Sat 100313 am Ex 12

Exodus 12
12.5  from the sheep or from the goats...  I had not noticed this before.
12.12  on all the gods of Egypt...  This seems to be more than an abstract making a religious system look foolish.  I wonder what exactly this refers to.
12.13  when I strike...  Again God takes responsibility for what He does.
12.32  and bless me too.  This is funny after how hard headed (or hearted) Pharaoh had been about this through all the plagues.
12.41-42  a night of watching...  K & D says a night of preservation. Gesenius says "observation, celebration."  Strong's says a watch or vigil.  It is by the Lord on the first mention and "kept to" the Lord the second time.  That sounds like wordplay.

Sat 100313 am Ex 7-11 Pharaoh's hardened heart

Exodus 7-11
7.3  I will harden Pharoah's heart...  God seems happy to take responsibility for things that we are sometimes reluctant to give Him credit for.
STAFF
7.12  Still Pharaoh's heart was hardened and he would not listen to them...  Oh how we hang on so to our egos with the slimmest justification.
BLOOD
7.22  So Pharaoh's heart remained hardened, and he would not listen...  The magician's ablility to duplicate it on a small scale was just enough justification.
7.23  he did not take even this to heart...  
FROGS
8.15 But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart and would not listen...as the Lord had said.  Romans 2.4
"GNATS"
8.32   Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also...  Even after begging for a respite in verse thirty-two, he hunkers down into his stubborness.  The more we say "no" to God the easier and more comfortable it gets.
PLAGUE
9.12  the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh and he did not listen...  This is the first time since 7.3 before the plagues started that if mentions God being the agent.
HAIL
9.20  and whoever feared the Word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh hurried...  I see the word fear hear being of close relation to believe (in a heartfelt, but cognitive sense) and dread.  I doubt there was any worship going on here.  also note that they are said to fear God's word and not God himself.
9.27  This time I have sinned; the Lord is in the right...  Strong's H2398 - chata': to miss (like an archer) like hamartia in the NT  or wander away when said to be against someone.  Also, to become liable to a penalty or forfeiture.  The later would seem more likely to me sense there seems to no true sense of guilt in his hardened state.  It still seems like a remarkable statement from Pharaoh.
9.34  he sinned yet again and hardened his heart, he and his servants.  The hardening is linked with repeated sinning.  He is described as doing it to himself.  His servants are with him in this attitude.  I guess that misery is not the only thing that loves company.
9.35  So the heart of Pharaoh was hardened and he did not...  We are well into a vicious cycle here.
LOCUST
10.7  How long shall this man be a snare to us?  Pharaoh's servants are beginning to feel the sting of the plagues and its effect on their profit loss statements.
10.20  the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart...
DARKNESS
10.17  only this once...  Now he is starting to sound pretty pitiful.
10.27  the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart...
FIRSTBORN
11.10  the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart...

Wed 100311 pm Ex 6-7

Exodus 6
6.7  you shall know...  Even God's people need some reminders of who God is.be a well established 
6.30  I am of uncircumcised lips...  The is an interesting expression in light of the fact that circumcision did not seem to be that prevalent. 


Exodus 7
7.1  made you like God to Pharaoh...  interesting expression
7.16  you have not obeyed...  Even the unregenerate are expected to obey God.
7.22  he would not listen to them...  Not too smart for Pharaoh, but his hard heart had frozen his chooser in the wrong direction.

Tues 100310 pm Luke1-3

Luke 1
1.15  he will be great before the Lord...  the place where reputation is critical.
1.17  turn the hearts of the fathers to the children...  I have always found this both an intriguing and instructive phrase.
1.37  nothing will be impossible... This should change the way we think.  Note Mary's response in the next verse.
1.64 he spoke blessing...  
1.80  strong in spirit...  We think about being a braniac or having physical strength, but the idea of being strong in spirit is a whole different way of thinking about life.  I have spent some time thinking about what that means and wondering how strong I am.  It doesn't seem likely that we can measure it objectively like lifting weights, etc.


Luke 2
The lowly, probably uneducated shepherds are reminders that God and the Gospel don't really need the rich of this world to thrive.
 2.40  the child grew and became...  The whole concept of a perfect God-man growing and maturing is mind boggling.  It also causes some reflection on the spiritual capabilities of the mentally challenged.


Luke 3
3.10  And the crowds asked him, "What shall we do?"   When you get that response, you know that you have done some serious, spirit enabled preaching/reaching.
3.18  preached good news...  Galatians says that the Gospel was preached to Abraham and here the good news is preached before the cross.

Mon 100308 pm Ex 1-5

Exodus 1

1.14   their lives hard with bitter service...  just like a life of serving sin.

1.17  but the midwives feared God...  more than man.

1.20  so God dwelt with the midwives...  "God dwelt would be an interesting word study.  I am thinking of what that might have implied.

Exodus 2

2.2  because he was a fine child... This phrase puzzles me a little because it is rare to meet a mom who does think she had fine children.  Would she have not cared if he had been ugly.  

2.12  he looked this way and that...  Who would have thought that the Israelites would have "ratted him out?"

2.20  Why have you left the man?  This was a fun and classic question by Jesse.  Like "Get a clue girls."

Exodus 3

3.12 but I will be with you...  More important than fancy speach.

Exodus 4

4.21  but I will harden his heart...
4.14 is coming out to meet you...  God thinks of all those things and often has the answer in progress before we ask.

Exodus 5

5.2  Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice...  This is a central question to this section of Exodus.  It was a question that the Lord looked forward to answering.
5.22 why have You done evil to this people...  I am not sure what the translators of the esv were thinking here.  The Hebrew seems to have more of the idea of "brought trouble."
5.22  Why did you ever send me?  This is a sentiment that many can relate to from time to time.  Consider the end, not the middle.

The Evangelized Evangelist 010307AM @ TBC

Introduction

Segway

Community Outreach Conference: Some us may prefer the abstract, theoretical pursuit of foreign missions to the concrete action of community outreach. 

We know with our heads what Christ wants us to do.  The problem is usually our heart.

!  Title: The Evangelized Evangelist

The nucleus of the individual life must be kept pure if the impact of evangelism is to be effective.  We must ourselves be thoroughly evangelized before we can succeed markedly in evangelizing others. 

--J.B. Chapman in  Preacher’s Magazine Lent/Easter 2009   (Nazarene preacher)

Propositional expression:  essentials to being an Evangelized Evangelist.

An Evangelized Evangelist has

I. Received the Gospel Message

Chapter One of Charles H. Spurgeon’s book for pastors, Lectures to My Students contains this obvious, but sometimes overlooked admonition.

“For the herald of the gospel to be spiritually out of order in his own proper person is, both to himself and to his work, a most serious calamity…”

“It should be one of our first cares that we ourselves be saved men.”

Acrostic: A list or poem where the first letter of each line or word spells out a word or message

!  God

John 14.2-3

² In My Father’s house are many mansions;(dwellings) if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. ³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.

Heaven reminds us that …

· God is our creator.

· God is love.

· God is perfect and holy.

>>John 3.16

!  Only son

John 1.1 & 14    the Word was God … the Word became flesh and dwelt among us

John 5.21-23   ...all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father

!  Sin

definition:  It is

· more than the stuff that makes my life crummy or that I get in trouble for.

a state of being an enemy of God that is demonstrated by breaking His commands.

· Colossians 1.21 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled

>>1 John 1.8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

penalty:

>>Romans 6:23

For the wages of sin is death,

 but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

!  Precious blood

Romans 5.8

But God demonstrates His own love toward us,

 in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

1 Peter 3.18

For Christ also suffered once for sins,

 the just for the unjust,

 that He might bring us to God,

being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,

>>1 John 1.7b …the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. 

!  Eternal Savior

>>1 Corinthians 15.20-22

20 But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.

!  Let Him in

It is not enough to just feel and know.  Receive Him.

>>John 1:12-13

¹² But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name

 ¹³ who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

Having Christian parents and friends. Going to church and doing religious things is not the issue here.

An Evangelized Evangelist

II. Has the Gospel Heart

· The Gospel at its heart is more than

the essential acts of Christ’s death and resurrection

· It is more than

the preaching message about how to be saved

· It is more than

the act of conversion.

