Grace in Tullahoma

Have you ever come across something in the Bible that doesn’t make sense? There are some crazy stories in the Bible! One of my favorites is…especially since I work with youth…the story of Elisha and the she bears.

2 Kings 2:23-25 – 23 He went up from there to Bethel, and while he was going up on the way, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him, saying, “Go up, you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!” 24 And he turned around, and when he saw them, he cursed them in the name of the Lord. And two she-bears came out of the woods and tore forty-two of the boys. 25 From there he went on to Mount Carmel, and from there he returned to Samaria.

I’ve never preached a sermon on that. I’m sure there’s an important lesson in there, but I haven’t dug deep to find it out yet. That story is entertaining, and I love it, but it really doesn’t make sense to me. There are some things in the New Testament that are hard to understand, too. I love that God guided this next verse to be in scripture. He wants to make sure we know, “Yeah, there’s some stuff in here that is hard to understand and doesn’t seem quite right. Keep reading and seeking to understand though.” Hear what the Apostle Peter had to say about the Apostle Paul, who has written most of our New Testament.

2 Peter 3:15b-16a – 15 …our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, 16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand…

Peter says…recorded in the Bible…that there are things Paul says that are just straight up hard to understand. So, don’t get worried and give up when you come across difficult passages. Study and dig deeper.

Some passages are hard to understand because at face value they don’t seem to be true. The passage we’re going to look briefly tonight is that way. Based on our experience our whole life, it doesn’t seem to be true. But, we will see why it is and how we should live in light of it. We are going to see what it means to have faith like a mustard seed.

There are two passages that talk about faith like a mustard seed. Let’s read them both, see what they mean, and how to apply them to our life.

Matthew 17:20 – He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”

Luke 17:5-6 – 5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” 6 And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.

Who in here has faith in God? Who in here has complete faith that God can do anything? That he is omnipotent.

Ok, in complete faith, ask God to pick me up and make me hover. Like, Eleven on Stranger things can do…or Baby Yoda with a frog.

That’s what both of these passages seem to say. If you have even the tiniest amount of faith…not even big faith…you can make things hover and move. I vividly remember sitting in class talking to God while in High School. I was asking Him for a sign. I told Him I believed in Him, but please just give me a sign that He is really real. I said I have complete faith. And I put out my hand next to a yellow pencil on my desk and I said, “Please just move this pencil. I have complete faith.” And you know what happened? IT MOVED! Seriously! It moved!…after I picked it up…

These passages about mustard seed faith don’t seem to make sense based on our experience. Surely someone in the world has mustard seed faith. Surely many people do. Yet nobody can make mountains hover and throw mulberry trees with their mind.

So, when you come to a difficult passage, what do you do? Well, first thing you do is look at the context. Read around the passage and see why and in what context it was said.

In Matthew 17, some of the

Jeremiah 31:25

Traits of a Christian Dad

1 Thessalonians 2:7-12

7 But we were gentle among you, just as a nursing mother cherishes her own children. 8 So, affectionately longing for you, we were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us. 9 For you remember, brethren, our labor and toil; for laboring night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, we preached to you the gospel of God. 10 You are witnesses, and God also, how devoutly and justly and blamelessly we behaved ourselves among you who believe; 11 as you know how we exhorted, and comforted, and charged every one of you, as a father does his own children, 12 that you would walk worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.

1. Genuine love “we loved you so much”

2. Transparent life “we loved you so much that we delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well.”

3. Unselfish diligence. “For you remember our labor and toil; we worked day and night, in order not to be a burden to any of you, while we preached the gospel of God to you.”

4. Spiritual leader. “For you remember, brethren, our labor and toil; for laboring night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, we preached to you the gospel of God.”

You are witnesses of how we lived.

5. Positive influence. “For you know that we encouraged you, and comforted, and urged every one of you, as a father does his own children to walk worthy of God the One who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.”  

As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!

