2017-08
2017-08
Sunday Aug 27, 2017
“Small Pests, Big Problems” (Exodus 8:16–32)
Sunday Aug 27, 2017
Sunday Aug 27, 2017
“Small Pests, Big Problems” (Exodus 8:16–32)
Pastor Cameron Jungels
Eastside Baptist Church
Sunday PM, August 27, 2017
Exodus 8:16–32 (NIV)
The Plague of Gnats
16 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the ground,’ and throughout the land of Egypt the dust will become gnats.” 17 They did this, and when Aaron stretched out his hand with the staff and struck the dust of the ground, gnats came on people and animals. All the dust throughout the land of Egypt became gnats. 18 But when the magicians tried to produce gnats by their secret arts, they could not.
Since the gnats were on people and animals everywhere, 19 the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart was hard and he would not listen, just as the Lord had said.
The Plague of Flies
20 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and confront Pharaoh as he goes to the river and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me. 21 If you do not let my people go, I will send swarms of flies on you and your officials, on your people and into your houses. The houses of the Egyptians will be full of flies; even the ground will be covered with them.
22 “‘But on that day I will deal differently with the land of Goshen, where my people live; no swarms of flies will be there, so that you will know that I, the Lord, am in this land. 23 I will make a distinction between my people and your people. This sign will occur tomorrow.’”
24 And the Lord did this. Dense swarms of flies poured into Pharaoh’s palace and into the houses of his officials; throughout Egypt the land was ruined by the flies.
25 Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God here in the land.”
26 But Moses said, “That would not be right. The sacrifices we offer the Lord our God would be detestable to the Egyptians. And if we offer sacrifices that are detestable in their eyes, will they not stone us? 27 We must take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God, as he commands us.”
28 Pharaoh said, “I will let you go to offer sacrifices to the Lord your God in the wilderness, but you must not go very far. Now pray for me.”
29 Moses answered, “As soon as I leave you, I will pray to the Lord, and tomorrow the flies will leave Pharaoh and his officials and his people. Only let Pharaoh be sure that he does not act deceitfully again by not letting the people go to offer sacrifices to the Lord.”
30 Then Moses left Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord, 31 and the Lord did what Moses asked. The flies left Pharaoh and his officials and his people; not a fly remained. 32 But this time also Pharaoh hardened his heart and would not let the people go.
The LORD demonstrates his mighty power by bringing life from the dust of the ground with only his ‘finger.’ (16–19).
The Lord makes a distinction between his people and the world. He graciously protects and saves his people, but he justly condemns the unbelieving and hard-hearted (20–32).
Sunday Aug 27, 2017
"A Sacred Opportunity of Grace" (1 Corinthians 11:17-34)
Sunday Aug 27, 2017
Sunday Aug 27, 2017
"A Sacred Opportunity of Grace"
A Communion Service
Hymn: “Holy, Holy, Holy"Message: “A Sacred Opportunity of Grace”
1 Corinthians 11:17–34 (NIV)
17 In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good. 18 In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. 19 No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God’s approval. 20 So then, when you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat, 21 for when you are eating, some of you go ahead with your own private suppers. As a result, one person remains hungry and another gets drunk. 22 Don’t you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God by humiliating those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? Certainly not in this matter!
23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
27 So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. 29 For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves. 30 That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. 31 But if we were more discerning with regard to ourselves, we would not come under such judgment. 32 Nevertheless, when we are judged in this way by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be finally condemned with the world.
33 So then, my brothers and sisters, when you gather to eat, you should all eat together. 34 Anyone who is hungry should eat something at home, so that when you meet together it may not result in judgment.
And when I come I will give further directions.
1. The Lord’s Table is an opportunity to renew our unity as the Church, the one Body of Christ (vv. 17–22, 33–34).
Romans 12:3–8 (NIV)
3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. 4 For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; 7 if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; 8 if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.
Hymn: “Our God Has Made Us One”2. The Lord’s Table is an opportunity to reflect on our union with Jesus Christ, our Crucified and Risen Lord (vv. 23–26).
Isaiah 52:13–53:12 (NIV)
13 See, my servant will act wisely;
he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.
14 Just as there were many who were appalled at him—
his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being
and his form marred beyond human likeness—
15 so he will sprinkle many nations,
and kings will shut their mouths because of him.
For what they were not told, they will see,
and what they have not heard, they will understand.
53 Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
4 Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was punished.
