EChurch@Wartburg – 6.10.12

Welcome to Our Gathering of EChurch@Wartburg

Enhanced Rainbow by Barb Ver Sluis

Here is our order of worship

Prayer by Charles Spurgeon link

Lord, we want to live while we live.

We do pray that we may not merely groan out an existence here below,

nor live as earthworms crawling back in our holes and dragging now and then a withered leaf with us;

but Oh! give us to live as we ought to live,

with a new life that You have put in us,

with the divine quickening which has lifted us as much above common men as men are lifted above the beasts that perish.

Do not let us always be hampered like poor half-hatched birds within the egg;

may we chip the shell today and get out in the glorious liberty of the children of God.

Grant us this, we pray You.

Amen

A Prayer of Richard of Chichester-mid 13th century link

Thanks be to you, our Lord Jesus Christ,

for all the benefits which you have given us,

for all the pains and insults which you have borne for us.

Most merciful Redeemer, Friend and Brother,

may we know you more clearly,

love you more dearly,

and follow you more nearly,

day by day.

Amen.

If you are new to EChurch, please click on this link for an explanation

Scripture Reading: Hebrews 10:36-38 (NASB Bible Gateway)

For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. For yet in a very little while, He who is coming will come; and will not delay, but My righteous one shall live by faith; and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.

Discussion Questions

(1) How is faith in God different from faith in religion or faith in rituals?
(2) Why is it difficult to believe that God is orchestrating all events in your life for your good?
(3) Talk about what helps you as a Christian when your faith in God is small even though He is faithful.

The LORD bless you and keep you;

The LORD make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you;

The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.

Amen Numbers 6:24

Thank you for spending your precious time worshipping the Lord.

Comments

EChurch@Wartburg – 6.10.12 — 19 Comments

  1. “A New Day…”
    *
     HowDee YaAll,
    *
    (Thankz Wade! Substance Hoped For…though unseen, the living God! (Heb 11:6)
    *
    …because of Jesus, indeed a new day has come!
    *
    Lord, let your Spirit come and wash away my tears,
    Let it fill my soul and drown my fears,
    Let it shatter the separating walls, because of Your Dear Son, His work upon the tree, truly, a new day has come, oh!
    *
    Hush, now, I see a light in my soul,
    Oh!, little at first…, now it’s almost blinding me!
    It is hard to believe,
    I’ve been touched by your love, Lord!
    *
    Where it was impenetrable darkness now there’s so much light,
    Where there was searing pain now there’s abundant joy,
    Where there was indomitable weakness, I have found Your strength,
    All in the eyes of my Savior!
    *
    I have waited for so long…
    For a miracle to come,
    Everyone told me to be strong?
    Hold on, and don’t shed a tear, Ha!
    *
    But, even so, through the darkness and hard times,
    Because of you…I knew I’d make it through,
    And the world said it had it all, no! no!
    But I was waiting for… you, Jesus!
    *
    Ah!
    *
    Lord, thank-you for shattering the walls between us!
    For all eternity I will behold the light in your eyes!
    I’m glad, I’m glad, a new day has come, oh! oh!
    *
    …because of You, Jesus!
    *
    Blessings! ta U’All…
    *
    ‘Ipr♥ay4U’
    *
    *
    S㋡py!
    *___
    Inspirational relief: Celine Dion  – “A New Day Has Come”
    “A New Day” lyrics © SING LITTLE PENGUIN; SONY MUSIC PUBLISHING (CANADA); Songwriters: Moccio, Stephan; Caporuscio, Aldo; (inspirational adaptation, US Title 17 infringement unintended.)  
    *
    *

  2. Inspirational service once again; thank you all.

    Pastor Wade,

    If you read this, could you answer this question that has bothered me for years? Where does one “get” faith?

    My family was Roman Catholic and at some point, I became an atheist. When my father died, I asked my mother where he was now. She said that he was in heaven. I asked her how she knew that. She replied, “you gotta have faith.” I then asked, “where do you get it?”

