The Vision Of Obadiah

Obadiah, as you may well know was an Old Testament Prophet.  His prophecy was spoken mainly to Edom, but Israel would have also been counted among his audience.

We don’t know who Obadiah was, there are anywhere from 11 to 13 ‘Obadiahs’ in the OT, but most don’t believe that Obadiah the prophet can be identified with any one of these ‘Obadiahs’.  So here is someone we know virtually nothing about, he doesn’t tell us who his father was or even who the king of Judah or Israel was at the time he announced his prophecy.  But here is what we do know, Obadiah had a vision from God (Obadiah 1).

Obadiah just gets down to business.  “Who I am isn’t important, but what is important is that God has spoken to me and shown me His truth.”  The first words of Obadiah are simply, “The vision of Obadiah.”  They are followed immediately by, “Thus says the Lord GOD…”  Obadiah’s few words give us a glimpse of what he understands his role to be.  He is the eyes and ears of Israel and Judah.  God has shown him something glorious and has spoken truth to him.  He is adamant about the fact that these are the words of God and not his own invention.  In fact, three more times in Obadiah’s short prophecy (4, 8, 18) he lets us know that it is God who speaks and not himself.

So here’s the point, Obadiah is often neglected, probably because of it’s length, the uncertainty concerning the author, and because the bulk of the prophecy is directed at Edom and not God’s people.  But here is the main reason Obadiah should not be neglected, God has spoken.  These are God’s words, and they too, are “…profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness…” (2 Timothy 3:16).

So, I’m going to do my part by blogging through Obadiah.  I also reently preached a one sermon overview of Obadiah’s prophecy.  So if you want to hear that , here’s the link: The Older Shall Serve The Younger: Brother Edom, Election, and the Vindication of God’s Kingdom.  Sorry about the sound quality, our recorder messed up.

If you want to hear something shorter, but better, here’s a link to John Piper’s overview of Obadiah: Eagle Edom Will Come Down.

If that’s not enough for you, then listen to Mark Dever’s message: Does God Have Enemies? The Message of Obadiah.

The Gospel Implied?

When was the last time you heard someone say that they were saved by hearing the Gospel implied?  I don’t think I’ve ever heard any testimonies like that.

So when you preach, just go ahead and take the extra words to spell out the Gospel connection to your point.

Ordination Service

Here is the audio from this evening’s Ordination Service in which Crossway Baptist Church set aside Charles Henderson, David Rosati and Jeremy Weaver as Elders.

Steve Weaver officiated and preached the charge to the Elders and the Church and D. J. Cimino led the congregation in singing worship to God.

You can listen to sermons from Crossway Baptist Church here.

Preaching through Mark

Beginning the first Sunday in January I will be preaching for 17 Sundays through the book of Mark.  In this series I will be focusing on one question from the text of each chapter, except chapter 14 where there are 2 questions and 72 verses, that gets to the heart of what each chapter is about.

The reason I am taking this approach is three-fold;

1)  Our Church has three Pastors.  Up until now we have been taking turns each Sunday preaching and have not really been able to focus on one book of the Bible.  We believe that our Church needs the benefits of preaching through books of the Bible.

2)  Since we have three Pastors, we decided to divide the year into thirds and rotate through the services.  I will be preaching the first four months on Sunday morning, Charlie Henderson will be preaching Sunday nights, and David Rosati will be preaching Wednesday nights.  Then we will rotate the next four months.

3)  We have more than one Pastor for several reasons.  Besides that fact that we believe a ‘plurality of Elders’ is biblical, we also do not want to have Crossway Baptist Church identified by any one man.  We want to be identified by our loyalty to Christ and sound doctrine.  We as preachers want to be identified as sound in our theology, but we don’t think that any one person’s reputation should rise above that of the Church.

Alright?

A Thanksgiving Sermon

Here’s a link to the message I preached this past Sunday morning from Colossians 3:12-17.

A Thanksgiving Sermon

Online Sermons from Crossway Baptist Church

Messages from the previous Sunday Morning at Crossway Baptist Church are now being broadcast on WLNT from 10:30-11:00 on Sunday Mornings in Loudon (96.1) and Monroe (94.9) Counties in Tennessee and online at www.wlntfm.com.   

We are also posting our Sunday Morning messages at our website.  This past Sunday’s message was an excellent message by Charles Henderson titled, “Plates, Prayers, and Priorities” from Acts 6:1-7. 

Take up and listen.

What’s your style of worship?

As I have talked to many people about our Church Plant here in East TN, this is one of the questions that comes up.  The other two are;

Who are you trying to attract?, and
Are you reformed?

Good questions, I guess.

