Ronald's Blog

THE SON OF A PROSTITUTE

2012-02-07T15:18:00.000-08:00

Sermonic Pericope: ESV Judges 11:1; 29-40 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior, but he was the son of a prostitute. Gilead was the father of Jephthah.

29 Then the Spirit of the LORD was upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh and passed on to Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed on to the Ammonites. 30 And Jephthah made a vow to the LORD and said, "If you will give the Ammonites into my hand, 31 then whatever comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites shall be the LORD's, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering." 32 So Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites to fight against them, and the LORD gave them into his hand. 33 And he struck them from Aroer to the neighborhood of Minnith, twenty cities, and as far as Abel-keramim, with a great blow. So the Ammonites were subdued before the people of Israel. 34 Then Jephthah came to his home at Mizpah. And behold, his daughter came out to meet him with tambourines and with dances. She was his only child; beside her he had neither son nor daughter. 35 And as soon as he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, "Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low, and you have become the cause of great trouble to me. For I have opened my mouth to the LORD, and I cannot take back my vow." 36 And she said to him, "My father, you have opened your mouth to the LORD; do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth, now that the LORD has avenged you on your enemies, on the Ammonites." 37 So she said to her father, "Let this thing be done for me: leave me alone two months, that I may go up and down on the mountains and weep for my virginity, I and my companions." 38 So he said, "Go." Then he sent her away for two months, and she departed, she and her companions, and wept for her virginity on the mountains. 39 And at the end of two months, she returned to her father, who did with her according to his vow that he had made. She had never known a man, and it became a custom in Israel 40 that the daughters of Israel went year by year to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in the year.

Sermonic Title: "The Son of a Prostitute"

Sermonic Sub-title: I made a vow

Sermonic Doctrine: Salvation (Divine Deliverance)

The general meaning of the several Hebrew and Greek words translated into English as "salvation" is "safety" and "deliverance." In the OT salvation refers to deliverance, both physically (Psalm 37.40; 59.2; 106.4) and spiritually (Psalm 51.12; 79.9). OT prophesies focus on the complete salvation of GOD'S people by the coming Messiah (Job 19.25-27); the NT teaches that these prophecies are fulfilled by Jesus Christ. Jesus brought salvation through forgiveness of sins (Matthew 1.21) and the gift of eternal life. (Hebrews 5.9; Acts 4.12; Hebrews 2.10)

Sermonic Tension: The doctrine of Grace. This is where joy and pain kiss each other. (Temporary over and against Permanent deliverance)

Sermonic Question: Why did HE do it? (I know why Jephthah did it...etc. He wanted to win however, why did the LORD allow it/ accept it?...etc.)

Sermonic Refrain: Victory comes with a price. (I owe the LORD)

Sermonic Prohibition: Stop breaking your vows. (I open my mouth unto the LORD)

Sermonic Sentence: The LORD takes what we say seriously. (Matthew 12.36)

Sermonic Point: Keep your promises.

Sermonic Help: The Star of this Pericope/Novella is the LORD. The co-star is Jephthah and the best supporting role goes to Jephthah's daughter.

Sermonic Structure: (There are four moves within this Pericope/Novella)

I. JEPHTHAH IS A MIGHTY MAN OF VALOR (v.1)
   (A.) His mother is a prostitute
   (B.) He has the Holy Spirits presence
   (C.) He has political power
   (D.) His faith is lifted as a NT picture

II. JEPHTHAH MAKES A VOW (v.29-31)
    (A.) Notice he enters into negotiations personally
    (B.) Notice he enters into negotiations horizontally
    (C.) Notice he enters into negotiation vertically

III. JEPHTHAH IS MADE VICTORIOUS (v.32-33)
      (A.) Consider the source of his victory
      (B.) Consider the size of his victory
      (C.) Consider the significance of his victory

IV. JEPHTHAH'S DAUGHTER IS A VIRGIN (v.34-40)
      (A.) She's visible
      (B.) She's vocal
      (C.) She's Virtuous
      (D.) She's Valuable

This Is Your Moment: Close

2011-12-16T11:13:00.000-08:00

A preaching 'genius' faces his toughest convert

2011-11-28T16:44:00.000-08:00

Blue Ridge, Georgia (CNN) -- Fred Craddock was a young preacher trying to find his voice when he received a call from his mother one day.

"You need to go see your father," she said. "He may not live longer."

Craddock found his father in a VA hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. Fred Craddock Sr. had whittled down to 73 pounds. Radiation treatments had burned him to pieces. He couldn't eat or speak.

When he saw his son, he picked up a Kleenex box and scribbled on it a line from Shakespeare's "Hamlet": "In this harsh world, draw your breath in pain to tell my story."

"What is your story, Daddy?"

His father's eyes welled with tears. He wrote:

"I was wrong."

'A preacher like no other'

Craddock never became a televangelist, built a megachurch or preached to an adoring crowd in a packed stadium. He is a diminutive, bespectacled man whose voice is so soft that he once compared it to "wind whistling through a splinter on the post."

Yet he is a pulpit giant, a man who, one preaching scholar says, tilted the preaching world "on its axis" after creating a revolutionary method that led to him being selected as one of the 12 best preachers in the English-speaking world.

"He is a preacher like no other" is how the Rev. Barbara Brown Taylor, who also made the top 12 list, describes him.

Craddock preached his last official sermon in October. He is 83 and struggling with Parkinson's disease. When he greets a visitor, he moves gingerly to his seat. He is 5-foot-5 with a plump belly and an impish smile.

He lives in Blue Ridge, Georgia, a small town in the Appalachian Mountains that looks like a rustic postcard, with its small white-steeple churches and autumn forests bristling with burgundy and gold.

Friends worry about Craddock's health, but he seems to treat his illness as an annoyance.

"I should have something by 83," he says with a quick smile when the conversation turns to Parkinson's.

His arms shake when he talks at length, but everything else is there: his phenomenal recall of names, details, places.

Though he has gathered all manner of awards during 50 years of preaching, he never received praise for his calling from the one man he wanted to hear it from most: his father.

"I struggled with his silence," Craddock says. "I wanted him to say he was proud of me."

A father like no other

Fred Craddock Sr. had plenty to say about other subjects. He stood 5-foot-7, weighed 150 pounds and even in his 50s could do one-arm chin-ups. He liked to dance, race his horse at county fairs.

Most of all, he loved to tell stories.

His son and namesake, Fred Jr., was one of his most devoted fans. Father and son developed a storytelling ritual. At the end of the day, the elder Craddock would return to his home in the small town of Humboldt, Tennessee, roll a Bull Durham cigarette by the fireplace and say to no one in particular, "Boy, I never hope to see what I saw today."

Craddock, his three brothers and his sister flocked around their father.

"What'd you see today?"

"Oh, you kids still up? No, you go to bed. You don't want to have nightmares."

His children protested. Back and forth they'd go before Craddock Sr. finally said, "Well, sit down, but don't blame me if you have nightmares."

Craddock Sr. thrilled his children with adventure stories about Chief Loud Thunder, Civil War battles and, on occasion, stories from the Bible. The elder Craddock taught his son some of his first lessons in theology.

Each student in Craddock's first-grade class was required to answer morning roll call with a Bible verse. Craddock didn't know any, until his father taught him one. One morning, he stood up "like a bantam rooster" and repeated his father's scripture:

"Samson took the jawbone of an ass and killed 10,000 Filipinos."

The teacher sent Craddock home with a stern note to his parents for his use of profanity. Ethel Craddock chided her husband, but he chuckled, saying, "I bet the class enjoyed it."

The elder Craddock developed a following. Storytellers were admired in rural Tennessee during the first half of the 20th century. Television was nonexistent. Books were expensive. People spent their day around pot-bellied stoves, whittling wood and spitting tobacco while swapping stories.

When Craddock Sr. stopped on a corner to roll a cigarette, crowds gathered, because they knew a tall tale was coming. They rarely guessed how it would end. Craddock Sr. would uncork a story, lead his audience up to the edge, then suddenly announce that he had to go to work and walk away.

Says his son: "I'm convinced now that he didn't know where his stories were going when he started."

'Another name, another pledge'

Stories, however, don't feed hungry children.

Craddock's father had enough education to devour Shakespeare in his spare time. But he discovered, after inheriting 10 acres, that he couldn't farm. He wasn't good with his hands, either. Doors, fixtures and steps hung off-kilter in his house.

The elder Craddock had a bigger problem. He was an alcoholic.

When the Great Depression tore into rural Tennessee, Craddock Sr. drank to cushion the pain. His drinking, though, only magnified his self-loathing. His mood darkened. He yelled at his family, but Craddock says he never saw his father hit his mom. When visitors came by, though, everyone was embarrassed.

Sometimes, Craddock saw his father break down in tears.

"He wanted to do better by his family. He didn't know how."

At times, Craddock Sr. would sober up. He vowed never to drink again. He found an odd job. Once, he even arranged for a dentist to pull a gold crown from one of his molars so he could buy Christmas toys for his children.

"Sometimes, when something nice happened," Craddock says, "he would just go into the kitchen, take my mom away from the stove, and they would dance around the house."

His father's pluck, though, couldn't prevent the family's slide into poverty. They lost the farm and moved into a shack with a dirt floor and no electricity. A spigot in the yard was the only running water.

Craddock's family even struggled to clothe him. He still remembers walking to grade school on a cold day, hiding his donated sweater under a bridge and walking to school shivering in his shirtsleeves. He didn't want to risk any classmate recognizing that he was wearing a sweater that had once belonged to them.

"There's something worse than being poor," Craddock said. "It's being ashamed."

Ethel Craddock held the family together. By day, she worked in a factory, sticking labels on Buster Brown shoes. At night, she gathered her children around the fireplace to play word games: "If you can say it, you can spell it: omnivorous."

And faith held Ethel Craddock together. She took her children to church, sang hymns at home to the accompaniment of her harmonica and welcomed down-on-their luck strangers who needed a hot meal or a place to stay.

At first, Craddock's father shared the pews with his family. He was even named after a preacher. But he stopped attending as his drinking grew worse.

"He felt guilty," Craddock says. "He'd say, 'Every time I go to church, they preach against the drunks like they can't go to heaven.' "

Craddock Sr.'s hostility toward the church deepened when they decided to come to him. The church dispatched preachers to his home, hoping to draw him back to the pews. He belittled them so much that Craddock's mother worried a fight would erupt.

"I know what the church wants," he'd say. "Another name; another pledge. Right?"

Craddock, though, found acceptance in the church. It was the only place where he didn't feel different -- any less or any more than anybody else. Pastors told him he would be a good preacher one day; church ladies doted on him with new shoes and a picture book filled with stories about Jesus.

"We loved our dad, but we loved the church," Craddock says.

Home was a place filled with fantastic stories. But Ethel Craddock kept one story from him. It centered on the horrible night when she decided her son had been set apart by God.

Saved by a miracle?

A winter night in 1928, Humboldt, Tennessee.

Ethel Craddock is sprawled in a barn on a bale of hay, crying and praying to God. Her 8-month-old son, Fred, is dying.

He has diphtheria, a highly infectious disease that forms blockages over the lungs, gradually suffocating a child.

The boy can barely draw breath. His father has run a mile to summon a doctor. But the doctor can't do much, and Craddock's breathing has grown more labored.

His mother couldn't watch him suffer any more. She has fled to the barn, where she prays:

"Dear God, if you will let him live, I will pray every day that he will serve you as a minister."

She falls asleep on the hay. When she awakens at daybreak, she runs to the house, where the doctor says her son is going to be fine. He leaves without asking for payment.

Ethel Craddock didn't reveal this story to her son until he came to her after turning 17 to tell her that he was thinking about becoming a minister.

She began to cry after hearing the news, quickly regained her composure and told Craddock the story.

He was bewildered. Why hadn't she told him before?

She didn't want him to feel pushed into becoming a minister, she said. She believed that a deed couldn't be good if the motive was wrong.

When Craddock told his father of his decision to join the ministry, he listened intently before finally saying it was a big decision. Then he simply said: "Good, son."

Craddock was deflated. No tears. No sober, fatherly advice. The only reaction his father would give to his calling in the days ahead would be to crack jokes. "Don't be like John the Baptist and lose your head."

"He might have been embarrassed that I became a preacher," Craddock says. "It was kind of the opposite of him. Maybe that created some discomfort.

"I wanted more."

His father seemed to rub away some of the luster from his calling again when Craddock went off to college.

Wanting to make sure his call to the ministry was genuine, Craddock sought out a counselor. Over several sessions, the young student ended up talking about his childhood. The counselor's verdict was devastating:

"I think I'm clear why you're in the ministry: to redeem your father."

The counselor didn't elaborate, and Craddock was too stunned to ask questions. He thought about what his mother had taught him -- and knew what he had to do.

"I thought I was disqualified," he says. "My mother had always told me nothing can be right if the reason is wrong."

He quit the ministry and started picking up odd jobs.

It crushed me," he says of the conversation with the counselor. "I didn't have a Plan B in my life. I was kicking the can down the road every night, trying to figure it out."

The answer came while reading one of his favorite books in the Bible.

The book of Philippians, written by the Apostle Paul, is regarded by some as one of the most uplifting in the New Testament. Yet the backdrop for Paul's composition is grim. He is imprisoned, and the church is splintering into factions. Paul thinks he's about to be executed; his enemies are spreading division and preaching Christ out of selfish motives.

But Paul says that none of that matters. Whether he lives or dies, or whether his enemies preach Christ out of selfish gain, what ultimately matters is that Christ is proclaimed.

Something shifted inside of Craddock. What did it matter if he preached Christ to save his father or save souls? Christ is preached.

"They're preaching for the wrong reason, yet Paul said thanks God for that," he says.

The message was clear; living it would prove more difficult:

"I had to get to a point where I disagreed with my mother. That was tough."

Craddock returned to school and started preaching at rural churches. He had ignored his father and defied his mother's teaching to pursue the ministry.

Now he was about to revolutionize preaching.

Changing the rules of preaching

Craddock had three books in his childhood home: his mother's King James Bible, his father's complete works of Shakespeare and "The Life and Times of Billy Sunday."

Sunday was a Major League Baseball player who became one of America's most famous preachers during the early 20th century by transforming preaching into an athletic event.

He'd smash chairs, throw parts of his clothing into the audience and run across the preaching platform as if he were sliding into home plate while proclaiming, "Safe at home -- by the blood of Jesus!"

Sunday was the type of pastor Craddock grew up admiring. They strode the pulpit like human firecrackers: booming voices, explosive movements, big men who radiated power.

Craddock had a problem. He couldn't bring the thunder. He was short, and his voice was weak. His high school counselor tried to talk him out of becoming a preacher because of his size. And his first church sermon landed with a thud. While preaching about three wise men visiting baby Jesus, an elderly man stood up in the back and blurted: "How do you know there were three?"

A flustered Craddock had no reply. But he eventually found a way to be heard and owed part of that breakthrough to his father.

When he started preaching in rural Tennessee during the 1950s, Craddock employed the traditional "deductive" preaching style. The sermon is structured like a term paper: thesis, three supporting points, restatement of thesis.

"Something in me said that's not the way to do it," he says.

Maybe it was the stories he heard growing up, but Craddock gradually stumbled onto his preaching style.

While serving as a young pastor at a church in Columbia, Tennessee, he noticed that people responded more to his informal talks outside church service than to his sermons.

He started experimenting. What if you didn't structure the sermon like a legal argument but more like an extended conversation? The listener -- not the preacher -- would be challenged to give the sermon its meaning.

Craddock never took to preachers who tried to bulldoze people into converting. He had seen plenty of preachers try to goad his father back to church. And his mother, by withholding the story of his near-death experience, had taught him that people's faith decisions must be genuine, not coerced.

So Craddock became a preacher who didn't preach. He once said that a "yes" is no good unless a "no" is possible.

"No one wants to listen to pulpit bullies, behaving as though they had walked all round God and taken pictures," he wrote in the introduction to his book "Craddock on the Craft of Preaching."

Over the years, people have tried to describe Craddock's style. Some use the term "inductive," a word he resists because it sounds like a legal term. One of his prize students, the Rev. Barbara Brown Taylor, offers one of the best descriptions of Craddock's preaching style.

In an introduction to "The Collected Sermons of Fred B. Craddock," Taylor wrote:

"He assumes from the start that we are capable of attending to the text, handling some scholarship, dealing with open-ended stories, and drawing our own conclusions. He does not tell us what he is going to tell us, and then tell us what he told us. He sits down before we are ready. He lets us chew our own food."

Craddock's sermons, though, don't go down like broccoli. They are playful, inventive, filled with hyperbole. They sound like probing short stories or front-porch yarns.

In one sermon, Craddock recounts a conversation with an overweight sparrow that doesn't know it can fly. In another, he imagines bored teenagers who "sat out on the hoods of their camels" listening to a shaggy John the Baptist preach in the desert, and in another he pretends to emcee a debate at a dreary church committee meeting between early Christian leaders arguing over whether Gentiles should be included in the church.

Craddock didn't have to break chairs to get people's attention. His stories did the job. His reputation spread. He began writing influential preaching textbooks. When he became a preaching professor at Emory University in Atlanta, he spawned a new generation of preachers who took his style out into the pews. People started describing him as a pulpit genius.

In 1996, Craddock received one of his most celebrated honors. Baylor University in Texas polled 341 seminary professors and editors of religious periodicals and asked them to name the most effective preachers in the English-speaking world. Newsweek magazine published the top 12.

Craddock was selected for the list. So were two pastors he heavily influenced: Taylor and the Rev. Thomas Long.

Long says Craddock tilted the homiletic world "on its axis" with his 1971 book on preaching, "As One without Authority." He calls it one of the most pivotal books on preaching to appear in the past century.

"There's a homespun nostalgic quality to his sermons," says Long, who now teaches at Emory. "He rarely preaches about the engineer with the complex ethical decision. It's more about the pot of beans served at the back door."

Taylor still remembers the first time she heard Craddock speak at Yale Divinity School in 1978. She was working as a secretary at a local church on the weekends, but listening to Craddock stirred her desire to preach.

"He simply spoke of the gospel so compellingly that I wanted know more -- about the way of life he was describing, about why his words struck me with such force and about how I could learn to use language that way, too."

Some preachers transform their eloquence into business ventures. They build megachurches, TV empires. Some even get entourages. Craddock wasn't driven to build a personal brand. He has no e-mail address, doesn't drive and refused to turn on a personal computer his son and daughter bought him several years ago.

"If Fred Craddock ever tweets, I'll know the world has come to an end," Taylor says.

Craddock used some of his renown to reach out to the region that nurtured him. He gave preaching workshops to itinerant pastors in the Appalachian Mountains and established the Craddock Center, a nonprofit group that offers free meals and storytelling to needy kids in three Southern states.

He built a family as he built a career. He married his high school sweetheart, Nettie, and they raised their two children, John and Laura, as he taught at various seminaries and accepted preaching invitations across the country.

"Sometimes we felt like we were in competition with the church and God," says Laura, his daughter, who named her son after her father.

His son, John, never felt pressured to become a minister. He is the CEO of America's First Choice Warranty company in Atlanta. His father, he says, is the most remarkable person he has ever known.

"I don't care if it's a guy on the street asking for a dollar or the president of the United States, he makes you feel as if you're the most important person in the world when he's talking to you.

"I won the lottery as far as great fathers go."

Telling his father's story

Craddock yearned to hear such praise from his father.

Yet his father never even came to hear him preach. Craddock says he sometimes overheard his father accept praise for his son's decision to enter the ministry, but he can't recall ever hearing his father admit to anyone that he was proud of his son's choice.

