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Answers in Truth Episodes - | The Rescuing Transferring God - Episode #384 | Channel: Answers in Truth (Channel Website)
Episode Information: "This is Your Life" series part 5
Everyone Love a Hero
Colossians 1:13-23
Do you know that you are a true child of God?
Have you been rescued by Christ?
Have you been transferred by Christ?
Have you been reconciled by Christ?
Have you been redeemed by Christ?
Do you understand the Creator God in Truth? Have you mixed worldly philosophies into the words of Scripture? Do you seek the Fullness to dwell in Christ? Is your life about God's glory?
Do you struggle with having an assurance that you are saved? Do verses that speak of "continue in the faith" frighten you? Remember that those who are His are TRULY HIS and made into new creations (2 Cor. 5:17) and adopted into His family as His very own children.
Let's walk through the Word together and discover the answers in truth.
Author: Pastor Rob Casey | Get at Short URL | Download The Rescuing Transferring God - Episode #384 | Play in Popup.
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| Colossians 1: Greetings and Salutations part 3 - Episode #383 | Channel: Answers in Truth (Channel Website)
Episode Information: 3rd Installment of the "This is Your Life" series.
Do you understand the Grace of God in Truth? Many claim to believe in and appreciate God's grace, but many are also deceived and delusional as to what God's grace really is and how it is obtained or enjoyed!
Are you concerned about whether you "have what it takes" to be a part of God's plan? Are you sure you're asking the right question?
Take some time with us as we see together how God's grace and His qualifying work over us through Jesus Christ makes more of a difference than you may have previously believed or understood!
Author: Pastor Rob Casey | Get at Short URL | Download Colossians 1: Greetings and Salutations part 3 - Episode #383 | Play in Popup.
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| Honor Your Mother - Episode #361 | Channel: Answers in Truth (Channel Website)
Episode Information: 1. The Old Testament Laws from God
Exodus 20:12 ?Honor your...mother that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.?
Exodus 21:15 ?Whoever strikes his...mother shall be put to death.?
Exodus 21:17 ?Whoever curses his...mother shall be put to death.?
Leviticus 19:3 ?Everyone of you shall revere his mother.?
Deuteronomy 27:16 ?Cursed be anyone who dishonors...his mother, & all the people shall say, ?Amen?.?
2. The New Testament Teachings from God
Matthew 15:4; 19:9 ?Jesus said, ?...Honor...your mother.?
Ephesians 6:1-2 ?Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father & mother, this is the first commandment with a promise, that it may go well with you & that you may live long in the land.?
3. The Warnings: How to Dishonor Your Mother
Prov. 10:1 ?...a foolish son is a sorrow to his mother.?
Prov. 15:20 ?...a foolish man despises his mother. ?
Prov. 19:26 ?He who...chases away his mother is a son who brings shame & reproach.?
Prov. 20:20 ?If one curses his...mother, his lamp will be put out in utter darkness.?
Prov. 23:22 ?...do not despise your mother when she is old.?
Prov. 23:25 ?Let your...mother be glad, let her who bore you rejoice.?
Prov. 28:24 ?Whoever robs...his mother & says, ?That is no transgression? is a companion to a man who destroys.?
Prov. 30:17 ?The eye that...scorns to obey a mother will be picked out by the ravens of the valley & eaten by the vultures.?
4. The Example for the Family of God by Christ:
John 19:25-27 ?...standing by the cross of Jesus (was) His mother... When Jesus then saw His mother, & the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, "Woman, behold, your son!? Then He said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother!" From that hour the disciple took her into his own household.?
5. The Foundation of the Family of God in Christ!
Mark 3:31-35 ?Then His mother & His brothers arrived, & standing outside they sent word to Him & called Him. A crowd was sitting around Him, & they said to Him, "Behold, Your mother & Your brothers are outside looking for You.? Answering them, He said, "Who are My mother & My brothers?? Looking about at those who were sitting around Him, He said, "Behold My mother & My brothers! For whoever does the will of God, he is My brother & sister & mother.?
6. The Continuation of the Family of God in Christ!
Psalms 113:9 ?He gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous mother of children. Praise the Lord!?
1 Timothy 5:1-2 ?Do not sharply rebuke an older man, but rather appeal to him as a father, to the younger men as brothers, the older women as mothers, & the younger women as sisters, in all purity.?
7. Mothers, be Honorable for the Family of God in Christ!
Titus 2:1-5 ?But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine. Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, & in steadfastness. Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, & so train the young women to love their husbands & children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, & submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.?
Author: Pastor Rob Casey | Get at Short URL | Download Honor Your Mother - Episode #361 | Play in Popup.
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| Dealing with Depression, part 5: Demonic Oppression - Episode #344 | Channel: Answers in Truth (Channel Website)
Episode Information: "...a man from the tombs..."
(see PowerPoint slides on our website)
?I believe Demonic Oppression is the single most overlooked factor in Depression today.?
Mark 5:1-20 ~Signs of Demonic Oppression:
1. Fascination with what is morbid & dark
2. Lack of self-control
3. A draw to seclusion / solitude
4. Unbridled rage
6. Screaming due to emotional torment
7. Cutting or inflicting pain on one?s body
8. False humility / Fake worship
9. Constant confusion/frustration before God
10. Overwhelming fears of consequence/guilt
Mark 5:1-20 ~The World Can?t Offer Solutions:
So, instead they end up attempting to:
1. Merely control your symptoms
2. Put you outside of society
3. Bind what cannot be physically bound
4. Ensure their swine are safe?
5. Deny the Lord access to their system
Mark 5:1-20 ~The Savior Supplies Salvation:
1. He could have landed the boat anywhere!
?Lord, thank you, You know right where I am!?
2. He is not afraid of your tormentor!
?Lord, with you I need not be afraid.?
3. He stands with authority over them & you! ?Lord, I give total authority & control to You.?
4. He is not concerned with how many!
?Lord, no matter how big, You are still able!?
5. He doesn?t work in terms of superficial!
?Lord, change me from my deepest core.?
Author: Pastor Rob Casey | Get at Short URL | Download Dealing with Depression, part 5: Demonic Oppression - Episode #344 | Play in Popup.
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| Revelation for Youth: Chapters 14-15 - Episode #338 | Channel: Answers in Truth (Channel Website)
Episode Information: The "signs" continue with the 144,000, angels declaring an eternal gospel and warnings to mankind not to worship the anti-christ, his image, or his prophet, and the two great sickles that reap the harvest of humanity to be with Christ and to experience the wrath of God.
The final judgment of God's wrath is revealed in seven bowls full of it and no one can enter the throne room of God until it is complete!
We also discuss how important it is to be fully convinced of Christ and share Him with others.
Author: Pastor Rob Casey | Get at Short URL | Download Revelation for Youth: Chapters 14-15 - Episode #338 | Play in Popup.
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| Revelation Chapters 5 & 6 for Youth - Episode #313 | Channel: Answers in Truth (Channel Website)
Episode Information: The unveiling of the Seven Seals
1. The White Horse of Conquoring Nations
2. The Red Horse of War
3. The Black Horse of Famine/Pestilence
4. The Pale Horse of Death...1/4 of the earth dies
5. The Martyrs of Jesus speak from under the altar
6. The Great Earthquake
Interlude:
-Angels of the Four Winds
-Angel assigned to sealing the sons of God that will be and have come to be during the Tribulation
-The 144,000 Jews sealed for Christ's witness
-The Great Multitude which came "out from" the Tribulation are praising God
Author: Pastor Rob Casey | Get at Short URL | Download Revelation Chapters 5 & 6 for Youth - Episode #313 | Play in Popup.
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| What Does Revival Really Look Like? - Episode #307 | Channel: Answers in Truth (Channel Website)
Episode Information: What?s Revival Really Look Like? 2 Chronicles 30-31
30:1-5
Hezekiah ensured that couriers went out to all __________ and ____________ with an invitation to celebrate the Passover Feast again as it was prescribed in God?s Law.
The proclamation went out from ___________________ to ________. We?ve seen for a while now just Dan and Bethel in reference to Israel, but now we?re finally seeing the entire Davidic kingdom being invited to come back to __________________.
Revival seeks to restore broken relationships with ________ by restoring right fellowship with _______ through obedience.
30:6-9
Hezekiah gives great instruction to all the people:
1. ____________ to the Lord. (Your returning to the Lord brings His returning presence to you. He did not leave or forsake you but He can make His presence seem very far away whilst we disobey!)
2. Do not be ________________
3. Do not _____________ your neck
4. ____________ to the Lord.
5. ____________ His sanctuary
6. ____________ the Lord your God
?For the Lord your God is gracious and compassionate and will not turn His face away from you if you return to Him.?
30:10
There will always be those who respond to God?s call to return to him with _____________, ___________, and ____________, but this does not negate God?s promises or our responsibilities to respond to Him rightly.
30:11-14
God responds to the king?s pursuit of the people pursuing their God by affecting their heart with ____________ in their leadership.
We need to pray for this.
When the leadership was pursuing God and pursuing the people?s pursuit of God, God blessed and the _______________ first began by __________________ the things which had for so long taken God?s place in their capital city of ____________________ after seeing the priests clean out the temple. Revival was branching out!
30:15-20
The priests had waited and procrastinated toward consecrating themselves to the Lord, but upon seeing this wave of reformation and revival they became ______________ for their disobedience and started getting with it!
However, as a direct result of their disobedience, many of the assembly were _______________ unclean for the Passover. There was an unknown reaction to this from the Lord which he did heal at the prayer of his servant Hezekiah.
God demonstrates through Hezekiah?s prayer and His response to it of healing a picture of our ____________________.
Healing of the effects of disobedience came upon the individuals who _________________ their hearts to _____________ God, even though they were not in accordance with the Law, which can never save us! It was a belief and faith that brought about restoration
30:21-27
When the people begin the Passover feast, though in the second month, and though not all ceremonially clean, and see God?s favor on them for ________________ Him, there is much rejoicing, praise and adoration. In fact, the whole assembly decided to keep celebrating for an entire ___________ more days of ___________________ and ___________________.
