October 2007 - Posts

• Sermon on the Mount Week 20

  Judging Self & Others                                      Matthew 7:1-6  •         Our Responsibilities to the Saved •         Careful Discernment, Not A Critical, Condemning Attitude •         Jesus Did Not Forbid Us to Judge Others •         Careful Discernment is Essential in the Christian Life •         Judge (Krino)-Means: To Analyze, Evaluate (For Believers), Condemn, Avenge (For God) •         What Are We Judging? •         Actions & Attitudes, Not Motives of Other Believers (Rom 2:16) •         Judged-Final Judgment by God of Works (Rom 2:1-3; Rom 14:10-13) •         Not That We Should Be Moderate in Judgment, So Others Will be Moderate With Us •         Do We Want the Standard of Judgment to be Applied to Us the Way We Apply it to Others? •         Or, Do We Want Mercy Which Cannot be Earned? •         The Interpretation is God’s Judgment After the Rapture •         The Application is People Are Judging Us Now and We Reap What We Sow •         Our Responsibilities to Ourselves •         We Are to Judge Ourselves First •         Beholdest-Consider Thoroughly •         That is in thy brother’s eye-The Relation of Believers to Fellow-Believers •         Mote-Speck of Straw •         Beam-Plank •         Considerest not-Pay No Attention To •         If We Do Not Honestly Admit & Confess Our Own Sins, We Blind Ourselves to Ourselves •         We Must See Clearly to Help Others •         The Purpose of Self-Judgment is to Prepare Us to Serve Others •         We Must Exercise Love & Tenderness When We Seek to Help Others (Eph 4:15) •         Two Extremes Must Be Avoided in Spiritual Self-Examination: •         Deception of a Shallow Exam (Jas 1:23-24) •         Extreme of Perpetual Pessimism •         The Most Well Known Hypocrisy Example is David in 2 Sam 12:1-7  •         Our Responsibilities to the Ungodly •         Dogs-Semi-Wild Hounds that Scavenge the Streets for Food •         Swine-Wild Boars •         That which is Holy-Things Offered in Sacrifice Were No Longer to be Treated as Common Food (Lev. 22:1-16) •         Neither cast ye your pearls-Pearls Represent the Precious Wealth of the Various Parts of the Gospel That Have Become Yours •         Both “Dogs & Pigs” Were Regularly Used to Denote Gentiles Within Judaism •         We Must Seek the Holy Spirits Guidance in Our Service      Jesus is Not Telling His Followers Not to Preach to Certain Kinds of People •         In Cases Where the Character of the Person is Not Known, The Command Does Not Apply •         Our Lord is Talking About the Case Where the Character is Known (1 Tim 5:24; Acts 13:46, 19:8-9)  Posted Oct 21 2007, 04:09 PM by jbarch with no comments

• Sermon on the Mount Week 19

  Trust Instead of Worry                    Matthew 6:25-34     The Information     Therefore-Divided Ownership is Impossible     Take no thought-Be Not Overly Concerned     What Does Overly Concerned Mean?     Jesus Does Not Mean We Are to Use No Forethought & Put Forth No Effort     Jesus Is Not Talking About Concern To Be Faithful and Useful to God (2 Cor 11:28)     Jesus Is Talking About Being Overly Concerned in Areas Where He Has Already Promised to Provide     This Concern is Unbelief and Disobedience (Phil 4:6)     Concern or Worry Over What?     For your life-Sustaining the Vitality     More than meat & raiment-Necessities of Food & Clothes     We Already Possess the Greater, Surely God Will Provide the Lesser     Worrying Over These Things Shows:     Fruitlessness Because Worry Does Not Change Matters     Faithlessness Because We Do Not Trust God     Worldliness Because Our Priorities Are Out of Touch With God’s Will    The Illustrations    Consider the Birds     Behold- Consider Thoroughly     They Don’t sow, reap nor gather-No Planning For Their Food     Yet your heavenly Father feedeth them-You Observe God’s Faithfulness     Are ye not much better than they-Of Much More Value (Matt 10:31)     Cubit unto his stature-The Measure of a Life or Age (Ps 39:5)     Anxiety is Needless, God Provides     Anxiety is Useless, No Positive Effect     Consider the Lilies     Lilies of the field-Emphasizes Unplanned Origin & Absence of Cultivation     How they grow-The Manner in Which They Grow     They toil not-No Labor to Produce Raw Material     Neither do they spin-No Labor to Manufacture the Beauty After Production     Even Solomon…was not arrayed-Splendor     Like one-Much Less Like All Taken Together     If God so clothe-Origin, Development, & Result Are All Divine     Grass of the field-Area Not Managed by Man     Which today is-Now You See it     Tomorrow is cast into the oven-Consumed for Fuel     Much more clothe you, ye of little faith     God Has Demonstrated His Careful & Precise Providence in Nature     Even To Insignificant Things Like Birds & Wildflowers     More Obvious That He Will Care for Man Made in His Image & Placed in Dominance Over the Earth     To Disregard These Observed Facts is Unbelief     The Invitation     Therefore, take no thought-Don’t Waste Time on Anxious Thoughts About Necessities     Why?     For after all these things do the Gentiles seek-These are Characteristics of the Unsaved     Knoweth-Because God Already Knows You Have Need of Them     But-In Contrast to the Gentiles or World     Seek ye first-Kingdom Priority is to Serve God Continually     The Promise is Limited to Christians, Not For All Men     The Promise is to Provide Necessities, Not Luxuries     The kingdom of God and his righteousness-The Spread of the Gospel & the Holiness of a Separated Life     All these things shall be added-Put God First, And He Will Take Care of Your Needs (1 Kings 3:11)     No thought for the morrow-Not Heedless of the Future     Morrow shall take thought for the things of itself-Do Not Borrow Anxieties From the Future (1 Peter 5:7)     Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof-Each Day Has Enough of Its Own Trouble; Don’t Try to Improve it!     Posted Oct 14 2007, 02:30 PM by jbarch with no comments