"He never said it. I looked for little signals. I finally decided that I was reading into things that were not there."

His father may not have acknowledged him, but Craddock affirmed his father. In the dedication in his book "As One without Authority," he wrote:

"To my mother, and in memory of my father: She taught me the Word. He taught me the words."

One Sunday, he did get a sign that maybe his father would have enjoyed hearing him preach. At his childhood church in Humboldt, Tennessee, a man approached after hearing him preach. The man was about his father's age.

"You sound like your daddy," he said.

The comment stirred strong emotions in Craddock. He had to compose himself before he shook the man's hand and thanked him. He says it was the grandest compliment he's ever had about a sermon.

"He was a good storyteller and a good man," Craddock says of his father. "For him to relate me to my father ... I spent a lot of time working through my relationship with my father."

Perhaps he still is.

When asked in one interview whether he became a minister to save his father, he says, "I'll never know."

Yet in his memoirs, "Reflections on My Call to Preach," he wrote:

"I was confident that my being a Christian minister would have a life-changing effect on my father. With a son, his own namesake, going into the ministry, would not Daddy toss the bottle forever and return to the pew beside my mother? Surely. But I was naïve, knowing nothing about the power of addiction."

Craddock's last visit with his father revealed to him the results of addiction. His father never stopped drinking or smoking and was hospitalized with throat cancer. He was 63.

That's when Craddock received the phone call from his mom: You need to go see your father.

When he entered his father's hospital room, he noticed that it was filled with flowers and a stack of get-well cards 20 inches deep besides his bed. Every card and every blossom came from Craddock's childhood church in Humboldt, the church his father scorned.

His father confessed that he was wrong about the church and the people in the pews. They didn't just want a name and a pledge. They wanted him.

His father's admission didn't provide relief. It deepened his grief.

"It was so late. It was at the end. With his personality and his education -- he was generous to a fault; give you the shirt off of his back. He could have been such a good person, helping people, talking to people, playing with children -- he could do all these things."

Would it have been better if his father had said he was also wrong about his son and his decision to become a minister?

Would it have been better if he had finally said, "I'm proud of you, son"?

Craddock doesn't dwell on those questions.

"In my tendency to choose between yes and no, I choose yes. I really think he would be proud of me because he loved a storyteller. He would have taken credit for it, though. He would have said, 'I taught you real good, son.' ''

What Craddock remembers of their last moments together is not just his father's confession but something his father did.

After he asked his son to "tell my story," Craddock reached out and clutched his gaunt hand.

"I just held his hand. ... He couldn't move. I couldn't move."

Craddock squeezed his father's hand, and both men cried.

REVIVAL

2011-11-16T19:06:00.000-08:00

Revival ~ from the Latin revivere, "to live again."

To be revived is to become active or flourish again; revival thus is a period of renewed group or individual spiritual interest, commitment and growth.

In North American history, some of the great leaders of revival have been Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), George Whitefield (1714-1770), Barton W. Stone (1772-1884), Alexander Campbell (1788-1866), Charles G. Finney (1792-1875), Dwight L. Moody (1837-1899), and the twentieth century evangelists William "Billy" Sunday and William Franklin "Billy" Graham.

The LORD allows me from time to time to collaborate with likeminded congregations as we come together with our focus on Spiritual Renewal. Last week was no different as I traveled to Shawnee Oklahoma to share with my friend and brother Pastor Tony Rhone and the Galilee Baptist Church.

What a glorious time we shared in the LORD on last week with the precious members of Galilee Baptist Church. I thoroughly was encouraged helped and blessed by the fellowship, worship, and time of deep theological discussion.

Pastor Rhone is an excellent Senior Pastor and a wonderful host. His staff left no stone unturned; I am truly grateful for our friendship, fellowship, and future. Shawnee is a better place because of Pastor Rhone and Galilee, I’m certain of it.

NKJ Luke 2:40 And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.

May it also be true of you and the wonderful people you serve. When time and people reflect upon you may they say that they grew and were strengthened by the Spirit of GOD, filled with wisdom; and the grace of GOD was upon them.

I thank GOD for Pastor Rhone and Galilee.

PREACH.

2011-11-07T14:01:00.000-08:00

Mark Driscoll made a list of 16 things to look for in a preacher or teacher’s sermon:

1. Tell me about Jesus. Connect it all to Jesus. If you don’t mention Jesus a lot, you need to do something other than preach. And tell me that Jesus is a person, not just an idea. Help me to not only know him but to also like him.

2. Have one big idea. Hang all your other ideas on the one big idea. Otherwise, you will lose me or bore me.

3. Get my attention in the first 30 seconds without being gimmicky. Get to work. Don’t “blah blah blah” around, chitchat, or do announcements. That will make me start checking my phone. Get my attention, and let’s get to work.

4. Bring me along theologically and emotionally. Preaching is not a commentary. Commentaries are boring for even nerds to read. Your job is to do the nerd work and bring it to life. Raise your voice, grab my affections, and bring the living Word.

5. Make me like you, trust you, and respect you so that I can't dismiss you. If you want me to follow you, you have to get me to that point.

6. Avoid Christian jargon and explain your terms. The average person has no idea what fellowship means, or even God for that matter. So, tell us what you’re talking about and don’t assume we have your vocabulary.

7. Don't have points as much as a direction and destination. Take me somewhere. Take me to a place of conviction, compassion, conversion, etc.

8. Don't show me how smart you are, because it makes me feel dumb. I assume you’re smart since you’re standing up talking and we’re all sitting down listening. If you quote words in some language I don’t know, or quote dead guys to show you’re a genius, that makes me feel dumb, which doesn’t serve me well. Don’t come off like that kid in school that the rest of us wanted to give a wedgie to every time they raised their hand.

9. Invite lost people to salvation. Some people in the seats aren’t Christians. So, tell them how to become one. Talk about sin, Jesus, and repentance. At some point in every sermon just do that. If you do, people will bring lost friends. Don’t be a coward.

10. Whether it feels like a wedding or a funeral, be emotionally engaging and compelling. Some sermons are a funeral—convicting, deep, hard hitting, and life shattering. Other sermons are a wedding—exciting, compelling, encouraging, and motivating. Pick an emotional path. Have an emotional trajectory to the sermon, not just a theological point. If you pass the audition and get to preach publicly, have the entire service flow emotionally. If we do wedding songs after a funeral sermon, I’m emotionally confused. Likewise, if we’re singing melancholy hymns after a big motivational sermon, I’m also emotionally confused. So, you and the guy in skinny jeans with the guitar have got to get this figured out together.

11. Look like someone who has it together from clothes to haircut to overall presentation. You don’t need to be a model, but you should look presentable. If you have bed-head, your fly open, keep losing your place in your notes, your shoe is untied, your mic battery dies, and you say, “Um,” a lot because you’re unprepared, I may feel sorry for you but I’m not following you because you don’t seem to have a clue where you are going.

12. Tell the truth and don't be a coward. Look me in the eye and don't flinch. Don’t apologize for what God’s Word says—just say it. Say it like you mean it. Say it like it’s true. Sure, I may despise you, but at least I’ll know what God said. Get over your fear of man and assume that I may just hate you.

13. If you get lost or mess up, make a joke about yourself and keep me interested. I know at some point you’re going to mess up. The Bible is perfect, you aren’t. If I can laugh at you while laughing with you, I’ll trust you.

14. Don’t just preach repentance but also practice it. Don’t talk about everyone else’s sin and never your own. Don’t tell me all the victories you’ve had or that your sin was a long time ago. Jesus is the hero, not you. I don’t trust smug, religious folks who preach how great they are and how I can become like them. It’s smarmy.

15. Answer some objections. You know how most of us are going to push back, question, disagree, or wiggle off the conviction hook. So, anticipate those objections and answer some. Brawl with me a bit, show me you can go a few rounds, get me in a corner, and work me over until I give in and obey God. But, you have to work at it.

16. "It" is the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in you and through you. I’m looking to see if you have it. I can’t explain it, but I know it when I see it.

2011-10-19T18:36:00.001-07:00

THE gospel of health & wealth

2011-10-14T11:42:00.000-07:00

THE gospel of Health & Wealth:

A dangerous teaching in the modern church that the faithful of God will be rewarded with physical health and material wealth. The one who is sick or poor is judged to have little faith.

This teaching is nothing more than humanistic materialism cloaked in alleged spirituality.

The NT stands radically opposed to the gospel of health and wealth. Money in itself is not wrong.

1 Timothy 6.10 (AMP) ¹⁰ For the love of money is a root of all evils; it is through this craving that some have been led astray and have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves through with many acute [mental] pangs.

1 Timothy 6.11-19 (AMP) ¹¹ But as for you, O man of God, flee from all these things; aim at and pursue righteousness (right standing with God and true goodness), godliness (which is the loving fear of God and being Christlike), faith, love, steadfastness (patience), and gentleness of heart. ¹² Fight the good fight of the faith; lay hold of the eternal life to which you were summoned and [for which] you confessed the good confession [of faith] before many witnesses. ¹³ In the presence of God, Who preserves alive all living things, and of Christ Jesus, Who in His testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I [solemnly] charge you ¹⁴ To keep all His precepts unsullied and flawless, irreproachable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Anointed One), ¹⁵ Which [appearing] will be shown forth in His own proper time by the blessed, only Sovereign (Ruler), the King of kings and the Lord of lords, ¹⁶ Who alone has immortality [in the sense of exemption from every kind of death] and lives in unapproachable light, Whom no man has ever seen or can see. Unto Him be honor and everlasting power and dominion. Amen (so be it). ¹⁷ As for the rich in this world, charge them not to be proud and arrogant and contemptuous of others, nor to set their hopes on uncertain riches, but on God, Who richly and ceaselessly provides us with everything for [our] enjoyment. ¹⁸ [Charge them] to do good, to be rich in good works, to be liberal and generous of heart, ready to share [with others], ¹⁹ In this way laying up for themselves [the riches that endure forever as] a good foundation for the future, so that they may grasp that which is life indeed.

NIV Luke 12:15 Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."

NLT Luke 12:21 "Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God."

NLT Philippians 1:29 For you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for him.

NIV 1 Peter 3:14 But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. "Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened."

NIV Philippians 3:17-19 Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you. 18 For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things.

ESV Matthew 5:12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

ESV Acts 9:16 For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name."

ESV Acts 14:22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.

NIV 2 Thessalonians 1:5 All this is evidence that God's judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering.

ESV 2 Timothy 1:12 which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me.

ESV 1 Peter 3:17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil.

ESV 1 Peter 4:1 Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin,

ESV 1 Peter 5:10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

ESV Revelation 2:10 Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.

5 Good & Bad Times to Leave your Ministry

2011-10-04T08:57:00.000-07:00

GOOD: a good time to leave/a good type of restlessness:

1. When you’ve fulfilled your calling
2. When you’re being pulled toward improvement
3. When you’re embracing a new assignment
4. When you’ve reached your potential
5. When you’ve learned as much as you can from your inner circle

BAD: a bad time to leave/a bad type of restlessness:

1. When you’re bored
2. When you’re running from improvement
3. When you’re escaping your current assignment
4. When you haven’t paid the price
5. When you think you’re better than the people around you

Remember, don’t move anywhere else until you’ve done the best where you are.
However, don’t stay a day longer than you should. Disengaged people are dead people.

Facebook Changes Again

2011-09-23T11:36:00.000-07:00

As we predicted, Mark Zuckerberg’s keynote at the f8 conference in San Francisco Thursday introduced some of the most profound changes seen on Facebook since its inception. So many changes, in fact, that it can be hard to keep track. So here’s a handy-dandy guide.

1. You’re going to get a Timeline — a scrapbook of your life. In a complete overhaul of its ever-evolving profile page, Facebook is introducing Timeline. This is a stream of information about you — the photos you’ve posted, all your status updates, the apps you’ve used, even the places you’ve visited on a world map — that scrolls all the way back to your birth. It encourages you to post more stuff about your past, such as baby pictures, using Facebook as a scrapbook.

The further back in Timeline you go, the more Facebook will compress the information so that you’re only seeing the most interesting parts of your history. You can customize this by clicking on a star next to a status, say, or enlarging a picture.

Timeline is in beta now, and will be opt-in to start. In the long run, it will become the new default profile page.

2. You don’t have to just Like something — now you can [verb] any [noun]. Remember when all you could do to something on Facebook — a video, a comment, a product, a person — was Like it? Pretty soon that’s going to seem laughably antiquated. The social network has launched Facebook Gestures, which means that Facebook’s partners and developers can turn any verb into a button.

So you’ll start seeing the option to tell the world you’re Reading a particular book, for example, or Watching a given movie, or Listening to a certain tune. In turn, as many observers have pointed out, this is likely to lead to an explosion of oversharing — and far more information on your friends’ activities showing up in your news feed than you probably cared to know.

3. Facebook apps need only ask permission once to share stories on your behalf. Although not as big a deal as the Timeline, this tweak may be one of the more controversial. Previously, apps had to ask every time they shared information about you in your profile. Now, the first time you authorize the app, it will tell you what it’s going to share about you. If you’re cool with that, the app never has to ask you again.

But you don’t have to worry about this app stuff clogging your news feed, because …

4. All “lightweight” information is going to the Ticker. Status updates, photos from a wedding or a vacation, changes in relationship status: these are the kinds of things you want to see from your friends when you look at your news feed. Who killed whom in Mafia Wars? Who planted what in FarmVille? Not so much. So that kind of trivial detail has been banished to the Ticker, a real-time list of things your friends are posting now that scrolls down the side of your screen.

5. You can watch TV and movies, listen to music, and read news with your friends — all within Facebook. Starting today, thanks to a whole bunch of partnerships, there are a lot more things you can do without ever having to leave Facebook. You can watch a show on Hulu, listen to a song on Spotify, or check out a story on Yahoo News (or Mashable, via the Washington Post‘s Social Read app). The ticker will tell you what your friends are watching, listening to or reading, allowing you to share the experience with them by clicking on a link.

The upshot: a brand-new kind of media-based peer pressure. On stage, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings — a launch partner — revealed that he had only just decided to watch Breaking Bad because Facebook’s Ticker told him a colleague was watching it. Netflix’s own algorithm had been recommending the show to him for years, but that was never reason enough for Hastings.

6. Facebook has more users and more engagement than ever. We got two interesting nuggets of information out of Zuckerberg (and the Zuckerberg-impersonating Andy Samberg): Facebook has hit 800 million users, and most of them are active. The social network just saw a new record for the most visitors in one day: an eye-popping 500 million.

Indeed, the whole impression left by the event was that of a confident, fast-evolving company that is becoming ever more professional, and Zuckerberg’s stage show bore more than a little resemblance to an Apple keynote.

Mr. Troy Davis

2011-09-22T11:22:00.000-07:00

Photos

The Life And Times Of Troy Davis (PHOTOS)

11:08. 11:08PM. 11:08PM EST, September 21st, 2011 was the moment that America lost a piece of her soul. Tonight America lost more of her innocence when she injected Troy Davis with a lethal drug cocktail that took his life for the belief that he was the person who murdered police officer, Mark MacPhail. Before I continue with my thoughts, I want to express my deepest condolences to the family of Mr. MacPhail, who not only lost their son, brother, father and husband, but also have been unfairly tortured during the past twenty years.

I have been in Hong Kong for the past week, so I have been watching the Troy Davis situation unfold from a distance. There was a time in our country when the image of America around the world provided a voice to the aspirations of millions. During my lifetime, hip-hop led the way and I was fortunate to be a part of that movement.

Now is it possible that we are known for feeding war machines, lining the pockets of the rich and killing innocent men and women? Is this what our great republic has been reduced to? Murdering with mountains of reasonable doubt? I wish that they would have televised the execution of Troy Davis, so we could watch the barbarianism that we sanctioned. We have spiraled into a "revenge" culture, thinking that the only way to reach closure in our lives is by hurting others.

Revenge is a "slow burning" form of hatred and anger that many carry with them throughout their lives, which can weigh heavily on your personal spiritual, physical, mental and emotional growth. Although we might think it is difficult to forgive someone, it is actually much more difficult to hold all that anger and hatred inside of you. As a nation, we must rid ourselves of this mentality of "revenge," for if we do not, I am sad to say that we will continue to kill people like Troy Davis without much remorse.
Tonight as a nation, we lost.

We lost our way and we lost a big piece of our moral good standing with the rest of the world. How are we going to defend ourselves against the worst governments on this planet if we can’t commit to justice at home? It is shameful that we allowed state-sponsored murder to destroy our aspirations and our interests around the world. Is this the America we want? Experts, leaders, opinion leaders – all said – DO NOT KILL THIS BLACK MAN. But, we did. We put him to death, knowing full well that this whole thing didn't seem right.

We will have a lot of work to do to get past 11:08PM EST. Although at times it may seem like we won't make it, we must remember that we are resilient nation and we are compassionate people. We will learn from our mistakes and heal the wounds that have been made. We will do this together, for the case of Troy Davis did not divide us, it actually brought us closer. We will make it to 11:09 as a better, united nation. I know we will.

~Russell Simmons

Father Forgets

2010-12-23T07:44:00.000-08:00

FATHER FORGETS
W. Livingston Larned

Listen, son: I am saying this as you lie asleep, one little hand crumpled under your cheek and the blond sticky curls wet on you damp forehead. I have stolen into your room alone. Just a few minutes ago, as I sat reading my paper in the library, a stifling wave of remorse swept over me. Guiltily I came to your bedside.

I was thinking these things son I had been cross to you. I scolded you as you were dressing for school because you gave your face merely a dab with a towel. I took you to task for not cleaning your shoes. I called out angrily when you threw some of your things on the floor. At breakfast, I found fault, too. You gulped down your food. You put your elbows on the table. You spread butter too thick on your bread. In addition, as you started to play and I made for my train, you turned and waved a hand and called, “Goodbye, Daddy!” and I frowned, and said in reply, “Hold your shoulders back!”

Then it began all over again in the late afternoon. As I came up the road, I spied you, down on your knees, playing marbles. There were holes in your socks. I humiliated you before your friends by marching you ahead of me to the house. Socks are expensive and if you had to buy them, you would be more careful! Imagine that, son, from a father! Do you remember, later, when I was reading in the library, how you came in timidly, with a sort of hurt look in your eyes? When I glanced up over my paper, impatient at the interruption, you hesitated at the door. “What is it you want?” I snapped. You said nothing, but ran across in one tempestuous plunge, and threw your arms around my neck and kissed me, and your small arms tightened with an affection that God had set blooming in your heart and which even neglect could not wither. Then you were gone, pattering up the stairs.

Well, son, it was shortly afterwards that my paper slipped from my hands and a terrible sickening fear came over me. What has habit been doing to me? The habit of finding fault, of reprimanding this was my reward to you for being a boy. It was not that I did not love you; it was that I expected too much of youth. I was measuring you by the yardstick of my own years.

There was so much that was good and fine and true in your character. The little heart of you was as big as the dawn itself over the wide hills. This was shown by your spontaneous impulse to rush in and kiss me good night. Nothing else matters tonight, son. I have come to your bedside in the darkness, and I have knelt there, ashamed! It is a feeble atonement; I know you would not understand these things if I told them to you during your waking hours.

However, tomorrow I will be a real daddy! I will chum with you, and suffer when you suffer, and laugh when you laugh. I will bite my tongue when impatient words come. I will keep saying as if it were a ritual: “He is nothing but a boy a little boy!” I am afraid I have visualized you as a man. Yet as I see you now, son, crumpled and wary in your cot, I see that you are still a baby. Yesterday you were in your mother’s arms, your head on her shoulder. I have asked too much, too much. (This is one of the classics of American journalism, ‘Father Forgets.’” It originally appeared as an editorial in the People’s Home Journal. Also condensed in the Reader’s Digest.)

