PrairieBaptistNoblesville

Thanksgiving is a great time to take stock and express our appreciation to family and friends, to those who support and encourage, who meet needs in our lives. But ultimately, this is a time to thank God for His mercy and grace to us. It is a time to humbly acknowledge that we do not deserve His good gifts, yet He gives, and we receive them. Last week, we began looking at Psalm 103. David opened this song of worship and thanksgiving with a call to praise. It is a personal call (O, my soul). It is a comprehensive call (all that is within me). It is a humbling call (bless His holy name). David then described several reasons to praise God. Today, we are going to continue along that path and see some more reasons that God is worthy of our praise, worship and thanksgiving. Verse 8 (The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.) informs us that God is merciful and gracious, patient, and loving. The rest of our passage illustrates this claim.

Last week, we began looking at Adam and Eve’s fall into sin. We saw how the Deceiver twisted the truth and just outright lied to the woman. Because she didn’t have a clear understanding of God’s word, she fell for his lies. Adam knew better, but chose to break God’s command. Immediately, everything changed. No longer was creation “very good.” Humanity was no more exceedingly pleasant. Today, we will dive the rest of the way into the fall of mankind. We’ll look at the natural, or internal, judgment the man and woman experienced, then we will explore the divine, or external, judgment from God, and finally, we will see the hope that God gives through judgment.

[Due to some technical difficulties the sermon in being joined in progress] Last week, we finished looking at God’s creation. God created the man and the woman and brought them together to become the first family. They were ready to fulfill God’s command to be fruitful and multiply and govern the earth. God’s creation was very good. It seems that almost immediately, though, this first family--this foundation block for all of society is under attack. Families are still under attack today. The same serpent who sought to ruin God’s good creation, is still seeking to ruin lives today. Interestingly, he is still using the same methods as he used on the woman. As we unpack or passage, we will talk first about who the serpent is, then how he deceived the woman, and finally what the consequences were for mankind’s disobedience to God.

[Again this week, we had some technical difficulties. The sound kicks in at the 22:22 mark.] Last week, we finished looking at God’s creation. God created the man and the woman and brought them together to become the first family. They were ready to fulfill God’s command to be fruitful and multiply and govern the earth. God’s creation was very good. It seems that almost immediately, though, this first family--this foundation block for all of society is under attack. Families are still under attack today. The same serpent who sought to ruin God’s good creation, is still seeking to ruin lives today. Interestingly, he is still using the same methods as he used on the woman. As we unpack or passage, we will talk first about who the serpent is, then how he deceived the woman, and finally what the consequences were for mankind’s disobedience to God.

Genesis 2 began with God’s day of rest. God completed His work of creation and stopped. He set the 7th day apart for His purposes—rest and worship. Since then, mankind has generally followed God’s pattern—6 days of work and a day of rest/worship. In our passage today, The Genesis writer goes back to active creation—plants, animals, birds, and people. It's ok to wonder what is going on. Some scholars call this a second creation account, as if the writer couldn't decide which to go with, so he included both. But that is not what is happening. The focus is back on day 6, and this is an expanded description of God creating and housing His humans. Today, we will examine God preparing the Garden of Eden, and in two weeks (Mission’s Conference next week), we will plan to take a deep dive into God’s design for marriage. As usual, we will see what we can learn from the text, then we’ll see what we learn about God, and finally, we’ll look for ways to apply this text to our daily lives.

Last week, we finished the active creation week. God made the birds, fish, land animals and mankind. Creating mankind was the pinnacle of creation week. Only mankind was made in the image of God. Only mankind was created to have relationship with God. Only mankind was given the privilege and responsibility to govern God’s creation. Chapter 1 ends with God declaring that His creation was “very good”—exceedingly pleasant. Chapter 2 opens (it really should be part of Chapter 1) with this all-powerful Creator doing something surprising, He rests. This rest is so important that He makes this the model for the way people experience life (6 days of work, 1 day of rest/worship). Lets take a few moments to explore the passage and then see what we can learn about God, and what we can apply to our daily lives.

