Pastor’s Corner.

Part 1 Yield/Stop

Penned Truth- God is calling us to a life of giving priority to others, which is humbling ourselves and serving others. 

Thomas Brooks- The best way to do ourselves good is to be doing good to others.

1 Peter 5:5 (ESV) …. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

Grace | Dictionary of Bible Themes: The unmerited favour of God.

Favour | Dictionary of Bible Themes:  Looking kindly upon someone or treating someone with special regard.

Favor | Oxford Languages: An act of kindness beyond what is due or usual; approval, and support.

Humility | Christian Bible Reference:  humility or humbleness is a quality of being courteously respectful of others; Rather than, “Me first,” humility says, “No, you first.”

1 Peter 5:5 (ESV) …. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

David Jeremiah- Every time we deny ourselves in order to serve someone else, we grow in Christ.

Philippians 2:3-4 (AMP) 3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit [through factional motives, or strife], but with [an attitude of] humility [being neither arrogant nor self-righteous], regard others as more important than yourselves. 4 Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.

Penned Truth: Remember, Kingdom thinking is others first, and that’s upside down from the world’s thinking.

John Hagee- The measure of a man’s greatness is not the number of servants he has, but the number of people he serves.

John 13:4-5 (NET) 4 he got up from the meal, removed[j] his outer clothes,[k] took a towel and tied it around himself.[l] 5 He poured water into the washbasin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to dry them with the towel he had wrapped around himself.[m]

John 13:12-15 (ESV) 12 When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.

Mark 10:45 (ESV) 45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

            •           Are You Compassionate? 

Compassion | Dictionary of Bible Themes: Characteristic of Jesus Christ, usually shown in acts of kindness and consideration towards those in any kind of difficulty or crisis.

Galatians 5:13-14 (AMP) 13 For you, my brothers, were called to freedom; only do not let your freedom become an opportunity for the [a]sinful nature (worldliness, selfishness), but through [b]love serve and seek the best for one another. 14 For the whole Law [concerning human relationships] is fulfilled in one precept, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself [that is, you shall have an unselfish concern for others and do things for their benefit].”

Final Word: Submitting to one another is not the chain of bondage we tend to make it out to be. Instead, it is the triumph of one who has been set free. A truly free person can put others above themselves. The Church (Christians) should walk humbly before others, lowering ourselves so God is Glorified, not us. The act of yielding and putting others before ourselves does not have to be much; it’s doing something for someone before ourselves that matters most. That moment, you are humbly yourself and serving others, showing God’s love to the world. As 1 Peter 5:5 promises, it releases God’s grace, His unmerited favor upon you. 

Daniel Smithee

Daniel Smithee sermon slides for 4/7/24 Matthew 7:13-14 NKJV “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Astrology

The divination of the supposed influences of the stars and planets on human affairs and terrestrial events by their positions and aspects

ACTS 16:16  
Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling.

Daniel 2:2
So the king summoned the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and astrologers to tell him what he had dreamed.

Theistic Evolution

Supporters of theistic evolution generally attempt to harmonize evolutionary thought with belief in God and reject the conflict between creationism and evolution. they hold that religious beliefs and scientific theories do not need to contradict each other.

GEN 1:1-5 1 
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

Deconstructionism

Faith deconstruction, also known as deconstructing faith, evangelical deconstruction,the deconstruction movement, or simply deconstruction, is a phenomenon within American evangelicalism in which Christians rethink their faith and jettison previously held beliefs, sometimes to the point of no longer identifying as Christians.

John 1:1-5 (KJV)
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

Hebrews 4:12 (NKJV)
For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Journey To Easter Part 3

2 Tim 3:16-17 (ESV) 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

John 12:12–13 (NLT) 12 The next day, the news that Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem swept through the city. A large crowd of Passover visitors 13 took palm branches and went down the road to meet him. They shouted, “Praise God! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the LORD! Hail to the King of Israel!”

John 19:28–30 (ESV) 28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” 29 A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. 30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Penned Truth: Jesus entered death the same way He lived each day: not my will, God, but Your will. 

Matthew 27:51 (ESV) 51 And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split.

Five Facts 

1.      His final act of obedience was complete.  

2.      Scripture was fulfilled. 

3.      Payment for sin was made. 

4.      A new door was opened.

5.      A freshly paved road to God now existed.

Hebrews 10:19 (NLT) 19 And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. 

Hebrews 10:20 (NLT) By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. 

Charles Spurgeon- “When Jesus died on the cross the veil in the temple was torn from top to bottom so that big sinners like me might fit through.”

Penned Truth- Torn curtain truth, God’s house is open to anyone at any time to receive the peace they seek.

Final Penned Words: I still marvel at what Jesus endured, but you and I must never forget. Salvation comes through a cross and a crucified Christ. There is no other path; none. I can hear God the Father saying by way of the torn curtain; you are welcome to come to My house anytime you want to and should never allow anything to keep you away from Me. Do not let your sins, offenses, crimes, transgressions, or whatever list you may be keeping keep you away. I say to you now, My door is open; come in.