How is it that some people can read a passage, and it be guilt and condemnation and tragedy… and someone else can read the same passage, and it be life, and love, and hope and grace?
Read moreJesus is our Advocate
“I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”
Read moreif these were silent
If we won't proclaim the gospel, then the stones will.
Read more#3 Seeing Our Neighbor
series: Neighbor(ing)
title: Seeing Our Neighbor
teacher: Jacob Bender
date: March 5, 2017
scriptures: John 8:3-11, Genesis 2:9, Genesis 3:4-5, Genesis 3:17, Genesis 3:22-33, Psalm 106:23, Ezekiel 22:30, Revelation 22:1-4
#1 Yom Kippur
series: Jonah
title: Yom Kippur
teacher: Jacob Bender
date: October 16, 2016
scriptures: Jonah (entire book), Leviticus 16, Leviticus 16:22, Hebrews 10:8-14
This last week, those who practice Jewish culture celebrated Yom Kippur. This year it was Tuesday, October 11th at sundown, and ended Wednesday October 12th at the same time. And there is a Jewish tradition… that in their afternoon services on Yom Kippur every year, they read, in its entirety, the book on Jonah. And its a tradition that dates back thousands of years… where families would all gather around together on Yom Kippur, and they would read it together.
Which for someone who is not Jewish, the first question that I have, is why?
Because to most people, the book of Jonah is the story of a guy who got eaten by a whale. Who was in his belly for three days, and then he got spit out. Thats the gist of what most of us know about the book.
So, today we are going to start our series on the book of Jonah, exploring some of those questions…
questions like: Why is this book so significant?
Why is it considered to be one of the books known as “the prophets” when Jonah doesn't give a single prophecy the entire time… Why do the Jews, on their holiest day of the year, take the time to sit down and read the book in its entirety?
#18 Two Trees
series: Red Letter City
title: Two Trees
date: August 14, 2016
teacher: Jacob Bender
scriptures: Matthew 7:15-23, Jeremiah 17:5-8, Jeremiah 22:16, Matthew 23:13, Joh 14:6
#2 Death of Hope
title: Death of Hope
series: Lets talk about Hope
teacher: Jacob Bender
date: March 20, 2016
scriptures: 2 Corinthians 5:16-21, Ephesians 2:10, Isaiah 53, 1 John 4:10, Leviticus 16:10, Leviticus 16:22, Hebrews 12:2, Matthew 28:18
BABY DEDICATION:
#3 Women of the Narrative
series: the narrative of grace
title: women of the narrative
teacher: Jacob Bender
date: November 29, 2015
scripture: Matthew 1:3, Hebrews 11:31, James 1:27, Hosea 4:14, Romans 12:19, Genesis 38,
A lot of people talk about Justice. It is something that is very close to the heart of God, but I think that a lot of people talk about it, without even knowing what it is that they are talking about.
I have, in recent months answered questions about what I believe the church should be, and what I believe is important, by talking about Justice. And often when I start talking about that, people get a bit uncomfortable. They are not quite sure how to respond to me, because they don’t understand what I am talking about. They think I mean vengeance.
It is very easy to confuse the two. Vengeance, in Hebrew is the word “naqam” which essentially just means vengeance, – Holmans Bible Dictionary tells it slightly differently when it defines it as “to avenge” or “to be punished”
The idea is to get back at someone… to make them hurt more than you hurt because what they did to you hurt.
It is an anti-gospel that many of us at times have adopted when we allow our emotions or our politics to shape our convictions rather than the truth found in the word of God.
But if you were to ask me, “What is important to you?” and I were to answer “Vengeance” – run. Any pastor who would say that, get as far away from them as you can.
Vengeance is a poison.
The bible says we must never, ever take vengeance. It says vengeance is the Lords (Romans 12:19) but it says that we must seek and defend Justice. Isaiah 1:17 says “Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.”
The word Justice in Hebrew is the word tsadaq
it literally means “to have a just cause, OR to be in the right, or WHAT IS RIGHT…”
Justice is the right thing to do.
Thats the definition. The right thing to do.
Now,
My entire life growing up was always about abstaining. What am I not doing? Am I pure? Do I lust? Do I sin? and there is absolutely no justifying sin, there is no justifying what Tamar did, or what Rahab did, or what David and the wife of Uriah did… There is no justifying sex in any context outside of a marriage, there is no justifying doing any of those things, but I have found, for me, in all my efforts to not do things, I didn’t do much of anything for other people, at all.
In my little “mission” of staying away from the sinful things I got so caught up in that, that I didn’t notice people who were hurting.
I always noticed people when they were sinning.
I was really good at that. I always knew when people were doing what they weren’t supposed to be doing.
But I didn’t notice the stranger.
I didn’t think about the stranger. I thought about my friends. I didn’t entertain angels. I entertained my friends! I entertained people who knew me and had something to offer me, and who made me feel comfortable.
and though those things are all great, if your life is limited to only that, then that is not the right thing.
You know, the bible is full of stories of people who did the wrong thing. Paul talked about it constantly. He said he always did what he didn’t want to do…
King David and the wife of Uriah, they did the wrong thing. And an affair lead to a cover-up, and then lead to murder. But even King David’s mess of a life culminated at grace. It culminated at God looking at him and saying “That is a man after my own heart…. a man who does ALL that I say”
Every instance of people doing the wrong thing all throughout the bible is met with grace.
Because the entire gospel of Jesus Christ is that:
We are people who do the wrong thing.
Yet the bible speaks over and over of a God who is extremely gracious to people who do the wrong thing.
But it seems that He is far less gracious toward the people who do NOT do the right thing (JUSTICE).
The people who ignore justice, when it is right in front of them. The harshest judgments are set aside for them. James 4:17 puts it mildly when it says that “for him who knows what he ought to do, to not do it is a sin.” And Matthew 25 speaks of the harshest judgments going to the ones who ignore injustice.
Yet we focus on the sin part.
#3 idols and adultery
series: Realities
title: idols & adultery
teacher: Jacob Bender
date: September 27, 2015
scriptures: Exodus 20, Judges 2:1-5, Psalm 37:4, Judges 2:11-13, Jeremiah 5:7, Jeremiah 3:8, Exodus 32, Exodus 34, John 8:1-11, Isaiah 45:2, 2 Corinthians 5:17
Exodus 34:14 says this: “(For you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God),”
Now, when the Ten Commandments were given the first time, the second command said this same thing… I am a jealous God. But the second time it is given, it actually says “the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.”
That seemed like grounds for digging a little deeper.
The word Jealous, is a peculiar name for God. It is the Hebrew word qanna’ (can-ah), it is a word that only speaks of God and is not used in human terms, and it means that “God doesn’t bear any rivals” another translation puts the verse this way: “For you must worship no other gods, but only Jehovah, for he is a God who claims absolute loyalty and exclusive devotion.” (The Living Bible)
Its like in a marriage. If my wife says, “Hey, I am going out with Steve today.” Heck no, you aren’t going out with Steve today. Who is Steve? It doesn’t even matter. You aren’t going to be spending time with other dudes. She could say to me, “we are just friends, and you hate going shopping and Steve is cool with it.”
Now, She would never do that, but that would be the automatic response from me if it ever came up. I wouldn’t even need a moment to think about it. The answer is no. I am jealous for her… but it is not because of this Steve guy, or anybody else. It is all because of Dawn.
I am jealous for her, no matter what she is doing. Because I do not bear competitions. I do not bear rivals. I already won this one, and nobody else even has a chance.
It is obvious that most people would never deal with a marriage to a spouse who was constantly unfaithful, yet that is exactly what God continuously went through over and over and over again with the Hebrew people.
The word adultery, in Hebrew as it is used in Exodus 20:14 is the word na’aph (nah apth) and it means “to break wedlock.” or the obvious translation is what it is translated as, simply, “to commit adultery.”
But what is fascinating is that it is the same Hebrew word used in Jeremiah 3:8 and Jeremiah 5:7 when it says that Israel “committed adultery” against God by their idol worship.
And I also thought that this was interesting:
Most people (who have put any thought into it) assume that the English word adultery comes from the word adult. Like, “maybe this is a bad thing, but we are adults, so if it is consensual…”
But it actually comes from the Latin word adulterare, which means “to alter, or corrupt.”
This is not an “adult” thing to do, in fact it is incredibly immature. You are altering the design that God created… You are corrupting what was supposed to be. You are corrupting what God created it to be.
Adultery is an incredibly hard top to talk about. Its a hard topic to study, or to even convince yourself that you need to study it, but God put it in the Ten Commandments for a reason… because this hits home, in one way or another, for just about everyone. And God himself is not excluded from that.
Featured
#1 ... you will know them by their fruits
Series: The Fruit of the Spirit
Title: … and you will know them by their fruits
Teacher: Jacob Bender
Date: July 5, 2015
Key Scriptures: Jeremiah 17:5-8, Matthew 7:17-18, Ezekiel 16:49, Jeremiah 22:16, Galatians 5:16-21, John 7:37-39
“And you will know them by their fruits.”
More and more, things in our culture are moving away from God.
But it seems to me that more often than not, when I see the way that Christians respond to the changes taking place in society, they put more effort into condemning other peoples actions than they do producing fruit of their own. And that is what this whole series is about. “What should my life look like, in this world?” What should the fruit of a person be like, knowing that their kingdom is not of this world?
Christians need to stop expecting non-Christians to act like Christians, and use that effort to produce fruit that leads none Christians to become Christians. And those things are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self control.
#1 The Sinful Heart
DATE May 17, 2015
TEACHER: Jacob Bender
SERIES: Intentions
TITLE: The Sinful Heart
SCRIPTURES: Proverbs 20:6, Matthew 6, Romans 2:16, Psalm 103, 2 Corinthians 5, Matthew 5:27-30, Matthew 5:17, Luke 13:10-17, Philippians 4:8, James 1:14-15, Matthew 5:21-22, Ephesians 4:26-27, Hebrews 12:15, Isaiah 53:5, Hebrews 12:2, Isaiah 42:3, 1 John 1:9, James 5:16,
The Hebrew word picture for the word iniquity is: an eye. a hook. and fish multiplying.
Its the word Avon. A-V-N.
And what it means is “whatever your eye hooks to, multiples.”
Most people believe that when Jesus came to earth, he made things easier for us. He came and died for us and saved us by grace, and now we don’t have to worry about the letter of law or anything like that. He came that we may be free. and he did.
But a closer examination of the sermon on the mount will reveal to you that in a lot of ways he actually made it harder, before making it easier. He made it easier because he took the weight for us… because he knows that there is no way to live up to the law… but he did not come to abolish the law, but to sustain by properly interpreting the law (Matt. 5:17)
And then he goes on to start saying things like, “you have heard it be said not to murder… BUT I SAY…” and suddenly he takes it further beyond the letter of the law and addresses the Spirit of the law… what is going on in your heart?
Matt: 5:21-2 – you have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not murder… but I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment…
Matt: 5:27-28 – You have heard it said, “you shall not commit adultery… but I SAY that everyone who even looks at a woman with lustful INTENT has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
The key word is intent. What is going on inside your heart? Do you have secrets? Do you have a part of your life that you don’t want anybody else to see? Jesus understood that transgression (outward actions) ALWAYS begins with iniquity (inward motivations)
And with this thought, we are embarking on our intentions series. Looking deep into the depths of our hearts, to work out the things that we know are in there… the things that we don’t even realize are in there… the things that we know are in there but don’t want anybody else to know are in there, and even the things that we know are not in there but want other people to think are in there.
I want to invite you to join us over these fives weeks that we really begin to work out ourselves, before we look at what is next for our church.
Because “you have to have intent, before you can have content.” (Ravi Zacharius)
