Matthew 28:19-20 – Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

We refer to it as the Great Commission.  The final recorded words of Jesus before his ascension into heaven. Jesus said to “go, make disciples, and baptize.” The first step is to teach people about Jesus and what they need to know to obey the gospel by putting on Christ in baptism.  The next step is to teach them to observe all that Jesus commanded.  That teaching is a lifelong process.  We are to teach people to be disciples; ones’ that follow in the footsteps of Jesus. We imitate Jesus, carry on His ministry, and become like Him in the process. We push ourselves to become better disciples as we teach others to be disciples.

The Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy, in 2 Timothy 2:2, “and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” They say the best way to know something is to teach it to others. We teach people to be disciples, so that they may teach others to be disciples.  We know and we teach, so that they know and they teach.   Through this cycle of learning, knowing truth and teaching, we are participating in the plan we were given by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

We are excited to have the Teaching Rocket, Michael Whitworth, with us this week to help us all become better teachers and students.  In our lifelong journey to be more like Christ, we must be continually learning so that we can continue teaching.  It is our hope that you are both encouraged and inspired by Michael’s lessons today and that you will strive to push beyond any obstacles that stand in your way on your journey to learn and teach God’s Word.

 

Yesterday, Douwene and I took the first step towards becoming Tech-No. We did this by cutting the worlds umbilical cord into our home. Truth be told, we did this because Financial Peace suggested that we cut the Cable.

Limiting screen time is an opportunity to increase study time. God does not share our passions with anyone or anything else. We are to love Him with all our heart, soul, and mind (Mt.22:37f). Shockingly, however, many Christians have turned their Godly passions towards insatiable & lustful worldly screens.

Jeremiah 2:12–13 (ESV) — 12 Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the LORD, 13 for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.

Are you addicted to the screens in your life? Do they interfere with your daily activities? Are you more with virtual friends than real friends? Is screen time your main source of happiness? Is the quality of your work suffering? Are you uneasy if you cannot find your “dumb phone”? Do those close to you say you are online too much? Does it involve risky behavior and secrets?

So, how do we cut back?
• Cut the cord to your home.
• Turn off notifications.
• Place device in a different room.
• Turn off phone use at the office or school, and church. And set time limits.
• Create no-phone zones (church, bedroom, dining room table, etc.).
• Create intermittent fasting from the phone.
• Install the “Moment” app – a screen time tracker.
• Finally, uninstall addictive apps (games), unhealthy apps (TikTok) and risky behavior apps.

Now, friend, you are ready to return to your patiently waiting and ever-loving heavenly Father. With all the extra time you have,
meditate on the following words: “BE STILL, AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD. I WILL BE EXALTED AMONG THE NATIONS, I WILL BE EXALTED IN THE EARTH” (Ps.46:10 ESV).

 

So Aaron took it as Moses said and ran into the midst of the assembly. And behold, the plague had already begun among the people. And he put on the incense and made atonement for the people. And he stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped. – Numbers 16:47-48

Over the past year we have watched in horror as ISIS militants have committed atrocities on a scale not seen since Nazi Germany nearly annihilated the Jews of Europe.  The brutality and bloodshed leaves Christians and secularists alike stunned by the carnage.  We wonder on Facebook and to our coworkers, will it ever be stopped?  The plague of ISIS continues to sweep across the Middle East.  We pray each week for family and friends who are serving God and our nation in Turkey, not far from the atrocities.

I don’t pretend to have an answer for the terrorist aggression of ISIS, but there is a much more severe plague that is in our backyard that demands our attention.  The plague is sin that separates almost everyone we know from the living God!  Our friends, family, coworkers, and neighbors are losing their eternal lives because they live in open rebellion against the Creator.  We are much too passive about this reality!  If ISIS were pushing into our area, we would do everything possible to push them back.  But a far more dangerous plague is left unchallenged.

In the passage above, Israel had rebelled against God bringing a plague to sweep across the camp, killing everyone as it went.  Notice what Aaron did, he ran toward the plague to make atonement for the people’s sin.  The text says he literally stood between the living and the dead.  Imagine how hard he pushed himself to get to the plague before it consumed another row of people.  When it was done, did he wonder if he could have run just a little faster and have saved more people?  Did he regret the extra serving of fried manna he had for breakfast?

This is certainly a foreshadowing of what Christ would do centuries later as he emptied himself of heaven’s privilege and dove head long into our world to make atonement for our sin.  The plague of sin continues to claim victims every moment of the day.  What are we to do?  Should we huddle together and count our blessings that we are among the saved?  No way!  We must follow the example of Jesus and rush into the world to point everyone to Jesus.  Don’t stand before God wondering if there was one more thing you could have done to save a friend from eternity away from God’s presence.

