2017-09
2017-09
Sunday Sep 24, 2017
“Lots and Lots of Locusts” (Exodus 10:1–20)
Sunday Sep 24, 2017
Sunday Sep 24, 2017
“Lots and Lots of Locusts” (Exodus 10:1–20)Pastor Cameron JungelsEastside Baptist ChurchSunday PM, September 24, 2017
Exodus 10:1–20 (NIV)
10 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials so that I may perform these signs of mine among them 2 that you may tell your children and grandchildren how I dealt harshly with the Egyptians and how I performed my signs among them, and that you may know that I am the Lord.”
3 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, “This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, so that they may worship me. 4 If you refuse to let them go, I will bring locusts into your country tomorrow. 5 They will cover the face of the ground so that it cannot be seen. They will devour what little you have left after the hail, including every tree that is growing in your fields. 6 They will fill your houses and those of all your officials and all the Egyptians—something neither your parents nor your ancestors have ever seen from the day they settled in this land till now.’ ” Then Moses turned and left Pharaoh.
7 Pharaoh’s officials said to him, “How long will this man be a snare to us? Let the people go, so that they may worship the Lord their God. Do you not yet realize that Egypt is ruined?”
8 Then Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh. “Go, worship the Lord your God,” he said. “But tell me who will be going.”
9 Moses answered, “We will go with our young and our old, with our sons and our daughters, and with our flocks and herds, because we are to celebrate a festival to the Lord.”
10 Pharaoh said, “The Lord be with you—if I let you go, along with your women and children! Clearly you are bent on evil. 11 No! Have only the men go and worship the Lord, since that’s what you have been asking for.” Then Moses and Aaron were driven out of Pharaoh’s presence.
12 And the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over Egypt so that locusts swarm over the land and devour everything growing in the fields, everything left by the hail.”
13 So Moses stretched out his staff over Egypt, and the Lord made an east wind blow across the land all that day and all that night. By morning the wind had brought the locusts; 14 they invaded all Egypt and settled down in every area of the country in great numbers. Never before had there been such a plague of locusts, nor will there ever be again. 15 They covered all the ground until it was black. They devoured all that was left after the hail—everything growing in the fields and the fruit on the trees. Nothing green remained on tree or plant in all the land of Egypt.
16 Pharaoh quickly summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you. 17 Now forgive my sin once more and pray to the Lord your God to take this deadly plague away from me.”
18 Moses then left Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord. 19 And the Lord changed the wind to a very strong west wind, which caught up the locusts and carried them into the Red Sea. Not a locust was left anywhere in Egypt. 20 But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let the Israelites go.
1. The LORD will glorify his own name, and he will move kings and nations in order to do it (1).2. The LORD desires for his name and his mighty acts to be known by his people for all generations (2).3. It is better to humble yourself before the LORD than to be humiliated by the LORD (3–7).4. The LORD’s commands cannot be negotiated down; and his people must never compromise with the world (8–11).5. Persistent rebellion against the LORD leads to more devastating judgment (12–15).6. A repentance that is induced only by the adverse circumstances and produces no real lasting change is not a genuine repentance (16–19).7. Persistent rebellion against the LORD results in reprobation, with the LORD delivering a person over to their depraved desires and thus confirming their condemnation (20).
Sunday Sep 24, 2017
“Death through Adam, Life through Christ” (Romans 5:12–21), part 2
Sunday Sep 24, 2017
Sunday Sep 24, 2017
“Death through Adam, Life through Christ” (Romans 5:12–21), part 2
Pastor Cameron Jungels
Eastside Baptist Church
Sunday AM, September 24, 2017
Romans 5:12–21 (NIV)
12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—
13 To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law. 14 Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come.
15 But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! 16 Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. 17 For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!
18 Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. 19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
20 The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, 21 so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Adam is a type of Christ. They both represent their people, but Christ’s headship over his people is so much superior to Adam’s. Note the contrasts between Adam and Christ:
Difference in kind of representation: We are in Adam physically; we are in Christ spiritually.
Difference in character: Adam’s trespass brings death as a matter of justice; Christ’s obedience brings life as a matter of grace.
