly that? We Americans may not struggle with shrines, and statues and altars, but I can assure you, millions of people around the world do precisely the things that are described in this chapter. They shape and craft idols and they bow down and worship them. But we Americans we have our idols too. And so today what we're going to do is we're going to follow the Prophet Isaiah into the workshop of the idol maker, and we're going to hear from Heaven, the laughter of our Sovereign God concerning all of it, the mocking laughter about idolatry. But we're not going to stop in the workshop, we're going to go from the workshop to the hospital, spiritual hospital. And we're going to have the spiritual physician, Christ, sit down with each of us and tell us what our idols are and how serious they are, and then we're going to go to the operating room God willing and have them addressed. So that's the journey that's in front of us today, in Isaiah 44. John Calvin said, "The human heart is an idol factory." And we're going to have a chance today to look at that factory, we're going to look in our own hearts. And as I've said again and again in Isaiah, it is dangerous for us to say, "Oh those sinners out there, how they do that," etcetera. We are meant to be humbled by this, we're meant to be convicted by it and we're meant to be transformed by it. Now, the idea of idolatry is going to hold this whole chapter together. Isaiah is a challenge because he goes it seems from one topic to the next, to the next. And finding a cohesive theme isn't always easy to do. But I think in this chapter, it's pretty easy to see that idolatry really holds the entire chapter together. The chapter begins in verses 1-5 with God's promise to pour out His spirit and create his children. The Context of Isaiah Now again, the immediate context of Isaiah the Prophet, 7th century BC, 700 BC. I think by then we can understand that the Assyrian threat was gone, Sennacherib had taken what was left of his army, and after 185,000 of his soldiers had been killed in one night, by the Angel of the Lord, he's gone, the Assyrian threat is gone, it's over. But now, he's facing the future and the new threat is the idolatry that's going to come in under Hezekiah's son Manasseh, and then God's inevitable judgment on Judah and on Jerusalem for that idolatry. He's going to bring the Babylonians and the Babylonians are going to come in and they're going to destroy Judah and Jerusalem. They're going to raze the temple, they're going to level it, and they are going to kill most of the people in the land and a small remnant of the Jews are going to be brought into exile into Babylon. But then in the providence of God beyond that 70-year exile to Babylon, God is going to raise up an individual whom he names, by name identifies a century and a half before it happens, more than that probably before it happens. Cyrus the Great, identified in this chapter by name as the one who would allow a small remnant of Jews to come back from exile to Babylon and rebuild Judah and Jerusalem, to lay the foundations of the temple. All of this in the future. And so, the idolatry that would cause this exile is yet in the future, and the remedy to it, yet in the future. And God's ability to predict the future so specifically sets him apart from the gods, all the counterfeit gods, as Tim Keller calls it, that there are. He's the only one who can do it. And so, as we look at his prophetic ability, we are going to see that only God can do this. I. God Promises to Pour Out His Spirit and Create His Children (vs. 1-5) Now, in verses 1-5, God promises to raise up that remnant of His children to be eventually a large nation who will populate the desolated Judah and Jerusalem. And God is going to do that by His Spirit. So that's the context here immediately, but I believe there's a larger context. And that these verses, in verse 1-5, speak also about God's sovereign ability to pour out His Spirit on Jews and gentiles alike who are dead in their transgressions and sins, and bring them to faith in Christ so that they can be the children of the living God. And God is able by His spirit to raise up eternal children, children of the living God, by his spirit. I think that's in view as well. So look at verses one and two, God softly calls Jacob to listen to him. He says, "But now, listen O Jacob, my servant. Israel, whom I have chosen, this is what the Lord says, He who made you, who formed you in the womb, and who will help you. Do not be afraid O Jacob, my servant, Jeshurun [that means my righteous one] whom I have chosen." So he's calling to His chosen people. And we know that faith comes by hearing, he says, "Listen to me, listen to what I'm saying, he wants you to hear God's word so that your faith can be strengthened." Then in verse three the Lord promises to pour out His Spirit on the dusty ground. He says, "For I will pour water on the thirsty land and I will pour streams on the dry ground, and I will pour out my spirit on your offspring and my blessing on your descendants." Now, again and again in these 10 chapters of Isaiah 40 to 49, in this we get this image of a dry and thirsty land, a desert land that then suddenly flourishes and buds and blossoms and has rivers of water flowing through it. And I believe that we can take a physical side to that. There is a cursing that's happened on the earth because of Adam's sin, because of the Jews sin there was a cursing on the Promised Land and that's fine. And I believe in the new heaven and the new earth, we will see this world as it was meant to be. And how beautiful will that renewed almost resurrected earth be, the new Heavens and the new Earth. But in verse three, we have some Hebrew parallelism. You see Hebrew parallelism a lot in the prophets, in the Psalms, in Proverbs where the same thing is said twice in slightly different words so you get an idea they... The verse interprets itself. So Isaiah 44:3 is a very important verse for me that says this streams and the wasteland image really has to do with the spirit of God. It has to do with the spirit's work on his people. Look what it says, "I will pour water on the thirsty land and streams on the dry ground, I will pour out my spirit on your offspring and my blessings on your descendants." So the idea of the pouring of the spirit, as I've mentioned before, the Spirit frequently likened to water. Like rain flowing from... Flowing down from the clouds or springs that you can drink from or rivers. Again, and the verb frequently used with the Spirit is "pour." So the Spirit is poured out on us, we get this on the day of Pentecost. Remember when Peter quoting Joel two is explaining what's happened when the Holy Spirit has come on the church. And they are... They have just streamed out into the streets and he's trying to explain what's happening there and he quotes Joel two, in the last days he says, God says, "I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days." And in verse 21 there, in Acts 2:21, it says, "And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." That's Acts 2:21. But that image of pouring and when the Spirit is poured down from above, people cry out to God from below up. And we call on the name of the Lord and we are saved. And so I think not only is God promising to restore a remnant of Jews and populate biologically The Promised Land, so that there will be children running in the streets like Zechariah talks about, there will be people there. Yes, yes, yes. But more than that, that God is going to send forth His Spirit in every generation, and he's going to raise up children for the living God. And that's an awesome thing, isn't it? He's going to populate the New Jerusalem, he's going to populate heaven with his spirit and his children are going to spring up. Remember how John the Baptist said that God is able out of these stones to raise up children for Abraham. And we are, are we not the stones that were brought to life? Are we not children of Abraham, who have believed in Jesus? As it says in John 1:12-13, "As many as did receive Him, [Jesus] to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." And in that same book, in John 3, we find out we're born of the Spirit. Amen. So the Spirit comes, and He makes us children of the living God and I think that's what's going on here in verses 1-5. We are going to be in verse five among those Gentiles who say, "Hey I belong, I'm included. We'll, we'll like outdo each other to say how Jewish we are by we're honorary Jews." Look at verse five, "One will say 'I belong to the Lord.' Another will call himself by the name of Jacob, still another will write on his hand, the Lord's, and will take the name Israel." I think this is talking about outsiders who become spiritually children of Abraham, that's us. And so God is going to pour out His Spirit and He's going to raise up children. Now biologically yes, through the remnant and that's important but the bigger picture has to do with the spread of the Gospel to the ends of the earth. II. God Alone Can Explain the Past and Predict the Future (vs. 6-8) Now, in verses six through eight, God sets aside some verses to talk about his own greatness because he's about to address the issue of idolatry and he wants to say that he alone can explain life. He's the only one that can explain history. Look what he says in verse six, "This is what the Lord says, Israel's king and redeemer, the Lord Almighty. 