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Bethel Church

Bethel Baptist Church

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Caring For Your Pastors

-Last week in my sermon I made the statement that it is a hard time to be a woman right now in our culture. Today I want to say that it's also a hard time to be a pastor in our culture. It used to be in America that pastors were generally honored by virtue of the office they held in the church, but that now seems like a long time ago. Today pastors are almost universally looked at with suspicion and often even ridicule. And honestly as pastors we've brought a lot of this on ourselves, but for every scandalous pastor who falls to immorality or greed, there are many more faithful men still preaching the truth and serving their people, and those pastors need all the support they can get from the people they shepherd, while acknowledging that all of us, whether pastor or people, are in continual need of the grace found in the gospel. So the big takeaway from our passage this morning is that the church should care for its pastors in a way that honors God and is obedient to Scripture.-

The Church Family

The gospel redefines our relationships with each other so the challenge for us in verses 1 and 2 is do we actually see each other as family, and do we treat each other like family-- So that we're willing to love and support each other even at personal cost and inconvenience to us. Are we willing to adjust our level of busyness to make time in our lives for our brothers and sisters in Christ-- Are we willing to put up with each other's personality quirks and be patient toward those have a tendency to just sort of rub us the wrong way but we love them anyway. That's how family works, right-- You see God uses all those tensions and bumps between us for our sanctification and this is why we have to relate to each other through the gospel. That means acknowledging when we've sinned against each other, seeking reconciliation, and then responding with forgiveness because that's exactly what Christ has done for us.

Watch Your Life

Paul wants Timothy to persevere in -these things- so everyone can see his progress-especially those who were looking down on him because he was young. Growth is visible isn't it-- But what about you this morning-- Can everyone see your progress or are you complacent. Spiritual complacency is dangerous friends, hence Paul's final exhortation to Timothy in chapter 4. Look at it with me in verse 16--Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers. Paul says, -Timothy, watch your life, watch your doctrine, and watch closely.- Friends, the drift is real, and we have to guard against daily. You see perseverance is an essential quality of true conversion and that's what Paul is calling Timothy here as a Christian first, but also as a pastor because his life and his message holds immense influence in the lives of those he shepherds. That's why when a preacher falls, it never leaves the faith of others unscathed.

Disciplines of the Christian Life

Paul tells Timothy that as a pastor, his end goal is the salvation of all who would believe. The end goal of all ministry is not to make a name for ourselves but to see the lost drawn to faith in Christ by the sovereign working of God through the power of the gospel. That's how we persevere when the sweat of godliness starts dripping and our spiritual breath gets short - we remember the power of the gospel to save all who believe. This is where the hope of the true believer lies and the gospel gives us everything we need to pursue godliness because the gospel is the good news that Jesus has already done everything necessary for us to made right with God. You see godliness is an unattainable goal if we pursue it by our own efforts. There's no amount of good works that can make you godly because true godliness is an inner transformation of heart and life through the power of the gospel.

A Warning to the Church

1 Timothy 4-1 was written in the mid-60s in the 1st century, though everything about it feels like it was written specifically about us living in the 21st century, because the big takeaway from this passage is that the last days will be characterized by incredible deception and apostasy and the church needs to be prepared for it. Some of what I'm going to say in this sermon may very well be considered hate speech because I submit to you that the clearest demonstration of the kind of apostasy 1 Timothy 4 is talking about as it applies in our day is this push within the church to accept and affirm the gay lifestyle as compatible with Scripture and the Christian faith. As we bring the word of God to bear on the issues of our day, we see the relevancy of 1 Timothy 4-1 to our culture's wholesale rejection of biblical sexuality that is now creeping into the church, and it will not stop until biblical Christianity has been completely redefined to suit the progressive ideology of our day.

The Household of God

The church has a target on her back right now. She's under attack from false teaching from within and the cancel culture from without. Three years ago we were told by the federal government that the church wasn't essential. The problem is the church hasn't been essential in the lives of many believers for a long long time. There is a sick apathy towards the church among far too many who claim to be Christians. They'll come when it's convenient or as long as there's nothing else going on. But friends listen this morning, the church of Jesus Christ is the best thing around today. She'll still be standing when the world around her burns because she belongs to Christ and He will have the bride for which He died. Are you a part of the household of God this morning-- That spiritual family of those who have put their faith in Christ-- If not, Scripture commands you to repent and believe.

