BETHEL MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH
SUNDAY 17JAN10
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From: LifeTruths (Holman) & LifeWords (KJV)
Text: Ecclesiastes 3:16-17, 4:1, 8:2-13

Ask today's leaders to share a key moment or two from their groups.

WRESTLING WITH INJUSTICE
The Place of Injustice
The Power of Oppression
The Process of Protest
The Prospect of Reversal
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From: Explore The Bible
Mark 3:1-6; 5:21-43; 10:13-16 (esp. 3:3-5; 5:33-42; 10:14-16)

Ask today's leader to share a key moment or two from their group.

HOW TO BE PRO-LIFE
Concern for People with Special Challenges
Concern for People with Chronic Problems
Concern for People Facing Deathly Illness
Concern for People and their Children

Today's Sermon

or
GOD'S WAY TO DEAL WITH INJUSTICE & THE CHRISTIAN LIFE

When we left-off just before Christmas Jesus had been born and Herod was desperately jealous and worried.

Matthew 2:12 After being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they went back by another route to their own country.

We may plainly see the hand of Satan, via King Herod, attempting to defeat God.

The Escape to Egypt
2:13 After they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to look for the child to kill him.” 2:14 Then he got up, took the child and his mother during the night, and went to Egypt. 2:15 He stayed there until Herod died. In this way what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet was fulfilled: “I called my Son out of Egypt.”
	
Verse 2:15b is a reminder that God had called His “son” the nation of Israel out of Egypt  and in the same way when it was in God's timing Jesus was called “out of Egypt”.

2:16 When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he became enraged. He sent men to kill all the children in Bethlehem and throughout the surrounding region from the age of two and under, according to the time he had learned from the wise men. 2:17 Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: 2:18 “A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud wailing, Rachel weeping for her children, and she did not want to be comforted, because they were gone.”

Verses 2:16-18 record the demonic monstrous rage of Herod, as an agent of Satan, when he 
discovers that he has missed the opportunity to murder Jesus - so in a desperate effort to destroy him he orders his soldiers to murder every child in Bethlehem below the age of two.  He fails in his evil mission but in so doing fulfills a prophesy of suffering.

It is important that we realize that while we remain here on this earth - we still live in the long dark shadow of Satan's insane rage.

The book of Revelation teaches us over and over that the return of Jesus may happen any moment, that upon His return the time for choices is about over, and that a terrible battle will be waged to bring a final end to Satan and his evil influence – forever.

The following Barry McGuire song from the 1960's still tells the story of the problem.

MP3 on CD

We do indeed live on “The Eve of Destruction”, but God was not deterred by the evil schemes of Satan back when Jesus was a baby, nor is He now or ever.

God is patient, and His timing is perfect.

The Family of Jesus Returns to Nazareth
2:19 After Herod had died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 2:20 saying, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.” 2:21 So he got up and took the child and his mother and returned to the land of Israel. 2:22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. After being warned in a dream, he went to the regions of Galilee. 2:23 He came to a town called Nazareth and lived there. Then what had been spoken by the prophets was fulfilled, that Jesus would be called a Nazarene.
Once Herod had died God again sent an angel to instruct Joseph to return to the land of Israel.

When they arrived in the region of Judea they discovered that the equally-evil son of Herod was now in power, so, at the prompting of an angel Joseph moved on to the town of Nazareth in the region of Galilee, which is how the prophesy that Jesus would be known as a Nazarene was fulfilled.

The Enemy is filled with insane hatred and rage for anyone and anything associated with 
Jesus and thus will attempt to subvert or destroy all who are His.

We must be alert to the “regions”, our “Nazareths”, that are controlled by the Enemy and his demons and move toward those “regions” to which we are directed by the Holy Spirit.

These “regions” vary from person to person and may vary over time.  Your “region” may be different than mine or that of the person sitting near to you today.

