Church Service Schedule Update

Hello Church. In an effort to give our body some relief and to fight against becoming a busy church, we have decided to cancel some Sunday night services in 2011.

Dear Beloved,

The weight of so many responsibilities and distractions - even the worthwhile ones - has a crushing effect on a person's relationship with Christ. It ruins our taste for spiritual things. It suppresses our exuberance for spiritual service. It suffocates our passion for pursuing Christ and the intimate relationship He offers. It all grinds away at our soul. Eventually, following Jesus starts to lose its luster. The blessings and joys of walking with Him are crowded out by myriad tiny details of life. ~John MacArthur

The past two Saturdays and last Wednesday we have asked our people to come help assemble the playground. We have three weekend NANC conferences scheduled throughout the rest of 2011. The holiday season is quickly approaching. The Facilities Planning Committee, the Elders, and the Deacons all meet twice per month in separate meetings. We are looking forward to a ladies Bible study on Sept. 9, a fall festival, and Elder study and prayer retreat, and a Christmas party. At this weeks elder meeting we thought through the remainder of 2011 and eliminated some good things so that we can do great things (family time; rest; fellowship).

Here is the Sunday night schedule for the rest of 2011:

9/4 Ice Cream fellowship and movie

9/11 Home Fellowship

9/18 No PM Svc (NANC weekend)

9/25 Prayer

10/2 Lunch after service Sunday morning to celebrate Elder installation and New Members - No PM Service

10/9 Home Fellowship

10/16 No PM Service

10/23 No PM Service (NANC weekend)

10/30 Prayer

11/6 No PM Service

11/13 Home Fellowship

11/20 No PM Service (NANC weekend)

11/27 Prayer

12/4 No PM Service

12/11 Home Fellowship

12/18 No PM Service

10/25 No PM Service - 10:30 am service only - no sunday school

1/1 No PM Service

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the elders. If you know non-members who would benefit from the schedule change, please direct them to the blog. We love you and hope this serves as an example and relief. God bless.

Pastor Brian

7 Reasons We Need Small Groups

He has given pastors to the church “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:11–12). I believe in what I do. And I believe that it is not enough. Here are the seven reasons I gave the small group leaders.

1. The impulse to avoid painful growth by disappearing safely into the crowd in corporate worship is very strong.
2. The tendency toward passivity in listening to a sermon is part of our human weakness.
3. Listeners in a big group can more easily evade redemptive crises. If tears well up in your eyes in a small group, wise friends will gently find out why. But in a large gathering, you can just walk away from it.
4. Listeners in a large group tend to neglect efforts of personal application. The sermon may touch a nerve of conviction, but without someone to press in, it can easily be avoided.
5. Opportunity for questions leading to growth is missing. Sermons are not dialogue. Nor should they be. But asking questions is a key to understanding and growth. Small groups are great occasions for this.
6. Accountability for follow-through on good resolves is missing. But if someone knows what you intended to do, the resolve is stronger.
7. Prayer support for a specific need or conviction or resolve goes wanting. O how many blessings we do not have because we are not surrounded by a band of friends who pray for us.

"The Love of Human Praise As the Root of Unbelief" By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: desiringGod.org

Sermon Notes 8/28/2011

Sermon Text: Genesis 18:16-19:38
Scripture Reading: Genesis 18:16-19:38
Sermon Title: Is God a Moral Monster?

Questions concerning the text:

1) This is the most detailed account of a particular day in Abraham’s life. Why? Our lengthy Scripture reading covered a 24-hour period in the life of Abraham. Why all the details?

Answer:

There are 27 references outside of Genesis where Sodom is mentioned. It is emblematic of gross immorality, deepest depravity, great mercy and ultimate judgment.

2) Is God a moral monster? Doesn’t it seem a little drastic to blow up a city with women and children? Explain: New Atheism

Answer:

a) God judged Sodom and Gomorrah because He is a just and good God.

God judged them because of their consistent (2 Peter 2:8) choice to sin. Genesis 18:20 says, "And the Lord said, 'The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave.'" Not even ten righteous people could be found in the city.

