Looking again at Peter's words, we focused on 1 Peter 5-3, where church leaders are warned not to -lord it over- those for whom they are responsible. All elders -1 Peter 5-1- are bishops -1 Peter 5-2-, and all bishops are elders.--We looked at the example of Diotrephes -3 John 9-10-, a wicked tyrant, accountable to no one, who used church discipline for his own need to wield power.--The power of church leaders is radically different from worldly power -2 Corinthians 10-3-6-. For the first three centuries of Christianity, Christians used prayer and proclamation to win the Roman Empire. They were willing to be killed for the Lord Jesus but never willing to kill for him.--According to Peter those who hold authority in the church, wield it by example -1 Peter 5-3-. Indeed, church leaders are to follow the example of the Chief Shepherd, who made himself of no account and put -his congregation- above himself -Philippians 2-3-7-. --Power and money are very seductive -1 Peter 5-2-, and because all of us have a potential Diotrephes in us, local congregations are always led by more than one individual. Leaders' authority is collegial rather than individual because everyone needs to be accountable to others. --God's people are set free from promises they were manipulated into making regarding money, because biblical giving should be done willingly and cheerfully, not under coercion due to human imposed guilt -2 Corinthians 9-7-.--We do not know exactly how the Church will be transformed during this world-wide crisis, but the Lord is transforming the Church, likely making it more like that of the first century.--Are you a Christian-

Peter demonstrates great humility when he speaks to the elders of the Church and refers to himself as a fellow elder -1 Peter 5-1-.--After all, he had been the first to confess the Lord Jesus as the Messiah at Caesarea Philippi, the remains of the temple of Pan, the very gates of hell -Matthew 16-13-18-.--That is why Peter was granted the privilege of being the first to preach on the Day of Pentecost -Acts 2-14-. --And along with the Apostle John, of being the first to bring the Samaritans into the Church -Acts 8-14-17-. --And it was Peter who baptized the first Gentiles, thereby admitting them into full membership in the Body of Christ -Acts 10-44-48-.--The Lord Jesus Christ is the Rock, but Peter and the other apostles are the foundation rocks built on that Rock -Ephesians 2-19-22-.--Peter had been full of pride -Matthew 22-33-34-. But he learned great humility when Satan was granted permission to sift him as wheat -Luke 22-31-.--That hard learned humility is one reason why he humbly accepted the rebuke of the new apostle, Paul -Galatians 2-11-14-.--Because the Lord Jesus prayed for Peter, he did not lose his faith, even though he committed a great sin -Matthew 22-32-. The result was that he would be mightily used by God to strengthen others -Matthew 22-33-. --That is why he presses us to submit to others and to cast all our worries on the Lord -1 Peter 5-5-7-, and why he warns the elders about the devil -1 Peter 5-8-9-.--What worries are overwhelming you now-

Using John 2-18-21, this sermon seeks to establish that the Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead sometime between sunset on Saturday, April 8th, and sunrise on Sunday, April 9th in the year AD 30. Please read the pdf as you listen.----In reflecting on that truth, we discover this is the ONLY event in the life of our Lord we can know precisely.----We do not know the exact date when Jesus was born, even though it is possible but highly unlikely he was born on December 25, 5 BC.----If we analyze the data of the New Testament in light of the Jewish calendar regarding the Passover in AD 30, we discover we cannot know with absolutely certainty the exact day the Lord Jesus was crucified.----Nisan 14 and 15, the time of the sacrifice of the Passover lamb and the celebration of the Passover meal, took place on Wednesday and Thursday, not Friday, Nisan 16.----That leaves us with one conclusion- If we limit ourselves ONLY to the New Testament data, we are left with only one clearly revealed holy day, the Lord's Day.----That should not surprise us because there is no New Testament book like Leviticus, where we have explicit commands and dates, including what kind of underwear the High Priest had to wear -Leviticus 16-4-.----But we can know with absolute certainty that the Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead, as we analyze Matthew 28-2-6 and Matthew 28-11-15 in light of Acts 5-29-32 and Acts 5-40. The Jewish leadership tortured the first followers of the Lord Jesus, but they never demanded they tell them where Jesus body was- they KNEW he had risen from the dead.----How can you and I KNOW for certain that this historical event it true- The answer lies in the new birth.

