20120129 Running for the Prize

Posted on January 31, 2012 by Deacon Zell

Wednesday, January 29, 2012

Pastor Matt McFarland

Open your Bible and follow along.

Verses referenced in this teaching:

Philippians 3:12-13 12Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.

13Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,

1 Corinthians 10:12   12Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.

Galatians 6:3   3For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.

Philippians 3:12-13  12Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.

13Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,

Hebrews 12:1-2  1Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

2Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Philippians 3:14  14I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

2 Timothy 4:6-7  6For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.

7I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:

Philippians 3:15-16   15Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.

16Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.

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20120125 Jesus Heals the Man Born Blind

Posted on January 25, 2012 by Deacon Zell

 

Wednesday Jan.  25, 2012 (Wednesday’s Q & A)

 

Bishop Bill McFarland

Please open your Bible and follow along.

Verses referenced in this teaching:

Revelation 3:14-18  14And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; 15I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. 16So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. 17Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: 18I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.

John 9 (complete chapter)  1And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. 2And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? 3Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. 4I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. 5As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

John 6:28   28Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?

Revelation 3:19   19As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

 

 

 

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20120118 Parables of Jesus

Posted on January 25, 2012 by Deacon Zell

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Pastor Matt McFarland

Open your Bible and follow along.

Verses referenced in this teaching:

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20120122 Statement of Faith

Posted on January 25, 2012 by Deacon Zell

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Pastor Matt McFarland

Open your Bible and follow along.

Verses referenced in this teaching:

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20120115 Your Faith (System of Believing)

Posted on January 20, 2012 by Deacon Zell

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Pastor Matt McFarland

Open your Bible and follow along.

Verses referenced in this teaching:
James 1:27
27Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

James 1:22-25
22But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
23For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:
24For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
25But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

Matthew 7:21
21Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

Luke 6:46
46And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?

1 Corinthian 16:1-2
1Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye.

2Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.

James 1:27 c
and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

1 John 1:7-9
27Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

1 Corinthians 10:13
13There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

John 14:6
6Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Romans 4:5
5But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.

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20120108 Who do you think you are?

Posted on January 10, 2012 by Deacon Zell

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Pastor Matt McFarland

Open your Bible and follow along.

Verses referenced in this teaching:

1 Corinthians 2:14
14But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Romans 3:10-12
10As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:

11There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.

12They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

Ephesians 2:1-3
1And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;

2Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

3Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

1 Corinthians 1:18
18For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

1 Corinthians 2:15-16
15But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.  16For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? but we have the mind of Christ.

1 Corinthians 2:12-13
12Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.  13Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

Galatians 5:16-17
16This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.  
17For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

1 Corinthians 3:1
1And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.

Ephesians 6:13-17
13Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

14Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;

15And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

16Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

17And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

1 Corinthians 3:2-7
2I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.

3For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?

4For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?

5Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?

6I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.

7So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.

 

 

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20120101 Meaningful Resolution

Posted on January 7, 2012 by Deacon Zell

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Pastor Matt McFarland

Open your Bible and follow along.

Verses referenced in this teaching:

2nd Kings 7:3-8  3And there were four leprous men at the entering in of the gate: and they said one to another, Why sit we here until we die?  4If we say, We will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there: and if we sit still here, we die also. Now therefore come, and let us fall unto the host of the Syrians: if they save us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die.  5And they rose up in the twilight, to go unto the camp of the Syrians: and when they were come to the uttermost part of the camp of Syria, behold, there was no man there.  6For the LORD had made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots, and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great host: and they said one to another, Lo, the king of Israel hath hired against us the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us.  7Wherefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents, and their horses, and their asses, even the camp as it was, and fled for their life.  8And when these lepers came to the uttermost part of the camp, they went into one tent, and did eat and drink, and carried thence silver, and gold, and raiment, and went and hid it; and came again, and entered into another tent, and carried thence also, and went and hid it.

Mark 12:28-34  28And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all?  29And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:  30And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.  31And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.  32And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he:  33And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.  34And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question.

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A Drop in the Bucket

Posted on January 5, 2012 by Deacon Zell

Saying:

A Drop in the Bucket

 Meaning:

A very small proportion of the whole.

From Isaiah 40:15:
“Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance:  behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.”

