All are Under Sin – audio and outline

romans-3-part-2 click for sermon audio.  Recorded Sunday Feb. 15, 2009 during downtown community fellowship worship service.

Outline of Romans 3:9-22 (Conclusion of Section One: All have sinned and are accountable to God, Transition to God’s Salvation made available through faith.)

I.   All are under sin (3:9)

A.  Proof from OT Scriptures (Psalm 14:1-3, Psalm 53:1-3, Eccl. 7:20)

1. There is none righteous, no, not one (3:10)
2. There is none who seeks after God? (3:10)
3. They have all turned aside and become unprofitable (3:12)
4. There is no one who does good, no not one (3:12)

B.   Proof from OT Scriptures Continued

1. Poisoned Lips (3:13) Psalm 5:9
2. Mouth full of cursing and bitterness (3:14) Psalm 10:7
3. Quick to kill, destruction and misery are in their ways (3:15-17) Isaiah 59:7-8
4. Way of peace they have not known
5. There is no fear of God before their eyes (3:18) Psalm 36:1

II.  What the law does (3:19-20)

1. Condemns those under the law
2. By it every mouth is stopped
3. Gives guilt to the whole world before God
4. The law cannot justify man before God
5. The law gives knowledge of sin (informs man he is lost)

III.  The Righteousness of God is available (3:19-22)

A.  Apart from the Law

B.  Witnessed by:

1. The Law
2. Prophets

C.  Through Jesus Christ

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Adoption – A challenge to the Church!

“Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world” (James 1:27).

In every state in the U.S.A. there are children who are in foster care who are up for adoption.  The parental rights of their parents have been terminated.  They are in need of a permanent home, preferably a home that is full of God’s love and truth.

In my state of Georgia there are thousands of churches that claim to be Christ-centered and tens of thousands of homes that make this same claim.  On Georgia’s My Turn Now website there are 185 listings of children that need to be adopted, 25 of those listings are sibling groups.  We can clearly see that there should be many more Christian homes available than their are adoptable foster kids.  Yet, many of these are at risk of going through life without a family.  Can you imagine to be in that sad state where your biological family has either failed you or died, and there is no other family in the whole world that will make you part of theirs?

Instead of there being a waiting list of kids hoping to be adopted, there should be a backlog of hundreds of Christian families in our state waiting and hoping for their turn to adopt one of these precious ones.  What is stopping us other than a lack of awareness, selfishness, and fear?

Are we really taking seriously the command of God to take care of the orphans? It would be a powerful testimony in your community if it could be said, “There are no orphans here because the church in my community has handled its business.”

May Jesus soften the heart of His church to the needs of the least of these!  May we stop asking the question, “God, do you want my family to adopt?” and start assuming His command to love our neighbors does apply to us in this area by asking the question, “God, is there a reason you have why we should not adopt, or is there a reason you want us to wait to do this?”

Take a look at the kids available in Georgia at My Turn Now.  A quick Google search is all it takes to find the kids in your state.

 

Inauguration Prayers – Compared and Contrasted

On Tuesday’s Inauguration day, I paid particular attention to the opening and closing prayers.  I’m interested in who will be asked to take on that task and how they will handle it.  For Obama’s inauguration Rick Warren and Joseph Lowery had the honor and difficult task.

Rick Warren is known as a popular evangelical preacher and writer (Purpose Driven Life), and Joseph Lowery is known as a civil rights activist and is a Minister in the United Methodist Church.

From my perspective Warren’s positive points were:

• he stated firmly that there is one God
• he prayed in the name of Jesus and made clear that this was his prayer and did not represent it as a prayer from all the people present and watching on TV
• he gave testimony that Jesus had changed his life
• he asked for justice and the helping of one another
• by using the Lord’s prayer he made it clear that God’s glory and kingdom are primary

From my perspective Warren’s negative points were:

• he could have used the opportunity to thank God for Jesus as the only source of salvation (Some will argue that wouldn’t be appropriate at the time, but the problem I have with events like this is that many people walk away with a false sense of security that they are okay with God.)