"I used to think that wrath was unworthy of God. Isn't God love? Shouldn't divine love be beyond wrath? My last resistance to the idea of God's wrath was a casualty of war in the former Yugoslavia, the region from which I come. According to some estimates, 200,000 people were killed and 3,000,000 were displaced. My villages and cities were destroyed, and my people brutalized beyond imagination - and I could not imagine God not being angry. Was God to refuse to condemn the bloodbath but instead affirm the perpetrators' basic goodness and treat them in a grandfatherly fashion? God is fiercely angry with sin because He loves people. God isn't wrathful in spite of being love. God is wrathful because God is love" (Yale theologian Miroslav Volf).

b) God judged Sodom and Gomorrah because He is a loving and merciful God.

• God was merciful for 120 years before the flood; for 430 with the Amorites (Genesis 15:16).
• God has been warning man by Sodom and Gomorrah’s example for thousands of years.
• God was merciful to Sodom in Genesis 14. Think of what the King of Sodom witnessed when Abraham met Melchizedek in the Valley.
• God was merciful towards them in conversing with Abraham (Genesis 18:22-33).
• God allowed Lots presence in Sodom for many years.
• God was merciful towards them through the protection and extraction of Lot (Genesis 19). God hindered them from sinning while protecting Lot, yet they persisted. He does the same today in using the legislative system to protect society. God also hinders man through conscience (Romans 2:1), yet man suppresses the truth (Romans 1).
• God’s judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah is a manifestation of God’s mercy towards us (Jude 3-7; 2 Peter 2:1-10).

c) When referencing Sodom and Gomorrah in the New Testament, “sensuality” is highlighted (Jude 3-7; 2 Peter 2:1-10). Another word for sensuality is perdition, waste, and destruction. How do we see this in our culture: laziness; overeating; over-spending; complaining; discontentment; misuse of sex.

We know the men of Sodom and Gomorrah were homosexual, "both young and old, all the people from every quarter" (19:6), to the point of disregarding available women (19:5-8). After they were struck sightless they still persisted (19:11). These men were totally given over to an overwhelming passion that did not abate even when they were supernaturally blinded by angels.

Blinding men cannot stop them because of à(read Jude 8) – the definition of “dreams” is “to be beguiled with sensual images and carried away to an impious course of conduct. Eyes help the body get what the heart wants. Blinding them didn’t solve the problem; it just made it more difficult for them to get what they wanted. INTELLECTUALISM AND BEHAVIORISM – MAGGIE AND THE TOY…

One commentator suggests, “Moses spoke clearly here in Genesis. The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were guilty of many things, but foremost among them was the sin of homosexuality” (Gregory Koukl). I disagree. There is no “foremost” sin. However, certain sins further evidence the degradation of the heart. The physical groping around (Genesis 19:11) in darkness perfectly illustrated their spiritual condition (Romans 1:18-2:1).

d) God pleas; Jesus pleas; the redeemed plea.

“In interceding for Sodom, Abraham is portrayed as fulfilling a role particularly associated with prophets. We have already noted verbal links with Moses’ great intercession in Exodus 32-34. Samuel (1 Samuel 12:23), Amos (7:1-9), and Jeremiah (Jeremiah 14-15) also pleaded with God on the nation’s behalf (Gordon Wenham).

• Jesus cried out in Luke 15 and Matthew 23.
• God pleas through creation, sending Jesus, creating the conscience, legislation, consequence, the preservation of His Word.

Homosexuality was not the “chief sin” amongst the people.

• Notice the final statement by Paul in Romans 1:28-32 and compare with Ezekiel 16:49-50.
• “Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. They were haughty and did an abomination before me. So I removed them when I saw it” (Ezekiel 16:49-50).

3) Can I live like Lot and be saved? “Can I live like Lot and be saved?” is not a good question. The correct question is: Why would I want to live like Lot?

Scott Lindsay’s illustration of demotivational posters (sarcastic):

• Procrastination: Hard work often pays off over time, but laziness always pays off now.
• Motivation (the ocean): If a pretty poster and a cute saying are all it takes to motivate you, you probably have a very easy job.
• Wealth: All I ask is for a chance to prove that money can’t buy happiness.
• The Secret to Success: What is the Secret? Pretend You've Already Achieved it – then offer to sell the secret to others.
• Picture of the Titanic “Mistakes” – “It could be that the purpose of your life is only to serve as a warning to others.”