A Noble Life For A Noble Task

-The first thing Paul lists in the qualifications for pastoral ministry is an affirmation of the nobility of the office itself. Noble means good, and the ministry is a noble task because it serves the highest good which is the salvation of sinners and the sanctification of the saints to the glory of God. So I want to bring this home to us in a very practical way- we need to have the kind of mindset as a church and as parents to raise our boys in such a way that they look at the ministry as something to actually aspire to. We need to recover the biblical vision of the nobility of the pastorate and impress that upon our sons so that if by God's sovereign grace He calls them into ministry, they might hear and answer that call with joy. Church let's pray and expect that the next pastor of Bethel Church is sitting right here, legs dangling from these very pews, and start preparing our boys to live the kind of life that the high calling of ministry requires.-

Jesus Paid It All

I try my best but I fail all the time, so my only hope has to be Christ and Christ alone or else I'm finished -- but thank God Jesus saw me at the counter of God's holiness with a bill I couldn't pay, so before the hammer of His justice crushed me to eternal ashes, Jesus pushed me out of the way and paid my bill for me - every penny of it by nailing my every sin to his cross. Verse 14 -- This - what is -this--- It's my sin debt. It's your sin debt. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. Friends His pristine blood - the blood of the incarnate eternal Son of God never tainted by a fallen sinful nature that poured out of His veins on Calvary's cross was enough to cover my sin and wash me clean. And not only did He pay my bill, the risen Jesus deposited His infinite righteousness into my account so that now when the God the Father sees me, all He sees is the perfections of His own Son the Lord Jesus Christ. Friends that is the gospel and the promise of Easter.

The life and identity of Jesus has always provoked questions. The crowd in Jerusalem that Sunday asked -who is this--- and that's really what Holy Week is all about isn't it-- It's about answering that 2000-year-old question, -who is this--- A 2022 study by Ligonier found that 56- of American Evangelicals agree that all religious paths lead to God. Evangelicals are historically Bible-believing Christians, and yet 56- of them say that Jesus is not the only way to salvation. But if there is any other way to God except through Jesus, then none of what he was about to do in Jerusalem was necessary. The triumphal entry, the last supper, the garden betrayal, the arrest and trials, the crucifixion--all that would happen that week was needless if there is another way to God. That study also found that 43- of Evangelicals say that Jesus was a great teacher, but not God. That's up from 30- in 2020. American Christians are trending in the wrong the direction. We no longer know who Jesus is.

Men & Women At Church

In a culture that denies the reality of only two genders, a culture that has a sitting Supreme Court judge who can't even define what a woman is, in a culture that has biological men participating in women's sports and that is doing its best to erase any distinction between men and women at all, there could be nothing more offensive, nothing more laughable than the verses we just read from the Bible - 1 Timothy 2-8-15. Nothing. Of course we should expect our culture to be offended and certainly dismissive of these verses, but truthfully -and sadly-, they are equally problematic for many in the church today as well. But at its core, this passage is really just about how God has created and uniquely designed men and women for different roles, going all the way back to Genesis 2, and applying that reality to the life of the church.

The Church At Prayer

Paul is calling the church to pray indiscriminately for all people - Jew, Gentile, friend or foe, and then mentions a specific group of people- for kings and all who are in high positions. And we need to appreciate the weight of what Paul is saying in his particular context because the Roman Emperors were no friend to this growing religious movement of people called Christians who refused to confess Caesar as lord, but instead insist that Jesus is Lord. So them praying for Caesar is not quite as easy as us praying for our leaders that we dislike and even oppose, because ours aren't trying to use us for human torches in the streets. Then Paul tells us why we are to pray for those in authority -- that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. You see friends the Christians in the 1st century weren't being intentionally controversial. No. They were praying for their leaders to govern justly so they could peacefully live out their faith in public and private.

Shipwrecking Your Faith

You see friends Satan is after the hearts and minds of every living soul on this planet and we are in a battle for truth and faith every single day of our lives. Whether it's the infiltration of the progressive ideologies of our culture into the church, or the compromise of evangelical pastors on key biblical truths like creation, the gospel, and the inerrancy, authority, and sufficiency of Scripture, or whether it's the collision of worldviews that our children face every single day in government schools. Friends, yes, we are absolutely at war. And yet the Apostle Paul calls it a good warfare. Why-- We don't usually think of war as a -good- thing do we-- So why does Paul call it the -good- warfare-- Because the fight for truth and faith is always good and it is the ultimate good.

Paul: Chief of Sinners

-Paul says in Galatians 1-13 - 'you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it.' So what happened-- What made the difference-- 1 Timothy 1-14 - 'the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.' Jesus rescued Paul from his spiritually blind hatred, and now as the foremost Apostle in the early church, he was trying to build everything he once sought to destroy. Friends here's my point- your past sins do not determine your future service to God. Everyone here has regrets, yes-- We all have things in our past we'd like to have expunged from the record of our lives, but friends whatever it is, because of the overflowing mercy and grace of Jesus, God can and will use you in his kingdom. Don't let Satan tell you that your past is too stained for you to be of any use to God. He's lying to you. The 17th century pastor Richard Sibbes says, 'There is more mercy in Christ than sin in us.'-

What's Happening At Asbury?

