"Walk This Way" - Doug Rehberg

This Sunday we begin a new series entitled “Walk This Way”. It will be a relatively short series. It will roughly parallel the Children’s Ministry Orange curriculum used this summer for VBS and children’s small groups that profile the Apostle Paul’s walk with Jesus.

But this week we begin back in a familiar text – Micah 6:6-8.

“With what shall I come before the Lord,
    and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
    with calves a year old?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
    with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
    the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”
He has told you, O man, what is good;
    and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
    and to walk humbly with your God?”

It’s about walking humbly with the Lord that is our focus this Sunday.

In August 2006 Dave Chilcoat, a distant friend and mentor to many, died of Lou Gehrig’s disease – ALS. He was 58 years old when he died. He had been diagnosed just three years earlier. In the view of most he died a young man, but in terms of spiritual maturity he died an old, wise sage. He knew what God’s answer in Micah 6:8 was all about, because he lived it; especially in those final three years. He knew what it meant to humble himself before the Lord and walk with him. Near the end of my message on Sunday I will refer to the journal he wrote throughout his ALS years. His wife published it a few years after his death under the title – Nobody Tells a Dying Guy to Shut Up. In preparation for Sunday’s message, I would encourage you to Google: “Dave Chilcoat God’s Man” and listen to his own words. They were recorded in the final months of his life. They’re not long – only 8 minutes and 24 seconds. After you watch and listen you may wish to consider the following:

1. What is the nature of the scene in Micah 6?
2. What is God’s problem with His people Israel?
3. What does the Hebrew translation of verse 8 mean? “Humble yourselves and walk with your God?”
4. How are we to humble ourselves?
5. In what way does humbling yourself correspond to Jesus’ first “blessed” in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5)?
6. What does Paul mean in Romans 3:10-12? Who is he talking about?
7. What does the Lord mean in II Corinthians 12:9 when He answers Paul’s plea?
8. What does Paul mean in I Corinthians 8:2 when he speaks of our lack of understanding?
9. How well does what Jesus says to Peter in John 13:7 apply to what He says to you and me?
10. How is a humble walk an exciting walk?

See you Sunday around the table.

"Pentecostal Power" - Ken Wagoner

It was five years ago on Pentecost Sunday when I was invited to preach at Hebron on a Sunday morning. Please know I am not surprised or disappointed if you don’t remember anything I said that day.    

I remember as a young Christian thirsting to read the Bible for the first time in a serious manner, and reading about people speaking in tongues. I had no idea what this was talking about, and thought what’s the big deal! Everybody uses their tongue to speak. I also told you my first experience with someone who experienced God in different ways than I ever heard. That person was my barber, and while he was holding a pair of scissors at the back of my neck he began to tell me the blessing of receiving the Holy Spirit. He believed I should receive the gift of tongues at that moment. He locked the door to the shop, closed the blinds, and prayed in a mixture of English and some other language I did not know. After 10 minutes of nothing happening to me I thanked him for caring for me, but did not believe I was going to receive that gift on that particular day. That was also the last time I went to him as my barber. Fairly or unfairly, I have been influenced by this experience. For Christians who are more inclined to receive and experience the miraculous gifts of God, Pentecost Sunday is one of their high marks of the year. For Christians who hold a more reserved view, Pentecost Sunday is probably not too much different than most other Sundays.  

This past fall you had a series from the Old Testament titled, “Divine Exposure.” Remember these titles: “Awakening, Whirlwind, Voice, Wrestler, General, Torah, Laugh, Cry, Prayer, Altar, Son, Seed, Song, Sight.” You looked at different ways God revealed himself to his people, and each of these encounters pointed to someone even greater who was yet to come. We know this one was Jesus.

In Acts 2 we read of “a sound like a rushing wind, tongues of fire resting on each person, and people speaking in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.” I am guessing not many of us have had this type of experience in our past.  In what ways do these experiences point us to Jesus, the one who has come and continues to work in our hearts and lives? In other parts of the New Testament we read of a “dove appearing, buildings shaking, and earthquakes rumbling.” The scriptures are full of events where God acts in dramatic, uncustomary, fresh, and extraordinary outpourings of the Holy Spirit. I would also guess most of us at some time in our lives have wondered why we don’t experience things like this on a regular basis? Are we missing these today? And can we be so intense in looking for these extraordinary outpourings of the Holy Spirit, we may miss God’s miraculous work in our lives in other ways?

