Author Archives: Pastor Jim Driskell, Lutheran Church

Unknown's avatar

About Pastor Jim Driskell, Lutheran Church

I am the pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Chestertown, Md. I pray that you will come and worship with us, worship is 10 am Sundays. We are a renewal church and we are lifting God up in classical worship, and being faithful disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ. 101 Greenwood Av, Chestertown. Plenty of parking behind the church.

Resurrección, la verdadera vida para la eternidad Isaías 25: 6-9 Primera Saint Johns 5 de abril 2015

[translation from Google translate]

Hacemos nuestro comienzo en el Nombre de Dios el Padre y en el nombre de Dios el Hijo y en el nombre de Dios el Espíritu Santo y todos los que están a la espera de ser resucitado en un cuerpo físico perfecto en un mundo físico perfecto dijimos … AMEN !!

Hemos estado haciendo una serie de sermones por el Reverendo Dr. Reed Lessing para la Cuaresma. Realmente me he metido mucho de esta serie, así que estoy mirando nuestro sermón Pascua observando lo que dice de Pascua: “Home! La misma palabra evoca sentimientos de amor y la risa, la seguridad y la serenidad, calidez. Significa mamá y papá, diversión y juegos, buena comida, el sueño profundo, una niña de Kansas dice mejor: “No hay lugar como el hogar”. ”

En verdad eso es lo que Pascua se trata. El mundo en su conjunto, todos nosotros, hemos llegado a ser tan acampado en nuestro hogar es el cielo. No lo es! Claro que hay consuelo cuando perdemos a un ser querido a decir que están en el cielo, y cuando mueren en Jesús, tenemos la seguridad de que están en la presencia del Señor (2 Corintios 5: 8 RV) Pero ahí es donde nos vamos que, se ha convertido de alguna manera imbuido en nuestro entendimiento de que pasaremos la eternidad en una especie de estado etéreo sentado en una nube tocando el arpa. ¡No! Vamos a morir. Vamos, a menos que Jesús regrese antes de morir, vamos a ir al cielo, pero eso no es nuestra última parada.

Vamos a hablar de la resurrección. Deberíamos estar todos los domingos. ¿Por qué? Adoramos el domingo frente al sábado, que era el día de reposo, porque todos los domingos es un poco de Pascua, que nos recuerda a nuestro destino final, el destino. Debido a que Jesús fue resucitado, también nosotros resucitaremos. Jesús volvió a este mundo, en el mismo cuerpo que murió. Esto era para darnos la promesa de que seremos resucitados como él. “ESV 1 Corintios 15:51 He aquí! Te digo un misterio. No todos dormiremos, pero todos seremos transformados, 52 en un momento, en un abrir y cerrar de ojos, a la final trompeta. Pues la trompeta sonará, y los muertos serán resucitados incorruptibles, y nosotros seremos transformados. 53 Por esto corruptible se vista de incorrupción, y esto mortal se vista de inmortalidad. 54 Cuando esto corruptible se vista de incorrupción, y esto mortal se haya vestido de inmortalidad, entonces se cumplirá la palabra que está escrita: “La muerte ha sido devorada en la victoria.”

Usted realmente tiene que tipo de maravilla, ¿por qué Pablo estar tan emocionado acerca de ser “cambiado” en una especie de forma diáfana, ralo. Esta idea viene de un sistema de creencias no relacionado con el cristianismo llamados neo-platonismo y el gnosticismo. Ambos de estos sistemas de creencias enseñan que la física es de alguna manera el mal, que como el Padre es espíritu, entonces queremos ser espíritu. Cuál es el punto del infierno, si no estamos física, ¿cómo podemos realmente sufrimos. Por el contrario, si somos espíritu y salvos en la resurrección, ¿cómo podemos realmente disfrutar de la resurrección? Nosotros no podemos. Nos hicieron ser físico. Si somos “vamos a casa” como sostiene el Dr. Lessing, es el hogar de verdad el cielo. Yo nunca he estado en el cielo, no recuerdo nada al respecto. Claro que voy a estar en la presencia de Jesús y que será una tremenda alegría, felicidad. Pero eso no es lo que estábamos hechos para, así no es como Dios nos creó.

Sabemos cómo Dios nos creó. A pesar de lo que se oye en el mundo, que no vienen de animales. El libro del Génesis nos dice cómo nos pusieron aquí, ¿por qué nos pusieron aquí y en qué forma nos pusieron aquí. Fuimos creados a la Imago Dei. Estamos, sin duda, especial, único, muy privilegiada por Dios, porque fuimos hechos completamente única en la imagen del Padre y en cuerpos tangibles, muy físicos. Adán y Eva vivían en la perfección, en sus cuerpos creados, por muchos años. Luego simplemente eligieron ese todo lo que Dios creó para ellos no era suficiente, que tenían derecho a más, que era Dios retenga incluso una cosa de la? Saludaron a Dios fuera y hacían lo que querían.

Dios no iba a tolerar su desafío, Él simplemente no lo haría, su naturaleza es ser totalmente santo, para ser completamente justo, ser completamente perfecto. Él no iba a tolerar su imperfección, su pecado, en su desafío.

Sí, Dios les arranca hacia el, mundo cruel frío. Pero nuestro Dios amoroso nunca nos deja solos. Él nunca nos rechaza, Él siempre hace un camino donde él, no tú, traerá a los que Él ha creado de nuevo a él.

Sí, sabemos que aquellos que sólo rechazan a Dios y hacer que todo sobre ellos. Pero incluso en nuestra imperfección, los que hemos sido llevados a Jesús, somos llevados de vuelta a la intención de Dios para nosotros. Él prometió a Adán y Eva que no habría un libertador, que Salvador sería el pago por nuestros fracasos, nuestros pecados y nos pondría de nuevo en relación con el Padre. Lo hizo, Jesús. Jesús murió a, a, la muerte gorey muy horripilante muy físico, Él murió para que la muerte, no a causa de lo que hizo, sino por lo que hicimos, a causa de nuestro pecado. Jesús, el Hijo de Dios, fue el sacrificio perfecto para nosotros que somos tan imperfectos.

Randy Alcorn en su libro, El Cielo, escribe extensamente que seremos resucitados, seremos resucitados en cuerpos físicos muy reales, al igual que estamos ahora. Esta es mi razón, esta es mi esperanza, la razón de la esperanza que está en nosotros. Eso es lo que significa ser un cristiano tiene que ver, ESPERANZA. Nosotros no estamos perdidos y desamparados como los que están sin Jesús. Sabemos que seremos resucitados en un cuerpo perfecto, en un mundo perfecto, para vivir la vida que siempre estaban destinados a vivir. No en esta pecaminosa, corrupta, totalmente desordenado mundo y yo desafío a cualquiera aquí y en cualquier lugar para tratar de hacer de este mundo algo que no lo es. El pecado es lo que ha causado la violencia, la enfermedad, la muerte, la deformidad. Es todo sobre nosotros, hacer usted mismo y todos los demás un gran favor y dejar de echarle la culpa a Dios.

Alcorn nos recuerda: “Como seres humanos, a quienes Dios hizo al ser tanto física como espiritual, no estamos diseñados para vivir en un reino no físico. De hecho, somos incapaces de imaginar siquiera un lugar así … Un estado incorpóreo no sólo es desconocido para nuestra experiencia, también es incompatible con nuestro Dios – constitución dada … Somos seres físicos tanto como somos seres espirituales. Es por eso que nuestra resurrección corporal es esencial para dotarnos de eterna humanidad justos. Liberándonos del pecado, la maldición y la muerte. “Alcorn señala con razón que debido a nuestra naturaleza física y cuando el cielo se presenta como un lugar no físico, que nuestros sentidos que hacen nos dan placer, el tacto, el olfato, la vista, el oído , no será una parte de nosotros, esto realmente nos repele en nuestra esencia. Alcorn escribe: “… cuando el cielo se presenta como más allá del alcance de nuestros sentidos, no nos invitan; en cambio, se aliena y hasta nos asusta … ”

Para la mayoría de nosotros, vamos a gastar nuestro tiempo en esa forma “espiritual”, pero eso es porque somos la “iglesia en espera”, el mundo se encuentra todavía en la tribulación y la “iglesia en espera” es todavía una parte de esa batalla contra el pecado y el mal. En el cielo, todavía estaremos en oración. El escritor de Hebreos nos dice que estamos “en derredor nuestro tan grande nube de testigos”. Nuestros seres queridos en el cielo no saben lo que estamos pasando, que no necesitan, saben todavía estamos siendo sometidos a la lucha espiritual que sucede a nuestro alrededor. Pero en última instancia, tenemos la promesa de la resurrección. Pablo escribe: “Así también es la resurrección de los muertos. Se siembra en corrupción; se resucita en incorrupción “(1 Corin 15:42) Tenemos la promesa que Jesús hizo a Marta:” Yo soy la resurrección y la vida. El que cree en mí, aunque esté muerto, vivirá. “(Juan 11:25). Seremos resucitados en cuerpos muy reales, a vivir vidas muy reales, pero vive como Dios originalmente pensado para que vivamos en un mundo muy real. Pero este es un mundo no limitado por el pecado, por defecto físico, es un mundo en el que las posibilidades son ilimitadas, no en este mundo, que está limitado por todas nuestras fallas humanas. Un mundo en el que el jingle de la cerveza dice “puedes tenerlo todo”. No se puede en este mundo, pero se puede en el mundo que Dios ha prometido a todos los que son salvos en Jesús. Una vida que Dios quiere para nosotros, que Jesús nos prometió cuando dijo: “. Yo he venido para que tengan vida y la tengan en abundancia” (Jn 10:10) Eso es el mundo de la resurrección, una vida de abundancia ilimitada, no más dolor, ninguna de la incapacidad del cuerpo y del pecado. Sin embargo, será un mundo de desafíos, estamos todavía esperábamos para crecer y lograr, avanzar y lograr, pero de una manera que nos edifica y nos fortalece en Jesús.

Dr. Martin Luther escribió: “Quítate consolaban, pequeño perro. Tú también en la Resurrección tendrán un poco de cola de oro. “Usted y yo tendremos mucho más que una cola de oro.

La paz de Dios que sobrepasa todo entendimiento, guardará vuestros corazones y vuestros pensamientos en Cristo Jesús. Amin y Shalom

Resurrection, true life for eternity Isaiah 25: 6-9 First St Johns Easter April 5, 2015

[For the audio of this sermon click on the above link]

We make our beginning in the Name of God the Father and in the Name of God the Son and in the Name of God the Holy Spirit and all those who are looking forward to being resurrected in a perfect physical body in a perfect physical world said … AMEN!!

We’ve been doing a sermon series by Rev Dr Reed Lessing for Lent. I’ve really gotten a lot from this series, so I’m staring our Easter sermon noting what he says about Easter: “Home! The very word evokes feelings of love and laughter, security and serenity, warmth. It means mom and dad, fun and games, good food, deep sleep, a little girl from Kansas says it best, “There’s no place like home.””

Truly that is what Easter is all about. The world as a whole, all of us, we have become so camped on our home being heaven. It’s not! Sure there’s comfort when we lose a loved one to say that they are in heaven, and when they die in Jesus, we have the assurance that they are in the presence of the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8 KJV) But that’s where we leave it, it has somehow become imbued in our understanding that we spend eternity in some kind of ethereal state sitting on a cloud strumming a harp. No! We will die. We will, unless Jesus returns before we die, we will go to heaven, but that’s not our final stop.

We are going to talk about the resurrection. We should be every Sunday. Why? We worship on Sunday versus Saturday, which was the Sabbath Day, because every Sunday is a little Easter, it reminds us of our ultimate destiny, destination. Because Jesus was resurrected, we too will be resurrected. Jesus returned to this world, in the same body He died in. This was to give us the promise that we will be resurrected just like Him. “ESV 1 Corinthians 15:51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

You really have to kind of wonder, why would Paul be so excited about being “changed” into some kind of diaphanous, wispy form. This idea comes from a belief system unrelated to Christianity called neo-platonism and also Gnosticism. Both of these belief systems teach that the physical is somehow evil, that because the Father is spirit, then we will want to be spirit. What’s the point of Hell, if we aren’t physical, how do we really suffer. Conversely, if we are spirit and are saved in the resurrection, how do we truly enjoy the resurrection? We can’t. We were made to be physical. If we are “going home” as Dr Lessing submits, is home really heaven. I’ve never been to heaven, I don’t remember anything about it. Sure I will be in Jesus’ presence and that will be tremendous joy, bliss. But that’s not what we were made for, that’s not how God created us.

We know how God created us. Despite what you hear in the world, we didn’t come from animals. The Book of Genesis tells us how we were put here, why we were put here and in what form we were put here. We were created in the Imago Dei. We are unquestionably special, unique, highly privileged by God because we were made completely uniquely in the Father’s image and in very physical, tangible bodies. Adam and Eve lived in perfection, in their created bodies, for many years. They then simply chose that everything God created for them wasn’t enough, that they were entitled to more, who was God to withhold even one thing from the? They waved God off and did what they wanted.

God wasn’t going to tolerate their defiance, He just wouldn’t, His nature is to be completely holy, to be completely just, be completely perfect. He was not going to tolerate their imperfection, their sin, in their defiance.

Yes, God booted them out into the cold, harsh world. But our loving God never leaves us alone. He never rejects us, He always makes a way where He, not you, will bring those He created back to Him.

Yea, we know those who just reject God and make it all about them. But even in our imperfection, we who have been brought to Jesus, are brought back to God’s intention for us. He promised Adam and Eve that there would be a deliverer, that Savior would be the payment for our failures, our sins and would put us back into relation with the Father. He did, Jesus. Jesus died a very physical, a very gruesome, gorey death, He died that death, not because of what He did, but because of what we did, because of our sin. Jesus, God the Son, was the perfect sacrifice for us who are so imperfect.

Randy Alcorn in his book, Heaven, writes extensively that we will be resurrected, we will be raised in very real physical bodies, just like we are now. This is my reason, this is my hope, the reason for the hope that lies within us. That is what being a Christian is all about, H-O-P-E. We are not lost and helpless like those who are without Jesus. We know we will be raised in a perfect body, in a perfect world, to live the life that we were always intended to live. Not in this sinful, corrupted, thoroughly messed up world and I defy anyone here, anywhere to try to make this world something that it isn’t. Sin is what has caused violence, disease, death, deformity. It’s all on us, do yourself and everyone else a big favor and quit blaming it on God.

Alcorn reminds us: “As human beings, whom God made to be both physical and spiritual, we are not designed to live in a non-physical realm. Indeed, we are incapable of even imagining such a place… An incorporeal state is not only unfamiliar to our experience, it is also incompatible with our God – given constitution… We are physical beings as much as we are spiritual beings. That’s why our bodily resurrection is essential to endow us with eternal righteous humanity. Setting us free from sin, the Curse and death.”[1] Alcorn rightly points out that because of our physical nature and when heaven is portrayed as a non-physical place, that our senses that do bring us pleasure, touch, smell, sight, hearing, won’t be a part of us, this really repels us at our core. Alcorn writes: “…when Heaven is portrayed as beyond the reach of our senses, it doesn’t invite us; instead, it alienates and even frightens us…”[2]

For most of us, we will spend our time in that “spiritual” form, but that is because we are the “church in waiting”, the world is still in tribulation and the “church in waiting” is still a part of that battle against sin and evil. In heaven, we will still be in prayer. The writer of Hebrews tells us that we are “surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses”. Our loved ones in heaven don’t know what we’re going through, they don’t need to, they know we are still being subjected to the spiritual struggle that goes on around us. But ultimately we have the promise of the resurrection. Paul writes: “So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:” (1 Corin 15:42) We have the promise that Jesus made to Martha: “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me though he die, yet shall he live.” (John 11:25). We will be raised up in very real bodies, to live very real lives, but lives the way God originally intended for us to live, in a very real world. But this is a world not limited by sin, by physical defect, it is a world where the possibilities are limitless, not this world, that is limited by all our human failings. A world where as the beer jingle says “you can have it all”. You can’t in this world, but you can in the world that God has promised to all those who are saved in Jesus. A life that God intends for us, that Jesus promised us when He said: “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (Jn 10:10) That is the world of the resurrection, a life of limitless abundance, no more pain, none of the disability of body and sin. It will still be a world of challenges, we are still expected to grow and achieve, move and accomplish, but in a way that builds us and strengthens us in Jesus.

Dr Martin Luther wrote: “Be thou comforted, little dog. Thou too in Resurrection shall have a little golden tail.” You and I will have so much more than a golden tail.

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amin and Shalom

[1] Randy Alcorn, “Heaven” p 16

[2] Ibid p 17

Prayer, prayer, prayer da, de, da

Pastor Jim Driskell, Lutheran Church's avatarPastor Jim Driskell

Da, de, da, love, love, love, the Beatles tune. How about Prayer, Prayer, prayer da,de, da?

