Bethel Update – 04 Jan 15
"Responding to the heart of God; transforming the city, the nation and the world."
Welcome to the New Year!
Here is a brief update from me (Mark Kotchapaw), from the way I see things at Bethel these days. Please always feel free to ask questions, pursue clarification and provide input. We listen to all input and are shaped by the many wise voices with which God has blessed Bethel. This update focuses solely on our city focus.
The Staff Team
I am grateful for teams at Bethel. One of those teams is the staff team. We meet weekly on Wednesdays from 8:30-10:30. Our agendas focus in on our own leadership development, administrative issues and prayer. This past fall we started taking the first meeting of each month and committing half of that meeting to prayer.
And while the staff plays a key role at Bethel, we would be nowhere (try finding that on a map) without the incredible volunteers that work with our staff to help flesh out the vision.
Elders’ Team
This team’s primary focus this year is discipleship. Specifically we are looking at the processes and systems that go in to supporting our vision at Bethel. When you show up at emergency at a hospital, processes and systems are extremely important. Without a well-thought-out P&S people can die. Likewise without a well-thought-out P&S in the context of the local church, people get neglected and vision gets shelved.
We are also deeply grateful for the Deacons’ team. Because they do their job well, this allows us to focus on areas that are in line with our Biblical mandate as elders.
Prayer
There are many facets to our prayer ministry at Bethel. Let me highlight two of them in this report:
• Restore
Two years ago we began a prayer focus, starting 6 weeks before Easter. The first year we called the prayer focus Move. The second year, we called it Breathe. This initiative, which involves praying each Sunday from 4-5pm, was designed with the intent of encouraging more people to get involved in prayer and to remove some of the stigma associated with prayer. The weekly attendance last year ranged from 40-60 people. This year we are calling the prayer focus Restore and building it on the book of Nehemiah. In addition, for the first time, this year we will tie in the morning message with the prayer time in the afternoon.
• Redemption Reel
This program has been developed by the Bethel prayer counseling ministry. This five-week course helps participants identify their story and then figure out where they need God to bring healing and how to experience that healing. This is a video- and workbook-based curriculum that we have produced. This past fall a hand-selected group of eight people walked through the curriculum. We are now in the process of editing the material, reshooting some video and then we will officially launch this small group as part of our core small group track in the spring of 2015.
• City Partnerships
We have a number of partnerships that enable us to have a stronger reach into the city.
• Bethel House Ministry (Salvation Army)
Sandy Sheahan, who has lead this ministry since its start-up (2007), will be stepping down in 2015. The two houses next door serve as excellent transitional housing for men seeking to overcome addictions. Please pray for Sandy’s replacement.
• Ellel
Our partnership with Ellel continues to develop. Bethel sponsored a city-wide breakfast on November 18th for city-wide pastors and leaders. This was to help launch the School of Discipleship starting this month. Twenty eight were in attendance. We are partnering with the Salvation Army and Ellel in this initiative.
• Ravi Zacharias
This past fall, Bethel was able to play a key role in the city wide Ravi Zacharias event. We had 2600 people show up on the Oct 2 event at the K-Rock Centre. The following we had 170 people from the business community attend the luncheon. This was a great example of churches and businesses coming together to do something for the Kingdom of God.
• Camp IAWAH
I have been privileged to serve on the board at IAWAH over the last five years. My participation on the board has strengthened our partnership with this camp. Furthermore, Ken Vissers, the General Director of Camp IAWAH, sits on the Bethel Elders’ board. I am looking forward to seeing how we can continue to develop this partnership.
Final thoughts
Here are some questions that I have been asking myself these days as we go forward with our city focus.
- With so many great resources in the Bethel Body, how can we use them to best bless the city?
- How can we initiate some new ministries for the city without burning out some of our greatest workers?
- What does the next step look like in drilling down deeper with some of our key partnerships in the city?
- How will we integrate all we do in the gathered and scattered church to facilitate the greater priority of making disciples?
- What are some of our next steps in taking Bethel to a deeper place in the area of our commitment to prayer?
- What does it look like to hold fast to orthodoxy yet do so in a posture of grace?
- How can I guard my time to be a reflective leader in the city when the pace of ministry feels so fast at times?
- What is the role which Bethel plays in bringing greater church health to the city of Kingston?
Thanks for being an extremely supportive Church. I seek to serve you in this leadership capacity with excellence in 2015. Thanks for your trust, words of wisdom, counsel and prayers.
Mark
If interested in joining or starting a small group contact bethelcommunitygroups@gmail.com
(FYI - Here is an outline of what I do)
Primary Responsibilities
• Oversees all ministry implementation through staff and key volunteer leadership
• Develops and guides the church wide teaching ministry
• Directs the staff in leadership and skill development.
• Leads in the development and implementation of the vision, mission, values, strategy and marks of a disciple
• Supervises the revamping of the missions program at Bethel
• Establishes teaching themes for the worship services
• Oversees all city, nation and world partnerships.
• Guides the process of developing the discipleship track
• Directs the leadership development strategies and initiatives
• Establishes a new pastoral care ministry at Bethel.
• Partners with other city leaders in developing a healthy culture of leadership
• Oversees the development of the church calendar
Other Responsibilities
• Pastoral care and visitation
• Counseling
• Administration
Friday, January 2, 2015
Thursday, December 11, 2014
Touching Base, Part 258
TB 258 – 14 Dec 14
Part 1 -
“Through Him, All Things…
Without Him, Nothing.”
You can download the PDF of this blog here
This is a useful tool for small group discussion, personal reflection or in a one-on-one conversation. We believe that if the Sunday teaching is discussed outside the morning services, it will be an opportunity to go deeper and build community because God's Word needs to be discussed in community.
Some of the things that John writes in his gospel are so startling that, even in the 21 st-century, after millennia of Christian history, to grasp them and to utter them seems blasphemous. No wonder in 1 st-century Palestine some picked up rocks to stone Jesus to death. His claims were (and are) breathtaking.
Read John 1:1-3.
I grew up in a Christian tradition that downplayed the celebration of Christmas because of its pre-Christian customs and current materialism, thus paying only minimal attention to Christ’s birth as well. Instead, Christ’s death was elevated, and the scriptures that ask Christ-followers to remember him in death were emphasized. Instead of Christmas, the Eucharist (communion) was the most prominent, even in December.
It is accurate that the cross should overshadow the manger, for even the “no vacancies” in Bethlehem predict the forsaken Christ of Golgotha. But in this Touching Base and the accompanying sermon we are going to turn from the cross and instead focus on the heart of the Christmas story – the Son of God’s incarnation. We need to get things straight. His incarnation and who he is precedes his death and what he did for us.
Our text is highly theological – expounding a “high Christology” – but highly practical. The most theological texts are always the most practical because they are foundational, and everything, including day-to-day living, hinges on them.
John’s Gospel:
This gospel is different from the other three. Here Jesus’ audience may have been the sophisticated
theologians around Jerusalem rather than the Galilean crowds of the synoptic gospels, and so there is less narrative and more of the arguments that might have suited contemporary synagogue teaching.
And Jesus is unmistakably presented as God having taken on a human body and nature.
This begins with the first 3 verses. Read them again. Not only are we starting before the crucifixion, we’re starting way before the virgin birth. “The other gospels begin with Bethlehem; John begins with the bosom of the Father. Luke dates his narrative by Roman emperors and Jewish High Priests; John dates his ‘In the beginning’. Matthew and Luke take us to the cradle and the manger, Mark to the prophecies of old, but John takes us back into the mists of eternity” (MacLaren).
“The Word” is a confusing term, but its meaning can be summarized this way. In the Old Testament, the Word of God is how he accomplished his greats acts – of deliverance, of judgment, and especially, of creation. Read Psalm 33:6 and, of course, Genesis 1 – “And God said…And God said…” Also Isaiah 38:4, Psalm 107:20. Then, in the world of the New Testament and John’s audience, the Word (or logos in Greek philosophy) would have had connotations of something of great significance and that was from beyond the tangible world.
But that is all that Hebrew tradition, Greek philosophy, and the Old Testament can say about the Word. So John, with divine inspiration, then strikes out for new territory, a frontier never-before trammeled, one wild and dangerous. This Word, he writes, that was in the beginning was with or toward God (connoting intimacy and relationship) and, in fact, was God. John is a Jewish monotheist (believing in only one God), but he says this Word was God. He goes on to write that this Word is none other than Jesus, the man he knew so well. As he writes in his first epistle, he has seen this “Word,” has looked right at him, and has touched him. Read 1 John 1:1.
Part 1 -
“Through Him, All Things…
Without Him, Nothing.”
You can download the PDF of this blog here
This is a useful tool for small group discussion, personal reflection or in a one-on-one conversation. We believe that if the Sunday teaching is discussed outside the morning services, it will be an opportunity to go deeper and build community because God's Word needs to be discussed in community.
Some of the things that John writes in his gospel are so startling that, even in the 21 st-century, after millennia of Christian history, to grasp them and to utter them seems blasphemous. No wonder in 1 st-century Palestine some picked up rocks to stone Jesus to death. His claims were (and are) breathtaking.
Read John 1:1-3.
I grew up in a Christian tradition that downplayed the celebration of Christmas because of its pre-Christian customs and current materialism, thus paying only minimal attention to Christ’s birth as well. Instead, Christ’s death was elevated, and the scriptures that ask Christ-followers to remember him in death were emphasized. Instead of Christmas, the Eucharist (communion) was the most prominent, even in December.
It is accurate that the cross should overshadow the manger, for even the “no vacancies” in Bethlehem predict the forsaken Christ of Golgotha. But in this Touching Base and the accompanying sermon we are going to turn from the cross and instead focus on the heart of the Christmas story – the Son of God’s incarnation. We need to get things straight. His incarnation and who he is precedes his death and what he did for us.
Our text is highly theological – expounding a “high Christology” – but highly practical. The most theological texts are always the most practical because they are foundational, and everything, including day-to-day living, hinges on them.
John’s Gospel:
This gospel is different from the other three. Here Jesus’ audience may have been the sophisticated
theologians around Jerusalem rather than the Galilean crowds of the synoptic gospels, and so there is less narrative and more of the arguments that might have suited contemporary synagogue teaching.
And Jesus is unmistakably presented as God having taken on a human body and nature.
This begins with the first 3 verses. Read them again. Not only are we starting before the crucifixion, we’re starting way before the virgin birth. “The other gospels begin with Bethlehem; John begins with the bosom of the Father. Luke dates his narrative by Roman emperors and Jewish High Priests; John dates his ‘In the beginning’. Matthew and Luke take us to the cradle and the manger, Mark to the prophecies of old, but John takes us back into the mists of eternity” (MacLaren).
“The Word” is a confusing term, but its meaning can be summarized this way. In the Old Testament, the Word of God is how he accomplished his greats acts – of deliverance, of judgment, and especially, of creation. Read Psalm 33:6 and, of course, Genesis 1 – “And God said…And God said…” Also Isaiah 38:4, Psalm 107:20. Then, in the world of the New Testament and John’s audience, the Word (or logos in Greek philosophy) would have had connotations of something of great significance and that was from beyond the tangible world.
But that is all that Hebrew tradition, Greek philosophy, and the Old Testament can say about the Word. So John, with divine inspiration, then strikes out for new territory, a frontier never-before trammeled, one wild and dangerous. This Word, he writes, that was in the beginning was with or toward God (connoting intimacy and relationship) and, in fact, was God. John is a Jewish monotheist (believing in only one God), but he says this Word was God. He goes on to write that this Word is none other than Jesus, the man he knew so well. As he writes in his first epistle, he has seen this “Word,” has looked right at him, and has touched him. Read 1 John 1:1.
Thursday, October 30, 2014
Touching Base, Part 254
This is a useful tool for small group discussion, personal reflection or in a one-on-one conversation. We believe that if the Sunday teaching is discussed outside the morning services, it will be an opportunity to go deeper and build community because God's Word needs to be discussed in community.
GOT A BACKSTORY?
We all have one. There’s no denying it, you and me, the world, we all have a backstory.
A backstory is a person’s past that includes characters good and bad, events, places and dates. When you understand a person’s backstory, you can then better understand why someone does what they do, why they feel the way they do about themselves and why their lives are headed in a particular direction.
What I want you to do is to look at the main text that we discussed on Sunday and identify the major elements of Peter and Cornelius’s backstory. Work through each of their stories and, by using what we talked about on Sunday, discuss their backstory. I have included some of my notes to help you along. I would suggest reading the text as a group and then looking at each character in detail.
TEXT: Acts 10
CORNELIUS
The Gentile Commander of 100 men in the Roman army. Military service was the preferred occupation, and only roughly half of those who enlisted survived the twenty years of service. Recruits had all sworn oaths of allegiance to the divine emperor.
• Place: Caesarea was predominantly a gentile city.
• Characters?
• Tension: The greatest point of tension in this story is seen when Cornelius is baptized. Herod the Great had renamed Strato’s Tower “Caesarea” in honor of the emperor. Augustus Caesar had given the city called Caesarea Phillipi to Herod the Great as a reward for his loyalty. Herod then erected a magnificent temple of white stone, where citizens could worship their emperor-god, Augustus. After the death of Herod the Great, his son, Philip, beautified the city and made it his capital. Centurions who worked for the Roman Empire worshipped the emperor – he was considered divine. History tells us that Christianity would eventually be outlawed because Christians insisted that Jesus, not the emperor, was their king. Cornelius had sworn an oath of allegiance to this divine emperor. But now things had changed.
• Major lessons learned: On Sunday I talked about the courage, fear, humility and submission that both Cornelius and Peter would have to deal with. Where do you see that in both these stories? What are the major takeaways for both characters?
PETER
A Jewish disciple of Christ’s, famous for not knowing how to swim and denying Christ.
• Place: Joppa – a predominately Jewish city
• Characters?
• Tension: Note Peter’s dream, his response, how many times the voice spoke to Peter. How does this represent tension in Peter’s life? Note in Acts 11:1-18 how Peter has to explain his actions to the church leaders.
• Major lessons learned: On Sunday, I talked about the courage, fear, humility and submission that both Cornelius and Peter would have to deal with. Where do you see that in both these stories? What are the major takeaways for both characters?
While this chapter is primarily about the God Who does not show favouritism, we also see a profound lesson about baptism.
BIG IDEA: Baptism’s backstory is about a God at work, and hearts that are yielding to Him.
People who are baptized talk about a place where they encountered God, the characters that influenced them, the tension, walk of obedience, and the act of surrender. Have you ever been baptized as a testimony of your backstory?
The term “to be baptized into the name of Christ “(Acts 8:16; 19:5) is probably drawn from the commercial world, where “into the name of” was used in transactions (as today we write cheques “to the name of”). So, “to be baptized in/into the name of” someone was to allow that person to be over him, to become his disciple (1 Cor. 1:12–13).
Cornelius was baptized in Caesarea, the very place that was named after the emperor and was a place of emperor worship. Don’t miss the contrast and the tension of this scene in the story.
GROUP SHARE:
Now that you have filled in some of the backstory of Cornelius and Peter, take some time to talk about your own backstory with the group. Specifically talk about the backstory that lead you to Christ and that, perhaps, lead you to your baptism. Use the outline of place, characters, tension and major lessons learned to outline how you might share.
Take some time to pray for each other. Backstories will always clue us in to ways to pray for each other.
Mark Kotchapaw
If interested in joining or starting a small group contact bethelcommunitygroups@gmail.com
GOT A BACKSTORY?
We all have one. There’s no denying it, you and me, the world, we all have a backstory.
A backstory is a person’s past that includes characters good and bad, events, places and dates. When you understand a person’s backstory, you can then better understand why someone does what they do, why they feel the way they do about themselves and why their lives are headed in a particular direction.
What I want you to do is to look at the main text that we discussed on Sunday and identify the major elements of Peter and Cornelius’s backstory. Work through each of their stories and, by using what we talked about on Sunday, discuss their backstory. I have included some of my notes to help you along. I would suggest reading the text as a group and then looking at each character in detail.
TEXT: Acts 10
CORNELIUS
The Gentile Commander of 100 men in the Roman army. Military service was the preferred occupation, and only roughly half of those who enlisted survived the twenty years of service. Recruits had all sworn oaths of allegiance to the divine emperor.
• Place: Caesarea was predominantly a gentile city.
• Characters?
• Tension: The greatest point of tension in this story is seen when Cornelius is baptized. Herod the Great had renamed Strato’s Tower “Caesarea” in honor of the emperor. Augustus Caesar had given the city called Caesarea Phillipi to Herod the Great as a reward for his loyalty. Herod then erected a magnificent temple of white stone, where citizens could worship their emperor-god, Augustus. After the death of Herod the Great, his son, Philip, beautified the city and made it his capital. Centurions who worked for the Roman Empire worshipped the emperor – he was considered divine. History tells us that Christianity would eventually be outlawed because Christians insisted that Jesus, not the emperor, was their king. Cornelius had sworn an oath of allegiance to this divine emperor. But now things had changed.
• Major lessons learned: On Sunday I talked about the courage, fear, humility and submission that both Cornelius and Peter would have to deal with. Where do you see that in both these stories? What are the major takeaways for both characters?
PETER
A Jewish disciple of Christ’s, famous for not knowing how to swim and denying Christ.
• Place: Joppa – a predominately Jewish city
• Characters?
• Tension: Note Peter’s dream, his response, how many times the voice spoke to Peter. How does this represent tension in Peter’s life? Note in Acts 11:1-18 how Peter has to explain his actions to the church leaders.
• Major lessons learned: On Sunday, I talked about the courage, fear, humility and submission that both Cornelius and Peter would have to deal with. Where do you see that in both these stories? What are the major takeaways for both characters?
While this chapter is primarily about the God Who does not show favouritism, we also see a profound lesson about baptism.
BIG IDEA: Baptism’s backstory is about a God at work, and hearts that are yielding to Him.
People who are baptized talk about a place where they encountered God, the characters that influenced them, the tension, walk of obedience, and the act of surrender. Have you ever been baptized as a testimony of your backstory?
The term “to be baptized into the name of Christ “(Acts 8:16; 19:5) is probably drawn from the commercial world, where “into the name of” was used in transactions (as today we write cheques “to the name of”). So, “to be baptized in/into the name of” someone was to allow that person to be over him, to become his disciple (1 Cor. 1:12–13).
Cornelius was baptized in Caesarea, the very place that was named after the emperor and was a place of emperor worship. Don’t miss the contrast and the tension of this scene in the story.
GROUP SHARE:
Now that you have filled in some of the backstory of Cornelius and Peter, take some time to talk about your own backstory with the group. Specifically talk about the backstory that lead you to Christ and that, perhaps, lead you to your baptism. Use the outline of place, characters, tension and major lessons learned to outline how you might share.
Take some time to pray for each other. Backstories will always clue us in to ways to pray for each other.
Mark Kotchapaw
If interested in joining or starting a small group contact bethelcommunitygroups@gmail.com
Saturday, October 25, 2014
Touching Base, Part 253
This is a useful tool for small group discussion, personal reflection or in a one-on-one conversation. We believe that if the Sunday teaching is discussed outside the morning services, it will be an opportunity to go deeper and build community because God's Word needs to be discussed in community.
This series Core Strength is designed to address various core truths, foundational truths of the Christian faith. It comes out of a spiritual life survey we did with the church back in November of 2014. Thus far in the series we have addressed Scripture, faith, God, Jesus, and today, the Holy Spirit.
Before we jump in, what’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear that we’re going to be talking about the Holy Spirit? Pay attention to that and feel free to discuss it with God along the way.
In your group or on your own, what are the texts that you would go to (in the Old Testament and New Testament) that would help describe who the Holy Spirit is?
How does Christianity collapse if the Holy Spirit is taken out of the equation?
Text: Acts 1:4,8 “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about…. you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Our text first speaks of the promise that Jesus makes to his disciples, that God will give them the Holy Spirit to empower them to do what He has called them to do. It soon happens in Acts 2.
Acts 4:24-31 When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David…Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”
After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
This text is all about needing more power to do what God had called them to accomplish in the face of opposition. So the Holy Spirit comes on them a second time.
Our key text last week was 1Timothy 3:16. Mark explained that to be “vindicated” means to be “justified” “(declared righteous), to show, or exhibit.” What was Holy Spirit actually doing to “Vindicate” Jesus? Take a look at Matthew 12:28, Romans 1:4, and 1 Peter 3:18.
The Holy Spirit’s power flowing through Jesus proved who Jesus was.
How does this reality affect how we live as the Church – as Jesus’ Body?
If you’re in a group setting, you might have some interesting dialogue around this topic. Consider this quote:
"Satan has opposed the doctrine of the Spirit-filled life about as bitterly as any doctrine there is. He has confused it, opposed it, surrounded it with false notions and fears. . . . The Spirit-filled life is not a special, deluxe edition of Christianity. It is part and parcel of the total plan of God for His people"
(A.W. Tozer, How to Be Filled with the Holy Spirit, Harrisburg, PA: Christian Publications, n.d.).
What’s your first response to this statement?
Why do you think this statement may or may not be true?
What issues can cloud our understanding of who Holy Spirit is? Could fear influence our interpretation of Scripture regarding Holy Spirit? If so, what distortions are possible?
The Holy Spirit is the person referred to by Jesus as “…the gift…”
Next to Jesus, could Holy Spirit be the most important gift God gives to the church today?
“Do not leave…wait for the gift my Father promised…”
Being head of the Church, He knew what it would take to make it happen. Interestingly, Jesus put a boundary so that they weren’t to run with the visions on their own, but wait. The Holy Spirit’s power enabled men to do what God had planned. It had been talked about, envisioned, planned and the preparations made, but nothing could go ahead and Jesus didn’t let them go ahead until they were empowered by the Spirit of God. Why is that significant to you?
God keeps His promise
Our Heavenly Father does what He promised through Jesus because the disciples waited on God’s method, God’s timing, and God’s power. They did things beyond what was humanly possible as the Spirit of God enabled them to communicate and articulate the message.
In the face of opposition they prayed: “enable your servants to speak…with boldness…”
The need for courage was urgent. So the Holy Spirit comes on them to empower them a second time. Apparently, it’s ok to get “filled” twice? I wonder if this presents any challenge to our thinking or beliefs.
This is great news. God calls us to do his will, but never expects it to be done in human strength. So when we step up to doing His will, we need Him. We need the person of the Holy Spirit who is the power to make it happen. All we have to do is ask, based on His promise and His call on our lives. God pours out His spirit on His people to advance his purposes and build His Kingdom.
In our culture of opportunity & affluence, it’s way too easy to think, “God helps those who help themselves.” But that’s not in God’s vocabulary! God’s reality? He calls us to Himself, to do His will, His way, which He empowers by His Spirit. The Holy Spirit is as much as part of God as the Father and Jesus are. The fact is that if you see one, you get a glimpse of the others.
So, the good news? If you need help to do God’s will, there’s Someone whose nature is to unleash the power to make it happen!
That may make you do a double-take the next time you consider what He’s asked you to do. But think of the possibilities if the Holy Spirit pulls it off!
Kent Bandy
If interested in joining or starting a small group contact bethelcommunitygroups@gmail.com
This series Core Strength is designed to address various core truths, foundational truths of the Christian faith. It comes out of a spiritual life survey we did with the church back in November of 2014. Thus far in the series we have addressed Scripture, faith, God, Jesus, and today, the Holy Spirit.
Before we jump in, what’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear that we’re going to be talking about the Holy Spirit? Pay attention to that and feel free to discuss it with God along the way.
In your group or on your own, what are the texts that you would go to (in the Old Testament and New Testament) that would help describe who the Holy Spirit is?
How does Christianity collapse if the Holy Spirit is taken out of the equation?
Text: Acts 1:4,8 “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about…. you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Our text first speaks of the promise that Jesus makes to his disciples, that God will give them the Holy Spirit to empower them to do what He has called them to do. It soon happens in Acts 2.
Acts 4:24-31 When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David…Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”
After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
This text is all about needing more power to do what God had called them to accomplish in the face of opposition. So the Holy Spirit comes on them a second time.
Our key text last week was 1Timothy 3:16. Mark explained that to be “vindicated” means to be “justified” “(declared righteous), to show, or exhibit.” What was Holy Spirit actually doing to “Vindicate” Jesus? Take a look at Matthew 12:28, Romans 1:4, and 1 Peter 3:18.
The Holy Spirit’s power flowing through Jesus proved who Jesus was.
How does this reality affect how we live as the Church – as Jesus’ Body?
If you’re in a group setting, you might have some interesting dialogue around this topic. Consider this quote:
"Satan has opposed the doctrine of the Spirit-filled life about as bitterly as any doctrine there is. He has confused it, opposed it, surrounded it with false notions and fears. . . . The Spirit-filled life is not a special, deluxe edition of Christianity. It is part and parcel of the total plan of God for His people"
(A.W. Tozer, How to Be Filled with the Holy Spirit, Harrisburg, PA: Christian Publications, n.d.).
What’s your first response to this statement?
Why do you think this statement may or may not be true?
What issues can cloud our understanding of who Holy Spirit is? Could fear influence our interpretation of Scripture regarding Holy Spirit? If so, what distortions are possible?
The Holy Spirit is the person referred to by Jesus as “…the gift…”
Next to Jesus, could Holy Spirit be the most important gift God gives to the church today?
“Do not leave…wait for the gift my Father promised…”
Being head of the Church, He knew what it would take to make it happen. Interestingly, Jesus put a boundary so that they weren’t to run with the visions on their own, but wait. The Holy Spirit’s power enabled men to do what God had planned. It had been talked about, envisioned, planned and the preparations made, but nothing could go ahead and Jesus didn’t let them go ahead until they were empowered by the Spirit of God. Why is that significant to you?
God keeps His promise
Our Heavenly Father does what He promised through Jesus because the disciples waited on God’s method, God’s timing, and God’s power. They did things beyond what was humanly possible as the Spirit of God enabled them to communicate and articulate the message.
In the face of opposition they prayed: “enable your servants to speak…with boldness…”
The need for courage was urgent. So the Holy Spirit comes on them to empower them a second time. Apparently, it’s ok to get “filled” twice? I wonder if this presents any challenge to our thinking or beliefs.
This is great news. God calls us to do his will, but never expects it to be done in human strength. So when we step up to doing His will, we need Him. We need the person of the Holy Spirit who is the power to make it happen. All we have to do is ask, based on His promise and His call on our lives. God pours out His spirit on His people to advance his purposes and build His Kingdom.
In our culture of opportunity & affluence, it’s way too easy to think, “God helps those who help themselves.” But that’s not in God’s vocabulary! God’s reality? He calls us to Himself, to do His will, His way, which He empowers by His Spirit. The Holy Spirit is as much as part of God as the Father and Jesus are. The fact is that if you see one, you get a glimpse of the others.
So, the good news? If you need help to do God’s will, there’s Someone whose nature is to unleash the power to make it happen!
That may make you do a double-take the next time you consider what He’s asked you to do. But think of the possibilities if the Holy Spirit pulls it off!
Kent Bandy
If interested in joining or starting a small group contact bethelcommunitygroups@gmail.com
Thursday, October 16, 2014
Touching Base, Part 252
This is a useful tool for small group discussion, personal reflection or in a one-on-one conversation. We believe that if the Sunday teaching is discussed outside the morning services, it will be an opportunity to go deeper and build community because God's Word needs to be discussed in community.
This series Core Strength is designed to address various core truths, foundational truths of the Christian faith. It comes out of a spiritual life survey we did with the church back in November of 2014. Thus far in the series we have addressed, Scripture, faith, God and today, Jesus Christ.
In your group or on your own, what are the texts that you would go to in the OT and NT that would help describe who Jesus is?
How does Christianity collapse if Jesus is taken out of the equation?
Text: Our key text is 1 Timothy 3:16. This is believed to be an old hymn from the early church. It is a great verse to memorize.
Now before you jump in to v.16 be sure to read the preceding verses. Note that Paul is talking about how people ought to conduct themselves. It is within this context that the question comes up about godliness which leads Paul into quoting this old hymn.
What do we learn about godliness from this text?
He appeared in a body
What makes His (appearance) in a body so unique?
Check out John 20:28, Romans 9:5, Titus 2:11–13
Larry Richards and Clyde Hoeldtke write,
“The doctrine of the Incarnation is distinct and unique to the Christian faith. Many religions speak of appearances of deities in the guise of men or animals. But these are ‘appearances’ only. None takes the startling position of Christianity, which affirms that the God who existed from eternity and who created all things entered His creation to actually become a human being. Yet this is just the radical affirmation of the Christian faith.” (A Theology of Church Leadership [Zondervan], p. 61).
Who in your life would disagree with this and why?
What is their disagreement based on?
Was vindicated by the Spirit
This next line in the hymn clues us in to why he came in flesh. To be vindicated means to be “justified” (or declared righteous), to show, to exhibit. Why would Jesus need to be declared righteous?
The following doctrine helps explain.
“Substitutionary atonement”: The doctrine that Jesus is able to take and pay for the sins of mankind.
Jesus Christ was declared to be the Righteous One who could pay a debt no other person could pay. It was not His debt - He was the Righteous One. Note Romans 1:1-4, Hebrews 2:14-18
Jesus paid a debt we owed. This is very different than what religion teaches. Religion is spelt D-O! Religion teaches that I need to pay that debt by living a good enough life. On the other hand, Christianity is spelt D-O-N-E!. Christianity teaches that God (in a body) paid the debt that I could never pay on my own. To try to pay my own debt would be like offering up a looney in the face of a 1 trillion dollar debt load!
What were you taught as a kid growing up about your debt to God, about how that debt would be paid?
Why is it so hard for some to rest in what God in Christ has DONE for them?
Was seen by angels
The mystery of godliness transcends the physical and encompasses the spiritual realm. You can almost imagine a standing ovation being given by the angelic hosts!
Was preached among the nations
What did they preach? They preached “done” versus “do”.
Was believed on in the world
What did “belief” mean?
What are some of the “cheaper” versions of belief?
What has believing meant for you?
Again look at the text and you will see what belief means. For Paul belief was not just cheap insincere words or a time in the past that has no implications for today. Belief meant to trust Christ for what he has done, repent and live differently. We see this pattern of living differently in the final line and in the larger context of this text.
Was taken up to glory
This refers to the bodily ascension of the risen Lord Jesus. It is put last, out of chronological sequence, because “it is the crown of his exaltation” (Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible [Revell], VI:818). Now He is seated at the right hand of the Father, with all authority in heaven and earth. As the angels promised, one day He will return to earth in the same manner as He ascended: visibly, bodily, in power and glory.
We might think great, He rules and reigns, and yes that is true. But don’t forget why Paul quotes this hymn. Paul’s point in verse 16, then, is that the incarnate Son of God reveals the Father to us. And the connection between verse 16 and verse 15 is, just as Jesus reveals God, even so ... The church that believes, you and I reveal Christ to the world (3:14-15). We are the visible expression to the world of the Savior who is presently in heaven. What an awesome responsibility, one that only can be fulfilled as one is empowered by the Holy Spirit which is next week’s foundational truth.
So what is the big idea? Jesus Christ, Superstar!
He is the foundation of the Church, the anchor of our salvation, the face of God to the world, the One who appeared in a body, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believe on in the world, was taken up in glory.
I don’t know about you, but for me this certainly qualifies as superstar status!
Mark Kotchapaw
If interested in joining or starting a small group contact bethelcommunitygroups@gmail.com
This series Core Strength is designed to address various core truths, foundational truths of the Christian faith. It comes out of a spiritual life survey we did with the church back in November of 2014. Thus far in the series we have addressed, Scripture, faith, God and today, Jesus Christ.
In your group or on your own, what are the texts that you would go to in the OT and NT that would help describe who Jesus is?
How does Christianity collapse if Jesus is taken out of the equation?
Text: Our key text is 1 Timothy 3:16. This is believed to be an old hymn from the early church. It is a great verse to memorize.
Now before you jump in to v.16 be sure to read the preceding verses. Note that Paul is talking about how people ought to conduct themselves. It is within this context that the question comes up about godliness which leads Paul into quoting this old hymn.
What do we learn about godliness from this text?
He appeared in a body
What makes His (appearance) in a body so unique?
Check out John 20:28, Romans 9:5, Titus 2:11–13
Larry Richards and Clyde Hoeldtke write,
“The doctrine of the Incarnation is distinct and unique to the Christian faith. Many religions speak of appearances of deities in the guise of men or animals. But these are ‘appearances’ only. None takes the startling position of Christianity, which affirms that the God who existed from eternity and who created all things entered His creation to actually become a human being. Yet this is just the radical affirmation of the Christian faith.” (A Theology of Church Leadership [Zondervan], p. 61).
Who in your life would disagree with this and why?
What is their disagreement based on?
Was vindicated by the Spirit
This next line in the hymn clues us in to why he came in flesh. To be vindicated means to be “justified” (or declared righteous), to show, to exhibit. Why would Jesus need to be declared righteous?
The following doctrine helps explain.
“Substitutionary atonement”: The doctrine that Jesus is able to take and pay for the sins of mankind.
Jesus Christ was declared to be the Righteous One who could pay a debt no other person could pay. It was not His debt - He was the Righteous One. Note Romans 1:1-4, Hebrews 2:14-18
Jesus paid a debt we owed. This is very different than what religion teaches. Religion is spelt D-O! Religion teaches that I need to pay that debt by living a good enough life. On the other hand, Christianity is spelt D-O-N-E!. Christianity teaches that God (in a body) paid the debt that I could never pay on my own. To try to pay my own debt would be like offering up a looney in the face of a 1 trillion dollar debt load!
What were you taught as a kid growing up about your debt to God, about how that debt would be paid?
Why is it so hard for some to rest in what God in Christ has DONE for them?
Was seen by angels
The mystery of godliness transcends the physical and encompasses the spiritual realm. You can almost imagine a standing ovation being given by the angelic hosts!
Was preached among the nations
What did they preach? They preached “done” versus “do”.
Was believed on in the world
What did “belief” mean?
What are some of the “cheaper” versions of belief?
What has believing meant for you?
Again look at the text and you will see what belief means. For Paul belief was not just cheap insincere words or a time in the past that has no implications for today. Belief meant to trust Christ for what he has done, repent and live differently. We see this pattern of living differently in the final line and in the larger context of this text.
Was taken up to glory
This refers to the bodily ascension of the risen Lord Jesus. It is put last, out of chronological sequence, because “it is the crown of his exaltation” (Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible [Revell], VI:818). Now He is seated at the right hand of the Father, with all authority in heaven and earth. As the angels promised, one day He will return to earth in the same manner as He ascended: visibly, bodily, in power and glory.
We might think great, He rules and reigns, and yes that is true. But don’t forget why Paul quotes this hymn. Paul’s point in verse 16, then, is that the incarnate Son of God reveals the Father to us. And the connection between verse 16 and verse 15 is, just as Jesus reveals God, even so ... The church that believes, you and I reveal Christ to the world (3:14-15). We are the visible expression to the world of the Savior who is presently in heaven. What an awesome responsibility, one that only can be fulfilled as one is empowered by the Holy Spirit which is next week’s foundational truth.
So what is the big idea? Jesus Christ, Superstar!
He is the foundation of the Church, the anchor of our salvation, the face of God to the world, the One who appeared in a body, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believe on in the world, was taken up in glory.
I don’t know about you, but for me this certainly qualifies as superstar status!
