In our final chapter of 1 John (5:1-21), we are going to focus on three areas: we are children of God, God’s testimony is great than man’s, and we can be confident in our salvation. We hope that John’s letter has helped you become rooted and grounded in love. That you experienced fellowship with each other and as John says “truly our fellowship is the with Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.”
Click here for the study questions.
For those of you who enjoyed the delicious menu from the Mother & Daughter Brunch, here is a list of the recipes that were used!
CRASH HOT POTATOES – By The Pioneer Woman
CITRUS SALAD WITH HONEY AND MINT – By Real Simple
RHUBARB, ORANGE, VANILLA JAM - By Serious Eats
ENGLISH MUFFINS -
This recipe was developed from the Joy of Cooking and the Bread Baker’s Apprentice cookbooks.
Ingredients: (Approximately 20)
2 tbsp water
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 tsp sugar
3 tbsp softened butter
1 1/8 tsp kosher salt
4 cups all purpose flour
Stir together 2 tablespoons warm water and 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast in a small bowl. Let stand until the yeast is dissolved, about 3 – 5 minutes.
Mix this together with 1 1/2 cups room temperature buttermilk, 2 teaspoons sugar, 3 tablespoons softened butter, and 1 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt. (If you are using salted butter, then reduce the salt to 1 teaspoon kosher salt.)
Gradually beat in 4 cups of all purpose flour. Knead the dough for 5-8 minutes.
Place the dough in an oiled container, cover with a clean dry cloth and let rise over night. This may also be done in a refrigerator.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Punch the dough down and roll out until dough is a half inch thick. Cut the dough into rounds using a 3 inch biscuit cutter.
Heat a skillet to low medium heat and brush the skillet with melted butter. Cook the muffins for 5-7 minutes per side until both sides are golden brown. This may require adjusting the temperature of the skillet so as to not overcook the muffins. The inside temperature should be approximately 195 degrees for a finished muffin. If they do not cook all the way through on the skillet, bake the muffins for 5-7 minutes in the oven to finish cooking them.
Open with forks and spread on your favorite butter, jams, jellies, or clotted cream.
FRIED EGG SALAD-
This recipe was developed from the Bouchon cookbook.
Ingredients – Serves 4
1/4 pound bacon (thick)
5 tbsp bacon grease
2 tbsp sherry or red wine vinegar
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
salt & pepper
fresh herbs
4-6 cups soft lettuce leaves
1 minced shallot
Cut the thickest bacon you can find into matchstick size pieces called lardons. Cook the bacon on medium heat until it begins to sizzle. Reduce the heat and cook until the bacon is barely crispy on the edges. Remove bacon from the grease and set both aside. (We bought the bacon from Business Costco, unfortunately it only comes in 15 pound packages.)
To make the salad dressing, whisk together 2 tablespoons sherry or red wine vinegar, 1 tablespoon whole grain mustard, and 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard. Slowly drizzle in 5 tablespoons warm bacon grease while whisking. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Sauté 1 minced shallot in olive oil, butter, or bacon grease until golden.
Mix together fresh herbs, parsley, chives, mint, etc. with some soft lettuce leaves, to make approximately 4-6 cups of salad. (We used 1 part arugula to 1 part spring greens.) For the Mother & Daughter Brunch we served approximately 1 cup of salad as one serving.
Genesis 20:6 And God said to him in a dream, “Yes, I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart. For I also withheld you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her.
How many times do you remember hearing, “That’s not fair!”? I can tell you that as a father of six, I’ve heard it more times than I can count. What is even worse, is that I know that I have used it numerous times myself. If I haven’t voiced it, Lord knows I have thought it. Our text speaks to this issue of fairness.
Make no mistake about it that the Lord knows our hearts, and the intents of our heart. He is always fair! He knows that man, by nature, is deceitfully wicked. However, He also knows when there is no malintent in our hearts. Such was the case with Abimelech. Here is this Philistine king, just doing what Philistine kings do, not realizing that this beautiful woman is Abraham’s wife. We see that God is so loving and caring for this Gentile king (a non-Jew) that he confronts him about the whole issue. The end result is the fairness of God.
God is constantly aware of the intent of our hearts. We will never, and I mean never, be able to withhold anything from the Lord. This is why we should never try. We must seek to do our best to honor Him in everything we do. When we make a legitimate mistake, with no malintent, we can rest assured that the Lord knows it. As a result, we will never have to be fearful of His wrath or disappointment.
Resting in His loving care,
Pastor Ron
Genesis 19:26 But his wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.
One night last week, I noticed my ‘high school annual’ on one of the shelves in my closet. I got it down, opened up and began to take a little trip down memory lane. Needless to say, it was not long before I realized how thankful I was that God had rescued me from my old life.
