Disciple Up #244
Potpourri
By Louie Marsh, 2-2-2022
Websites Referenced In This Podcast
https://lifewayresearch.com/2022/01/24/the-group-most-likely-to-still-be-missing-from-your-church/
https://chartable.com/charts/itunes/us-all-podcasts-podcasts
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lie
Notes:
As of 1-31-2022 – Bible In a Year was #12 and the Bible Recap was #33.
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Disciple Up # 243
Deconstructing Christianity – Nothing New
By Louie Marsh, 1-26-2022
Websites Used:
https://medium.com/backyard-theology/how-to-deconstruct-christianity-5a5bc498c86d
https://www.lffellowship.com/blog/2019/8/7/on-christian-deconstruction
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quest_for_the_historical_Jesus
Introduction to this:
A Little History:
The idea of deconstructing your faith is anything but new. It’s been going on for centuries and has come in several waves. What we are seeing today is just the latest version of this.
Deconstructing the Deconstructionists:
https://medium.com/backyard-theology/how-to-deconstruct-christianity-5a5bc498c86d
The author is a self-described medium. That means he seeks to allow spirits to speak through him. Supposedly contacts the dead, etc.
What does the Bible say about mediums? “31“Do not turn to mediums or necromancers; do not seek them out, and so make yourselves unclean by them: I am the Lord your God.” (Leviticus 19:31, ESV)
“19And when they say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living?” (Isaiah 8:19, ESV)
“20idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (Galatians 5:20–21, ESV)
“8But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”” (Revelation 21:8, ESV)
Keep this in mind as we go through this article.
Of course there are different Jesus’s running around the landscape. There always have been and always will be till the real one comes back again.
“3But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.” (2 Corinthians 11:3–4, ESV)
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Disciple Up #241 Show Notes
The Non-Pagan Roots of Christmas
By Louie Marsh, 12-19-2018 (12-15-2021)
I’m re-presenting this episode for the following reasons. 1) It’s Christmas time! 2) Most people still cling to the wrong and disproved idea that Christmas is based on a pagan holiday. 3) I’m tired and want a break! Hope you enjoy! – Louie
Christmas wasn’t “borrowed” from a pagan holiday at all!
https://www.touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=16-10-012-v
Gandhi Statue Torn Down
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/dec/14/racist-gandhi-statue-removed-from-university-of-ghana
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Disciple Up # 240
Biblical Character’s Signatures Plus…
House Churches in Iran & Christmas Carol Ban in Holy Land
By Louie Marsh, 12-8-2021
Links to Websites Used:
https://www.learnreligions.com/what-does-the-quran-say-about-christians-2003785
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Disciple Up # 239
Do All Dogs Go to Heaven?
By Louie Marsh, 12-1-2021
Articles I’m Using In This Episode:
http://www.clarifyingchristianity.com/pets.shtml
According to his data, the total number of individual animals on the earth adds up to approximately 20,000,121,091,000,000,000. This can be written as 20 quintillion, or 20 billion billion.
7.9 Billion people – so 8 billion.
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Disciple Up # 238
Future Church: Mega/Micro?
By Louie Marsh, 11-24-2021
Articles I’m pulling from:
https://careynieuwhof.com/10-predictions-about-the-future-church-and-shifting-attendance-patterns/
https://www.rookiepreacher.com/future-church-10-predictions-for-the-next-10-years/
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Disciple Up # 237
Thinking God’s Thoughts After Him
By Louie Marsh, 11-17-2021
Intro. Sunday’s sermon, etc.
German mathematician, astronomer and astrologer Johannes Kepler used the phrase “thinking God’s thoughts after Him.” Referring to his work in astronomy, Kepler said: “I was merely thinking God’s thoughts after Him. Since we astronomers are priests of the highest God in regard to the book of nature, it benefits us to be thoughtful, not of the glory of our minds, but rather, above all else, of the glory of God.”
Thinking Biblically
God calls disciples to think Biblically not culturally and not to simply follow my feelings or to go by my instincts. No, God calls all disciples to think clearly, critically (I mean analytically not to be critical of others).
