HaYesod's 2023 edition (First Fruits of Zion, Torah Club) heretically redefines grace: "grace is earned" and claims humans can atone for sins by suffering

 

HaYesod is the primary disciple-training material for the Hebrew Roots Movement aligned organization: The First Fruits of Zion

This analysis is from the 2023 edition.  My initial seminar warning of the dangers of FFOZ utilized the 2017 edition.  As will be shown here, the amount of unorthodox and heretical material has significantly increased from that edition to this.

The following analysis is not based upon this one lesson alone.  These same false teachings have appeared in dozens of other Torah Club and FFOZ published materials.

What this lesson reveals is that Torah Club leaders are being taught to embrace these teachings, not gloss over them.  The “correct” answers provided are truly damning.

FFOZ has a fascination with, and an allegiance to, the 2nd Temple Judaism of the 1st century.  As such, they work to integrate beliefs from that era of Judaism into the theology they’re attempting to bring into churches.

Theodicy is the study of the “problem of evil.”  It is a rich field that includes the wisdom of books like Job.  However, to say that when godly people suffer it must be because of the sins of other people is a human-centered view that was rejected by Job’s insistence that his suffering was not the result of his sin (or any sin), and by the testimony of Jesus Christ.

John 9:1-3 (NIV) As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.

Because suffering and sin are not directly corelated, the entire premise of the so-called “Law of Atonement” is false.  Even if the righteous suffered for the sins of others, there is zero biblical evidence that such suffering is connected to, let alone effective at, sin atonement.  On what basis is this claim made??  The suffering and death of human beings never atones for sin.  It cannot, at all.  We are not a spotless sacrifice.

1 Peter 2:20 (New American Standard Bible) For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God.*

[* “finds favor” is not a universal translation, it was chosen to connect to the story of Moses that is coming.  Beware of theology built on cherry-picked translations.]

The use of 1 Peter 2:20 is an out-of-context abuse of Peter’s original intent.  There is zero reason to assert that Peter believed that the suffering of Jesus’ followers could atone for their own sins, let alone those of anyone else.  This whole concept is antithetical to the Gospel message: Only the Son of God is worthy.

“An innocent person who suffers and dies accrues extra merit and favor with God.  This merit can be credited to someone else’s account.”  This is blasphemous and deeply heretical.  No human being has ever had enough merit to earn God’s favor, let alone extra.  There is ZERO hint in God’s Word that a human being could apply merit, even if he/she had extra, to anyone else.  Note that FFOZ simply makes this massive claim with zero attempt to support it from a single scriptural source, or even from their usual trope “the sages.”

FFOZ’s hermeneutical methodology is deeply flawed.  Word usage determines word meaning, claiming that two words in different languages simply mean the same thing is overly simplistic and misleading.

ḥên occurs 66 times in the OT, where in the NASB it is translated into English as: adornment (1), charm (1), charming (1), favor (51), grace (8), graceful (2), gracious (3), pleases (1).

χάρις (charis) occurs 157 times in the NT, where in the NASB it is translated into English as: blessing (1), concession (1), credit (3), favor (11), gift (1), grace (122), gracious (2), gracious work (3), gratitude (1), thank (3), thankfulness (2), thanks (6).

Too simply say that both of these words mean favor (and only favor), and both are equal to each other, is simplistic at best, misleading at worst.  FFOZ uses this technique to mislead…To what end?

To a disastrous redefinition of grace: “The merit and favor a person acquires in the eyes of another.” 

The long-standing Christian interpretation of grace as “unmerited favor” is purposefully thrown out, earning God’ favor (that is, earning grace) is in.

Where could FFOZ possibly turn to find an example of a human being earning God’s grace?  To Moses.

Note: This house of cards depends upon equating favor in the OT with grace in the NT.  The example of Moses earning favor, even if it were valid, leads to a false conclusion because Moses and the Apostle Paul do not mean the same thing when using hen and charis.

Is God saying in Exodus 33 that Moses’ obedience has earned God’s favor?  Yes.  

Is that favor equal to atonement? No  

Is it equal to redemption? No  

Is it equal to righteousness? No  

Is it equal to salvation? No

None of these ideas that are part of our understanding of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice as the Lamb of God are in any way connected to Moses.  In fact, these concepts as they are understood in the NT are not in the OT (See my Torah in its Ancient Israelite Context series on the YouTube channel)

“The LORD agreed to extend His favor for Moses to the entire nation:”

Did God bless others because of the favor in which he held Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Ruth, David, etc?  Yes. 

Is that blessing in any way connected to the righteousness that is ours because of the atoning power of the Blood of Christ?  1,000 times No.

“The story also demonstrates that grace is not ‘an unmerited gift.’ Moses did merit God’s favor when he interceded with God on behalf of a guilty nation.” – This so-called interpretation of scripture is an abomination.

On the basis of a false equivalence of favor in the OT with grace in the NT, by which FFOZ declares that grace is not “unmerited favor” but instead acquired/earned favor, it has set up a false equivalence between Moses and Jesus, all to pave the way for the coming insistence that Paul’s objection to the “works of the law” is not about legalism at all.  This is the goal to which this lesson is striving, to remove the stigma associated with keeping Torah as works-righteousness.

“Remember what happens when a godly and righteous person suffers and dies undeservedly…Through His righteous life and His undeserved suffering, Yeshua merited even more favor in God’s eyes, so much favor that He has an abundance to share.”

{Why is “only begotten son” in quotation marks?  Why not simply say, “As the Son of God,”?  Given their track record of denying the Trinity, such things make my Spidey-sense tingle}

Jesus is the only person to ever earn the righteousness that atones for sin, full stop.  No solely human being could earn atonement, it is impossible.  When you put atonement, favor, and grace in a mixer as FFOZ has done here, the result is grotesque. 

In this section, FFOZ argues that Paul’s only issue is with full-on adoption of Jewish identity through the conversion process.

“It’s not a question of working to earn eternal life by keeping the Law.  It’s a question of whether someone needs to become Jewish to be eligible for eternal life.”

They make this specious case by saying that when Paul writes about the, “works of the law” it always means only Jewish identity (i.e. circumcision, full conversion) never Torah keeping (Sabbath, kosher, festivals).

In order for this line of reasoning to hold water, every usage of “works” and “works of the law” by Paul would need to be about full-conversion only, never about legalistic attempts to keep Torah to earn righteousness.

That, of course, is not a tenable position, but when FFOZ interprets Galatians, for example, it does so assuming Paul only cares about full-conversion, they claim he was 100% in favor of Torah keeping for Jew and Gentile as long as it didn’t lead to conversion for Gentiles.

Faith does not equal belief?

True, faith does not ONLY equal belief, it is more than just belief as James rightly clarifies, but given FFOZ’s stated hostility toward the Early Church credal statements…

Where is this going?  To a butchered paraphrase of Ephesians 2:8-9…

“By God’s favor, you have been saved for eternal life though your allegiance to Yeshua as the Messiah, but that favor is not something you earned.  It is the gift of God, not as a result of the works of conversion.  So no one, neither Jews nor Gentiles, have anything to boast about.”

“Paul sometimes used the term ‘works’ as shorthand to argue against Gentiles becoming Jewish.” – p. 2.8

Once again, we see the effort to drive a wedge between full conversion (including circumcision) and Torah keeping with respect to “works.”  In FFOZ’s warped view, human being can earn God’s favor (which they say equals grace), and relying on works is ok provided that they are the Torah-proscribed ones.  Do you see why they want to downplay Paul’s concerns about legalism?

And what are the “good works” of Ephesians 2:10?  What has God prepared in advance for the followers of Jesus?

“These ‘good works’ are the good deeds and acts of obedience described by the Torah’s commandments.” – p. 2.10

Once you divorce “works of the Law” from Torah keeping, the next goal is to transform it into a substitute for the Fruit of the Spirit.  Once legalism has been downplayed, Torah keeping can become the new test of true discipleship.

“When a righteous person dies unjustly, they accrue favor with God.”

“This favor can be bestowed on someone else.”

So absurd that followers of Jesus ought to run screaming from this madness.

“Paul refers to the process of becoming Jewish as the ‘works of the law.’”

