March 20, 2020

A message from our church leaders

As worshippers of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, one of the highlights of our week is to gather together with our church family to worship our great God. The corporate gatherings of believers for prayer and worship are glorious privileges for each one of us. One of the things the Lord has been teaching us through 1 Thessalonians is that we are to put on the breastplate of faith and love (1 Thessalonians 5:8). One of the prayers is that the Lord would make our love increase and abound toward one another and toward all (1 Thessalonians 3:12).

Our President has issued guidelines for all of us to avoid gatherings of 10 or more people for at least the next 15 days. This guideline and others were given to slow the spread of the Coronavirus. One of the ways that we can express love to all is to honor this guideline as a church family during this difficult and strenuous time as a nation. Therefore, we will not hold our regularly scheduled Sunday and Wednesday worship services until further notice. We will continue evaluate this very fluid situation and determine the next steps.

We also still want to increase and abound in love toward one another during this time. Thankfully, because of modern technology, we have some unique opportunities that will help us through this time. Pastor will continue the series of messages through both 1 Thessalonians and Revelation the next two weeks and the sermons, along with a song service, will be uploaded on our website by the respective Saturday evening.

Here are some practical ideas that will help us to keep growing as a church family during this time:

  1.  Pray! Every time you hear news or update concerning the virus, take time to pray for God’s mercy and that His Word will continue to go forth.
  2.  Worship! Although we will not be meeting together as a church, take time by yourself, with a few other individuals, or as a family to worship the Lord through the sermons and song services that can be found on our church website.
  3.  Evangelize! Since most things are closed down, many people have extra time on their hands. Consider reaching out to those who need Christ with a link to an online sermon from our church or another applicable resource.
  4.  Reach out! Make a phone call to at least one person from the church just to see how they are doing and to see if they need anything during this time. Maybe make a phone call to another church member on Wednesday night just to pray with them.
  5. Give! This can involve giving of our food supply or personal items to someone in need or giving of our offerings to the Lord so that His work in Hamburg and around the world can continue to go forth. Without our regularly meetings, giving to First Baptist Church of Hamburg can either be done online at fbchamburg.com/give or through a check in the mail.
  6.  Guard! Guard your mind by putting on for a helmet the hope of salvation! Keep waiting for Jesus Christ to come from heaven to deliver us from the wrath to come (1 Thessalonians 1:10, 5:8-9). This will help us to run with patience (1 Thessalonians 1:3) during this time of missing our corporate gatherings for worship.
  7.  Anticipate! With great joy and anticipation, we long for the next time that the body of Christ in Hamburg will meet together. It might be here or it might be in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18), but either way, we know we will meet again!

Keep looking up,

Pastor Leary & the Deacons

March 2, 2020

Memorize

Last month we asked the question, “did Jesus sing?” The answer was a resounding “Yes.” This month we want to ask, “Did Jesus memorize Scripture?” And again the answer is a resounding, “yes.” And like last month, we want to allow the example of Christ to encourage us in our spiritual walk.

Now we might say that Jesus had an unfair advantage, because being fully God, He already knew every jot and tittle of Scripture! Although it is hard to comprehend how Jesus was both fully God and fully man at the same time, we do know Jesus “grew and be-came strong in spirit, filled with wisdom” (Luke 2:38). As a young child in Joseph and Mary’s home, one of the first things Jesus’ parents would have taught him is the Great Shema or Deuteronomy 6:4-5, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength.” All Jewish children would begin their theological education by learning that there is only one true God and He is the LORD. And therefore they were to love the LORD their God with all of their heart. An interesting truth about this passage is that the next verse provides a very practical means for how to love the Lord your God with all your heart. Verse 6 proclaims, “and these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.” A heart that loves God will be a heart that loves God’s Word so that he treasures it in his heart. The Psalmist who loved the LORD proclaimed, “Your Word have I hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You” (Psalm 119:11). In Luke 4, Jesus is tempt-ed by Satan three times and every time He responded with the Scriptures. Whether or not Jesus had an unfair advantage, we know that God’s Word was hidden in His heart.
As one goes back to the context of Luke 2:39-40, we find some interesting details about the context for how Jesus grew in wisdom. First, the context describes the period in Jesus’ life between the ages of approximately one and a half months and twelve years of age. The days of Mary’s purification (Luke 2:22; Leviticus 12:2-8) would have been forty one days into Jesus’ life and then verse 41 continues with Jesus being twelve years of age or when he would have been considered an adult. So this period of time is specifically talking about Jesus’ childhood.

A second observation is that this pas-sage focuses on the parents bringing up Jesus in a godly manner. “They had performed all things according to the law of the Lord” and then verse 41 says, “His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of Passover.” Although Joseph and Mary were not without sin, they were God fearing and seeking to train Jesus in a God-honoring way. It was this parental influence at home in Nazareth (vs. 39) during his childhood that was instrumental in Jesus growing in wisdom. You see, the Word of God that is in the heart of the father (Deuteronomy 6:6) is to be deposited into the hearts of the children. Deuteronomy 6:7 proclaims, “You shall teach them (God’s Words) diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.” The goal was actually not for the children to know and memorize God’s Word. The goal was to have the children know there is only one true God and that He is to be loved with all of their hearts.

Yes, Jesus memorized God’s Word. May that truth encourage you to memorize God’s Word. If you are a parent, may it encourage you to be diligently depositing God’s Word into the hearts of your children. Why? So that we can love the one true God as we ought and not sin against Him.

February 14, 2020

Sing!

Did Jesus sing when He lived on the earth? If He did, why and when did He sing? Furthermore, if Jesus sang, how should that impact our lives today? If Jesus, the Head of our Church, our Lord and our Savior, sang while He was on the earth and if we are to be growing in Christ-likeness, then the answer to these questions ought to impact our lives. With 100% certainty we can say that Jesus sang while He lived on this earth. As Jesus completed the Passover with His disciples, we read in Matthew 26:30, “and when they sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.”

Many times we can just skip over those words “when they had sung a hymn.” But I want to encourage you to not skip those inspired words of God. At one of the most crucial moments of Jesus’ life, as He just instituted the Lord’s Supper, and as He departed to the Mount of Olives where He would be betrayed into the hands of sinners, we find that Jesus sang! So what did Jesus sing? The answer is most likely one of the Hallel (Hallelujah) Psalms, Psalms 115-118, that the Jews would historically have sung during and at the conclusion of the Passover meal. This also gives us some insights into how Jesus would have learned to sing as a boy growing up in a Jewish culture (Luke 2:52). The con-text of Luke 2:41 reveals that Jesus’s parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of Passover. Jesus would have heard the singing of Levites as the Passover lambs were slain and Jesus most likely would have been led in song by his father as they ate the Passover meal together. In both the temple and in the home, Jesus learned the importance of singing praise to God.

Therefore, it should not surprise us that the gathering of the local church is to be a time of singing (Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16), and the Christian home ought also to be a place where teaching, through singing takes place (Ephesians 6:4; Colossians 3:20-21). A primary means for imparting truth is through song. Consider how many Scripture verses you can recite and compare that to how many song lyrics you can recite. It is likely that you have more lyrics to songs placed in your mind than you have Scripture verses. This is not necessarily a bad thing if the lyrics in our minds are rooted in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. In Ephesians 6:4, fathers are specifically encouraged to bring up their children in the admonition of the Lord. The word “admonition” literally means to “put or place in the mind.” Singing is a God-ordained way to place truth in our minds. That is why the church is told to teach and admonish one another through psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.

Let me conclude with some practical suggestions to help us in our singing. First, participate in the song service of your local church by singing! Second, think about what you are singing. Third, develop a personal repertoire of songs that are rich in meaning and praise to our God. Memorize one new song each month! Fourth, sing those songs whenever appropriate as praise to God and as spiritual encouragement to your own soul. Allow them to be songs in the night whose truths can turn you to Christ and bring you through life’s darkest moments. And finally, if you are a parent, develop a strategy where your home is a place where doctrinally-rich songs are frequently sung to the praise of God and to the benefit of your children.

January 14, 2020

Expectations

When you run a race, you have an expectation that provides tremendous encouragement. Let me try to explain. In 2019, one of my daughters and I had the opportunity to run a half-marathon (13.1 miles). It was a hot and sunny September Saturday morning. When the gun went off and the race began, every runner had an expectation: at the 13.1 mile mark, there would be a finish line. When you start the race you certainly don’t see the finish line, but you are expecting it. Between the tenth and twelfth mile, the course turned onto a freshly paved blacktop road with no shade and the sun beating directly upon us. That one expectation was what kept many of us running. And although we couldn’t see the finish line until the final tenth of a mile or so, we were looking for it in our minds and we were expecting to see it at 13.1 miles. With each passing mile, we knew we were one mile closer to the finish line.

