Archive for the Sermon Follow-Up Category
Apr 17
Paul’s Missionary Journey
In Sunday’s sermon from Acts 28, Ryan Kelly showed a map of the Apostle Paul’s missionary travels throughout the book of Acts. The map he showed is available below.
A couple of ways you can use this map:
- Print it out and keep for reference.
- Search, in your Bible, through each stage is Paul’s missionary journeys using headings or key words.
- Think of crafts or chalk drawings to do with your children that would visually help them see all the places the Lord led Paul.
- Remind yourself of what God said would be done in Acts 1:8 and compare it with what He did throughout Acts.
- See Acts not just as some stories about Paul’s adventures, but as God’s sovereign plan unfolding before our eyes.
- Praise the Lord with others in seeing His grace and mercy extending to the end of the earth.
Jul 7
The Theme of Wandering in the Book of James
In Sunday’s sermon, “Wandering,” Ryan showed us how James writes to warn his readers about wandering from the faith. This isn’t always the word that James uses, but a careful read of James’ letter will turn up this warning time and a gain.
Ryan took us through fifteen occasions when James shows us where and how Christians can go astray.
Here they are:
- Trials (1:2-12)
- Temptations (1:13-16)
- Being hearers of the word but not doers (1:22-25)
- Empty religion (1:26-27)
- Partiality (2:1-13)
- Faith without works is dead (2:14-26)
- The tongue (3:3-12)
- Worldly wisdom (3:13-18)
- Covetousness and quarrels (4:1-12)
- Judging brothers and sisters sinfully (4:11-12)
- Presumptuous plans (4:13-17)
- Rich oppressors are addressed and rebuked (5:1-6)
- Those oppressed and suffering (5:1-11)
- Oaths (5:12)
- Sickness and sin (5:13-16)
With the fullness of James’ multi-dimensional warning in mind, consider again his closing words in James 5:19–20, “My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.”
Jan 21
The Pro-Life Cause and the Presidency
As Christians, we have a dual citizenship. We belong to heaven, and yet we also belong here. This dual citizenship puts us in a kind of awkward position. Our ultimate allegiance is to our King, who is Christ. And yet Christ commands of us a certain allegiance to imperfect human authorities. For example, just this Sunday in Ron Giese’s sermon, “Engaging the World,” we heard from Titus 3:1, where Paul exhorts us to “be submissive to rulers and authorities.”
So, what does Christian citizenship look like under a government with rulers who promote and protect the taking of life and not life itself?
John Piper has been a steady guide on questions like this. In his recent post, “How Pro-Life Christians Honor a Pro-Choice President,” Piper gives us eight answers to our question. Here they are:
1. Humble ourselves.
2. Acknowledge God’s image, wherever we find it.
3. Acknowledge the institutions God has established.
4. Honor laws not conflicting with Christ’s lordship.
5. Resist withdrawing into isolation.
6. Oppose injustice and unrighteousness with non-violence.
7. Expect straightforward answers from leaders.
8. Trust the sovereign, loving purpose of God.
Click here to read his explanation of each answer.
Jul 31
Resources for Reading the Book of Isaiah
There are over 400 quotations or illusions to the book of Isaiah in the New Testament. For that reason alone, Isaiah is a good book to get to know. But there are a variety of reasons that Isaiah can be intimidating: it’s 66 chapters long, its organization can be difficult to grasp, and its ancient context can be a bit obscure to us.
There’s no substitute for simply reading and rereading Isaiah. The more you do the more its message will become clear, and the more you’ll hear its echoes as you read the New Testament. That said, there are a number of excellent resources published for a variety of purposes and in a variety of formats.
To help you walk through the text, two resources are worth mentioning. First, Drew Hunter’s, Isaiah: A 12 Week Study, will walk you through the book with questions and provide instruction along the way. Then, in Isaiah by the Day: A New Devotional Translation, Alec Motyer provides his own translation of Isaiah (he’s an Isaiah scholar, so he can do that) and concisely explains the heart of each section as it relates to the whole.
Motyer also has a full readers commentary, titled, Isaiah, in Tyndale’s Old Testament Commentary Series. If you had one commentary on Isaiah, this should be it. If you’re going to be teaching Isaiah or if you’re a university student dealing with challenges to Isaiah’s unity, Motyer’s more technical work is for you: The Prophecy of Isaiah: An Introduction and Commentary. Finally, for a compilation of sermons edited for publication by a faithful pastor, Ray Ortlund Jr.’s, Isaiah: God Saves Sinners is excellent.
Jul 17
Help for Diagnosing Personal Pride
God hates pride. Pride in the heart of any person insists, however subtly, that God should scoot over so we can take a seat as king. Whether by ignoring him or outright rejecting his rule, we are all born our own bosses.
In Isaiah 13:11, God writes this about Babylon: “I will put an end to the pomp of the arrogant, and lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless.” In last Sunday’s sermon, “The God of the World and History,” we pondered the danger of pride together. Babylon, in Scripture, is famous for her pride and symbolic of the pride at the heart of every human.
To help you examine your own life for pride, Desiring God recently published a helpful piece, “Seven Subtle Symptoms of Pride.” Here’s how it starts:
Pride will kill you. Forever. Pride is the sin most likely to keep you from crying out for a Savior. Those who think they are well will not look for a doctor.
As seriously dangerous as pride is, it’s equally hard to spot. When it comes to diagnosing our hearts, those of us who have the disease of pride have a challenging time identifying our sickness. Pride infects our eyesight, causing us to view ourselves through a lens that colors and distorts reality. Pride will paint even our ugliness in sin as beautiful and commendable.
We can’t conclude that we don’t struggle with pride because we don’t see pride in our hearts. The comfortable moments when I pat myself on the back for how well I am doing are the moments that should alarm me the most. I need to reach for the glasses of Christ-like humility, remembering that nothing good dwells in my flesh, and search my heart for secret pride and its symptoms.
In his essay on undetected pride, Jonathan Edwards points out seven sneaky symptoms of the infection of pride.
Then, with Jonathan Edwards as a guide, the piece unpacks seven symptoms: fault-finding, a harsh spirit, superficiality, defensiveness, presumption before God, desperation for attention, and neglecting others.
We all need to hear this. Click here for the full article.