‘‘’We are not saved by works’ means that we are not saved by becoming Jewish.”

To reject Paul outright is too obvious, redefining him into a pro-Torah keeping champion is a much more dangerous approach.

“Is grace unmerited favor?  If not, how does one acquire it?”

“No; grace is earned. One acquires it by doing good and living a difficult life or having it bestowed on them by someone else who earned it.”

Is the utter rejection of the Gospel by FFOZ not fully evident yet?  What further evidence is needed?

Conclusion: FFOZ ought to be labeled a dangerous cult for their views of the Trinity alone…

The HaYesod discipleship manual proves once again that they teach equally dangerous and heretical falsehoods about grace, atonement, faith, works, and the Law of Moses.

To watch this material in my YouTube version:

Beginning of Wisdom (Torah Club) lesson #36 - Subjective Reality & Diminishing all revelation except what was given to Moses

“The mirror analogy describes our experience of life, the universe, and everything.  We think of ourselves as seeing the real world, but what are we experiencing?  Only electrical sensory inputs channeled through a bio-chemical nervous system connected to a central processing unit of tangled neurons struggling to render some sort of interpretation of those signals.  Our brains work like computers to simulate the environment around us.  No one sees reality; we see our brain’s best attempt to process sensory input.”- p. 12

“That’s part of what Paul was getting at when he said, ‘For now, we see in a mirror dimly’ (1 Corinthians 13:12).  It’s not a polished mirror.  We aren’t getting the whole picture.  We can see only in part.  The world we think of as reality exists only inside our head.  Every person creates his or her own personal reality.” – p. 12

“To be in close conversation with Absolute Reality is prophecy at the highest level: the level of Moses.  As explained above, the Hebrew world for vision also means mirror.  Numbers 12:6 could be translated to say, ‘If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, shall make Myself known to him in a mirror.’  But it’s not a polished mirror.  For most prophets, it’s merely a dim reflection – not the personal experience of God that Moses knew.  It’s only an imperfect reflection, many times removed.” – p. 18

“Playing on the double meaning of the word – vision and mirror – the Midrash Rabbah contrasts Moses’ exalted level of prophecy against that of the other prophets.  All other prophets saw their prophetic visions dimly through nine mirrors.” – p. 18{quoting Leviticus Rabbah 1:14}

Why do I have the feeling that Daniel Lancaster wants me to take the Red Pill?  If that Matrix reference didn’t connect with you, in that 1999 movie Keanu Reeve’s character Neo is told by a guide named Morpheus that the reality he thinks that he is living in isn’t real.  Not really real anyway, it is just a computer simulation.

It may seem like a post-modern idea to doubt that reality exists beyond our own perception of it, but in reality, apologies for that double-usage, the idea had its heyday in the 17th and 18th centuries with the Empiricist philosophers John Locke, George Berkeley, and David Hume.  Long before computer special effects, there were philosophers who doubted that we could have any genuine knowledge of what is real beyond our own perception of it.

The great debate between the Rationalists and the Empiricists that set the stage for modern Western thought is too big a topic for this venue, but one effect of the Empiricist’s rejection of the tenants of Rationalism speaks to the danger of what the First Fruits of Zion are teaching here: Individual realities.  If reality is an individual construction, not a thing with its own true nature and existence, notions such as Fact and Truth invariably become fuzzy, antiquated, even ridiculed.  There is no longer any Truth, just “my truth” and “your truth”.

This example reminds us of some of the deep contradictions and dissonance within the belief system that FFOZ’s leaders have constructed: On the one hand, they claim to represent 1st century Jewish Christian thought and practice, on the other hand, they embrace the individualistic mystical experience of medieval Kabbalah, which of course is full of concepts that were entirely foreign to the cultural stream of 1st century Judaism and/or Christianity.  Why is FFOZ teaching extreme individual relativism?  Where is this headed?  

The second topic in this lesson that jumps out as deeply dangerous is the insistence drawn from the Leviticus Rabbah (Midrash), that ONLY Moses had full and clear revelation from God.  The prophets Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, John the Baptist?  They only saw a dim mirror, 9 reflections of reality, not “Absolute Reality” itself.  The practical, and intended by FFOZ, effect of this foolishness is to elevate the Torah and diminish all other scriptures to a secondary status.

