Here we look at the focus of our worship. Often times it can actually be our worship, our theology and our faith that we worship instead of Christ. I went through this fairly quickly and mistakenly gave credit to the Old Testament for a Jewish law of Pharisee origin I also did not have the time to effectively cover the Assyrian invasion and the ‘birth’ of the Samaritans so I would encourage you to do your homework at Wikipedia.

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We moved from Internal to External worship and today we will discover the reason for ETERNAL worship. Christ alone is WORTHY of Worship and He alone is worthy to fulfill God’s plan of redemption!

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This week we started a mini-series to answer the question, “What is True Worship?” Many ‘church goers’ have an idea of what worship is by what they are used to ‘doing’ in a service. In about 12 weeks, we are going to look at worship through the eyes of scripture and take a hard look at what we really hold to value and esteem as ‘worthy’ of our praise and adoration.

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Believers and followers of Christ are exhorted not to shrink back but to endure to the end. Those overcome and keep their faith on Christ to the end reveal the reality that God is their God and they are the people of God. For God who promised is faithful.

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The early Hebrews believers were exhorted to stand fast in the Lord. Christians today are exhorted to steadfast with the faith on Christ and looking forward to the promise that is set before us promised by God’s everlasting abiding confidence.

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God’s children become mature and strong in Christ through trials and sufferings. The gift of faith and grace sustains God’s children through trials with joy and hope for the eternal reward and inheritance from God.

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Sunday’s message on Hebrews 10:32-33:  Remember the former days… A call to embrace our first love and to watch out for apostasy in our lives.  Secure with confidence our faith in Christ who is our faithful High Priest!

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This is part III of a a sub-series in the Hebrews series. As we looked over the last three weeks at this strong and harsh warning in Hebrews 10:26-31, we’ve dealt specifically with the warning of scorning Christ and the Gospel then defining the apostate and now this week dealing with Eternal Security and God’s Faithfulness in our calling and salvation. This mini-series has been a very difficult one for me personally and I am glad that God has used this text for my own growth and reflection.

God saves, holds and secures. We must reflect.

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hebrews-fbc-newark-ca-week-31.pdf

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This message focuses on the true faith that is required in order to be truly saved. It’s warning number four of five thus far in the letter to the Hebrews.

Although this type of message is not popular, it’s a message that conveys the severity of unbelief and living in a ‘false hope’ of being saved without Christ alone as our Perfect High Priest and Sacrifice.

The sermon notes are below.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Ever wonder why the world seems to cover you up and makes life feel as though it could not get any worse? How many times have you just considered life and why we really here and what am I supposed to be doing? Forgetfulness may seem like a silly explanation for life’s hopelessness, but if you really look at ‘what’ we forget and what where we place our focus, we can see that we should really ‘remember’ to put our “Hope” in Christ!

1 Corinthians 1:4-9 (ESV)
I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.Hebrews 10:23

(ESV)
²³ Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.

Over the next few months, I’ll discuss several ‘things’ that we forget about the Grace we’ve been given in Christ. One of the primary ways we forget and therefore experience hopeless despair is that we forget what’s important by focusing on what is not eternal.

When we find ourselves submersed in our own little world, thinking that everything is about ‘me’ it’s difficult to find Heavenly thinking and Eternal Value in our lives. “Eternal Value” is one of those buzz words that was taught to me by my grandparents through the years. It’s a little like ROI in the business world. What is going to be the “return on investment” for my actions, time, money or thoughts?

Our spiritual life is a lot similar in that we must give thought and consideration to our ROI but from an eternal perspective. For example, when we feel like things are just falling down around us, we must ask ourselves, “Is my worrying about or giving time to this have any eternal value?” Or when we are upset with someone or a certain situation and we sit and stew for days about a solution or just the principal. Is this really helpful and will it reveal to us more about who God is and who He wants us to be?

Eternal value can be defined by how God is Glorified. In essence He is most glorified in us when we are the most satisfied in Him. So before we go setting ourselves up for failure, we need to consider how we are going to Glorify God!

Job took a wonderful opportunity for a pity part and deep depression when his children were killed by the house falling in on top of them but proclaiming, “Blessed be the name of the Lord!” How silly it seems to say this, but Job understood eternal value and what glorifying God was all about.

God gives and takes away as He sees fit in His perfect will. So if we are in the will of God, no matter how painful, then we are to have JOY because it is the BEST for us and of course God is glorified. “But I’m not Job,” you might say. No, but you have the same ability and have been enabled for JOY just as Job was by the spirit of God.

Christ came to die a criminal’s death and face the wrath and eternal judgment of God on sin. A horrific but necessary point in history. Because of Christ’s obedience, He glorified God by finding JOY in God’s will even in His death and suffering.

There is so much more than needs to be said about this, but until next time: Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2)

Consider your heavenly position in Christ instead of your earthly trials. Over the next few months, I’ll cover other areas that we tend to ‘forget’ and in turn, we find ourselves without joy, peace and most of all, hope!

Philippians 1:20-22 (ESV)
²⁰ as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.
²¹ For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
²² If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell.
We forget whose we are by focusing on who we are not…

We forget why we’re here by focusing on where we want to be…

We forget what we really have by focusing on what we don’t have…

We forget when we focus on us instead of Christ…

This is the root of despair. Hopelessness. Depression.

