Doctrinal Standard #25 (Week 1 of 3)

• Q. How is Christ a priest?
• A. As a priest, Christ offered Himself up once as a sacrifice for us to satisfy divine justice and to reconcile us to God, and He continually intercedes for us.

Memory Verses

• “For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified” (Hebrews 10:14, ESV)

Scripture

• Study Passage: Hebrews 10:11-25 (more context read Hebrews 8-10)
• Support Passages: Hebrews 5:1-10, 7:1-28, 9:11-15, 12:24
• Bible Story: Leviticus 16

Thoughts

• In the Law (first five books of the Old Testament) God had established a priesthood that would perform specific acts of worship before God on behalf of the people. While people were able to worship God, it had to be done through a mediator, a priest. The same is still true today. We no longer depend on another human to bring us to God, we look to Jesus Christ our eternal high priest. Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the priesthood of the Old Covenant. The priests and various ceremonies of the Old Testament pre-figured and gave a physical representation of what Christ would do in the spiritual. We no longer depend on the weakness of man to bring us before God but we have the power and perfection of Jesus Christ as our High Priest who continually intercedes on our behalf.
• Israel was given various feasts or holidays to observe throughout the year. The New Testament explains that these feast along with the rest of Law and Prophets all point to Jesus Christ. I believe that the Lord gave Israel these feasts or holidays as teaching tools to explain spiritual truths in a physical and tangible way.  Hebrews chapter 8-10 explains this beautifully by showing how Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the Day of Atonement found in Leviticus 16. I strongly encourage you to first read Leviticus 16 and then Hebrews 8-10.

Discussion Questions

• What did the priest do in the Temple and Tabernacle?
• What does it mean to mediate or intercede?
• Why do you think God established a priesthood?
•  Do we still need a priest to worship God?
• Who is our High Priest? (John 14:6)
• If Jesus Christ is our Priest what does He do for us?

Tags: Westminster Shorter Catechism

Posted in Study Guides Westminster Shorter Catechism Family Devotional Guidelines Phil Anady Hebrews 10 Leviticus 16
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This Thursday we will be looking at the last part of the book of Job. We will be examining God’s responses to Job and discussing what we can learn about God from it. While we have traveled through the book of Job at an extremely high rate of speed, we have observed and learned important truths about God sovereignty, the presence of evil in God’s plan, how we should respond when evil and trials are upon us, and most importantly that God “can do all things, and that no purpose of [His] can be thwarted” (Job 42:2).

Hope to see you there!

Tags: Evil, Job, Sovereignty

Posted in Youth Evil Job Sovereignty Phil Anady
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Hello Church,

I’m writing you to inform you about a change that will be taking place with our Children’s Ministry schedule. One Sunday out of the month there will be no Sunday school classes for the kindergarten through 5^th grade children. There are a couple of reasons why believe this is a healthy decision.

First, we believe that one of the responsibilities of parenthood is to teach our children how to worship the Lord. We believe that having our children experience a whole worship service will begin to teach them what it means to worship God through music, listening, and reading God’s Word.

Second, many churches today exclude children and teenagers from the main worship service and then they wonder why the transition into worshiping with the adults once they graduate high school is so difficult. The fact that many college age adults are absent from the church service is something that needs to be addressed and corrected.  I strongly believe that if we effectively teach our children how to worship with adults at a young age we are preparing them to be active participants in the family of God for a lifetime.

This is something new for many if not all of us. I encourage all of you to be patient and understanding with our families and children as they are faced with the challenge of learning how to “parent from the pew.”

Church, please be praying for our families, asking God to give wisdom to our parents, as this can be a difficult task. Parents, I encourage you to begin teaching your children and explaining to them what you expect of them during the service before you arrive at church. I think it is important for me to say that it is perfectly ok if there is some noise and talking. Use this time to help instruct and engage your child in how to worship the Lord.

Some things to think about:

1. K-5^th grade students will remain in the whole worship service on the first Sunday of the month (Starting May 6^th). This is our communion Sunday therefore, I would encourage each family to determine whether or not the children will take communion before they arrive at church. Our view is that it is a good thing for our children to take communion even if they are too young to have professed Christ. We should raise our children as if they are believers until it becomes evident that they are not.
2. There will still be childcare for children ages 0-4 each Sunday.
3. I would strongly encourage that children sit with their parents instead of with their friends during this service. This will help keep distractions to a minimum, as parents will be able to help teach their children worship and keep them engaged.

I’m looking forward to beginning this process and seeing the fruit the Lord produces.  It is my goal to continue to provide various resources and ideas on how to help our parents teach and develop a love in our children to worship the Lord in the whole community of faith.

God Bless,

Phil

Posted in News Phil Anady
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Doctrinal Standard #24

• Q. How is Christ a prophet?
• A. As a prophet, Christ reveals the will of God to us for our salvation by His word and Spirit.

Memory Verses

• “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world” (Hebrews 1:1–2, ESV).

Scripture

• Study Passage: John 1:1-5, 9-18
• Support Passages: Deuteronomy 18:18-19; Daniel 9:24; John 14:18-24; Acts 3:11-26
• Bible Story: Luke 24:13-35

Thoughts

• The statement that Christ is a prophet has the potential of being easily misunderstood. Wayne Grudem in chapter 29 of his Systematic Theology book provides a great explanation on what it does and does not mean.
•  “Why did the New Testament epistles avoid calling Jesus a prophet? Apparently because, although Jesus is the prophet whom Moses predicted (Deuteronomy 18:18-19), yet he is also far greater than any of the Old Testament prophets, in two ways:”

1. “He is the one about whom the prophesies in the Old Testament were made. When Jesus spoke with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, he took them through the entire Old Testament, showing how the prophecies pointed to him: ‘And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27)… The Old Testament prophets looked forward to Christ in what they wrote, and the New Testament apostles looked back to Christ and interpreted his life for the benefit of the church.”
2. “Jesus was not merely a messenger of revelation from God (like all the other prophets), but was himself the source of revelation from God. Rather than saying as all the Old Testament prophets did,  ‘Thus says the Lord,’ Jesus could begin divinely authoritative teaching with the amazing statement, ‘But I say unto you’ (Matt 5:22). The word of the Lord cam to the Old Testament prophets, but Jesus spoke on his own authority as the eternal Word of God (John 1:1) who perfectly revealed the Father to us (John 14:9; Heb 1:1-2).”
3. “In the broader sense of prophet, simply meaning one who reveals God to us and speaks to us the words of God, Christ is of course truly and fully a prophet. In fact, he is the one whom all the Old Testaments prophets prefigured in their speech and in their actions” [1]

Discussion Questions

• What is a prophet?
• What did prophets do in the Old Testament?
• How is Jesus Christ a prophet like the prophets in the Old Testament?
• How is Jesus not like the prophets of the Old Testament?
• Explain how the Road to Emmaus account (Luke 24 does:13-35) teach us that Jesus is much more than a prophet?
• What word does John 1:1-5, 9-18 use to refer to Jesus? Why?

Tags: Wayne Grudem, Westminster Shorter Catechism

Posted in Study Guides Wayne Grudem Westminster Shorter Catechism Family Devotional Guidelines Phil Anady Hebrews 1 John 1 Luke 24
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Both Mike and Nessa are unable to be at youth this Thursday to lead worship and I have a meeting for work (school) that evening therefore we are cancelling youth for this week.

See you either Sunday or next Thursday.

-Phil

Posted in Youth Phil Anady
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Doctrinal Standard #23

• Q. How is Christ our redeemer?
• A. As our redeemer, Christ is a prophet, priest, and king in both His humiliation and His exaltation.

Memory Verses

• “Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out,  that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you” (Acts 3:19–20, ESV).

Scripture

• Study Passage: Psalm 110
• Support Passages: Acts 3:11-26 – Christ the Prophet; Hebrews 5:1-10 – Christ the Priest; Isaiah 9:6-7 – Christ the King; Psalm 2, 45:1-9; Luke 4:18-19; Acts 2:29-36
• Bible Story: Genesis 14

Thoughts

• “Redemption means deliverance from some evil by payment of a price. It is more than simple deliverance. Thus prisoners of war might be released on payment of a price which was called a ‘ransom’ (Gk. lytron). The word-group based on lytron was formed specifically to convey this idea of release on payment of ransom. In this circle of ideas Christ’s death may be regarded as ‘a ransom for many’ (Mk. 10:45).^[1]
• As both Psalm 110 and Genesis 14 explains redemption requires action from the redeemer. The action that was required of Jesus Christ was to live a perfect life and suffer a painful and shameful death on the cross as a ransom for all those who have and will believe in Him.
• The love of God is magnified in the fact that Christ is our redeemer. The love of God is shown in that Christ would humble himself by becoming a man and take upon the sin of His followers when He himself had never known sin.

Discussion Questions

• What does it mean to redeem something?
• What is required in redeeming something?
• How has Christ redeemed people from sin?
• What does this teach us about God?

Tags: New Bible Dictionary, Redeemer, Westminster Shorter Catechism

Posted in Study Guides New Bible Dictionary Redeemer Westminster Shorter Catechism Family Devotional Guidelines Phil Anady Genesis 14 Psalm 110
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Doctrinal Standard #22 (2 of 2 weeks)

• Q. How did Christ, the Son of God, become man?
• A. Christ, the Son of God, became man by assuming a real body and a reasoning soul. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary, who gave birth to Him; yet He was sinless.

Memory Verses

• “For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens” (Hebrews 7:26, ESV).

Scripture

• Study Passage: 1 Peter 2:11-25
  • Support Passages: Isaiah 53:9-12; Matthew 26:59-68; John 18:33-40; Romans 8:3; II Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 4:4-5; Hebrews 7:26-28; I John 3:5
  • Bible Story: John 5:1-18

Thoughts

• It is difficult to fathom living a whole life without sin let alone a day, hour, or minute! But our Lord Jesus lived a sinless life and it was for our benefit.
• Wayne Grudem explains this truth rather well in his chapter on the Atonement. “If Christ had only earned forgiveness of sins for us, then we would not merit heaven. Our guilt would have been removed, but we would simply be in the position of Adam and Eve before they had done anything good or bad and before they had passed a time of probation successfully. To be established in righteousness forever and to have their fellowship with God made sure forever, Adam and Eve had to obey God perfectly over a period of time. Then God would have looked on their faithful obedience with pleasure and delight, and they would have lived with him in fellowship forever.”
• “For this reason, Christ had to live a life of perfect obedience to God in order to earn righteousness for us. He had to obey the law for his whole life on our behalf so that the positive merits of his perfect obedience would be counted for us.” Martin Luther refers to this as the “Great Exchange.” [1] Christ’s righteousness is placed upon the believer as the believers sins are placed upon Christ on the cross. Praise God for the perfect life and sacrifice of Jesus Christ!

Discussion Questions

• Did Jesus every sin? Explain the various struggles and temptations He must have faced.
• What is the significance or importance’s of Jesus living a sinless life?
• What did Jesus’ sinless life do for those who believe in Him?
• What did Martin Luther mean when he said Jesus’ life and death is the “Great Exchange?”

Tags: Wayne Grudem, Westminster Shorter Catechism

Posted in Study Guides Wayne Grudem Westminster Shorter Catechism Family Devotional Guidelines Phil Anady 1 Peter 2 John 5
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This Thursday, we will be starting a series on the book of Job. Examining the story of Job and all his trials will provide an excellent opportunity to further discuss the sovereignty of God and the presence of evil.  The book of Job provides much insight into the work of God, Satan, and man and how to appropriately handle trials and tribulations that come our way or to another. This Thursday, we will be looking at chapter one and two of Job. I’m excited about studying and discussing these deep and meaningful issues with you all.

Hope to see you there!

Tags: Evil, Job, Sovereignty, Trials

Posted in Youth Evil Job Sovereignty Trials
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