This article covers how much time it takes to read through the Bible, and breaks it down book by book:
https://www.crossway.org/articles/infographic-you-can-read-more-of-the-bible-than-you-think/
Dec 27
Worship Service 12/27/2020
Preacher: Bruce Miller
Theme: God is faithful, even if we don’t understand why things are happening
Texts:
- Job 1-42
- Deuteronomy 29:29
- Philippians 1:21
- 2 Tim 3
- James 5:11
Notes:
- Job 1: Satan’s first thesis: believers are faithful only for the material rewards they receive
- Faith in wealth, possessions, and friends may fail
- Faith in God never fails
- No angel–holy or fallen–is omnipresent
- 2020 is bad
- But in the span of minutes Job has lost nearly everything–wealth, family, security
- If Job’s faith was in his wealth, his faith would have failed
- If Job’s faith was in his family, his faith would have failed
- Satans thesis is proved invalid
2. Job 2: Satans second thesis: believers are faithful as long as they have physical health
- “Behind every great man is a great woman”*
- *but not in Jobs case
- Job has no idea why any of this is happening–yet he remains faithful
- Satans thesis is proved invalid
3. Job 3-37: Job’s “friends” arrive
- They start strong but mourning with him in silence
- Job’s pain is so great he laments ever being born
- Job’s friends speak out of the well of their ignorance
- He asks for sympathy–his friends have none
- They call him to repent–but are unable to find a sin for him to repent of
- By chapter 14 Job now prays for death
- By chapter 19 Job’s faith still endures
- Job 21: Job asserts that the wicked may prosper, and the good may suffer
- Job’s friends: No
- Job 32-35: a new “friend” arrives to not be very helpful
- If Job’s faith had been in his friends, his faith would have failed.
4. Job 38-42: God intervenes
- He challenges Job regarding Job questioning God’s character
- Job answered with the humility God expected
- God asserts His sovereignty over creation
- Job continues to draw close to God–despite his lack of understanding
- Job 42: God confronts Job’s friends, demands repentance, and appoints Job as their mediator
- Not *everything* they said was wrong–but they slandered Job and they slandered God
5. Job 42: God blesses Job
Final Observations
- Wealth is fleeting
- Health is fleeting
- Friends will let us down
- We may not know why we suffer
- But
- God is always faithful
- God is always good
- God is worthy of our faith
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Dec 20
Worship Service 12/20/2020
Speaker: Dan Poynter
Theme: Laboring in God’s Service
Texts:
- Nehemiah 1-3
- Galatians 6
- 1 Corinthians 15
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Dec 18
Worship Services For the Rest of December Virtual Only
Services for Faith Baptist Church will be virtual only for the next couple of weeks.
Here is the link for this Sunday’s service:
Dec 13
Worship Service 12/13/2020
Preacher: Caleb Ogle
Thesis: Beware
Texts:
- 1 Peter 5:8-11
- Ecclesiastes 4:9-11
Context:
- Peter is writing to Gentile Christians who were enduring persecution under the Roman Empire
Bad News: You have an enemy intent on your destruction
Comforting News: There is hope in Christ
Good News: God is going to do great things, and has already gained the victory through Christ
Notes:
“Be sober, be vigilant” — be mindful, be aware, be on the lookout.
Our temptations and struggles are common to other believers and we can help bear one another’s burdens
Our sufferings are:
- for a purpose
- for a time
- for your good
- for His glory
We are often tempted to overcorrect away from one sin or temptation into the arms of another sin or temptation
How do we defeat our enemy?
- The way up starts with being down–humility
- Cast your care on Christ
- You can’t do it without Him
- He cares for you and desires to help you
- “I can do this in my own strength”
- We might not say it out loud, but when we neglect God’s means of grace we live it
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Dec 13
Read Through the Bible
Here are some links to several websites that provide different reading plans for reading through the Bible. There are some for reading through the entire Bible in a year, others for reading through the entire New Testament multiple times, and some for reading through in a particular order (chronologically, thematically, etc).
Reading Plans
Apps
The only time I have successfully read through the entire Bible in a year, it was largely due to the app ReadingPlan for helping me to stay on track. It is free, it is well designed, and you can import dozens of different reading plans. Sorry Android users, it is available for iPhone / iPad only.