• he went a little extra-biblical on the idea that MLK and a “great cloud of witnesses” were rejoicing in heaven (We know there is a great cloud of witnesses – Hebrews 12:1-2, and we know there is rejoicing in heaven when one sinner repents – Luke 15:7, but I do not find any biblical precedent for the idea of rejoicing in heaven over a strictly political event in the world.

From my perspective Lowery’s positive points were:

• asking for the forgiveness of our national sins
• asking for protection for the poor that they would not be exploited
• asking for help that we would work together

From my perspective Lowery’s negative points were:

• he does not seem to believe in the One God presented in the Bible and expressed that there are multiple paths to doing God’s will

• though early in the prayer he talked about unity, he ended with what many decry as racism and a step backwards.  I’m not really sure what “when yellow will be mellow” means – if someone in the know could help me with that one I would appreciate it.  I do know that Asians don’t want to be called yellow and that Indians don’t want to be called red – so in that regard the whole thing is a little insensitive – even if meant in fun. I do greatly wish that we would treat each other with no regard to ethnicity, but it seems like the devil and the sinful human flesh are going to keep dragging this one out as they have for thousands of years.  Regardless we all still have personal responsibility to think and do right.

May we be right with God through His Son Jesus Christ and may we learn to pray in a way that pleases God.

(Click on the name for the entire transcipt of each prayer:  Warren Lowery)

Also please note previous post on praying for our new president.

 

Witnessing to a Jehovah’s Witness

Knowing where to begin in witnessing to a Jehovah’s Witness can be difficult because there are so many subjects where their teachings disagree with the Word of God. However, I recommend that at least initially you stick to the most imporant subject and keep the conversation from running down rabbit trails. The most important subject is the Deity or non-deity of Jesus Christ.

It is great if you know more, but you only need to remember two passages to have a meaningful conversation.

First, ask the Jehovah’s Witness to read John 1:1 outloud from their New World Translation. It will read, “In [the] beginning the Word was, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god.”

Notice that instead of the correct translation “the Word was God”, their version says “a god.” Let it go for now.

Second ask the Jehovah’s Witness to read John 20:24-29 outloud from their New World Translation. The passage is the conversation between Jesus and Thomas after the resurrection of Jesus, verse 28 states, ” In answer Thomas said to him: “My Lord and my God!”

Notice that in the New World Translation Thomas calls Jesus God with a capital “G”.

You can then ask the Jehovah’s Witness, “Is Jesus a god little g or the God big G?” In compassion for them I would say something like this, “God preserved part of His Word in the New World Translation so that any Jehovah’s Witness could read John 20 and agree with Thomas that Jesus is God and believing in Him have life in His name. Do you agree with Thomas that Jesus is God?”

I hope this post helps you in sharing the truth with the Jehovah’s Witnesses you meet. Memorize the two references, John, 1:1 and John 20:24-29. Now you can answer that door with confidence or have that conversation with that coworker or family member that you know you need to have. If I can be of further assistance please drop a comment.

 

What Jehovah’s Witnesses Believe

The last four days have been very interesting.  On Friday I had a conversation with a couple of friends about JWs because they are routinely going into my friends’ laundromat and handing out literature.  Saturday I am with a friend, and we are going to a trailer park to show the Jesus Film in Spanish.  As soon as we pull up we see the JWs going trailer to trailer.  On Sunday a JW was going to visit a young lady in our church.  I went and participated because normally the JWs visit you with at least two people.  Today, at lunch time basketball, someone says, “Merry Christmas!”  One of the other guys says, “I don’t celebrate Christmas.”  I think I was the only one who heard him say it so privately, I asked him why.  He said, “because of my personal beliefs and my religion.”  I replied, “So you are a Jehovah’s Witness then?” “Yes…”  Odds are they have already knocked on your door and will again.

So what are the main things that Jehovah’s Witnesses believe? It should be understood that the JW religion is a religion of denial.  It was started in 1879 because the founder Charles Russell did not like the normal teachings of the Bible.  JWs deny the following:

1.  The Deity of Jesus Christ
2.  The physical resurrection of  Jesus Christ
3.  The physical return of Jesus Christ
4.  The existance of hell as defined by the Bible (they view it as a grave until the resurrection)
5.  The place of all believers is an eternity with God (they state only 144,000 get this privilage.

