Thanksgiving with Family?

Mark 3: 31-35     Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived.  Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him.  A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.”
   “Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked.
   Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers!  Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother” (NIV).
   Jesus gave a radical description of His family, defining His family as those who do God’s will.  No birthright and no family tree?  Now Mary gave birth to Jesus, and Joseph and Mary were parents who raised Him.  Yet Jesus was not the flesh and blood of Joseph and Mary, rather He was conceived by the Holy Spirit.  And in this passage, Jesus revealed the reality of a spiritual family, which is available for anyone who believes in Him.  John 1:12 states people who believe in Jesus are adopted as children of God.  It is a spiritual adoption.  Those who are children of God have the enabling power of the Holy Spirit to do the will of God.  What a privilege to not only be saved from our sins by Jesus and to be united with God, yet to also gain such an intimate relationship with God as to become His children.
   Often Christians start a prayer addressing the Father: Heavenly Father, Holy Father, Father God, Our Father, and such.  This title of Father is a reality for the person who is a follower of Jesus.  Incredible.
   My sophomore year in college at Virginia Tech, my mom left my dad the day before Thanksgiving.  That Thanksgiving was one of the most painful days of my life.  My full family never had Thanksgiving together again.  Future Thanksgivings were infused with some pain for me for at least a decade following that horrible Thanksgiving.
   Since that time, Thanksgiving Day has been spent with a bunch of different folks.  People I have shared that traditional meal with over the years include my grandma until she passed away, several different families from several different churches, three elderly ladies from my church, and twice with some CCU students unable to travel home for the holiday.  When I first went into ministry work, I spent three out of four Thanksgivings alone with God.  I needed healing and His comfort during that period.  This year I spent the holiday with folks from a special Christian singles group.
   Spending Thanksgiving with various people in various places, I was enriched, and I always appreciated people inviting me to join their family celebration.  Yet honestly, none of those Thanksgivings were my true desire.  My sincere desire was to be with a wife.  Honestly, I still would do anything to spend a quiet day in our own home with a wife giving thanks for Christ’s love.
   However, I reflected during this Thanksgiving of how throughout my hodgepodge of Thanksgiving events, I have been blessed to be with family-in-Christ on Thanksgiving, even if it did not seem like I was with family.  And all of those times were an opportunity for me to express Christ’s love!
   If you are not in a relationship with the Heavenly Father, you can call God your Father even today.  Referring back to John 1:12, to receive forgiveness and to be adopted into the family of God, you simply need to believe in Jesus, the One who died on a cross for the forgiveness of sins of anyone.  He was the atoning sacrifice for the consequence of sins, which is spiritual death.  Then He was resurrected.  Now He offers you the invitation to join His forever family for all eternity, and you will be enabled to do the will of God.
   Speaking from experience, you still may have some challenging Thanksgivings, (even if with physical family or Christ’s family), or some crummy Thanksgivings, or even some lonely Thanksgivings.  However, you will never again be alone on Thanksgiving, even if you feel lonely.  God promises to spiritually be with His children always.
Hunter

A Sacred Time

Sermon

A Sacred Time

Mark 1: 35-37

FABC of Longmont

9/22/19

by Hunter Irvine

+ Open in prayer.

= Mark 1: 35-37 Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.  Simon and his companions went to look for him, and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!” (NIV)

1. Duffy Robbins & Merrill Tenney:
   A professor named Duffy Robbins has served at Eastern University in Pennsylvania for decades.  Duffy is a nationally renowned Youth Ministry professor.  I read several of his books when I was a student at CCU, and they were good textbooks.  And I have had the privilege to hear him speak twice at seminars.  He is a gifted teacher.
   Duffy also spoke at CCU a few years ago, and I attended the symposium to listen to him.  In that talk, Duffy told of the time he had an opportunity to have lunch with Dr. Merrill Tenney, the outstanding Bible scholar.
(There is a book by Merrill Tenney in this church up in the chapel bookcase.  And I have a Bible dictionary by Dr. Tenney on my desk.)
   So Duffy was extremely excited to meet Dr. Tenney, and during lunch with the famous scholar, he asked him a big question: “How do you spend your quiet time with God?”
Dr. Tenney replied, “I read my Bible, and I pray.”

