2017-02
2017-02
Sunday Feb 26, 2017
“The Depravity of Humanity” (Romans 1:24-32)
Sunday Feb 26, 2017
Sunday Feb 26, 2017
“The Depravity of Humanity” (Romans 1:24–32)
Pastor Cameron Jungels
Eastside Baptist Church
Sunday AM, February 26, 2017
Romans 1:24–32 (NIV)
24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.
28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
God’s wrath is justly directed against humanity, because we have purposely rejected the knowledge that he has revealed in Creation (18–20).
This rejection of the knowledge of God revealed in Creation leads humanity to idolatry, the substitution of the one true God with gods of our own making (21–23).
Human depravity and moral perversion is the direct result of our false worship (24-25).
The clearest and most prominent demonstration that people have rejected the knowledge of God that is revealed in the natural order is their sexual depravity and homosexuality (26–27).
A descent into deeper and deeper sexual and moral perversion is an indication that God is judging that culture by “giving them over” to live out their damnable lifestyles without his gracious restraint (24, 26, 28).
The sexual perversion of homosexuality is a sin and a distortion of the created order, but it is not the only sin that reveals our depravity and rejection of the knowledge of God. Our depravity is demonstrated in a variety of sins and injustices (28–31).
God will justly condemn those who commit immoral, sinful acts, along with those who approve and enable those immoral, sinful actions (32).
Wednesday Feb 22, 2017
Chapter 15: Thinking, Thanking, and Loving
Wednesday Feb 22, 2017
Wednesday Feb 22, 2017
Walking with God through Pain & Suffering
by Tim Keller
Chapter 15: Thinking, Thanking, and Loving
Paul was one of the most prominent sufferers in the Bible.
Paul endured a multitude of physical, emotional, and spiritual hardships.
How did Paul handle all of this suffering?
He relied on the peace, comfort, and contentment that comes from God.
The Peace that Passes Understanding
Philippians 4 provides some of the most helpful advice about how to find peace in the midst of suffering.
Paul says that we do not need to be anxious, but that through prayer and thanksgiving we can present our requests to God.
We can experience a peace from God that surpasses our understanding. This peace will protect our hearts and our minds—even through intense times of suffering.
What is the peace of God?
An inner calm and equilibrium—a contentment in all circumstances.
Not merely an absence, but a presence.
Not just an absence of fear or worry. It is the presence of God and the sense of being protected.
Modern self-help books speak of emptying our minds of negative thoughts; the Bible teaches us to fill our minds with godly and true thoughts.
It is not just positive thinking or willpower.
It is a sense that no matter what happens, everything will work out all right (even if it doesn’t seem that way now).
It is a living power that comes into our lives from God and enables us to face the realities of life.
How do we find this peace?
3 disciplines revealed in Philippians 4.
The Discipline of Thinking
Thinking on what is noble, right, and pure:
Not just lofty, exalted thoughts.
Paul is teaching us to think on biblical truths-especially God’s work of salvation for us in Christ.
Christian peace comes by thinking more, not less.
Romans 8:18—Paul “reckons” / “thinks” that the sufferings of this world can never compare with the glories of the next.
Don’t separate sound biblical, gospel teaching from the peace and comfort that God grants to us.
We find comfort and peace in the truths of God and what he has accomplished for us and promised to us.
Paul is offering us a different vantage point from which to view our experiences.
We can find peace by looking at the larger picture from God’s viewpoint.
Jonathan Edwards on Christian happiness:
The “bad things” will work together for good (Rom 8:28).
The “good things”—adoption into God’s family, justification in his sight, union with him—cannot be taken away (Rom 8:1).
The “best things”—life in heaven, new heavens and new earth, resurrection—are yet to come (Rev 22:1ff).
The Discipline of Thanking
Thanksgiving is put over against anxiety. It is hard to be anxious at the same time that you are being thankful.
Paul instructs us to give God thanks as we bring our requests to him, even before he answers!
Paul is calling on us to trust God’s sovereign rule of history and of our lives. He is telling us that we will never be content unless we acknowledge that our lives are in his hands and that he is wiser than we are.
