Preparing for Sunday, April 14 2013 at Grace Fellowship Church

I am going to attempt to cover lots of glorious Gospel ground on Sunday morning and that makes reading ahead a smart move.

First off, you should read carefully the three major events covered in 1 Samuel 22:6-23:29. They are all marked by some form of betrayal.

If you can find the time, you should also read the three Psalms that correspond to these three events. Psalms 52, 63 and 54 in that order.

There are a thousand things one might learn from this passage, but I hope to focus on what David modeled to us under these headings:

1.         When your enemy betrays you… (22:6-23)

A.        God always tells you what to do

B.        God always brings about justice

C.        God always rescues His people

Psalm 52

2.         When your friends betray you… (23:1-14)

A.        God always tells you what to do

B.        God always brings about justice

C.        God always rescues His people

Psalm 63

3.         When your family betrays you… (23:19-29)

A.        God always tells you what to do

B.        God always brings about justice

C.        God always rescues His people

Psalm 54

You hopefully noticed that the same three points are made under each major point. Almost like the Lord was trying to teach us something.

The one episode I am skipping over in chapter 23 is Jonathan’s visit to David. We have already covered this.

You may also want to ponder in advance these TAG questions.

1. Are you a whiner (1 Sam 22:8)? What does that say about your trust in God’s providence? Is whining a sin or just annoying?
2. God uses evil Doeg to accomplish His holy justice. That means that as Doeg opposed God, he actually accomplished God’s ultimate purposes. (Evil Doeg fulfilled God’s prophecy of 1 Samuel 2:31f.) How does understanding this help you trust God in the middle of witnessing betrayal and mistreatment?
3. Are you a grumbler or a grappler? Do you tend to complain to others or run to God in prayer? What are some things you are more prone to whine about rather than pray about?
4. What is wrong with starting a sentence with, “God told me…” and finishing that sentence with anything other than a Bible verse?
5. Does “thirsting after God” sound foreign to your experience (Psalm 63)? If you have never longed for God like this, what might that be telling you about your walk with Him?
6. God used a sinless carpenter and cross to free us from our sins. What surprising means has God used to deliver you out of other troubles?

And by all means, pray the Lord visits us on Sunday!

NBC's Coverage of Eli Reimer Trekking to Everest

Catch some of the first footage from Base Camp and Eli's triumphant return to the US in this great little video!

View more videos at: http://nbclosangeles.com.

How To Make Friends With Another Man

Pondering Jonathan’s friendship to David prompted me to challenge the men of Grace Fellowship Church to actively seek male-to-male friendships. I gave my brothers some quick advice on how to do it and here it is for you.

1. Aristotle said, “He who has many friends, has none.” There is truth in what he was saying if you understand him to mean that a man who has a thousand shallow relationships is much poorer than the one who has a few deep ones. David had only Jonathan.  Sure, he had the mighty men and all, but there was something unique about his relationship to Jonathan. True friends are rare, so don’t get tricked into thinking quantity is the same as quality.

2. Loyalty and love go together. You will not develop deep friendships until you learn to live loyally. I have sinned against every one of my best friends and I cannot imagine how the relationship would have survived if they had not been loyal, like Jonathan was to David. Learn loyalty now by, well, being loyal!

3. Initiate. Why do men sit around watching football instead of calling up a brother and building a friendship? Stop waiting around for somebody else to pursue you and act like a man – initiate.

4. Fear of man destroys friendships. If you are not dealing with your heart idolatries you will have a hard time building deeply into another’s life. Be the best Christian you can be and God may provide a very good friend.

5. Never lose sight of the Friend of Sinners. He will teach you all you need to know about befriending other men.

Preparing for Sunday, March 17

Passage to read: 

1 Samuel 20

Sermon outline:

1.      Jonathan loved God

2.      Jonathan loved David

         a.      His soul was knit to David’s

         b.      He loved David as his own soul

         c.       He sealed his commitment to David

                   Covenant

3.      Jonathan kept his promise

                   HESED

TAG Questions:

To the men: Do you have any deep male-to-male friendships? Why or why not? Was there a time you did?

As you read of Jonathan and David’s love for one another, do you find yourself asking yourself, “Were they homosexual?” What does that question tell us about our age?

Jonathan gave up the “kingdom of Jonathan” as an expression of his love for David. What would it mean for you to give up the kingdom of (insert your name here) to love your wife?

To the women: Do you have any deep female-to-female friendships? Why or why not? Was there a time you did?

David hid in the good of covenant he had made with Jonathan – Christians must hide in the good of covenant that God has made with them. How do you do that in real time?

Do you find yourself wondering why nobody is pursuing you as a friend? If yes, do you agree that the right course of action is to pursue rather than wait to be pursued? What might keep you from pursuing others?

To the men: Are you able to look another man in the eye and tell him you love him?

What are some ways that the fear of man destroys friendships?

Do you feel that everyone else has more and better friends than you do?

Book Review: The Voice New Testament

With the promise that one will “step into the story of Scripture,” Thomas Nelson has released a new Bible translation that essentially turns much of the New Testament into a screenplay using a method of translation known as dynamic equivalence. The text also includes some footnoting and a number of interpretative notes provided by either an “artist, musician, editor, writer [or] scholar.” The order of those titles might be indicative of something.

I suppose there is some usefulness to a work like this, but I would never commend it for anything other than supplemental study.  The first problem is dynamic equivalence. There is always something of this in translation work, but any Bible that sets out to link its work closely to modern culture is immediately outdated. By the time the thing goes to press the culture has moved on. The better route is to leave as much of the sticky and hard cultural items in place and cause the inquisitive reader to study. 

Someone will inevitably shoot back that leads to misunderstanding and that is certainly possible. But it is equally possible that the team of translators misunderstands something and by their excessive editing has enshrined error into an English translation. I would rather depend on the Spirit to enlighten the mind of the simple who faithfully read their whole Bible. It has been said before, but I will say it again. The old widow who has read her Bible every day for 75 years has a remarkable sense of what it all means… and a precise radar for error.

Read a Bible that makes you work it out rather than one that gives you all the answers. (Which is why I think your study Bible should always stay closed beside you while you are reading. Reference it when you have exhausted all your own ideas.)

(This book was provided courtesy of Graf-Martin Communications and Thomas Nelson in exchange for an honest review.)