Sermon Reconstructions Epistle Studies Philippians - Part 1

    To study the book of Philippians, we first should understand the planting and context of the Philippian church. For that, we look to the book of Acts. In Acts 16:7-34, we can see some of what was going on at that time.
    The servant girl in v. 16 had significance to not just her masters, but to the whole region. To understand why, we need to have another (brief) history lesson. In the Macedonian region sometime within a couple of centuries before Christ, there was a king named Croatias (I think that's the spelling). This king wanted to know who the most reliable oracle (pagan version of prophet) was. To determine who was the most reliable, he devised a test. He kept a "day planner" and wrote down what he was doing at regular intervals during the day. Meanwhile, he had messengers visit the top seven oracles and ask them what the king was doing was at that moment in time. The messengers would then report to the king and tell him when the oracle had answered and what they had said. The king would check his planner and compare with what the oracle said.
    Well, one of the messengers went to the oracle of Delphi (proper, del-phee'; common, del-phai'), and when she answered, she told the messenger where the king was, what he was doing and what he was using. From then on for about 1000 years, every major Greek and Roman leader consulted the Oracle of Delphi (which, if my understanding is correct, was later renamed by Alexander the Great to Philippi, in honor of his father). Not until Emperor Constantine declared the Roman Empire a "Christian" empire, did she meet her demise.
    The Oracle of Delphi lived in a room in the southwest corner of a temple built to Apollo (a mythological Greek god). The temple was built in in Delphi at the intersection of two fault lines in the earth's crust. Within the temple, there was a cap over the intersection. Whenever the oracle was going to give her answer, they would take off the cap and a noxious concoction of gasses (methane and such) would come up out of the earth. She would inhale this stuff and then give her answer.
    The Oracle of Delphi had servants who would also prophecy (in the Greek, they were called "pythia"). Well, this servant girl was one of the pythia. Paul knew when he cast out the spirit (demon), that it would likely cause trouble, but where it says "Most High God," in the Greek, it's twisted to mean "Zeus," and Paul was not going to stand for that.
    When he cast out the demon, he and Silas were taken to the magistrates (in an open air court kind of thing), beat up with some sticks (probably no more than an inch in diameter); then in a condition worthy of the ER, they were cast into a pit in the floor of the basement of a stone dungeon with no plumbing (stinky), likely, several rodents of unusual size, and then sealed into it with a big rock, not to mention they were chained to the wall. In light of this, they were singing hymns! Then, suddenly, there was a great earthquake. Freeze! Hold that thought!
    At an intersection of two fault lines, where four tectonic plates meet, there was a great earthquake? Skeptics beware! That seems scientifically accurate. That is plausible. I believe it happened since God said it did.
    Under these circumstances, the Philippian church was born. Not only born, but it thrived as we will see in a future part of this series.

Sermon Reconstruction - Heaven

    Heaven is a topic that is often misunderstood. In Heaven we're not going to sit on puffy clouds and play the harp all the time. We're not going to stand around and sing the whole time. Revelation 21 gives us a glimpse into eternity.

    When the term "Heaven" is used in the Bible, it could mean one of three things.
        Heaven
            1.) The atmosphere
            2.) Outer space
            3.) "God's Headquarters"
It's pretty clear as to where the first two are, but where is "God's Headquarters"? Is it on another planet somewhere? No. No, it's not. It has been theorized that Heaven is in another dimension of reality. I'm not saying that this is true, just that it's a theory with some evidence. Physicists have concluded (somehow) that there are more dimensions than the four we know (i.e. length, width, depth, & time). It's interesting that there are some Biblical hints that may support this theory. When Jesus was baptized, the "Heavens were opened" (Matt. 3:16, Mark 1:10). When Elijah was taken from this world, he was "taken up by a whirlwind into Heaven" (2 Kings 2:12). When Stephen was stoned, he saw "the Heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God" (Acts 7:55).

