Worship Service – November 14, 2021

Scriptures; Mark 13: 1-13, Hebrews 10: 19-39

Message; “What is the It  that we don’t Get?”

Mark 13: 1-13

Signs of the End of the Age

(1) As he was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!”
(2) “Do you see all these great buildings?” replied Jesus. “Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”
(3) As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John and Andrew asked him privately, (4) “Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled?”
(5) Jesus said to them: “Watch out that no one deceives you. (6) Many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and will deceive many. (7) When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. (8) Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.
(9) “You must be on your guard. You will be handed over to the local councils and flogged in the synagogues. On account of me you will stand before governors and kings as witnesses to them. (10) And the gospel must first be preached to all nations. (11) Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit.
(12) “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. (13) All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.

Hebrews 10:19-39

A Call to Persevere
(19) Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, (20) by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, (21) and since we have a great priest over the house of God, (22) let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. (23) Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. (24) And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. (25) Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another–and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
(26) If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, (27) but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. (28) Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. (29) How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? (30) For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” (31) It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
(32) Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering. (33) Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. (34) You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions.
(35) So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. (36) You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. (37) For in just a very little while, “He who is coming will come and will not delay. (38) But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him.” (39) But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.

This is the word of God, for the people of God. Thanks be to God.

Once upon a time there was a woman married to an annoying man. He would complain about everything. One day he went to the creek with his mule. He complained so much that the mule got annoyed and kicked him to death. At the funeral, when all the men walked by the wife she shook her head yes and every time the women walked by she shook her head no. The funeral director, watching what was going on with the widow, let his curiosity get the best of him and decided to ask the pastor if he knew what was going on. He said to the Pastor.” I don’t get it, why is the widow shaking her head yes for all the men and no for all the women. The pastor replied I don’t know but I’ll ask her. So in response of the director’s request the pastor asked the widow, “Why are you shaking your head yes for men and no for women?” Her response was, “The men would say how sorry they felt for me and I was saying, “Yes, I’ll be alright.” When the women walked by, they were asking if the mule was for sale . . . “
Last week in our Sunday school class Jim Kessler asked the question,”What is the “It, that we don’t get?” In our reading today in the Gospel of Mark, the disciples probably were asking the same question. After commenting on the awesomeness of the temple and Jesus said,”Do you see all these great buildings?” “Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.” I’m certain Peter, James, John and Andrew all let their curiosity get the best of them.
In case you didn’t know, this was the third go-round for the Jerusalem temple: The first had been planned by King David and constructed by his son, Solomon, and was exquisite in every way. Sadly, that structure had been leveled by Nebuchadnezzar when the nation was carried off into exile in Babylon.
Once God’s people were allowed to return to their homeland, a second temple was built, but it paled in comparison to the original, and folks were embarrassed by it. Even so, for 500 years, that had been the center of Jewish worship.
Along came the Romans and, at the pleasure of Caesar, Herod the Great as king in Israel. Herod knew that the temple was not all the Jews wished it were, so, in an effort to curry favor and, at the same time, leave a monument to his rule, he embarked on a temple renovation and expansion project that would make it bigger and better than it had ever been. His most notable contribution was the magnificent stonework of the temple platform that was greatly enlarged.
So after Jesus made his comments, they walk to a familiar place to the Mount of Olives, and Peter, James, John and Andrew asked him to explain his comments about the temple.
You can almost hear them saying. We don’t get it Lord. Why would this happen? When will this happen? What should we be looking for? Is there anything we can do about it? What is It, that we don’t get?
In our reading in Hebrews.The writer of Hebrews doesn’t identify himself, but many believe that it was written by Barnabas or Apollos . Both of them met the qualifications for authorship. Both of them had authority in the apostolic church and both were intellectual Hebrew Christians well-versed in the Old Testament, and both were associated with Paul in his ministry.
So in our reading in Hebrews, we find that the letter was addressed primarily to Jewish converts who were familiar with the Old Testament and who were being tempted to revert to Judaism. Some have suggested that these professing Jewish Christians were thinking of merging with a Jewish sect. (Gal 2:14) It is also been suggested that the recipients were from the “large number of priests who became obedient to the faith” (Ac 6:7).
These same priests could’ve been sitting in our Sunday school class, and posing the same question that Jim asked. They were brought up knowing that one day they would be priest because of their lineage. They had been taught to follow the teachings and the practices of the law and we’re trying to understand, what,”It” was to follow Christ. Because of their faith they had been persecuted, shunned and their new beliefs and teachings were being rejected, by many of the Jews of the day and the ruling authorities.
So when the Hebrews writer, wrote in his letter, (10:1); “The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming not the realities themselves.” Can’t you hear them saying we don’t get It. Do you mean that the blood offerings we have been sacrificing all these years-, we don’t have to sacrifice any more? How can we approach God, be holy in His eyes and live with a clear conscience without offering a blood sacrifice?
The Hebrews’ writer knew they would question this so he wrote; “Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which could never take away sins. But when this priest, (meaning Jesus) has offered for all time one sacrifice for sin he sat down at the right hand of God”(vs.11,12). (Vs. 14)” because by one sacrificed he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.”
Many Christians today still, “don’t get “It”. They have a hard time believing that God has forgiven all their sins, now and forever. As the Bible tells us our transgressions have been removed as far as the east is from the west,(Psalm 103:12). And some believe that they no longer need to sacrifice anything, to clear their conscience, they can sit back and relax, because they’ve been saved by the blood of Christ, and like many today continue in the lifestyle they have been accustomed too. They don’t get “It”. Because the “It”, we need to get is FAITH, and to have FAITH in CHRIST, is to, as the Hebrews writer puts “It”, “A Call to Persevere”,“by a new and living way”(vs 20).
So if the “It” we don’t get, is FAITH, in the forgiveness of sin by the bloodshed of Christ on the cross, we need to never forget we have been forgiven and we belong to God. The same God who created all things and determines what will become of all, as reminded in,(vs’s 30,31), “For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” “It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. In other words as the Hebrews writer tells us.(vs’s 26,27)”If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.” We will never have a clear conscience in this world.
We are Called to Persevere!
How? By holding unswervingly to the hope, the FAITH we profess, in our actions. Living a life sacrificing our will to live in His will. By living a life that brings God glory in our actions of love and good deeds, and by them, “It”, “may spur one another on toward love and good deeds”(vs 24). And finally to help us get”It”, we are to continue, “meeting together, encouraging one another”(vs 25).
I realize that if your here in church listening to me preach today, I’m preaching to those who probably already know, that the,”It” is FAITH, because you are in church, but if you have ever needed an occasional reminder about why we bother to get up and get going on a Sunday morning when it would be just as easy to worship with the Fellowship of St. Mattress or the Congregation of the Inner Spring, here it is. We gather together from week to week to remind ourselves WHO we are and WHOSE we are and that we are CALLED TO PERSEVERE! Living a life sacrificing our will to live in His will. By living a life that brings God glory in our actions of love and good deeds, and by them, we “may spur one another on toward love and good deeds”.
So do not throw away your confidence your Faith. “It” will be richly rewarded. We all need to persevere! So that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.
“Let us encourage one another–and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
Do you get “IT”?

