King of Kings

Hebrews 1:1 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; 3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. 5 For to which of the angels did He ever say: "You are My Son, Today I have begotten You"? And again: "I will be to Him a Father, And He shall be to Me a Son"? 6 But when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says: "Let all the angels of God worship Him." 7 And of the angels He says: "Who makes His angels spirits And His ministers a flame of fire." 8 But to the Son He says: "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your Kingdom. 9 You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of gladness more than Your companions." 10 And: "You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands.

You have had an audience with The King. Have you ever wondered what it might be like to speak with a king – not knowing he was a king?

It might be like going to a foreign country and meeting someone who is a celebrity in that culture - but you have no idea who that person is - and so you pay them no mind. Without knowing who they are, you cannot relate to the importance of meeting them. How strange it may seem to see people surrounding that same person to seek an autograph – or to just be near them, when that person means nothing to you…

Jesus appeared to have this problem. As He ventured out from Galilee, teaching and healing, He had a difficult time convincing some, (especially the religious leaders,) of Who He was. Certainly, Jesus could have easily overcome this problem, but He chose not to. On several occasions He instructed those whom He had healed to, “not tell anyone.”

The reason, as Jesus’ life in ministry demonstrated, was that He would be found by those who were looking for Him by the Word of God. The witness of His miraculous works would confirm what had been announced beforehand in the Word. His works would be a confirmation for those who knew what they were looking for…

Which is why so many people missed Him. His own people, the Jews, missed Him almost entirely. He was crucified not by the Romans, but by His own people. Tragic.

But was this a totally lost cause? Would the Jews have a second chance to recognize their own Messiah?

This is the Book of Hebrews. The book to the Hebrews. This is their second chance to recognize their king. And not just their king, but The King of Kings.

-  Pastor Bill

Slavery and Freedom

Philemon 8 Therefore, though I might be very bold in Christ to command you what is fitting, 9 yet for love's sake I rather appeal to you--being such a one as Paul, the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ-- 10 I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten while in my chains, 11 who once was unprofitable to you, but now is profitable to you and to me. 12 I am sending him back. You therefore receive him, that is, my own heart, 13 whom I wished to keep with me, that on your behalf he might minister to me in my chains for the gospel. 14 But without your consent I wanted to do nothing, that your good deed might not be by compulsion, as it were, but voluntary. 15 For perhaps he departed for a while for this purpose, that you might receive him forever, 16 no longer as a slave but more than a slave--a beloved brother, especially to me but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord. 17 If then you count me as a partner, receive him as you would me. 18 But if he has wronged you or owes anything, put that on my account. 19 I, Paul, am writing with my own hand. I will repay--not to mention to you that you owe me even your own self besides. 20 Yes, brother, let me have joy from you in the Lord; refresh my heart in the Lord. 21 Having confidence in your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say.

How would you go about advising someone to give up something very valuable in this world for the sake of Jesus Christ?

In Philemon’s case, he “possessed” another human being, by some sort of contract. (He was a slave-owner.)

In Onesimus’ case, he “possessed” freedom. His own.

Which of those is more valuable is beyond debate, but it does not lessen the point – especially for Philemon.

In order to gain his freedom, Onesimus had to “steal” it. He was a runaway slave. He was a fugitive of justice. I guess the question is: Was Onesimus really free?

Somewhere along the way, Onesimus, in his runaway state, ran into the apostle Paul. Paul evidently led Onesimus to Christ, and then an amazing transformation began to take place.

You have to wonder how long it may have taken Onesimus to confess to Paul he was actually a runaway slave. You can imagine some time had passed, as Onesimus had become a trusted ministry associate of Paul, and enough time had passed that he had become beloved and valuable to Paul – so much so Paul regretted having to part company with Onesimus.

Paul was sending Onesimus back to his owner, Philemon. He could not be certain how Philemon may respond. Would he have Onesimus jailed? (That would have been his right under the law.) If Onesimus had also stolen from Philemon before running away, Philemon could have possibly had Onesimus put to death. How Philemon would respond was uncertain.

Even without making any judgments about slavery, this is still a remarkable story of difficult moral choices Christians – and not the world – are faced with. Both Onesimus and Philemon are being forced to give up something very valuable to receive something much greater…

It always amazes me the changes Christ brings about in others, let alone myself. Onesimus became so concerned over his relationship with Christ he was willing to face loss of freedom and punishment to maintain it. How would Philemon respond to his former slave – but now brother in Christ?

-  Pastor Bill

How Can I Be Saved?

Titus 3: 3 For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. 4 But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, 5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

“How did I get here?” might be a reasonable question. Or, “How can I get there?”

Our notion of what it means to be ‘saved’ began with Jesus’ late-night discussion with Jewish religious leader and scholar, Nicodemus. (Some refer to their discussion as, ‘Nick at Night.’)

Nicodemus came to visit with Jesus because he had seen and heard of the works Jesus was doing. This was an incredibly humbling action for Nicodemus to take, because, by all rights, and according to religious status and culture, Jesus should have been coming to him. After all, Jesus was the commoner, and Nicodemus was the religious leader.

But, in deference to the works, of which Nicodemus said, “no one can do these works unless God is with him,” Jesus answered and said, “I tell you the truth, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of heaven.”

To which Nicodemus responded, “How can a man be born again?”

This is THE question of salvation. Entry into heaven can be had only by being born again, and by being born again, a person is prevented from – or saved from – going to hell.

Being saved is a ‘from – to’ arrangement. I am saved from hell, and saved to heaven. Therefore, being saved is THE most important thing about my life, or any life.

But, how can a person be born again?

The Bible does a great job of answering all the questions it presents. The question of HOW a person is born again is answered right here in Paul’s letter to Titus.

We read it is NOT BY WORKS, but by MERCY, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.

I am fascinated by the process of regeneration. I was generated once, but now I have been re-generated through the mercy of the God of heaven. I am saved by believing on the Lord Jesus, and asking Him to save me according to His mercy. I am aware of His answer to my request for salvation by the new life He creates in me. I am saved!

Now my justification – (or my ability to gain entry to heaven, and to be saved from hell) - is not provided by my works, but by His grace. This is how a person is born again.

-  Pastor Bill

Pass It On

Titus 2:1 But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine: 2 that the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience; 3 the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things-- 4 that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, 5 to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed. 6 Likewise exhort the young men to be sober-minded, 7 in all things showing yourself to be a pattern of good works; in doctrine showing integrity, reverence, incorruptibility, 8 sound speech that cannot be condemned, that one who is an opponent may be ashamed, having nothing evil to say of you.

There are two primary influences in every life. One is the world, and the other is The Lord God Almighty and His Word.

We have to resist one to have the other.

Some propose man has no say-so in the choice of influence. I say experience teaches us otherwise.

The question is: How are we to learn which influence is in our best interest, given that we are literally made of the world – and that our default position is to follow after the world?

This, in essence, is the role of the church. (The true church.) It is the duty of the church to provide guidance for the young in the choices they make. This is to take place everywhere, in all phases of life.

We sometimes think of the church as a place we go. At its best, we may imagine the church to be the place we go to learn God’s Word and God’s ways. It is the responsibility of the pastor to teach us about how God’s Word fits our lives, and it is our responsibility to listen and determine whether or not what the pastor is saying applies to us.

When God’s Word is being taught plainly, it is good that we listen and consider – but there is so much more to the ‘life’ of the church than listening and, perhaps, doing what the Word of God says…

Here Paul teaches us we are to pass along what we have learned to the younger generation coming up next, and perhaps even to the generation coming up after them.

How helpful it is when those who have experienced the tragedy of worldly influence take the time and loving energy to pass along to the younger men and younger women exactly how beneficial it can be to follow ONLY God’s influence in this world.

There is SUCH a gravitational pull against the Christian tide, perhaps never more so than right now. How we need the older experienced folks to teach the younger inexperienced folks. The Word is life. The world is death. Pass it on…

-  Pastor Bill

Who Do You Trust?

Titus 1:1 Paul, a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect and the acknowledgment of the truth which accords with godliness, 2 in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began, 3 but has in due time manifested His word through preaching, which was committed to me according to the commandment of God our Savior; 4 To Titus, a true son in our common faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior. 5 For this reason I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking, and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you-- 6 if a man is blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of dissipation or insubordination.

How many people do you trust with your most important possessions?

I have always been amazed Jesus trusted the growth and expansion of the church to men, especially since the men He chose had not exactly demonstrated competence in the time Jesus spent with them. One betrayed Him, one denied Him, and one of them was very forthright in his doubt.

Of those gathered as Jesus pronounced His great commission in Matthew 28, the gospel writer even notes, “some doubted.”

This is the history of the church.

Jesus knew His example coupled with man’s weakness would be a powerful combination - even if men were dubious about that being true.

Now comes Paul, following that same program. Invest and divest. Distribute. Share leadership roles. Allow others to run things too.

The Book of Titus is yet another example of how Paul followed and implemented Jesus’ example. In Titus, Paul saw a young man with a desire equal to his own. Titus had been a traveling companion of Paul’s for several years, and now Paul turns over to him his most priceless and crucial possession: Jesus’ church.

Paul was a church planter. Of that we are certain. There is probably no greater example of church planting than what we see of Paul’s life as a missionary in the Book of Acts. But Paul did not just preach the gospel - he planted churches.

First, Jesus trusted Paul to plant churches, and now Paul trusts Titus to manage the churches which have been planted at Crete. This is a wonderful distribution of command and giftedness which is founded in the trust of the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer who has shown himself faithful.

The Lord can do a whole lot with a faithful man, and Titus is another wonderful example. That the Lord trusts men with His most priceless possession on earth is amazing enough – but even more amazing is the kind of man in whom He places His trust. Never discount faithfulness in comparison to ability.

-  Pastor Bill

Well-Done

2 Tim 4:1 I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: 2 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. 5 But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. 6 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.

Incentive. We work for incentive. We are motivated by incentive.

Paul, if nothing else, is a man with GREAT and GOOD incentive. He super-blesses me by his example. It is hard for me to imagine a better example among men to follow.

I know that when I work, I desire some kind of reward. Some kind of fairly immediate reward. The more I work, the greater I desire that reward to be. Now.

Paul’s reward, on the other hand, was prison. A Roman dungeon. Worse, he was abandoned by all of his friends except Luke - as a direct result of the trouble he found himself in.

For Paul’s leadership in the church, he was arrested and falsely charged. Sentenced to death. Rather than be identified with Paul, his friends abandoned him.

Now there’s a reward for you, eh? Paul finds himself in about as backwards a situation as you could possibly expect considering his strong moral courage and conviction.

Yet, in his last extant communication prior to his beheading, all Paul speaks of is his reward. He has allowed himself to be poured out as a drink offering before God, he has run his race - it is finished! – Now he finally looks up to his reward.

Of which he is certain.

Sometimes it really bothers people that Christians are SO certain of their reward. They think it arrogant to make this kind of “presumption.” They sort of extrapolate their own uncertainty upon everyone else, and chafe at the one who “thinks he knows.”

But hey, Paul does know for certain. Paul does KNOW his reward – the crown of righteousness – which the Lord of Righteousness will give. The reason he knows is because he never sought reward in this world.

-  Pastor Bill

End-Times Church

2 Tim 3:1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! 6 For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, 7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 8 Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith; 9 but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was.

Ten years ago this morning we had a clear view of what the end of the world will look like. When those 2 planes flew into the Twin Towers in New York City, they shook, they staggered, and then they fell. It was as if the whole world was exemplified by what happened to those buildings.

Majestically they stood. They were the symbols of everything we trust in this world. Capital. Power. Strength. Steel. Concrete.

It becomes difficult to look at buildings such as those, in all their majesty, to see the humanity housed inside. The life inside becomes invisible, until…

Churches were flooded with people in the days immediately following 9-11. People were seeking certainty in what had suddenly been revealed to be a very uncertain world. Why was church the automatic destination for those seeking a safe harbor?

It didn’t last. Churches emptied back out, and eventually became even smaller in attendance than they had been before.

Now Ground Zero is re-born. The Freedom Tower is rising daily, and the Memorial Plaza and the new Grand Central Transit Station are rising – once again all very majestically. The sense is about the power of architectural design, and how the soaring open-span spaces can lift the spirit of man.

We are unquestionably in the last days of mankind, and of the church.

It is remarkable the Bible can so reliably predict the physical and historical events which take place during the end-times. We can read the Bible these days like a road map or history book of the events transpiring before our eyes…

More remarkable is how the Bible predicts the condition of the heart of man during the end times. Could there be a better, more concise description of the condition of mankind during the last days? Doesn’t it look like today?

-  Pastor Bill