Drop – in its original sense of distillation, as in drop of water.

Bucket – This is the only usage of the word ‘bucket’, and it mean ‘a pail or jar for drawing water’.

Dust of the balance; of equals “on” , balance meaning scale.
Therefore Dust on the balance (scale) means “not enough to matter”, like the grain dust on the scales at the market.

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Good Samaritan

Posted on December 31, 2011 by Deacon Zell

Saying:
Be a Good Samaritan

Origin:
Luke 10:24-35.

Meaning:
Someone who helps another in need, for compassionate reasons only and with no thought of reward.

Explanation: 
 30And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.  
This Jewish man, obviously in need of help, was passed by two upstanding members of the community, a priest and a Levite, but a Samaritan, which was hated by the Jews, stopped to help.

It really goes beyond just helping others in need without thought of repayment, Jesus makes it clear that to be a “good Samaritan” is to even do this for your enemies.

Many know the story of the Samaritan in Luke 10, but for more information on why there was so much hatred between the Jews and Samaritans, read on.

Hatred between Jews and Samaritans was fierce and long-standing. In some ways, it dated all the way back to the days of the patriarchs. Jacob (or Israel) had twelve sons, whose descendants became twelve tribes. Joseph, his favorite, was despised by the other brothers (Gen. 37:3-4), and they attempted to do away with him.

But God intervened and not only preserved Joseph’s life, but used him to preserve the lives of the entire clan. Before his death, Jacob gave Joseph a blessing in which he called him a “fruitful bough by a well” (Gen. 49:22). The blessing was fulfilled, as the territory allotted to the tribes of Joseph’s two sons, Ephraim (“doubly fruitful”) and Manasseh, was the fertile land that eventually became Samaria.

Later, Israel divided into two kingdoms. The northern kingdom, called Israel, established its capital first at Shechem, a revered site in Jewish history, and later at the hilltop city of Samaria.

In 722 B.C. Assyria conquered Israel and took most of its people into captivity. The invaders then brought in Gentile colonists “from Babylon, Cuthah, Ava, Hamath, and from Sepharvaim” (2 Kin. 17:24) to resettle the land. The foreigners brought with them their pagan idols, which the remaining Jews began to worship alongside the God of Israel (2 Kin. 17:29-41). Intermarriages also took place (Ezra 9:1-10:44; Neh. 13:23-28).

Meanwhile, the southern kingdom of Judah fell to Babylon in 600 B.C. Its people, too, were carried off into captivity. But 70 years later, a remnant of 43,000 was permitted to return and rebuild Jerusalem. The people who now inhabited the former northern kingdom—the Samaritans—vigorously opposed the repatriation and tried to undermine the attempt to reestablish the nation. For their part, the full-blooded, monotheistic Jews detested the mixed marriages and worship of their northern cousins. So walls of bitterness were erected on both sides and did nothing but harden for the next 550 years.

There are countless modern parallels to the Jewish-Samaritan enmity—indeed, wherever peoples are divided by racial and ethnic barriers. Perhaps that’s why the Gospels and Acts provide so many instances of Samaritans coming into contact with the message of Jesus. It is not the person from the radically different culture on the other side of the world that is hardest to love, but the nearby neighbor whose skin color, language, rituals, values, ancestry, history, and customs are different from one’s own.

Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans. With whom do you have no dealings’

Ref:
Bible.org
The Word in Life Study Bible, New Testament Edition, (Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville; 1993), pp. 340-341


 

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20111218 The Birth of Christ

Posted on December 22, 2011 by Deacon Zell

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Pastor Matt McFarland

Open your Bible and follow along.

The following verses are referenced:

Genesis 22:6-8 (Prophesy of Jesus’ sacrifice)  6And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.  7And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?  8And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.

Micah 5:2  (place of birth) 2But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.

Matthew 2:1-6  (Wise Men/magi)  1Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,  2Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.  3When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.  4And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born.  5And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet,  6And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.

While Caesar was ruling, God was ‘over’ ruling!

Philippians 2:5-8 (made himself of no reputation)  5Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:  6Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:  7But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:  8And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Micah 4:8 (tower of the flock/sacrificial lamb)  8And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem.

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