    God said that there would be a new Heaven and a new Earth. He said there would be no more tears of sorrow, no more death, and no more pain. How? "For [all] the former things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." Is that possible? Well, I imagine that if God made it once, He could do it again. Apparently, Heaven's going to be pretty engaging because Jesus said that He was going to prepare a place for us. "Puffy clouds and harps" doesn't really fit with "many mansions." God has a satisfaction guarantee on Heaven. If God says that Heaven is "very good," then I'd say it's going to be pretty awesome.

Sermon Reconstruction: The Holy Spirit Part 3

    God says to be holy (1 Peter 1:13-16 and other places), but what does that mean? God is Holy, which means that He is flawless. Does that mean we need to be that too? Well, ideally, yes, but God knows that we're fallen and can't (or more precisely, won't) keep His perfect law. We're to fulfill the spirit of the law and be active in the pursuit of holiness. We're to strive to be God's vessel of light and exhibit His qualities in the world. We're not to love the things of this world/worldliness/fleshly things, but we're to use them for Him.

    Many current movies are looking at "the end of the world" or something ridiculous like a sudden appearance of zombies. I'm not saying anything about those movies one way or another (that's another post for another day), but I am saying that the people preparing for something like that are confused (and maybe crazy?) about the end. Quoting my pastor, "I don't know when the end of the world is gonna be, but I do know Jesus is coming." Many take the decline of America to be a sign of the end of the world; I take it to be a repeat of history: a great nation is fading.

    History buffs have looked for patterns throughout history and found many; one in particular is applicable to this topic. The number one sign that a culture, kingdom, nation, or empire is fading is not the economy, not the president/king/queen/emperor (though that might have something to do with it), but the suppression of Truth (Romans 1:18). If any culture has ever suppressed Truth, this one has. In fact, not only has it suppressed it, it has denied it's existence!

    The Spirit of the Age will try in every way to get us, as Christians, to compromise. No matter how hard we try, we will be unable to resist because our own flesh nature is in league against us. The Spirit of the Age is stronger than we are. Why then do we not cave on everything? As Christians, we have the Holy Spirit helping us to conquer our own worst enemy - ourselves. The Spirit of the Age is NOT stronger than the Holy Spirit of Almighty God.

    In our pursuit of holiness, we can't just sit around. God doesn't do all the work. The pursuit of holiness is a war! This is the only war that is more peaceful on the front lines than anywhere else. By fighting sin, God gives you peace. God gives you His peace for it's duration, but there will be turmoil at it's conclusion.

    Have you ever been sitting around in a room with a window, where the light's shining in? What do you see? Among other things, I see the little fuzzy things floating around in the air. Without that light you couldn't have seen them. That's one of the things the Holy Spirit does. He is like the light that shows us all the fuzzy things, the dirt, the contaminants in our lives. Once He shows you a fuzzy thing, though, DO NOT "Try harder" to fix it; fix it by drawing closer to God (Galatians 5:25).

Sermon Reconstruction - Truth

    The world has rejected Truth. Postmodern thinking says that there is no "true truth" or "Truth with a capital 'T.'" Think about that for a second. If there is no absolute truth, then it's not absolutely true that there is no Truth. Is that bonkers or what?! Nevertheless, people believe it.

    By saying that there is no Truth, they reject God's Word (John 17:17b "...Thy Word is Truth."). By rejecting God's Word, they reject Christ (John 1:1 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."). By rejecting Christ, they reject God (John 10:30 "I and the Father are One."). By rejecting God, they become fools (Psalm 14:1a "The fool has said in his heart, 'There is no God.'").

    No wonder God says in Isaiah 55:8 "My thoughts are not your thoughts, and My ways are not your ways." God doesn't think like we do. In v. 9, He reveals to us that His thoughts and ways are superior to ours. In v. 10, God tells us that without His Word, there is no life. So if you reject God's Word, you reject life; which means that anyone who hasn't accepted God's Word is dead in their sin, but I have wonderful news: God raises the dead! The dead to sin are not without hope, because if you put your faith in Christ, let go of any claims to righteousness or goodness, and turn your life around to focus it on serving God and bringing Him glory, then your sin will die with Christ on that old rugged Cross, and you will be raised with Him alive and ready for a relationship with your Heavenly Father.

