Marvelous by Dr. Abidan Shah

January 18, 2020 By in 2020, Abortion, America, Bible, bible study, Biblical convictions, born again, children, Christ, Christian Life, Community, Conflict, Death, Eternal Life, Evangelism, Faith, Family, God's will, Grace, History, Hope, kids, love, Obedience, parents, People, Politics, religion, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , 4 Comments

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MARVELOUS by Dr. Shah, Clearview Church, Henderson

Introduction: Recently, I was on Twitter when a statement caught my eye. I didn’t know the person making the statement but based on his profile, it seemed that he believed like I did about biblical/ethical/moral values. He said (I am paraphrasing), “Why does Abortion always have to become the main issue? There are other issues that are just as critical.” When I read that, I was like, “Maybe, we don’t agree as much as I thought we did, or, maybe, you’ve lost your moral compass, if you ever had one.” As I was about to dismiss that statement as an anomaly, I saw another one just like it! This one said (again, I’m paraphrasing)—“Abortion is used as the trump card (no pun intended) to get voters to abandon all other issues and vote a certain way.” Again, based on this person’s profile, I would have assumed that we would’ve had similar values. Here’s the heart of the message: Abortion is not about politics. Abortion is not about rights. Abortion is not about science and technology or health and quality of life. Abortion is ultimately about God. With that in mind, our message today is titled “MARVELOUS.”

Psalm 139    13 For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. 14I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, and thatmy soul knows very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them.

Question: Do you believe that you have been fearfully and wonderfully made by God? Do you believe that human life is marvelous? Do you have eternal life? Are you saved?

Background: Many of you may not realize but today is the Sanctity of Human Life Sunday or Weekend. Forty-Seven years ago, on January 22, 1973, the US Supreme Court legalized abortion on demand in all 50 states. It’s popularly known as Roe v. Wade. On January 9, 1989, President Reagan issued a proclamation designating that day as the first Sanctity of Human Life Day. Since then, every third Sunday (weekend) in January is recognized by churches all across our country as a day to give special emphasis to God’s gift of life, to remember the lives lost due to abortion, and to commit ourselves to speaking out for human life at every stage. Today’s message is again a little different than how I typically preach but it’s one that we need to hear, especially the younger generation. The further we get away from our biblical foundation, the harder it is for people, even some Christians, to understand the importance of certain convictions like the value of the unborn child.

With that in mind, let’s go back to the psalm we just read, Psalm 139. It is known as a psalm of David. As you know, David was called a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14; Acts 13:22). So, here in Psalm 139, David gives us God’s heart on the unborn child. I want you to notice especially the language he uses to describe God’s creation process of the unborn child. It is beyond beautiful! Shakespeare, Milton, and Elliot have nothing on him! Listen again to verse 13 “For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb.” I don’t have time to pause at every single word and look at its meaning from Hebrew, just the important ones. For starters, David doesn’t say “my parents formed my inward parts” or “the coming together of the sperm and the egg formed me.” He says, “God, you formed me.” Listen carefully: A married couple can come together in love or two strangers can hook up in lust, the forming of life is God’s work. Bringing life inside the mother’s womb can only be done by the life-giver. He holds the copyright on life. “You covered me in my mother’s womb.” David uses a very special word to describe this process, “sakhed,” which is not really “cover.” It should actually be translated “weave.” David is depicting God as the grand weaver who actually knits every child carefully inside the mother’s womb. In other words, God is intricately involved in the development of every child in every womb ever since the beginning of time!

14 “I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well.” The Hebrew word for “marvelous” is “palah,” which can be translated as “surpassing,” “extraordinary,” “beyond one’s power to do,” “wonderful,” and “marvelous.” David is praising God for his marvelous work in creating life. 15 “My frame (skeletal structure) was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret…” The Hebrew word for “secret” is “sether,” which means the “hiding place” or “secret place.” The point here is not a hideout but a mystery, something that we cannot comprehend. “And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.” The Hebrew word for “skillfully wrought” is “rekhem,” which means “using different colors, textures, and patterns to make a special cloth. In other words, God makes every child unique and beautiful in his/her own way, even if there are disabilities. The disabilities are not because he failed but because we live in a broken world. His work is still perfect!

