December is a busy month for all of us. We will have our regular services and Bible studies throughout the month with just a few excpetions.
We will have our annual Christmas Eve service on December 24th at 6pm, but there will be no Isaiah Bible studies on Dec 29 or 30. Also, Celebrate Recovery will meet on Thursday, Dec 31 at 7pm rather than Friday, Jan 1.
In January we are doing something completely new for us, we are moving our Sunday School and Worship times. The purpose of this change is to allow us to meet after Worship and have fellowship and discussion about the Scripture passage used in the worship time. Thus, Worship will begin at 9:30am and Sunday School at 11:00am. I am very much looking forward to the time we will be able to spend together after the worship service and hope you will join us.
Tuesday, December 1, 2015
Tuesday, November 24, 2015
Give Thanks
Thanksgiving seems to be getting lost in the mix of holidays between October and December. I was taking care of some errands yesterday and visited seven businesses; in each of them I told the clerk "Happy Thanksgiving" and only once did I hear the same in return. We go straight from celebrating gouls and candy to joyful choruses of gimmie, gimmie, gimmie on Santa Day. Meanwhile, being thankful is all but forgotten.
It should not be that way, we have been given much and should be thankful; thankful to God. Psalm 145 is on our Bible reading schedule for this Sunday, but it should be read all week long.
Psalm 145
A Praise of David.
1 I will extol You, my God, O King; And I will bless Your name forever and ever.
2 Every day I will bless You,
And I will praise Your name forever and ever.
3 Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;
And His greatness is unsearchable.
4 One generation shall praise Your works to another,
And shall declare Your mighty acts.
5 I will meditate on the glorious splendor of Your majesty,
And on Your wondrous works.
6 Men shall speak of the might of Your awesome acts,
And I will declare Your greatness.
7 They shall utter the memory of Your great goodness,
And shall sing of Your righteousness.
8 The Lord is gracious and full of compassion,
Slow to anger and great in mercy.
9 The Lord is good to all,
And His tender mercies are over all His works.
10 All Your works shall praise You, O Lord,
And Your saints shall bless You.
11 They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom,
And talk of Your power,
12 To make known to the sons of men His mighty acts,
And the glorious majesty of His kingdom.
13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
And Your dominion endures throughout all generations.
14 The Lord upholds all who fall,
And raises up all who are bowed down.
15 The eyes of all look expectantly to You,
And You give them their food in due season.
16 You open Your hand
And satisfy the desire of every living thing.
17 The Lord is righteous in all His ways,
Gracious in all His works.
18 The Lord is near to all who call upon Him,
To all who call upon Him in truth.
19 He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him;
He also will hear their cry and save them.
20 The Lord preserves all who love Him,
But all the wicked He will destroy.
21 My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord,
And all flesh shall bless His holy name
Forever and ever.
It should not be that way, we have been given much and should be thankful; thankful to God. Psalm 145 is on our Bible reading schedule for this Sunday, but it should be read all week long.
Psalm 145
A Praise of David.
1 I will extol You, my God, O King; And I will bless Your name forever and ever.
2 Every day I will bless You,
And I will praise Your name forever and ever.
3 Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;
And His greatness is unsearchable.
4 One generation shall praise Your works to another,
And shall declare Your mighty acts.
5 I will meditate on the glorious splendor of Your majesty,
And on Your wondrous works.
6 Men shall speak of the might of Your awesome acts,
And I will declare Your greatness.
7 They shall utter the memory of Your great goodness,
And shall sing of Your righteousness.
8 The Lord is gracious and full of compassion,
Slow to anger and great in mercy.
9 The Lord is good to all,
And His tender mercies are over all His works.
10 All Your works shall praise You, O Lord,
And Your saints shall bless You.
11 They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom,
And talk of Your power,
12 To make known to the sons of men His mighty acts,
And the glorious majesty of His kingdom.
13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
And Your dominion endures throughout all generations.
14 The Lord upholds all who fall,
And raises up all who are bowed down.
15 The eyes of all look expectantly to You,
And You give them their food in due season.
16 You open Your hand
And satisfy the desire of every living thing.
17 The Lord is righteous in all His ways,
Gracious in all His works.
18 The Lord is near to all who call upon Him,
To all who call upon Him in truth.
19 He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him;
He also will hear their cry and save them.
20 The Lord preserves all who love Him,
But all the wicked He will destroy.
21 My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord,
And all flesh shall bless His holy name
Forever and ever.