-There is a lot of revivalistic manipulation masquerading as true revival with a lot of songs and sermons that lack substance, but let's be careful how we judge, because God does occasionally move in unusual and extraordinary ways that do not easily fit into our neat little theological boxes. Yet in every authentic move of God, just like with Edwards and the revival at Northampton during the First Great Awakening, there is a temptation and tendency toward excess, so we have to test everything, keep what we can, and leave out all the rest, and the best way for us to do that is to filter everything through the person and work of Jesus Christ. Any true work of the Holy Spirit will always point to Christ in one way or another.-

Fierce Wolves Will Come In

-Paul gives us a metric for judging these doctrines that sneak into the church - look at verse 5. The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. So if what we're teaching does not lead to love, a good conscience, and a sincere or unhypocritical faith, then get it out of the church. The goal of every faithful pastor shouldn't be to discover some -new insight- or to bring the newest evangelical fad into his church, but to show his people Christ in the Scripture week after week so that they might bear the fruit of a life transformed by the gospel.-

To Timothy, My True Son

Friends, your pastor -- and all other pastors -- need mercy. We struggle with the same things that you do. We doubt, we worry, we sin, we lose our temper, we go through rough spots in our marriages and families, we struggle to forgive those who have hurt us, we war against besetting sins. And then there's the heavy weight of our high calling upon us - we'll get to that in 1 Timothy 3, so yes, we need mercy. But again, pastors aren't the only ones who need mercy are they-- Do you need mercy this morning dear saint at Bethel Church-- Have you failed miserably this week in your walk with the Lord-- No one else may know it, but you do. You know what's been in your heart this week. Pride, discontentment, envy, anger, unforgiveness, lust, doubt, worry. You may have concealed it well from the rest of the world, or maybe you haven't, but you know. Well I have good news for you- to quote the 17th century pastor Richard Sibbes, -there is more mercy in Christ than sin in us.-

It Was Always All About Him

At the end of Genesis 11 we are introduced to the first Jew, Abraham, and in Matthew 1-1 we are introduced to the true Jew, the son of Abraham, Jesus Christ. So friends, my point is this- don't skip the genealogies, look for Jesus in them. As a matter of fact, look for Jesus in all the Old Testament. Look for him in the genealogies of Genesis, in the strange laws and sacrifices of Leviticus, in the history of the Judges, Kings, and Chronicles. Look for him in the Psalms and the wisdom books. Look for him in the prophets. He's there friends. I promise if you look you'll find him. After his resurrection, Jesus was walking along the road with two of his disciples and Luke 24 verse 27 says that beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, Jesus interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. You see dear brothers and sisters, ALL of Scripture points to him.

This city called Babel was the origin of the Babylonian city-state that throughout Scripture came to signify human idolatry, pride, and rebellion of against God. The name -babel- is connected to a Hebrew verb which means -to confuse- and you know friends, when I look at the world today, that's exactly what I see- confusion. Believing that we can live autonomous lives, free from the lordship of our Creator we have deluded ourselves into state of mass confusion. We're confused about where we came from, who we are, what a man is, what a woman is, what marriage is, what a baby is. We're confused about what's right and wrong, what's true and false, and sadly many Christians and churches seem just as confused as the world. This is what happens when we rebel against God in our pride and want to live our way, and the only way out of this confused mess we're in is by turning away from ourselves and looking to Christ and Christ alone.

The Biblical Answer to Racism

The late Stephen Jay Gould, an evolutionary biologist and professor at Harvard University was one of the most influential scientists of the 20th century. He said this- -Biological arguments for racism may have existed before 1859 -when Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species-, but, Gould says, they increased by orders of magnitude following the acceptance of evolutionary theory.- So if the black man is a lesser evolved primate than the white man, then why not treat him differently-- Why not make him drink from different water fountains, use different bathrooms-- If the German Aryan race is the master race like Hitler believed, then why not eradicate the Jews and other inferior races-- BUT, if the brown man, black man, white man, red man, and every other man is made in the image of one Creator God then we have no right to treat any man different. That's the unity of the human race in Adam.

Saints & Sinners

God didn't allow this dark page in Noah's life to be hidden, and in fact, there are very few characters in Scripture who don't have some serious sinful failure attached to their name. Abraham was a liar. Jacob was a deceiver and a thief. Moses had a volatile temper and even killed a man. Samson was ruined by his lust. David committed adultery and then had the woman's husband killed to cover it up. Solomon loved women too much, Jonah was vindictive, Peter was impulsive, proud, and ultimately a coward. On and on. These were all were righteous men who had some moment of failure in life and their sins are spread all over the pages of Scripture. But the Apostle Paul makes this glorious guilt-shattering declaration in Romans 5-20 where he says -where sin abounds, grace abounds more.- And friends that's what Noah's drunkenness is going to teach us - that God's grace through Jesus Christ is sufficient for even the worst falls and failures of his people.

God Remembered Noah

Noah didn't leave the ark until he had clear direction from the Lord. He didn't grow impatient and get ahead of God, and neither must we. Even the act of leaving the ark was itself a step of faith. The ark was safe and it's often hard and even scary to leave a place of safety to step out into the unknown, but all of us at some point will be called out of what is familiar to what is uncertain - this is how God teaches us to trust him, and the evidence of our trust in him is our obedience. Noah obeyed and his obedience is a model for us today because friends obedience is rarely easy and often it is uncomfortable, but when God gives clear direction, we must obey. So here we are at the start of a new year. We always hope that the next year will be better than the last, but that's typically not how life works is it-- Sometimes the new year holds some very dark providences for us. Life turns upside down and God seems silent but as sure as God remembered Noah, he will remember you too.