Why?  Because to them Torah is eternal.  Torah is the essence of God’s nature.  Torah surpasses all.  Wait a minute, what about the Word of God?  What about Jesus Christ, God of God, God dwelling among us?  Surely the Gospels have at least an equal level of clarity and wisdom as that given to Moses?  Nope, the Torah Club lesson doesn’t say that, “Our highest level of the revelation of God in this current world does not attain the level of Moses.” (p. 19)

The thing is, the Gospels don’t say any of this, FFOZ is saying it.  This is what Jesus says about what he is revealing to his followers:

John 14:6-7,9  Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”  Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

In addition to diminishing the portions of scripture not given to Moses directly at Sinai, this bizarre “mirror theory” of FFOZ also treats the work of the Holy Spirit in the Church Age as an inferior revelation.  How can we know Truth and Reality beyond the Torah?  Lancaster tweaks Luke 7:28 on p. 19 to emphasize our limitation in this era, the brackets are his: “Among those born of women, there is no [prophet] greater than John, yet [the prophet] who is least [in the Messianic Era will be] greater than he.”  Yes, this is more of Lancaster changing scripture through his own translations to make it fit what FFOZ is teaching, he follows it up with this conclusion: “In the Messianic Era, we will attain the level of Moses – the level of face-to-face.” (p. 19)

Lesson 36 of The Beginning of Wisdom leans heavily on extra-biblical sources {Wisdom of Solomon, Ascension of Isaiah, Talmud, Midrash, and even Irenaeus’ The Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching} to sow the seeds of doubt about reality being anything greater than our own perception, and doubts about any/all revelation given by God to anyone other than Moses.   In the end, this journey of doubt will leave only one source of Truth standing, by design: the Torah of Moses.

* Note, this analysis first appeared as a YouTube video on my channel on 11/20/24: The Beginning of Wisdom, lesson #:36 Cataloging the unorthodox teachings of the Torah Club materials

Sermon Video: Do Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures? - Genesis 19:30-38

In a disturbing episode that speaks to the trauma and hopelessness of those it involves, Genesis relates the origin of the two tribes that would occupy the land east of the Jordan River when the Israelites were journeying through Sinai.  The Moabites and the Ammonites were both connected with Abraham's nephew Lot which doesn't make them part of the Abrahamic Covenant (like the descendants of Ishmael and Esau) with respect to the general blessings upon Abraham's offspring, but it does mean that they are distant kin to Israel and they will have a role to play, for better and for worse, in the years to come.  The most famous example of this interaction is of course Ruth who is called "the Moabitess" over and over in her story.

In the end, there was no need for Lot's daughters to follow the course of action that they chose, because we serve one God whose character and power can be counted upon, his people never have to choose immorality.

Sermon Video: In the beginning God - Genesis 1:1-2

Why did Moses write Genesis 1-3, and why did the Holy Spirit inspire him to do so?  The answer to that question isn't to satisfy modern Western reader's desires to know how and when God created, but rather to speak to the Ancient Near Eastern culture's thirst for the answer to the questions of who and why.  In the end, that's what Genesis will give us because it is about the relationship between God and humanity, and ultimately between God and his chosen people.  For them, the who was the same God who had led them up out of Egypt to Sinai, and the why they already were experiencing as God laid forth his covenant with them, building on the covenant with Abraham.

Is the earth 6,000 years old or 6 billion?  That's not a question Genesis is trying to answer.  Did God use evolutionary processes or not?  That's not on its radar either.  What we do find in Genesis 1-3 is the foundation to answer the most important questions of life: Who am I?  Why am I here?

