Episodes
Saturday Jun 27, 2020
Saturday Jun 27, 2020
MESSAGE SUMMARY:
Today’s lesson is an Address by Archbishop Foley Beach, Primate of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) and Chairman of the global Anglican Communion’s GAFCON, to the ACNA’s Provincial Council. In his address, Dr. Beach provides both a context and call to action for Clergy and lay persons to become a part of the solution for the “race issues” facing us today:
“The past few months have not only been pandemic, but pandemonium. We have watched evil displayed by fellow image bearers and some police officers in recent weeks. We have heard cries of grief in our own neighborhoods and from all around the world. And the cries have gotten louder. We watched as peaceful protests were hijacked by chaos and violence, destroying countless businesses and property, and injuring not only bystanders . . . In the US we have struggled to overcome the effects of the systemic racism from our founding days, and we know that changing laws would never be enough. Victories for civil rights, and for the desegregation of our schools would never be enough. For you see we don’t have just a skin problem, we have a sin problem. As Dr. Tony Evans of Oak Cliff Bible Church in Dallas Texas recently said, ‘The evangelical church needs to speak up where it has been silent on injustice and racism. The biggest problem in the culture today is the failure of the church. We wouldn’t even have a racial crisis in America if the church had not consistently failed to deal with racism as the severe sin it is. But because the church has historically ignored and downplayed it, the issue still exists. Where the church is called to set an example, we have cowered.’. . . The Bible makes it unequivocally clear that we are all made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27): ‘So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.’. We each bear the image of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Any hostility between brothers and sisters in Christ, especially because of skin color, is an affront to God and damages our souls and the ‘blessed community’ so many of us seek . . .
We need God to rend our hearts as a Church. We need the people of Anglican Church in North America to display the kind of tenderness and compassion that is needed in this time. We need listening ears. We need thoughtfulness. We need preaching. We need humility. We need grace. We need to aim for the Anglican Church in North America to look like ‘thy kingdom on earth as it is in heaven’. . .
We need to search our hearts and make sure there is no offensive way in us as the Anglican Church in North America. All the words about spiritual renewal and revival in the Bible are not directed to the non-Christian culture, but to the people of God. We need to look within ourselves. And it starts with me. What the Lord has shown me about me in the past few weeks is this – I have failed to understand the incredible burden and pain that many of my black brothers and sisters live with every day. I have not wept with those who weep. And I have not understood the depth of the effect of racism and injustice. I have not understood the burden of living under racist acts, slurs, and systems they have to endure every day, nor have I understood the fear with which they constantly live for themselves and their families. It is not enough not to be a racist; we must not be blind to the sin of racism and ignore it in our midst. . . I find myself listening a lot these days. I find myself sad a lot. I find myself angry. I find myself yearning to see ‘all the sad things come untrue.’ And yet I know that none of this is a surprise to our Lord, and He can be trusted . . . ‘Doing nothing is no longer an option for me.’.
Brothers and Sisters in Christ, I am in no way endorsing those movements that are promoting anarchy, destruction of the family, and the dismantling of our government. Our form of government has brought more freedom, justice, and liberation than ANY other kind of government . . . It will not be through political parties, rallies, slogans, or marches that our attitudes and practices are changed, that the souls of our nations are converted. They may have some impact, but the deep change we all need will be through revival that comes from repentance – turning away from our sin and toward God and his righteous ways in Jesus Christ.
You can start right where you are. In your own heart, in your own relationship with God - first. Then, in your own community -- One person at a time. One relationship at a time. One act a time. Reaching out and building a relationship with someone different than you are. One drop of rain may not seem like much, but with other drops of rain it can create a healing flood. . .
So, let us pray for one another about these things, and let us get out and make a difference in our local communities. God has placed you and me here for such a time as this . . .
The Lord bless you and keep you, make his face shine upon you and grant you his peace. In the name of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Amen.”
TODAY’S AFFIRMATION: I affirm that because of what God has done for me in His Son, Jesus, I AM FORGIVEN. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9).
SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV): Genesis 1:27; Revelation 7:1-17; Ephesians 2:19; John.13:35; Galatians 6:2; Romans 12:15; Psalms 103:12; Isiah 1:18.
WEBSITE LINK: www.AWordFromTheLord.org/
WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH’S SERMON VIDEO – “Dr. Beach Provides a Context and Call to Action for Clergy and Lay Persons to Become Part of the Solution for “Race Issues” Facing Us Today”: www.AWFTL.org/watch
DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB
Sunday Jun 21, 2020
Sunday Jun 21, 2020
MESSAGE SUMMARY:
Introduction -- Father's, we need to understand God's expectations of Fathers. In Ephesians 6:4, Paul defines God’s expectations of fathers: “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.". Also, Proverbs 22:6 presents what expectations we might have if fathers adhere to God’s expectations: “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.". Dads are to bring up their children in "the way they should go" (their calling).
Discipline, wisely administered by fathers, is an important attribute and need for fathers, as the author of Hebrews tells us in Hebrews 12:9-11: “. . . we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”.
Today’s Message -- The Five Needs of Fathers: 1) Companionship – As God said in Genesis 2:18, the majority of men were made not to be alone; 2) Respect – honor, appreciation, respect, as Paul tells us in Ephesians 5:33: “However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband."; 3) Know How to Face Temptation -- when we are tempted (temptation is not a sin), God will provide us a way out of succumbing to the temptation, 1 Corinthians 10:13; 4) Not to Be Foolish -- Proverbs 13:20; and 5) and Remember that God, the Father, Expects You to Be a Father -- Ephesians 6:4 and Proverbs 22:6, tells us that fathers are to train their children so that their children are raised: “in the way he should go’ and in a way that meets God’s expectations of both the father and the child. Men are motivated when they know they will be held accountable, and God is holding us accountable for how we fathers raise our children.
There is a void of faithful men and fathers today; therefore, fathers’, should ask God to help you to be faithful as a father. Fathers should hope that, when we are judged by God, that He tells us: “Well done good and faithful servant!”.
TODAY’S AFFIRMATION: I affirm that because of what God has done for me in His Son, Jesus, I AM A CHILD OF GOD. Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His Name, He gave the right to become children of God-- children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. (John 1:12f).
SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV): Ephesians 6:4; Proverbs 22:6; Genesis 2:18; Proverbs 19:22; Ephesians 5:33; 1 Corinthians 10:13; Proverbs 13:20; Hebrews 12:9-11.
WEBSITE LINK: www.AWordFromTheLord.org/
WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH’S SERMON VIDEO – “The Apostle John Tells You: ‘You who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life’”: www.AWFTL.org/watch
DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB
Sunday Jun 14, 2020
Sunday Jun 14, 2020
MESSAGE SUMMARY:
Marriage – A Current Assessment (Christ the King Anglican Church; Birmingham, AL)
Marriage and the family, in current decades, have been under attack to the degree that marriage is now losing its value in our culture.
In Mark 10:6-9, Jesus speaks to God’s plan for marriage: “But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.’”
In our culture’s attacks on marriage and the family, we see ten ways in which marriage and the family have been and are being perverted: 1) US Supreme Court’s decision on same sex marriage – as followers of Jesus, we don’t believe the courts have the right to define/redefine marriage as established by God; 2) sex before marriage is becoming the norm; 3) sex outside of marriage has become acceptable; 4) the prevalence of divorce; 5) acceptance of cohabitation; 6) birth of children out of wedlock; 7) multi-spouse marriage; 8) escalation and the acceptance of pornography; 9) the acceptance and practice of abortion on demand; and 10) the acceptable “choosing” one’s own gender by some people. These perversions of marriage and the family are chipping away at the value and importance of marriage and the family in the US – even among Christians. Too many of our Christian young people do not know why they should get married -- this diminution of marriage’s value is a failure, mostly, of the Christian Church.