A “region” for you may be a bar room because you struggle with alcohol, unfiltered Internet access because you struggle with pornography, a casino because you have a weakness for gambling, violent movies because you struggle with rage, visiting a department store with a credit card because you struggle with self-control or self-image, etc..

So, what can or should we do?  We must discern the specific places where we know that the Enemy is strong in our lives and intentionally avoid those places.

God also calls us out of our places of hiding, our “Egypts”, into His freedom, and His light, and under His protection.

There are times when God directs us to places of safety.

Children have their Christian fellowship and, if blessed, their Christian homes and parents.

Adults have times of high-level accountabilty as we work through overwhelming challenges - 
a lot like the recovery room in a hospital, weekend or week-long conferences and retreats, and 
even our Sunday and Wednesday times of fellowship might be thought of as our “Egypts”.

The key is that we must not stay in these places or contexts forever – God has work for us out there!

What we must do is to select a place where we have been hiding – perhaps from a ministry that  God has been trying to bring to us, perhaps from a ministry to others He wants to bring through us, it may be a place where we have run from humans or demons, or it could be a place where 
we have simply avoided serving Him.

We must surrender all of that to Him!

The story of Jesus continues ...

Luke 2:39-40 records the completion by Mary and Joseph of their Old Testament ritual 
purification for a male child [See Luke 2:22-24] then observes “... the child grew and 
became strong, filled with wisdom, and the favor of God was upon Him.”

2:41-51 records the first evidence that Jesus, at 12 years old, made His unique 
knowledge and understanding of God's Word obvious to others.

As a side note one wonders if the failure of his parents to be adequately watchful might have resulted in social services taking Jesus away … good thing He came before we invented social 
services!

Also notable was their failure to fully understand Who Jesus truly was.

2:52 concludes with And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and with people.  Here as before (vs 2:40) “God's favor” does not denote Jesus earning via works but God blessing Him in preparation for ministry.

Becoming strong  is a repeated theme for Christians, the Apostle Paul challenges us to be as we care for the “temple of the Holy Spirit”, our physical bodies, and become strong through our training for right-living and spiritual warfare in “the full armor of God”.
	
The age of 10-12 appears to be an approximate developmental point of reference for the 
human capacity to engage fully at the level of complex thought necessary to volitionally 
comprehend and respond effectively to the call of God to a saving relationship.

The seeds we plant when children are younger take serious root and begin to bud in their maturing minds around 10 to 12 years old – which is why the Enemy attacks them so viciously 
at that age and he never lets-up.

Just as Jesus-in-the-flesh, our prototype, was not asked of God to perform works in order 
to receive blessings for ministry neither are we.  He desires our obedience and our 
submission as evidence of our availability to serve for His glory and not our own.

So, what is the attitude that God wants of us as we move toward the solution He has for us?

Please listen now to this '60's song from the group “Peter, Paul, & Mary” 

MP3 on CD  

Today we each need to choose to change or improve something that we do for the sake of our bodies, “the temple of the Holy Spirit of God”.

We also need to choose to revisit the Ephesians teaching about the “full armor of God” and to engage and train with it.

We need to pray for our minstries here at Bethel to children over the age of 10, asking God to show us how we might be more helpful to those ministries.

We need to cease from trying to earn God's blessing through our performance and instead step out into His ministry - trusting Him to provide all that we need.

CONCLUSION

We are living on the Eve of Destruction.

God has given us …

The Hammer of Justice as a promise of purpose in both our happiness and our suffering.

The Bell of Freedom from slavery to sin in its many forms.

And a Song of Truth found in His gospel so that He may use us to lead others out of bondage and into the same joy of freedom and purpose we enjoy.

PRAY

Invitation

As we sing our closing song please come forward - and pay no attention to anyone or any thing but the Holy Spirit Who is encouraging you right now to come.  If you are shy - please catch one of us afterwards - we will stay as long as necessary to serve you. 

Prayer of Dismissal