? Temple Baptist Church - 5-19-2024Psalm 119:137-144? Introduction: Reiteration or Reinforcement! The work of the Pastor.? A. Psalm 119: 176 verses broken down into 22 stanzas with each stanza correlating with one of the 22 letters in the Hebrew Alphabet. Each stanza is made up of 8 verses which, in the Hebrew Bible, each verse begins with the associated letter of the Hebrew Alphabet forming an Acrostic. What a wonder that we hold in our hands tonight!? B. Psalm 119 was written for two reasons: 1) To Magnify the Word of God and 2) To show the importance of each believer having a relationship to the Word of God so that the Word of God can have a relationship with each believer. God has magnified His Word above ALL His name, and we are to magnify the Word of God also!? C. I know that we do not have to know Hebrew and Greek to understand the Word of God, but Psalm 119 gives us Hebrew letters in each of the 22 stanzas. This leads me to understand that the interpretation of each of these letters is important in understanding where the stanza is leading us.? D. Tonight, we will look at TZADDI? ץ? (pronounced Sau-di), the 18th? letter of the Hebrew Alphabet. TZADDI means “righteous” and “the path of the righteous.” In the Hebrew, by righteous it means man in his original state before sin. The goal of the Word of God is to help fallen man be restored back to God through salvation spiritually, and back to a righteous state through sanctification.? E. To put TZADDI (Sau-di) in perspective, I want to look at two passages in the New Testament that beautifully describe the ultimate goal of the Word of God.? Romans 8:28-30 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. (29)? For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. (30) Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.? 1 John 3:1-3 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. (2) Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear,? we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. (3) And every man that hath this hope in him? purifieth himself, even as he is pure.? F. The will of God for His children is that:? 1. They be scripturally saved. I know this is a little factious since you cannot become a child of God with a spiritual or new birth. So many church people never have a relationship with God through His Word because, as unsaved, they have no desire to read what they cannot understand.? 1 Corinthians 2:11-14 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. (12) Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. (13) Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. (14) But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.? 2. They continue to grow spiritually.? 2 Peter 3:18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.? 3. They systematically conform to the image of Jesus Christ.? Romans 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.? G. This stanza is broken down into 3 parts when speaking of a righteous path.? 1. Verse 137. The Righteousness of God's Path.? a. “Righteous art thou, O LORD” The Righteousness of God is manifested in His Person and His path is a righteous one.` God never leads in an unrighteous way because of His name's sake.? b. God is completely righteous as holiness in all His works are displayed. This creation declares the glory of God in both the heavens and on the earth. Perfectly designed to meet every need of billions of people. As knowledge on earth grew, the resources were already there to carry out their progress.? c. “and upright? are? thy judgments.”? The Righteousness of God is manifested in His Judgements. The judgements of God perfectly set for the wicked's punishment and for the godly's protection. Israel used a system of “Retribution” instead of “Incarceration” and the penalty suppressed the lawlessness.? d. The path of righteousness begins with Salvation and ends with Death.? Psalms 23:1-3 A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. (2)? He maketh me? to lie down in green pastures:? he leadeth me? beside the still waters. (3)? He restoreth? my soul:? he leadeth me? in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.? Psalms 23:4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for? thou art with me;? thy rod and thy staff? they comfort me.? 2. Verses 138-140. The Righteousness of God's Word.? a. Verse 138. “Thy testimonies? that? thou hast commanded? are? righteous and very faithful.” The Word of God holds testimonies to be read and observed; testimonies to be followed; faithfulness to be found. We can trust the Word of God to always led right.? b. Verse 139. “My zeal hath consumed me, because mine enemies have forgotten thy words.” A zeal to exercise. We live in days of apathy and spiritual carelessness. Zeal: enthusiasm, passion, intention, and fanaticism. We are called fanatics (devoted, followers, zealots) simply because we have a zeal for God's Word. In a world that has “forgotten thy words,” fanatics stand out. We may be nuts, but we are screwed onto the right Bolt!? Titus 2:14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.? c. Verse 140. “Thy word? is? very pure: therefore thy servant loveth it.”? You will never follow the Word of God fully until you recognize it for what it is, THE WORD OF GOD! Every child of God needs to love the Word of God! And “thy servant loveth it!”? 1 Thessalonians 2:13 For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.? d. We that stand for an unchanging Bible. The path of righteousness found in salvation continues in God's Word.? 3. Verses 141-144. The Righteousness of the Believer. Now that we have gotten our salvation right, the Word of God right, the believer has a clear path to personally follow.? a. Verse 141. “I? am? small and despised:? yet? do not I forget thy precepts.” God's people who follow the Word of God do not forget its precepts as they are right. The poor are rich in faith and God chose to use “ignorant and unlearned men” in Acts, chapter 4.? Acts 4:13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.? 1 Corinthians 1:26-29 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: (27) But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; (28) And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: (29) That no flesh should glory in his presence.? b. Verse 142. “Thy righteousness? is? an everlasting righteousness, and thy law? is? the truth.” The righteous path of God NEVER changes. Often, people tell me how times have changed and that we need to change with the times. Religions are changing and I have seen much of that change in my short lifetime. I do not find the precept of change in my Bible. Right is still right and wrong is still wrong. The Word of God is truth!? John 8:31-32 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; (32) And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.? c. Verse 143. “Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me:? yet? thy commandments? are? my delights.” There will be days of trouble ahead for the Biblical believer and there will be anguish (pain and suffering) because of it, but we need to understand that God's ways are right and following the path of righteousness brings delight instead of shame and guilt. Remain in the Old Paths of our Fathers and you will be alright in the end.? d. Verse 144. “The righteousness of thy testimonies? is? everlasting: give me understanding, and I shall live.” Through understanding of the Scriptures and the following thereof, we find life more abundantly.? True rightness has a path that begins with salvation in a Righteous God then trusting in a Righteous Word of God and ending up following a clear, righteous path for God!

