SUNDAY SERMON
Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
Links to my sites here and the bottom of every post- https://ccoutreach87.com/links-to-my-sites-updated-10-2018/
Today I have no plans on making a Sunday video- If I do I will post it later tonight- I want to welcome any new friends/followers I made this past week.
I did make a post recently and mentioned the difficulty of trying to manage all my sites- which means I very rarely have time to respond to ‘likes’ or comments from my sites.
But I want all of my Friends to know I pray on a regular basis for all of you- it’s not just a ‘prayer’ every now and then-
It is ordered- regular- and you are part of the community- we are all in this together- and even though I rarely talk one on one- you are very important to this whole thing-
I love you all-
John
Sunday sermon videos-
https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aocp2PkNEAGMhB1o6_Yw8DBRVEW-
https://www.dropbox.com/s/y3dylqb4d0r7nub/11-12-17%20Sunday%20sermon.mp4?dl=0
http://ccoutreach87.com/11-12-17-sunday-sermon/
http://ccoutreach87.com/11-12-17-sunday-sermon-2/
1Thessalonians 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
ON VIDEO- [Sunday sermon]
.I just read that!
.The real wisdom of Solomon
.Gnostic writings- why they are not scripture
.Solomon’s temple [and porches]
.White magic?
.Stick to the real source- Holy Scripture
.Have oil [storehouse] with the lamp
.Use social media to impart wisdom
.Not just to advertise your ‘church’ meeting
.New Testament canon
.Luke the historian
.Order
.Review of Luke 1
.The angel names the Sons
.Jesus and John
.Mary’s magnificat
.The Virgin Birth
The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.
Teaching-
I did it a little different this week- instead of teaching from the verses from the Sunday churches- I talked from Luke 1 and tried to give some practical stuff.
We live in a day where we have tools to communicate- like no other generation-
We have access to the ‘world wide web’- yes- though the term sounds outdated- but in reality- we all have the ability to get the message out- world wide.
Churches- preachers- even the average Joe on the street- has their own video recording studio [camera phones]-
Free platforms to upload [YouTube- etc.]
And free blogs to put all of these messages on-
Yet- how do we use these tools for the most part?
Many churches simply advertise their church meetings- which is fine.
Many individuals use these tools to play games- or talk about the latest gossip [or news- which I also do].
All of this is ok in a way- but these tools also have the ability to actually communicate things of value.
And often times we simply let this opportunity fall by the way side.
If the apostle Paul- who wrote actual hand written letters- and had them sent to various churches-
If all he did was write something like ‘I will be speaking at Corinth next Sunday- all are invited to attend'.
Then what impact would his use of the tool of writing have had?
If we opened the bible today- and simply read that- we would have no lasting ability to actually learn from the things he wrote.
In Luke chapter one- we read the same-
Luke 1:1 Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us,
Luke 1:2 Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word;
Luke 1:3 It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus,
Luke 1:4 That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed.
Luke wrote- used the tools of communication- to actually instruct those who would read his gospel- for 2 thousand years now and counting.
His task was to set in order- lay the message out plainly- then write it- and hopefully it would have a real impact on the hearers.
Here’s one of the verses I quoted-
There is treasure to be desired and oil in the dwelling of the wise; but a foolish man spendeth it up.
We see the storehouse principle here- meaning their is a thing of value- and it is stored up- it is kept in a dwelling- and will be released in it’s proper time.
Jesus rebuked the foolish virgins [they were virgins- meaning set apart]- yet- they had no reserve-
25 Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.
2 And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.
3 They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:
4 But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
They all had lamps- tools that had the capability of shining a light- of reaching others with this light-
Yet their tools- their lamps were of no lasting use- simply because they had no resource- no oil- they made no preparation ahead of time- so that the lamps could serve an effective purpose.
I see our generation like the virgins who had no storehouse of oil.
Many of us are simply living for the moment- the great ‘lamps’ of the day are going out- because no preparation has been made- no long term view of what others can learn from us down the road-
Because many of the tools are being used to simply promote some church meeting-
or to engage in things that have no long term value-
Another verse-
3 Through wisdom is an house builded; and by understanding it is established:
4 And by knowledge shall the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches.
If we have the ability to build the structure [wisdom] and for it to be long lasting [established] what good is it- if the house has no knowledge in it?
It took a lot of wisdom for men to develop the tools of our day- the things I spoke about above-
They have made platforms available to us- in a way like we have never had before-
But what are we filling the chambers with?
Is there any long lasting knowledge that we are communicating to others?
In the chapter I actually spoke on this Sunday we read how the father of John the baptist had order to the things he was doing-
Luke 1:8 And it came to pass, that while he executed the priest's office before God in the ORDER of his course,
Luke 1:9 According to the custom of the priest's office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord.
He was not sitting around waiting for a miracle- for some break thru moment- that would change everything.
No- he was committed to the task at hand- and it was in this committed life- that the miracle did come-
Luke 1:11 And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense.
Luke 1:12 And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him.
Luke 1:13 But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.
Luke 1:14 And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth.
Luke 1:15 For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb.
It was his perseverance- his dedication- that led him and his wife to the miraculous child-
A child who the prophet Malachi spoke of-
Malachi 4:5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:
Malachi 4:6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
And a prophet who Jesus himself testified of-
Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
Yet- this son- this prophet- was born to a man and his wife in their old age- while they were still serving God after many years-
These were people with ‘oil in their lamps’ if you will.
I would simply encourage all of you- whoever you are reading this write now-
You too have all the tools I have mentioned in this post- or at least have access to get them.
Most of the preachers who have church web sites- you already have the tools to use them in an effective way-
But it does take a degree of discipline- a desire that you develop over time- a desire to learn and give your time to using these tools in a more effective manner-
Through desire a man, having separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom.
Yes- it takes separating yourself from the fast food mentality of our day-
From the entertainment mentality that simply uses the lamp- the gift- the resource- for some quick fix of an Instgram post [or whatever other social platform].
It takes a desire to see the long lasting effect of putting time and effort into the things you communicate.
To put the time in- is a requirement that the bible speaks of-
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Luke- and Paul- and all the other writers of the New Testament were writing at a time when it was not an easy thing to do.
The letters were being hand delivered to various cities-
Often times there were illiterate people in the congregations- and the hand written and delivered letters had to be read by one person out loud for the others to hear..
And yet- we still have these valuable letters today-
We still have the writing of Luke- which I read and taught from this very day.
Because the early church saw the value of setting these things in order for us.
They had a desire to communicate the message- and went thru much difficulty in doing so.
They were communicating from a storehouse- they had oil in their lamps- and had a reserve as well-
They would be shocked to see the advancement of our day- the ability to speak on such a world wide scale-
And then to see how many of us have wasted this great opportunity-
Many of us have let the lamp simply burn out. M[Some sites- see the rest here https://ello.co/ccoutreach87/post/y8mtq1-fysc7w33ewlvyla ]
PAST POSTS- [Past teaching I did that relates in some way