Romans 8:28 does not teach that every bad event has a “silver lining” or that every terrible thing is actually a good thing if you look at it properly.
No, it teaches that all things (even bad things) will ultimately together be overruled by God in such a way that the intended evil will, in the end, only accomplish the opposite of its designs—a greater good and glory than would otherwise have come to pass.
God is sovereign, so we should trust him.
Paul goes a step further: God is sovereign, so we should thank
We are to thank him for whatever he sends us, even if we don’t understand it.
The Discipline of Reordering Our Loves
Think on things that are lovely, admirable, excellent, praiseworthy.
These are things that are not only true but also beautiful and attractive.
Paul is urging us to not just order the thoughts of our minds but also to order the affections of our hearts.
To maintain equilibrium in troublesome times, we need to not only think the right things; we need to love the right things.
The Greek Stoics said that we should love our virtue/character the most because it is something we can control.
The problem is that we really can’t rely on our own virtue or character, because we are frail, finite, sinful creatures.
What we need for peace is to love that which is immutable—unchangeable.
God is immutable and cannot change. He will never fail us. God’s presence and love cannot disappoint or fail or be lost—even through death.
So, do we have to give up loving everything except for God?
No, we must properly order our loves.
Our problem is not that we love our career or family too much, but that we love God too little in proportion to them.
To get the calm, tranquility, and peace that comes from God, we must love him supremely, as our first love.
Relocating Your Glory
Our glory must not be in our own endeavors or abilities or in what other people may think of us.
Our glory—our source of joy, meaning, purpose, worth, identity—should be God.
Too often we elevate good things to supremely important things, and our suffering is intensified proportionately to the degree that our glory is located in the things that are affected by our suffering.
The Horrible, Beautiful Process
Suffering is like a furnace—it is painful but creates purity and beauty and strength.
How does it do this? Suffering puts its fingers on good things that have become too important to us.
We respond to suffering not by throwing those things out, but by turning to God and loving him more.
You can’t really understand your heart when things are going well.
Suffering reveals the false gods.
The Secret of Peace
How can we bring ourselves to love God more?
It is not by trying to work on our emotions. That won’t work.
We focus on God, but not in the abstract. We focus our attention specifically on God’s revelation to us in his Son, Jesus Christ.
By looking to the person and work of Christ we will come to love the immutable and find tranquility.
2 Corinthians 5:21 – Jesus became sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.
Christ endured ‘peacelessness’ so that we might receive eternal peace.
Instead of thinking you are being punished—look to the cross.
Instead of thinking that God doesn’t care—look to the cross.
The incomprehensible peace of God comes to our hearts through Jesus Christ (Philippians 4:7).
Sunday Feb 19, 2017
“Intended for Good”
Sunday Feb 19, 2017
Sunday Feb 19, 2017
“Intended for Good” (Genesis 50:15–26)
Pastor Cameron Jungels
Eastside Baptist Church
Sunday PM, February 19, 2017
Genesis 50:15–26 (NIV)
15 When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?” 16 So they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Your father left these instructions before he died: 17 ‘This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.’ Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father.” When their message came to him, Joseph wept.
18 His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. “We are your slaves,” they said.
19 But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? 20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. 21 So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.” And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.
22 Joseph stayed in Egypt, along with all his father’s family. He lived a hundred and ten years 23 and saw the third generation of Ephraim’s children. Also the children of Makir son of Manasseh were placed at birth on Joseph’s knees.
24 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die. But God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” 25 And Joseph made the Israelites swear an oath and said, “God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up from this place.”
26 So Joseph died at the age of a hundred and ten. And after they embalmed him, he was placed in a coffin in Egypt.
Fear of Retribution (15–18).
Assurance of Peace (19–21).
Peace flows from the heart of a person who understands his role in God’s sovereign plan.
Joseph acknowledged his place of humility.
He acknowledged his brothers’ sin and wrongdoing: you meant to harm me.
He acknowledged the sovereignty of God: God intended it for good.
Hope for the Future (22–26).
Enjoying the blessings of God during his life.
Looking to the future blessings of God.
Main Idea: Those who trust the Sovereign, Faithful God can live in confidence (not fear), can offer peace and reconciliation to others (not vengeance), and can look with hope and faith for the future.