They deny many other things but those five are of particular importance.  It is good for you to know that JWs are forbidden to take any literature you give them, and they are  forbidden to read any “religious” materials that are not from the Watchtower Society.  A more accurate name for Jehovah’s Witnesses would be “Watchtowerites” since they rely so heavily on their Watchtower materials.  They have their own translation of the Bible called the New World Translation.  As far as Bible translations go, it is terrible.  However, there is something in it that is very powerful that is easy to remember and that you can use when you witness to a Jehovah’s Witness.  Read the next post for the answer.

One final thought for this post.  You should view most JWs with compassion.  They normally have very little Bible knowledge when they are deceived.  They are systematically brainwashwed.  If they deny the false teachings of their religion they will normally be outcasts and lose their family and their community of friends.  It costs a lot for one of them to have the courage to see it for the cult that it is and to get out.

 

Is Jesus the only way?

June 23, 2008

The ABC evening news reported a survey released today by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. The result of the survey is that 70 percent say that their religion/belief system is not the only way to heaven. Here is the breakdown of the percentage of people who believe there are multiple ways to heaven:

83% mainline Protestants
79% Catholics
82% Jews
56% Muslims
57% Evangelicals

These numbers are not surprising since inclusiveness is in vogue and a claim to exclusive truth is viewed as arrogant and hateful. In addition, there is the understandable desire for most everyone to be okay – that only those in the league of Hitler would be kept from eternal life.  The problem for those who claim to be followers of Jesus is that He doesn’t view it this way.  He emphatically states, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but by Me!” (John 14:6).  When Jesus is stripped of these claims, the pseudo-believer ends up with a different Jesus and a different Gospel altogether.  

Is it arrogant and hateful to teach that Jesus is the only way to eternal life?  I do not believe so.  Let’s assume for one moment that Jesus is the only way.  If that is true, and if I teach that you are okay to believe whatever you want to, would that be loving?  No, the only loving thing to do would be to teach Jesus as the only way.  As for arrogance, the belief in Jesus is anything but arrogant because the believer must admit that he NEEDS Jesus because he is not good enough on his own.

A question worth asking is, “Why is Jesus the only way?”  The answer is because He is the only one who was sinless and by death could pay for the sins of others.  Sin is our serious disease and Jesus is the solution. In love He offers eternal and abundant life to you – even now. “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son” (John 3:17-18).

Do you believe in Jesus as He really is or are you swimming with the popular current?

 

A Hero Inspires…

I was recently moved by a story I saw on ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” about the Summerville, South Carolina, High School basketball team.  Louis Mulkey was an assistant coach, and the Captain of Engine 15 for the Charleston Fire Department.  He had coached the 8th grade team with the goal that his 8th graders would win the state championship five years later.  Before that 5th year began, tragedy struck.  Louis Mulkey and eight other fire fighters lost their lives on a June 18, 2007.  

The team honored their mentor and friend by placing a fireman’s hat in the school colors on the 4th seat on the bench.  The fireman’s hat was put there for every game.  The team played exceptionally well during the regular season and went into the playoffs.  In the semi-final game they were losing with only a few minutes to play, and they were tired.  Their fans began chanting, “Louis Mulkey, Louis Mulkey, Louis Mulkey”.  The players were inspired and pulled out the win.  In the championship game they won a tightly contested contest by only 1 point.  

On the way home, about 1 AM, the team stopped by the grave of Louis Mulkey.  They placed the championship trophy by his tombstone, and some of the players left their championship medals there as a way to say thank you for the difference this man had made in their lives.

The scene reminded me of what we find in the book of Revelation chapter 4 verses 9-11, “Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say: 

‘You are worthy, our Lord and God, 
to receive glory and honor and power, 
for you created all things, 
and by your will they were created 
and have their being.'”