Lead me to some soul today,

O teach me, Lord, just what to say;

Friends of mine are lost in sin,

And cannot find their way.

Few there are who seem to care,

And few there are who pray;

Melt my heart, and fill my life,

Give me one soul today.

 

Everything is perfect. Our days are not too hot, nor the nights too cold. The early morning air has a refreshing briskness to it and the trees have beautiful golden leaves.

But even more beautiful is that we can wake to the voice of God speaking to us through His ancient Words. This is how it was for our earthly ancestors 6000 years ago. In the most perfect world imaginable they heard their God walking one more time towards them in the COOL OF THE DAY (Genesis 3:8a).

Soon winter’s sinful barren wasteland would descend on them. Soon they would spiral all their ancestors into the confusing chaos of sin. As the Apostle Paul would say: “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. … For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing” (Romans 7:15, 19 ESV)).

Friend, you can either do what Adam and Eve did and hide (Genesis 3:8b) or you can choose to step out into the light (1 John 1:7). Instead of hiding our sins, God promises that if we confess them, He will forgive us (1 John 1:9).

 

In our second session of Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University program we were taught about paying off debt. During the instructional video Dave quoted Proverbs 6:4-5.

(NIV) “⁴Allow no sleep to your eyes, no slumber to your eyelids. ⁵Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler.”

His point was that we need to work hard and have the same level of “intensity” to get out of debt as the gazelle has when it is fleeing for its life.  As Christians, we should have this same “gazelle intensity” about our faith. We know it is a matter of
everlasting life or eternal destruction.

He then stated it in a very practical kind of way, “you can wander into debt, but you can’t wander out.” Dave’s point is that we need to be intentional with our money and take control over our finances, so our finances and our debtors do not control us. As Christians we should be intentional with our faith and take control over our actions.

“You can wander into debt (sin), but you can’t wander out.”

 

We are all very familiar with what God provides. However, most of what God provides is conditional on our obedience. So, what does God require of us? God tells us in Deuteronomy 10:12 & Micah 6:8:

1. Fear and respect God (stay VERY FAR away from OMG, etc.).
2. Walk in all His Ways (know and obey the Bible).
3. Love Him (pray and tell Him).
4. Serve Him (bring Glory to His name by worshiping Him in spirit and truth and serving the least in the Kingdom).
5. Do justice (by doing right by all – be nice, not because others are nice but because you are).
6. Love kindness (being friendly, generous and considerate).
7. Walk humbly before God (remain as an unworthy fool before God, 1 Cor.1:28; 4:10).

This week I watched a couple of our Summit seniors taking on a tough job in the September heatwave. As they were fixing a break in our blacktop, a local school was closed due to excessive heat (https://t.ly/3VzJW).

Some of the positive comments I saw, that bring Glory to God, are:

• Ella Turner- “A wonderful family.”
• Renuka Devadason- “Love the Carnes family!!”
• Ken Carter- “A beautiful, beautiful family. They are just like brothers and sister to me.”
• Lucy Carole Ferguson- “They are The Best!”
• Sheryl Herald- “Hard work and worse in this heat! Thank you Dave and Jeff (and Nancy)”
• Billie Rogers- “Agreed!!!!”

Friend, are you doing what God requires of you?

 

A few months ago, in Summit’s foyer, someone loudly interrupted and corrected my mistake. I had referred to drunkenness as a sin and not an addiction.

But when did drunkenness move from the sin to sickness category? It was in 1935, in Akron, OH. Two hopeless alcoholics, Bill W. and Dr. Bob S. started Alcoholics Anonymous. So, a NY Stockbroker and Physician made the decision to move drunkenness to a disease.

However, never, in all of scripture, is drunkenness referred to as a disease that overtakes a helpless victim. God warned us about the danger of choosing the world over His Word in Colossians 2:8 (ESV): See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.

Instead God says — And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18 ESV).  Therefore, the result of “drunk with wine” is not a helpless, diseased alcoholic. Instead it is DEBAUCHERY. This word is the direct opposite of salvation. Literally it is unsaved (ἀσωτία).

Friend, the bottom line is that ADDICTIONS ARE THE RESULT OF CHOICES that lead to utterly ruined lives devoid of any hope of salvation.

Deuteronomy 30:19 (ESV) — 19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live!