Trusting the Trinity [43:08m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Jude 17-25 [+/-]Jude 1:17-25 [17]But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. [18]They said to you, "In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions." [19]It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. [20]But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, [21]keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. [22]And have mercy on those who doubt; [23]save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh. [24]Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, [25]to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. (ESV)

We return today to these verses in Jude.  We drew near to them last week and danced around them but did not dig into them.  We will dig into them today.  Let’s remember why these verses are so important to what we are doing in these days:  We have begun a journey together to try to understand biblically and apply practically the teaching in the Bible about the Holy Spirit.  But we could easily go astray from the start if we did not begin our journey by locating the doctrine of the Holy Spirit in the context of the central doctrine of the Trinity.  So that is where we have begun our journey:  looking at the Holy Spirit in the context of the Trinity.  Our God is one God in three persons.  The three persons are equal in essence but distinct in expression.  And as Wayne Grudem writes and we shall see later today the distinctions in the Trinity are seen in how the members of the Trinity relate to each other and to the world.

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

 

 Sunday Evening - August 23, 2009 [38:42m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Charlie Fales teaches tonight!

 

 Blessed Trinity [40:20m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Jude 17-25 [+/-]Jude 1:17-25 [17]But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. [18]They said to you, "In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions." [19]It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. [20]But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, [21]keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. [22]And have mercy on those who doubt; [23]save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh. [24]Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, [25]to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. (ESV)

Wilhelmus A. Brakel was a seventeenth century Dutch Reformer.  Brilliant in his understanding of the teachings of the Bible, this man wrote a four volume work as a discipleship manual for new believers.  His intention in writing it was to give deep roots and solid ground to believers as they started the journey of salvation seeking to serve Jesus as Lord and Master.  One modern scholar that I admire and respect has said that if he were mandated to spend time on a deserted island and could choose one set of writings in addition to the Bible, he would choose Brakel.  I agree.  He writes with such profound conviction and with such plain and simple clarity.  But when he wrote the section of his work on the doctrine of God, he began it with these words, “God is incomprehensible in His essence and His existence.”  He goes on to declare that no human can understand God so as to comprehend who He is by beginning with our reason and moving toward God.  God has designed it so that any understanding of Himself is connected to what He communicates to us about Himself.  He is a God who makes Himself known.  And the place at which He begins is in His essence and expression as Trinity.  He is One God in three persons.

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

I received the email and opened it.  My eyes fell upon the following words:  “Ya’ll keep it up.  XYZ is doing better.  Your prayers are working.  Keep praying. . . “  My skin crawled. My stomach was in knots in millilseconds. My hear broke.  Did I really read what I thought I read?  Surely not.  Surely whoever wrote these words must have penned them too rapidly to have said what was just said.  Hidden in this kind of approach to prayer is the kind of secular humanism that makes God a puppet of our plans, a pawn in our hands.  It turns prayer into another human power that we have to move the holy one of heaven to do our bidding.  It even seems to imply that if we do more of it and do it more often that it will have greater effect.  This kind of view of prayer is the equivalent of saying go God, “hey God, thanks for giving us this way of making things work. It is another tool in our spiritual toolbox that we can jerk out and make life better for us. And just to think that you gave us all this tool (a view that is particularly problematical given the biblical teaching about who it is to whom God listens) and if enough of us use it in any given situation it is bound to make things happen in a more rapid way (I suppose it is the equivalent of the fact that ten people raking a yard can clean up the fallen leaves more rapidly than two).”

