Postings like the one you are about to read are an opportunity for me to “throw out” to you some of the things that go through my head for which I may have some ground in Scriputre but that ground may not be as firm as I like.  Such is the case with the issues that I want to address in this blog.  Both issues that I will raise have to do with my own understanding of the judgments of God and how those judgments could be manifest in our lives.  These thoughts are my own and I accept full responsibility for them.  I do not invite you to dare to correct them; I invite you to dialogue with me on these issues.  I need your help and your insight. I may see these issues in a way that is way off base.  But at least give me your ears for this blog and your feedback on it.

Let me set the context.  I do believe that we live in a country that has been richly and greatly blessed by God.  And I do believe that compared to some countries contolled by Muslim Madmen and others that are operated by the Mafia, our country is a good land with some very generous people.  But the fact remains that in America the average per capita giving level stands at somewhere between 2.7 and 3.0 percent.  And this calculation includes on the one side those who give nothing to charity and those who give much of their income to charity.  For example, Rick Warren who makes and enormous amount of money gives away ninety percent of what he makes and John Piper uses the royalties from his writings to support all kinds of efforts particularly among the poor.  So, all said we are still a country that has known rich blessings without responding to those blessings in any kind of way that would be considered proportionately gracious.  My personal conviction is that we are under God’s judgment and that such judgment manifests itself in multiple ways, at least two of them that I wnat to discuss.

First, I bellieve that the medical advances that have come to our culture that are a result of the grace of God that have resulted in our ability to keep people alive to an advanced age are a gift of grace that have become an instrument of judgment.  Many people in our culture lose the sense of what real life is long before they die.  They are alive as life is defined medically but they are not alive at all as life is defined biblically.  They are breathing.  Some have lost their mental capacity completely while others are debilitated in body.  Like Israel wanting a king and God giving her a king, we have asked for physical miracles in the body and have gotten them, but many of them do not bring glory to God.  They leave us with physically deprived and mentally depleted persons who can barely function but just keep on breathing.

I do not think for a moment that God is punishing those people particularly, although in some cases that could be the case.  I would not dare to make that kind of call.  But I do think that God is showing us what we get when we ask for something that is about us and receive it and do not give glory to His Name.  I believe it is a sign of God’s judgment.  But I also believe that there are physcial and mental deprivations that happen to people that are a sign of God’s judgment.  For example, when people profess to know God and to love God and yet act in ways that dishonor Him, God will not be mocked.  He will either visit His wrath upon us in the end or during the days of our lives.  I believe that God sometimes sends sudden sickness in the lives of godly people to visit judgment of those around them who have acted in ungodly ways.  His Name is vindicated in the process and the visitation of sickness is upon someone who will not blame Him but praise Him in the process.  I have seen more than a few situations in recent years where events that seek to bring glory and honor to God are followed by events that mock that same glory, and it has ceased to shock me that I hear in the next few days or weeks about some trauma in that family.

Is this far out to you?  Far fetched?  It is for those who see themselves as the center of a universe in which their God is only and exclusively kind and benevolent.  But it is not far-fetched for me who sees the essence of God as holy and just who will vindicate His Name and His Word upon the earth.  He will not allow us to make much of Him in worship only to walk out of worship into events and activities that are all about the flesh.  This God will not allow us to mock Him.  This God is real.  This God I fear . . . and I love with all my being.

- Sorry, no sermon online this week due to a technical error

2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 [+/-]2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 [2:1]Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, [2]not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. [3]Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, [4]who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. [5]Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? [6]And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. [7]For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. [8]And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. [9]The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, [10]and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. [11]Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, [12]in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (ESV)

No Biblical issue as brought out more fanatical fascination than the issue of the Second Coming.  Every age has produced its prophets who would carefully calculate and then predict the precise date of His coming.  Some who saw those days pass were so determined or deluded that they would simply recalculate and come up with another date.  This kind of thing has been going on from the time that Paul in A.D. 50 wrote his first letter to the church in Thessalonica.  These early believers really believed that they would live to see the return of Jesus and when some among them began to die they stood at the grave to ask questions both about life after death for the people of God and the return of Jesus.  Paul responded to those questions in his first letter but it seems that there was still some confusion so he comes back to it in these verses.

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 The Place of Suffering in the Purposes of God [36:46m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

2 Thessalonians 1:5-12 [+/-]2 Thessalonians 1:5-12 [5]This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering-- [6]since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, [7]and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels [8]in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. [9]They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, [10]when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed. [11]To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, [12]so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. (ESV)

Paul begins his second letter to the church in Thessalonica with a very strong commendation.  This church is a great church.  And we looked last Sunday at the marks of a great church.  Paul cites three here:  a great church is growing in faith.  A great church is gracious in love and is persevering in faithfulness to the Lordship of Jesus in the face of persecutions and tribulations.  In fact, Paul makes it very plain here that persecutions and tribulations are present in great churches and they constitute the core of what God uses to produce and to prove great churches.  We can individualize this truth and speak of great Christians so long as we understand that there are no great Christians or Christians period apart from the church.  Put simply, persecution and tribulation come to us from the hand of God to produce in us what God desires and to demonstrate that we really are who we say we are as the children of God.