• Sermon on the Mount Week 18

  Light & Slavery                      Matthew 6:22-24     Exclusive Devotion to God     A Heart Fixed on Treasures in Heaven Because the Things of This World Are Perishable     Minds Directed Towards One Goal (Not Competing Between Heavenly & Earthly) Because the View Becomes Confused     Service Toward One Master      Light     Light-Is The Word for Lamp     Two Views:     The Eyes Are Windows of the Body (Room) & They Illuminate it & Make it Full of Light     The Eyes Are the Lamps of the Body Because They Enable the Body to Find it’s Way     The First View is an Application; The Second is an Interpretation     Body is the eye-A Symbol of the Souls View of it’s Environment     The Eye is Just a Means of Giving Light to the Soul     Eye be single-One Purpose or Undivided Loyalty     The Eye That Sees One Image, As Opposed to Seeing Double     The Single Eye is the One Fixed on God, Unwavering in its Gaze, Constant in its Fixation     Be Full of Light-Maximum Understanding of Divinely Revealed Truth     Inner Ability Through the Holy Spirit     Capacity to Receive the Light of the Word-illumination     More Than Just Full of Light; Giving Off Light (Matt. 5:14)     But if thine eye be evil-Worthless     The Gaze of the Soul is Directed Only Earthward     Thy whole body shall be full of darkness-Sin Effects the Whole Body (1 Cor 5:6)     Light that is in thee-Already     Thinks His Eye is Bringing in Light, When It is Really Darkness-Deceived     Great is that darkness-The Natural Darkness of the Soul That Leads to an Eternity Apart From God     That Person’s Darkness is Greatest Who Thinks His Darkness is Light (Lk 11:35)     Outlook Determines Outcome      Slavery     Serve-A Relationship of Exclusive Service & Ownership     Masters-Slave Owner    Hate & Love-One Will Be Preferred Over the Other (Lk 14:26)     The other-Implying a Distinction in Quality Rather Than a Numerical Distinction     Hold to the one-Means to Line Up Face to Face (Rom 6:16)     Ye cannot serve God and mammon     Mammon-Means Something in Which One Puts Confidence     The Slave of Mammon Will Obey Mammon While Pretending to Obey God (1 Ki 18:21)     The Principle Applies to Everyone     Exclusive Devotion to God    Posted Oct 07 2007, 05:00 PM by jbarch with no comments

• Sermon on the Mount Week 17

  Treasures                               Matthew 6:19-21   n     Showiness In Acts of Righteousness n     All of Life Is to Be Lived in View of Eternity n     Lay not up-Don’t Store or Treasure n     Treasures-Deposits n     Jesus is Not Teaching Christians Should Not Have Possessions (James 1:17; Phil 4:17) n     He Is Teaching That Our Possessions Should Not Have Us n     Where moth and rust doth corrupt-Perishable n     Rust-Means Eating n     Corrupt-Means to Cause to Disappear or Disfigure (1 Tim 6:7) n     Where thieves break through and steal-Anything That Doesn’t Perish Can Be Stolen n     Thieves-Means Robbers n     Break Through-Means to Dig Through n     The Method of Loss is Not Important n     In Contrast, Lay up… treasures in heaven n     This Is A Guaranteed Investment With The Highest Yield n     Only The Man of Faith Believes This Argument (Heb 11:6) n     What is the Treasure? n     Things Which Are the Result of Divine Grace & Approval n     Those Works Done With the Right Hearts Motivation n     Those Gifts of Grace As A Result of Salvation n     It is More Than Just Depositing Treasures in Heaven & Enjoying Treasures Here n     The Things We Treasure Govern Our Lives n     Heart-Means Emotion, Intellect & Will n     Obsessive Goals Devour People & Squeeze Out Kingdom Values n     We Must Have Our Heart On the Correct Goal n     Because We Tend to Move Towards the Object On Which We Fix Our Gaze (Col 3:1; 1 Tim 6:17; & Matt 19:23) n     Earthy Treasures Can Be A Distraction to Take Our Eyes Off the More Worthy Pursuits of Life and Eternity    Posted Oct 02 2007, 08:59 AM by jbarch with no comments