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Oct. 19,2007; Part 8 of TBD

Focus Text: Matthew 21.23-25

Is it right to answer a question with a question? Let’s let Jesus answer this question and then reason as to when and how such might be appropriate.

“Now when He [Jesus] came into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people confronted Him as He was teaching, and said, ‘By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority?’ But Jesus answered and said to them, ‘I also will ask you one thing, which if you tell Me, I likewise will tell you by what…  ( Click for more )

Oct. 18,2007; Part 7 of TBD

Focus Text: Matthew 21.23-27

Jesus “practiced what He preached” when it came to being discriminating in His teaching of others. With the background of our previous two messages in mind (messages on the need to judge and to be discriminating regarding our hearers), you are asked to read (or reread if you have been following this series from the beginning) the focus text and today’s message.

“Now when He [Jesus] came into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people confronted Him as He was teaching, and…  ( Click for more )

Oct. 17,2007; Part 6 of TBD

Focus Text: Matthew 7.6 & John 7.24

Discrimination – is it a good thing or a bad thing? What if someone said that Jesus frequently discriminated when it came to teaching other people? Would you take that as a good thing, or would you be offended that someone accused Jesus of such practices. The answer is not as simple as one might think; consider this basic question in today’s message.

First, we will look at a modern definition of discrimination taken from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth…  ( Click for more )

Oct. 16,2007; Part 5 of TBD

Focus Text: Matthew 7.1-20

Do you agree that it would be a terrible thing to put words into Jesus’ mouth? What about claiming that He said one thing when in fact He said another? How would this be different from telling a lie about Him? Or, would it be different? Yet, day after day many people, some of them with totally blasé attitudes, put words into the mouth of Jesus, the Unique and Unequaled Teacher. Let’s see how they affront our Savior.

Let’s start by quoting the best known verse in the Bible (this is my opinion…  ( Click for more )

October 15,2007; The Power of "Un"

Focus Text: Isaiah 1.16-20

Consider the following list of words: Wise, holy, thankful, just, lawful, worthy, merciful, loving, forgiven, fruitful, godly, penitent, righteous, clean, believing, faithful, profitable. Do you like this list of words? Do you see these words as positive human attributes/conditions? To anyone who actually loves God, this list is a virtual recipe for success both here on in eternity. Now let’s turn that list around.

Consider each of the words again from this list. Now, in order to illustrate…  ( Click for more )

Oct. 12,2007; Part 4 of TBD

Focus Text: Matthew 21.23-27

It has been said, mistakenly, that time heals all wounds. However, if the Jewish Sanhedrin [the supreme Jewish judicial, ecclesiastical, and administrative council in ancient Jerusalem] was wounded by the seemingly radical actions of Jesus in cleansing the temple (see Matthew 21.12-13), they certainly did not allow time for healing to occur! In twenty-four hours or less after Jesus cast out the moneychangers, the elders and chief priests confronted Him as He walked and taught in the temple. This confrontation is…  ( Click for more )

Oct. 11,2007; Part 3 of TBD

Focus Text: Matthew 26.52-56

There is something to be said for the WWJD [What Would Jesus Do?] mentality; however here is an indisputable fact: No one can know what Jesus would do without knowing what Jesus did! In other words, it is fruitless to discuss what Jesus would do in any given circumstance if we do not know with certainty what Jesus did while here upon this earth. Those who brandish the WWJD acronym must either trust the written record of Jesus’ life (i.e. the Bible), or they ought to admit they simply do not know what Jesus would…  ( Click for more )

Oct. 10,2007; Part 2 of TBD

Focus Text: Matthew 21.23-27

What Would Jesus Do [WWJD]… if someone publicly asked Him a crucial religious question, a question that if left unanswered could result in the loss of a soul? Would He attempt to study in private with the querist, hoping to avoid a public confrontation, but yet capitalizing on the possibility of teaching a lost soul? Would He seize the opportunity to respond to the inquiry, teaching the lost person but at the same time demonstrating His superior knowledge of the subject and impressing other hearers for good?…  ( Click for more )

Oct. 9,2007; Part 1 of TBD

Focus Text: Mark 11.15-18

Three well know verses are used to introduce this subject; they are: “And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.” (Matthew 7.28-29). “So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, ‘Is this not Joseph’s son?’” (Luke 4.22). “Then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who…  ( Click for more )

Focus Text: Acts 2

Today’s message completes our study of How God Treats Sinners. Valuable principles have been discussed. Some of these are: 1) God’s love is unconditional, but His pardon is not, 2) How God treats sinners depends upon how sinners treat God, 3) How God treats a person in the physical realm is not an indication of how He sees him in the spiritual realm, 4) It is God’s sincere desire that all men be saved, and 5) God finds no pleasure in the death of the wicked.

Eternal Grace sprouted from the hard craggy hill of Golgotha; in just that manner…  ( Click for more )

Focus Text: Acts 2

This series on How God Treats Sinners has “covered a lot of ground” in the previous thirty-six lessons. It will close with two closely related messages also taken from Acts 2. However, these two messages will have a bit of a twist to them; they concern a fact that is all too frequently overlooked in a study of Acts 2. In the context of this study, one of the most amazing verses in all of Holy Scripture is Acts 2.14; it reads, “But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them…” Why is this one of the…  ( Click for more )

Focus Text: Acts 2

The prophecy of Joel 2.32 specified that anyone who would call upon the name of the Lord would be saved – no exceptions. Of course, calling on the name of the Lord obviously did not mean merely uttering the Lord’s name; rather calling on the name of the LORD is illustrated in Acts 2 by the instructions which inspired men gave to those who believed Joel's realized gospel message.

Peter was one of these inspired men; according to Luke, he was filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2.4) and therefore, his word ought to be the final word when it comes…  ( Click for more )

Focus Text: Acts 2

“But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, ‘Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words. For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: “And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams. And on My menservants and on…  ( Click for more )

October 1,2007; Who Won?

Focus Text: 2 Corinthians 10.3-7a

College and High School football is a huge reality this time of year. Sometimes people argue for months and even years about which team would have won had this happened, or had the other thing not happened. If you are in the typical office workplace, chances are better than even that you will hear some “Monday morning quarterbacking” going on before the morning is out. However, the score will remain just as it was when the final whistle blew regardless of the “self-proclaimed experts”…  ( Click for more )

Focus Text: Acts 2

This message is the first of five in the miniseries that will complete our study of the general subject of How God Treats Sinners. Regardless of what else we may have discovered in this series, I think we can all conclude that God does not always treat sinners the way we would treat them, and for that, we ought all to be thankful! Jonah, an otherwise godly man, would have preferred to have the Ninevites lost rather than have to go and preach to them. On one occasion James and John wanted to call fire down from heaven to destroy a group of Samaritans (see Luke…  ( Click for more )

Focus Text: Acts 8.12-25

Luke continues His epilogue to the story of the Samaritan woman and we continue our study of how God treats sinners: “But when they [the Samaritans] believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized.” (Acts 8.12). Though it is implied on earlier occasions, this is the first biblical passage which explicitly states that women were baptized. Perhaps it is significant in that Jesus’ first encounter with a Samaritan believer was with the Samaritan woman…  ( Click for more )

Focus Text: Acts 8.4-8

One of my favorite TV shows used to end with a segment called an epilogue. I’m not sure I knew what the “official” definition of epilogue was, but I gathered it to be a comment which was added as a supplement to the main story line. Well, there’s an epilogue to the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman that certainly belongs in our study of How God Treats Sinners.

The inspired record does not focus on the Samaritans after Jesus’ brief stint there. In fact, almost nothing is said specifically in the Divine record of what…  ( Click for more )

Focus Text: John 4.39-42

When the disciples returned from the city where they had gone to buy food, they were shocked to find Jesus talking with the Samaritan woman, yet no one dared ask Him for what purpose He had engaged her (see John 4.27). Shortly after the disciples returned, the woman went back into her home town and publicly declared her conviction that she had encountered a man who just could be Messiah. Due to the strength of her testimony, a number of Samaritans came out to meet Him and yet others apparently believed on Him merely on the strength of her word.

However,…  ( Click for more )

September 24,2007; Which Came First…?

Focus Text: Genesis 1

Of course you have heard the age-old conundrum, “Which came first; the chicken or the egg?” It has been the subject of many a heated debate. Did you ever stop to question why this puzzle is so difficult to answer? Have you ever seriously considered the implications of the fact that this enigma has survived over the years and still captivates the minds of many? Well, if I may, I’d like to take a crack at this one (pun intended!).

First, please observe that as the question is posed,…  ( Click for more )

Focus Text: John 4.25-26

Who were these Samaritans? To the average Jew, they were but dogs! To the religious hierarchy, they were worse than Gentiles and not worthy of help even in the most difficult and dangerous straits. However, not all Samaritans were bad; as is true with all cultures and races, some were honest, loving, compassionate human beings. After all, who hasn’t heard of the “Good Samaritan” and his neighborly attitude toward a rank stranger? Jesus told this parable to demonstrate a moral fact and here it is: Any person who is in genuine need is…  ( Click for more )

Focus Text: John 4.19-24

By demonstrating His in-depth knowledge of the woman and her marital state, Jesus gave compelling evidence that He was more than mere man. This led the Samaritan woman to say, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.” (John 4.19-20).

There is the possibility that the woman posed this popular religious-political question merely to deflect attention away from her own condition. Or, there is the possibility that she really…  ( Click for more )

Focus Text: John 4.19

Truth is a beautiful thing even when it hurts. It was doubtless somewhat painful for the Samaritan woman to admit that Jesus was right in His assessment of her when He said, “…you have had five husbands, but the one whom you now have is not your husband.” But, that revelation was just what the woman needed to cause her to finally realize that there was more behind the stranger’s claims than mere idle words. It was this intimate knowledge of her life that led her to conclude, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.” (John…  ( Click for more )

Focus Text: John 4.13-18

“Jesus answered and said to her [the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well], ‘Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.’ The woman said to Him, ‘Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Go, call your husband, and come here.’ The woman answered and said, ‘I have no husband.’…  ( Click for more )

September 17,2007; If Heaven Ain’t a lot like Dixie

Focus Text: Isaiah 55.8-9

I like some country music; I like some bluegrass music; I detest any music that demonstrates contempt for God and/or contempt for general moral and ethical values. Almost any popular genre of music has its share of such debasing, degrading, and disgusting lyrics. A well know artist had a hit a few years ago entitled, If Heaven Ain’t a lot like Dixie, I Don’t Wanna’ Go. It will prove worthwhile to seriously think about the sentiment expressed by that song title.

First…  ( Click for more )