Jan
31
2010
One Thing I Do
Sermon by Joe Clark on Sunday, January 31, 2010.
Jan
14
2010
Strengthened With All Power
There seems to be a significant gap between the power we experience as christians and the power the bible says we should experience. The power we should experience is unlimited and capable of accomplishing anything. It is the same power that raised Jesus from the dead and exalted Him to the right hand of the Father (Ephesians 1:19, 20).
When writing to the believers in Colosse, Paul made sure they knew he was praying for them to experience the fullness of God’s power in their lives. His prayer was that they “be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy” (Colossians 1:11).
To overcome our own weakness, we must believe that God will strengthen us with “all power.” All power refers to every kind of power and ability necessary to accomplish what ever God wants us to do. He will never put us into a situation that He is not willing to give us the power to handle it. No matter how overwhelming the situation may be, His “glorious might” is sufficient to deal with it.
When we are experiencing the fulness of God’s power, we will also experience joy in our lives. Regardless of what situation we find ourselves in, we will have all the endurance and patience needed to fulfill God’s will for us in that situation. This is a comforting thought since life is often trying and difficult.
In order to experience the power of God that produces endurance and patience with joy, we need to believe it is real and ask God to strengthen us with it. Then, as Paul did for the Colossians, we should ask Him to also strengthen other believers with His power as we pray for them.
Jan
13
2010
Knowledge Of His Will
Knowing God’s will is something that most all believers struggle with. There seems to be the general opinion that we can’t know much about it. Yet, when reading the bible there seems to be the assumption that His will is knowable and that we should know it.
The apostle Paul apparently believes that God’s will is very knowable. In Colossians 1:9, he reveals his prayer for them.
And so, from the day we heard [of your faith in Christ Jesus], we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will
His request is that they would be filled all the way to the top with complete and accurate knowledge of what God wants them to do. Paul obviously believes that they can and should know God’s will.
Why then are we so clueless about God’s will in our lives since it is knowable? Knowledge of His will is conditioned on us believing it can be known and diligently seeking to know it with a sincere heart.
Why is it important for us to know God’s will? Because it is the only way we can live a life that is “worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him” (Colossians 1:10).
Dec
31
2009
Romans 2:18
and know his will and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed from the law;
In the previous verse Paul begins to address his own people the Jews, confronting them for their superficial relationship with God.
They were in a wonderfully privileged position because they had the law of God given to them in what we know today as the Old Testament. As a result, they knew God’s will. He reveals His will concerning everything we need to know through the bible. Since they knew His will they were without excuse before Him. They could not even plead ignorance.
Because they were taught the bible and knew God’s will they were able to accurately distinguish right from wrong. They could even tell the difference between good things and excellent things.
In Israel, the Old Testament was taught diligently in every city and every synagogue on the sabbath day. They were very well instructed in the scripture.
With all this privilege they were still not necessarily approved of by God. He does not approve of those who know His will but those who do His will, not those who approve what is excellent but those who are excellent. Being taught the bible and having extensive biblical knowledge is only profitable if we live by what we have been taught.
Romans 2:17 – Romans 2:19
Dec
28
2009
The Universe Was Created
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. … By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. (Hebrews 11:1, 3)
Faith is a scary thing. It puts us in a position to be considered fools by other people. Faith convinces us of the reality of things that can’t be seen. It is not possible to prove the things that we believe by faith.
One of the things we know by faith is that God created the entire universe by speaking it into existence. Everything that was made, God created from nothing. There was no preexisting matter that He used to create the universe. He brought all matter into existence at that time of creation.
Believing that God created the universe as described in Genesis 1 puts us in direct contradiction to the scientific theories of today. Even if we try to stretch out the length of the days to billions of years rather than 24 hours, it still contradicts the scientific theories because the sun is not created until the forth day. The earth is created on the first day, the atmosphere on the second, plant life on the third and the sun on the forth. There is no way to shoehorn the timeline of Genesis 1 into the big bang theory.
The assumption of faith is that the bible is correct concerning the origin of the universe. When the bible and science are at odds on this topic, we need to reevaluate science’s interpretation and understanding of the information they have. When that information is understood correctly, it should be in agreement with the bible. Yet, we need to be careful not to twist science to fit the bible. We simply need to continue working with the scientific information until we understand it properly.
We also need to be careful not to twist the bible to fit science. We need to continue improving our understanding of science and the bible. When we come to a complete understanding of both, by faith we believe that they will agree.
Podcast Feeds