Is there a greater way to show love then through prayer? No… Yet we in the church, given the opportunity to prayer for others often just pass, or make a perfunctory attempt. I’m not saying you have to wax eloquence, not at all, simple sincere prayer is much more effective. Just make it sincere.

That prayer is the the greatest weapon of the church is quite plain and I can speak to that from personal experience, as well as from what is taught, what we know from the Bible, and learned others who have written profoundly about prayer.

I’ve seen some crazy answers to prayer and often did not know how to deal with those answers. Often it took prayer to understand what I was dealing with.

Why do we as a church and…

View original post 480 more words

Marriage the cure for poverty

Pastor Jim Driskell, Lutheran Church's avatarPastor Jim Driskell

“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Lord Acton

Broken Marriage RatesIf you’re out of work and can’t earn an income, it’s easy to slide down the economic ladder from working-poor to just plain poor. So it’s no surprise that the poverty rate in America has, since at least 1970, moved in sync with the unemployment rate. During each recession we would see a spike in the poverty rate and then a decline as the economy recovers and employment levels began to rise.

But around 2010, something seems to have changed. A decrease in unemployment is now no longer enough to reduce the poverty rate. According to a new memo by the Brookings Institute,

Between 2010 and 2013, the unemployment rate fell by 23% in the United States. The…

View original post 443 more words

More devolved or further away from God?

Someone responded to a post of mine, which was critical of evolution. I grew up mindlessly accepting the secular gospel, that evolution is just a given, a scientific fact and did not give it another thought. The writer/respondent wondered if instead of “evolving”, we were really “devolving”. In some ways man has, in some sense, become better. But in so many ways, the things that are truly important, we have become more depraved, more alienated, more fixated on the true object of our affection, that being “me, myself and I”.

Obviously evolution is a rather pitiful attempt to deny God and to create some kind of phoney paradigm where, given enough time over “millions and millions of years”, that somehow, completely by chance, an incredibly sophisticated environment, would create incredibly sophisticated beings, all by complete chance. (Unless of course you believe the outside of the evolution fringe which tries to convince us aliens came here and started the human race, if not the entire ecosphere. That of course begs the question how aliens came about, but the evolution fringe element really doesn’t go that far, and frankly doesn’t seem to think that deeply.) Most real scientists today are rejecting Darwinian evolution and are growing in their perception of a design of the universe that is more and more incredibly complicated. The idea that says that this happened all by accident is becoming more and more discredited.

I am certainly not anti-intellectual, but those who pose as “intellectuals”, seem to more and more be anti-intellectual. There seems to be this element that thinks that education is more of an indoctrination, a learning of essential facts in order to continue to maintain the status quo, instead of what true science is, which is to continue to question, There is not supposed to be a science orthodoxy, a faith system that dictates that these are “facts” and not to be disputed. But there certainly is a scientism faith system. At least a deistic system (like Christianity)provides for some kind of tangible reality of creation. But the evolution, fringe element, moves even more to the fantastic, when it’s high priest, if not Pope, Stephen Hawking decides ex cathedra, that obviously there has always been gravity and that is what continues to pull the universe together and kicks off the whole “Big Bang”. I’m not opposed to the “Big Bang”, if God chose to use that as His method of kicking off the universe great! What better way than in an incredible flash of light that rocketed out from a tiny bit of mass. But to say that it was somehow always present and self- perpetuating is a faith system that demands a great deal more faith than God the Father of our Lord Jesus, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

God created us to be perfect, we, represented by Adam, decided, that what He did wasn’t good enough, we wanted more and basically Adam waved God off and said, no it’s all about me and what I want. That is the break in our relationship with God. From there sin did and continues to break us down, drive us further from Him, because more and more it’s all about us. So yes, we are “devolvoing” in the sense that we are moving farther away from God and making ourselves an idol. The farther we are from the Father, the more it’s about us, the more debased we become and yes, more like a “survival of the fittest” versus the love for the Father being projected on all those around us and from us to everyone else. The whole evolution argument is about us justifying that it’s about us and that God doesn’t matter. We find out who does, because the farther we are away from Him, the more debased, sinful we become the less human and compassionate and more about me. We can either realize how far we’ve fallen and strive for reality of Jesus. Or we can keep tanking and wonder why things have become more evil.

Our God is very much a living God, to quote the Newsboys “God’s not dead He’s surely alive, He’s living on the inside, roaring like a lion”. He roars to give us the integrity, courage, strength to live a life that truly worships and strives to serve a completely holy, perfect, sanctified God. He made all creation so that we could live as very complicated beings in an environment that supports us. We continue the intellectual challenge of understanding His creation and also Him, in order that we might grow to be more like Him, and not to be about what it is that I want, what I decide is important. When we grow towards God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit we don’t “evolve”, but we become more like Christ. That’s our true goal, we’re not going to evolve that way, it’s going to be about having the faith that God gives us to trust what the Holy Spirit is doing in us and to proceed out into the world in God’s will, not ours.

Alégrate? ¡Sí! Pero ¿para qué? Zacarías 9: 9-12 First St Johns 29 de marzo 2015

Hacemos nuestro comienzo en el Nombre de Dios el Padre y en el nombre de Dios el Hijo y en el nombre de Dios el Espíritu Santo y todos los que se gozan en nuestro Salvador Jesucristo y su sacrificio dijimos … AMEN!

Una radio local muestran a un hombre estaba diciendo que él estaba en el tráfico alrededor de DC y que sólo había bloqueado el carril que estaba en y tuvo que superar. Él bajó la ventanilla y le rogó a una mujer para dejarlo entrar. Él dice que ella sólo le permitió tenerlo, todo en blanco, en blanco, en blanco, lo que pensaba de él y de su madre, etc. él consiguió en el carril de al lado y terminaron por delante de ella y que iban en una cabina de peaje. Se levanta a la caseta de cobro y sigue adelante y paga su peaje.

Sí hoy es Domingo de Ramos, es la entrada triunfal de Jesús en Jerusalén. También tenemos que recordar que hoy es Domingo de Pasión también. Sí, Jesús fue recibido en Jerusalén, sin duda, los discípulos estaban convencidos de que se trataba de ella, que Jesús finalmente iba a hacer su movimiento y restaurar el reino y que estaría en su mano izquierda y su fallo mano derecha sobre el nuevo davídico Unido. No tenían idea alguna de cómo sería realmente a suceder. La semana comenzó en señal de triunfo, pero terminaría en lo que probablemente pensaron en ese momento era un desastre. No iba a haber ningún vítores, no había nadie “hosannaing”, capas no se están colocando delante de Él. En cambio, Él fue arrastrado por todo un ensayo la noche, comenzó la golpiza, no tenía sueño, ni comida, ni agua, arrojado a una celda, golpeado de nuevo. Al día siguiente, Él sería azotado, tortura insoportable, obligado a arrastrar una cruz de madera en bruto a través de las calles de Jerusalén, siendo abucheado y acosado. Por último clavado en una cruz, colgante izquierda, sin piedad, sufriendo en frente de toda esta gente que le había sido animando hace una semana. En lugar de aplaudir que estaban burlándose, que se burlaban de él, sólo podemos imaginar lo que otra persona tome su angustia en la cruz aún más miserable.

El hombre en el coche podría haber ahuyentado, corte la mujer fuera, ha sido un imbécil demasiado. No lo hizo, él mostró a esta mujer la gracia, sin duda, cuando condujo lejos de la estación de peaje sintió la satisfacción de que lo hizo mostrar su gracia. No puedo decir que estoy tan graciosa como eso, y sé que debo ser. Después de que Jesús había sido tratado tan vilmente, tenía todas las razones para simplemente proceder a lo largo. ¿Por qué habría que hacer nada para salvar a estos miserables pecadores que lo trataron tan asquerosamente? ¿Quién podría culparlo si decía “Que aquellos miserables pecadores pudren, ¿por qué debería hacer otra cosa para ellos? Él podría tener sólo expulsa, y dejar que nos ocupamos de nuestro propio destino, el destino que los que no están en Jesús todos enfrentamos. Una vida sin Cristo y una eternidad de sufrimiento, de la separación de Dios, de tormento.

Jesús no nos dejó a nuestra suerte. Dios había decidido a principios de la Biblia para dejar a las personas para hacer frente a los resultados de su comportamiento enfermizo, pecaminoso. Él sacó el tapón en el mundo, que se encuentra el único hombre justo y le dijo a Noé que construyera un arca y salvar a la creación de un nuevo comienzo. Él decidió pisar sobre Sodoma y Gomorra por su pecado atroz, diciéndole a Lot y su familia para salir de Dodge.

Pero ese no era el plan de ir hacia adelante, que no era como Jesús, Dios Hijo, y Dios el Padre y Dios el Espíritu Santo decidieron dejar las cosas. Ellos nos ahorrarían, por el sacrificio del Hijo de Dios. Iba a ser el pago por todos nuestros pecados. Él no va a destruir el mundo otra vez hasta que decide poner fin a tiempo en este mundo. Él nos dio una manera de ser salvo, Él pagó el peaje en su camino a través y no sólo eso, pero luego regresó. Viernes Fue tratado vergonzosamente, el domingo se sobrepuso a nuestro mayor enemigo, no la suya, Dios Hijo, no morirá jamás, pero lo haremos. Jesús venció a la muerte, a fin de que vivamos y no la vida tal y como la conocemos aquí, o la vida en un estado espiritual en el cielo. Jesús fue resucitado el domingo después del Viernes Santo no realizar algún truco de magia, no sólo para nosotros que podía mostrar, que puesto que Él es todopoderoso Él puede vencer a la muerte, sino como una poderosa promesa a nosotros que tenemos la esperanza en Él que también nosotros resucitaremos en nuestros cuerpos perfectos, para vivir en un mundo perfecto donde Él había tenido la intención siempre para nosotros tener esa vida perfecta.

Ahora que entramos en la Semana Santa, tenemos que tomarlo como un compuesto y no recordar sólo la entrada triunfal, pero cómo eso va a jugar fuera, para que él sea abusada por hombres pecadores, y que estamos bien servidos para recordar que somos pecadores sólo les gustaría. Analizando el verso 42 en nuestra lectura del Evangelio, que hay muchos que se olvide a Jesús hoy, algunos incluso aquí, muchos de los que nos encontramos fuera de esta iglesia: “Sin embargo, muchos, aun de los gobernantes, creyeron en él, pero por miedo a los fariseos que no confesaban, por lo que no iban a ser expulsados ​​de la sinagoga. “No se puede estar a mitad de camino de Jesús, no se puede” creer “y aún así continuar en el mundo. O eres un niño confeso de Cristo aquí y ahora o se pierde. El mundo no puede ahorrar, el mundo está condenado a la destrucción. No podemos poner nuestra agenda en Jesús y esperar que Él está allí para nuestra conveniencia y nuestros planes. Somos suyos, Él es nuestro Señor, Él es nuestro Salvador, Él es nuestro Dios resucitado. Si Él no es el Señor de nuestra vida en el mundo, no será el Señor de nuestra resurrección. Él nos va a dejar a nuestros propios planes y que sólo puede dar lugar a la condenación eterna.

Domingo de Ramos / Domingo de Pasión, Semana Santa son un compuesto de nuestro viaje de la vida, tenemos que verlo en términos de cómo las multitudes lo vitorearon el domingo porque le espera para llevar a cabo su agenda y cómo se volvió hacia él el viernes. Martin Franzman establece Semana Santa muy deliberadamente a nosotros: “La señal de la resurrección de Lázaro ha hecho a Jesús un hombre de nota, buscada por los peregrinos de la Pascua en Jerusalén (john11: 55-57); Unción de María de Él es una muestra de la devoción Él ha inspirado en los suyos (Juan 12: 1-8); una multitud aclama el Rey de Israel en su entrada en Jerusalén (Juan 12: 9-19) prosélitos griegos presentes en la Pascua buscarlo fuera (Juan 12: 20-22), incluso entre las autoridades son muchos los que creen en Él, aunque que no pueden encontrar el valor para Él (Juan 12: 42-43) confesar. Pero a Israel como un todo la Palabra se ha hablado en vano: Judas, uno de los Doce se le entregase … Ha llegado la hora para que el Hijo del hombre sea glorificado (Juan 12:23) ”

Vemos el mundo glorificar a Jesús porque piensan que Él ha venido para llevar a cabo su visión del mundo, a los que creen, pero quiere ver su agenda llevada a cabo y luego firmará con Jesús, el equipo ganador. Pero Jesús sabe claramente cómo esto va a terminar y él también sabe por qué y es totalmente contrario a lo que todo el mundo alrededor de Él quiere: “Ha llegado la hora para que el Hijo del hombre sea glorificado (23) La semilla debe caer en el suelo y morir antes de que pueda dar mucho fruto – vida por el mundo es ganado por la muerte “(Juan 12: 23-26) Creemos que sabemos lo que es mejor, pero a los ojos de Dios no tenemos ni idea. Hemos nacido en este mundo como pecadores, hemos sido llevados a Cristo, a través de su iglesia, para ser bautizado, ser hecho Sus hijos. Tomamos su cuerpo y sangre, escuchamos la Palabra predicada de su Palabra y vivimos nuestras vidas en la iglesia para ser salvo por lo que Él ha hecho por nosotros y para ser dado vida nueva y perfecta en la resurrección. Nuestro amigo mostró gracia en el peaje a la mujer que lo trató tan groseramente, nuestro amigo Jesús, nuestro poderoso Señor y Salvador nos mostró mucho más la gracia, en Su muerte para el perdón de nuestros pecados y Su resurrección de la promesa de eterna verdadera vida en el mundo perfecto para venir.

Nolan Astley escribe: “En nuestro mundo post-9/11, se habla mucho acerca de héroes y víctimas. Héroes se retratan a menudo como individuos totalmente desinteresados ​​que voluntariamente se lanzan en el camino del peligro para salvar a otros. Las víctimas son a menudo retratados como personas inocentes que no hicieron nada para merecer la tragedia que ha venido sobre ellos. Si bien existe un cierto nivel de verdad en esas representaciones, la Palabra de Dios nos dice algo diferente. Todos nos quedamos cortos de la gloria de Dios; héroes de este mundo y de las víctimas de este mundo son todos los pecadores “.

“El héroe y víctima no son tan distintos. El Domingo de Ramos, nos centramos en el único y verdadero héroe. Jesús es el verdadero héroe porque él desinteresadamente monta en Jerusalén para convertirse en la víctima. Ni los esfuerzos heroicos de nuestra vida ni la inocencia de nuestras vidas nos hace dignos de su amor. Nuestra salvación viene sólo de los Justos Rey, que viene a vencer el pecado y la muerte (Zacarías 9: 9). Él es nuestro héroe porque él es la víctima! ”

La paz de Dios que sobrepasa todo entendimiento, guardará vuestros corazones y vuestros pensamientos en Cristo Jesús. Amin y Shalom

Rejoice? Yes! But for what? Zechariah 9:9-12 First St Johns March 29, 2015

[For the audio of this sermon, click on the above link]

We make our beginning in the Name of God the Father and in the Name of God the Son and in the Name of God the Holy Spirit and all those who rejoice in our Savior Jesus Christ and His sacrifice said … AMEN!

A local radio show a man was saying that he was in traffic around D C and they had just blocked off the lane that he was in and he had to get over. He rolled down his window and pleaded with a woman to let him in. He says that she just let him have it, every blank, blank, blank, what she thought about him and his mother etc. He did get into the next lane and ended up ahead of her and they were going into a toll booth. He gets up to the toll booth and goes ahead and pays her toll.

Yes today is Palm Sunday, it is the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. We also have to remember that today is Passion Sunday too. Yes, Jesus was welcomed into Jerusalem, no doubt the disciples were convinced that this was it, that Jesus was finally going to make His move and restore the kingdom and that they would be on His left hand and His right hand ruling over the new Davidic Kingdom. They had no thought whatsoever of how it would really turn out. The week started in triumph, but it would end in what they probably thought at the time was disaster. There weren’t going to be any cheers, no one was “hosannaing”, cloaks weren’t being laid in front of Him. Instead, He was dragged through an all night trial, the beating began, he had no sleep, no food, no water, thrown into a cell, beaten again. The next day He would be flogged, excruciating torture, forced to drag a rough wooden cross through the streets of Jerusalem, being jeered and hounded. Finally nailed to a cross, left hanging, no mercy, suffering in front of all these people that had been cheering Him a week ago. Instead of cheering they were jeering, they were mocking Him, we can only imagine what else to make His anguish on the Cross even more wretched.

The man in the car could have driven off, cut the woman off, been a jerk too. He didn’t, he showed this woman grace, no doubt when he drove away from the toll booth he felt the satisfaction that he did show her grace. I can’t say I’m as gracious as that, and I know I should be. After Jesus had been so despicably treated, He had every reason to just proceed along. Why would He have to do anything to save these miserable sinners who treated Him so disgustingly? Who could blame Him if He said “let those miserable sinners rot, why should I do anything else for them? He could have just driven off, and let us deal with our own fate, the fate that those who are not in Jesus all face. A life without Christ and an eternity of suffering, of separation from God, of torment.

Jesus didn’t leave us to our fate. God had decided earlier in the Bible to leave people to face the results of their sickening, sinful behavior. He pulled the plug on the world, found the only righteous man and told Noah to build an ark and to save creation for a new beginning. He decided to stomp on Sodom and Gomorrah for their appalling sin, telling Lot and his family to get out of Dodge.

But that wasn’t the plan going forward, that wasn’t how Jesus, God the Son, and God the Father and God the Holy Spirit decided to leave things. They would save us, by the sacrifice of God the Son. He was going to be the payment for all of our sins. He would not destroy the world again until He decides to end time in this world. He gave us a way to be saved, He paid the toll on His way through and not only that, but then returned. Friday He was shamefully treated, on Sunday He overcame our greatest enemy, not His, God the Son will never die, but we will. Jesus overcame death in order for us to live and not just life as we know it here, or life in some spiritual state in heaven. Jesus was resurrected on the Sunday after Good Friday not to perform some magic trick, not just to show us that He could, that since He is all powerful He can overcome death, but as a very powerful promise to us that we have the hope in Him that we too will be resurrected in our perfect bodies, to live in the perfect world where He had always intended for us to have that perfect life.

Now as we enter Holy Week, we have to take it as a composite and remember not just the triumphant entry, but how that will play out, that He will be abused by sinful men, and we are well served to remember that we are sinners just like them. Looking at verse 42 in our Gospel reading, that there are too many who forget Jesus today, some even here, many that we meet outside of this church: “Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue.” You can’t be halfway about Jesus, you can’t “believe” and yet still carry on in the world. You are either a confessed child of Christ here and now or lost. The world can’t save you, the world is doomed to destruction. We can’t put our agenda on Jesus and expect that He is there for our convenience and our plans. We are His, He is our Lord, He is our Savior, He is our resurrected God. If He is not the Lord of our life in the world, He will not be the Lord of our resurrection. He will leave us to our own plans and that can only result in eternal damnation.

Palm Sunday/Passion Sunday, Holy Week are a composite of our life journey, we have to see it in terms of how the crowds cheered Him on Sunday because they expected Him to carry out their agenda and how they turned on Him on Friday. Martin Franzman lays out Holy Week very pointedly to us: “The sign of the resurrection of Lazarus has made Jesus a man of note, sought after by the Passover pilgrims in Jerusalem (John11: 55-57); Mary’s anointing of Him is a token of the devotion He has inspired in His own (John 12: 1-8); a crowd hails the King of Israel at His entry into Jerusalem (John 12: 9-19) Greek proselytes present at the Passover seek Him out ( John 12: 20-22) even among the authorities there are many who believe in Him, though they cannot find the courage to confess Him (John 12: 42-43). But to Israel as a whole the Word has been spoken in vain: Judas, one of the Twelve will betray Him … The hour has come for the Son of man to be glorified (John 12:23)”[1]

We see the world glorifying Jesus because they think He has come to carry out their worldview, those who believe but want to see their agenda carried out and will then sign up with Jesus, the winning team. But Jesus clearly knows how this is going to end and He also knows why and it’s totally contrary to what everyone around Him wants: “The hour has come for the Son of man to be glorified (23) The seed must fall into the ground and die before it can bear much fruit – life for the world is won by dying” (John 12: 23-26)[2] We think we know what is best, but in God’s eyes we haven’t got a clue. We have been born into this world as sinners, we have been brought to Christ, through His church, to be baptized, to be made His children. We take His body and blood, we hear the preached Word from His Word and live our lives in the church to be saved because of what He has done for us and to be given new and perfect life in the resurrection. Our friend showed grace at the toll booth to the woman who treated him so rudely, our friend Jesus, our mighty Lord and Savior showed us so much more grace, in His death for the forgiveness of our sins and His resurrection for the promise of eternal true life in the perfect world to come.

Nolan Astley writes: “In our post-9/11 world, we talk a great deal about heroes and victims. Heroes are often portrayed as utterly selfless individuals who willingly throw themselves in the path of danger to save others. Victims are often portrayed as innocent people who did nothing to deserve the tragedy that has come upon them. While there is a certain level of truth in those portrayals, God’s Word tells us something different. We all fall short of the glory of God; this world’s heroes and this world’s victims are all sinners.”

“Hero and victim are not so distinct. On Palm Sunday, we focus on the only true hero. Jesus is the true hero because He selflessly rides into Jerusalem to become the victim. Neither the heroic efforts of our lives nor the innocence of our lives makes us worthy of his love. Our salvation comes only from the Righteous King, who comes to conquer sin and death (Zechariah 9:9). He is our hero because he is the victim!”[3]

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amin and Shalom

[1] Martin Franzman “The Concordia Self-Study Commentary p 96

[2] Ibid

[3] Nolan Astley  Concordia Pulpit Resources Vol 25, Part 2, Series B p 6

Does God Hear? by Ken Ham, Answers in Genesis

by Ken Ham on February 26, 2013

Many churches now place a heavy emphasis on praise and worship music in their services. While God loves good music, it’s important to make sure our priorities line up with Scripture. What does God reveal about “true worship” that pleases Him?

To begin this article I need to make something very clear. I love music. In fact, both my wife and I play the piano. I love to listen to Christian music as I travel—and I love to sing praises to our God as I worship in church.