When God works in this way, there is great ______. Nothing had happened like this since the days of King ___________________.
This was a restoration not only of Israel and Judah, but also more specifically of the ______________. We finally see them starting to take their rightful places and leading the people in rightful _____________. The result of this is that their voices were heard and their prayer came to His holy dwelling place, to ___________.
The Process and Outcome of Revival?
31:1
1. The people ______________ what was taking the place of worshipping the Lord!
The people had seen the Levites clean out the temple and that they had begun to take seriously their ________________ to the Lord, and having cleaned up their capital city of Jerusalem, they now with even greater joyful vehemence, go out to do the same in their homes and in _____ of their land.
31:2
2. Ministers are ____________________
When revival really comes, the anointing, calling, and ordaining of those who will minister in His name usually comes with it! Hezekiah sets the pace by reinstituting, according to the Law, the proper positions of ministry for the Levites and priests.
31:3
3. Leadership leads the way into sacrificial ______________ and _______________.
Hezekiah ensures that what he is supposed to give is taken care of right up front, according to the Law
31:4
4. Leadership tells the people God?s _________________ in relation to Leadership.
Hezekiah ensures that what God says was proper to administer to the Levites and priest?s is commanded to the people.
31:5-7
5. The people begin to give, and give ______________, even in __________.
Truly changed and thankful hearts who have been revived understand God?s Kingdom perspective and begin to give freely and liberally.
31:8-9
6. When God?s people see God?s people in obedience it produces hearts that bless the Lord
31:10
7. God?s people are ______________________ provided for when they are focused on the Lord and not themselves any longer.
31:11-15
8. Systems of ___________________ are established to ensure the obedient usage of what belongs to the Lord.
31:16-19
9. Impartiality is imposed as part of God?s system of _________________.
We see here with the Levites a similitude of the church in Acts.
31:20-21
10. The long-term blessings of Revival ensue.
God sees that Hezekiah?s leadership was _________, ______________, and ____________ before Him.
Every work which he began in the service of the Lord, he did with all his ____________, _____________ his God, and ___________.
Author: Pastor Rob Casey | Get at Short URL | Download What Does Revival Really Look Like? - Episode #307 | Play in Popup.
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| Set My Soul on Fire! - Episode #300 | Channel: Answers in Truth (Channel Website)
Episode Information: Romans 8:1-11
?Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin & of death.?
?Now the Lord is the Spirit, & where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.? 2 Cor.3:17
?For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh & as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.?
?Walk by the Spirit!? Gal.5:16
?For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life & peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, & those who are in the flesh cannot please God."
?Don?t grieve the Holy Spirit!? Eph.4:30
?However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.?
?By this we know that we abide in Him & He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.? 1 John 4:13
?But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you."
?It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit & are life.? John 6:63
Set My Soul Afire
Chorus 1
Set my soul afire Lord
Set my soul afire
Make my life a witness
Of Thy saving pow'r
Millions grope in darkness
Waiting for Thy word
Set my soul afire
Lord set my soul afire
Verse 1
Set my soul afire Lord
For Thy Holy Word
Burn it deep within me
Let Your voice be heard
Millions grope in darkness
In this day and hour
I will be a witness
Fill me with Thy pow'r
Verse 2
Set my soul afire Lord
For the lost in sin
Give to me a passion
As I seek to win
Help not to falter
Never let me fail
Fill me with Thy Spirit
Let Thy will prevail
Verse 3
Set my soul afire Lord
In my daily life
Far too long I've wandered
In this day of strife
Nothing else will matter
But to live for Thee
I will be Your witness
As You live in me
"do you suppose it is to no purpose
that the Scripture says,
?He yearns jealously over the spirit
that He has made to dwell in us."
James 4:5
Author: Pastor Rob Casey | Get at Short URL | Download Set My Soul on Fire! - Episode #300 | Play in Popup.
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| My Grace is Sufficient for YOU! - Episode #295 | Channel: Answers in Truth (Channel Website)
Episode Information: (The beginning of this recording is of the offering prayer and special music in our service where the youth, led by Beth James, brought me forward to the stage as she sang "Thank You" by Ray Boltz, and the youth, one by one, handed me thank you cards and hugged me to say thank you on Pastor Appreciation Sunday. I share it with you now because of it's obvious affect on the sermon, the message, and of course, the messenger. If you've not thanked your Pastor lately, please do so today. The recording is a little bumpy at first because of this, so fair warning. Thank you for listening and may this message truly encourage your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus! ~Pastor Rob)
"To think that I can ever be sufficient in any capacity on my own or in addition to the kindness of God?s gift of Christ Jesus is to deny the very identity and person of the Savior, his work, and his loving mercy which found the means to grant us grace through the satisfaction of His holy standard through His son?s suffering sacrifice. The idea of any work, including baptism or obedience to any form of law, as a means to justify ourselves or bring us into the merit or favor of God is at it?s core humanistic and anti-Christ. Therefore, no flesh will be justified in God?s sight which has indulged the religious notion that by actions of it?s own flesh, in accordance with any law, can have added to it the grace of God through Jesus Christ as a mere salting upon our own meat of worth and boasting. Note that it was those whom Christ did not know that did much in His name that were cast out forever, yet those who knew Him unassumingly served Him in the works His own grace had foreknown and prepared that they might walk therein to the praise of His glory and in agreement with His word."
"God's Grace from A to Z"
A. When you?re longing for acceptance, remember you?ve been adopted by Grace
B. When you feel like you don?t belong, remember you?ve been brought near by Grace
C. When all you need in the world is comfort, remember the Comforter lives within you because of Grace
D. When all the world offers becomes a disappointment, remember the Father delights in you because of Grace
E. When you want to try to earn God?s favor, remember that the earnest has already been given because of Grace
F. When you become fearful or afraid, remember that you have been forgiven by God?s grace
G. When you feel like you just can go on, remember that in Christ you can go boldly before the throne of Grace
H. When it all seems hopeless, remember that He is our hope because of Grace
I. When you feel inadequate and insufficient, remember that because of Grace, your Father is the Great I AM
J. When the enemy tries to steal your joy, remember that it?s the joy of the Lord he?s trying take, and he can?t because of Grace
K. When the world is not kind to you, remember it was the Kindness of the Lord which brought you to himself because of Grace
L. When all you want is to be loved, remember that his love was settled for you on the cross and came to you by Grace
M. When you don?t have the Means to move forward, remember that He?s ?Mighty to Save? and on your side because of Grace
N. When you?re in need, remember that he promised to supply all your needs in Christ Jesus because of Grace
O. When you?re out of resources, remember that God?s children will have their cup overflowing because of Grace
P. When there?s no way it?s possible, remember that everything is possible with your Father
Q. When all you?re riddled with questions, remember that He quiets our souls because of Grace
R. When you know you?ve run from Him, he restores your soul because of Grace
S. When you stumble over sin and don?t feel secure, remember you?ve been saved by Grace
T. When you don?t know who to trust, remember you can trust in the Lord with all your heart because of his Grace
U. When you don?t understand God, thank Him that He upholds YOU and don?t underestimate the power of that Grace
V. When you keep failing with a vice, remember that Jesus Christ really did already bring you the victory because of Grace
W. When you?re filled with worry, remember that God?s ways are not like our ways, remember His wisdom brought you Grace!
X. Remember that because of God?s Grace, when God x-ray?s your heart, He sees the x-cellence of Christ!
Y. When you yearn for more of God, because of God?s Grace all you have to do is Yield
Z. When your strength has been zapped, by God?s Grace let the zeal of God consume you
Author: Pastor Rob Casey | Get at Short URL | Download My Grace is Sufficient for YOU! - Episode #295 | Play in Popup.
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| Aren't You Hungry Yet? - Episode #293 | Channel: Answers in Truth (Channel Website)
Episode Information: Hebrews 5:12-14
?For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, & you have come to need milk & not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he?s an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good & evil.?
Questions to Consider: Time
?by this time you ought to be teachers?
1. How long have I known the Lord?
2. How often do I spend time praying?
3. How often do I read God?s Word?
4. How often am I taught Scripturally?
5. How long?s it been since I really sought out opportunities to put into practice what my teachers, pastor, & my own personal study of God?s Word are trying to tell me?
Questions to Consider: Experience
?you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God?
1. Am I understanding what I?m hearing?
2. Do I ask questions about what I hear?
3. Have I rationalized against being taught?
4. Is God using me at all in other lives?
5. Am I ready to move beyond the simple message of the Gospel into deeper things?
Questions to Consider: Accustom
?you have come to need milk & not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he?s an infant?
1. Am I uncomfortable with conviction?
2. Am I uncomfortable with Christians?
3. Am I uncomfortable with change?
4. Am I uncomfortable with Church?
5. Am I ready to admit that my faith needs to move forward into a mature, self-less, everyday service to my savior, Christ?
Questions to Consider: Calling
?But solid food is for the mature, ?
1. Agree with God: you?re called to grow!
2. Agree with God: you?re called to sow!
3. Agree with God: you?re not alone!
4. Pastors & teachers are called?
5. The mark of maturity is an increasing humility & service to Christ, a ?letting go? of fleshy/worldly things, & a growing application of His Word in your daily life.
Questions to Consider: Healthy
?who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good & evil, ?
1. Put your faith into practice!
2. Sensitive to the Spirit!
3. Trained by teachers!
4. Discernment is a disciple?s discipline!
5. You?re called to grow into more of God & away from evil. True Spirituality?s a Steak you?ve been longing for your whole life!
Author: Pastor Rob Casey | Get at Short URL | Download Aren't You Hungry Yet? - Episode #293 | Play in Popup.
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| SYATP - Episode #277 | Channel: Answers in Truth (Channel Website)
Episode Information: Van Horn High School's "See You At The Pole" 2008.
We had a great turnout this morning for a time of singing, Krispy Kreams and praying for our schoo, our community, and our nation!
You can't hear the students singing over the phone very well at all. Sorry guys!! I had the phone pointed in the wrong direction...oops!!
Author: Pastor Rob Casey | Get at Short URL | Download SYATP - Episode #277 | Play in Popup.
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| Episode #261 | Channel: Answers in Truth (Channel Website)
Episode Information: Got Questions? Get Answers! Let's get together for a few moments in the Word and discover His truth for your life now. Jot me your questions at questions@answersintruth.com, and thank you for being a seeker of truth!
Author: Pastor Rob Casey | Get at Short URL | Download Episode #261 | Play in Popup.
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| Bringing Up Believers Part 5: The Conclusion - Episode #240 | Channel: Answers in Truth (Channel Website)
Episode Information: Bringing Up Believers: Part 5
Part Two of the Top Ten Reasons Families Don't Spend Time Together in the Word
6. I don't ______________well out loud. Exodus 4:10-12
7. I don't even know where to ________with all of that.
Genesis 1:1 / John 1:1-5
8. If I start trying to lead my family in a Bible study, I'll feel like a ______________. Matthew 7:1-5 / Mark 7:6-9
9. I don't have time to spend on a lot of _____________ for an hour with my family in the Bible. Eccl. 12:8-14 / John 7:14-18 / 2 Tim 2:15
10. I feel like they get ___________Bible stuff at church & don't need more of it at home from _____. Psalm 78:2-8 / Deuteronomy 4:7-9
Author: Pastor Rob Casey | Get at Short URL | Download Bringing Up Believers Part 5: The Conclusion - Episode #240 | Play in Popup.
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| Bringing Up Believers Part 4: Top Ten Reasons Families Don't Spend Time in the Word at Home - Episode #239 | Channel: Answers in Truth (Channel Website)
Episode Information: 1. I am not a qualified teacher of spiritual things.
Deu 5:31 But you, stand here by me, & I will tell you the whole commandment & the statutes & the rules that you shall teach them, that they may do them in the land that I am giving them to possess.'
2. I don't understand some of the things I read in the Bible
2Ti 2:7Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.
3. I can't find time to get everyone in one spot for a Bible study
Psa 84:10For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
4. I don't want to bore my kids with having to listen to a sermon at home
(Psa 96:1-13) Oh sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth!Sing to the LORD, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples! For great is the LORD, & greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the LORD made the heavens. Splendor & majesty are before him; strength & beauty are in his sanctuary. Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the LORD glory & strength! Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering, &come into his courts! Worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness; tremble before him, all the earth! Say among the nations, "The LORD reigns! Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity." Let the heavens be glad, & let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, & all that fills it; let the field exult, &everything in it! Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy before the LORD, for he comes, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness, & the peoples in his faithfulness.
5. I don't want them to rebel for making them haveBible study instead of doing what they wanted to do.
Psa 119:9-12 How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. Blessed are you, O LORD; teach me your statutes!
Author: Pastor Rob Casey | Get at Short URL | Download Bringing Up Believers Part 4: Top Ten Reasons Families Don't Spend Time in the Word at Home - Episode #239 | Play in Popup.
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| Lessons for Living and Leadership from Jehoshaphat - Episode #238 | Channel: Answers in Truth (Channel Website)
Episode Information: Lessons for Living and Leadership from Jehoshaphat
(2 Chronicles 19 & 20 with 1 Kings 22:49)
There is an order that tends to by cyclical in our lives, our families, and in our roles as spiritual leaders.
A. How we ought to be found living already...
1. (19:3) ______________ what Keeps us from the Lord
2. (19:3) ______________ the Lord
3. (19:4) ______________ Others Back to the Lord
B. How we ought to be found leading already...
1. (19:5) ______________________ Right Leadership Around Us
2. (19:5-11) ___________________ Right Leadership with God?s Word
3. (19:5-11) ___________________ Right Leadership by a Right Example
C. Confrontations, Disagreements, and Enemies are Inevitable...
1. (20:1) Enemies will ____________ Against You
2. (20:2) Enemies will ____________ toward You
3. (20:1-2, 12) Enemies will _______ to Overpower You
D. There is a Choice to Respond to what could Overtake You...
1. (20:3) Fear is the natural ______________ when I see whatever is before Me as Bigger than I AM.
2. (20:3) Turn ________ from what you?re afraid of & __________ the Lord who?s bigger than everything!
3. (20:3) Turn the Attention of Who I?m Leading to Seek the Lord with Me.
E. There is strength in numbers....and a reason for the church to gather...
1. (20:3-4) Gather together in _______________
2. (20:4) Seek the ___________ of God together
3. (20:5-12) Seek the Lord together in ________
F. This is a Time to Remember....
1. (20:6) Remember His ______________________
2. (20: 6-9) Remember His ____________________
3. (20: 10-12) Remember His __________________
G. Wait, I say, On the Lord...
1. (20:13) Wait without _______________!
2. (20:13) Wait without _______________!
3. (20:13) Wait for God to Move and Speak!
H. Listening is the Key to much of Walking with Christ
1. (20:14-17) Listen for His Comforter?s _____________________ and ____________________
2. (20:14-17) Listen for His Comforter?s _____________________ and ____________________
3. (20:14-17) Listen for His Comforter?s Coherence and Consistency with ___________________
I. There comes a point where we called to Respond to H.I.M.
1. (20:18) Respond in ______________________
2. (20:18, 20) Respond in ___________________
3. (20:19) Respond in ______________________
J. Back to Leadership...
1. (20:20) Remind them of His _______________!
2. (20:20) Stick to the Plan of ________________!
3. (20:20) __________ the Lord and His Word for the Outcome!
K. You can?t see the Victory if you?re Hiding in the Temple...Get Out and Get Going!
1. (20:21) Praise and Thank Him like the Battle is Won _______________....because it is!
2. (20:21) Is your __________ Holy and ready for the Spiritual Battle: Are you right?
3. (20:21) Go meet the enemy based on God?s _______________ of Faithfulness (ie. faith and not flesh)
L. Remember who the Battle Belongs to...
1. (20:17, 22) ____________ yourself in praise and thanks and Let God do what He wants to do
2. (20:22) His _________________ is holy, yours isn?t.
3. (20:23-24) God?s people are often found watching their enemies destroy one another in Scripture
M. The Outcome of Obedience...
1. (20:25, 27) You get to return from the battle with no regrets but _______ instead, a spoil beyond compare
2. (20:26) You will be in a position to further ____________ the Lord for what He has done
3. (20:29) You will watch as God works in ______________ as a result of His work in you and your enemies
N. You will be tested beyond the battle and you must wash, rinse, repeat....
1. (20:35-37) If we?re not careful, we will _______________ where the victory came from soon afterward
2. (20:35-37) God is just as able to destroy your __________ as He is to destroy the works of your enemy.
3. (1 Kings 22:49) The enemy will never stop ____________________ for your allegiance or servitude and the allegiance or servitude of those you are leading. With whom are you going to lead others to follow or go with?
Author: Pastor Rob Casey | Get at Short URL | Download Lessons for Living and Leadership from Jehoshaphat - Episode #238 | Play in Popup.
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| The Nurture and Admonition of the Lord - Episode #237 | Channel: Answers in Truth (Channel Website)
Episode Information: Bringing Up Believers part 3
You have the opportunity, still, while it is still called today, with your young ones, to bring them up to that fixed position with Christ, to that place whereby as they grow older they won't depart from a life lived for Christ. Like we asked last week, who do you want your children to be more in love with, you? or Jesus Christ? What are you doing in your personal life to reflect that Jesus Christ is WORTH being that much in love with? Are you seeking Him? Are you seeking His Word? Are you seeking Him in the lives of your children or you just trying bring about perfected behavior?
Here is a list of questions to probe your heart with this morning that are not so much questions to convict you with but to encourage families to begin evaluating the true nature and condition of their mindsets and viewpoints toward Christianity in the home, the nurture and admonition of the Lord as parents and bringing up believers.
1. When you were brought up by your parents, was Christianity such a strict set of behaviors and codes of conducts and rules and regulations that you find yourself now trying to make your home so different than that experience that perhaps you are not emphasizing Christ in the home as much as you should?
2. Have you had negative experiences with people in a church, even this one perhaps, that you have in turn taught your family the identity of Jesus Christ more based on how some people behaved at a given time than what Scripture and the Holy Spirit tell us about a relationship with our Lord?
3. Do you find yourself more secure in your salvation and comfortable in your beliefs if you are surrounded by religious rules and a code of right and wrong that, if followed, must then mean to everyone around you and around your children that you are a Christian, but in fact are impossible for anyone, especially your children to fully live up to?
4. Could you define for your children what Biblical fellowship, Biblical discipleship, Biblical edification and Biblical encouragement really means? Do they know what those things really mean or have the definitions of such things that are, according to the Bible, mandates for the church, become confused in your home and in your church with the world's definitions or with a religion's definitions instead?
5. Do your children ever see you sharing your faith or do you find yourself telling them that your faith is a private matter and that you shouldn't bring it up with people unless they specifically ask you about it first? Both concepts are not of God and not found in the Scriptures, but being a bold witnesses for Christ is.
6. Have you taught your children how to share the message of salvation in Jesus Christ with others? If I were to pull one of them aside right now and ask them how I could know for sure I was going to heaven, could they tell me, could they explain it to me? What about baptism? What about spiritual gifts? What about the Trinity? Have you taught them about the Holy Spirit?
7. Do you find that your family tries to fit in, be popular, make more money, get ahead in life, and is always buying the latest thing, the coolest gadget, the neatest toys and the brand names that will make them the most friends? Is this the pattern of your home? Why do you think that is? What is the center of your child's world if that is the way in which you train them to respond to it?
8. Are you teaching your children that God and church are activities and events or a relationship that is real and personal and consistent? Is church something your family comes to in order to fulfill an obligation or to seek the face of God with other believers? Don't answer the church answer, what's your real motive?
