Sermon Video: A Zeal that imitates Jesus - Romans 12:11-12

The Church, in America at least, isn't suffering from a lack of zeal.  We have plenty of passionate intensity, much of it in the form of outrage, but we sorely lack zeal that looks like that which Jesus demonstrated.  We need Christ-like zeal, need it focused on doing God's will (which he alone can define for us) and we need it bolstered with hopeful joy, patience, and prayer.

I was asked to pray for a church that is being torn apart by a Torah Club

 

I was asked today to pray for a Baptist Church in Iowa ahead of expected turmoil this evening.  The pastoral leaders and I have been in conversation since February after they watched my initial YouTube video which explained why the Franklin Christian Ministerium had written a public letter warning about the teachings of the Torah Clubs.  As it turned out, this church in Iowa had a sizeable number of members who had been participating in their local Torah Club, a development that alarmed the leaders of the church.  They and I shared research on the First Fruits of Zion (the parent company of the Torah Clubs), talked through our findings, and in general supported each other in this processes of learning more about this false teaching and formulating a response.

Prayer is needed today because the pastor of the church and his wife are going to be meeting with a family that have been members of the church for 40 years, this family is a part of the group that recently began participating in a Torah Club, and when the pastoral leaders of the church (having fully researched the FFOZ) asked them to discontinue their participation in this unorthodox group, they refused.  Sadly, the report that I have received is that most of those from this church who now belong to a Torah Club  have refused to leave it when warned of the dangers.  The demonstration of unorthodox beliefs that should have sent chills down their spines, has fallen on deaf ears.  It is expected, sadly, that this family will be choosing to leave their church family at tonight's meeting.  Please pray for the hearts and minds of the pastoral leadership of this church, pray for repentance and reconciliation on the part of those who have gone astray.  Please pray that this doesn't split the church in the days ahead.

As someone called by God, and ordained by his Church, to fill the role of a shepherd of the sheep, it is deeply emotionally painful when the people we have invested our blood, sweat, and tears in decide that they would rather be somewhere else.  Even when that somewhere else is a church where you have a reasonable expectation that they will be nourished, it still hurts.  Believe me, I speak from experience.  But, when they leave and you know they're walking away from an orthodox understanding of the Gospel to chase after "another gospel" (that actually is recycling 1st century heresies), it doesn't just hurt, it is a wound that won't soon heal.  Shepherds are called to protect the sheep, to risk ourselves, sometimes literally, to protect them.  What do we do when they walk into danger of their own accord and refuse to heed our plea?

Stories like this one are the reason why I've devoted so much time to this issue, why I've written and spoke about it many times, and why I'm teaching a seminar on it starting on 9/11.  What is happening to the church in Iowa is the goal of First Fruits of Zion, it is what they believe must happen, and what they are doing their best to accomplish.  (During the seminar I'll show you the video clips that prove it.)  Please pray for them tonight and in the days ahead.  You don't need to know which Baptist Church in Iowa it is, God has known them since the day the church was founded, he will know who you are praying for as his heart aches for them too.   And please pray for me as I deliver my seminar, pray for the acceptance of this warning on the part of our Christian community in Venango County, and pray for those who have gone astray, may they return to the faith which our ancestors handed down to us.  Thank you.

** Update 9/5/23 **

The initial update I received from the leadership of the church in Iowa is that the family in question has decided to remain in fellowship with the church and continue dialogue on the relevant theological issues.  This openness to correction is an answer to prayer, may God continue to work in hearts and minds with respect to this family and the others from the church who have started down the unorthodox path of the Torah Clubs.  Thank you for your continued prayers on this matter.

Sermon Video: Love Must be Sincere - Romans 12:9-10

What does a Christ-like community look like?  The Apostle Paul answers the question by starting with (1) sincere love, and then adding to that challenge by requiring that we (2) both hate evil AND do so while loving good (that is, oppose evil with righteousness, not with evil), (3) loving each other, and lastly (4) putting each other above ourselves.

This is what it takes to be Christ-like.  That's what we need faith, grace, and the power of the Holy Spirit to accomplish.

Sermon Video: One Body with many different gifts - Romans 12:4-8

The Church was designed and created by God to be unity with diversity.  The Gospel has always appealed, purposefully, to many different people.  As a church then, whether we're talking about our local congregation or a grouping of congregation in a community or denomination, we have only one body made up of many different parts.  These parts have been given gifts by God's grace of talents and abilities designed to make individuals usual in the life of the church and the completion of its mission.

Here's the key thing: Everyone in every church has a gift from God that they can share with the other members of the church.  We all can contribute to the common cause, we all can make a difference.

Sermon Video: How should we view ourselves? - Romans 12:3

Before explaining how the various members of the church (local and universal) fit together in God's will, the Apostle Paul offers a reminder that as Christians we need to look at ourselves with sober judgement.  His primary emphasis is the danger of letting pride skew our self-view, there is an equal (hard to say if it is more/less common) danger in letting doubt/despair skew our self-view in the opposite direction.  In both cases we can rely upon baseline truths to help us avoid self-deception: (1) We are all created in God's image, this creates a floor of self-worth, nobody is worthless. (2) We are all lost sinners, incapable of pleasing God on our own, this creates a ceiling of self-worth, nobody is perfect.  (3) We are all saved by grace, this moderates both extremes by lifting us up because of our transformation in Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and reminding us that this gain is all a gift of grace.