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We recommend Training Hearts, Teaching
Minds as
a text for family
devotions! The readings are short and concise for each
day with a scripture reading to discuss. This is an excellent
resource for teaching your children (and entire family) how
to memorize the Westminster Shorter Catechism. ---)------------ Communion's Book Club meets on the third Tuesday of each month with an open invitation to all to join if you're reading it or not! Here is our current text:
Our past texts:
"It is impossible to say that one can be justified and yet still remain 'dead in trespasses and sins.' 'The natural person,' not the believer, rejects 'the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.'" Everyone who is buried with Christ in the likeness of his death is raised with him in the likeness of his resurrection. Returning to spiritual blindness and death is an impossibility for those who are in Christ. It is in this light that we can say that only those who are being sanctified will be glorified. That inward holiness that God requires is not to be confused with justification, but it also cannot be separated from it. Those who are justified will enter heaven with new hearts that delight in God's law, and none who despises God's law will enter its sacred precincts" (p.184). "Everything that God requires in this covenant is also given by God!...The salvation that he promises and provides is total, leaving nothing for us to achieve through our own strength" (pg. 185). "So now a condition such as 'all who persevere to the end shall be saved' can come to us not as a threat--a condition that somehow we have to meet if we ever hope to attain our own salvation--but rather as a condition that we know God himself will work out for us and within us according to his own good pleasure" (p.185). "Yet not everyone who belongs to the covenant community will persevere to the end. Some are weeds sown among the wheat, seeds that fell on rocky soil or that is choked by the weeds. Some branches do not bear fruit and are broken off. Again, this should be threatening only to those who in fact do fall away, those who like Esau forfeit their birthright for a paltry alternative" (p.185). "It is not the faithful who gather together to participate in the weekly covenant renewal ceremony who should be threatened by a final excommunication on the last day, but those who are unrepentant and unbelieving among us" (p.185). "If you are living in open rebellion against the promises of God and do not delight in his law inwardly, then the inheritance does not belong to you even if you have been incorporated visibly into the covenant community. The gospel is greater than we ever imagined, and the judgment is severe for those who reject the realities it brings into our lives" (p.192-193). "God's law, we find, provides the direction but not the power, and a panoply of spiritual technologies are available to substitute. We think that by reading this book or going to that conference or following this plan for spiritual victory or these steps for overcoming sin in our life, we can get the boat going in the right direction again" (p. 193). "What you really need is to be told all over again about who God is and what he has done to save you, and about the new world that awaits you because of his faithfulness to unfaithful sailors. This alone will fill your sails so that you can get safely back to the harbor when the gales blow hard" (p.194). "Our whole life as Christians is a process of sailing confidently
into the open seas, dying down in exhaustion, and having our sails
filled again with God's precious promises. We are never at any
moment simply under full sail or dead in the water, but move back
and forth throughout the Christian life" (p.194). Certain new theologians dispute original sin, which is the only part of Christian theology which can really be proved. Some followers... in their almost too fastidious spirituality, admit divine sinlessness, which they cannot see even in their dreams. But they essentially deny human sin, which they can see in the street. The whole secret of mysticism is this: that man can understand everything by the help of what he does not understand. A confusion quite as unmeaning as this has arisen in connection with the word "liberal" as applied to religion and as applied to politics and society. It is often suggested that all Liberals ought to be freethinkers, because they ought to love everything that is free... In actual modern Europe a freethinker does not mean a man who thinks for himself. It means a man who, having thought for himself, has come to one particular class of conclusions, the material origin of phenomena, the impossibility of miracles, the improbability of personal immortality and so on. And none of these ideas are particularly liberal. Nay, indeed almost all these ideas are definitely illiberal, as it is the purpose of this chapter to show. For to us Trinitarians (if I may say it with reverence) -- to us God Himself is a society. It is indeed a fathomless mystery of theology, and even if I were theologian enough to deal with it directly, it would not be relevant to do so here. Suffice it to say here that this triple enigma is as comforting as wine and open as an English fireside; that this thing that bewilders the intellect utterly quiets the heart: but out of the desert, from the dry places and, the dreadful suns, come the cruel children of the lonely God; the real Unitarians who with scimitar (A curved sword) in hand have laid waste the world. For it is not well for God to be alone.
