Calvary Wolfeboro

"If I could see the hole in Jesus' hand and touch the scar on His side, I would believe too." So goes one version of the common argument against belief. This argument can be persuasive. Even for those of us who do believe, the legitimacy of our faith in God can often be challenged by the question, "how much evidence is enough?" Thankfully, we don't have to wonder. God has given us the answer in Romans 1. What makes it even better is that it's a two for one. Not only do we find the answer to the evidence question but we also find understanding for a related question. "What is the wrath of God during the age of grace?" Let's consider these two critical questions as we continue through the book of Romans with chapter 1 verses 18 through 32 in a message entitled, "The Wrath of God Under Grace."

At every turn the Gospel that Christianity is built upon is being attacked. These attacks, whether from pseudo science, postmodernism, or some form of identity politics seek to shame Christians into silence. Silencing the message of the Gospel is one of the Enemies most effective strategies. The apostle Paul knew the social pressure we feel to be ashamed of the Good News. He understood that the message of the Gospel was shameful to the world. Yet he was unashamed. As we consider the crux of the entire book of Romans, let’s consider how we, too, can be unashamed of the gospel in the midst of a culture seeking to shame us into silence.

When Christians talk about faith they will often describe it in terms of depth and width. For example a Believer may say, “Early in my walk with the Lord my faith was a mile wide but only an inch deep.” That same Christian then goes on to describe how their faith grew deeper over the years. This is the purpose of the gospel. God intends the “good news” to produce faith that first saves us and then sanctifies us. This is the message of the book of Romans. In this letter, considered by many to be Paul’s greatest work, there is a vivid description of the deep and wide impact of the gospel. In this first installment, the letter is introduced and the question presented for each one of us, “How can the book of Romans cause my faith to be both deep and wide?"

The church is plagued with complacency. Anywhere you find complacency, you will find sin. Where there’s sin, light of world grows dim. What is the cure? How can the local body of Christ regain the purity that Christ died to establish? The answer is authentic Christian community; it’s the kind that the writer of Hebrews points to in chapter 10:24-25. It’s not easy to create, but it’s the only way that God’s people will once again become the shining city on a hill.

The world that the Church was birthed into was a world of normalized sexual immorality. It’s for that reason, in part, that so many of the lists of sins given in the New Testament begin with sexual immorality. Knowing that fornication and the like would be all around the Church, God made sure that His Body knew that sexual immorality wouldn’t be allowed in it. Fast forward to 2018, sexual immorality still plagues the church but there’s something much more subtle that is undermining the Spiritual health of the Bride of Christ. Let’s call it Secular Immorality. As we seek to consider what each of us, as sheep in the flock should expect of one another it is to this idea that we will shift our focus. Secular immorality is the sin in modern Christianity that removes God, practically, from every part of life. It is this tendency that we must help each other fight against as we seek to please God more and more.

There seems to be two kinds of leaders. Those who are too comfortable with leadership and those who are two uncomfortable. As the church, we have the responsibility of leading the way in finding the happy medium between these two extremes. There should always be a healthy fear in the heart of every leader that he or she would become domineering or autocratic. But there should also be a healthy fear of abdicating responsibility and allowing those who have not been called or commissioned to leadership to lead. It’s into this tension that the words of Hebrews 13 ring loud and clear. “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls.” As we continue our consideration of expectations within the church we turn our attention to the expectation that God’s Word gives for how the flock should follow their shepherds.

"Expectations kill relationships." You’ve probably heard someone make this claim. Yet, while expectations are often at the center of the breakdown in relationships, it isn’t always the expectations themselves that are to blame. When it comes to our relationships in the church, we need to first make sure that we have the right expectations of each other. This is nowhere more important than the expectations we have of leadership. In particular, the expectations that the church should have of its elders - the shepherds of the flock. Consider the admonition of Peter, “a fellow elder,” as he lays out for all of us, what the legitimate expectations should be.

A recent study by Barna showed that a breakdown in trust was responsible for two devastating realities. The first is that the number one reason people give for not attending church anymore is that they don't trust church leadership. The second is even more devastating. For those who claim to have rejected belief in God completely, a lack of trust in the local church is among the top three reasons why. For those still inside the church, a breakdown in trust often manifests in more subtle ways. Some example include relationships becoming strained, ministries functioning less effectively, and the joy of the Lord lacking. Whatever the outcome of its absence, trust is clearly important. So let's consider how we can be actively involved in building up rather than breaking down the trust that is the glue holding the Body of Christ together.

There is no greater indicator of the potential impact of a church than it’s view of God. The greater a church’s awe and wonder of God, the greater it’s impact for God. The fear of God removes the fear of man. Boldness in proclaiming and living out the Gospel is produced by an accurate understanding of God and obedience to His Lordship. This reminder is vital for any church that wants to begin or continue to grow in depth and in breadth. There are few passages in the Scripture that more perfectly describe all of this than Isaiah 40:9-31 which culminates in one of the greatest promises of the Bible, “those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and now faint.”

There is no greater indicator of the potential impact of a church than it’s view of God. The greater a church’s awe and wonder of God, the greater it’s impact for God. The fear of God removes the fear of man. Boldness in proclaiming and living out the Gospel is produced by an accurate understanding of God and obedience to His Lordship. This reminder is vital for any church that wants to begin or continue to grow in depth and in breadth. There are few passages in the Scripture that more perfectly describe all of this than Isaiah 40:9-31 which culminates in one of the greatest promises of the Bible, “those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and now faint.”