What is the It we don’t get?
F. A. I. T. H. !
We must “Persevere”, to get IT”.
In His Service,
Pastor Joe
Listen To Audio: Sermon 20211114
Listen To Audio: Service 11142021
Prayer of Confession:   Faithful God, we confess that there have been times when we have been tempted to trust in the ways of this world.  Yet, we know you are faithful, even when we are faithless.  Through the Holy Spirit, guide us, convict us, lead us where you would have us to follow.  Help our trust to remain steadfast in your love. Amen.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

 

Pastor Joe will be available at the church on Thursday afternoon from 2 to 4.  If you need to speak to him, contact Pastor Joe at570-267-4570 (cell) or Email: joe.s.travis@gmail.com

Loose change goes to General Fund

Sunday School starts at 8:30am

Choir practice will be on Thursday at 1:00! Please come a join us in singing praises to Jesus! 

Our mission for the Children’s Home in Binghamton (Bill’s Kids) continues.  Monetary gifts only.  The staff will buy presents.

Congregational Meeting today right after church.

Session Meeting Tuesday, November 16, at 9am

Men’s Breakfast Wednesday November 17th at 8:00 A.M.

Christmas Greeting – If anyone would like to put a Christmas Greeting in the December Messenger, please give a handwritten note to Carolyn White or E-Mail her at whisperpines@frontiernet.net by Tuesday November 30th.

Newsletter Deadline – Tuesday November 30th, 2021.

LADIES’ CHRISTMAS TEA at the Montrose Bible Conference, December 7th 2021.  Christmas music, devotional thoughts with our speaker, a light lunch, assortment of seasonal goodies and teas.  11am to 1 pm—Cost $12 per person.

The PW is selling Franklin Hill Presbyterian Cookbooks called “Recipes From The Hill” at $10.00 each.  All proceeds go to missions.  See Debbie Stalker.

 

Comments are closed.