Sunday, February 24, 2013 Grace Living

I finished a month-long series "Favor of the Month" on Grace.  This past Sunday,  February 24, 2013, I preached "Grace Living."  The audio is below:

Joseph's Secret to Overcome Setbacks

by Dr. Dave

From the pit to the palace, Joseph gives us the secret on how to respond to injustice, betrayal, and evil.  7 set-backs and 13 years of adversity (recorded in 13 chapters, Genesis 37-50) did not derail Joseph from living his life boldly for God.

7 Sovereign Set-Backs 

God sovereignly allowed Joseph to be…

(1) Born in a dysfunctional family (Genesis 37)
Joseph was born to his father when he was old.  His father’s favoritism set him up for failure.  His constant doting only encouraged his brother’s jealousy.  Joseph was the center of attention.  The Bible states, “Jacob loved Joseph more than any of his other children.”  This was a recipe for disaster.  One day, Jacob gave Joseph a special gift—a beautiful robe…a multi-colored coat.  By the time Joseph reached his high school years, around age 17, he often tended his father’s flocks with his half-brothers and like a tattle-tale often reported to his father some of the bad things his brothers were doing.  As you can imagine, this didn’t make him popular with his brothers.

(2) Rejected by his siblings (Genesis 37)

(3) Abandoned to a foreign land (Genesis 37)
At age 17 (around his Junior year at Israel High School) he’s with people who speak a different language, going to a land with a different culture, in a world with different gods.

(4) Sold into slavery [in Egypt] (Genesis 39)

(5) Falsely Accused of Rape (Genesis 39)
Joseph is the Brad Pitt of his day.  He’s apparently so good looking, that Potiphar’s wife is very interested in this healthy hot hunk. Joseph is 19 and shows tremendous restraint.  Has deep convictions.

(6) Sent to Prison Unjustly (Genesis 39)

(7) Forgotten by a “Friend” [those he helped in prison] (Genesis 40)

But God had not Forgotten Joseph.

What people did to Joseph was wrong.  It was evil.  But God’s good is more powerful than any evil that can be thrown at you.  God is sovereign and He took the evil aimed at Joseph and used it for his good and then for the redemption of thousands of lives.

Joseph’s Response to Evil Circumstances…

Instead of all these matters breaking Joseph, they molded, matured, and made Joseph!

• He survived.  He learned and adapted.
• He thrived.  He used his gifts where he was.
• He resisted and refused to “bail out” on God’s agenda for his life.
• He waited on God’s timing and place.
• He grew. He faced his issues & forgave others for theirs.

13 years of Adversity Couldn’t Ruin Joseph’s Life

While people tried to wreck Joseph’s life with their little evil plans, God refashioned those attempts back into his big good plan to achieve Joseph’s highest good and His highest glory.  In other words, it was all part of God’s sovereign plan to get the right man, at the right place, at the right time, for his good. and for God’s glory.

Others Don’t have the Power to Ruin Your Life

For us, this is good news.  Joseph reminds us that…

• The person that walked out on you
• the business deal that fell through
• the father or mother who abused you
• the so-called friend who lied and betrayed you…

none of these people have the power to ruin our lives.  We are not a victim.  What others intend for evil, God will use for good.

Joseph’s Secret

Joseph believed that nothing comes into our lives by accident.  It is either decreed or allowed by an all-wise, sovereign God for our good.  As a result of this, Joseph blessed those who cursed him.  He refused to take revenge and to retaliate.  He embraced the providence of God.

Overcome Evil with Good by…

• Refusing to be a victim
• Choosing to trust God and his sovereignty
• Choosing to forgive the person(s) who have hurt you
• Choose to pray for those who have hurt you
• Choose to do an act of kindness to the person(s) who hurt you (if possible and if appropriate).

We do not have the power to change people.  But we do have the power to love people in a way that is impossible for them to understand apart from the grace of God.

The post Joseph’s Secret to Overcome Setbacks appeared first on Dr. Dave White.

Tim Hawkins on Air Travel

This is funny.

11 Truth Commands to Follow

by Dr. Dave

11 Truth Commands we would do well to follow—along with 11 clarifying synonyms and 11 defining adjectives.  Are you a person of Truth?   Follow the God of truth.  Read the word of truth.  Journey with people who value the truth.  Be a lover of the truth–desire it, welcome it, and honor it.  Commit to living a life of truth.
What is Truth? 

• Truth is reality and actuality .
• Truth is what is real, actual, and true.
• Truth is how things really are.
• Truth is what is accurate.
• Truth distinguishes right from wrong.
• Truth is encapsulated in God’s word.

11 Synonyms for Truth

Call I the bona fide truth, the naked truth, or the gospel truth, truth always involves: factuality, certainty, infallibility, integrity, verity, veracity, genuineness, rightness, correctness, exactness, and trueness

11 Adjectives Describing Truth

Truth is not invention, misrepresentation, dishonesty, falsehood, or lie.  Truth is unadulterated, unaffected, uncolored, unconfuted, undistorted, unerring, unexaggerated, unfeigned, unperjured, unsoiled, andunvarnished reality.

11 Truth Commands to Follow

• Come to the Truth: “This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a  knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:3,4).

• Love the Truth: “People… perish because they refuse to love the truth and so be saved” (2 Thessalonians 2:10).

• Believe in the Truth: “… all will be condemned who have not believed the truth, but have delighted in wickedness” (2 Thessalonians 2:12).

• Established in the Truth: “you … are firmly established in the truth” (2 Peter 1:12).

• Obey the Truth: “obeying the truth” (1 Peter 1:22)

• Speak the Truth: “…each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor”(Ephesians 4:25).

• Declare the Truth: “But Paul said, “I am not out of my mind (insane), most excellent Festus, but I utter words of sober truth” (Acts 26:25).

• Handle Accurately the Truth: “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15)

• Walk in the Truth: “You continue to walk in the truth.  It gave me great joy to have some brothers come and tell about your faithfulness to the truth and how you continue to walk in the truth.  I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth” (3 John 3-4).

• Love Others in the Truth: “I love in the truth” (3 John 1).

• Worship in Truth: “…true worshipers…worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23-24).

The post 11 Truth Commands To Follow appeared first on Dr. Dave White.

Sunday, February 10, 2013 Sermon

This past Sunday was the second Sunday in a series "Favor of the Month" dealing with grace.  February 10 was a message "Grace: The Currency of Heaven."  Here is the audio:

If you are not a "Who's Who"

Did you make the "Who's Who" in high school or college?  in your business profession or sport?  Oh, you didn't?  Are you tired of hearing only about those who do?  Ever think that only those who did make the list can be used by God?

Well, you would be wrong.  The Bible is filled with examples of those who hardly made the Bible's list and certainly not the "Who's Who" of the Bible.  Ron Walters recently shared this list:

*  Shiphrah and Puah - two midwives who dared to defy Pharaoh
*  Bezaleel - a simple architect to whom God gave the job of a lifetime
*  Ehud - used by God for no better reason that he was left-handed and available
* Shamgar - though mentioned only once in Scripture, he still had time to kill 600 Philistines and sae Israel
*  Asa - a son of godless parents who became a godly king.
*  Tychicus - a courier who delivered holy telegrams
*  Asahel - a fleet-footed sprinter with a tenacious heart for his king
*  Hushai - a convert counselor for David who successfully infiltrated enemy ranks.

Ordinary people used by God.  I'm glad God uses ordinary folks - aren't you?

Sunday's Sermon, February 3, 2013

I started this past Sunday a new series of messages for the month of February called "Favor of the Month."  It is a short series on grace.  This past Sunday was "Jesus:  Full of Grace" from John 1: 14-17.

Here is the audio of that message:

10 Reasons to Hope by Dr. David Murray

by Dr. David Murray

When discouraging and depressing news threatens to flood the nation, the church, and the soul, we need God's help to lift up our heads, hearts, and hands. Posts like this encourage us not to fear. But once fear is cast out, we then have to build positive Christian hope in its place, a beautiful virtue and life-transforming grace that yields multiple benefits:
1. Hope moves us forwards: Christian hope is a realistic expectation of and joyful longing for future good and glory based upon the reliable word of God. The more we long for the future, the less we will yearn for the past. Hope deletes regrets and underlines expectation. It diminishes drag and increases momentum.
2. Hope energizes the present: It is worth living today because the eternal tomorrow is so much brighter. What's doomsday for most, is coronation day for us. What most dread, we desire.
3. Hope lightens our darkness: Hope does not deny nor remove the reality of dark and painful providences. However it does shine a bright light into these valleys and points to the sunrise at the end of them.
4. Hope increases faith: Faith fuels hope, but hope also fuels faith. As Hebrews 11 makes very clear, hope and faith are very closely tied together, the one enlivening the other. Without faith we cannot soar in hope, but without hope faith will limp home. The greatest believers are the greatest hopers…and vice versa.
5. Hope is infectious: Just as we can drag others down by our recriminations and moping, so we can inspire and motivate through our inspiring hoping. It not only encourages other sagging Christians but it also impacts depressed unbelievers who cannot but ask a reason for the hope they see in us (1 Pet. 3:15).
6. Hope is healing: When I counsel depressed people, one of the first things I do is try to give them hope. By definition, depression is a sense of hopelessness. Things cannot and will not get better. That's why I want to give them the hope that in the vast majority of cases, they will get better, there is a way out, and there are things that they can do to help themselves in their felt helplessness. That hope itself is a huge step towards healing.
7. Hope is practical: Hope does not mean we just sit and wait for Utopia to appear. Not at all! Hope motivates action. When we hope for better days for the church, we serve the church. When we hope for the conversion of our children, we are motivated to share the Gospel with them. When we hope for God's blessing on His Word, we listen to it much more avidly. Hope produces action.
8. Hope purifies: Whatever persecution we experience in this world, the day is coming when we will not be just called sons of God, we will be like the Son of God. This is what inspires and motivates the apostle to persevere to the end and to persevere in holiness. "And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure" (1 John 3:1-3).
9. Hope stabilizes in the storm: There are sixty-six drawings of anchors in the catacombs, the caves and tunnels that persecuted Christians hid in during the Roman persecutions. Hope was their anchor during those dark and stormy days (Heb. 6:19; 10:34). Like the anchor, hope grabs what is out of sight. As one puritan put it: "The cable of faith casts out the anchor of hope and lays hold of the steadfast rock of God's promises."
10. Hope defends: Paul also depicts hope as a defensive helmet (Eph. 6:17; 1 Thess. 5:8) that must not be taken off and laid aside until the battle is over. The helmet also points us to the area of greatest vulnerability and danger – our mind or thoughts. That's where Satan usually works to present reasons to doubt and despair. And that's why we need our minds daily renewed by the power of hope.