9. Do your children pray? Have you taught them to do this based on the Bible's teaching of prayer or from some other source? Do they expect big things from our big God? Do they know how to pray specifically and in detail? Are they praying out of routine or out of relationship? Do you pray with them? Do you pray over them? If you didn't pray at meals, what other prayer time would exist in your family?
10. If your son or daughter that is old enough to understand the Scriptures died today, would they go to heaven? Do you take seriously your responsibility as a parent to Bring up Believers in your home? Are you praying for the salvation of your lost children? Are you preparing their lives to walk with Christ or just to succeed monetarily on earth?
11. Are you skipping out on your responsibility to train and equip your children at home by sending them to Sunday School? Do you realize there is no Biblical mandate to send your children to Sunday School, which only began in 1780, but there are many, many commands to parents to take the job of rearing true Believers seriously?
12. Are you telling your family you don't have time to spend in God's Word with them or in prayer with them but you have time to watch sports, watch movies, go golfing, go hunting or fishing, or some other activity? Are you teaching your children how to lie about spirituality in their lives?
13. Are you trying to find a place for the Lord in all you do or do you find the Lord inescapable in all He's doing around you? Are you making the reality of God's presence in your life too difficult a thing and too tough an act to follow by you description but not according to your reality, if you'll admit it?
14. If you had to choose between your child marrying and having a beautiful family and eventually dying after a long and financially secure life or your child going on the mission field and seeing many lost souls come to know and love Jesus Christ, but eventually dying from persecution at a young age, which would you choose for them? Can you link your desire for them in this question to your mindset as you train them to be the adults you want them to?
15. Are you tackling the tough issues in your home with just "do this" and "don't do that" or are you combining your teaching with the authority of God's Word? On the flipside, are you teaching them to hate God's Word because you manipulate it to bring about what you want to to teach what you want taught out of the proper context of the passage you got your verses from?
16. Are your children or teenagers more excited about spiritual things than you are? The answer is probably not.
17. Who's more popular in your home, Disney or Jesus Christ?
18. What's of greater value in your home, a lost soul or a new vehicle?
19. If the Lord tapped you on the heart and told you to apologize to your children for the role model you've been and for the kind of relationship with Christ you have pursued and that from this point forward you were going to pursue making HIM the center of your home and family, even if that meant some changes would have to be made from what everyone was used to, would you even be willing to obey the Lord with that? Does that make you nervous to hear it? Does that make you angry to be told that you may need to do that? Why do you think that is?
20. If Jesus Christ was sitting at your kitchen table when you got home from church this afternoon, and He wanted to talk to you personally about how you were bringing up your children, what do you think He would say to you?
Author: Pastor Rob Casey | Get at Short URL | Download The Nurture and Admonition of the Lord - Episode #237 | Play in Popup.
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| Bringng Up Believers - Episode #236 | Channel: Answers in Truth (Channel Website)
Episode Information: Ephesians 6:1-4 and Colossians 3:20-21
The Top Ten Ways that Parents Provoke their Children to Wrath
Ephesians 6:1-4 and Colossians 3:20-21
10. An expectation for them to already know and act upon what you've never trained them for.
Does your child really even know how to do what you are expecting them to do well? Do they know how to do this because you told them or showed them? Do they fully understand your expectations? Are you and your spouse on the same page in y our expectations or does your child have one set of expectations from you and another from the other parent that are causing difficulty for your child to consistently follow through with? (how to clean, act, behave, manners)
9. Demanding the unreasonable or un-accomplishable, and punishing for failure to complete it.
Is the time limit something you could do because you?re bigger or stronger or more knowledgeable? Is it based on the accurate maturity level of your child? Are you stretching them in order to grow them or are you stretching them because you think they failed you in some way?
When you were their age, could you do what you?re asking for? Why could you if you could? Is it possible that your skill set and your child?s simply differ? (Construction versus Greek versus Ball)
8. Placing the weight of the your reputation upon the perfection of your child.
Are you somehow worried that others will think less of you if your child misbehaves, breaks something, throws a temper tantrum etc? Are you expecting pedestal performances from your children for your reputation?s sake, in order to better yourself, or because you are genuinely concerned about your child learning right and wrong? A litmus test for this is to ask yourself how you reward your children for doing well or doing right, and when do you reward them?
7. Attempting to repair or relive your imperfect life's past through the present and future life of your child.
Are you afraid your children are going to re-live your mistakes or sins? Are you parenting out of fear of that possibility? If your motivation for teaching them and training them about life is merely to keep them from a certain kind of mistake or lifestyle you once lived, you have an incredible likelihood of merely driving them right to it. Instead, focus on you and your child drawing closer and closer in intimacy with Jesus Christ, and watch Him bring about a different life than you lived before you were walking rightly with Him. Again, it was the Law you broke that led you to the Grace you took.
6. Creating an atmosphere in the home that completely lacks attention to discipline, respect, or responsibility.
Do you think that letting your child figure out for themselves what is right and what is wrong bears any resemblance to God?s pattern of parenting? Where there is no vision, the people perish and a child left to himself brings shame to his mother. Children will find someone to follow. If you do not lead them, someone else eventually will. Your training in the home is training for not merely making a living some day, but training on how to parent their own families one day.
5. Creating an atmosphere in the home that is focused only on attention to discipline, respect, and/or responsibility as a means approval or affection.
Is there laughter in your home? Scripture calls laughter a good medicine. Do you have such a focus on your child?s future that you are destroying their present? Are you willing for your child to have different gifts and talents than those you have chosen for them to be skilled or trained in currently? Are you picking the routine for your child and plotting such a rigid course that you have left no room for love? Are you teaching a discipline that leaves no room for devotion? Does your parenting style in this matter reflect your view of God?
4. The setting of your child in harm's way, danger, or in risk of personal embarrassment for your own benefit, protection, or pleasure.
Do you find it funny to make fun of your child?s flaws or weaknesses in front of your friends or other family members? Are you treating your child as you would want to be treated or are you just treating your child the way in which you were treated at their age?
Are you somehow making up for your inadequacies by pointing out the struggles and blunders or mistakes or flaws of who you are responsible to rear?
Are you getting ahead in your finances, your politics or your social ladder at the cost of your child?s needs, which are not more of those things, but more of you?
3. When you set standards for your child to follow in your home that you are not willing to live by or teach by example.
Are you spiritually consistent? Does everyone you know, know you by the same set of standards?
Are you telling your children to go to Sunday School or to participate in Spiritual things when you aren?t willing to yourself? Do you tell your children that they need to leave the room so you can watch something on television thus excluding them from your life for the sake of your entertainment? Do you tell them not to do the very things you hope they don?t see you doing or vice versa? Do you tell them to be respectful while you speak badly of your bosses or other leaders? Do you want them to get closer and closer to Christ while you set no pattern in your personal life for them to follow? Do you expect them to spend time with you on your projects but never help them with theirs?
2. When your child is consistently witness to immorality and/or destructive behaviors
Do you yell in your home? This is destructive. Do you threaten violence or raise your hand as if you?re going to hit? This is provoking your children to wrath.
The number one addiction in America right now is pornography. Are you watching, reading or downloading it? You are provoking your children to wrath. Are you destroying your body through an addiction of some other kind? You are provoking your children to wrath. Children cannot explain in the vocabulary you and I have the complex emotions of their world that are intensified by the senseless things that some parents do to slowly destroy their marriages and themselves. Do you find yourself thinking that someday they?ll just get over it? Do you think that your children will just forget what they are hearing and seeing? You are leaving a footprint upon the very soul of your child or teenager in all that you do and say.
1. When the trust relationship between you and your child is broken in order to satisfy a want or desire in your life, good or bad.
Are you making promises to your family that you don?t keep? Are you a liar to your child? How far can your child trust you with what is most precious to them in their lives right now?
Have you broken the trust relationship with your son or daughter in physical ways? Fathers, do you enter your daughter?s room without asking? Are you establishing trust in the home that leaves no room for doubt that you would never say or do anything to bring you personal satisfaction at the expense of your child?s trust in you? Are you creating a trust issue in your child that will extend into their understanding of faith in God? The worst possible breach of trust is the molestation of a child.
There?s one more number left in our countdown, and that?s the number zero. I want to zero in on one more area where parents, in our society today, have produced rebellion in the lives of their children, and that is the area of Spiritual Apathy. I believe, having worked with young people off and on since teaching junior high students in a private school in 1993, that the greatest area of downfall in the homes of America, is apathy towards Christ in the home. I believe it is the greatest hypocrisy, the greatest rebellion and the greatest cause of provocation in the lives of children that there is today.
Scripture says in Pro 29:18 ?Where there is no vision, the people perish? and in
Psalm 127:1 ?Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it.?
The King James states Col 3:21 like this: ?Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.?
Combine these ideas with what Romans Chapter one says is true about all of us... That God not only made Himself evident to us but put the knowledge of Himself within us...and then the passages in Scripture we read last week out of the Gospels on Christ?s view of children being led to come Himself and how Jesus spoke indignantly with his disciples when they forbade the children from His arms, and I see a huge picture unfolding....the angriest and most defensive and most unloving and most rebellious of students I have ever dealt with have been those whose homes have been pervaded by the influence of ?no God but self?, and the homes of those students whose parents feigned an allegiance to Christ but had no fruit in themselves, who spoke of right and wrong but suppressed the knowledge of God in unrighteousness within their home.
The parent who, by their own example, keeps their child away from the heart of Christ, is the parent with whom Christ is most indignant!!
In an article called ?A Challenge for Fathers? By: J. Hampton Keathley, III, who is now with the Lord, but was once a Dallas Theological Seminary professor, Keathley writes on Psalm 78:1-8, and I love what he says about this topic we?re on today. He writes: ?Scripture and history show us that as goes the home, so goes the society. And generally speaking--as go the fathers, so goes the home. The moral and spiritual condition of the society is always the offspring of the family.
William Wordsworth wrote, ?The child is father of the man,? meaning the experiences which occur in the early and formative years of a child?s life, the experiences of home, shape the character and behavior of tomorrow?s adult. And as that is true of the individual, so it becomes true of an entire society including, of course, its leadership. Note the emphasis of this Psalm:
Psalm 127:1-2 Unless the LORD builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the LORD guards the city, The watchman keeps awake in vain. 2 It is vain for you to rise up early, To retire late, To eat the bread of painful labors; For He gives to His beloved even in his sleep.
You?ve probably heard people say: ?My wife and I have agreed that we don?t want to force our religion on the children. We want them to be free to make up their own minds about matters as important as that.? This may sound wise or sophisticated, but it is sheer nonsense! There can be no religious neutrality in a home because neutrality about God is itself a form of religion--an anti-God religion. If neutrality is the attitude of parents it will become the religion of their children. Most thoughtful people see the stupidity of bringing up children with an ?open mind? about things like school, but fail to apply the same saneness of thought to knowing God.
Most thoughtful parents, by contrast, want their children to know about God and moral living. But somehow in the hustle and bustle of life, they never get a chance to take stock of where such training will come from. They think if they send them to Sunday School that will do it, but that involves only one hour out of 168 hours in a week. But there is a place that has a great deal more impact than any other in society due to the dynamics involve--if those dynamics are utilized. Where is that place? It?s the home--the place where life makes up its mind.
Author: Pastor Rob Casey | Get at Short URL | Download Bringng Up Believers - Episode #236 | Play in Popup.
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| The REALity of the Love of GOD - Episode #229 | Channel: Answers in Truth (Channel Website)
Episode Information: If a man were to set his heart on preaching the fullness of the love of God, I promise you, he would tend to it his whole life, and upon his last breath, he would not have uncovered every passage, every plot, nor every place in which God has taught us the immensity of what kind of steadfast and merciful love He has lavished upon us. It is an impossible task to set within limits a set of messages devoted to the understanding of the vastness of God?s lovingkindness.
The Bible is filled with the love of God. It is not a book of dead law, dead works, nor dead religion. It is a book of love. When one has accomplished the reading of all the Scriptures, say in a year, but does not comprehend more deeply what is the personal application of the love of God toward them, then they were reading but not listening. They were seeing, but they were not believing.
Yet oddly enough, when mankind finds itself in peril, it is the love of God which comes into question. Whether it be a fiery trial, a seemingly overwhelming temptation, disastrous occurrences, heartbreak or physical affliction, God?s love is the first to come to mind within so many. If He does, than why must I suffer?
If God?s love is all that the preacher claims, than how is it that the world is where it is today? Why does He not make it all stop? Why is my loved one suffering? Why is there so much violence? Why is disease claiming so many or poverty for that matter? Where is the love of God when homes are torn apart? I did everything I thought God told me to do; so why are my children living ungodly lives? Where is the love of God when children are abused and tortured? Where was the love of God when He took the life of my child? Why did that loved one of mine have to die? How is that the loving thing for an almighty God to do to me?
What is God doing with all of His time? What is it that is taking place in the heavens that God won?t step out of HIS comfort zone and intervene and take care of all these problems instead of constantly asking me to step out of MY comfort zone when the world is already so uncomfortable as it is?
Hesed, Steadfast Love, and Agape / Agapao are discussed at length.
This is the most encouraging message Pastor Rob has preached to date.
Author: Pastor Rob Casey | Get at Short URL | Download The REALity of the Love of GOD - Episode #229 | Play in Popup.
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| 1 Kings 21: Ahab's Coveteousness and Satan's Schemes - Episode #228 | Channel: Answers in Truth (Channel Website)
Episode Information: We most often covet what is very close to us.
The bottomline about coveteousness is that it is wanting what I cannot have unless I am willing to sin in order to get it. There's a reason God left that as the last of the great ten commandments. He knew we needed it.
Disobedience is a protection remover and a temptation bringer!
Did you know that the devil loves to try to do things in your name?
The enemy has limited authority and limited power.
The enemy is always seeking to work through authority.
The enemy is always trying to persuade authority to listen to bad counsel from men who's ambition is the destruction of all that is Godly and goodly.
Author: Pastor Rob Casey | Get at Short URL | Download 1 Kings 21: Ahab's Coveteousness and Satan's Schemes - Episode #228 | Play in Popup.
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| We Are Risen With Him! - Episode #226 | Channel: Answers in Truth (Channel Website)
Episode Information: Easter Message for 2008
1. For Us, Christ?s Resurrection is: Vss11-14
To the praise of His glory you...
Have obtained an inheritance
Are predestined with purpose
Were sealed with promise by His Spirit
His Resurrection Is All that Sin Can?t Be!
2. Believe the Resurrection & believe: Vss15-19
The spirit of wisdom and revelation that:
God?s call to you is a great call of hope
God?s sees you as part of His glorious inheritance, a precious possession!
God?s awesome power is toward you and not against you!
His Resurrection Provides What Sin Can?t!
3. Resurrection Power Means Authority! Vss19-23
God brought about His mighty strength:
By raising & seating Jesus next to Him
By putting Jesus far above all rule, powers, authorities, dominions, names & ages.
By putting EVERYTHING under Jesus? feet & making Him head of the church
His Resurrection Rights What Sin Wronged!
4. Your Life Can?t Undo His Resurrection! Vss1-6
We were ALL DEAD in our offending God:
To Him, we all walked the world?s path
To Him, we all were under Satan power
To Him, we all were ruled by our lusts
To Him, we were all children of wrath
BUT GOD?S RICH MERCY IS IN JESUS!
BUT GOD?S GREAT LOVE IS IN JESUS!
BUT GOD MADE US ALIVE IN JESUS!
BUT GOD RAISE US UP WITH JESUS!
His Resurrection Seated Us As Sinless!
5. See His Resurrection & see His heart! Vss 7-13
God?s plan?s already accomplished in Him
In an age to come, He?ll show us grace!
In the now, it?s His grace that saves!
Grace is completed in Jesus! No man can add to it, & no man can take from it. Your sinful life doesn?t make it big & your piety can?t make it small.
We?re His workmanship, not our own, not by any means but His grace!
His Resurrection Brought Near What Sin Ran Off With!
6. Let?s live in Resurrection?s Truth! Vss 14-22
Created in Jesus with a Mission in Mind!
HE brought us peace, share it with all!
HE made us one, live as one!
HE gave us access, walk in the Spirit!
HE built us together, grow His house!
His Resurrection Is Our Victory and Sin?s Defeat!
Author: Pastor Rob Casey | Get at Short URL | Download We Are Risen With Him! - Episode #226 | Play in Popup.
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| The Palm Sunday Jesus - Episode #225 | Channel: Answers in Truth (Channel Website)
Episode Information: The Palm Sunday Jesus
I want to start today by telling you that this is a message to the church. It is a message to believers, to those who have already believed and trusted in Jesus Christ and His work on the cross and God raising Him from the dead to grant them the free gift of eternal life, as well as the indwelling of the Holy Spirit within us now, while we live out our remaining days to the obedience and likeness of the way Christ lived.
Secondly, I admit to you that in the several weeks that we?ve been studying what the Bible says about belonging to the Body of Christ, that I?ve been teaching more than preaching, that I have indeed been longing to bring you the Word after the manner of preaching it, which is a passion of my heart, to preach the Word. So, let?s get to it, shall we? I want to read for you today Matthew?s account of the Triumphant entry of Christ into Jerusalem, which is the setting for Palm Sunday. It?s in chapter 21 verses 1 through 11. Would you please stand with me in honor of the reading of God?s Holy Word?
(Reading of the text)
What is the key to a crowd who so quickly turns against the Son of God? What is it that brought about such an incredible change in their tone? How is it that in the span of just 5 days, the Jerusalem crowd which was crying out, ?Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord!? and ?Hosanna!!? being interpreted meaning, ?Save Now!? was crying out on Friday, ?Crucify Him!? and ?Give us Barabbas!? How could they literally have gone from saying, ?Bless Jesus? to ?Curse Jesus?? or for that matter, how is it thinkable to cry out on Sunday, ?Save Us? to crying out on Friday, ?Give us a Murderer and a Thief??
We know that God?s Word tells us that there was a blindness. A necessary God-given blindness among the people that forged a path to Christ?s crucifixion, but that was removed upon His resurrection. Does blindness to the reality of Christ?s identity explain their royal and triumphant treatment of Him though? Weren?t they actually treating Him more on Sunday like we all should than they were on Friday? Didn?t they have His identity right on that day? They were extolling a king, they were calling upon a king?s dominion, they were begging the actions of a coming ruler and destroyer of their captors to set them free and they were praising the man who would set their kingdom straight and bring about the heightened and prophetically announced age of Jerusalem, Israel as the capital of life on earth?.the renewed empire of Solomon, the son of David, the empire that you and I will also one day witness and if you are in Christ today, you will rule and work in that kingdom found here on earth for a thousand years before the new heaven and earth is made.
The answer, of course, is yes! They were treating Him more as He really was on Sunday than Friday. So what was going on in Jerusalem that week? What was Christ doing? What was Jesus thinking?
Imagine with me for a moment that you and your family are suffering, diseased and ravaged with a hereditary illness, and let?s say that a local 33 year old town doctor decided to make a house call- to you and tells you that he?s discovered a cure. You?re thrilled at the prospect of being whole again! You?re excited at the idea of no longer suffering this plague that is upon you and your family! You?re desperate and want to do whatever it takes to get to be healthy and free of pain.
Now imagine with me, just for a moment that this young doctor is willing, out of the goodness of his heart, to treat you all for free. He?ll foot the bill. Sound good? At the going rate of medical procedures today, where a family can literally sink into the near millions of debt to have some illnesses treated throughout one?s life or to attempt to eradicate the disease or keep one alive for a few more years, to have a physician promise the cure and at no cost to you but to follow His instructions and accept the prescription seems miraculous and, well, astounding!
So what?s the drug? What?s the cure? The process this seemingly inexperienced doctor tells you about is going to require a transfusion of blood. No one in your family can provide it, no one in your town can provide it, no one in this whole world can provide it accept one man because, it?s rare, extremely rare. It?ll require, for the process to work, in order to cure your entire race of this disease, all the blood the one carrying the cure can offer, but it won?t just require an IV. It will actually take bruised blood.
Apparently, the more this man?s body is hurt, the more amazing the effects of the antidote are on the one receiving the transfusion. So we?ll need to be cutting deep into the man?s muscle tissue from various parts of his body to release the blood compounds found there to do it. It will require a great deal of pain and agony on whoever this man is. If you want this disease, which again, I remind you, is ravaging and destroying you and your family with great and horrible and long suffering tortuous lives where death doesn?t come, but life somehow lingers despite the incredible pain, this one will have to suffer, his bruised blood taken, the transfusion given, the one man die.
Now an obvious question that comes to mind is who?s the man? It is that local, only 33 years of age, seemingly inexperienced town doctor. Albeit, he seems this way to you and me, he?s a great physician.
You see carried within the heart of Jesus Christ was the knowledge of what was really being asked. The crowd cried ?Save Now!? and Jesus replied with His own life the answer to their prayer to the Son of God. He did what they were really asking Him to do, although they didn?t realize what it was that it would cost.
There is a symptom here found in humanity that is so typical. Think back to that which you have asked God for, what you expect of God, what you want God to do, what you are hoping for in life. What is it that you really want? Now ask what is it that you really need? We are so constantly getting the two confused, aren?t we? We keep thinking that we need what we want, and we keep thinking that God is coming up short. We keep finding ourselves questioning whether or not Christ is really worth following and living for because He doesn?t seem to be meeting all of our American Dreams.
We?re living apart from a Passion Week existence in America today. So many in America view following Christ as only worthwhile if it is a Palm Branch waiving good time. It seems that we have no loyalty left in this country. It seems we don?t understand commitment. Sure, we like to praise Jesus! Sure we like to sing and we like to dance. We have no problem crying Hosanna because we want Jesus to SAVE and we want Him to SAVE NOW, but we want Him to not only foot the bill and pay the price, but also demand nothing of us but that we get to enjoy it. We want to hear happy shouting and hand clapping, but we aren?t willing to follow Christ from Sunday through Friday?s difficulties, the death of self, and then to the resurrection Sunday. We, in the culture in which we have now adopted as a standard way of life, want to skip Monday through Saturday, and only experience the life of Christ as it appears on Palm Sunday and Resurrection Sunday.
Are we not also then blind? Do we not see the reality of the call of Christ? I want to challenge you today to read Matthew 21 through Matthew 28 this week. People often talk about the calm and tender voice of Christ, like in the Sermon on the Mount of Matthew chapter 5, but there?s more than blindness taking place in Chapters 21 through 28. Jesus says more to offend our flesh and more to condemn religiosity, unfaithfulness, hypocritical living, and fruitlessness in those chapters than we?d care to admit. You and I today, when we hear words likened to that of Christ?s in those chapters from any pulpit would also seek to crucify such a messenger in our hearts. We hate to be told what what?s really wrong with us. We hate the one who tells us we have a problem. We hate a message which condemns sin and demands righteousness. We hate a messenger who points out that we are flawed, dysfunctional, imperfect, self-willed, totally depraved, insecure, attention craving, sinners. We want encouraging messages from encouraging messengers who make us laugh, make us smile, make us think happy thoughts about how great we?re all doing compared to that rotten, stinky, messed up world that we?re having to put up with until we get rewarded for being decent people someday in a mansion Jesus has been building for us because He loves us so much and just wants us to really be happy?
In Chapter 23, Jesus preaches seven woes to the leaders of the day?s religion; it consumes the whole chapter. With each woe He cries out against them Hypocrites! Here?s the gist of what Jesus says they are guilty of: Shutting the Gate of the Kingdom of Heaven in people?s faces, doing anything to make converts but making them more hell bound than even they are, telling others what is acceptable or not to God but not having really having a clue and thus creating false religion, extreme tithing of even their herbs, but neglecting justice, mercy and faithfulness, obeying man-made customs of cleanliness rigidly but neglecting the fact that their hearts are filthy, being like white-washed tombs, outwardly beautiful, but inwardly full of dead man?s bones and lawlessness, saying they are more righteous than their ancestors and would have sided with the prophets of God sent to Israel, but they themselves do kill the prophets and are actually already plotting to kill the very Messiah.
Why?d they crucify Jesus, because He preached about the real sinful condition of humanity in light of God?s standard of holiness. Because He told them they were sinners and that if they believed on Him they could escape the judgment for their sins. Because He claimed to be sent from God and because He claimed to be one with God. Because He showed them their imperfections galore. Because He called them hypocrites, blind guides of the blind, white washed tombs, and snakes in the grass. That?s the Jesus of Matthew 21 through 26, that?s the Jesus who rode in on Palm Sunday, that?s the Messiah, that?s the One we crucified, and that?s the same Christ who says the same thing, yes, the very same message to the churches in the book of Revelation.
The same Jesus, who preached such stern messages to them, and to you and me, wept and cried out over the lostness of the same people in Matthew 23 verse 37. ?O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!?
And what does the Son of Man have to say next in 38 &39? ?See, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ?Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.?
Jesus both loved mankind and hated sin. Jesus both condemned hypocrisy and died for the hypocrites. We forget what transpired on Monday through that Thursday night. We forget that those who swore to follow Him left Him in the middle of the night in the hands of those who would have Him beaten, scourged, bruised, bloodied, and crucified. We forget that He said before it happened that one would hand him over, another would deny Him three times, and the rest couldn?t keep watch in prayer.
YES! Perhaps Jesus has made a triumphant entry into your life. Yes! Perhaps He is your risen Savior. Yes, perhaps you have come to trust that He really is the King of nations and the only Name under Heaven whereby men may be saved. Yes, perhaps you knew that Jesus needed to be your Savior and Lord, but once you received Him, did you start telling Him what kind of Lord He was supposed to be?
Has the church redefined Jesus into a place and picture that fits us best? Makes us most comfortable? Keeps us happiest? Only points out our strengths? Never disapproves of our lifestyle? Only and always encourages and never declares that our ways are not right? Have we made Jesus into the corporate figurehead of a booming and economically sound kingdom created in our American ways? Is the Jesus of popular American church culture the same Jesus of Matthew?
Have we only agreed that Jesus is the man of sorrows because He feels so sorry for us all that we?re not living happy, fulfilled and providentially abundant lives? Because we?re not all naming it and claiming it? Or because His sorrow lies in the sinful state of the mankind He created to be in relationship with Himself that denied Him, spurned Him, hated Him, despised Him and now just wants to use Him?
Have we made Jesus into the religious icon of pep rallies, rock concerts, and just, quite frankly another Elvis Presley? Have we found how to get to do what the world wants to do, and use Jesus to do it, so that we don?t have to call it worldly or sinful? Can we now just say that it?s all about Jesus, so that we can really be all about us?
Have we made Jesus into the denominational team captain that decides who gets to play for us and who doesn?t? Is Jesus now just picking favorites and only Lord of the Methodists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Episcopalians, Catholics, Assemblies of God?s, Nazarenes, Church of Christ?s, Disciples of Christ?s, Seventh Day Adventists, Pentecostals, Charismatics, Messianic Jews or just Baptists? And what about them? Is it American Baptist?s, Northern Baptist?s, Southern Baptist?s, Free Will Baptist?s, Independent Baptist?s, Fundamentalist Baptist?s, or what? I mean, just which team have we made Jesus in charge of?
That question is not so new as you might think. As you read these chapters this week, 21-28, you will see that there were quite a few teams then too. They each wanted to know where Jesus stood on their personal, pet-peeve issues. The Pharisees questioned Him on the role of government and taxes. The Sadducees questioned Him on matters of marriage and the resurrection. The lawyers questioned Him on the most important of the laws. The Scribes questioned Him about what authority He had to teach and preach what He said in the synagogues. The disciples even questioned Him about the end times and Kingdom and the wasteful spending of an alabaster box of ointment which could have been used to help the poor, but was used instead to directly anoint Christ for His burial. You see, we?ve all got our causes. We?ve all got our perspectives. We?ve all got our issues, but Jesus Himself had a question for the issue bringers, the team captains of His day.
That question is found in Chapter 22 verse 42 and Jesus said quite simply, ?What do you think about the Christ?? Whose son is he??, and upon that very question, upon that discussion with the people gathered there, which included the Pharisees, it says in verse 46 that no one after that ?dare? to ask him any more questions!
That?s it isn?t it? That?s the core issue isn?t it? That?s both the dividing line and the stopping point. That?s both the cause and the effect. Who is the Anointed One? This is what Christ means. Who is this One who is anointed to take away the sins of the world? You see the discussion between verse 42 and 46 is based on the question, ?Whose son is He??
I suppose that is Jesus? question to you and I today. Whose son is Jesus? Some are immediately thinking, ?Why, the Virgin Mary, of course!? and you?ve missed the point of the question. The Pharisees, longing for their dreams of the Davidic Kingdom restored, answered that the coming Christ would be the son of David, and they missed the point as well. I wonder what point you and I would make with Christ? Whose son do you want Him to be today? Do you want Him to be the good son of Baptists? Do you want Him to be the good son of the land of the free and the home of the brave, America? Do you want Jesus to be apple pie and baseball? Is that whose Son Jesus is suppose to be? Is that where the Annointing comes from? Being the blessed Americans we are? Is He to be the Son of religion or the son of a nation or the son of our hopes and dreams?
Jesus is the Christ and He is the Lord and He is the Son of God Almighty Himself. That perspective is a saving perspective, a life changing perspective, and a Christian perspective a Believing perspective and a viewpoint and vantage point which places us alongside the suffering Savior throughout our lives okay with living on Monday for Jesus, on Tuesday for Jesus, on Wednesday, for Jesus, on Thursday for Jesus, on Good Friday for Jesus, on our Saturdays for Jesus and gives us such an incredible amount of amazement to celebrate together, I can?t even find the words to describe it, on our Sundays to live and breath for our Jesus.
Whose Son is He? He?s God?s, and that?s what defines Him. We get it right when we see Him for who He really is. They didn?t get it today on Palm Sunday, and they certainly didn?t get it on Good Friday when they crucified Him, they didn?t understand it when they heard witnesses tell them He was alive again, and we, like them then, are still not getting it right today. We?ve replaced God the Father as being in charge of the Christ for how we want the Christ to appear, for how we want the Savior to be worshipped, for what kind of messages of His we want to hear.
I believe the Lord Jesus Christ would call us today to get back to the identity, purpose, and plan of His Father for His World for His church for His Creation and all for His glory. I don?t know all the how?s and all the why?s as to where we?ve landed in today?s American Idol identity of who Jesus is supposed to be, but I know in my heart of hearts, and I see in the Book of Books what kind of man this Anointed One was, and brothers and sisters, hear me, if it?s Palm Sundays and Easter Celebrations we?re looking for, hang on and hold on, they?re on the way, but it?s a Monday through Saturday Jesus that came to save.
It?s a Monday through Saturday Jesus that showed up, put up, stayed up, prayed up, and was nailed up for you and for me as our example for how the church ought to be. He wasn?t wishy-washy, watered down, simplified, or petrified. He wasn?t self exalted, self centered, self indulged or self absorbed, He didn?t cow down or back down when it came to putting down what sin really is, and no man has ever, will ever, or could ever love you as much as He. He is the perfect definition of all that is balanced between hating sin and loving sinners, of condemning hypocrisy and redeeming the unfaithful, of demanding utter holiness and providing for our wretchedness.
Oh church, let?s be so very careful that we?re not trading in Palm Sunday Jesus for a Palm Springs Jesus. That we?re not trading in the very Word of God Himself, Jesus, for a whole lot of non-sense, man-made words ABOUT our Jesus. Hear the question of our Jesus calling out to you today saying, ?who do you say that I am?? and admit today that question is answered by not merely what you say but how you live and not just on Sunday but all the day and everyday. I?m so thankful and so very much convicted that Jesus didn?t have a day off from holy living. I?m so glad that our Jesus was constantly filled with the Holy Spirit because he constantly walked in the Holy Spirit. I?m so overwhelmingly convicted that if we, this group of folks, including myself in this room here today, don?t get back to the identity of this Jesus, then there?ll be nothing left to claim at the second coming of Jesus. All that will be contained in these four walls will be echoes from the past of a truth once preached but long forgotten, a people once committed but now consumed by the world, a commission once lived out but now taken out of the picture so that we have our way, so that we could have our will, so that we could live by our own definitions of who Palm Sunday Jesus is supposed to be.
Wayne Watson had a popular yet profound song back in the 80?s that said:
?I read the mornin' paper / To my surprise and shame / Said a black eye of embarrassment
Been attached to Jesus' name / Some mortal man convicted of some moldy moral sin
And the skeptics wage their tongues and say / "There goes that Jesus again"
The story graced the TV / And the magazines too long / And if my heart ain't broken yet
There must be somethin' wrong / Because but for the grace of God / I know it could be me
And all that's left for me to do / Is to help the world to see
Chorus: That's not Jesus He doesn't carry on that way Just some flesh and blood like you and me
Somehow gone astray/That's not Jesus, no/No matter what "they" say/He doesn't need me to defend Him
He just wants me to obey / He just wants me to obey
Have you seen the masterpiece / Of Jesus on the cross / Well, if He's still a-hangin' there
I'm hopeless--I am lost / I believe the tomb is empty / And the stone's been rolled away
And because of all this trouble / I still feel compelled to say /
Chorus: That's not Jesus He doesn't carry on that way Just some flesh and blood like you and me
Somehow gone astray / That's not Jesus, no /No matter what "they" say/He doesn't need me to defend Him
He just wants me to obey / He just wants me to obey
And if your vision of Him / Has gotten somehow blurred / By a stumbling soldier in the field
I'd like to say "I'm sorry" / And remind you of one thing / One day all the Truth will be revealed
Chorus: That's not Jesus He doesn't carry on that way Just some flesh and blood like you and me
Somehow gone astray/That's not Jesus, no/No matter what "they" say/He doesn't need me to defend Him
He just wants me to obey / He just wants me to obey
I?m going to ask that we be a repentant people today. I?m going to ask that we humble ourselves before the Jesus we once declared King and then began to rule over. Like Daniel did, I?m going to ask that we repent over what we, as a church, as a city, and as a nation have done to the identity of the alive and well Son of the Most High God. Let us seek a triumphant re-entry of Christ into this fellowship. Let us lay out our palm branches and prepare the way of the Lord in this place. If you are lost in this place today, in need of Jesus to save you, if you are crying Hosanna in your heart toward Christ, know that He will not cast out those who come to Him and call on Him to be saved. Let us choose in our hearts to follow Christ through and through and to not be silent in the streets about the Son of God. Let us pray.
Author: Pastor Rob Casey | Get at Short URL | Download The Palm Sunday Jesus - Episode #225 | Play in Popup.
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| The Still Small Voice of God - Episode #221 | Channel: Answers in Truth (Channel Website)
Episode Information: 1 Kings 19:
Elijah is now on the run from Jezebel. The great man of courage is now fleeing an angry woman.
After leaving his servant in Beersheba, he treks into the wilderness another day's journey. Fed by the angel, he then sets off to Mt. Horeb, the mountain of God, otherwise known as Sinai. God brings Elijah into a 40 day wandering in similar comparison to Israel's 40 year wandering and then gives him an encounter in like fashion to that of Moses'.
The still small voice of God, a gentle blowing, in contrast with the thunderous wind or great earthquake or the blaze of God's passing teach Elijah that while spectacular, are not what had kept 7000 of Israel loyal to Yahweh, it was the Spirit of God already at work, outside of Elijah's influence or control. It was not by might or power, but God's Spirit. We too must learn that God uses us for a purpose, according to His will, and not always is it for the grand turning of hearts of whole nations, but sometimes as a witness against that people of the truth of God.
There are amazing sets of threes present in the text as well which seem corrulated. Elijah's state of mind is evident and understandable as he "was a man with a nature like ours". (James 5)
Author: Pastor Rob Casey | Get at Short URL | Download The Still Small Voice of God - Episode #221 | Play in Popup.
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| 1 Kings 17: Elijah - Episode #207 | Channel: Answers in Truth (Channel Website)
Episode Information: Elijah comes on the scene and prophesies that there will be no rain until he tells Ahab otherwise, but it is still a decision from the Lord.
Elijah is sent into hiding by the brook Cherith and brought bread by ravens.
Elijah is commanded to go to a widow whom the Lord had commanded to care for him.
Elijah intercedes for the widow's dead son who, upon having his life restored to him, is witness enough to the widow that the message of Elijah is truth.
Author: Pastor Rob Casey | Get at Short URL | Download 1 Kings 17: Elijah - Episode #207 | Play in Popup.
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| Belonging to the Body of Christ part 6 - Episode #206 | Channel: Answers in Truth (Channel Website)
Episode Information: Question #7:
"How can we ignore the blatant teaching and admonishing of Scripture identifying the church as not only the body and bride of Christ but also the assembly and place where the body and bride came to worship, fellowship, and be taught?"
"...or do you despise the church of God?"
I Corinthians 11:17-22
Question #8:
"Does it really make logical sense for the "body" to operate universally without operating locally first? Therefore, shouldn't we see our individual roles in the local body laid out in Scripture as vitally important?"
I Corinthians 12:12-31
Author: Pastor Rob Casey | Get at Short URL | Download Belonging to the Body of Christ part 6 - Episode #206 | Play in Popup.
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| Episode #167 | Channel: Answers in Truth (Channel Website)
Episode Information: Got Questions? Get Answers! Let's get together for a few moments in the Word and discover His truth for your life now. Jot me your questions at questions@answersintruth.com, and thank you for being a seeker of truth!
Author: Pastor Rob Casey | Get at Short URL | Download Episode #167 | Play in Popup.
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| Do You Trust Me? - Episode #161 | Channel: Answers in Truth (Channel Website)
Episode Information: Do You Trust Me?
"This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go." Josh 1:8-9
The Keys to the Parable:
Verses 14 and 29-30:
v.14 ?For it is just like?
Refers to verse 1
The two parables are both referring to the Kingdom of Heaven
vs. 29-30 ?For to everyone who has shall more be given, and he shall have an abundance; but from the one who does not have; even what he does have shall be taken away. And cast out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.?
Obviously, our own ?talent? or our own ?possessions? and stewardship with them is not the real issue here!
God?s Question to Us:
Verses 14, 20, 22, 26-27:
v.14 ?who called his own slaves, and entrusted his possessions to them.?
v.20 ?you entrusted to me?I have gained?more??
v.22 ?you entrusted to me?I have gained?more??
v.26 ?you knew that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I scattered no seed. Then you ought to have [invested], and? I would have received ? back with interest.?
God is asking mankind to trust Him enough to do things His way with His possessions!
So What Are the Talents?
Verses 15, 20, 22, 26-27:
v.15 ?And?he gave?to each according to his own ability; and he went on his journey.?
?For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.? Romans 12:3
?So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.? Romans 10:17
The Talents are the Gospel Treasure Found in the Word of God: The Bible!
Our Question to God:
Verses 21 & 23:
v.21 & 23 ?His master said to him, ?Well done, good and faithful slave; you were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.?
"Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD & whose trust is the LORD.? Jeremiah 17:7
"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness?? Matt 6:33
?All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. 2 Tim 3:16-17
Author: Pastor Rob Casey | Get at Short URL | Download Do You Trust Me? - Episode #161 | Play in Popup.
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| Are They Ready? - Episode #160 | Channel: Answers in Truth (Channel Website)
Episode Information: Matthew 25:1-13
The Program:
The description is true to real life in every way for a wedding in Palestine both in Christ?s day and even now!