18 “Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. Isaiah 1:18 (ESV)
We need to think like God thinks, to see the world as he does and then follow that truth.
People sometimes say, “The god I believe in …” Perhaps the god you believe in isn’t the real, true and living God. And the only way to know for sure what he thinks is to consult, understand and depend upon the Bible.
Jesus shows us his authority in many places including the Sermon on the Mount when he repeatedly says, “You have heard it said but I say…”
To think like Jesus, to think Biblically means that you’ll really be different. Not different in a way that is considered cool, but different fundamental way that won’t be appreciated by many if not most people.
Article I’m reading:
https://faith-seeking-understanding.org/tag/thinking-gods-thoughts-after-him/
Written by Charles Sigler
This idea can become rather Stoic at times. It has that sense in Twenty-Four Hours a Day, a book of recovery meditations for members of Alcoholics Anonymous. The December 18th meditation said that the nearer astronomers get to the ultimate composition of all things, the nearer the universe approaches a mathematical formula, which is thought. The universe itself may be the thought of the Great Thinker. Therefore, “We must try to think God’s thoughts after Him.” We must try to get guidance from the Divine Mind as to what His intention is for the world “and what part we can have in carrying out that intention.”
Since my time in seminary, I have been deeply influenced by the writings of Cornelius Van Til and his very different sense of thinking God’s thoughts after Him. Van Til said that as creatures of God, we are analogues of God. “God is the original while man is the derivative. Man’s thoughts must therefore be patterned after God’s thoughts. Man must, as we often express it, think God’s thoughts after Him.” (Essays on Christian Education)
Christianity presupposes the self-sufficient God of Scripture. God created the universe for and unto himself. “By his providence, God sustains the universe in order to realize his ultimate purpose with it.” There is purpose in the universe because God has made it so. And every purpose in the universe must be referred to God. “Without this reference to God, no purpose within the universe has meaning.” (Christian-Theistic Evidences)
If man is not autonomous, if he is in fact what Scripture says he is—a creature of God and a sinner—then he should “subordinate his reason to the Scriptures” and seek its light to interpret his experience. God’s revelation in nature as well as Scripture is always authoritarian. “The truly scientific method, the method which alone can expect to make true progress in learning, is therefore such a method as seeks simply to think God’s thoughts after him.” (The Defense of the Faith)
If theism is true, only that thought and interpretation on the part of man is true which recognizes God as the source of man and man’s interpretation. Hence we hold that in the nature of the case there is not only one true religion, but only one true interpretation of all science as well. We hold that all science that does not recognize God as the maker of the facts with which it deals and the mind with which it thinks as created by God and as properly thinking God’s thoughts after him, is false science. (Psychology of Religion)
The modern, understanding of science asks us to grant the theoretical relevancy of any hypothesis. It also asks that we test the truth of any hypothesis by experience. Lastly, the modern scientific method assumes the reality of neutral, brute, facts. But if God exists, there are no brute facts. Our study of facts must seek to know them as God wants them to be known by us. “We must then seek to think God’s thoughts after Him. To assume that there are brute facts is therefore to assume that God does not exist.” The autonomous human mind thinks of itself as acting completely independent of God. (Unpublished Manuscripts of Cornelius Van Til, Electronic edition)
Verses on God’s Thoughts:
“8For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. 9For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8–9, ESV)
“5How great are your works, O Lord! Your thoughts are very deep!” (Psalm 92:5, ESV)
“17How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!” (Psalm 139:17, ESV)
“12But they do not know the thoughts of the Lord; they do not understand his plan, that he has gathered them as sheaves to the threshing floor.” (Micah 4:12, ESV)
“34“For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?”” (Romans 11:34, ESV)
“16“For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 2:16, ESV)
“5Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. 7Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. 8It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.” (Proverbs 3:5–8, ESV)
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Disciple Up # 232
Should Worship Make Me Comfortable?
By Louie Marsh, 10-13-2021
Intro.
Going to Church makes me uncomfortable, but I want a good relationship with God. Should I just go?