Sunday Feb 19, 2017
“Exchanging Truth for a Lie”
Sunday Feb 19, 2017
Sunday Feb 19, 2017
“Exchanging Truth for a Lie” (Romans 1:20–23)
Pastor Cameron Jungels
Eastside Baptist Church
Sunday AM, February 19, 2017
Romans 1:20-23, NIV
20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities-- his eternal power and divine nature-- have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
God has revealed himself with sufficient knowledge of himself to render all people accountable for their rejection of him (20).
a. There is such a thing as natural revelation.
b. What God reveals to people in nature is limited.
c. The results of natural revelation are negative: enough to convict and leave them without excuse.
People suppressed and rejected the knowledge of God revealed in Creation and refused to give God the glory and thanks due him (21).
In our refusal to honor God, all people exchanged the truth about God for lies of our own making. We exchanged true worship of the Creator for the worship of that which is created (22–23).
Sunday Feb 12, 2017
“The Death of Jacob”
Sunday Feb 12, 2017
Sunday Feb 12, 2017
“The Death of Jacob” (Genesis 49:29–50:14)
Pastor Cameron Jungels
Eastside Baptist Church
Sunday PM, February 12, 2017
Genesis 49:29–50:14 (NIV)
29 Then he gave them these instructions: “I am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite, 30 the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre in Canaan, which Abraham bought along with the field as a burial place from Ephron the Hittite. 31 There Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried, there Isaac and his wife Rebekah were buried, and there I buried Leah. 32 The field and the cave in it were bought from the Hittites.”
33 When Jacob had finished giving instructions to his sons, he drew his feet up into the bed, breathed his last and was gathered to his people.
50 Joseph threw himself on his father and wept over him and kissed him. 2 Then Joseph directed the physicians in his service to embalm his father Israel. So the physicians embalmed him, 3 taking a full forty days, for that was the time required for embalming. And the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.
4 When the days of mourning had passed, Joseph said to Pharaoh’s court, “If I have found favor in your eyes, speak to Pharaoh for me. Tell him, 5 ‘My father made me swear an oath and said, “I am about to die; bury me in the tomb I dug for myself in the land of Canaan.” Now let me go up and bury my father; then I will return.’”
6 Pharaoh said, “Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear to do.”
7 So Joseph went up to bury his father. All Pharaoh’s officials accompanied him—the dignitaries of his court and all the dignitaries of Egypt—8 besides all the members of Joseph’s household and his brothers and those belonging to his father’s household. Only their children and their flocks and herds were left in Goshen. 9 Chariots and horsemen also went up with him. It was a very large company.
10 When they reached the threshing floor of Atad, near the Jordan, they lamented loudly and bitterly; and there Joseph observed a seven-day period of mourning for his father. 11 When the Canaanites who lived there saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “The Egyptians are holding a solemn ceremony of mourning.” That is why that place near the Jordan is called Abel Mizraim.
12 So Jacob’s sons did as he had commanded them: 13 They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre, which Abraham had bought along with the field as a burial place from Ephron the Hittite. 14 After burying his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, together with his brothers and all the others who had gone with him to bury his father.
People of faith can end their lives with confidence for the future because of the sure promises of God.
People of faith conduct themselves with integrity, which causes others to respect them, including those who do not fear God.
People of faith honor the commitments and the promises they have made, even at great personal cost and sacrifice.
Main Idea: People of faith can live lives of integrity, garnering the respect of others, and they can keep their commitments at great personal cost and sacrifice, because their hopes are anchored to the future fulfillment of the promises of God.
Sunday Feb 12, 2017
“The Wrath of God”
Sunday Feb 12, 2017
Sunday Feb 12, 2017
“The Wrath of God” (Romans 1:18–20)
Pastor Cameron Jungels
Eastside Baptist Church
Sunday AM, February 12, 2017
Romans 1:18–23 (NIV)
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
The revelation of the righteousness of God in the gospel is necessary for humanity to be saved, because the wrath of God is also being revealed against humanity (v. 18).
Sinners are worthy of God’s wrath because of their ungodliness and wickedness (v. 18).
Sinners are without excuse when it comes to the judgment of God because God’s truth has been plainly revealed to them, and they chose to purposely ignore and suppress it (vv. 18–20).
Wednesday Feb 08, 2017
"Chapter 14: Praying"
Wednesday Feb 08, 2017
Wednesday Feb 08, 2017
Walking with God through Pain & Suffering
by Tim Keller
Chapter 14: Praying
The Uniqueness of Job
The book of Job faces the question of evil and suffering with emotion and realism as well as intellectual and theological skill.
Its main theme is innocent suffering—why do so many good people have a disproportionate number of afflictions, while many dishonest, selfish, and greedy people have comfortable lives?
Job treats this issue with balance and nuance. It does not give simple, pat answers.
Job critiques all of the common answers to the problem of evil and finds them wanting.
Religious answer: you must have done something wrong or bad
Secular answer: there is no good reason, and a good God wouldn’t allow this—so there is no God.
One of the main messages of the book of Job is that both the religious and the secular answers are wrong.
My Servant Job
Job is described as a man who was blameless and upright. He was beyond reproach.
Satan accuses Job before God and says that Job fears and follows God for the benefits that God gives him.
If Job is just serving God for the benefits, then God has failed to make people into truly loving servants.
Satan wants to frustrate God and his purpose to turn people into joy-filled, great and good worshipers of him.
Becoming “Free Lovers” of God
God allowed Satan to test Job, because God knew that Job already loved him for himself. But Job’s love needed refinement. The suffering was allowed to bring Job to a level of greatness.
The opening of Job reminds us that there is a difference between external religiosity and internal heart love and devotion to God.
How do we develop a true, internal love for God that is not just a response to his good gifts or benefits?
Our love for God might begin with a heavy dependence and reliance on his benefits, but as the relationship deepens we will grow to love God for himself alone and grow to depend less on his benefits to love him.
The only way to grow to this point in a relationship is for it to be tested through difficulty and suffering.
Suffering provides us with an opportunity to notice our mercenary nature of our love for God and move beyond it to a deeper, truer love.
Job was not fully the servant he should be, and could be, and God was going to enable him to attain that kind of greatness the only way it can be attained—through adversity and pain.
Job would become more fully someone who serves God for nothing and loves God for himself alone.
God and Evil
The book of Job teaches a very asymmetrical relationship of God to evil.
In other words, the world is not dualistic, with two equal and opposing forces of good and evil vying for supremacy.
The Bible shows us that God is sovereign and is completely in charge.
He has total control over Satan, and Satan can only go as far as God allows.
At the same time, God is not viewed as being the one directly bringing the affliction on Job.
All things are within his sovereignty, but God does not will the evil in the same way that he wills the good.
The Speeches of Job and His Friends
The speeches of Job’s “friends” wound him deeply, because they are accusatory, and they give pat answers to difficult and mysterious afflictions.
They assume in a moralistic way that Job’s sufferings are directly related to his sinful actions.
The solution is to repent and confess his sins to God, and God will restore him.
The counsel of Job’s friends has elements of truth, but they are too disjointed and too simplistic to be helpful.
Job’s friends approach the world through a mechanical/formulaic lens.
They have no room for mystery, and they in essence put God on a leash and can’t imagine him acting in a way that is outside their moralistic formula.
Job’s sufferings are not punishment for his sin, nor are they a corrective to bring him back from a foolish path.
Job’s sufferings are intended to give him an “enlarged life with God.”
Job rejects the counsel of his friends. He knows that their domesticated view of God is wrong.
He also knows that God is just and he cannot curse God or reject him.
Job takes the harder path of mystery, and this leads him to the real lesson that God intended for him.
If Job had accepted the rationale of his friends, he would have missed the real purpose and benefit of what he was going through.
The Lord Appears and Job Lives
The book ends with several surprises.
The first is that God shows up, and yet he does not destroy Job. Job lives.
God does come in a “storm” with strong, challenging language. But this is actually a form of God’s grace to him.
God “answers” him, which suggests a personal conversation between Job and God.