Today's category: ChurchThree Hymns? ? ? ? ? ? One Sunday a pastor told his congregation that the church needed some extra money and asked the people to prayerfully consider giving a little extra in the offering plate. He said that whoever gave the most would be able to pick out three hymns.? ? ? ? ? ? After the offering plates were passed, the pastor glanced down and noticed that someone had placed a $1,000 bill in offering. He was so excited that he immediately shared his joy with his congregation and said he'd like to personally thank the person who placed the money in the plate.? ? ? ? ? ? And there sat our Rosie all the way in the back shyly raised her hand. The pastor asked her to come to the front. Slowly she made her way to the pastor. He told her how wonderful it was that she gave so much and in thanksgiving asked her to pick out three hymns.? ? ? ? ? ? Her eyes brightened as she looked over the congregation, pointed to the three most handsome men in the building and said, "I'll take him and him and him!"View hundreds more jokes online.Email this joke to a friend

American Bible Society study finds majority don't trust technology with spiritual matters.Ask ChatGPT how to improve your spiritual life, and the natural-language processing artificial intelligence chatbot has plenty of suggestions.But Americans are skeptical that artificial intelligence, or AI, has much to offer in the way of reliable religious guidance.Sixty-eight percent of people don’t think AI could help them with their spiritual practices or “promote spiritual health,” according to the latest research from American Bible Society (ABS). Fifty-eight percent say they don’t think AI will “aid in moral reasoning” and only one out of every four people say they feel optimistic about the impact the technology will have.“Americans are more fearful than hopeful about artificial intelligence,” said John Farquhar Plake, an ABS program officer and editor-in-chief of the State of the Bible series. “People don’t know how AI will change the culture—but they’re mildly uneasy about it.”ABS surveyed about 2,500 people for its annual report on Scripture engagement and related topics. While technology has been a regular part of the survey, this is the first year ABS dedicated a set of questions to the topic of technology that performs tasks traditionally associated with human intelligence.AI is rapidly evolving, and currently includes everything from Amazon’s “virtual assistant” Alexa to chatbots running large language models that can pass the bar exam. People are pushing the technology further every day, and some Christians who work in tech are excited about the possibilities—dreaming of algorithms that might one day help people grow, learn, and go deeper in their faith.“It is not difficult to imagine how pastors and ...Continue reading...