A Snippet from Spurgeon

2010-12-09T08:29:00.000-08:00

October 7, 1857, he preached to the largest crowd ever 23,654 people at "The Crystal Palace" in London.

Spurgeon noted: "In 1857, a day or two before preaching at the Crystal Palace, I went to decide where the platform should be fixed; and, in order to test the acoustic properties of the building, cried in a loud voice, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." In one of the galleries, a workman, who knew nothing of what was being done, heard the words, and they came like a message from heaven to his soul. He was smitten with conviction on account of sin, put down his tools, went home, and there, after a season of spiritual struggling, found peace and life by beholding the Lamb of God. Years after, he told this story to one who visited him on his death-bed."

A case for CSI

2010-12-01T18:01:00.000-08:00

Sunday Sermon
November 28th 2010
Rhema Community Church

Sermonic Skeleton

Sermonic Pericope: ACTS 5:1-11 1 But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, 2 and with his wife's knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles' feet. 3 But Peter said, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? 4 While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God." 5 When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it. 6 The young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him. 7 After an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 And Peter said to her, "Tell me whether you sold the land for so much." And she said, "Yes, for so much." 9 But Peter said to her, "How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out." 10 Immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young men came in they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 11 And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things.

Sermonic Theme: The Power of the Holy Spirit (The Doctrine of Stewardship)

Sermonic Subject: Spiritual Discernment (The Doctrine of Christian Ethics)

Sermonic Tension: You cannot stop people from lying to you however, you can be filled with the Holy Spirit, and He will illuminate your mind and give you the ability to discern. (Satan Attacks the mind...etc.)

Sermonic Sentence: Christianity is a matter of life and death. (Live with integrity)

Sermonic Question: Is your all on the altar? (Ananias and Sapphira were under no obligation to give.)

Sermonic Warning: You cannot afford to give Satan your heart. (Ananias and Sapphira gave Satan their whole heart.)

Sermonic Title: "A CASE FOR CSI" (Contributors Spiritual Investigation)

Sermonic Sub-Title: “Don’t hold back”. (There is a serious spiritual crime perpetrated by Satan against Ananias and Sapphira however; Ananias and Sapphira let Satan do it.)

Sermonic Cross Reference: NLT Hebrews 6:18 So God has given us both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can take new courage, for we can hold on to his promise with confidence.

John 8:44 (ESV) You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

ESV Luke 22:3 Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve.

ESV John 13:2 During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him,

ESV John 13:27 Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, "What you are going to do, do quickly."

KJV Ephesians 6:11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

ESV James 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Sermonic Structure: (There are five moves within this pericope.)

I. THINK ABOUT THE MARRIAGE (verse 1 Ananias, with his wife Sapphira,)

II. THINK ABOUT THE MONEY (verse 1, 2 sold a piece of property, and with his wife's knowledge)

III. THINK ABOUT GOD’S MAN (verse 3 But Peter said,)

IV. THINK ABOUT THE MOTIVE (verse 4 you have not lied to men but to God)

V. THINK ABOUT THE EFFECT THIS HAD ON THE MINISTRY (verse 11 And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things.)

A. To be an effective Church we need families
B. To be an effective Church we need finances
C. To be an effective Church we need fear

Jonathan Edward (1703-1758)

2010-11-26T09:54:00.000-08:00

Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758)
Edwards provides insight into the relation between apologetic evidence and the Holy Spirit. He too saw complementary relation between the two. Edwards say eight functions in reason:

1. Reason must prove the existence of God, the Revealer.

2. Reason anticipates that there will be a revelation.

3. Reason can show that a "pretended" revelation is not from God.

4. Reason demonstrates the rationality of revelation.

5. Reason verifies a true revelation as genuine.

6. Reason argues for the dependability of revelation.

7. Reason anticipates that there will be mysteries in a genuine divine revelation, defends them, and refutes objections to their presence.

8. Reason comprehends what is illumined by revelation.

The Day the Holy Spirit Arrived

2010-10-01T10:44:00.000-07:00

Sunday Sermon
September 26th 2010
Rhema Community Church

Sermonic Skeleton

Sermonic Pericope: ESV Acts 2:1-13 When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. 5 Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. 6 And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. 7 And they were amazed and astonished, saying, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? 9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, 11 both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians- we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God." 12 And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "What does this mean?" 13 But others mocking said, "They are filled with new wine."

Sermonic Theme: The Day of Pentecost (The Ascension of Jesus Christ)

Sermonic Subject: The Baptism of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1.4-5 The Fathers promise)

Sermonic Tension: The Doctrine of Speaking in Tongues (Waiting for the Holy Spirit)

Sermonic Sentence: Hold on to Gods unchanging hand for His promises are true.

Sermonic Point: This is the Birthday of the Christian Church (Historical Fact)

Sermonic Observation: Non-Christians cannot discern moves of God (Acts 2.12-13)

Sermonic Title: “THE DAY THE HOLY SPIRIT ARRIVED”

Sermonic Structure: (There are six moves within this pericope)

I. THE HOLY SPIRIT ARRIVED ON THE DAY OF PENTECOST (verse 1)

II. THE HOLY SPIRIT ARRIVED WHEN THEY ALL WERE IN ONE PLACE (verse 1)

III. THE HOLY SPIRIT ARRIVED AS THE FATHER HAD PROMISED (verse 2)

IV. THE HOLY SPIRIT ARRIVED UNTO ALL WHO WERE PRESENT (verse 3)

V. THE HOLY SPIRIT ARRIVED WITH POWER (verse 4)
A. The Holy Spirit gives them Unity
B. The Holy Spirit gives them Utterance
C. The Holy Spirit gives them Understanding

VI. THE HOLY SPIRIT ARRIVED AND SOME WERE PERPLEXED (verses 5-13)
A. The Holy Spirit is Audible
B. The Holy Spirit is Visible
C. The Holy Spirit is Intelligible

Sermonic Cross Reference:

ESV Mark 7:33 And taking him aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue.

ESV Mark 7:35 And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly.

ESV Mark 16:17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues;

ESV Luke 1:64 And immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God.

ESV Luke 16:24 And he called out, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.'

ESV Acts 2:3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them.

ESV Acts 2:4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

NLT Acts 2:11 Cretans, and Arabians. And we all hear these people speaking in our own languages about the wonderful things God has done!"

ESV Acts 2:26 therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope.

ESV Acts 10:46 For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared,

ESV Acts 19:6 And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying.

ESV Romans 3:13 "Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive." "The venom of asps is under their lips."

ESV Romans 14:11 for it is written, "As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God."

ESV 1 Corinthians 12:10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.

ESV 1 Corinthians 12:28 And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues.

ESV 1 Corinthians 12:30 Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?

ESV 1 Corinthians 13:1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

ESV 1 Corinthians 13:8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.

ESV 1 Corinthians 14:2 For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit.

ESV 1 Corinthians 14:4 The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church.

Good Choice or Godly Choice

2010-09-13T12:17:00.000-07:00

Sunday Sermon
September 12th 2010
Rhema Community Church

Sermonic Skeleton

Sermonic Pericope: ESV Acts 1:12-26 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey away. 13 And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James. 14 All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers. 15 In those days Peter stood up among the brothers (the company of persons was in all about 120) and said, 16 "Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. 17 For he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry." 18 (Now this man bought a field with the reward of his wickedness, and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out. 19 And it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their own language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) 20 "For it is written in the Book of Psalms, "' May his camp become desolate, and let there be no one to dwell in it'; and "'Let another take his office.' 21 So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22 beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us- one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection." 23 And they put forward two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justus, and Matthias. 24 And they prayed and said, "You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen 25 to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place." 26 And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.

Sermonic Theme: The Ascension of Jesus Christ. (The Doctrine of Divine Necessities)

Sermonic Subject: Apostolic Authority (The Necessity of Prayer)

Sermonic Tension: Did the Apostles make the right decision? (Disciples are made not born.)

Sermonic Point: Your ability to make Godly decisions is based upon your willingness to persevere in prayer.

Sermonic Sentence: The goal of every Christian disciple is to persevere in prayer until your decisions become Godly.

Sermonic Goal: Persevere in pray before you decide.

Sermonic Question: Will you persevere in pray over your next decision?

Sermonic Cross Reference: ESV Zechariah 14:4 On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward.

ESV Psalm 69:25 May their camp be a desolation; let no one dwell in their tents.

NLT Proverbs 16:33 We may throw the dice, but the LORD determines how they fall.

Sermonic Help: The final day of Christ’s postresurrection ministry did not take place in Galilee. That may have been the site of the largest assembly of His followers, as we have just seen; but His actual departure was from the crest of the Mount of Olives, not far from Bethany. There was something especially fitting that this should be the point of His departure, since from the prophecy in Zechariah 14:4 we know that the Mount of Olives will be the place of His return in the day of Armageddon. As He sets His foot down there, a mighty earthquake will split the hill of Olivet into a broad valley running from west to east.

We have no way of knowing how many of Jesus’ disciples gathered on the summit of Olivet for that last memorable interview with their Lord, on His final day of earthy ministry. Perhaps there were about 120 there, judging from the statement in Acts 1:15. It is conceivable that the “over five hundred brethren at once” (1 Cor. 15:6) were there rather than up in Galilee. Matthew 28:16 only mentions the Eleven as being certainly of that number; yet the Eleven may have simply been a core group, and a great many more may have gathered around them. On the other hand, if there were over 500 assembled at Olivet on Ascension Day, it is unlikely that 380 of them would have disregarded Christ’s solemn instructions and would have failed to tarry for the specified ten days until Pentecost (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4), when the Spirit would descend from heaven on them.

As the disciples gathered about Jesus to take their leave of Him before His departure to heaven, they asked Him one question of pressing importance: Will the kingdom of God very soon be established on earth? They were anxious to know what their Lord’s plan was for the triumph of His cause and establishment of His sovereignty over all the earth. In response to this question, Jesus does not correct their underlying premise—that He some day will establish the kingdom of God on earth—but indicates that there will be intervening times and seasons in phraseology reminiscent of the Olivet Discourse (Matt. 24:5–14), with its clear indication that much would have to happen before the present age would draw to its close. It was unnecessary and inappropriate for them to know about the exact date of the Second Advent; their task was simply to carry out the Great Commission and spread the gospel to the very ends of the earth (Acts 1:7–8).

As His final gesture there on the hilltop near Bethany, our Lord lifted His hands to bless His disciples (Luke 24:50); and in that attitude He was suddenly lifted up from the ground, to disappear from their sight beyond the clouds. As they stood there looking up, transfixed with wonder, two angels suddenly appeared beside them (perhaps the same angels who had greeted the visitors to the empty tomb) and assured them that Jesus would some day return to earth in bodily form—in the same form as they had seen Him ascend to heaven. With this glad assurance ringing in their ears, they made their way down from Olivet in order to spend the next ten days in communion and prayer, until the outpouring of Christ’s Holy Spirit came on them all at Pentecost.

In Acts 1:18 the apostle Peter reminds the other disciples of Judas’s shameful end and the gap he left in the ranks of the Twelve, which called for another disciple to take his place. Peter relates the following: “He therefore acquired a plot of land [chōrion] from the reward of wrongdoing. (This could mean either that Judas had already contracted with the owner of the field that he originally had wanted to buy with the betrayal money; or—as is far more likely in this context—Peter was speaking ironically, stating that Judas acquired a piece of real estate all right, but it was only a burial plot [chōrion could cover either concept], namely, the one on which his lifeless body fell. Acts 1:18 goes on to state: “And he, falling headlong, burst asunder, and all of his inwards gushed out.” This indicates that the tree from which Judas suspended himself overhung a precipice. If the branch from which he had hung himself was dead and dry—and there are many trees that match this description even to this day on the brink of the canyon that tradition identifies as the place where Judas died—it would take only one strong gust of wind to yank the heavy corpse and split the branch to which it was attached and plunge both with great force into the bottom of the chasm below. There is indication that a strong wind arose at the hour Christ died and ripped the great curtain inside the temple from top to bottom (Matt. 27:51). This was accompanied by a rock-splitting earthquake and undoubtedly also by a thunderstorm, which normally follows a prolonged period of cloud gathering and darkness (Matt. 27:45). Conditions were right for what had started out as a mere suicide by hanging to turn into a grisly mutilation of the corpse as the branch gave way to the force of the wind and was hurtled down to the bottom.

Sermonic Title: “GOOD CHOICE or GOD’S CHOICE”

Sermonic Structure: (There are six moves within this pericope)

I. THE APOSTLES ARE IN PRAYER (vrs.12-14 Obeying Christ they return to Jerusalem [hostile territory], entered into the house, and went into the “upper room” attempting to get as close to heaven as humanly possible so that they could talk to God. Acts 1.4)

II. THE APOSTLES ARE LISTENING TO PETER (vrs.15-16)

III. THE APOSTLES HAVE A PROBLEM (vrs.17-20 Jesus has left and the Holy Spirit has not yet come. The apostles are attempting to fill an empty space/ a vacancy, void in their lives and ministry.)

IV. THE APOSTLES WILL CHOOSE ONE OUT OF TWO PEOPLE (vrs.21-23 Listen to the criterion given.)

V. THE APOSTLES PRAY ONE MORE TIME BEFORE THEY PICK (vrs.24-25)

VI. THE APOSTLES PICK MATTHIAS TO TAKE JUDAS PLACE (vrs.26 Just because you are chosen don’t become arrogant and smug remember the last person who had your job was a devil. John 6.70)

The Spirit of the Lord

2010-06-16T08:30:00.000-07:00

Sunday Sermon
June 13th 2010
Rhema Community Church

Sermonic Skeleton

Sermonic Pericope: ESV Luke 4:18-19 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

Sermonic Theme: The Spirit of the Lord. (The ministry of Jehovah)

Sermonic Subject: Rejection (The first rejection at Nazareth)

Sermonic Tension: People are poor, captive, blind, and oppressed. (Sin and Satan causes people to reject the message and the messenger of Good news.)

Sermonic Sentence: The proclamation of good news is the Lord’s solution for humanities sin. (The life, death, burial, resurrection, ascension and soon return of Jesus Christ.)

Sermonic Question: Are you sharing the good news with people as you go? (Evangelism)

Sermonic Point: People need to hear good news. (The spiritual and physical needs of people both matter to the Lord. Is this liberation theology?)

Sermonic Refrain: You can do nothing without the Spirit of the Lord. (People may reject you however, the Lord has already accepted you.)

Sermonic Title: “THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD”

Sermonic Sub-title: Preaching ain’t easy

Sermonic Structure:

I. THE LORD AFFIRMS JESUS PUBLICALLY (The Spirit of the Lord is upon me)

II. THE LORD ANOINTS JESUS FOR PREACHING (Good news)

III. THE LORD ASSIGNS JESUS TO PEOPLE (Poor, captives, blind, and oppressed…etc.)

The Kind of Giver God Loves

2010-05-22T11:23:00.000-07:00

Sunday Sermon
May 16th 2010
Rhema Community Church

Sermonic Skeleton

Sermonic Pericope: ESV 2 Corinthians 9:6-15 6 The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 Each one must give as he has made up his mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all contentment in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. 9 As it is written, "He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever." 10 He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be enriched in every way for all your generosity, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. 12 For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. 13 By their approval of this service, they will glorify God because of your submission flowing from your confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others, 14 while they long for you and pray for you, because of the surpassing grace of God upon you. 15 Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!

Sermonic Theme: Give (Giving money is a spiritual act.)

Sermonic Subject: Stewardship (The Ministry of Generosity)

Sermonic Tension: Your mind must be made up in order for you to sow generously into people. (You need a generous spirit.)

Sermonic Sentence: Generously sow into people knowing that God is able to make all grace abound toward you.

Sermonic Question: God is so generous toward you why aren’t you generous toward others?
(A stingy Christian is an oxymoron and a disgrace to grace.)

Sermonic Help: GRACE: New Testament Noun: charis (charis), GK G5921 (S 5485), 155x. charis is “grace, favor”—the acceptance of and goodness toward those who cannot earn or do not deserve such gain. As in the OT, “finding favor in the presence of God” (Lk. 1:30) means that God has an attitude of kindness toward someone, wishing to prosper them. Being “highly favored” highlights God’s decision to bless and use that person for his good purpose (of Mary, Lk. 1:28; even of Jesus, 2:52; cf. also Stephen, Acts 6:8). Paul acknowledges that God’s “grace” has called and equipped him to be the authoritative apostle of Christ’s gospel (Rom. 15:15).

Jesus’ mission to the world is seen as the appearance of “grace and truth” (Jn. 1:14, 17), even “grace upon grace” (1:16). The gospel of Jesus Christ can rightfully be called “the word of his grace” (Acts 14:3; 20:32) and “the gospel of the grace of God” (20:24), and being sent out to preach the gospel is seen as “being handed over to the grace of God” (14:26; 15:40).

In the NT, God’s grace manifests itself most clearly in the sacrificial, substitutionary death of Jesus Christ (Rom. 3:24–26; Heb. 2:9). By nature gifts of grace cannot be earned (Rom. 11:6), for a gift earned is the opposite of a gift of grace (4:4). Grace, Christ, and salvation are so connected that those who attempt to earn righteousness have “fallen away from the grace” (Gal. 5:4; cf. 2:21). Salvation is “by grace through faith, and not of yourselves; it is the gift of God” (Eph. 2:8).

The undeserved blessings of grace are numerous. Jesus gave up the riches of heaven, making himself poor so as to make sinful humans rich—that is “grace” (2 Cor. 8:9)! Every step of God’s salvation (from eternity past to the everlasting future) is accomplished through grace: his precreational choosing of the elect in Christ (Eph. 1:4–6), his inner call to the gospel (2 Tim. 1:9), his regeneration of dead sinners (Eph. 2:5), his gift of saving faith (Acts 18:27), his redemption of sinners (including justification, Tit. 3:7; forgiveness of sins, Eph. 1:7), his sanctification of believers (2 Cor. 9:8; 2 Thess. 2:16–17), his preservation of the saints (1 Cor. 1:4, 8), and his glorification of believers (1 Cor. 15:57; 2 Thess. 1:12). God saves “in order that in the coming ages he might show the surpassing richness of his grace in kindness on us in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:7).

Grace is a new domain in which and by which Christians live (Rom. 15:15; 16:20). In this realm sin no longer rules (6:14). By his grace, God affects Christians’ personal lives, giving them the ability to obey the gospel from the heart (Rom. 6:17), the ability to work hard (1 Cor. 15:10), and an increase of joy in severe trials (2 Cor. 8:1–2). God graciously affects Christians’ interpersonal relations, giving them care in their hearts for others (2 Cor. 8:16) and different spiritual gifts that cause the body of Christ to function together (Rom. 12:6).

The believer is motivated to show practical grace to others. Jesus applies charis (translated “credit,” “benefit,” or “thanks”) to the act of doing something kind for someone who has not earned and does not deserve it (Lk. 6:32–34). The Christian knows that no matter the level of suffering or weakness in life, Christ’s grace toward them is sufficient (2 Cor. 12:9), allowing them to “approach the throne of grace with confidence in order that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Heb. 4:16). Dependence on Christ’s power and grace causes an overflow of thanksgiving (2 Cor. 4:15).