Here are some questions for you to look at in preparation for this Sunday:

1. Pentecost was one of the Jewish feast days, only they didn’t call it Pentecost. That’s the Greek name.  Jew called it the Feast of Harvest or the Feast of Weeks. It is mentioned in Exodus 23 and 24, Numbers 28, and Deuteronomy 16. Why do you think God decided to dramatically intervene on this day as recorded in Acts 2?
2. Can you think of times in church history when God poured out His Holy Spirit in extraordinary ways? What happened during these times, and what was accomplished?
3. In what ways do we see a fulfillment of Genesis 12:1-3 in the Acts 2:1-13 passage?
4. In John 16 - 18 Jesus gives a long teaching before He dies about our dependency on and relationship with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. What in these chapters is extraordinary, uncustomary, dramatic, and fresh?

"From Mercenary to Mother" - Doug Rehberg

This week I read about a father and son who were out walking in the woods when they came across a stray dog. After checking for tags, the father said, “You know son, we’d better take this little guy home with us, because it doesn’t look like he’s got one.” So, carefully the little boy picked him up and carried him all the way home. Once inside the house the father said, “Well son, what do you think we should name him?” And before his son could answer, his wife chimed in, “Why don’t you name him ‘Mother’, because if he stays, I go.”

Now that’s a real threat. I mean dads are important, but moms are essential. I remember a number of years ago when a prison system in the south offered free Mother’s Day cards and free Father’s Day cards for any inmate who wanted to send them. Within two days, 10,000 Mother’s Day cards were requested and no Father’s Day cards.

As we have learned over the years God has numerous names in the Scripture from Elohim to Alpha and Omega. But there’s one name that is particularly rich and well-used and that’s the name El Shaddai. It’s used over two hundred times in the Old Testament and each time it’s translated, “God Almighty”.

Now on the face of it, it seems that this divine name implies strength and muscle. But when you examine the Hebrew word Shaddai, you find that it doesn’t mean muscle, it means breast. Shad in Hebrew means breast. Now think of it. When God shows up, it’s at the point of Abram’s greatest despair. And how does He come? As Elohim? No. He comes as El Shaddai, the God of rest and nourishment. And when you examine the other four places in the Book of Genesis where El Shaddai appears, you find the need of Isaac and Jacob is just as great as Abram’s. What they need is not might. What they need is nourishment. And that’s what God provides each of them.

You know who shows us the clearest view of the attributes of God? Jesus. We see Him doing that in John 21 in His encounter with Peter on the beach after his three-fold failure. We see Him doing the same with Mary at the tomb and Thomas behind closed doors in Jerusalem the night of the resurrection.

But perhaps more than any other New Testament figure we see the Shad of God being most transformative in the life of the Apostle Paul. This Sunday we are going to dig into the opening lines of his final epistle – II Timothy. It’s here that we find some of the clearest evidence of Paul’s radical change from a religious mercenary who’s hell-bent on stamping out Christianity to a man whose heart is as soft and sensitive as any on display in the New Testament. As we will see on Sunday in the span of thirty years from his Damascus Road experience Paul goes from a religious mercenary to a faithful, spiritual mother.

In preparation for Sunday you may wish to consider the following:

1. What would you say is Jesus’ view of women?
2. Would you consider His view of women to be in step or out of step with the culture of Orthodox Judaism of the time?
3. Can you site examples from the Gospels of how Jesus treated women in an uncommon manner?
4. On whose authority does Saul of Tarsus (Paul) head to Damascus to arrest followers of Christ? (see Acts 8 & 9)
5. How accurate is it to refer to Saul/Paul as a religious mercenary prior to his conversion?
6. How does Paul demonstrate a tremendous shift of heart in his final words to Timothy in II Timothy 1:1-7?
7. What does he mean when he says he serves God with a clear conscience, “as my ancestors did” in verse 3?
8. What does he mean in verse 4 when he says, “As I remember your tears, I long to see you, that I may be filled with joy”?
9. What role do Eunice and Lois have in Timothy’s faith?
10. How does Paul show Timothy and us Jesus in this text?