In the Scriptures we are also told that the followers of Jesus will received crowns and jewels based on faithfulness and stewardship of what we have been entrusted with.  I don’t think we will be wearing those around, but instead will have the opportunity to follow the example we are given.  We will have opportunity to bow at the feet of Jesus and say thank you.  Until that time, how we live our short days on this earth can be a thank you to Jesus.  May those of us who believe in Him be encouraged to live a life filled with love and grace in response to what our Savior has done for us. Please remember that we can only lived this sort of life by being filled with love and grace by God Himself to overflowing.  II Corinthians 9:8, “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.”
——

If you click the Outside the Lines link in the post you will see the ESPN video.  It has a couple of neat parts of the story that I didn’t mention. 

 

New tires and a test of integrity

It’s one of those things of life…Claire had a flat tire on Thursday morning.  We knew we would need to get tires within the next 6 to 9 months, but we weren’t expecting it this week.  So I took the flat to a local tire place and my thoughts were confirmed – it was a no go – too much damage to put it back on.  Since we have all wheel drive on that vehicle you can’t replace just 2 tires at a time unless you buy tires of similar wear – nope the hole enchilada – all 4 would have to be replaced.  It also turned out that we needed an alignment.

When it was time to go back to pick up the vehicle and pay there was a different manager.  He told me the final price, and I was about to slide the credit card in the machine I realized he didn’t ring up the alignment charge.  I hesitated for a moment, and the thought came to my head, “It is their fault for not charging for it. You can walk out of here without paying for that.”  I didn’t listen to that thought but instead reminded the guy about the alignment charge.  He was both surprised and thankful for an honest customer, which opened the door for a profitable conversation about integrity and Jesus.

I’m not writing this so you will think I’m a good person.  I’m writing it because we are all tested like this multiple times a year.  We need to remember that integrity is of much higher value than the amount in our bank accounts.  If you are a follower of Jesus, your testimony will impact others –  either for the good of those who see and the glory of God or negatively as a hindrance to the Lord’s work.

This example shows the heart of the meaning of Matthew 5:13-16,  “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”

Let’s pray that God would help us to do what is right in all such circumstances.

PS – As a thank you the manager gave me 50% off the cost of the alignment.   

 

Life back in Athens…

It has been a good and busy time since returning Tuesday night.  It is hard to believe it is already Friday afternoon.  House Fellowship on Wednesday night, dinner with my family on Thursday evening, and a leaders’ meeting early this morning were the highlights of the week.  I’ve also managed to get back on the basketball court twice. Wednesday hoops felt rough, but today I felt much more energetic.  The ball was generally at a high level of quality too.  Unfortunately, it ended with one of the guys spraining his ankle.  I hope for his sake it isn’t too bad.  Basketball at Ramsey has been a great opportunity for me to get some exercise and also get to know some people that I otherwise would have no contact with.

In the very near future the other elders in our church and I will begin a study through Alexander Strauch’s book, Biblical Eldership.  I am looking forward to our collective growth through that investment of time, prayer, thought, and practice.  If you are in leadership in a church and have read this, how about dropping me a note with your opinion.  Or if you are interested in the Biblical perspective of church government – both how it should be organized and applied, then I recommend it.  It makes sense to believe that God cares about how His church is should be organized.  Traditionally the church has ignored most of God’s instruction on this subject to its own detriment.

Don’t forget to pray for rain – boy do we need it!

 

Sunday with the Lord’s people – part 2

At the evening service we had a time of prayer, music, and teaching. The time of prayer I find particularly beautiful as many requests and praises were shared and prayed about. I was asked to teach so I shared “7 principals of Joyful Giving”.  

Here they are:

1. Everything is God’s! (Psalm 24:1 and I Corinthians 6:19-20)

2. I am a steward of what God has entrusted me with (Romans 14:10-12)

3. Do I want temporary treasure or permanent treasure (Matthew 6:19-20)

4. My heart always goes where I put God’s money (Matthew 6:21)

5. My permanent home is with Jesus – not here! (Philippians 3:20, Hebrews 11:13-16)

6. I can live for this life or for eternity (I Timothy 6:17-19)

7. We are blessed so we can bless others (II Corinthians 8-9)

We can live life with an either a closed fist with the desire to have ourselves first or with an open hand of generosity.  It is often an issue of faith as Jesus our Teacher will push us in order to make us more like Himself.  

Notice these examples of faith:  the poor widow in Mark 12, Zaccaheus in Luke 19, and the early church Acts 2 and 4

Notice these examples of lack of faith: the selfish man in Luke 12, the rich young man in Matthew 19

Special thanks to Randy Alcorn author of The Treasure Principal for his insights on this subject. It is a short read and worth your time.  If you are a reader from dcf then I have a copy you can borrow if you like.

 

What happened to Jesus of Nazareth?

This post is an aberration from the travel log.  If you see on “Sundays Part 1” post a comment questioning/denying the death and resurrection of Jesus, it refers to the Swoon Theory put forth by the Muslim sect “Ahmadiyya”. For those of you who would like more of a scholarly approach to the subject you can download a pdf file I wrote on the subject a good number of years ago.  It discusses the 7 primary theories.

I hope you enjoy.  

resurrection

Love your neighbor by sharing the truth of the Risen Savior.

 

Sunday with the Lord’s people! – part 1

June 1, 2008 – Sunday

Today we had a wonderful time of worship.  Between the Lord’s Supper service, music, and preaching the time was from 10 AM to 1 PM.  As usual it was beautiful and sincere.  During the Lord’s supper service I had the privilege to share the Scriptures.  We talked about the past, present, and future in relation to remembering the Lord’s death and resurrection.  

The past – Jesus filled the Old Testament prophecies concerning His death and resurrection – see Isaiah 53. And we look back to what Jesus did on the cross as the substitute for our sin.  Our Savior the Righteous One who gave His life for sinful people like me and you.

The present – As the Apostle Paul instructs us, we examine our hearts and confess any sin – because sin hinders fellowship with God (I Corinthians 11:17-34).

The future – Our Savior is Risen, and He will return for us, and we will share the Cup with him in the New Kingdom (Matthew 26:26-30).  The certain hope of all true believers is this: Our future is with our King!

Pepe, Judy, and I went to lunch, and we had a good time and a profitable conversation about church life.

 

 

 

Wow what a Saturday!

May 31, 2008

Saturday was a wonderful day.  It started with another morning of teaching.  We finished Matthew 5 and 6. As usual the class asked great questions, and we had a good time.  After lunch, we headed to Tehuipango in the mountains.  Driving straight there it is a good 2 hours, but we needed to pick up people in several villages along the way.  I drove the blue Suburban that was packed solid with humans, but I don’t think there was a single complaint!  We arrived at our destination at 4:30 PM and began getting ready for a time of praise and worship and teaching with over 200 of our Indian brothers and sisters in Christ.  We started about 6 PM and were packed and ready to leave around 11:30 PM.  It was a beautiful time as musicians from many places shared their music.

One of the first people I saw was little Erika from Atlahuico.  She came up and gave me a big hug!  It was a moment of pure joy – so familiar and yet so special.  The love of Christ in the hug from her transcended all barriers of language and culture!

Here is something that should encourage all of you – especially those in dcf and particularly the dcf music team.  At the time of music last night in Tehuipango – I could hardly believe my ears when I heard Holy (a song by Waterdeep that some of our dcf band taught the musicians here in Spanish) being sung loudly in NAHUATL (the indigenous language)! How cool is that?  Praise the Lord!

I was asked to teach at the meeting, so I gave two short lessons.  One for unbelievers on God’s love and provision of salvation through Jesus Christ.  The other for the believers out of John 15:9-12,

“As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.  If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. 
These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”

After the meeting we had a wonderful time of fellowship over bowls of Pozole (a delicious soup – check out the gigantic metal tub they served it from in the photos). There was enough for everyone to get a bowl. We then made our trek back to Rio Blanco, but this time we needed to take a group to Zoncolco.  So down the mountain for nearly 2 hours and then up to Zoncolco. Now this is a road that is just being built, and I have never driven on it before – and it is 1:30 AM.  I think you would be hard pressed to find a road like this in the States.  It has no guard rails (most roads here do not), and if you misjudge things by a few feet, then you, your passengers, and your vehicle will plunge hundreds of feet to a fiery ball of death!  Praise God for His continued traveling mercies.  

After dropping our passengers off in Zoncolco we got on the autopista (Interstate) and headed back to Rio Blanco.  I was following Juan, but I was asked a question, got distracted, and missed our exit.  I was a little frustrated with myself because the next exit was a good 5 minutes away.  However when Juan went back to look for us; there was a bad wreck caused by a drunk driver.  Perhaps the Lord spared us once again.

We arrived back about 2:30 AM.  I had been so tired, but once I got to the house I had a hard time falling asleep.  The last I looked at my clock it read 3:30 AM….just a few hours before the Sunday morning meetings.  It was a very long but valuable day.  I am thankful to God for His provision of strength, and most of all – His love!

Erika

preaching in Tehaipango

worship in Tehaipango

The Word preached in English, Spanish, and Nahautl

Pozole!

Tamale!

Israel and Mireya – Examples of humility and love!

Jena y Aide

the young people like to rock!

More kids that are just too cute!

A little taste of heaven!

 

Friday – charged up for the 2nd leg

Friday marks the half way point of my time here in Mexico.  Today I was able to get a few hours of rest and study in the afternoon for which I am very thankful!  The adoption meeting that I wrote about earlier was a real blessing.  Also the doctor and his wife from Honduras offered to help my wife and I with an adoption in Honduras if we desired.  Just today they talked with a friend in Honduras that told them about a 3 year old girl who needs adopting.  Her mother had left the family, and the father wants to give the little girl away. How terrible!  I ask you to pray for this little one.  Claire and I aren’t sure exactly which avenue to pursue at this point, but we will seek God in prayer and wise counsel from our brothers and sisters in Christ. 

This evening I had the opportunity to preach here in Rio Blanco.  Our subject matter was Love.  Our texts were Luke 10:25-37, James 1:21-27, and John 15:9-11.

You can read a previous post about the Good Samaritan if you like.

Our main points:

1.  Love is the key!
2.  My neighbor is anyone I have the power to help
3.  I have a special responsibility to those in the church family, the poor – orphans, widows, and aliens
4.  Jesus desires us to be full of joy.
5.  The fullness of my joy in Christ is normally in proportion to my obedience to Christ.
6.  Being full of joy should be the standard for the Christian life, not the exception

It is late, and the schedule for tomorrow is full.  I will be teaching the missionaries for a couple of hours in the morning, and then we will drive a couple of hours to Tehaipango where there will be a music event with many musicians and people from various places.  I have been asked to give a message there.     The Lord has been gracious to provide physical strength, mental alertness, and fullness of spirit.  Thank you to all those who have been praying for me and please continue to do so.  I am truly blessed to have people in this world who truly love and care! 

p.s. I didn’t take a single picture today. I will try to be more faithful with the camera tomorrow.

 

Adoption Meeting

Ok, here is the update on what happened at the adoption meeting.  The lady I met with is one of the people in charge in this area at the DIF…our equivalent is DFCS.  At the beginning the conversation was a little discouraging as we talked about the process of getting our massive amount of paperwork translated into Spanish and through the proper channels.  Because we are from the U.S.A the normal process is to go through the Mexican Consulate in Atlanta, which then sends the paper work to Mexico City, and then they send it to Jalapa, and then to Orizaba. She said that the process can take more than a year.  She was also very frustrated by this because they have many children who need adopting.  

However, she told us that through a civil organization like an orphanage in Mexico the process can go much more quickly.  I knew the church here had talked about the possibility of starting an orphanage, but I was surprised when Pepe told me that they had recently completed all of their paper work and received approval to begin an orphanage.  Later Pepe called a lawyer in the church about this, and he stated the process could be done in as little as three months.  Step by step we continue to trust God to open doors for us in His time.