That was all he said.

Now I think some other spiritual practices are great.
I sing one song every morning to conclude my quiet time.
Journaling is a special spiritual practice for me.
Many people do a variety of other activities during their personal time with God.

Yet Dr. Tenney got to the foundation of growing in Jesus day by day:     Read your Bible and pray.

2. Solitude is needed:

Solitude is a word many people do not like.  They equate it with being lonely.

Yet when you seek solitude for your quiet time with God, you will not end up lonely because you will end up spending the time with God!
Spending time with the Lord God Almighty, you will end up fulfilled rather than lonely!

We need to seek solitude, to get away from the countless distractions, so we can spend sacred time with God.

3. Your sacred time? :

Do you have a specific time and place where you spend your sacred time with God?

Of course we can spend time with God anytime, yet having a daily discipline usually promotes consistency.

In the book Manna, by Steve Farrar, in Chapter 5, Red Leather Chair, he tells of his daily practice of waking up early and reading his Bible and praying in the same red chair, morning after morning.  He emphasizes that time with the Lord is foundational for the way he lives his life.

Do remember the key is not the time or the place, yet the key is interacting with your Father in heaven.

* All loving relationships require loving interaction.  Spending time together, talking, and listening, are all needed for a healthy relationship.  Spending such time with our Heavenly Father is imperative!!

4. My sacred time with God:

   My personal time with God has been a key to my growth in Christ ever since I was a new Christian.

Most days, I spend time reading the Bible and praying after breakfast.  I cherish the time.

* I am the Christian man I am today, because day after day, year after year, I have spent sacred time with God.

5. Jesus got recharged for preaching the Good News:

Did Jesus read His Bible and pray?

Again, from the book Manna, from that same chapter on page 112, Mr. Farrar states, “In the gospel of Matthew alone, we find Jesus directly quoting from the Old Testament seventy-six times.”

And we learn from this passage that Jesus prayed.
Jesus was fully God, and He was also fully human, and even He prayed when on earth.

Spending that time alone with the Father, Jesus got recharged to preach, to teach, and to heal!

Sacred time with the Father prepared Him to preach.

And Jesus preached the good news!
The word “Gospel” means good news.

What is that good news?

+ The Gospel
                             Jesus Christ died on a cross for the forgiveness of sins of anyone.  He was the substitute for the consequence of sins, which is spiritual death.  Then He was resurrected.  If you believe in Jesus as your Savior and Lord, you will have eternal life with Him in heaven.

+ Invitation
                             If you do not know Jesus as your Savior and Lord, I invite you today to give your heart to Jesus.  You can receive Him by simply believing.  Believe in Jesus, and you will spend eternity in heaven.

Jesus loves you!!!

Jesus Offers Heaven

Sermon

Jesus Offers Heaven

Matthew 4: 12-17

FABC of Longmont

September 15, 2019

Hunter Irvine

+ Open in prayer.

= Matthew 4: 12-17 When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he returned to Galilee.  Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali—to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah:
“Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea, along the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.”
From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near” (NIV).


Why not Galilee of the Jewish people??:
Why is the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali called “Galilee of the Gentiles?”

After all, Zebulun and Naphtali were two of the twelve tribes of Israel, and their land was part of Israel.

In 931 B.C., there was a split in Israel – the northern kingdom, Israel, and the southern kingdom, Judah.  The northern kingdom had 10 tribes, and the southern kingdom had 2 tribes.

After the split, there was much disobedience by kings and many Israelites in the northern kingdom, year after year.  God warned them to stop turning to false gods and doing other sins, including violence.  But the leaders did not listen, so God allowed the invasion of the Assyrians.  Isaiah gave a specific prophecy that Assyria would conquer Israel.

In 722 B.C., the Assyrians conquered Israel, the northern kingdom.