Doubt and Faithfulness are not polar opposites: A Lesson from "Doubting Thomas" - John 20:24-29

 

I find Caravaggio's The Incredulity of Saint Thomas to be a fascinating painting.  One of the reasons why is that the text of John's Gospel, which is the basis for the moment the painting portrays, never actually says that Thomas touched Jesus' wounds, only that he declared he wouldn't believe that Jesus had risen from the dead without doing so.  The painting aside, the episode of Thomas' doubt is deeply illustrative of how God deals with doubt throughout the scriptures.  Again and again we see heroes of the faith depicted as having doubt: doubt in themselves, doubt in what they've been told by angels, even doubt after working miracles in God's name.  From Abraham's twice invoked "she's really just my sister" routine in Genesis, to Moses' attempt to put the responsibility on his younger brother instead of himself in Exodus, to Gideon's repeated requests for confirmation in Judges, to Elijah's exhaustion because he thinks he's the only one fighting for God in 1 Kings, to Esther's hesitancy to step forward in Esther, and finally Zechariah's doubt while standing in the Temple itself talking to the angel Gabriel in Luke, we see these great men and women who accomplished amazing things by the power of God, expressing their doubt and hesitancy.

And here's the key thing: In none of those instances does God search for the 'smite' key {A reference to one of my favorite Far Side cartoons} and ditch the person expressing how they really feel.  Instead, in each case God offers a second chance in the form of reassurance and patience until the person with doubt is able, thanks to this act of grace from God, to overcome it and continue fulfilling their purpose in God's plan. The point is, they were still useful to God.

How does the Church treat doubt?  I'm not talking about those who deny the Trinity or the Virgin Birth, for example, thanks to heretical teachings, that's false conviction not doubt, but rather those who have genuine doubts about God, his will or purpose, because the life they've lived has brought these feelings into focus.  Too often the Church can feel like the last place you would want to admit that you're struggling with doubt, anxiety, fear, even anger toward God.  It feels like a judgmental place, a place where, "nobody has doubts, but me."  Why?  Not because that's true, not because you're the only person who has been wounded by life, but because for whatever reason we choose to portray faith as an all-or-nothing proposition.  In reality, faith is a journey, a commitment, the kind of thing that can take a hit, get knocked down, but then rise once more and continue on, even if the person holding onto it has some scars from the experience.  Faith isn't made of glass, it is capable of dealing with reality, looking at difficult questions with humility, and acknowledging when we don't have all the answers.  Why?  Because faith is primarily a relationship with God, not an intellectual pursuit on our part.  Yes, our minds are involved, we need to know and accept who God is and what God has done for us in order to have faith, but that faith is IN God, a person, not a concept or construct, a person (who just so happens to be the Creator of the universe, a key thing faith has going for itself).

If you're having difficulties, if your faith feels battered and bruised, you won't be alone if you go to church, God be merciful on us if those you find there make you think you are, because you're not, they may not be willing to admit it, but a number of the people sitting, singing, and prayer with you know just how you feel because they were there once too, and maybe still are.  In the end, God isn't going to give up on you, for each and every person who faith and hope are in Jesus Christ is an adopted child-of-God, we're safe in our Father's arms, especially when we have to ask God to 'hold us tighter'.

The Stories We Choose to Tell: God’s use of The Exodus

 

My beautiful wife Nicole and I have been married for 21 years and counting.  Early on in our married life she began a habit of asking, “tell me a story” at the end of our day.  Aside from an occasional foray into fiction, my go-to response was to tell her about how we had met, about our first kiss, reminding her that she asked me to kiss her, and how we had subsequently fallen in love. 

Along with these origin stories about how our union came to be, which she enjoyed even though they lacked any radioactive spider bites or experiments with gamma radiation, I recounted to her the tales of road trips we had taken together to Texas, Virginia, Glacier National Park and Yellowstone, Rocky Mountain National Park, and once more to Glacier National Park, and the various adventures, and misadventures that accompanied them. 

For example, “Do you remember the time we pulled a pop-up camper to RMNP, only to discover while we tried to set it up in the dark at the end of the first day that we’d left two of the poles behind, necessitating making new ones from some pipe purchased at a Lowe’s the next day, have the stove be unusable because the gas line was clogged with a wasp nest, discover the hard way that misquotes had multiple ways inside that we needed to plug, have a flat on the car in Colorado and on the trailer in MN, and finally have the lift mechanism stuck in the up position while I beat on it with a rubber hammer at Tahquamenon Falls State Park in MI’s U.P.?  Ah, fun times.”  FYI, that was the only trip we took with that trailer, sold it the next summer.