What’s the greatest treasure you have? If your house was on fire, what is the one thing you would run and grab? (kids, dog…not cat, family heirloom, Bible, computer) We have a lot of treasures. Most likely you have more than you could grab.

Randy Alcorn, in his book The Treasure Principle, makes a really profound and biblical point that I want us to dig into this morning that radically changes our perspective on how we live and approach life. This morning, we will see where our true treasure is, and more importantly, where our true home is.

Heaven, not earth, is our home. I don’t know why, but I kind of think of ET a little when I hear this. “ET phone home.” But in a sense, that’s how it is. The Bible says that we’re pilgrims, strangers, aliens on earth (Hebrews 11:13). We’re ambassadors representing our true country (2 Cor. 5:20). “Our citizenship is in heaven” (Phil 3:20). We’re citizens of a “better country – a heavenly one” (Heb. 11:16). Just like ET, we are somewhere that doesn’t fully make sense and doesn’t feel exactly right. Our home isn’t here, no matter how homey we try to make it. Heaven is our home.

I love the imagery Frederick Buechner, my favorite author, in his book Longing for Home, paints in thinking about this desire for home.

“Home sweet home. There’s no place like home. Home is where you hang your hat…” Home is the sailor, home from sea, / And the hunter home from the hill.” What the word home brings to mind before anything else, I believe, is a place, and in its fullest sense not just the place where you happen to be living at the time, but a very special place with very special attributes that make it clearly distinguishable from all other places. The word home summons up a place—more specifically a house within that place—which you have rich and complex feelings about, a place where you feel, or did feel once, uniquely at home, which is to say a place where you feel you belong and that in some sense belongs to you, a place where you feel that all is somehow ultimately well even if things aren’t going all that well at any given moment.….”[1]

This is what we often feel on this earth…a sort of homesickness that can’t be explained except for this place isn’t our home and we are longing for our true home in heaven with God. When we realize this, that heaven, not earth, is our home, it changes so much for us. You see, heaven doesn’t just matter for eternity. It matters for now.

Realizing that heaven is your home allows you to die well. How can someone be ready to die?You’ve lived your whole life here…Everything you have is here…Everything you know is here…How can someone be ready to die?

Story of college friend Kristen Fischer who died with Cystic Fibrosis. As she was going into surgery, she said, “If I wake up, I’m with you. If I die, I’m with Jesus. It’s a win win.”

How can someone be ready to die? They understand that heaven, not earth, is their home. They can say with the Apostle Paul in Philippians 1:21, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”

Last week Pastor Tim talked about the reality of hell. If you are in Christ, this life is the closest to hell you will ever get. But hear me, if you are not in Christ, unregenerate, God’s wrath still remains on you, heaven is not your home, and this life is the closest to heaven you will ever get. Christians die well because heaven is their home. Non-Christians are scared of death because even in their disbelief they still wonder, “What if I’m wrong?” And they are risking their eternity. And when you wager a large bet, everything you have, on something, there is no comfort in the meantime, in the waiting.

Christians die well because they know what awaits them. I love what George MacDonald once said, “If we knew as much about heaven as God does, we would clap our hands every time a Christian dies.”

John Wesley once remarked, “Our people die well.” Charles Wesley wrote to his brother, John, and told him that a doctor had sai

Revelation – The Blood of the Martyrs – 14

Revelation 6:7-17 – 7 When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” 8 And I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed him. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth.

9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. 10 They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” 11 Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.

12 When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, 13 and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. 14 The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. 15 Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, 16 calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, 17 for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”

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We ended last week’s message with seeing Jesus open the fourth seal. When he opened that seal, a pale horse brought death, massive death that outweighs the worldwide death toll of the coronavirus by 317 times. It will be devastating. Death is always devastating. No one is ever really ready for it even when they think they are. It leaves a hole in families and friendships and in the world itself. We were made to live, so death goes completely against the life we were created for. It is a product of the fall. Death came because sin came (Rom 5:12). And now when this seal is opened, death will come about as judgment for sin, God’s wrath being poured out.

But there’s a different kind of death also mentioned here that is a product of this seal being opened. And it is a beautiful, horrible death. We see it starting in verse 9, and it’s where we ended our message last week. Martyrdom. People dying for their faith in Jesus.

We ended last week considering this question: Are you living in such a way that would merit your martyrdom? Would you be willing to die for following Jesus, and are you living in such a way that would lead to your martyrdom if we lived in a context where that was likely? Are you living your life in such a way that you would die for Jesus?

Jim Hamilton says of this passage, questioning why it is recorded here in scripture, “This scene is for me and you. This scene is to strengthen us to be faithful unto death, to tell us that some of us may be martyrs, so that we can be preparing ourselves for that now. Why is this passage here? To prepare us for martyrdom.”[1]

Here’s something we see about these martyrs and what we should see about ourselves. They didn’t compromise God’s truth even though it cost them their lives. That’s why they died. They not only believed God’s Word, but they shared it and lived by it no matter what the cost. “The Greek word martus, which gives us our English word martyr, simply means “a witness.” These saints were slain by the enemy because of their witness to the truth of God and the message of Jesus Christ.”[2]

One commentator said, “One of the repeated emphases of the entire New Testament is that it i

Is Hell Real and Why Do People Go There?

Luke 16:19-24; John 3;16-18; 36

“There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. 20 But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, 21 desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 So it was that the beggar died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 24 “Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.

The word “HELL” surrounded by fire

And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the men with Korah, with all their goods. 33 So they and all those with them went down alive into the pit; the earth closed over them, and they perished from among the assembly. (Numbers 16:32-33)

The rich man lifted up his eyes, being in torment and he said for I am tormented in this flame.  

“I’m looking forward to dying and being cast into Hell because that’s where I belong.” Ted Turner (June 13, 1990)

1. People do not go to hell because they are sinners.

2. People do not go to hell because they won’t stop their sinning.

3. People do not go to hell because of the kind of sins they commit.

4. People do not go to hell because they don’t live like Christians.

5. People do not go to hell because they haven’t been baptized.

6. People do not go to hell because God sends them there.

There’s only one reason people go to hell.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

UNBELIEF

He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. (John 3:36)

And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the Lake of Fire. (Revelation 20:15)

Revelation – The Wrath of the Lamb – 13

Revelation 6:1-17 – 1 Now I watched when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, “Come!” 2 And I looked, and behold, a white horse! And its rider had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering, and to conquer.

3 When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.

5 When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” And I looked, and behold, a black horse! And its rider had a pair of scales in his hand. 6 And I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures, saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not harm the oil and wine!”

7 When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” 8 And I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed him. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth.

9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. 10 They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” 11 Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.

12 When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, 13 and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. 14 The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. 15 Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, 16 calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, 17 for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”

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Do you know what an oxymoron is? It sounds like an insult. “You oxymoron!” What it is is when two seemingly contradictory words appear together. Here are some awfully good examples of oxymorons (…see what I did there?)

 Old News / Bittersweet / Jumbo Shrimp / Deafening Silence / Found Missing / Good Grief / Original Copy / Pretty Ugly / Terribly Good / Climb Down / Crash Landing

We see in our passage for tonight one of the most profound and powerful oxymorons that exists: the wrath of the Lamb. It seems like it shouldn’t make sense. In the previous chapter we see the Lamb standing as though it had been slain. The Lamb took on himself the wrath of God. So, it seems like it shouldn’t make sense that the Lamb would have wrath. But that’s what awaits those who don’t follow the Lamb who was slain…wrath. The Lamb took the wrath of the Father and all who don’t trust his sacrifice and follow him will receive the wrath that we all deserve.

As we saw in chapter 5, history is going somewhere…somewhere purposeful, and Jesus holds it in his hands. That’s what this scroll is. And he alone is worthy to break its seals and open it. And what we see in this chapter is the opening of the seals…we see a progression of history, where it has been and where it is goin