Notes of Faith November 4, 2024

Notes of Faith November 4, 2024

The Living Bridge

Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.”

Revelation 21:5

Have you ever seen a living root bridge? Most are found in India, where bridges are formed from the aerial roots of trees. Some trees, like Banyans, send root tendrils down to the ground. When these trees are near rivers or valleys, engineers stretch and root them on the other side. They become ingenious footbridges.

Rev 21:1-5

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, 4 and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away."

5 And He who sits on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new." And He said, "Write, for these words are faithful and true.

The greatest living bridge of all time, however, is the Millennial reign of Christ, a thousand-year bridge between human history and the eternal state. The Coming Golden Age will not be heaven. It will serve as a bridge to heaven for the redeemed. Sin and death, though rarer, will still occur.

Revelation 20 tells us about the Millennium, which is followed by the Great White Throne Judgment when heaven and earth pass away. When we come to chapters 21 and 22, we are in eternity: “Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth” (Revelation 21:1). Oh, how much we have for us in the future! How wonderful to be assured of a blessed home forever! Let’s rejoice in that today!

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!

Fanny Crosby

Believers and followers of Jesus will rule with Jesus during His Millennial reign. We will be in our perfect bodies, without sin, serving Jesus, our King. There will still be those in their mortal bodies, still sinful, living and dying throughout this time period although it will be more wonderful than the life we experienced before our eternal walk with Jesus. There will still be pain, sorrow and suffering that we will see and cause us grief, the greatest of which will be unbelief, a lack of faith, even with Jesus in their presence.

There is coming a day when we will experience life as God originally designed before the entrance of Satan’s deception and sin. What a life that will be! Look forward to the glory of God and living with Him forever!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith November 3, 2024

Notes of Faith November 3, 2024

Come to Church to Get

Article by Marshall Segal

President & CEO, Desiring God

How many people do you know who have left a church for bad reasons?

The music wasn’t their kind of music. The sermons weren’t short or engaging enough. The children’s programming lacked the entertainment factor of other churches. The church was a little too big (for those looking for more attention) or a little too small (for those wanting less). In short, the church wasn’t all I wanted, and so I moved on. You could safely call us the “move on” generation, so it’s no surprise we’ve seen those same impulses in our pews.

Many have heard the bad reasons and taken aim at this Sunday-morning commercialism. Some have said (and you can find plenty of these sermons online), “Don’t come to worship to get but to give.” The charge gets something right — and something horribly wrong. Otherness is, of course, vital to any healthy life of worship and any healthy family of faith. Of all people in the world, Christians should count others more significant than ourselves and consider their interests and needs before our own. Sadly, that kind of Godward otherness is scarce in some churches.

That being said (and this is what the well-meaning admonitions get horribly wrong), the first and greatest business of corporate worship will always be about what we get, not what we give.

Come to Be Satisfied in God

As you arrive to worship again this Sunday, it’s deeply healthy to remember that God does not need anything from you — and that you still need absolutely everything from him.

The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. (Acts 17:24–25)

If you want to orient yourself on who’s really getting and giving when your church gathers, remember that God gives you each of the thousands of breaths you will take that morning.

Even when it comes to the needs of others, God doesn’t need you to meet them. He can feed five thousand with a few loaves and a couple of fish. He’s not looking for help; he’s looking for worship (John 4:23). Acts 17 continues, “[This God] made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God” (Acts 17:26–27). We live to seek, find, and have God, the only one who can satisfy all the empty and aching parts of us.

And, in God’s wisdom and love, the people in our churches who come first and foremost to get from God will consistently have the most to give to others. Those who provide the most help, ironically, will be those who know that their sovereign and satisfying God doesn’t need it.

How to Help Your Local Church

This month, our team of teachers is tackling the theme “How to Help Your Local Church.” This article may seem like a strange place to start, but it’s fundamental to how we think about corporate worship. We were made to know, enjoy, and reflect the glory of God. That can certainly happen when we sing a hymn together or serve in childcare or drop a meal off to a hurting family, but it doesn’t happen unless those are acts of worship and not mere service or duty. Christian help comes from a certain kind of heart. That means the first step to being helpful to your church is being as happy as possible in God.

This theme was inspired by one of our eleven core values as a ministry — “Love for the Local Church.”

