Sermons - Benchley church of Christ

JS

February 26, 2014

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  • Laments, continued:
    • Element 1: Invocation
    • Element 2: Complaint
    • Element 3: Petition
    • Element 4: Conclusion
    • Key features:
      • Besides “lament,” what other terms could be used to describe this type of Psalm? A plea or prayer.
      • Is it to try to “reason” with God to convince Him to do something?
        • Yes, it is. This happened several times in the Old Testament. Moses did this in Exodus 32:11-14, for example.
        • “For”: reasons in the Psalms
          • God’s character – Psalms 5:4-6,10
          • God’s past actions – Psalms 3:7; 106:44-46
          • Actions of evil ones – Psalms 10:3-4
          • Vindication of the righteous – Psalms 26
          • “Lest” - consequences of God not responding – Psalms 6:4-5; 35:24-25
          • “That” - positive outcome of God responding – Psalms 9:13-14; 35:9-10. (In a sense, this vow to praise is fulfilled in the psalms of praise.)
        • Examples of people who tried to convince God to act in a certain way:
          • Genesis 18:20-26,32,19 – Abraham interceding for Sodom and Gomorrah.
            • Reason: punishing the righteous with the wicked would be unjust
            • Outcome: God qualified His decision
            • Outcome: God did not relent, but did preserve Lot
          • Exodus 32:12-14 – Moses interceding for Israelites
            • Reason 1: Protesting God’s name among the Gentiles
            • Reason 2: Remembering the promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
            • Outcome: God relented
          • Matthew 15:22-28 – The Canaanite woman
    • Examples
      • Psalm 22
        • Speaker and addressee
          • Individual point of view to God
          • Addresses those who fear the Lord
          • General declaration (refers to God in third person)
        • Specific events under consideration
          • Not in context
        • Setting of the Psalm in Hebrew worship
          • To the choir director
        • Use of divine names and descriptions of the relationship between the speaker and God
        • Repeated terms of phrases
        • “Loaded” or powerful terms
        • Figures of speech
        • Parallelism
        • Word play

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Sermons - Benchley church of Christ

JJ

February 23, 2014

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  • When one obeys the gospel, he is added by the Lord to the church (Acts 2:47). He is then a “lively stone” in the “whole building fitly framed together unto an holy temply in the Lord” (Ephesians 2:21).
  • By what procedure does on become a member of a local church?
    • Acts 9:26-28 – Paul had to join himself to the local fellowship.
  • What is the purpose of local church membership?
    • The local membership is God’s arrangement for the saved in an area to work and worship together and to build each other up.
    • One can worship God on his own, but it is much easier with others there to encourage each other.
    • The local church is to support preaching, both at home and in other places.
  • Who is really in the local fellowship?
    • Those who have joined themselves to the local fellowship and are working with their fellow Christians in the work of the Lord.
  • Is a local church to control its fellowship?
    • Yes. A local church must remove those who are in sin and will not repent.
  • What is to be the action of members toward one who has been refused fellowship?
    • I Corinthians 5; II Corinthians 2; 7 – He must be delivered to Satan. Fellowship and social company are to be severed.
  • When a member insists upon having “company” with one who has been disciplined, what action is the church to take?
    • Admonish them and if they will not repent, sever fellowship with them also.

For further study, see also:

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Sermons - Benchley church of Christ

DW

February 23, 2014

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  • John 4:13; 6:10,35; 9:11 – Jesus was the master teacher. Jesus used simple things to teach spiritual lessons.
  • Luke 14
  • Humble yourself – Luke 14:7-11
    • I Peter 5:5-6
    • John 13:5-17 (1:49; 6:69; 10:30,36; 11:27) – Jesus washes the disciples’ feet.
    • Philippians 2:3-5
  • Do good for the sake of doing good – Luke 14:12-14
    • Matthew 22:35-40
    • I Corinthians 10:31
    • Luke 6:27-35
  • Make the Lord’s invitation your highest priority. Luke 14:15-24
    • Matthew 11:5
    • Deuteronomy 24:5

For further study, see also:

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Classes - Benchley church of Christ

JJ

February 23, 2014

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  • Mark 2:1-13 – Jesus heals the paralytic.
  • Mark 2:13-17 – Matthew is called.
  • Mark 2:18-22 – Many people understand this passage backwards. Jesus is saying that it is inappropriate to patch the new law onto the old law. See Luke 5:36-39. It was just as absurdly inappropriate for Jesus’ disciples to fast while He was with them as it would be for new wine to be put in old wineskins.
  • Mark 2:23-28 – See I Samuel 21:1. The law of the Sabbath was secondary to other laws. The Pharisees were trying to confuse the priorities here in order to trip up Jesus. They attempt the same thing again in Mark 3:1-5.
  • Mark 3:1-5 – Jesus heals a man on the Sabbath.

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Classes - Benchley church of Christ

JS

February 19, 2014

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  • Lesson 2: The Laments
    • Purpose
      • The audience is God. The purpose is to ask Him to act in some way.
    • Structure
      • Lament psalms contain most or all of four distinct elements, often in the same order.
      • Element 1: Address
        • What is common about the first verse of Psalms 4, 5, and 17? “Hear me, O God.” See also Psalms 22:1; 54:2; 55:1; 61:1; 27:7; 39:12.
        • How does this compare with Jesus’ example prayer in Matthew 6:9? “Our father, who art in heaven.”
        • What is the importance or significance of using God’s name in a prayer or song? It formally addresses God and shows Him that we are depending on Him for the answer.
      • Element 2: Plea
        • What are the problems described in Psalm 3:1; 6:2,5; 109:2-5; 31:13? Human enemies, physical distress, schemes of men
        • How did God react when the Israelites complained in the wilderness (Numbers 11:1; 16:41,49)? With wrath!
        • Does God want us to tell Him about our worries? Consider I Peter 5:7; 3:12; Luke 18:1-8; Philippians 4:6. Yes!
        • How does God not contradict Himself when He has these different responses to expressions of need? The difference is in the tone and the way the request is made.
      • Element 3:
        • Two types of requests dominate the lament psalms. Both can be seen in Psalm 7:10-11 and Psalm 109:26,29. What are they? Salvation and punishment for the wicked.
        • The superscription of Psalm 57 shows the psalm described a specific occasion. What lessons can we learn from David’s request in Psalm 57:2-3? Did David have the power to fulfill his own request (I Samuel 24)? Why did he not do so? Physically he could have done it, but it was not his place to do so. He was relying on God for a solution.

For further study, see also:

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