Case Studies in Conversation - April 30, 2008 [24:20m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

continuing message by Pastor Al on message on John 3:16 [+/-]John 3:16 [16]"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (ESV)

 

 His Family and Your Family - part 2 [39:03m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Ephesians 5:1-21 [+/-]Ephesians 5:1-21 [5:1]Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. [2]And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. [3]But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. [4]Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. [5]For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. [6]Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. [7]Therefore do not become partners with them; [8]for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light [9](for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), [10]and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. [11]Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. [12]For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. [13]But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, [14]for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, "Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you." [15]Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, [16]making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. [17]Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. [18]And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, [19]addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, [20]giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, [21]submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. (ESV)

This passage is set before us with a beautiful balance. The first 20 verses of Ephesians 5 [+/-]Ephesians 5 [5:1]Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. [2]And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. [3]But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. [4]Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. [5]For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. [6]Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. [7]Therefore do not become partners with them; [8]for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light [9](for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), [10]and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. [11]Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. [12]For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. [13]But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, [14]for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, "Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you." [15]Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, [16]making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. [17]Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. [18]And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, [19]addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, [20]giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, [21]submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. [22]Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. [23]For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. [24]Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. [25]Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, [26]that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, [27]so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. [28]In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. [29]For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, [30]because we are members of his body. [31]"Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." [32]This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. [33]However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. (ESV)
address what for Paul is the priority and primary environment in which believers are to live out our lives: the household of faith, the family of God, the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 21 is a summary sentence consisting of three components that tie together beautifully the ten principles that are proclaimed in verses 1-20. And the next nineteen verses are all about life in the family. His family and our family. Twenty verses about His family and nineteen about our family with one verse in the middle that ties it all together. But the balance that is in this passage does not proclaim at all the balance to which we are too often very wrongly beckoned in our day.

Pastor Al mentioned William Tyndale in his open this morning, learn more about him here.

Learn more about this message by downloading the sermon notes here!

I often think that I was born in the wrong era. I love the era of the Reformation in the sixteenth century and the Puritans of the seventeent and eighteenth century. One of the reasons that these two eras are so fascinating to me is that this discussion about family of faith and biological family would have been found almost heretical. It was clearly understood during those days that all of life was bent around the community of faith. It wasn’t just about the Lord’s Day, though that day gave focus to every other day; every day was about the worship of God and the work of God.

In fact, you may know that our word “vocation” comes out of this period and has nothing to do with the work that we do. This term was used to refer to how we fulfill our calling as believers in the world. The issue was about how to be faithful in following Jesus no matter where we were or what we were doing. So, every day was a day devoted to the worship and service of God. They in fact would have been aghast at the thought the body meeting for worship or study and their being absent for some other reason except phyical illness or death in the family, and the latter did not always mean that they would be absent from the worship and work of the church. They had a peculiarly biblical understanding about the church as the gathered community of the godly upon the earth. That is why church discipline was such a big thing to them. They had rather see some leave than to see the body disrupted due to the devilish debate that was conducted for the purpose of causing strife.

Things have changed. Boy, have they changed. It has put people who are serious about their faith in a pickle. Let me just give you one very real and practical example of how things have change and then address a “potential” issue that is on the horizon. When I came to Waynesboro in 1991 and started coaching “ball” at the rec department in 1992, it was understood that no games or practices would be held on Wednesday or Sunday. None. By the time I finished following Jonathan and his cronies through that era, the scene had changed from “none” to “preferably none.” Now, it seems to be a non-issue. In fact, it seems to be that athletics and social engagements are far more important to families in our day than church. Have I missed something and now it is at the ballfield and on the dance floor that we can learn eternal truth? I am being mischeivous here beause these things are not bad things, they are good things; but they are not “God” things.

