COMMITTED to train men and women
to have minds for the Lord Jesus,
hearts for the truth, and
hands that are skilled to the task.

"Old Testament" Tagged Sermons

ANYTHING BUT IDEAL

Christmas cannot be understood apart from this simple truth revealed to us in Genesis 3:15
And I will put enmity between you and the women, and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.
The entire Old and New Testament was written so we can understand the spiritual struggle thousands of years in the making. Just think about the New Testament alone. Every chapter provides a glimpse into this spiritual conflict. Follow Jesus footsteps and you are confronted with the fact that wherever He goes, whatever He says, whatever He does, spiritual confrontation with the unseen powers are a daily occurrence. Eventually, the conflict pursues him unto death – it was just a matter of time; God’s time.
Today, the Christmas story has been so sanitized we miss the whole story altogether. It did not happen over night. This romanticizing has taken place over centuries and eventually was picked up by Hollywood, and commercialized by the merchants of this world. The church is not without fault in all of this. Throughout the western world, churches idealize the birth of Jesus Christ through songs, pageants, musicals and dazzling performances.
As we address the theme of this series: “It’s just a matter of time” in the next few weeks, we will pull back the curtain to see what is going on in the spiritual and physical world for thousands of years, eventually culminating when Christ returns the second time to this earth. It’s just a matter of time; God’s time when everything will come to a completion.
Remember, at that time political intrigue, racial tension, increased immorality and societal instability was the norm. This was a time of unprecedented economic and political success for the rich only. For the rest of the Roman empire it was a time of unprecedented economic and political oppression. In other words, for the Jewish people it was anything but ideal. They were hoping that their Messiah would show up and once again lead them out of bondage like Moses did when leading the Hebrews out of Egypt. It was such time as this that God the Father sent His son to this earth. It does not look good. The chances of success are slim from a human perspective.
The problem with the world at large is that people’s lives are dominated with the headlines of the day. God works behind the headlines to accomplish His will. In His word, He revealed to those who have eyes to see and ears to hear what He will do IN THE FULLNESS OF TIME. He tells us WHERE, WHAT, WHEN AND HOW.
Today’s time are no different when Jesus was born. Political corruption…religious compromise…economic crisis. These will always be headline news. Just remember, God uses desperate times, anything but ideal times, to accomplish His eternal purposes in our world and in our lives.

Equipped and Trained

Everything pertaining to life and godliness, all the power we need to live a life that glorifies God has been given to us. All the power we need to overcome the corruption of this world, to overcome the deceptive power of self-help, to overcome the destructive power of false religion, has been supplied by our Lord.
As a soldier of Christ, we don’t have the luxury to fall asleep on our job. The battle is raging and is intense. Everything we need to win the battles has been supplied to us. Now it is our job to get properly equipped.
Moses saw for a few seconds the back of God and immediately Moses’ face began to reflect the divine glory that just walked by him. In other words, God’s glory was bounding off the skin of Moses. However, each passing day this glory on Moses’ face started to fade, because it was only a reflected glory.
Not so on the mount of transfiguration. JESUS CHRIST NEVER REFLECTED GOD’S GLORY, BUT AS JOHN WROTE LATER: WE BEHELD HIS GLORY, THE GLORY AS OF THE ONLY BEGOTTEN OF THE FATHER, FULL OF GRACE AND TRUTH.
This is what Peter is pointing out in his second Epistle, they have seen His glory and heard the voice of God audibly.In other words, they did not tell people about legends and myths or what others were saying about Jesus. PETER, JAMES and JOHN witnessed the glory of God Almighty in JESUS CHRIST.
Today, too many Christians lack of sense of the greatness and awesomeness of God Almighty, which I believe is directly linked to the church’s ignorance of the Old Testament.
We cannot really understand the New Testament apart from the Old Testament. Peter says that we must obey the prophetic word and regard it as a LIGHT THAT SHINES IN A DARK PLACE, UNTIL THE DAY DAWNS AND THE MORNING STAR RISES IN YOUR HEARTS.
At the Diet of Worms, when Luther was called to recant, he said: “Unless I am convinced by sacred Scripture or by evident reason, I will not recant, because my conscience is held captive by the Word of God, and to act against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand. I can do no other; God help me.”