9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
11 After he has suffered,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.
Hymn: “Alas! And Did My Savior Bleed”
3. The Lord’s Table is an opportunity to repent and judge ourselves now so that we will not be disciplined by the Lord or face judgment on the last day of Christ (vv. 27–32, 34).
Psalm 51:1–19 (NIV)
1 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are right in your verdict
and justified when you judge.
5 Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
6 Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;
you taught me wisdom in that secret place.
7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.
10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
so that sinners will turn back to you.
14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,
you who are God my Savior,
and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
15 Open my lips, Lord,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
17 My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart
you, God, will not despise.
18 May it please you to prosper Zion,
to build up the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then you will delight in the sacrifices of the righteous,
in burnt offerings offered whole;
then bulls will be offered on your altar.
Hymn: “I Lay My Sins on Jesus”Remembrance of the Lord’s SupperHymn: “In Christ Alone”
Benediction:
Hebrews 13:20–21 (NIV)
20 Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, 21 equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Wednesday Aug 23, 2017
"A Praying Life" (chapter 12)
Wednesday Aug 23, 2017
Wednesday Aug 23, 2017
A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World
By Paul E. Miller
Part 3: Learning to Ask Your Father
“Why Asking Is So Hard” - Chapter 12
Secularism
Western culture is the most publicly atheistic culture that has ever existed.
Western culture over the last 2 centuries is an anomaly from the rest of human history.
The 18th century Enlightenment is the birth of today’s secularism.
Division of feelings and fact – prayer and religion are regarded as feelings.
Popular culture has brought the secularism of the university classroom to the masses.
Now prayer and religion are deemed by our culture to be better kept private; there is no place for religion in public or civic life.
The Power of the Enlightenment
Before the enlightenment, prayer and science were not viewed as belonging in two separate spheres.
The Christian worldview that God made a separate and orderly world gave birth to science.
Secularism claims to have given us the gift of science, but in reality it was Christianity that gave us science.
Almost all the Ivy League colleges and American universities began as Christian institutions. But the power of enlightenment secularism has driven Christianity from them.
Orthodox Judaism survived the Babylonian Captivity and the Holocaust, but Enlightenment secularism has almost destroyed it.
The Enlightenment mindset marginalizes prayer because it doesn’t permit God to connect with this world.
You are allowed a personal, local deity as long as you keep him out of your science notes and don’t take him seriously.
The Modern Roots of Cynicism
The Enlightenment doesn’t say that religion is not real. It defines it as not real. It is not even open for debate.
Prayer is defined as phony, and then it begins to feel phony.
When our young people encounter the secular world’s philosophy it is easy to say that God-talk is phony because it has been relegated to the not-real world by our culture.
It is instinctive in our culture to keep faith and ‘reality’ separate, as if they are incompatible.
Secularism is a cynical view of reality.
Because it can’t adequately account for things like love and faith or measure them, it disregards them and separates them from the realm of ‘fact.’
A Child Prays in a Secular World
Childlike faith has no problem joining prayer to the ‘real’ world.
If a stream is the result of accidental natural forces, then it is just water, rocks, and dirt.
If the stream=god, then you worship the stream god.
But if God created the stream, then wonder and curiosity naturally flow into study (science).
The secret to seeing God behind all things is to become like a little child again.
Because it is my Father’s world, we can kneel by a stream and pray while doing a science experiment. It is a complete unity of thinking and feeling, physical and spiritual, public and personal.
Sunday Aug 20, 2017
“One More Night with the Frogs” (Exodus 7:25–8:15)
Sunday Aug 20, 2017
Sunday Aug 20, 2017
“One More Night with the Frogs” (Exodus 7:25–8:15)
Pastor Cameron Jungels
Eastside Baptist Church
Sunday PM, August 20, 2017
Exodus 7:25–8:15 (NIV)
25 Seven days passed after the Lord struck the Nile.
8 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me. 2 If you refuse to let them go, I will send a plague of frogs on your whole country. 3 The Nile will teem with frogs. They will come up into your palace and your bedroom and onto your bed, into the houses of your officials and on your people, and into your ovens and kneading troughs. 4 The frogs will come up on you and your people and all your officials.’”
5 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your hand with your staff over the streams and canals and ponds, and make frogs come up on the land of Egypt.’”
6 So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land. 7 But the magicians did the same things by their secret arts; they also made frogs come up on the land of Egypt.
8 Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Pray to the Lord to take the frogs away from me and my people, and I will let your people go to offer sacrifices to the Lord.”
9 Moses said to Pharaoh, “I leave to you the honor of setting the time for me to pray for you and your officials and your people that you and your houses may be rid of the frogs, except for those that remain in the Nile.”