See you Sunday!

"Our Family" - Doug Rehberg

We come to the end of our series, “Full Disclosure” this week. It’s been a wonderful journey through a book that’s often been labeled hard and difficult. However, our journey has been exciting for so many, including me. Until this series Hebrews was a book I read, but never grasped the way I do now. And I must not be alone, because literally scores of people have told me how much the Lord has spoken to them through our study.

This week we revisit the final verses of this sermon that Scott so masterfully exposited last week. Remember his points regarding Jesus as our Shepherd? He’s eternal, He’s personal, and He equips us with everything we need to get home unscathed. And it’s that last point that I want to explore further this week.

Remember the question – “If God loves me why is my life so hard?” Remember the answer – “Your life is a long journey and the only way you will make it home without even more pain and discontentment is to fix your eyes on Jesus, the Author and the Finisher of our faith.” And the way the preacher encourages us to do that is by giving us more than a dozen individual portraits of Jesus as the full disclosure of God.

At the end of his message the preacher draws on one of the richest themes of Scripture to describe Jesus and every Christian. He uses the portrait of a shepherd with his flock of sheep. In 13:20 the preacher calls Jesus, “The great shepherd of the sheep.” In doing so he uses a word that he uses in chapter 3 when he says, “But exhort one another every day.” In chapter 13 he says, “I appeal to you, brothers, bear with my word of exhortation…” The word is perakaleo in Greek and it’s one of the most powerful words ever used to describe one of the gifts of the Shepherd to the sheep. The gift is other sheep who act as shepherds speaking into our lives.

A few years ago David Wilkie wrote a book entitled, Coffee with Jesus. It’s sort of Jesus “with an edge”. In it Wilkie has a dialogue between landscaper Carl and Jesus about Carl’s wife, Lisa.

Carl: “Lisa wants me to take her to the opera, Jesus! What could suck more than that? Ugggh! The opera!”

Jesus: “Lisa hides well her hatred of football, Carl, even when you insist on watching ten hours of it on Sundays.”

Carl: “Lisa hates football? But she sits there and watches with me and never complains.”

Jesus: “I love watching it sink in, Carl.”

Sometimes those “in your face” moments come as we pray, or as we read the Bible, but often they come from others (shepherds) who love us. I remember one time confessing a sin to a mentor of mine. After I confessed, I said something like, I was surprised that I had done it. He replied, “You wouldn’t have been so surprised if you didn’t have such a high opinion of yourself.” Touché.

That’s what we are going to talk about this Sunday – the role of other under shepherds in our lives. In chapter 13 the preacher called them “leaders”. In chapter 3 he calls them “one another”. The point is this: If you are a Christian and you have no one with whom you confide, turn to for advice, ask for a critique, listen for wisdom, take off your masks; you’re in deep weeds. Your walk in this world requires shepherding and Jesus mostly gives it through your brothers and sisters in Christ.

In preparation for Sunday’s message, “Our Family”, you may wish to consider the following:

1. Consider the theme running through Hebrews 3:13; 10:24-25; and 13:17-25.
2. Who are some of the shepherds named in Scripture?
3. How many different names of God are associated with the name “Shepherd”?
4. What do you know about sheep? Is it a compliment or a criticism to be called a sheep of His flock?
5. What does Jesus mean when He tells Peter three times to feed or tend His sheep?
6. How does Jesus fulfill His promise to never leave or forsake us through “undershepherds?”
7. Why does the preacher attribute the role of “exhorting” to leaders as well as other sheep?
8. What does exhortation/parakaleo mean?
9. What are the dangers in shepherding?
10. What are the fruits of effective shepherding?

See you Sunday!

"Our Shepherd" - Scott Parsons

The Lord is my Shepherd

In Psalm 23 David calls the Lord his shepherd.  What is significant to me about that is not so much David’s recognition of God as a shepherd, but his own willingness to consider himself a sheep!  Phillip Keller, in his beautiful book “A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23”, describes sheep as being senseless, helpless and defenseless.  It is significant that David the king, who knew sheep well, would be willing to approach God admitting that he was senseless, helpless and defenseless.