My Eyes Have Seen Your Salvation

Jesus Christ is the most polarizing figure in human history, and no matter how hard the world tries, every year, we are confronted afresh with his reality. His name is on the lips of everyone who says -Merry Christmas- or sings Silent Night or dozens of other carols. We can say -happy holidays- all we want but -holiday- means -holy-day- and it's a holy day because Luke 1-35 says the child to be born will be called holy-the Son of God. Even the most militant atheists who pay for billboards that mock the birth of Christ as a fairytale are spending money to wage a campaign against the Christ they just can't escape. So friends on this Christmas morning, we can either receive him or reject him, but we cannot ignore him. Emperors, kings, and presidents have all stumbled over him. Atheists try to deny him. The cults try to distort him, false religions try to replace him with their own deity, but every 25th of December the world is confronted by him all over again.

The Predicament of Christmas

-The glory of Christmas is that God has not left us in our sin but has come in the person of Jesus Christ to rescue us from our sin. And if salvation from our sin is not foremost on our minds at Christmastime then we're doing it wrong. Douglas Wilson comments, 'In one sense of course, Jesus is the reason for the season. But in another fundamental sense, sin is the reason for the season.' You see friends we have buried the dark reality of human sin under the warm fuzzy sentimentalism of peace and good-will, but until we get that Christmas exists because of our rebellion against our Creator, then we will always miss Christmas. So this year when you gather around the Christmas tree or dinner table or whatever you do, remind your family that salvation from our sin is the reason we even have something to celebrate at all. God has come to save us in Christ. That is the promise of Christmas.-

And The Waters Prevailed

This was a global catastrophe that completely reset life on earth, and this is no fairytale. God judged the world with water but another judgment is coming. 2 Peter 3-5 says - the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, 6 and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. 7 But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. Friends another judgment day is coming and if we think that after all the grace that God has shown this world in the cross of his Son Jesus that he will not judge us, we are delusional. Oh yes there are those who mock and shake their heads at such a message. They scoffed at it in Noah's day too, but one day, our door of grace will be also shut, the fires of God's judgment will fall and only those in Christ will survive.

Go Into The Ark

One of the objections that skeptics often lob at the Bible is that if God is so righteous and loving, why did he kill the whole world except for 8 people in the flood-- Well I would ask in return, how could a righteous and loving God stand by and allow evil to go unrestrained forever-- Friends it was precisely the righteous character of God that compelled him to send judgment through the flood, and this is why we need to understand the warning this passage holds for us today. Our world cannot go on like it is much longer. I know preachers have said that in every age, but we have something in our day that's different- modern technology. Friends today's technology is like gas to the flame of human evil, and if the violence and immorality of Noah's day are any indication, we must be near the breaking point. I'm not trying to be a prognosticator of the future, but this world is spiraling out of control on a collision with our Creator who will once again pronounce a righteous judgment.

Countdown to Doomsday

Noah found God's grace in the midst of a world filled with unrestrained evil, and for 120 years, he preached the righteousness of God and the coming judgment as the Lord waited patiently, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. 1 Peter 3-10 says, God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. 2 Peter 2-5 says, God preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly. Noah was for the ancient world. He was the countdown to doomsday. Preserved by God even in judgment. You see all throughout the Old Testament, when God judged, He always preserved a remnant because through that remnant would come the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. In Luke 13-5 Jesus says, -unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.- I can imagine those same words falling from the lips of Noah for 120 years.

This One Will Bring Us Relief

Noah's father Lamech was waiting for the one who would bring relief to the world -Noah's name means -relief- or -rest--, but Noah's birth points far beyond himself to the birth of one greater than Noah who would bring true relief - not from the curse of the ground, but from the curse of sin. Noah was a preacher of righteousness who would save the believing remnant of humanity from God's judgment through the ark, but Christ is the greater Noah, a preacher of righteousness who would call sinners to believe the gospel and find refuge from God's coming wrath in the true ark of salvation -- the cross. Brothers and sisters - if we miss Christ here at the end of this genealogy than we have missed the whole point.

The Way of Cain

Abel's offering came from a heart of faith, but Cain's offering did not, but I truly believe that on the outside, Cain brought the very best offering he could. In his mind, his offering was far better than his brother's - but he gave it out of a sinful self-sufficient heart. Cain's offering wasn't accepted because his heart was filled with pride, jealousy, anger, even murder, and God doesn't accept any worship from that kind of heart. Proverbs 15-8 says, The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is acceptable to him. What about us this morning friends-- We might think we're giving God our best. We're here every time the doors are open, we might sing the loudest, give the most, and pray the longest, but are we just going through the motions with faithless hearts that are far from God -- just like Cain--

Why We Need Another Reformation

Paul says, 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. Paul stood boldly for the purity of the gospel. Would he be a people-pleaser or a servant of Christ-- On April 18, 1521, Martin Luther stood before the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and was given an opportunity to recant. He said this- -Unless I am convinced by the testimony of Scripture and by clear reason -for I do not trust in the pope or councils alone, since it is well known that they have often erred and contradicted themselves-, I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted. My conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not retract anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me. Amen.- And 500 years later we are still living in the legacy of his stand because Luther sought to please God rather than man, and so must we.

Even Faithful Churches Need Revival

One of the very serious threats to every Christian marriage is that over time, through the busyness of building a life together, a couple's love for each other grows cold, but they would never utter those awful words, -I don't love you anymore, I want out.- They stay faithful no matter what, but there is no passion, no spark of that original love between them anymore. Many marriages are like this--faithful, but loveless. But this isn't a sermon on marriage, because what I just described is actually the condition of many churches in America today. They're faithful--they've held the line against the onslaught of progressivism and compromise, they've stood for truth, but in all this their love for their Savior and others has grown cold. This was the condition of the church at Ephesus that Jesus speaks to in our text and the big takeaway I want us to get from this passage is that even pure and persevering churches often drift and need their passion for Christ and love for others revived.

The Gospel According to Genesis

Adam and Eve's sin was great, but a greater Savior was coming. It would be a while yet. This redemptive story would unfold over thousands of years, but he would come, and by his life, death, and resurrection he would conquer sin, Satan, and death once and for all. That's the good news of the gospel and the seed of it all is planted right here in Genesis 3. So friends, whatever your sin is this morning, there is always greater grace. Romans 5-20 - where sin abounds, grace abounds more. The 18th century pastor John Newton said on his deathbed, -I am a great sinner, but Christ is a great Savior.- Friends do you know him today--

What Have You Done?

Many read Genesis 3 and think, -well what's the big deal-- They ate a piece of fruit.- But in choosing to eat from the tree God told them not to eat from, Adam and Eve rejected the authority of their Creator over their lives and friends that is the true nature and root of sin - it is the rejection of the lordship of God over us by choosing to live our own way. So the account of the fall exposes sin for what it fundamentally is - the desire to rule our own lives, and this morning I want us to see 5 truths from these verses that will help us discern the deception of sin in our own lives and point us to the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ as the only remedy for our sin.

Married, Naked, & Unashamed

-Men and women are different because they were created different - physically different, emotionally different, relationally different, even our brains are different, and all those differences take shape in unique roles and functions that complement each other. It is just plain silly to suggest that anything a man can do a woman can do. It doesn't mean that she is inferior, but it does mean that we have been created for different and distinct roles in the home, church, and society. We are equals in being but we are not equals in function, and when we step out of our God-designed roles, chaos erupts. -

Origin of the Species

Adam didn't come from a pre-existent protohuman or evolve from a lower lifeform over millions of years. He was specially created formed from the dirt of the ground by the very hands of God who then imparted life to his new creation through his own divine breath. So God is not an absentee Creator, but one who was intimately involved in our origin. Do you want to know why you are here alive and breathing on this planet-- Darwin can't answer that question. Naturalism has no answer to that question. Atheistic or agnostic philosophers cannot answer that question. The answer to that question is found right here in the only inerrant and infallible record of who made us and where we came from- we are here to know and be in relationship with our Creator, and we can know him eternally through the person and work of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

We live in an -always on- society in which lives are filled with the never-ending responsibilities of home, work, and school and we live in a pressure cooker of having so much to do and not enough time to do it. Does anybody ever feel like that-- So when it comes to rest, well who has time for that, right-- And yet here we are confronted in these verses with the mystery of an all-powerful God who created everything out of nothing in just 6 ordinary days, taking a day off for rest. But we know that God doesn't need rest does he-- Psalm 121-4 says that he neither slumbers nor sleeps. So then this seventh day at the end of creation week must point to something beyond his own need of rest - it points to our need of rest. And not just physical rest, but true rest in Him. That's why God rested on the seventh day - to point us back to himself as the source and sustainer of our souls.

Male & Female He Created Them

Friends forget what this culture is telling you. Forget whatever your fallen disordered feelings may tell you. If you are born with XY chromosomes you are a male. If you're born with XX chromosomes you are a female, and anything other than that is a genetic abnormality and all the imaginations of our sinful hearts or whatever we do to our bodies cannot change our DNA. You see all this transgender stuff isn't based in biology or science. It's nothing but blatant rebellion against God. We're shaking our fist at our Creator and saying, -I don't care how you made me, I'll be what I want to be.- It is an attempt at being our own God and defining our own reality. That's all transgenderism is, and the most loving thing a Christian can say to the so-called transgender person is to forsake their lie, repent of their sin, and flee to Christ for forgiveness and transformation into the person God made them to be - a male or female that bears his image.