Am I just being picky here or petulant?  Don’t people really understand when they write or say these kinds of things that it is not really the mechanism of prayer that works but it is God who has chosen to work in response to the prayers of His people?  I don’t think so.  I think that the most prevalent and popular understanding of the Christian Faith in our culture is radically self-centered and human-focused rather than God-glorifying and Christ-exalting.  For example, God-glorifying and Christ-exalting prayer would be seen for what it is when we understand the biblical teaching on prayer:  it is the means by which those who belong to God through Jesus Christ enter into the praise of God and the petition of His Throne for what is needed in the face of all situations in life.  We do pray for the sick to be healed and for the distressed to be delivered but we pray this kind of prayer on our way to praying that above all else God would be glorified and that Christ would be exalted.  And we understand that God hears and responds to the prayers of  His people.  We understand equally that the only prayer for which an unbeliever will receive any hearing in heaven is the prayer and plea for mercy and grace to save the sinner from the wrath of the God to whom He is praying.  It is in fact at best an affront to God if not blasphemy for ubelievers to pray to God for whatever thinking that they ought to be heard, and in my experienceit is the unbelievers who are the most penitent before God in praying for what they need or want and the most pathetic in their blame of God when they do not get it.  Human oriented and self-centered praying seeks God for what we are after, whatever that might be.  The focus of the prayer is not on God but on what we want:  money, house, marital resolutions, healings etc.  Not so with God-glorifying, Jesus-exalting prayer.

This kind of praying which is the only kind of praying the Bible knows bows the heart before the sovereign God and spills out our souls to Him.  We praise Him because He is good.  We give Him glory because He does what is right in accorance with His will and not ours.  We submit ourselves to His plans.  We seek Him in accordance with the desires of our hearts and we rest in Him.  We know that what He does is good and right so that if things go our way, we praise Him; and if they don’t we praise Him still.  And this kind of prayer seeks God as much on days of sunshine as on days of storm.  Therein is a major malady of the prayer request I received by way of email.  Why don’t we send out this kind of email:  “God has given us a great day today; it is abounding in sunshine and blue skies.  Let’s bow before Him and praise Him.”  I am not being funny.  We do not get those kind because we don’t really need Him on those days.  Do you see the problem?  If you don’t need God on those days, then the God you have in the storm is one that you have created and whatver we create is an idol.

One other thing.  The view of prayer represented in the email request scares me at a lot of levels not the least of which is what happens to people when “prayers don’t work.”  I mean what if situations go south?  What if people don’ recover?  You see, I don’t see us then blaming our prayers.  What I see is us blaming God.  It is so tragic.  And it happens all too often in our world where living for the glory of God has been all but lost in life being consumed by our own concerns and our own cares.  It is not enough to say that  prayer works; what must be said is that God works and one of the ways that He works is through the prayers of His people.  And He works through the prayers of His people because His people understand that God works to bring glory to Himself not to do what we desire or demand that He does.

 

 The Word of Peace [31:57m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

2 Thessalonians 3:14-18 [+/-]2 Thessalonians 3:14-18 [14]If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person, and have nothing to do with him, that he may be ashamed. [15]Do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother. [16]Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all. [17]I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. This is the sign of genuineness in every letter of mine; it is the way I write. [18]The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. (ESV)

The center of concern in the last words that Paul wrote to the church in Thessalonica is the promise, the proclamation and the practice of peace.  Here is the central core of what he communicates as he brings this letter to its conclusion, 3:16.  He proclaims to them the Word of Peace.  But He frames it on each side with statements about the Word of God and concludes the entire letter by praying for them and for us what we most need in order to live godly lives in this world.  On the far side of the Word of Peace is his call for us to trust the Word of God; on the near side of the Word of Peace is his call for us to obey the Word of God.  He ties the Word of God to the Way of Peace.  And then prays for the grace of God that would enable us listen to the Word of God so that we can live in the way of Peace.

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

I have been thinking a lot lately about dead churches.  I know that such thoughts may not cross your mind but I have two very strong convictions about the subject that have prompted my thinking.  First, the Bible is clear that dead churches do not know that they are dead.  They look very much alive.  In fact, John said about the church in Sardis in the Book of Revelation that this church had a reputation of being very much alive, but they were dead.  That means that they had everything from a worldly perspective that a church needs in order to be considered alive, but they were dead.  So, that reality had started me thinking about dead churches.  The thought was further stimulated by work that I am doing on the course that I am teaching for Brewton Parker which requires me to examine closely what constitutes real life in a church.  I have seen yet again while working through this material that the presence of certain realities in a church does not constitute life so that it is very likely for a church to look very much alive and be very dead.  And then the final trigger for me was the simple recognition that we may in the USA be one of the largest possessors of dead churches in the world.  They are everywhere.  They are here in the little town of Waynesboro and county of Burke.  They wear various denominational labels but they are dead.  Ichabod.  The glory of God has departed.  And nobody inside the house is aware that such has taken place.  In fact, I am convinced that some of the most comfortably contended so-called Christians in the whole world attend dead churches every week.