Finally, verse 16 “Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.” The Hebrew word for “substance” is “golem,” which means the embryo. It has the idea of an “unfinished vessel.”“And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, when as yet there werenone of them.” In other words, even before a child is born, even before they are in an embryonic form, all their days, not necessarily their individual decisions but all God’s providential acts designed for that life, are written out in God’s chronicles.

So, what do we gather from Psalm 139?

  • God holds the copyright on every life.
  • God makes every life intricately and lovingly.
  • God’s marvelous work should cause us to praise him.
  • God supervises the entire developmental process of every life.
  • God marvelous work in bringing life can never be fully understood.
  • God makes every child unique and beautiful, even if there are disabilities.
  • God records beforehand his providential acts for every life even before birth.

Abortion goes against this entire list. People may say – Abortion is about a women’s right to choose; it’s about population control; or it’s about the quality of life. No matter how people support abortion, it ultimately contradicts everything about God because it is philosophically based on an anti-God premise. To understand this, we have to look at the roots of the American Abortion Movement. Margaret Sanger, the first president of Planned Parenthood, which provides the most abortion in the world, wrote a book titled “Pivot of Civilization.” If you want to know about the roots of this movement, here are just a few examples:

  • Regarding the poor, blind, deaf, mute, and those intellectually disabled: “When we learn further that the total number of inmates in public and private institutions in the State of New York—in alms-houses, reformatories, schools for the blind, deaf and mute, in insane asylums, in homes for the feeble-minded and epileptic—amounts practically to less than sixty-five thousand, an insignificant number compared to the total population, our eyes should be opened to the terrific cost to the community of this dead weight of human waste.”
  • Regarding the poor and disabled people: It sees that the most responsible and most intelligent members of society are the less fertile; that the feeble-minded are the more fertile. Herein lies the unbalance, the great biological menace to the future of civilization. Are we heading to biological destruction, toward the gradual but certain attack upon the stocks of intelligence and racial health by the sinister forces of the hordes of irresponsibility and imbecility?”
  • In her magazine, Birth Control Review, an article was published by Dr. Ernst Rudin, a Nazi doctor in the Eugenics movement advocating racial hygiene among the Germans. There were other articles advocating ethnic cleansing of American Gypsies and Defective Families. Sanger openly praised Hitler’s policy of racial cleansing and Hitler admired her work. Such racial science fit perfectly with Hitler’s agenda of cleansing the society of the weak and disabled, then moving on to those ethnicities that were unwanted, starting with the gypsies and ending with six million Jewish people being sent to the gas chambers.
  • In the 1930s, Sanger began the “Negro Project.” It started with handing out contraception and then culminated in promoting abortion to control the race.

I can go on and on. The point is not that everyone who is pro-abortion is cruel and racist. What it does mean is that the philosophy behind abortion is one that denigrates and devalues human life, especially the weak, the poor, the disabled, and the minorities. All this is ultimately about claiming that it is my right to decide what happens. As I said, “Abortion is ultimately about God” because–

  • Abortion tries to steal God’s copyright on life.
  • Abortion reduces life to just a biochemical process.
  • Abortion seeks to praise only self.
  • Abortion denies the beauty of the developmental process.
  • Abortion understands life only through personal and collective convenience.
  • Abortion rejects the uniqueness of every child.
  • Abortion destroys God’s chronicles of every life. It brutally murders the child before they even have a chance to live out the days fashioned for them.

What does all this mean for us as believers, as the church? Do we believe that life is God’s gift? Do we believe that he gets to first and the final say on life? Jesus came to die even for the unborn. To terminate that pregnancy, is to terminate the opportunity from that life to receive Christ and live out the days fashioned for him/her by God.

Invitation: Today is the day to repent if you have believed wrongly. Today is the day to pray for our nation and for the unborn. Today is the day to give our lives to Christ.

Unrest by Dr. Abidan Shah

January 10, 2020 By in 2020, America, Bible, bible study, Christ, Christian Life, Conflict, Eternal Life, Faith, God's will, Grace, History, Israel, Jesus, love, Peace, People, Persia, Soldier, Stress, Truth, Uncategorized, Values Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

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This weekend, our message will take a look at the events that have happened in recent days and how we ought to approach them from a biblical perspective. In today’s world, we are bombarded by so much information, it is difficult to discern what is true and what is not. In order to think rightly about the world and the events around us, we must approach them from biblical and historical perspective.