-If millions and billions of years of evolution are true -which is taught as a matter of fact in earth and life science classes all over America-, then as Christians we've got to figure out a way to fit all that deep time into Genesis 1, or we lose the Bible don't we-- And if we lose the Bible, we lose Christ, the cross - the whole Christian faith. So there really is a lot at stake here. We have two competing versions of our origins- one ruled by mindless natural processes that took billions of years, and one displaying the power, purpose, and goodness of our Creator that took 6 days. In mankind's sinful pride, we have rewritten the history of our universe so as to strike our Creator from the record, and we've done it under a cloak of science--but our true history is found here in these first eleven chapters of Genesis, and the one thing it teaches over and over is that we are rebels who consistently spurn our Creator and who desperately need a Savior to undo all the mess we've made.-

The Bible's 7 Most Important Words

If you start with the Bible, you will not end up with any view that forces evolution or millions of years into the timeline of Genesis 1. It just doesn't fit with any normal reading of the text. And it's only man's naturalistic presuppositions that the Bible contradicts--not true science. So we have to decide, are we going to start with man's word or God's word-- Genesis 1-1 and all that follows demands our submission. The word of the living God will not be put on trial before a court of naturalism. Friends, if this verse is not true, then none of the Bible is true. If Genesis 1-1 falls to the ever-changing theories of fallible man, the rest of the Bible falls with it, because the fundamental issue is not really the doctrine of creation. It's not the age of the earth, or the evolution of man. The fundamental issue is the truthfulness and authority of the word of God.

Whether Revival or Ruin, We Rejoice

Habakkuk prayed for revival in his nation, and so must the church in America, and revival is not a flurry of emotional charismatic experiences, but a deep inner renewal of fervor for the glory of God and the truth of his word that brings change. Friends do you need revival in your life-- Forget about what's happening in our culture and consider whether you need revival in your life-- Do you remember a time when your heart was ablaze for Jesus, but that fire has faded to just flickering embers now. Maybe you don't even know how it happened, but you no longer have the zeal for Christ, truth, and holiness you used to. Your Bible sits unopened all week. You rarely pray. Lord's Day worship no longer moves you. You might even find it boring. You may not be living in blatant sin, but a spiritual apathy has settled over your life. Will you pray for the breath of the Holy Spirit to blow over those dying embers and cry out, -Lord do it again--- Do it again in my life, in my family, in my church-

Staying Anchored In Wicked Times

Friends do you ever wonder if God will ever do something about the wickedness that surrounds us-- Or if he will ever intervene when we are treated unjustly-- Have you ever felt like the Psalmist in Psalm 74-1 -- O God, why do you cast us off forever-- Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture-- By the way, Psalm 74 was probably written during the Babylonian exile. Or you wonder like Psalm 77-7 - -Will the Lord spurn forever, and never again be favorable-- 8 Has his steadfast love forever ceased-- Are his promises at an end for all time-- You see brothers and sisters these texts are in the Bible because God's people sometimes feel like that. But God will fulfill his word, it may take time to see his intervening hand, but it will come. The prophet's word is -soon but not yet,- and that's the message to us too. God --will-- fulfill his word - the wicked will not reign forever.

Coming To Terms With The Sovereignty Of God

The sovereignty of God is a truth that the sinfully autonomous human heart stubbornly resists. 19th century pastor J.C. Ryle says, -Of all the doctrines of the Bible, none is so offensive to human nature as the doctrine of God's sovereignty.- The sovereignty of God means that things go according to God's plan, not ours, and this is what we find the prophet Habakkuk struggling with in our text this morning. Last week we saw him ask, -God, when are you going to judge the unfaithfulness of your people,- and now that God has answered and said, -it's coming - I'm sending the Babylonians,- Habakkuk isn't so sure about that idea. The fact that God would use such a wicked nation to judge the unfaithfulness of the righteous troubled him deeply -- how could God use injustice to judge injustice, right-- But Habakkuk is about to learn that God rules over ALL things - including injustice and evil - and this is a lesson we need to learn likewise.

How Long O Lord?

This past week NASA released the first pictures captured by the new James Webb Space Telescope - just spectacular images of different parts of the universe, and one apparently Christian lady commented online about how these images show the glory of God, and the first reply to her comment said, -Science did this, not your fake sky daddy.- That kind of militant unbelief is prevalent in our culture and when I read those kinds of blasphemous comments and sometimes much worse, I wonder, how in the world does God put up with all that-- When I see stuff like that, I wonder, how long before God says -enough--- Do you ever feel like that-- Habakkuk did, and in fact, that is the main theme of our text this morning- God when are you going to judge evil-- Habakkuk's burden 2600 years ago is our burden today, and in this passage he is about to learn that just because judgment is delayed, it doesn't mean that judgment is dismissed.

Finding Contentment In A Materialistic World

Contentment comes not from the things that we have, but from being satisfied with all that we have in God - all that we have in Christ, and the secret to finding that contentment - the secret Paul discovered is verse 13- I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. That word -do- is interesting in the original language. It doesn't really mean to -do- something like change the brakes on your car or score a certain number on the SAT. It means to -have power or ability.- Paul's point is that he is able to experience both abundance and need because of his union with Christ. So Christ is the source of his contentment, not what he has or doesn't have. So you see Philippians 4-13 has absolutely nothing to do with getting an A on a test at school or accomplishing a challenging task, and it has everything to do with drawing strength from Christ to be satisfied in whatever state of life God in his providence has ordained for you whether that be abundance or need.

Trading Anxiety for Peace

Paul makes this connection between anxiety, peace, and our thinking. But this isn't some kind of power of positive thinking stuff. Paul says if we hope to have peace in our lives, we need to dwell on things that cultivate peace, and we can't do that if we're constantly filling our minds with things that cultivate anxiety. The vast majority of what we are exposed to on a daily basis including what comes across television screens and social media does not cultivate peace. Whether it's the news, reality tv shows, or the hateful spirit we see all over social media, if we fill our minds with toxic sludge of all that stuff then we shouldn't be surprised that our hearts are filled with anxiety. Most of it is NOT true, it's not honorable, it's not just or pure. It's certainly not lovely and commendable. There is no excellence or anything worthy of praise, and really Paul is telling the Philippians to orient their minds around the virtues of Scripture, which IS true, excellent, and pure.

Resolving Conflicts in the Church

Joy is a safeguard against conflict. It's hard to be disagreeable and dissatisfied with others when you are supremely satisfied with Christ. We all know from experience that sour and grumpy people are easily agitated. Are you the kind of person that makes others nervous just to be around you because they are afraid of upsetting you-- Are you so consumed with your own concerns that the least little thing upsets you. If so then you have no joy in your life. Paul says get the joy of the Lord in your heart and you won't be so abrasive. And let's not start that - -well that's just the way I am- stuff. That's no different than that whole -I was born this way- nonsense. Friends this is why we need to be -born-again.- This is why we need the transforming grace of God to change us from who we are to who he commands us to be. The joyful life is a peaceful life, and the joyful church is a peaceful church, so rejoice in the Lord. It's so important that Paul repeated it. -Again, I say rejoice.-

He Died Climbing

The Christian life has no rearview mirrors. There is no looking back--it's always forward, always upward. That means that the guilt of past sins must be left behind. But this is quite an audacious statement coming from Paul isn't it-- The one who persecuted Christians. The one who approved of Stephen's execution in the book of Acts. Acts 8-3 says he was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison. This man is now saying, forget those things which are behind--the memory of what he had done to the church, but he says -I no longer live under the guilt of my past. It's under the blood, that sin-debt is paid, and God no longer counts me guilty for what I've done because Christ Jesus was counted guilty in my place.- Friends come to Jesus and be liberated from the painful memory of your past. He stood guilty and condemned in your place so that you could look on him by faith and be counted righteous. Forget the past.

Safeguarding Against Self-Righteousness

Paul uses accounting language in these verses -- counting gains, losses, and worth, and he concludes that his entire portfolio of righteousness was worthless. It's like having a billion dollars in currency that no one accepts any more. It's completely worthless. You see, human righteousness is unspendable in the economy of heaven. Christ is the only currency accepted there. And I wonder friends if we sometimes trust in our own resume of righteousness like Paul once did. You may come from generations of Christians. You might even be a descendant of Billy Graham himself. You might have all the boxes checked- you don't smoke, you don't drink, you don't even wear a bikini. You don't go to the movies or own a TV. You're in church every time the doors are open. You give thirty percent. You read your Bible and pray for hours every day, but if you think any of that makes you righteous, then you are lost. All of that is worthless. Righteousness only comes through faith alone in Christ alone.

Models of Godly Manhood

-Brothers I know I've been hammering on us hard this morning and your heart may feel like Rocky Balboa after 15 rounds with Apollo Creed and you lost. You may feel defeated, but I want to tell you about another man - not Paul, Timothy, or Epaphroditus. I want to tell you about a man who was a man's man. He may have been gentle and lowly at heart but his spirit was solid iron. He was unbreakable. The devil tried for 40 days in the wilderness of temptation. The religious leaders tried for 3 years. The Romans tried at Calvary, but this man could not be broken because he was more than a man. He was the God-man and He is the man we all need this morning. His name is Jesus.-

A Sky Full Of Stars

-The phrase 'with fear and trembling' in Philippians 2-12 essentially means to be serious about how we live. It is to live with an acute awareness that every second of our lives is laid bare before the presence of God. R.C. Sproul says 'to live in the presence of God is to understand that whatever we are doing and wherever we are doing it, we are acting under the gaze of God.' Think of all the implications of that reality. Every click on the internet, every text message, every conversation, every thought that no one else knows about, everything we hide in our hearts, all of it lies under the piercing gaze of a holy God. Friends that ought to produce a little 'fear and trembling' shouldn't it---