Does a self-medicating orangutan tell us anything about our supposed evolutionary past?

Thaddeus Matthews, pastor of? Naked Truth Liberation and Empowerment Ministries in Memphis, Tennessee, known popularly as the “Cussing Pastor,” has gone viral again for dishing out a profanity-laced rebuke to comedian D.L. Hughley for accusing him of swearing in the pulpit.

A deacon at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia, where former President Jimmy Carter is a member, says attendance dropped after he stopped teaching Sunday school and the church's hiring of its first woman lead pastor is an effort to bring people back to their pews.

The Rev. William Lawson, a veteran civil rights activist and founding pastor of a historically African American megachurch in Texas, has died less than two months before his 96th birthday.

Almost five years after? hiring its first black lead pastor, Maranatha Baptist Church, in Plains, Georgia, where former President Jimmy Carter is a member, has hired The Rev. Ashley Guthas as its first woman pastor.

Among the testimonies that the Brazilian Evangelical Alliance collected during the ongoing rain emergency in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, a woman approached Pastor Cassiano Luz to ask for only one thing, a Bible.

So why do they keep looking? Well, because evolutionary scientists, in their own foolish wisdom, think they can use the present to explain the past.

Does a self-medicating orangutan tell us anything about our supposed evolutionary past?

In the uncanny valley of the shadow of data, we should fear no evil—and prepare for a very different future.This piece was adapted from Russell Moore’s newsletter. Subscribe here.In the past several weeks, two events occurred that are going to change our futures. One of them was the launching of OpenAI’s new artificial intelligence program, GPT-4o, just ahead of several competitors who will do the same in a matter of weeks. The other was the defrocking of a robot priest for teaching that baptisms could be done with Gatorade. I’m afraid the church is not ready for either.The more talked-about happening was the OpenAI announcement, complete with videos of the AI program laughing, seeming to blush, telling jokes, seeing and describing things in real time, and even singing songs made up on the spot (to whatever degree of emotion and enthusiasm was demanded).Far less culturally noticed was the fact that just a few weeks before, the Roman Catholic apologetics platform Catholic Answers reined in an AI chatbot called “Father Justin,” which was designed to help people through questions of doctrine and practice.People started to get upset when Father Justin started claiming to be an actual priest, capable of hearing confession and offering sacraments, and when it started giving unorthodox answers to questions, such as whether baptizing a baby with Gatorade would be all right in an emergency (the magisterium says no).Now Father Justin is just “Justin,” a “lay theologian.” Catholic Answers acknowledged to critics that they are pioneering a new technological landscape and learning—as the whole world will—just how difficult it is to keep an artificial intelligence orthodox. If my Catholic friends thought Martin Luther was bad, wait until the robots start posting theses to the ...Continue reading...

American Bible Society study finds majority don't trust technology with spiritual matters.Ask ChatGPT how to improve your spiritual life, and the natural-language processing artificial intelligence chatbot has plenty of suggestions.But Americans are skeptical that artificial intelligence, or AI, has much to offer in the way of reliable religious guidance.Sixty-eight percent of people don’t think AI could help them with their spiritual practices or “promote spiritual health,” according to the latest research from American Bible Society (ABS). Fifty-eight percent say they don’t think AI will “aid in moral reasoning” and only one out of every four people say they feel optimistic about the impact the technology will have.“Americans are more fearful than hopeful about artificial intelligence,” said John Farquhar Plake, an ABS program officer and editor-in-chief of the State of the Bible series. “People don’t know how AI will change the culture—but they’re mildly uneasy about it.”ABS surveyed about 2,500 people for its annual report on Scripture engagement and related topics. While technology has been a regular part of the survey, this is the first year ABS dedicated a set of questions to the topic of technology that performs tasks traditionally associated with human intelligence.AI is rapidly evolving, and currently includes everything from Amazon’s “virtual assistant” Alexa to chatbots running large language models that can pass the bar exam. People are pushing the technology further every day, and some Christians who work in tech are excited about the possibilities—dreaming of algorithms that might one day help people grow, learn, and go deeper in their faith.“It is not difficult to imagine how pastors and ...Continue reading...

We can humbly seek their wisdom without treating them as mascots for one position or another.On September 11, 2020, I found myself under a large tent, where 51 ministers of the Reformed Presbyterian Church had assembled for a COVID-era presbytery. They gathered to receive charges against me, initiating an ecclesiastical trial. I had published a book that affirmed the possibility of theistic evolution—a view regarded by some as dangerous.Through that process, I became personally (and painfully) aware of how heated Genesis 1 controversies continue to be. My trial was ultimately dropped, but I was compelled to resign my pastorate and leave that denomination.I still love the Reformed Presbyterian Church and am grateful for my decades as a student and minister among its people. But I grieve that such passions for certain interpretations of Genesis 1 lead to damaged relationships and truncated ministries. It should not be so.There are already plenty of Genesis 1 studies on offer (including my own, called The Liturgy of Creation). But what the church really needs are more resources to help us engage these discussions more responsibly. Andrew J. Brown’s latest book, Recruiting the Ancients for the Creation Debate, is just such a resource.Brown, an Old Testament lecturer at Melbourne School of Theology, takes no sides on the question of whether the six days of creation are literal or figurative days. Recruiting the Ancients is not an attempt to solve creation controversies. Instead, it surveys what historic church authorities had to say on the subject, arguing that they shouldn’t be enlisted as straightforward allies of this or that contemporary position.The book is based on Brown’s earlier book on the same topic (The Days of Creation: A History of Christian Interpretation of Genesis 1:1–2:3), ...Continue reading...

A sharp escalation in police raids, arrests and fines in the past two months have traumatized Baptists in southern Kazakhstan, raising concerns about the future of religious liberty in the country.?

Does a self-medicating orangutan tell us anything about our supposed evolutionary past?

A former Latin Kings gang member-turned-pastor said he came to faith in Jesus Christ only after he did time behind bars and nearly died from a heroin overdose.?

The local sheriff's office has asked the FBI and the U.S. attorney's office to assist in investigating the death of Mica Miller, the 30-year-old pastor's wife who was found dead at a state park and whose cause of death has been the source of controversy.

As Crosswalk Headlines? previously reported, Mica had served Miller with divorce papers on April 25, just two days before her death, and had first filed for divorce on October 23. Her sister, Sierra Francis, said that Mica was looking forward to being free from her husband because he was reportedly abusive.

While many clergy in the United States will be preaching sermons in celebration of Mother's Day, one pastor in Texas avoids doing so in consideration of those for whom the day brings pain and heartache.

Former megachurch Pastor Perry Noble didn't mince words when he criticized ministry leaders who say women shouldn't preach during a sermon earlier this month.

In a revelation that appeared to some as almost as unusual as his announcement of the suicide of his wife, Mica Miller, Pastor John-Paul Miller of? Solid Rock at Market Common? in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, said he tried to raise her from the dead but it didn't work.

As pastors and ministry heads face? rising exhaustion and as each day seems to bring another leader facing allegations of misconduct, the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability is developing a new "leadership standard" for member ministries in the hopes of combating burnout and "integrity failures" in churches and charities.

Calvary Chapel of The Woodlands, Texas, which hosts services in the auditorium of McCullough Junior High School, has announced the firing of their longtime pastor, Bruce Hollen, following his arrest for possession with intent to promote child pornography.