April 21, 2013 | Jonah 2:1-10 - Salvation is From the Lord: Why I Stand Amazed

The third part of our verse-by-verse exposition of Jonah.

Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the stomach of the fish, ² and he said,

“I called out of my distress to the Lord,
And He answered me.
I cried for help from the depth of Sheol;
You heard my voice.
³ “For You had cast me into the deep,
Into the heart of the seas,
And the current engulfed me.
All Your breakers and billows passed over me.
⁴ “So I said, ‘I have been expelled from Your sight.
Nevertheless I will look again toward Your holy temple.’
⁵ “Water encompassed me to the point of death.
The great deep engulfed me,
Weeds were wrapped around my head.
⁶ “I descended to the roots of the mountains.
The earth with its bars was around me forever,
But You have brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God.
⁷ “While I was fainting away,
I remembered the Lord,
And my prayer came to You,
Into Your holy temple.
⁸ “Those who regard vain idols
Forsake their faithfulness,
⁹ But I will sacrifice to You
With the voice of thanksgiving.
That which I have vowed I will pay.
Salvation is from the Lord.”

¹⁰ Then the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah up onto the dry land.





Audio
Notes


April 7, 2013 | Jonah 1:1-3 - You Can Run But Not Hide: Why That is Really Good News
April 14, 2013 | Jonah 1:4-17 - Grace Goes Both Ways You Know: Why that is Really Really Good News
April 21, 2013 | Jonah 2:1-10 - Salvation is From the Lord: Why I Stand Amazed





For more:
Simul justus et peccator: Luther & the Heart of the Gospel
I Hear You: A Sermon Illustration
How Are We to Understand Jonah: As Historical?
How Are We to Understand Jonah: As Midrash?
How Are We to Understand Jonah: As Allegorical?
Holman Dictionary on Jonah
Bibledex on Jonah
VeggieTales and Jonah 

October 28, 2012 | Jude 1-25 - Is Grace a Licence to Sin?: Jude & the Antinomians

Last Sunday we took a bit of a break from the book of Philippians. The reason is to offer some balance. Religion, as portrayed in Philippians 3:1-11, is an extortion of the gospel. But so is antinomianism. In the New Testament we see both extremes present and condemned by the apostles. Paul has to deal with the Judaizers in many of the earliest writings like Philippians and Galatians. The later writings, like Jude and 2 Peter, are having to deal with the opposite, libertarianism. Thus I thought it would be helpful to look at the latter following our discussion of religion.

¹ Jude, a bond-servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James,
To those who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ: ² May mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you.

³ Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints. ⁴ For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

⁵ Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe. ⁶ And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day, ⁷ just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.

⁸ Yet in the same way these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority, and revile angelic majesties. ⁹ But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” ¹⁰ But these men revile the things which they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed. ¹¹ Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah. ¹² These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted; ¹³ wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever.

¹⁴ It was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, ¹⁵ to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.” ¹⁶ These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts; they speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage.

¹⁷ But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁸ that they were saying to you, “In the last time there will be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts.” ¹⁹ These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit. ²⁰ But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, ²¹ keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. ²² And have mercy on some, who are doubting; ²³ save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.

²⁴ Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, ²⁵ to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.




Notes
Audio 


September 2, 2012 | Philippians 1:1-11 - The Joy of Thanksgiving & Prayer 
September 16, 2012 | Philippians 1:19-30 - The Joy of the Future
September 23, 2012 | Philippians 2:1-4: The Joy of Humility
September 30, 2012 | Philippians 2:5-11: The Joy of Holy Condescension
October 7, 2012 | Philippians 2:12-30: The Joy of Sanctification 
October 21, 2012 | Philippians 3:1-11: The Joy of a Pure Gospel
October 28, 2012 | Jude 1-25 - Is Grace a License to Sin?: Jude & the Antinomians


For more:
Jude: Contend Earnestly for the Faith Once For All Delivered to the Saints

Using God's Gifts As Weapons: Dr. Moore on the 3rd Temptation

The book that inspired our current series on the temptation of Jesus is Dr. Russell Moore's wonderful book, Tempted and Tried: Temptation and the Triumph of Christ. Regarding next Sunday's temptation, the third temptation, Dr. Moore has the following to say:

When Eve, and then Adam, turned from the world of God to believing th word of Satan, they acted as though Satan could be the guarantor of their exaltation. They worshiped him. The nihilism of the fall wasn’t simply tat the primeval couple a from the wrong tree. They worshiped the wrong god and thus attacked the entire structure of the divine economy.

The further the Israelites went away from their merciful rescue from Egypt, the more they showed the same idolatrous instinct. The golden calf incident sums up perfectly the nihilism of human pride. The calf was made of gold, of course, but the Scripture insists that we acknowledge where this gold had come from in the first place. Aaron had taken up an offering of “the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters” (Ex. 32:2). Now where did these “rings of gold” come from? The Israelites had plundered this gold jewelry from their Egyptian taskmasters, right before their flight into the night (Ex. 12:35) They did so at the direction of the word fo God. And how did it come about? It was because “the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked” (Ex. 12:36).

