Sermon Video: Crime and Punishment from God's point-of-view, Romans 13:3-5

What does an ideal government do with respect to crime and punishment?  The Apostle Paul was well aware of the shortcomings of human governments, all of them fail to varying degrees to live up to the standard of being God's servant in this category, but there is still value in understanding what the responsibility of a government should be even when they fall short.

Taken out of context?? Let FFOZ's words speak for themselves, this is how they describe the Gospel:

The primary pushback from the local Torah Club leadership has been that my recent six-hour seminar has taken the positions of the First Fruits of Zion organization out of context.  While this charge falls flat when considering that I utilized 13 primary sources published by FFOZ consisting of 27 pages and 14,000+ words worth of quotations {About 1/10th of which is my commentary, the rest is verifiable quotes from the organization’s top leaders}, another way of demonstrating that the concern of our ministerium’s pastors is well grounded exists.  

Why not list all the ways that FFOZ’s leadership describe the traditional/biblical/apostolic Gospel as accepted by Protestants, Catholics, and Orthodox Christians alike, and contrast the words they choose with the ways in which they describe their new ‘gospel.’  Let the descriptors they choose shed some light on this question. {FYI, the whole quotes are available, they were used in full in my seminar}.  At a certain point, the very weight of the evidence makes its own point.

How FFOZ describes the Gospel that has been preached for the past 2,000 years:

Inauthentic, devoid of the kingdom, obscuring the kingdom, missing the very cornerstone of Jesus’ message, incomplete (3 times), partial, missing something, oversimplified distortion, temporary, watered down, simplified, a tiny sliver of an idea, dry and dead, bad news (4 times), pretty bleak, a little absurd, convoluted, repellent, and God’s hatred for Israel and mankind. 

How FFOZ describes the new ‘gospel’ they have uncovered and are now selling:

Totally different, robust, broader, deeper, wider, original (2 times), green, plush, beautiful, unencumbered.

Can you see the difference?  How much closer do we need to look to see, how much more do we need to listen to hear?

** Note, some of the pejoratives used by FFOZ are aimed not at the Gospel as it has been taught in Church History, but at the Straw Man they routinely utilize and which they accuse the Church of routinely teaching.  This is either ignorance of what the true Gospel message is, or a deliberate choice to try to win converts by slandering the Church.  In all my research I can’t recall any FFOZ publication saying, “Some in the Church have misunderstood the Gospel”, instead the Church is always painted as a failed monolith, all equally “missing something” in every generation of its history that only FFOZ can provide. **

Sermon Video: A God honoring rebellion? Romans 13:1-2

In these verses the Apostle Paul lays out our responsibility as Christians to the human governments that we live under.  His statements are general principles rather than specific applications, and are based upon the reality that all authority ultimately rests with God (thus every human authority is a delegated one).

Church history has examples for us of the Church working to maintain the status quo, even when that state was unjust to most of its people, and examples of the Church standing with the oppressed and rebels, and bearing the consequences.

Rather than firm answers, this passage reminds us of the prayer, study, and deliberation that ought to go into our desire to live out our calling to be Christ-like in this world.  God-honoring Christians may arrive at different answers to these questions, what we all must do is respect God's authority enough to wrestle with them when we choose to act either for or against a particular governing authority.

Sermon Video: Rejecting Evil and Revenge by Embracing Kindness and Peace - Romans 12:17-21

How should the followers of Jesus respond to evil?  The answer can never be with our own evil attitudes and actions.  Where does that leave us?  We must turn instead to kindness and peace, embracing them no matter what happens, knowing that God may use our kindness to open the door to his own mercy upon those who are evil, for only God knows how each person's story ends, as objects of God's wrath or love.

Sermon Video: Living like Jesus in the everyday things - Romans 12:13-16

As disciples of Jesus, imitating him is a key aspect of our faith.  Here in Romans 12, the Apostle Paul offers 4 examples of behavior that help illustrate our obligation: (1) sharing/hospitality, (2) blessing those who persecute us, (3) having empathy, and (4) limiting pride to foster harmony.