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Episodes
Sermons preached at the Hinckley Evangelical Free Church (Hinckley, MN)
Episodes
Monday Jul 09, 2018
Monday Jul 09, 2018
Sin, it is a heart issue!
July 8, 2018
“You know the next commandment pretty well, too: ‘Don’t go to bed with another’s spouse.’ But don’t think you’ve preserved your virtue simply by staying out of bed. Your heart can be corrupted by lust even quicker than your body. Those leering looks that you think nobody notices -- they also corrupt. Let’s not pretend that this is easier than it really is. If you want to live a morally pure life, here’s what you have to do: You have to blind your right eye the moment that you catch it in a lustful leer. You have to chose to live one-eyed or else be dumped on a moral trash pile. And you have to chop off your right had the moment you notice it raised threateningly. Better a bloody stump than your entire being discarded for good in the dump.” (Matthew 5:27-30, The Message)
His words have more to do with the h______ than with the a__________.
We want to reduce it all to ‘what we do’ or more correctly, ‘what we don’t do’.. and if we don’t do what we have determined to be w_______... then we are ok.
The whole point here is that none of us, ... and that means not one of us... is without s____.... And the Wages of sin is still the same... Death!
- .... I don’t believe that He was seriously intending that we should m_____________ ourselves because of the fact that we looked at a woman and found that there resided within us, a corrupting element of l_______!
On the contrary, I think that what He is doing here is pointing out the entirely foolish idea that somehow a person could so d____________ oneself that they could get to the point that they and their b___________ would be acceptable to God.
The Problem is that we have lost sight of the r_________ of sin.... we don’t understand that the real problem in our relationships is and always will be, put very simply, SIN!
“There is none righteous, no, not one!”...
The point of the passage in vs 29-30 is clearly that we need to recognize sin for what it is.... it is something that ought to make us w__________ to do whatever it takes to get away from it.
- Sin is the w______ thing that can happen to a person...
- it would, indeed be b_______ to go through life blind, and crippled then to allow Sin to reign in our lives... And if that would resolve the sin question I would certainly be promoting it...
- but any reasonable person knows that sin would find a way to take us _______.
Romans 6:23 states that “the wages of sin is death BUT the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord
John 3:16 points out that “God so loved the World that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life!
Monday Jul 02, 2018
Monday Jul 02, 2018
Understanding the Sixth Commandment
July 1, 2018
Matthew 5:21-26
Exodus 20:1-17 (ESV)
1 And God spoke all these words, saying,
2 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
(“Therefore”)
3 “You shall have no other gods before me.
4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image
7 “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain
8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
12 “Honor your father and your mother,
13 “You shall not murder.
14 “You shall not commit adultery.
15 “You shall not steal.
16 “You shall not bear false witness
17 “You shall not covet
Numbers 35:29-31 (NKJV)
29 'And these things shall be a statute of judgment to you throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
30 Whoever kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death on the testimony of witnesses; but one witness is not sufficient testimony against a person for the death penalty.
31 Moreover you shall take no ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death, but he shall surely be put to death.
E______ life is created in the likeness and image of God and thus to destroy a life was to destroy a living image of God!
It was the ultimate r___________ of His leadership and rightful place in the lives of His people.
Principle number one: not merely the letter of the law, but rather the spirit.
M_______ is something that takes place in the heart...
when we are angry, we are exposed to precisely the same v___________ as a murderer….we have devalued God!!!
But this is not the full expanse of the passage.... we are not only not to feel anger.... we are not to be even guilty of expressions of c_________________.
We are devaluing what He has created… we are saying that something that He valued enough to send His Son to die for, is not worth it.
The second thing that I think is made clear here is that our attitude is not to be n_________, but rather p_________....
“Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. FIRST go and be reconciled to your brother, then come and offer your gift.”
Colossians 3:8-9
“but now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth, lie not to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds.”
Monday Jun 25, 2018
Monday Jun 25, 2018
June 24, 2018
Matthew 5:21-48
Principles number one: It is the s_______ of the law that matters primarily, and not the l__________ only!