10 “Tomorrow,” Pharaoh said.
Moses replied, “It will be as you say, so that you may know there is no one like the Lord our God. 11 The frogs will leave you and your houses, your officials and your people; they will remain only in the Nile.”
12 After Moses and Aaron left Pharaoh, Moses cried out to the Lord about the frogs he had brought on Pharaoh. 13 And the Lord did what Moses asked. The frogs died in the houses, in the courtyards and in the fields. 14 They were piled into heaps, and the land reeked of them. 15 But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said.
Negative Lessons from Pharaoh
Stubborn and Hard-Hearted
Double-Minded and Unstable
Deceptive and Fake
Positive Lessons from Moses and Aaron
Faithful and Obedient
Humble and Patient
Praying and Interceding
Awe-Inspiring Revelations of God’s Character
The One and Only God
The God of All Power
The God Who Is Merciful even in Judgment
The God Who Is Patient
Sunday Aug 20, 2017
“Abraham, Our Father in the Faith” (Romans 4:17–25)
Sunday Aug 20, 2017
Sunday Aug 20, 2017
“Abraham, Our Father in the Faith” (Romans 4:17–25)
Pastor Cameron Jungels
Eastside Baptist Church
Sunday AM, August 20, 2017
Romans 4:17–25 (NIV)
17 As it is written: "I have made you a father of many nations." He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed-- the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not. 18 Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, "So shall your offspring be." 19 Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead-- since he was about a hundred years old-- and that Sarah's womb was also dead. 20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. 22 This is why "it was credited to him as righteousness." 23 The words "it was credited to him" were written not for him alone, 24 but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness-- for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.
Abraham serves as a model of faith for all who believe in Jesus Christ and receive God’s gracious gift of justification.
So, what does Abraham’s example teach us about the nature of faith?
Abraham’s faith was in God (17).
Abraham’s faith meant acknowledging man’s helplessness (18–19).
Abraham’s faith meant trusting that God would keep his promises (20–22).
Abraham’s faith becomes a model for all Christians (23–25).
The Christian’s faith is in God’s promise that justification is based on Jesus’ atoning death and resurrection.
The object of the Christian’s faith: The God of the impossible, who raised Jesus from the dead.
The source of the Christian’s faith: The promise of God that Jesus’ death and resurrection atone for our sins (25).
The result of the Christian’s faith: Justification apart from human works to the glory of God (23-24a, 25b).
Wednesday Aug 16, 2017
"A Praying Life" (chapters 10-11)
Wednesday Aug 16, 2017
Wednesday Aug 16, 2017
A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World
By Paul E. Miller
“Following Jesus Out of Cynicism” - Chapters 10-11
Be Warm but Wary
We cannot be naively optimistic or cynical. We must be trusting and yet discerning.
As Jesus put it, we must be “shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves.”
Avoiding cynicism does not mean abandoning discernment.
But, being aware of evil does not mean that we distance ourselves with an ironic, critical stance.
We are to combine a robust trust in the Good Shepherd with a vigilance about the presence of evil in our own hearts and in the hearts of others.
The feel of a praying life is cautious optimism—caution because of the Fall, optimism because of redemption.
Learn to Hope Again
Cynicism kills hope. Prayer feels pointless, as if we are talking to the wind.
Jesus brings hope, not cynicism.
Hope begins with the heart of God. As you grasp what the Father’s heart is like, how he loves to give, then prayer will begin to feel completely natural to you.
“Behold, I make all things new.”
Cultivate a Childlike Spirit
Cynicism arises in a heart of self-reliance. Hope grows in a heart of dependent trust.
We must cry out for grace like a hungry child.
When we ask for help, we’ve become dependent like a little child again. This brings us out of cynicism.
“Those who will never be fooled can never be delighted…”
Cultivate a Thankful Spirit
Begin each day by thanking God for his grace given the previous day.
Nothing undercuts cynicism more than a spirit of thankfulness.
We realize that our whole life is a gift.
Thanking God restores the natural order of our dependence on God. It enables us to see life as it really is.
Thanksgiving rejoices in God’s care, replacing a bitter spirit with a generous one.
Cultivating Repentance
Cynics imagine they are objective observers on a quest for authenticity.
They feel deeply superior because they think they see through everything.
“Seeing through everything” eventually results in seeing nothing.
While claiming to “see through” other’s facades, cynics lack purity of heart.
A significant source of cynicism is the fracture between my heart and my behavior.