Many denominations, including the Presbyterian Church in America -PCA-, the Evangelical Presbyterian Church -EPC-, and the Anglican Church in North America -ACNA-, have called for today, Good Friday, April 10, 2020 to be a Day of Prayer and Fasting over the COVID-29 virus.--In this Good Friday message, we consider God's solution to the poisonous snake bites he inflicted on his people in response to their grumbling and griping -Numbers 21-4-6-.--Many years ago as I began to read through Numbers, when I reached chapter 11, I had to grapple with the harshness of God's judgments. --As I pondered these things, I reflected on the final judgment -Revelation 20-11-15-. None of the things recorded in Numbers can compare to hell.--This led me to preach a sermon in July 1982 entitled, -God Is as Mean as Hell.- --Of course, I was using the word -mean- in the modern, American colloquial sense of -unkind- and -aggressive-. --It is not unlike what the Apostle Paul states- -Consider therefore the kindness and sternness ---------- of God- sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness- -Romans 11-22- cf. also 2 Corinthians 3-7-11-.--Upon their repentance, Moses intercedes for them -Numbers 21-7-, and God instructed him to hang a brass snake on a pole- Whoever looked at that uplifted object in faith was healed -Numbers 21-8-9-.--The Hebrew word found in Numbers 21-6, 8 is the same word used of the seraphim in Isaiah 6-2, 6- ------ --r-p.--This event is a foreshadowing of the Lord Jesus' being lifted up on the cross, so that everyone who looks to him in faith will live -John 3-13-18-.

Luke 19-41-44 illustrates the true meaning of Palm Sunday. The Lord Jesus weeps over the terrible destruction that is coming on Jerusalem within the lifetime of those who heard him.--Humanity is fickle, but the Lord Jesus is the same, yesterday, today, and forever. --What is about to happen is part of a divine plan and a fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah 25-7-8.--The Second Temple was more glorious than Solomon's -Haggai 2-6-9- because the Lord himself visited it. --Haggai's prophesied a great shaking of the world -Hebrews 12-25-29-.

This message continues a theme we have been on for 22 weeks, Bitter Fruit.----The focus of today's message is forgiving other people.----We began in Luke 6-37-38 and saw that how we deal with others will come back on us in an amplified way.----We then travelled over to Matthew 18-32-35 -the reference that slipped my mind- and reflected on the Lord Jesus' statement about his Father turning people over to the tormentors in Matthew 18-35, unless they forgive other people FROM our HEARTS.----We pondered what it means to say, -I forgive you,- and then faced the present day reality that when we hold onto hurts in our hearts, we are subject to mental torture in this life, to say nothing of the world to come.----We remembered the words that the Lord taught us to pray in Matthew 6-12, -And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.-----Finally, we examined the Apostle Paul's word in 1 Corinthians 4-3, where he speaks about not caring about being judged by others or by any human DAY, referring to 1 Corinthians 4-5 when the Lord Jesus will come for his own and reveal ever secret thing, including not only what we have done and said, but also the thoughts that we have entertained.----At the Judgment Seat of Christ, the whole world will know what we REALLY are.----We will be weeping and sobbing over what we have done, said, and entertained in our minds. BUT so will everybody else.----That's when we can know more than superficial reconciliation because we will truly see our role in every conflict -Matthew 7-3-5-.----AND our Attorney will stand on our behalf -1 John 2-1-.

