First Baptist Church of Cole

 This is the passage where Aaron and his sons are ordained into the priesthood.  They were dressed, anointed, consecrated and dedicated to the work.

They had the anointing oil poured over them, symbolizing the Holy Spirit.  They had the blood put on their ear, their thumb and their toe symbolizing they were to listen, serve and follow

We are all called a kingdom of priests in the New Testament and we too are dressed, anointed, consecrated and dedicated to the work He sets before us.  Our job is to trust that call, trust the calling and trust the caller.  Trust the gift, trust the gifter and trust His gifting.

 Our greatest privilege in this life is to raise up godly children to sent in to the next generation.  

1)  Be a Trainer                                Show them the path we are supposed to be walking...  that expects you  to be walking it not just sending the children to heaven
2)  Be a Strainer                              Be willing to restrain the evils from this world and keep the trash  out... that means out of your mind and heart first and then theirs
3)  Be a Sustainer                           Take care of your family, support them and straighten them as arrows that you want to shoot into the future
4)   Don't be an Entertainer              Your job is not to be chief clown  and party planner... you are their Father and then you get to do the fun  stuff as a Dad
5)  Don't be an Explainer                 Never  be that "helicopter" parent that leaps to the rescue to undo the  consequences of the child's misbehavior...  sometimes consequences are  the most successful teacher

Being  a dad is not something we do in our spare time.  it is our primary  responsibility before God.  Only the Lord and our spouse deserves more  of our love and attention.  The children we are given by the Lord are  the arrows we will send into the future.  We have no greater job to do.

 This miracle is a little disconcerting to the average reader since  it seems Jesus had to try twice to get the healing done.  The same voice  that called light into existence, the hand that took the daughter of  Jairus by the hand and spoke the universe into existence, the same voice  that called Lazarus out of his grave did not need a second try to get  this healing done. 

This is a miracle with a message... a lesson built  around an event.  This picture is for our benefit so we can know that  sometimes our miracle will come as a developing process and not  necessarily in an instant.  The Lord is not finished with any of us, we  are all a work in progress...

Don't give up, don't lose faith, don't go  back to business as usual.

 Jesus has some very  specific questions for the team in the first verses, first about what  the world says and then about what they know and say...
Peter  confesses the Lord as Messiah and so speaks the truth, and then goes  quickly off the rails as he turns and rebukes Jesus for telling about  the coming crucifixion. 

What does, "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God"  look like as it is being lived out?
It looks like denying yourself, taking up cross and following Jesus up that road to give your life away.
I that what you were picturing when you followed the Lord?  It should have been

 There are so many false and misleading doctrines in the world today and we dare not take for granted that we are immune to being deceived. The disciples misinterpreted the warning, so can we.

There are many deceivers in the world that take the place of the Pharisee of old... we will examine several of the false doctrines this Sunday and the truth that we must hold in order to help our friends and family stay true to the Lord.

Sometimes as followers of Christ we loose sight of who should be number one in our lives. We allow things, most of the time without realizing it, to move up the ladder of importance in our life until we have replaced Jesus as our number One with things such as careers, money, sporting events, and even family.

 The disciples are again presented with the lesson that God will  supply all the needs when you are operating in His will and in His  work.  The still did not get it, it seems but they were able to remember  it later and take from that the truth we discover as we learn that Our  God is named, Jehovah-jirah.

Many of us  operate as if we were atheist when it comes to how we are going to trust  God for our needs and even when we the bills.  He who freely gave His  own Son will surely take care of Tuesday afternoon!

 Paul was teaching the church at Rome and us that having a broken  set of priorities will inevitably lead us and our society into a  downward spiral that is revealed here in Romans 1 and 2.  Your  priorities, that is the people or things that are number 1 2 3 in your  life will always reveal your true loyalties and motivations.  

 Jesus was telling Nicodemus exactly how to be born again, namely, by  looking in faith to that one who was going to be lifted up. He made it  possible that all who would look to him in faith could live. This was a  Salvation picture that a Jewish expert would never be able to forget.

 The thief that cried out for mercy did all the things anyone must do in order to be saved… have you?

1. He Admitted he was guilty of sin.
2. He Repented of his sin
3. He believed in the resurrection of the Savior
4. He Cried out, believing in the Lordship of Jesus

 Jesus was ministering rest to his disciples, then a mega-church full of people showed up and the great and compassionate heart of the Master of course ministered to them too.  Jesus gave them physical bread and met a need they could understand and appreciate but the  much more important need that He met was the teaching.

Jesus' baptism is most often overlooked and passed by, but their is a  great significance in Jesus being baptized. We're going to take an in  depth look into our Savior's baptism, going all the way back to Genesis  and touching down in other parts of the old testament to bring out the  big picture of Jesus being baptized.  

March 3, 2019

 What kind of faith does it take to move the hand of God? 

 Jesus was constantly doing what was unexpected and astounding.  How long has it been since someone looked at your life, your ministry, your church and said it was amazing?

We should be in the middle of astonishing things, church spruce up is great but we must be about the business of being the church out where the people are.

 The church can spend all of its time trying to judge, correct and improve one another, which will lead to legalism and division and a generally poor church culture... or the church can grow together.  Stop taking pot-shots at the saints and get on with the job of building the church. 

 There are the things that could divide the body and break down the health of the church, false doctrine, prayerlessness, idolatry, the monotony of life and even gossip can divide members from members.  We can be a church growing and moving and protecting one another or we can be like the little children playing RED ROVER,  holding on until a really big blow hits and then blaming the other kid for letting go of our hand.

January 27, 2019

January 6, 2019