A Healthy Church Is A Humble Church

-The incarnation was not an 'emptying' of Christ's deity, but an addition to it--a 'taking on' of his humanity, so that he is both fully God and fully man, and the incarnation, life, and death of Jesus Christ is the greatest humiliation that will ever take place. The Sovereign Creator-King of the universe willingly condescended to his fallen creation and wrapped his divinity in human flesh. He lived as one of us, below us even, as our servant, and submitted himself to death on the cross for those who were by nature his enemies. So the thrust of Paul's argument here to the Philippians is, that since Christ, who is eternally God, voluntarily renounced the privileges of his divine majesty to selflessly serve and sacrifice himself for those who did not deserve it, then we should be willing, as recipients of that undeserved grace, to humble ourselves and serve one another as he served us.-

The Gospel-Worthy Life

-Outside of the doctrine of the wrath of God, this is perhaps the most neglected truth of Scripture- that God calls his people to suffer. We live in an affluent culture in America where comfort and abundance are our idols. This has given rise to the false prosperity gospel preached by a majority of the preachers on TV who say it's God's will for us to be healthy and wealthy, but that can't be squared with what Paul says to the church at Philippi in these verses. The word 'granted' in verse 29 comes from the same root word as 'grace,' and Paul is saying that suffering is just as much a gift of grace as faith - it has been granted to you that you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake. Suffering is a gracious gift from God because it identifies us with the sufferings of Christ and makes us more like Him. But we resist and reject it don't we-- Yet some of the most beautiful testimonies come from saints whose suffering has spotlighted the grace of God upon their lives.…

Between Heaven & Earth

-Paul knows his theology - he knows that God is sovereign over his imprisonment, but he doesn't make the mistake that many of us do today and say, 'well, if God is sovereign and controls all things, then why pray--' No. Paul understands that God uses means to work his divine will, and he gives us two of them here in verse 19. The first is the prayers of the saints. Paul says to the church at Philippi, 'I need your prayers,' because he knows that God will use their prayers to work out his sovereign will for his life. Church, I want you to think about that this morning- God uses your prayers to accomplish his will in someone else's life. So then the question that confronts us then, is do we pray like we believe that-- Do we pray believing that God will use our prayers to actually and really affect someone else's life-- Paul believes that - so he says that -through your prayers, this will turn out for my deliverance.'-

The Things Which Happened To Me

Most of us, at some point in our lives, will likely go through hard times that tempt us to say to God, -why is this happening to me--- Whether it's a sudden tragedy, a season of life when everything that can go wrong, does go wrong and relief seems like it will never come, or maybe it's some internal suffering like anxiety or depression that no matter what you try, it just won't lift. During such times we might be tempted to look to heaven and cry out -why is this happening to me--- But in our passage this morning, we see a different kind of response from the Apostle Paul, who experienced more hardship than most of us ever will. He knows something about suffering that we desperately need to learn- that we can rejoice in our suffering because God uses it in unexpected ways for the glory of Christ.

The Gospel In Which You Stand

-If it was somehow discovered that Jesus of Nazareth had not been raised from the dead, what difference would it make in your life-- Would your worldview change-- Would your morality be any different-- Would it change how you see life and death-- Would it affect how you lived at all, or would life go on much the same as it is now, except maybe you wouldn't come to church anymore-- I mean what would be the point, right-- If Jesus was not raised, then how could anything he said be true-- If Jesus was not raised, how in the world can his gospel be called 'good news--' That's what the word 'gospel' means, right-- If there is no resurrection, then 'eat, drink, and be merry' is about as good as it gets, and the gospel is meaningless. But if Jesus is risen, then the gospel changes everything, and here in 1 Corinthians 15, the Apostle Paul positions the gospel of the risen Jesus squarely at the center of not just the Christian faith, but at the center and foundation of all of life itself.-

When The King Comes To His Temple

Actions speak louder than words, and that's exactly what we see here in the opening verses of Mark 11 - Jesus lets his actions do the talking, and what we call the -triumphal entry- is Christ -identifying- as the Messiah - to use the parlance of our day. This event is significant because one of the typical claims of skeptics and unbelievers is that Jesus never actually said the exact words -I am God,- or -I am the Son of God,- or -I am the Messiah,- but in this episode just 6 days before he is crucified, he does something far more overt, something far more explicit than just making a verbal claim- he publicly acts out the messianic prophecy of Zechariah 9-9-10, -Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion- Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem- Behold, your king is coming to you- righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.- Jesus rode into Jerusalem that day as the promised Messianic King.

A Pastor's Greeting

God is constantly at work in his people to bring us to maturity in Christ, and His purposes for you will never go unrealized. They may seem dormant at times. They may be obscured by trials and suffering, but friends, God will finish what he started in you. So when life starts unravelling, you feel confused, and discouraged, and can't see how you're going to make it, anchor yourself to this truth. He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it. You see sometimes we start things that we can't finish. You can go into just about any town or city in America and find abandoned buildings or projects that were started but never finished, but God does not abandon his work in his people. John MacArthur says, -God has no unfinished works. The God who saves is the God who justifies, sanctifies, and glorifies. The God who begins is the God who completes.- Hebrews 12-2 calls Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. This was Paul's confidence and his encouragement to the Philippia…

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