'I am the first and I am the last. Apart from me, there is no God.'" First and last, that language is that language of the sequence of events. He is the Alpha and the Omega, He is the first and the last, the beginning and the end of what really? Of all of human history, of redemptive history. You know, in the beginning, God created heavens and earth. So there's a beginning. God is the beginning, He is the first and he is the last. And there's a story unfolding here. He alone understands history, he alone controls history. He says, "I am the first and I am the last. Apart from me, there is no God. Who then is like me, let him proclaim it, let him declare and lay out before me. What has happened since I established my ancient people in the past and what is yet to come? Yes, let him foretell what will come." So he's saying, "Look, you don't even know the past. You don't know what's happened since I established my ancient people, from the very beginning. You don't even know the sequence of events that's led to the day you're at right now." Historians will tell you how hard it is to know the past. It's actually very difficult. Professional historians can spend years and years studying a single event, a battle, Battle of Waterloo or The Battle of Gettysburg or something like that, and understand all the forces that went into it and what actually happened. And even if there's an eyewitness, he only has a small slice of the truth. Historians talk about the fog of war, and it's hard to see really what's going on. So he says, "You don't even know the past, you don't know what's happened up to this point. But now let's talk about what you definitely don't know, what you definitely cannot do, O idols, O gods of the nations. Let your idols come in, let your gods come in and let them predict the future, let them do what I'm about to do in this chapter. Let them name some ruler who's going to come 150 years from now by name and let it happen, let's see if your god can do something like that." And so, He's setting Himself apart as the great God who alone can do these things. Now, look at verse eight. Here, he identifies his chosen people as his witnesses in this idolatrous world. In this god and goddess soldered world, we are the witnesses of the true God. Look at verse eight, he says, "Do not tremble, do not be afraid. Did I not proclaim this and foretell it long ago? You are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me? No, there is no other rock. I know not one." Now, you may ask, "What is he talking about?" At the end of the chapter, He's going to name Cyrus, by name. We've talked about this already for weeks. But this, and the next chapter, these are the two Cyrus chapters in which He is identified by name. Now we're going to do more with Cyrus God willing, next week. But it's at the very end that in Isaiah 44:28, he identifies Cyrus, and he says, he is the very one who's going to say, of the towns of Jew to let them be rebuilt. And of Jerusalem, let it be inhabited. And of the temple, that its foundations be laid. And so he does all of this. This is mind-boggling. He predicts the future and he says he's going to do this. Now again, you think about the perspective. By then, there weren't any threats. People were back in their towns and Judah and Jerusalem was doing well and thriving under Hezekiah and none of these things had even happened, yet. And you're hearing from Isaiah the Prophet, "Oh, don't worry, God's going to allow Judah to be rebuilt. And the cities, the ruin of Jerusalem will be restored and it will be repopulated" and this is the clincher "of the temple, its foundations will be laid and there'll be a new temple build so don't worry." It's like, "Whoa, wait a minute now, we have a good temple, we have a really good temple. Solomon built us a good temple. What are you saying?" "I'll tell you what I'm saying, it's going to be destroyed. It's going to be destroyed. And the towns of Judah are going to be leveled. And Jerusalem is going to be stripped of all people. But through Cyrus, through this man Cyrus, all of that is going to be reversed and I'm going to re-populate this land." It's staggering what God is doing in this chapter, it's amazing. 100 plus years before Cyrus would have been born, 150, 160 years or more before these things would be fulfilled. That's what he's saying, and God alone can do this. III. God Ridicules Idol-Makers (vs. 9-20) Now, in verses 9-20, he takes us into the workshop of the idol makers, the idolaters, the idol manufacturers, and he shows us this process by which idols are actually made. Look at verse 9-11, idol makers and idol worshippers alike will be shamed. He says there, "All who make idols are nothing, and the things they treasure are worthless. Those who would speak up for them are blind, they are ignorant to their own shame. Who shapes a God, who casts an idol which can profit him nothing? He and his kind will be put to shame. Craftsmen are nothing but men. Let them all come together and take their stand, they will be brought down to terror and infamy." So God here highlights the worthlessness of both the idols and the idolaters. "They're both worthless," He says. Now you may think that is harsh but here's the thing, there's a basic principle here at work. You become like what you worship. You become like what you worship. We have an old saying, "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery." Well, the greatest form of flattery there could be, would be worship. And so therefore, it makes perfect sense that what you worship is going to have an effect on who you are, it's going to shape who you are. Now, for us as Christians, we worship Jesus Christ as God and we are being transformed. We're being conformed to the image of Christ by that, do you see? We're being transformed by the Spirit, little by little, made more and more like Christ, we're being conformed to Christ by worshipping Him. But idolaters gradually become more and more like the idols they worship which means in this text, more and more worthless. More and more worthless. Idols are worthless and if you worship them, you become worthless too. That's what the text is saying. And the end result of that downward journey is wrath on the day of judgment, God's wrath against the idolaters on the day of judgment. He says they will be brought down to terror and infamy, they'll be stripped and shamed on that day for their idolatry. And so, in Verse 12-17, He ridicules the actual process by which idols are made. Look at verse 12 and follow me. It says, "The blacksmith takes a tool and works with it in the coals; he shapes an idol with hammers, he forges it with the might of his arm. He gets hungry and loses his strength; he drinks no water and grows faint. The carpenter measures with a line and makes an outline with a marker; he roughs it out with chisels and marks it with compasses. He shapes it in the form of man, of man in all his glory, that it may dwell in a shrine. He cut down cedars, or perhaps took a cypress or oak. He let it grow among the trees of the forest, or planted a pine, and the rain made it grow. It is man's fuel for burning; some of it he takes and warms himself, he kindles a fire and bakes bread. But he also fashions a god and worships it; he makes an idol and bows down to it. Half of the wood he burns in the fire; over it he prepares his meal, he roasts his meat and eats his fill. He also warms himself and says, 'Ah! I am warm; I see the fire.' From the rest he makes a god, his idol; he bows down to it and worships. He prays to it and says, 'Save me; you are my god.'" So, we're led here into the workshop of the idol maker. The first idol is made out of metal, so it's a metal worker. You get the picture of this blacksmith in a blacksmith shop, and he's pounding away on the anvil and heating the thing up and pounding it some more. And he's sweaty, this man and he's getting weak as he works, and that's kind of a big feature here in the ridicule. He gets weaker, and weaker, and maybe he forgets to drink some water. He doesn't have a lunch, and so he's getting weaker and weaker as he makes his god. And what a contrast that is from Isaiah 40, where we're told God never gets weary ever. God's like a raging fire that can ignite infinite numbers of logs or trees and burn them to ashes and he doesn't get diminished at all by that, he never gets tired. But here's this god-maker, and he gets weary in the heat as he goes on, as he's making this. And at the end of the day, you can see him mopping his brow and feeling satisfied he's made a good god that