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
Reflections from a week in Virginia
My family and I recently spent a week in the Shenandoah Valley of
Virginia. We visited Skyline Drive and
hiked down the steep hillside to the Dark Valley Waterfall. God’s creation was on display in spectacular
fashion and the fall colors were brilliant.
We were even given the privilege of seeing a mother black bear and two
cubs far up some trees getting acorns (or something that they were knocking to
the ground to eat…we didn’t get close enough to see what it was!). We were within 30 yards of the bears, but
once mom climbed back to the ground it was time to put a little more distance
between us as bears are deceptively fast for short distances! It was equally as amazing once darkness fell
on Skyline Drive and the millions of stars, which He created and named, lit up
the sky.
All of this brings to mind Psalm 147:1-9
1Praise the LORD! For it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant, and praise is beautiful. 2The LORD builds up Jerusalem; He gathers together the outcasts of Israel. 3He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. 4He counts the number of the stars; He calls them all by name. 5Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite. 6The LORD lifts up the humble; He casts the wicked down to the ground.
7Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving; sing praises on the harp to our God, 8Who covers the heavens with clouds, Who prepares rain for the earth, Who makes grass to grow on the mountains. 9He gives to the beast its food, and to the young ravens that cry.
On another day we went to tour the Endless Caverns near New Market, VA. We have toured several caverns in PA and it is something we enjoy. We could have spent the entire week touring caverns in VA, so if you like to do that too be sure to check out the many in the Shenandoah Valley. Our great God not only made the ground and sky that we see everyday gorgeous, He made the underground splendid as well. I never ceases to amaze me how a big hole in the ground can contain such beauty and wonder. Of course, as with every cavern I’ve ever visited, at some point the tour guide turns out the lights and man, the darkness is overwhelming. They say that within 20 minutes you mind starts to fill in the darkness with images it creates; so you begin to “see” things that aren’t there. I kind of enjoy the moment of absolute darkness in the cavern, but I’m always thankful when the lights come back on. I cannot imagine being down there without electric lights! Of course, this always brings to my mind the darkness of sin of my life and how God brought His Light which chases away the darkness.
There are many verses that come to mind, but I’ll just mention two: Psalm 18:28 “For You will light my lamp; the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness” and 1 John 1:5-7 “This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”
Being a huge history buff, one of my desires for the trip was to visit a couple Civil War battlefields. We walked the ones at New Market, the Wilderness, Chancellorsville, Spotsylvania, Cross Keys, and Port Republic. Ever since I was stationed aboard the nuclear submarine USS Stonewall Jackson when I was in the Navy, I have had a particular interest in General Jackson. He was a brilliant military tactician and once he was killed at Chancellorsville, General Lee knew he could never replace his trusted subordinate. One could argue that the death of Stonewall Jackson changed the course of the war and of our united nation. The pivotal battle of Gettysburg shortly after Chancellorsville may have been very different with General Jackson there, and if so, the Union likely would have found itself at war not only with the Confederacy, but with France and England as well.
My son told me, not long after arriving at the Wilderness, that I get into a rather strange mood when we tour battlefields. I acknowledged his observation and explained it was the combination of being fascinated by the tactics and strategy of it all, combined with the awe of the fierceness of it all, with a heavy dose of grief, and sense of loss. The carnage on these battlefields was terrible, so while I love being a student of the tactics, I am equally grieved by the tragic loss of life and the horror of how many of these men died. It is a strange combination of emotions and thoughts that go through my mind when I visit these sites. But something else is part of that as well, the historical accounts indicate the many of the men on both sides called themselves Christians. General Jackson for instance, was a man of faith and prayed over his baby daughter as he lay on his death bed about to succumb to the wounds and pneumonia. There many examples and this is a mysterious part of the Civil War for me; how we who are brothers in Christ can find ourselves in situations where we count each other as enemies. It should not be that way.
I talked with an elderly man who was telling me about his church there in Virginia. I don’t know the name of the church, but they recently split and according to the man, the pastor convinced all the young people to leave with him (don’t know what exactly “young” meant to the elderly man). This to me is also tragic and gut-wrenching. I don’t know any of the particulars, but what I do know that is that brothers and sisters in Christ parted ways with some resentment involved. I’ve been around enough to know that this is not an isolated incident, it happens far too often. It usually starts as a little thing, but because we don’t handle things by the Word of God, it becomes divisive and destructive to the Body of Christ. It should not be that way.