Difference in the nature of their actions: Adam’s act was a selfish act of pride; Christ’s act was a selfless act of love.
Difference in the immediate effect: Adam’s act brought condemnation, with judgment following only one sin; Christ’s act brought justification, with grace following many sins.
Difference in ultimate effect: Adam’s act brings the reign of death (physical, spiritual, and eternal); Christ’s act brings our reign in life (physical, spiritual, and eternal).
Wednesday Sep 20, 2017
"A Praying Life" (chapter 19)
Wednesday Sep 20, 2017
Wednesday Sep 20, 2017
A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World
By Paul E. Miller
Part 4: Living in Your Father’s Story
“Watching a Story Unfold” - Chapter 19
Our Prayers Shape Us
God wants to do something bigger than simply answer our prayers.
The act of praying draws God into our lives and begins to change us.
Our prayers are not isolated from the larger story that God is weaving in our lives.
The act of praying alerts us and shapes our decisions.
Praying to not love the world, informs our purchase decisions.
Our prayers for others begin to shape our hearts – we begin to see the same things in ourselves.
Perhaps God is not answering our prayers because he wants to expose something in us.
Our prayers don’t exist in a world of their own. We are in dialogue with a personal, divine Spirit who wants to shape us as much as he wants to hear us.
Most of us isolate prayer from the rest of what God is doing in our lives, but God doesn’t work that way.
Parenting and Prayer
Prayer is not discussed enough in the context of Christian parenting.
We believe that if we have the right biblical principles and apply them consistently, our kids will turn out right. But this doesn’t always happen.
Until we become convinced we can’t change our child’s heart on our own, we will not take prayer seriously.
Our goal is not to shape the child in our likeness and conform his/her will to our own. Our goal is to shape the child in Christ’s likeness and bend their will to God’s. This can’t happen without personal repentance and prayer.
In prayer for our own children’s self-willed behavior, we will more readily see our own selfishness.
In coming up against our child’s self-will, we are tempted to be controlling/domineering or to be passive. Both extremes are wrong.
Despair:
I don’t have the power.Out of control.
Good Asking:
God has the power.God in control.
Demanding:
I have the power.In control
Focus:
How the other person can’t change.
Focus:
On God, I live in his presence with my disappointment. I begin with my own need to change.
Focus:
How the other person needs to change.
Role of Prayer:
None. I’ve given up.
Role of Prayer:
Central. I pray to a personal God, so I am simultaneously asking and surrendering.
Role of Prayer:
Another weapon in my battle.
Field Hockey and Faith
One word should dominate our prayers for our children and for other people: Faith.
Our desire should be for our child or other person to be living their lives abiding in God, drawing daily energy and meaning from Him and not from circumstances, people, or things.
We shouldn’t pray for all obstacles and struggles to be immediately removed if our ultimate desire is for our children to learn faith.
Are our goals for our children tied to accomplishments or to their growth in faith?
Keeping our prayers anchored to the larger story of what God is doing in our lives and the people around us will make our prayers better and will make our hearts better.
Sunday Sep 17, 2017
“Hail from Heaven” (Exodus 9:13–35)
Sunday Sep 17, 2017
Sunday Sep 17, 2017
“Hail from Heaven” (Exodus 9:13–35)
Pastor Cameron Jungels
Eastside Baptist Church
Sunday PM, September 17, 2017
Exodus 9:13–35 (NIV)
13 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning, confront Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me, 14 or this time I will send the full force of my plagues against you and against your officials and your people, so you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth. 15 For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with a plague that would have wiped you off the earth. 16 But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. 17 You still set yourself against my people and will not let them go. 18 Therefore, at this time tomorrow I will send the worst hailstorm that has ever fallen on Egypt, from the day it was founded till now. 19 Give an order now to bring your livestock and everything you have in the field to a place of shelter, because the hail will fall on every person and animal that has not been brought in and is still out in the field, and they will die.’ ”
20 Those officials of Pharaoh who feared the word of the Lord hurried to bring their slaves and their livestock inside. 21 But those who ignored the word of the Lord left their slaves and livestock in the field.