First, Worship style…Gospel-centered.

If by worship we are talking about the time when our local assembly comes together to worship God, here’s what our worship ‘style’ is.  We worship God through Christ by the Spirit in the reading of the Scriptures that testify of Christ, preaching the Gospel from the Scriptures, hearing the Gospel in the Scriptures, singing the Gospel in accordance with the Scriptures, showing the Gospel as commanded in the Scriptures, and fellowshipping in the Gospel around the Scriptures.  If we’re talking about our music style…whatever is Biblical and easy to be sung by the WHOLE congregation.  Ancient, Old, Modern, New…so far in the first month we have sung them all…without music for the time being, hopefully with music in the future.

Second, Focus Group…the lost in our communities.

The conventional wisdom in Church-planting today seems to be identify a particular sub-section of culture and limit the growth of the Church those ‘four and no more’.  I know that limiting the attenders is not the purpose, but it does end up as the natural result.  Imagine a Church tailored to meet the needs of one subset of Americans…let’s say golfers.  All the illustrations in the sermon relate tothe ‘golfing’ lifestyle (is there a golfing lifestyle?), all the music sounds like the music being played in the clubhouse, and the Pastor wears Izod brand knickers to preach in every Sunday.  Who are you going to attract?  Golfers.  Who are you not going to attract?  Me.  Because I don’t feel welcome in your Church.  I have never golfed, I have worn Izod before, it was a gift, and I don’t speak the language.  Now take look at another Church.  The worship is tailored to God.  Suddenly I have something in common with everyone who attends there.  We’re all not God.  But we all need Him.  This is where I can hang my hat.  I have no doubt that we won’t attract all of Loudon County, but we have a bigger pool to draw from than the Golfer Church does.

Finally, Are you reformed?…No.

I hope I never become so comfortable with myself as to say that I’m reformed.  I hope I am always reforming.  For many being reforemd centers around five doctrines and I hold those doctrines near and dear to my heart as any regualr reader of this blog knows.  But those five doctrines do not a reformation make.  They are a good start, but they are not an end in themselves.  Orthdoxy leads to doxology which affects our orthopraxy.  In English that means that right doctrine leads us to worship God in the right way.  There are many practices in Southern Baptist Churches that stand in need of reformation.  Many churches neglect the public reading of Scripture.  Many sing songs that are simply not Biblical.  Many pull professions out of their youth under high pressure, just like the Muslim in the video from the last post.  Many do not preach thier text.  Many do not practice Church Discipline.  I could go on, but you get the point.  But the biggest point in this is that I do not believe even myself to be completely perfect, therefore as I study God’s Word I must be reforming myself and my practices by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Any questions?

Church Start

There are many hardships to be encountered in a new Church Plant.    But there are also many blessings.

One of these blessings is getting to see what ‘Church’ looks like stripped down of all of its non-essentials.  We are left only with what is essential for ministry.  These essentials are; the Gospel, fellowship in the Gospel, proclamation of the Gospel, singing about the Gospel, spreading the Gospel, and eventually showing the Gospel (through Baptism and Lord’s Supper).  It’s very liberating to be able to come together and observe what the Lord has commanded us to observe. 

There are so many things that get attached to ‘Church’ that either are not necessary, are not helpful, or even contrary to the Church’s mission.  So one of the enemies that we are trying to guard against is ‘having stuff’ just because every other Church does it this way.  I don’t know if everyone in what I hope will become our Church agrees with me on this, but the criteria that I am using in evaluating what needs we will have as Church are pretty simple. 

1)  Is this necessary?  Is there some part of Gospel ministry that is being overlooked that this ministry will remedy?
2)  Is this helpful?  How will this help us minster to the members of the congregation and the community around us?
3)  Does this take away from our Gospel ministry?  Does this program or activity contradict our mission as stated in Scripture, divide the Church into separate factions, or pull the Elders/Pastors away from the ministry of the Word and prayer?

I think these are good questions to ask ourselves as we go forward.

Must Reading from Dan Phillips

Dan Phillips posted this at the Pyromaniacs blog.

Quote:

You have been, are, or likely will be in the position of looking for a church. Consider this as you weigh preachers. Does he lay it out for you, in a manner befitting an honest man openly serving God by serving the priesthood?

Or does he base major points on mysteries, deep knowledge, revelations, visions, special in-depth studies, things you have no possible way of seeing nor verifying?

If the latter, my advice would be to head out the door, and never turn back.

Go read it all.

Audio – The Burning Bush

Here is an audio file of my most recent message from Exodus 3.

The Burning Bush

The end of the message was cut off. I simply read Hebrews 12:28-29 as a conclusion.

“Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire.” (NKJV)