Answer:

a) Remember, we have heard about a grand total of two days in Lot's life from the Scriptures.

b) It cost Lot his legacy. Read Genesis 19:37-38

Lot lost his marriage; Lot lost his children; Lot lost his heritage; Lot lost his dignity; Lot lost his stuff. “However, they would not listen, but they did according to their former manner. So these nations feared the LORD and also served their carved images. Their children did likewise, and their children’s children – as their fathers did, so they do to this day” (2 Kings 17:40-41).

Lot allowed his children to live in the midst of sexual immorality. Therefore, Lot’s children practiced sexual immorality. As Lot’s children tempted him in sexual sin, the Moabites did likewise to Israel (Numbers 25). Contrast Lot’s children and legacy with God’s plan for Abraham in Genesis 18:17-19.

c) Lot was drained financially? “From the field, to the gate, to the cave.” “Lot’s cave is a bitter sequel to the house which had dwarfed his uncle’s tent, and the little trio is pathetic after the teeming crowd of 13:5. The end of choosing to carve out his career was to lose even the custody of his body. His legacy, Moab and Ammon, was destined to provide the worst carnal seduction in the history of Israel (Numbers 25) and the cruelest religious perversion (Leviticus 18:21). So much stemmed from a self-regarding choice and persistence in it” (Derek Kinder Genesis).

d) What did Lot lose in eternity (Matthew 25:14-30)?

e) More sin has been committed because of one righteous man’s genealogy (Moabites and Ammonites) than all of the sin committed by the people in Sodom and Gomorrah. Would you be okay going to Heaven knowing that is what you left behind?

4) What can I learn about Jesus from this story?

Answer:

a) Without Jesus, you are Sodom and Gomorrah. Read Isaiah 1:1-20**

b) Although Lot’s wife was moving in the right direction, she shows us that Christ looks at the heart. Do you want Christ or do you long for sin and fear judgment? Are you on your island of sin with Christ tied up as your escape boat? See Luke 17:20-37.

c) Ruth the Moabite became an Israelite (Ruth 1:4; Matthew 1:5).

d) God’s plan involves mysterious messiness (Paul Copan).

Does Prayer Really Change Things???

Sermon Notes 8/21/2011 Evening Service

Discipleship Training Part 5
Sermon Title: The Birthplace of Behavior: Desire
Sermon Text: Matthew 6:19-24

Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands Chapter 5

The Birthplace of Behavior: Desire (James 4:1-3; Matthew 15:10-20; Luke 6:45; Matthew 23).

“You and I always desire. Desires precede, determine, and characterize everything you do. Desires get you up in the morning and put you to bed at night. Desires make you work with discipline to get one thing done, and run as hard are you can to avoid another. Desires are the lenses through which you examine every situation. At the foundation of all worship, whether true or false, is a heart full of desire” (Paul Tripp).

Situations, circumstances, and people DO NOT force us to be angry:

• “You made me feel”
• “I am sorry I raised my voice, but when you…”
• “The traffic on the way to work ruined my day”

Paul Tripp uses the example of traffic. Brent A. uses the example of snow. The talkative person who “gets on your nerves” might be quite interesting to the person next to you.

The Problem

God changes us not by just teaching us to do different things, but by recapturing our hearts to serve him alone. The deepest issues of the human struggle are issues of desire and treasure (James 4; Matthew 6:19-24). Everyone seeks some kind of treasure. Your treasure will control your heart. What controls your heart will control your behavior. People do what they do because they want what they want; people want what they want due to the condition of their heart.

Pray: Fight the battle of prayer to win geographical control over your heart.

“If a war is being fought between nations, it is fought for geographical and political control. Control is the purpose of war” (Paul Tripp). “Pray then like this: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:9-10).

Pray with Galatians 5:24 in mind, “And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”

• Example of Circumcision
• Example of Salvation and the Cross (Colossians 2:6-7)
• Example of Sacrifice (Romans 12)
• Example of the Tree and Branches (John 15)

Fast: Listen for the difference between “I want” and “I must.”