Sunday we are going to be looking at Hebrews 13:20-22 which describes Jesus as our Shepherd.  But it is meaningless to think of Jesus as our shepherd if we are unwilling or unable to acknowledge that we are the sheep!  The peace and joy that comes from resting in the hands of Jesus only becomes a reality when we let go of every pretense of self-sufficiency and humbly and gratefully admit that before God we are senseless, helpless and defenseless.

The key question throughout this series has been, “If Jesus loves me why is my life so hard?”  

Sunday we will consider the reality that much of the pain, struggle and despair of living in a sinful world pass away when willingly place our lives in the hands of the Shepherd.  Consider these things as you prepare for worship on Sunday:

1. Do you acknowledge your need of a Shepherd?
2. How much do you need Jesus?  Do you need/turn to him for everything, or just for the things you feel you can’t handle by yourself?
3. Are you willing to be led by the Shepherd, allowing him to determine what you need, what you should do and where you should go?
4. What areas of your life have you been unwilling to surrender to the Shepherd?  Your work? Finances?  Family?  Your thought life?  Recreations?

Think and pray about these things as we consider together the role of Jesus as our Shepherd.

"Our City" - Doug Rehberg

I once had a professor of English literature, Dr. Delvin Covey, who was intimidating to many. Not only did he hold several advanced degrees, he knew several languages other than English. He had been a translator from President Roosevelt at Yalta. He had been a deep sea demolition expert. He was a playwright with productions on Broadway and CBS. It was a joy to sit under his erudition.

Several of his statements have stuck with me over the decades. When a student would stand to make a point that was weak or off-target, he would stare at them for the longest time and then say, “Let’s move on before we have time to contemplate that last statement.” But there was another lasting “Coveyism” that came to mind for me this week as I was preparing Sunday’s message from Hebrews 11:13-16 and 13:10-16 – “Our City”.

Here in this text the preacher of Hebrews talks about the tension every follower of Jesus has in navigating the city of this world and the city of God. His point is clear – every true Christian is a resident alien of the city of this world, while at the same time a citizen of the city of God.

Now over the last 200 years many Christians in America have sought to relieve this tension by either separating themselves from the world or by fully conforming to it. For the one, the sectarians, their motto is “Come out from among them and be separate.” For the conformists it’s, “We’re all children of God no matter what you believe.”

But the preacher argues against both extremes. In fact, what he says is exactly what the Lord tells a group of worn and weary God-fearers hundreds of years earlier. And here’s where the “Coveyism” comes in.

It’s one of the most famous promises of Scripture, cited by millions of Christians. It’s Jeremiah 29:11. In fact, many of us know a dear brother at Hebron who has that verse “memorialized” on his car’s Pennsylvania license plate. Remember the promise? “For I know the plan I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

Now every time Dr. Covey heard someone offer a quote from some famous writer, he’d ask, “What else did they say?” In other words, “What else do you know about the author or his intentions?” No more perfect question could be asked of Jeremiah 29:11. What’s the context for the promise? What else is the Lord saying here?

You know what the answer reveals? The same truth the preacher is holding before us this week. Remember the question? “If God loves me, why is my life so hard?” And the answer is always the same: “Life is a journey and the only way you’re going to get home unscathed is by fixing your eyes on Jesus.” This week the preacher shows us that Jesus is our city. Even in the midst of being a  resident of the city of this world He calls us to remember our citizenship and love like Jesus loved.

In preparation for Sunday you may wish to consider the following:

1. Which side of the tension do you find yourself normally defaulting to – escapism or conformity?
2. What is the context of Jeremiah 29:11?
3. What is a resident alien?
4. How is the church, the Body of Christ, a foretaste of the future city of God?
5. What was Abraham and the other heroes of the faith looking for? (see Hebrews 11:10)
6. What is the preacher talking about in 13:15 when he encourages us to “continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God”?
7. How does the preacher use the example of Jesus in 13:12-13 to exhort us to offer up a sacrifice of praise?
8. How does chapter 13 prove again that the indicative is the power necessary for the imperative?
9. How does he call us to live as citizens of the city of God here in the city of this world?
10. How does that change your life, your attitude, and your commitment to Jesus and those He loves?

