Learning to Listen to God

Posted by Brad on February 5, 2004 under Articles

This past weekend, we spent three days with our teens and families teaching them how to listen to God in various ways. Hopefully, we gave them some tools that will help them develop and improve their daily Christian disciplines like quiet time, prayer, reading Scripture, writing down what they hear, etc.

Sometimes, our daily disciplines, that are designed to help us grow in our relationship with Jesus Christ, take effort and commitment. Other times, our study and prayers seem to flow without much effort at all.

This past week, a friend sent me an article that recently appeared in an Arkansas newspaper. The article mentioned various brothers/congregations in our fellowship and the differences they hold about various issues the church is facing today. Some of the brothers were very aggressive and condemning with the words they used to describe the actions of the brothers with whom they disagreed.

Later that very day, during my personal quiet time and reflection on God’s word, I “accidentally” came across the following passage. Sometimes we need to simply stop our teaching and preaching and let God do the talking. Here is what I found recorded in His word in the book of James:

“Don’t speak evil against each other, my dear brothers and sisters. If you criticize each other and condemn each other, then you are criticizing and condemning God’s law. But you are not a judge who can decide whether the law is right or wrong. Your job is to obey it. God alone, who made the law, can rightly judge among us. He alone has the power to save or to destroy. So what right do you have to condemn your neighbor?”

It was so obvious and so clear: God has a job to do and so do we. God’s job involves many things that He never intended for us to worry about. It is God’s job to create the law, to judge people by that law, to save and to destroy. Our job is simple: obey Him.

May we learn to listen to God. May we be slow to speak and quick to listen. May we be slow to speak out against those who differ from us and quick to listen to God’s Word, Voice and Spirit. May we learn to focus on doing what He wants us to do instead of trying to do His job for Him. Remember, He is ALMIGHTY GOD and He is very capable of being God without our help.

My prayer for each of you this week is that you will spend some time alone with God every day listening to what He wants to say to you. (I Corinthians 2:10-16.)

The Difference Between Worshipping God and Worshipping Idols

Posted by David on February 1, 2004 under Sermons

This evening as we consider worship as a concept, I want to do something different. Much of this lesson is reading. There will be two sections devoted to readings. I very much want you to read with me. At the end of each section, I briefly will call your attention to some things we read.

The first section of readings will come from the Old Testament. The second section will come from the New Testament.

1. Please read with me from the Old Testament.
   • Exodus 10:1,2 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may perform these signs of Mine among them, and that you may tell in the hearing of your son, and of your grandson, how I made a mockery of the Egyptians and how I performed My signs among them, that you may know that I am the Lord.”
   • Exodus 12:21-27 Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and take for yourselves lambs according to your families, and slay the Passover lamb. You shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood which is in the basin, and apply some of the blood that is in the basin to the lintel and the two doorposts; and none of you shall go outside the door of his house until morning. For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to come in to your houses to smite you. And you shall observe this event as an ordinance for you and your children forever. When you enter the land which the Lord will give you, as He has promised, you shall observe this rite. And when your children say to you, ‘What does this rite mean to you?’ you shall say, ‘It is a Passover sacrifice to the Lord who passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when He smote the Egyptians, but spared our homes.’ ” And the people bowed low and worshiped.
   • Exodus 13:3-10 Moses said to the people, “Remember this day in which you went out from Egypt, from the house of slavery; for by a powerful hand the Lord brought you out from this place. And nothing leavened shall be eaten. On this day in the month of Abib, you are about to go forth. It shall be when the Lord brings you to the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, which He swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, that you shall observe this rite in this month. For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the Lord. Unleavened bread shall be eaten throughout the seven days; and nothing leavened shall be seen among you, nor shall any leaven be seen among you in all your borders. You shall tell your son on that day, saying, ‘It is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’ And it shall serve as a sign to you on your hand, and as a reminder on your forehead, that the law of the Lord may be in your mouth; for with a powerful hand the Lord brought you out of Egypt. Therefore, you shall keep this ordinance at its appointed time from year to year.
   • Exodus 32:11-13 Then Moses entreated the Lord his God, and said, “O Lord, why does Your anger burn against Your people whom You have brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians speak, saying, ‘With evil intent He brought them out to kill them in the mountains and to destroy them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your burning anger and change Your mind about doing harm to Your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants to whom You swore by Yourself, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heavens, and all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.'”
   • Leviticus 11:45 For I am the Lord who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God; thus you shall be holy, for I am holy.'”
   • Leviticus 22:26-33 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, When an ox or a sheep or a goat is born, it shall remain seven days with its mother, and from the eighth day on it shall be accepted as a sacrifice of an offering by fire to the Lord. But, whether it is an ox or a sheep, you shall not kill both it and its young in one day. When you sacrifice a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the Lord, you shall sacrifice it so that you may be accepted. It shall be eaten on the same day, you shall leave none of it until morning; I am the Lord. So you shall keep My commandments, and do them; I am the Lord. You shall not profane My holy name, but I will be sanctified among the sons of Israel; I am the Lord who sanctifies you, who brought you out from the land of Egypt, to be your God; I am the Lord.”
   • Leviticus 23:39-44 On exactly the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the crops of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of the Lord for seven days, with a rest on the first day and a rest on the eighth day. Now on the first day you shall take for yourselves the foliage of beautiful trees, palm branches and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. You shall thus celebrate it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it in the seventh month. You shall live in booths for seven days; all the native-born in Israel shall live in booths, so that your generations may know that I had the sons of Israel live in booths when I brought them out from the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.’ ” So Moses declared to the sons of Israel the appointed times of the Lord.
   • Leviticus 25:35-38 Now in case a countryman of yours becomes poor and his means with regard to you falter, then you are to sustain him, like a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with you. Do not take usurious interest from him, but revere your God, that your countryman may live with you. You shall not give him your silver at interest, nor your food for gain. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.
   • Numbers 3:13 For all the firstborn are Mine; on the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I sanctified to Myself all the firstborn in Israel, from man to beast. They shall be Mine; I am the Lord.”
   • Numbers 15:38-41 Speak to the sons of Israel, and tell them that they shall make for themselves tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and that they shall put on the tassel of each corner a cord of blue. It shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the Lord, so as to do them and not follow after your own heart and your own eyes, after which you played the harlot, so that you may remember to do all My commandments and be holy to your God. I am the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt to be your God; I am the Lord your God.”
   • Deuteronomy 5:12-21 Observe the sabbath day to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant or your ox or your donkey or any of your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you, so that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to observe the sabbath day. Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, that your days may be prolonged and that it may go well with you on the land which the Lord your God gives you. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, and you shall not desire your neighbor’s house, his field or his male servant or his female servant, his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.’
   • Deuteronomy 6:20-25 When your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What do the testimonies and the statutes and the judgments mean which the Lord our God commanded you?’ then you shall say to your son, ‘We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Lord brought us from Egypt with a mighty hand. Moreover, the Lord showed great and distressing signs and wonders before our eyes against Egypt, Pharaoh and all his household; He brought us out from there in order to bring us in, to give us the land which He had sworn to our fathers.’ So the Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God for our good always and for our survival, as it is today. It will be righteousness for us if we are careful to observe all this commandment before the Lord our God, just as He commanded us.
   • Deuteronomy 7:6-11 For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but because the Lord loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the Lord brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments; but repays those who hate Him to their faces, to destroy them; He will not delay with him who hates Him, He will repay him to his face. Therefore, you shall keep the commandment and the statutes and the judgments which I am commanding you today, to do them.