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Daniel 2:1-30 [+/-]Daniel 2:1-30 [2:1]In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; his spirit was troubled, and his sleep left him. [2]Then the king commanded that the magicians, the enchanters, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans be summoned to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king. [3]And the king said to them, "I had a dream, and my spirit is troubled to know the dream." [4]Then the Chaldeans said to the king in Aramaic, "O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation." [5]The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, "The word from me is firm: if you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you shall be torn limb from limb, and your houses shall be laid in ruins. [6]But if you show the dream and its interpretation, you shall receive from me gifts and rewards and great honor. Therefore show me the dream and its interpretation." [7]They answered a second time and said, "Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will show its interpretation." [8]The king answered and said, "I know with certainty that you are trying to gain time, because you see that the word from me is firm-- [9]if you do not make the dream known to me, there is but one sentence for you. You have agreed to speak lying and corrupt words before me till the times change. Therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that you can show me its interpretation." [10]The Chaldeans answered the king and said, "There is not a man on earth who can meet the king's demand, for no great and powerful king has asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or Chaldean. [11]The thing that the king asks is difficult, and no one can show it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh." [12]Because of this the king was angry and very furious, and commanded that all the wise men of Babylon be destroyed. [13]So the decree went out, and the wise men were about to be killed; and they sought Daniel and his companions, to kill them. [14]Then Daniel replied with prudence and discretion to Arioch, the captain of the king's guard, who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon. [15]He declared to Arioch, the king's captain, "Why is the decree of the king so urgent?" Then Arioch made the matter known to Daniel. [16]And Daniel went in and requested the king to appoint him a time, that he might show the interpretation to the king. [17]Then Daniel went to his house and made the matter known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions, [18]and told them to seek mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his companions might not be destroyed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. [19]Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven. [20]Daniel answered and said: "Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might. [21]He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding; [22]he reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him. [23]To you, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, for you have given me wisdom and might, and have now made known to me what we asked of you, for you have made known to us the king's matter." [24]Therefore Daniel went in to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon. He went and said thus to him: "Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon; bring me in before the king, and I will show the king the interpretation." [25]Then Arioch brought in Daniel before the king in haste and said thus to him: "I have found among the exiles from Judah a man who will make known to the king the interpretation." [26]The king declared to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, "Are you able to make known to me the dream that I have seen and its interpretation?" [27]Daniel answered the king and said, "No wise men, enchanters, magicians, or astrologers can show to the king the mystery that the king has asked, [28]but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. Your dream and the visions of your head as you lay in bed are these: [29]To you, O king, as you lay in bed came thoughts of what would be after this, and he who reveals mysteries made known to you what is to be. [30]But as for me, this mystery has been revealed to me, not because of any wisdom that I have more than all the living, but in order that the interpretation may be made known to the king, and that you may know the thoughts of your mind. (ESV)

INTRODUCTION:  Daniel One takes us immediately into the conflict that is found in every era between those who are committed to God and those who are not.  Make no mistake about this reality:  the Prince of the power of the air, Satan himself; wants to “brain wash” all who will listen to his ways.  He wants us to profess both a love for and honor for God while living to gratify our fleshly desires as they are fed and fueled by the ways of the world.  Those who live this way can be most sure that they do not belong to God but are most often the most boastfully confident that they do.  Daniel and his friends show us clearly that commitment is real and radical, and it is risky.

As we turn now to chapter two, we begin to see God’s sovereign hand setting up the situation that will show us as God’s people how we are to act as His people when we are in conflict with the world and its ways.

I.  The Dream and the Dilemma that is Created by the Dream, 2:1-11

A.  King Nebuchadnezzar has a dream.  We are told three things in verse one that produce one response:

1.  The Dream

2.  The Troubled Spirit

3.  The Loss of Sleep Read more here! »

I was sad this morning.  My sadness was in part of course due to my own grief and the grief of our church family over the death of Lynn Harper.  We grieve her loss and the journey that is ahead for her daughter and family.  Having been around these parts for some time, I also was sad over the death of Jane Mobley Neely.  Different circumstances but still a source of grief. These losses and my reflection on them compounded and complicated my sadness but I was sad because a bus pulled out of our parking lot on the way to camp and I was not with it.  Now do not misunderstand me:  I do not in any way compare the grief related to death over the grief of a departing bus headed for camp and my not being a part of it.  One is surely for more realistic than the other and far deeper, but it is the other sadness that got me to thinking, “why is it that I enjoy even today after all these years going with a bunch of kids to camp?”  Lots of responses came to me.  Let me share a few.