You can download it here.
Dec 06
Worship Service 12/06/2020
Preacher: Jeremy Herbert
Thesis: Choosing the Path of Joy
Texts:
- Psalm 1
- Revelation 1-2
3 Elements of Our Path
- A desire: what we are looking for (joy).
- In this life, and in the next
- Blessed = joy, happiness, fulfilment
- A direction: where we think we will find what we are looking for
- A destiny: where we will end up based on:
- the steps we follow to achieve our desire
- the direction we took
The Path we choose reveals two things:
- The object of our joy
- The object of our faith
Choose the right path!
- The desire of the godly
- We are all in awe of something or someone
- Whatever we are in awe of–good or bad–will control your life
- Good gifts make terrible gods
- Do you delight to do God’s will?
- God desires not only our obedience, but our affection
- Wisdom is just truth applied
- We do what we truly believe
- Blessing does not mean that we get everything we desire
- Blessing does mean that the closer we are to Christ, the more joy and contentment we have
- Blessing also does not mean that if we make right choices, only good things will happen to us
- The direction of the godly
- People never think they will be the ones to fall
- The destiny of the godly
- We position ourselves for fruitfulness
- Spiritual fruitfulness
- One way we declare God’s glory is when we choose God’s word over sin
- A wasted life:
- Not that we are valueless in the eyes of God
- But wasted time, energy, opportunities
- The destiny of the ungodly
- Loss in this life
- Loss in the next life
- “Jesus is rescuing me every day”
- We position ourselves for fruitfulness
Live it out!
- Are you experiencing spiritual fruitfulness?
- Galatians 5:22-23
- Are you experiencing spiritual health?
- Are you experiencing spiritual joy?
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Nov 29
Worship Service 11/29/2020
Preacher: Caleb Ogle
Thesis: The light of the world
Texts:
- John 8
- 2 Corinthians 4
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Nov 22
Worship Service11/22/2020
- Preacher: Jeremy Herbert
- Text: 96:1-13
- Thesis: God has commanded us to sing for His glory, and for our good.
- Supplemental texts:
- Psalm 19
- Exodus 15
- Judges 5
- Revelation 5
- Psalm 149
- 1 Peter 2
- Colossians 3
- Ephesians 5
- 1 Timothy 2-3
We Sing for God’s glory
- We were made to sing
- “Creation sings the Father’s song….”
- We are commanded to sing
- Over 400 times in Scripture
- We give God the glory He deserves when we sing
- Kauflin, “…music is about our hearts…about what and who we love”
- First book written about church music in America,
“Singing of Psalms, A Gospel Ordinance” in 1650 by John Cotton
We Sing for Our Good
- Singing fuels our faith
- Luther, “Music is a gift and grace of God”
- Music beautifies the truth
- Singing was at the heart of the Reformation
- Evan Roberts, convinced that singing would spur revival
- Singing unifies our hearts
- Not my heart singular, our hearts corporately
- It fights selfishness
- We sing a mix of old, new, joyful, somber, differently styles
- Singing gives full expression to our human experience in Christ
- “I can tell how you are doing by looking at your playlist”
- Joy, praise, thanksgiving
- Sorrow, loss, lament
- Singing is a witness to the next generation
- We pass on our passion for God when we sing for Him
- Singing is a witness to the world
- What the world cares about, it sings about
- When we sing praises to God, it hears what we really care about
How should we sing?
- Sing with your mind
- Ephesians 5:18-19
- Colossians 3:16
- Singing is vertical (to God) and horizontal (to one another)
- Luther, “…let His people respond with grateful songs of praise”
- Sing with your emotions
- How we sing communicates what we believe about the content
- Justin Martyr, “…medicine of the soul in grief”
- Emotionalism is not the same as showing emotions
- Sing with your will
- Praise, prayer, and proclamation
- Sing with your voice
- That which enraptures your heart will come out of your mouth?
What should we sing?
- God inspired His word, and yet used human authors
- Evaluate Christian songs for solid doctrinal content
Live It Out
- Let your love and awe of God overcome your fear of singing out
- The closer you draw to Christ, the more you will have to sing about
- Learn and sing songs that fuel your faith and your family’s faith with truth
- Sing out in church so others will be encouraged to celebrate with you
- “beautiful cacaphony”
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