Mark Kotchapaw
If interested in joining or starting a small group contact bethelcommunitygroups@gmail.com
Wednesday, October 1, 2014
Touching Base, Part 251
TB 251
God (and Donkeys)
05 Oct 14
This is a useful tool for small group discussion, personal reflection or in a one-on-one conversation. We believe that if the Sunday teaching is discussed outside the morning services, it will be an opportunity to go deeper and build community because God's Word needs to be discussed in community.
“God in 30 minutes.” That’s essentially this Sunday’s sermon, although that’s not the exact title. It sounds downright irreverent, but God is, nevertheless, the topic this week in our series on Core Strength, sermons on foundational truths.
So try “God on one page, double-sided”. That’s essentially this week’s Touching Base. Read on.
The Bible itself gives several summaries of God: who He is, what He’s up to generally, and His plans for humankind.
Read Acts 7 where Stephen, his face shining like an angel, gives a short history lesson to a Jewish audience of God’s acts for the previous 2000 years (some of the most eloquent and profound last words). Read Acts 17:22-34 where Paul, standing on Athens’ Areopagus, gives a short philosophy lesson on God’s nature to a Gentile audience. Need it shorter? Read Hebrews 1:1-3.
Less than 150 words so far. We could stop now. Just read the above passages or go for the whole Bible. You will find out about God.
But if you want something in between the little speeches of Acts and the whole Genesis-Revelation package, we’ll keep going.
And talk about donkeys.
Back near the beginning of the Bible in Numbers 22-24, the Israelites have been wandering around the desert for years. They’ve been spectacularly unbelieving and even their leader, Moses, has sinned and won’t be allowed to enter the Promised Land.
But the Israelites forge ahead and gather to travel through Moab. The King of Moab is terrified because he sees how many Israelites there are. So he resorts to a very ancient practice and summons a famous diviner named Balaam to come (possibly a long way and for a handsome reward) to curse the threatening Israelites and so bring defeat upon them.
Balaam rides his old donkey on his way to carry out this mercenary curse-for-hire. If you’re not familiar with the story or don’t hear the sermon, read Numbers 22:22-35. It’s a good read, and unexpected. After the donkey annoys Balaam three times with Balaam responding angrily, Yahweh opens the donkey’s mouth and it says, “What have I done to you to deserve these beatings?”
“You have made a fool of me!” Balaam shoots back.
“Haven’t I been a faithful old ass? Do I usually do this kind of thing?” asks the donkey rhetorically.
“You have, and no,” Balaam admits.
Then he, too, sees the angel of Yahweh.
When Balaam arrives in Moab, God then opens Balaam’s mouth – and out come blessings, over and over, on God’s people. The King of Moab who hired Balaam isn’t impressed, but on the blessings go anyway. Finally, the King, exasperated, tells Balaam to just stop – “don’t curse them or bless them at all!” – and then to go home. He then adds, not surprisingly, “Yahweh has kept you from being rewarded.”
The God Who Acts:
The Old Testament isn’t the story of Adam, or Abraham, or Joseph, or Moses, or David. It is the story of Yahweh. He is the central character and it is His character that is developed.
In this story, God is not abstract. The story doesn’t go about attempting to prove the existence of Yahweh to the pagan diviner, Balaam, by proofs and argument. Instead, Balaam sees God’s actions and is forced to shout, “What hath God wrought!” or “See what God has done!” This God acts – donkeys speak – and acts for his own – God protects them from temporal armies and from the curses of the spirit world.
Question: What attributes of God does this story illustrate?
Powerful… frightening… having a sense of humour…? Perhaps.
Sovereign… incomparable… unchanging? Certainly.
All of the above quickly come to mind (not quite accurately) as “Old Testament” attributes of God. Would the adjectives “Loving” and “Triune” jump to mind?
Love:
If you read through Genesis – that part of Scripture we tend to think of as rife with wise old bearded men with a God to match – you will find that the history is full of Yahweh as loving and extraordinarily merciful.
The pagan, Balaam, with little previous knowledge of Yahweh before meeting Him in the road, extols the attributes of Yahweh without full understanding. I picture him listening to himself as he opens his mouth and emits the poetic blessings and marveling at who this God is with whom he is unwittingly tangling far from home while overlooking the wilderness.
“The Lord their God is with them; the shout of the King is among them,” Balaam proclaims of the Israelites. The One who is giving him the oracles is actually among the people down below in the plain; He is on their side. “See,” Balaam shouts for anyone listening, “what God has done!”
Read Deuteronomy 23:5
Later, in the midst of lists of Jewish Laws in Deuteronomy, a reflection on the story of Balaam once again illuminates God: “The Lord your God would not listen to Balaam but turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God loves you” (emphasis mine). This verse is an important explanatory footnote. It is the backstory you cannot help but infer when reading about Balaam, but it’s still comforting to get it in writing – and literally in a legal document as well. It couldn’t be plainer.
Triune:
Read Numbers 24:2-4 and 17
“Triune” means “three in one”. We often think of God the Father as the default position of God, the God of the Old Testament who created everything, called Abraham out of Haran, and gave Moses the Ten Commandments. But that is quite one-sided (just one of three sides, actually).
When Balaam is about to proclaim his third oracle, “the Spirit of God came upon Balaam…” (24:2). The Spirit Himself comes upon the pagan diviner and it is then that he can refer to himself as one whose “eye is opened,” one who “hears the words of God, who sees the vision of the Almighty,” whose eyes are “uncovered”.
And a little later: “a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel” (24:17). Many commentators, including Irenaeus, a Church Father as early as the 2nd century, thought this prophecy referred to Jesus, the Messiah, God the Son.
It’s quite a view of God that a pagan from Pethor and his donkey were privileged with that day.
I must include one more brief donkey story to be complete.
Find and read Christ’s entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday in any of the four Gospels (or all of them, as they’re short).
It’s another story of a donkey doing the unexpected. The first one talked. This one is young and untamed and likely lively and skittish and yet lets a man ride on it while people shout loudly on either side and even throw coats and branches near it. The star of Jacob, the bright and morning star, the scepter of Israel, the King Himself comes riding in on this donkey.
No fiery angel blocked the way for that donkey that day. No, the angels were surely standing back watching history unfold before their eyes. No drawn sword blocked the way. The gates of Hell could not have barred the route from the Mount of Olives, though they undoubtedly tried. The donkey didn’t turn right or left or lie down. As it did in Numbers 22, it obeyed God, but this time God was sitting on its back. The King whose shout among His people so astonished Balaam, the God of power and incomparability and sovereignty that protected the Israelites from their enemies was now quiet, “humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden” (Matthew 21:5). The only shouts came from the crowds lining the way: “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
The Big Idea this week?: God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are active and loving. We will spend eternity trying to fathom each of those words.
Question: What attributes or names of God do you most associate with Him? Are there ones you’ve heard in Scripture but can’t understand or try to avoid?
Question: God is the main character of the Old and New Testaments, the one who acts, the one to be reckoned with, the one who protects His own, the one driving history with purpose moment-by-moment, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He reveals Himself in these stories by acting. In your story, do you know of Him in the abstract, or can you think of times when He has shown Himself to you by His actions?