In this message, we will look at the current crisis through the lens of history and Scripture. We will examine the nation of Iran throughout history. Regardless of what we might have heard, this message will help us understand the current situation in light of past events and the Word of God. The title of this weekend’s message is “UNREST.”

What are your thoughts on the current crisis? Do you believe that God’s Word can help us think rightly about culture? Are you saved? Invite your friends and family to worship this weekend. This is a message that none of us can afford to miss!

Confidence by Dr. Abidan Shah

January 3, 2020 By in 2020, Bible, bible study, Christ, Christian Life, Church, Eternal Life, Faith, God's will, gospel, Humility, Israel, Jesus, joy, Life, Life of Christ, love, mercy, parables, Prayer, religion, Stress, Success, theology, Truth, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

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CONFIDENCE by Dr. Shah, Clearview Church, Henderson, NC

Introduction: When our kids were young, they loved watching Winnie the Pooh. Their favorite characters were Pooh, Piglet, Rabbit, and Tigger. My favorite was Eeyore—always pessimistic and down on life. I’ve met a lot of people who may not sound like Eeyore but they definitely have an Eeyore view of life. They have a victim mindset. They feel that life is just a series of unfortunate events. They often compare themselves to others and wish that fate had dealt them a better hand. They often moan, “all these things are against me.” As we stand at the starting line of a new year and a new decade, does that describe you? How confident are you about your future? Here’s the gist of the message: How you see your life—past and future—is a direct result of what you believe about the sovereignty of God. The right view of the sovereignty of God will give you the right perspective on your past and give you the confidence to face whatever lies ahead and win. That’s the title of our message today—CONFIDENCE.

Genesis 42:36 And Jacob their father said to them, “You have bereaved me: Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and you want to take Benjamin. All these things are against me.”

Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

Question: Which one are you? Are you like Jacob who moaned “All these things are against me” or are you like Paul who proclaimed “All things work together for good to those who love God?” Do you love God? Are you saved?

Context: The first passage we just read from Genesis 42 is one of the most depressing statements in the Bible. Listen to it again—36 “And Jacob their father said to them, ‘You have bereaved me: Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and you want to take Benjamin…’” The Hebrew word for “bereave” is “shekel,” which translates as “childless.” Why did Jacob make such a drastic claim? Like always, we need to look at the context in which Jacob said those words. The beginning of Genesis 42 tells us that there was a famine in the land and Jacob had sent his sons to Egypt to get some grain. His sons had just returned home, but, unfortunately, one of their brothers Simeon was not with them. He had been held hostage by the ruler of Egypt, who they didn’t know at the time was Joseph, their younger brother. He had told them that he was going to keep Simeon there until they returned with their younger brother Benjamin. Keep in mind, Joseph and Benjamin were the only sons from Rachel, the wife he really wanted to marry. Joseph had mysteriously died (or so Jacob thought) and now they had to take Benjamin back with them to Egypt. To make matters worse, when they opened their sacks of grain, their money pouches were still there! Now, they were probably deemed thieves in Egypt for stealing grain or so they thought. When Jacob heard all this, he cried out “You have made me childless!” Keep in mind that 10 of his sons were standing before him! In other words, in his anguish, he was exaggerating the situation.

Application: Do you exaggerate your situation? You may not say “You’ve bereaved me,” but how about, “You’ve ruined my life” or “he/she has ruined my life?” Don’t misunderstand. It is bad what’s happened to you and people may have to be held accountable for what they did to you. But, do you exaggerate what’s happened to you?