The Israelites used the very gifts God had given them as a weapon against him, the height of entitlement and hubris. This was, of course, precisely what our first ancestors did as well. God created the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He gave the vegetation to the man and woman to eat. They used the one as a means of insurrection and the other as a hiding place from communion with God. In their pride they’d forgotten they were creatures and subjects and sons and daughters. As the Israelites danced around the golden calf, and in every other instance of worshiping a thing rather than God, they showed they loved their kingdom more than their King. By offering praise to a crated thing made out of their own stuff, they were “rejoicing in the works of their hands” (Acts 7:41).

Satan was willing to give away his territorial rights to the kingdoms of this world partly because he knew he wouldn’t be giving up a kingdom but rather would be gaining another subject. Satan knew from millennia of experience that seeking the kingdom while rejecting the King means losing both. -140-141


July 1, 2012 | Mark 1:1-15 - Make War: The Great Cosmic War & the Warrior Whose Already Won It 
July 8, 2012 | 1 John 2:15-17 - Gone Fishing: The Bait & Hook Strategy of Temptation  
July 15, 2012 | Luke 3:18-4:22 - Who's Your Daddy?: Our Christian Identity and the Nature of Temptation
July 22, 2012 | Matthew 4:1-4 - Hungry? Why Wait?: Learning to Feast When on a 40 Day Fast
August 8, 2012 | Matthew 4:5-7 - Don't Jump: Why the Gospel is Greater Than Self-Vindication
 

For more:
GBC - "Tempted and Tried": A Review
GBC - Trip Lee "War" (lyrics)
GBC - Brad Stine on Fishing and Fishermen
GBC - "Make War!": Piper's Call To Fight Sin
Sermon - December 20., 2009 - Worship the King:  The Folly of Misplaced Allegiance 
Sermon - November 22, 2009 - Self-Control in the Face of Temptation
GBC - Still Surviving The Storm

July 8, 2012 | 1 John 2:15-17 - Gone Fishing: The Bait & Hook Strategy of Temptation

Sunday morning we continued our study of the temptation with special emphasis on the temptation of Jesus. Last week we made the point that we must make war against sin. This past Sunday, we saw how the flesh, the world, and the devil wages this war; through the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life.

Let's make war!


¹⁵ Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶ For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. ¹⁷  The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.





Audio
Notes


July 1, 2012 | Mark 1:1-15 - Make War: The Great Cosmic War & the Warrior Whose Already Won It


For more:
GBC - Trip Lee "War" (lyrics)
GBC - Brad Stine on Fishing and Fishermen
GBC - "Make War!": Piper's Call To Fight Sin
GBC - "Tempted and Tried": A Review
Sermon - December 20., 2009 - Worship the King:  The Folly of Misplaced Allegiance 
Sermon - November 22, 2009 - Self-Control in the Face of Temptation
GBC - Still Surviving The Storm

"Make War!": Piper's Call To Fight Sin

Sunday we begin a new series looking at the Temptation of Christ. We'll begin by highlighting Mark's brief account in order to highlight the greater war behind His temptation and ours. In short, we will declare war over sin, temptation, the flesh, the world, and the devil himself.

In preparation, I strongly encourage you to listen to the following sermon by John Piper on Romans 8:10-17 called How to Fight Sin, Part 2. The money quote is:

I hear so many Christians murmuring about their imperfections and their failures and their addictions and their short-comings, And I see so little war! ‘Murmur, murmur, murmur… Why am I this way?’ MAKE WAR!” 


Listen to the sermon here.


This sermon and the quote above inspired one Christian rapper to write a song simply titled "Make War." Here's the video.




For more:
Sermon - December 20., 2009 - Worship the King:  The Folly of Misplaced Allegiance 
Sermon - November 22, 2009 - Self-Control in the Face of Temptation
GBC - Still Surviving The Storm


More on Piper:
GBC - Repost | "A Sweet & Bitter Providence" by John Piper 
GBC - Repost | The Critical Question For Our Generation: Piper on Heaven & the Satisfying Presence of Christ 
GBC - Bloodlines: A Documentary About Racism 
GBC - The Gospel Animated

Pornography is Not Just a Male Problem

You may recall from a few weeks ago our discussion of lust, sex, pornography, and adultery.  One of the things we talked about is how this is not just a young male problem, but it encompasses people of all genders and age.  Recently, the New York Times published an article on how one church is counseling women addicted to pornography.  Though it is a long article, it is fascinating to read.

Though women are more audible and seek to be noticed, pornography is becoming more popular among woman.  This means that as Christians move forward in this society, we must realize that this industry is growing in ways that we may want to refuse to believe.  We live in a highly sexual world that needs the grace of God.


