Following Jesus Son of God …

SUNDAY AM

God Versus the Wolves

Matthew 10:16-39

MP3: God Versus the Wolves : Matthew 10:16-39 : ffc : dave scott : 083015 AM

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SUNDAY PM

God Versus the Enemy

Ephesians 6:10-20

MP3: God Versus the Enemy : Ephesians 6:10-20 : ffc : dave scott : 083015 PM

• God answers our questions as only God can.

• What is our Shepherd’s course of action in view of a world that grows darker by the day? How does he prepare us? He tells us that he is sending us out as sheep among the wolves.

• Amazing message this week as we look at Matthew 10:16-39.

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The LORD is my shepherd;

He provides everything I need.

He finds places of quietness and refreshment for my soul.

He directs my life to right acts in the name of God.

And even when facing death in the valley of the wolves,

I’m not afraid.

Why would I be?

My shepherd is with me,

and he comforts me by his great power and authority.

He showers his abundance on me every single day,

even in the presence of dark enemies.

He treats me as royalty. My life overflows.

And now goodness and mercy are everywhere,

following me like faithful hounds.

And I get to live with God forever.

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Message: God Versus the Wolves!

Message Text: Matthew 10:16-39

• PDF Sent Out as Sheep Among Wolves : Matthew 10-16-39 : ffc : dave scott : 083015 AM STUDY SHEET ONE
• PDF Sent Out as Sheep Among Wolves : Matthew 10-16-39 : ffc : dave scott : 083015 AM STUDY SHEET TWO

Hello Everyone,

Our last message in Romans. Quite a ride. Amazing salvation.

To God be the glory!

The gospel-powered life is the God-directed life is the to-God-be-the-glory-life!

MP3: LESSON 43 To God Be the Glory : Romans 16:24-27 : FFC : dave scott : 082315

Hello All,

Did you know that the gospel brings freedom to God also? The gospel throws the door wide open, frees God to pour his fullness into our lives: his holiness, righteousness, love, mercy, grace, truth, everything. We are back in God’s plans because he brought salvation to us. He has dealt with our sin because we could not; thoroughly and completely through the death, burial and resurrection of Christ.

So no more holding back because of the darkness of our sin and our unrighteousness. To those who believe, that has all been more than taken care of through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.

That is why we preach Jesus Christ and nothing else. There is no other gospel. No other plan. No other way.

It comes down to this: The sinfulness of humans and the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Compromise either, leave either out, and you have no gospel that will stand before the Consuming Fire.

However, embrace God’s clear message of forgiveness and redemption, and past the sky is the limit in the eternal plan of God.

Gospel-powered saints, living the high life. That’s who we are … at least that’s who we should be as we grow in our understanding of the abundance of life that God brings to us through Jesus Christ.

This week it’s all about the gospel and the glory of God. We are to be gospel-powered saints, living by faith, enjoying the “ride” as we share the path with the only wise God.

Before him we fall down in worship. To him we give the glory. Nothing else is appropriate.

Message Title: To God Be the Glory!

Message Text: Romans 16:25-27

• PDF LESSON 43 To God Be the Glory : Romans 16:24-27 : FFC : dave scott : 082315 STUDY SHEET ONE
• PDF LESSON 43 To God Be the Glory : Romans 16:24-27 : FFC : dave scott : 082315 STUDY SHEET TWO

What makes a false teacher a false teacher?

As we think through this our minds may go to what seems to be the most obvious. His teaching is untrue. Or he is evil and diabolical. Or he has fallen for the schemes of the devil. And all of those things may be true.

But that is not what makes him.

Those things are not the driving force behind the false teacher. Not the root issue. And we need to understand the root issue, the most underlying, fundamental characteristic of the false teacher, to be best prepared to watch for him and to avoid him.

So what is this root issue, this fundamental characteristic?

At the core of a false teacher is a person who serves himself first, above and before all others including God.

(We will see this in our text this morning.)