Aside for discussion: Is a talking donkey hard to believe? Read 2 Peter 15-16, where Peter refers to the donkey’s speech. (How is it that the parts of the Old Testament that some find “fantastical” are cited in the New Testament, sometimes by Jesus Himself – the creation of Adam and Eve, Jonah and the whale, Balaam’s donkey?) Which is harder to believe? – a donkey that speaks plain donkey opinions, or a famous pagan diviner hired for pay to curse but who blesses?
Eric Prost
If interested in joining or starting a small group contact bethelcommunitygroups@gmail.com
God (and Donkeys)
05 Oct 14
This is a useful tool for small group discussion, personal reflection or in a one-on-one conversation. We believe that if the Sunday teaching is discussed outside the morning services, it will be an opportunity to go deeper and build community because God's Word needs to be discussed in community.
“God in 30 minutes.” That’s essentially this Sunday’s sermon, although that’s not the exact title. It sounds downright irreverent, but God is, nevertheless, the topic this week in our series on Core Strength, sermons on foundational truths.
So try “God on one page, double-sided”. That’s essentially this week’s Touching Base. Read on.
The Bible itself gives several summaries of God: who He is, what He’s up to generally, and His plans for humankind.
Read Acts 7 where Stephen, his face shining like an angel, gives a short history lesson to a Jewish audience of God’s acts for the previous 2000 years (some of the most eloquent and profound last words). Read Acts 17:22-34 where Paul, standing on Athens’ Areopagus, gives a short philosophy lesson on God’s nature to a Gentile audience. Need it shorter? Read Hebrews 1:1-3.
Less than 150 words so far. We could stop now. Just read the above passages or go for the whole Bible. You will find out about God.
But if you want something in between the little speeches of Acts and the whole Genesis-Revelation package, we’ll keep going.
And talk about donkeys.
Back near the beginning of the Bible in Numbers 22-24, the Israelites have been wandering around the desert for years. They’ve been spectacularly unbelieving and even their leader, Moses, has sinned and won’t be allowed to enter the Promised Land.
But the Israelites forge ahead and gather to travel through Moab. The King of Moab is terrified because he sees how many Israelites there are. So he resorts to a very ancient practice and summons a famous diviner named Balaam to come (possibly a long way and for a handsome reward) to curse the threatening Israelites and so bring defeat upon them.
Balaam rides his old donkey on his way to carry out this mercenary curse-for-hire. If you’re not familiar with the story or don’t hear the sermon, read Numbers 22:22-35. It’s a good read, and unexpected. After the donkey annoys Balaam three times with Balaam responding angrily, Yahweh opens the donkey’s mouth and it says, “What have I done to you to deserve these beatings?”
“You have made a fool of me!” Balaam shoots back.
“Haven’t I been a faithful old ass? Do I usually do this kind of thing?” asks the donkey rhetorically.
“You have, and no,” Balaam admits.
Then he, too, sees the angel of Yahweh.
When Balaam arrives in Moab, God then opens Balaam’s mouth – and out come blessings, over and over, on God’s people. The King of Moab who hired Balaam isn’t impressed, but on the blessings go anyway. Finally, the King, exasperated, tells Balaam to just stop – “don’t curse them or bless them at all!” – and then to go home. He then adds, not surprisingly, “Yahweh has kept you from being rewarded.”
The God Who Acts:
The Old Testament isn’t the story of Adam, or Abraham, or Joseph, or Moses, or David. It is the story of Yahweh. He is the central character and it is His character that is developed.
In this story, God is not abstract. The story doesn’t go about attempting to prove the existence of Yahweh to the pagan diviner, Balaam, by proofs and argument. Instead, Balaam sees God’s actions and is forced to shout, “What hath God wrought!” or “See what God has done!” This God acts – donkeys speak – and acts for his own – God protects them from temporal armies and from the curses of the spirit world.
Question: What attributes of God does this story illustrate?
Powerful… frightening… having a sense of humour…? Perhaps.
Sovereign… incomparable… unchanging? Certainly.
All of the above quickly come to mind (not quite accurately) as “Old Testament” attributes of God. Would the adjectives “Loving” and “Triune” jump to mind?
Love:
If you read through Genesis – that part of Scripture we tend to think of as rife with wise old bearded men with a God to match – you will find that the history is full of Yahweh as loving and extraordinarily merciful.
The pagan, Balaam, with little previous knowledge of Yahweh before meeting Him in the road, extols the attributes of Yahweh without full understanding. I picture him listening to himself as he opens his mouth and emits the poetic blessings and marveling at who this God is with whom he is unwittingly tangling far from home while overlooking the wilderness.
“The Lord their God is with them; the shout of the King is among them,” Balaam proclaims of the Israelites. The One who is giving him the oracles is actually among the people down below in the plain; He is on their side. “See,” Balaam shouts for anyone listening, “what God has done!”
Read Deuteronomy 23:5
Later, in the midst of lists of Jewish Laws in Deuteronomy, a reflection on the story of Balaam once again illuminates God: “The Lord your God would not listen to Balaam but turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God loves you” (emphasis mine). This verse is an important explanatory footnote. It is the backstory you cannot help but infer when reading about Balaam, but it’s still comforting to get it in writing – and literally in a legal document as well. It couldn’t be plainer.
Triune:
Read Numbers 24:2-4 and 17
“Triune” means “three in one”. We often think of God the Father as the default position of God, the God of the Old Testament who created everything, called Abraham out of Haran, and gave Moses the Ten Commandments. But that is quite one-sided (just one of three sides, actually).
When Balaam is about to proclaim his third oracle, “the Spirit of God came upon Balaam…” (24:2). The Spirit Himself comes upon the pagan diviner and it is then that he can refer to himself as one whose “eye is opened,” one who “hears the words of God, who sees the vision of the Almighty,” whose eyes are “uncovered”.
And a little later: “a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel” (24:17). Many commentators, including Irenaeus, a Church Father as early as the 2nd century, thought this prophecy referred to Jesus, the Messiah, God the Son.
It’s quite a view of God that a pagan from Pethor and his donkey were privileged with that day.
I must include one more brief donkey story to be complete.
Find and read Christ’s entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday in any of the four Gospels (or all of them, as they’re short).
It’s another story of a donkey doing the unexpected. The first one talked. This one is young and untamed and likely lively and skittish and yet lets a man ride on it while people shout loudly on either side and even throw coats and branches near it. The star of Jacob, the bright and morning star, the scepter of Israel, the King Himself comes riding in on this donkey.
No fiery angel blocked the way for that donkey that day. No, the angels were surely standing back watching history unfold before their eyes. No drawn sword blocked the way. The gates of Hell could not have barred the route from the Mount of Olives, though they undoubtedly tried. The donkey didn’t turn right or left or lie down. As it did in Numbers 22, it obeyed God, but this time God was sitting on its back. The King whose shout among His people so astonished Balaam, the God of power and incomparability and sovereignty that protected the Israelites from their enemies was now quiet, “humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden” (Matthew 21:5). The only shouts came from the crowds lining the way: “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
The Big Idea this week?: God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are active and loving. We will spend eternity trying to fathom each of those words.
Question: What attributes or names of God do you most associate with Him? Are there ones you’ve heard in Scripture but can’t understand or try to avoid?
Question: God is the main character of the Old and New Testaments, the one who acts, the one to be reckoned with, the one who protects His own, the one driving history with purpose moment-by-moment, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He reveals Himself in these stories by acting. In your story, do you know of Him in the abstract, or can you think of times when He has shown Himself to you by His actions?
