Sunday sermon [Text]

Sunday Sermon
 
 
  Habakkuk 2:1 I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.
Habakkuk 2:2 And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.
Habakkuk 2:3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.
 
 
Links to my sites here and the bottom of every post- Most updated at bottom.

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 4-8-23 Small world  https://youtu.be/NZb9YeR05xo

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4tlln147xboz4fy/4-8-23%20It%27s%20a%20small%20world%20after%20all.mp4?dl=0

4-8-23 It’s a small world after all.mp4

Sunday sermon videos-
 
https://youtu.be/smTOw7EJSjY
https://www.facebook.com/john.chiarello.5/videos/10205026402177950/ 
https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aocp2PkNEAGMhBp1wgu7lU34dS_Z
https://www.dropbox.com/s/0wagjiywi1hbl43/11-11-18%20Sunday%20sermon.mp4?dl=0 
 
  NOTE-
Church Unlimited- Mass – https://youtu.be/DiRNv2hp3aU
https://ccoutreach87.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/5-28-17-c-u-mass.zip
https://ccoutreach87.com/5-28-17-c-u-mass/ 
 
[I talked from the verses used in the Sunday Mass- and the verses from Church Unlimited]
 
 I added the above videos at the time I made this post. Overall I tried to challenge some of our mind sets about the ‘End Times’ and how 20th [and 21st] century Evangelicals look at these passages. The Mass readings for this date did cover some of the more popular passages about the End Times. Some [most?] might disagree with the perspective I tried to talk about- and that’s ok. The main point I was trying to make was End Times teachings should be seen in the light of the overall redemptive purposes of God. Revelation [the book] is a beautiful picture of Christ and the Church. And yes- there are passages about ‘violence’ how the Word ‘slays’ people- but in a redemptive context- yes- the Word of God- and those who submit to the Lordship of Christ- are ‘put to death’- or ‘buried with him in death/baptism’ so these perspectives are what I tried to share on the video- For those who want to go deeper into the end times and different ways Christians have viewed these passages- just Google Preterism- partial Preterism- and you can see a different perspective rooted in scripture as well. I am not a ‘full Preterist’ meaning I do believe in the literal 2nd coming of Christ and the future resurrection to come- but some of their ideas are worth listening to-
John
 
Here are a few links I just found- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preterism
https://www.ligonier.org/blog/preterist-approach-revelation-unfolding-biblical-eschatology/ 
 
ON VIDEO- [Past posts below]
.Ascension Sunday
.Cathedral city
.We are the 2nd book- Bishop Mulvey
.Dead words versus life in the Spirit [manifested thru us- the Logos made flesh once again]
.Tertullian ‘Have we chased God into a book’?https://www.britannica.com/biography/Tertullian 
.Gnostic writing in the first few centuries
.Pseudepigraphy https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pseudepigraphy 
.Life in community
.Logos
.Watch Tower
.Theresa of Avila http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=208 
.Catholic Mystics
.Contemplative prayer
.Hebrews- James- context
.Paul and James
.Faith and works
Correction- On the video I mentioned a quote/book from Theresa of Avila- the book was called ‘The Interior Castle’ written in 1588 – the quote I used was ‘Cathedral of the mind’.
 
 
 
PAST POSTS- [Past teaching I did that relates to today’s post- Verses below]
 
https://ccoutreach87.com/galatians-links/
https://ccoutreach87.com/hebrews-updated-2015/https://ccoutreach87.com/hebrews-updated-2015/
https://ccoutreach87.com/romans-updated-2015/
https://ccoutreach87.com/james-2015/ 
https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/06/01/acts-13/ 
 
CHAPTER 11: [see commentary on Acts 21]
END NOTES-
JUSTIFIED BY FAITH.
TORTURED- BY FAITH?
REJECTED MONEY- BY FAITH?
THEY ALL WAITED FOR THE CITY- THE CHURCH.
 
 
‘Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, FOR BY IT THE ELDERS OBTAINED A GOOD REPORT [JUSTIFIED]’ This is the key verse to the chapter. Paul will go on to prove that all the Old Testament figures that ‘pleased God’ did it by faith, and not by works! ‘Through faith WE UNDERSTAND that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear’ Faith is not ‘blind’. It informs and gives understanding. This understanding is real! Let me show you what I mean. All of the universe and creation had a beginning point. Science did not always know or believe this. Today science teaches this. It is called ‘the point of singularity/density’. Science has traced back the origins of all things and has found scientific evidence to prove that all things had a ‘beginning point’. Now if you were to ask science ‘what did you have right before the beginning point’? They are stumped. Some of course believe in God and will boldly proclaim him at this point. To the others they can not answer this question. Why? Because they realize, thru science, that matter is not infinite.
 