On the surface this may seem harmless enough or even insignificant. But you have to understand that the self-server, with his only concern being his personal interests, that anything and everything are at his disposal. Both sides of the line. Good, bad, evil, righteous, truth, lie. It doesn’t matter.

The only thing that matters to the self-serving false teacher is this: Does it serve my purpose to fulfill me, my interests and my needs.

This person will go to any lengths to forward his agenda. Teach truth? Sure. Teach the Bible? Even better.

And before we go to our text this morning, one more question.

Why do people fall for false teachers?

Answer? Because they tell us what we want to hear.

Message Title: Watch Out for False Teachers!

Message Text: Romans 16:17-23

MP3: LESSON 42 Watch Out for False Teachers – Romans 16:17-23 FFC dave scott 081615

Hello All,

Watch out for them! Avoid them!

Paul is urgent in our text this week.

• (Romans 16:17 NIV84) I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them.

• (Romans 16:17 The Message) One final word of counsel, friends. Keep a sharp eye out for those who take bits and pieces of the teaching that you learned and then use them to make trouble. Give these people a wide berth.

Even though Paul warns us of savage wolf attacks (Acts 20:28–32), we so often think, “But not us. Not in our fellowship. No one here would be a false teacher. We are nice folks.”

And, yet, here in his final comments in Romans, Paul warns us of these very things.

So maybe we should take notice?

God in his wisdom is telling us to sit up and take notice. To watch out for false teachers. And to avoid false teachers.

Yes, we could go to the extreme and carry out witch hunts, finding a false teacher under every spiritual rock. Some do that. But that is not the norm. Usually we do the opposite. Sometimes we more interested in being nice … and courteous … than being faithful to God and his word.

And our churches suffer for it.

Why is Paul so urgent? Because it really does come down to heaven or hell.

Is “close enough good enough”? No!
Paul tells us that these people use smooth talk and flattery to deceive the unsuspecting. False teachers know what we like to hear. They say things close enough, and because we do not listen carefully to what is actually being said, then way too often close enough is good enough.

Maybe good enough for church on earth but not good enough before the throne of God!

Once in heaven, we will never again have the opportunity to stand in light and love against the darkness of sin. So what will it be?

• PDF LESSON 42 Watch Out for False Teachers : Romans 16-17-23 : FFC : dave scott : 081615 STUDY SHEET ONE
• PDF LESSON 42 Watch Out for False Teachers : Romans 16-17-23 : FFC : dave scott : 081615 STUDY SHEET TWO

Calling a spade a spade.

• In Joseph Devlin’s book How to Speak and Write Correctly (1910) … where he satirized speakers who chose their words to show superiority: For instance, you may not want to call a spade a spade. You may prefer to call it a spatulous device for abrading the surface of the soil. Better, however, to stick to the old familiar, simple name that your grandfather called it.

Let’s call a spade a spade. I am speaking of false prophets.

I am wearied by people who claim to speak for the LORD but who refuse to address the true needs of God’s Church and our world.

I am wearied by people who play loose with the text, with their word choice, with their biblical exposition and their logic.

I am wearied by people who in general are not careful to tremble before God and his word as we approach him for divine truth.

And I am sometimes wearied by how hesitant we are as the people of God to call a spade a spade, or in this case a false prophet a false prophet.

This evening we are going to look at what is possibly the most dominant characteristic of a false prophet.

Message Title: False Prophets Who Whitewash 

Message Text: Ezekiel 13

MP3: Ezekiel 13 : False Prophets Who Whitewash : ffc : dave scott : 080215 PM

Do we really want the fullness of God? The fullness of God means that God takes over.

What we typically want from God is an add-on, a supplement, a boost, a little something extra to make this life better. We want everything we can get without God taking over our lives.

You have probably heard the expression—“Lead, follow or get out of the way.” But an old Baptist preacher I heard just last week presented it this way: “Lead, follow or get out of the way? No … Just follow … Jesus … Just follow Jesus!”

Follow Jesus. Wherever. Whenever. Follow Jesus. Good times, bad times. Follow Jesus. Have little or have much, follow Jesus. Shipwreck. Beatings. Prison. Follow Jesus. Change my plans, redo my schedule? Follow Jesus.

Do you want to walk in the fullness of the blessing of Christ? Guess what? Follow Jesus.

Message Title: Walking in the Fullness of the Blessing of Christ!

Message Text: Romans 15:22-16:16

MP3: LESSON 41 Walking in the Fullness of the Blessing of Christ : Romans 15:22-16:16 : FFC : dave scott : 080215

• Three Dollars Worth of God by Wilbur Rees
  I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please. Not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep, but just enough to equal a cup of warm milk, or a snooze in the sunshine. I don’t want enough of God to make me love a black man, or pick beets with a migrant. I want ecstasy, not transformation. I want warmth of the womb, not a new birth. I want a pound of the Eternal in a paper sack. I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please.

You have probably heard the expression—”Lead, follow or get out of the way.”

But an old Baptist preacher I heard last week put it this way: “Lead, follow or get out of the way? No. Just follow. Jesus. Just follow Jesus!”

The Apostle Paul was good at just that. Following Jesus. Wherever. Whenever. Follow Jesus. Good times, bad times, follow Jesus. Have little or have much, follow Jesus. Shipwreck. Beatings. Prison. Follow Jesus.

Do you want to walk in the fullness of Christ? Guess what? Follow Jesus the Christ.

• By Steve Highlander
  Some people think that God is a good thing to include in your life as long as He really doesn’t get in the way or require too many changes. As long as the cost isn’t too great, God is given His place—right beside all the other activities and obligations that vie for our attention.

  We are tempted to think we can get out of God what we put into Him. If I want a little more I can give a little more. I can read a few extra pages in the Bible, say an extra prayer, go to church a bit more. However, God is not for sale at any price.

Message Title: Taking Care of Business: Walking in the Fullness of the Blessing of Christ

Message Text: Romans 15:22-16:16

• PDF LESSON 41 Taking Care of Business- Walking in the Fullness of the Blessing of Christ : Romans 15:22-16:16 : FFC : dave scott : 080215 STUDY SHEET ONE
• PDF LESSON 41 Taking Care of Business- Walking in the Fullness of the Blessing of Christ : Romans 15:22-16:16 : FFC : dave scott : 080215 STUDY SHEET TWO

• (Romans 4:17 NLT) That is what the Scriptures mean when God told him, “I have made you the father of many nations.” This happened because Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who creates new things out of nothing.

In today’s text the Apostle Paul writes: “I am convinced of your goodness.”

• (Romans 15:14 NIV84) I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another.

In one sense, this week’s message is a very important lesson about our freedom in Christ. And that is our freedom to speak to the goodness and the badness of one another. Without feeling like hypocrites or liars or fakes or flatterers.

• I believe that we will see today that Paul provides a biblical approach in our relationships which deals with both the depravity of humankind and the redemption of God. Our goodness and our badness.

And we need this biblical perspective to develop our ability to build one another up in the faith. We need to know and live these truths so we build up and not tear down our brothers and sisters in Christ.

We are very good. And we can be horrid. This is consistent with our biblical identity while we are “still in process.” Never to be used as an excuse but still very true.

Our problem is that we sometimes forget where we came from.

The beginning of our spiritual journey was death. We started at dead. Jesus saved us from dead. This is a problem for some people. They don’t know where a true gospel story begins. So not knowing their beginning they have a much more difficult time understanding the goodness and the badness of their lives.

Have you heard the expression, “I’m in pretty good shape for the shape I’m in”?

Well, we are in pretty good shape considering that when we started we were dead, and now God is transforming us into his new creation which will be beyond measure in beauty and awesomeness. We are going to be like Christ. God says.

MP3: LESSON 40 : Full of Goodness : Romans 15:14-21 : FFC : dave scott : 071915