This too brings to mind many passages, but I’ll mention 1 Corinthians 6:1-8 which says, “Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints? Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life? If then you have judgments concerning things pertaining to this life, do you appoint those who are least esteemed by the church to judge? I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you, not even one, who will be able to judge between his brethren? But brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers! Now therefore, it is already an utter failure for you that you go to law against one another. Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather let yourselves be cheated? No, you yourselves do wrong and cheat, and you do these things to your brethren!”
Let me just finish by saying that what I saw again during this week is that God is awe-inspiring and always does the right thing. As I see Him at work I know that we serve the One True God who is over all things including all angels, authorities and powers. To Him be glory forever.
All of this brings to mind Psalm 147:1-9
1Praise the LORD! For it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant, and praise is beautiful. 2The LORD builds up Jerusalem; He gathers together the outcasts of Israel. 3He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. 4He counts the number of the stars; He calls them all by name. 5Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite. 6The LORD lifts up the humble; He casts the wicked down to the ground.
7Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving; sing praises on the harp to our God, 8Who covers the heavens with clouds, Who prepares rain for the earth, Who makes grass to grow on the mountains. 9He gives to the beast its food, and to the young ravens that cry.
On another day we went to tour the Endless Caverns near New Market, VA. We have toured several caverns in PA and it is something we enjoy. We could have spent the entire week touring caverns in VA, so if you like to do that too be sure to check out the many in the Shenandoah Valley. Our great God not only made the ground and sky that we see everyday gorgeous, He made the underground splendid as well. I never ceases to amaze me how a big hole in the ground can contain such beauty and wonder. Of course, as with every cavern I’ve ever visited, at some point the tour guide turns out the lights and man, the darkness is overwhelming. They say that within 20 minutes you mind starts to fill in the darkness with images it creates; so you begin to “see” things that aren’t there. I kind of enjoy the moment of absolute darkness in the cavern, but I’m always thankful when the lights come back on. I cannot imagine being down there without electric lights! Of course, this always brings to my mind the darkness of sin of my life and how God brought His Light which chases away the darkness.
There are many verses that come to mind, but I’ll just mention two: Psalm 18:28 “For You will light my lamp; the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness” and 1 John 1:5-7 “This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”
Being a huge history buff, one of my desires for the trip was to visit a couple Civil War battlefields. We walked the ones at New Market, the Wilderness, Chancellorsville, Spotsylvania, Cross Keys, and Port Republic. Ever since I was stationed aboard the nuclear submarine USS Stonewall Jackson when I was in the Navy, I have had a particular interest in General Jackson. He was a brilliant military tactician and once he was killed at Chancellorsville, General Lee knew he could never replace his trusted subordinate. One could argue that the death of Stonewall Jackson changed the course of the war and of our united nation. The pivotal battle of Gettysburg shortly after Chancellorsville may have been very different with General Jackson there, and if so, the Union likely would have found itself at war not only with the Confederacy, but with France and England as well.
My son told me, not long after arriving at the Wilderness, that I get into a rather strange mood when we tour battlefields. I acknowledged his observation and explained it was the combination of being fascinated by the tactics and strategy of it all, combined with the awe of the fierceness of it all, with a heavy dose of grief, and sense of loss. The carnage on these battlefields was terrible, so while I love being a student of the tactics, I am equally grieved by the tragic loss of life and the horror of how many of these men died. It is a strange combination of emotions and thoughts that go through my mind when I visit these sites. But something else is part of that as well, the historical accounts indicate the many of the men on both sides called themselves Christians. General Jackson for instance, was a man of faith and prayed over his baby daughter as he lay on his death bed about to succumb to the wounds and pneumonia. There many examples and this is a mysterious part of the Civil War for me; how we who are brothers in Christ can find ourselves in situations where we count each other as enemies. It should not be that way.
I talked with an elderly man who was telling me about his church there in Virginia. I don’t know the name of the church, but they recently split and according to the man, the pastor convinced all the young people to leave with him (don’t know what exactly “young” meant to the elderly man). This to me is also tragic and gut-wrenching. I don’t know any of the particulars, but what I do know that is that brothers and sisters in Christ parted ways with some resentment involved. I’ve been around enough to know that this is not an isolated incident, it happens far too often. It usually starts as a little thing, but because we don’t handle things by the Word of God, it becomes divisive and destructive to the Body of Christ. It should not be that way.
This too brings to mind many passages, but I’ll mention 1 Corinthians 6:1-8 which says, “Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints? Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life? If then you have judgments concerning things pertaining to this life, do you appoint those who are least esteemed by the church to judge? I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you, not even one, who will be able to judge between his brethren? But brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers! Now therefore, it is already an utter failure for you that you go to law against one another. Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather let yourselves be cheated? No, you yourselves do wrong and cheat, and you do these things to your brethren!”
Let me just finish by saying that what I saw again during this week is that God is awe-inspiring and always does the right thing. As I see Him at work I know that we serve the One True God who is over all things including all angels, authorities and powers. To Him be glory forever.
Friday, September 25, 2015
Old Testament Holidays
This
week (Sep 22) was the OT Day of Atonement,
also called Yom Kippur. While we don’t
keep the requirements of that day since Jesus accomplished our Atonement,
reading about the requirements of that Day from Leviticus 16 and 23:26-32 are a
good reminder of just how blessed we are in Christ (Hebrews 9:24-10:10)! Also, if you have any Jewish friends or
acquaintances who are not believers in Christ, encourage them to read Isaiah 53
this week. Actually, if you have any
unsaved friends or acquaintances (and who doesn’t), encourage them to read
Isaiah 53 or better yet, take them down the “Jerusalem Road” yourself using
these OT passages for salvation through Christ (see below) .
September
27 is the OT Feast of Tabernacles;
you can read about it in Leviticus 23:33-44 and Deuteronomy 16:13-15. This was a 7-day festival, living in a tent
and giving thanks to the Lord for His blessings. Again, we don’t keep this OT feast, but we
are told to remember what the Lord has done and give thanks always. Living out in a tent for a day or two would
be a powerful reminder of how good we have it!
"The Jerusalem Road"
Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?
"The Jerusalem Road"
Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?
Isaiah 64:6-7 But we are all like an unclean thing,
and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; we all fade as a leaf, and
our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. 7And there is no one who calls on
Your name, who stirs himself up to take hold of You; for You have hidden Your
face from us, and have consumed us because of our iniquities.
Isaiah 59:1-2 Behold, the Lord’s hand is
not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. 2But your iniquities have
separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so
that He will not hear.
Ezekiel 18:20 The soul who sins shall die. The son shall
not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The
righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the
wicked shall be upon himself.
Leviticus 17:11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood,
and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for
it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.
Isaiah 53:1-12 Who has believed our report, and to whom
has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 2For
He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry
ground. He has no form or comeliness;
and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. 3He is despised and rejected by
men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our
faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. 4Surely He has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and
afflicted. 5But He was
wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities; the
chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. 6All we like sheep have gone
astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him
the iniquity of us all. 7He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet
He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep
before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth. 8He was taken from prison and from
judgment, and who will declare His generation?
For He was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgressions
of My people He was stricken. 9And
they made His grave with the wicked, but with the rich at His death, because He
had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth. 10Yet it pleased the LORD to
bruise Him; He has put Him to grief.
When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He
shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand. 11He shall see the labor of His
soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge
My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their
iniquities. 12Therefore I
will divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with
the strong, because He poured out His soul unto death, and He was numbered with
the transgressors, and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the
transgressors.
Psalm 51:1-4 Have mercy upon me, O God, according to
Your lovingkindness; according to the multitude of Your tender mercies, blot
out my transgressions. 2Wash
me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. 3For I acknowledge my
transgressions, and my sin is always before me. 4Against You, You
only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Your sight, that You may be found
just when You speak, and blameless when You judge.
Gen 15:6 And he believed in the LORD, and He
accounted it to him for righteousness.
Psalm 2:12 Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you
perish in the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in
Him.
Daniel 12:2 And those who sleep in the dust of the
earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting
contempt.
Thursday, September 17, 2015
Witnesses for Christ
Last Sunday we were
blessed to have a Gideon representative here with us. I always enjoy when the Gideons visit because
they greatly encourage us to continue and even increase our being witnesses for
Christ.
Over the past few
weeks we have taken on the challenge to pass out pocket-sized New Testaments to
people we meet. Several of us have done
so and it is great to hear testimonies of those interactions. We have distributed on the streets of New
Brighton, in restaurants, and other locations throughout Beaver County. All the glory to God for this and may He
continue to bless those efforts. May He
also speak through those Bibles to the people who read them, drawing them to
Himself through the Truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
On Tuesdays and
Wednesdays we’ve been studying Isaiah. Here
are the words of Isaiah 43:10-13 “You
are My witnesses,” says the LORD, “And My servant whom I have chosen, that you
may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, nor shall
there be after Me. I, even I, am the
LORD, and besides Me there is no savior.
