Sermons - Benchley church of Christ

DW

September 15, 2013

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  • Disciples
    • Acts 14:21-28
    • “I want to learn”
      • John 8:31
      • Luke 6:40,39 – Our goal as disciples is to be like our teachers – Jesus.
      • Acts 11:26 – Christians were associated with their teacher – Christ.
    • “I want to live like the teacher.”
      • Luke 14:26
      • John 13:35
      • John 15:8 – Being a disciple is about doing, not just believing.
  • Servants
    • Mark 10:35-41
    • “I’m not here for attention or glory.”
    • “I’m here to work” (Luke 17:7-10)
  • Examples
    • Matthew 5:13; 6:1-5,16
    • “I’ll ask, “When people see me, does it help them glorify the Father?”“

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Classes - Benchley church of Christ

EW

September 15, 2013

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  • Beatitudes, continued:
    • Merciful – Matthew 6:14-15; 18:21-35; II Peter 3:9; James 2:13
    • Pure in heart – II Timothy 2:22; Titus 1:15
      • Haggai 2:12-14 – Impurity is contagious.
    • Peacemakers – Colossians 1:19-20; James 3:17-18
      • Acts 8:1-5 – There was no peace between Paul and the church. Ananias became the peacemaker that instructed Paul in the truth.
    • Persecuted – Romans 8:35-39 (Matthew 5:10)
      • Roll over and take it?
      • Resist it?

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Classes - Benchley church of Christ

DW

September 11, 2013

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  • What is a local church?
    • The word “church.”
      • Acts 8:1-3 - Saul persecutes the church, which is composed of men and women.
      • Our English word “church” is translated from the Greek word ”ekklēsia“(1577), which appears in about 115 verses. Greek scholars describe it as follows:
        • “the ‘called-out ones’ of God” (Mounce)
        • “It was a common term for a congregation of the_ekkletoi_(n.f.), the called people, or those called out or assembled in the public affairs of a free state, the body of free citizens called together by a held (kerux[2783]) which constituted the_ekklesia_” (Zodhiates).
        • “The noun_ekklesia_occurs over one hundred times, meaning ‘church,’ with the sense of a gathered community of God’s people assembled for worship. The word has only a few exceptional ‘secular’ uses” (Renn)
        • ”a calling out,i.e. (concretely) a popular_meeting, especially a religious_congregation(Jewish_synagogue_, or Christian community of members on earth or saints in heaven or both)” (Strong)
        • “properly, ‘a gathering of citizens called out from their homes into some public place; an assembly’” (Thayer).
      • The Bible’s usage of ”ekklesia”
        • It’s important to notice how a word isusedin its Biblical context.
          • Compare “love” in II Samuel 13:1 and Matthew 22:37,39.
          • Like virtually all words,_ekklesia_has a range of meanings, so we must see how the word isusedto understand what it should call to our minds.
          • For example, compare Ephesians 4:4 and Romans 16:16 - is there on church/body or are there multiple churches?
        • Israel in wilderness. Acts 7:38: Moses “was in thecongregationin the wilderness” (KJV: ”church”).
        • Riotous mob. Acts 19:32: “some were shouting one thing and some another, for theassemblywas in confusion”; 19:41
        • Legal court. Acts 19:39: “it shall be settled in the lawfulassembly”
        • As we can see from the above, the word “ekklesia” was a neutral (non-religious) term. You have to look at the context to see what it’s talking about.
        • Universal church. Matthew 16:18: “upon this rock I will build Mychurch”
          • Saved people: Ephesians 1:22; 5:23; Hebrews 12:22-24; Luke 10:22
            • The dead are in the church in the universal sense (I Thessalonians 4:16; Ephesians 3:14)
        • Local church. I Corinthians 1:2: “To the church of God which is at Corinth”

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Sermons - Benchley church of Christ

JJ

September 08, 2013

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  • The answer is both no and yes.
  • Matthew 18:3 - If children are innately sinful, then we would have to be sinful to enter heaven.
  • Ezekiel 18:1-3
  • Passages where the word speaks of an innate nature
    • Romans 1:26 - Homosexuality is not the innate nature of man.
    • Romans 2:27 - Man is physically uncircumcised by nature.
    • Romans 11:24
    • Galatians 2:15
    • Galatians 4:8
    • Hebrews 2:16
    • No, we are not innately sinful.
  • Passages where the word speaks of an acquired nature
    • Romans 2:14
    • I Corinthians 11:14 - Corinthian custom showed men with long hair. Custom was not the only reason it was wrong, though (see I Corinthians 11:7).
    • Ephesians 2:3 - They didn’t have to live like the world. They chose it.
    • II Peter 1:4
    • Yes, we can acquire a sinful state.
  • The answer to the original question depends on the context. Man chooses whether to sin or not. We can choose to sin by an acquired sinful nature.

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Sermons - Benchley church of Christ

DW

September 08, 2013

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  • Only think about the short term - Joshua 7:20-21
    • Think about the long term - I Timothy 4:8
  • Be lazy - Matthew 25:18,26
    • Proverbs 22:13
    • Be diligent - II Timothy 2:15
  • Do what everyone else is doing - I Peter 4:3-5
    • Come out and be separate - II Corinthians 6:14-18
  • Focus on yourself - Ecclesiastes 2:1-11
    • Focus on God and others - Matthew 22:36-39; Ephesians 4:28

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