22 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that hail will fall all over Egypt—on people and animals and on everything growing in the fields of Egypt.” 23 When Moses stretched out his staff toward the sky, the Lord sent thunder and hail, and lightning flashed down to the ground. So the Lord rained hail on the land of Egypt; 24 hail fell and lightning flashed back and forth. It was the worst storm in all the land of Egypt since it had become a nation. 25 Throughout Egypt hail struck everything in the fields—both people and animals; it beat down everything growing in the fields and stripped every tree. 26 The only place it did not hail was the land of Goshen, where the Israelites were.
27 Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron. “This time I have sinned,” he said to them. “The Lord is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong. 28 Pray to the Lord, for we have had enough thunder and hail. I will let you go; you don’t have to stay any longer.”
29 Moses replied, “When I have gone out of the city, I will spread out my hands in prayer to the Lord. The thunder will stop and there will be no more hail, so you may know that the earth is the Lord’s. 30 But I know that you and your officials still do not fear the Lord God.”
31 (The flax and barley were destroyed, since the barley had headed and the flax was in bloom. 32 The wheat and spelt, however, were not destroyed, because they ripen later.)
33 Then Moses left Pharaoh and went out of the city. He spread out his hands toward the Lord; the thunder and hail stopped, and the rain no longer poured down on the land. 34 When Pharaoh saw that the rain and hail and thunder had stopped, he sinned again: He and his officials hardened their hearts. 35 So Pharaoh’s heart was hard and he would not let the Israelites go, just as the Lord had said through Moses.
As unbelievers become more and more obstinate to the truth, God intensifies their judgment (13–14, 18).
God’s ultimate purpose is to make himself known and to spread his glory throughout the earth (14, 16).
God can use anything or anyone to accomplish his purposes and glorify himself (15–17).
Even in judgment, God extends mercy and the opportunity for deliverance (19–21).
The Lord judges the rebellious and hard-hearted, but he delivers his people (22–26).
Even sincere indications of remorse may not be genuine repentance; perseverance in faith and repentance is the sign of genuineness (27–35).
The typical responses to the word of the LORD are outright rejection, humble faith, or imitation, surface-level faith and repentance that do not last (19–21, 27–35).
Sunday Sep 17, 2017
“Death through Adam, Life through Christ” (Romans 5:12–21), Part 1
Sunday Sep 17, 2017
Sunday Sep 17, 2017
“Death through Adam, Life through Christ” (Romans 5:12–21), Part 1
Pastor Cameron Jungels
Eastside Baptist Church
Sunday AM, September 17, 2017
Romans 5:12–21 (NIV)
12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—
13 To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law. 14 Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come.
15 But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! 16 Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. 17 For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!
18 Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. 19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
20 The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, 21 so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Adam, the first human being, sinned and brought sin into the world (12).
Sin brings the consequence of death into the world (12).
Every person is under the curse of death and is guilty of sin, because Adam was the representative of the whole human race (12–14).
Every human being sinned in Adam, because he was our representative.
Before the Mosaic Law was given, sin was in the world.
But sin is not taken into account when there is no law.
Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses – even over those who did not sin by breaking a specific, explicit command as Adam did.
Therefore, we are sinners in Adam.
Therefore, we are guilty in Adam.
Therefore, we all incur the consequence of death in Adam.
Adam was the representative head of the whole human race in sin and death.
The trespass of one man brought death or condemnation to all men (5 times in 15–19).
The analogy between Adam and Christ is broken if Adam is not our representative. If Adam cannot represent us as our covenant head in death, then neither can Christ in life.
Wednesday Sep 13, 2017
"A Praying Life" (chapters 16-18)
Wednesday Sep 13, 2017
Wednesday Sep 13, 2017
A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World
By Paul E. Miller
What We Don’t Ask For: “Our Daily Bread” - Chapter 16
Most prayer requests are limited to sickness, joblessness, kids in crisis, and the occasional missionary.
Jesus’ prayer for daily bread was an invitation to bring all our needs to him.
Daily bread = “the bread I need for today; what is necessary for my existence today”
We don’t ask because we feel self-confident in providing our needs.
Often our need for daily bread opens doors to deeper heart needs for real food.
Jesus used the miracle of feeding the 5,000 to teach them about the bread from heaven.
What kinds of daily bread do we fail to ask God for?
What kinds of heavenly bread do we miss because we don’t ask for our daily physical bread?
Material Things
We think they are too mundane – too physical, not spiritual, not important
We think they are too selfish.
Perhaps they are, but praying about them:
Invites God into our lives.
Involves God in our decisions.
Opens us up to our spiritual needs.
Causes us to abide – including God in every aspect of our lives.
We think it makes us too vulnerable.
Praying about our physical needs invites God to rule our lives.
We are like the crowd who was fed the fish and bread: we want breakfast but we don’t want the soul food.
Left to ourselves, we want God to be a genie not a person.
The heart is one of God’s biggest mission fields.
Prayer to God about our physical things is not meant to isolate us from the counsel of other Christians.
If you isolate praying from the rule of Jesus by not involving other Christians, you’ll end up doing your own will.
It is possible to use prayer as a cover for “doing your own thing.”
We can mask our desires from even ourselves.
Wisdom: Too Unexpected
When we need advice, we find a wise person, ask him or her a question, and listen to the answer. It seldom occurs to us to do this with God.
It is easy to fall into the enlightenment mindset that the infinite God is not personally involved in our lives.
The Scriptures teach us that God grants wisdom to those who ask.
We often speak of guidance, but wisdom is richer and more personal.
I don’t just need help with my plans (guidance); I need help with the right questions to ask and the direction of my heart (wisdom).
God speaks wisdom to us through his Word and his Spirit.
Seeking wisdom from God is not just seeking his advice; advice leaves me in control to take or leave the advice. Seeking God’s wisdom is bowing before God and abiding in him.
Seeking God’s wisdom is seeking to be in harmony with our Creator.
What We Don’t Ask For: “Your Kingdom Come” - Chapter 17
“Your Kingdom Come” has lost much of its significance because we have confused its meaning.
The Kingdom of God is not limited to just religious or spiritual things.
The Kingdom of God is not limited to religious institutions.
The Kingdom of God is much more all-inclusive than any of these limited definitions.
Praying “Your Kingdom Come” type prayers involves at least these kinds of prayers:
Change in Others
Change in Me
Change in Culture
Change in Others
Too Controlling?
We do not pray regularly enough for God to change the hearts and behaviors of those around us.
Is this kind of a prayer seeking for control over another person?
No, it is entirely the opposite. The point of this kind of prayer is to shift control from us to God
Too Hopeless?
We do not pray for God to change others because we have become cynical about the possibility of change.
Often, prayers for others end up changing us too. It causes us to reevaluate our own hearts.
Once we’ve learned that God loves us, we then need to learn to extend his love to others.
Character Change in Me
Too Scary?
We know that if we pray for God to change us, he will. That is why we don’t pray for God to change us.
We are scared of what the process of change might be.
We also don’t want to admit that we need change.
Modern psychology tells us to affirm our feelings and emotions instead of seeking change.
Change in Culture
Too Impossible?
We complain about things in our culture or the direction our culture is heading, but do we pray for specific changes in our culture?
Have we become too cynical about the possibility of change in wider areas of our culture?
What We Don’t Ask For: “Your Will Be Done” - Chapter 18
Until we see how strong our own will is, we can’t understand the second petition of the Lord’s prayer— “Your will be done.”
Sin is complicated. We are never a passive observer, dispensing wisdom and justice. We are part of the mess.
This is why Jesus said, “Without me you can do nothing.”
Accepting the place that God has given me (content in all situations), then a door is opened between my soul and God.
The more we are in touch with the depth of our own self-will, the more we will see the need of prayer and abiding in Christ.
The great struggle of my life is not trying to discern God’s will; it is trying to discern and then disown my own.
Our Self-Will
Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) reveals much about the depth of our self-will.
Jesus’ sermon deals with areas of our selfish desires: money, sex, power, fame, etc.
Jesus closes all the doors to power and glory and selfish desire.
Jesus then opens the door to prayer and tells you how he gets things done.
