SUNDAY AM

Message Title: Pursue What Makes for Peace

Message Text: Romans 14:13-23

• MP3: LESSON 37 : Pursue What Makes for Peace : Romans 14:13-23 : FFC : dave scott : 062815

SUNDAY PM

Message Title: Living in the Reality of Who We Are

Message Text: Psalm 37:21-40

• MP3: Psalm 37 PART TWO Living in the Reality of Who We Are : ffc : dave scott : 062815

I Will Praise You, O Lord

• I will praise You, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will tell of all Your marvelous works. I will be glad and rejoice in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High (Psalms 9:1-2 NKJV).

I will praise You, O LORD!

Lord, I am Your child … a pilgrim passing through this world looking for the city that You have promised. As You know, Father, I do not live this life perfectly, but one thing I commit to You, I will praise You, O LORD, with my whole heart.

You have given birth to praise in my life through the Lamb that was slain. You have created praise in me. You have caused it to happen.

So, when I climb the peak of the sun-crested mountain, I will praise You. And when I descend into the dark valley, I will praise You.

When I stand alone in the harsh desert, I will praise You.

I will praise you whether or not I can see, hear, smell, touch, laugh or hope.

I will praise You whether I feel loved and comforted or hated and rejected.

I will praise You through the ridicule and roar of the evil one.

When the smoke has cleared and the fire has done its work, when the dust of this life has settled, I will praise You, O LORD, with my whole heart because You are worthy of praise.

–dave scott

Hello All,

How do we handle things when we disagree over matters of conscience? Or even how do we identify which issues are matters of conscience?

Thanks to God we do not have to guess.

He has given very clear instructions. That is never the problem, however. The problem is that we tend to not listen, especially if we don’t agree.

Yip. That’s how we are. Said it out loud because it is so true. We have this “gift” you might say which allows us to identify the foibles and sins of the people around us very clearly, super-precise. Even throw the Bible in for good measure.

But us … Not so fast, Jack.

Many believers in Jesus Christ do not enjoy the peace he gives which he says is not like the world gives. Not dependent on circumstances or the economy. Only dependent on God.

And as we are prone to do, we just do not take his divine instruction to heart and often pay the price.

Specifically, we sow the seeds of war in our relationships and are broken-hearted when we reap the seeds of war instead of peace.

Romans 14 gives amazing instruction, very clear and precise instruction, as to how we handle the “hot topics” of our lives and still build relationships and honor God.

But we gotta’ listen. And we gotta’ obey.

Pursue the things that make for peace and God will produce in us righteousness and peace and joy.

If we do not have this fruit abundant in our lives, then we need to check what we are inputing into our lives via our actions and possibly mainly our words.

Message Title: Pursue What Makes for Peace!

Message Text: Romans 14:13-23

• PDF LESSON 37 : Pursue What Makes for Peace : Romans 14:13-23 : FFC : dave scott : 062815: STUDY SHEET ONE
• PDF LESSON 37 : Pursue What Makes for Peace : Romans 14:13-23 : FFC : dave scott : 062815: STUDY SHEET TWO
• PDF LESSON 37 : Pursue What Makes for Peace : Romans 14-13-23 : FFC : dave scott : 062815: STUDY SHEET THREE
• PDF LESSON 37 : Pursue What Makes for Peace : Romans 14-13-23 : FFC : dave scott : 062815: STUDY SHEET FOUR

Hello to You,

We continue our study in Romans this week, and the Apostle Paul speaks to matters of conscience.

• NOT SURPRISE YOU:
  –It will likely not surprise you if I informed you that Christians often do not get along with each other.

• MAY SURPRISE YOU:
  But it may surprise you when you see the specific information the Bible has to help us avoid these disagreements. The plan is quite simple. Don’t make things holy that God does not make holy. Don’t judge or despise God’s servants. And, maybe above all, live NOW as followers of Jesus who are fully aware that we will stand before God to give an account of OUR lives.

• PROBABLY NOT SURPRISE YOU:
  But it will probably not surprise you that as much as love God’s holy book the Bible, that we often do not choose to listen to God. As I said, the plan is quite simple, but people … not so much. We really struggle giving in to the sovereign care of God in matters that engulf us emotionally in the way these “hot topics” do.

We must have a clear picture of this moment in eternity in which we stand before God Most High. Not for fear, but for amazing joy and peace. Paul doesn’t write to us to scare us to death but to point us toward the tremendous blessing of trusting God in all things.