Sermon Reconstruction The Holy Spirit - Part 2

    The Holy Spirit is in the Old Testament, but it's not very clear who He is. He is referred to as "The Spirit of God" in Genesis 1:2 and other places, but in John 14 Jesus gives us a formal introduction to Him. Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would be a Comforter and a Helper, one who would come alongside us. Jesus said that the Holy Spirit is also called the Spirit of Truth and that the world cannot receive Him. This is a sad reality in that the culture has not only not received Him, it has rejected any idea of Truth. Because they have rejected Truth, they are bound in darkness by lies, and they don't want or allow the Truth to set them free.

    In 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, Paul talks about the Holy Spirit, but before we go into that, let's have a little history lesson (don't cringe, I said "little"). In ancient history, the primary religious thought was that gods dwelt in temples. Both in pagan religions and in Israel, the god of the area dwelt in a temple of some kind. In 1 Corinthians, Paul says that the Spirit of God dwells in is as Believers! Talk about rockin' the boat! That's a totally different idea. That DOES NOT MEAN that we are God or part of God, that just means that we are allowing God to be seen through us. In our actions, in our words, in everything, we become more like Him. We have to let Him mold us, transform (Romans 12:2) us into His image bearers.

    A parenthetical note: The Bible does NOT tell us all there is to know. It tells us all we NEED to know to live for God. There is more to God than what He tells us, but what we need to know in this life is contained in God's Holy Scripture.

    There is an interesting word parallel between Genesis 1:2 and Luke 1:35. In Genesis 1:2, the Spirit of God "hovered" over the face of the waters; in Luke 1:35, the Power of the Highest was to "overshadow" Mary. If you look at the original language, those two words both mean 'to envelope' or 'to cover'.

     The Bible says that the Holy Spirit:
            Baptizes us - If you have been born again, you have been baptized by the Holy Spirit.

            Indwells us

            Marks/Seals us - We're marked by the Holy Spirit as God's. When we come to Christ seeking His salvation and forgiveness, the Holy Spirit marks us as God's. He gives us a treasure -forgiveness, freedom from guilt - that nothing can take from us. (Romans 8:35, 38-39)

            Walks with us - Comes alongside us

            Convicts -  Whether we listen or not

            Fills us - We're commanded to be filled with the Spirit, this is something we must to take part in. We have to submit to God's will in order for Him to fill us. We're not to be influenced by anything but the Holy Spirit. Yield to Him in order to be filled with the Spirit.

Sermon Reconstruction - The Holy Spirit Part 1

    The Holy Spirit is the third Person in the Trinity. The Holy Spirit is never a  "The" and always a "He". When talking about someone, we don't say "Bob is a random citizen, and it is a tomato," we would say "Bob is a random citizen, and he is a tomato." We don't say "The Bob," its just "Bob."  "Holy Spirit" is His name. He is the third Person in the Trinity. A lot of people try to explain the Trinity so that we can understand it. I'm not going to do that here. All of the examples we could come up with are, well, heretical. Here's the explanation I think is best: Consider the world. Its massive. Now think about the solar system. Way bigger. Now consider that astronomers have seen, by telescopes and math, that our solar system is just one of the millions of solar systems in the Milky Way galaxy. Moreover, the Milky Way is just one of the billions and trillions of other galaxies. And God created All Of It. Which means that He is more than it is. Now imagine that this infinite expanse of space is about the size of a softball. God can hold that softball in the palm of his hand because he is transcendent, that is, God is separate from His Creation and above it. He doesn't fit within our natural environment. We can't understand the Trinity because the Trinity doesn't fit in the only environment we can understand, which is the world around us. Trying to fit the Trinity, or any aspect of God, really, is like trying to put a watermelon in a soup can; it doesn't fit, and if you do get some of in there, you've got a mess everywhere else. It would be like trying to describe the smell of coffee to someone who's never smelled it before.
"What does this 'coffee' smell like?"
"Um, well... Coffee."
God is just too big, too holy, too... perfect to fit in our realm of understanding.

