Home Group

Last night we had homegroup, and it went great.  Thanks for all that could come.  

We looked at one of my favorite passages, 1 Timothy 4:6-10.   I have written about this passage before and it has much to say for us.  It is about training and how we need to train in our beliefs as well as our bodies.  Check it out.  

Charge

2 Timothy 4: 1-5

1 I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 5 As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. (ESV)

 

            I have been reading 1 and 2 Timothy a lot recently.  And I love them.  I think that I am drawn to them so much because they give a clear charge to what a man or woman of God is supposed to do.  Paul is charging one of his pupils, Timothy, with the work of taking care and edifying a church.  There is no greater call, there is no greater charge.  I read through these letters and I can always pump myself up by acting like they were written to me.  “Adam, this is what I charge you…”  This might be a little silly, but I don’t think it is that far from the truth. 

            Paul might have been writing to a certain pupil who is no leading a church, but the charge and the advice is for all of us who claim to know Jesus as our Lord and Savior.  Any one can pick up these letters and take to heart what is written within them.  And we need to.  We need to take up these letters and learn what is expected of us and what we are charged with, especially if we claim to be leaders. 

            The first charge is to preach the word. We are called to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus to all, we are called to have this be such an intimate part of who we are that we can’t help but have it spill from our lips.  In order for us to preach and also for us to be ready always to explain our beliefs, the Word of God most dwell within us.  It must be undividable from who we are and how we think.  We must marinate in its richness.  It must soak through to our most inner being.  If this happened, we could not help but speak with God’s love, speak the truth of Jesus is to all we know, know intimately why we believe Jesus died for us.  Soak up the Word of God!  Dive in. 

            There is a reason for this.  Paul warns of a time when people will just want to hear what makes them feel good and happy, they will only want to hear what they like.  I have always found it funny that Paul says that the “time is coming” when this will happen because I have always found that it has already been here.  Human want to only hear what they like, they only want to hear what justifies them and gives license to how they think and live.  Think about it for a second.  All the way back to Adam and Eve we have heard what we wanted.  That is why when the serpent starts twisting the words of God, Eve goes right along.  It scratched her itching ear.  Why would the people put to death the prophets of God, if not because they want to hear teaching that justifies their lifestyles? This has been with us for as long as humanity has been in rebellion, and it is not going to change short of Christ coming again. 

            But this is why we have to be trained in the Word.  We have to be able to refute and correct this false teaching that will continually draw people into false belief.  We have to be so soaked and immersed in the Word of God that we can give the answer when needed, so that we can point the way and guide people back to Jesus Christ.  

            This is the charge.  Paul gives it to Timothy, but it is also given to us by God.  We who claim to believe in Jesus Christ have to take this to heart.  It might seem daunting or an immense task, but we are called to it and can do it only because of Christ.  It is the power of Christ working in the Word of God, speaking through us those around us, that makes this possible.  It is the power of God through Christ expressed by us as the instruments to reach the world and to edify the church.  This is the charge, the greatest charge.        

The Natural State

This wonderful saturday I went hiking up near Natural dam with Kacee.  This is just one of the pictures of that wonderful time.  But I will tell you something, hiking in the natural state equals spider webs in the face.... 

Youth

For the Youth at church I was an opposing mascot.... as a result they pied me.  The funny thing is that I didn't even know I have the pan still on my head.  

(the costume makes me look fat) 

BBQ Kick Off

We had our BBQ kick off for the fall home group and the college ministry last night.  It was a good time and thanks for all that folks that showed up.  In the future we will be exploring some scripture for the home group and next week is the first worship time for the college ministry.  

Here is some information that came from that night:

Contact info:

KT  right -5.75 Left -5.75 

AB right -2.50 left -3.00

DW right -7.00 left -7.15

SD right -2.00 left -2.50

AS right -15.75 left -13.75

MF right -2.00 left -2.25

JK none

MK right -8.5 left -8.5

AB right -.75 left -1.25 

PY right -2.55  left -1.35 

This always comes in handy 

Oscar Mayer Mobile

Oscar Mayer Mobile

Tuesday afternoon at the office.  

John Calvin

Here is a little something something by one of the great thinkers of the Christians faith, John Calvin.   Enjoy. 

 

“Now when in fact only one hears attentively and effectively, could it not have appeared that the way was blocked for Christ to make an entry? But afterwards from that frail shoot a famous church sprang up, whose praises Paul sings in splendid terms. Yet it is possible that Lydia had some companions, of whom no mention is made, because she herself far surpassed them. Yet Luke does not attribute the cause for this one woman having shown herself docile, to the fact that she was sharperwitted than the others, or that she had some preparation by herself, but says that the Lord opened her heart, so that she gave heed to Paul’s words. He had just praised her piety; and yet he shows that she could not understand the teaching of the Gospel without the illumination of the Spirit.

Accordingly we see that not only faith, but also all understanding of spiritual things, is a special gift of God, and that ministers do not accomplish anything by speaking, unless the inward calling of God is added at the same time.

By the word heart Scripture sometimes means the mind, as when Moses says (Deut. 29:4), ‘until now the Lord has not given you a heart to understand.’ So also in this verse Luke means not only that Lydia was moved by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to embrace the Gospel with a feeling of the heart, but that her mind was illuminated to understand. We may learn from this that such is the dullness, such the blindness of men, that in hearing they do not hear, or seeing they do not see, until God forms new ears and new eyes for them.

But we must note the expression that the heart of Lydia was opened so that she paid attention to the external voice of a teacher. For as preaching on its own is nothing else but a dead letter, so, on the other hand, we must beware lest a false imagination, or the semblance of secret illumination, leads us away from the Word upon which faith depends, and on which it rests. For in order to increase the grace of the Spirit, many invent for themselves vague inspirations so that no use is left for the external Word. But the Scripture does not allow such a separation to be made, for it unites the ministry of men with the secret inspiration of the Spirit. If the mind of Lydia had not been opened, the preaching of Paul would have been mere words; yet God inspires her not only with the mere revelations but with reverence for His Word, so that the voice of a man, which otherwise would have vanished into thin air, penetrates a mind that has received the gift of heavenly light.

Therefore let us hear no more of the fanatics who make the excuse of the Spirit to reject external teaching. For we must preserve the balance which Luke established here, that we obtain nothing from the hearing of the Word alone, without the grace of the Spirit, and that the Spirit is conferred on us not that He may produce contempt of the Word, but rather to instill confidence in it in our minds and write it on our hearts.“

Taken from Calvin’s commentary on the Acts of the Apostles (Volume 2)