For Christmas 2007, I created a journal of memories to give to Nicole that covered our relationship from 1999 when we first met until then.  It was a leather-bound journal with the written version of the stories from my point of view that I had been telling her at night, in my dubious handwriting, but also with stickers representing the various events in our lives together and places we had visited in it that I had purchased at a craft store to give it some flare.

In 2014, when Nicole and I returned to Glacier National Park, hiking to some of the same places as we had in 2004 like Avalanche Lake, but adding a 13.6-mile round trip trail with 3,526 feet of elevation gain to Sperry Chalet, the last mile or so on top of the still six or seven feet deep snow that remained in mid-June.  It was a climb that seemed endless to Nicole, especially since you can’t see the goal to know if you’re getting close or not until you’re almost to it.  After that trip, Nicole took it upon herself to one-up my effort of commemoration by making this professional looking book on the computer and printing it on Shutterfly.

The thing is, we both knew the stories that we were telling each other, or writing about, already.  It wasn’t new information the first time we told it to each other, let alone on subsequent retellings, so why did Nicole want me to share with her those same memories over and over again? 

The reason has to do with the value we place on the stories we choose to tell about the past.  There was a reason why she didn’t ask me to, and I didn’t choose to, recount boring everyday stories, things from work, traumas, or sorrows, but rather focused upon those seminal moments, those vivid, comic, and happy memories that we shared together.  Our shared stories are instrumental in explaining how we became who we are now, the experiences themselves having molded and shaped us along the way.

It turns out, God does much the same thing by choosing to share, and reshare, specific stories about the past in the scriptures.  One moment in time stands out as the example par excellence: The Exodus. 

The first time God tells Moses that The Exodus is going to be a recurring theme occurs during the instructions about the Passover,

Exodus 12:14     New International Version

“This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord—a lasting ordinance.

Even before it had happened, God told Moses that his people would be required to commemorate this display of God’s power and covenantal faithfulness with a yearly ceremony in perpetuity.

It was much less than one year before the story of The Exodus was brought back up, even before the Israelites arrived at Mt. Sinai, God needed to remind them of the plagues that had befallen Egypt, this first time using the story to put a stop to their grumbling along the way.

In fact, Moses used the story of The Exodus when talking to God, who certainly hadn’t forgotten about it, in his plea for mercy upon the Israelites following the Golden Calf debacle.

Exodus 32:11-12     New International Version

11 But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God. “Lord,” he said, “why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people.

Thus begins a pattern repeated many, many times in the remaining books of the Hebrew Scriptures as well as in the Gospels and the rest of the New Testament, of God, the psalmists, the prophets, Jesus, the Apostles, and more making direct references and easily identifiable allusions to God’s actions in The Exodus. 

The Exodus in subsequent portions of scripture becomes a catch-all capable of both admonishing the people when they go astray from the covenant and encouraging the people during times of oppression.  While pointing to the past, references to The Exodus also become the basis for promises about what God will do for his people in the future, with the ultimate culmination being the Messianic fulfillment of Jesus whose life and ministry is steeped in Exodus imagery highlighted by a Passover meal at the beginning of his Passion.

The past, for God, is a tool capable of teaching his people what he needs them to know in a variety of settings and circumstances.  It is not meant to be forgotten, but remembered and learned from not once, but multiple times.

What then do we do with what God has done in our lives, individually, our families, as a local congregation, and as a region of the American Baptist Churches?  Commemoration and celebration are certainly in order, as is storytelling and preservation of that history that allows it to be shared now and in the future. 

Following the biblical examples of how The Exodus is used, perhaps the most important things we can do with our knowledge of what God has done for us and through us in the past, is use it to help us confront, and by God’s grace overcome, the challenges of the present.  Have we strayed?  Remembering how God forgave our past can guide us to repentance again.  Are we burdened?  Recalling how God provided in our past can comfort us and give us hope.  Do we need motivation? Praising God for the outpouring of his amazing grace in living memory can help us find it.

What stories do you need to tell of the love of God manifested in your church and your family?