I have declared and saved, I have proclaimed, and there was no foreign
god among you; therefore you are My witnesses,” says the LORD, “that I am God. Indeed before the day was, I am He; and there
is no one who can deliver out of My hand; I work, and who will reverse it?”
Amen.
Friday, March 20, 2015
Passion Week Prophesies
In our mini-Christology study, we have come to prophecies concerning Passion Week. Today we consider His being hated without reason and being beaten without cause.
The night Jesus was betrayed, He and His disciples had the Passover together. Throughout the meal, Jesus was giving them some final instructions and edification. He set their expectations in truth so they would not be disillusioned when things didn’t go as they wanted. In John 15:18-25 Jesus told them that they cold expect the world to hate them, just as it hated Him. For certainly He had come to His own, but His own did not receive Him (John 1:10-11). In John 15:24-25 Jesus says that people rejected the obvious works that Jesus did and hated Him instead to fulfill what had been prophesied long before; there are three places in the OT that use the phrase Jesus quoted. While Psalm 35:19 and 69:4 may be in view, it is probably Psalm 109:3-5 that is most referred to in this quote. Here is Psalm 109:1-5…
“Do not keep silent, O God of my praise! For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful have opened against me; they have spoken against me with a lying tongue. They have also surrounded me with words of hatred, and fought against me without a cause. In return for my love they are my accusers, but I give myself to prayer. Thus they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love.”
The second prophecy for today is Jesus being beaten without cause. Matthew 26:67 tells us that during the mockery of a trial given to Jesus, while He was still before the Jewish high priest, that they smote Him and spat upon Him. Later, after the innocent One was sentenced to death, Roman soldiers beat Him and spat upon Him also (Matt 27:26, 30). This was foretold through Isaiah, in Isaiah 50:6 which says, “I gave My back to those who struck Me, and My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard; I did not hide My face from shame and spitting.” That is just part of what the Saviour endured for you.
The night Jesus was betrayed, He and His disciples had the Passover together. Throughout the meal, Jesus was giving them some final instructions and edification. He set their expectations in truth so they would not be disillusioned when things didn’t go as they wanted. In John 15:18-25 Jesus told them that they cold expect the world to hate them, just as it hated Him. For certainly He had come to His own, but His own did not receive Him (John 1:10-11). In John 15:24-25 Jesus says that people rejected the obvious works that Jesus did and hated Him instead to fulfill what had been prophesied long before; there are three places in the OT that use the phrase Jesus quoted. While Psalm 35:19 and 69:4 may be in view, it is probably Psalm 109:3-5 that is most referred to in this quote. Here is Psalm 109:1-5…
“Do not keep silent, O God of my praise! For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful have opened against me; they have spoken against me with a lying tongue. They have also surrounded me with words of hatred, and fought against me without a cause. In return for my love they are my accusers, but I give myself to prayer. Thus they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love.”
The second prophecy for today is Jesus being beaten without cause. Matthew 26:67 tells us that during the mockery of a trial given to Jesus, while He was still before the Jewish high priest, that they smote Him and spat upon Him. Later, after the innocent One was sentenced to death, Roman soldiers beat Him and spat upon Him also (Matt 27:26, 30). This was foretold through Isaiah, in Isaiah 50:6 which says, “I gave My back to those who struck Me, and My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard; I did not hide My face from shame and spitting.” That is just part of what the Saviour endured for you.
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Passover Seder
This week we have a very special service planned (Feb 22 at 10:00 AM). We are celebrating the approach of Easter with our first official Passover Seder. We will follow a slightly shortened version of the traditional Jewish Haggadah (which means “what is said”) for the Passover celebrating the Exodus from slavery in Egypt. This includes a traditional Jewish Passover meal. We will conclude with a Communion service celebrating the Messiah who fulfilled Isaiah 53 and was our Passover as 1 Corinthians 5:7b-8 tell us, “For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” Please join us at 10:00 AM!
Here is Isaiah 53…
Who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant,
And as a root out of dry ground.
He has no form or comeliness;
And when we see Him,
There is no beauty that we should desire Him.
He is despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He opened not His mouth;
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
He was taken from prison and from judgment,
And who will declare His generation?