Nathaniel Ziegler Answered May 6, 2019
If I were you, I would start looking into other churches and other denominations to see if I could find one where I was more comfortable. The discomfort you feel might be God’s signal that this particular church is not right or good for you.
God meets people where they are at and tries to guide them down the path toward His Kingdom. Sometimes, a congregation, pastor, or church is focused on a spot where an individual is not. In such a case, it is best to find another church.
It helps a relationship with God to attend a church. However, it is possible to have a relationship without church. If you decide not to attend church, you will need to be open to God in other ways. You will, also, need a support system outside a congregation (good to have, anyway, but vital if you are not getting any support from a congregation).
Best wishes! I hope you find what you are looking for soon. Let your sense of discomfort/comfort be your guide. And, stay open to messages from God in other areas of your life. If you want a relationship with God, you will have one. Peace!
Barrie Davis Updated May 7
If going to church makes you uncomfortable. then stop going.
You cannot “buy” a relationship with God by enduring discomfort.. otherwise you would be able to buy a better one by scourging yourself..
… (whipping your body with a chain that’s got spikes on)..
… and that idea is not on trend any more, even amongst the most devout.
My advice is, get back in your comfort zone, give the religious rituals a rest, and then see what happens to your relationship with God. It may improve, it may stay the same, it may even disappear altogether…
Whatever it is, you will not have been forced into it by the expectations of other church-goers.
You were talking about YOUR relationship with God, after all.
Shawn Murphy, Studied over 18 religions Answered May 7, 2019
This is what Jesus tells about prayer and worship.
Matt 6:6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
Jesus did not say to go to church to find God, He taught that we need find God in our heart and soul, not wear our belief on our sleeve. The best way to discover God and His Laws is in nature – studying His creation. If you study His creation, you will find few churches that teach His Laws.
Religion and churches are man’s creation, not God’s.
There is one important thing that Jesus told us about community to remember. When two or more are gathered in my name, do this in memory of me. (Matt 18:20) So, it is good to get together with like minded people, who believe the Jesus is our King, and remember Him. You do not need a church to do this. You can remember the Last Supper every time that you sit down to eat with your family.
*****
“20For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”” (Matthew 18:20, ESV)
“13When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” 14And he said, “No; but I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?” 15And the commander of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.” (Joshua 5:13–15, ESV)
“1Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. 2While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.” (Acts 13:1–3, ESV)
“24Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. 25About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them,” (Acts 16:24–25, ESV)
“10I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet 11saying, “Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.” 12Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, 13and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. 14The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, 15his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. 16In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. 17When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, 18and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.” (Revelation 1:10–18, ESV)
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Disciple Up # 227
7 Letters to 7 Churches
By Louie Marsh, 9-8-2021
This is just about the only part of Revelation I will teach on. I’m not quite as bad as Martin Luther about this though.
He put both Revelation and the book of James into the appendix of his New Testament translation into German. He called the book of James, “a right strawy epistle.” And of Revelation he said that “Apostles ought not to write like that.”
I love the book of James and would not presume to tell an Apostle how to write. However, most of the book does leave me pretty cold. But not these 7 little letters.
False view of them as ages of church history. This was around when Luther lived because he accepted it, at least in part. When it really began, I don’t know.
Disciple Up # 226
Greater Than – Don’t Miss His Rest, Hebrews Chapter 3
By Louie Marsh, 9-1-2021
What’s happening?? Last time we did this was Episode 186!
HEBREWS CHAPTER 3
Introduction:
“1Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, 2who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house. 3For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. 4(For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.) 5Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, 6but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.” (Hebrews 3:1–6, ESV)
God’s Rest
Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,
“Today, if you hear his voice,
8 do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
on the day of testing in the wilderness,
9 where your fathers put me to the test
and saw my works for forty years.
10 Therefore I was provoked with that generation,
and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart;
they have not known my ways.’
11 As I swore in my wrath,
‘They shall not enter my rest.’ ”
12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. 15 As it is said,
“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”
What stops us from seeing this?
16 For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? 17 And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? 19 So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.
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