February 2017

Biblical History Part 11

 
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"Inherit the Wind"

Copied from the sermon notes of Pastor Don Elmore

February 26, 2016

Scripture Reading: Proverbs 11:29

My wife and I saw on the cable channel, two weeks ago, on Turner Classic Movies--Inherit the Wind. I had seen it when it first came out, which was a long, long time ago--1960. That was the year that I graduated from high school. That was so long ago that I forgot almost the entire movie. I just remembered a few of the scenes.

It was a movie that told the story of the Scopes or Monkey Trial that was held in Dayton, Tennessee. I had mistakenly thought, in my own mind, it was Cleveland, Tennessee. But that’s how long ago I saw the movie. It was the trial that depicted Evolution Versus Creation in the public schools.

Biblical History Part 9

 
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Our Deadly Enemy Part 2

Copied from the sermon notes of Pastor Don Elmore

January 29, 2017

Scripture Reading: Titus 1:14

There were at the time that this verse was written, fables--in particular Jewish fables, which the Christian was instructed to pay no attention to. We were warned not to get comfortable with these distortions of truth. Jewish fables or fictions or myths are still very much all around us. Do we still give heed to them?

Esau hates Jacob. Jews hate Israel. The Edomite Jew believes that if all the descendants of Jacob/Israel were no longer alive, then the covenant recipient would have to go back to the one before Jacob, i.e. Esau, because of default. Remember, Esau once was in possession of the covenant and all its blessings, but he despised it. He sold it to his younger twin brother Jacob. And a little later he lost the blessing because Jacob and his mother plotted against him and deceived his father.

It had to be a good deception to fool Jacob’s father, Isaac. For Isaac loved Esau while his wife loved Jacob. Isaac’s eyesight at that time was very bad, so Jacob had to disguise himself as Esau. Fixing the venison wasn’t hard, as his mother helped prepare the meal. But putting goat hairs on his arms and the smooth of his neck and wearing Esau’s goodly raiment convinced Isaac that it had to be Esau because Jacob smelled and felt just like Esau. And the twin boys were so different. Esau was an avid hunter and outdoorsman while Jacob was a shepherd. (Now it is just the opposite—Esau is deceiving Jacob’s descendants that Esau is Jacob.)

Isaac felt the skins of the goat hairs and smelled the raiment that Jacob wore, and that convinced him that Jacob was indeed Esau. It was the only time in the Scriptures that man depended upon his feeling, and he was deceived.

It's Going to Get Worse

 
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by Pastor Mark Downey

Scripture Reading:  I Peter 4:12-14

February 19, 2017

Have you ever heard the phrase 'it's gonna get worse before it gets better'? Of course you have. They've pounded it into our heads more times than the number of McDonald's hamburgers ever made. Speaking of which… have you heard about this documentary movie called 'Super Size Me'? It's about this guy that lives on a McDonald's fast food menu for one month. I guess you could call it the 'Golden Arches Diet'; nothing else but Big Macs, Eggs McMuffins, Chicken McNuggets and greasy fries. This gentleman, being under medical supervision, was almost hospitalized near the end of his little experiment. But, it just goes to show you that things can get worse depending on what you put into your body, mind and spirit. Like junk food, we can feed our heads with mindless mantras of doom 'n gloom.