"Joy is the flag that flies over the castle of our hearts announcing that the king is in residence today.” These words were penned by Walter Knight to all Christians everywhere at every time. When Jesus is involved, there is joy. As we finish our study of the book of Philippians we look back over this letter that has oozed with joy and consider one more time, where is the joy? The answer shouldn’t surprise you. It’s in the Christian life.

The apostle Paul quoted Jesus as saying, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” This profound truth is the foundation of our calling as Christians to be generous. The church in Philippi was a generous church. Throughout the New Testament we read of this church actively seeking to bless Paul with material gifts and provision. They seem, however, to be the exception to the rule. Based on several descriptions in Philippians and other epistles, it appears that the Philippians stood alone at least in the extent to which they were generous. This generosity, however, should not be the exception. It should be the rule. A godly church is a generous church.

The apostle Paul claimed that he had learned to be content in "whatever situation" he was in. That may not immediately seem hard to believe until you understand what contentment is. Jeremiah Burroughs, in his classic work on contentment, "The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment" defines Christian contentment as, "that sweet, inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit, which freely submits to and delights in God's wise and fatherly disposal." Do you sweetly and inwardly, quietly and graciously, freely submit to AND delight in any and every situation? If not, be encouraged, neither did Paul. Not at first. He had to learn contentment. And so do you we. Let's consider the contentment of Paul and how we can learn to be content like him.

When you think about joy, you probably don't think about suffering. When you consider the grace of God, you probably don't think about persecution. Yet, in Philippians 1:29, the apostle Paul ties belief in Jesus and suffering for Jesus together as a package deal. It's not that God inflicts us supernaturally once we give our lives to Christ. Suffering is simply the normal result of a life lived "worthy of the gospel." "All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted," wrote Paul in II Timothy 3:12. But lest we think that this kind of suffering will rob our joy, think again. Suffering, too, for a follower of Christ, produces joy. "There was once a fiddler who played so beauitully that everybody danced. A deaf man who could not hear the music considered them all insane. Those who are with Jesus in suffering hear this music to which other men are deaf. They dance and do not care if they are considered insane." -Richard Wurmbrand, Spent 14 years in a Communist Romanian prison where he end

Interest groups abound. It doesn’t matter how obscure a person’s interest is, there is a group of people out there somewhere with the same interests. The google search “international association of” results in over 100 million websites. There’s even a union of international associations; Yep, an association for associations. This idea of common interest groups has even infiltrated the mindset of the church. There is a church in Southern California that in 2005 was reported as having 9 different worship venues. Another way to think of it is that the church was divided up into 9 distinct worship interest groups. Which begs a question. What is it that Christians should have in common in order to gather as a local church? Let’s find out as we continue through the book of Philippians.

Of all the emotions that human beings have, joy or happiness is the most sought after. Blaise Pascal, the famous Mathematician, Physicist and Theologian of the early 1600s observed, "All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. The will never takes the least step but to this object. This is the motive of every man, even of those who hang themselves." And yet, as important as it is, it is also the most elusive emotion for the vast majority of people in this world. For most people joy is fleeting. But this should not be the case for the Christian. As we begin our verse by verse study through the book of Philippians, the first thing we need to consider is that joy should be a defining characteristic of the life of a follower of Christ.

The fork in the road. It's a metaphor that describes the times in our lives where one decision will lead us in one of two very different directions. This same idea applies to human history. There are events that have forever divided the path that humanity has taken. The events of Genesis 4 describe one such fork in the road. Two men, Cain and Abel, take very different paths and the paths they take become those that every human being will take. One path is the life of faith. The other is the existence of unbelief. One is taken by most people. The other is chosen by few. Let's consider this fork in the road and how the sons of Adam and Eve became examples for us all.

One of the most profound lies that modern humanity has swallowed - hook, line, and sinker - is that human beings are fundamentally good. This, of course, flies in the face of the evidence all around us. In order, then, to perpetuate this lie, an explanation must be given for why it doesn’t seem like humanity is fundamentally good. The most common secular explanation for this apparent contradiction is that men and women do bad things because of external forces at work like oppression, suppression and injustice, just to name a few. Remove or change the external realities, it is proposed, and humanity will return to it’s natural “good” self. We come to Genesis 3, however, and we find the beginning of a very different explanation for why humanity does evil things: We are fallen. It’s the best explanation we have, of course, because it’s God’s explanation. And guess what? We got ourselves into this mess. But although the Fall is humanity’s own fault, God doesn’t expect us to get ourselves out of it. He will. For w

What is a person's gender? Until very recently in human history this question had a simple answer. It is still the case when one looks up the definition. Merriam-Webster, for example, states that gender is "a: SEX - the feminine gender; b: the behavioral, cultural, or psychological traits typically associated with one sex." Understood from this definition, gender is understood as synonymous with the titles, "male" and "female". In other words, there are two genders. Now enter the question, "How many genders are there?" into your favorite search engine. That question does not produce such a simple answer. In fact, even the first page of answers produced by the most popular search engine cannot agree on a number. One says 63, another, says 51. There are even those who claim that the number of genders has now exceeded 100. Into all of this confusion we need the input of God's timeless revelation. After all, God is the one who created male and female. He established gender. Perhaps we need to go back to the begin