Nonetheless, all this was still understandable until Jacob said something that went beyond the immediate context. He cried out “All these things are against me.” What was Jacob talking about? This was the magma, volcanic ash, and gases that were churning below the surface in Jacob’s heart that finally burst through into a devastating volcano. This is how he had been feeling for quite some time and he finally just let it out. In some ways, Jacob had every reason to say what he did. Yes, things had been rough for him. At a young age, he had to leave his home and run for his life. All this because his brother Esau had tried to steal the birthright that rightfully belonged to him and his father Isaac was more concerned about his taste buds than the plan of God. Then, his uncle Laban had tricked him into working for 7 years and gave him the wrong daughter for a wife. That’s enough to ruin your day! After working for 7 more years, he finally got the right one. But now, he had 2 wives plus 2 concubines! If that wasn’t enough, Uncle and now Father-in-law Laban even tried to take advantage of Jacob by giving him the defective livestock. Fast forward a few years, Jacob’s sons killed all the men of Shechem out of revenge over their sister Dinah. If you remember Jacob’s words in Genesis 34:30 “You have troubled me by making me obnoxious among the inhabitants of the land…” In other words, he couldn’t control his sons any longer. Then, Rachel, Jacob’s love of his life, died in childbirth. Finally, the worst happened when Jacob sent Joseph to take some food to his brothers and a few days later, his sons returned with Joseph’s tunic of many colors covered in blood and asked him, “We have found this. Do you know whether it is your son’s tunic or not?” Deep down, Jacob knew that his sons had something to do with Joseph’s death. Now Simeon was held hostage in Egypt and Benjamin had to be taken to meet this Egyptian ruler. Any wonder that Jacob exploded like he did!

Application: Have you ever exploded like Jacob—“All these things are against me?” Have you ever felt like he did?

Yes, Jacob had every reason to say what he said but he knew better than to say what he said. God had given him plenty of assurance that he was with him, guiding and protecting him.

  • When Jacob was fleeing from his brother, he had a special vision of the ladder reaching from earth to heaven with angels ascending and descending. It was a reminder that God was with him.
  • When Laban was cheating Jacob, he had a special visit from God warning him and calling him to head back to the land of his family.
  • When Jacob was afraid to face his brother Esau, he had a personal visit from the pre-incarnate Christ. In fact, he wrestled with God and prevailed. He received a new name.
  • When Jacob was afraid of the repercussion of his sons killing the people of Shechem, “the terror of God was upon the cities that were all around them, and they did not pursue them.” God appeared to him again in Bethel and assured him in Genesis 3510 “Your name is Jacob; your name shall not be called Jacob anymore, but Israel shall be your name…” 11 “…I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall proceed from you, and kings shall come from your body. 12The land which I gave Abraham and Isaac I give to you; and to your descendants after you I give this land.”

Even after all this, he still said, “All things are against me.” What a poor testimony before his children!

Application: Have you done that? You need to repent.

But, thank God that for every negative example, he has given us a positive one to follow. Just a few chapters later, in Genesis 50:20, we find a different declaration—“But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.” Who said this? Jacob’s son Joseph. Yes, Jacob had a rough life no doubt, but Joseph’s was no less. For starters, his mother Rachel died giving birth to his brother Benjamin. That’s rough on any child. Next, his brothers envied him and could not speak peaceably to him. As we’ve already discussed, they did the ultimate—sold him into slavery. Imagine that! In Egypt, he was bought by an influential man named Potiphar who was super impressed with his work ethic and integrity and made him the head of his household. Just when things began to look up for Joseph, Potiphar’s wife falsely accused him of trying to rape her and had him thrown into prison. In prison, he interpreted the dream of the chief baker and the chief butler. The chief butler’s dream restored him to his previous position. As he was leaving, Joseph begged him “remember me when it is well with you, and please show kindness to me; make mention of me to Pharaoh, and get me out of this house.”Unfortunately, the chief butler did not remember him for some time. Joseph could’ve had a horrible attitude towards life. When his brothers came before him, he could have taken his revenge. Instead, he did what he did to bring them to a point of repentance (I don’t have time to get into that right now) and reconciled with them. But, after their father Jacob died, the brothers were afraid that Joseph would try to take his revenge now. Instead, he said to them, “You meant evil against me but God meant it for good.” Don’t miss this: He didn’t excuse their behavior. Neither did he blame them for everything. By the way, blame is a tell-tale sign that you are still not over your past and you’re not ready to move forward. Instead, he simply chose to affirm the sovereignty of God in his life. To say it another way—the son succeeded where the father failed!

Listen carefully: For every negative experience in your life, God has given you a positive one. You have to choose to see it:

  • You have to choose to see the sovereign hand of God guiding you and protecting you as you walked through the valley of the shadow of death.
  • You have to choose to praise God than to curse those who have caused you pain.
  • You have to choose to proclaim “all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose” rather than to moan “All these things are against me.”

