Living Rock Bible Church

Conquering the opposition

Pastor Dave — Fri, 18 May 2012 01:25:47 +0000

It is a scary place to be in when you feel as though you are alone but also responsible to make the decision to move forward as Joshua was. The question that often sits at the heart of our struggle is… Will you believe God and walk believing in His promises, or will you second guess and become fearful and not take the step forward? This dilemma becomes even more "weighty" when the way is unclear, the opposition is much larger than you are, or the odds seem stacked particularly high against you. These are the times when it is particularly hard to move forward. That is why most do not.

But for this reason we are given the stories in the scriptures. They were written down to give us encouragement, to remind us that God is greater than the opposition and the circumstances. Moses, Joshua, Daniel, the apostle Paul, and many hero’s of the faith were also faced with the same dilemma. The mark of those who are now often referred to as "great men of faith" was not their ability to lead or teach. It was rather their understanding that God can be trusted and believed even when it looks like the way through is not clear and does not make much sense.

Let these words that God said to Joshua help us to believe that God can do great things through those who simply trust Him and step out and conquer!

Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and Courageous. Do not be terrified, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go"

Freedom and Sept 11th

Pastor Dave — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 21:57:22 +0000

This Sunday, all around America, in all sorts of different churches, there will most likely be a message reminding us of the tragedy that took place ten years ago. It was an unthinkable act! An act that left us with many questions, questions that we may not want to ask and answers that we may not want to hear. The fact of the matter is - we continually strive to establish peace in a world where there will never be peace. History has proven that. There has always been conflict and there will always be conflict because we are people who are greedy, selfish and self serving. Unless something drastic happens, you can count on the future here on earth being the same as it has been for the past several thousand years. Wars, unthinkable acts of violence, slavery of others, murder, theft, and the like – is here to stay. It’s time we face the truth – we are generally people who serve ourselves, and will do whatever we need to in order to feed our greed.

I am convinced that there is really only one solution, one drastic change that is needed for the world. It is not global economic stability, nor is it putting people back to work. It is not pushing human rights, as important as that is, nor is it democracy or creating a capitalistic world system to put opportunity into the hands of people. It is rather a simple solution that yields tremendous fruit. This fruit is seen as peace, Joy, thinking of others before yourself, and serving for the good of those who are less fortunate. Not flying planes into building to kill those who you despise. This solution is what many who built this great nation understood as fundamental to living. That was…. without Christ there is NO peace. I understand that You cannot force people to accept Christ, but until people choose to believe that He is the Savior of the World and Lord of All we are doomed to continually repeat history. This is the drastic change that is needed. But it will not happen globally – the Bible tells us it won’t happen. But it will happen to some individuals. So for those who know Him as Lord, get ready and stand firm because as we stand firm, living on the truth of God’s word, and proclaiming His plan of redemption, there will be some who will respond to His message and will be transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of Light! This kingdom is where Christ rules and it is the place we were created for.

Hagar the slave.

Pastor Dave — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 13:44:43 +0000

We had a precious time on Sunday morning. It was 10:00am and time for church, the hurricane had done its damage and we began without power, just a handful of people – about 20 sat by the windows to get some light. Even though the power returned we decided to just "keep it simple" and so we remained by the windows using only the morning sun light to see by. We sang some songs, (I brought my acoustic guitar) Then in keeping with our studies in Galatians we read Genesis 16 and part of chapter 21. It was the story of Hagar and Sarai. It relates to the Galatians text because Paul actually refers to these two women in chapter 4.

In Galatians, Paul mentions these two women because of the part they played in the story of Abram. The Jewish Christians that were in the churches around Galatia would certainly be aware of this story. But it was WHAT Paul said about them that is interesting. Paul uses Hagar, the maid servant of Sarai, to illustrate people who are slaves and who try to find acceptance to God "by doing". In contrast to Hagar Paul uses Sarai to illustrate those who live by "the promise". Now we could argue the point as to whether or not Sarai did in fact live by the promise of God to give her a son, but that’s not the point. (by the way I think at times she did but the story highlights a time when she did not) But the point is that God provided just like he promised. Deb Fraser said "I love the way chapter 21 begins" and I do too….. It says "

"Now the Lord was gracious to Sarai as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarai as He had promised."

As we look back over the years we see from these two women we have two great nations of people. Hagar who represents all who are actually enslaved in their attempt to reach God by preforming rituals and observing certain ordinances. Sarai who represents all who are really free for their freedom has come as a result of them believing the promise of God as he brought forth His Son Jesus to be "the Promised One".

I wonder who are you? Are you attempting to find acceptance with God based upon what you are doing? Or are you trusting in what God has promised – the Messiah- Jesus the "Promised One".

Neither Jew or Greek… all one in Christ.

Pastor Dave — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 15:10:20 +0000

Galatians 3:28-29 makes what I think is a staggerring claim regarding unity in the body of Christ. It seems to me that "outside of Christ" we natuarally look at our distinctions as people…that is what sets us apart. And when we are set apart from others we are brought together with those who are then "like us", separating us from the others. But this verse says that "in Christ" our differences, actually fade into the background when one becomes a child of the King. Whether the separation was previously by social staus, educational background, wealth, heritage, tradition or any other identifying mark that separated us ,now our identification "in Christ" is what now unifys us. I wonder about that worship scene in heaven that John saw recorded in Revelation 7. He says there was a great multitude from every nation and tribe and tongue, too numerous to count, standing before the throne, all clothed in white, with palm branches in their hands … Heaven will be filled with people that are there because of ONE unifying person. The Lamb Himself. Today take a moment and thank God for those in your church who are "different" than you. Then remember it is Him who brought you together to declare His wonderful Grace!

A Great Lyric based on Psalm 103:12

Al Alberici — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 21:08:37 +0000

I was listening to 88.1 Word FM this morning driving to work, which isn’t my normal routine, as I frequently take long breaks from listening to Christian Pop stations because of the repetition. If I hear a song too much, when it comes time for me to play it on a Sunday morning it seems to lose some of it’s impact for me. I do tend to tune in from time to time just to hear what the "people" are listening to, though. Anyway, I heard a song from Casting Crowns, which didn’t get my attention at first. Then at about 1:30 into the song it hit me…I heard the line "Cause You know how far the East is from the West…From one scarred hand to the other"! (…Read it again if it hasn’t sunk in.)

What an amazing picture of God’s love! We have been forgiven, yet it is so easy to lose focus at times and give in to doubt. I remember what happened to Peter when he got out of the boat and began to walk to the Lord. It wasn’t until he started to get distracted by the things around him that he began to sink.