Jesus came to earth to win for himself a bride, redeem for himself a body, ransom for himself a holy nation, raise for himself a holy temple, and build for himself a church. Jesus loves his universal church, each faithful local church, and each individual member of his true church. He determined that “through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 3:10). Therefore, we too love the church. We aim to pursue ministry strategies that encourage, equip, support, and strengthen local churches. We do not support any attempt to replace personal involvement in the life of faithful local churches with online content or communication.

As we pour ourselves into helping millions of people glorify God by being satisfied in him, we never want to undermine or pretend to replace the local church. No, we explicitly want to strengthen and serve local churches. And so, we are devoting our theme this month to all the ways we can bless and build up the bride of Christ.

“The first and greatest business of corporate worship will always be about what we get, not what we give.”

Prayer for Sunday Morning

But, again, we’re not starting with what you give because, as Christians, we come to corporate worship to get more of God. If you wanted a text to pray before you get in the car on Sunday morning, you might let the first verses of Isaiah 55 lead you into worship:

Come, everyone who thirsts,

come to the waters;

and he who has no money,

come, buy and eat!

Come, buy wine and milk

without money and without price. (Isaiah 55:1)

Spiritually speaking, this is who we are before God apart from Christ. We’re not a little short on cash. We’re bankrupt. We have no money. We’re actually less than broke; we’re dead in our trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1). And yet God invites us — lifeless, penniless, and guilty — to his table. And notice that he doesn’t just set the table with what we need (water and bread), but he pours wine and milk for us to enjoy — both of which tell us that the saving God is a satisfying God.

Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,

and your labor for that which does not satisfy?

Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,

and delight yourselves in rich food.

Incline your ear, and come to me;

hear, that your soul may live. (Isaiah 55:2–3)

Come to eat. Come to have your thirst quenched. Come to have your heart filled to overflowing, thrilled and satisfied. Come to me. Before you come to church with your hands, come with your ears, ready to hear the all-powerful God of the universe breathe life, direction, and joy into your needy soul.

First Business of Worship

What George Müller (1805–1898) said about his daily communion with Christ is a wonderful banner to hang over our gatherings in our churches:

According to my judgement the most important point to be attended to is this: above all things see to it that your souls are happy in the Lord. Other things may press upon you, the Lord’s work may even have urgent claims upon your attention, but I deliberately repeat, it is of supreme and paramount importance that you should seek above all things to have your souls truly happy in God Himself! Day by day seek to make this the most important business of your life. (A Narrative of Some of the Lord’s Dealings, 2:392–93)

If you want to be more helpful to your local church (and I really hope you do), seek first to have your soul happy in God. Come to worship to get and get and get him, and he will show you how to help and give to others.

Heb 10:23-25

23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful (WORSHIP); 24 and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, 25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

Love God! Love Others!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith November 2, 2024 Part 2

Notes of Faith November 2, 2024 Part 2

Dear Father,

Living in uncertain times, You are a certain God.

Seeing turmoil all around us, You are the Peace within us.

And though the future may seem dim, You are the Light that illuminates our path forward.

Make us one nation under God.

May we remember the high cost that was paid to live in one nation, a nation under God.

May we not be fractured by politics or pettiness, but stand together as an indivisible people, ready to face the challenges of our future.

May we graciously live within the freedom and liberty endowed to us by our Creator. And may we seek justice for all, no matter their race, color, or creed.

Make us one nation under God.

Though imperfect, let us become a more perfect union. Sometimes divided, let us learn to live indivisibly. And at times ungrateful, let we the people be grateful for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

In you, God, we trust to heal the wounds of our past. Give us strength to endure the trials of today, and provide guidance to live together in a more peaceful tomorrow.

Make us one nation under God.

May your Word direct us, Your promises keep us, Your power protect us, and Your purpose restore us.

May our courage propel us, love define us, humility constrain us, and faith unite us.

Make us one nation under God.

Father, we are blessed beyond measure, thankful beyond words, and hopeful beyond imagination.

Make us one nation under God.

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith November 2, 2024

Notes of Faith November 2, 2024

The Latitude and Longitude of Gratitude: Beyond Words

A faithful man will abound with blessings.

Proverbs 28:20

Deut 28:1-14

Now it shall be, if you diligently obey the Lord your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. 2 "All these blessings will come upon you and overtake you if you obey the Lord your God:

3 "Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country.

4 "Blessed shall be the offspring of your body and the produce of your ground and the offspring of your beasts, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock.