God did not come to judge or denounce, but to invite Job into a deeper relationship.
The Lord Does Not Answer—and Yet He Does
One of the surprises of the book of Job is that God does not answer Job’s demand for explanation.
Job expected an explanation from God, and his friends expected God to condemn Job.
Neither get what they were expecting.
God does answer, but not in the way that any of them were expecting.
God offers Job no explanation for the things that have happened to him.
If he had, Job would have missed the purpose of the suffering, which was to bring Job into a deeper relationship with God where he would learn to trust and love God without the benefits and without all the answers.
To withhold the full story from Job, even after the test was over, keeps him walking by faith, not by sight.
He never sees how it all fits together. He sees God instead, which is far greater.
The Lord Is God and You Are Not
God’s reply to Job reminds us of his absolute power, wisdom, and sovereignty. He is God, and we are not.
God’s knowledge and power are infinitely beyond ours.
A seven-year-old cannot question the mathematical calculations of a world-class physicist. Yet we think that we can question how God runs the world!
The way of wisdom is to acknowledge that God alone is God and knows best.
In our complaints over our circumstances, there is the implication that we could propose to God better ways of running the universe than those God currently uses.
Job Is in the Right and You are Wrong
Surprisingly, in the end, God rebukes Job’s friends, not Job.
They assumed Job was in the wrong, because of all his suffering that he supposedly “deserved.” But God rebukes them and tells them to ask Job to pray for them.
God’s vindication of Job as an innocent sufferer speaks of God’s grace and forgiveness.
It also reminds us that God is always near his people, and we should continually seek him in the midst of our suffering.
“My Servant Job”—Again
God graciously allows Job the last word!
Job humbles himself before God and worships him.
He retracts his earlier statements, and acknowledges that God is sovereign and wise.
He speaks of now having “seen” God. The suffering has brought him into a deeper experience of the presence of God.
The Other Innocent Sufferer
Job, the righteous, blameless man, is a type of one greater to come.
Jesus was the ultimate righteous sufferer.
The one who knew no sin was made sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him.
Through suffering, Job became a companion of God.
When we suffer without relief, when we feel absolutely alone, we can know that, because Christ bore our pain, he will be with us.
In suffering, we are walking the same path Jesus walked. So, we are not alone. In fact, we are on a path that leads us closer to him.
Sunday Feb 05, 2017
“Prophetic Blessings: Jacob’s Sons”
Sunday Feb 05, 2017
Sunday Feb 05, 2017
“Prophetic Blessings: Jacob’s Sons” (Genesis 49:1–28)
Pastor Cameron Jungels
Eastside Baptist Church
Sunday PM, February 5, 2017
Genesis 49:1–28 (NIV)
49 Then Jacob called for his sons and said: “Gather around so I can tell you what will happen to you in days to come.
2 “Assemble and listen, sons of Jacob;
listen to your father Israel.
3 “Reuben, you are my firstborn,
my might, the first sign of my strength,
excelling in honor, excelling in power.
4 Turbulent as the waters, you will no longer excel,
for you went up onto your father’s bed,
onto my couch and defiled it.
5 “Simeon and Levi are brothers—
their swords are weapons of violence.
6 Let me not enter their council,
let me not join their assembly,
for they have killed men in their anger
and hamstrung oxen as they pleased.
7 Cursed be their anger, so fierce,
and their fury, so cruel!
I will scatter them in Jacob
and disperse them in Israel.
8 “Judah, your brothers will praise you;
your hand will be on the neck of your enemies;
your father’s sons will bow down to you.
9 You are a lion’s cub, Judah;
you return from the prey, my son.
Like a lion he crouches and lies down,
like a lioness—who dares to rouse him?
10 The scepter will not depart from Judah,
nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,
until he to whom it belongs shall come
and the obedience of the nations shall be his.
11 He will tether his donkey to a vine,
his colt to the choicest branch;
he will wash his garments in wine,
his robes in the blood of grapes.
12 His eyes will be darker than wine,
his teeth whiter than milk.
13 “Zebulun will live by the seashore
and become a haven for ships;
his border will extend toward Sidon.
14 “Issachar is a rawboned donkey
lying down among the sheep pens.