The Assyrians were terrible.  They would conquer a country, and then to reduce the chance of that country rebelling later on, they would deport most of the people to another country they had conquered.  Then they would send foreigners from the other country to live in the newly conquered country.  So they were not only conquering countries, they were ripping people out of their homeland.

Thus much of the area which had been Israel became filled with people from another country, or countries.

Later on Judah was conquered by Babylon, and then came the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C., which I will not get into because that is a complete sermon in and of itself.

Some Jewish people did return, but…:

So Galilee was inhabited by Gentiles, however, there may have been a few Jewish people who were able to remain in 722 B.C., but moreso, a few centuries before the time of Christ, some Jewish people were able to return to their homeland in Israel, in addition to all of the Jewish people who continued to return to Judea from Babylon.
And as the Roman Empire expanded, the roads made travel easier, and people were able to more easily move.  Some Jewish people who had been dispersed all over the place returned to their native land.

Thus in the region of Galilee, you had both Jewish people and Gentiles.
Yet this Scripture lets us know the area was dominated by “Gentiles.”

A religious mess:

Now Gentiles were any people who were not Jewish.  This sounds rather racist to be segregating people by such terms.  However, the Biblical distinction was concerned not with ethnicity, rather with false religion versus the one true God.

The ancient world was filled with devotion to a plethora of false gods.  I learned in my Western Civilization class at CCU that most people in the ancient world were polytheistic, meaning they believed in the existence of many gods.  Monotheism, the belief in a sole God, was an attribute which set the beliefs of the Israelites apart from other people of other nations.  (There was one ancient Egyptian king who advocated monotheism, which really set him apart in history.)

God wanted the Jewish people to be set apart from the people of other nations in order to preserve their relationship with Himself, Yahweh, the true God!

But rather than devotion to Yahweh in Galilee, besides a minority of people who were Jewish, the region was filled with a whole bunch of people with devotion to a whole bunch of false gods.  And all this was under the Roman Empire, which had its own pantheon of false gods, most of which were false Greek gods with different names.

It was a religious mess.

Jesus offered heaven:

And in the midst of the religious mess, Jesus started preaching about heaven.

Heaven is the offer of Jesus!

Yes God wants good things for us in this world, and He has made other promises to us, such as He will be with His children up to the end of the age.  Yet His primary offer is heaven!

In the Sermon on the Mount, in parables, and in other places, Jesus taught about heaven!!

Heaven is His offer to us!


Memorial services:

Being a person called to vocational ministry, I have known many people who have died.
And I have been to many memorial services.
Once in a church, we had three members die in a period of only a few months.  It was a rough time for our church family.

Yet what a blessing to know all of those people who turned to Jesus are now in heaven.

Heaven is for real, made possible by Jesus Christ!


+ The Gospel

Jesus Christ died on a cross for the forgiveness of sins of anyone.  He was the substitute for the consequence of sins, which is spiritual death.  Then He was resurrected.  If you believe in Jesus as your Savior and Lord, you will have eternal life with Him in heaven.

+ Invitation

If you do not know Jesus as your Savior and Lord, I invite you today to give your heart to Jesus.  You can receive Him by simply believing.  Believe in Jesus, and you will spend eternity in heaven.

Jesus loves you!!!

The Lamb of God

Sermon

June 2, 2019

FBC of Longmont

Hunter Irvine, Teaching Pastor

+ Open in prayer

+ Read John 1: 35-37

Terrace Townhouses

During my elementary school years, my family lived in a townhouse in Annandale, Virginia.  The townhouse neighborhood was ethnically diverse with families from various countries such as Pakistan and India.
One day I was playing outside with my friend, and he pointed out a townhouse, which was on the west side of the large complex.  The boy told me a Jewish family who live there had sacrificed a Passover Lamb.  Then he showed me what they had done with the blood.
After killing a lamb, they took some blood and brushed the blood on the frame over the door and at the sides of the door!  I looked at that blood.
This was back in the 1970’s, yet I truly remember that.

The only reason I even knew about the Jewish Passover there in the fifth or sixth grade was since I had watched The Ten Commandments movie.