First, it is just fun.  I mean it.  It is fun to be with a bunch of kids away from their parents and just watch what happens.  Some are better away from their parents than when with them; some, well; let’s just say that it is a challenge.  But it is all loads and loads of fun.  Second, I get to be with kids in a whole different way.  They get to see me and know me in a different dimension.  We hang out together.  We sit in the cafeteria together and talk sports or I get to hear why some girl is “yukky” and why some guy is so very dreamy.  I get to plop down on the bed with them at night and just talk before we bed down for the night.  I get to know them in a very special way.   Third, I get to be encouraged by so many adults from so many other churches who give up a week of vacation to spend a week as a chaperone at camp.  We have men and women who do that.  But I love to talk with some man from Maryville, Tenn. or Natchez, Miss. and find out what would move a man to give up a hard-earned week to spend it with children.  It is such an encouragement to me.  Fourth, it gives me a week to recaputre some of what I have always felt I missed as a child.  I never went to camp.  Never.  But I have been now for almost every year that I have been a pastor.  Fifth, to be real honest; it is a refreshing week for me.  I don’t go to everything that happens.  Most mornings I go away somewhere on campus for a couple of hours of study and prayer.  I may sit outside on the veranda at the entrance to the college or inside my little room in the dorm, but it is a good prayer and study time for me.

So, I was sad this morning that I wasn’t going.  But I will within twenty four hours be on my way.  I came to the church this morning thinking that I may not even go, but when we started loading stuff onto the bus and I got among those kids, I knew.  I’m headed to camp tomorrow afternoon.  I love camp.

 

 Marks of a Great Church [36:29m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

2 Thessalonians 1:1-4 [+/-]2 Thessalonians 1:1-4 [1:1]Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: [2]Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. [3]We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. [4]Therefore we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring. (ESV)

What are the marks of a great church?  What are the measures that we have used historically and culturally to gage greatness for a church?  Well there was a time when we used the size, shape, and spread of buildings to gage greatness.  The church with the most magnificent edifice and the most number of those kinds of edifices was considered a great church.  You can get on a plane today and travel to many places in our world and see some of these great churches.  They now sit empty both of the people who once worshipped in them and void of the presence and power of God.  They are sites for tourists to visit and hear some tour guide talk about how it used to be in this great church.  It wasn’t too long ago in our culture that we measured greatness by population and programs.  A great church had lots and lots of people with lots and lots of activities.  A great church was a growing church that was creating activities that covered every area of life from the nurture of the soul to the fitness of the body.  Yet, I could take you to Augusta or to Macon or to Atlanta and many other places in our own country to churches that once bustled with all kinds of people with all kinds of programs that are now struggling to keep the doors open.  It seems to me that if the measure of greatness is culturally conditioned, then it should not surprise us that greatness in one era can be something far less than that in another era, but if our standard for greatness is set by Scripture then greatness would grow and would not wax and wane.  That is why a text like this one that opens this second letter to the church in Thessalonica is so important to us.  It sets before us the marks of a great church as measured by the one who called the church into being and gave His Son to purchase this church through the shedding of His blood.

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

 

 Sunday Evening - June 7, 2009 [45:22m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Deuteronomy 29:29 [+/-]Deuteronomy 29:29 [29]"The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law. (ESV)
& Isaiah 45:1-7 [+/-]Isaiah 45:1-7 [45:1]Thus says the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped, to subdue nations before him and to loose the belts of kings, to open doors before him that gates may not be closed: [2]"I will go before you and level the exalted places, I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron, [3]I will give you the treasures of darkness and the hoards in secret places, that you may know that it is I, the LORD, the God of Israel, who call you by your name. [4]For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name, I name you, though you do not know me. [5]I am the LORD, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me, [6]that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the LORD, and there is no other. [7]I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the LORD, who does all these things.

Basic Biblical Beliefs – Pastor Al teaches about God’s Nessassary Will ion this evening’s continuing lesson.

 

 At the End of the Day [42:56m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Philippians 2:5-18 [+/-]Philippians 2:5-18 [5]Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, [6]who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, [7]but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. [8]And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. [9]Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, [10]so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, [11]and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. [12]Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, [13]for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. [14]Do all things without grumbling or questioning, [15]that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, [16]holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. [17]Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. [18]Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me. (ESV)

The one thousand year reign of Christ with His people upon the earth is almost over.  Satan is released from the place of his captivity for just a short while.  He will deceive many in that short period of time thus demonstrating that the locus of evil is within us and not around us.  No environment in the history of the world short of the new heavens and the new earth will be as pure and as perfect as the millennium, yet many near the end will still be deceived by the devil because we are all by nature sinners.  To be a sinner is simply to be self-centered, self-determined, self-directed, self-devoted, and self-consumed.  And when Satan comes in whatever guise to offer us that which will make us feel better about ourselves, we are prone to accept the offer.  At the end of the day, however, Satan and all of his minions will be cast into hell forever and the Sovereign God will set before the World the Lamb of God who is the lion of the tribe of Judah and every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.  After which some will enter into the joy of everlasting life in the new heavens and the new earth but many will join the devil and his demons in the dreadful darkness of eternal torment.  And the difference that determines who is where is our relationship to Jesus as Lord.  All will declare at the end of the day that He is Lord, most by compulsion and some by conviction.  Those who communicate His Lordship by conviction are those who had already surrendered  and submitted to His Lordship along the way; those who communicate His Lordship by compulsion are those who chose to live for themselves many of whom to the end who will believe that they really had a real relationship with God. 

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