Navigating the Waters of Baptism by John MacArthur

by John MacArthur

Many unbaptized Christians are simply ignorant when it comes to baptism. They’ve never been taught about baptism—what it signifies and why it matters. And what little teaching there is on the subject—you might find a random book chapter here or there, but little else—usually just further confuses the issue.

For example, many believers today have been taught that if they were baptized or christened as a baby, that is sufficient to fulfill Scripture’s command. Think about the confusing message that sends—that a passive act as a newborn has anything in common with the public profession of faith and identification with the risen Christ and His church. Most Christians today could rightly claim ignorance when it comes to baptism, but that’s not a valid excuse to ignore it altogether.

Other believers might be avoiding baptism out of pride. Many have allowed a long period of time to elapse since their conversion. They repented and believed long ago, and they are faithfully involved with the church, active in ministry, and submissive to the authority of God’s Word, but they have never been baptized.

It’s understandably a little embarrassing to acknowledge that kind of failure—that you’ve been disobedient on something so fundamental for so long. But better to humble yourself than to further extend that disobedience by remaining unbaptized.

Indifference is another reason professing believers might not be baptized. There are plenty of people in the church today who simply can’t be bothered. It doesn’t fit into their busy schedule and they’re not willing to sacrifice something else—their work, their ministry, their leisure time, or whatever it is—and make the command of the Lord a priority for their life. Obedience simply isn’t that important to them. They’re apathetic. They might want to do it; they might even plan to do it. But until obedience is their first priority, they’ll never finally get around to being baptized.

For others it goes a step further into defiance. Some people in the church haven’t been baptized because they are just rebellious. They brazenly refuse to obey. Usually people like that are living in active patterns of sin, and any public confession of their faith in Christ would only elevate their hypocrisy. They won’t surrender their sin, so they charge further into rebellion against the Lord.

In addition to ignorance, pride, indifference, and defiance, there is one other reason people in the church aren’t baptized—they’re unregenerate. They’re simply not saved. They have no desire to publicly identify with Christ because they know in their hearts they don’t truly belong to Him. They might be familiar with the Bible and the church—they might even attend regularly, hanging on at the fringes without ever fully committing. But they won’t—they can’t—take a public stand with Christ because they’ve never truly submitted their lives to Him in the first place.

The New Testament has no concept of an unbaptized Christian. When people repented and believed in Christ, they were baptized—often immediately—as a public profession of their faith and to identify with the body of believers. The two were inextricably linked throughout the early church (cf. Matthew 28:19-20, Acts 2:38).

Likewise, the New Testament has nothing to say about many of the modern methods of baptism. Sprinkling, pouring, or dabbing people with water makes no biblical sense. Only immersion paints an accurate, biblical picture of the transformation that takes place in salvation.

The believer’s baptism by submersion in water is consistent with the metaphor the apostle Paul used in Romans 6:3-7.

Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin.

He wasn’t referring to the ordinance of baptism, but the spiritual reality of union with Christ in His death and resurrection. Water baptism is the outward symbol of that unity—your physical baptism signifies the spiritual baptism that’s already taken place. It’s the public, ceremonial depiction of your death to sin and your new life in Christ.

However, that rich truth isn’t celebrated or even taught in many churches. And because the theology and practice of baptism are so muddled, today we likely have more unbaptized believers than at any other time in the history of the church.

If you’re a professing believer who hasn’t been baptized, you fall into one of those categories—your disobedience is the result of ignorance, pride, indifference, defiance, or it’s an indication that you’re not truly saved. It’s critical that you carefully and biblically examine your life and determine what’s keeping you from publicly identifying with Christ in His resurrection and with the local gathering of believers. You don’t want to live in open disobedience to the clear command of Scripture, regardless of the excuses you might be clinging to.

You need to repent and be baptized.