You can have a pastor of your church and the church can be dead.  He can open the Bible and read from it, even preach from it; and the church can be dead.  You can have people coming Sunday after Sunday.  They are, of course; always the same people with very few additions happening but oh how religiously they come.  People coming religiously with very few additons has an odor to it; it smells like death.  You can have powerful music with various people singing and be dead. You can have programs addressing every purpose in life and be dead.  You can be active and alive in what you are doing and be dead.  Do you get the drift?  As much as these things above cannot be ignored, and should not be; ;none of them constitute the core meaning of real life in the church.  There are churches who have all of the above and are dead and there are those who lack large numbers of people and do not have many programs and find it like pulling teeth to put together a choir, but they are alive in the Spirit of God.

I think what constitutes the core of life in a church is the passion of people for God and HIs glory that is seen in three specific ways.  First, we hunger and thirst for the worship of God on the Lord’s Day.  We can’t wait for it to get here and do not want it to end.  A football game in Athens is a child’s game of charades compared to the reality of the worship of God.  We would not sit in the rain to watch an athletic contest but we would brave anything for the sake of the worship of God.  We don’t mark or mesure time in worship because we know that as the people of God this worship of God is the most important thing that we do.  This reality in the life of a person and in the life of a people is a sign of life.  Its absence alone means a church with slow pulse pushing toward death.  A second reality is that the church goes outside the walls to witness to the Gospel.  We have a “can’t wait” attitude about worship as it reltes to the world:  we can’t wait to tell somebody about the glorious good news of Jesus.  We want the world to hear and to see and to know this Jesus who has saved us from our sin.  We invite people to come and we watch with joy as new people join.  We come every Sunday expecting guests in His house because we have invited them.  There are churches that can’t remember the last time a guest came.  And they surely don’t remember when one stayed!  Do you smell the odor?  Yeah, that’s right; there is death in that pot.  But nobody knows it in churches like that because they as they tell it have such a “sweet fellowhip.”  Or as one man put it to me whom I suspect to be in such a church, “there’s not many of us but we really do love one another.”  That is exactly what they said in South Africa as they drank the poison from the cup because they so much loved and cared for one another.  Death is death regardless of how it comes.  And one more sign of life is a living Coram Deo in th world. Churches that have life are going to the world not just beyond the doors of their neighborhood but beyond the boundaires of their county or state or nation.  Churches with life want to go with the Gospel to the ends of the earth.  And those churches have a passion for that.  Dead churches build pipe organs or family life centers complete with spas with hot tubs and steam showers.  How pathetic!  Churches with life send people to the gym as they go with the gospel to the world.

Any church can die.  It is endemic in our culture. It is happening everywhere.  It is so present here in my opinon that it is not churches that are dead that stand out but churches that are really alive.  O God, give this church life and let us live with exhuberant joy and give us a good sense of smell to run away from any place and people that carry the stench of death.

Psalm 73 [+/-]Psalm 73 [73:1]Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. [2]But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped. [3]For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. [4]For they have no pangs until death; their bodies are fat and sleek. [5]They are not in trouble as others are; they are not stricken like the rest of mankind. [6]Therefore pride is their necklace; violence covers them as a garment. [7]Their eyes swell out through fatness; their hearts overflow with follies. [8]They scoff and speak with malice; loftily they threaten oppression. [9]They set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongue struts through the earth. [10]Therefore his people turn back to them, and find no fault in them. [11]And they say, "How can God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?" [12]Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches. [13]All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. [14]For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning. [15]If I had said, "I will speak thus," I would have betrayed the generation of your children. [16]But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, [17]until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end. [18]Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin. [19]How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors! [20]Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms. [21]When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart, [22]I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you. [23]Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. [24]You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory. [25]Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. [26]My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. [27]For behold, those who are far from you shall perish; you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you. [28]But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, that I may tell of all your works.
& Ephesians 6 [+/-]Ephesians 6 [6:1]Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. [2]"Honor your father and mother" (this is the first commandment with a promise), [3]"that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land." [4]Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. [5]Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, [6]not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, [7]rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, [8]knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free. [9]Masters, do the same to them, and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him. [10]Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. [11]Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. [12]For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. [13]Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. [14]Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, [15]and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. [16]In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; [17]and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, [18]praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, [19]and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, [20]for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak. [21]So that you also may know how I am and what I am doing, Tychicus the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord will tell you everything. [22]I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage your hearts. [23]Peace be to the brothers, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. [24]Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible. (ESV)

The enemies tactics, and prevention! (looking further at the armor of God!)

I have waited a bit to write this post.  It was important for anger to settle and vengeance to leave.  I know that my anger does not work the righteousness of God and that vengeance is not mine.  The Bible is clear about those realities.  There is coming a day when God will make it all right and will execute fully and faithfully His Justice upon the earth.  Read the Psalms particularly those imprecatory Psalms and you will hear the agonizing cries of some who had suffered injustice and longed for the Day of God’s Justice to dawn upon the earth.  Some things are said in those Psalms that make us shiver.  When the Psalmist pronounces a blessing on the person who takes children and dashes them on the rocks, we hear the deep penetrating pain of those who have suffered injustice and want so much to see God make it right.  Well, He is.  And He is going to do it in such a way that more than anything else, His great Name will be honored.  His Justice will be executed in a way that will be pure and perfect.

Human justice will never be executed in that way.  I learned that truth again recently as I sat all day in a courtroom in a local courthouse.  One side wanted a woman to get prison time while the other side wanted to show that she had been punished enough and that prison time would not serve the cause of justice.  Professing believers sat on both sides.  I am sure that believers on both sides would have argued their position with some sense of direction from the Spirit of God.  I have no qualms with either side doing that; I do have great concerns about professing believers who have no vested interest in a case being present in the courtroom in the first place.  Why are they present?  Oh, I am sure that some will argue that they are there to pray for persons who are making presentments in the case.  Why not do that at home in the privacy of the prayer closet while fasting before the Lord seeking His glory His will?  The sight of professing believers with no real interest in the case being present in the courtroom made a difficult day even more difficult for me.  But it did not obscure for me the larger issue:  no human court nor judge can inour system of justice do justice to justice.

The Judge in this case is a very good man.  He works hard to do the right thing.  But he is an elected officical.  I suppose the only judge who can do what is right with full objectivity is the one who is absolutely certain that he is in his last term.  Otherwise every decision has to be weighed to some extent on the scales of public opinion.  I have heard that the judge in this case who made a tough decision  has taken a lot of heat.  That is too bad.  But it is too true in our system.  And the lawyers for both sides were doing the best that they could do but our system is beset with too many meetings that go on before we get to the courtroom so that too much of what happens in the public has been shaped by meetings that have already happened in private.  Do you hear some of my frustration?  And how to keep it from happening?  I dont’t know.  I do care.  But I don’t know.

It was a long day in the courtroom that left me with a lot of emptiness.  I don’t want to revisit that scene often.  But I left that courtroom knowing about the courthouse what I’ve know for years about the church house:  there is no place in this world where justice is done perfectly.  But it will be one day.  Lord, hasten that day whcn Justice will roll down like waters and righteousness like an overflowing stream.

 

 Sunday Evening - August 10, 2009 [43:34m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Sunday evening introduction study on what “knowledge” is all about.

Pastor Al continues speaking about Angels” and moves on to Demons

Matthew 28:5 [+/-]Matthew 28:5 [5]But the angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. (ESV)

 

 Vocation [43:47m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

2 Thessalonians 3:6-13 [+/-]2 Thessalonians 3:6-13 [6]Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us. [7]For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you, [8]nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you. [9]It was not because we do not have that right, but to give you in ourselves an example to imitate. [10]For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. [11]For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. [12]Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. [13]As for you, brothers, do not grow weary in doing good. (ESV)

Do you remember your first job? I mean the first income producing
job that you ever had? What was it? What were you doing? Mine was
with my Dad. He built houses all over our home town. In fact, when I go
back to Lincolnton I can hardly go anywhere without seeing houses that he
built. I was just a little lad when he started taking me to work with him and
teaching me the joy of working. Picking up sticks around a construction
site, putting them in a pile and burning them. Sweeping up rooms after the
dry wall was up and just before we mudded the walls. Promoted to mixing
mortar in a mortar box: fourteen shovels of sand, one bag of mortar mix,
two buckets of water and back and forth with a hoe with holes in it mixing
the mortar. A dollar a day, five dollars a week and two bucks extra when I
worked on Saturday. I loved being with my Dad and I loved the work.
And somewhere in it all he taught me the joy of working. He never used
the term but what he was teaching me was the doctrine of vocation.

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

Date: Saturday, August 22, 2009
Time: 9:00am – 12:00pm
Location: West Acres Baptist Church
Street: 555 Gibbs Road
Phone: 7068606573
Email: lisa@westacres.org

Content Summary

•Parenting when your kids know more about the computer than you.
•Molding character and teaching wisdom not just imposing rules or setting limitations.
•Protecting your children from on-line predators.
•Becoming aware of modes of on-line communication: their appeal, usefulness, and dangers.
•Protecting your children from on-line pornography.
•How to respond when/if your children do view pornography.
•How to assess the degree of danger in your children’s inappropriate on-line activities.
•How to teach a healthy view of relationships, sex, and integrity.
•What do acronyms like LOL, POS, ROTFL, and HAK mean?

Who Should Attend

•Any parent who has a computer in their home and children who want to use it.
•Any grandparent who has a computer in their home and grandchildren who want to use it.
•Youth workers, volunteers, and Sunday School teachers.
•Teachers and educators.
•Those who work with parents in a professional or ministry setting.

How to Use the Seminar

1. Come for your own personal growth and education. We pray this seminar will equip parents and grandparents to be more effective and aware as they seek to shape the hearts of children and youth.

2. Come to equip yourself to minister to others. We pray the impact of this seminar will be multiplied as youth workers, teachers, and those who work with parents have opportunity to share this material with others.

3. Bring lost friends, family, neighbors, and co-workers who are interested in the subject. It is impossible to parent effectively without the Gospel. It is our sin nature and the flesh that we are combating as we parent. This seminar will point to the importance of the Gospel and Scripture to change the heart and make long-term character change. If you know a lost person who is concerned about their family and the internet, then consider using this event as a way to help them see the necessity of the Gospel, the insight of Scripture, and the usefulness of being plugged into a local church.

 

 A Winning Combination [38:30m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

2 Thessalonians 3:1-5 [+/-]2 Thessalonians 3:1-5 [3:1]Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you, [2]and that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men. For not all have faith. [3]But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one. [4]And we have confidence in the Lord about you, that you are doing and will do the things that we command. [5]May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ. (ESV)

Let me ask you a question. It is not a trick question but it can be quite confusing: “When does the church year begin here at our church?” Well, that depends on who you ask. If you ask Kim Booth that question, she will answer “it begins in a month from today and I need you help.” If you ask Glenn Ashe that question, he will say that it begins next Sunday with the first meeting of AWANA. If you ask Chris Collins who does such a wonderful job of chairing our Budget and Finance team he will say it begins in January. If you ask our Deacon Selection Team they will say that it begins in September and if you ask some person who has been Baptist since John they will say with absolute certainty that it begins in October. For me, I just like all the variety of beginnings because it gives all of us at various times opportunities to pause and reflect upon where we are in terms of what God is doing in our lives. That is exactly what Paul is doing as he comes to the end of his second letter to the church in Thessalonica. He is going to address three issues of critical importance: the relationship of pastor to people and people to pastor, the primacy of work as a place for declaring the glory of God, and the promise of peace that God gives to us through Jesus Christ. He begins in these five verses by looking at what a pastor desires from his people and what a pastor desires for his people.

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