15 When he sees how good is his resting place
and how pleasant is his land,
he will bend his shoulder to the burden
and submit to forced labor.
16 “Dan will provide justice for his people
as one of the tribes of Israel.
17 Dan will be a snake by the roadside,
a viper along the path,
that bites the horse’s heels
so that its rider tumbles backward.
18 “I look for your deliverance, Lord.
19 “Gad will be attacked by a band of raiders,
but he will attack them at their heels.
20 “Asher’s food will be rich;
he will provide delicacies fit for a king.
21 “Naphtali is a doe set free
that bears beautiful fawns.
22 “Joseph is a fruitful vine,
a fruitful vine near a spring,
whose branches climb over a wall.
23 With bitterness archers attacked him;
they shot at him with hostility.
24 But his bow remained steady,
his strong arms stayed limber,
because of the hand of the Mighty One of Jacob,
because of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,
25 because of your father’s God, who helps you,
because of the Almighty, who blesses you
with blessings of the skies above,
blessings of the deep springs below,
blessings of the breast and womb.
26 Your father’s blessings are greater
than the blessings of the ancient mountains,
than the bounty of the age-old hills.
Let all these rest on the head of Joseph,
on the brow of the prince among his brothers.
27 “Benjamin is a ravenous wolf;
in the morning he devours the prey,
in the evening he divides the plunder.”
28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them when he blessed them, giving each the blessing appropriate to him.
Reuben – the rebellious, immoral son
Simeon and Levi – the angry, vengeful, violent sons
Judah – the leader among his brothers and the tribe of Israel’s King
The Other Sons: God determines the destinies of his covenant people:
Zebulun – trading with sea merchants for valuable goods
Issachar – working hard in a good and fertile land
Dan – seeking justice, but sometimes violence
Gad – attacked, yet victorious
Asher – prospering through farming and trade
Naphtali – flourishing in the fertile region of Galilee
Joseph – the one who overcame his enemies by the strength of his God, now blessed and the recipient of the firstborn blessing (1 Chronicles 5:1–2).
Benjamin – the skillful, aggressive soldier
Lessons/Applications:
Be sure your sin will find you out (Reuben, Simeon, Levi). Our sins often have consequences. Sometimes those earthly consequences still follow us, even if we have been forgiven by God’s mercy and pardon.
God’s grace can transform anyone’s shame into honor (Judah).
Not all avenues of service are notable and spectacular (lesser known tribes).
God rewards the faithful for their loyal service. Those who show themselves faithful he blesses more abundantly.
God blesses whom he wants to bless. He is the sovereign Lord. We deserve nothing from God. Any gifts that he gives are grace.
God is the Lord of redemptive history, who used all these tribes, but especially the tribe of Judah, to bring our redeemer, Jesus Christ into the world.
Sunday Feb 05, 2017
“The Righteousness of God”
Sunday Feb 05, 2017
Sunday Feb 05, 2017
“The Righteousness of God” (Romans 1:17)
Pastor Cameron Jungels
Eastside Baptist Church
Sunday AM, February 5, 2017
Romans 1:16-17, NIV
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed-- a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."
The gospel is (v. 16):
A story that is worthy of unashamed proclamation
A story that unleashes the power of God on humanity.
A story that saves everyone who believes.
A story that is good news for the whole world.
Verse 17 further describes the power of the gospel:
The gospel reveals the righteousness of God.
The righteousness of God is his powerful saving activity among humanity that graciously gives a righteous status to those who cannot earn their own righteousness.
This graciously imparted righteous status from God is received by sinners by faith alone.
Main Idea: The gospel reveals the righteousness of God, which is his powerful saving activity among humanity that graciously grants the status of righteousness on the basis of faith and faith alone to everyone who believes.
Wednesday Feb 01, 2017
"Chapter 13: Trusting"
Wednesday Feb 01, 2017
Wednesday Feb 01, 2017
Walking with God through Pain & Suffering
by Timothy Keller
Chapter 13: Trusting
Expressing our sorrow in lament is not in conflict with an abiding trust in the goodness and sovereignty of God.