can now sell well. It'll sell. Or he himself, maybe he made it for himself, and he'll bow down and worship it. Or then we're led into the carpenter shop and we're given some different techniques some different tools, same thing though. He's working with... He's a wood worker, skilled craftsman. And it's funny, I read this once, I don't remember where it was or even who it was, but it was a famous sculptor and he was asked how he could make such a magnificent sculpture of a horse? And he said, "Well I choose a block of marble and then I carve away everything that doesn't look like a horse." Or it's like Bach saying, "Music is easy, you just hit the right note at the right time. What's so hard about that?" But here's this skilled craftsman and he just carves away everything. Now, here's the catch. That doesn't look like a god. What is it that? What do you mean? Oh, so you get an idea in your head first of a god or goddess and you think of it, and then your hands move out and execute your internal vision and thoughts. Do you not see the hubris, the arrogance to that? Scripture tells us that we are shaped and created by God in his image. But now we've got an idol maker who's getting an idea of a god in his mind, and he shapes and makes it. Who's in control of that process? He is, and he's making the god. Do you see the wickedness of it and the evil of it? And so that's what is going on here. The idol maker then makes this... And he ridicules the whole process. He says, he goes out, maybe he's got a grove of trees specially designed like you know chosen hardwoods. The hardwoods are harder to work, but they're going to be worth more money. And so you can make a better god or goddess out of it, sell a little bit better. So he's an expert at wood. And I love how it says he plants a tree and listen to this "the rain makes it grow." Do you love that? It's like, "Yeah, I made that grow," God's saying, "I give life to everything." But he's blind to that. And so, up comes this tree after some decades it gets big enough, round enough, and he says, "Okay, this is a good one," and chops it down. And he's got this log and I picture him having a hard time getting on the ox cart or whatever, rolling it somewhere. It's too big for the god he has in mind. The god he has in mind about that big, maybe. So I'm like, "How do you decide how big your god should be?" But that's about it. "So actually I have some extra wood left over, fine. I'll make a fire and eat from it and warm myself." God is ridiculing all this. And he's very detailed, he says, "Okay, let's go back over what we talked about. Remember, half of it he used for the fire, half of it he used to make his bread or roast his meat and warm himself." And he says, he even says, "I'm warm, I see the fire," he's saying. But from the other half, he made a god, which he says bow down... He bows down and says, "Save me, you're my god." Absolutely ridiculous. Half for the fire, which he sees and enjoys. Half for a god, which he bows down and trusts. You know what I wonder? Imagine he had a helper who'd come in and clean up the shop and he only got like half-way done carving the thing. And the guy accidentally threw it in the fire, the god in the fire. And he comes in, and he's like, "No, no!" And he runs and grabs it and beats the fire. He's like, "That's my god, he's burning. Don't do that." So what is he really worshipping? What's the difference between that and the log he did burn? His own skill, his own ingenuity, his own craftsmanship. That's what he's worshipping. God Exposes the Mindlessness of Idolatry And so in verses 18-20, God exposes the mindlessness of idolatry. "They know nothing, they understand nothing, their eyes are plastered over so they cannot see. Their minds closed, so they cannot understand." You don't really know who he's talking about here. Is he talking about the idol or the idolater? Dear friends, he's talking about both. Don't you see it? Both the idol and the idolater, they're the same, they're blind, they're dead, they're motionless, they don't see anything, they don't hear anything. Their minds are closed so they cannot understand. No one stops to think, no one has the knowledge or understanding to say, "Half of it I use for fuel. I even bake bread over its coals, I roasted meat and I ate. Shall I make a de-testable thing from what is left? Shall I bow down to a block of wood?" He feeds on ashes, a deluded heart misleads him. Now that's right there in that verse, in verse 20, that's the key for us Americans. The essence of idolatry is in a deluded heart that misleads us, and we're going to come back to that at the end of the message. He doesn't have the ability to save himself. Do you know that? No idolater can save him or herself. They can't, they're trapped, they're in prison. And only Jesus can save them. Only Christ crucified, resurrected can save them. Only the blood of Jesus applied by the sovereign Spirit of God can rescue people and turn idolaters into children of the living God. They can't save themselves, they are becoming like what they worship. IV. God Has Swept Away Our Sins Like a Mist, So Rejoice! (vs. 21-23) Now, in verses 21-23, we have the incredible good news of God sweeping away our sins like a mist so rejoice. Verse 21, "Remember these things O Jacob, for you are my servant. O Israel, I have made you, you are my servant. O Israel, I will not forget you." So he says, "Look I'm committed to remembering you, I'll never forget you, would you please remember me? Would you remember who I am? Remember that I am the living God, remember to worship me? Remember these things?" Again, Isiah, at that moment most of the wickedness and the idolatry was yet to come, it hadn't happened yet. "So as you're going through it, remember me. And then when you're in exile, remember me. When you're trapped in sin, remember me for I will never forget you." And in verse 22, he says, "I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you." Oh, friends, what an incredibly gracious God we serve. Amen. He can take our sins, did you see? I thought it was interesting. We had a morning mist this morning. It was kind of out where we were in Bahama, it was kind of swirling around and kind of misty, nasty and all that. And I was like, I was thinking about this exact verse, and I was thinking how it was such a block between us and the sunshine of a bright pleasant day which we had yesterday. And how it's a picture of how our sins separate us from God. And you can't get at them, there's nothing... Suppose you said, "I don't like this mist, I'm going to get rid of it." What are you going to do, how are you going to get rid of your morning mist? You cannot do it. And we don't tend to think of our sins like that, our sins seem massive, like mountain ranges. But to God, through Christ, they're like a morning mist. And he can burn it off with the bright sunshine, the heat of the glory of Christ at the cross. He can burn off our sins and we are free at last from all of our idolatry. And so it seems reasonable for us that we should celebrate. Look at verse 23, "Sing for joy O heavens! For the Lord has done this. Shout aloud, O earth beneath. Burst into song you mountains, you forests and all you trees for the Lord has redeemed Jacob, he displays his glory, in Israel." We should celebrate and not only us, but all of creation is going to celebrate. What is... How is the Earth going to sing when at last, the sons and daughters of the living God are fully revealed in resurrection glory? How beautiful will the new Heaven and new Earth be. And how much will it sing in some mysterious way, under our feet as we walked on it, and we see the beauty of this world, we should yearn for it, it's going to be magnificent. So all of this is amazing. God's, cele... We should celebrate God's ability to take our idolatries and our sins and wickedness and move them away like the morning mist, that we can celebrate his grace and his glory forever. V. God Raises Up Cyrus to Rebuild Jerusalem (vs. 24-28) Now, in verses 24-28, we have this section. I've already touched on it, I'm not going to do much with it now. Next week, we'll talk more about Cyrus, but go ahead and look at it briefly. In Verse 24, God says, He alone created all things. "This is what the Lord says, your redeemer who formed you in the womb. 'I am the Lord who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the Earth by myself.'" So God is the alone creator and He is the alone savior. By the way, this is a great, great verse to parallel with the verses in the New Testament that teach that God created everything through Jesus. "Through him, all things were made. Without him, nothing was made that has been made," John 1:3. Hebrews 1:2 says that God created all things through the Son. Colossians 1 teaches that it was Christ, who created all things. So if you get the fierce monotheism of this verse saying, "I am the only God there is, there is no one like me." And then Jesus comes in as the co-creator with the Father, you get the deity of Christ, the doctrine of the trinity very plainly from that. But God says, He's the only one who creates, the only one who can redeem. And in verse 25-26, He foils false prophecies and fulfills true ones. Who foils the signs of false prophets, who makes fools of diviners, who overthrows the learning of the wise and turns it into nonsense, who carries out the words of his servants and fulfills the predictions of his messengers, like Isaiah and Jeremiah, and Hosea, and Habakkuk and all of the true prophets, God fulfills what they said but the false prophets go away. And what is he specifically talking about? Well, Jerusalem shall be inhabited, the towns of Judah, shall be built, the ruins will be restored, he's going to have the foundation of the temple laid, that's what he says he's going to do. Verse 27, "He says of the watery deep, 'Be dry. And I will dry up your streams,' who says of Cyrus, 'he is my shepherd and will accomplish all that I please.' He will say of Jerusalem, 'let it be rebuilt. And of the temple, let its foundations be laid.'" VI. Applications Alright, so as we look at this chapter, what applications can we take from this? Well, I want to go immediately now to the issue of idolatry. Now, I've been in nations in which the idolatry was open and obvious and visible. I've been to India for example, there is no nation that I've ever been to in which the gods and goddesses are so plainly on display. But I lived in Japan for two years, same thing, same kind of thing. So there are nations in which there are actual statues and statuettes and gods and things like that, the people bow down, they actually do bow down and worship. This goes on all over the world. But for us Americans, it's more the idols of the heart, and no one I think has thought so clearly and so well about idols of the heart as Tim Keller. He wrote a book called "Counterfeit Gods." He's a pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian in New York City, and wrote a book called "Counterfeit Gods." I would commend it to you. But you've already heard Daniel give this definition, what is an idol? It's anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give. An idol is whatever you look at and say in your heart of hearts, "If I have that, then I will feel that my life has meaning. Then I'll know I have value, then I'll feel significant and secure." That's what an idol is. Well, how can you identify it? Sometimes when you have a splinter, have you ever felt that? And you're trying to find it, you take your fingernail and you drag it, it's like, "There it is, feel it. It's right there. I know it's there," you can feel it. And so I want you to do that now over the next couple of minutes, I want you to hear some of the things that Keller says and says, "Maybe I have that kind of an idol at work in my life." Can I just tell you a big picture? Remember I said we're going from the workshop to the hospital? We're in the hospital now, and the physician is going to talk to you about your aches and pains. He's going to ask you some questions and he's going to talk to you so he can find out. Now, is there anyone here who isn't laboring under idolatry? Do you think so? Do you think there's anybody here that isn't in some way being pulled by idolatry? I can't imagine that, I hope you know, this is something we all struggle with, all of us. It says in 1 John 5:21, "Dear children, keep yourselves from idols." It's a problem for all of us. So how do I identify it? Well, Keller recommends four ways. First of all, look at your imagination. "The true God of your heart," he says, "Is what your thoughts effortlessly go to when there's nothing else demanding your attention." When your mind's relaxed, what do you go to? What do you enjoy daydreaming about? What is it that occupies your mind when you have nothing else to think about? Do you develop potential scenarios about career advancement or material goods, like a dream home, or a relationship with a specific person maybe? Now, he says that one or two daydreams doesn't mean it's an idol, but it may be indicating some of that. Secondly, how about your money, how do you spend your money? I think the way the money goes can show what's got a hold on your heart. Jesus said, "Where your treasure is there, your heart will be also." Your money flows most effortlessly toward your heart's greatest love. In fact, the mark of an idol is that you spend too much money on it. So it could be a hobby, it could be vacations, it could be cars, it could be a home, as he said, or home improvement, it could be any one of those things, but just look at how you spend your money. Thirdly, he says, for the religious, what is it that frustrates you about God? What do you do when your prayers aren't answered. Frustrated hopes and unanswered prayers can show idols sometimes. Some of you if you don't get your prayers answered the way you want, you just go on, you trust God with that and you go on, it's not an idol. It's something you want, you desire, you're praying for, but it's not an idol, but others of you just can't move on and start to charge God with wrong-doing because he's not answering your prayer the way you want Him to. Its an indication of an idol, says Tim Keller. And how about fourthly, your uncontrollable emotions, uncontrollable emotions like anger. Is there something... As you get... If you lose your temper with a family member, a spouse, or with a co-worker, or road rage, or any of that, is there an idol down below that? He would say there probably is. What about feeling strong feelings of fear or despair or guilt? Those feelings can be indicators of idols. And then he gives a list, and this is really helpful. I'm not going to give them all to you, we're almost out of time. But he has this saying, "Life only has meaning or I only have worth if this is happening for me," that's a language of idolatry. For example, life only has meaning or I only have worth, if I have power and influence over other people. I'm in charge, I'm in control. "Well, you have a power idolatry," he would say. Or life only has meaning or I only have worth, if I'm loved and respected by this person or this group, that's approval idolatry in that way. Or life only has meaning or I only have worth, if I have this kind of pleasure experience, like your team winning the National Championship. "Don't touch that kind of thing." Hey, I'm touching everything. May everything be touched. Is it possible that some spectator sports in the US is idolatry? Is it even possible that there are 60,000, 70,000 idolaters gathering even this very day, in various places for whom, if their team doesn't win, they will display extreme negative emotions, thus revealing idolatry? Is it possible there are some Christians there too? Or any other pleasure experience? It could be a trip, again, it could be a lake home, it could be a vacation, it could be any... A pleasure experience, good gift of God, but so addictive you can't let it go. There are so many, he's listed 20 of them. I don't have time, look it up online. Tim Keller, 20 questions to probe idolatry. But it could be an individual, you could be single, struggling, not accepting that maybe there's an individual, but he or she hasn't... You haven't got their eye yet. And it's like the language of our songs, it's like, "If I don't have that person I can't live, I can't go on living if I don't have that person." You might even be married to that individual or they might be your son or daughter, they might be someone in your family. But, "If I lost my children, I couldn't go on living." That language is the language of idolatry. I think in general, if you're a Christian and you are characterized by irritability or anger, or frustration, or fear, or depression, there's got to be idolatry at the heart of it, something is amiss. Christ crucified and resurrected is not enough for you. And this is a question I've asked my kids for years and myself, "Is Christ crucified and resurrected enough for you to be joyful today, no matter what happens?" Should be. Alright, so we've been to the hospital, we've been diagnosed. Is there a cure? Yes, there is a cure. Is there a balm in Gilead? Yes, there is. The cross of Christ is the only remedy there is to idolatry. We can't save ourselves. Did you see that right in the text? He cannot save himself. We can't save ourselves, go to Christ crucified and resurrected. Trust in Jesus, and if you're a Christian, you have idolatries identified, take them to the cross, so he can kill them by the Spirit. Don't just accept these idols, don't just accept idolatry, let God by His Grace put it to death in your life, close with me in prayer.

A Talk by Tim Keller on Music, sex and the romantic solution at Redeemer Presbyterian in New York City. As well as Russ Shaw's concise misfit commentary after.

A Talk by Tim Keller on Music, sex and the romantic solution at Redeemer Presbyterian in New York City. As well as Russ Shaw's concise misfit commentary after.

Disclosure: I borrowed from Leo Schuster (former RUF at SMU, former pastor Christ the King Houston, current pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian in NYC) liberally in this sermon as I found his wisdom and wording to be very helpful as I studied this passage.

sermon transcript Introduction This is the last sermon in Matthew. Matthew is a powerful testimony of the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, and we come, one last time, for the third time now, to Jesus' incredible words in Matthew 25, commonly known as "the sheep and the goats". We've already had a kind of an expository overview of these words, Matthew 25:31-46, in a previous sermon. Last week, we zeroed in specifically on the doctrine of hell, and what these dreadful, these terrifying words mean, "Depart from me, you who are cursed into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” But this week, I want to talk about “mercy ministry” from as a starting point from the sheep and the goats. By "mercy ministry" I mean caring for the needy around us, for those that are hurting, those that are hungry, thirsty, those that are broken down by life, that we would minister to them. All my Christian life, I must be honest, I have struggled with the obligation that scripture lays on the people of God to care for the poor and needy of the world. I would say it wasn't until I went overseas on a series of mission trips that I really saw scenarios of poverty that just hit me at a deeper level and made me realize how far I had to grow in this area. I'm not saying there's not poverty in America, but you really do have to go overseas to see the way that some people are living in this world and have it just reach down into your heart and convict you and transform you, and that's, at least in my case, that's what had to happen. In the summer of 1986, I went on a short-term mission trip to Kenya. There were different phases to the summer 10-week mission trip. We did a variety of ministries, and then we had one final week, where we all gathered, the 40-50 of us who had been scattered all over the country. We reassembled one last time for one week of final teaching and prayer and decompression and all that, in Mombasa, which is a port city on the Indian Ocean in Kenya. A strong Muslim presence is in this sprawling city. Part of that time, I guess a day or so into our time there, some of us took a trip in a rented van to drive through the city, a kind of a tour of this historic city of Mombasa. It was a comfortable van, it was air-conditioned, it was pleasant, and we rode through one of the poorest areas of town, and I felt like I was in some kind of an air-conditioned bubble riding through a sea of poverty. It became somewhat of a metaphor of my American Christian way of living, that I actually could live the rest of my life that way. I just could just move right through life in an air-conditioned bubble and see but not really interact with the desperately poor and needy people around me. The next summer I went to Pakistan, 1987, and there were beggars everywhere. I had never really seen beggars like we saw in Pakistan. We would go to the bank and cash our traveler's checks to get local currencies, so we could do various things, and as soon as we come out of the bank, there would be at least five people coming and just relationally assaulting us, not physically, but just there with their needs and wanting money. Since we didn't speak a common language, they would point to their mouths and to their stomachs saying that they were hungry. So, I asked a missionary, "What should we do?" He told us that you need to understand that a lot of these beggars are really just working for a beggar syndicate, and they take the money and give it to... Somewhat like a prostitution ring, give it to an overlord who then cares for them out of that. I said, "Okay, but they're still coming to us." He said, "Well, one thing you might want to do is go and buy some fresh bread and just have it with you." So, I did, and that was delicious bread. Beggars would come up, they would point to their stomachs, and I would pull out the bag with the bread. I'd let them smell the bread, and I'd offer them some bread, and one man as I handed him bread, took it and threw it on the ground and walked away. I must tell you that there was a sinful relief inside me when he did it, because it confirmed this little sense, I had that there weren't genuinely needy people, but there was just a show of need. That was until about three minutes later, when a woman came up with a young child, pointing to her stomach, I gave her the bread, she divided it in a half, immediately ate it, and so did her child. Those are the tough ones, aren't they? They're real, and they really live out there, and they're really hungry and we can feed them. There's the problem. What do we do with them? I've come to the conclusion that the Lord Jesus Christ does not want us to come to a safe, neat, easy evangelical formula answer to the problem of poverty in the world. This sermon is not going to be that. I'm going to give you a series of biblical priorities, but you know what's going to happen. It will be easy for you to look at each of these five priorities as an escape valve so that you don't need to sacrifice for the poor and needy. It's not what I'm doing, because in each case, I'm going to give you the Biblical priority and then say, "But it doesn't mean such and such." Mercy Ministry Jesus' example compels action. It's a call to a life of mercy ministry. 2 Corinthians 8:9, "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich." Jesus means, I think, to bring us to a point of desperation concerning the overwhelming physical needs of people all around us. I don't mean ultimate desperation, but that we would despair in our usual system of self-reliance. The problem is bigger than we can solve, it swallows up any individual, it swallows up any local church, it swallows up even a nation. I don't know how many billion dollars of American aid have gone down to Haiti, but it's somewhat like a sink hole down there, and you could multiply it by 10 and the problems would still be there. I'm not saying that there's not legitimate things that can be done with money, I'm just saying the problems are bigger than any of us, and the Lord means to stand in front of us and confront us with the problem. I think about the account of the feeding of the 5000 as one of the few things in the everyday life and ministry of Jesus that makes it to all four Gospels. Very few of his events before his arrest and trial and his last week make it in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, but the feeding of the 5000 does. After Jesus administered to these people, it says in Matthew chapter 14, "When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, this is a desolate place, and the day is now over. Send the crowds away in the villages so they can go buy themselves some food. But Jesus said to his disciples, ‘They don't need to go away, you give them something to eat.’” In John's account, Jesus initiates the whole question. “Where are we going to buy bread so that all these people may eat?" He initiates the question and John tells us very poignantly, Jesus did this only to test them, Philip in particular, because He already knew what He was going to do. That is incredibly revealing for me, Jesus actually intends to test us in this matter of poor and needy ministry. He stands in front of you, and He brings you to a fork in the road and He tests you. He says, "What are you going to do?" He watches to see what we'll do, and I think He means to strip us of self-reliance because the problem's too big for us. He means for us to do what Jesus did when the little boy gave his five loaves and two fish. He took them and he looked up to heaven and He thanked God for what had been provided, and then He miraculously fed the 5000 plus the women and children. This is the test. Will we face the huge overwhelming needs, and will we look upward to God and then act or will we not? That’s the test. The issue of ministry to poverty-stricken people stands over us, it probes our hearts to prove how much sin is still in us. Christ does not mean for us to escape by means of a clever sermon or a formula or something that says, "You don't need to really do this for these reasons." He's going to be probing you the rest of your life about this. He does not mean for us American evangelicals to take an air-conditioned van ride through our time here in the world while other people are suffering. He means for us to tell the driver to stop, get out and go minister. There are two compelling passages in the scripture that keep this issue in front of me. There are a number of them that allude to it, but these two are the most powerful. One of them is the passage on the Good Samaritan in Luke 10, and the other is the sheep and the goats teaching that we're focusing on this morning. Let's look briefly at the Good Samaritan. What happens is a teacher of the law comes up to Jesus and asked, "What shall I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus then, in a very surprising way, gives him the law, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself." But it says the lawyer wanted to justify himself, so he asked, "And who is my neighbor?" Jesus then tells the parable of the Good Samaritan, a man on the road from Jericho who is beaten by some robbers and left stripped and bleeding by the side of the road. A priest and a Levite, both of them see the man. Jesus makes it plain that they see him, but they pass by on the other side and do nothing for the man lying there in the gutter. But a Samaritan man sees him, takes care of him even at the point of great cost and inconvenience. Tim Keller, who's a pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian New York City, wrote a book on mercy ministry, says, "We all live on the Jericho Road. You're on the Jericho Road every day of your lives. We're surrounded by opportunities to minister to people who are suffering, beaten by life and lying bleeding by the side of the road. We all have a tendency to want to justify ourselves and thus excuse ourselves from sacrificial ministry to the poor and needy, and to be like the priest and Levite who see the need and pass by on the other side, go about our business. If we are honest, then we can all see our own sinful omissions in the priest and Levite who pass by on the other side, and we are convicted by the Good Samaritan who allows himself to be interrupted, whatever his business was, gets diverted out of his life course and goes and takes care of this man.” Now remember some key issues of the parable. The question at hand is, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" Is that a topic of interest to you? Let me ask another question, is Jesus' opinion on that topic of interest to you? How is it then that Jesus talking about the Good Samaritan and taking care of poor and needy is an answer to that question? Clearly, Jesus felt the parable of the Good Samaritan was relevant to this line of inquiry. Jesus teaches in some mysterious way that full obedience to the law of Moses is required to inherit eternal life. Once we are more fully instructed by the rest of the New Testament, indeed the whole Bible, we recognize that none of us can be or ever has been fully obedient to the law of Moses, except one man, Jesus Christ, who fully obeyed those two commandments, and who saves us by His righteousness, who saves us by His obedience to the law and by His death on the cross for our disobedience. Turn the whole thing around, and guess what, you know where you are in the parable of the Good Samaritan? You're the guy who got beaten and is laying by the side of the road, and Jesus is the Good Samaritan who comes and saves you. But that's not enough, is it? Clearly, Jesus is saying, "What does it mean to love your neighbor?" At some point, you're no longer the man beaten by the side of the road, you are one of those individuals walking by who sees the need. Then you must become like Jesus, you must imitate Him, because the love of Christ constrains you, compels you, it's in you now, and you're thinking like Jesus. That's what I get out of the parable of the Good Samaritan. Notice that the expert in the law also is seeking to justify himself asking, "Now who is my neighbor?" That just shows the tendency we have to get out of the situation, to evict and not do anything in that situation. Jesus said at the end, "Go and do likewise." Are we to take that at His word? The second instance is the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25. These are some of the most powerful words I've ever heard in my life. My sister at her wedding asked me to read scripture at her wedding, and she chose this passage of scripture. I was amazed. At the rehearsal I was surrounded by a lot of her non-Christian friends, and they were reading also. Then I got up and read this passage. You could have heard a pin drop. It was like the wedding rehearsal just came to a stop. I wanted to say, "I want you to know I didn't choose this passage for a wedding." My sister did, but my sister has a heart for the poor and needy, she wanted it read in her wedding, and I did read it at her wedding. "When the son of man comes in His glory and all His angels with Him, He will sit on His throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He'll put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then He will say to those on His right, ‘Come you who are blessed by my Father, take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in. I needed clothes, and you clothed me. I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison, and you came to visit me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you, a stranger invite you in or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick in prison and go to visit you? The king will reply, I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it for me.’ Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed into the eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you gave me nothing to eat. I was thirsty, you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger, and you did not invite me in. I needed clothes and you did not clothe me. I was sick and in prison, and you did not look after me.’ They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty, or a stranger needing clothes or sick or in prison and not help you? ‘And he will reply, I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did not do for me.’ Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” This passage places mercy ministry in the context of the end of the world. I said before, this is not a parable. This is what will happen. You see what I'm saying? It is what will happen. He's going to separate the people like a shepherd separating sheep from the goats, but it's not a parable, this is going to happen. And the issues couldn't be more intense, heaven and hell, eternity in heaven, eternity in hell, is the outcome, and the basis for the separation here seems to be what you did and didn't do in life. We've already covered that there's a difference between being saved by works and being assessed by works. But Jesus here assesses by works, and the key issue here was what we call "ministry to felt needs or mercy ministry", simple things, somebody's hungry and you feed them. Central to that is Jesus' clear identification with poor and needy people. "I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink. Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it for me." Some have said this proves what the social gospel folks say is the universal fatherhood of God and brotherhood of man, that we are all in the family together. We're all in one family and Jesus sees it that way. I actually don't think so, and I'm going to talk more about that later. Jesus earlier in Matthew's Gospel has already identified his family. He was told that his mother and his brothers were waiting outside for him. He said, "Who is my mother? And who are my brothers?" Pointing to his disciples, He said, "Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother." I don't think Jesus had forgotten that by the time He got to chapter 25, but we need to understand at this point it's all over. The sheep are the sheep, and the goats are the goats, and we know who the family of God is. Jesus identifies Himself with His church. He identifies himself with the sheep, He identifies Himself with his people. Remember Saul of Tarsus breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. Jesus intervenes with these words, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It's my body. I am the head. You're hurting me." Conversely, then anyone who helps brothers and sisters in Christ, they're helping Jesus. This does not mean that we should only minister to Christians, I'm going to talk more about that, but Jesus is identifying in this way. So, this is the "sheep and the goats" teaching. These are the two great passages that are in front of me that keep “mercy ministry” constantly on my mind. There are others but these are the two big ones. What is our context here? We've looked at the context in Matthew, what is our context in history? Let me say, before I talk about historical context, throughout 20 century of church history, the church has on and off again, struggled to keep two things together. Ministry of word and ministry of deed, or the true Gospel and truly Christian outreach to the poor and needy. The church has struggled to keep the two together. Sometimes it's been all one and not the other, sometimes all the other and not the one. Frequently, neither one. But the church has struggled to keep the true Gospel producing true genuine ministry to the poor and needy. The early church didn't seem to struggle with it. I'm talking about Acts chapter 2. Peter preaches the Pentecost sermon, 3000 are baptized, added to the number that day. Right away, they devote themselves to the apostles' teaching, so they come in through the preaching of the gospel, and they right away are busy with doctrine, they're getting the apostles' teaching. They devote themselves to that and to the fellowship, that's the sharing together, the breaking of bread and the prayer. Everyone's filled with awe and many wonders and miraculous signs are done by the apostles, almost always mercy ministry, just done supernaturally, caring for sick people, dying people, that kind of thing, the apostles doing miracles. All the believers were together and had everything in common, selling their possessions and goods they gave to anyone as he had need. There you have apostolic teaching and a solid mercy ministry going on both inside and outside the walls of the church. So also, the early Christians during the time of the persecution of the Roman Empire. It's told that the Roman Christians would go along the Tiber River in Rome and pick up babies that had been abandoned there, infanticide. They were seeking to kill unwanted babies, and the Christians would go and scoop them up and raise them. Julian, the apostate, the evil pagan emperor who wanted to go back to paganism after Christianity had taken root in the Roman Empire, commented ruefully on what he called "the Galileans", that's what he called the Christians. "Not only do they care for their own poor and needy, but ours as well. We are