The stories I can choose to tell to Nicole in the present have a new character in them since she made “Nicole and Randy’s Big Adventure” in 2014: our precious Clara Marie.  And while we were already aware of God’s presence in the first 14 years of our journey as husband and wife, especially the difficult years that led step by step to our decision to move to PA in 2012, and while we have already given him glory for seeing us through those days, parenthood is often God’s way of saying, “you ain’t seen nothing yet.”  We have so many stories to tell of God’s love and faithfulness.

Sermon Video: The Glory of Jesus revealed - Mark 9:1-13

 After telling his disciples that he must suffer and die, and that they must take up a cross and follow him, Jesus allowed Peter, James, and John to see the divine power and glory that made those sacrifices both possible and amazing. On the mountaintop Jesus' divinity was revealed, momentarily not cloacked by his humanity, but Jesus could not stay at the top of the mountain. That experience would be strength and encouragement for the road ahead. Moses, Elijah, and the Father all spoke to bolster Jesus for the Passion that was coming. For Jesus was indeed a king, worthy of glory and honor, but he would set that aside in order to give his life as a ransom for many.

"In Every Age, O Lord" - Reflections on 150 years from Psalm 90

When First Baptist of Franklin celebrates its 150th year of existence this July 30th, the choir will sing a version of Psalm 90 entitled, "In Every Age, O Lord" by William Monaghan.  Psalm 90 was written by Moses in acknowledgement of the providential care of the LORD for Israel throughout each generation.  After contemplating the briefness of man in comparison to the eternality of God, the psalm ends with this prayer, "May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for us - yes, establish the work of our hands."

God is indeed the Alpha and Omega, the author and finisher, but in his wisdom, God has chosen to work in and through his chosen people, first Israel, and now the Church.  This willingness of God to work out his will through the efforts of mortal men and women makes the prayer of Moses entirely appropriate.  We plan, strive, and hope, seeking to fulfill God's will and be useful servants for his kingdom, but we need the power of God to establish the work we have undertaken.  Why?  To make it effective, to make it last.  The Church has been able to endure, as a whole, because of the empowerment it has received from the Holy Spirit at work among its individual members.  If we were but a human institution, we would have surely collapsed long ago, like Rome itself, under the weight of our own foibles and follies.  But the Church of Jesus Christ has endured, despite the faults of those who comprise it and their foolishness, for it is an expression of the power of God.

Here at First Baptist we have had ups and downs.  We had a generation where a 1,000 people came to be a part of this church's worship, and we have had a generation where a couple dozen were all we could muster.  And yet, the work of God has endured here among his people.  Those redeemed of the Lord continue to be trained and equipped, worship and prayer still rises up from our gatherings, and ministries of outreach both local and global continue to be undertaken.  God, in his wisdom, has been with us thus far, allowing us today to stand at the end of a line of God's people stretching back at this location to the 19th century.

God has been our refuge, in each generation, and God has established the work of our hands for his kingdom.  May God continue to bless his people, gathered here in Franklin, in his name and for his glory, for many generations to come.

Sermon Video: Jochebed: A Mother's Courage and Sacrifice - Exodus 2:1-10

In honor of Mother's Day, consider one of the Bible's courageous mothers: Jochebed.  Her name may not be overly familiar to most, but the accomplishments of her son are known far and wide, a son whose very survival depended upon Jochebed's courage and willingness to sacrifice.  The son of Jochebed was Moses, and he would lead his people to freedom, but only because his mother did everything she could to keep him alive as a baby.
Jochebed's desperate plan, putting her 3 month old boy in a basket in the Nile, is well known, but less well understood is that Jochebed fully intended that an Egyptian woman would find the child, leaving Miriam behind with instructions to encourage whoever found the baby to keep and care for him.  In the end, Pharaoh's daughter, Jewish tradition calls her Bithia, did find the baby, and she did have compassion on him, which combined with Miriam's not-very-subtle suggestion that she knew a woman that would nurse him, resulted in the saving of the life of the boy whom Bithia would call Moses.  One last note: In order to save his life, Jochebed had to allow her son to be raised by, and call another woman, "mom"; a gut wrenching sacrifice indeed.
To watch the video, click on the link below: