Eight of us guys looked at Zechariah 12:1-9 this morning at the Bella Vita Coffee House.
Zechariah 12:1 shares three things about the LORD:
God is the Sovereign of the heavens, the earth, and man’s spirit. Pretty clear on who is the cause and who we should worship.
“Thus I prostrated myself before the LORD; forty days and forty nights I kept prostrating myself, because the LORD had said He would destroy you. Therefore I prayed to the LORD, and said: ‘O Lord GOD, do not destroy Your people and Your inheritance whom You have redeemed through Your greatness, whom You have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand” (Deut. 9:25-26).
As Moses prayed for Israel, should we get serious about praying for America? I am grieved by the abortion issue in America. Are there 1.2 million abortions a year? How long will God be longsuffering over this issue? Our God is a “consuming fire” (Deut. 9:3).
Pray for the Supreme Court justices as they consider health care law this week. The Salt Lake Tribune reports.
Yesterday morning, our church family examined I Corinthians 15: 29. If you were to google, “baptized for the dead”, you will find page after page related to the LDS Church.
In Southeastern Idaho, I wonder how many baptisms for the dead have been performed in these first three months of 2012? Thousands?
The topic of baptisms for the dead has gone national in the past couple of weeks. One LDS apologist,Dan Peterson, relies upon Lutheran heavyweight, Krister Stendahl, to bolster their case.
And yet others see I Corinthians 15:29 in a different light. In my studies, here are five sources interacting with Mormonism (emphasis is mine).
1. Alan Johnson writes,
Thiselton counts no fewer than forty different explanations [on I Corinthians 15:29]; Ralph Martin suggests two hundred is closer to the truth. . . . It might be objected that if this proxy baptism was in fact the case in point, why didn’t it continue in the church (except among early Marcionites and now Mormons)? Why doesn’t the New Testament mention it elsewhere?
2. Craig Blomberg writes,
So there remains no justification for making any of these practices prescriptive rather than descriptive, and certainly no evidence that Christians ever considered proxy baptism valid for total unbelievers. Both of these observations, therefore, contradict historic Mormon belief and practice, despite their appeal to verse 29 for support.
3. Robert Gromacki simply notes the Mormon view,
Over thirty different interpretations have been given for this difficult verse. The Mormons practice proxy baptism in which the living are baptized for dead ancestors who were not Mormons.
4. Gordon D. Fee explains,
On the other hand, it is difficult to imagine any circumstances under which Paul would think it permissible for living Christians to be baptized for the sake of unbelievers in general. Such a view, adopted in part by the Mormons, lies totally outside the NT understanding both of salvation and baptism.
5. ESV Study Bible shares,
Some interpreters through the centuries have thought this referred to vicarious baptism on behalf of deceased people, probably those who had believed in Christ but had not been baptized before they died (cf. Luke 23:43). But the interpretation is uncertain, and whatever the practice is, Paul reports it without necessarily approving it, and is clearly not commanding it. Baptism for the dead is an important part of Mormonism, but the Bible gives no support to the idea that anyone can be saved apart from personal faith in Christ (see notes on John 3:18; 14:6). Other interpreters argue that by “the dead” Paul means the bodies of living Christians, which are subject to death and decay: they are baptized “on behalf of their dying bodies,” showing hope that their bodies will rise again (see Rom. 8:23, I Cor. 15:42-22, 47-49, 53-54). On this view, Paul argues here that the baptism of perishing bodies is useless if the dead are not raised.
Recently, I had an itch on the left side of my back which I thought was a bug bite. After several days, I had my wife look at it because my skin was very sensitive, the pain even wrapping around to the front of my chest. She told me I had a rash. And then on Sunday after the morning service, my sister-in-law revealed to me that I probably had shingles. The next day, Dr. Shane Machen on 17th street confirmed it. Ouch. All I know is that shingles is quite painful. I compare the affliction to severe sunburns on my back and chest, intermingled with jabbing needle sensations just below my heart. I am not looking forward to the postherpetic neuralgia. As a 6’2’’, 179 pound, 42-year-old man, I realize that my body is wearing down. My blood pressure is alright – 108 over 70. My pulse is low – 65. But despite my seeking to eat healthy, to exercise somewhat regularly by running, I am dying. More white hair. Less hair. Just wait till I turn 50. 60. And if God is gracious to me – the big three score and ten years.
If this life is all that there is, I would think that for the next 30 years I ought to suck every earthly pleasure I can out of this fleeting existence. I should probably stop being a preacher in Idaho Falls and live for the moment. I should latch on to the hedonist philosophy – “Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we are all going to die” (I Corinthians 15:20, cf. Isa. 22:13). Shouldn’t I just live for myself? Protect myself? Why sacrifice? Why risk?
Yet we know that this life is not the end. We know that Jesus Christ rose bodily from the grave. He is the firstfruits of a great spiritual harvest that will take place here in the city. The gospel has been preached steadily in this town for 130 years. Imagine the bodily spiritual resurrection that will take place in the days ahead. An explosion of spiritual, material glory.
Through the gracious, resurrection power of God, I will gain a spiritual body. A celestial body. I will be able to do some slam dunks over Christian brother, Jeremy Lin. I will be able to ride a buckin’ bronco with Todd Pierce. More than that, I will bear the image of the heavenly Man (I Cor. 15:49). Hallelujah!
Easter is comin’ to Idaho Falls.
Tim provides a visual of the Trinity.
In our neck of the woods, Jesus is taught as a lower divine being in submission to God. In our church family’s current study of I Corinthians 15, one verse stands out particularly in regards to this issue:
Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all (I Cor. 15:28).
But this does not mean that the second person of the Trinity is not equal with the first person of the Trinity.
1. Alliance Covenant Church
2. Berean Baptist Church
3. Calvary Chapel
4. Cornerstone Assembly of God
5. Eagle Rock Baptist Church
6. First Lutheran Church
7. New Life Assembly of God
Is this what we teach teens concerning the Aaronic Priesthood?
Behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tithes in Israel as an inheritance in return for the work which they perform, the work of the tabernacle of meeting.” (Numbers 18:21)
Or scan back a bit earlier in the instructional text,
All the best of the oil, all the best of the new wine and the grain, their firstfruits which they offer to the LORD, I have given them to you.” (Numbers 18:12).
How do you apply that to the boys?
Of course the beauty of Numbers 18 is this, when God says,
I am your portion” (Numbers 18:20).
Southeastern Idaho Latter-day Saints:
Mormonism 101, is this what you all believe across the board?
To the 100 or so LDS bishops in Idaho Falls, do you agree?
From Wheaton College, Alan Johnson wrote in his commentary on I Corinthians 15: “For many years I have asked my evangelical theology students whether they believe in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Almost all unhesitatingly put up their hands. But then when I ask if they believe that Jesus is 100 percent human right now as well as divine, almost no hands go up. What has happened? I believe they cannot conceive of Jesus as now existing in a new human form (body); instead they think of him as some sort of disembodied spirit, even after the resurrection.”
So I would declare from the pulpit in Idaho Falls: Out with the Greek metaphysical mumble jumble that would impede people from believing in the bodily resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ! Is the afterlife only the immortality of the soul? Hogwash! I Corinthians 15 pierces through the philosophical smog. It is truth for the believer. There is a future, spiritual body. Christ is the firstfruits of this.
So from all of those in the LDS community, can I hear a hearty amen?
Last week, I stood packed in the Skyline High School gymnasium to hear Mitt Romney. The atmosphere was electric. People cheered their lungs out. This past Monday, I sat in the back of the downtown Civic to see Ron Paul. A full auditorium hollered their approval. These community gatherings will linger as highlights in my mind for 2012.
But the greatest town gathering of all was when 500 brethren literally saw with their own physical eyes the spiritual body of the Lord Jesus Christ (I Corinthians 15:6). This far exceeds getting together with friends and watching kooky vampires in the Twilight: Breaking Dawn movie. This surpasses community, political events with Mitt or Ron.
Can you imagine being there long ago? Seeing the strong, immortal, incorruptible, brilliant body of the King? If you were among the 500, what would you have done? If it weren’t for the Creator King and His sustaining and loving power, I think that the molecules of my current, sinful body would have just burst apart.
Easter is comin’ to Idaho Falls. Don’t miss seeing the greatest event that shook the world. Believe the resurrection power.
Numbers 15:1-16:50
The Curse of the Law and the Exposure of Mankind’s Heart Adultery
Now while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. And those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron, and to all the congregation. They put him under guard, because it had not been explained what should be done to him. Then the LORD said to Moses, “The man must surely be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp.” So, as the LORD commanded Moses, all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him with stones, and he died. Numbers 15:32-36
Again the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel: Tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a blue thread in the tassels of the corners. And you shall have the tassel, that you may look upon it and remember all the commandments of the LORD and do them, and that you may not follow the harlotry to which your own heart and your own eyes are inclined, and that you may remember and do all My commandments, and be holy for your God. Numbers 32:27-40
Psalm 32:1-5
Gospel Joy!
Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered, blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. Psalm 32:1-2
Mark 11:1-19
Your preparation for Palm Sunday!
And think globally. Think beyond American politics. Hear the King of the nations.
Jesus says,
My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations. Mark 11:17
Jesus in Idaho Falls 