“It is not wrong to desire relaxation at the end of a long day. It is wrong to be ruled by relaxation in such a way that I am irritated with anyone who gets in the way. It is not wrong to desire the tender attention of your husband. It is wrong to be so ruled by it that your days are filled with bitterness because of its absence and your nights are filled with manipulative attempts to get it” (Paul Tripp).

There is always a direct relationship between expectation and disappointment. Do you dehumanize people and treat them like vehicles or obstacles?

Desire (“I Want”) à Demand (“I Need”) à Expectation (“I Deserve or Will Get”) à Disappointment (“Because of You I Didn’t”) à Punishment (“You’ll Pay”) or Reward (“I Will Reinforce Your Behavior So You Will Continue to Meet My Expectations”)

“I am no longer motivated by a love for God and people so that I use the things in my life to express that love. Instead I love things and use people – and even the LORD – to get them” (Paul Tripp).

Sermon Notes 8/21/2011 Morning Service

Sermon Text: Genesis 18:1-15
Sermon Title: Checkmate
Scripture Reading: Hebrews 11:8-16

Introduction

No other twenty-four-hour period in Abraham’s life is related more fully than that described in Genesis 18-19. This gives a hint of the importance of this story for the writer of Genesis (Wenham).

Review from last week:

Abram gets to know the LORD more intimately each time the LORD comes to Abram to reaffirm His Covenant. With each encounter with the LORD, Abram learns something new about who God is. The first three things listed below are consistent in each of these accounts. The following five observations will probably always be consistent in the narrative of your life:

• Abram always learns to know the LORD through the Word of God (Genesis 12:1; Genesis 15:1; Genesis 17:1).
• Abram always responded in worship (Genesis 12:7, 8; Genesis 15:9; Genesis 17:3) and immediate obedience (Genesis 12:4, 6-9; Genesis 15:9-11; Genesis 17:23, 26).
• While seeking to obey God’s Word there was never the complete absence of doubt, fear, and uncertainty (Genesis 12:10-13; 15:2-3, 8, 12; Genesis 17:17; 18:10-12).
• Abram’s expectations were shattered (Genesis 17:18-19).

When in doubt, Abram prays and is encouraged through God’s Word.

Genesis 18:1-15

So God is putting Abraham in places and circumstances that will make the fulfillment of his promise humanly impossible. Abraham and his own ingenuity:

• Goes to Egypt and sells Sarah to the Pharaoh to save himself.
• Believes that Eliezer of Damascus will be his heir.
• God promises Abram that the seed will come from Abram’s body (Genesis 15:4), but said nothing of Sarai. So why not use a concubine to make the promise happen?

Genesis 17:15-17; 18:9-12: Checkmate

Checkmate is the ultimate goal in chess. The game of chess ends as soon as the king is checkmated because checkmate leaves the defensive player with no legal moves. In normal chess the king is never actually captured. The game ends as soon as the king is placed in checkmate (Wikipedia). In chess there is always the possibility of check and stalemate. There is never such a thing as stalemate with God.

Why does God put us in checkmate? God puts us in checkmate to magnify His sovereign grace and keep us in our humble place.

And one of the central beliefs that we have as God's people is that this is good news, not bad news. It is good news because God himself, known to us in Jesus Christ, is more valuable and more satisfying than anything we could ever be or do in our own power. The most loving thing that God can do for us is to make himself indispensable to us. The most loving thing God can do for us is not to make much of us, but to work by his sovereign grace so that we can enjoy making much of him forever. So, if he would love us, he must exalt his sovereign grace and keep us in our humble, happy place. That is why God over and over and over again in the Bible does things in a way that makes us utterly dependent on God for what is humanly impossible - to magnify his sovereign grace and keep us in our humble place. (John Piper).

Remember, last week when we discussed the meaning of El Shaddai (God Almighty) by using Psalm 22:9, “Yet you are he who took me from the womb; you made me trust you at my mother’s breasts.” Being put in checkmate and having your dreams shattered is God giving Himself to you.

Genesis 11:30; Genesis 16:1-2; 17:15-19; Genesis 18:9-12

è What were the objects of Abraham and Sarah’s faith? Hebrews 11:8-16 with a focus on vv. 10-11 (Abraham was looking forward to the city whose designer and builder is God; Sarah considered Him faithful who had promised). What happened during those 24 years that helped Sarah have faith? She was able to see God’s track record of faithfulness. Abraham and Sarah had spent 24 years knowing God as Elohim, Yahweh, El Elyon, El Shaddai, El Roi.

“Is anything too hard for the LORD?” (Genesis 18:14a).

• “Ah, Lord GOD! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you” (Jeremiah 32:17).
• “Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?” (Jeremiah 32:27).
• “I know that you can do all things and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted” (Job 42:2).
• Luke 1:35-38

We use this truth to encourage us in what God has said. We do not use this truth to tell God what to do (Word of Faith movement).

God waits until it is humanly impossible for the child of the covenant to be born in order to show that it is not by human effort that the covenant people will be created. It is a work of divine and sovereign grace. The formation of a people of God for the sake of his name from all the families of the earth is not a human creation. That is why Ishmael would not qualify as the covenant child. Symbolically he stood for the work of the flesh, the product of Abraham’s presumption and unbelief (Piper).

See Romans 9:6-8 – “But through Isaac” speaks of method rather than means. Do not apply this principle to your desires. Apply this principle to the promises of God. You can be confident of this principle when navigating through forgiveness, anger, sin, marriage, sanctification, teaching, worry, etc. Apply Genesis 18:14 to the promises God has made in the Scripture, not to getting a promotion. The applies to our salvation and sanctification:

• Salvation: Mark 10:23-27
• Sanctification: John 15:1-5

“Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving” (Colossians 2:6-7). The Divine speaker (Genesis 18:9-15) came to encourage Sarah. Most of the interaction prior to this point has been between God and Abraham. Now the LORD is coming to encourage Sarah.

Next week Genesis 18:16 through the end of Genesis 19

No other twenty-four-hour period in Abraham’s life is related more fully than that described in Genesis 18-19. This gives a hint of the importance of this story for the writer of Genesis (Wenham).

Sermon Notes 8/14/2011

Sermon Text: Genesis 17:1-27
Sermon Title: Circumcision: The Shadow of the Spirit
Scripture Reading: Romans 4:1-12

Review

Genesis 12 – Following the Covenant of Works with Adam and the Fall à Cain à The Flood Narrative à Ham à Nimrod and Babel à God makes the Covenant of Grace with Abram.

Genesis 13 – After Abram goes to Egypt, Abram and Lot separate

Genesis 14 – The great battle between Abram and Chedorlaomer; Abram meets with the King of Sodom and Melchizedek

Genesis 15 – God reaffirms the Covenant of Grace with Abram by “cutting” the covenant when He walks between the pieces

Genesis 16 – The allegory of Hagar and Sarai

Genesis 17 – 24 years have now passed since Genesis 12

Introduction to Genesis 17

The LORD comes for the final time to reaffirm the Covenant of Grace originally introduced in Genesis 12. Why is it necessary that things take so long? Abram gets to know the LORD more intimately each time the LORD comes to Abram to reaffirm His Covenant. 

In Genesis 12 Abram learned that the LORD is full of grace. When Abram learned this about the LORD, he responded in worship.

• “Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, ‘To your offspring I will give this land.’ So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him” (Genesis 12:7). “And the Scripture, forseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘In you shall all the nations be blessed’” (Galatians 3:8). “Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, ‘And to offsprings,’ referring to many, but referring to one, ‘And to your offspring,’ who is Christ” (Galatians 3:16).

In Genesis 15 Abram learned that the LORD sovereignly GIVES sinful, unbelieving, selfish, fearful, doubting people the joy of participating in His plan. Abram is assured that although he is held personally responsible for his choices, the success of God’s plan is not dependent upon Abram (I am in vv. 1, 7). Abram learns that God is a Covenant-making God who:

• Holds people fully responsible for their actions (Genesis 16).
• Places the full load of responsibility upon Himself by His Word to accomplish His plan (know for certain in Genesis 15:13; Genesis 15:17-18)

In Genesis 17 the LORD reveals more of Himself to Abram by using the Hebrew name “El Shaddai.”

• “When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, ‘I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless’” (Genesis 17:1).

With each encounter with the LORD, Abram learns something new about who God is. The first three things listed below are consistent in each of these accounts. The following five observations will probably always be consistent in the narrative of your life:

• Abram always learns to know the LORD through the Word of God (Genesis 12:1; Genesis 15:1; Genesis 17:1).
• Abram always responded in worship (Genesis 12:7, 8; Genesis 15:9; Genesis 17:3) and immediate obedience (Genesis 12:4, 6-9; Genesis 15:9-11; Genesis 17:23, 26).
• While seeking to obey God’s Word there was never the complete absence of doubt, fear, and uncertainty (Genesis 12:10-13; 15:2-3, 8, 12; Genesis 17:17; 18:10-12).
• Abram’s expectations were shattered (Genesis 17:18-19).
• When in doubt, Abram prays and is encouraged through God’s Word.

Repetition: “Covenant” is used thirteen times; “Circumcise” is used ten times. 

Circumcision is the main idea of this narrative. Also, remember as Moses writes this, Exodus 4:24-26 (the LORD sought to put Moses to death because of failure to circumcise). 

The parallel to Old Testament circumcision (cutting away of outward flesh) is the cutting away of inward flesh by the Spirit.

• “And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may life” (Deuteronomy 30:6).
• Ezekiel 36:22-32
• Mark 1:4-8
• “For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. So, if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? Then he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law. For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God” (Romans 2:25-29).
• It is important to know that in the Old Testament, non-Israelites could be circumcised. Any Gentile might participate in the highest privilege of Judaism, if he should indicate a willingness to meet the same requirements laid on the Jew himself. The uncircumcised Gentile could “become and Israelite.” Since this is the case, Israel cannot be defined simply in terms of racial distinctives (see Exodus 12:43-39). – From O. Palmer Robertson’s The Christ of the Covenants.

God Almighty or El Shaddai

Remember, when God introduces Himself using new Hebrew names, He is telling His audience something new about who He is. 

• God revealed himself to Adam as LORD (Yahweh), the personal God. God has already revealed himself as El-Elyon (God Most High) in the context of the King’s Valley with Melchizedek. God revealed himself to Hagar as El-Roi (The God Who Sees and Seeks Me). 

We see this name first in Genesis 17:1 and later in Genesis 28:3 – Isaac blesses Jacob; 35:11 – God changes Jacob’s name to Israel; 48:3 – Jacob speaking to Joseph).

The following three points are extremely applicable:

• The best way I know how to illustrate the meaning of this name, El Shaddai, is by remembering the words of David in Psalm 22:9, “Yet you are he who took me from the womb; you made me trust you at mother’s breasts.” To further highlight this meaning, notice the “I will” in vv. 6-8, 16, 19. It is used frequently in Genesis (giving life to the barren or lifeless/hopeless), 31 times in Job, and seldom every again elsewhere.
• God uses “El Shaddai” prior to changing the names of Abram, Sarai, and Jacob. In the Old Testament, your name was your identity and purpose. As we become more intimate with God through His Word, the very core of who we are is changed. Also, see Peter’s name change in Matthew 16:13-20.
• God’s primary plan is not to accomplish a task through us or for us. God’s task is for us to know Him and be changed by Him. Why did it take so long for Abram to have a son? The birth of a son was not God’s primary objective for Abram and Sarai. Having a son was the tool God used to cause Abram to know Him and be changed by Him. What if every day for 25 years Abram would have driven down to the store and bought a pregnancy test for Sarai? Think of the wasted time, money, and dashed hopes. Abram’s expectation should be to know God intimately and to be changed by Him.

Think for a moment about being a parent and having to circumcise your 8-day-old baby. First of all, the painful and irreversible act of circumcision must be done to you while you are helpless. The painful (Luke 9:23) and irreversible (Philippians 1:6) act of sanctification is something done to us by the Holy Spirit. Often, God uses circumstances to hold us down. As with a baby, a team of people is more helpful to see this process through to completion.