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Articles from Pastor Jon's Blog

1 Thessalonians 4:17 2007-06-27 00:00:00 1 Thessalonians 4 - Confidence in the Coming of Jesus C. Concerning Christians who have died. 4. (17) Jesus comes to meet His Church. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. a. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them: Those alive and remaining until this coming of Jesus are caught up to meet Jesus in the air, together with the dead in Jesus who have already risen. i. The verb translated caught up here means to seize, or to carry off by force. ?There is often the notion of a sudden swoop, and usually that of a force which cannot be resisted? (Morris). In the ancient Greek, the phrase to meet was used as a technical term to describe the official welcoming of honored guests. ii. This passage is the basis for the New Testament doctrine of the rapture, the catching away of believers to be with Jesus. The word rapture is not in the ancie ...

1 Thessalonians 4:15-16 2007-06-26 00:00:00 1 Thessalonians 4 - Confidence in the Coming of Jesus C. Concerning Christians who have died. 3. (15-16) Those asleep in Jesus are not at a disadvantage. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. a. By the word of the Lord: Paul emphasizes that this was an authoritative command, though we do not know whether Paul received this by direct revelation or if it was an unrecorded saying of Jesus. One way or another, this came from Jesus and did not originate with Paul. i. ?In no place does the apostle speak more confidently and positively of his inspiration than here; and we should prepare ourselves to receive some momentous and interesting truth.? (Clarke) b. We who are alive and remain until the coming of the L ...

Guest Speaker 2007-06-25 12:05:10 On Sunday, Jon Lewis of Calvary Fellowship Greenwich taught from 2 Peter 1:1-11. The audio is available on the Springfield Calvary web site ...

1 Thessalonians 4:14 2007-06-25 00:00:00 1 Thessalonians 4 - Confidence in the Coming of Jesus C. Concerning Christians who have died. 2. (14) There is full assurance that Christians who have died yet live. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.   a. If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep: We have more than a wishful hope of resurrection. In the resurrection of Jesus we have an amazing example of it and a promise of our own. i. For the Thessalonian Christians, their troubled minds were answered by the statement, God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. ?It is best to understand the words to mean that Jesus will bring the faithful departed with Him when He comes back. Their death does not mean that they will miss their share in the Parousia.? (Morris) b. Jesus died: When Paul wrote about the death of believers, he called it sleep. But in his description of Jesus? death, he did not s ...

Sunday Quotes 06.24.07 2007-06-24 05:00:00 Every seat in the church is a love seat. ? Unknown Humility is the root, mother, nurse, foundation, and bond of all virtue. -- John Chrysostom "You life is a gift from God. What you make of it is your presentation back to God." ? Unknown "Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither." -- C.S. Lewis "The refiner is never very far from the mouth of the furnace when His gold is in the fire." -- Charles H. Spurgeon<:))))><< ...

1 Thessalonians 4:13 2007-06-23 00:00:00 1 Thessalonians 4 - Confidence in the Coming of Jesus C. Concerning Christians who have died. 1. (13) The believing dead are thought of as being ?asleep.? But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. a. But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep: In the few weeks Paul was with the Thessalonians, he emphasized the soon return of Jesus, and the Thessalonians believed it earnestly. This was part of the reason that they were the kind of church Paul complimented so highly. Yet after Paul left, they wondered about those Christians who died before Jesus came back. They were troubled by the idea that these Christians might miss out on that great event and that they might miss the victory and blessing of Jesus? coming. i. It is with some interest we note that four times in his letters, Paul asked Christians to not be ignorant about something: a) Don?t be i ...

Romans 8:33-39 2007-06-22 00:00:00 Romans 8 - A New and Wonderful Life in the Spirit Romans 8 begins with no condemnation; it ends with no separation, and in between there is no defeat. The audio of Romans 8:23-39 is available at the Springfield Calvary web site. 3. (33-39) The security of the believer in God?s love. Who shall bring a charge against God?s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: ?For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.? Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any othe ...

Romans 8:31-32 2007-06-21 00:00:00 Romans 8 - A New and Wonderful Life in the Spirit Romans 8 begins with no condemnation; it ends with no separation, and in between there is no defeat. The audio of Romans 8:23-39 is available at the Springfield Calvary web site. D. The triumphant victory of the life in the Spirit. 1. (31) Paul begins his conclusion to this section: If God be for us, who can be against us? What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? a. If God is for us, who can be against us? If all we had were the first few chapters of Romans some might believe that God was against us. Now that Paul has shown the lengths that God went to save man from His wrath and equip him for victory over sin and death, who can doubt that God is for us? i. ?Our weak hearts, prone to legalism and unbelief, receive these words with great difficulty: God is for us . . .They have failed Him; but He is for them. They are ignorant; but He is for them. They have not yet brought forth much fruit; ...