Some have theorized that either all things always existed [which science has now disproved] or that at one point nothing existed [which science also teaches that if this were true then you would have nothing today. You can not get something from nothing!] So all true science has gone back to this ‘point of singularity’ and can not see what is right before ‘the point’. The Christian ‘sees’ God at this point! He ‘understands’ that by necessity there has to have been something that existed before creation, science teaches this. This something can not have been created also, because then where did the ‘being’ who created ‘it’ come from? So science teaches us that whoever got the ball rolling [Saint Thomas Aquinas calls this the ‘prime mover’] had to have been preexistent/ self existent in order to have done it. And we know that creation couldn’t have done it by itself, so therefore all reasoning and understanding leave us at the philosophical point of ‘there had to have been something/someone who existed forever in order for anything to be today’. So now you see how ‘by faith we understand that all things that now exist were brought into existence by someone who we can not see’. FAITH UNDERSTANDS!
 
As we go thru the rest of this chapter I want you to focus in on all the references of justification by faith. You will be surprised [I think?] on how many examples Paul gives to Israel from their own history [his too!] on God justifying people by faith. I will also try and show you [if I remember] how this chapter links the division between Paul’s epistles to the gentiles [Romans, Galatians] with James letter to the Jews. James was one of the lead Apostles at Jerusalem [Acts 15] and the Judaizers who were always accusing Paul of preaching grace in a way that justified sin, they came out of Jerusalem. James and Paul were rivals in a sense. James had the difficult job of overseeing the Church at Jerusalem, who had all the Pharisees who believed, while Paul was preaching this radical message of grace. This is why James’s letter [book of James] focused so much on faith and works. James was seeing the Genesis 22 account of Abraham’s justification when he offered Isaac on the altar. James will say ‘see how Abraham was justified by his works’. While in Paul’s letters he focuses on the Genesis 15 account of Abraham believing God and being made righteous. James was not contradicting Paul; he was showing the actual outcome of the life of a person who was previously justified by faith. James was saying ‘When God made Abraham righteous [Gen 15] he later actually became what God made him!’ [Gen. 22].
 
Now when Abraham would later do righteous things, he only did them because he previously had faith in Gods promise. But the fact still remains that when Abraham did a righteous act, God still justified him [in a sense, God has the prerogative to say ‘good job son, I am pleased with you’ so this can be described as an act/function of justification]. Well, now that I already showed you all this, I guess I wont have to remember telling it to you later. The point is in this chapter Paul will go down and show all these examples of Jewish leaders acting by faith and doing righteous deeds. This sort of bridges the gap between the strong emphasis on faith in Paul’s letters, with the strong emphasis on works in James letter. Paul is telling Israel ‘yes, all the old saints did do good works that pleased God, but they did them by faith!’ ‘Faith without works is dead’ [James]. So in a sense this single chapter bridges one of the key divisions in the early church between Jerusalem and Antioch [Acts 13 and 15]. Note; I believe all the chapter references above are correct, I write all this from memory so you might want to go back and double check the references. I know all the stories are right.
 
‘By FAITH Able offered …by which he obtained witness that he was RIGHTEOUS…by FAITH Enoch was translated…he had this testimony that he PLEASED GOD…without FAITH it is impossible to PLEASE HIM [all these ‘please him’ references are like saying ‘being justified’ when a person is justified by God, God sees him as acceptable, pleasing. ‘Thou art my beloved son in whom I am well PLEASED’ God to Jesus!] By faith Noah… prepared an ark to the SAVING of his house…and became heir to the RIGHTEOUSNESS WHICH IS BY FAITH [wow, he makes this one real plain] By faith Abraham…went out into a strange land…and sojourned’ interesting, both the aspect of ‘going out to a new land’ and ‘staying in it when you get there’ are both functions of faith. Let me throw in some practical stuff here. Over the years of ‘doing ministry’ I have seen and been a partaker of both of these experiences. Sometimes it takes an act of faith to uproot us from familiar territory and move on to the next level. And do you know what can happen next? The enemy will try to intimidate you once you get in the land of promise, and tell you ‘you cant stay here, look at all the people who hate you. Look at all the mistakes you made’ and it often takes an act of faith to STAY IN THE LAND. Don’t leave the land of your destiny; all true leaders will go thru both of these dealings.
 
‘For he looked for a city which hath foundations [Jesus is the foundation of this city!] whose builder and maker is God’ All of these great heroes of the faith were looking forward towards a future promise of being in Gods true church, the ‘City of God’ the Bride, the Lambs wife. Paul shows Israel that this 1st century appearing of Messiah was for the purpose of Israel coming into the ‘new land’ the Body of Christ. It is important to see this. There are many preachers today who are treating natural Israel as in if everything is just fine. It isn’t! They need Christ as much as the Muslim does. God was telling Israel ‘come into this new city’ [New Jerusalem versus Old Jerusalem] he wasn’t appealing for them to stay in ‘old Jerusalem’ and be a ‘completed Jew’. [I know this sounds harsh, but I want to emphasize to all my evangelical friends that Jews need Jesus, they play a special role in Gods plan, but ultimately they need Christ!] [Some sites see here  https://corpuschristioutreachministries.blogspot.com/2023/04/sunday-sermon-text_9.html?m=0 ]
 
‘Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed’