Sermon Notes & Videos
2021-03-19 | Leviticus 1-6 | Without Blemish or…Apostate Religion
Time and again we read in the Old Testament how Yahweh insists that the offerings brought before Him be spotless, “without blemish.” In the New Testament the sacrifice is to be holy, acceptable, and the perfect will of God. Yes, Paul calls us to give our lives as spotless living sacrifices in the same way those animals were offered without blemish.
As a point of fact, all throughout the New Testament we are called to live blameless lives, without spot or wrinkle. Ah yes, the ever-repeating patterns in the Scriptures. God’s insistence on the perfect sacrifice was always pointing ahead to His spotless bride. And yes, another pattern shows us what it looks like when rebellion is afoot. Instead of a lamb without blemish, lets go ahead and offer blind and lame animals, or worse yet, stolen animals. Can you imagine how far from God you must be to think you can offer Him a sacrifice that you heisted? It’s preposterous! In the New Testament, these apostates are called “spots in our love feasts.” Today they don’t look like Christians dragging lame or stolen animals before the Lord; instead, it’s a whole movement of people who call themselves Christians, while they remain fully entrenched in the world.
The prophet Amos called them out like this: “Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD! …Is not the day of the LORD darkness, and not light? Is it not very dark, with no brightness in it? I hate, I despise your feast days, and I do not savor your sacred assemblies.” Which side best represents you; the spotless bride or the stolen blind animal?
2021-03-12 | Exodus 35-40 | Ethical Christianity
Brennan Manning, a Franciscan Priest and author of the Ragamuffin Gospel wrote—“The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips and walk out the door and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.”
I’ve lived as a Christian for the last 18 years, and I too can echo those words. We can agree, from the average believer sadly living their lives as described by Manning, to all the recognizable faces of those once held in esteem for their achievements in the faith, now disgraced in infamy, it is an utter atrocity. The reputation of Christianity has become poisoned!
Of course, everyone is responsible for their own sin. But, as a whole, why has modern Christianity not been able to push against the tirade of temptation it faces from societal pressures? Could it be that Christendom, as a body, has forgotten its ethical foundations?
Consider what God spoke through Jeremiah the prophet (v.17:9); “The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly corrupt: who can know it?” It should be evident that separating from the lifestyle moorings, which God provided in the Scriptures, will always yield the same outcome, the spectating world pointing fingers at all those who crash and burn, and in the end indicting Christianity for the hypocrisy they witness. All this would be avoided if we returned to “Ethical Christianity.”
2021-03-05 | Exodus 30-34 | Face Coverings
Have you ever found it difficult to track with the Apostle Paul?
You’re not alone. Even Peter recognized that many people had a hard time understanding his writings, often twisting his words so badly that it caused trouble. Are you doing the same? And, no other topic has birthed such confusion than Paul’s words about the Law.
Let’s highlight some of his doozies:
• The doers of the law will be justified…
• By the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified…
• You have become dead to the law through the body of Christ…
• We have been delivered from the law…
• Do we make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law…
• The commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death…
• The ministry of death, written and engraved on stones…
• The ministry of condemnation had glory…
• The law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good…
• The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life…
• We know that the law is spiritual…
• What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions…
• What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not!
• I agree with the law that it is good…
All the confusion exists because we are reading his words through a filter, a face covering. Paul referred to this as a “veiled face.” The face covering is supposed to be removed in Christ. Today, the whole world is walking around with their faces covered, a physical manifestation of their minds being blinded, a spiritual blindness for sure. Are you still reading Paul’s words with your face
covered?
2021-02-26 | Exodus 27-30 | Implanted Sagacity
“God helps those who help themselves.” Have you heard that one before? There are so many quippy little phrases that float around in our culture that have no foundation in God’s truth. The Bible says that God’s strength is made perfect in my weakness, so that snappy little saying seems closer to the opposite of the truth. Paul’s perspective on those who could not help themselves was “When I am weak then I am strong.”
But every once in a while, one of those little idioms passing by is true! This one for instance: “Where God guides God provides.” Yes, it is true that you should consider yourself on assignment for God, and whatever assignment you are on, God has provided everything you need to fulfill your destiny in Him. From your implanted skills and gifts, to your personality bents, to the very circumstances you will find yourself in throughout your lifetime, Yahweh is directing your steps and making provision along the way. If you go where God guides it won’t always be easy, but I promise it will be the greatest adventure imaginable.
2021-02-19 | Exodus 25-27 | The Volume of the Scroll
Have you ever heard the idiom, “the Devil is in the details?” As usual the enemy wishes to hijack what is rightfully Yahweh’s. The truth is that it is God who is in the details and there is no better place to witness this than the directions given to Moses to build the Tabernacle, the Ark, and the Altar. But trust me; this is not just an exercise in the mundane. There is a divine reason behind each refined instruction. We discover the reasons behind the details when we explore the letter to the Hebrews. This Tabernacle made by hands is an exact copy of the heavenly Tabernacle. And we also learn that Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, and the law has a shadow of the good things to come.
I think my greatest joy in rereading the Scriptures over the years is the never-ending discoveries it has in store for us. A little gem sits in the tenth chapter of Hebrews, a reference to Psalm 40. It reads like this: “In the volume of the scroll it is written of Me—To do Your will, O God.” Those seventeen words just explode off the page. Yes, it should be so simple, so obvious, yet it remains so profound. Instantly it made sense to me why Y’shua was so frustrated with the religious leaders of the day who cared more about receiving honor from men than from God. “For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me [there it is—the volume of the scroll]. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?” I might ask you the same question, “If you don’t believe the writings of Moses, how can you possibly believe the words of Christ?”
2021-02-12 | Exodus 21-24 | Fake News
It’s amazing how the Bible remains so relevant every day of our lives. Even though the following ideas were written almost 3500 years ago, just meditate on how relevant they are at this very moment. “Do not spread fake news. Do not help a guilty person by being a lying witness. Do not follow the mob mentality into doing what is wrong. When you give testimony in any legal matter, do not pervert justice by taking sides in favor of the mob mentality.”
Yes, we stand at a crossroads in history. Will you bend to the expedient pressures of the day? Will you conform to the ways of the world or, in other words, the mob mentality? Or will you hold fast to the truth? Many key moments in history were defined by what the leaders of the day had done. Did they do what was right or did they follow the crowd? Today’s crowd shows up as a new breed of “democracy.” The mob rules in the way of Mainstream Media; Social Media; Hidden Agenda Groups; Virtue Signaling; Institutional Brow Beating; Faith-Based Complacency; and Cognitive Dissonance.
But, all is not lost for those in Christ. You have in you the call to practice righteousness and the anointing to know the truth. And for those who hate Christ, well, there is a different fate; Yahweh will arraign them and set His accusations against them. That is what is in store for those who pervert justice in favor of the mob!