When our self-will determines how we want others to be and act, we can even allow prayer to be another weapon in our arsenal of control.
Self-will and prayer are both ways of getting things done.
At the center of self-will is me, carving a world in my image, but at the center of prayer is God, carving me in his Son’s image.
When we pray “Your will be done” it can be scary, but in reality we are leaving the shaky foundation of our own self-will and entering the stability of God.
Instead of trying to create our own story, we become content with God writing our story.
Prayer becomes effective when we see our own self-will for what it is. It then opens the door to doing things through God.
Sunday Sep 10, 2017
“Blight and Boils” (Exodus 9:1–12)
Sunday Sep 10, 2017
Sunday Sep 10, 2017
“Blight and Boils” (Exodus 9:1–12)
Pastor Cameron Jungels
Eastside Baptist Church
Sunday PM, September 10, 2017
Exodus 9:1–12 (NIV)
9 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: “Let my people go, so that they may worship me.” 2 If you refuse to let them go and continue to hold them back, 3 the hand of the Lord will bring a terrible plague on your livestock in the field—on your horses, donkeys and camels and on your cattle, sheep and goats. 4 But the Lord will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and that of Egypt, so that no animal belonging to the Israelites will die.’”
5 The Lord set a time and said, “Tomorrow the Lord will do this in the land.” 6 And the next day the Lord did it: All the livestock of the Egyptians died, but not one animal belonging to the Israelites died. 7 Pharaoh investigated and found that not even one of the animals of the Israelites had died. Yet his heart was unyielding and he would not let the people go.
8 Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Take handfuls of soot from a furnace and have Moses toss it into the air in the presence of Pharaoh. 9 It will become fine dust over the whole land of Egypt, and festering boils will break out on people and animals throughout the land.”
10 So they took soot from a furnace and stood before Pharaoh. Moses tossed it into the air, and festering boils broke out on people and animals. 11 The magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils that were on them and on all the Egyptians. 12 But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart and he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said to Moses.
Persistent Rebellion against God not only affects you but it affects everything around you.
Persistent Rebellion against God’s warnings will result in swift judgment that will then come without warning.
Persistent Rebellion against God results in the intensification of his judgments.
Persistent Rebellion against God will bring God’s merciful patience to an end, resulting in divine hardening and “giving one over” to their own depravity.
Persistent Rebellion against God is futile and will only result in complete defeat before his might and sovereignty.
Main Idea: God protects his people, but he crushes those who are persistent in their rebellion against Him.
Sunday Sep 10, 2017
“God’s Love on Display” (Romans 5:6–11)
Sunday Sep 10, 2017
Sunday Sep 10, 2017
“God’s Love on Display” (Romans 5:6–11)
Pastor Cameron Jungels
Eastside Baptist Church
Sunday AM, September 10, 2017
Romans 5:6–11, NIV
6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! 10 For if, while we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11 Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
God’s Love Came at the Right Time: When We Were Weak and Powerless and in Desperate Need of It (6).
4 But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. (Gal. 4:4–5, NIV)
God’s Love Is Not Like Human Love (6–7).
God’s Love Is Given to the Most Unlovable (8).
God’s Love Not Only Gives Us Grace in the Present; It Will Also Give Us Grace in the Future (9–10).
God’s Love Is Worthy of Our Ultimate Praise and Becomes the Source of Our Life’s Joy (11).
Wednesday Sep 06, 2017
"A Praying Life" (chapter 15)
Wednesday Sep 06, 2017
Wednesday Sep 06, 2017
A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World
By Paul E. Miller
“What Do We Do with Jesus’ Extravagant Promises About Prayer?” – Chapter 15
The gospels are filled with promises from Jesus to his disciples about asking in prayer and receiving:
“If you ask anything in my name, I will do it.” (John 14:13-14)
“If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” (John 15:17).
What do we do with these extravagant promises?
Scholars to the Rescue
Some try to limit these promises of Jesus to only ‘ministry’ related requests.
“Ask me to do anything in the area of my work and I will do it.”
Jesus does not specifically limit his statements to witnessing or gospel work.
There is a better solution to understanding these promises.
James to the Rescue
James describes two dangers in asking in prayer:
Not Asking
Asking Selfishly
Those who err on the not asking side surrender to God before they are real with him. The result is distance from God. The real you doesn’t encounter the real God.
Those who err on the asking selfishly side, are distant from God in that they are thinking only of themselves and not God’s will or his mission.
Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane shows us that we can ask what our heart feels while also being submissive to the will of God. We can be real and reverent.
Our prayers need this balance.
Back to Jesus
“Ask whatever you wish.” Why didn’t Jesus bring balance to this statement if that is what he meant?
The answer is that we are the ones who are imbalanced.
Instinctively, we are either confident in ourselves or despairing in ourselves.
In both cases we are paralyzed, not moving toward God.
In giving his disciples these promises, he was intending to open them up to the extravagant love of God.
Jesus wants us to tap into the generous heart of his Father. He wants us to lose all confidence in ourselves because “apart from [Jesus] you can do nothing”; he wants us to have complete confidence in him.
All of Jesus’ teaching on prayer in the Gospels can be summarized with one word: ask.
His greatest concern is that our failure or reluctance to ask keeps us distant from God.
But he also tells us to ask because our heavenly Father wants to give good gifts. He loves to give.
From the lesser to the greater: the unjust judge and the friend at midnight.
Praying in Jesus’ Name
Deep down, we just don’t believe God is as generous as he keeps saying he is.
That’s why Jesus added: “ask in my name.”
The name of Jesus is not a magic formula for success, but the name of Jesus does give my prayers access to the throne of God. They get through.
My prayers come before the throne of God as the prayers of Jesus.
Asking in Jesus’ name isn’t another thing I have to get right so my prayers are perfect. It is one more gift of God because my prayers are so imperfect.
Jesus’ seal not only guarantees that my prayers get through, but it also transforms my prayers.
The Holy Spirit intercedes for us in conformity to the will of God (Rom 8:26).
Answered Prayers
The point of prayer is not to analyze the percentage of prayers answered to unanswered or to analyze how many of the things would have happened anyway according to the law of averages.
If we try to figure out the mystery of prayer, then we lose God.
One thing is true: the closer our prayers are to the heart of God, the more powerfully and quickly they seem to be answered.
“If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. (1 John 5:14)
When you are on the inside of your prayers, you can clearly see the weaving of God, but it is often difficult to explain to an outsider.
Learning to Abide
The praying life is the abiding life.
How do we abide?
One of the best ways to learn how to abide is to start asking. Jesus’ primary concern was to get us into the game. Start asking.
If you are going to take seriously Jesus’ offer to ask anything, then you have to ask.
In order to ask, you have to reflect on what you want to ask.
It takes reflection to answer the question, “What do I want?”
Most people fail to ask. They fail to take Jesus’ words seriously.
Sunday Sep 03, 2017
"Peace and Hope" (Romans 5:1-5)
Sunday Sep 03, 2017
Sunday Sep 03, 2017
“Peace and Hope” (Romans 5:1–5)Pastor Cameron JungelsEastside Baptist ChurchSunday AM, September 3, 2017
Romans 5:1–5 (NIV)
5 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
1. Believers in Christ have peace with God (1–2a).
a. Peace with God means we have entered into a relationship of love and friendship. i. The atoning work of Christ made this relationship of peace with God possible. 10 For if, while we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11 Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. (Romans 5:10-11, NIV)17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. (2 Co. 5:17-19, NIV)21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation-- (Colossians 1:21-22, NIV) ii. We enter into this state of peace with God through faith. b. Peace with God means we have access (a way of approaching) before the throne of God. i. Christ is our mediator. ii. This blessing of access to God is a state of grace.
2. Believers in Christ have hope for their future salvation (2b–5).
a. Our future hope causes us to rejoice/boast in God and his glory. b. Our future hope enables us to rejoice/boast even in the midst of suffering: i. Because we know that suffering is molding our character to be like that of Christ. ii. Because we know that suffering in this world is the path to future glory (as it was for Christ himself). c. Our future hope is based on God’s love for us. d. Our future hope is revealed and made certain to us in our experience through the gift of the regenerating Holy Spirit.