    It was dad’s death and my question that was the catalyst for my search to find out if there truly was a God. It took me nearly 2 yrs. (after all, where does one go to find Him?…smile), but praise His Name, I did become born again. I do have faith, but my question is still unanswered. Where does it come from? How does one get it?

    Perhaps my question will be answered when you get to Hebrews 11 and since I’ve pondered this question for over 40 yrs., I can wait another week with no problem. Perhaps there’s no easy answer but I would really like to know.

    Thank you for a wonderful sermon and especially for the binocular/faith analogy.

  3. Victorious,

    Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace are you saved through faith and (that) not of yourselves, it is a gift of God.” The article (that) is plural in the Greek–which means it refers to BOTH grace and faith.

    You ask me “Where does ‘faith’ come from?” I answer: All men have faith. The importance of faith is the OBJECT. Not all men have faith in Christ. To have faith in Christ is a gift of God’s grace. Your eyes have been opened to see the beauty of Christ, your heart has been opened to receive the Lordship of Christ, and your life has been opened to receive the Kingship of Christ. In other words, if you have faith in Christ, it is because God has been extraordinarily gracious to you and loves you with an everlasting love.

    Where does faith come from? All men have it.

    If your faith is in Christ, it comes from the grace of God.

  4. Victorious,

    I’m glad you enjoyed the EChurch service. We sang the first song in church last Sunday, and the final two songs were sung at Wade’s church last Sunday. Glad he has responded to your question.

    Have a great week!

  5. Ahhh….it was there all the time?!? I had faith all the time I was searching, but just didn’t have it focused on the OBJECT yet!! It was His grace that enabled me to meet the object of that faith, namely Jesus. I knew faith wasn’t performance-based and that we couldn’t just conjure it up, but for some reason, it’s source escaped me.

    Thank you ever so much, Pastor Wade. I think I’ve got it after all this time. I’ll ponder your answer more, but as of this minute I’m very grateful that you’ve taken the time to show me the very simple answer that I just couldn’t see until now.

  6. P.S. Funny how you can read a passage in scripture so many times and the meaning just escapes you. Then when it’s explained by a very gifted teacher, it comes alive in your spirit. 🙂

  7. Victorious, 
    *
    Hey,
    *
        As you know Jesus is a real person. He sits with His Father, in His heaven. His Father sent His Spirit to be with us at Pentecost, as down payment of things to come. When you accepted what Jesus did for you, when His Father sent Him here (His work upon the cross), you were made part of His family. This is really, really neat! So right about now, John 16:24 would be a cool scripture ta hold on to!  “Until now you have asked for nothing in My name (Jesus) ; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full.” -John 16:24; (NASB95) Also a neat tid-bit is that faith comes by hearing the word of God, so getting an audio bible and listening to it on your iPhone or iPod would really put some air in your proverbial spiritual tires, too! So we have prayer,  i.e. talking with God, and we have listening to bible…both very helpful in the cultivation of a faith relationship with the Almighty!  Good Stuff!
    *
    ‘Ipr♥ay4U’
    *
    Have fun!
    *
    S㋡py!
    __
    Inspirational relief: Third Day  – “When Love Sees You”
    *

  8. Victorious – I often feel like Nicodemus, in his talk with Jesus as recounted in John ch. 3. When Jesus mentions the wind (in verse 8), well… he compares the work of the Holy Spirit to something that we cannot see, let alone pin down. (Though of course, we can see some of the wind’s immediate effects… but not the time-lapse view that would allow us to see how rocks and trees are shaped by wind and weather over longer time periods.)

    I guess what I’m trying to say is that Jesus seems to be answering Nicodemus very directly, by saying “I (God) do this,” and “It all comes from me.” There is nothing to figure out – there is no technique for getting it right. (Whatever “it” is.) God is here, with us – as Wade has just said, the gift is already here.

    I hope that makes sense!