See you Sunday!

"Our Grace" - Doug Rehberg

Back in January, in the third sermon in this series, “Full Disclosure”, I mentioned a quote from A.W. Tozer, a deceased Christian and Missionary Alliance pastor who famously preached and wrote scores of books throughout his 40+ years of ministry.

In 1963, near the end of his life, Tozer was asked what he thought of modern preaching in America. He replied, “I have suffered through many a dull and tedious sermon that took aim at nothing and hit it every time. But let me tell you, no sermon is like that when the preacher is showing me the beauty of Jesus.”

That’s what the preacher of Hebrews has been showing us over the past four months. The question is, “If God loves me, why is my life so hard?” The answer throughout this sermon is: “Fix your eyes on Jesus, the Author and the Finisher of your faith.” Indeed, it often takes the difficulties of life to do just that!

This morning I was reading Psalm 138, a Psalm of Thanksgiving to the Lord, written by David a thousand years before the death and resurrection of Jesus. In the last two verses he says, “Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life; you stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and your right hand delivers me.” Then he adds, “The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love (hesed), O Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the works of your hands.”

Derek Kindner, one of the great biblical scholars of our day, in commenting on verse 8, recalls the way the Old King James Version renders it: “The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me.” What a great picture that is! But Kidner doesn’t comment on David’s last statement. He seems to be issuing a command to God when he says, “Don’t forsake the works of your hands.” In other words, “I’m trusting you to never stop working on me!” And that’s exactly what the preacher of Hebrews tells us God is doing at the conclusion of chapter 12 and throughout chapter 13.

But there’s another way in which David’s words are used by the preacher as he closes his sermon. What he’s saying to these poor persecuted Christians is, “Don’t you forsake the works of His hands which is the community in which He has placed you.” For twelve chapters he’s shown us in vivid detail the beauty of Jesus. He does for us what Helen Lemmel wrote about so many years ago. He’s turned our eyes upon Jesus. He’s enabled us to look full in His glorious face. And many of us have found that the things of earth have looked strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. But this week he gives us another angle from which to see Jesus – “OUR GRACE”. Chapter 13 marks a great divide in this sermon. The preacher moves from what is called “the indicative” to “the imperative”. 

For twelve chapters he’s told us the Gospel – all that Jesus has done for us. In this final chapter he’s telling us how we should, therefore, respond to it; how we should live. The beauty of the preacher’s message is that he doesn’t jump to the imperative like most modern preachers. The buzzword among many modern Christians in America today is, “Just give me the application!” But without a solid exposition of who Jesus is and what He has done, there is no sound application, only moralistic quips.

The preacher doesn’t do that. He bases his final exhortation on the work Jesus never ceases to apply to the life of the Christian. Indeed, it is His never-ending grace that produces the fruit of the Spirit in our lives.

In preparation for Sunday’s message from Hebrews 12:28-13:9 that builds on Hebrews 3:1-6, you may wish to consider the following:

1. What other places in the New Testament can you cite where the indicative precedes the imperative?
2. What’s the danger in focusing on the imperative without properly understanding the indicative?
3. How does the chapter break between chapters 12 & 13 interfere with the preacher’s message?
4. How does verse 29 of chapter 12 relate to 13:1?
5. How do our “brotherly love” and our “hospitality to strangers” demonstrate divine fire?
6. Why would verses 1-4 be so radical to those first century hearers?
7. How are money, sex, and power redefined for the Christian?
8. Do you agree with this statement?  “If you come to a worship service, or a Bible study, or a Grove, but don’t give up your privacy and get deeply, intensely connected with other believers, then you are a part of a Christian club, not a community of faith. And you’re not going to be shaped. The empowering presence of God is not going to work through you as He would in community.”
9. How do you read verse 5? What’s the nature of Jesus’ promise cited here?
10. How does the cross of Christ and His resurrection make verses 1-5 possible?

See you with the family on Sunday!