Genesis 1:1-2 "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters." Today, we are beginning a new series through the first 11 chapters of Genesis. I am going to approach this study from a young-earth, creationist viewpoint. Certainly, there are many godly men and women who interpret Genesis differently. I am not questioning their salvation or love for God. I am not calling them heretics or any such thing. Brothers and sisters in Christ can have some differing interpretations. With that said, as we unpack these chapters, my prayer is that we will all see how important these foundational truths are, and that we will recognize the historical reality of this introductory book of the Bible. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." Genesis 1-11 certainly qualifies as Scripture, therefore it is profitable, it is valuable. It will help equip the Christ-follower for every good work. When we abandon portions of the Bible because they are unpopular or because they are culturally unacceptable, we begin a journey that ends in the total abandonment of God’s Word. So, we must choose to hold to all of the Bible. We must choose to read and study all of the Bible, and we must choose to preach and teach all of the Bible. As we introduce this series today, let’s address this question: Why Study Genesis?

Many thanks to Pastor Doug Stein for filling pulpit at Prairie Baptist Church this week!

Last week, we finished a study through Jude. His main point of emphasis was “defend the faith.” Contend for it. Stand for it. In a couple of weeks, I plan to begin a new study in Genesis 1-11. These chapters contain things that our culture, and many, if not most, churches dismiss: Creation, the Fall, the Flood, and the dispersal at Babel. Our passage today is a good connection between what we have looked at and what we will look at. Matthew 7:6 is part of the Sermon on the Mount. In verses 1-5, Jesus cautions against judging hypocritically. (remember the log in your eye before you try to remove the speck from your brother's eye.) In verses 7-11, Jesus teaches about asking and receiving in faith. Right here in the middle is this short command to be careful and discerning with what belongs to God. This falls right in line with Jude's call to defend the faith. For the next few minutes, we are going to unpack what Jesus is saying, and then finish with how we should respond to and obey this command.

The Maranatha Baptist University Heritage Singers minister at Prairie Baptist Church. It is a great evening of God-honoring music and Gospel presentation.

Today, we come to the end of our examination of Jude’s letter to the church. He wanted to write a wonderful letter about the joys of our shared salvation—certainly a worthy desire!—but God had a different plan for his writing. This letter is about contending for the faith. It is a challenge to believers to know the Gospel and defend it. Jude went into depth describing the false teachers and apostates who were (and are currently) perverting sound doctrine and abusing the church. It’s a difficult topic because defending the faith takes effort. There is action in this word—contend, defend, battle, strive. It can be exhausting. Jude knows this, probably better than any of us. Those 1st Century Church leaders didn’t just get tired, they got killed! They got hunted and arrested, and often tortured. In light of the challenge before us, Jude ends this letter with an incredible encouragement. Jude’s Doxology is one of the most beautiful in all Scripture—in all literature! And in these closing lines, we see why defending the faith is worth every ounce of our energy and focus. As we close out our study, Let us unpack these words to see why Christ-followers can confidently defend their faith.

Today, we come to the end of our examination of Jude’s letter to the church. He wanted to write a wonderful letter about the joys of our shared salvation—certainly a worthy desire!—but God had a different plan for his writing. This letter is about contending for the faith. It is a challenge to believers to know the Gospel and defend it. Jude went into depth describing the false teachers and apostates who were (and are currently) perverting sound doctrine and abusing the church. It’s a difficult topic because defending the faith takes effort. There is action in this word—contend, defend, battle, strive. It can be exhausting. Jude knows this, probably better than any of us. Those 1st Century Church leaders didn’t just get tired, they got killed! They got hunted and arrested, and often tortured. In light of the challenge before us, Jude ends this letter with an incredible encouragement. Jude’s Doxology is one of the most beautiful in all Scripture—in all literature! And in these closing lines, we see why defending the faith is worth every ounce of our energy and focus. As we close out our study, Let us unpack these words to see why Christ-followers can confidently defend their faith.