As we continued our study about the LORD and the so-called gods of the pagan nations, we looked at how Israel had lost her covering, her protection -Numbers 14-9- 1 Kings 11-4-9-.----That is why the king of Moab could appeal to Chemosh, the principality over that nation. The Moabite king slaughtered the heir to his throne in blood sacrifice, and Chemosh responded -2 Kings 3-26-27-.----There are some places that are harder to reach with the gospel than others, and this may be with the Holy Spirit would not let Paul go east -Acts 16-6-10-. God's plan was to convert the Roman empire by proclamation and prayer.----We also reflected on why participation in a gathering of believers is so essential to the believer. Outside the church, people have no covering of protection. To be put out of the church is to land in the domain of Satan -1 Corinthians 5-1-5-.----We are not thinking of buildings. Christianity was an underground, outlaw religion for its first 300 years, until Constantine the Great made Christianity legal in 313, and then the established religion of the Roman Empire in 325.----Today we have an incredible opportunity to see the LORD awaken his people.

WE ARE OBSERVING A NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER----Because of Adam's sin, the world in which we now live is not identical to the good and beautiful world God created. Instead, the devil is now called -the god of this world -----, aion, age, structure, world order-- -2 Corinthians 4-4-.----When we compare the account in Samuel with that in Chronicles, we discover many truths.----The first of these is that Satan -1 Chronicles 21-1-, is the LORD's unwitting servant -2 Samuel 24-1-.----We also discover that God sent something like bubonic plague -------, deber- -2 Samuel 24-13, 15- 1 Chronicles 21-12,14-, and that the LORD's instrument, his sword -1 Chronicles 21-12-, was an angel of death -1 Chronicles 21-15-.----But then we discover that when the leaders of God's people humbled themselves and begged God, he regretted what he had done. In keeping with God's absolute sovereignty and immutable decree, he changed his mind ------, n--am- -1 Chronicles 21-15-. The Bible is a both-and book, rather than an either-or volume.----The LORD used this dreadful tragedy to reveal the place for his temple -1 Chronicles 21-24-30- 22-1-5-.----After I finished my sermon, we stayed and prayed and are committing to continuing to pray.

Why does the Bible call the devil -the god of this world -----, aion, age, structure, world order--- -2 Corinthians 4-4-----Through the sin of Adam, the male who knew what he was doing -1 Timothy 2-14-, sin and death entered into our perfect and beautiful world -Romans 5-12-14- 1 Corinthians 15-21-.----Death is an alien and an enemy -1 Corinthians 15-26-, but death is a legal alien -Genesis 2-15-17- 3-1-7- Romans 6-23-.----Under the absolute sovereignty of God, Satan obtained administrative control of the world, and that is how he could state a half-truth to the Lord Jesus regarding political power -Matthew 4-8-9-.

As we continue our look at King Solomon as a prime example of a bitter root, we look at the destructive force that a pagan spouse will prove. Under the influence of his pagan wives, Solomon became a pagan himself- He built temples for supernatural creatures, such as Moloch and Chemosh and worshipped them himself -1 Kings 11-1-8-.----While we must not be superstitious about contact with material objects associated with pagan -gods- -1 Corinthians 8-4-7-, we must never knowingly become involved with such objects as an act of worship because if we do, we may -catch- something -1 Corinthians 10-16-22-.----There is a profound parallel between knowingly eating food sacrificed to an idol and partaking of the LORD's supper.----Both acts involve communion -based on forms of the Greek word, --------, koin-nia, a word that means -participation, sharing, communion, fellowship--.----We connect with the Lord Jesus Christ when we partake of the bread and wine in Holy Communion- Scripture teaches us THAT he is present, not HOW he is present.----But this is also true when people knowingly participate in pagan worship because, -The sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants ---------, koin-nos- with demons- -1 Corinthians 10-20-.----The life of Solomon demonstrates that he did repent near the end of his life and wrote a book about his having become an old fool -Ecclesiastes 1-1- Ecclesiastes 4-13- to warn us about life lived -under the sun,- without the divine perspective.