Unless you have the proper view of the sovereignty of God in your life and in this world, you will not have the confidence to face whatever lies ahead and win. Are you a Jacob or a Joseph? Are you saved?

Related by Dr. Abidan Shah

December 28, 2019 By in Bible, born again, children, Christ, Christian Life, Encouragement, Eternal Life, Faith, Family, Fathers, Finances, Forgiveness, God the Father, gospel, Holiday Season, Hope, Jesus, Life of Christ, love, Mother, parents, Patience, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

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RELATED by Dr. Shah, Clearview Church, Henderson, NC

Introduction: Relatives, family members, loved ones—We all have them. We love them. We would do anything for them. Having said that, they’re also the very people who drive us crazy, especially during the holiday season. Someone said, “Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city.” In today’s message, we’re going to learn that even Jesus had to deal with a crazy earthly family. In fact, throughout his earthly ministry, they thought that he was out of his mind! He had to exercise great wisdom and grace in dealing with them. So also, we need wisdom and grace if we’re going to make it with our earthly family. Our message today is titled “RELATED.”

Mark 3    20 Then the multitude came together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread. 21 But when His own people heard about this, they went out to lay hold of Him, for they said, “He is out of His mind.”  31 Then His brothers and His mother came, and standing outside they sent to Him, calling Him. 32 And a multitude was sitting around Him; and they said to Him, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers are outside seeking You.” 33 But He answered them, saying, “Who is My mother, or My brothers?” 34 And He looked around in a circle at those who sat about Him, and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! 35 For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother.”

Question: Jesus’ family thought that he was out of his mind. Can you imagine that! Do you have family members who think that you are out of your mind? How much do you let family dictate how you live your life? Do you have lost family members? Have you prayed for them to be saved? Are you saved?

Background: As many of you know, I have been pastoring for about 21 years. Through the years, people have come to me for all kinds of counselling. In my experience, one of the major issues that people struggle with in life is family relationships—How to deal with people we grew up with? How to get along with people who are connected to us for no other reason other than the providence of God! On one hand, our family can be a great source of blessing and comfort to us. They can give us a sense of belonging. They are a reminder that we are not alone in this world. They are people who know our past—good and bad—and still accept us. On the other hand, our family or a family member can also be a great source of consternation and pain to us. There are family members or a family member who for one reason or another have/has turned toxic towards us. They(he/she) use 2 weapons of mass destruction to make our lives miserable—blame and shame. Either way, the result is devastating! Even though Jesus came for the primary purpose to redeem us from our sin, he was not immune to the daily struggles of life. He too had a family that tried to use those 2 weapons of shame and blame against him. But, he dealt with them with wisdom and grace. In the next few minutes, we’re going to learn how to do the same.

Context: Let’s return to the passage we just read—Mark 3:20 “Then the multitude came together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread.” To understand what this means, we need to back up to Mark 3 starting in verse 7 But Jesus withdrew with His disciples to the sea. And a great multitude from Galilee followed Him, and from Judea 8 and Jerusalem and Idumea and beyond the Jordan; and those from Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, when they heard how many things He was doing, came to Him. 9 So He told His disciples that a small boat should be kept ready for Him because of the multitude, lest they should crush Him. 10 For He healed many, so that as many as had afflictions pressed about Him to touch Him. 11 And the unclean spirits, whenever they saw Him, fell down before Him and cried out, saying, “You are the Son of God.” 12 But He sternly warned them that they should not make Him known. I would say that judging by all standards, Jesus’ ministry was extremely successful. Not only that but many people were being helped. Their lives were being transformed for the better. His ministry was so successful that he did not even have time to eat!

What was the response of his family? 21 But when His own people heard about this…” His own people were probably people from his hometown or even extended family members or leaders in the family from Nazareth. “…they went out to lay hold of Him…” They came to Capernaum to “krateo” = seize him! “…for they said, ‘He is out of His mind.’” The Greek for “out of his mind” is one word “exhistemi.” It means “to be out of his senses,” “confused,” or “crazy.” In other words, his extended family was not in favor of his success. So, they came to drag him physically because he had gone crazy!