Sermonic Title: “THE KIND OF GIVER GOD LOVES”

Sermonic Structure:

I. God generously loves people who cheerfully sow (Verses 6-7)

II. God generously supplies seed to the cheerful sower (Verses 8-11)

III. God generously graces us for service (Verses 12-14)

IV. God generously gave us His son (Verse 15)

She Gave More than all of Them

2010-05-10T15:04:00.000-07:00

Sunday Sermon
May 9th 2010
Rhema Community Church

Sermonic Skeleton

Sermonic Pericope: ESV Luke 21:1-4 Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, 2 and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. 3 And he said, "Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. 4 For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on."

Sermonic Theme: Money (Do Not Be Deceived: Notice the generosity of this poor widow woman’s volition.)

Sermonic Subject: Stewardship (Divine Judgment: True value is not what you have it is in what you give.)

Sermonic Tension: If I give my all to God who will take care of me? (This poor widow woman shows no anxiety for her life.)

Sermonic Sentence: Give your all to God today. (She gave all she had while Jesus in a few chapters will give all He has, His life.)

Sermonic Question: Why did this poor widow woman do it? (I argue that she could not resist)

Sermonic Help: Stewardship. The principle of stewardship is closely linked to the concept of grace: everything comes from God as a gift and is to be administered faithfully on his behalf. There is thus both stewardship of the earth and stewardship of the gospel (cf. J. Goetzmann, TDNT II, pp. 253–256); stewardship of personal resources of time, money and talents, and stewardship of the resources of church and society. Along with questions of mission strategy and support there are issues of personal and corporate lifestyle, just wages and fair prices, poverty and wealth all related to explicit or implicit theologies of the kingdom of God, work and nature.

The theme of stewardship as a recognition of the unity of creation and the consequent need to care for the whole earth can be traced in Eastern Orthodoxy and in Western theology down to Calvin. Nevertheless it can be argued that in practice a more prevalent understanding of ‘dominion’ (Gn. 1:28) as domination rather than stewardship has been a justification, if not a cause, of much exploitation. However, international consciousness of the relationship between ecological and political exploitation and the need to seek what the World Council of Churches has called a ‘just, participatory and sustainable society’ has grown steadily since the publication of Only One Earth by Barbara Ward and René Dubois (London, 1972) and the Brandt Commission report North-South: A Programme for Survival (London, 1980), with much attention inside and outside the churches paid to the arms race and nuclear disarmament.

More recently, at least in Western Europe, the stewardship of human resources has become a major concern as churches seek to respond at a personal, community or national level to the social consequences of unemployment and technological change in industry. From the Greek oikonomos, which refers to the manager of a household or estate. Stewardship is management of all God has entrusted. God bestows many things, yet the most important gift a Christian must invest wisely is his own life his abilities to think and to love: A Christian’s body and mind are to be a “living sacrifice” dedicated to God (Romans 12.1-2). A Christian should invest his time in study and service to God, seeking first His kingdom and His righteousness (Matthew 6.33). Once a Christian learns to be a good steward of mind and body then he will use all other gifts from God wisely. See: Luke 12.42; 16.1-8; I Corinthians 4.2; Galatians 4.2; Romans 16.23. 1 Corinthians 4.1, of preachers of the Gospel and teachers of the Word of God; Titus 1.7, of elders in churches; 1Peter 4.10, of believers generally.

Sermonic Title: “She Gave More than All of Them”

Sermonic Subtitle: “Going broke for God”

Sermonic Structure:

I. JESUS SEE’S
A. Jesus saw the rich people putting in their gifts
B. Jesus saw this poor widow woman putting in two small copper coins

II. JESUS SPEAKS
A. Jesus speaks about how much she gave (more than all of them)
B. Jesus speaks about where their offering came from (out of their abundance)
C. Jesus speaks about where her offering came from (out of her poverty)

A Portrait of Christian Worship

2010-04-12T12:53:00.000-07:00

Sunday Sermon
April 11th 2010
Rhema Community Church

Sermonic Skeleton

Sermonic Pericope: ESV Romans 12:1-2 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Sermonic Theme: Christian Worship (Christian living is an act of perpetual worship.)

Sermonic Subject: Practical Christianity (God wants all of us Jew & Gentile.)

Sermonic Tension: Living Sacrifice (This is the quintessential image, illustration, idea of Christian worship.)

Sermonic Sentence: “Worship is more than an event it’s a lifestyle.” (Worship God for the rest of your life.)

Sermonic Footnote: My life is being transformed by the power of the gospel. (There can be no real worship without sacrifice.)

Sermonic Help: I scarcely like this word sacrifice, because it involves nothing more than a reasonable service. If we gave up all we had and became beggars for Christ, it would display no such chivalrous spirit or magnanimous conduct after all. We would be gainers by the surrender.

Nothing worse can happen to a church than to be conformed to this world. Charles H. Spurgeon at his best

Stewardship: From the Greek oikonomos, which refers to the manager of a household or estate. Stewardship is management of all God has entrusted. God bestows many things, yet the most important gift a Christian must invest wisely is his own life his abilities to think and to love: A Christian’s body and mind are to be a “living sacrifice” dedicated to God (Romans 12.1-2). A Christian should invest his time in study and service to God, seeking first His kingdom and His righteousness (Matthew 6.33). Once a Christian learns to be a good steward of mind and body then he will use all other gifts from God wisely. Luke 12.42; 16.1-8; I Corinthians 4.2; Galatians 4.2; Romans 16.23. 1 Corinthians 4.1, of preachers of the Gospel and teachers of the Word of God; Titus 1.7, of elders in churches; 1 Peter 4.10, of believers generally.

Worship: Several Greek words used in the NT are translated “worship.” They involve acknowledgement, praise, thanksgiving, and service. Only God is worthy of worship (Matthew 4.10). He is to be worshiped in spirit and truth, for He is Spirit and Truth (John 4.23-24). The essence of worship consists not of practices and rituals, but of giving one’s life in attitude and action as “living sacrifice” (Romans 12.1-2). Worship is not just being in church on Sunday, but doing all things to God’s glory (1 Corinthians 10.31).

Sermonic Title: "A Portrait of Christian Worship"

Sermonic Structure:

I. The Christians Behavior is a portrait of Worship

II. The Christians Body is a portrait of Worship

III. The Christians Brain is a portrait of Worship

Jesus Gives us Hope

2010-04-05T05:06:00.000-07:00

Sunday Sermon
April 4th 20X
Rhema Community Church

Sermonic Skeleton

Sermonic Pericope: ESV 1 Peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

Sermonic Theme: The Resurrection of Jesus Christ (Fact)

Sermonic Subject: Living Hope (Optimism, Sanguinity, Confidence, Expectancy)

Sermonic Tension: Fiery Trials (Diaspora, Suffering, Persecution, Agony, Anguish, Affliction)

Sermonic Sentence: There’s a resurrection coming for you. (Literally & metaphorically)

Sermonic Help: The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most important doctrine of the Christian faith. Christians since the NT have argued for the centrality of the doctrine, convinced that it proved Jesus’ deity and the efficacy of His death for our sins. Paul, for example, considered the resurrection to be the cornerstone of the Christian faith: If Jesus did not rise from the dead, the whole structure of Christianity collapses. Paul tells us in 1 Cor. 15.14-17: “And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile.” The Christian faith and its claim to be Truth exist only if Jesus rose from the dead, because the heart of Christianity is a living Christ. Phil 3.20-21; II Cor. 5.1-5; 1 Thess. 4.16-17. The fact that Jesus rose bodily (in a real physical body) from the grave has been fundamental to Christian teaching from the beginning. In the NT Jesus’ appearance is depicted as spiritual in the sense of being independent of the ordinary laws of nature but also as material or physical. He invited them to touch His hands and feet” for a spirit does not have flesh and bones” (Luke 24.39-40; Matthew 27.61-66; 28.1-20; Mark 16.1-20; Luke 24.1-53; John 20.10-31).

Resurrection of the Dead: From the Latin resurrection, from resurgere, “to rise again,” from re, “again,” and surgere, “to rise.” Both the OT and NT teach that the dead will come back to life. For the Christian the resurrection will be a complete redemption, with a new body that will be immortal and incorruptible. Isaiah 25.6-8; 26.19; Daniel 12.1-4; 1 Cor. 15; I Thess. 4.14-17.

Sermonic Title: “JESUS GIVES US HOPE”

Sermonic Structure:

I. Jesus gives us a Living Hope

II. Jesus gives us a Liberating Hope

III. Jesus gives us a Legitimate Hope

IV. Jesus gives us a Lasting Hope

Give it to the Lord

2010-03-29T12:38:00.000-07:00

Sunday Sermon
March 28, 20X
Rhema Community Church

Sermonic Skeleton

Sermonic Pericope: ESV Luke 19:28-40 And when he had said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 29 When he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of the disciples, 30 saying, "Go into the village in front of you, where on entering you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone asks you, 'Why are you untying it?' you shall say this: 'The Lord has need of it.'" 32 So those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them. 33 And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, "Why are you untying the colt?" 34 And they said, "The Lord has need of it." 35 And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. 36 And as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road. 37 As he was drawing near- already on the way down the Mount of Olives- the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, 38 saying, "Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" 39 And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples." 40 He answered, "I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out."

Sermonic Theme: Triumphal Entry (Peace & Humility)

Sermonic Subject: Prophetic Ministry (Zechariah 9.9)

Sermonic Tension: The colt is tied. (The Lord has need of it.)

Sermonic Sentence: If the Lord can use a donkey, surely He can use you.

Sermonic Footnote: When true disciples rejoice and praise the Lord with a loud voice, Pharisees will always get upset.

Sermonic Refrain: It’s not only what you do that counts, it’s also how you do it.

Sermonic Help: While the praise was multitudinous, it was quite select. It was the whole multitude of the disciples. The Pharisees did not praise him; they were murmuring. All true praise must come from true hearts. (Spurgeon at his best)

Hosanna: The Greek equivalent of a Hebrew greeting that means, “save us we pray” (see Psalm 118.25). This greeting occurs only six times in the NT, all with regard to Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem (Matthew 27.9, 15; John 12.13). This word subsequently came to be used at an early date as an expression in Christian worship of joy and praise.

Sermonic Title: “GIVE IT TO THE LORD”

Sermonic Structure:

I. Give The Lord your Commitment (v29 He sent two disciples…)

II. Give The Lord your Confidence (v32 Those who were sent went…)

III. Give The Lord your Colt (v35 They brought it to Jesus…)

IV. Give The Lord your Cloak (v35 Throwing their cloaks on the colt…)

V. Give The Lord your Celebration (v40 If these were silent…)

GIVE

2010-03-22T09:11:00.000-07:00

Sunday Sermon
March 21, 2010
Rhema Community Church

Sermonic Skeleton:

Sermonic Pericope: ESV Luke 6:38 give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you."

Sermonic Theme: Judgment (Jesus forbade his followers from indulging in hypocritical judging of other people. This is not the same as exercising discernment between right and wrong, which Jesus did encourage.)

Sermonic Subject: The Doctrine of Stewardship (Generosity)

Sermonic Tension: Measure (You get what you give.)

Sermonic Sentence: Give today from the abundance God keeps given you. (Abraham, Hannah, the widow of Zarephath, The boy who gave up his lunch, Christ Jesus our Lord…etc.)

Sermonic Footnote: You cannot afford not to give. (Life’s fulfillment is in the act of giving.)

Sermonic Question: Do you desire goodness in abundance? (Well …etc. GIVE!)

Sermonic Help: We may so give for God as to get in the giving, so spend as to increase in the spending, so die for God as to live more than ever. (Spurgeon at his best)

The events at the end of the world at which Jesus will judge the living and the dead. This will be the final triumph of God’s will and justice. See: Matthew 10.15; 18.23-35; 24.43-51; 25.31-46; Mark 14.62; Luke 17.20-31; John 5.24-35; 1 Thessalonians 5.3; Galatians 5.5; Colossians 3.4; 1 Corinthians 6.1-5; Romans 8.31-39; 1 Peter 1.5-9

Sermonic Title: Give

Sermonic Structure:

I. We are Commanded to Give (give,)

II. We are Compensated for what we Give (and it will be given to you…etc.)

III. We are in Control of the amount we Give (for with the measure you use…etc.)

If I ask you will you do it?

2010-03-08T06:07:00.000-08:00

Sunday Sermon
March 7th 20x
Rhema Community Church

Sermonic Skeleton

Sermonic Pericope: ESV 1 Kings 17:8-16 Then the word of the LORD came to him, 9 "Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to feed you." 10 So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, "Bring me a little water in a vessel, that I may drink." 11 And as she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, "Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand." 12 And she said, "As the LORD your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. And now I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it and die." 13 And Elijah said to her, "Do not fear; go and do as you have said. But first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterward make something for yourself and your son. 14 For thus says the LORD the God of Israel, 'The jar of flour shall not be spent, and the jug of oil shall not be empty, until the day that the LORD sends rain upon the earth.'" 15 And she went and did as Elijah said. And she and he and her household ate for many days. 16 The jar of flour was not spent, neither did the jug of oil become empty, according to the word of the LORD that he spoke by Elijah.

Sermonic Theme: The Word of the LORD (The sustaining power of God.)

Sermonic Subject: The Doctrine of Faith (The Lord is able to sustain you in a drought.)

Sermonic Tension: A non-Israelite was prepared to risk her life for Elijah. (This widow is a Phoenician/Gentile believer.) 1 Kings 17.24

Sermonic Literary Device: Hypallage; or, Interchange (Interchange of Construction)
Hy-pal´-la-gee, ὑπαλλαγή, from ὑπό (hypo), under, and ἀλλάσσειν (allassein), to change.
An underchange or interchange.

Sermonic Sentence: Life’s fulfillment is obeying the word of the Lord. (Consider the generosity, hospitality, and compassion demonstrated by this widow from Zarephath.)

Sermonic Question: Will you obey? (Obedience gives birth to miracles.)

Sermonic Help: FAITH from the Greek pistis, “firm persuasion,” The word “faith” appears only 2 times in the OT ESV Deuteronomy 32:20 And he said, 'I will hide my face from them; I will see what their end will be, For they are a perverse generation, children in whom is no faithfulness. NLT Habakkuk 2:4 "Look at the proud! They trust in themselves, and their lives are crooked; but the righteous will live by their faith.

It appears 307 times in the NT. Biblical faith has two essential components: (1) trust or acceptance, belief that Jesus is Lord with acknowledgement of His resurrection, and (2) intellectual content, the revealed truth that is firmly believed and is reflected in the life of the believer.

John Stott explains faith as “a reasoning trust, a trust which reckons thoughtfully and confidently upon the trustworthiness of God.” The NT in no way teaches we should have a blind faith.

NLT Hebrews 11:1 What is faith? It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see.

The Greek word translated as “evidence” in the KJV literally means “proof,” or “proving.” The NIV brings out this meaning when it says: NIV Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

Even the aspect of trust in faith is not blind; there is proof, evidence for belief. In the Christian sense, faith may be defined as a conscious mental desire to do the will of the God of Scripture.

Sermonic Title: “IF I ASK YOU, WILL YOU DO IT?”

Sermonic Structure:

I. Consider the Word (Verses 8-9)

II. Consider the Widow (Verses 10-14)

III. Consider the Will (Verse 15)

IV. Consider the Witness (Verse 16)
A. The jar
B. The jug

Love Undeserved

2010-02-15T09:41:00.000-08:00

Sunday Sermon
February 14th 20x
Rhema Community Church

Sermonic Skeleton:

Sermonic Pericope: ESV Hosea 1:1-2 The word of the LORD that came to Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel. 2 When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, "Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the LORD."

ESV Hosea 3:1-3 And the LORD said to me, "Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the LORD loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins." 2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley. 3 And I said to her, "You must dwell as mine for many days. You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you."

Sermonic Theme: God’s Love (The Doctrine of Grace)

God’s redemption of the nation of Israel from Egyptian bondage is one of the greatest OT examples of God’s love and Christ death on the cross is the prime NT illustration.

Sermonic Subject: God’s Forgiveness (The Doctrine of Mercy)

Sermonic Tension: Idolatry (The sin of syncretism)

Baalism then & Materialism/Hedonism now

(1) The Israelites have sinned against their covenant partner and therefore will suffer Gods judgment. (2)God loves his covenant people dearly and will forgive their sins and bring in a new age of blessing.

Israel worshiped Baal. North America worships the god of possessions today which is materialism. North America also worships the god of pleasure which is hedonism.

Sermonic Objective: The 21st Century North American Church must change the way she thinks and behaves toward God.

Sermonic Question: Has the culture of North America twisted your theology?

Sermonic Sentence: God loves you. (Usually people learn a great deal about the love of God through the trials of life.)

The prophet Hosea, like God irrationally loved someone who was not very lovely.

Sermonic Help: (Spurgeon at his best) When God says, “I will love them freely,” he means that no prayers, no tears, no good works, no alms are an inducement to him to love men. Nothing in not only them, but nothing anywhere else was the cause of his love to them, not even the blood of Christ. Not even the groans and tears of his beloved Son; these are the fruits of his love, not the cause of it. He does not love because Christ died, but Christ died because the Father loved. Remember that this fountain of love has its spring itself, not in you, nor in me, but only in the Father’s own gracious, infinite heart of goodness.

Sermonic Title: “LOVE UNDESERVED”

Sermonic Structure:

I. The Message from the Lord

II. The Messenger of the Lord

III. The Marriage arraigned by the Lord

IV. The Mercy extended by the Lord

A Hand Written Letter

2010-02-08T11:07:00.000-08:00

Sunday Sermon
February 7th 20X
Rhema Community Church

Sermonic Skeleton:

Sermonic Pericope: ESV Galatians 6:11-18 See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand. 12 It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh who would force you to be circumcised, and only in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. 13 For even those who are circumcised do not themselves keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh. 14 But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 15 For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. 16 And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God. 17 From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. 18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.

Sermonic Theme: Saved & Set Free (The Doctrine of Justification)

Sermonic Subject: Saved by faith alone not works.

Sermonic Tension: Those who want to make a good showing in the flesh. (Circumcision or the Cross)

Sermonic Literary Device: Metalepsis; or, Double Metonymy (Two Metonymies, one contained in the other but only one expressed.)

Sermonic Question: What causes you to boast? (Notice apostle Paul is not boasting in the event of the cross or the emblem of the cross moreover Paul is boasting in the effects of the cross.)

Sermonic Sentence: Have you read the letter God has preserved for you?

Sermonic Title: “A Hand Written Letter”

Sermonic Structure:

I. This Letter is Personal (V.11)
A. It shows Paul’s Commitment
B. It shows Paul’s Congregation
C. It shows Paul’s Character

II. This Letter is Purposeful (V.12-13)
A. Christians are being persecuted

III. This Letter is Preserved (V.14-18)
A. For its message
B. For its meaning
C. For mankind

Divine Reciprocity part II

2010-02-01T09:18:00.000-08:00

Sunday Sermon
January 31st 2010
Rhema Community Church

Sermonic Skeleton:

Sermonic Pericope: ESV Galatians 6:7-10 Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. 8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. 9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. 10 So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

Sermonic Theme: Christian Ethics (Accountability)

Sermonic Subject: Christian Service (Responsibility)

Sermonic Literary Device: Hypocatastasis (Allegory & Continued Metaphor)

Sermonic Tension: Harvest is near. (Pay day someday)

Sermonic Sentence: You will harvest what you’ve sown. (God will make sure you get what’s coming to you. Keep in mind that this is an agricultural society) Good news/Bad news

Sermonic Question: Are you sowing to the flesh or the Spirit? (I’m accountable for the seeds I sow and I’m responsible for the harvest I reap.)

