- Seven Bad Habits of Believers that Sicken Christ and Make Him Vomit
Date: Apr 9, 2012
Perhaps the most unlikely words to be uttered by the Lord Jesus Christ are in our Bibes this morning. Jesus says in modern terms of the church in Laodicea, “You make me sick!” As we open to Revelation 3:14-22, Jesus writes a letter that all scholars conclude is the most piercing, stinging, and scathing letter He ever wrote to any church. Jesus Christ, Lord and Purchaser with His own blood of His Church: is very troubled. For the first time, after six other letters to churches: Jesus has NOTHING good to say about this church. The other six each has something Jesus could commend, but not here. He has nothing good to say about this church. Revelation 3:14-22
- The Rapture is Christ's Intentional Rescue of His Church: From What?
Date: Apr 9, 2012
When Peter addressed the most heavily persecuted saints of the 1st Century, living all around the area of the seven churches we are studying in Revelation: he told them a foundational truth. He told them that salvation opens to us life-long lives of hope. The common denominator we find across the pages of the New Testament is a group of saints looking for Christ’s Return. They were trained, taught, and modeled this life of waiting. Waiting for Jesus to return was explained to be their cause for hope. His intentional rescue was promised to keep them from the wrath to be poured out as Christ's 2nd Coming. Note how Paul taught them these were two separate events in his letters to the Thessalonians. Revelation 3:7-13
- Join Us in The Land of The Book
Date: Apr 6, 2012
Join Us in The Land of The Book
- A Prayer When We Feel Insecure
Date: Mar 24, 2012
David faced constant insecurities and huge responsibilities as he and his men hid from King Saul in the forest of Hereth. Psalm 17:6-7, "I have called upon You, for You will hear me, O God; incline Your ear to me, and hear my speech. Show Your marvelous lovingkindness by Your right hand, O You who save those who trust in You from those who rise up against them."
- Beware of the Deadening Effects of Intentional Sin
Date: Mar 24, 2012
Psalm 32 explains how the rivers of living water refreshed the soul of David. The man after God’s own heart has returned. The joy is back, the peace is back, the fellowship is renewed, and the songs begin to flow again. But we must never forget—the consequences continued. And what a song it must have been. It was the song of a soul set free. This Psalm may capture that initial gratitude of liberation David must have felt. Psalm 32 is his testimony at the relief of forgiveness. But to really experience the wonder of David’s deliverance from the vice grip of sin open with me to that climactic moment when God gave back to David His joy, His peace and His new song!
- Confession is Intensely Personal
Date: Mar 24, 2012
When David stood at the other end of Nathan’s boney finger, pointed directly in his face—he was guilty, and he knew it. David had broken every law in the book, God’s Book. In reality, David had broken all of the Ten Commandments when he sinned with Bathsheba. How had he broken them all? In two ways; first by his actions he broke them all. And secondly, by God’s standards he broke them all. The good news is that Jesus died for all of us who are guilty sinners. As we read the rest of this Psalm and see how David asked for the sacrificial death of another to be counted for him (purge me with hyssop)—we can see why Christ's death for us sinners is so precious, and so powerful.
- David's Holy Habits
Date: Mar 24, 2012
Psalm 132 captures David’s spiritual secret. We find here that David is talking about his childhood; and from this Psalm we can detect the choices that made him able to face not just Goliath, but all the adversity he had at home when his father and brothers didn’t like him. What made David strong enough to live on the run, hiding out from King Saul? These elements of David's Spiritual Secret were his holy habits. That is what made him the great king that was after God’s own heart.
- David's Lowest Time in Life
Date: Mar 24, 2012
What was wrong? David was hiding his sin, and Proverbs 28:13 says that He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy. Thus the only solution for his dreadful condition was repentance. As David desperately struggled with attacks from within and without, he poured his lonely heart out to the Lord in Psalm 38—an intense lament over the awful sin for which he was being chastised.
- David's Spiritual Secret: A Life That Serves God
Date: Mar 24, 2012
David is down. It is the saddest day of his life. While he is at the bottom, and getting driven out of town—he gets an unexpected hit. David is attacked, slandered, and painfully abused from a totally unexpected person. In that moment—we see the real David. When you and I are at our most desperate moments we get a glimpse into what we really are. Where we decide to turn, when we face what we never wanted, never dreamed of happening to us—that is when what is really on the inside comes out.
- Have You Given Your Trophies To God?
Date: Mar 24, 2012
What did David do with the greatest trophy of the world of his day? David had won in open battle the spoils of Goliath. The sword of Goliath was the ultimate trophy. And what did David do with that treasured trophy? The same thing he did with all of his other treasures: David gave back to the Lord all of his treasures and trophies. A simple chorus that was used during the offerings taken for the Lord in days past goes like this. Note the visual reminder these words paint of why we give, starting with every possession figuratively held in my hands: All I have belongs to you; For all I have has come from you. Nothing I own, nothing I possess, Is by my own hands, its by Your Faithfulness. So please take this offering, From a heart of Thanksgiving, For You’ve given all I have. Treasures of time and resources, given to God, will last forever. Treasures offered back to the One who gave them, brings great glory and honor to Him. David models for all of us the great opportunity we have to invest what we cannot keep, to gain what we’ll never lose. This Nob story is one of the greatest lessons in the Bible about how we should live our lives. Everyone who’s been to the Holy Land on one of my tours has heard it. As a group we go to the top of the Mount of Olives to look off in the distance at the ruins of Nob, just outside of Jerusalem. As we read what happened in 1 Samuel 21:1-9, I remind them that God also wants us to give all our trophies to Him because He alone deserves the credit and the glory for anything we accomplish. With such a heart to serve, there is no limit to what the Lord can do with, and in, and through us.