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_____________________________________________________________________ The ONLY, TRUE, ETERNAL King of Israel had always been the God of the Universe who chosen Israel to be unique among all the nations. It was this God who preserved them, even as a remnant people, to survive every generation of wandering, and returning. God’s future anointed, messianic king was promised to arrive to take David’s throne and completely rule Israel in accordance to all of God’s expectations. With such a king ruling in Israel, the people would become convinced that the very King of the Universe would be literally manifest in their presence. God would dwell with His people in a divine paradise of life in Israel because all of the affections and all of the environment sustaining both king and people would be righteous, forever. ---)---------------- Therefore, the Old Testament concept of the Kingdom, rightly anticipated from the Old Testament now has a broader application. The Good News for a struggling people is that they will be gathered for salvation, preserved from judgment, be made new creations, would burst forth with living water and the fruit of the Spirit, and would have the King dwelling in their midst. ---)---------------- Luke’s gospel has more information detailing the accounts of Jesus’ birth, It is believed that Luke spent time in his investigations, speaking with Mary. It would be natural for him to mention her as a charter member of the church; but yet, to equally receive the power and promise of the indwelling Christ. ---)---------------- Assumption of Mary : the bodily taking up of the Virgin Mary into Heaven at the end of her life. This doctrine was dogmatically and infallibly defined by Pope Pius 12th on November 1, 1950. The Eastern Orthodox believe that Mary died a natural death, that her soul was received by Christ upon death, and that her body was resurrected on the third day after her death and that she was taken up into heaven bodily. Anglicans have a feast Day, Protestants regard her as the “Bearer of God.” ---)---------------- --> Pentecost – Feast of Weeks. Establish the Month of Nissan by the lunar phases of the moon to begin the Festival Calendar. Determine the full moon and make that the 15th of Nissan for Pesach, Passover. The day after Passover is the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The day after the first Sabbath that comes after Passover is the Feast of First Fruits; where the first of any grains are plucked from the field and waved before the Lord as a dedication of all the future harvest belonging to the Lord. 7 full weeks after the Sabbath after Passover, plus ONE DAY is the celebration of Shavuot = Pentecost… 50 days after Passover as an actual harvest of the First Fruits, the early harvest of crops in the month of Sivan. ---)---------------- Pentecost is the first harvest of the Spirit calling all mankind who live all over the face of the earth that Christ rules over them and that they should seek his kingdom and find hope in it – not in our clans, not in our nationalities, not in our political identities, but in the wondrous works of Christ on behalf of a dispersed humanity to be gathered under the unifying message of Christ. ---)---------------- Peter answers the question, “Well if Jesus could work wonders and signs, how come he got killed? Why didn’t he just perform a miracle and get out of dying? ---)---------------- Certainly David’s soul was present with the Lord, but Jesus had a physically witnessed Ascension into the heavens, which illustrated to the disciples the exaltation of Christ, his victory over this world, and his supreme rule from his heavenly throne! ---)---------------- We conclude from the NT references to this passage that God the Father tells God the Son to sit at his right hand, and King David has a prophetic vision, or sorts, in describing it. David is describing his future son, who will occupy David’s throne in the future, and David calls this future son of his, his Master! ---)---------------- 38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ---)---------------- 40 And with many other words he (Peter) bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” ---)---------------- So Peter knew that heads of houses would take this message home, and these men would tell their families something like, “While I was in Jerusalem during Pentecost, the Spirit of God came down and announced that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah of Israel, and I have been baptized into his kingdom, I now worship Jesus as God, and you must be anointed too with this baptism in Jesus name, because for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!” ---)---------------- Learning a particular set of doctrines about our faith was a priority for the early church, it was not entertainment, not inspirational stories, it was not plans on how to take “Israel back.” It was about how we worship the King as we live in his Kingdom! ---)---------------- We spent some time discussing who “the servant” of the Old Testament could be; but there is NO WAY to confuse in any way who THE HOLY ONE is! The prophets, and again with Isaiah dominating, repeatedly refer to God as the HOLY ONE, and now Peter boldly affixes that label upon Jesus! Therefore, Jesus is not just a prophesied anointed servant; he is also the VERY GOD of ISRAEL. Now how do you think that is gonna play to these men in the temple? Would they accept a man from Nazareth to receive the title of Deity? ---)---------------- On this Reformation Sunday, will I be able to unfold for you the CORE theological conviction of the Reformers of a completely Sovereign God who determines all things for His own GLORY!? Today I will remind you again that this IS the conviction of the Apostles, and believe me, we will treat it again from the Book of Acts. We should all be humbled with the greatness of God’s plans, and realize that each of us as individuals is a specific part of God’s eternal plans to bring him glory! And one clear way to bring Him glory is to confess to His greatness and to repent of our trying to eclipse God with our selfish agendas! ---)---------------- Peter is making the case that God sent prophets to foretell of a future day when He would send THE Anointed One to redeem Israel; but they ignorantly did not receive, appreciate, identify THE ONE who came in the power of God BECAUSE they had established new ways to cope with their situation – Especially the rulers, who had attained “anointed offices” and were not ready to give those up. They protected their position and power with deadly persuasion! ---)---------------- We are now observing the flow of history. A new group of people arise to espouse a new perspective on reality and