Whom Are You Seeking?

He has risen!

It is Easter morning. Some people prefer to call it Resurrection Sunday, but I was raised up calling it Easter and I am ok with it. We really need to read the biblical account of that first morning. This year I am reading from the gospel of John.

John 20:1-18

20 Now the first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. ² Then she ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.”

³ Peter therefore went out, and the other disciple, and were going to the tomb. ⁴ So they both ran together, and the other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first. ⁵ And he, stooping down and looking in, saw the linen cloths lying there; yet he did not go in. ⁶ Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; and he saw the linen cloths lying there, ⁷ and the handkerchief that had been around His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself. ⁸ Then the other disciple, who came to the tomb first, went in also; and he saw and believed. ⁹ For as yet they did not know the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead. ¹⁰ Then the disciples went away again to their own homes.

¹¹ But Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping, and as she wept she stooped down and looked into the tomb. ¹² And she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. ¹³ Then they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?”

She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.”

¹⁴ Now when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus. ¹⁵ Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?”

She, supposing Him to be the gardener, said to Him, “Sir, if You have carried Him away, tell me where You have laid Him, and I will take Him away.”

¹⁶ Jesus said to her, “Mary!”

She turned and said to Him, “Rabboni!” (which is to say, Teacher).

¹⁷ Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.’ ”

¹⁸ Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that He had spoken these things to her.

This year as I read through the text I was struck with the different responses to the empty tomb. Mary was the first one there. She ran to tell the disciples. John is faster than Peter and makes it to the tomb before him. He looks in from the door, probably concerned about ceremonial ‘cleanness’. Peter goes right on in.

No one is there. Their first thought is not, ‘He is risen!’ they wonder what has happened.

Peter and John leave. Mary remains behind. She peeks in and sees the angels. Still, she thinks that the body is gone, not that He has risen. She sees Jesus and does not recognize Him until He calls her by name.

Mary is the first witness of the resurrected Christ.

Whom are you seeking? Are you seeking Christ?

James 4:8 tells us “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”

Today I want to emphasize the first part of that verse. Draw near to God! Seek God! God desires for us to seek Him.

What kind of response do you have to the empty tomb? John peeked in from the outside. Peter boldly went in, but soon left. Mary came early and stayed late.

Jeremiah 29:13 says “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.”

I want to encourage you to seek God with all your heart. It will be worth it.

I taught philosophy for 25 years. One philosopher, Rene Descartes, is famous for the line “I think, therefore I am.” Basically, Descartes used methodological skepticism to question everything. The one thing that he could not doubt was his own existence. This leaves us in something called the egocentric predicament. That means that our mind exists, but what about anything else? Descartes escapes the predicament by his faith in God. He has an ‘idea’ of God that he could not believe originated in the material world or in his own mind.

Descartes knew God.

Do you?

In Genesis 5:24 we read that “Enoch walked with God, and was not, for God took him.”

Obviously, Enoch knew God.

My challenge to you today is to not stop at the empty tomb.

Seek the living God.

Seek Him and you will find Him.

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These are the sermon notes from the message that I preached on March 31, 2024. If you would like to view the message as it was preached at the 7:00 service, you can view it at: https://www.facebook.com/100064322333786/videos/1139296883744001

All scriptures are from the New King James Version of the Bible.

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Sowing Seed

Recently I preached about the Great Commission found in Matthew 28:18-20. This message is a follow up to that message.

I. A Mystery: Mark 4:26-29

 And He said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, ²⁷ and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how. ²⁸ For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head. ²⁹ But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

When we share the gospel, we don’t know how, or if, it will bear fruit. In some cases we are able to see the result of a person giving their heart to Jesus, but other times we may never know the final result. We don’t know how is working in a person’s life. We are still called to faithfully share the gospel.  I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. I Corinthians 3:6

II. Wheat and Tares: Matthew 13:24-30

 Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; ²⁵ but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. ²⁶ But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. ²⁷ So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ ²⁸ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ ²⁹ But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. ³⁰ Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ”

This world is filled with people. Some will give their hearts to the Lord. Some will not. It is not for us to judge. We cannot tell if a person will respond today, tomorrow, in ten years, or never.

We should share the gospel with all whom we can share it. We should share it with our words and we should be careful to make sure that our lives illustrate the difference that Jesus Christ can make in our lives. People may listen to our words. They will also watch our lives. It is important that are consistent. This is not meant to put us under pressure. We know that we will not be perfect, but we should do our best.