At the original Passover in Egypt, God instructed every Jewish family to sacrifice a lamb and then put blood from the lamb on the doorframe, above and to the sides of the door.  Those who obeyed saved their firstborn child from death.

And God told the Jewish people to continue to sacrifice a Passover lamb every year in order to remember the fact they were delivered by God from slavery in Egypt.


Temporary forgiveness.

In addition to the Passover sacrifice, the Mosaic Law required an array of other animal sacrifices.

Lambs, goats, bulls, rams, and some other animals under certain circumstances, such as birds, were required to be sacrificed!

Temporary forgiveness of sins came through those animal sacrifices.

God was using such incomplete sacrifice to lead to the permanent sacrifice which Jesus would make.


Permanent forgiveness!

Jesus was the permanent atoning sacrifice!!!

The Lamb of God made the supreme sacrifice, being the permanent substitute for the sins of anyone.


Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The consequence of sin is spiritual death, yet Jesus, who was the perfect Lamb of God, paid the penalty on the cross.


Jewish people no longer need to sacrifice animals!
Jewish people have the offer of the forgiveness of sins because of the perfect atoning sacrifice of Jesus the Messiah on the cross.
And now all people have the offer of the forgiveness of sins because of the perfect atoning sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.


I Corinthians 5:7 “For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.  Therefore let us keep the Festival…”

** There is a new Passover to celebrate, and it is the Passover of Jesus Christ!!


The Gospel
Jesus Christ died on a cross for the forgiveness of sins of anyone.  He was the substitute for the wages of sins, which is spiritual death.  If you believe in Jesus, then you will have eternal life.

Invitation
I invite anyone who is not in a relationship with Jesus to turn to Him today.  All you need to do is believe in Jesus!!
You will be forgiven forever!

Easter thorn

   This morning I attended an Easter worship service at a church I have been visiting for over a month.  After the service they had a large Easter egg hunt.  All the kids were lined up on the sidewalk with their baskets in hand eager to jump in.  There was a crowd of people behind them to watch, but I wanted to get a clear view of the enthusiastic rush for plastic eggs.  So I walked over by the building to stand against a wall where there were no people.  Stepping through a mulch strip, there were bushes which had no foliage, which is no surprise because we have had a cold month.  But my dress pants snagged on some thorns.  I had thought the branches were from just any old bush, but they were extremely thorny rose bush branches.  Shortly after standing behind one of the rose bushes, the kids were released to grab eggs.
   Then I noticed there were two eggs in the thorn bush in front of me.  One of the children’s ministry leaders surely dropped them in there not knowing it was a rose bush.  Just then a young boy came to grab one, and I quickly warned him about the thorns.  Then I carefully looked at the bush and saw how many little thorns were poking out.  I decided to get the other egg out of there so no child would get hurt.  I slowly reached my hand down to get hold of the egg.  Though being careful, the branches were thick, and the back of the hand was pricked by a thorn.  It hurt.  I rubbed the tiny wound, and then I put my hand in there again.  Then I got a hold of the plastic egg and removed it from the bush and put it to the side.
   As I continued to stand there, the prick of the thorn was a reminder for me today of the suffering Jesus endured.  I thought of the contrast of thinking of Christ’s suffering on the day we Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus with much joy.  The suffering is what I pondered Thursday and Friday after all.  Yet the little prick made the suffering more real for me on Easter.  Being only a quick prick, I considered the fact the painful crown of thorns put on Jesus’ head brought suffering for Him for hours.  God the Son was willing to suffer more than I can imagine because He loves people.
   The atonement Jesus made on the cross is finished!  Jesus was resurrected.  Every day we Christians can celebrate the resurrection of Jesus.  Yet every day we can remember the suffering He endured for us and be thankful.  And every single day is a day where someone can believe in Jesus and receive the salvation He offers.
   I add that personal suffering and pain can still be known by any of us in the world on any given day.  Trouble remains daily in this world.  Yet on the first Easter, human history was changed, because beginning on that day, any person can have eternal life in Christ.
   Jesus Christ died on a cross for the forgiveness of sins of anyone.  He was the substitute for the penalty of sins, which is spiritual death.  Then He was resurrected!  He is in heaven!  And Jesus is still at work in the world through His Spirit!  All those who believe in Jesus receive the free gift of eternal life in Christ.
Jesus Christ is risen!
love,
Hunter Irvine

Sacrifice by men and women in Christ

   After doing ministry work in various manners during my 28 years of following Jesus, I have learned successful ministry work involves teamwork.  I am convicted that when Jesus gave what is commonly termed “The Great Commission” to His disciples, it was also intended to be a command to all disciples of all following generations, since Jesus mentions being with us to the “very end of the age.”  Thus all Christians are called to do ministry work.  Now people serve in a variety of ways according to callings and gifts, yet all Christians are called, whether man or woman, or whether young or old, to be a witness of Jesus in their community, and to serve Him.
   When it comes to positions in church communities, many have the conviction women can be pastors, whereas many have the conviction women cannot be pastors.  I think this is a challenging Biblical interpretation issue.  This doctrine has become a divisive point in the United States culture which has aided to the polarization of a number of denominations, which I think is sad.  Yet I address one fact I hope all Christians can agree on: both women and men have given their lives as martyrs for Jesus.
   The book published in 2017 entitled Christian Women in the Patristic World: Their Influence, Authority, and Legacy in the second through Fifth Centuries, is authored by Lynn H. Cohick and Amy Brown Hughes.  Dr. Cohick was hired in the past year as the new Provost at Denver Seminary, and Dr. Hughes is a professor at Gordon College.  My friend Sarah, who is the daughter of my longtime college friend from Virginia Tech, has Dr. Hughes for a class this current semester, and Sarah told me she is a fantastic professor.  Full of detailed information, these two high class scholars give a thorough examination of Christian women in post-apostolic times.  The book is complex, yet much historic information is stated in plain terms.
   One point the authors made which illuminated me was the fact many women as well as men were murdered for their faith in Jesus Christ in the second and third centuries.  Dr. Cohick and Dr. Hughes focus much on two martyrs, Perpetua and Felicitas, from the source, Passion of Perpetua and Felicitas, which was written by Tertullian.  This got me thinking about the historical writings of Eusebius, which are referenced at times by Dr. Cohick and Dr. Hughes.  In 2006 and 2007, I chipped away at Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History, which is a rough read, yet a crucial book concerning early Christian history.  But honestly I skipped the “Book of Martyrs” section for the most part, since the killings were so evil, horrible, painful, and demented.  The torture of Christians during the reign of the Roman Emperor Diocletian was unthinkable.  My studies over the years have included the reality of martyrdom, since I have studied much about the Twelve Apostles.
   Searching back through Ecclesiastical History, I swiftly found the names of three women who are mentioned as accepting martyrdom for Christ.  First is a Thecla.(1)  This is not the legendary Thecla whom Dr. Cohick and Dr. Hughes devote the first chapter of their book to.  The latter Thecla was probably named after the former.  Eusebius tells of a second woman in the first chapter of book five who was martyred named Blandina,(2) who is discussed by Dr. Cohick and Dr. Hughes.(3)  And only paragraphs later Eusebius tells of the martyrdom of a third woman by the name of Biblias.(4)  Eusebius may have listed others.  Women were martyred for their faith in Jesus!
   Now I question the following statement made in Christian Women in the Patristic World: “Although very few Christians died a martyr’s death in [the second] century…”(5)  They seem to contradict the statement made in their footnote number four on that same page which states, “…many congregants are martyred in 177.”(6)  And in talking about the martyrdom of Ignatius and Polycarp in that footnote number four, Justin Martyr is not even mention.  But most importantly no consideration was given of how other Christians may have been killed in various countries without having their sacrifice recorded in writing, or without having their sacrifice recorded in writing which still exists.
   Yet this question aside, the three of us would completely agree many women and men were killed for their faith in Jesus Christ in the combination of the second and third centuries.  This is a powerful contemplation for me, because it emphasizes the fact there have been women all throughout history, including in the current day and age, who have given the ultimate sacrifice of losing their physical life in service to Jesus Christ.
   The Church comprises of men and women who have been adopted into the family of God by faith in Jesus Christ.  We all have one Father.  We all are in His Holy family.  Whether man or woman, we are called to witness the love of Jesus Christ, and to tell and show people who have not received salvation the Gospel and the truth that Jesus loves them.
   I conclude with the question, “Are we brothers and sisters willing to live for Jesus?”  In the wake of the evil persecution of Christians resulting from the edicts in 303 A.D. by the Roman Emperor Diocletian, there remained the opportunity for people to live for Jesus.  As restoration was taking place, Eusebius records: “…and at the same time [both genders] of every age, male and female, with the whole power of the mind, and with minds and hearts rejoicing in prayer and thanksgiving, gave glory to God, the Author of all good.”(7)
   Today, recognizing sacrifice is necessary, brothers and sisters-in-Christ can live by the love of Jesus!
Hunter Irvine

(1) Eusebius, Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History, trans. C.F. Cruse (Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson, 1998), 309.
(2) Ibid., 150.
(3) Lynn H. Cohick and Amy Brown Hughes, Christian Women in the Patristic World: Their Influence, Authority, and Legacy in the Second through Fifth Centuries 
(Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2017), 96-98.
(4) Eusebius, Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History, trans. C.F. Cruse (Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson, 1998), 151.
(5) Lynn H. Cohick and Amy Brown Hughes, Christian Women in the Patristic World: Their Influence, Authority, and Legacy in the Second through Fifth Centuries 
(Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2017), 28.
(6) Ibid.
(7) Eusebius, Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History, trans. C.F. Cruse (Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson, 1998), 357.

Keep on Teaching

Sermon

Beecher Island Church
Matthew 28:20

March 3, 2019

by Hunter Irvine

+ Open in prayer.

= Matthew 28:20 “…and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.  And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Matthew 28:18-20 is called by many, “The Great Commission.”  To cover the entire passage, I would need three sermons, so I am simply going to address the third command.

I love you all!
   The past year serving here at Beecher Island has been an honor.  I have had some different church ministry positions over the years, and this has been the best church ministry position I have ever had!  I thank you all for being such a blessing to me.  I will miss you all!

Subbing at Longmont Christian School
   The point I want to make to start out is that teaching is hard work.
   Being a substitute teacher is about the toughest teaching position, and I have plenty of stories from being a sub.
   From the spring of 2007 to the summer of 2008, I was a substitute teacher at Longmont Christian School, which is an excellent school.  Now I did not sub much, because I lived down in Denver, so I could not drive all the way up there in time if a teacher called in sick at the last minute.  But I still got a bit of substitute teaching work here and there, and I loved teaching there!
   I subbed for a wide variety of classes.  The most unusual was subbing for the math teacher, since that is not my subject.  Yet that went fine, since they were mature high school students.
   Normally I would only sub for high school classes.  But sometimes they needed someone to sub for the elementary students for gym or music, and I agreed to do that.
   So one day I subbed for the elementary gym teacher.  The absent gym teacher wrote in his plan to me that all I needed to do was have them play dodge ball.
   When the 5th grade gym class started, I lined them all up in the middle of the gym.  Then one at a time I had each student say his or her name.  They confidently did that.  Then I had them do some serious stretches.  I have always been an advocate that stretching is the most important thing to do before sports, and for my rare day in the sun as a gym teacher, I was determined to have them stretch.  Boy did they complain.
   Then we started preparing for dodge ball.
A young lady came up to me.  She seemed really distraught.
   Then she blurted out, “I didn’t want to do it.  My name is actually Ruth.  Austin told me to tell you a different name.  Before class, Austin told everyone to tell you a different name.  We all lied!”
   Sure enough, Austin, who told me his name was Dallas, told every student to give a false name when I called roll.  I did not have a clue until honest Ruth exposed the joke.  What sweet student.  Her honesty made my week.

I think this story is funny, yet I have some teaching stories of rough times that are not funny at all.  When you teach, there are some serious challenges.

Teaching is hard work!!
   All good teaching is hard work!!
I have done a ton of teaching and preaching over the years, for ages from fifth grade to people who are one hundred years old, as a youth pastor and as a volunteer, and teaching is always a challenge.

Preparation is a key to success.  It is much work and much sacrifice, yet the result is good fruit!

So keep on Teaching!
   Brothers and sisters, you all have a special ministry here at Beecher Island Sunday School, and I encourage you to keep on teaching.  Your teaching ministry is needed!  Keep going, even when it gets discouraging.  Teaching about Jesus makes an eternal difference!

   I do not even know what my next church or job is going to be.  However, with the hopes I get a position, I already have a teaching plan.  I have a book picked out, which I can buy a number of copies of at a low price.  We will read some chapters in that book for several months, and I am going to have some people give short talks on some of the chapters.  I have this all planned out for the future, because I enjoy teaching, and I know Bible teaching is needed.

Howard Hendricks
+ Howard Hendricks was one of the leaders in Christian education.  He taught for years at Dallas Theological Seminary.
He wrote a book in 1987 called, Teaching to Change Lives.  I read the book back in 1999 or 2000, when I was a youth pastor, and it helped me to be a better teacher.
   I gave away that book away about four years ago when I was in Ithaca, yet I found a copy this winter for only $3 at Mardel’s.  This past month, I read the book again.  Normally I am the type who can only read a book once.  If I read a book a second time, it means I think it is a great book.  And again after 20 years, this winter I learned some things to improve my teaching.

+ Here is a great story of the power of teaching the Bible, from page 15.
+ And here is a classic story about the life of Dr. Hendricks, from pages 13 and 14.

Love!
The root of all good teaching is love.

Jesus told us to teach everything He commanded.
One of His commands is recorded in John 15: 12
"My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you."

The reason Jesus died on a cross for us was because He loves us!

His Hands
The first time I ever served as a substitute teacher at Longmont Christian School, I filled in for the music teacher.  It was a busy week.  One day, during my lunch hour I sat at the desk in the empty classroom eating my bag lunch rather than going to the cafeteria.  Enjoying the quiet time, I looked at the poster on the wall behind the desk.  It was a picture of Jesus sitting outside with a young girl on his lap, and with two children standing next to Him.  The one girl was pointing at His hands.  The words on the poster captured her question, “What happened to Your hands?”

We need to teach the children what happened to Jesus’ hands.  We need to shelter them from graphic details, yet we need to be honest and say what disasters are taking place in this fallen world because of the sins of all people.  We need to tell them of how Jesus died as the substitute for people, in order to save people.  We need to tell them that for anyone who believes in Jesus, he or she will have eternal life with Jesus, and will be sanctified by Christ.

+ Invitation

If you do not know Jesus as your Savior and Lord, I invite you today to give your heart to Jesus.  You can receive Him by simply believing.  Believe in Jesus, and you will be saved.

Jesus loves you!!!

The Father's House

Sermon at Beecher Island Church

Luke 2: 41-52

January 6, 2018

by Hunter Irvine

+   Open in prayer

#    Luke 2: 41-52 reading

+   I had the dream for many years of studying at Colorado Christian University because my favorite preacher of all time is Dr. David Beckman.  Dr. Beckman was a mentor and a friend, and he had much influence on me.  At CCU Dr. Beckman had a colleague and friend, Dr. Woody Northcutt.  Dr. Northcutt served CCU students for nearly four decades, and he loved students.  Also, Dr. Northcutt served at my grandma’s church for five years between 2001 and 2006.  Once when I heard him preach, he told this story: 
   When Dr. Northcutt’s children were young, his family went to church one typical Sunday.  Their one young boy fell asleep during the sermon, but they let him sleep since the family had been so active the day before.  After church, the family talked with some friends in the sanctuary, but they soon left for home.  Driving in the car, they were nearly home when they came to realize one of their children was not with them.  They had left their youngest boy at church.  Frantically driving back to the church, they rushed in the sanctuary.  Lying in the pew right where they had sat during the worship was their son, still curled up and sound asleep.

   In this passage, Jesus is left behind in Jerusalem.  His parents traveled for an entire day towards Nazareth before realizing He was not with them.

   Were Joseph and Mary downright negligent??

First, children around the age of 12 were given more responsibility than children are often given today.  In fact the NIV states that Jesus “stayed” behind.  He knew what He was doing by not departing the group.

Second, Jesus was surely their “model” child ☺   He was probably the last child they would have expected not to show up for the departure.

Third, Joseph and Mary had at least six children besides Jesus during their marriage as is told in Matthew 13: 55-56.  They had at least four other boys and some girls.  A few children may not have been born yet, but most probably were.  Thus there were definitely a number of other young children Mary and Joseph needed to be concerned with, including possibly an infant.

Fourth, Joseph and Mary were in a large caravan of family and friends.  Though traveling was safer within the territory of the Roman Empire, traveling always had an element of danger.  Thus many Jewish people would travel to Jerusalem in large groups.

But I am not making excuses for them.  His parents were careless!
   When I was a youth pastor, I always did head counts when we were going from point A to point B, and I did not even have large youth groups.  I wanted to make one hundred percent sure no one was left behind.

   Joseph and Mary figured out Jesus was not with them the first evening.  They left the caravan and walked back to Jerusalem.  This would mean they would have to take the risk of journeying home without group protection.

They looked for Jesus for three days!  That is a long time.
There would have been thousands and thousands of Jewish visitors therein Jerusalem from other countries who had come for the Feasts.

After three days, Joseph and Mary found Jesus in the temple courts.  Jesus was there having discussions with Jewish teachers.  He did not even express remorse to His parents.
Jesus simply asked Mary, “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?”

   How could Jesus be so casual about being missing for four days?

First, regarding this first pilgrimage of the year, the Mosaic Law required all Jewish people to attend both the Passover Feast and the Feast of Unleavened Bread!
Everyone was supposed to stay in Jerusalem for a full week!

(Scriptures which give details on requirements include Exodus 12:18 and Leviticus 23:5-8.)

Second, I think Joseph and Mary failed to stay for the entire Feast of Unleavened Bread.

A key word in this Scripture passage is “custom.”  Some Israelites followed the “custom” of participating in the Passover Feast, but then they did not stay for the full week as was required by the Mosaic Law.

Luke 2:43 states Joseph and Mary left after the Feast of the Passover was over.  Now some people surely called the entire week the Feast of the Passover, but the fact Scripture states nothing about the Feast of Unleavened Bread gives a clue that Joseph and Mary left early.  (I looked at an interlinear Bible to double check details.)  We do not know for sure, since Scripture does not say they left early, yet I think they did.

Third, Jesus did not leave early!!  He obeyed the Mosaic Law.

Obeying your parents is good, and in this passage it states how Jesus obeyed His parents, yet such obedience is always secondary to obeying God.

Speaking of Dr. Woody Northcutt, when I first studied this passage in 2002 or 2003 and came up with this thesis, I wrote a letter about it to Dr. Woody Northcutt.  He said my idea was excellent and he agreed with me.

+   So the message is - Jesus obeyed the Father.

+   And the personal message for us is - we should obey the Father!

How do you obey your Father?
                                                    By following Jesus!

John 14: 6-7 “I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.  If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well.  From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

That is because Jesus and the Father are One!

+   That 12 year old boy who was mixing it up with teachers of the Law in the temple courts, a place where animal sacrifices were done day after day, would one day be the perfect sacrifice for the consequence of sins.
Even as a 12 year old, He was God, and as a 12 year old, He knew that one day He would suffer death as the everlasting atonement for sins.
Jesus died on a cross for the forgiveness of sins of anyone.  If you believe in Jesus as your Savior and Lord, you will have eternal life with the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

+   If you have never opened your heart to Jesus, I invite you to do so this very day.  Jesus is One with the Father and with the Holy Spirit. Indeed, Jesus is God the Son.  If you believe in Him, you will be saved.