Thoughts After the Sermon, "No God But God" (Exodus 20:3)

Thoughts After the Sermon

By Vermon Pierre, Lead Pastor

I came across a lot of good quotes in the course of my preparation for last Sunday’s sermon, “No God But God” (Exodus 20:3). Some of them made it into the sermon and some of them didn’t. I’ll be using this post to give again some of the ones I used during the sermon and also offer up some of the ones I didn’t have time to use.

·      “One of the primary laws of human life is that you become like what you worship; what’s more, you reflect what you worship not only back to the object itself but also outward to the world around. Those who worship money increasingly define themselves in terms of it and increasingly treat other people as creditors, debtors, partners, or customers rather than as human beings. Those who worship sex define themselves in terms of it (their preferences, their practices, their past histories) and increasingly treat other people as actual or potential sexual objects. Those who worship power define themselves in terms of it and treat other people as either collaborators, competitors, or pawns. These and many other forms of idolatry combine in a thousand ways, all of them damaging to the image-bearing quality of the people concerned and of those whose lives they touch.” – N.T. Wright, Surprised by Hope

·      “If we idolize our gender, we must demonize the other gender. If we idolize our nation, we must demonize other nations. If we idolize our political party, we must demonize other political parties. If we idolize our socioeconomic class, we must demonize other classes. If we idolize our family, we must demonize other families. If we idolize our theological system, we must demonize other theological systems. If we idolize our church, we must demonize other churches. This explains the great polarities and acrimonies that plague every society. If something other than God’s loving grace is the source of our identity and value, we must invariably defend our idol by treating everyone and everything who may call our idol into question as an enemy to be demonized so that we can feel superior to other people and safe with our idol.” – Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears, Doctrine: What Christians Should Believe

·       “Jesus must become more beautiful to your imagination, more attractive to your heart, than your idol,” Keller says. “If you uproot the idol and fail to ‘plant’ the love of Christ in its place, the idol will grow back.” Tim Keller, Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Matters

·      "We need to ponder the superiority of God as our great reward over all that the world has to offer. If we don’t, we will love the world like everyone else and live like every one else. So take the things that drive the world and ponder how much better and more abiding God is: take money or sex or power or popularity. Think about these things.

First think about them in relation to death. Death will take away every one of them: money, sex, power, and popularity. If that is what you live for, you won’t get much, and what you get, you lose. But God’s treasure is “abiding.” It lasts. It goes beyond death.

It’s better than money because God owns all the money and he is our Father. “All things are yours, and you are Christ’s and Christ is God’s” (1 Corinthians 3:22-23).

It’s better than sex. Jesus never had sexual relations, and he was the most full and complete human that ever will exist. Sex is a shadow, an image, of a greater reality—of a relationship and pleasure that will make sex seem like a yawn.

The reward of God is better than power. There is no greater human power than to be a child of the Almighty God. “Do you not know that we shall judge angels” (1 Corinthians 6:3)?

It’s better than popularity. Fame is a pipe dream if you are only known by human nobodies. But if the greatest beings know you, that is a popularity of another kind. The greatest popularity is to be known by God (1 Corinthians 8:3; Galatians 4:9). And when it comes to angels: “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation” (Hebrews 1:14)?

And so it goes on and on. Everything the world has to offer, God is better and more abiding. There is no comparison. God wins—every time. The question is: will we have him? Will we wake up from the trance of this stupefying world and see and believe and rejoice and love? And suffer?"

- John Piper, in a sermon entitled, The Present Power of a Future Possession

·      How weak the gods of this world are--
And weaker yet their worship made me!
I have been an idolater
Of three--and three times they betrayed me!

Mine oldest worshipping was given
To natural Beauty, aye residing
In bowery earth and starry heaven,
In ebbing sea, and river gliding. 

But natural Beauty shuts her bosom
To what the natural feelings tell!
Albeit I sighed, the trees would blossom--
Albeit I smiled, the blossoms fell. 

Then left I earthly sights, to wander
Amid a grove of name divine,
Where bay-reflecting streams meander,
And Moloch Fame hath reared a shrine. 

Not green, but black, is that reflection
On rocky beds those waters lie;
That grove hath chillness and dejection--
How could I sing? I had to sigh. 

Last, human Love, thy Lares greeting,
To rest and warmth I vowed my years.
To rest? how wild my pulse is beating!
To warmth? ah me! my burning tears. 

Ay, they may burn--though thou be frozen
By death, and changes wint'ring on!
Fame!--Beauty!--idols madly chosen--
Were yet of gold; but thou art STONE! 

            - Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Idols

               

Bonus Case Study and Question for Command #1

Bonus Case Study and Question for Command #1

Consider this a "deleted scene" from the Ten Commandment Study Guide we are passing out tomorrow for our look at the First Command ...

BONUS CASE STUDY

A friend of yours says he heard his college professor say that this command proves that Moses believed that other gods existed and Moses taught that YHWH was just the best god for the Israelites. He says that this shows the religion of the bible has evolved over time and should not be taken too seriously because it the obvious product of human imagination.

What would you say to this friend about what his proff said?
What specific passages would you turn to?
Do you think this would require some extra research to really give a solid answer?


BONUS QUESTION
Q: In regards to the other commandments, what will happen unless we first commit ourselves to God alone?

Example Answer: Our hearts will be drawn away from the righteousness the Ten Commandments decree.

Four Thoughts After the Sermon, "God, Law, and Jesus" (Exodus 20:1-21)

Four Thoughts After the Sermon

By Vermon Pierre, Lead Pastor

Some highlights/reminders/further thoughts from last Sunday’s sermon, “God, Law, and Jesus” (Exodus 20:1-21):

1. It’s important to remember that God’s commandments are an expression of God himself. So for instance, we should not lie and stand for what’s true because God is truth. Thus lying means denying God himself. Rejecting God’s law in any way means that we are personally rejecting God as God.

2. The Ten Commandments were written in stone and were the only part of the law that would later be placed in the ark of the covenant. This suggests the unique and enduring significance of the Ten Commandments. They were meant to be thought of regularly thought and used as guiding principles to Israel’s regular worship of God.

3. Yes, the Ten Commandments are truly commandments. They are meant to be obeyed by us, period. But for those in a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, they can’t be seen as restrictive obligations upon their freedom but instead as welcome habits that draw believers closer to the One they love and who loves them. Think for instance of a marriage. There are certain regular obligations within a marriage that could be viewed as onerous commandments that have to be obeyed for the sake of the marriage. Like for instance, not forming emotional or physical connections with anyone other than your spouse, or regularly showing affection for your spouse through your words and your touch. The partners in a good marriage however would never view such things as onerous or restrictive  commandments! Rather they are part of the habits and obligations they willingly and joyfully follow, all because they are means of forming a closer bond of love with their spouse. And so the growing believer is a person who seeks to obey God more, not less, because of their increasing delight and joy in the relationship they have with God. 

4. A few good quotes on the whole topic of the law, grace, and Jesus:

“Therefore we do not abolish the Law; be we show its true function and use, namely, that it is a most useful servant impelling us to Christ. After the Law has humbled, terrified, and completely crushed you, so that you are on the brink of despair, then see to it that you know how to use the Law correctly; for its function and use is not only to disclose the sin and wrath of God but also to drive us to Christ.” – Martin Luther

“Let the law be faithfully proclaimed, as binding on every creature, and as cursing every impenitent sinner, and let the utter inability of man to satisfy its demands be clearly set forth, not as an excuse, but as a fault; and then let the riches of grace in Christ Jesus be fully exhibited and freely offered, and let all – however great their guilt – be urged to accept of unmerited pardon, and complete salvation.” – Archibald Alexander

Three Thoughts After the Sermon

Three Thoughts After the Sermon
By Vermon Pierre, Lead Pastor

Some highlights/reminders/further thoughts from last Sunday's sermon, "Evangelize, Establish, Entrust: A Vision for the Expansion of the Kingdom through RCC":

1. I described mission this past Sunday as involving movement and intention. That definition of mission comes from the book, "Paul the Missionary" by Eckhard Schnabel. His full definition of mission or missions is worth mentioning. "The term 'mission' or 'missions' refers to the activity of a community of faith that distinguishes itself from its environment in terms of both religious belief (theology) and social behavior (ethics), that is convinced of the truth claims of its faith, and that actively works to win other people to the content of faith and the way of life of whose truth and necessity the members of that community are convinced."

2. The gospel brings people together and keeps people together. This is why we can never stray away from the message of the gospel. Repeatedly in Acts we see that the building up of the church is a function to the word of God increasing.

3. If the mission of the church is to see the church established in cities and regions all over the world, then every church needs to be about planting new churches and establishing churches. God's cosmic intentions are directly tied to the church, so any missional work must be church-connected work (cf Eph 3:10).

New Audio for Sermon "Time, Wrath, and Death"

New Audio for Sermon "Time, Wrath, and Death"
Series: Worship the Lord: A series in the Psalms
Date: 08/29/10

Here is the link to launch the jukebox to listen online:
http://www.rooseveltchurch.org/sermon/time-wrath-and-death

Did you know all of our messages are available online? You can browse through our messages by Series, Category, Date, or Speaker. You can also subscribe to our podcast using iTunes or any other podcasting software.

Or you can download the mp3 directly right here.

PS - props to Edward Cross for all his labor in this area!

Three Thoughts After the Sermon

Three Thoughts After the Sermon 
By Vermon Pierre, Lead Pastor

Three things to highlight/remind you of from last Sunday’s sermon, “A God for Your Soul” (Ps 42-43):

1. This is a bit allegorical, but as I think of God calling us out of the dark corners of our soul and to his “holy hill” in worship (43:3), I can’t help but think of how Jesus died on a cross set up on the hill of Golgotha, a place known as “The Place of the Skull” according to Matthew 27:33. Because of what Jesus accomplished through his death and resurrection, this formerly cursed, morbid hill is now for the believer a place of worship, hope, and joy.

2. I made a point of emphasizing the special importance of the Sunday morning worship of the gathered church. I did so because I believe that, in our efforts to rightly point people to not think of church just as being a Sunday thing and to see every day as worship, we have ended up neglecting the unique significance of Sunday morning worship for our ongoing spiritual health and growth. Every Sunday is an opportunity for the believer to receive deep counseling and real comfort direct from the Lord. Fear and despair tend to shrivel up as light and truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ is mediated to your soul in worship.

3. That quote from Piper is so good that I’m going to post it again here:

“The basic movement of worship on Sunday morning is not to come with our hands full to give to God, as though he needed anything (Acts 17:25), but to come with our hands empty, to receive from God. And what we receive in worship is the fullness of God, not the feelings of entertainment. We ought to come hungry for God. We should come saying, “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God” (Ps. 42:1–2). God is mightily honored when a people know that they will die of hunger and thirst unless they have God.

Nothing makes God more supreme and more central in worship than when a people are utterly persuaded that nothing—not money or prestige or leisure or family or job or health or sports or toys or friends—nothing is going to bring satisfaction to their sinful, guilty, aching hearts besides God. This conviction breeds a people who go hard after God on Sunday morning [and I would add here – “and also then go hard after God the rest of the week”].

They are not confused about why they are in a worship service. They do not view songs and prayers and sermons as mere traditions or mere duties. They see them as means of getting to God or God getting to them for more of his fullness—no matter how painful that may be for sinners in the short run.” (John Piper, God’s Passion for His Glory: Living the Vision of Jonathan Edwards)

Highlights from Legacy Conference 2010

Highlights from Legacy Conference 2010
Alden Powers, Music Director @Roosevelt Community Church

Last week Jordan (aka Barabbas the Rebel of the Christian hip hop group i65), my wife Melissa and I attended the Legacy Conference in Chicago, Illinois. This was a three-day conference dedicated to equipping people for urban ministry. The conference featured prominent guest speakers like Paul Washer, Francis Chan and Thabiti Anyabwile. It also featured concerts and workshops taught by many of today’s top Christian hip hop artists such as Le Crae and Shai Linne. Here are a few of the highlights from this very informative conference.

Discipling Artists in the Local Church

Lamp Mode recording artist Steven the Levite taught an extensive four-hour workshop on how to minister to rappers, musicians and artists in the local church. Steven discussed some of the reasons why rappers have a difficult time getting plugged into a local church. He stressed the importance of artists getting involved in other ministries in the church that are not as high profile as performing. He also addressed qualifications for rappers to have in order to properly minister.

Compassion Ministry

This workshop focused on what is necessary to have an effective ministry toward the poor and needy. Concepts stressed in this workshop were the importance of the person going into ministry to be prepared spiritually. They must be faithful to the Word of God and spiritually mature. We also discussed what the Bible says about poverty and Godly compassion. We also went over how to effectively evangelize, as well as practical issues to consider when ministering to someone in poverty.

Lamp Mode Concert

Thursday night’s concert featured the music of three artists from the Lamp Mode record label. Steven the Levite mixed spoken word with his unique rapping style. Steven likes to experiment with more complex rhythmical patterns that are rarely heard elsewhere in hip hop. Hazakim, an energetic duo consisting of two Messianic Jewish brothers, followed Steven the Levite. Shai Linne challenged everybody’s assumption of what a hip hop concert is by singing classic hymns along with a beat boxer from the audience!

Cross Movement Concert

Friday night was one of craziest concerts I’ve ever witnessed. Cross Movement artists LeCrae, Thi’sl, Flame and Tedashii rocked the house. All four artists were on the stage at the same time and the energy was explosive. The crowd was jumping, LeCrae poured water on the audience, Thi’sl grabbed a guitar, and the God’s people jumped for joy.

Francis Chan

Friday night Francis spoke very candidly and openly about the need for us to love Jesus more than anything. He challenged us to look into our hearts and see what indwelling sin we are harboring that keeps us from a true, deep relationship with our Lord. Chan told stirring stories about saints all over the world living Godly lives. Hearing about these people such as his grandmother who talks to Jesus all day long, or missionaries in Afghanistan who were nearly killed for their faith convicted Chan to leave his comfortable surroundings in an affluent church and seek a deeper relationship with Christ.

Saturday Inner-City Outreach

The best part about this conference was that after we were fed with some amazing Biblical teaching, we were then sent out and expected to apply our knowledge. The conference adjourned from the comfy confines of the Moody Bible Institute to a low-income neighborhood in Chicago’s west side. The outreach featured Christian rap concerts and food all day long, but while the stage was set up, we were asked to go out into the community and tell people not only about the concert, but also about the good news of the Gospel.

As we walked down some of the poorest streets of Chicago, God worked to open up the hearts of many of the people in the community to hear the Gospel message. We talked to guys getting drunk on their front porch. We talked to grandparents who had lived long enough to see the neighborhood deteriorate. But as we shared the message of hope in the savior Jesus Christ, people were willing to listen and ponder some truths that they had heard for the very first time.

Overall I felt the Legacy Conference greatly helped me grow in understanding how to share the love of Christ in an urban context. I got some great knowledge, met some great people and heard some great music!

5 Reflections on Leading a Prayer Vigil

5 Reflections on Leading a Prayer Vigil
Alden Powers, Music Director @Roosevelt Community Church

Last month my wife and I hosted a two-week-long morning prayer vigil on behalf of our missionary team in Kenya. Having served on the team two years before, we felt a calling to be diligently in prayer for our current team as they shared the gospel half a world away. Committing this much time to prayer for one specific thing really opened my eyes to the nature and power of prayer. I have prayed for missionary teams, I have participated in days of fasting and prayer, but never anything of this length and I wish I would have done more of these sooner in my life. Here are a few of my insights:

1. God listens to your prayers

God tells us in places like 1 Kings 9:3 and 2 Kings 20:5 that he does hear our prayers and act on them. When we got together and prayed we had no idea what was happening in Kenya. We didn’t know how the community was doing. We didn’t even know if the team had arrived safely. But we stepped out in faith and came to the Lord with our prayers anyway. Upon hearing reports when they returned, we were amazed by the level of transformation that had taken place. We know that the church is growing rapidly. People in the church are growing in their spiritual maturity. Children are learning in school. There is more water. All of things we prayed for, God seemed to be doing in our sister community! Praise God!

2. God wants persistent prayers

In Luke 11:5-13, Jesus tells a parable of a friend asking another friend for loaves of bread to feed some guests arriving late at night. The friend, despite being already in bed, gives into his friend’s request due to his persistent asking. This parable illustrates the importance of asking God for things again and again. If we ask, we will receive and if we seek, we shall find. But we need to be bold and persistent in our efforts.

3. There are different ways to pray

When we pray, there are many different things we can do. It’s not just all about asking. Our prayers can be prayers of thanksgiving. They can be prayers of praise. We should also confess our sins to God. These categories of prayer can be summarized in the acronym A.C.T.S (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication).

We can ask God for things, but ultimately God will grant to us only what is truly good and right. The purpose of our prayers is to not align God’s will with ours, but to align our will with God’s. God may grant us what we ask for, but even more so we need to ask our Heavenly Father “thy will be done”.

A great way to keep in tune with this idea is to pray through scripture. Speak scripture passages to God so that your prayers can be more fully in line with His will.

Consistent and persistent prayer on a certain thing can greatly increase the level of sincerity of your prayers. When we pray for something once, we can easy to get pulled into the “checklist” mentality. I prayed for it, cross it off my list, now I can continue with what I was doing and feel good about myself that I prayed. But when we consistently come to the Lord again and again with the same requests, it can transform our simple prayers into heartfelt longing. It deepens our sincerity. It enables us to dwell upon what we are asking of our Father and really pour out our soul for what we are praying for. This deepens not only the effectiveness of our prayers, but it also deepens our relationship with God. We are no longer “mailing in” our requests. We are no longer folding our hands and talking out of obligation. We are now crying out to the Lord. We are talking to God! And we begin to understand prayer as an intimate conversation between a child and their Father.

4. It is important to have a consistent time of the day to pray

We held our prayer vigil every morning from 7am to 8am. We chose to pray in the morning because it worked best for our schedule. There’s no real significance to praying in the morning (my wife might have preferred at later time!). Some people might prefer afternoon or evening. But the important thing is to resolve to set aside a certain time every day to pray. Jesus seemed to pray morning and evening (Mark 1:35, Matthew 26:36), and he definitely resolved to pray often.

In our busy, on-the-go culture it’s easy to blow off prayer time in favor of “more important” matters. I know for me that if I don’t schedule it, it won’t happen. Take time to block off a certain amount of time during your day for prayer. It doesn’t have to be for a whole hour, but anything is better than nothing.

5. Quality is more important than quantity

Some days we had as many as ten people at our house praying. Some days it was only my wife and I. Regardless of how many people we had, the important thing was sincere prayer. God tells us that when two or more are gathered in His name, He is there also (Matthew 18:20). We didn’t have to have standing room only in our house in order for God to act on our prayers.

Three Thoughts After the Sermon

Three Thoughts After the Sermon
By Vermon Pierre, Lead Pastor

Here are three things that I'd like to further highlight from last Sunday's sermon, "Pure Words vs Impure Words" (Ps 12):

1. I've been thinking a lot these days about what kind of people we are becoming in today's information loaded, interconnected, always "on" world. Such an environment seems to more easily encourage and even embrace insincerity and hypocrisy. We don't just have a "double heart" (v.2), we have many hearts, one for each of the many lives we are living. Are we aware of these dangers? And what are we doing to address them?

2. Psalm 119 is just a great great psalm. Every time I find myself feeling a bit dry when it comes to reading and meditating on Scripture, Psalm 119 wakes me back. It reminds me of the great treasure the Lord has given us by giving us his word, and it inspires me to dive deep into it, knowing that it will lead me in paths of purity, delight and worship.

3. It's both an encouragement and warning to know that in the end all lies, deception, and hypocrisy will fade away and that it is the Lord and his word alone that will remain forever. If you spend your life saying and doing things that are essentially lies and deception, you will end up with nothing. Only a life lived along the contours of God's word will have something to show for itself when eternity comes.

Three Thoughts After the Sermon

Three Thoughts After the Sermon
By Vermon Pierre, Lead Pastor
 
Here are three things that I'd like to further highlight from last Sunday's sermon, "God, Crisis, and Faith" (Ps 11):

1. Believing that God is a God who rules above all (i.e. transcendent) and is also near to all (i.e. immanent) matters for how you will practically make your way through a crisis. For if God is not really in control over everything in your life or not really involved in the details of your life, then you should feel anxious and live most of your life with doubt and fear. It makes sense to always play it safe and not take risks, because God isn't really able or isn't going to do much to help you out. On the other hand, if God is really in control over everything in your life and is really involved in the details of your life, you are then able to live with great boldness and confidence. Yes, you will have fears and worries, but at the same time you will also have a God who you can readily go to address your fears and doubts. This is because he is a God is a God who is fully in control and fully involved in your life – even when your life is at its lowest point.

2. God always acts in full consistency with all his attributes. So, for example, when God does something, he does it based on the fact that he is perfectly just, wise, loving, merciful, righteous, etc.

3. Read again this Charles Spurgeon quote. I think he captures well the perspective Christians ought to have on suffering because we are now in Christ: "We can suffer joyfully, hope cheerfully, wait patiently, pray earnestly, believe confidently, and triumph finally."