  9. I just now heard Wade’s sermon. Boy, did I need to hear that. I once again fell into the “prove my love for God by my works” posture. And I wonder why I was depressed. This sermon woke me up again. Thanks Wade

  10. numo,

    Thank you and it does make sense and was very helpful for me to know that not all searches will necessarily result in finding something tangible, but the outcome will be evident. I think I’ve got it now. 🙂

  11. @ Victorious: Thanks, Victorious – I’ve had similar experiences, and am not exactly sure where that bit about long-term effects of wind and weather came from. (Although I’ve had some experiences – just life, really – over the past decade that have significantly changed my understanding – such as it is! – of things being real but not tangible in a way that I’d like.)

    I think we all tend to want an actual product that we can see and touch, but God operates in a very different way from, oh… American consumer culture, maybe? 😉 (Not really joking; I think that has a lot to do with the tendency to fall for fads and marketing gimmicks in most evangelical/charismatic culture; also that Americans are very keen on self-help/self-improvement and that we all tend to want tangible results.)

  12. Victorious: one other point (probably more succinct than my last post) is that I am very, very inclined to want to figure things out.

    Sometimes there simply is nothing to analyze – things just are. It’s taken me a long, long time to get to the point where I realize this, and even so, I still tend to want to know the whys and wherefores.

  13. numo, well, you know….the word faith is mentioned in the NT 228 times (NASB)so you’d think there would be a verse somewhere that tells us where to get it! 🙂 (inquiring minds want to know….)

    I do think God wants us to understand Him and His Word, so I’m not shy about asking Him to help me when I don’t understand something. But the one about faith just seemed to escape me.

    After Pastor Wade told me that everyone has faith, but not everyone has Jesus as the object of that faith, I found this verse:

    Rom 12:3 For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.

  14. True Religion: “Christ formed within us”

          Hello,

    “I never knew what true religion was till God sent me this excellent treatise” -George Whitefield. (The book that he talks about, that also was used in Whitefield’s conversion, was Henry Scougal’s “The Life Of God In The Soul  Of Man”

    the following is a brief quote from it: (part 1)

    “What religion is?”

    “But certainly religion is quite another thing; and they who are acquainted with it, will entertain far different thoughts, and disdain all those shadows and false imitations of it. They know by experience, that true religion is an union of the soul with God, a real participation of the divine nature, the very image of God drawn upon the soul; or in the apostle’s phrase, it is Christ formed within us.—Briefly, I know not how the nature of religion can be more fully expressed, than by calling it a divine life. And under these terms I shall discourse of it; shewing first how it is called a life, and then how it is termed divine.” -Henry Scougal

    *For those seeking “Faith” and the answer to “What religion is?”, I highly recommend this book.

    “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Rom 10:17

    For indeed, the Lord over all is rich towards all that call upon him. 

    “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved”, the Bible says.

    Q. So, then how can anyone call on him in whom they have not believed? 

    Q. How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard of?

    Q. How shall they hear without someone to tell them? 

    Q. How shall anyone share the message of hope, except they be sent? 

    May I share with you, it has been said of old: “How beautiful are the feet of them that bring the gospel of peace, bringing glad tidings of good things”!

    Unfortunately not all who bring ‘the gospel of peace’, that is, bringing ‘glad tidings of good things’, have beautiful feet. Alas, but rather, they are un-happy feet!  Is it no wonder that no one listens to them?

    It is also unfortunately, that not everyone who hears those ‘with beautiful feet’, listens. Moreover, some simply do not believe. The Hebrew Prophet Isaiah spoke of this phenomena, of this perplexing delema, this nefarious roadblock to faith. But then again the Apostle Paul said: “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God”, with the hope that not only would one hear, but would listen also, and build their faith upon the rock which is Christ the Lord!, and have happy feet themselves, to the glory of Christ, the King!

    With kind regards,

    IronClad


    Resource(s): *Henry Scougal’s –“The Life Of God In The Soul  Of Man” : [PDF]” “[Hardcopy]”