I was on a bus with a football team about seven or eight years ago. One of the assistant coaches was a good friend. The head coach was not a believer and lot to rib me about his not being a believer. We were travelling from a game late at night when he came to where I was sitting and said, “rev, what you gonna do when we start playing ball games on Sunday? It’s coming, you know.” Then he proceeded to tell me of discussions that were even then going on in the state where parents in some metropolitan areas were pushing this idea because Friday night was family night, and Saturday was college ball and the only day of the weekend they had free with little to do was Sunday. It’s coming, he said. I shared this story recently with a group of ministers and a Youth Pastor from South Georgia said, “it’s already here. I have no football players at church on Sunday night because they are in a meeting and the coach lets them go about mid way through church time. It is like he knows when church starts. The coach is not a believer.” And then the guy shook his head and said, “you know, the sad part is that the parents of our kids don’t seem to have a problem with it.” It is coming. So slowly and subtly that when it happens, most of us will shrug and say nothing.

 

 Case Studies in Conversation - the Gospel in One Verse! [30:46m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

John 3:16 [+/-]John 3:16 [16]"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (ESV)

What does it really mean to be genuinely Biblically Converted? This is part of the series Case Studies in Convention, a continuing Wednesday Night Study. Pastor Al again reviews John 3:16 [+/-]John 3:16 [16]"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (ESV)
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Each part of this wonderful verse is examined in detail, looking back at the very rich words in this verse.

I want to spend some time exploring this whole idea of the family of faith taking priority over our own biological family.  Some of the words in the above sentence show some of the issues.  The sentence sets up a distinction between our family of faith and our own biological family.  Both the teaching of Scripture and the history of the church would indicate that the biological family is an outgrowth and expression of the family of faith.  Martin Luther would refer to the family as the “little kirche” or “little church.”  He and others like him would never have assumed that mom, dad and children would take priority over the people of God gathered in the house of God for the purpose of the praise of God.  They would understood fully that what happens in the gathered community of worship is expressed in the scattered community of witness first and foremost in the home.  In fact, they would have had such a pure understanding of the church as the Body of Christ that they would have argued (and rightly so biblically) that the first front for evangelism would be the family because the church is the body of believers gathered for worship and study with some high degree of assurance that those so gathered are the godly; they would not have assumed that to be true in the home.  The other reality in the first sentence of this first paragraph that points out some of our problem is found in the words “our own biological family.”  That is so prideful and so possessive.  My family is my own??  What audacity to believe that what God gave me as a gift, I would dare declare to be my own.  The family in which I live at 518 Pine Needle Road is no more mine than the family with whom I worship at 853 Liberty Street.  And I am convinced that we will never perceive the priority of the family of faith as first until we stop perceiving our biolgical families as belonging to us.  It is not “my” family; it is that unit that God has given me the privilege of sharing life in this world as a microscopic expression of the larger and more important family of the church.  And even the church in her local expression is a small group expression of what is much larger:  the redeemed of all the ages from every tribe, tongue, people and nation.

Now to some nuts and bolts stuff.  Here is the issue that demands and deserves reflection and attention:  how do we flesh out in real life this whole idea of the family of faith taking precedent over every other “family” beginning with the biological family?  We need to help each other with this one.  I simply want to make a start today and then return to this issue in the days ahead.  Let me sat up front that none of us will do this either perfectly or consistently; and none of us in our culture will do it without a fight both within and without.  Let me say, further, that this is no place for a “ten easy steps” recipe.  This issue doesn’t work out that way.  I believe that addressing this issue from a biblical perspective requires acknowledgement, affirmation and assessment.  Let me explain and explore.

First, we must acknowledge the truth of the Word of God in both Testaments that our relationship to God through Jesus as expressed in and through the church takes priority over every other area in our lives.  Read Exodus 20 [+/-]Exodus 20 [20:1]And God spoke all these words, saying, [2]"I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. [3]"You shall have no other gods before me. [4]"You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. [5]You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, [6]but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. [7]"You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. [8]"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. [9]Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, [10]but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. [11]For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. [12]"Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. [13]"You shall not murder. [14]"You shall not commit adultery. [15]"You shall not steal. [16]"You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. [17]"You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's." [18]Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off [19]and said to Moses, "You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die." [20]Moses said to the people, "Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin." [21]The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was. [22]And the LORD said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the people of Israel: 'You have seen for yourselves that I have talked with you from heaven. [23]You shall not make gods of silver to be with me, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold. [24]An altar of earth you shall make for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and bless you. [25]If you make me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stones, for if you wield your tool on it you profane it. [26]And you shall not go up by steps to my altar, that your nakedness be not exposed on it.' (ESV)
, follow the flow of Deuteronomy 6 [+/-]Deuteronomy 6 [6:1]"Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the rules that the LORD your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, [2]that you may fear the LORD your God, you and your son and your son's son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. [3]Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey. [4]"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. [5]You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. [6]And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. [7]You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. [8]You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. [9]You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. [10]"And when the LORD your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you--with great and good cities that you did not build, [11]and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant--and when you eat and are full, [12]then take care lest you forget the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. [13]It is the LORD your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear. [14]You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you-- [15]for the LORD your God in your midst is a jealous God--lest the anger of the LORD your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth. [16]"You shall not put the LORD your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah. [17]You shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and his testimonies and his statutes, which he has commanded you. [18]And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the LORD, that it may go well with you, and that you may go in and take possession of the good land that the LORD swore to give to your fathers [19]by thrusting out all your enemies from before you, as the LORD has promised. [20]"When your son asks you in time to come, 'What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules that the LORD our God has commanded you?' [21]then you shall say to your son, 'We were Pharaoh's slaves in Egypt. And the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. [22]And the LORD showed signs and wonders, great and grievous, against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his household, before our eyes. [23]And he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give to our fathers. [24]And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as we are this day. [25]And it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us.' (ESV)
, ask Jesus what He really means by teaching us that the one who does not hate his father and mother etc. cannot be His follower.  Our family first mentality makes no sense in the light of what Jesus taught about God’s family or what He taught is tragically wrong if we are right in our thinking about family first.  Either way, it creates a crisis for us that has to be engaged.  Study the Scriptures.  Is it true that the family of faith is to be first?  Then acknowledge this truth.  That is where you start.

Second, affirm this truth through a basic biblical orientation to the week.  Let me tell you what this means.  The Sabbath was under the Old Covenant the most important day of the week.  Life flowed to and from the Sabbath.  The Lord’s Day or Sunday under the New Covenant has been the most important day of the week.  Set aside as a sacred day devoted in its entirety to the worship and study of God, the Lord’s Day became the time that until the late nineteenth century gave perspective for the people of God to every other day.  Put practically, the people of God devoted themselves on the Lord’s Day to dutiful worship and diligent study as a sacred symbol of the absolute sovereignty of God over all time, every day, and each life.  From the early days of the church through the Puritan period prior to the Industrial era, the people of God understood the teaching of Jesus, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.”  We have by the way twisted that text to mean that the Sabbath or Lord’s Day is for us; wow!  No, the teaching is that the Sabbath shows us who we are in the light of who God is so that we can know how to order our lives so as to honor Him.

Third, our assessment of our lives begins with Sunday.  What are we doing with the Lord’s Day?  Whatever it is, is a clear declaration of who and whom owns our lives.  Scarry?  Disconcerting?  If Sunday is for  your pleasure, then so is your life.  If Sunday is for doing as you desire, then so is your life.  If the worship of God on Sunday is occassional and dependent on your desires, then your relationship to God is occassional and depends on your desires.  So, there is a beginning.  It is not enough.  But it is a start for us to begin to assess our lives in the light of who and what is first.  Let me say again what I said on Sunday:  we don’t suffer much for the Gospel in our culture because our lives our not really shaped by the Gospel.  We are still very much a culture that tries to find the beautiful blend of balance so as to love Jesus and love the world all at the same time.  It is a strange way to live when we are seeking to love that which Jesus said would hate those who love Him.