    The Holy Spirit is often abused and neglected He is NOT  the "Emotion Machine."  All things have come of the Father, through the Son, by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit teaches us Truth. :We can only know the Truth by the Holy Spirit, except for the people blessed by being able to see and hear Jesus teach directly, men can only learn Truth if the Holy Spirit reveals it to them. John 16:5-6 is Jesus telling His disciples that He must leave, and that He knows that they are disheartened, but that His leaving is to their advantage. How is His leaving going to be better than Him staying with them? If he leaves, then the Helper will come. Only so many people could be with Jesus at once, but the Helper, or Holy Spirit, is with every believer simultaneously.

    In verses 8-11, Jesus tells us exactly what Holy Spirit is here to do. He is here to:
                        Convict the world of sin (because they do not believe in Christ)
                        Call the world to righteousness (because we can't know righteousness except through Christ)
                        Warn the world of judgement (because the ruler of this world, Satan, is judged)
In John 6, Jesus says (paraphrase) "No-one comes to the Father unless he is drawn." Faith comes by hearing the Word of God, yes, you have to understand it, yes, but Holy spirit has to draw for true conversion.

    Missionaries have seen Holy Spirit working powerfully in the world everywhere, BUT:
                        Japan
                        Australia
                        Western Europe
                        North America
That's not to say He's not working there, but it's not as much.

     The church has received Holy Spirit, if it has received power, it has received the power of Holy Spirit to:
                        Overcome our own sin
                        Shine for God as His lights in the world
                        Glorify God

Sermon Reconstruction - The Lord's Supper

Whose Supper/Table?

The Lord's Supper is God's ordinance. It does not belong to any individual, group, or denomination; it doesn't even belong to the Church! The Lord's Supper is just that... The Lord's.

The Lord's disciples are to take part of the Lord's Supper. We are called to be believers, yes... Christians, yes... Salt & light, yes, but most importantly, we're called to be Christ's disciples. The things He told the disciples in the upper room were directed as much toward us as they were to the twelve.

The Lord's Supper is:

Worship. It is an act of obedience, which is worship. "...I desire [good deeds, mercy, obedience, goodness] more than sacrifice..." Hosea 6:6

It's a time of self-examination.

Paul talks about coming to the Lord's Table in an unworthy manner in 1 Corinthians 10. How can we remember what Christ want through to pay for our sins, and still cling to them.

It's a time of thanksgiving.

We are thankful for God's Sacrifice.

We would have NO HOPE without Jesus.

Since we have Jesus, how thankful should we be?!

It's a time of re-dedication.

It's invigorating, and it should be invigorating to be in such fellowship with our Maker. It's like it renews a fire for God in us.

It's Redemption pictured.

"This is My body, broken for you... This is the blood of the New Covenant, which is shed for the remission of sins..." Matthew 26:26-28

It's our anticipation of and our faith & hope in His return expressed.

Paul tells us "For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till he comes." 1 Corinthians 10:26

This passage isn't normally considered a "Lord's Supper passage," but let's take a look at Psalm 23.

Psalm 23

The Lord is my Shepherd;

I shall not want.

He makes me to lie down in green pastures;

He leads me beside the still waters.

He restores my soul;

He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil;

For You are with me;

Your rod and You're staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;

You anoint my head with oil;

My cup runs over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

All the days of my life;

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord

Forever.

