Matthew 26:17-25 October 23, 2022 PM.

Each and every one of us who are believers in Christ should ask

ourselves if we could be the one who would betray or deny or sin

against the Lord. If you are not concerned about yourself that you

could fall into sin, then you need to re-tool your mindset.

We all have a tendency or seed of sin in us—even after being saved—

that can grow into a very bad fruiting tree. We need God’s help to

walk the straight and narrow path and not veer off temporarily

into bad neighborhoods.

Jesus went through all of this for His creation… for you.

Genesis 9:6 October 23, 2022 AM.

During the week of my study for this message, the State of Oklahoma

executed a man named Benjamin Cole who 20 years ago broke the

spine of his 9-month-old daughter and caused her to bleed to

death. Despite some claim of mental illness, there was evidently no

question that he committed the crime, just as there has been no

question raised as to the culpability of Nicholas Cruz for the

Parkland school shooting, or of Ethan Crumbly for the Oxford

school shooting. These are clear cases.

To be as clear as possible, my position, derived from Scripture, is this:

(1) We cannot eliminate the death penalty altogether because our

all-wise and merciful God has set it in place as the ultimate

restraint against evil. Otherwise, evil will over-run good, and we

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will live in a society full of anarchy. God records for us in

Scripture the exercise of this punishment on numerous

occasions.

(2) We can and should exercise mercy on a case-by-case basis for

youthful offenders, those with mental illness, or other

mitigating factors. God demonstrates mercy in Scripture as

well.

(3) Because of the sinfulness of all people—judges, prosecutors,

and accusers included—not just murderers—we must be very

conservative to make sure that the offender truly deserves the

death penalty. The Scriptures’ rules for witnesses and

punishment for false witnesses demonstrate this as well.

All three points are supported by Scripture. Where Scripture

stands, I stand. I hope you will stand with God in His book as

well. As difficult as some things are in this life, dear friends, they

must be done for society to honor God.

You might ask, “What can I do…after all, the laws of our land are

what they are, and I cannot change that.” True enough. But you

can do something—believe rightly! Believe how God explains

the matter in His word. Trust Him and His infinite goodness. Do

not think you can out-think God on this one. He has considered

the totality of the world situation, of every individual situation,

of every one of His attributes, of all possible future

circumstances, of every possible expression of mercy and

goodness and judgment. And in wisdom He has put all that

together and instructed us for our good and His glory.

Various October 23, 2022 SS.

In this message Jansen Lorch leads our continued study on practical evangelism. We review the fundamentals of the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In this lesson and the ones to follow, we study how Christians can reinforce our ability to communicate a clear and full gospel message.

Matthew 26:17-25 October 19, 2022 PM.

Each and every one of us who are believers in Christ should ask

ourselves if we could be the one who would betray or deny or sin

against the Lord. If you are not concerned about yourself that you

could fall into sin, then you need to re-tool your mindset.

We all have a tendency or seed of sin in us—even after being saved—

that can grow into a very bad fruiting tree. We need God’s help to

walk the straight and narrow path and not veer off temporarily

into bad neighborhoods. Jesus went through all of this for His creation… for you.

Matthew 26:1-16 October 16, 2022 PM.

The public ministry of the Lord Jesus has come to an end now. He will

spend some more time with the disciples in a private meal and

meeting. The chapter ends with Jesus being condemned to die. These 16 verses set the stage for chapters 26-27 of Matthew’s gospel.

The rest of the text will show the outworking of the Lord’s

betrayal, crucifixion, and burial.

Genesis 9:1-29 October 16, 2022 AM.

A new dispensation begins with Noah leaving the Ark and the

revelation that God gives in this chapter. We call it the

dispensation of human government because man is given the

ultimate sanction: capital punishment. This implies a governmental

structure where man in his corporate arrangements can mete out

such punishment on individuals. We assume then that God permits

less severe sanctions. Certain responsibilities and promises from this chapter carry on

today. God wants the human race to reproduce, but people want

to depopulate, abort, and birth-control their way out of that

responsibility. The rainbow certainly is still with us, though it has

been invalidly appropriated by those who oppose God’s morality.

Capital punishment is still permitted for those who are murderers,

but mankind has become squishy and does not want to implement

God’s directive. Lawlessness abounds and where punishment is not

swift and certain, lawlessness only grows. We can still eat meat,

but some of us eat too much and others claim it is cruel to do so.

It would be hard to say that this chapter of the Bible is irrelevant

today, even though it records events and God’s instructions from

5,000 years ago!

Various October 16, 2022 SS.

In this message Jansen Lorch leads our continued study on practical evangelism. We review the fundamentals of the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In this lesson and the ones to follow, we study how Christians can reinforce our ability to communicate a clear and full gospel message.

Psalm 84, Psalm 30 October 12, 2022 PM.

About Psalm 84: I was told that the Valley of Baca meant

Valley of Weeping. We have some dear church members

who are going through the Valley of Weeping now and

understanding that Psalm would help us to minister to

them. May God bring comfort to all who are in distress in our

churches. Remember too that it is not just portions of Scripture

considered and applied with the help of God’s Spirit that

bring comfort. God very often uses believing people to

bring comfort to others in the church family. He uses the

preaching of the word by our Bible teachers, the

presence of encouraging people, the service of dedicated

helpers, the gifts of generous givers, and the prayers of

the saints. All these different ways help those in need to

make it through their difficult times.

Matthew 24-25 October 9, 2022 PM.

We know a lot about the Lord’s return and the end of the age. We do not know everything we might like. But we do know enough to be faithful to Christ until He comes. Let us be about that. We are to live for Him, grow in grace and knowledge of Christ, testify for him, make disciples, be baptized and baptize, be faithful in the local church, and wait expectantly for His return.

Genesis 7:1-8:22 October 9, 2022 AM.

The universal flood is important for Bible-believers to uphold, just like

it is important to believe the creation account as written. If we

cannot trust the opening chapters of our Bible, then we cannot

trust any of it. God had Moses write what we needed to know. He

then ensured its accurate transmission to us.

Second, the flood account is not something of which to be ashamed,

as if it were a myth. It really did happen, despite all the denials by

people today. Do not be ashamed of the Bible’s teaching even if all

your scientific friends mock it. Being ashamed is evidence that you

fear people more than you respect God.

Third, the flood is an example of how God can and will judge the

world just as easily as He created it. He will do so again, though the

next time with a world-wide tribulation, followed by the millennial

kingdom, at the conclusion of which the earth will be destroyed by

fire (2 Peter 3:7, 10, 11, 12). So no, all things will not continue

forever as they have in recent history. Substantial changes are

coming. Are you ready?

Finally, because of the continued evaluation of mankind as extremely

sinful (8:21), we intuitively understand the need to do as much

good as possible in this world. We are to restrain sin. We are to

train our children to be righteous people, and hopefully saved

people. We are to demand our kids to be righteous while they are

in our home, and even beyond. Christians today are a major reason

that the world has as much good in it as it does. We need more,

and it is a lot of work. We need to vote to restrain sin. We need to

advocate to reduce evil.