Life is going to be hard and for some of us, it will never let up. However, we can rejoice in Christ as the perfecter of our faith and our great high priest who is pruning us for righteousness and fitting us for God’s presence.

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Health Revisited

“Friend, the church finds its life as it listens to the Word of God. It finds its purpose as it lives out and displays the Word of God. The church’s job is to listen and then to echo.” – Mark Dever

Over the last ten weeks we’ve taken a look at the details of a healthy church.  We’ve discussed at length the definition of The Church, a Christian and many “Marks” of a healthy church.  We’ve discovered that only in Christ Alone are we able to accomplish Health individually as well as corporately.  For the purpose of this closure, I would like to leave you with some practical thinking on the matter of change for the cause of health.

In my own journey over the last 10 months, I’ve had to look at health in a serious light.  It wasn’t easy, it wasn’t something that I could just talk about but something with which I had to become disciplined in order to see its fruit.

In January of 2007, my weight and health was at an all-time low.  I weighed in at 249 lbs wearing a tight 42” pant and could barely tie my shoes without losing my breath.  At that time I was only 32 years old and had the energy level of a tortoise.  I knew something had to change if I was going to live a fulfilled and obedient life in Christ.  Today, as I pen this article, I have lost over 90 lbs and gone down over 10” in size and am stronger than I’ve ever been healthfully.  My nutrition is pinnacle and I take very seriously anything that I consume as my body’s health is important and I will protect it at all cost.

In contrast, our spiritual health is something that we often overlook because there are so many other things pressing on us.  In the light of my current physical journey to health, I’ve learned some principles that can apply to each of us in our spiritual health that will ultimately give us health as the Spiritual Family, Fellowship and Body of Christ we are called to be.

In order to truly see health, there are some basic truths that must be our concern:

1.       CHOOSE.  We must make a decision that health is important and we must then continue to ‘choose’ health.  When my grandmother was ill with liver cancer, she would always state that she was ‘choosing life’.  Without a decision to be healthy, nothing else we do will matter.  In the sense of our recent view on a Healthy Church, we must be WILLING to make a decision to follow the Word of God in order to IMAGE God’s Glory as a family of believers.

2.       CHANGE.  Not only is our decision important but our WILLINGNESS to change must be central to our success at obtaining health.  Without a DESIRE to change, there is little hope in seeing change.  I love the quote, “If we don’t make some changes, we’ll stay the same.”   I sort of hear a ‘duh’ coming after that statement, but so often we don’t see “GOOD Change” because we are making no change at all.

3.       CHALLENGE.  It’s going to be tuff, nothing worth having is easy or free, especially our growth in Christ.  He paid for it with His Body and Blood so that we could afford His Grace.  It was costly for Him but free for us.  But it’s still a challenge.  Physical fitness is hard work and spiritual fitness is even harder.  Expect it and persevere in the power of Christ!

4.       CHARGE.  Charge others with a level of accountability.  We cannot make in on our own and it’s not God’s design.  Allow yourself to be accountable to someone in your daily life in Christ and in turn, be there for others.  The great commission teaches us to MAKE disciples; in essence, we have to constantly be equipping and sharpening each other in our Faith.

5.       CONSISTENT.  This is self explanatory.  Stay the course and keep focused.  Health is a process that never ends but if we are to be healthy, we must stay consistent in our decisions and disciplines and not ‘give in’ to the popular views of the day.

6.       COURAGE.  Keep strong in the LORD and have courage to know that He is working in us and the Battle is HIS.  We are charged with being stewards of the TRUTH we have been given and we must not give up but “FINISH the race,” as Paul says.

7.       CHRIST.  Last but surely not least.  CHRIST is the center and He alone is the answer to our Health.  His righteousness is given to us so that we can be Holy in the eyes of God.  His power is given to us so that we can CHOOSE the right way.  His PURPOSE is given to us so that we can be HIS BODY.  We are to trust in CHRIST by faith so that we can share in His Glory as we IMAGE GOD in our lives as believers.

1 Timothy 4:8 (NLT)
⁸ “Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come.”

In closing, be sure to PRAY  and PRAY and PRAY.  Pray that God will do a mighty work in YOU so that you will be healthy in him, then pray that God will continue His work in US and that we are obedient and open to the Spirit’s leading.

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Today we ‘consider’ our Hope and why it is important to truly reflect on our hope in Christ.

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Today we ‘consider’ our Hope and why it is important to truly reflect on our hope in Christ.

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PDF notes on Healthy Church Series.  This notes range from quotes from the 9Marks site to personal reflection and teaching outlines.  Please use in conjunction with the MP3’s of the series.healthy-church-fbc-newark.pdf

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I have had many requests for my notes/thoughts on the Hebrews series. So here are the notes, some brief, some thorough; for the first 28 weeks of Hebrews. They are 110 pages and are in PDF format. If interested, you can print, download etc.

MP3 messages are avail by clicking on the ‘message’ link in the nav bar if you so choose to listen while using the notes.

hebrews-fbc-newark-ca-weeks-1-28.pdf

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Outside my 8 minute introduction that could go elsewhere, this particular message is one that reflects on the work of Christ as mediator and High Priest. Hebrews 9:15-22

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