Aside for discussion: Is a talking donkey hard to believe? Read 2 Peter 15-16, where Peter refers to the donkey’s speech. (How is it that the parts of the Old Testament that some find “fantastical” are cited in the New Testament, sometimes by Jesus Himself – the creation of Adam and Eve, Jonah and the whale, Balaam’s donkey?) Which is harder to believe? – a donkey that speaks plain donkey opinions, or a famous pagan diviner hired for pay to curse but who blesses?
Eric Prost
If interested in joining or starting a small group contact bethelcommunitygroups@gmail.com
Friday, September 26, 2014
Touching Base, Part 250
Core Strength, Part 2
FAITH FACTOR: A RESPONSE TO REALITY
This is a useful tool for small group discussion, personal reflection or in a one-on-one conversation. We believe that if the Sunday teaching is discussed outside the morning services, it will be an opportunity to go deeper and build community because God's Word needs to be discussed in community.
Big Idea: Faith in God is a Response to Reality.
Question: If you were asked to explain what it means to have faith in God, what would you say?
Text: Matthew 16:13-17
For many of the New Atheists, such as Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris, faith in God is blind trust, it is crazy and, at its worst, it is dangerous.
We might not share the same type of emotion that someone like Richard Dawkins carries, but there is a sense in which many of us do think that faith is a bit silly. So, what is the Christian understanding of faith?
The Christian understanding of faith could be understood in three themes:
- Believing (i.e. believing certain things to be true; I believe there is a God.)
- Trusting (i.e. God is trustworthy)
- Receiving (i.e. receiving God’s invitation into a personal relationship.)
A big point to understand here is that faith in God is NOT ‘the ability to believe in things even when you have no idea whether they are true or not’. (See Beyond Opinion, “Conversational Apologetics”, p.138.)
In Matthew 16:13-17, we see that Peter makes a bold declaration of who he believes Jesus is: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”(v.16b) One of the interesting things to glean from this story is why Peter makes such a statement. Given that Peter and his friends have been with Christ for quite sometime now, they have witnessed miracles, have shared meals with Christ, listened to his teachings, Peter utters this statement—a statement of faith—because of the evidence he has seen; not in spite of it. It is in this way that faith in God is evidence-based belief. Faith in God is not antithetical to evidence. It is rooted in knowing who God is.
A hugely important question we need to ask ourselves when we talk about faith is, do we know this God? Do we really know Him?
But there are challenges to our faith. What do we do when our beliefs seem to collide with what we experience or feel? What does Christianity have to say to all the wrong we observe and the wrong we experience?
a) Christianity says that evil is real and that it is wrong. These two points, the reality of evil and the wrongness of it are important to note, especially since many faiths and systems of belief do not share this view. Many streams of Eastern thought teach that suffering or pain is illusory. Pain is an illusion, many will say. Hard atheism tells us that evil may be real, but it is not necessarily wrong; it just is.
b) Christianity tells us that God looks at evil and sees that it is real and wrong, but that He has also done something about it. He got involved in the problem! Jesus Christ dying on a cross tells us that God is not one who is distant from pain. He knows the problem intimately.
c) Christ’s resurrection tells us that the world that is—a world full of pain and evil—is not the world that will be.
Summary:
What does it mean to have faith in God?
Faith in God centres on the fact that God is there! He is trustworthy and we can have a personal relationship with Him. This relationship is one that brings us hope; a hope that sustains us day to day.
Helpful resources:
Os Guinness, God in the Dark: The Assurance of Faith Beyond a Shadow of Doubt (Crossway, 1996).
Ravi Zacharias, Beyond Opinion: Living the Faith We Defend, Reprint (Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Websites: www.rzim.ca; www.rzim.org; www.rzim.eu; www.bethinking.org.
Nathan Betts
Apologist, RZIM Canada
Twitter: @nathanbetts09
Website: www.rzim.ca
If interested in joining or starting a small group contact bethelcommunitygroups@gmail.com
FAITH FACTOR: A RESPONSE TO REALITY
This is a useful tool for small group discussion, personal reflection or in a one-on-one conversation. We believe that if the Sunday teaching is discussed outside the morning services, it will be an opportunity to go deeper and build community because God's Word needs to be discussed in community.
Big Idea: Faith in God is a Response to Reality.
Question: If you were asked to explain what it means to have faith in God, what would you say?
Text: Matthew 16:13-17
For many of the New Atheists, such as Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris, faith in God is blind trust, it is crazy and, at its worst, it is dangerous.
We might not share the same type of emotion that someone like Richard Dawkins carries, but there is a sense in which many of us do think that faith is a bit silly. So, what is the Christian understanding of faith?
The Christian understanding of faith could be understood in three themes:
- Believing (i.e. believing certain things to be true; I believe there is a God.)
- Trusting (i.e. God is trustworthy)
- Receiving (i.e. receiving God’s invitation into a personal relationship.)
A big point to understand here is that faith in God is NOT ‘the ability to believe in things even when you have no idea whether they are true or not’. (See Beyond Opinion, “Conversational Apologetics”, p.138.)
In Matthew 16:13-17, we see that Peter makes a bold declaration of who he believes Jesus is: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”(v.16b) One of the interesting things to glean from this story is why Peter makes such a statement. Given that Peter and his friends have been with Christ for quite sometime now, they have witnessed miracles, have shared meals with Christ, listened to his teachings, Peter utters this statement—a statement of faith—because of the evidence he has seen; not in spite of it. It is in this way that faith in God is evidence-based belief. Faith in God is not antithetical to evidence. It is rooted in knowing who God is.
A hugely important question we need to ask ourselves when we talk about faith is, do we know this God? Do we really know Him?
But there are challenges to our faith. What do we do when our beliefs seem to collide with what we experience or feel? What does Christianity have to say to all the wrong we observe and the wrong we experience?
a) Christianity says that evil is real and that it is wrong. These two points, the reality of evil and the wrongness of it are important to note, especially since many faiths and systems of belief do not share this view. Many streams of Eastern thought teach that suffering or pain is illusory. Pain is an illusion, many will say. Hard atheism tells us that evil may be real, but it is not necessarily wrong; it just is.
b) Christianity tells us that God looks at evil and sees that it is real and wrong, but that He has also done something about it. He got involved in the problem! Jesus Christ dying on a cross tells us that God is not one who is distant from pain. He knows the problem intimately.
c) Christ’s resurrection tells us that the world that is—a world full of pain and evil—is not the world that will be.
Summary:
What does it mean to have faith in God?
Faith in God centres on the fact that God is there! He is trustworthy and we can have a personal relationship with Him. This relationship is one that brings us hope; a hope that sustains us day to day.
Helpful resources:
Os Guinness, God in the Dark: The Assurance of Faith Beyond a Shadow of Doubt (Crossway, 1996).
Ravi Zacharias, Beyond Opinion: Living the Faith We Defend, Reprint (Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Websites: www.rzim.ca; www.rzim.org; www.rzim.eu; www.bethinking.org.
Nathan Betts
Apologist, RZIM Canada
Twitter: @nathanbetts09
Website: www.rzim.ca
If interested in joining or starting a small group contact bethelcommunitygroups@gmail.com
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