# Are you ready for a pop quiz?



## blhowes (Jul 21, 2004)

[color=black:bf4d99798d]OK, this is a pop quiz, just to make sure you (and I) are listening and internalizing what's preached on Sunday.

[b:bf4d99798d]Without looking at your notes, what was Sunday's sermon(s) about and name one or two things that stand out for you about what you heard?[/b:bf4d99798d]

The sermon I heard was from the book of 1 John. The preacher had been doing a 5-part series called [i:bf4d99798d]5 Keys to Christian Living[/i:bf4d99798d]. This week was about the importance of witnessing. 

Several things struck me:

[i:bf4d99798d]1Jo 5:9 If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son. [/i:bf4d99798d]

The preacher related the passage to a courtroom scene where witnesses are called to witness about what they have seen or heard or know. The point was made about just how faithful God's witness is.

[i:bf4d99798d]1John 5:10 He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. [/i:bf4d99798d]

With God's faithfulness as a witness in mind, not believing his witness is a terrible sin and is the same as calling God a liar.

The witness that we share is something that God has given us. Its something that is in us by God's grace. Its not something we have to "work up". As John says in 1 John 1:1, we witness to what we have seen and heard and know. Things that God has taught us are things we are to share with others. 

I was particularly blessed and thankful that I do have a witness inside and that God has granted that I could believe in Jesus.

What was your sermon about?[/color:bf4d99798d]


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## fredtgreco (Jul 21, 2004)

Morning Sermon was on Psalm 119, the section "before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep thy statutes"

The sermon was about how God uses affliction at times to deal with our sin and to warn us.

Evening sermon was from Gal. 6:1-5 about bearing one another's burdens.


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## a mere housewife (Jul 21, 2004)

I was sick on Sunday, so I listened to a sermon online. It was about Elijah and the prophets of Baal, and the difference between true and false religion. False religion is man centered, and it always lets you down. True religion is God-centered, and it never fails.
The last point was about the greatest need we have as those who have true religion-- we need fire from the Lord. I especially enjoyed the point about how God never fails. I do, all the time; but His faithfulness, not ours, is what true religion hangs on.

I slept all evening, but my husband read from Calvin to me later on, about the doctrine of God's providence. The highlights of that were how Calvin does not believe that God has two wills-- how he clears God of any charge of iniquity while maintaining and clearly showing that He is the One who moves all things, and especially the complete comfort and safety that the children of God can enjoy in the certainty of God's special providence toward them-- We are the apple of His eye. It was overwhelming to get a glimpse of the staggering greatness of God, and then to have that greatness brought down with staggering love to the details of my life.


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## Ianterrell (Jul 21, 2004)

What was the sermon about:

The false profession of Simon the Sorcerer and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Samaritan believers.

Acts 8:14-25 

1st point of interest. The "specialness" of the outpouring of the Spirit as part of the redemptive historical establishment of the church of Christ through his apostles. 

2nd point of interest. The apostasy of Simon. Peter's words are a rebuke, Simon has an external piety. He needs to acquire white garments and the bread of life.


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## LauridsenL (Jul 21, 2004)

Our pastor is preaching through 1 Peter. The text on Sunday was 1 Peter 2:6-10 about Christ being the cornerstone. (It was the same text that he had preached on when he was interviewed for the position almost 15 years earlier to the day by a small handful of people who had started the church shortly before that sermon.) In addition to reviewing OT Scripture about the Messiah being the chief cornerstone, one of the main points of the sermon was that the reason God chose us in Him and that we are alive is to proclaim His excellence in everything we do and say.


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## blhowes (Jul 22, 2004)

Its interesting to read about what others are taking home with them from Sunday's sermon(s).

[img:9a09097c54]http://www.strato.net/~sms/teacher.gif[/img:9a09097c54]
[b:9a09097c54]Pop Quiz Results[/b:9a09097c54]
Fred: 100%
Heidi: 110% [b:9a09097c54][size=18:9a09097c54]*[/size:9a09097c54][/b:9a09097c54]
Ian: 100%
Lee: 100%

[b:9a09097c54][size=18:9a09097c54]*[/size:9a09097c54][/b:9a09097c54] Extra credit given for the extra effort of seeking out preaching while sick.


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## FrozenChosen (Aug 4, 2004)

The preaching in the morning was from 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, and the sermon was about looking to our blessed hope, the return of Christ. So many times we just act like he's not returning. The pastor had an emotional story to tell about how he lost his son (his son is about five) on the boardwalk that week. He was frantic, running all around looking for his son.

Later in the week his son was sitting around, looking pensive. 

"Bennett, what's wrong?"

"I was just thinking about when I was lost."

"What about it?"

"That you might give up."

And of course we were taught that we should always be looking for our Savior to return, and how often we do not. It was a good sermon.

That night we didn't have a preaching service, but a missions team from Mexico was here and we sang hymns together and prayed for missions all around the world. It was a good time.


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## blhowes (Aug 4, 2004)

Dan,
That's an interesting sermon/object lesson. It reminds me of God's love and persistence in seeking His lost sheep. Its a little humbling, or perhaps discouraging, to think of those reasons why we lose sight of that focus on Christ's return.


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