Romans 8:28-30 2007-06-20 00:00:00 Romans 8 - A New and Wonderful Life in the Spirit Romans 8 begins with no condemnation; it ends with no separation, and in between there is no defeat. 5. (28-30) God?s help is an enduring promise; He has the ability to work all things for good and to see us through to glorification. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. a. And we know that all things work together for good: God?s sovereignty and ability to manage every aspect of our lives is demonstrated in the fact that all things work together for good to those who love God, though we must face the sufferings of this present time (Romans 8:18). God is able to even make ...

Romans 8:26-27 2007-06-19 00:00:00 Romans 8 - A New and Wonderful Life in the Spirit Romans 8 begins with no condemnation; it ends with no separat ion, and in between there is no defeat. 4. (26-27) God?s help through the Spirit is available to us now. Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. a. Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses: When we are weak, and do not know exactly how we should pray, God Himself (through the Holy Spirit) helps by making intercession for us. b. The help that the Holy Spirit brings to express our groanings which cannot be uttered may include praying in the spiritual gift of tongues (1 Corinthians 14:2, 14-15), but it is certainly not limited to praying in an unknown tongue. i. The idea ...

Romans 8:23-25 2007-06-18 00:00:00 Romans 8 - A New and Wonderful Life in the Spirit Romans 8 begins with no condemnation; it ends with no separation, and in between there is no defeat. 3. (23-25) We also groan and wait with perseverance for the coming glory. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance. a. We, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, have been given a taste of that glory to come. Can we be faulted if we long for the fulfillment of what we have received in the firstfruits? b. Eagerly waiting for the adoption: We are waiting for our adoption; though there is definitely a sense in which we are already adopted (Romans 8:15), there is also a sense in which we wait for the consummation of th ...

Sunday Quotes 06.17.07 2007-06-17 05:00:00 "Fear is faith in reverse." -- Zig Ziglar The prayer closets of God's children are where the roots of the church grow. -- Unknown Prayer is where the Christian grows as well. This is where we come to know our Lord. This is where our lives are changed. We need to be a people of prayer. - Unknown The heavens and the earth were intended to be a semitransparent veil through which moral intelligences might see the glory of God, but for sin-blinded men this veil has become opaque. They see the creation but do not see through it to the Creator; or what glimpses they do have are dim and out of focus. It is possible to spend a lifetime admiring God's handiwork without acknowledging the presence of the God whose handiwork it is. -- A. W. Tozer,. "Of God and Men," p. 114 Faith is never passive. It demands a response. It asks for a mission. It demonstrates the indwelling presence and power of the Holy Spirit. - Pastor Richard Wurmbrand <:))))><< ...

Romans 8:19-22 2007-06-16 00:00:00 Romans 8 - A New and Wonderful Life in the Spirit Romans 8 begins with no condemnation; it ends with no separation, and in between there is no defeat. The audio for Romans 8:12-22 is available at Springfield Calvary's web site. 2. (19-22) All of creation is awaiting and anticipating this coming glory. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. a. The earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits: Paul considers that creation itself is eagerly awaiting the revealing of the sons of God; because the creation was subjected to futility because of man?s sin, and will benefit from the ultimate redemption of me ...

Romans 8:18 2007-06-15 00:00:00 Romans 8 - A New and Wonderful Life in the Spirit Romans 8 begins with no condemnation; it ends with no separation, and in between there is no defeat. The audio for Romans 8:12-22 is available at Springfield Calvary's web site. C. Life in the Spirit enables us to understand and endure suffering. 1. (18) Paul?s analysis of the present suffering and our future glory: they cannot be compared to each other. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. a. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared: Paul was not ignorant or blind to the sufferings of human existence; he experienced more of them than most any of us today. Yet he still considered that the future glory far outweighed the present sufferings. b. The glory which shall be revealed in us: Without a heavenly hope, Paul considered the Christian life foolish and tragic (1 Corinthians 15:19). Yet in ...

Romans 8:17 2007-06-14 00:00:00 Romans 8 - A New and Wonderful Life in the Spirit Romans 8 begins with no condemnation; it ends with no separation, and in between there is no defeat. The audio for Romans 8:12-22 is available at Springfield Calvary's web site. 4. (17) The benefits and responsibilities of being God?s children. And if children, then heirs; heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.  a. And if children, there heirs: Because we are in Christ, we have the privilege of relating to the Father as Jesus does - therefore, we are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. i. Being a child of God also means having an inheritance. In Luke 18:18 the rich young ruler asked Jesus, what must I do to inherit? But the rich young ruler missed the point because inheritance is not a matter of doing it is a matter of being - of being in the right family. b. If indeed we suffer with Him: Because we are in Christ, we are also called to share in ...