Many Christians, today, are being deceived and led away from God’s Word by the Evil One (e.g., John 10:10). Therefore, we need to read and understand God’s Word, especially as it relates to His plan for marriage that Jesus posits in His quote from Genesis in Mark 10:6. Throughout history, humans have corrupted God’s beautiful plan for His Creation. In Mark 10:7, we see God’s pattern for marriage. In Mark 10:8, we are provided with God’s purpose for marriage; and the product of this “one flesh” is children. By becoming “one flesh” in marriage, the man and women become a “new trinity” – husband, wife, and the Lord. In this “marriage trinitarian relationship”, each child is brought into this family relationship in the same way that we, as followers of Jesus, are brought into our personal relationship with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit through the Gospel. In Mark 10:9 we see God’s expressed permeance of marriage.
God’s design and plan for marriage, as presented by Jesus in Mark 10, is ideal for us as humans, our nation, and our culture; but His plan is being increasingly perverted. Therefore, what should we do, as followers of Jesus, about these “attacks on marriage”? We can: 1) stand up, speak up and speak God’s truth – Christians need to stop be trampled upon by this divergent culture; 2) model good and Godly marriage and family life to the culture; 3) you teach your children, you not the church/school/government, about God and His plan for marriage and the family; and 4) pray and ask God to intervene in these attacks and to support our seeking to achieve His plan for our own marriage and the family – prayer does change things, and it brings the power of God.
We are blessed to live in an incredible time in history, but the plan and fabric that God designed to keep us together and thriving – marriage and the family – is being perverted. However, we, as followers of Jesus, hold the key to stopping this perversion though getting our own family and marriage in line with God’s plan and then witnessing and voting to stop this perversion – the time is now.
TODAY’S AFFIRMATION: I affirm that because of what God has done for me in His Son, Jesus, I AM RIGHTEOUS IN GOD’S EYES. God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 (Corinthians 5:21).
SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV): Mark 10:6-9; John 10:10; Genesis 2:21-25.
WEBSITE LINK: www.AWordFromTheLord.org/
WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH’S SERMON VIDEO – “Marriage and Family Have Been Under Attack to the Degree that They Are Losing Value in Our Culture”: www.AWFTL.org/watch
DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB
Saturday Jun 06, 2020
Saturday Jun 06, 2020
MESSAGE SUMMARY:
Special Introduction – The Spiritual Discipline of Giving: We are challenged by God to bring our whole tithe into the storehouse (church) because God tells us that we cannot out give Him. After all, everything we have is from God. Our gifts to God should be from our first fruits and not our last fruits. Developing the discipline of returning our first fruits to God breaks the hold of materialism on our lives.
Today’s Message – Come Holy Spirit: The Holy Spirit is God Himself. The Holy Spirit is a presence of God in the Trinity of one God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit indwells us, as our counselor, always pointing to Jesus in truth. People are not convicted and converted in their hearts and minds to become followers of Jesus without the Holy Spirit. Without the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives and in our churches, not much will be accomplished.
It is impossible to be a Christian and to live the Christian life without the Holy Spirit. The character of Jesus’ followers is manifested through their lives bringing forth the fruits of the Holy Spirit, as presented in Galatians 5:22-23: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control . . .”. Otherwise, our lives will only reflect the fruit of the flesh as presented in Galatians 5:19-21: “Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these . . .". The Holy Spirit seeks to work through us in a way that those around us see the fruit of the Spirit and not the fruit of the flesh.
TODAY’S AFFIRMATION: I affirm that because of what God has done for me in His Son, Jesus, I AM FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT. If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him! (Luke 11:13).
SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV): Malachi 3:8-12; Proverbs 23:5; Genesis 1:2; Psalms 1:39; Acts 1:4-5; 1 Corinthians 2:10; Hebrews 9:14; Luke 1:35; Matthew 28:19-20; 2 Corinthians 3:17; John 14:16; Acts 2:42; John 14:26; John 15:26; John 16:6-7; John 3:4-8; John 14:16; John 16:7; Acts 1:8; Ephesians 5:18.
WEBSITE LINK: www.AWordFromTheLord.org/
WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH’S SERMON VIDEO – “Your Conscience to Leads You Through Life’s Challenges, and The Holy Spirit Deals First with Your Conscience”: www.AWFTL.org/watch
DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB