Philippians 3:17-21 April 10, 2022 AM.

Last time we learned about energetically pursuing Christ because our highest priority as a Christian is to know Him and be like Him. That is what the apostle Paul was all about, and so we should be also. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a

far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. (2 Cor. 4:17)

Follow Paul’s example; leave behind the junk and press forward

toward Christ-likeness. Beware of the false believers who want to

share their Christ-denying misery with you and recognize that you

are citizens of heaven. You have a name better than to permit

yourself to wallow in the world’s mess.

Haggai 2:1-5, 1 Kings 8:12-21 April 10, 2022 SS.

The Lord allowed the nation of Israel to be carried into captivity by the Babylonians. However, God did not abandon His people. He provided instructions on how to live during their captivity: commanded His people to bear fruit and multiply, and be peaceable among the Babylonians. In fact, God tells His people they will remain in captivity for seventy years, until that day when He brings them back to their homeland, Jeremiah 29:11-14. When His people return to Jerusalem, God instructs His people to rebuild His temple, so that He can be glorified and that His people can worship Him in His house. His people would obey and rebuild the Lord's temple.

Matthew 16:21-23 April 6, 2022 PM.

In this message Pastor Matt shares this evenings message on how Jesus introduced His death and resurrection, which includes the following themes: 1) Jesus Prophesies About His Upcoming Suffering 2) Peter’s Indignant Response 3) Jesus Replies with a Focus on the Things of God.

Matthew 16:13-20 April 3, 2022 PM.

According to multiple passages in the Bible, a key point of gospel

preaching is that Jesus is the Christ. The following texts use this

pattern: John 20:31, Acts 9:22, 17:3, 18:5, 18:28, 1 John 2:22, 1

John 5:1. The approach that Paul used was to show what the Old

Testament said about Messiah (Christ). Then he explained the

identity of and events surrounding the life of Jesus. Then, he put an

equals sign between the two, saying Jesus = Christ. This exact

identity is critical to correctly understand the plan of God. Denying

it is the same as denying the gospel, for to deny Christ’s person

and/or work is to deny the gospel. Jesus concludes the section with a command that the disciples tell no

one about his identity. This was unfortunate in one sense: people

need to know who He is. But it was right in another sense:

revealing this information too early and too widely did not fit the

timeline that Jesus had to follow that He would be killed at just the

right time, in Jerusalem, around Passover, etc.

If you have a brain-freeze when witnessing for Jesus, just do this:

show that Jesus is the Christ. Remember that: Jesus is the Christ.

Go to the Old Testament for a few verses, and then to the New

Testament for a few, and tie the two together. That will prime the

pump and get the conversation going.

Examples: Connect Isaiah 53 with the events of suffering of Christ in

the gospels. Show Psalm 110:1 with its New Testament quotations

such as Heb. 1:13, Matt. 22:44, Acts 2:34-35, Mark 12:36, Heb.

10:12, Eph. 1:20, Heb. 1:3, 8:1, 10:13.

Philippians 3:12-16 April 3, 2022 AM.

There is no resting on laurels in the Christian life as if we have

"arrived" at whatever it is we think we have arrived at. There is no

such thing as a “lazy Christian.”

There is always "pressing on" the upward way, new heights gained

every day, etc. But the author of that hymn, Johnson Oatman,

inconsistently it seems to me, believed in complete sanctification,

“the washing of the soul of a true believer from the remains of

sin.”1 That appears, on his view, to happen in this life. No, no no!

We move from one level of glory to the next until we reach final

glorification (2 Cor. 3:18) in the presence of Christ.

There is a life-focus here that keeps its eye on Jesus all the time. He

saves us from start to finish and our life is to be growing in our

relationship to Him, our likeness to Him, our pursuit of Him and His

heavenly calling.

Various April 3, 2022 SS.

In this message Pastor Matt reviews how the date of Resurrection Sunday and Passover is observed, on the first Sunday after the first full moon of Spring. The Bible tells us how to observe the Lord's death and resurrection, whereby believers partake in communion and participate in the memorial significance of the Lord's Table.

Matthew 16:5-12 March 30, 2022 PM.

The first thing I noticed is that my NKJV MacArthur study

Bible had a title above this section which was

“Withdrawal of Jesus—Mark 8:13-21.” This is a bad

heading, and I believe in this case it is the responsibility

not of MacArthur, but of Thomas Nelson’s editors of the

Bible text and reference material. (These headings are

not part of the original text.)

The errant heading reflects only the narrative of the

immediately prior verse, both in Matthew 16:4 and in the

parallel passage of Mark 8:13. It does not reflect what is

taught in the section that follows. In the upcoming three

paragraphs, there is no mention there of Jesus

withdrawing, no details of his departure, and no reasons

are explained as to why he left. Instead, the section is all

about the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. The

section heading should at least reflect that if not also

include what is being said about this leaven. At Mark

8:14, the heading is “Disciples Do Not Understand Matt.

16:5-12.” This much better reflects what the section is

about.

Lesson? Take the headings in your study Bible with a grain

of salt. Compare them carefully to the text the follows,

and see if you agree with the heading or not. In this case,

the NKJV editors get a failing grade. You and I too need to take heed and beware of false

doctrine. It is all around, it is subtle, and it is deadly. The

ways of our world today, including tolerance and

promotion of all forms of wickedness, follow-your-heart

beliefs, etc. are leavens that we need to get out of our

lives. A little of that goes a long way to make a mess of

your thinking and consequent behavior.

Various March 27, 2022 PM.

What are we to make of the fact that the word disciple does

not appear in the epistles? Not much. The narrative form

of the gospels and Acts lends itself to the use of that

noun for Christians. The epistles are written to disciples

and do not have to say the word for the target audience

to be understood. Disciples look like the kind of people

described by Jesus in the gospels.

Philippians 3:4-11, Part 2 March 27, 2022 AM.

The resurrection of Christ is a stupendous display of divine power. It is

the standard unit of measurement of God’s omnipotence. It is like

the parting of the Red Sea or feeding of the 5,000 or healing a

handicapped person instantly. It is a first-rate miracle of God.

But even though it was a powerful event, there is no way the

resurrection will have any meaningful influence in your life unless

you accept that Jesus Christ is Lord and that He died and was

resurrected for you, in your place. Then, Christ can live in your

heart through faith and you can have his resurrection power

operative in your own life.

Are you reading these notes and realizing that you need to come to

Jesus to be saved from sin, and thus come to know this

resurrection power?

Perhaps you are living a life that has a lot of sin in it and finding that

resurrection power hard to see or experience. Where are your

priorities? Where is your thinking? Do they match what Paul tells

us here? Have you:

1. Abandoned your confidence in yourself?

2. Had a major change in thinking on the value of your resume,

that your former religious confidence was actually worthless?

3. Changed how you understand God accepts a person, not by

works of righteousness, but by His grace?

4. Experienced and implemented a major change in priorities,

with knowing Christ at the very top of your life goals?

5. Gained a new future outlook, striving toward the resurrection

from the dead?

Philippians 1:6-7 March 27, 2022 SS.

In this message Pastor Matt leads our study, where we learn about the defense and confirmation

of the Gospel, how God works in Christians, and how we can

better support our missionaries.The Apostle Paul loved the Christians in Philippi. He had

seen them in their pre-salvation state and was privileged

in that God used him to lead them to saving faith in Jesus

Christ. He had baptized some of them and formed the

infant church. He may have directed Luke to minister there

in his absence; he was moved with gratitude that the

church remembered him and supported him and

partnered with him in his missions work. He prayed

frequently for them.