Songs, fellowship, big dinners, sweet words, beautiful liturgies, the holiday season was upon us! What joy, what merriment, entire towns were dressed up to reflect the pervasive spirit of celebration. Hot chocolate, fresh baked cookies, warm fireplaces, warmer friendships, praise the Lord for our ability to celebrate Him so. In reflecting on our celebration, let us look at the gift of salvation and remember what made that celebration so sweet; and perhaps be encouraged to deliver the gift to others this year. It seems simple enough to say, “Christ died for our sins” and there we have it, nutcracker...
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Overview Bubba tends to be of an extremely analytical and logical nature; as such, he is drawn to systems, frameworks, and workflows in understanding and visualizing concepts. While most everyone appreciates a diagram or picture to help them understand a concept, there aren’t as many (though you are likely one if you are reading this) who are truly attracted to a systematic approach of frameworks and workflows. A long way of saying that this might not be for you, but I find it helps me towards greater clarity in analysis and understanding. First, we will acquire a framework for understanding...
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Our scripture today is meant to help us scrutinize our own lives and discern the degree to which we conform to Christ’s example and standard. Before we go into the text, I admonish you to resist the significant temptation to skip over applying this text to yourself and immediately begin judging others by the standard it sets. That act, in and of itself is counter to what we are teaching here. So then, what is it that we are teaching here? What is the point of our review of these twelve verses? Quite simply to review what Paul defined a Christian as. Now, there are a number of layers to defining...
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Pressing Toward the Prize in Christ Jesus Contending or Contentious? Beloved, I was eager to preach to you today regarding our common salvation; however I find it necessary to appeal to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. Now, you might rightly ask, why? Why is it necessary to appeal to me to contend for the faith? Am I not a child of God? Haven’t I faith? What is to be contended for? What is this contention that you would encourage me to participate in? Can’t we all just be friends? You might even be so clever as to quote 1 Corinthians 11:16 to me, wherein...
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Antithesis
Any endeavor will have pitfalls that must be guarded against, and it is wise to consider the history of small groups, identify common pitfalls that have complicated them, and ensure that we militate against these shoals by doing all that is in our power to navigate around them.
I have five specific hazards in mind, but before I present them to you, I’d like to challenge you to identify a few yourselves. Consider what you know of small groups, neighborhood bible studies, etc. and let’s pull together a quick list.
The five that I have in mind are as follows:
Elitism - The belief...
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Psalm 143:2 Enter not into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you. In the Overview, Bryan referred to this as “The Sinful Condition of Man after the Fall into Sin”. The Doctrines of Grace refer to this as Total Depravity, where depravity is defined as Moral Perversion, an Impairment of Virtue or Moral Principles. Some synonyms for Total might be: Comprehensive Thorough Utter Exhaustive Pervasive I state, “You are Utterly Sinful, your Moral Perversion is comprehensive, you suffer a thorough impairment of virtue, and a pervasive impairment...
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FLOYD DOUD SHAFER Christianity Today, March 27, 1961
There was a time, about three generations ago, when the minister was known as the parson. Parson, in those days, was not a nickname, but an honorific title, and it meant The Person. More often than not the parson was the best educated man in the community and he ranked with the physician and the pedagogue, and the lawyer in eminence. But our time has seen a complete switch in this situation. The minister is no longer a parson. The advent of a highly educated public has put the minister close to the bottom of the listings in educated persons....
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The way we live our lives demonstrate more clearly what we believe about the Bible and God than anything we say. Many call themselves Christians, 3/5 of Americans claim to be personally committed to Christ. Matthew 7:21-23 is a clear example of why we need to believe what the Bible teaches and live it, rather than claim we believe what the Bible teaches yet continue to live in opposition to those teachings. Does your life reflect what you claim to believe? Do you keep Christ's commandments and abide in His love? Are there any areas of your life that are in opposition to Scripture and Christ's...
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(Mathew 5:13-16) To paraphrase Matthew Henry, ˜Mankind, wallowing in wickedness, is piled up as an enormous heap, prepared to putrefy. However, Christ has sent us that by our lives mankind may be seasoned with grace and love. If an individual can take up the profession of Christ, and yet remain loveless, no other doctrine, no other means, can make that individual profitable. Our light must shine, by doing such good works as others may see. What is between God and our souls, must be kept to ourselves; but that which is of itself open to the sight of men, we must study to make suitable to our profession...
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Compassion - Deep awareness of the suffering of another coupled with the wish to relieve it.) Witness - a. One who can give a firsthand account of something seen, heard, or experienced. b. One who furnishes evidence.) Our God is a God of compassion; He has a deep awareness of our suffering coupled with the desire to relieve it. He sent His Son in order to provide the relief for our suffering! As Christians, we who have experienced this relief are capable of giving a firsthand account of what we have seen, heard, and experienced through Christ. We have even established that Christ has commanded...
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