   • Deuteronomy 7:17-19 If you should say in your heart, ‘These nations are greater than I; how can I dispossess them?’ you shall not be afraid of them; you shall well remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt: the great trials which your eyes saw and the signs and the wonders and the mighty hand and the outstretched arm by which the Lord your God brought you out. So shall the Lord your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid.
   • Deuteronomy 11:1-5 “You shall therefore love the Lord your God, and always keep His charge, His statutes, His ordinances, and His commandments. Know this day that I am not speaking with your sons who have not known and who have not seen the discipline of the Lord your God–His greatness, His mighty hand and His outstretched arm, and His signs and His works which He did in the midst of Egypt to Pharaoh the king of Egypt and to all his land; and what He did to Egypt’s army, to its horses and its chariots, when He made the water of the Red Sea to engulf them while they were pursuing you, and the Lord completely destroyed them; and what He did to you in the wilderness until you came to this place.
   • Deuteronomy 26:1-11 “Then it shall be, when you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance, and you possess it and live in it, that you shall take some of the first of all the produce of the ground which you bring in from your land that the Lord your God gives you, and you shall put it in a basket and go to the place where the Lord your God chooses to establish His name. You shall go to the priest who is in office at that time and say to him, ‘I declare this day to the Lord my God that I have entered the land which the Lord swore to our fathers to give us.’ Then the priest shall take the basket from your hand and set it down before the altar of the Lord your God. You shall answer and say before the Lord your God, ‘My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down to Egypt and sojourned there, few in number; but there he became a great, mighty and populous nation. And the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, and imposed hard labor on us. Then we cried to the Lord, the God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction and our toil and our oppression; and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with great terror and with signs and wonders; and He has brought us to this place and has given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. Now behold, I have brought the first of the produce of the ground which You, O Lord have given me.’ And you shall set it down before the Lord your God, and worship before the Lord your God; and you and the Levite and the alien who is among you shall rejoice in all the good which the Lord your God has given you and your household.
   • Judges 2:11,12 Then the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals, and they forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed themselves down to them; thus they provoked the Lord to anger.
   • 1 Samuel 10:17-19 Thereafter Samuel called the people together to the Lord at Mizpah; and he said to the sons of Israel, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I brought Israel up from Egypt, and I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the power of all the kingdoms that were oppressing you.’ But you have today rejected your God, who delivers you from all your calamities and your distresses; yet you have said, ‘No, but set a king over us!’ Now therefore, present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and by your clans.”
   • 2 Samuel 7:5-7 Go and say to My servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Are you the one who should build Me a house to dwell in? For I have not dwelt in a house since the day I brought up the sons of Israel from Egypt, even to this day; but I have been moving about in a tent, even in a tabernacle. Wherever I have gone with all the sons of Israel, did I speak a word with one of the tribes of Israel, which I commanded to shepherd My people Israel, saying, ‘Why have you not built Me a house of cedar?'”‘
   • Nehemiah 9:9-11 “You saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, And heard their cry by the Red Sea. “Then You performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh, Against all his servants and all the people of his land; For You knew that they acted arrogantly toward them, And made a name for Yourself as it is this day. “You divided the sea before them, So they passed through the midst of the sea on dry ground; And their pursuers You hurled into the depths, Like a stone into raging waters.
   • Jeremiah 7:21-26 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat flesh. For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you will be My people; and you will walk in all the way which I command you, that it may be well with you.’ Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward and not forward. Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have sent you all My servants the prophets, daily rising early and sending them. Yet they did not listen to Me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck; they did more evil than their fathers.
   • Jeremiah 11:1-5 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, “Cursed is the man who does not heed the words of this covenant which I commanded your forefathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, ‘Listen to My voice, and do according to all which I command you; so you shall be My people, and I will be your God,’ in order to confirm the oath which I swore to your forefathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day.” ‘ ” Then I said, “Amen, O Lord.”
   • Hosea 11:1-4 When Israel was a youth I loved him, And out of Egypt I called My son. The more they called them, The more they went from them; They kept sacrificing to the Baals And burning incense to idols. Yet it is I who taught Ephraim to walk, took them in My arms; But they did not know that I healed them. I led them with cords of a man, with bonds of love, And I became to them as one who lifts the yoke from their jaws; And I bent down and fed them.
   • Amos 3:1 Hear this word the Lord has spoken against you, O people of Israel–against the whole family I brought up out of Egypt.
   • Micah 6:1-4 Listen to what the Lord says: “Stand up, plead your case before the mountains; let the hills hear what you have to say. Hear, O mountains, the LORD’s accusation; listen, you everlasting foundations of the earth. For the LORD has a case against his people; he is lodging a charge against Israel. “My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you? Answer me. I brought you up out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery. I sent Moses to lead you, also Aaron and Miriam.
     1. After all those readings, I want you to ask one question: “Why?”
        1. Why keep the Passover?
        2. Why not destroy Israel when they made the golden calf?
        3. Why obey God in the laws about what you eat?
        4. Why offer sacrifices to God?
        5. Why live in booths on a special festival day?
        6. Why treat the poor as God instructed?
        7. Why give the firstborn males to God?
        8. Why strictly observe the Sabbath?
        9. Why keep the ten commandments?
        10. Why obey God?
        11. Why be God’s people?
        12. Why did God let Israel live in Canaan?
        13. Why give the first produce to ripen in the springs harvest to God?
        14. Why did God become so angry when we worshipped idols?
        15. Why was God so offended when we wanted a king?
     2. There was one foundation answer: God acted in our history to rescue us from Egypt, and this is our response to the God Who has already acted to rescue us.