I continue to perform and say Christian things, but there is a disconnect between what I present and who I am.
My empty religious performance leads me to think that everyone is phony.
Adding judgment to hypocrisy breeds cynicism.
All sin involves a splitting of the personality—“double-minded.”
We present one thing but in reality are something else.
Repentance brings the split personality together—becoming single-minded. The real self and the public self are the same, no facades.
Cynicism focuses on the other person’s split personality and their need to repent. It lacks the humility of removing the speck from our eye.
A cynical perspective causes us to see ourselves and others through blurry spectacles. We don’t see ourselves or others accurately.
While attempting to unmask evil, cynicism can create evil.
By cultivating a lifestyle of repentance, the pure in heart develop integrity, and their own fractures are healed.
By beginning with their own impurity, they avoid critical cynicism.
Developing an Eye for Jesus
Cynicism looks in the wrong direction. It looks for the cracks in Christianity instead of looking for the presence of Jesus.
The cynic looks for the hypocrisy and evil in others.
The childlike, dependent spirit looks for the evidence of Jesus’ work in others.
We need to ask, “Where did I see Jesus today?”
Instead of looking for faults, we look for evidence of Jesus’ grace—we hunt for the difference between what others would normally be like and what they had become through the presence of Jesus.
When we look for the evidence of Jesus in others, we find it in the mundane encounters in life.
Instead of focusing on other people’s lack of integrity, on their split personalities, we need to focus on how Jesus is reshaping the church to be more like himself. We need to view the body of Christ with grace.
Sunday Aug 06, 2017
“The Bloody Nile” (Exodus 7:14–24)
Sunday Aug 06, 2017
Sunday Aug 06, 2017
“The Bloody Nile” (Exodus 7:14–24)Pastor Cameron JungelsEastside Baptist ChurchSunday PM, August 6, 2017
Exodus 7:14–24 (NIV)
14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is unyielding; he refuses to let the people go. 15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning as he goes out to the river. Confront him on the bank of the Nile, and take in your hand the staff that was changed into a snake. 16 Then say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to say to you: Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the wilderness. But until now you have not listened. 17 This is what the Lord says: By this you will know that I am the Lord: With the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water of the Nile, and it will be changed into blood. 18 The fish in the Nile will die, and the river will stink; the Egyptians will not be able to drink its water.’ ”
19 The Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt—over the streams and canals, over the ponds and all the reservoirs—and they will turn to blood.’ Blood will be everywhere in Egypt, even in vessels of wood and stone.”
20 Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord had commanded. He raised his staff in the presence of Pharaoh and his officials and struck the water of the Nile, and all the water was changed into blood. 21 The fish in the Nile died, and the river smelled so bad that the Egyptians could not drink its water. Blood was everywhere in Egypt.
22 But the Egyptian magicians did the same things by their secret arts, and Pharaoh’s heart became hard; he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said. 23 Instead, he turned and went into his palace, and did not take even this to heart. 24 And all the Egyptians dug along the Nile to get drinking water, because they could not drink the water of the river.
Recurring Themes:Emphasis #1: ObedienceEmphasis #2: God’s superior power over Egypt’s godsEmphasis #3: Counterfeit signsEmphasis #4: Perpetual hardening of Pharaoh’s heart (Merida, Exalting Jesus in Exodus)One Main Theme: The LORD (Yahweh) will be known as the one true God.Structure: The first nine plagues are arranged in three groups of three plagues each. Background: The Nile was the life source of Egypt. It was the center of their economic, cultural, and religious existence.Outline:1. God directs his servants with his Word (14–18).2. God’s servants obey the Lord’s Word (19–21).3. The unbelieving and hard-hearted reject the Lord’s Word (22–24).Theology and Application:a) In judgment, God shows mercy. Even to those who deserve judgment, God may send warnings to prompt a change of heart.b) Miracles are possible, but not all miracles originate with God. And people who ask for signs may not want to believe. c) The first plague brought upon Egypt revealed the power of God and the impotence of Egyptian deities. d) To whom are you looking to provide for your needs? People are tempted to trust in other things to provide for them, instead of God alone.
Sunday Aug 06, 2017
“Promise, not Law” (Romans 4:13–25)
Sunday Aug 06, 2017
Sunday Aug 06, 2017
“Promise, not Law” (Romans 4:13–25)Pastor Cameron JungelsEastside Baptist ChurchSunday AM, August 6, 2017
Romans 4:13–25 (NIV)
13 It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. 14 For if those who depend on the law are heirs, faith means nothing and the promise is worthless, 15 because the law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression.