For believers in Christ, we also have an expectation that keeps us running the Christian race with endurance and faithfulness. That expectation is the Lord’s glorious appearing. Titus 2:13 proclaims, “looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.” The verb “looking for” means to expect, and it implies that there is an expectation for the fulfillment of a promise. The great promise for the believer is that Jesus is coming again. In other words, as we live life on the earth, we are to be looking for or expecting that the Lord will come again and we will see Him face to face! The appearing of Jesus is our blessed hope and expectation.

Titus 2:11 describes Jesus’ first coming to this earth. “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.” Praise the Lord for His amazing grace: “that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9). Praise the Lord for His incarnation, His crucifixion, His resurrection and His ascension. And the grace of the Gospel of Jesus Christ teaches us how to live or to run the Christian race. Titus 2:12 declares, “teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age.” This verse describes how we are to live our lives for Christ today. But God’s grace not only teaches how we ought to live today, it provides one of the greatest and most encouraging expectations for every believer. You see, in the Christian life, Jesus is the finish line. The One who gave Himself for us is the One who will return from heaven and take us home to be with Him forever (Titus 2:14).

So here is the encouragement for 2020. Expect the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. That expectation will encourage you to live godly even when the race is hard. It will encourage you to run with joy when the race is smooth. It will encourage you to persevere even when you feel like giving up. Jesus Christ may or may not appear in 2020, but we know that with each passing day we move one day closer to His appearing! Keep looking for and expecting the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior!

December 10, 2019

Why Great Fear is Necessary to the Christmas Message

Usually one of the last things associated with Christmas is fear and certainly not “great fear.” Yet, in The Gospel According to Luke, the author emphatically declares that on the night of Christ’s arrival, the shepherds were greatly afraid (Luke 2:9). And these shepherds were not wimps. They spent many nights in darkness fending off predators as they defended and protected their sheep. Yet, on the night of Jesus’ birth, they were “megas” – the Greek word for “greatly” – afraid! What started as a typical night quickly changed as an angel of the Lord stood before them and the glory of the Lord shone around them (Luke 2:9). It is interesting that both the angel and the glory are said to be “of the Lord.” The angel of the Lord certainly could have been responsible for causing some fear. In Luke 1:11-12, an angel of the Lord appeared to Zacharias, and when Zacharias saw the angel, “he was troubled and fear fell up-on Him.” In Luke 1:29, Mary was troubled when the angel Gabriel appeared to her. But it is interesting that even though Zacharias and Mary experienced fear when they saw the angel, neither of them were said to be greatly afraid. When the angel of the Lord appeared the to shepherds, they too would have experienced fear. But it is when the angel of the Lord is connected with the glory of the Lord that the shepherds experienced great fear!

Consider for a moment why the all-consuming, perfect and holy glory of the Lord would produce great fear. First, think of Isaiah’s response to seeing the glory of the Lord: “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips.” The word “woe” describes a passionate cry of despair because of impending danger and judgment. The words “for I am undone” mean that he is about to perish or be cut off or destroyed. Isaiah was greatly afraid because he understood what his sins deserved when confronted with the glory of the Lord. Second, think of the often quoted memory verse found in Romans 3:23: “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” And just four verses earlier, we read how all the world is guilty before God. The perfect glory of God exposes our sinfulness and the just judgment that our sin deserves.

It is this great fear that causes the shepherds to truly comprehend the “great joy” that the Christmas message from the angel of the Lord contained. Again, back in Luke 1, both Zacharias and Mary received a message of joy from an angel (Luke 1:14; 28), but the message that the angel of the Lord brings in Luke 2 is great joy. The angel of the Lord pro-claims to the shepherds why their message is one of great joy: “For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Without the great fear produced by the glory of the Lord causing the shepherds to recognize that they were under the impending judgment of God, the shepherds would have no need for a Savior. The reason why so many people miss the Christ-mas message of great joy found in our Savior is because they have never been greatly afraid in light of the glory of the Lord!

Without the great fear, the shepherds would not have understood the great joy! When we understand our condition in the presence of the glory of the Lord, we will be ready for the gracious proclamation from the Lord and we will find great joy in the Savior, Christ the Lord! Luke 2 is a testimony of God’s amazing grace. It is His grace that “taught our hearts to fear and grace our fears relieved.”