5 "Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.

6 "Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.

7 "The Lord shall cause your enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you; they will come out against you one way and will flee before you seven ways. 8 "The Lord will command the blessing upon you in your barns and in all that you put your hand to, and He will bless you in the land which the Lord your God gives you. 9 "The Lord will establish you as a holy people to Himself, as He swore to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in His ways. 10 "So all the peoples of the earth will see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they will be afraid of you. 11 "The Lord will make you abound in prosperity, in the offspring of your body and in the offspring of your beast and in the produce of your ground, in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give you. 12 "The Lord will open for you His good storehouse, the heavens, to give rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hand; and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. 13 "The Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you only will be above, and you will not be underneath, if you listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, which I charge you today, to observe them carefully, 14 and do not turn aside from any of the words which I command you today, to the right or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them

When it comes to fundraising, a grant is money that is freely given. When we take something for granted, we accept it freely, without question; we assume it to be true. For example, it is easy to take one’s blessings in life for granted, to assume they are naturally ours.

God warned the nation of Israel about taking blessings for granted: “You may say to yourself, ‘My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.’ But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today” (Deuteronomy 8:17-18, NIV). Following that warning, Moses expanded on the covenant in Deuteronomy 28 and the blessings that would come from walking in it. King David would later put it in other words: “For all things come from You, and of Your own we have given You” (1 Chronicles 29:14).

Instead of taking God’s blessings for granted, let us thank God for them—even for the blessings of giving Him praise and thanksgiving. Everything comes from Him.

Faith brings a man empty to God, that he may be filled with the blessings of God.

John Calvin

Every breath we take, every beat of our heart is a blessing from God! Family, friends, coworkers, neighbors, all that God places around us are blessings from God. How do respond to those blessings…indifference, apathy, ignorance, love, joy, peace? We should fervently strive to not take God’s blessings for granted. They will not always be with us…even breath and heartbeat! Obedience brings blessing…let’s start with loving God and loving everyone else!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith November 1, 2024

Notes of Faith November 1, 2024

A Special Relationship

I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.

Ephesians 1:17, NIV

Many people write their names in the front of their Bibles, but have you ever put your name in the middle of a Bible verse? For example, with this verse you might pray: “Lord, I keep asking that You, the God of my Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give to me, my family and friends, even my enemies, the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, that I may know Him better.”

Eph 1:16-23

6 I do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers; 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might 20 which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

You can also insert the name of a loved one!

This is a particularly powerful verse because God created us in His image with a capacity to know Him—and to know Him better and better. This sets us humans apart from the rest of God’s earthly creation. We can know the unfathomable, understand the incomprehensible, and worship the inscrutable—our glorious Father. Even children can sing His praises.

Let’s thank God for our special relationship with Him and ask Him for the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that we may know Him better.

Knowing God enables us, as believers, to display strength in times of stress and take action when the rest of the world seems to be immobile.

Kay Arthur

My prayer for my family, friends, even those I don’t particularly like is that they would recognize their sin, repent, come to Jesus for salvation and forgiveness. Then we ALL can spend eternity together in peace, joy, and love because there is no sin there! Come to Jesus! Jesus is returning soon! Or it will be too late and you will suffer the judgment of Almighty God!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith October 31, 2024

Notes of Faith October 31, 2024

Pigweed

Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it.

Genesis 3:17

The New York Times ran an article titled “Attack of the Superweeds.” Some unwanted plants have developed a resistance to modern herbicides. Pigweed, for example, can grow three inches a day, and it’s no longer threatened by sprays. It can also suppress corn yields by up to ninety percent.1

Rev 22:1-5

22 Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, 2 in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3 There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; 4 they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. 5 And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever.

When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, all creation was affected. The ground was cursed so that weeds grew more easily than crops—as all of us who have gardened know. But there’s wonderful news. During the thousand-year reign of Christ the curse will be abated. The ground will become more fruitful. And after the thousand years, we’ll receive a new heaven and new earth. Revelation 22:3 says, “And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it.”

Sin and sinful habits do a lot of damage. We have to work to eradicate them from our patterns of life, just as we have to pull weeds from our gardens. But in the Millennium, the curse will be abated, and in eternity it will be totally absent. So rejoice over that the next time you deal with pigweed!

The Curse is real, but it is temporary. Jesus is the cure for the Curse.

Randy Alcorn

We cannot even imagine what it must have been like to walk with God in the cool of the day, enjoying His presence in intimate fellowship. We only know the suffering caused by our sin and the curse on all of creation that it caused. Praise God for His plan or salvation and redemption! One day believers and followers of Jesus will know God’s absolute perfection in His creation and it will include us! I am very far from perfect and also do not imagine what being perfect might be like. Some things I am very aware of, but there is much that will change that I do not know or understand in the immortal eternal life. Let us live this life…looking forward to the perfect eternal life that God has prepared for us!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith October 30, 2024

Notes of Faith October 30, 2024

Salvation comes to every tribe, tongue, nation and people!

Rom 11:25-27

I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery — so that you will not be wise in your own estimation — that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; 26 and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written,

"THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION,

HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB."

27 "THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM,

WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS."

When Israel will acknowledge Jesus as Messiah, that’s the Israel that will be saved. “I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem,” Zechariah 12, “the spirit of grace and supplication. Then they will look at Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only Son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.” There has to be – you see, the Tribulation, as hard as it’s going to be, is the only thing that will break the religious spirit of Israel. It is the only thing that will bring them to the point where the rabbis and their tradition are not going to save them.

That’s why the Bible says in Hosea, chapter five, verse 15, “I will return again to my place until they acknowledge their offense, and through their affliction, they will earnestly seek me.” So Israel will be judged. Yes, and the ones that will not choose the mark of the Beast, and the ones that will eventually run away from him rather than worship him, those are going to be kept in the desert for 1,260 days, as Revelation chapter 12 says, and that these are the ones that Jesus will bring back to Himself upon His second coming, and these are the ones that are going to receive Him, and then all Israel indeed will be saved.

When Israel Will be Saved

Among the many consequences of the fallacies of Replacement Theology and Dual Covenant Theology is they rob the beauty we can witness and the lessons we can learn from God’s relationship with His chosen people.

Replacement Theology says that God replaced His chosen people with another group, the church. Dual Covenant theology says God has a different covenant through which He will save the Jews than He does for the salvation of the Gentiles. Both teachings are grievous errors in Biblical interpretation and thieves and robbers of wonderful truths.

Jeremiah 31:35-37

Thus says the LORD, Who gives the sun for a light by day, the ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night, Who disturbs the sea, and its waves roar (The LORD of hosts is His name): “If those ordinances depart From before Me, says the LORD, then the seed of Israel shall also cease from being a nation before Me forever.” Thus says the LORD: “If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, says the LORD.”

Replacement Theology requires that God break an everlasting, unconditional covenant made with both Israel and the land He promised to them. Dual Covenant theology makes the Holy One of Israel a misnomer because they sat that Israel can be saved without the One whom the title represents, Jesus.

The truth is that Israel has not been replaced by the church, and in order for any Jew to be saved they must come to the King of Jews for salvation just like any Gentile.

Romans 11:25-27

For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; for this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins.”

If the church has replaced Israel, then why is Paul talking about God taking away their sins and all Israel being saved? If Dual Covenant theology is true, then Jews can be saved by keeping the law. So, why is Paul referring to a Deliverer out of Zion, which is an idiom for Jerusalem?

The lessons we should be learning from Israel are that God keeps His word, and He disciplines those whom He loves. God never loses track of His people. Israel is God’s timepiece, and the last days center on Israel. God never meant for Israel to become religious, instead He desires a relationship with His people. God can protect His people through anything. On and on the list goes of lessons we can learn from God’s special relationship with His chosen people.

Does “God saving all Israel” include unbelieving Jews who reject the Messiah? No. No one is saved because of their nationality, and anyone who is saved receives that salvation by the blood of the Lamb of God slain from the foundations of the world – Jesus.

Zechariah 13:8-9

“And it shall come to pass in all the land,” says the LORD, “that two-thirds in it shall be cut off and die, but one-third shall be left in it: I will bring the one-third through the fire, will refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘This is My people’; and each one will say, ‘The LORD is my God.’”

Two-thirds of the Jews will die during the Tribulation and they will all die in unbelief. The Jews who come to faith in Yeshua, Jesus, will survive the Tribulation by means of divine protection, and in the end they will declare, “The Lord is my God!”

Acts 2:36

“Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”

The declaration that “the Lord is my God” is an acknowledgement that the surviving Jews of whom the Lord will say “This is My people” will finally see Jesus as whom they never before would accept Him to be – God with us.

Zechariah 12:10

“And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.”

It is at this moment, when Jesus returns to the Mount of Olives, that Israel, all Israel, will be saved and declare that Jesus is my Lord and my God.

Replacement Theology and Dual Covenant theology are not just heresies, they are robbers and deniers of the faithfulness of God to those whom He has chosen. One of the biggest takeaways for us regarding God’s covenant relationship with Israel is this:

Romans 8:38-39

For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Our God is faithful, and His relationship with Israel is proof of just how faithful He truly is!

Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus,

The Jews are saved in the same way that all other people are…by His grace through His gift of faith to believe in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ! All who do will be saved and blessed, living in the presence of their Savior and Lord, forever. Those who do not will be separated from God eternally in judgment and suffering.

John 5:39-40

39 "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; 40 and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life.

John chapter 17 is truly the Lord’s prayer, Jesus, praying to His Father for all people, who were chosen by God before the world was created. Come to Jesus that you might be saved!

John 17:1-4

"Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, 2 even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life. 3 "This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.

John 17:4

6 "I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.

John 17:14-16

14 "I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15 "I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.

John 17:17

17 "Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.

John 17:20-21

20 "I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; 21 that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.

John 17:22

24 "Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.

Jesus wants those who believe in Him to be with Him. I want to be with Jesus. How about you?

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith October 29, 2024

Notes of Faith October 29, 2024

Final Judgment

And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.

Hebrews 9:27

Judgment can have two meanings: judgment in terms of evaluation (as in ranking performances resulting in prizes) or judgment in terms of punishment (as in a courtroom where a sentence of guilty is rendered). Both kinds of judgments will occur in the future. First, believers will be evaluated for their faithfulness at the Judgment Seat of Christ for the purpose of rewards (2 Corinthians 5:10). This judgment occurs at the beginning of the Tribulation. Second, non-believers will be judged at the Great White Throne Judgment at the end of the Millennium in light of their works and God’s laws (Revelation 20:11-15). The result for believers is rewards; the result for non-believers is eternal separation from God.

Rev 20:11-15

11 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. 13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Christ will be the Judge at the Great White Throne: “For the Father...has committed all judgment to the Son” (John 5:22). The subjects will be unbelievers from all ages. Words, works, conscience, actions, lack of faith—everything will be revealed as evidence. Eternal hell is the destination of the judged.

The doctrine of hell is unpopular. But let its reality motivate us to share the Gospel with all who lack faith in Christ before it is too late.

Hell is an abiding place, but no resting place.

Thomas Watson

God is a God of love for God IS love. But God is also holy and therefore a God of justice. The one who rebels against God in unbelief, doing evil, fighting against God and truth will be punished forever in the Lake of Fire. We must share the gospel and it must include the truth of punishment for not believing in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Sovereign God over all things!

Praise God from whom all blessings flow

Praise Him all creatures here below

Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost

AMEN!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith October 28, 2024

Notes of Faith October 28, 2024

Worship in Person

Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that…. Many nations shall come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.”

Micah 4:1-2

Today, the center of our spiritual worship is our local church; Paul refers to the Church today as God’s temple (Ephesians 2:21). In the Millennium, worship will change.

Isa 2:2-4

2 Now it will come about that

In the last days

The mountain of the house of the Lord

Will be established as the chief of the mountains,

And will be raised above the hills;

And all the nations will stream to it.

3 And many peoples will come and say,

"Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,

To the house of the God of Jacob;

That He may teach us concerning His ways

And that we may walk in His paths."

For the law will go forth from Zion

And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

4 And He will judge between the nations,

And will render decisions for many peoples;

And they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation,

And never again will they learn war.

While believers will still gather locally, worship will once again have a central focus: Jerusalem and a new temple (Ezekiel 40–45). People from every nation will stream to Jerusalem to worship the King of kings and Lord of lords (Zechariah 8:23) whose government will emanate from the Holy City: “And the Lord shall be King over all the earth” (Zechariah 14:9). Today, we worship Him whom we have not seen “with joy inexpressible and full of glory” (1 Peter 1:8). But in the Millennial Kingdom, we will worship Him whom we will see with our own eyes, for He will receive our worship in person.

As you worship the Lord today, bear in mind what your worship will be like in the Kingdom—for a thousand years and beyond.

Nobody can call himself a Christian who does not worship Jesus.

John R. W. Stott

Many true believers that I have met have concerns about churches…every church that they attend. These churches seem to be a poor reflection of Christ and have issues, conflicts, personalities that do not fit with their idea of church. There is no perfect church, nor will there be. Those who are avoiding gathering together with other believers may be avoiding the truth of their own sin and difficulties of being one in Christ. We were made to live in community as God Himself always exists in the community of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We need each other, even with our failures and sin, to learn from God, to become more like Him, to forgive, forget, and pursue the holiness of Christ.

Heb 10:23-25

23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; 24 and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, 25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

Go to church, serve God, serve His people!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith October 27, 2024

Notes of Faith October 27, 2024

Sing to Remember

God’s Gift of Musical Memory

Article by Kathryn Butler

For five years, I cared for my friend Violet as her memories faded away. Dementia took hold, and the feisty Finnish woman who took pride in her nursing career, her spotless lawn, and her adoring German shepherd eventually forgot the people and home she loved. In her final months, she no longer recognized Bible verses that had buoyed her through so many storms.

But she still had “Amazing Grace.”

During Violet’s last year, I visited her every Tuesday with my Bible in hand. She neither recognized me nor recalled any words I read to her. But whenever I sang “Amazing Grace,” she joined in, warbling just as she had for so many years in the choir. In a season when the fog of dementia had otherwise clouded her vision of God’s grace, she reclaimed his promises through song: “I once was lost but now am found; was blind but now I see.”

Chorus of Commands

Throughout the Bible, praise, adoration, and thanksgiving move God’s people to sing. After God guides the Israelites safely across the Red Sea, Moses leads them in song (Exodus 15:1). When God protects David from Saul, David praises him with singing (2 Samuel 22:49–50).

This pattern repeats throughout the whole biblical story. When God blesses Hannah with a son, she sings in thanksgiving (1 Samuel 2:1–10). After Gabriel visits Mary to foretell Jesus’s birth, she rejoices with the Magnificat (Luke 1:46–55). Jesus himself sings a hymn (likely from Psalm 118) at the Last Supper (Matthew 26:30), and John foresees all the nations singing praises to the risen Lord in the new heavens and new earth (Revelation 5:9–12).

Paul encourages the church to “let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God” (Colossians 3:16). James writes, “Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise” (James 5:13). The Lord himself calls us to sing as we praise him. Consider Psalm 96:1–3:

Oh sing to the Lord a new song;

sing to the Lord, all the earth!

Sing to the Lord, bless his name;

tell of his salvation from day to day.

Declare his glory among the nations,

his marvelous works among all the peoples!

Psalm 147 likewise begins, “Praise the Lord! For it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting” (Psalm 147:1). And Psalm 100 joins the theme: “Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!” (Psalm 100:1–2).

From beginning to end, singing and worship go hand in hand.

Reason to Sing

Why would God so fervently command us to unite our words with melody when we worship him? On the one hand, as God creates us in his image, we’re to rejoice in song just as he does. In Zephaniah 3:17, we read,

The Lord your God is in your midst,

A mighty one who will save;

He will rejoice over you with gladness;

He will quiet you by his love;

He will exult over you with loud singing.

Furthermore, when we lift our voices in song to the Lord, we direct our emotions heavenward, stirring up thankfulness in our hearts as befits the Almighty (Colossians 3:16). As Jonathan Edwards writes, “The duty of singing praises to God, seems to be appointed wholly to excite and express religious affections” (Religious Affections, 115).

“When we read a verse, it can flit away; when we sing it, we harbor God’s word in our heart.”

And yet, there’s another reason to worship with singing — a reason beautifully evident during my visits with Violet. In Deuteronomy 31:19–21, God commands Moses to teach the people a song recounting his deeds so that they and their offspring might remember. “When many evils and troubles have come upon them,” God says, “this song shall confront them as a witness (for it will live unforgotten in the mouths of their offspring)” (Deuteronomy 31:21).

When we sing God’s praises, we glorify him, obey him, and direct our hearts toward him. But also, remarkably, we remember words our inconstant, sin-stricken brains would otherwise so quickly forget.

Musical Memory

The history of God’s people is a story of forgetfulness and remembrance. In the wilderness, the Israelites forgot the wondrous deeds God had accomplished in Egypt and worshiped the work of their own hands (Exodus 32:1–10). In the book of Deuteronomy, Moses pleaded with the people to remember what God had done for them (Deuteronomy 4:9; 8:2, 11–20). Joshua built a memorial of twelve stones from the Jordan River so the following generations might know how God provided (Joshua 4:1–7). Finally, in the upper room, Jesus commanded his disciples to take the wine and the bread in remembrance of him, as we also must do (Luke 22:19; 1 Corinthians 11:23–29).

To follow Christ is to remember and proclaim what he has done (Acts 4:20). And the gift of song, in addition to stirring our hearts, aids our minds in remembering. When we read a verse, it can flit away; when we sing it, we harbor God’s word in our heart (Psalm 119:11).

The link between song and remembrance arises from how God designed our brains. While the act of forgetting may seem simple, we actually have several types of memory, all organized within separate areas of the nervous system. Declarative memory involves recall of events, concepts, words, meanings, and facts, and it originates in the temporal lobes and hippocampus. Studies show, however, that music involves complicated networks in the brain beyond this system.

Singing triggers our procedural memory — a complex network involving the cerebellum, motor cortex, and deeper brain structures. Procedural memory allows us to perform actions without explicitly focusing on them. Consider how rarely you think about how to ride a bike or drive a car after your first awkward days of learning. Such procedural memories are so robustly imprinted in our brains, that we can take up an action like playing the piano or knitting even if we’ve not done so in ages.

Musical processing also connects to emotional memory, centered in a region of the brain called the amygdala. The emotional memory system helps us to recall events with strong feelings attached to them. The link between music and emotional memory explains why certain songs transport us to a specific moment in time and evoke feelings we may not have recalled for years.

Thanks to the connection between music and these two memory systems, we can hardly erase catchy jingles from our heads, no matter how much they annoy us. Hearing a familiar song on the radio can instantly carry us to that first handhold with a spouse or to our birthday party in kindergarten. Most stunning of all, the link between these systems reveals why the command to “Sing to the Lord!” not only glorifies God but also blesses us abundantly. When we sing, we remember.

Melody When Memory Fails

The human brain’s stunning ability to recall music is a gift of mercy in Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s preferentially affects the temporal lobes and hippocampus, the regions of the brain responsible for declarative memory. As a result, memory for language, names, and events erodes away. Memory for recent events fades first, as these are less rigorously stored. Over time, however, even remote events can slip away.

“God has designed the very architecture of our brains to hide his word even when our memories fail.”

Memory for music, however, often remains intact in Alzheimer’s because it involves the procedural and emotional memory systems. The response to music is preserved even in advanced dementia, when patients can no longer reason, plan, or even speak. “I remember the first time I saw someone with Alzheimer’s remembering the Lord through music,” writes clinical psychologist Benjamin Mast in his book Second Forgetting: Remembering the Power of the Gospel During Alzheimer’s Disease. During his visit to a memory-care center, where “the full range of dementia was represented,” he writes,

When it came time for music, and especially the old hymns, things visibly changed. One woman who only wanted to leave finally sat down for a while to listen. A man who was always angry and agitated now had a contented look and tapped his foot to the music. Another man who was quite confused closed his tear-filled eyes and slowly raised his hands while quietly mouthing each word. God uses music to reach the seemingly unreachable. And he gives us this gift as a gracious resource to help us in drawing people back to him, to reengage their faith. (139)

By God’s grace, believers who can no longer remember the names of loved ones can still readily sing God’s praises. God has designed the very architecture of our brains to hide his word even when our memories fail. And he commands us to sing so that we might recall his life-giving word even when we’re prone to forget.

Sing to the Lord, my brothers and sisters. Make a joyful noise. And as you sing, even as other memories fade, remember his amazing grace — the breadth and length and height and depth of God’s love for you in Christ.

Kathryn Butler is a trauma and critical care surgeon turned writer and homeschooling mom.

While caring for Robin’s dad Bill, we grieved as he lost memories of various people and events in his life, but as mentioned above, Bill remembered songs that he had sung for most of his life. Near the end, when he was no longer communicating, we played music in his room and could watch him mouth the words to the great hymns of faith. God blessed us with music and will use it for all who will endeavor to express their worship through its beauty to bless and be blessed over and over. May you be blessed today through God’s gift and glory of music!

Pastor Dale