III. The Impact: Mark 4:30-32

 Then He said, “To what shall we liken the kingdom of God? Or with what parable shall we picture it? ³¹ It is like a mustard seed which, when it is sown on the ground, is smaller than all the seeds on earth; ³² but when it is sown, it grows up and becomes greater than all herbs, and shoots out large branches, so that the birds of the air may nest under its shade.”

Faith may start small, but it can grow. The change in our lives should continue throughout our lives as God continues to mold us into the people that we are meant to be. In turn, our lives can impact others. Then those others can impact still others. It is a continuing process throughout our lives. We will not truly know what impact we have in this life until we are in eternity.

IV. Don’t Quit! Galatians 6:9

And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.

Our job is to share the gospel. We are to let the light of Christ shine through our lives. We should remain faithful until the end. Don’t give up just because you are not seeing the results that you would like to see. Be faithful in word and in deed.

Finish the race.

Finish strong.

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These are the sermon notes from the message that I preached on 2/25/24. The message contains additional material. If you would like to hear it as it was preached at the 8:30 service, you can view it at: https://www.facebook.com/100064322333786/videos/2214266908904214

All scriptures are from the New King James Version of the Bible. Any ads that appear are placed by WordPress. I have no control over them.

Watch Out!

We live in a sinful world. How did it all begin?

I. One Rule: Genesis 2:16-17

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; ¹⁷ but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

In the beginning there was only one rule. It was clear. It was simple. The consequences were severe. It should have been easy to comply.

II. Broken Rule: Genesis 3:1-6

Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”

² And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; ³ but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”

⁴ Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. ⁵ For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

⁶ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.

The serpent, whom we know to be Satan, begins by misquoting God. This is a common problem. An example of a misquote today is “Money is the root of all evil.” Actually the quote is “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil…” (I Timothy 6:10)

Eve replied with the correct information, but she added something. In the original commandment there is no mention of not touching the tree. Sadly, this too, is a fairly common problem. God’s Word is clear, but we add something more that we think makes it better.

Then the serpent flatly contradict what God said. “You will not surely die.” He denies the consequences and emphasizes the perceived benefits. Satan is crafty. He mixes truth with error. He twists the truth to serve his own purposes. He seeks to mislead and deceive. He is very good at it.

Eve then considers what the serpent said to her. She relies on her own perception and reasoning and comes to the wrong conclusion. She disobey God’s clear and simple rule.

What about Adam. Apparently, he was right there with her. He should have stopped her. He should have done something. Instead, he stood there silently and ate the fruit with her.

III. Consequences:

It is true that they did not drop dead. However, they would eventually die. They may have remained immortal if they had not sinned. More importantly, I believe that there was, immediately, a spiritual death. The spiritual connection that they had with the Father was broken. This consequence continued not only for them but for their offspring. It is only through Jesus Christ that the connection with the Spirit of God can be restored.

They were kicked out of the garden. Life would no longer be perfect. They were, in fact, cursed. Life would be far more difficult than it had to be. Life would be a struggle.

IV. Lessons to Learn:

A. Watch out! I Peter 5:8*

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

The devil will try to destroy us. We must watch out for his attacks. We should be aware of his tricks and be careful.

B. Study: II Timothy 2:15#

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

I still remember the King James Version which begins “Study to show yourselves approved…” We should be diligent. We should study. We should continue to read, to study, to memorize, to meditate on the Word of God. We should ask God to help us to understand, to apply and to live out the teachings in His Word.

C. Obey: I John 5:1-5

Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him. ² By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. ^3# For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. ⁴ For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. ⁵ Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

We should believe in Jesus. We should love God. We should love people. We should keep His commandments. We do not do this on our own strength, but by the power of the Spirit that He has given to us. We have been restored in our relationship with God. It is because of God that we can do what God desires. Through our relationship with Christ we can overcome.

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These are the notes from the message I preached on Sunday, January 3rd. If you would like to view the message as it was preached for the online service you can view it at: https://www.facebook.com/116005455113481/videos/437195257307315

Any advertisements that might appear are placed by WordPress. I do not receive any money from them, nor do I have any control over them.

The * sign designates the memory verse for this week.

The # sign designates past memory verses.

Chi Alpha @ CCC

I have been pastoring the same church since 1991.  I have been teaching at CCC since 1998.  This fall there is something new.  In a way, it is a combining of the two jobs that I have been doing for so many years.  This year we are hoping to start a Chi Alpha group at CCC.

