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Sunday – June 19, 2016 Fathers Day Malachi 1:6-14

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Sunday – June 19, 2016 – Read the Word on Worship

Sunday – June 19, 2016 Fathers Day Malachi 1:6-14 from Sunrise Community Church on Vimeo.

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1 John 2:13-14
“I write to you, fathers, because you have known Him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, dear children, because you have known the Father. I write to you, fathers, because you have known Him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one.”

Happy Father’s Day men! The problem with Father’s Day is that many of us wonder if we really should be celebrated. We know all that has transpired over the last 12 months as we come to this day and we wonder what Father’s Day is really about? When we have a good job and provide for a good home and a few nice things, we are told that men only focus on our jobs and do not provide that illusive term which magazines and television shows throw around as the new, yet undefined standard of quality time to their families. And then when we spend time with our families and build relationships with our children we are told that we have not provided for the financial needs of our family in the ways they have been accustomed too. Sometimes you just can’t win.

Men have been the butt of jokes in sitcoms, news stories, and time around the office water cooler. Many men come to Father’s Day and think that it is only a holiday invented by the greeting card and tie companies for getting excess merchandise out of their warehouse and into your house. The jokes which the world trumpets are not funny to men who take God’s call for their families seriously. Each joke is another jab against men who want to do what is right as they try to enrich the lives of their families and to encourage their children in the way they should go. Can we, who are in the Body of Christ, realize that the job of Father is more than just a title or an act of biology? That men, despite what the world tells them, know in their hearts that they have a duty to care for their household, and make sacrifices of what they could do in order to do what they should do?

I am not an apologist for men, for there are many that have refused to do what they should, failing to care for their wives in a way that is godly and their children in a way that encourages them to grow in the wisdom and the knowledge of the Lord. It is time for sincere thanks and appreciation for all that husbands, fathers and men in general do? Today is a day to say thank you, to appreciate all that our earthly fathers have done for us and given to us. Let us honor fathers for their sacrifice, and encourage them to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ so that the love they have shown us this year will abound more and more so we will have new things to praise God for next year. Let us thank them for their desire to follow the Lord and contribute to the needs of their families, and to pray that they will continue to grow and be conformed to the image of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who only did what He saw the Father doing.

Sunday May 10, 2015 “The Woman Who Gave Away Her Son” –I Samuel 1 & 2

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Sunday – May 10, 2015 – Read the Word on Worship

Sunday May 10, 2015 “The Woman Who Gave Away Her Son” – I Samuel 1 & 2 from Sunrise Community Church on Vimeo.

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1 Samuel 1:9-11
“Then Hannah rose after eating and drinking in Shiloh. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat by the doorpost of the temple of the Lord. She, greatly distressed, prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. She made a vow and said, “O Lord of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and a razor shall never come on his head.”

Hannah’s story is one of perseverance though adversity. Hannah was a great woman, the mother of Samuel, one of Israel’s outstanding prophets. Had it not been for her agony and the adversity in her life, the birth of her first child would soon have been forgotten. But her years of agony and her tears of distress make the birth of her son Samuel an incident to be remembered. They form the backdrop for her psalm of praise, which has become a comfort and inspiration to saints down through the ages.

Unlike Peniannah, Hannah had the biblical perspective of the goal of motherhood. The biblical perspective sees children as stewardships, gifts from the Lord to be returned to Him. It’s the perspective of preparing children to become servants of God rather than servants of themselves, the parents, or the world. One of the great lessons of this passage is the value of godly mothers, mothers who are devoted to raising their children to know the Lord and who are willing to give their children to God and His service in accord with God’s will for their children.

Hannah’s psalm could not have been written without the suffering which precedes it. It is God who closes Hannah’s womb. It is God who purposes for her to suffer at the hand of her cruel counterpart, Peninnah. It is God who orchestrates all of the painful and pleasant events in Hannah’s life, so that the resulting psalm could become the masterpiece it is. This is the way God employs the human and the divine in the writing of all the Scriptures. While you and I do not write Scripture today, I believe God orchestrates our background and our lives in a way which uniquely prepares and equips us for the ministry He has for us. Let us refuse to see our past difficulties as hindrances to the present or the future. As we look back upon the painful memories of our past, let us look upon them as the foundation stones for our present and future ministry, and then let us rejoice in our tribulations and trials in light of the way God purposes to use them for our good and for His glory.

As Paul makes so clear in his epistles, God’s power is demonstrated at the point of our weaknesses. That is grace. God’s grace does not seek out our strong points and enhance them, so much as His grace seeks out our weakest points so that it may be absolutely clear to all that it is God who accomplishes great things through us. Those things which cause Hannah the greatest sorrow, the greatest pain, are the very things God uses to produce Hannah’s greatest joys. For those who trust in Him, it will always be this way.

Sunday – January 11, 2015 2nd John Verses 1 to 6 “Prescription for a Healthy Church”

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Sunday – January 11, 2015 – Read the Word on Worship

Sunday – January 11, 2015 2nd John Verses 1 to 6 “Prescription for a Healthy Church” from Sunrise Community Church on Vimeo.

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 2 John 4-6
“I was very glad to find some of your children walking in truth, just as we have received commandment to do from the Father. Now I ask you, lady, not as though I were writing to you a new commandment, but the one which we have had from the beginning, that we love one another. And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments.”

John is obviously concerned about the truth. He uses that word five times in the first four verses (19 times in his three letters!). For John, the concept of truth centers on the person of Jesus Christ. The heretics were deceiving people about the person of Christ, saying either that He did not have a real human body, or that “the Christ” came upon the man Jesus at His baptism and left just prior to His crucifixion. These errors went against the person of Jesus that John had seen, heard, and touched as we learned in 1 John 1:1-4. Wrong views of the person of Christ invariably spill over into wrong views on His work on the cross. If you deny the true humanity of Jesus, then He could not be the substitute for the sins of humans. So it is essential to hold to sound doctrine on the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Christianity is not based on the religious speculations of philosophers but rather upon the revelation of God in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ. The apostles spent three years with Jesus and they bear witness in the New Testament to His life, teachings, miracles, death, resurrection, and ascension into heaven. They make it clear that He is God in human flesh. The church of Jesus Christ is, therefore, a community of those who “have come to know the truth.” John personifies truth with reference to Jesus Himself, who claimed to be the truth in John 14:6. John says the truth “abides in us and will be with us forever.”

Contrary to the current postmodern thinking, the New Testament affirms that truth is both absolute and knowable. The truth centers in all that the Old and New Testaments affirm about Jesus Christ. To know Him personally is to be in the truth. This does not mean that you must become a theologian to be saved. To be saved, you simply must recognize that you are a sinner in need of a Savior and that Jesus is that Savior. Trust in Him and He will save you. But it does mean that as a believer, you should grow in your understanding of the truth about Jesus Christ and salvation. Sound doctrine on these matters is crucial. What makes those who are truly saved different from the rest of the world is the doctrine of the deity of Jesus Christ. When John talks about “some of your children walking in truth,” the word walk implies that truth is something that every believer must continually grow in over time.

Sunday – October 26, 2014 1st John 3:19-24 “Blessed Assurance”

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Sunday – October 26, 2014 – Read the Word on Worship

1st John 3 verses 19 to 24 from Sunrise Community Church on Vimeo.

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1 John 3:19-22
“We will know by this that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart before Him in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.”

Every child has a basic need to feel assured of his parents’ love. It should be obvious that if parents verbally or physically abuse a child, that child will not feel loved by his parents. Eventually, he will distance himself from them through withdrawal or rebellion. So even when a child disobeys and must be disciplined; it is important for parents to affirm their love for him. Assurance of love is essential for close relationships.

The same is true spiritually. Even though the heavenly Father disciplines us for our good, that we might share His holiness, He does it out of love. He wants us, as His children, to be assured of His great love for us. John begins chapter 3 by exclaiming (3:1), “See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are.” God wants His children to feel His arms of love around them, even when they go through difficult trials.

