Sam Cotten

In my 1st sermon of the year, I gave a strong exhortation to the church to “get up on deck,” in preparation for the wind of the Lord. In fact, you may remember that the Lord gave a strong prophetic confirmation through JC May. Before I began to speak, JC turned to Dora and said, “Song of Songs 4:16 [+/-]Song of Solomon 4:16 [16]Awake, O north wind, and come, O south wind! Blow upon my garden, let its spices flow. Let my beloved come to his garden, and eat its choicest fruits.
.” That verse reads,

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The atheist Christopher Hitchens just published the book, God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. He recently debated Dinesh D’Souza, a fellow at Hoover Institution at Stanford University. In the debate Hitchens said that those of us who believe in the God of Christianity are “condemned to live in this posture of gratitude, permanent gratitude, to an unalterable dictatorship in whose installation we had no say.”

Bishop John Shelby Spong, retired bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark says in his recent book, Jesus for the Non-Religious, “a rescuing deity results in gratitude, never in expanded humanity. Constant gratitude, which the story of the cross seems to encourage, creates only weakness, childishness and dependency.“

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This is from Desiring God’s weblog. It is very interesting, and gives some insight into the modern charismatic movement, especially the Vineyard association’s role. Sam Storms is a good guy; he wrote this article.

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That is the question, isn’t it?

I came across these musings by Douglas Carson this week. His take is very close to mine, and I like what he says here.

Blessings,
Sam

ps I’ve made a few comments where I think he needs clarifying, my comments are in [brackets], and I’ve made more at the end. Continue Reading »

No, it hasn’t been in there too long to heat up!

Why me?

Hey, I know what you’re thinking: “Why me? Why does God pick on me? Is it just me, or is my conscience super-sensitive?” No, it is not just you -
God speaks to us through our consciences, and you may NOT go against it! Here are 6 biblical reasons you should not violate the pin-pricks of conscience:

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The Power of a Covenant Home

OK, yeah – this format is a bit different this week, but here’s why. I am putting my entire sermon notes in blog format here, because there was a lot of information to process this week. PLEASE comment. Thanks

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It might look gross, but just heat it up! Trust me…

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Does Bill Walton know everything? He sure seems to think he does.

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Better than yesterday’s pizza…

First – Read the Passage

My “Sunday’s Leftovers” on Corinthians series make no sense if you don’t read the chapter first. Here it is. 1 Corinthians 7 [+/-]1 Corinthians 7 [7:1]Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: "It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman." [2]But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. [3]The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. [4]For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. [5]Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. [6]Now as a concession, not a command, I say this. [7]I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another. [8]To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single as I am. [9]But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion. [10]To the married I give this charge (not I, but the Lord): the wife should not separate from her husband [11](but if she does, she should remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband), and the husband should not divorce his wife. [12]To the rest I say (I, not the Lord) that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her. [13]If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him. [14]For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. [15]But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so. In such cases the brother or sister is not enslaved. God has called you to peace. [16]For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife? [17]Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches. [18]Was anyone at the time of his call already circumcised? Let him not seek to remove the marks of circumcision. Was anyone at the time of his call uncircumcised? Let him not seek circumcision. [19]For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God. [20]Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called. [21]Were you a slave when called? Do not be concerned about it. (But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.) [22]For he who was called in the Lord as a slave is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a slave of Christ. [23]You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men. [24]So, brothers, in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God. [25]Now concerning the betrothed, I have no command from the Lord, but I give my judgment as one who by the Lord's mercy is trustworthy. [26]I think that in view of the present distress it is good for a person to remain as he is. [27]Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife. [28]But if you do marry, you have not sinned, and if a betrothed woman marries, she has not sinned. Yet those who marry will have worldly troubles, and I would spare you that. [29]This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, [30]and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, [31]and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away. [32]I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord. [33]But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife, [34]and his interests are divided. And the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit. But the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband. [35]I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord. [36]If anyone thinks that he is not behaving properly toward his betrothed, if his passions are strong, and it has to be, let him do as he wishes: let them marry--it is no sin. [37]But whoever is firmly established in his heart, being under no necessity but having his desire under control, and has determined this in his heart, to keep her as his betrothed, he will do well. [38]So then he who marries his betrothed does well, and he who refrains from marriage will do even better. [39]A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord. [40]Yet in my judgment she is happier if she remains as she is. And I think that I too have the Spirit of God. (ESV)
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Dazed and Confused?

Don’t be alarmed – most are. It is VERY helpful to know some things before you read this chapter. First of all, most scholars think Paul is writing to correct some folks who think Christianity means they should withdraw from the world. They apparently were saying that, as Christians, they had already escaped this age and entered the next, and so they should remove themselves from the world and be purely spiritual. Ever known somebody like that? Well, church history is full of that kind of thinking, and it is a trap. They were saying that sex was bad, marriage was no longer necessary, gender roles were unnecessary, etc. At least, that’s the prevailing theory on what Paul was writing to, and it does make the chapter seem to make sense.

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some things are better the next day, after all…

Our church is doing a sermon series on 1 Corinthians. Our worship leader, Elliot Diaz, preached Sunday from chapter 13, popularly known as the “love chapter”. He did a great job with the message. Check it out on the church website: www.bethelife.com. He got me so excited about the chapter during the week that I spent a lot of time on it myself. It is such a wonderful chapter! Here are some thoughts, in no particular order. 1 Corinthians 13 [+/-]1 Corinthians 13 [13:1]If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. [2]And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. [3]If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. [4]Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant [5]or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; [6]it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. [7]Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. [8]Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. [9]For we know in part and we prophesy in part, [10]but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. [11]When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. [12]For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. [13]So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. (ESV)
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