Chi Alpha is a student ministry organization affiliated with the Assemblies of God.   Frequently Chi Alpha groups are led by individuals who act as campus missionaries, or pastors, on a full-time basis.  They raise their support from churches that support their vision of reaching out to the college students.

I am not becoming a full-time Chi Alpha worker, but none-the-less, will be working in campus ministries on a volunteer basis.

We are starting with a light schedule.  We will have bi-weekly meetings consisting of a time of sharing, a time of prayer and a time for Bible study and discussion.  We may have occasional outreach or fellowship activities as time and interest dictate.

At this time I have fulfilled the school requirements for a student group, except that I need a sufficient number of students indicating interest.  I have sign up sheets around the college and hope to have enough names shortly after classes begin in the fall.

I would appreciate your prayers as I begin this new endeavor.

Men, Angels, & Aliens

Our Wednesday night Bible study can be an interesting time of discussion.  Last night we were going over Genesis 6:1-4 which reads:

“Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful: and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.  And the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh: yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.”  There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them.  Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.” (NKJ) 

I presented that there were two basic theories over the identity of  the “sons of God” and the “mighty men”.

One theory is that they are simply humans.  After all, Adam is called the “son of God”, so why shouldn’t his descendants be called the “sons of God”?  In this case the “mighty men” are  simply the race of men before the flood.  They had long life spans and so could rightly be called “mighty men”.

A second option is that “sons of God” refers to angels.  If this were the case, any children born would be half angel, half human.  This could result in humans with extraordinary powers; truly “mighty men”  It could even provide a historical basis for the existence of Greek mythology.  It was further pointed out that since these sexual unions were not condoned by God, that the angels were fallen angels, or demons.  That would explain the rampant evil of the time.

It was then suggested that perhaps the “sons of God” were aliens.  Since the Bible never says that there isn’t life anywhere else, it is not unbiblical to suggest the possibility of life on other planets. This too, would result in “mighty men”. 

It’s good to keep an open mind.

The point, of course, is that evil was rampant, and the judgement of God came upon the earth.  What is the correct interpretation of these verses?  I do not claim to know; but the reality of a worldwide judgement against evil is the final end.

Beyond Words

“The spirit may grasp truth that breaks beyond the barriers of human language.”

Last night in Bible study, one of the older members of our congregation, (She is 97!) commented that the topic was so deep that she was having trouble expressing what God was saying to her.  After the study was officially concluded, we were still sitting around talking and the line that I wrote above, came to me and I quickly got up wrote it down on the board so that I wouldn’t forget it. 

I believe that God communicates to us in a variety of ways.  God will utilize the natural means of verbal communication, such as reading, dialogue, and rational thought; but additional truths are grasped by an internal comprehension,  a revelation on a spiritual level, which allows us to understand, but that may be difficult to express.  These truths have a profound impact on how we comprehend the things of God, and of the world, and even though our attempts to put them into words are only partially successful; they enrich our lives, and our cognition of metaphysical reality.

Kingdom of God/Kingdom of Heaven

I have occasionally had people ask me if there is a difference between the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven.  We had a big discussion a time or two in our Wednesday night Bible study and I wanted to share some information with the readers of this blog.

There are a number of parallel verses in the gospels.  In the following list, the verses are basically identical except that Mathew uses Kingdom of Heaven, while Luke and Mark use Kingdom of God.  Although Mathew will occasionally use the term Kingdom of God, the term Kingdom of Heaven is only used in Mathew.

Math 5:3                             Luke 6:20

Math 8:11-13                    Luke  13:28-29

Math 10:7                          Luke 9:2

Math 11:11                          Luke 7:28

Math  13:11                        Luke 8:10                  Mark 4:11

Math 13:31                         Luke 13:18&19        Mark 4:30-31

Math 19:23                        Luke 18:24                 Mark 10:23

Math 22:2                           Luke 14:15

I believe that in reading these verses in comparison with each other it will become obvious that Mathew has substituted the term “Kingdom of Heaven” for “Kingdom of God”.  Is there a reasonable explanation?

Mathew was written primarily to the Jewish people.  They had a historical belief in the Kingdom of God as expressed in the theocracy of the nation of Israel.  I believe that Mathew substituted “Heaven” so that his readers would understand that he was talking about something that was not of this world, something other than a reestablishment of the sovereignty of Israel under God’s rule.

With all due respect to the various televangelists and others who might disagree, there is no difference between the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven as expressed in the gospels.  The terms are synonymous.