 

 New Orleans Mission Trip Reports [53:29m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tonight’s evening service at FBC gave members of the Mission team that just got back from New Orleans to share what God was doing in the community they worked in. The trip was a part of the efforts of Operation Noah. Pastor Al starts out, and members of the team share some personal stories.

 

 His Family and Your Family [38:50m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Ephesians 5:1-21 [+/-]Ephesians 5:1-21 [5:1]Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. [2]And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. [3]But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. [4]Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. [5]For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. [6]Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. [7]Therefore do not become partners with them; [8]for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light [9](for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), [10]and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. [11]Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. [12]For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. [13]But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, [14]for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, "Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you." [15]Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, [16]making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. [17]Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. [18]And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, [19]addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, [20]giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, [21]submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. (ESV)

The is the second in a series on Marriage.

Paul absolutely loved order. It was the key word for him in addressing all the issues that he faced in the chaos of the church in Corinth. He gave attention to issue after issue after issue, at the end of which he spoke this summary sentence, “let all things be done decently and in order.” But before we interpret this word “order” through our own sinful structures: it means formality to some, it means the repetition of ritual to others, it means rigid routine to still others and it may even mean unchanging tradition to some. It meant of these things to Paul. The word that he used literally means “under authority.” He knew that the ultimate authority is God who by His Spirit and through His Word has established the way He wants things done. We do not establish order. It has been established by God. We simply submit our lives to that which God has already established and the result is lives that are well-ordered.

Learn more about this message by downloading the sermon notes here!

 

 Formula One [40:38m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Genesis 2:18-25 [+/-]Genesis 2:18-25 [18]Then the LORD God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him." [19]Now out of the ground the LORD God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. [20]The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. [21]So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. [22]And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. [23]Then the man said, "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man." [24]Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. [25]And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. (ESV)
, Mark 10:2-8 [+/-]Mark 10:2-8 [2]And Pharisees came up and in order to test him asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?" [3]He answered them, "What did Moses command you?" [4]They said, "Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away." [5]And Jesus said to them, "Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. [6]But from the beginning of creation, 'God made them male and female.' [7]'Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, [8]and the two shall become one flesh.' So they are no longer two but one flesh. (ESV)
, Ephesians 5:22-33 [+/-]Ephesians 5:22-33 [22]Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. [23]For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. [24]Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. [25]Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, [26]that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, [27]so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. [28]In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. [29]For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, [30]because we are members of his body. [31]"Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." [32]This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. [33]However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. (ESV)

The is the first in a series on Marriage.

“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here in the sight of God and in the face of this congregation to join together this man and this woman in Holy Matrimony; which is an honorable state, instituted by God in the time of man’s innocency, signifying unto us the mystical union that is betwixt Christ and His Church.” These are the opening lines of one of the oldest and most beautiful wedding ceremonies ever written by human hand. Found in The Book of Common Prayer this ceremony communicates clearly the biblical foundations and the reasons rooted in the revelation of God for Christian marriage. These words were written at a time when without question or exception people understood that marriage was a relationship between one man and one woman for all of life and that the distinctive of Christian marriage was that it was a revelation of the relationship of Jesus to His church so that who a man was in his family became the most fundamental factor in determining who he was and what he could do in the church.

Learn more about this message by downloading the sermon notes here!