The Bridegroom went to the Bride?s house to retrieve her and then to his own house for the wedding feast.
The People:
The Bridegroom is Christ.
The virgins represent those who have opportunity to come to Christ before His Second Coming.
Some were wise and received God?s grace themselves and were ready while the others did not and were not.
The Problem:
No one can share their salvation with someone else!
We can only tell others of their need for salvation!
The day is fast approaching when the gate will be shut to anyone not already inside!
The Passage:
?You are the Light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do men light a lamp and put it under the peck-measure, but on the lampstand; and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father in heaven.? Matt 5:14-16
Author: Pastor Rob Casey | Get at Short URL | Download Are They Ready? - Episode #160 | Play in Popup.
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| Real Love is Willing - Episode #159 | Channel: Answers in Truth (Channel Website)
Episode Information: We all must come to Jesus to be cleansed from sin!
Isaiah 1:18
If Christ was willing, then we must be as well!
James 2:18-21
Love requires our all?
Luke 10:25-29
Love knows no fear of lepers?
1 John 4:18
It just might require that some people get upset!
Luke 11:47-48
Never forget the experience of being made clean!
Psalm 51:12
God?s waiting on us to willingly become willing!
1 Chronicles 29:5
Author: Pastor Rob Casey | Get at Short URL | Download Real Love is Willing - Episode #159 | Play in Popup.
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| What's In It For Me? - Episode #158 | Channel: Answers in Truth (Channel Website)
Episode Information: Matthew 20:1-16
The Background:
Verses 27-30
Jesus had called them to Follow Him and they did~ some from different walks of life.
Peter wanted to know what higher reward they?d receive for leaving their lives behind.
Jesus proclaims they will judge the twelve Israelite tribes in the heavenly kingdom.
Jesus goes further and proclaims a greater prize awaits for ALL those who have left their former lives to follow only Christ.
The Beginning:
Verse 1 ~ The Kingdom?s Urgency!!
In Palestine, the grape harvest ripens toward the end of September.
Then, close on the heels of harvest, the rains come.
If the harvest is not gathered before the rains come, then it is ruined!
Any worker is welcome, even if can only give an hour to the work!
The Binding:
Verse 2 ~ The Kingdom?s Contract!!
The Denarius, was a fair wage for a full day?s worth of manual labor.
The emphasis here is not economics!
The early laborers are the disciples:
Jesus is still answering Peter?s question
The Kingdom refers to the age of the Church
The Disciples did not always have the right motives for following Christ (verses 20-28)
The Binding:
Verse 2 ~ The Kingdom?s Contract!!
The Denarius, was a fair wage for a full day?s worth of manual labor.
The emphasis here is not economics!
The early laborers are the disciples:
Jesus is still answering Peter?s question
The Kingdom refers to the age of the Church
The Disciples did not always have the right motives for following Christ (verses 20-28)
Author: Pastor Rob Casey | Get at Short URL | Download What's In It For Me? - Episode #158 | Play in Popup.
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| The Motive God Blesses: Jehu in Jezreel from Hosea Chapter One - Episode #156 | Channel: Answers in Truth (Channel Website)
Episode Information: Hosea
(710 B.C.)
THEME:
?God offers His people one last chance to repent?
VERSE: (6:6)
?For I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, & in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.?
?So awful a thing is it, to be the instrument of God in punishing or reproving others, if we do not, by His grace, keep our own hearts and hands pure from sin.?
(Charles L. Feinberg/The Minor Prophets)
The Jehu/Jezreel Situation is a Dilemma!
First, God Blesses Jehu?s Actions!
?The Lord said to Jehu, ?Because you have done well in executing what is right in My eyes, and have done to the house of Ahab according to all that was in My heart, your sons of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel.? 2 Kings 10:30
Later, God Punishes Jehu?s Sin!
?And the Lord said to him, ?Name him Jezreel; for a little while, and I will punish the house of Jehu for the bloodshed of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the house of Israel.? Hosea 1:4
Jehu?s Outer Actions Lead Us to Conclusions?
Wasn?t He just Fulfilling God?s Word?
?Know?that there shall fall to the earth nothing of the word of the Lord, which the Lord spoke concerning the house of Ahab, for the Lord?s done what He spoke through His servant Elijah.? 2 Kings 10:10
Wasn?t He just Focused on God?s Will?
??he killed all who remained to Ahab in Samaria, according to the word of the Lord, which He spoke to Elijah.? 2 Kings 10:17
Wasn?t He just Fighting for God?s Ways?
?they brought out the sacred pillars of Baal & burned them.? 2 Kings 10:26
Jehu?s Inner Motivation Led God to Conclusions?
Jehu?s motivation was merely to be king!
?However, as for the sins of Jeroboam,?which he made Israel sin, from these Jehu did not depart, even the golden calves that were at Bethel & that were at Dan.? 2 Kings 10:29
Jehu?s was not really concerned about God?s Word, God?s Will, or God?s Ways.
?But Jehu was not careful to walk in the law of the Lord, the God of Israel, with all his heart; he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam, which he made Israel sin.? 2 Kings 10: 31
What Conclusions Can We See from Jehu?s Dilemma?
1. We must not make the mistake of Jehu to have no real hatred against sin, only disdain for other sinners, like ourselves, who get in our way!
2. Much today in American culture looks like God, but is really just the pursuit of man?s own glory.
3. You may think that you?re using God to get what you want, but, you will see that it is always God that uses man for His divine and holy purposes!
4. God will bless His Word, Will, & Ways for all to see, but He?s the only one who will get the glory for it.
5. Your glory will always be short lived & fade away when it is not merely a reflection of who God is!
6. Do you ever use God?s Word, Will, or Ways as a cover to personally achieve out of selfish motives?
Author: Pastor Rob Casey | Get at Short URL | Download The Motive God Blesses: Jehu in Jezreel from Hosea Chapter One - Episode #156 | Play in Popup.
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| Youth Meeting: The Plan of the Church - Episode #155 | Channel: Answers in Truth (Channel Website)
Episode Information: The ________________ of the Church ? Start Where You Are
As we have seen, the purpose of the Church is to make disciples. Not only did Jesus give us the power to accomplish the purpose, He also has given us a clear plan to accomplish His goal of global evangelization.
It has been said that the church is the one organization on the planet that is designed purely for the benefit of those who are not members of it. Unfortunately, many churches through the centuries have turned inward and have ceased to be effective in reaching the lost ? the very ones that Jesus gave His life to save. L.L. Nash once said, ?A church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints.? At FBC Van Horn, we desire to commit ourselves to the work of our Father as He seeks and saves the lost.
?But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you;
and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria;
and to the ends of the earth.? Acts 1:8
In Acts 1:8, we see Christ?s Blueprint for the Church. This verse sums up THE PLAN. It reveals His plan for global evangelization. Jesus simply called His followers to be _______________. He instructed them to rely on His Spirit to empower them. He gave them a simple message. ?Be MY witnesses. Share MY story . Tell YOUR story of how your life has
been changed and will never be the same!? And He told them how to be successful. ?Start where you are, right here in Jerusalem! And then as you go, spread my Good News to the surrounding territories of Judea and Samaria, and then to the whole world!?
At FBC Van Horn, we want to be obedient to Christ?s plan for His Church. Just like the first century Christians, we want to begin with people we already know and relationships we already have. We seek the Spirit?s leadership for opportunities to share Christ?s love in our own circles of influence. But we, also, cooperate to bring the Gospel to our county, state, nation, and to the very ends of the earth.
The Plan of the Church is to start where we are.
Author: Pastor Rob Casey | Get at Short URL | Download Youth Meeting: The Plan of the Church - Episode #155 | Play in Popup.
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| Missions Conference Part 4 - Episode #150 | Channel: Answers in Truth (Channel Website)
Episode Information: National Missions Emphasis:
Daniel Clymer with the North American Mission Board works in New Mexico with the Native American Tribes there to spread the Gospel. He's been pastor there for over 12 years, and God is doing an incredible work in this currently considered by the Baptist Convention a "dark state".
Gary R. Smith in Worship
Pastor Rob Casey soloist
FBC Van Horn Choir special
Dr. Wayne Shuffield with the message from the book of Acts.
Author: Pastor Rob Casey | Get at Short URL | Download Missions Conference Part 4 - Episode #150 | Play in Popup.
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| Amos part 3: Are We P.L.U.M.B. Yet? - Episode #131 | Channel: Answers in Truth (Channel Website)
Episode Information: Amos: Part 3 from Chapters 6-7
Are We Plumb Yet!?
As a Nation, Aren?t We?
Placed in privileged surroundings by God?! ??is their territory greater than yours?? 6:2
Living with Godless self-indulgent leaders?! ??yet they have not grieved over the ruin?? 6:6
Undergoing undertakings that are unjust?! ??you have turned justice into poison & the fruit of righteousness into wormwood.? 6:12
Marching in a man-made might?! ??Have we not in our own strength taken Karnaim for ourselves?? 6:13
Berating the Bible Religiously?! ??hear the word of the Lord: you are saying, ?you shall not prophesy against Israel nor shall you speak against the house of Isaac.? 7:16
Author: Pastor Rob Casey | Get at Short URL | Download Amos part 3: Are We P.L.U.M.B. Yet? - Episode #131 | Play in Popup.
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| Top Prayer Concerns for Tuesday August 7 - Episode #114 | Channel: Answers in Truth (Channel Website)
Episode Information: Stacy Driskell - urgent financial needs
Michael Nowlin- unspoken requests on his behalf
Sean & Pam Jeffries- their son Josh was killed in an auto accident this morning
McCune family- tragic loss of one child due to SIDS recently and now an auto accident leaving one child potentially brain damaged and paralyzed from the neck down and another child requiring surgery from a severe laceration and fractured spine while the mother, Carmen has suffered a broken ankle, not to mention the obvious emotional trauma. Financial needs are eminent as well.
Author: Pastor Rob Casey | Get at Short URL | Download Top Prayer Concerns for Tuesday August 7 - Episode #114 | Play in Popup.
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