Application: Has that happened to you, maybe not physically but verbally and emotionally? You go out, work hard and smart, hoping to hear a “well done!” from your loved ones.” Instead, you get nothing. You put pictures on social media, hoping that family will like them but they ignore. You check it 100 times an hour! Take heart, Jesus had the same problem.

Why were they like that? Mark 6 gives us some clue—1 “Then He went out from there and came to His own country, and His disciples followed Him. 2 And when the Sabbath had come, He began to teach in the synagogue. And many hearing Him were astonished, saying, ‘Where did this Man get these things? And what wisdom is this which is given to Him, that such mighty works are performed by His hands! 3 Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us?’ So hateful! Are you like that? So they were offended at Him.” The Greek word is “skandalizo,” which gives us our English word “scandal.” Their problem was SHAME.

Remember: Some people will never get over your past. Hometown heroes and heroines are few and far between. If they build you a statue in your honor, it may be after you are dead and gone. Word to the wise: Grow with the people in your life. Don’t think that people are still where they were when you first met them. They will appreciate you more if you meet them where they are today. They may even give you credit for their success.

4 But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house.” By the way, this was all a fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecy in Psalm 69:8 “I have become a stranger to my brothers, And an alien to my mother’s children.” 5 Now He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. 6 And He marveled because of their unbelief. Then He went about the villages in a circuit, teaching.”

How do you handle “shame”? Know your true IDENTITY IN CHRIST—redeemed, forgiven, made new, child of God, more than a conqueror.

But it’s not over yet. Mark 3:31 “Then His brothers and His mother came…” Maybe the hometown crowd pressured them to. “…and standing outside they sent to Him, calling Him.” Why standing outside? I don’t think this was because there was no room in the house. Listen to verse 32 And a multitude was sitting around Him; and they said to Him, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers are outside seeking You.” If crowd was the problem, the word would not have reached him. By refusing to come in, they were refusing to endorse his success. They were communicating their displeasure with him for causing such a raucous. They were telling him that they were not impressed with his latest shenanigans! Their problem was BLAME.

What was Jesus’ response? 33 But He answered them, saying, “Who is My mother, or My brothers?” 34 And He looked around in a circle at those who sat about Him, and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! 35 For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother.” This is very powerful: Jesus did not submit his ministry to his family’s approval. He stood his ground and refused to go out to meet them. He did not alter God’s VISION to please his earthly family.

Principle to remember: If you keep seeking the approval of those who don’t understand you, you will never complete the vision God has for your life. It’s great to have the blessing of your loved ones but ultimately, it’s God’s approval that counts.

If we were to end here, this would be “us against the world” sermon. This is not what Jesus did. He demonstrated GRACE towards his earthly family:

  1. To his Mother—John 19 25 Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold your son!” 27 Then He said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!” And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home.
  2. To his Brother—1 Corinthians 15 4 “…He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. 6 After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. 7 After that He was seen by James…” James was the head of the Jerusalem church and the writer of the book of James. So also, Jude was another brother who wrote the short letter in the New Testament that bears his name.

Ultimately, our goal with our family should not be approval or validation. It should be salvation through Jesus Christ and a growing likeness to him. In the end, that’s all that will matter. When you are clear about your IDENTITY and VISION, refuse to succumb to SHAME and BLAME, and choose to show GRACE, you can overcome any family problems.

Invitation: Are you still hurt about what your family has done? Have you hurt someone in your family that you need to seek forgiveness from? When was the last time you prayed for them to be saved? When was the last time you encouraged them to walk with Christ? Are you saved?

 

Episode 55: Merry Christmas (2019)

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Episode 55: Merry Christmas (2019)

This week, the Clearview Church staff sit down and discuss some popular Christmas “myths” and why you should celebrate Christmas. If you have any questions or have a recommendation for a topic, send us an email at carpemanana@cleaviewbc.org. If you like this episode, leave us a rating and share it with your friends!

Episode 54: “The Gift”–Clearview Christmas Concert 2019

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This week, the Clearview Church staff sit down and discuss our Christmas concert “The Gift.” If you have any questions or have a recommendation for a topic, send us an email at carpemanana@cleaviewbc.org. If you like this episode, leave us a rating and share it with your friends!

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