   II.Now read with me a few passages from the New Testament.

   • 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And the cleverness of the clever I will set aside.” Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
   • 1 Corinthians 2:1,2 And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.
   • 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.
   • Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
   • Acts 17:16-18 Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was being provoked within him as he was observing the city full of idols. So he was reasoning in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles, and in the market place every day with those who happened to be present. And also some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers were conversing with him. Some were saying, “What would this idle babbler wish to say?” Others, “He seems to be a proclaimer of strange deities,”–because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection.
   • 1 Peter 1:3-5 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
     1. May I ask the same question: “Why do we worship God, serve God, let God direct our entire lives?”
     2. For one foundation reason: God acted in history in Jesus’ death and resurrection to rescue us from the slavery of sin (evil), and this is our response to God who already acted to our benefit.

I ask you to see one point, the single truth that has always served as the foundation of worship among God’s people. God acted in human history before He called us to Him. Worship and service are our response to the God who acted to bless us before we did anything to honor Him.

Redemption and Ransom

Posted by Chris on under Sermons

Songs
#162 – “All Hail The Power of Jesus Name”
#250 – “The Great Redeemer”

Our Response

Song
#147 – “I Stand Amazed”

Songs
#781 – “Thank You, Lord!”
#718 – “We Shall Assemble”

THE RANSOM DEMAND by Chris Benjamin Baghdad, Iraq – April 9, 2003 – The cost of the rope –$18 The cost of the M88 Hercules tank –$2 million The benefits of Freedom in Iraq –priceless The toppling of Hussein’s statue in Baghdad represented freedom from decades of tyranny for Iraq. Even thought conflicts remain, all must agree that Iraq has been freed from oppression and now they have hope and a chance for a new kind of life. That is remarkably true in the case of Jawad Amir … 20 years ago, Jawad Amir supported a religious leader who opposed Saddam Hussein. Hussein responded by placing an execution order on Amir. Amir went into hiding – not in another country, but in a space in the wall of his parent’s house. Amir lived in this space for 20 years listening to the news on his radio. When he heard that Hussein’s statue was toppled he finally emerged from hiding. After 20 years hiding for his life, Amir has a new life because of the freedom achieved by others. What he will do now that he has his freedom? Just having freedom isn’t the end of the story, after all. Amir’s story is symbolic of the nation of Iraq – now that they have freedom from the tyrant, how shall they use that freedom? There is real concern that a leadership or government could form even more oppressive than Saddam Hussein. Before he was pulled out of his own hidey-hole, there were those who expressed a desire to return to the rule of Hussein … “We feel like we’ve been let out of prison,” Arsalan Adnan says. “We can talk about anything.” But Waffi Mahmoud Aswan, 42, an accountant “At least with Saddam, there was order in the city.” About 50 men and boys, mostly from the Tikrit area, piled into pickups and drove around, firing guns into the air to celebrate Hussein’s birthday. The men, mostly farmers, carried an array of modern weapons, including heavy machine guns and assault rifles. “Saddam is all we have known,” Ahmed, 21, said between celebratory bursts of his Kalashnikov. “We will not be apart from Saddam for the rest of our lives, I tell you.” Second chances are delicate and profound moments. Why? Because something has been paid to redeem a people from destruction. To waste freedom and redemption is incredibly disappointing and anguishing. We grieve when we see people around the world trade in their freedom for false security or idle pleasures. We are disappointed by those in our country who have opportunities to escape their circumstances but their own foolishness returns them to a life of misery. It is tragic when someone is given a new lease on life through costly surgery or treatment but they die soon after only because they refuse to change their habits. How often do we consider our freedom in Christ as a precious second chance? The ransom of Christ’s blood on the cross has given us more than just an exemption from condemnation – it has set us free to live a life that demands to be lived well! Ransomed by Christ – Galatians 5:1 – "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free." The death of Jesus on the cross is not a payoff to an angry God, nor is it simply payment for a hefty fine. The appearance of the Son of God threatened the powers of darkness and evil. Christ’s suffering and death was not meaningless nor an accident; it was necessary and inevitable given the conflict that exists in our world between good and evil, between the powers that would enslave us and the God who created us to live free. But the resurrection changes everything – death is not victorious in this conflict. Christ is exalted over all the living and the dead. Sin’s statue has been toppled. There is a regime change in the world that brings about new freedom because there is now a new, redeemed, free humanity in Christ. Two Abuses of Christian Freedom We have been set free! But what do we do with our freedom? There are two extremes, two abuses of freedom in Christ: We’ll call these extremes "lawlessness and legalism." And since both of these extremes ignore the relationship between grace and works, freedom and responsibility, or spirituality and behavior we can characterize them as follows: Lawlessness – Trying to Be Spiritual Without Worrying About Behavior Legalism – Worrying About Behavior Without Trying to be Spiritual Lawlessness: Trying to be spiritual without worrying about our behavior. We are free – but that doesn’t deny that there is a call to purity. Purity and holiness are benefits of freedom. If we lose these we abandon our freedom. How can we strive for the joy of Christ if we are chasing after things that fill our lives with more pain? We cannot serve two masters. "Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God." – 1 Peter 2:16 "For you have been called to live in freedom–not freedom to satisfy your sinful nature, but freedom to serve one another in love." – Galatians 5:13 Legalism: worrying about our behavior without trying to be spiritual. The message of grace and freedom is threatening to some. And they, like the Iraqis who would rather have the security of law rather than the responsibility of freedom, will put their faith in a religious system, tradition or church institution. Talking about freedom can be challenging and some get alarmed that there will be abuses. But when we focus on behavior and neglect the spiritual there are other abuses that are just as bad: We may keep all the rules and avoid any sort of conflict or slippery slope, but inwardly we have not changed and we justify rudeness, unkindness, and discord in the name of defending the faith. Jesus taught us that good behavior is not just about what we do – it also involves who we are. "See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ." – Colossians 2:8 [Systems and rules are deceptively secure because we find it easier to control doctrines and rules than to control ourselves.] [If we accept legalism as righteousness, then we throw away the cross and, with it, Christian freedom] It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. 4You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. 5But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. Lawlessness – Trying to be Spiritual without Worrying about Behavior Legalism – Worrying about Behavior without Trying to be Spiritual Liberation – Living Free by Behaving Spiritually A Better Way: [Liberation – Living Free by Behaving Spiritually]. Jesus taught us that righteousness isn’t just what we do – it is who we are. It is not just outward, it is inward. We have been set free – God has done this while we were still sinners. He acted, and we can only respond. But we do have a response – ability. Freedom’s Cost and Freedom’s Response – Ability [The Ransom Demand] The ransom demand is not placed on the one who set us free. The demand of the ransom is placed on you and me. 1 Peter 1: 13-19 Freedom comes at the cost of spilled blood. To have political freedom is an important and priceless reality, but to have spiritual freedom, release from the tyranny of sin, is greater still. For, one can be a free American citizen but remain an enslaved sinner. Only when one lives as a freeborn child of God is one truly free indeed. You’ve been redeemed with the precious blood of Christ – How then shall you live? The invitation is to come to Christ. The invitation is to live out your freedom and share its benefits. Communion to be Our Focus in February Morning Worship Posted by David on under Bulletin Articles On Sunday mornings during the month of February [beginning this Sunday, February 1], the focus of morning assemblies will be on communion. Basically, the following will be each Sunday’s format for the month. With praying and singing together, we will praise God. I will focus our minds on a specific accomplishment God achieved in Jesus’ death and resurrection. We will take communion together as we focus on the sacrifice of Jesus’ body and blood. After remembering the gift which allows us to exist as God’s family, Chris will challenge us to focus on our response to God’s achievement. Each Sunday morning in the month of February, we [as a congregation] will focus on a different achievement God accomplished in Jesus’ death and resurrection. Each Sunday morning we will be challenged to respond to God’s accomplishment in Jesus’ death and resurrection. This Sunday morning we will focus on God’s gift of freedom (redemption). The challenge to worship God as a response to His achievement in giving Jesus’ life for us is an extension of our focus on Sunday evenings. Beginning in January, each Sunday evening we focused on worship as a concept. In January, we noted from scripture in a study of Genesis 4 and Isaiah 1 the first concept: worship must arise from the person’s heart. We also noted the inadequacy of the conviction that we worship because we physically are at a place. Concept two: worship is a declaration of dependence on God. We stressed this fact: it is possible for a person to be surrounded by those who are worshipping while he/she is not worshipping. On Sunday evenings in February, we will stress the difference between worshipping God and worshipping idols, the importance of God’s creative power, and the moods of worship. Most of the Life Groups focus on these same lessons about worship concerns in their Sunday evening meetings. The objective is simple. We want each person to worship God. We deeply appreciate everyone’s presence. In no way would we discourage anyone from attending. Yet, we seek for more to happen than people being present. We want each person’s presence to honor God as he/she glorifies God in his/her mind and heart. Glorify God in your every word and action all week! Join with us in praising God Sunday! May each of us care about the God Who cares so much about us! home top next » 900 N. Waldron Road Fort Smith, AR 72903 (479) 452-1240 Copyright © 2024, West Ark Church of Christ Online since December 2, 1995 Last Updated March 9, 2012 Contact Us Contact Webmaster Dashboard