We are not going to be called to “the witness stand” to recollect someone else’s sins and shortcomings. We are going to stand before God to give an account of our lives. Picture the joy that we will share with our heavenly Father at that moment as he reveals tremendous “faith” highlights as we lived our life anticipating this amazing moment.

• PDF LESSON 36 : Each Person Gives an Account to God : Romans 14:1-12 : FFC : dave scott : 061415: STUDY SHEET ONE
• PDF LESSON 36 : Each Person Gives an Account to God : Romans 14:1-12 : FFC : dave scott : 061415: STUDY SHEET TWO
• PDF LESSON 36 : Each Person Gives an Account to God : Romans 14:1-12 : FFC : dave scott : 061415: STUDY SHEET THREE

The God of Israel spoke. The Rock of Israel said to me: “The one who rules righteously, who rules in the fear of God, is like the light of morning at sunrise, like a morning without clouds, like the gleaming of the sun on new grass after rain.” ‭‭2 Samuel‬ ‭23:3-4‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Sent from my iPad

God’s word …

Not my platform.

Not my launching pad for what I have to say.

But holy words that I bow before and tremble and hear the voice of God!

Hello All,

Wow! Almost June. Can you believe it?

• Have you ever wondered what your main obligation or responsibility to society in general involved? What do I need to do in the world at large to be pleasing to my Savior?

Are you living in the daytime? Are you experiencing true freedom in Jesus Christ? Do you have the great peace and joy of a conscience in perfect harmony with your Creator and Redeemer?

• That’s right. Dirty, rotten, no-good sinner in perfect righteous standing before a Holy God with a future more amazing than he or she could ever imagine! No fear. No judgment. Only the loving embrace of the Consuming Fire of Heaven. Go figure.

It’s all there. Don’t have to be a super-saint. Just faithful to God and his word. The first thing we need to do is listen to him. He will tell us what is most important, most meaningful to him. He will give us his list of priorities and responsibilities for our lives.

All we have to do is listen and then obey? Piece of cake. Or at least it should be. Okay, I know it’s not a piece of cake, fiery trials and all, gut punches, etc. But this is the life. All the abundance that God could bring. Floodgates of heaven opened because of the price Jesus Christ paid at Calvary. Wow!

We are to live in real expectation and anticipation of the soon coming of Jesus Christ. This expectancy should be yielding peace, courage, strength, trust, etc.

If you are still living in fear of world events, still tossed around with political trends, and maybe even insecure as to your standing before God …

Then I have great news for you! God has won. The war has been settled over 2,000 years ago, and if you have trusted in Christ and have received his gift of eternal life, redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins, then guess what?

You have won too.

If you don’t know this, if your world is one of dark and gloom, then please hear his voice.

• (1 John 2:8 ESV) At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am
  writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is
  passing away and the true light is already shining.

So wake up and smell the daytime, Christian Pilgrim.

Message Title: Owe Nothing but Love

Message Text: Romans 13:8-14

• PDF LESSON 35 : Owe Nothing but Love : Romans 13:8-14 : FFC : dave scott : 053115: STUDY SHEET ONE
• PDF LESSON 35 : Owe Nothing but Love : Romans 13:8-14 : FFC : dave scott : 053115: STUDY SHEET TWO

Dear Friends,

Ding, ding, ding … Now we are in the bonus round. I have included more study sheets to supplement this week’s study.

Does God not have a plan?

Or is it possible that he has a plan, and we are missing it? We sound the alarm. “This legislation is passing; that liberal was elected … We need a plan. We need to do something.”

So I ask again, does God not have a plan?

• (Titus 3:1 ESV) Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work,

Have world events and national trends taken him by surprise? Slipped by him? Fallen through the cracks of his sovereign, providential rule? Did God not take into account the political climate in the United States as he wrote these words 2,000 years ago?

So are we saying that we need to “come up with a plan” because there is not a plan in God’s Bible? And what does that tell us?

Isn’t it funny–as in not really funny but sad and ironic–that we (evangelical, fundamental Christians) spend so much time, energy and resources denouncing and disparaging our government, calling for a plan, calling for reform, and God nowhere in his Bible tells us to do such a thing.

No it isn’t funny.

No place in Scripture does God call us to spend our lives seeking government reform. For something that is clearly NOT taught in Scripture, why is it so high on our priority list?

Because we put it there. So we must know better than God?

What God does tell us in his Bible is to submit to governing authorities, obey them, honor them and respect them.

• THREE TO ZERO …
  —Three times in the New Testament God commands us to submit to governing authorities.
  —ZERO times he calls us to government reform.

In fact find anywhere in the entire Bible that supports this agenda.

Here are the first two verses of our text this week.

• (Titus 3:1–2 ESV) Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, ² to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people.

God calls us to a lifestyle that honors both our citizenship in heaven and our citizenship on earth.

• to be submissive to rulers and authorities,
• to be obedient,
• to be ready for every good work,  
• to speak evil of no one,
• to avoid quarreling,
• to be gentle,
• and to show perfect courtesy toward all people.

Is our cause so “righteous” that we are justified in pushing these truths aside?

God’s plan for reform begins in our hearts and it works its way out through the words we say and the attitudes and actions we embrace.

We do not need to come up with a plan of action, we need to obey God!

• PDF LESSON 34B : Remember This : MEMORIAL DAY : Titus 3:1-11 : FFC : dave scott : 052415: STUDY SHEET THREE
• PDF LESSON 34B : Remember This : MEMORIAL DAY : Titus 3:1-11 : FFC : dave scott : 052415: STUDY SHEET FOUR

Hello Everyone,

Do you love your country and want to support it in every way possible, but do not want to compromise your faith in God and his word in the process?

Are you sometimes torn between the rhetoric of patriotism and the rhetoric of the pulpit?

What if … 

What if I said that there is a very plain, simple track to being a blessing to both God and country in your Bible?

We can be a blessing to both God and country. The key is that we first and foremost live as citizens of the kingdom of God in a manner that is both prescribed by him in his Holy Word and pleasing to him.

Our text today in Titus 3 presents a life-style that transcends any government, society or culture and is pleasing in the sight of God.

Message Title: Remember This!

Message Text: Titus 3:1-11

• PDF LESSON 34B : Remember This : MEMORIAL DAY : Titus 3:1-11 : FFC : dave scott : 052415: STUDY SHEET ONE
• PDF LESSON 34B : Remember This : MEMORIAL DAY : Titus 3:1-11 : FFC : dave scott : 052415: STUDY SHEET TWO

Here is a question that is on the minds of many Christians, and, actually,
for many Christians this is not a question at all but a moral imperative.

–Should a Christian be involved in secular government?–

Hello Everyone,

Should we run for office? Should we support a right-wing agenda?
Should we lobby our legislative bodies of government? Etc. 

To some it is a non-issue, but to many people this is the “hot topic” of their lives.

But Romans 13:1-7 does not speak to our involvement in government but with our relationship to government, as do Matthew 22:15-22, John 18:33-36, 1 Timothy 2:1-3, Titus 3:1-11 and 1 Peter 2:13-17.

And since I am preaching through Romans this will be “the headline.”

• (Romans 13:1–7 ESV) Let every person be subject to the governing authorities.

If I were to preach on our involvement in government, I would go to … Well, let’s see … Hmmmm …. Not sure where I would go. Seems to be a lack of direct communication “in the Bible” on this topic. Not that this often slows us down. 🙂

If I were to address the subject of civil disobedience, I would look at the Old Testament books of Daniel and Esther, but even there I believe the people pushing a right-wing “Christian” agenda would be disappointed if we look at what God actually says.

In these supplemental study sheets, I do give more background as to the historical, cultural setting for Paul’s instruction to us. Albert Barnes gives an excellent overview, and as always John MacArthur adds his insight which is always grounded in the Word of truth.

Here is a question that should have our attention:

Are my actions and attitude toward a leftist, liberal, gay [fill-in-the-blank] agenda putting my mind and heart in opposition to God’s agenda?

And with the direction I have chosen in this matter:

Am I more or less secure and at peace in
God’s sovereign and providential rule?

And one more:

Is my biblical/political stance yielding the fruit of a peaceful,
quiet, good, thankful, godly and dignified life pleasing to God?

• PDF LESSON 34 : Governing Authorities- The Servants of God : Romans 13:1-7 : FFC : dave scott : 051715 : ADDENDUM : STUDY SHEET THREE
• PDF LESSON 34 : Governing Authorities- The Servants of God : Romans 13:1-7 : FFC : dave scott : 051715 : ADDENDUM : STUDY SHEET FOUR

PS Also decided this morning that we are going to spend two weeks in this and related texts. Next week is Memorial Day weekend, so it seems very appropriate.