Let's take an analytical look at this:

Verses 1-4 Verses 5-6

The Lord is a Shepherd The Lord is a host (like of a party or something)

If the Lord is my shepherd, then I'm a sheep. That means I need a lot of care, I'm not too bright, and I'm vulnerable. If the Lord is my shepherd, then as His sheep, God gives me care, He meets my needs, He leads me so that I don't have to be bright, and He protects me.

He restores my soul. Paraphrase "He restores [cleanness to] my soul."

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil... This is God's strength, not mine.

You prepare a table before me- what? A table? Like the Lord's Table? The Lord's Supper? Hmmm.

-In the presence of my enemies. Who are my enemies? Everyone has two common enemies: our own sin, and death. Christ defeated sin - my sin - your sin - all sin - once and for all on the Cross; and He defeated death when he rose from the dead. The power is not in the table or the elements, the power is in the person of Jesus Christ, the Lord of all, and the Savior of all who call on His name.

Sermon Reconstruction - The Glory of God

Timeline:

~33 A.D. - 300 A.D. -The church was committed to Christ.

~ 300 A.D. -Christianity becomes the state religion of Rome and gradually devolves into what we know as Roman Catholicism; full of traditions and rites, elevating the authority of the church over the authority of God's Holy Word.

~1600 A.D. -The Reformation begins. The Church moves toward how it began. Institution of the five Solas.

The Five Solas:

Sola-(Latin) One, alone, only

 

1.) Sola Scriptura- "Scripture alone" or "Only Scripture"

This was to prevent the Reformed church from again elevating its authority and placing itself over the Bible, instead of submitting to the authoritative Word of God.

 

2.) Sola Fide- "Faith alone" or "Only faith"

This was to remind the Church that salvation is only through faith. "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God." ~Romans 10:17. You do not work for your salvation, nor do you work to prove your faith. Your are saved -by faith- and good works are a sort of by-product or side-effect of that saving faith. (See James 2:14-26 for faith vs. works.)

 

3.) Sola Gratia- "Grace alone" or "Only grace"

This is a vital part of Christianity. We can only be saved through faith, but that is only because of God's grace. "If we confess our sins, He is Faithful and Just to forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." ~1 John 1:9. Faithful because He will always do it, Just because His wrath against sin has been satisfied in Christ. Grace could be defined as "Unmerited favor". People often say things like "That's not fair" when they don't get their way, but never have I heard someone say that when receiving grace. Grace makes life not fair; Hallelujah!

 

4.) Sola Christos- "Christ alone" or "Only Christ"

We can only be saved through Christ. I heard it once said, "You can take the principal player out of any religion and replace them with anyone else- Mohammed could have been Joe, Buddha could've been Bob, etc., but you can't take Christ out of Christian. If you take "Christ" out of "Christian" you're left with "Ian" and Ian can't help you.

 

5.) Sola Gloria- "Glory alone" or "Only Glory"

God's Glory is always understated. His glory is so abundant that it is not within human capacity to fully comprehend it. We may try, but we will always come short. God does only the things that will glorify Him the most. We should work to do that also; that means doing what he says because obedient children bring Him glory. (See 1 Cor. 10:31)

The angels recognized the significance and presence of God's Glory, their response was "Holy, holy, holy!" Isaiah recognized the awesomeness of God's Glory and his unworthiness to be in God's presence, his response was "Woe is me for I am undone!" (Isaiah 6:1-8) Solomon blessed God's nation (1 Kings 8). Peter, James, and John were confused (Mark 9:1-13). In 1 Samuel 4-6 we see several responses to God's Glory. Eli's sons disregard it and tried to use God, the Israelites mourn the loss of it, the Philistines belittle it, then reject it. When the Philistines captured the Ark of the Covenant, they put it in their temple next to their idol. The next morning, their idol had fallen over, so they set it aright. The next morning, their idol had fallen on its face, and its head and hands were broken off. All that is to say, if we allow God to take his rightful place in our lives, idols can't stand. Anything we put in His place will fall. Whether it's money, relationships, people, activities, things, anything! If you let Him, God will put it in its place.