Weekly Sabbath Sermon

The bible is filled with: prophecy, history, miracles, theology, discussions of God's nature. futurism etc. All these various types of instruction are built upon (or revolve around) an ethical core. That core is based on concepts like equal justice, honesty, loyalty, non-violence, avoiding destructive thought patterns.

Simple (not simplistic) concepts that don't require a Phd to learn... or teach... and all the prophecy, history, miracles etc. serve the purpose of pointing us back to this ethical core.

Today, I would like to use the virtue list of 2 Peter to see how the bible’s many roads lead back to the ethical core of moral behavior.

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Futuristic thinkers, and respected scientists alike, have dreamed that the sum of our minds... our intellect, our memories, even what we call consciousness might be captured digitally or in some form of software and be reloaded into some sort of machine... maybe a humanoid robot... maybe something better.

What human scientists have started to conceptualize God has been talking about from the beginning. God says: I can do this. I proved it through the resurrection of my son Jesus (witnessed and explained in my bible).

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Today, we’ll look at one of God’s laws about debt and forgiveness and consider its practical value and the spiritual lesson it contains.

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Forgiveness is part of putting on the mind of God. Generosity is closely related to forgiveness. It is easy to look at someone in need/trial/trouble and say... they deserve what get... its their own fault... if they'd only made the right choices [like me] they wouldn't be in the state they are in... they chose the easy was and now they are paying for it. And in some cases that's true.

To extend generosity to people like this is to forgive their mistakes and help them.

If not for God’s forgiveness... and generosity... you would not be here. You would have any hope or expectation of everlasting life. You would be like a caged criminal sentenced to death, awaiting our final execution. But, He forgave… and He gave His only begotten Son to set you free from your debt to sin.

From one screw up to another... I'm glad God is forgiving.

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To really understand Christianity you have to accept it as a complete lifestyle... a way of life.

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This way of life is built upon the foundation of the 10 commandments... to that we add the judgments and statutes God has given to show how to apply the commandments. These laws are sensible and practical with guidance for managing finances, for building and strengthening marriages and families, for healthful clean living, for social equity and cohesion. As much as they are applied they show good results.

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Jude's letter warns the Church about some people who were part of the Church but were teaching and promoting false ideas that had the potential to lead a lot of people astray.

These false teachers questioned the reality of permanent destruction for those who disobeyed God. They also twisted the grace, mercy and patience of God such that it became a green light for all sorts of immorality. I covered how to identify and combat false ideas like these in a previous message I gave on “the faith once delivered”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNFmbACaMb4

Today we will look at Jude’s warnings from another angle: identifying the characteristics of those who lead others into sin and error.

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The spirit of man is found in every human being.

This spirit is not the Holy Spirit because scripture is very clear that not everyone has the Holy Spirit in them. The Holy Spirit of God is a special gift given to some people to set them apart and designates them for a special purpose.

Let's learn more about what the human spirit actually does.

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The first fruits offerings upon which the day of Pentecost is established reflect a biblical principle in which a small portion of a very large crop is presented before God. This tiny portion offered has a sanctifying effect upon the whole.

Smallness is built into the symbolism of the first fruits!

God chooses to work with only a small portion now and leaves the rest for later. God's work of spiritual creation is rolled out in stages. It starts small... then grows bigger. In this way God distributes the work of proclamation and instruction among human beings. God likes to get others involved.

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Jude urges us to "contend for the faith once delivered to the saints". Today we'll break down that phrase and see if we can gain insight into what Jude was getting at.

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Jude's letter provides warning and instruction about handling false teachings that are prophesied to infiltrate the Church. We can detect the false from the true by comparing it with the written word... ie. the faith once delivered. We can also tell what is false from the behavior it produces.

Because we have this deposit of truth delivered to us from God we are warned of certain behaviors (Jude uses the example of sexual immorality) which are considered "bad fruit".

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Anxiety, stress, fear, despair are in the air and God's people are not immune… address and overcome these negative emotions and thoughts with a strong sense of purpose. But not just any purpose, God’s purpose which does not fail or fade away.

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As part of the instructions about observance of the days of unleavened bread Israel were to thereafter consecrate/sanctify/set apart as devoted to YHWH... every first born son.

The teaching of redemption and paying a price to bring people out of bondage will take on bigger and better meaning when carried over into the new covenant.

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