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Articles from Pastor Jon's Blog

1 Thessalonians 4:11 2007-05-19 00:00:00 1 Thessalonians 4 - Confidence in the Coming of Jesus 2. (11) We should live a life of work. That you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you,a. That you also aspire to lead a quiet life: This means that we should have an aspiration or ambition in life, and that we should aspire to lead a quiet life. i. Aspire has the thought of ambition, and is translated that way in several versions of the Bible. Quiet has the thought of peace, calm, rest and satisfaction.  ii. The quiet life contradicts the hugely successful modern attraction to entertainment and excitement. This addiction to entertainment and excitement is damaging both spiritually and culturally. We might say that excitement and entertainment are like a religion for many people today. a) This religion has a god: The self. b) This religion has priests: Celebrities. c) This religion has a prophet: Music video channels. d) This religion has ...

1 Thessalonians 4:9-10 2007-05-18 00:00:00 1 Thessalonians 4 - Confidence in the Coming of Jesus B. Living the quiet life before God. 1. (9-10) We should live a life of increasing love. But concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; and indeed you do so toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more;a. But concerning brotherly love you had no need that I should write to you: These principles are so basic that Paul knew they were obvious to the Thessalonian Christians. The Thessalonians were taught by God about the importance of love, yet we must all be reminded. b. And indeed you do so toward all the brethren who are in Macedonia: It wasn?t that they Thessalonians were without love; their love toward all the brethren was well known, but they had to increase more and more in their love. Unless otherwise noted all Scripture is taken from the New King Translation of the Bible< ...

The power Of God's Word 2007-05-17 13:37:53 I heard this most interesting bit of history today. It demonstrates the power of God?s Word!   In 1686, Elias Keach, son of the famed English Pastor, Benjamin Keach, arrived in America. Though unconverted, he presented himself as a minister of the gospel. His name secured for him the opportunity to preach and the aforementioned group of believers, in need of a pastor, were among those who gave ear to his message.   Baptist historian Morgan Edwards records the details of this event: ?He performed well enough till he had advanced pretty far in the sermon. Then stopping short, looked like a man astonished. The audience concluded he had been seized with a sudden disorder; but, on asking what the matter was, received from him the confession of the imposter with tears in his eyes and much trembling.?   The deceiver became the first convert of his own preaching for from this time he dated his conversion! ...

Romans 6:19-23 2007-05-17 00:00:00 Romans 6 - Made Safe for Grace The audio of Romans 6:15-23 is on the Springfield Calvary web site. You can listen online or download the teaching in MP3. 4. (19-23) How to keep from enslaving ourselves. I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.a. I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh: Paul apologizes for using slavery as an illustration, because it was s ...

Romans 6:18 2007-05-16 00:00:00 Romans 6 - Made Safe for Grace The audio of Romans 6:15-23 is on the Springfield Calvary web site. You can listen online or download the teaching in MP3. 3. (18) Why not then, occasionally sin? Because sin is not our master, and we no longer serve it. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.a. Having been set free from sin: What does it mean to be free from sin and to become a slave of righteousness? It means that sin is no longer your boss or your master. Now righteousness is your boss, so serve righteousness instead of sin. It isn?t right to think about pleasing your old boss when you change jobs. b. Slaves of righteousness: What does it mean to be a slave? A slave was more than an employee. Greek scholar Kenneth Wuest defines the ancient Greek word for a slave here by these terms: One born into a condition of slavery. One whose will is swallowed up in the will of another. One who is bound to the master with bounds that only death can break ...

Romans 6:16-17 2007-05-15 00:00:00 Romans 6 - Made Safe for Grace 2. (16-17) Spiritual principles we need to understand in order to answer the question. Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one?s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered.a. To whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one?s slaves: Whatever you present yourself to obey, you become its slave. For example, if I ?obey? my appetite constantly, I am a slave to it. So we have a choice in our slavery: sin leading to death or obedience leading to righteousness. i. One way or another, we will serve somebody. The option to live our life without serving either sin or obedience isn?t open to us. b. Though you were slaves of sin: Paul puts it in the past tense because we have been freed from our slavery to sin. He al ...

Romans 6:15 2007-05-14 00:00:00 Romans 6 - Made Safe for Grace B. The believer under grace and the problem of occasional sin. 1. (15) A new question is asked: shall we sin (occasionally) because we are not under law but under grace? What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! a. Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Paul has convinced us that a lifestyle of habitual sin is not compatible with one whose life is changed by grace. But what about an occasional sin here and there? If we are under grace, not law, must we be so concerned about a little sin here and there? b. Shall we sin: Again, the verb tense of the ancient Greek word sin is important (the aorist active tense). It indicates dabbling in sin, not a continual habitual sin described in the question of Romans 6:1. i. ?The verb in verse one is in the present subjunctive, speaking of habitual, continuous action. The verb in verse fifteen is in the aorist subjunctive, referring to a single act.? ( ...