New York Times - Church Counsels Women Addicted to Pornography
Above picture taken from article site


For more:
Sermon - February 28, 2010 - Matthew 5:27-30 - America's Favorite Past Time:  Our Lust for Lust 
Some Light Reading: On Lust
Augustine's Pears: Lust's Lust

Commentary - Pornography for the Blind:  Our Continuing Fantasy With What is Not Real
Commentary - The Great Recession or the Recession that Made Us Great?:  Pornography and the Frugality of Lust

Augustine's Pears: Lust's Lust

I am contemplated about telling the story of the great theologian's confession about when he stole some pears. Augustine account is insight, and thought simple, we can easily relate to it. Augustine recounts when he stole some pears with a group of friends and what motivated him to do it.

What fruit had I then (wretched man!) in those things, of the remembrance whereof I am now ashamed? Especially, in that theft which I loved for the theft's sake; and it too was nothing, and therefore the more miserable I, who loved it. Yet alone I had not done it: such was I then, I remember, alone I had never done it. I loved then in it also the company of the accomplices, with whom I did it? I did not then love nothing else but the theft, yea rather I did love nothing else; for that circumstance of the company was also nothing. What is, in truth? who can teach me, save He that enlighteneth my heart, and discovereth its dark corners? What is it which hath come into my mind to enquire, and discuss, and consider? For had I then loved the pears I stole, and wished to enjoy them, I might have done it alone, had the bare commission of the theft sufficed to attain my pleasure; nor needed I have inflamed the itching of my desires by the excitement of accomplices. But since my pleasure was not in those pears, it was in the offence itself, which the company of fellow-sinners occasioned.

What is interesting about this is that Augustine did not steal because he needed the pears for food, but because he wanted the excited that came with it. That is the nature of sin. It is sort of like a dog chasing his own tail. The excite is in chasing it, not actually catching it. Whenever a dog catches his tail, he is disappointed. Though he wanted that tail so badly, once he caught it, it was not what he expected it to be. Augustine felt the same way. He finally got the pears he wanted to badly, but once he got them, the thrill was gone.

Lust is very much the same way. To be consumed with lust is like Augustine and his pears or like a dog and his tail. We want pleasure, satisfaction, intimacy, or a "soul mate" so badly that when we see that person or that item or that image we think that our lives what be better. We think we will find contentment. But when we attain what we have lusted after for so long, all that happens is disappointment. All that is left to do is throw it out and chase after something else. Much like Augustine's pears.

February 14, 2010 - Matthew 5:21-22: I am a Murderer . . . And So Are You

Here is this weeks message, both the audio and the notes. Everything is free and I pray that it leads us towards Christ and gospel living. I have really enjoyed the Sermon on the Mount and no wonder it has been a major force in Christianity since Jesus first preached it.

Audio
Notes

November 18, 2009 - Jude 9-10

Here are the notes for our study on Jude 9-10. I really enjoyed it and thought it was one of our better Bible Studies where we had an excellent conversation.

Notes.

Romans 1:18-32: The Depravity of Man - Part 1

Again, the notes will be available at the end of our study on Romans.

Still Surviving The Storm

The more I think about it, the more that title sounds like a gospel song.? Anyways, I just wanted to updated everyone one Amanda, Elijah, and I's situation in light of the recent winter storm that we have been experiencing all week. Tuesday our power went out, as it did for most Kentuckians. And being that Elijah is only 3 1/2 months old, we sought refuge and found it at Betty Phillips house. We remained there until Friday morning when the power at the house came on. Shortly upon arriving at the parsonage, the power went out again due to the melting ice on the power lines.

Therefore, we fled to Owensboro to my great-uncle's house. In fact, this is where we are right now. It is late, everyone is asleep, and I finally have some time to try to update some of the people at the church. The three of us plan on returning home early Sunday morning (by the way, church is cancelled)

I pray that God has protected and provided for everyone during this difficult week. I realize that most will not have any power for perhaps another week or so. Virtually all of the county's phone lines are down. Even cell phones aren't hardly working. And though I don't suspect many will be able to access this site, I wanted to update anyone I could on our situation and encourage everyone to persevere through this difficult time.

All week, I have been struck by the amazing beauty of outside. I love ice storms, especially whenever the sun is setting. I just really enjoy walking outside and enjoying God's creation and His gift of ice. The problem, however, is what happens during an ice storm: power outages, freezing weather, no water, etc.

I am reminded on this one thing: many of the things that we find so attractive can be the most deadly. In life, we find ourselves attracted to the things that we should fear rather than celebrate the things that are pure and lovely. I love ice storms, but I would much rather it always be spring (minus the tornadoes) and remain safe. Praying for an ice storm and getting it is not always the best thing in the world. Like all people, this has not been a fun week.

And so as we continue to clean up and get our power turned back on, let us learn the lesson that throughout all of life, sin is oftentimes the most attractive thing, but at the same time, the deadliest. Just like winter storms.

I pray that everyone is doing well and we will see each other soon in worship!