For He was cut off from the land of the living;
For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.
And they made His grave with the wicked—
But with the rich at His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was any deceit in His mouth.
Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him;
He has put Him to grief.
When You make His soul an offering for sin,
He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days,
And the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand.
He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied.
By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many,
For He shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great,
And He shall divide the spoil with the strong,
Because He poured out His soul unto death,
And He was numbered with the transgressors,
And He bore the sin of many,
And made intercession for the transgressors.
Here is Isaiah 53…
Who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant,
And as a root out of dry ground.
He has no form or comeliness;
And when we see Him,
There is no beauty that we should desire Him.
He is despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He opened not His mouth;
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
He was taken from prison and from judgment,
And who will declare His generation?
For He was cut off from the land of the living;
For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.
And they made His grave with the wicked—
But with the rich at His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was any deceit in His mouth.
Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him;
He has put Him to grief.
When You make His soul an offering for sin,
He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days,
And the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand.
He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied.
By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many,
For He shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great,
And He shall divide the spoil with the strong,
Because He poured out His soul unto death,
And He was numbered with the transgressors,
And He bore the sin of many,
And made intercession for the transgressors.
Friday, January 23, 2015
Jesus, Son of God
Continuing our mini-Christology study, we are looking this week at prophecies about Jesus’ early life and ministry.
Psalm 2 is a Messianic Psalm about the future reign of God’s Son. In verse 7 is a prophecy about God declaring His Son to be His Son. This is fulfilled in Matthew 3:17 at Jesus’ Baptism. When Jesus comes up out of the water, the Holy Spirit descends upon Him and the Father’s voice from Heaven says, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Besides the fulfillment of Psalm 2:7, we have God’s testimony of who Jesus is and we also see the three members of the Godhead: Father, Son and Spirit.
In Isaiah 9:1-2 there is the prophecy of the Messiah’s ministry in Galilee. From the beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry He spent much of His time in and around Capernaum and the Sea of Galilee. Isaiah 9:1-2 are quoted in Matthew 4:13-16 so we understand Jesus’ fulfillment of this prophecy. Remember back when we covered Micah 5:2’s prophecy about Messiah being born in Bethlehem? I noted then the difficulty that caused among the Jews of Jesus’ day (see John 7:40-44) because apparently none of them knew Jesus was born in Bethlehem, and Jesus didn’t tell them either. At the same time, Jesus growing up and ministering in Galilee was a problem to them too. Apparently they forgot Isaiah 9:1-2.
Then comes a prophecy that is particularly applicable to the Gospel of Luke, Psalm 78:2-4 says that Messiah will speak in parables. All four Gospels contain parables of Jesus, but Matthew 13:34-35 spells out that this is the fulfillment of Psalm 78. Luke contains more parables than any of the other three Gospels and that is part of the reason I named our sermon series, “We’ve a Message to Tell.”
Psalm 2 is a Messianic Psalm about the future reign of God’s Son. In verse 7 is a prophecy about God declaring His Son to be His Son. This is fulfilled in Matthew 3:17 at Jesus’ Baptism. When Jesus comes up out of the water, the Holy Spirit descends upon Him and the Father’s voice from Heaven says, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Besides the fulfillment of Psalm 2:7, we have God’s testimony of who Jesus is and we also see the three members of the Godhead: Father, Son and Spirit.
In Isaiah 9:1-2 there is the prophecy of the Messiah’s ministry in Galilee. From the beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry He spent much of His time in and around Capernaum and the Sea of Galilee. Isaiah 9:1-2 are quoted in Matthew 4:13-16 so we understand Jesus’ fulfillment of this prophecy. Remember back when we covered Micah 5:2’s prophecy about Messiah being born in Bethlehem? I noted then the difficulty that caused among the Jews of Jesus’ day (see John 7:40-44) because apparently none of them knew Jesus was born in Bethlehem, and Jesus didn’t tell them either. At the same time, Jesus growing up and ministering in Galilee was a problem to them too. Apparently they forgot Isaiah 9:1-2.
Then comes a prophecy that is particularly applicable to the Gospel of Luke, Psalm 78:2-4 says that Messiah will speak in parables. All four Gospels contain parables of Jesus, but Matthew 13:34-35 spells out that this is the fulfillment of Psalm 78. Luke contains more parables than any of the other three Gospels and that is part of the reason I named our sermon series, “We’ve a Message to Tell.”
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