Catechism Insight – Doctrinal Standard WSC #25 (Week 2 of 3)

Doctrinal Standard #25 

  • 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

  • “even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28, ESV).

Scripture

  • Study Passage: Romans 3:21-31
  • Support Passages: Matthew 5:23-24; Acts 20:28; Romans 5:1-11; I Corinthians 6:20, 7:23; II Corinthians 5:11-21; I Peter 1:18-19
  • Bible Story: Acts 9:1-22

Thoughts

  • Christ as our High Priest has perfectly and completely reconciled our relationship with God. He has done this by first paying the price for our sins, imputing His righteousness upon our hearts and interceding on our behalf before our Father in heaven. Christ has reconciled those who were once enemies of God bringing them into a friendship and loving relationship with the Lord most high.
  • “Reconciliation  a change from enmity to friendship.
    (1.) In Col. 1:21, 22, the word there used refers to a change wrought in the personal character of the sinner who ceases to be an enemy to God by wicked works, and yields up to him his full confidence and love. In 2 Cor. 5:20 the apostle beseeches the Corinthians to be “reconciled to God”, i.e., to lay aside their enmity.
    (2.) Rom. 5:10 refers not to any change in our disposition toward God, but to God himself, as the party reconciled. Romans 5:11 teaches the same truth. From God we have received “the reconciliation” (R.V.), i.e., he has conferred on us the token of his friendship. So also 2 Cor. 5:18, 19 speaks of a reconciliation originating with God, and consisting in the removal of his merited wrath. In Eph. 2:16 it is clear that the apostle does not refer to the winning back of the sinner in love and loyalty to God, but to the restoration of God’s forfeited favour. This is effected by his justice being satisfied, so that he can, in consistency with his own nature, be favourable toward sinners. Justice demands the punishment of sinners. The death of Christ satisfies justice, and so reconciles God to us. This reconciliation makes God our friend, and enables him to pardon and save us.” [1]

Discussion Questions

  • What does reconciliation mean?
  • Reconciliation implies that during a period of time we were enemies with God. What made us enemies of God?
  • How has God reconciled our relationship with Him?
  • Is there any other way to reconcile our relationship with God?
  • Who initiates the reconciliation, God or man? (Acts 9:1-22).
  • If God is the one who starts the reconciliation process what part do we play?


[1] Easton, M. (1996). Easton’s Bible dictionary. Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.


OIA Sermon 05/14

This week Joe gave the Mother’s Day sermon on the topic of parenting. I thought I would mix things up a bit this week. The following link will take you to a small group exercise on the topic of parenting. Use as little or as much of it as you would like. Blessings.

http://www.venturechristian.org/documents/SmallGroupQuestions-HouseorHome-Parenting-Week2.pdf

Posted in Study Guides, Posted by Russell. No Comments

No Youth This Week – 5/10

Sorry about having to cancel youth again. I have open house at my school on Thursday night. We tried to schedule to have Joe come and speak but he has a prior engagement so we are going to have to cancel. Hope your having a great week!

Posted in Youth, Phil Anady, Posted by Phil. No Comments

OIA for 05/06/12

This week Joe discussed the mystery of Christ in both the Old and New Testaments. This is another week where large amounts of scripture are used, so a majority of your time will be in the application questions.

Observation
1. Are there any cultural or background issues that are important in understanding the listed passages?
2. What key word(s)/phrase(s) really stand(s) out to you in these passages of scripture? Why are/is they/it important?
3. Which scripture passage did you find most intriguing or interesting? Why?

Interpretation
1. Compare at least 3 of the used passages with at least 3 other Bible versions (NIV, ESV, NASB, NKJV, Ect.) What similarities/differences do you observe? Share with your group.
2. Are there any verbs, commands, prepositions, or conjunctions, that seemed to stand out (if any)? What? Why? Share.
3. Read through at least 2-3 commentaries on the listed passage and share what your learned with your group. Here are some free online resources. (http://net.bible.org) (http://www.blueletterbible.org/) (http://biblia.com)

Application
1. Explore each of the following Epochs and discuss how Christ was “prefigured” in each. If he was not prefigured in the event, discuss how the event was in some form pointing to His coming. Also, discuss why it is important to see Christ as being at the core of each of the following events.

1.Burning bush
2.10 Plagues
3.Exodus (1446 B.C.)
4.Red Sea Crossing
5.Law Given on Sinai
6.40 Years of Wilderness Wandering
7.Conquest
8.Time of the Judges
9.Reign of David (1010 B.C.)
10.Reign of Solomon (970 B.C.)
11.The Kingdom Divided – Israel and Judah (931 B.C.)
12.Assyrians Conquer N. Kingdom – Israel/Samaria/Ephraim (722 B.C.)
13.Babylonians Conquered S. Kingdom – Judah (605 B.C.)
14.Fall of Jerusalem (586 B.C.)
15.Captivity


Catechism Insight – Doctrinal Standard WSC #25

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?

This Weeks Youth Focus – 5/3

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!

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Posted in Youth, Evil, Job, Sovereignty, Phil Anady, Posted by Phil. No Comments

Children’s Ministry Change

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 5th 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-5th grade students will remain in the whole worship service on the first Sunday of the month (Starting May 6th). 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, Posted by Phil. No Comments

Catechism Insight – Doctrinal Standard WSC #24

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?


[1] Grudem, Wayne (1994). Systematic Theology. Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA; Zondervan Publishing House.




"Him we proclaim,
warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom,
that we may present everyone mature in Christ."
(Colossians 1:28, ESV)

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