· The Gospel is Christ. 

A Gospel heart is a heart for Christ.

& Announce text:  Mark 14.1-11

Matthew - to Jews, Christ the Messianic King

Mark – to Romans; Christ as a Servant Savior

Luke – to Greeks; Christ as the perfect Son of Man

John – Christ as the eternal Son of God

>>Message of Mark

Key verse:

Mark 10:45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

Simple outline of Mark        Not completely chronological

I. Serving   (1-10)

Blind Bartimaeus / Triumphal entry

II. Ransoming  (11-16)

Read text:

Mark 14:1-11    Also in Matthew 26.6-13;  and John 122-8, not Luke 7.

—————————————————————>

 1 After two days it was the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take Him by trickery and put Him to death. 2 But they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar of the people.”

------------------------------

3 And being in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, as He sat at the table, a woman came having an alabaster flask of very costly oil of spikenard. Then she broke the flask and poured it on His head. 4 But there were some who were indignant among themselves, and said, “Why was this fragrant oil wasted? 5 For it might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they criticized her sharply.

6 But Jesus said, “Let her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a good work for Me. 7 For you have the poor with you always, and whenever you wish you may do them good; but Me you do not have always. 8 She has done what she could. She has come beforehand to anoint My body for burial. 9 Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.”

------------------------------

10 Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Him to them. 11 And when they heard it, they were glad, and promised to give him money. So he sought how he might conveniently betray Him.

Explain textual versus chronological context

A. Contrasting Context

“…as the moment of crisis approached everybody came out in their true light.” 

–F.B. Hole in The Gospel of Mark

It is ever the light which throws the shadows of object – and this deed of faith and love now cast the features of Judas in gigantic dark outlines against the scene.

----Alfred Edershiem in The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

The verses before an after this account contrast

· darkness against the light.

· hate against love

· selfishness against service

· sincerity against hypocrisy

· calloused treachery against loyal love

covetousness against God

!  Turn you paper sideways for  a picture of our story

!  1. Before our story – tricky priests  (1-2)

1 After two days it was the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take Him by trickery and put Him to death. 2 But they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar of the people.”

After two days…  “the time reference in 14.1 governs the leaders’ concern to arrest Jesus, not this even.” (anointing of Jesus)  --Bible Knowledge Commentary

trickery  δόλος  Strong's G1388 – dolos  do'-los :  lit. to catch with bait;  fig. craft, deceit

ylt—guile; kjv, Wuest—craft, craftiness;  nasb, esv—stealth; nkjv—trickery; nlt—secretly

!  2. After our story – greedy Judas  (10-11)

10 Then Judas Iscariot, [the] one of the twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Him to them. 11 And when they heard it, they were glad, and promised to give him money. So he sought how he might conveniently betray Him.

The definite article appears before the word “one;” Judas, “the one of the Twelve” who betrayed the Lord.

betray                

!   Draw Simon, Jesus, and Lazarus eating. Martha serving and a lady pouring oil on Jesus’ head.

B. Good Deed from a good heart

3 And being in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, as He sat at the table, a woman came having an alabaster flask of very costly oil of spikenard. Then she broke the flask and poured it on His head.

Simon the Leper—It was unlawful to eat with persons that had the leprosy; and it is more than probable, therefore, that this Simon had been healed…” 

---A. Barnes in Notes on the New Testament

Three things about the perfume or oil:

nardos   nardos   came from India

pistikos   pistikos  genuine, pure

polutelhs   poluteles  very costly  price not given here

4 But there were some who were indignant among themselves, and said, “Why was this fragrant oil wasted?  ⁵ For it might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they criticized her sharply.

were indignant ἀγανακτέω Strong's G23 – aganakteō  ä-gä-näk-te'-ō  :  indignant, angry;

wasted  ἀπώλεια   Strong's G684 – apōleia ä-pō'-lā-ä   destroyed, ruined,            

The word John 17.12 uses to describe Judas as “the son of perdition.”