Sermonic Title: “DIVINE RECIPROCITY part II”

Sermonic Structure:

I. YOU WILL HARVEST WHAT YOU SOW

II. YOU WILL HARVEST LATER THAN YOU SOW

III. YOU WILL HARVEST MORE THAN YOU SOW

Divine Reciprocity

2010-01-25T10:13:00.000-08:00

Sunday Sermon
January 24th 2010
Rhema Community Church

Sermonic Skeleton:

Sermonic Pericope: ESV Galatians 6:6 One who is taught the word must share all good things with the one who teaches.

Sermonic Theme: Christian Ethics (Accountability)

Sermonic Subject: Christian Service (Responsibility)

Sermonic Tension: It takes money to do ministry.

Sermonic Sentence: You are accountable for the word you’ve been taught and you have the responsibility to bless your teacher.

Sermonic Question: Is the Word of God valuable to you? (This lesson deals with ones attitude, aptitude, and appreciation for the word of God.)

Sermonic Help: EXEGESIS from the Greek meaning “interpretation,” from ex, “out,” and hegeisthai, “to guide.” Exegesis is a method of attempting to understand a Bible passage. The reader of Scripture studies the word meaning and grammar of the text to discern what the Holy Spirit was communicating, drawing the meaning out of the text rather than reading what he wants into the text. It attempts to elicit the true teaching of a biblical text for spiritual growth in Christian living. PREACHING declaring the truth of God from the Word of God to an audience. However, there are many different methods of preaching and numerous types of sermons, preaching should primarily be exegetical: a careful study of the grammar, words, and context of a particular passage of Scripture. Preaching should answer three questions about a text: (1) What does the text say? (2) Why does it say it, or what did the Holy Spirit want the passage to communicate? (3) How does this truth apply to life at home, work, or play? Any sermon or lesson should be aimed at the heart, intended to motivate people to take action as well as at the mind, able to persuade.

Sermonic Title: “DIVINE RECIPROCITY”

Sermonic Structure:

I. ONE IS TAUGHT THE WORD OF GOD (are you teachable?)

II. ONE IS TEACHING THE WORD OF GOD (are you teaching the word?)

A Burden Bearer

2010-01-18T10:12:00.000-08:00

Sunday Sermon
January 17, 2010
Rhema Community Church

Sermonic Skeleton:

Sermonic Pericope: ESV Galatians 6:2-5 Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. 3 For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4 But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. 5 For each will have to bear his own load.

Sermonic Theme: Christian Ethics (Accountability)

Sermonic Subject: Christian Service (Responsibility)

Sermonic Tension: Christians have burdens. (Must Jesus bear the cross alone and all the world go free? No there’s a cross for everyone and there’s a cross for me.) Written by Thomas Shepherd & George N. Allen

Sermonic Sentence: God will give you no more than you can bear.

Sermonic Objective: God wants us to be for others what Christ Jesus has been for us.
NLT Matthew 25:40 And the King will tell them, 'I assure you, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!' NIV Ephesians 4:32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

Sermonic Help: CHRISTIAN ETHICS, a practical science that investigates the personal and social rules or laws of human conduct. It is the discipline that deals with what is good and bad, with moral duty and obligation. Christian ethics is a system of right and wrong based on principles drawn from the Bible. The foundation of ethics for the believer is found in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). Many in today’s diverse theological world argue that everything is relative. Discussions of conflicting ethical choices are seldom rooted in objective ethical norms, rights or wrongs that are right or wrong in every situation. Instead, actions are based on changing human understanding of what would be the most loving thing to do in the situation in which one is found. This “situation ethics” and ethical relativism that suggests that any action, including murder or adultery, could be righteous in a given situation is a total denial of Christian ethics. Ultimately, for the Christian, ethics must be based on the absolute nature and character of God. Our “choosing” and “doing” must be based on our understanding of His character as revealed to us in His Word.

Sermonic Title: “A BURDEN BEARER”

Sermonic Structure:

I. A Burden Bearer is Spiritually Mature (V.2)

II. A Burden Bearer has a Servants Mentality (V.3)

III. A Burden Bearer has a Standard for Ministry (V.4)

IV. A Burden Bearer is Strengthened by God & his own Muscles (V.5)

How I Got Over

2010-01-04T06:41:00.000-08:00

Sunday Sermon
January 3rd 2010
Rhema Community Church

Sermonic Skeleton

Sermonic Pericope: ESV Exodus 15:1-21 Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the LORD, saying, "I will sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea. 2 The LORD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him. 3 The LORD is a man of war; the LORD is his name. 4 "Pharaoh's chariots and his host he cast into the sea, and his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea. 5 The floods covered them; they went down into the depths like a stone. 6 Your right hand, O LORD, glorious in power, your right hand, O LORD, shatters the enemy. 7 In the greatness of your majesty you overthrow your adversaries; you send out your fury; it consumes them like stubble. 8 At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up; the floods stood up in a heap; the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea. 9 The enemy said, 'I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them. I will draw my sword; my hand shall destroy them.' 10 You blew with your wind; the sea covered them; they sank like lead in the mighty waters. 11 "Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders? 12 You stretched out your right hand; the earth swallowed them. 13 "You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed; you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode. 14 The peoples have heard; they tremble; pangs have seized the inhabitants of Philistia. 15 Now are the chiefs of Edom dismayed; trembling seizes the leaders of Moab; all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away. 16 Terror and dread fall upon them; because of the greatness of your arm, they are still as a stone, till your people, O LORD, pass by, till the people pass by whom you have purchased. 17 You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain, the place, O LORD, which you have made for your abode, the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established. 18 The LORD will reign forever and ever." 19 For when the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his horsemen went into the sea, the LORD brought back the waters of the sea upon them, but the people of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea. 20 Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing. 21 And Miriam sang to them: "Sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea."

Sermonic Theme: The Doctrine of Salvation (The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is his name.)

Sermonic Subject: The Doctrine of Thanksgiving (Sing praises unto God for His mighty acts.)

Sermonic Tension: You have adversaries and an enemy. (God will deliver.)

Sermonic Goal: The goal of life is to see God.

Sermonic Sentence: He took me through to get me over. (A song of deliverance)

Sermonic Help: The Doctrine of Thanksgiving, a basic vital element of successful Christian living. Christians should give thanks to God for all things (Ephesians 5.20; Colossians 3.15-17; 1 Thessalonians 5.18). Prayer and petition ought always be combined with thanksgiving (Philippians 4.6; Colossians 2.7; 4.2; I Timothy 2.1). The mark of a Christian should be his thankful attitude toward God in the midst of all circumstances (Ephesians 5.4).

Sermonic Disclaimer: Before you sing the Lord’s song, you need to know the Lord of the song.

Sermonic Title: “HOW I GOT OVER”

Sermonic Structure:

I. I GOT OVER BY LOOKING UP & SEEING GOD (V.1-3)

II. I GOT OVER BY LOOKING BACK & SEEING GOD (V.4-10)

III. I GOT OVER BY LOOKING AHEAD & SEEING GOD (V.11-21)

Good News for People with Bad Credit

2009-12-28T14:38:00.000-08:00

Sunday Sermon
December 27th 2009
Rhema Community Church

Sermonic Skeleton

Sermonic Pericope: ESV 2 Kings 4:1-7 Now the wife of one of the sons of the prophets cried to Elisha, "Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the LORD, but the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves." 2 And Elisha said to her, "What shall I do for you? Tell me; what have you in the house?" And she said, "Your servant has nothing in the house except a jar of oil." 3 Then he said, "Go outside, borrow vessels from all your neighbors, empty vessels and not too few. 4 Then go in and shut the door behind yourself and your sons and pour into all these vessels. And when one is full, set it aside." 5 So she went from him and shut the door behind herself and her sons. And as she poured they brought the vessels to her. 6 When the vessels were full, she said to her son, "Bring me another vessel." And he said to her, "There is not another." Then the oil stopped flowing. 7 She came and told the man of God, and he said, "Go, sell the oil and pay your debts, and you and your sons can live on the rest."

Sermonic Theme: God’s miraculous power (Miracles)

Sermonic Subject: Prophetic Ministry

Sermonic Tension: Elisha can’t be wrong. (Stop using credit, start using cash)

Sermonic Disclaimer: This sermon presentation is not intended for “Wall Street” this sermon is intended for “Y'all Street”.

Sermonic Objective: This OT story teaches us how to live after a love one dies and leaves us in financial debt.

Sermonic Sentence: God wants us to live debt free.

Sermonic Question: Is there any oil in your house? (What have you in the house?)

Sermonic Title: “GOOD NEWS FOR PEOPLE WITH BAD CREDIT”

Sermonic Structure:

I. USE YOUR RESOURCES (v.1-4)
A. Pain is a resource
B. Prophetic ministry is a resource
C. People are a resource

II. TAKE RESPONSIBILITY (v.5-6)
A. Obey God’s word
B. Go to work

III. LIVE ON THE REST (v.7)
A. Work toward paying off your debt
B. Pay off your debt
C. Stay out of debt

Who are you walking with?

2009-12-14T08:39:00.000-08:00

Sunday Sermon
December 13th 2009
Rhema Community Church

Sermonic Skeleton

Sermonic Pericope: ESV Galatians 5:16-26 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

Sermonic Theme: Saved & Set Free (The Doctrine of Justification)

Sermonic Theme: The Fruit of the Spirit

Sermonic Tension: The desires of the flesh are against the Spirit.

Sermonic Sentence: Walk with the Spirit it’s the right choice.

Sermonic Subject: “WHO ARE YOU WALKING WITH?”

Sermonic Structure:

I. Are you walking according to the flesh? (V. 16-21)

II. Are you walking according to the Spirit? (V. 22-26)

Free to Love

2009-12-07T11:22:00.000-08:00

Sunday Sermon
December 6th 2009
Rhema Community Church

Sermonic Skeleton

Sermonic Pericope: ESV Galatians 5:2-15 Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. 3 I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. 4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. 5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. 7 You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? 8 This persuasion is not from him who calls you. 9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump. 10 I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view than mine, and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is. 11 But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed. 12 I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves! 13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." 15 But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

Sermonic Theme: Saved & Set Free (The Doctrine of Justification)

Sermonic Subject: Faith working through love. (Saved by faith alone not works.)

Sermonic Tension: The works of the flesh.

Sermonic Sentence: Love set us free.

Sermonic Help: In Christian theology, the ability to love is a vital aspect of being created in God’s image and regenerated by the Holy Spirit’s power. In 1 John 4.7-11, we read, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this love of God was manifested in us that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

Love luv (אָהֵב, ’āhēbh, אַהֲבָה, ’ahăbhāh, noun; φιλέω, philéō, ἀγαπάω, agapáō, verb; ἀγάπη, agápē, noun): Love to both God and man is fundamental to true religion, whether as expressed in the Old Testament or the New Testament. Jesus Himself declared that all the law and the prophets hang upon love (Mt 22:40; Mk 12:28-34). Paul, in his matchless ode on love (1 Cor 13), makes it the greatest of the graces of the Christian life—greater than speaking with tongues, or the gift of prophecy, or the possession of a faith of superior excellence; for without love all these gifts and graces, desirable and useful as they are in themselves, are as nothing, certainly of no permanent value in the sight of God. Not that either Jesus or Paul underestimates the faith from which all the graces proceed, for this grace is recognized as fundamental in all God’s dealings with man and man’s dealings with God (Jn 6:28 f; Heb 11:6); but both alike count that faith as but idle and worthless belief that does not manifest itself in love to both God and man. As love is the highest expression of God and His relation to mankind, so it must be the highest expression of man’s relation to his Maker and to his fellow-man.

(John 3.16, 13.34-35; 14.21; 17.26; Romans 5.8; 1 Thessalonians 3.12; 1 Corinthians 16.14; II Peter 1.7; 1 John 4.18. See Matthew 5.44-46; John 15.12-13; Romans 13.8-10; Galatians 5.6, 22; 1 John 4.7-20; Revelation 3.19)

Sermonic Title: “FREE TO LOVE”

Sermonic Structure:

I. WE ARE SET FREE TO LOVE CHRIST COMPLETELY (V.2-6)

II. WE ARE SET FREE TO LOVE TRUTH CONFIDENTLY (V.7-12)

III. WE ARE SET FREE TO LOVE OTHERS COMPASSIONATELY (V.13-15)

Forever Free

2009-11-23T07:19:00.000-08:00

Sunday Sermon
November 22nd 2009
Rhema Community Church

Sermonic Skeleton

Sermonic Pericope: ESV Galatians 5:1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

Sermonic Theme: Saved & Set Free (The Doctrine of Justification)

Sermonic Subject: Christian Liberty (The Doctrine of Faith alone)

Sermonic Tension: Freedom always entails danger. (W.E.B. Du Bois, 1868-1963 Intellectual & Activist)

Sermonic Sentence: To be saved is to be set free.

Sermonic Objective: The sermonic objective is to instruct against the dangers of religion for religion works to enslave Christians.

Sermonic Help: Liberty, Christian NLT Isaiah 61:1-2 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is upon me, because the LORD has appointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted and to announce that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed. 2 He has sent me to tell those who mourn that the time of the LORD's favor has come, and with it, the day of God's anger against their enemies.

The NT clearly shows that God gives Christian’s liberty, a freedom to choose that grows out of a person’s own commitment to Christ and understanding of Scripture. Yet this freedom has obligations. Christians have a responsibility to learn of God from the Bible and to pattern their lives after His character, relating to others in a way that witnesses effectively to a lost world.
In 2 Corinthians 3:17 (Amplified Bible) Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (emancipation from bondage, freedom).

Colossians 1:13-14 (Amplified Bible) Col 13 [The Father] has delivered and drawn us to Himself out of the control and the dominion of darkness and has transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, Col 14 In Whom we have our redemption through His blood, [which means] the forgiveness of our sins.

1 Corinthians 6:12 (Amplified Bible) Everything is permissible (allowable and lawful) for me; but not all things are helpful (good for me to do, expedient and profitable when considered with other things). Everything is lawful for me, but I will not become the slave of anything or be brought under its power.

1 Corinthians 10:23 (Amplified Bible) All things are legitimate [permissible—and we are free to do anything we please], but not all things are helpful (expedient, profitable, and wholesome). All things are legitimate, but not all things are constructive [to character] and edifying [to spiritual life].

Christian liberty is vast, yet it is not license. It recognizes that not everything is constructive, for when we engage in activities harmful to others or ourselves, we actually destroy the freedom God has given us.

Freedom of the Will: The freedom to act and to be responsible for our actions. In creating us in His own image, God made us rational creatures, which necessarily means that He has delegated sovereignty to us. Our very experience of life tells us we have free choice: We can consciously deny ourselves even to the extent that we can willfully starve to death. Human freedom places no restriction on God’s power. Exactly the opposite is true: We are free only because God chose to give us free will. A God who is truly sovereign must be able to create free creatures. It would be a greater threat to God’s power were He unable to delegate freedom.

Sermonic Title: “FOREVER FREE”

Sermonic Structure:

I. I AM SET FREE (Christ has set us free…)

II. I AM STANDING FIRM IN MY FREEDOM (Stand firm therefore…)

III. I AM BY FAITH STAYING FREE (do not submit again to a yoke of slavery…)

Be who you are

2009-11-16T04:49:00.000-08:00

Sunday Sermon
November 16th 2009
Rhema Community Church

Sermonic Skeleton

Sermonic Pericope: ESV Galatians 4:17-31 They make much of you, but for no good purpose. They want to shut you out, that you may make much of them. 18 It is always good to be made much of for a good purpose, and not only when I am present with you, 19 my little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you! 20 I wish I could be present with you now and change my tone, for I am perplexed about you. 21 Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. 23 But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. 24 Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. 25 Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. 27 For it is written, "Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than those of the one who has a husband." 28 Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29 But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. 30 But what does the Scripture say? "Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman." 31 So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman.

Sermonic Theme: Saved & Set Free (The Doctrine of Justification)

Sermonic Subject: Saved by faith alone not works.

Sermonic Tension: Hagar or Sarah (Slave or Free)

Sermonic Question: Who are you moreover; whose are you? Are you a child of Hagar or Sarah?

Sermonic Objective: The objective of this sermon is to affirm the fact that Christ Jesus has set us free to live genuinely.

Sermonic Help: apologetics from the Greek apologia or apologetikos, “to speak in defense of.” The word is used eight times in the NT: Acts 22.1; 25:16; 1 Corinthians 7.11; Philippians 1.17; 16; 2 Timothy 4.16; & 1 Peter 3.15 the classic text: (Amplified Bible) But in your hearts set Christ apart as holy [and acknowledge Him] as Lord. Always be ready to give a logical defense to anyone who asks you to account for the hope that is in you, but do it courteously and respectfully.

Apologetics is the area of Christian theology, or philosophy, which aims to intelligently defend the Christian faith in areas such as the relationship of faith and reason, proofs for the existence of God, miracles, the problem of evil, evidence for the resurrection of Christ, the inspiration of Scripture, prophecy, and the defense of creation. It includes both positive arguments for the truth of Christianity and rebuttals of criticisms leveled against it.

Occasionally called eristics, apologetics is the formal defense of the Christian faith. Historically, Christian theologians have differed as to whether apologetics is appropriate to the presentation of the gospel, and if so, how it should be accomplished. Depending on how they have answered these questions, apologists have appealed to rational argumentation, empirical evidence, fulfilled prophecy, authorities of the church or mystical experience in defending such beliefs as the existence of God, the authority of Scripture, the deity of Christ and the historicity of Jesus’ resurrection.

Sermonic Title: “BE WHO YOU ARE”

Sermonic Structure:

I. WE ARE PASSIONATE ABOUT WHO WE ARE IN CHRIST JESUS (V. 17-20)

II. WE PROTECT WHO WE ARE IN CHRIST JESUS (V. 21-25)

III. WE PRAISE GOD FOR WHO WE ARE IN CHRIST JESUS (V.26-31)

When we first met

2009-11-02T13:19:00.000-08:00

Sunday Sermon
November 1st 2009
Rhema Community Church

Sermonic Skeleton

Sermonic Pericope: ESV Galatians 4:12-16 Brothers, I entreat you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You did me no wrong. 13 You know it was because of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you at first, 14 and though my condition was a trial to you, you did not scorn or despise me, but received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus. 15 What then has become of the blessing you felt? For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me. 16 Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth?

Sermonic Theme: Saved & Set Free (The Doctrine of Justification)

Sermonic Subject: The dynamics of Pastoral ministry

Sermonic Tension: The honeymoon is over. (The local church has a moral obligation to live in harmony with her Pastor.)

Sermonic Question: What causes people to relate to you differently than when you first met?

Sermonic Sentence: There’s a fascinating phenomenon associated with first. (First impressions are lasting impressions.)

Sermonic Objective: Let’s get back to the way we were at first. (The church at first is the church at best.)

Sermonic Title: “WHEN WE FIRST MET”

Sermonic Structure:

I. WHEN WE FIRST MET YOU DID ME NO WRONG (V.12)

II. WHEN WE FIRST MET YOU RECEIVED ME & THE WORD (V.13,14)

III. WHEN WE FIRST MET YOU WERE SO WILLING (V.15)

IV. WHEN WE FIRST MET WE WERE AT PEACE NOT WAR (V.16)

Fearing the Worst

2009-10-26T22:03:00.000-07:00

Sunday Sermon
October 25th 2009
Rhema Community Church

Sermonic Skeleton

Sermonic Pericope: ESV Galatians 4:8-11 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. 9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? 10 You observe days and months and seasons and years! 11 I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain.

Sermonic Theme: Saved & Set Free (The Doctrine of Justification)

Sermonic Subject: Back Sliding or Sliding Back (Choosing that which is inferior over and against that which is superior.)

Sermonic Tension: Have I labored in vain. (Your Pastor’s greatest fear!)

Sermonic Sentence: You can't fix it if you want face it! (Spiritual emancipation is hard work)

Sermonic Help: IDOLATRY/IDOLS: In the OT the word “idol” means “vanity” (Jer. 14.22; 18.15); idols were made of wood, stone and precious metal (Isaiah 40/Jer.10). While such idols continued into NT times, especially in Greek culture, the NT also recognizes that anything treasured more than God is an idol. In Romans 1.22-25; idolatry is a sin against God and idolater is a slave to whatever has taken the place of God. (Acts 17.16/ Corinthians 5.11; 10.7, 14/ Galatians 5.20/ Philippians 3.18-19; Colossians 2.18; 3.5; Titus 3.3.)

IGNORANCE: A state of lack of knowledge or comprehension. In the Bible, ignorance is never honored by God and can even be the basis of sin. (Acts 3.17; 1 Peter 2.15; Heb 9.7; I Co 14.16, 23-24.)

IGNORANCE, ARGUMENT FROM: In Latin, Argumentum ad ignorantiam. An example: there must be ghosts because no one has ever shown that they do not exist. The fallacy of Argument from Ignorance is committed whenever a person asserts that a proposition is true simply because it has not been proven false, or that it is false merely because it has not been proven true. This mistaken logic often occurs is arguments where there is no clear cut evidence either for or against an issue.

Sermonic Title: “FEARING THE WORST”

Sermonic Structure:

I. THEIR FORMER LIFE HAS PAUL FEARING THE WORST (V.8)

A. They were ignorant
B. They were idolatrous

II. THEIR FEET HAS PAUL FEARING THE WORST (V.9)

A. They're turning back to that which is weak
B. They're turning back to that which is worthless
C. They're turning back to that which is worldly

III. THEIR FOCUS HAS PAUL FEARING THE WORST (V.10-11)

A. They're focusing on days
B. They're focusing on months
C. They're focusing on seasons
D. They're focusing on years

An Heir of Salvation

2009-10-12T06:34:00.000-07:00

Sunday Sermon
October 11th 2009
Rhema Community Church

Sermonic Skeleton

Sermonic Pericope: ESV Galatians 4:1-7 I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, 2 but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. 3 In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. 4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

Sermonic Theme: Saved & Set Free (The Doctrine of Salvation)

Sermonic Subject: Redemption (The Gospel Explained)

Sermonic Tension: If I am, an heir that means a wealthy friend/relative has died.

Sermonic Question: Since I am an heir, why do I feel so poor?

Sermonic Sentence: I am set for life.

Sermonic Help: REDEMPTION from the Latin redemptio, from redimere, “to redeem,” “to buy back again.” In theology, the idea that Christ “redeemed” or “bought back” humanity by delivering us from sin and its punishment, therefore making salvation possible. Jesus came to redeem all of fallen creation and to pay the price for human sin. ESV Luke 24:21 But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. ESV Romans 3:24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, ESV Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us- for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree"- NLT Galatians 4:27 That is what Isaiah meant when he prophesied, "Rejoice, O childless woman! Break forth into loud and joyful song, even though you never gave birth to a child. For the woman who could bear no children now has more than all the other women!"

Sermonic Title: “AN HEIR OF SALVATION”

Sermonic Structure:

I. AN HEIR OF SALVATION LIVES LIKE A SLAVE (V.1-3)

II. AN HEIR OF SALVATION IS AN ADOPTED SON (V.4-5)

III. AN HEIR OF SALVATION HAS SIBLINGS (V.6)

IV. AN HEIR OF SALVATION IS SAVED (V.7)

Promises, Promises, Promises

2009-10-05T05:38:00.000-07:00

Sunday Sermon
October 4th 2009
Rhema Community Church

Sermonic Skeleton

Sermonic Pericope: ESV Galatians 3:15-29 To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. 16 Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, "And to offsprings," referring to many, but referring to one, "And to your offspring," who is Christ. 17 This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. 18 For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise. 19 Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. 20 Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one. 21 Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. 22 But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. 23 Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. 24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.

Sermonic Theme: Saved & Set Free (The Doctrine of Saving Grace)

Sermonic Subject: Saved by Faith alone (The Doctrine of Justification)

Sermonic Tension: The promise is greater than the law however; God gave the law to guide me to genuine living faith in Christ Jesus.

Sermonic Sentence: It is impossible to carry water on both shoulders.

Sermonic Help: Galatians 3.24 “The law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ.” The law is meant to lead the sinner to faith in Christ by showing the impossibility of any other way. It is the black dog to fetch the sheep to the shepherd, the burning heat which drives the traveler to the shadow of the great rock in a weary land. (Spurgeon at his best)

Sermonic Title: “PROMISES, PROMISES, PROMISES”

Sermonic Structure:

I. THIS PROMISE IS MADE BY GOD (V. 15-18)

II. THIS PROMISE IS AN ACT OF GRACE (V. 19-25)

III. THIS PROMISE IS FOR JEWS & GENTILES (V. 26-29)

Living by Faith

2009-09-21T06:44:00.000-07:00

Sunday Sermon
September 20th 2009
Rhema Community Church

Sermonic Skeleton

Sermonic Pericope: ESV Galatians 3:10-14 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them." 11 Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for "The righteous shall live by faith." 12 But the law is not of faith, rather "The one who does them shall live by them." 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us- for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree"- 14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.

Sermonic Theme: Saved & Set Free (The Doctrine of Saving Grace)

Sermonic Subject: Justification by Faith alone not works (The Doctrine of Justification)

Sermonic Tension: Without Christ Jesus, there is no cure for the curse. (Living has consequences.)

Sermonic Sentence: Our church teaches people to put their entire trust in Jesus Christ.

Sermonic Question: Are you convinced that faith in Christ Jesus alone is sufficient for salvation?

Sermonic Help: Galatians 3.13 “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse…being made a curse for us.” You must either be cursed by God or else you must accept Christ as bearing the curse instead of you. This is the truth which the apostles preached, and suffered and died to maintain. The Reformers struggled for this. The martyrs burned at Smithfield for this. It is the grand basic doctrine of the Reformation, and the very truth of God. (Spurgeon at his Best)

Sermonic Title: “LIVING by FAITH”

Sermonic Structure:

I. LIVING BY FAITH DESTROYS THE CURSE (V. 10)
a. Faith Destroys the Curse of Sin
b. Faith Destroys the Curse of Separation
c. Faith Destroys the Curse of Self Reliance

II. LIVING BY FAITH DEVELOPS CHRISTIANS (V. 11,12)
a. We place no confidence in the Flesh
b. We live Faithfully
c. We are Free

III. LIVING BY FAITH DRAWS US CLOSER TO CHRIST (V. 13,14)
a. Because of Christ we are Redeemed
b. Because of Christ we are Righteous
c. Because of Christ we are Regenerated

Foolishness or Faith

2009-09-14T08:20:00.000-07:00

Sunday Sermon
September 13, 2009
Rhema Community Church

Sermonic Skeleton

Sermonic Pericope: ESV Galatians 3:1-9 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. 2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? 4 Did you suffer so many things in vain- if indeed it was in vain? 5 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith- 6 just as Abraham "believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"? 7 Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." 9 So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

Sermonic Theme: Saved & Set Free (The Doctrine of Saving Grace)

Sermonic Subject: Justification by faith alone not works. (The Doctrine of Justification)

Sermonic Tension: There’s a thin line between foolishness and faith. (Our Church must put an end to Biblical illiteracy.)

Sermonic Question: Is your relationship with God based on foolishness or faith? (The good news is God saves the foolish.)

Sermonic Sentence: There is so much foolishness being proclaimed from American pulpits today. (The depravity of humanity)

Sermonic Title: "FOOLISHNESS or FAITH"

Sermonic Structure:

I. ADDRESS THE FOOLISH (V. 1-3)
a. Paul is filled with indignation because of them. (O foolish Galatians!)
b. Paul interrogates them. (Who has bewitched you?)
c. Paul corrects the ill-advised teaching received by them. (Are you now being perfected by the flesh?)

II. ARTICULATE THE FACTS (V. 4-6)
a. Remember the pain (Did you suffer so many things in vain?)
b. Remember the process (by hearing with faith)
c. Remember the principle (believe God)

III. AFFIRM THE FAITH (V.7-9)
a. Examine the family of faith (the sons of Abraham)
b. Examine the foundation of faith (the Scriptures)
c. Examine the father of faith (Abraham, the man of faith)

Justified

2009-09-07T05:37:00.000-07:00

Sunday Sermon
September 6, 2009
Rhema Community Church

Sermonic Skeleton

Sermonic Pericope: ESV Galatians 2:15-21 We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; 16 yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. 17 But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! 18 For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. 19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. 20 It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if justification were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.

Sermonic Theme: Saved & Set Free (The Doctrine of Saving Grace)

Sermonic Subject: Justified by Faith not works. (We enjoy a peaceful relationship with God because of Christ Jesus alone.)

Sermonic Tension: Our Faith in Christ Jesus will be tested. (Sola Scriptura)

Sermonic Question: Do you know in whom you believe? (Sola Fide)

Sermonic Sentence: Evangelizing loss people is the priority of our church.

Sermonic Help: Galatians 2.20 “I am crucified with Christ.” The Roman Catholic hangs the cross on his bosom; the true Christian carries the cross in his heart. Moreover, a cross inside the heart is one of the sweetest cures for a cross on the back. If you have, a cross in your heart Christ crucified in you all the cross of this world’s troubles will seem to you light enough and you will easily be able to sustain it. (Spurgeon at His Best)

Sermonic Title: "JUSTIFIED"

Sermonic Structure:

I. CONSIDER PAUL’S CONDUCT (V. 15)
a. Paul Stands Up
b. Paul Speaks Out
c. Paul Strives Forward

II. CONSIDER PAUL’S CONVICTIONS (V. 16-18)
a. Paul is convinced that God is Just
b. Paul is convinced that Jesus Christ alone is our Justifier
c. Paul is convinced that we by faith alone, not works are Justified

III. CONSIDER PAUL’S CONVERSION (V. 19-21)

Confrontring Hypocrisy

2009-09-01T17:36:00.000-07:00

Sunday Sermon
Rhema Community Church
August 30th 2009

Sermonic Skeleton:

Sermonic Pericope: ESV Galatians 2:11-16 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. 13 And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. 14 But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, "If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?" 15 We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; 16 yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

Sermonic Theme: Saved & Set Free (The Doctrine of Saving Grace)

Sermonic Subject: Justified by Faith not works. (Genuine faith in Christ Jesus confronts hypocrisy.)

Sermonic Tension: Paul the apostle stood face to face with the apostle Peter. Hypocrisy lurks in every one and it must be dealt with. (Hypocrisy is motivated by fear and it is contradictory
to our faith.)

Sermonic Sentence: Our faith in Christ Jesus enables us to freely fellowship with every nationality. (There is no partiality in God.)

Sermonic Question: Who do you fear man or GOD? (Your behavior reveals what you truly believe.)

Sermonic Title: “Confronting Hypocrisy”

Sermonic Structure:

I. CONFRONT HYPOCRISY IT’S AN ENEMY TO OUR FREEDOM

II. CONFRONT HYPOCRISY IT’S AN ENEMY TO OUR FELLOWSHIPS

III. CONFRONT HYPOCRISY IT’S AN ENEMY TO OUR FAITH

How to handle Revelation

2009-08-24T14:48:00.000-07:00

Sunday Sermon
August 23rd 2009
Rhema Community Church

Sermonic Skeleton

Sermonic Pericope: ESV Galatians 2:1-10 Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. 2 I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those who seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain. 3 But even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. 4 Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in- who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery- 5 to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. 6 And from those who seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)- those, I say, who seemed influential added nothing to me. 7 On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised 8 (for he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles), 9 and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. 10 Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.

Sermonic Theme: Saved & Set Free (The Doctrine of Saving Grace/ Justification through Faith alone)

Sermonic Subject: Special Revelation (Allow no one the opportunity to devalue what God is doing in your life.)

Sermonic Tension: Christian ministry is not designed to do alone. (Although you are justified by God however, you still need people.)

Sermonic Sentence: Revelation that cannot be tested is revelation that ought not to be trusted.

Sermonic Question: The gospel you preach did it derive from human aspiration or holy revelation.

Sermonic Help: SPECIAL REVELATION: God’s divine self-revelation evidenced specifically in salvation history and culminating in the incarnation as understood through Scripture. Although the Bible seemingly affirms both general and special revelation, only special revelation can disclose completely our sinful predicament, as well as God’s promise of salvation and its fulfillment in Christ.

Sermonic Title: "HOW TO HANDLE REVELATION"

Sermonic Structure:

I. RUN IT BY SPIRITUALLY MATURE PEOPLE (…I was not running or had not run in vain. V 1-2)

II. RECRUIT A TRAINABLE PROTÉGÉ (…Titus V. 3-9)

III. REMEMBER THE POOR (…the very thing I was eager to do. V. 10)

Change

2009-08-17T10:45:00.000-07:00

Sunday Sermon
August 16th 2009
Rhema Community Church

Sermonic Skeleton

Sermonic Pericope: ESV Galatians 1:13-24 For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. 14 And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers. 15 But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, 16 was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone; 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus. 18 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days. 19 But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord's brother. 20 (In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie!) 21 Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. 22 And I was still unknown in person to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. 23 They only were hearing it said, "He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy." 24 And they glorified God because of me.

Sermonic Theme: Saved & Set Free (The Doctrine of Saving Grace)

Sermonic Subject: Justified by Faith not by works

Sermonic Tension: People always try to take credit or try to discredit what God has done.

Sermonic Question: Do you want to change?

Sermonic Sentence: Christ Jesus has the power to change you.

Sermonic Help: JUSTIFICATION from the Hebrew sadeq, the Greek dikaioo and the Latin justificare, “to justify,” “to pronounce, accept and treat as just.” In theology, God’s pardoning sinners and restoring them to a state of righteousness. Paul develops the doctrine of justification by faith in Romans and Galatians.

Sermonic Title: "CHANGE"

Sermonic Sub-Title: Yes, HE can

Sermonic Structure:

I. CHRIST JESUS CHANGED PAUL (V. 13-14)
a. He changed Paul’s profession (my former life in Judaism…v13)
b. He changed Paul’s purpose (I was advancing in Judaism…v14)
c. He changed Paul’s passion (so extremely zealous was I…v14)

II. CHRIST JESUS CALLED PAUL (V. 15-20)
a. Consider the Genesis of the call (set me apart before I was born…v15)
b. Consider the Grace of the call (who called me by his grace…v15)
c. Consider the Goal of the call (that I might preach him…v16)

III. CHRIST JESUS COMMISSIONED PAUL (V. 21-24)
a. Paul shows us where he was preaching (Syria, Cilicia & Judea…v21-22)
b. Paul shows us to whom he was preaching (persons that are in Christ…v22)
c. Paul shows us what he was preaching (preaching the faith…v23)
d. Paul shows us how they responded to his preaching (they glorified God…v24)

Who are you trying to please?

2009-08-13T17:52:00.000-07:00

Sunday Sermon
August 9th 2009
Rhema Community Church

Sermonic Skeleton

Sermonic Scripture: ESV Galatians 1:10-12 For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. 11 For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel. 12 For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

Sermonic Theme: Saved and Set Free (The Doctrine of Saving Grace)

Sermonic Subject: Motivation for Christian Service (What’s yours?)

Sermonic Tension: You cannot please God and man at the same time.

Sermonic Sentence: Free yourself from the opinion of men so that you may freely serve God.(This lesson teaches us how we are set free from all anxiety.)

Sermonic Question: Who are you trying to please God, man or self? (The question every Christian must answer.)

Sermonic Help: REVELATION Refers both to the process by which God discloses the divine nature and the mystery of the divine will and purpose to human beings, and to the corpus of truth disclosed. Some theologians maintain that revelation consists of both God’s activity in salvation history through word and deed, culminating in Jesus (who mediates and fulfills God’s self-revelation) and the ongoing activity of God to move people to yield to, accept and personally appropriate that reality. General revelation maintains that God’s existence and particular attributes can be ascertained through an innate sense of God’s reality and conscience as well as through observation of the universe and history. Special revelation refers to the more specific divine self-disclosure to and through certain persons that brings about human salvation.

GENERAL REVELATION: A term used to declare that God reveals something about the divine nature through the created order. This self-revealing of God through creation is called general because it only gives “general” or “indirect” information about God, including the fact of God’s existence and that God is powerful. This is in contrast to special revelation, which is more “specific” and “direct,” and includes the appearance of the living Word (Jesus Christ himself) and the written Word of God (the Scriptures), revealing a holy, loving and just God who graciously provides forgiveness of sin. General revelation is likewise “general” in that it is available to all humankind, in contrast to the divine self-disclosure that God revealed to certain persons.

SPECIAL REVELATION: God’s divine self-revelation evidenced specifically in salvation history and culminating in the incarnation as understood through Scripture. Although the Bible seemingly affirms both general and special revelation, only special revelation can disclose completely our sinful predicament, as well as God’s promise of salvation and its fulfillment in Christ.

Sermonic Title: “Who are you trying to please?”

Sermonic Structure:

I. PLEASE GOD WITH YOUR MINISTRY (V.10) … a servant of Christ.

II. PLEASE GOD WITH YOUR MESSAGE (V.11) … not man’s gospel.

III. PLEASE GOD WITH YOUR MEMORY (V.12) … received through a revelation

a. The fact that Christ was revealed to Paul says Jesus is real.
b. The fact that Christ was revealed to Paul says Jesus has risen.
c. The fact that Christ was revealed to Paul says Jesus reigns.
d. The fact that Christ was revealed to Paul says Jesus is soon to return.

Christian Immaturity

2009-08-03T06:06:00.000-07:00

Sunday Sermon
August 2nd 2009
Rhema Community Church

Sermonic Skeleton

Sermonic Scripture: ESV Galatians 1:6-9 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel- 7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

Sermonic Theme: Saved & Set Free (The Doctrine of Grace/ the Gospel)

Sermonic Tension: Spiritual Chastisement (Apostolic Authority/Christian Leadership)

Sermonic Question: Do you know Gospel Preaching when you hear it? (Biblical illiteracy robs the Christian church of its authentic power.)

Sermonic Sentence: Christian immature people are hard to Pastor. (The business of the Pastor is to preach salvation to humanity.)

Sermonic Help: Gospel gos´pel (τὸ εὐαγγέλιον, tó euaggélion): The word gospel is derived from the Anglo-Saxon word which meant “the story concerning God.” In the New Testament the Greek word euaggelion, means “good news.” It proclaims tidings of deliverance. The word sometimes stands for the record of the life of our Lord (Mk 1:1), embracing all His teachings, as in Acts 20:24. But the word “gospel” now has a peculiar use, and describes primarily the message which Christianity announces. “Good news” is its significance. It means a gift from God. It is the proclamation of the forgiveness of sins and sonship with God restored through Christ. It means remission of sins and reconciliation with God. The gospel is not only a message of salvation, but also the instrument through which the Holy Spirit works (Rom 1:16).

The gospel differs from the law in being known entirely from revelation. It is proclaimed in all its fullness in the revelation given in the New Testament. It is also found, although obscurely, in the Old Testament. It begins with the prophecy concerning the ‘seed of the woman’ (Gen 3:15), and the promise concerning Abraham, in whom all the nations should be blessed (Gen 12:3; 15:5) and is also indicated in Acts 10:43 and in the argument in Rom 4.

In the New Testament the gospel never means simply a book, but rather the message which Christ and His apostles announced. In some places it is called “the gospel of God,” as, for example, Rom 1:1; 1 Thess 2:2, 9; 1 Tim 1:11. In others it is called “the gospel of Christ” (Mk 1:1; Rom 1:16; 15:19; 1 Cor 9:12, 18; Gal 1:7). In another it is called “the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24); in another “the gospel of peace” (Eph 6:15); in another “the gospel of your salvation” (Eph 1:13); and in yet another “the glorious gospel” (2 Cor 4:4 the King James Version). The gospel is Christ: He is the subject of it, the object of it, and the life of it. It was preached by Him (Mt 4:23; 11:5; Mk 1:14; Lk 4:18), by the apostles (Acts 16:10; Rom 1:15; 2:16; 1 Cor 9:16) and by the evangelists (Acts 8:25).

We must note the clear antithesis between the law and the gospel. The distinction between the two is important because, as Luther indicates, it contains the substance of all Christian doctrine. “By the law,” says he, “nothing else is meant than God’s word and command, directing what to do and what to leave undone, and requiring of us obedience of works. But the gospel is such doctrine of the word of God that neither requires our works nor commands us to do anything, but announces the offered grace of the forgiveness of sin and eternal salvation. Here we do nothing, but only receive what is offered through the word.” The gospel, then, is the message of God, the teaching of Christianity, the redemption in and by Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, offered to all mankind. And as the gospel is bound up in the life of Christ, His biography and the record of His works, and the proclamation of what He has to offer, are all gathered into this single word, of which no better definition can be given than that of Melanchthon: “The gospel is the gratuitous promise of the remission of sins for Christ’s sake.” To hold tenaciously that in this gospel we have a supernatural revelation is in perfect consistency with the spirit of scientific inquiry. The gospel, as the whole message and doctrine of salvation, and as chiefly efficacious for contrition, faith, justification, renewal and sanctification, deals with facts of revelation and experience.

Sermonic Title: “Christian Immaturity” (Notice Paul isn’t shocked that another gospel is preached, proclaimed, promulgated or published however he is shocked that they so quickly deserted God and the gospel of Jesus Christ.)

Sermonic Structure:

I. Their Departure Points to Christian Immaturity (V. 6)
a. The Apostle Paul is astonished that they listen to it!
b. The Apostle Paul is astonished that they left God for it!
c. The Apostle Paul is astonished that they were so willing to live with it!

II. Their Doctrine Points to Christian Immaturity (V. 7)
a. They had a doctrine without God
b. They had a doctrine without Grace
c. They had a doctrine without the Gospel

III. Their Disobedience Points to Christian Immaturity (V. 8-9)
a. Transforming immature Christians is hard work
b. Teaching immature Christians is hard work
c. Task setting for immature Christians is hard work

Greetings from an Authentic Apostle

2009-07-27T11:21:00.000-07:00

Sunday Sermon
July 26th 2009
Rhema Community Church

Sermonic Skeleton

Sermonic Scripture: ESV Galatians 1:1-5 Paul, an apostle- not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead- 2 and all the brothers who are with me, To the churches of Galatia: 3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Sermonic Theme: Saved & Set Free (How to respond when you’ve been lied on.)

Sermonic Tension: The Mosaic Law verses the doctrine of Grace.

Sermonic Sentence: Glorify God alone for the wonderful things He has done.

Sermonic Help: Galatians 1.4 “Who gave himself for our sins.” Christ died for our sins, not for our virtues. It is not your efficiencies, but your deficiencies which entitle you to the Lord Jesus. It is not your wealth, but your lack. It is not what you have, but what you have not. It is not what you can boast of, but what you mourn over that qualifies you to receive the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. (Spurgeon at His Best)

Grace, Irresistible: Grace which cannot be rejected, since God always achieves His aims: “The work of the Holy Spirit in bringing men to faith never fails to achieve its object.” The doctrine of irresistible grace teaches that a person cannot resist God’s choice to save him, a choice to save him a choice determined before the foundations of the world. Also known as, “Effectual Calling,” irresistible grace is one of the five points of Calvinism.

Grace (common, efficacious, prevenient) One of the central concepts of the Scriptures, grace speaks of God’s loving actions toward creation and toward humankind in particular. Grace is the generous overflow of the love of God the Father toward the Son, Jesus Christ. This love is most clearly demonstrated to humans through God’s selfless giving of Jesus to enable people to enter into a loving relationship with God as the Holy Spirit enables them. Common grace speaks of God’s extension of favor to all people through providential care, regardless of whether or not they acknowledge and love God. Efficacious grace refers to the special application of grace to a person who comes by faith to Christ for salvation. It is the special act of God that brings about the true salvation of a person. Prevenient grace, though often thought to be synonymous with common grace, refers more specifically to the Wesleyan idea that God has enabled all people everywhere to respond favorably to the gospel if they so choose.

Sermonic Cross Reference: NLT Acts 9:1-9 Meanwhile, Saul was uttering threats with every breath. He was eager to destroy the Lord's followers, so he went to the high priest. 2 He requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, asking their cooperation in the arrest of any followers of the Way he found there. He wanted to bring them-- both men and women-- back to Jerusalem in chains. 3 As he was nearing Damascus on this mission, a brilliant light from heaven suddenly beamed down upon him! 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?" 5 "Who are you, sir?" Saul asked. And the voice replied, "I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting! 6 Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you are to do." 7 The men with Saul stood speechless with surprise, for they heard the sound of someone's voice, but they saw no one! 8 As Saul picked himself up off the ground, he found that he was blind. 9 So his companions led him by the hand to Damascus. He remained there blind for three days. And all that time he went without food and water.

Sermonic Title: “Greetings from an Authentic Apostle”

Sermonic Structure:

I. Paul The Apostle has God given Authority (V.1)

II. Paul The Apostle has a Gentile Audience (V.2)

III. Paul The Apostle has a God centered life, Amen (V. 3-5)

Living under the Sun

2009-07-13T10:52:00.000-07:00

Sunday Sermon
July 12th 2009
Rhema Community Church

Sermonic Skeleton

Sermonic Scripture: ESV Ecclesiastes 9:11-12 Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all. 12 For man does not know his time. Like fish that are taken in an evil net, and like birds that are caught in a snare, so the children of man are snared at an evil time, when it suddenly falls upon them.

Sermonic Sentence: You’ve been given a season and opportunity so live to the glory of God.

Sermonic Tension: Live life to the fullest for tragedy may strike at any moment. (Take no day for granted.)

Sermonic Theme: The providence of God (God will provide.)

Sermonic Help: Proverbs: Sayings and Themes The books of Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes are commonly classed as the Wisdom literature of the OT, and together they form a significant and distinctive literary and theological strand within it. In Jer 18:18 (Ezek 7:26; Mic 3:11), the “counsel” of the wise is set alongside the “law” (torah) of the priest and the “word” of the prophet as sources of divine authority and guidance for the life of the community. It is significant that this threefold division is reflected in the canonical division of the Hebrew into the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings—the latter of which includes the Wisdom literature.

Proverbs is generally recognized as the earliest and most representative deposit of Israelite wisdom. The question of the original setting of the material it contains has occasioned some debate. It has many points of contact in form and content with Egyptian Wisdom literature, notably with the Instruction of Amenemope, whose thirty chapters may have been adapted to produce the “thirty sayings” in Prov 22:17-24:22. Egyptian wisdom instruction was centered in the royal court and was designed for the training of the royal princes and state officials. It has, therefore, been suggested that Israelite wisdom originated among royal scribes at the Israelite court in dependence on Egyptian instruction and thus reflected an “upper class” ethos. Others have argued that wisdom had native Israelite roots in the early Israelite clans. While the book evinces close connections with the royal court (1:1; 25:1) and contains sayings dealing with the king and his officials, the majority is concerned with the community at large. Therefore, it seems most likely that wisdom flourished in a variety of settings and had a number of different exponents: e.g., the father, the elder, the royal scribe and counselor of the monarchic period, and the lay scribe of the postexilic period (Sir 51:23, 26, 28; cf. Eccl 12:9). That more than one such influence has been at work in the production of Proverbs helps to explain the richness and diversity of the material it contains and the many facets of the wisdom it inculcates.

Providence Although providence is not a biblical term, both the OT and NT set forth an understanding of God’s gracious outworking of the divine purpose in Christ within the created order in human history. The world and humanity are not ruled by chance or by fate but by God, who directs history and creation toward an ultimate goal. Providence therefore refers to God’s superintending activity over human actions and human history, bringing creation to its divinely determined goal. Providence from the Latin providere, “to provide.” The word “providence” does not occur in the Bible. It refers, however, to the three biblical concepts: (1) In theology, providence is the general foresight, love, and care of God for people. Romans 8.28 Providence can also refer to the idea that (2) God has divinely ordained or preordained certain events, or that (3) the universe is under God’s control so that ultimately good will be produced.

Sermonic Title: “LIVING UNDER THE SUN”

Sermonic Structure:

I. The frustrations of life lived under the sun. (V.11)

II. The finality of life lived under the sun. (V.12)

The Act of Redemption

2009-07-06T06:39:00.000-07:00

Sunday Sermon
July 5th 2009
Rhema Community Church

Sermonic Skeleton

Sermonic Scripture: Ruth 4

Sermonic Theme: The Providence of God. (God will provide)

Sermonic Subject: Redemption (Boaz the kinsman redeemer)

Sermonic Tension: Ruth’s concern is who’s responsible for perpetuating her dead husband’s name? (According to the social mores of the ancient near east, Ruth could have publically humiliated the first redeemer who will remain nameless.)

Sermonic Sentence: Redemption is a journey made by foot. (Don’t worry God will make away.)

Sermonic Title: "The Act of Redemption"

Sermonic Structure:

I. The act of redemption is revealed through this legal contract (V. 1-12)

II. The act of redemption is revealed through this loving consummation (V. 13)

III. The act of redemption is revealed through this little child (V. 14-22)

Father your Family through the Famine

2009-06-23T07:48:00.000-07:00

Sunday Sermon
June 21st 2009
Rhema Community Church

Sermonic Skeleton

Sermonic Scripture: ESV Ruth 1:1-3 In the days when the judges ruled there was a famine in the land, and a man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons. 2 The name of the man was Elimelech and the name of his wife Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They went into the country of Moab and remained there. 3 But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons.

Sermonic Title: "Father your Family through the Famine"

Sermonic Theme: The providence of God (God will provide.)

Sermonic Subject: Fatherhood (Our paternal Christian responsibility to our family.)

Sermonic Tension: You may die before you complete your assignment as father.
(The ironic providence of God. The irony of this narrative is revealed in verse one it says “a man … went to sojourn in the country of Moab” however verse two says “they …remained.”)

Sermonic Sentence: How you handle your paternal assignment will shape your families image of God.

Sermonic Structure:

I. Father your family by leading them through the famine.
a. Legally there’s a famine. (Lawlessness Judges 21.25)
b. Naturally, there’s a famine. (Ruth 1.1)
c. Spiritually there’s a famine. (Judges 21.25/Ruth 1.1)

II. Father your family by laboring for them in the famine.
a. Naomi name means “pleasure, pleasant and my delight”
b. Mahlon name means “sick”
c. Chilion name means “pinning”

III. Father your family by preparing them for the day you may leave them and the famine.
a. Leave your family real-estate. (Ruth 4.3/ 4.9)
b. Leave your family riches. (Proverbs 13.22)
c. Leave your family connected to the redeemer. (Ruth 2.1)

Redemption

2009-06-09T07:25:00.000-07:00

Sunday Sermon
June 7th 2009
Rhema Community Church

Sermonic Skeleton: I had trepidation concerning chapter three of the book of Ruth therefore, I build a sermon on the subject of chapter three to familiarize our congregation on the biblical concept of kinsman redeemer.

Sermonic Text: Ruth 3

Sermon Title: Redemption

Sermonic Theme: The Providence of God (God will provide)

Sermonic Subject: Redemption (Boaz the redeemer)

Sermonic Tension: This narrative is not about romance it’s about redemption. (Therefore we are not to read into this ancient near eastern text twenty first century social mores of manipulation, scheming, raunchiness and or sex this is about the redemptive work of God.)

Sermonic Sentence: We have a song that the angels cannot sing, “I am redeemed.”

Sermonic Cross Reference: NLT Exodus 6:6 "Therefore, say to the Israelites: 'I am the LORD, and I will free you from your slavery in Egypt. I will redeem you with mighty power and great acts of judgment.

NIV Exodus 15:13 "In your unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed. In your strength you will guide them to your holy dwelling.

NLT Isaiah 41:14 Despised though you are, O Israel, don't be afraid, for I will help you. I am the LORD, your Redeemer. I am the Holy One of Israel.'

ESV Isaiah 51:10 Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over?

ESV Isaiah 61:1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; 2 to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; 3 to grant to those who mourn in Zion- to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified. 4 They shall build up the ancient ruins; they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations. 5 Strangers shall stand and tend your flocks; foreigners shall be your plowmen and vinedressers; 6 but you shall be called the priests of the LORD; they shall speak of you as the ministers of our God; you shall eat the wealth of the nations, and in their glory you shall boast. 7 Instead of your shame there shall be a double portion; instead of dishonor they shall rejoice in their lot; therefore in their land they shall possess a double portion; they shall have everlasting joy. 8 For I the LORD love justice; I hate robbery and wrong; I will faithfully give them their recompense, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. 9 Their offspring shall be known among the nations, and their descendants in the midst of the peoples; all who see them shall acknowledge them, that they are an offspring the LORD has blessed. 10 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. 11 For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up, so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up before all the nations.

NIV Job 19:25 I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.

NLT Psalm 19:14 May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart be pleasing to you, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.

NIV Romans 3:24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

NIV Romans 8:2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.

ESV Romans 8:23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

Sermonic Structure:

I. We are redeemed by God’s love

II. We are redeemed according to God’s law

III. We are redeemed through God’s son for eternal life

Gleaning in the Field

2009-06-01T13:07:00.000-07:00

Sunday Sermon
May 31st 2009
Rhema Community Church

Sermonic Skeleton

Sermonic Pericope: ESV Ruth 2:8-23 Then Boaz said to Ruth, "Now, listen, my daughter, do not go to glean in another field or leave this one, but keep close to my young women. 9 Let your eyes be on the field that they are reaping, and go after them. Have I not charged the young men not to touch you? And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink what the young men have drawn." 10 Then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground, and said to him, "Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?" 11 But Boaz answered her, "All that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told to me, and how you left your father and mother and your native land and came to a people that you did not know before. 12 The LORD repay you for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge!" 13 Then she said, "I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, for you have comforted me and spoken kindly to your servant, though I am not one of your servants." 14 And at mealtime Boaz said to her, "Come here and eat some bread and dip your morsel in the wine." So she sat beside the reapers, and he passed to her roasted grain. And she ate until she was satisfied, and she had some left over. 15 When she rose to glean, Boaz instructed his young men, saying, "Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not reproach her. 16 And also pull out some from the bundles for her and leave it for her to glean, and do not rebuke her." 17 So she gleaned in the field until evening. Then she beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley. 18 And she took it up and went into the city. Her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. She also brought out and gave her what food she had left over after being satisfied. 19 And her mother-in-law said to her, "Where did you glean today? And where have you worked? Blessed be the man who took notice of you." So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked and said, "The man's name with whom I worked today is Boaz." 20 And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, "May he be blessed by the LORD, whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead!" Naomi also said to her, "The man is a close relative of ours, one of our redeemers." 21 And Ruth the Moabite said, "Besides, he said to me, 'You shall keep close by my young men until they have finished all my harvest.'" 22 And Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, "It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, lest in another field you be assaulted." 23 So she kept close to the young women of Boaz, gleaning until the end of the barley and wheat harvests. And she lived with her mother-in-law.

Sermonic Title: “Gleaning in the Field”

Sermonic Theme: The Providence of God (God will provide)

Sermonic Subject: Relationship (Your most valuable possession in life is your personal relationships.) God uses people to bless people. Whom are you blessing today?
Bless someone today! Instead of looking for a blessing, become a blessing.

Sermonic Sentence: This lesson is tailored to teach us how to live on leftovers. (The provisions of God cannot be stopped by the famine past, present or future.) You can make it on a little.

Sermonic Tension: If you are in a famine right now, keep the faith our God will provide. NLT Psalm 37:25 Once I was young, and now I am old. Yet I have never seen the godly forsaken, nor seen their children begging for bread.

Sermonic Structure:

I. Ruth finds a fruitful field in the famine (Vrs 8-9)
A. Boaz tells Ruth to stay in the field
B. Boaz tells Ruth to stay close to his female field hands

II. Ruth finds favor in the famine (Vrs 10-13)

III. Ruth finds fulfillment in the famine (Vrs 14)

IV. Ruth finds a friend with a fortune in the famine (Vrs 15-23)
A. Boaz insures that no one reproaches Ruth (Vrs 15) Boaz insures that Ruth is physically protected.
B. Boaz insures that no one rebukes Ruth (Vrs 16) Boaz insures that Ruth is verbally protected.

Now the question arises who found whom? Did Ruth find the fruitful field or did the fruitful field find Ruth? Did Ruth find favor or did favor find Ruth? Did Ruth find fulfillment or did fulfillment find Ruth? Did Ruth find a friend with a fortune or did the friend with the fortune find Ruth?

Who's Carring You?

2009-05-29T08:28:00.000-07:00

One night I dreamed of walking along the shores of different lands.I could tell that You were with me by the footprints in the sand.As I gazed upon the heavens, I saw pages of my life.It was then I realized that You remained there by my side.When the clouds began to gather and the rains came falling down,I looked to only find one set of footprints on the ground.I said, "Lord, why did You leave me in the troubled times of life?I believed that You would always walk beside me day and night." (Then I heard:)"My precious child, I'd never leave you.I have carved you on the hollow of My hand.It's then I carried you in My arms,When you see one set of footprints in the sand"Dear Lord, will You be with me as I travel through the years?Will You be there in the struggles? Will You wipe away the tears?As my eyes turn toward the ocean and the shores of distant lands,I'm still thinking of the single set of footprints in the sand. (I heard Him say:)"My precious child, I'd never leave you.I have carved you on the hollow of My hand.It's then I carried you in My arms,When you see one set of footprints in the sand."Will I hear the angels singing, as my life comes to an end.Oh Lord, I long to see You. Will You be there once again?My eyes turn toward the heavens, along the path of foreign lands,Once more, I'm thinking of the set of footprints in the sand. (Jesus said:)"My precious child, I'd never leave you.See your name carved on the hollow of My hand.I'm here to carry you to your home.You will see one set of footprints in the sand. (by Mark Hargrave)

The text describes a dream, in which the person is walking on a beach with God (in some versions, specifically identified as Jesus). They leave two sets of footprints in the sand behind them. Looking back, the tracks are stated to represent various stages of this person's life. At some point, the two trails dwindle to one, especially at the lowest and most hopeless moments of the character's life. When the person questions God about this, believing that God must have abandoned his follower during those times, God gives the explanation: 'During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you'.

Not a Chance

2009-05-26T09:02:00.000-07:00

Sunday Sermon
May 24th 2009
Rhema Community Church

Sermonic Skeleton

Sermonic Scripture: ESV Ruth 2:1-7 Now Naomi had a relative of her husband's, a worthy man of the clan of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz. 2 And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, "Let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I shall find favor." And she said to her, "Go, my daughter." 3 So she set out and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers, and she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the clan of Elimelech. 4 And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem. And he said to the reapers, "The LORD be with you!" And they answered, "The LORD bless you." 5 Then Boaz said to his young man who was in charge of the reapers, "Whose young woman is this?" 6 And the servant who was in charge of the reapers answered, "She is the young Moabite woman, who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab. 7 She said, 'Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves after the reapers.' So she came, and she has continued from early morning until now, except for a short rest."