The enemy of our souls knows that we will not feel close to God if we doubt our standing before Him as beloved children. So he accuses us in an attempt to drive a wedge between us and God. In addition, at times our conscience condemns us as we compare ourselves with the holy standards of God’s Word. We know that we should love others, but in our hearts, we struggle with anger or bitterness or hatred toward those who have wronged us. We know that we should pray for God to bless this difficult person with His salvation, but inwardly, we’d rather see him punished. When we have those thoughts, either our guilty conscience or the enemy comes in and says, “A true Christian can’t have thoughts like that! You’re not even saved!”

The first anchor for assurance is always faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ. If your trust is in Christ, God has promised you eternal life and He has promised never to allow you to be snatched out of His hand. A man once told D. L. Moody that he was worried because he didn’t feel saved. Moody asked, “Was Noah safe in the ark?” “Certainly he was,” the man replied. “Well, what made him safe, his feeling or the ark?” The point is, if you’re in Christ, it’s not your feelings that save you from God’s judgment. It’s Christ who saves! Faith puts you on the ark! Make sure you’re on board!

Sunrise – December 30, 2012

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December 30, 2012 – Read the Word on Worship

What Does Not Get You to Heaven? from Sunrise Community Church on Vimeo.

Who rules over your life? Is it God or money? Jesus is calling this rich young man to join a community of believers who will take care of others material needs. And the challenge given to this man should be a warning to all of us who live in a materialistic culture that possessions, even when they are few, can be a hazard. Wealth possesses many dangers because so many people crave it. No Christian is immune to its seductive lure. Covetousness is a virus which takes residence in the soul and then slowly begins its work of destruction. Once the anesthetic of self-gratification is applied to our heart, the call for self-sacrifice deadens into numbness the things of eternity.
Join us this Sunday as we continue our study on the Gospel of Mark chapter 10 verses 13 to 31 and we look at “What Doesn’t Get You to Heaven?”

Word On Worship – December 30, 2012 Download / Print

Mark 10:23-25
“And Jesus, looking around, said to His disciples, “How hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!” The disciples were amazed at His words. But Jesus answered again and said to them, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

It is easy for many in our culture to dismiss the command by Jesus to sell all we own and give it away as a statement of hyperbole because it appears so unreasonable. The central point of the passage is not Jesus denouncing the having of possessions, but rather one’s ultimate loyalty. Jesus did not insist Zacchaeus sell all of his goods and give them to the poor before He would agree to eat in his home. Zaccheaus voluntarily offers to give half of his possessions and restore fourfold whatever he gained from his treachery. Very few are willing to divest themselves of whatever provides them security in this life to enter a new life under God’s rule.

Who rules over your life? Is it God or money? Jesus is calling this rich young man to join a community of believers who will take care of others’ material needs. And the challenge given to this man should be a warning to all of us who live in a materialistic culture that possessions, even when they are few, can be a hazard. Wealth possesses many dangers because so many people crave it. No Christian is immune to its seductive lure. Covetousness is a virus that takes residence in the soul and then slowly begins its work of destruction. Once the anesthetic of self-gratification is applied to our heart, the call for self-sacrifice deadens into numbness the things of eternity.

Jesus told the man he lacked one thing, yet in human terms he lacked for nothing. He had plenty to live on, but nothing to live for (a sad truth of our culture today). Money brings us many things, but neither holiness nor eternal life. Yet for all the rich young ruler had, the emptiness became a gnawing hunger. What must I do to have life beyond this life? Yet when confronted by Jesus with the invitation to sell all and follow Him, he counted possessions dearer than the hope of eternal life with God and a meaningful life on earth.

Possessions can easily deceive us into thinking that they offer security and the abundant life. Having money leads us to the false conclusion that anything can be had for a price – even salvation when it is given to the right charity. We must sound the alarm to our generation about the dangers of committing ourselves to possessions and share with those who are looking for eternal life to look to Jesus Christ alone. Eternal life will only be found by people who are willing to lose their lives and their possessions for the sake of Jesus and the gospel.