The law was never meant to be mechanical, but rather l___________!
II Corinthians 3:6 “the letter killeth, but the spirit gives life...”
The whole purpose of the letter is to give body to the spirit, and the spirit is that which really matters.
Now, again, that does not mean that the letter is not important, but it does mean that we must put the Spirit first, and interpret the letter in light of the Spirit.
Principles number two: “Conformity to the law must not be thought of in terms of a_____________ only.”
... thoughts, motives, and desires are equally important, when considering what we do!
it is easy to do the actions and not have the heart or the spirit, but it is i_____________ to have the heart or spirit, and not have the a__________.
Luke 16:15 “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God's sight.”
Principles number three is; “The law must not only be thought of in a n ___________ way, but in a p_________ as well”
the real intent of the law was not to prevent our doing things that were wrong, that is i_____________, but its real objective is for us to do what is right, and ultimately, to l__________ doing it!
Principles number four: the purpose of the law, as expounded by Christ here, is not to keep us in bondage to a set of rules, but to f_______ us in Christ to develop our spiritual c___________________.
if we regard the teachings of the New Testament as something that cramps us, if we think that it is something that is narrow and restrictive, then we have never really understood it!
Principles number five: ..... is that The law of God, including these before us, as well as all the rest in the Bible, must never be regarded as an e______ in themselves.
The ultimate objective of all this teaching is that you and I might c________ to k_____________ G______!
Monday Jun 18, 2018
Monday Jun 18, 2018
Saints and sinners Pt.2
June 17, 2018
Matthew 5:20 (ESV)
For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
‘holiness’ is NOT an e____________ that we have...it means keeping and fulfilling the law of God. Experiences may help us to do that, but we cannot receive holiness and s_______________ as an experience.
Holiness is something that we p________ in our daily life.... It is the honoring and keeping of the law, as the Son of God kept it Himself while He was here on earth. It is being like Him.... that is Holiness!!!
Jesus lays down for us the basic assumption of what a Christian is: ….
The righteousness of the Christian, the very least Christian, must e_________ that of the Scribes and the Pharisees.
What was wrong with the Scribe and Pharisees religion??
First of all their religion was entirely e__________ and formal, instead of being of the heart.
Luke 16:15, "You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God's sight.”
“how careful you Pharisees are about the outside, but how negligent you are about the inside. It is not that which goes into man which defiles him, but that which comes out. It is the heart that matters, for it is out of the heart that comes evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness and all these other things.”
Secondly, the Pharisees were more concerned about the c_________________ then the moral.
they were careful to do the outward stuff... the washing of the hands... they prayed publicly.... and so on. But they were not as careful about the intent or the moral aspect of the law....
The third thing that I see in the religion of the Pharisees is that it was made up of m_________ rules and regulations...
The really interesting thing about these rules was that often they were made so that they could find ways around the law, while pretending to keep it
You see the ultimate charge against them was that they were primarily concerned about t_________ and their own r_________________, with the result that they were almost always self-satisfied.
Application for today...
It is easy for us to fall into the same trap as the Pharisees and do the superficial things…..
What God demands of us is that we love Him with all of our h_______, and with all of our s_________, and with all of our s__________, and with all of our m_______.. and then we are to love our neighbor as o____________!
Monday May 14, 2018
Monday May 14, 2018
Happy Mothers Day
May 13, 2018
Faithful Mothers: The hope of the Church
Let’ zero in on God's perspective of mothers, and I want each of you women who are here to realize what a privileged position God has called you to... As a parent you have been chosen as the facilitator of His plan through the life of a child… Contrary to the opinions of many, the Bible does not treat women with disdain, quite the contrary, it pictures them as perhaps the greatest untapped resource in the church today.
God’s perspective:
Sarah; t____________, o_____________
Deborah; d______________, c_____________
Hannah; P_________
Shunamite woman; h_______________
Mary (Jesus mom); quiet, a________, y________
Mary M. and Joanna; personal s______________
Dorcas; g_______ w________….
John 12:2 3 (NIV) "Here a dinner was given in Jesus' honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus' feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume"
Now, don't miss this... Each of them is giving the Lord HER OWN personal offering, And in each case it was an offering, a gift of themselves.
The Greatest need in the Church today??
“Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God". T______ 2:3-5
Teach what is in accord with sound d__________…..
Key Principle: Every believer is responsible for r__________________ himself/herself!
Monday May 07, 2018
Monday May 07, 2018
Salty Christians
May 6, 2018
Matthew 5:13 (ESV)
13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.”
According to Jesus, the Christian, (that is you and me), is to clearly i________________ the society that he lives in. And this must be true wherever the principles of the Gospel rub up against the religious, political, economic or social issues of the Christians’ community!
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Are you,
who are salt,
functioning as salt??
What does it mean to be “salt”? Salt is essentially different from the medium in which it is placed, and in a sense, it exercises all of its qualities by being d_______________.
The very characteristic of s___________ proclaims a difference, for a small amount of salt in a large medium is at once apparent.
The Christian is not only to be different, he is to g ______in this difference!.....
We are to be as different from the “normal” people as C____________ was different from the world to which He came.
two opposing errors have always gone along with the attempts of the Church to meet its social responsibility:
- The first error is the thought that the world is basically g__________ and will gradually get b__________, and may even become p___________ through the ‘Christian social actions’ that are going on.
- The second error is the view that because this is so, because the world is so rotten, then the Christian should try to d_____________ himself from the world as much as possible.
Another function of salt, is to provide flavor.... taste! Salt keeps things from being tasteless.
So, how do we apply our “Saltiness” to the world???
- This is done by the way that one lives life, by the c_____________ and q__________ that make up who he or she is. By just being the man or woman that he or she is in every sphere in which the individual finds themselves.
- He can do this in his private capacity of the home, in his workshop, the office, or place of employment ... and also as a citizen of the nation in which he lives
Monday Apr 30, 2018
Monday Apr 30, 2018
The Blessing of persecution: Pt 2
April 29, 2018
Matthew 5:10-12 (ESV)
10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
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There are three principles with regard to the Christian, which emerge very clearly from what the Lord tells us here.
The first principle is: the Christian is u_________ everybody who is not a Christian!
The second principle is: The Christian life is c_________ and d________________ by Jesus Christ!!
The third is: that his life should be controlled by t__________ of heaven and the world to come!
Now, how are these principles to govern our lives with respect to persecution and suffering??
the negative side, that is, what we are not supposed to do....
The Christian is not to r______________....
we are not to hold r_______________….
The positive side, or what we are to do, is “rejoice and be exceedingly glad!”
Why is a Christian to rejoice??? Here is our Lord’s answer....
first of all it is proof that you are a b______,
second, GREAT is your r_________ in heaven....
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“he that loveth his life shall lose it, and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.” (John 12:25 KJV)
Monday Apr 23, 2018
Monday Apr 23, 2018
April 22, 2018
Matthew 5:10-12 (ESV)
10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
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God does not lower His standards just because we don’t live up to it. ....- So He gives us Jesus Christ, so that Christ can work through us to meet the standard!
The Greek word “to persecute” signifies ‘to vex and molest’ sometimes ‘to prosecute another’ to ‘arraign him at the bar’ and ‘to pursue him to the d_______’”
Verse 11 a_________ what is meant here... included in the idea of persecution are, insults, and lies that are spoken of one....
He is not saying “blessed are they that are persecuted”!
What He says is “blessed are those who are persecuted because of r________________!!
What this really means is that they are truly blessed who are determined to, by God’s Grace, live as C_________ lived!
those who are like Him will be p_____________......!!!
J_______ 1:2-4 states; “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
I ________ 5:10 tells us, “And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.”
“‘No servant is greater than his master.' If they persecuted me (And they sure did), they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching (and they did not), they will obey yours also.... If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates me hates my Father as well. (John 15:20-23)
Monday Apr 16, 2018
Monday Apr 16, 2018
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God”. Matthew 5:9
April 15, 2018
To be effective, a peacemaker must be: at peace with ____ Romans 5:1 ; c___________ by the Spirit of God Ephesians 5:18 ; whose fruit is peace Galatians 5:22-23
If you are going to be a peacemaker, then you have to operate with certain biblical truths as foundations…
First of all, you must recognize that a lack of peace in interpersonal relationships is n_______ to the old man.