Language of lament and language of trust are found throughout the Bible in the face of life’s suffering.
Both sets of texts are in the Bible, and they are both important.
We should not interpret one group in such a way that it contradicts or weakens the claims and assertions of the other.
Joseph’s Story
The story of Joseph begins with a long string of terrible events that happened to him.
Joseph probably asked God to deliver him on many occasions—but there was just silence.
Joseph prayed for years and years for help from God—and never received a single answer.
It was not until all of the events unfolded that Joseph could look back and understand God’s purposes.
The Hidden God
Was God not there in all those years of difficulty and hardship in Joseph’s life?
No, he was there, and he was working.
He was hidden behind the scenes, but he was also in complete control.
The number of “coincidences” that had to come together for the events to unfold as they did is astounding, and a number of those events were difficult and painful.
But what would have happened if Joseph had never gone to Egypt?
If Joseph had not gone to Egypt:
Many people would have died from starvation.
His own family would have been wiped out.
Spiritually, his family would have been a disaster.
Joseph corrupted by pride and his father’s favoritism
The brothers corrupted by anger
Jacob corrupted by his addictive, idolatrous love of his youngest sons
The Joseph story shows us that even when people make choices of their own accord, even evil choices, that God is still sovereign and in complete control.
God was working out his purposes throughout all of the events—even in the smallest details of the daily lives and schedules and choices of everyone.
God “works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will” “for the good of those who love him” (Eph. 1:11; Rom. 8:28).
How did all the events of the Joseph story unfold?
They came about through suffering:
The terrible years of crushing slavery for Joseph
The terrible years of debilitating guilt for the brothers
The terrible years of grief and depression for Jacob
All of this was God’s plan to save lives.
After the pain, comes a “harvest of righteousness and peace” (Heb. 12:11).
Trusting the Hidden God
It is perhaps most striking of all to realize that if God had given Joseph the things he was likely asking for in prayer, it would have been terrible for him.
God was hearing and responding to Joseph’s prayers for deliverance, rescue, and salvation, but not in the ways or forms or times Joseph asked for it.
During all the time in which God seemed hidden, Joseph still trusted.
We do not always get to see how everything fit together in God’s plan like Joseph did, but we must trust God regardless.
At Dothan, Joseph prayed for deliverance and the answer was 20 years in the making. Also at Dothan, Elisha prayed for deliverance (2 Kings 6), and the answer came immediately.
God was just as present and active in the slow answer to Joseph as he was in the swift answer to Elisha.
Very often God does not give us exactly what we ask for. Instead he gives us what we would have asked for if we had known everything he knows.
We must never assume that we know enough to mistrust God’s ways or be bitter against what he has allowed.
We must also never think we have really ruined our lives, or have ruined God’s purposes for us.
You cannot destroy God’s good purposes for us, and you can’t break God’s love.
Everything Hangs Together
Everything that happens is part of God’s plan, even the little things and the bad things.
Nothing happens by accident.
Very seldom do we glimpse even a millionth of the ways that God is working all things together for good for those who love God, but you can be assured he will not abandon you.
“Everything is needful that he sends; nothing can be needful that he withholds” – John Newton
The Ultimate Joseph
Joseph was a forerunner of Jesus.
Like Joseph, the Lord Jesus
Sold for silver coins
Denied and betrayed by his brethren
Unjustly put into chains and sentenced to death
Prayed for deliverance from God
Accepted the suffering as God’s will
Forgives his tormentors
Knew God intended good from evil
Promoted to power and intercedes for us
Looking at the cross, not knowing the whole story, we would have said: “I don’t see how God could bring any good out of this.”
But what we would have been looking at is the greatest, most brilliant thing God could ever do for the human race.
On the cross, both justice and love are being satisfied—evil, sin, and death are being defeated.
Don’t turn from God when we can’t fit events into our limited understanding.
We must trust God, even in the darkest times, because God is sovereign and good.
Even though we cannot know all the particular reasons for our crosses, we can look at the cross and know God is working things out for our good.
God accomplishes his salvation through weakness, not strength. Jesus triumphs over death by dying, winning by losing.
The grace of God grows more through our difficulties than our triumphs.