 

 The Sweetness of Suffering [32:13m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Job 37 [+/-]Job 37 [37:1]"At this also my heart trembles and leaps out of its place. [2]Keep listening to the thunder of his voice and the rumbling that comes from his mouth. [3]Under the whole heaven he lets it go, and his lightning to the corners of the earth. [4]After it his voice roars; he thunders with his majestic voice, and he does not restrain the lightnings when his voice is heard. [5]God thunders wondrously with his voice; he does great things that we cannot comprehend. [6]For to the snow he says, 'Fall on the earth,' likewise to the downpour, his mighty downpour. [7]He seals up the hand of every man, that all men whom he made may know it. [8]Then the beasts go into their lairs, and remain in their dens. [9]From its chamber comes the whirlwind, and cold from the scattering winds. [10]By the breath of God ice is given, and the broad waters are frozen fast. [11]He loads the thick cloud with moisture; the clouds scatter his lightning. [12]They turn around and around by his guidance, to accomplish all that he commands them on the face of the habitable world. [13]Whether for correction or for his land or for love, he causes it to happen. [14]"Hear this, O Job; stop and consider the wondrous works of God. [15]Do you know how God lays his command upon them and causes the lightning of his cloud to shine? [16]Do you know the balancings of the clouds, the wondrous works of him who is perfect in knowledge, [17]you whose garments are hot when the earth is still because of the south wind? [18]Can you, like him, spread out the skies, hard as a cast metal mirror? [19]Teach us what we shall say to him; we cannot draw up our case because of darkness. [20]Shall it be told him that I would speak? Did a man ever wish that he would be swallowed up? [21]"And now no one looks on the light when it is bright in the skies, when the wind has passed and cleared them. [22]Out of the north comes golden splendor; God is clothed with awesome majesty. [23]The Almighty--we cannot find him; he is great in power; justice and abundant righteousness he will not violate. [24]Therefore men fear him; he does not regard any who are wise in their own conceit."

Ever wonder how Job did it? What were some of the things Job did during his times of extreme suffering, even more than most of us have ever experienced. Mike Godfrey digs deep into this wonderfully insightful book, that provides us with so many questions that hit us at the core.

 

 Everett Ashe on Campus Outreach [40:02m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Everett Ashe shared about his upcoming plans with Campus Outreach and the Summer Beach Project in Datona Beach, FL. Everett shared about his experience last summer, and outlined some of the activities that take place during the Summer Beach Project. Please do consider supporting Everett this summer, give the church office a call to find out how you can help! Read more here! »

Challenge open to all 1st – 6th graders! Turn in completed paper to Mrs. Melinda on or before April 25 to win a pizza with Mrs. Melinda on Wednesday, April 30!

1. Who is said to have written the wise sayings in the book of Proverbs?

2. What does “testament” mean?

3. Who was our revival evangelist?

4. What did Jesus say was the lamp of the body?

5. Please have an older person whom you admire (outside of your family) to sign here_______________________________________.Tell them why you admire them.

6. Memorize Isaiah 43:11 [+/-]Isaiah 43:11 [11]I, I am the LORD, and besides me there is no savior.
. Recite it to Mr. Al and let him sign here ______________________.

7. Give Mr. Don a high five and tell him thanks for all he does around our church! Have him sign here:____________________.

8. Pick up a piece of trash somewhere inside or outside the church, throw it away, and write your initials here:______________.

9. What is the theme for VBS this year? _____________________

 

 Case Studies in Conversation - looking closer at John 3:16 [+/-]John 3:16 [16]"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (ESV)
[31:47m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

John 3:16 [+/-]John 3:16 [16]"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (ESV)

What does it really mean to be genuinely Biblically Converted? This is part of the series Case Studies in Convention, a continuing Wednesday Night Study. Pastor Al looks John 3:16 [+/-]John 3:16 [16]"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (ESV)
in depth, as we discover this is a transitional verse which flows out of what comes prior to it, and gives impetus to what comes after it. It places the Cross at the center of our faith!

Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus finds its focus in 3:16 but not its fullness; the fullness is found in the verses that follow particularly where Jesus says that light has come into the world and we love darkness more than we do the light because our deeds are evil.  The first line in this sentence is the focal point:  this is the judgment or crisis.  What John 3:16 [+/-]John 3:16 [16]"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (ESV)
does is show us that great love for the world in the giving of Jesus as the sacrifice and substitute to whom we must respond with the surrender of our lives or we are doomed in and by the darkness of sin.