Sermonic Theme: The Providence of God (God will provide)

Sermonic Subject: Chance or Providence (Though there be no such thing as Chance in the world; our ignorance of the real cause of any event has the same influence on the understanding, and begets a like species of belief or opinion. David Hume)

Sermonic Sentence: God will provide what you need when you need it where you need it how you need it, and who you may need to achieve it. (He may not come when you want Him, but you are going to want Him when He comes.)

Sermonic Tension: There are no accidents in the life of believers. “Chance, when strictly examined, is a mere negative word, and means not any real power which has anywhere a being in nature.” David Hume

Sermonic Background: Providence from the Latin providere, “to provide.” The word “providence” does not occur in the Bible. It refers, however, to three biblical concepts: (1) In theology, providence is the general foresight, love, and care of God for people. (Romans 8.28) Providence can also refer to the idea that (2) God had divinely ordained or preordained certain events, or that (3) the universe is under God’s control so that ultimately good will be produced.

Redemption from the Latin redemption, from redimere, “to redeem,” to buy back again.” In theology, the idea that Christ “redeemed” or “bought back” mankind by delivering us from sin and its punishment, therefore making salvation possible. Jesus came to redeem all of fallen creation and to pay the price for human sin.

NLT Mark 10:45 For even I, the Son of Man, came here not to be served but to serve others, and to give my life as a ransom for many."

NIV Luke 2:38 Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.

ESV Luke 24:21 But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened.

KJV Romans 3:24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:

NIV 1 Corinthians 1:30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God-- that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.

ESV Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us- for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree"-

NIV Galatians 4:5 to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.

Hume clearly acknowledges that chance has no existence: there is “no such thing as chance in the world.” He also speaks of the real cause of any event. We may be ignorant of the real cause, but it emphatically does not follow that there is no real cause. We know that chance can never be the real cause of anything because there is no such thing (res) in the world as chance. Speaking of “chance” in a causal way is begotten from ignorance of real causes. Chance is an unreal cause, which is no cause.

Sermonic Structure:

I. The family you have do you think that’s by chance. (Verse 1)

II. The friends you have do you think that’s by chance. (Verse 2)

III. The field you’re in do you think that’s by chance. (Verse 3-5)

IV. The footsteps you’ve made do you think that’s by chance. (Verse 6)

V. The favor you are receiving do you think that’s all by chance. (Verse 7)

Are you Bitter or Better?

2009-05-20T03:20:00.000-07:00

Sunday Sermon
May 17th 2009
Rhema Community Church

Sermonic Skeleton

Sermonic Scripture: ESV Ruth 1:19-22 So the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem. And when they came to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them. And the women said, "Is this Naomi?" 20 She said to them, "Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. 21 I went away full, and the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi, when the LORD has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?" 22 So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabite her daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the country of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest.

Sermonic Theme: The Providence of God (God will provide)

Sermonic Subject: The Grace of God. (Stop grumbling over Grace)

Sermonic Tension: God is good however, life maybe bitter. (How do you handle life when you think God is being bitter towards you?)

Sermonic Sentence: Glorifying God is the antidote to bitterness.

Sermonic Structure:

I. If you desire to be better and not bitter acknowledge you are human (Verse 19)

II. If you desire to be better and not bitter acknowledge you are hurt (Verse 20)

III. If you desire to be better and not bitter acknowledge you have help (Verse 21)

IV. If you desire to be better and not bitter acknowledge you have hope (Verse 22)

The Power of God's Love

2009-05-11T06:08:00.000-07:00

Sunday Sermon
May 10th 2009
Rhema Community Church

Sermonic Skeleton

Sermonic Pericope: ESV Ruth 1:1-18 In the days when the judges ruled there was a famine in the land, and a man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons. 2 The name of the man was Elimelech and the name of his wife Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They went into the country of Moab and remained there. 3 But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4 These took Moabite wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. They lived there about ten years, 5 and both Mahlon and Chilion died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband. 6 Then she arose with her daughters-in-law to return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the fields of Moab that the LORD had visited his people and given them food. 7 So she set out from the place where she was with her two daughters-in-law, and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah. 8 But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, "Go, return each of you to her mother's house. May the LORD deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. 9 The LORD grant that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband!" Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept. 10 And they said to her, "No, we will return with you to your people." 11 But Naomi said, "Turn back, my daughters; why will you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb that they may become your husbands? 12 Turn back, my daughters; go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, even if I should have a husband this night and should bear sons, 13 would you therefore wait till they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, for it is exceedingly bitter to me for your sake that the hand of the LORD has gone out against me." 14 Then they lifted up their voices and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. 15 And she said, "See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law." 16 But Ruth said, "Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the LORD do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you." 18 And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more.

Sermonic Theme: The Providence of God (God will provide)

Sermonic Subject: God’s Love (God packages His love in human flesh)

Sermonic Tension: Love ones die however, the love of God forever lives.

Sermonic Sentence: The providential hand of God’s love is actively at work in our lives today.

Sermonic Background: The book of Ruth is set chronologically in the midst of the dark years of the judges. It offers encouragement and hope to those who decide to follow God. This story of love and dedication revolves around three people who determine in their hearts to walk in integrity, clinging to their God and His precepts three people who know who their King is and who do what is right in His eyes Ruth, Naomi and Boaz.

It is the story of an ordinary godly family that despite life’s misfortunes never lost hope and in the end found happiness. Life’s villains are present sin, famine and death in the midst of this reality the book of Ruth reveals to us the loyalty, generosity, kindness and devotion of simple honest people.

It is impossible to read Ruth without the feeling that although He was hidden behind coincidence and human artifice, God was in control all the time. When we are told that “chance” led Ruth to Boaz’s plot we know that it was anything but “chance”. Nor can we escape the conclusion that when religion nationally was in distress, it was through islands of faith in the families of people like Naomi that God preserved a nucleus of faith. Moreover, whilst God was caring for ordinary families He was equally at work on the stage of history. For when Ruth remarried, it was to become the great-grandmother of David and an ancestress of Christ Himself. In recounting this the sacred author is showing through Ruth, a woman with the Moabite blood of one of Israel’s staunchest foes in her veins, that when it comes to race or sex God has no favorites.

In a poem that touches the sublime in a paradigm of devotion and piety Ruth, elects to accompany Naomi back to Bethlehem and to adopt her God as her God (Ruth 1.1-22). The final verses of Ruth show us that Ruth was included in the genealogy of David and therefore in the human lineage of our Lord Jesus Christ. Not only did a sovereign God include the harlot, Rahab, in the genealogy of His Son, moreover, He also chose a Gentile, Ruth. Both of these women chose to believe God when those around them did not! In the book of Judges, Israel forsook the true God and turned to idols, while in Ruth the opposite is seen. One Gentile woman turns from idols to serve the only wise true living God. (Naomi is an unsung ‘shero’ of sacred scripture.)

Sermonic Structure:

I. Naomi is Surrounded by God’s Love (Verse 1)

II. Naomi is Supported by God’s Love (Verse 2)

III. Naomi is Surprised by God’s Love (Verses 3-17)

IV. Naomi is Silenced by God’s Love (Verses 18)

Dancing with God

2009-05-04T06:39:00.000-07:00

Sunday Sermon
May 3rd 2009
Rhema Community Church

Sermonic Skeleton: This is an introductory Sermon to the Book of Ruth

Sermonic Scripture:ESV Ruth 1:16 But Ruth said, "Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.

Sermonic Theme: The Providence of God

Sermonic Subject: Trust God with your life.
(Faith in God)

Sermonic Tension: In life, you may experience a tremendous amount of negativity.

Sermonic Sentence: God will provide

Sermonic Background: By any standards the Book of Ruth is a classic short story. It has been called the most beautiful short story ever written. It deals with a plot that naturally emerges through conversations between the major characters: Ruth, Naomi, and Boaz. The setting of the book is the time of the judges. The period of the judges was between the initial conquest of Palestine under Joshua and the establishment of the monarchy under Saul. It was a time of moral and political chaos in Israel. There was no strong central government or leader, the people repeatedly turned away from God, and neighboring peoples constantly harassed and invaded the disorganized nation (Judg 2:14-15; 21:25).

Providence The idea of providence is implicit in any notion of God as the Supreme Being. An adequate definition of the idea of God requires his over lordship of the history of all that is. Nevertheless, the Christian doctrine of the providence of God rests not upon such metaphysical speculation, but on the teaching of the Bible. Providence is the beneficent outworking of God’s sovereignty whereby all events are directed and disposed to bring about those purposes of glory and good for which the universe was made. These events include the actions of free agents, which while remaining free, personal and responsible are also the intended actions of those agents.

Providence thus encompasses both natural and personal events, setting them alike within the purposes of God. Providence from the Latin providere, “to provide.” The word “providence” does not occur in the Bible. It refers, however, to three biblical concepts: (1) in theology, providence is the general foresight, love, and care of God for people. Romans 8.28 reads: “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” Providence can also refer to the idea that. (2) God has divinely ordained or preordained certain events, or that. (3) The universe is under God’s control so that ultimately good will is produced. Providence is the loving care and governance that God exercises over the created universe. The traditional picture of providence is one in which God, as an omniscient, omnipotent and perfectly good being, has exhaustive knowledge of the past, present and future, and exercises his power to ensure that every event that occurs is part of his perfect plan. Some have recently questioned such a view of providence by arguing that it does not do justice to human freedom. According to a revised view, God knows all the possibilities and knows what responses he must make to ensure that his goals are achieved. The issues raised by providence are closely linked to the problems raised by predestination and the compatibility of divine foreknowledge and human free will.

Sermonic Skeleton:

I. Hear Life’s Music
a. The tempo of life's music is selected by God
b. The length of life's music is determined by God

II. Follow God’s Lead
a. God leads us with His omniscience
b. God leads us with His omnipresence
c. God leads us with His omnipotence

III. Hold Onto God’s Hand
a. God has plans for your life
b. God has people for your life
c. God has provision for your life

A Manual for Ministry

2009-04-27T07:41:00.000-07:00

Sunday Sermon
April 26, 2009
Rhema Community Church

Sermonic Skeleton

Sermonic Scripture: ESV Matthew 10:1-15 And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction. 2 The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. 5 These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, "Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, 6 but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 And proclaim as you go, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.' 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay. 9 Acquire no gold nor silver nor copper for your belts, 10 no bag for your journey, nor two tunics nor sandals nor a staff, for the laborer deserves his food. 11 And whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it and stay there until you depart. 12 As you enter the house, greet it. 13 And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. 14 And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. 15 Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.

Sermonic Theme: The Lord’s Judgment

Sermonic Subject: Discipleship (This is an eclectic, diverse mixed group of men. However, they all were hand selected by the Lord.)

Sermonic Sentence: The Lord has called us as His disciples to go minister to lost people.(Ministry starts at home. First, you are to import it then you are to export it.)

Sermonic Tension: Being a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ may put you on the receiving end of bitter rejection. (The disciple’s life is an intense adventurous journey. Doing God’s will is a major undertaking essentially you are living by His word.)

Sermonic Background: DISCIPLES from the Greek mathetes and the Latin dicipulus, literally “a learner.” Often used to refer to the twelve Apostles (Matthew 10.1; Luke 22.11), it is also one of the names given to Christians in the NT; the meaning is that Christians are learning or followers of Jesus. In the Bible the word “disciple” implies a personal adherence, a living out of, the teachings of the Master Teacher. In the NT one is known as Jesus disciple by abiding in His Word (John 8.31; 13.35; 15.8). In Acts, those who have believed upon Him and confessed Him are called disciples (6.1-2, 7; 14.20-22, 28; 15.10; 19.1).

Sermonic Structure:

I. Minister with The Lord’s Power (verse 1)

II. Minister with The Lord’s People (verses 2-4)

III. Minister with The Lord’s Plan (verses 5-11)

IV. Minister with The Lord’s Peace (verses 12-15)

Why Johnny Can't Preach

2009-04-24T04:27:00.000-07:00

What would make a difference would be Christian proclamation that was less concerned with “how-to” and more concerned with “why-to,” why humans are fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of God. (Snippet from “Why Johnny Can’t PREACH” pg 60- T. David Gordon)

NLT Psalm 139:14 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous-- and how well I know it.

Looking for Jesus

2009-04-18T23:58:00.000-07:00

Sunday Sermon
April 12. 2009
Rhema Community Church

Sermonic Skeleton

Sermonic Scripture: ESV John 11:25-26 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?"

Sermonic Subject: The Resurrection (Jesus has power over death.)

Sermonic Theme: The Glory of God, Eternal Life & Living Faith (The stewardship of time and relationships)

Sermonic Tension: Death (Death always comes at an inconvenient time.)

Sermonic Sentence: I am the resurrection and the life.

Sermonic Background: RESURRECTION The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most important doctrine of the Christian faith. Christians since the NT have argued for the centrality of the doctrine, convinced that it proved Jesus deity and the efficacy of His death for our sins. Paul, for example, considered the resurrection to be the cornerstone of the Christian faith: If Jesus did not rise from the dead, the whole structure of Christianity collapses. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15.14-17: “And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God… And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile.”

The Christian faith and its claim to be Truth exist only if Jesus rose from the dead, because the heart of Christianity is a living Christ. See: Philippians 3.20-21; II Corinthians 5.1-5; I Thessalonians 4.16-17.

The fact that Jesus rose bodily (in a real physical body) from the grave has been fundamental to Christian teaching from the beginning. In the NT Jesus, appearance is depicted as spiritual in the sense of being independent of the ordinary laws of nature but also as material or physical. He invited them to touch His hands and feet “for a spirit does not have flesh and bones” (Luke 24.39-40; see also: Matthew 27.61-66; 28.1-20; Mark 16.1-20; Luke 24.1-53; John 20.10-31).

Resurrection of the Dead From the Latin resurrection, from resurgere, “to rise again,” from re, “again,” and sugere, “to rise.” Both the OT and NT teach that the dead will come back to life. From the Christian the resurrection will be a complete redemption, with a new body that will be immortal and incorruptible. See: Isaiah 25.6-8; 26.19; Daniel 12.1-4; I Corinthians 15; 1 Thessalonians 4.14-17.

Christian doctrine those who are redeemed in Christ are destined to live again in renewed, transformed bodies after death. The pattern for the resurrection is the resurrection of Jesus, whose body was raised from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. The nature of resurrected bodies is mysterious, but the church has traditionally taught that there will be both continuity and discontinuity between our current earthly bodies and our “spiritual” resurrection bodies. (This is the seventh and greatest sign-miracle of Jesus. God’s delay is not synonymous with God’s denial.)

Sermonic Structure:

I. Look for Jesus to help you deal with the reality of Death

II. Look for Jesus to help you respond appropriately to Death

III. Look for Jesus to help you rise after Death

Crucifixion

2009-04-10T06:48:00.000-07:00

CRUCIFIXION was used by many nations of the ancient world, including Assyria, Media, and Persia. Alexander the Great of Greece crucified 2,000 inhabitants of Tyre when he captured the city. The Romans later adopted this method and used it often throughout their empire. Crucifixion was the Romans’ most severe form of execution so it was reserved only for slaves and criminals. No Roman citizen could be crucified. Before being impaled, the victim was stripped naked and scourged with a flagellum, a whip with rock and bond bound to leather thongs, and act which tore the skin and muscle down to the bone.

Often, victims to be crucified were disemboweled during the scourging process, yet their bodies were still publicly displayed on the cross. After being scourged, the victim was forced to carry the cross-beam of his cross outside the city to the place of crucifixion. During the process, the victim was led by a herald with the “title,” the written accusation against the victim. Upon reaching the place of execution, the victim was laid on the ground, the beam placed under his shoulders, and his arms or hands tied and/or nailed to it. This cross-beam was then attached to an upright beam just high enough so the victim’s feet could not touch the ground. The victim’s feet were then tied and/or nailed to the upright beam; the main weight of the body was supported by a peg projecting from the upright beam called a “sedile.”

The victim was usually left to die of starvation or exhaustion, though sometimes the death process was hastened by breaking the victim’s legs. This hastened the death process; during scourging, the diaphragm was usually damaged, forcing the victim to physically lift himself in order to breathe. Breaking the victim’s legs prevented this, so in effect the victim would die of suffocation.

THE SUFFERINGS IN THE PASSION The sufferings of Christ in His death have been labeled His passive obedience in classical Protestant theology. This passive obedience stands in contrast to Christ’s active obedience which refers to the obedience exhibited during His lifetime. His life was, of course, one of obedience, beginning with His willing acceptance of the Incarnation (Heb. 10:5-10), and continuing throughout His entire life on earth (Luke 2:52; John 8:29). Through suffering He learned obedience (Heb. 5:8).

The sufferings of Christ’s life, though real, were not atoning. Nevertheless, the merit of His atoning death is inseparable from the sinlessness and perfection of His life which was attested to by His life of obedience. Thus while theologians have made this distinction between life and death sufferings (active and passive obedience), it fails to be very significant, since only the sufferings of His death and His obedience in being the sacrificial Lamb were atoning.

Strictly speaking, then, only the sufferings on the cross were atoning. It was during the three hours of darkness when God laid on Christ the sins of the world that Atonement was being made. The abuse and scourgings that preceded His time on the cross were part of the sufferings of His life (Isaiah 53).

NLT Deuteronomy 21:23 the body must never remain on the tree overnight. You must bury the body that same day, for anyone hanging on a tree is cursed of God. Do not defile the land the LORD your God is giving you as a special possession.

ESV Mark 15:13-15 And they cried out again, "Crucify him." 14 And Pilate said to them, "Why, what evil has he done?" But they shouted all the more, "Crucify him." 15 So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.

KJV Mark 15:23 And they gave him to drink wine mingled with myrrh: but he received it not.

NLT Mark 15:25 It was nine o'clock in the morning when the crucifixion took place.

NIV Mark 15:34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"-- which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

NLT Mark 15:37 Then Jesus uttered another loud cry and breathed his last.

ESV John 19:31-33 Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. 32 So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him. 33 But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs.

NLT 1 Corinthians 1:23-24 So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended, and the Gentiles say it's all nonsense. 24 But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the mighty power of God and the wonderful wisdom of God.

ESV Hebrews 10:5-10 Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, "Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; 6 in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. 7 Then I said, 'Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.'" 8 When he said above, "You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings" (these are offered according to the law), 9 then he added, "Behold, I have come to do your will." He abolishes the first in order to establish the second. 10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

NLT Hebrews 5:8 So even though Jesus was God's Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered.

The Cross from a Black Mans Perspective

2009-04-06T06:38:00.000-07:00

Sunday Sermon
April 5, 2009
Rhema Community Church

Sermonic Skeleton (Ronald's Classic Collection)

Sermonic Scripture: ESV Mark 15:21 And they compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross.

Sermonic Theme: Ministry

Sermonic Subject: Crucifixion/ the Passion of Christ

Sermonic Sentence: This text is tailored to teach us how to serve God under pressure.

Sermonic Tension: God uses pressure to thrust human beings into service.

Sermonic Structure:

I. This Black Man was FORCED to go the Way of the Cross
a. Jesus was weary
b. Jesus was weak
c. Jesus was wounded (Isaiah 53.5)

II. This Black Man was FORCED to feel the Weight of the Cross
a. It was heavy (physically & historically)
b. It was humiliating
c. It was honorable

III. This Black Man was FORCED to see the Wonder of the Cross
a. He was transfixed at the cross
b. He was transformed by the cross
c. He was transparent after the cross (Romans 16.13)