The Truth of God

Reflections on Yesterday's Sermon

During Paul's sermon yesterday, I couldn't help but think of my friend Vance, who was a singer and teammate of mine during my touring years. I lost track of him for several years after I "retired" from the road, only to find him a few months ago on Facebook (after all, who ISN'T on Facebook?).

The past few weeks, Vance has been posting sayings to his Facebook page from his favorite philosopher, a guy named Alfred North Whitehead. His latest snippet from Sir Alfred states that "Fundamental progress has to do with the reinterpretation of basic ideas." That sounds pretty harmless, until you consider it in the context of today's world (and, until you read some of Alfie's other writings). In America in 2009, the basic idea of marriage is being reinterpreted. The basic idea of family is being reinterpreted. The basic idea of good and evil is being reinterpreted. In some places, the basic idea of Jesus is being reinterpreted.

Yesterday, Paul lead us through the truth of who God is: Father, Spirit and Son existing in complete unity. Furthermore, that unity is a model for every single one of our family, social and societal relationships here on earth: a father the head of a family, a king the head of a government, a pastor the head of a church. These thoughts led me to Romans 1, which speaks to society's mad rush to "reinterpret basic ideas" and the ultimate fallibility in doing so:

"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.

Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen."

Seems to me that these unrighteous folk were fooling around with some basic idea reinterpretation, which reads more and more like blasphemy every time I write it. God says He is eternal, incorruptible and the King of Heaven, and that man is inherently wicked; reinterpretation says man is his own god and basically a good guy. God says marriage is a blessed union (because it speaks to the Trinity) wherein a man and woman become one flesh; reinterpretation says marriage is whatever you want it to be, because it probably won't last anyway. God says government exists to administer justice and is accountable to Him; man says government is the new god and the key to worldly happiness. Man is breaking God's design for relationships with both God and man ... exchanging the truth of God for a lie.

More and more, my prayers are becoming pleas for mankind to have their eyes opened to the truth of the Word. Last month we learned about God's Holy Spirit; one of the Spirit's roles is to illuminate the Word of God and to help us understand it. That's a high calling, especially in today's microwave, fast-food, text-message society. I know I can't do it ... so I'm trusting in the Spirit to do what only He can do. I'd love to have you pray with me.


- Pastor Jason

Thoughts on Marriage

Friends,

As promised, this is the blog dedicated to last week's sermon on marriage and the Marriage Amendment that Californians will be voting on in November. While our parent website - cbcmv.com - is currently experiencing some technical difficulties, we wanted to provide you with a forum to express your ideas, questions and concerns regarding this important proposition, so here it is! (Once cbcmv.com is up and running again, we'll link from here to Pastor Paul's sermon on marriage).

Remember, you can "log-in" anonymously through the Blogger software (no personal information or membership needed), but we'd like to know who we're speaking to if you don't mind leaving your name. First names and last initial will suffice. Thanks, and remember, there's no such thing as a silly question!

PS - Here are some links to websites dedicated to upholding Biblically-defined marriage and Prop 8.

http://www.protectmarriage.com
http://www.protectmarriageca.com
http://www.protectmarriagesd.com

Questions? Comments?

Okay everyone, this is the post you all have been waiting for. It's the beginning of our Q&A section here on the CBCMV Blog. Do you have questions about God, His Word, or someting you heard this past week (whether from our pulpit or some outside source)? Well, this is the place to get those questions answered.

For example, yesterday Pastor Paul preached on 1 Peter 4:6, which mentioned the Gospel being preached "to those who are now dead", a passage he believes refers to those being held in Tartarus for future judgment. Did you understand what you heard? Do you have questions? Fire away! We want to help you wrap your brains around the mysteries of the faith!

It's been a while, hasn't it?

Hi, church family!

Okay, so running this blog thingy has proven to be a little more difficult than we first imagined! But, that's okay ... we're back into the flow now (we hope)!

Anyways, we wanted to open a door for anyone and everyone to share recent praises and prayer requests with us via the blog world! A LOT has been happening at our little fellowship, and we have a lot to thank God for ... and ask for as well!

Please feel free to share all the triumphs and struggles you like ... our body will "hurrah" and pray for each one. Thanks!


Pastor Jason

Oh, and one more thing ...

Today (January 24) is Pastor Peter's birthday! Feliz cumpleanos, amigo!

You can wish Pastor Peter a happy birthday by e-mailing him at this address!


Pastor J

How about some shout-outs?

Hey, everyone, Pastor J here. I thought it might be nice to send some kudos to some of the unsung heroes in our fellowship via our erstwhile church blog. I'll get the ball rolling with two:

1. Our deacon board and church corporate officers. I've been fortunate enough in the past few weeks to sit in on the regular deacon meetings, and let me tell you, it does my heart good to see Godly leaders staring down difficult decisions from a Godly perspective. We're blessed to have these folks!

2. Our technical crew. The techie's lament is that they never get noticed until something goes horribly wrong ... but I'm here to tell ya that Tom, Jeff and Louis are knowledgeable, dedicated and hard working, and we couldn't pull off our Sunday morning worship services without them! We're currently trying to raise funds for an awesome audio/video seminar in San Diego this April so that we can sharped our collective skills ... so please pray that we'll be able to raise the necessary funds and take this ministry even further!

Pastor J

So ... how goes the witnessing?

Everyone,

In keeping with Pastor Paul's question from our first post, I thought I'd open up a new post about our witnessing successes and struggles. The link included in this post is to the download of Pastor Paul's sermon from last week, "Huddle Up!" Take a listen to it if you missed it, or if you simply need a refresher. And, don't forget to post your comments below about your hits and misses on the soul-winning trail this week. We're in this together, so let's help each other out!

www.michaeljason.com/cbcmv/sermons.asp

Pastor Jason