Victory is possible

With today’s message, we saw that victory is possible and availabe in the Lord.  We should be seeing more of victory and less of defeat in our Christian walk.  What has encouraged you regarding this as we have studied the book of Joshua?

Living with the consequences

In chapter 9 Joshua fails to seek God and enters into a covenant with Gibeon, a violation of what God had instructed (Ex. 23:31-33, Deut.7:1-2).  But now that a covenant had been made, they were to honor it, and they would have to live with the consequences of their decision.

How often do believers enter into a relationship which is contrary to God’s word, whether it be in marriage, or business, or something else because they failed to seek the Lord and act according to His will?  We may realize later that we have made a mistake, we may recognize that we have sinned and turn to God in repentance and confession — God will forgive disobedience –  but we could find ourselves still living with the consequences of our decisions even years later.

Would you say that there are lessons to be learned from Joshua’s error which may help us today?

The God of second chances

After the sin of Achan was dealt with, God gave the children of Israel a second chance to take Ai.  What a wonderful thing it is that our God is a God of second chances.  I have needed that countless times in my life.

We can look in the Bible and see how God has given second chances over and over again.  Think, for example, of Moses fleeing Egypt after he killed a man, or David after he committed adultery, or Peter after he denied the Lord.

It doesn’t mean that sin doesn’t need to be dealt with — it does.  But consider what David Guzik points out, as was quoted on Sunday:  “What is past is past.  We must deal with it before God in repentance and dying to self, and then look forward to what He has for us right now.”

Sometimes the moving forward part is difficult, it can be hard to forgive ourselves.  But if we hold onto something that has been genuinely dealt with, and that God has forgiven us for, then we are hindering the work of God is our lives.  The enemy would love to see us beaten down when God would have us rise up and move forward in victory through Jesus Christ.

John 21 is where we find the beautiful account of Jesus restoring Peter.  Take a look at that passage this week and allow God to speak to your heart, knowing that He is continually calling us to follow Him.

A door of hope

Joshua 7 recounts for us the terrible story of Achan, his sin, and eventual punishment in the valley of Achor.  This valley is also referred to in Hosea 2:15, where it is called a door of hope.  How do you think that it could be that it would be a door of hope?

This is what Matthew Henry said of this:  “The Valley of Achor is said to be  given for a door of hope, because when we put away the accursed thing then there begins to be hope in Israel…”

How about us today?  We need to always deal with sin by confession and repentance, and to know the hope that is found in Jesus.  Consider 1 John 1:9; would you say that this verse illustrates a door of hope to us?

What are we doing with the time?

In Joshua 6 we see the wall of Jericho come down.

Although God could have just destroyed Jericho  immediately, He instead took a week to have the people of Israel march around the city.  There are many reasons that could be considered for this, but one thing that spoke to me was how the grace of God is seen through the time that God gave the people of Jericho to repent — to recognize the true God and yield to Him.  Rahab was an example of how God would have mercy in such a case.  Another example is the people of Nineveh who repented at the preaching of Jonah.  And 2 Peter 3:9 shows us this same heart of God in longing to see people come to repentance.

God is even today giving people time to recognize Him for who He is and come to a place of repentance  — turning to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.  As those who know Him, what are we doing with the time?  Let’s ask the Lord to help us by His Spirit to be sensitive to the opportunities that come our way to proclaim Christ to a lost world, and to make the most of those opportunities.

The Captain of the Lord’s host

On Sunday mornings we have been in the book of Joshua and have just looked at chapter 5.  There we see where Joshua meets a man and he asks this man if he is for them or for their adversaries.  The answer is “no”, which seems to be an odd answer, but this man continues and explains that he is the captain of the Lord’s host.  We have here what we believe to be an Old Testament appearance of Christ, and the thought that comes to my mind as I think about His answer to Joshua is this:  It is not about whether the Lord is on our side, but are we on His side?

Politics, Activism, and the Gospel

This article was sent to me and I think you’ll find it as insight as I did.

It reminds us what we are to be about.

- Pastor Scott 

Politics, Activism, and the Gospel

By John MacArthur, October 19th, 2008

With the nation focused on the November elections, we thought a post on politics might be appropriate. The point of this article is not that we should abstain from any participation in the political process, but rather that we must keep our priorities straight as Christians. After all, the gospel, not politics, is the only true solution to our nation’s moral crisis.

We can’t protect or expand the cause of Christ by human political and social activism, no matter how great or sincere the efforts. Ours is a spiritual battle waged against worldly ideologies and dogmas arrayed against God, and we achieve victory over them only with the weapon of Scripture. The apostle Paul writes: “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:3-5).

We must reject all that is ungodly and false and never compromise God’s standards of righteousness. We can do that in part by desiring the improvement of society’s moral standards and by approving of measures that would conform government more toward righteousness. We do grieve over the rampant indecency, vulgarity, lack of courtesy and respect for others, deceitfulness, self-indulgent materialism, and violence that is corroding society. But in our efforts to support what is good and wholesome, reject what is evil and corrupt, and make a profoundly positive impact on our culture, we must use God’s methods and maintain scriptural priorities.

God is not calling us to wage a culture war that would seek to transform our countries into “Christian nations.” To devote all, or even most, of our time, energy, money, and strategy to putting a facade of morality on the world or over our governmental and political institutions is to badly misunderstand our roles as Christians in a spiritually lost world.

God has above all else called the church to bring sinful people to salvation through Jesus Christ. Even as the apostle Paul described his mission to unbelievers, so it is the primary task of all Christians to reach out to the lost “to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me [Christ]” (Acts 26:18; cf. Ex. 19:6; 1 Pet. 2:5, 9).

If we do not evangelize the lost and make disciples of new converts, nothing else we do for people–no matter how beneficial it seems–is of any eternal consequence. Whether a person is an atheist or a theist, a criminal or a model citizen, sexually promiscuous and perverse or strictly moral and virtuous, a greedy materialist or a gracious philanthropist–if he does not have a saving relationship to Christ, he is going to hell. It makes no difference if an unsaved person is for or against abortion, a political liberal or a conservative, a prostitute or a police officer, he will spend eternity apart from God unless he repents and believes the gospel.

When the church takes a stance that emphasizes political activism and social moralizing, it always diverts energy and resources away from evangelization. Such an antagonistic position toward the established secular culture invariably leads believers to feel hostile not only to unsaved government leaders with whom they disagree, but also antagonistic toward the unsaved residents of that culture–neighbors and fellow citizens they ought to love, pray for, and share the gospel with. To me it is unthinkable that we become enemies of the very people we seek to win to Christ, our potential brothers and sisters in the Lord.

Author John Seel pens words that apply in principle to Christians everywhere and summarize well the believer’s perspective on political involvement:

A politicized faith not only blurs our priorities, but weakens our loyalties. Our primary citizenship is not on earth but in heaven. … Though few evangelicals would deny this truth in theory, the language of our spiritual citizenship frequently gets wrapped in the red, white and blue. Rather than acting as resident aliens of a heavenly kingdom, too often we sound [and act] like resident apologists for a Christian America. … Unless we reject the false reliance on the illusion of Christian America, evangelicalism will continue to distort the gospel and thwart a genuine biblical identity…..

American evangelicalism is now covered by layers and layers of historically shaped attitudes that obscure our original biblical core. (The Evangelical Pulpit [Grand Rapids: Baker, 1993], 106-7)

By means of faithful preaching and godly living, believers are to be the conscience of whatever nation they reside in. You can confront the culture not with the political and social activism of man’s wisdom, but with the spiritual power of God’s Word. Using temporal methods to promote legislative and judicial change, and resorting to external efforts of lobbying and intimidation to achieve some sort of “Christian morality” in society is not our calling–and has no eternal value. Only the gospel rescues sinners from sin, death, and hell.

Source:  sermonindex.net

Building Friendships in the Church – Is It God’s Will?

The word friends and friendships get thrown around a lot today, and the truth is there are as many ideas of what these mean as there are people. It can be as little as talking to someone in the lobby of the church each week and saying that is friendship, to the other end of the spectrum where you get together with someone else weekly and talk on the phone multiple times during the week about any and everything. So being friends means a lot of different things today.

But becoming friends and being a part of the lives of those we attend church with is something each of us should care about. Just think of Jesus’ words when speaking to His disciples, He said (John 15:15-16) “No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends , for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.” And so among other things these verses are talking about, we see friendships were a desire and priority for Christ, and if this was true for Him being God, how much more should it be a desire we have.

The problem!
We live in a tremendously busy time. The cost of living and the desire for a descent standard of living makes it so one has to work hard and long, add to this the time spent commuting, activities for our kids, chores around the house, and getting the needed rest so we can do it again the next day, and there’s not much time or energy left for friendships where we can connect with someone else.

Then there’s our culture.
Where once we were a more settled society, living in the same place for long periods of time, having the same neighbors for years, now we are mobile and independent, and whereas once community and family was what marked our lives now isolation does, and so more and more the idea of having friends as a part of our lives is disappearing from our world.

Yet, as believers in Christ we are part of what the Bible calls the Body, and by implication being part of a body means we are to be connected with the other parts.

And so all this to say,
I hope you’ll make hanging out with one another more and more a priority in your life. That in spite of the pressure of living day to day, culture trends, or anything else, you will say no to them and yes to those things which promote family, friendships, and community.

Every group outside of Sunday morning and Wednesday night at church has this as part of its goal – intimacy and friendships! So maybe a way for you to make and become friends is joining one of these.

Friendships are to be spontaneous…
But beyond these, friendship can and is also to be spontaneous, so some of the best fellowship can be that unplanned lunch after church, a dessert after Wednesday night, or even a football game on Monday night. What’s important is we as a church do get to know each other and just hang out at times.

So let’s grow in this area! Let’s keep working at it (all of us) until we become a church that truly cares about each other and shows it by being involved in each others life.

Lead us Lord we pray! Make it happen!
-Pastor Scott

Reading through Philippians

My precious brothers and sisters in Christ,

Without a doubt the days we live in our trying days to live for Christ and stand true to the things of the faith. At every turn we are faced with the temptation to compromise or live a little below what we know we can in Christ.

Lately, many of you have shared with me a desire to have more of Christ and live to a higher level than you are. That your life and walks are flat and you sense the Lord has more for you on a daily basis. Things like revival, refreshment, and renewal come to mind.

Consistency in the basics on a daily basis is what we all need—prayer, Bible reading, encouraging one another and more.

Therefore, I’d like to invite you to join me and read the book of Philippians for 28 days in a row. If you’ve never done such a thing it can have a powerful affect on one’s walk with Christ and be just the thing you need to spark the fire once again.

So are you up for it? Are you ready to see life come back into your relationship with Christ? Will you commit to a daily time of Bible reading and prayer with others in the church?

Also, share with each other as you read and post any insights or questions in the comments below!