Second, the peacemaker must offer a spiritual solution for having a proper relationship with God and one’s fellow man. Romans 5:1. And it is that spiritual peace with God that provides the f______________ for peace with one’s fellow man.
Third, the peacemaker must be confident what he is about is i___________ to God... that it is His will....
Psalm 133:1
Proverbs 6:16-19
The Scripture exhorts God’s people to p____________ peace, and when that admonition is heeded, it will spontaneously result in activities of peacemaking.
Romans 14:19
I Timothy 2:
Hebrews 12:14
Realizing that man’s greatest need is reconciliation with God, everyone who is a peacemaker will be actively involved in e___________________.
peacemakers are also actively involved in the ministry of edification. In the realm of peace, this includes both maintenance and restoration.
Ephesians 4:3 admonishes believers to “keep (m__________) the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
Now, the ministry of restoration includes mending broken interpersonal relationships. Galatians 6:1 states: ”Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should r_____________ him in a spirit of gentleness...”
The Benefit....
The Lord Jesus here states that the peacemakers will “be called sons of God.”
not “tekna” the Greek word for little child, but “huios”.
Tekna speaks of tender affection.... huios speaks of honor, dignity, and standing!!
“In Jewish thought, ‘son’ often bears the meaning ‘partaker of the character of,’ or the like”! D.A.Carson
“called means ‘owned’. Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be ‘owned’ as the children of God, by God!
Monday Apr 09, 2018
Monday Apr 09, 2018
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God”. Matthew 5:8
April 8, 2018
“therefore you are to be __________________, as your Father in Heaven is ______________.” Matt 5:48
What does it mean to be ‘Pure’ in heart??
Proverbs 23:7 (KJV) “As he thinketh in his heart, so is he.”
Proverbs 4:23 “Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flows the springs of life!”
In other words, whatever the heart is, it is the ___________ of the springs of life.
The issues of thinking and feeling and acting all _____________ out of this ‘heart’.
You see, what God really is looking for is a changed heart...
Psalm 51:10 “Create in me a clean heart, O God.”
“Bara”.... which means, “to _______ ________ __________”!
The word “Pure” appears in the New Testament ___ times...
The word is “katharos” And in its noun form it means to cleanse from f_______ and i_________.
It means to be free from s_____.
The word communicates two concepts....
- First it describes that which is “unmixed, unadulterated, without alloy, or that which is ________ or _____________ in general.
- This brings up the second concept, that of “single-_____________....
According to the New American Commentary, “the pure in heart exhibit a single-minded devotion to God that stems from the internal cleansing created by following Jesus.”
How can my heart be made pure???
NUMBER ONE.... know that you cannot do it ____ ______ ______!!
Acts 15:9 tells us that our hearts are cleansed by faith, but faith in what?? I John 1:7 tells us that it is “... the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin!”
The practical purity is no more possible for us than positional purity... both must be the result of our yielding to God... How??
Romans tells us that it is by the r___________ of our minds....
how do we renew our minds??? By the constant a_____________ of our lives to the Word of God, and s_______ to the Will of God.
Purity’s Splendor: They Shall S_____ God! Seeing God” is enjoyed in two aspects, one future, and one present.
The Future:
Paul states that now we see a poor reflection, but then face to face... (I Cor 13:12)...
in fact, the consuming desire to see God has itself a c________ effect on our lives.(I John 3:3)
The present believers are afforded the heavenly vision through eyes of faith.
First is a______________....
God is totally inaccessible to the impure!!!
The believer has access because of positional purity that has been purchased in Christ. (II Cor 5:21)...
practical purity is accomplished through daily c______________ to maintain fellowship with God.
Second, is c___________...
those who are properly related to Christ enjoy incredible spiritual vision, (called d___________ ),
those who are double -minded experience spiritual b______________. (James 1:8)