Revelation 1:9 - 20

Text: Revelation 1:9 - 20

Sermon Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEY1w6a9LYY&list=PLYSdk4DAv_anFhxfY0u-bVYvh0vcgJIqn&index=1   (note: intro was missed)

Service with full message: https://www.facebook.com/faithbaptist.church.12/videos/1830827000387714

Discussion Question:  List 5 words that you would use to describe Jesus.

Verses 10 - 16 is a description of who Jesus is.

Long robe/Golden Sash   Daniel 10:5

White head and hair    Leviticus 19:32, Proverbs 20:29, Daniel 7:9  (Jesus possesses eternal wisdom and is the Ancient of Days

Blazing Eyes   Daniel 10:6   Jesus has divine insight and therefore has the ability to reward the faithful and punish the disobedient

Bronze Feet   Daniel 10:6, Psalm 84:11, Isaiah 60:19  represents Jesus Glory and the Glory of God.  Additionally it points to the strength of Jesus

Powerful voice  Ezekiel 1:24, Ezekiel 43:2  Re-enforces Jesus power and strength

Sword from his mouth  Isaiah 11:4, Isaiah 49:2  This equals words of truth and words of judgment

In light of John's vision of Jesus verse 17 provides his response  (worship) and Jesus comfort (Fear not).  There is no need to fear God if you are serving him.

Note the location of Jesus in the midst of the 7 lamp stands and the location of the 7 stars.  Lamp stands = the church, but we need to remember that is us not a building.  With that in mind we all are Jesus lamp stands, under his control, placed where he wants us.  The question is will we shine or compromise?  Will we suffer in community with Jesus?

Application: Have you ever felt abandoned by God?

How are diamonds made?  If I take a chunk of coal can I make a diamond?  Well if I can add enough pressure yes...how does God make diamonds out of us?  By allowing pressure in our lives.  But for diamonds to truly shine they need to reflect the light.

When Heidi and I went shopping for an engagement ring did they pull out a piece of white paper and lay the diamonds on that and say look at these beautiful diamonds?  No they laid them out on black velvet and shined a light on them.  When they did that those diamonds were dazzling.  It is the same with our lives....when God allows trials in our lives we have an opportunity to really shine his glory back to Him. 

In addition to that we have to wrestle with are we learning what God want us to learn in this season?  With the overturn of the safe at home order in WI I have been frustrated.  I have been frustrated b/c I do not want to rush through this season without learning and applying the lessons that I need to learn.  The slow down has been good for me and I do not want to rush back to a busy lifestyle again.  Take the time to sit down and say I believe this is who Jesus is and this is what he wants me to learn in this season.  Or take the time to say "This is what I am thankful for and list them out."

When my dad died a week before my 21st birthday it rocked my faith to its core.  I took the next 6 - 12 months to analyze what I really believed...may you leverage this season to understand and know who Jesus is, understand who you are and let his light and glory shine through you.

Learning the Lessons of Revelation in Season of COVID

Text: Revelation 1:1 - 8

Sermon Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBEfO0tlCGw&list=PLYSdk4DAv_anFhxfY0u-bVYvh0vcgJIqn&index=3&t=7s

Intro Question: What do you know or understand about the book of Revelation?

Warning: I do not take a read the newspaper headlines approach to interpreting the book of Revelation.  We need to understand when it was written, to whom it was written to keep it in context, garner the meaning and bring that meaning forward to today and apply.

What are ways that you are asked to compromise your faith?

Where does pressure to conform come in for you?

Where do we give in to society, family, sin?  How does fear come into play?

Setting the Stage:

Author:  The apostle John (same author as the Gospel of John)

Written around 90 AD

Emperor: Domitian

Not outright persecution, but pressure from the Imperial Cult and cultural pressure from places like Trade Guilds.  Think through all of the economic stimulus that comes from having an Imperial Cult and from the trade guilds.

Genre:  The book is both prophetic (book of warning) and apocalyptic (book of comfort/the Triune God is in control/you will rule with him)

Application:

Do you fear things of this world or God?

Do you take the short term or long term view?

Who is in Control?

Jesus or kings of the earth?  (Verses 5, 6, 8)

What do you do when it seems like God isn't in control?  (Blame, wait, trust, pray, complain)

Have we lost the plot? (Verse 6: Christians are part of God's Kingdom/Royalty...Priests on a Mission we are to be on mission with no compromise.  Courage at the crossroads or compromise?