Also, one of my closest friends is Answers in Genesis’s songwriter and singer, Buddy Davis. I have encouraged Buddy over the years to produce CDs of the many songs he has composed and presented at concerts at the Creation Museum and churches around the world.

Having said that, I want to address what I see as a problem—something that troubles me. I realize that when you begin to talk about music, it can evoke very emotional responses. But I actually don’t want to address music styles or content in this article (not that such is not important). I believe something else needs to be addressed.

A New Priority in the Church

I am in a rather interesting position to view what is happening in much of the church. I have traveled for over thirty years across the United States and to other parts of the world speaking at conferences and churches. I get to see patterns from a big-picture perspective. My observation holds true across denominations and national boundaries (with some exceptions, of course).

I would like to suggest that in many instances—particularly from my personal observation in the larger churches—music has become the dominant part of church services, and the teaching of God’s Word has become less of a priority. The same is true in certain Bible conferences, particularly those geared for young people.

Let me share just some of my observations. I encourage you to consider them carefully.

  • There is what they call a “praise and worship” time with a band usually on stage. The congregation, or audience, is asked to stand and sing for thirty to forty minutes—sometimes for an hour or so.
  • Now, as I look around the room, I often find that many people are not singing.
  • Many of the songs are sung over and over and over again.
  • When people finally sit for a sermon or teaching, this time is often less than the music. And many people seem tired and distracted.
  • Many times, the band’s words cannot be understood. You can recognize them only if they are shown on the screen.

Let me share a couple of personal experiences that show how this mindset can hinder the teaching of God’s Word. Sometimes a pastor says something like, “We tried to cut the praise and worship time so you could have the fifty minutes you wanted to speak, but I can’t really control what the worship pastor will do.” And so I often end up with less time than what I prepared for and what is needed.

Some worship pastors have said things like, “We’ll let you set your computer up after we’ve finished our practicing. After all, the praise and worship is the most important part of the service.” If I hope to teach God’s Word effectively, as the invited speaker, I need to make sure the computer works well with the church’s A/V systems.

I have seen this pattern in other countries too. Churches have a “praise and worship” time that is more often like a concert to attract people to the church, while the teaching time for God’s Word is secondary.

Now, to be sure, not all churches are like this, and I’m not saying churches should not have a “praise and worship” time. But if young people and adults get the idea that music is more important than the study of God’s Word, then where will they and their churches be spiritually in the coming years?

Biblical teaching and worshipful music do not have to be in competition. When properly done, both are important aspects of true “praise and worship” that glorifies and pleases the Lord.

No More Excuses

I have had many pastors, particularly youth pastors, tell me that music is where the kids “are at” today, and music helps keep them in church and attract others. But when I’ve been given opportunity to speak to these young people, I find they are filled with questions and doubts about God’s Word, and they desperately want answers that can’t be found in a praise chorus.

Let me give a specific example. I was asked to speak at a service for young people. I sat through almost an hour of loud music and couldn’t understand most of the words. Then I was asked to speak for only about twenty minutes because, I was told, “Young people can’t sit for long and listen to talks these days.” Then I could have a question time afterward.

So I did my best in twenty minutes and asked for questions. Those young people bombarded me: Where did Cain get his wife? How do you know the Bible is true? Why doesn’t God show Himself to us? What about carbon dating? How do you explain dinosaurs? How could Noah fit the animals on the Ark? We went on for over an hour.

Afterward, the youth pastor said, “I’ve never seen them so interested. I never knew Billy could even ask a question, let alone the one he asked. What happened?”

What happened? Well, the beliefs of these young people are being challenged at public school. From my experience, I know many of their doubts, and from the research we conducted for the book Already Gone, we know that two-thirds of these young people will leave the church by college age. So I began giving them answers to help them understand how we know God’s Word is true.

MANY CHURCH LEADERS HAVE ADOPTED MUSIC STYLES SIMPLY TO ATTRACT PEOPLE, INSTEAD OF FOCUSING ON THE THINGS THAT MOST PLEASE GOD.

What’s the point of all this? Again, I’m not against having time for music. But I believe many church leaders have adopted music styles simply to attract people, instead of focusing on the things that most please God: music and vital teaching that most meet the flock’s needs and glorify the Lord. People want to hear solid biblical truth and answers to the skeptical questions of this age. They want to know how to live Christ-honoring lives and proclaim and defend the gospel to people who are thoroughly “evolutionized.”

Now, the Bible does not prescribe how much time should be allotted to teaching and music. But in a world that increasingly attacks the Bible’s authority, I submit that the pastor, more than ever, needs to equip his people with biblical truths so that they can function as true Christ followers (2 Timothy 3:16–17).

Furthermore, many churches tell their adults and young people that they can believe in evolution and history over millions of years, as long as they just trust Jesus. Or they totally ignore this topic. Yet I believe that today’s attack on God’s Word is the same strategy Satan employed in Genesis 3 when he asked Eve, “Did God really say . . . ?” This attack on the Bible’s trustworthiness is destroying the coming generations. Meanwhile, church members get together and have long “praise and worship” times that relegate Bible teaching to a much lesser role than music.

But is God hearing many of these churches? If we are compromising God’s Word and not teaching and obeying His Word as we should, is it possible that God would say to these modern churches what He did to the Israelites of old?

“Take away from Me the noise of your songs, for I will not hear the melody of your stringed instruments” (Amos 5:23). “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams” (1 Samuel 15:22).

Amen! By God’s grace, may we get our priorities straight and help people to praise and worship Him as He deserves—giving primacy to His Word in all aspects of our personal lives and church services!

Ken Ham is the founder and president of Answers in Genesis–USA. He has edited and authored many books about the authority of God’s Word and the impact of evolutionary thinking on our culture, including Already Compromisedand The Lie.