A Gift Of Love 2007-05-13 07:00:00 A Gift of Love Author Unknown "Can I see my baby?" the happy new mother asked. When the bundle was nestled in her arms and she moved the fold of cloth to look upon his tiny face, she gasped. The doctor turned quickly and looked out the tall hospital window. The baby had been born without ears. Time proved that the baby's hearing was perfect. It was only his appearance that was marred. When he rushed home from school one day and flung himself into his mother's arms, she sighed, knowing that his life was to be a succession of heartbreaks. He blurted out the tragedy. "A boy, a big boy . . . called me a freak." He grew up, handsome for his misfortune. A favorite with his fellow students, he might have been class president, but for that. He developed a gift, a talent for literature and music. "But you might mingle with other young people," his mother reproved him, but felt a kindness in her heart. The boy's father had a session with the family physician. ...

Sunday Quotes 05.13.07 2007-05-13 05:00:00 Through a tree we were made debtors to God; so through a tree we have our debt canceled. -- Irenaeus The closer we walk with the Shepherd, the farther we are from the wolf. - Unknown Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could forget our troubles as quickly as we forget our blessings? - Unknown Don't pray "Our Father" on Sunday and spend the rest of the week living like an orphan. - Unknown It's natural to be religious; it's supernatural to be a Christian. - Unknown The cause, not the suffering, makes a genuine martyr. -- Augustine In the Christian life, any time you let up, you can expect a letdown. - Unknown Lord, when we are wrong, make us willing to change. And when we are right, make us easy to live with. - Unknown How to find Christianity? Turn right and keep going. -- Unknown <:))))><< ...

1 Thessalonians 4:6b-8 2007-05-13 00:00:00 1 Thessalonians 4 - Confidence in the Coming of Jesus 3. (6b-8) Reasons for the command. Because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified. For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit. a. Because the Lord is the avenger of all such: This is the first of four reasons for sexual purity. We can trust that God will punish sexual immorality, and that no one gets away with this sin ? even if it is undiscovered. b. For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness: This is the second reason why Christians should be sexually pure - because of our call. That call is not to uncleanness, but to holiness; therefore, sexual immorality is simply inconsistent with who we are in Jesus Christ. i. Paul developed this same line of thought in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 and 6:15-20, concluding with the idea that we should glorify God in your body and in your ...

1 Thessalonians 4:3-6a 2007-05-12 00:00:00 1 Thessalonians 4 - Confidence in the Coming of Jesus 2. (3-6a) The command to be sexually pure. For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, a. For this is the will of God, your sanctification: Paul gave these commands to a first-century Roman culture that was marked by sexual immorality. At this time in the Roman Empire, chastity and sexual purity were almost unknown virtues. Nevertheless, Christians were to take their standards of sexual morality from God and not from the culture. i. Paul said this was a commandment (1 Thessalonians 4:2). That word was a military term describing an order from an officer to a subordinate, and the order came from Jesus and not from Paul. ii. The ancient writer Demosthen ...

1 Thessalonians 4:1-2 2007-05-11 00:00:00 1 Thessalonians 4 - Confidence in the Coming of Jesus A. Instructions regarding sexual purity. 1. (1-2) How to walk and to please God. Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God; for you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus.a. Finally then: Paul?s use of finally does not mean he is finished. It means he now began the closing section of the letter, with practical instruction on how God wants His people to live. i. ?The word rendered ?finally? (loipon) is an adverbial accusative, ?as for the rest,? and serves to mark a transition rather than a conclusion.? (Hiebert) b. That you should abound more and more: Paul was thankful for the growth he saw in the Thessalonians, but still looked for them to abound more and more in a walk that would please God. i. Abound more and more: This means that Christian maturity is never finished on this side ...

Romans 6:13-14 2007-05-10 00:00:00 Romans 6 - Made Safe for Grace 6. (13-14) How to walk in the freedom Jesus has given us. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. a. Do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God: A person can be ?officially? set free, yet still imprisoned. If a person lives in prison for years, and then is set free, they often still think and act like a prisoner. The habits of freedom aren?t ingrained in their life yet. Here, Paul shows how to build the habits of freedom in the Christian life. i. In the fourteenth century two brothers fought for the right to rule over a dukedom in what is now Belgium. The elder brother?s name was Raynald, but he was commonly called ?Crassus,? a Latin nickname meaning ?fat,? for ...

Romans 6:11-12 2007-05-09 00:00:00 Romans 6 - Made Safe for Grace 5. (11-12) Practical application of the principle of our death and resurrection with Jesus. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.a. Reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin: Reckon is an accounting word. Paul tells us to account or to reckon the old man as forever dead. God never calls us ?crucify? the old man, but instead to account him as already dead because of our identification with Jesus? death on the cross. b. Reckon yourselves to be . . . alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord: The death to sin is only one side of the equation. The old man is gone, but the new man lives on (as described in Romans 6:4-5). c. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body: This is something that can only be said to the Christian, to the one who has had the old man crucified with Christ and h ...

Romans 6:5-10 2007-05-08 00:00:00 Romans 6 - Made Safe for Grace 4. (5-10) Paul considers the implications of our death and resurrection with Jesus. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. a. United together expresses a close union. The phrase ?exactly expresses the process by which a graft becomes united with the life of a tree . . . The union is of the closest sort, and life from Christ flows through to him.? (Morris) It fits in well with Jesus? picture of ab ...