a fork in the road will develop, and we will all have to decide which group really does represent the truth! There have been all kinds of movements in history: social, political, scientific, medical, theological and more – and each group advocates and defends their position. The new movement usually says something like, “Are you going to stick with the failures of the past especially now that we have made this new discovery?” While the other side says, “Are you really going to follow untested leaders when what we represent has worked for so long?” ---)---------------- The OT usually refers to salvation as being delivered from enemies, or of saving someone’s life from death. Did these men of the Jewish Court think they needed to be delivered from death at that moment? Probably not – spiritually it is true, but they did not have the urgency like the Philippian jailer whom we will meet later who says, “What must I do to be saved?” They have no since of urgency in this regard – although I agree, they should ---)---------------- SO how do true regenerated citizens of the kingdom of heaven live in the realms of earthly kingdoms? By always remembering to whom we are really subject – To Christ the King! How do we live this out practically? By knowing, teaching, and following his law written in Scripture. How do we know which laws apply to us today? When they direct us in how to properly Love God and Love our Neighbor. ---)---------------- What I think should capture all of our focus is that Christians should long to see Christ exalted in every sphere of rule. Will that happen on earth someday? I believe that the Gospel and the conviction of the Holy Spirit is able to accomplish this. Could we enter into a time of intense persecution by the hands of human governments of our world instead? I’m told to prepare for that as well. Do I believe that Christ is sovereign over both scenarios? Without a doubt! And according to His good pleasure and timing there will be a final day when we will see him seated upon the throne and we will give him glory for how he has ruled over every kingdom of this earth. In the meantime, I will earnestly pray, Thy Kingdom Come, They Will Be Done, On Earth As It Is In Heaven! ---)---------------- Note: Peter did not pronounce death upon him. Peter did not call for an execution! NOBODY touches Ananias! I have no idea if Peter’s next words were going to be, “Now repent, and offer to the Lord sincere fruits of salvation…” But he is undone. à The fact that his wife will die in a similar fashion indicates that God is striking them down for violating His divine standards à the death of Ananias and Siphira are a lesson to those who witness it and read about it. The church is not simply about love and sharing and having all your needs met. It is also a pure community that represents the Holiness of God. It is at this point that God despises wealth and church growth if it is going to compromise His holiness!! ---)---------------- Persecution had sent the believers to the area of Samaria… The Samaritans respond to the message of the kingdom of God, and they enter that kingdom by being baptized! The Apostles come to witness this positive response to the Gospel. Yet not everything is complete because even though they received the word, they received baptism, they haven’t yet received the Holy Spirit. The Apostles come and lay hands on them, and a sequel to the day of Pentecost is exhibited. There is a demonstration of the Spirit being poured upon them. ---)---------------- So here we read of a well orchestrated Divine Appointment, complete with Divine Provisions. An Ethiopian has a text of Scripture and the desire to understand what it means and how he should respond to it. Miraculously, a Deacon of the church happens to be on a deserted desert highway, ready to run and share someone whose heart was being prepared to receive the gospel – A gospel, which according to Isaiah 53, is not a story about people trying harder and learning better principles; but about lost sheep who would be saved by a spotless lamb who would willingly take their punishment so that they would know the riches of God’s grace… ---)---------------- Notice the fact that Peter is part of a Messianic Movement. As NT Wright has famously noted that Messianic Movements would continue after the demise of a Messiah by elevating a next of kin, or someone near to the figure to carry on the duties of Messiah. But there is a twist here, all the actions of Peter are not as the NEW MESSIAH, but always done in “The Name of Jesus the Messiah,” a Messiah who was not “on site!” Peter bows before this dead woman to entreat the mercy of HIS Messiah; Peter heals calling upon the name of HIS Messiah – acknowledging that Peter believed that Jesus was present, active, able, and powerful enough to heal and raise the dead! And no one worships Peter, because he has spoken plainly about the fact that he only represents! ---)---------------- Get this straight, in Acts 10 – we have an Apostle of the Christian Church concerned about breaking Jewish laws; we also have a pagan Roman who is praying that he might rightly worship God; and they’ve come together to confirm that the eternal God of the Universe, became a man and died on a cross… ---)---------------- The Apostle Peter has been summoned by vision and visitors to meet the household of a Roman Centurion in Caesarea. While there, gathered among friends and family of the Centurion, Peter explains the powerful truths of the Gospel. The elements of his message include: God’s acceptance of, and forgiveness for those beyond the line of Abraham; the prophesies of the Old Testament regarding the coming Messiah; the Messiah’s calling to “set free” the captives; the physical death and mighty resurrection of Jesus; and the present reign and future rule of Jesus over the living and the dead! We will discuss these major themes (and have a baptism, too) with this Resurrection Sunday’s message: “But God Raised Him!” ---)---------------- Profound nature of our ministry! To announce, as Jesus did, freedom for the captives! Freedom from the pain of guilt! Freedom to love for the sake of being lovely! ---)---------------- Setting up poetic justice! It is not the poor Peter in prison who almost forgot his cloak that was going to be judged; but it was the supposed ruler of Israel whose silver robe glistened by the light of the morning sun. It is the one who had power over international trade, who had servants and could throw festivals for the favor of the crowds who would receive true judgment! – it’s the great reminder to the church of whom it is that God saves and judges! Should we follow the prisoner in a cloak, or a King with a magnificent robe? ---)----------------
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