John tells us that it was Judas who took the lead in this criticism. (“takes one to know one”)

criticized her sharply ἐμβριμάομαι   Strong's G1690 – embrimaomai  em-brē-mä'-o-mī       lit.  the snorting of horses;  fig. sternly charge, threateningly enjoin

ylt, kjv—murmuring (ed); nasb, esv—scolded (ing); nkjv—criticized sharply; niv—rebuked sharply; nlt—scolded harshly

6 But Jesus said, “Let her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a good work for Me. ⁷ For you have the poor with you always, and whenever you wish you may do them good; but Me you do not have always. ⁸  She has done what she could. She has come beforehand to anoint My body for burial. ⁹ Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.”

trouble   κόπος  Strong's G2873 – kopos  ko'-pos : lit. a beating  fig. labor, trouble with emphasis on the fatigue caused.                             

A beautiful thing----------------

good work   --- a goodness seen on the outside as it strikes the eye, a beautiful, pleasing goodness.  –Wuest’s Word Studies from the Greek New Testament

A timely thing----------------

whenever you wish you may do them good; but Me you do not have always.

poor   πτωχός    Strong's G4434 – ptōchos  ptō-kho's  :  lit. one who cowers down, hides for fear  fig. powerless, afflicted, destitute         

Deut 15.11

For the poor will never cease from the land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall open your hand wide to your brother, to your poor and your needy, in your land.’

Where did this culture of living frugally to help the poor start? 

A generous thing------------

She has done what she could.

· This is not mentioned as an excuse for inadequacy, but a praise.

· When we are aware of the desperateness of our sin and the enormity or our salvation, it moves us to generosity toward God.

· "A cold heart makes a slow hand."  —JC Ryle

·  

An insightful thing------------

She has come beforehand to anoint My body for burial.

A memorable thing------------

memorial   μνημόσυνον  Strong's G3422 – mnēmosynon  mnā-mo'-sü-non  :  a memorial, a rememberance                      

ylt, kjv, nkjv, Wuest—memorial; nasb, esv, niv—memory;  nlt--remembered

Note that it was the deed not the person that was to be remembered.  The gospel that sets up the memorial does not mention the name.

The Gospel heart is one that loves Christ at great cost.  Whether it is two widow mites or a pricey flask of oil, love Christ with all.

The disciples longed for fame and influence, but this woman is the one who finds an enduring memorial.  She found it not by longing for a position, but simply by loving Jesus and serving Him.  --David Guzik in Enduring Word Commentary

TE: Let’s look to the passage that Bob read earlier and contrast The Gospel Life with the tricky priests and greedy Judas.

II. An Evangelized Evangelist has

Lives the Gospel Life

&   Turn to 2 Peter 3

“The description of a soul winner required but a few lines, “For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith:  and much people was added unto the Lord” (Acts 11.24)  It is as though the cause and effect were stated.”

--J.B. Chapman in  Preacher’s Magazine Lent/Easter 2009   (Nazarene preacher)

1 Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), 2 that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us,

A. Living with a Pure Mind !   

unlike the tricky priests

· Our story took place around the time of Passover.

· Instead of scouring their lives for the evidence of sin or humbly thinking the God who spared them when they didn’t deserve it, they were plotting to kill an innocent man.  --Steve Zeisler in “Why do you bother her?” Questions Jesus Asked

1 Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), 2 that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us,

pure εἰλικρινής  Srong's G1506 – eilikrinēs  ā-lē-krē-nā's  :  (From heile (the sun's ray) and κρίνω )   found pure when unfolded and examined by the sun's light

Illustration about going to the sunlight to get a better view of something.

Duplicity and secret sins are not part of The Gospel Life.

   

B. Living with an eternal  focus  !  

unlike greedy Judas

10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. 11 Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? 13 Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

· Look around at this beautiful building.  Your car in the parking lot, your home, the stuff of this world is temporary.

Mark 8.36  For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?

Colossians 3.1-2 1 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. 

The Fully Evangelized Evangelist is one who …

1. Received the Gospel Message

Receive Christ for yourself.

2. Has the  Gospel Heart

Develop a wholehearted love for Christ.

3. Lives the Gospel Life

Look for and pursue the eternal.

4. Does the Gospel Work

Check out the outreach ministries in the foyer.