Hi everyone!

Thanks for subscribing to Woodland Christian Church's podcast. This is Matthew Farnell, web developer for the church web site, and I wanted to quickly let you know that our podcast will be changing to a new feed soon. We apologize for the inconvenience. What this means is that you will need to subscribe to our new feed to continue being notified of new sermons. To do this, please visit our web site at www.woodlandchristian.net, and click on "Messages". Once there, look for the "podcast" button and re-subscribe. Please contact us through the church web site if you have any questions.

Thanks and God bless!

When God wants to make a point, He doesn’t use capitalization, italics, underlining, or bold, but He does use repetition. We can look for situations in Scripture that are repeated to learn important lessons God has for us.

One situation that’s repeated is people confess their sins but they don’t repent! They say the words, “I have sinned," and look sorry, but their words weren’t accompanied by repentance.

Sidney is a missionary who shared at our Sunday night service.

The believer’s position with Christ leads to their relationship with Christ.  The believer’s relationship with Christ leads to their identity in Christ.  And the believer’s identity in Christ leads to their eternal glory with Christ.

This meeting took place after the special service on "Protecting Our Children."

This sermon is going to be a little different in that it is going to involve critical church business from a Biblical perspective. The revision of the Children’s Protective Policy is a major part of the changes that we are seeking to make with the interest of safety at the forefront. This actually started several months ago when this became a topic that had some lengthy discussion between me and the pulpit committee. It was evident that the leaders here at WCC had a burden to see children protected coming to church. They had the transparency to see that they could improve the current policy and wondered, if I would be willing to help them with these changes. This was a critical piece for Jill and I to consider before coming on board with WCC. Though you are listening to my voice this morning, I want you to know with certainty that you are hearing the unified heart of this church’s elders.

Overall, our desire for this Sunday is to share with you our vision for the church in two major areas that are related.

a)                First, the front end is to solidify the protection of children

b)               Second, on the back end, we want to have in place means to minister to both victims and perpetrators

Before I go into what we are envisioning this looking like or what has been worked on and where we are at, I want us to turn to God’s Word.

a)                This Book promises to…

·                  Give us direction as a church

·                  Give us our value as a person

·                  And be our authority

b)               Without this book…

·                  We are lost to our destiny

·                  We are uncertain in our true value

(i)              As Created in the image of God

(ii)             As a New Creation in Christ

·                  We are baseless in what we look to as our authority that would provide to us security

What are we as a church to provide? It should be….

I.             Refuge For the Children – Ps 127, Neh 4:13-15, Pro 21:31, Matt 18:1-6, Mark 10:13-14

II.            Recovery for the Sinner – 1 Cor 6:9-11, 2 Cor 5:18-20, Matt 5:13, 1 Cor 5:9-10

I.             Mary’s Caring of Jesus – Luke 1:26 – 38

A.           She was Chaste – v. 27

B.           She was Committed – v. 27

C.           She was Commended – v. 28 – 30

D.           She was Commissioned – v. 31 – 33

E.           She was Convinced – vs. 34-37

F.           She was Compliant – v. 38

II.            The Shepherd’s Sharing of Jesus – Luke 2:8-18

A.          Their Profession – v. 8

B.          The Proclamation – vs. 9-14

C.          Their Purpose – vs. 15-16

D.          Their Privilege – v. 16

E.          Their Publication – v. 17

F.          Their Impact – v. 18

This chapter opens up with the people desiring to have the Law read to them. The Law of Moses was written for the children of Israel when they rebelled against God. The intent was to have a record, an authority for Israel to go back to (Deuteronomy 31:24-27).

The day that the Law was read was the same time they were to practice the feast of tabernacles. Appropriately, the feast of tabernacles was the celebration of their rest and possession of the land after passing through the wilderness. The booths marked that they had been under tents as pilgrims.

Just like their wilderness travels, their captivity was temporary and designed to chasten Israel and prepare them to live in the Promised Land. So too was their captivity designed to be a punishment and as well as a chastening for them to be compliant to the Word of God.

Completing the wall gave them unity. Reckoning them to the genealogy gave them identity. Hearing of the Law gave them security, the security of God’s covenant to them.

When the Jews understood the Law that was given to them they responded to it with joy and not sorrow.

Therefore every Christian must have a right response to the Word of God.

How?   By…

I.             Being Eager for God’s Word—v.1-6

A.            They Had an Appetite for God’s Word – v. 1

B.            They Were Abiding with God’s Word – v. 3

C.            They Were Attentive to God’s Word – v.3, 7

II.            By  Being Engaging toward God’s Word. – vs. 5-8

A.            A Show of Respect for the Word of God

B.            A Show of Reverence for the God of the Word. – v. 6

III.          By Being Educated in God’s Word. – vs. 7-8, 13

A.            Obligation of the teachers

B.            Obligations of leaders

C.            Obligation of the listener

IV.          By Enacting God’s Word. – v.13-18

A.            Promise of Security

B.            Promise of Blessing

C.            Promise of Success