The best decision I ever made, hands down, was when I surrendered my life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. My only regret is that I waited until I was twenty four to do so. Before I came to faith in Christ, I was dead in my sin, destined for hell and an eternal separation from my Creator. Even as I write this, I am overwhelmed with gratitude to God for His great love for me, demonstrated by the sacrificial death of His Son. His death and resurrection rescued me from the condemnation I rightly deserved.
Having said that, I have purposed in my heart to put my hand to the plow and to guard myself from ever looking back with longing eyes. I have often said that there are only two reasons we should ever look back; one to see what mistakes we made in order that we might never make them again, and two, to be reminded of what God rescued us from. The moment I think I might miss something from my past, the Holy Spirit promptly reminds me of how truly lost I was. And then, He reminds me how much I am loved by God!
Eternally blessed,
Pastor Ron
On Sunday (5/6/12), Pastor Ron Sanchez shared with us from Acts 12:25-13:12. The message is titled Enemies of the Cross. The scriptures shared about Elymas, a false prophet and sorcerer, of whom the Bible calls an “enemy of all righteousness”. This man was publically called out by the Apostle Paul, so a seeker of Christ could receive the teaching of the Lord.
Pastor Ron shared that there are enemies of righteousness today who must be identified, so the Body of Christ is not deceived by false teachers and can receive the teaching of the Lord.
See below for resources to help you do your homework on this important issue.
Joel Osteen Talks Religion & Politics on CNN
Questioning the Reality of Heaven and Hell is a message give by Pastor Ron addressing Rob Bell’s book Love Wins.
In this chapter we are going to be focusing on three areas; testing the spirits, being children of God versus children of the world, and loving God and loving one another. These things are essential to developing into mature Christians. We must discern which spirits we are dealing and whether or not we are genuinely children of God before we can expect to love one another in a Biblical manner. Click here for study questions 1 John 4:1-21.
Genesis 18:8 So he took butter and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree as they ate.
When you visit Israel you will find that the Jewish people have a very strict law about never, and I mean never, mixing meat and dairy together. In fact, a merchant can get themselves into real trouble if they have meat and dairy within the slightest proximity of one another. Why is this the case? Because of what it says in Exodus 23:19, “You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.”
Over the years, the scribes added to the law of Moses, to the point of ridiculousness. They misinterpreted the law in such a way that it created a tremendous burden upon the people which Jesus said, they themselves could not even bear. This is what religion does. It is all about, guilting people into doing or not doing things in order to please God. We see by our text in Genesis and the mixing of the butter, milk and calf together that God never intended such a foolish law. It was something man added.
The apostle John warns us, in Revelation 22:18, about adding anything to God’s word; “For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book”. God’s word is complete and there is nothing that should ever be added or taken away. If we do, we run the great risk of losing the intimacy of our relationship with God and turning it into empty religion.
In His Grace,
Pastor Ron
Genesis 17:1-2 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless. And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.”
Over the centuries there has been much confusion about the role of the law as it relates to the covenant. All too often men want to emphasize the law rather than understand the covenant (the promise of God to send a Savior). Genesis 17:2 is a key verse to understanding the role of the law and the importance of the covenant.
Paul said it all in Galatians 3:17, “And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect.” We are drawn to the law because it represents things we can ‘do’ rather than what Jesus has ‘done’. We naturally want to appease God through works, because it makes us feel better about ourselves. God wants us to come to a place where we understand that there is nothing we can do to satisfy the righteous requirement of the law which in turn will draw us to the covenant of God.
The promise of a Redeemer came four hundred and thirty years ‘after’ the promise. Paul goes on to say, Galatians 3:21-22, “Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. But the Scripture has confined all under sin (by the law), that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.” It is important to always keep, in the forefront of our minds that the covenant, the promise of redemption through faith in Jesus Christ, came before the law. This puts the proper emphasis on the promise, rather than the law.
In His Promise,
Pastor Ron
Dear Saints,
Please take some time to watch this video, Bloodlines.
It is a brief documentary (18 minutes) on a book that John Piper wrote on racial prejudice. It is very moving and convicting. May we seek to have God’s heart in how we view people’s of all nations? We are all the family of Christ.
In His love,
Pastor Ron
This is such an amazing chapter…addressing the often neglected topic of sin. The bible is clear about what sin is. Unfortunately it is becoming increasingly popular to not talk about it under the guise that it will make people feel bad. The reality is, sin is meant to make us feel bad, in order that we might turn to the only One who can take away that sin. We must have a healthy biblical understanding of sin if we ever expect others to come to faith in Jesus. Click here for study questions 1 John 3:4-24.