As I shared earlier the book contains both warning and comfort.  Warning that we should be hearing and doing...Comfort that God's in control.

What if...?

In the midst of this pandemic, Noah and I, like many of you have been binge watching shows on Amazon.  One of our favorites is a show called Stinky and Dirty.  They solve problems by re-purposing garbage and asking "What if?" In last Sunday's sermon I asked several "What if" questions and wrestled with "How than shall we live?"  Here are the quick notes:

1.  What if this is the new normal?

Many of us have been trying to look back and get back to "normal," but as a recent NY Times article points out that looking to the S. Korean experience church services will not be returning to their past forms any time soon.  An example would be no singing of worship songs. 

How than shall we live?  We only need to look to John 13:34-35 for the answer.  Love.  If that is the case then we need to exhibit what I am calling "Compassionate, reasonable understanding."

Illustrations:

There are individuals living among us that are living in fear.  What is the loving thing to do?
Hint: Do not belittle them.

While our churches (FBC and Iglesia Fe) have not had any regular attenders be diagnosed with COVID.  Some have had extended family members (myself included) have pretty severe cases of COVID, but fortunately not die.  There are those living among us, however that have lost loved ones, including both parents within days of each other.  Again we need to ask "How should we then live?"
Hint: The loving thing and walk beside them.

2.  What if I am not learning what God wants me to out of this trial?

Hebrews 3 & 4 speaks to this.

The slow down has been good for me b/c I am resting more and not running at the pace I have been for years.  But last week I found myself reverting to old habits.  I do not want to fail to apply lessons that God is teaching me.

3.  What if this is the last days?

I do not believe the we are in the last days or the tribulation of the book of Revelation.  But this question is an important one and challenges us to think through the what if.

We should always live in Spiritual Preparedness.  With that in mind:

Ask yourself "Am I ready?"  Everyone needs to realize that what they do is not good enough we need a personal relationship with Jesus.

Make sure that your response to these times is Christian.  Ask yourself: "Am I trusting in my circumstances or God?  Leverage this time to search out idols in your life.

See Hebrews 13 for some insight into a Christian response.

Here is the link to the message:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5vQYxL8iuk&list=PLYSdk4DAv_anFhxfY0u-bVYvh0vcgJIqn&index=2&t=737s

Blessings,
PT

April 19 Sermon Notes Letting God Be Just Enough

Title: Letting God Be Just Enough
Text: John 10:1 - 10
Message: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVWIReZCnmE&list=PLYSdk4DAv_anFhxfY0u-bVYvh0vcgJIqn&index=3&t=365s

(note we played a song up front so skip to 6:53 for start of message)

In this season it is easy to ask questions like:

- Why is God allowing this?
- If God is so loving why is there disease?

To answer those questions let me start by throwing one more out there:

- Why did or does God lead his people into the desert?

For the past several weeks we at Faith have been looking at what we can glean from the desert situations that God places us in.  This series is based on a series I preached through back in 2018 after returning from a deployment to the desert and on a series by Ray Vander Laan (RVL) titled Walking With God in the Desert.

In previous weeks we learned that God molds and shapes us in our desert moments and in those moments we learn to trust and depend on him as we see his protection and provision.  As RVL says "deserts are a place of danger and peril, but also protection and provision."  But that is if we have eyes to see.

In the shepherding world:

Pasture = Provision and Sheepfold = Protection....but how do shepherds lead their sheep?

Take a moment to read John 10:1 - 10

Main Point: God leads his people into desert moments to train us to hear and listen to him.

In essence to listen and respond to his word.

Here the message walks through and looks at John 10 and briefly Psalm 23

If you were to look at shepherding in Israel you would understand that the place that happens is not in pasture like we in the States are used to, but rather out in the wilderness where the pastures look like places where there isn't even and grass.  But the shepherd leads them along paths where they find just enough grass to live on.  They move from mouthful of grass to mouthful of grass as the shepherd talks to them and leads them.

Lesson Point: God's promises are for those who walk down paths of righteousness following the Shepherd.  You leave the path you leave the shepherd and his protection/provision.

Decision Point:

Follow God and depend on him or play the victim and blame God?

Challenge:  Control what you can control namely your reaction to the trial.

To do this ask yourself:  Do I have enough for right now?

RVL shares a story and a lesson he learned when a rabbi asked him:  Can you handle what is coming in 10 minutes?  How about tomorrow?

We do not know what is coming in tomorrow much less in 10 minutes. But we do know that God provides for and protects those who follow him.  However sometimes that is just enough for the moment.  The rabbi went on to share that"worry is dealing with tomorrows problems on today's pastures."  You see the shepherd provides just enough for right now and will provide just enough in 10 minutes and tomorrow as well.  Another example of this is how God provided just enough manna for today...those who gathered and tried to hoard for the next day woke up to find that it had spoiled.

Lesson Point:  God doesn't change so we know that he will be there providing around the next corner.  God is just enough if we will listen for, hear his voice and follow.

Decision Point:

In the beginning of John we see that Jesus is God's Word.  Is Jesus enough?

Challenge:  In the midst of this desert can you slow down enough to hear the voice of Jesus and will you follow?

Conclusion:  We have a golden opportunity in this season to slow down, listen and follow Jesus.  My prayer is that you and I do not squander this season with fear and worry, but rather embrace it and the lessons that it holds to draw us closer to God.

Blessings,
PT

Why am I feeling the way I do in the midst of the COVID Pandemic?

From time to time I sit back and observe people.  Under a Safe at Home order here in my state my closest subjects to watch or observe are my own family (although I have been in so many Zoom mtgs of late that I get to watch others as well).  It is interesting how people are responding to and coping with the COVID-19 pandemic.  My family is no different.  Our seven year old son has moved his bed into Heidi's and my bedroom and declared "I am staying here until this is over."  Our sixteen year old son has launched out on an adventure and built a "home" in one of our maple trees out of pallets and blue tarps.  He moved his mattress and an electric heater out there and has been sleeping there for the last two weeks.  A simple scroll through Facebook and you will quickly discover all of the comfort food that many are turning to.  Others are lashing out in anger and we hear more and more about domestic violence, child and alcohol abuse.  The question that I want to take a look at today is "what is the root of this behavior?"  Would it surprise you if I said "Grief and Loss?"

In the midst of COVID-19 everyone is experiencing loss. Grief is the normal and natural reaction to loss and results in a variety of feelings.  We become sad, angry, and scared to name a few.  Sadly we have, over time, transitioned to a belief that we need to be happy all the time and try to suppress or bury these feelings.  This is unhealthy and in the midst of this season we need to allow ourselves to grieve. Unfortunately, we have been ill equipped to do this through six myths.  Take a look at these and see if have heard these or are buying into them:

Myth 1.  Don't feel bad.    (It would be easy to hear someone saying: "Don't feel bad you do not have it" or "Don't feel bad at least you have a job that you can work from home")

Myth 2.  Replace the loss.  ("Well at least you can find another job" or "Once this is over you can get more hugs from everyone")

Myth 3.  Grieve alone.  ("I can't be sad around my family so I have to go and hide in my room for a while")

Myth 4.  Be strong.  ("I am not going to live in fear so I do not have to wash my hands" or "I am not going to let this have control so I am going to....")

Myth 5.  Keep busy.  ("I will do all of these jobs around the house so I do not have to think about COVID")

Myth 6.  It just takes time.  ("Once this is over I can return back to normal")

When these myths do not work we turn to what the Grief Recovery Institute calls Short Term Energy Releasing Behaviors (STERBs) or coping mechanisms to deal with it.  The problem arises in that they are only effective in the short term and not a long term solution.  At worst these can become addictions in the long run or extra pounds.  A better approach is to realize what is going on and address it by releasing the emotions and talking about it with family and friends.  

To learn more:

- here is a link to my YouTube video on this topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQPhTclcj_w&list=PLYSdk4DAv_anFhxfY0u-bVYvh0vcgJIqn

- get the book The Grief Recovery Handbook by John James.

- visit the Grief Recovery Method's blog page: https://www.griefrecoverymethod.com/blog

As always feel free to message me with questions.

Blessings,

PT

Dec 13, 15 Sermon Links

Just a quick note to provide the links to last Sunday's sermon:

Title: Shaking Things Up?

Text: Mark 10:1-31

Links:
http://www.buzzsprout.com/15930/334011-mark-10-1-31-dec-13-2015


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYcaF6E03AU

Blessings,
PT

Flashback Sermon

Hello Everyone,

Due to technical difficulties it is flashback sermon this week at FBC...we are rewinding to April, 2014 and my message overview of the book of Nehemiah...you can listen at:

http://www.buzzsprout.com/15930/324132-lessons-from-nehemiah-apr-16-2014

or

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kH6MmITbWjA

My you live by His Grace and for His Glory,
PT