16 Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. 17 As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.” He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.
18 Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 19 Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. 20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. 22 This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” 23 The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, 24 but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.
1. We are not saved by keeping the law (13–15). a. Abraham was not saved by keeping the law; he was saved 430 years before the law was given to Moses at Sinai (Gal 3:17). b. Salvation by keeping the law would render faith unnecessary and make the promise null and void. c. Salvation can’t come by keeping the law because the law was not given to save people, but to show them that they need to be saved (Gal 3:10).2. We are saved by grace through faith in the promise of God (16–17a). a. God gave the promise by grace: Abrahamic covenant. i. Promise of land ii. Promise of descendants iii. Promise of universal blessing iv. Promise of a Redeemer b. Abraham believed the promise and was justified. i. Righteousness received by faith magnifies God’s grace. ii. Righteousness received by faith magnifies God’s grace to the whole world.
Wednesday Aug 02, 2017
"A Praying Life" (chapter 9)
Wednesday Aug 02, 2017
Wednesday Aug 02, 2017
A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting WorldBy Paul E. MillerLearning to Trust Again: Part II: Chapters 9-11“Understanding Cynicism” - Chapter 9Understanding Cynicism
Cynicism is the opposite of a childlike spirit.
Cynicism is the dominant spirit of our age.
Cynicism leads us to doubt the effectiveness or value of prayer.
Weariness is on the edge of turning into cynicism.
If Satan cannot stop you from praying, he will rob you of its fruit.
The Feel of Cynicism
Satan is the author of cynicism; he led Adam/Eve to look at God through a cynical perspective.
Cynicism fosters doubt, skepticism, and causes us to look at everything and everyone with a critical eye.
Cynicism is deceptive in that it parades itself as “truth” – what is “really going on behind the scenes.”
Cynicism robs us of trust, love, passion, and enjoyment in the things of everyday life.
Cynicism dulls and deadens, causing us to feel nothing, to believe in nothing.
To be cynical is to be distant; it leads to a creeping bitterness that can deaden and even destroy the spirit.
A praying life is the opposite of a cynical life.
Prayer engages evil, doesn’t take no for an answer, is persistent before the face of God, hoping, dreaming, and asking.
Cynicism merely critiques everything. It is passive, cocooning itself from the passions of the great cosmic battle we are engaged in.
If you try to add an overlay of prayer to a cynical or even a weary heart, it feels phony.
For the cynic, life is already phony; nothing can be trusted, hoped in, or provide meaning and purpose.
A Journey into Cynicism
Cynicism begins with the wrong kind of faith, a naïve optimism or foolish confidence.
On the surface, naïve optimism and faith can look the same, but the foundations are vastly different.
Genuine faith comes from knowing my heavenly Father loves, enjoys, and cares for me.
Naïve optimism is groundless, blind trust.
Genuine faith fuels bold action and diligent effort.
Our culture gradually shifted from faith in God to faith in humanity.
So, faith became simply faith in faith itself, rather than faith in God.
“Just believe” or “have faith” became the mantra, but without any reference to God – the object of faith.
Optimism rooted in the goodness or capability of people collapses against the dark side of life.
Real life doesn’t lend itself to groundless optimism.
Shattered optimism leads to weariness and then to cynicism.
The movement from naïve optimism to cynicism is the new American journey.
In naïve optimism, we don’t need to pray because everything is under control, everything is possible.
In cynicism, we can’t pray because everything is out of control, little is possible.
Cynicism’s ironic stance is a weak attempt to maintain a lighthearted equilibrium in a world gone mad.
At some point, each of us faces the valley of the shadow of death.
We can’t ignore it. We can’t remain neutral with evil.
We either give up and distance ourselves, or we learn to walk with the Shepherd. There is no middle ground.
Without the Good Shepherd, we are alone in a meaningless story.
The Age of Cynicism
Our personal struggles with cynicism and defeated weariness are reinforced by an increasing tendency toward perfectionism.
Believing you have to have the perfect relationship, the perfect children, the perfect body set you up for a critical spirit.
In the absence of perfection, we resort to spin—trying to make ourselves look good.
We end up with a public life and a private life. We cease to be real.
Media looks for the wrong in everything.
Psychology’s hunt for hidden motives adds a new layer to our ability to judge and be cynical about what others are doing.
Cynicism is the air we breathe; our only hope is to give Jesus our weary and heavy-laden hearts and follow him out of cynicism.