having trouble competing with these people." That was the nature of the early church. But over the centuries, through the medieval Roman Catholic church era the gospel was lost. People lost the gospel. They didn't understand how a sinner is made right with God. Frequently, when they would sin, they would go and confess their sins to a priest and the priest would give them good works to do to reduce time in purgatory. Friends, there is no purgatory, there's heaven and hell, but the priest would say, "You know, you can reduce your time in purgatory if you just do some good deeds." The good works were either religious works like the saying of prayers, or the caring for the poor and needy, and this way, you could reduce your time in purgatory. The Reformation, through Martin Luther and Calvin and others, reclaimed the gospel, and the 16th century and on saw a growth again of a beautiful relationship between the true Gospel and a healthy mercy ministry of the poor and needy. Right on through the time of George Whitfield and John Wesley, who cared for orphans in Georgia, and others who just cared for the poor and needy in England, all kinds of combination of good preaching and good mercy ministry. The Moravians sold themselves into slavery in the West Indies so that they could share the gospel with slaves. There was William Wilberforce who understood the gospel well, and for 26 years fought to get rid of slavery and the slave trade in the British Empire. The Rise of Social Gospel But then in the 19th and 20th century we had the social gospel. People came in and they did not understand, through Darwinism and liberal theology and all that, they lost the gospel in a different way. They became universalistic. They basically said, "Anybody and everybody is going to heaven, that's not the issue. The issue is the world's a really bad place because we don't understand how much God loves us, we don't understand how good God is and how we should be loving each other [social gospel]. We need to stamp out societal ills and evils and try to make the world a better place." Charles Sheldon wrote his book, In His Steps, in which he asked the famous question, "What would Jesus do?" But he was an advocate of what we call Christian socialism, and definitely a part of that social gospel movement. The central problem with the social Gospel is they didn't understand how a sinner is made right with God. They didn't understand the need sinners have to be saved. As a result of that, fundamentalists over-reacted, they said that the liberals have lost the gospel, the deity of Christ, the virgin birth, the miracle workings of Jesus and all that. We've got to protect these fundamentals of the gospel and not do anything that these social gospelers are doing. So, they pulled in and worked on the doctrine, but they were in a different kind of bubble, not interacting with the outside world, trying to protect the gospel, so they didn't do those kinds of mercy ministries. Recently in the evangelical world, we've seen a change, people have gotten back. First it was moral issues like prayer in the schools, 10 Commandments, abortion and other things. Chuck Colson's Prison Fellowship got into the prisons and started ministering to people at that level, and you started to see more and more evangelicals getting involved in mercy ministry, and I think in a healthy way. There are role models, especially in urban churches, like I've already mentioned, Redeemer Presbyterian, Tim Keller's church there in Manhattan, and 10th Presbyterian of Philadelphia, and John Piper's efforts at racial reconciliation in Minneapolis. So where does that leave us now? We live in a technologically advanced world, in which images of an earthquake in Haiti or floods in Pakistan can be right on your iPhone immediately as soon as they happen. We see more than ever before, the crushing burdens of this sin cursed world and the trouble we're in. Also, in the US and in other places in the Western world there's economic uncertainty, more and more unemployed people, a different kind of homeless people, some with college degrees, but are underemployed or unemployed. More and more troubles in churches just like ours, where people are really financially needy. The present administration, the Obama administration, I think sees increasingly a role of government in solving those problems, and that's really a fork in the road, the question, "Are we going to see bigger and bigger and bigger government answering these problems, or is there a different solution?" I think there's a different solution, I think the church is at the centerpiece of what God wants to do to solve these problems in the world. Among Christians, especially younger Christians, we're seeing more and more of a zeal to do a kind of physical ministry of the poor and needy, disconnected from the gospel and the exclusivity of Christ. Lots of college students who have no commitment to Christ at all want to do things to give something back, or they just feel good building homes for the homeless. CNN has a little spot every week called CNN's Heroes of the Week. I went on their website and found out who it was this week, it was a guy who builds bridges in Kenya. So, I'm back to Kenya again. There he is building bridges. He's built 46 bridges to help with local flooding and other things, but no mention of Christ. He may be a Christian. I don't know, I tried to find out whether he was. There's no mention, it doesn't seem relevant. That's where we live right now. People who are energetic and excited to do good works, but like back in the Kennedy days with the Peace Corps and all that, wanting to do exciting things with the United Nations or whatever, but no connection directly to the gospel. Christians can get involved, but the gospel's not at the center. We may be kind of oozing slowly back into a social gospel again. Priority of Gospel in Mercy Ministry That's just laying the land. What priorities do I want to give you quickly to try to sort these things through? As I look through scripture, I'm going to give you five, and instead of giving the applications at the end of the sermon, I'm going to do it as I make these points. The first priority concerning ministry to the poor and needy is justification before ministry. You must be born again before you can do anything God sees as good. That's the priority. You don't have any good works until you come to faith in Christ. There are really only two religions in the world: The religion of salvation by grace through faith in Christ and the religion of good works, and at the center of that religion of good works is usually some kind of ministry of the poor and needy. Ministry to the poor and needy will not save you on judgement day. Now you can read the sheep and the goats and say, "I don't see faith in Jesus anywhere here." That's where scripture has to interpret scripture, the gospel is clear that we must believe in Jesus, to trust in Him for the salvation of our souls. “By grace we have been saved through faith, and this is not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not by works so that no one can boast.” Jesus comes to His apostles the night before His crucifixion, and He's there washing their feet. He comes to Peter and Peter has no interest in having Jesus wash his feet. He asked one of those obvious questions, "Are you about to wash my feet?" I think he was probably the seventh or eighth apostle, I don't know. "Yes Peter, I'm going to wash your feet." Actually, he said, "What I'm doing now you do not understand but later you will." The deeper answer. "Later you will understand the significance of the foot washing." "Never Lord, you shall never wash my feet." Jesus said, "Unless I wash you, you have no part with me." So first, Jesus has to wash you, then you can wash each other's feet. The Son of Man came not to be served. He doesn't need you; you need Him. “The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many.” The first priority then is you must be born again, you must be justified through faith in Christ, therefore come to Christ. Look to Christ, look to His blood shed on the cross. Don't try to earn your salvation by getting involved in the community or Habitat for Humanity, or any of these other good things, don't do that first. First come to the cross. But this doesn't mean that faith which is apart from works stays apart from works. The faith that justified is never apart from works. It always produces good works. Because when you are born again, you are spiritually united with Jesus and through the Spirit, his intentions and personality and his love start to pulsate through your soul, and you can't help but love the poor and needy if you're really a Christian. There's just going to be good works flowing through a faith that genuinely justifies, but first, you must be born again. The second gospel priority is ministry to the soul above ministry to the body. It is a higher priority for Christians to minister to the soul which will endure forever, than to the body which is destined for the grave. If you're already going to the "But that doesn't mean" part, hang on, okay, let me make my point and then I'll say, "But that doesn't mean... " There are three passages that teach me this priority. First, Matthew 16:26, "What would it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul?" Or what could a man give in exchange for his soul?” Here, Jesus plainly puts the value of the soul as higher than any physical thing. If you took a homeless man from the streets of Chicago, gave him a new set of clothes, fed him for a year, gave him a job's training program, enabled him to get a good solid job, and he kept that job and became middle class, healthy, strong, and didn't love Jesus and died and went to hell, what would it profit him? What good is it? The second passage that teaches me this is after the feeding of the 5000. The next day the people were looking for another meal. Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, you're looking for me, not because you saw a miraculous sign, but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not labor for the food that spoils but for the food that endures to eternal life which the Son of Man will give you." Stop thinking about your stomach. Stop thinking about your body. It is temporary. That's what Jesus is saying. Ecclesiastes 6:7 says, "All man's efforts are for his mouth yet his appetite is never satisfied." I don't think Ecclesiastes 6:7 is saying all man's efforts should be for his mouth, it's just saying that's what they tend to be. Or in Philippians 3, Paul says, "For as I have often told you before and now say again, even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things." Jesus is urging everyone, both the lost, the needy, and Christian workers and evangelists, seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you as well. That's not one of the three key passages, I just slipped that one in there, but put your mind first on the spiritual things and let the other things come. What is that third and final passage? Some men brought to Jesus in Matthew 9:2, a paralyzed man, a paralytic, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralyzed man, "Take heart, son, your sins are forgiven." What was Jesus' priority there? Ministry to the felt need. What was the felt need? Freedom from paralysis. Jesus goes to the heart of the matter. "Take heart, son, your sins are forgiven." Let me ask you a question, if that's all Jesus had done, I don't mean just any person, now this is Jesus, the Judge of all the Earth, declaring that man's sin is forgiven, would that have been enough for the paralyzed man that day? Is that a valid ministry, if he had sent him home paralyzed, but forgiven of all of his sins? I tell you it is a valid ministry, because within the promise that his sins will be forgiven is the promise of resurrection to a glorified life, in which not just paralysis, but every disease and pain and suffering will be healed. Jesus in effect said, "I'll get to your paralysis by and by." He actually did it right away because they're saying, "This fellow is blaspheming. Who has the right to forgive sins?" Jesus said, "So that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on Earth to forgive sins,” he said to the man, "Rise and walk." Therefore, we must put a priority on gospel ministry, a ministry of the Gospel above ministry to the body. The gospel is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes. Our good example will not save anyone's souls. I think a lot of you have a wonderful example, you have a sweet countenance, your face looks delightful, you are pleasant, you are patient, you are tender-hearted, you have a sweet tone of voice. I can just tell you there are non-Christians that can do better at all that stuff than you. The difference between you and them is you have the gospel, and they don't. So, in the midst of all of our ministry to the body must be a commitment to share the gospel as often as we can. There's a supposed quote and I've quoted it before, from St. Francis of Assisi, I actually don't think he said it, but some people say he did, "Preach the gospel, use words if necessary." Have you heard that before? Oh, my goodness. Where do they come up with this stuff? "Preach the gospel, use words if necessary." And I lampooned it probably a year or two ago, saying it's like saying, "Feed the hungry, use food if necessary." I think food is necessary to feed the hungry, don't you? I think the words of the gospel are necessary to preaching the gospel, and that's the only thing that's going to save souls. However, this does not mean that we don't minister to the body. Frankly, if we're not ministering to the body, how can we say the love of God is in us? Jesus ministered to the body. He just put a priority over the soul, that's all. 1 John 3, "If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?" James says, "Suppose one of you has food and clothing and all kinds of the world's goods, and you see a brother without food or clothing, and you say, ‘Go, I wish you well, keep warm and well-fed’, but does nothing for his physical needs, what good is that?" Both James and John are saying the same thing. Faith without deeds is dead. There must be deeds. I'm just saying in the middle of the deed doing let's preach the gospel. The third gospel priority is ministry to believers above ministry to unbelievers. Galatians 6:10 is the key verse, "Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially those who belong to the household of faith." We see in the sheep and the goats, Jesus identifies with His people, "These are my brothers, these are my sisters, you cared for me by caring for them." What's interesting is Christians see Jesus in everything anyway, all the time, that's what we do. The law of Moses isn't just the law of Moses, or some letters engraved in a stone, Jesus is the law, and therefore we see Him in all of these encounters. He's at the center of it all. But the commands and examples of benevolence in the New Testament always focus primarily on church members helping other church members. It's true. Look it up. Over and over, its church caring for church. The gospel was moving so rapidly and advancing so much that someone went from non-Christian to Christian quickly, they went from non-Christian with tremendous needs to Christian with tremendous needs quickly. That's the best way to do it, friends. Let's lead them to Christ and then take care of their tremendous needs. Oh, how sweet would that be. This does not mean we should not minister to outsiders; it says in Galatians 6:10, "Let us do good to all people, just especially those who belong to the household of faith." If a Good Samaritan was going by, let's say he were a Christian, and this guy's lying by the side of the road, is he going to kneel down and say, "I need to see some spiritual credentials, please? Are you a Christian? Have you come to faith in Christ? Let me share the gospel with you, okay?" When Jesus was engaging frequently with the people, first it was preaching, then feeding the 5,000. What I'm saying is put a mental doctrinal priority on the preaching of the gospel, while you minister to the needs of the body. The fourth gospel priority, a little arcane, I'm not going to spend much time on it, but there are a lot of people talking about doing good to the city, a lot of urban ministry. They tend to be what I call "post-millennial", in other words, as you get better and better and better, as we preach the gospel, more and more, the city is going to get brighter and shinier and better and better, if we can just plant more trees and have more gardens and just cover over more graffiti and all that will solve the problems. Well, you know what's going to happen, have you seen those pretty little parks five years later? A Christian knows what's going to happen five years later. Actually, a Christian knows what's going to happen at the end of the world. It's all going to burn. Every little gospel island that we set up is just an oasis of hope pointing to a future city that will not be destroyed. Hebrews 11 says, "We are aliens and strangers here, and we're looking forward to a better city with foundations that are never going to go away." The people who say that we should do good to the city are saying, "Well, Jeremiah said the exiles, they should pray for the shalom or the peace of the city, the well-being of the city and settle in there. You're going to be there for seven years, do good to the city." Yes, but what they forget to notice is that the same prophet, Jeremiah said, "I want you to know what's going to happen to Babylon, it's going to be destroyed. So, while you do good to the city, keep in mind that someday it's going to be a burning heap of rubble where even the jackals will not live." We should realize that if we set up an urban ministry center, it might get vandalized. The computers might get stolen. The stuff we do feels temporary because the physical stuff really is temporary. That's why we're going to put our hope on the eschatological city that we're building, the new Jerusalem by the ministry of the gospel. Be hope-filled people, don't get discouraged easily. Finally, ministry to the poor above ministry to the rich. This is convicting for us. Luke 14:12-14, "Then Jesus said, 'When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or your relatives or your rich neighbors. If you do, they may invite you back, and so you'll be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the cripple, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.’” Reach out to those who can't pay you back, that's what Jesus is saying. That doesn't mean you can't have friends over for lunch. I'm just saying, where is the sacrificial ministry to people who are difficult to love and who seem to be a bottomless pit? You've got to do it with a hope that Jesus at the resurrection of the righteous will repay you. Let's focus on those. Find a ministry that causes you to get out of an air-conditioned bubble If you've been doing that, get out of that and go out in the streets and minister to people who are hurting. Counseling ministry will be another one. It's not just financial, sometimes people's lives are just falling apart, they may be wealthy materially, but they're hurting, hurting, hurting in their marriages. Let's get out of the air-conditioned bubble, let's minister as Jesus did.