Hello and here is this week’s bulletin.

• PDF Bulletin FFC August 7 2016

SUNDAY PM – JULY 31, 2016

THE HOPE OF GLORY!

What is our worthy calling?

• We are exhorted to walk worthy of the calling to which we have been called.
• So what is that calling? What is our aim, our target, our direction? What is our mark, our bullseye, our goal, our focus, our objective?
• What does it mean to put our minds on things above? What are the things above?
• (Colossians 3:2 ESV) Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
• So what are these things above that are to have the priority of our attention?
• What is now our holy grail for life and service? Our “end game”?
• The glory of God.

—The glory of God is now our mark, Romans 3:21-28.

◼︎ God does not share his glory with self-seekers, but he does share his glory with the redeemed.

• (Isaiah 42:8 ESV) I am the LORD; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.
• (Psalm 115:1 ESV) Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!
• (Proverbs 25:27 ESV) It is not good to eat much honey, nor is it glorious to seek one’s own glory.
• (John 7:18 ESV) The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood.
• (Acts 12:21–23 ESV) On an appointed day Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat upon the throne, and delivered an oration to them. 22 And the people were shouting, “The voice of a god, and not of a man!” 23 Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down, because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last.

◼︎ We are called to the glory of God.

• (1 Peter 5:10 ESV) And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.
• (2 Peter 1:3 ESV) His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence.
• (1 Peter 5:1–2 ESV) So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: 2 shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly.
• (Romans 9:23–24 ESV) In order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— 24 even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?

◼︎ We are called to walk worthy of the glory of God.

• (1 Thessalonians 2:12 ESV) We exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.
• (Ephesians 4:1 ESV) I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.

Who are you living your life for?

Whose glory is dominant on your horizon?

Message: “Just As in the Days of Noah”
Message Text: Genesis 5:25–6:13, Luke 17:22–30

Jesus is coming again. Are you ready?

• John Parsons with the Hebrew for Christians ministry states that: Our world appears to be careening toward a crash. Most of us are troubled, if not frightened. Corruption and decay are all around us and nothing makes much sense any longer. We cannot trust our politicians. Bankers and big business are anathema. Everyone seems out of control. In short, it seems as if our entire culture and way of life [are] tottering and ready to collapse. We are confused, perplexed and feel threatened.
• Friedrich von Schiller, a leading German dramatist and poet of the 18th century, gives us this well-known aphorism: “The history of the world is the judgment of the world.”
• And our world seems does ripe for the judgment of God, and this is not the first time. Over four thousand years ago the evil intentions and wickedness of humanity brought society to the brink, and God destroyed that world system with a catastrophic flood. From a population of possibly millions of human inhabitants on the planet, God spared eight in a huge ship that took 120 years to build.
• The New Testament tells us that our planet will one day once again come under the judgment of God at the second coming of Christ, culminating ultimately on the Great Day of the LORD when this world is destroyed, not by water, but this time by fire.
• So what are we to do? Is it too simple to say that we should make sure that we are ready? If you have not yet believed in Jesus Christ for forgiveness of sins and received his free gift of salvation, then today is the day and now is the time.
• Luke, the evangelist and gospel writer, tells us that the Second Coming of Jesus Christ will be like a lightning flash. Business as usual on the planet and then the lightning flash of his arrival and then judgment.
• Many will and do scoff at such an idea. That is what scoffers do; they ridicule and parody to avoid the truth of the reality of God. But on that day everyone will know that judgment has come as the Son of Man is revealed across the sky. No matter their professed religion, or theology, or philosophy, they will know. Atheist, deist, cultist, animist, agnostic … they will know.
• There will be no doubt, no ambiguity when Jesus the Son of Man, Son of God, returns to this planet.
• So are you ready? If you have not trusted Christ, you are not ready.
• But what about Christians, believers, authentic followers of Jesus? Are you ready?
• The Apostle Paul writes: Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thessalonians 5:23 ESV).
• And Peter writes: Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace (2 Peter 3:14 ESV).
• So I am asking you, Christian, this morning, are you ready? Will our LORD find you at peace and blameless? Or have the noise and clamor of politics and the tumult and confusion of society drowned out the voice of your Sovereign LORD, and you no longer hear him speak his hope and peace and joy to you in the midst of the chaos?

So how do we live in peace in a world
that is ripe for the judgment of God?

How do we live in peace in the midst of chaos?

◼︎ First, believe God’s account of what has happened on the planet, Genesis 5:25-6:13.

◼︎ Second, believe God’s account of what is happening on the planet.

◼︎ Third, trust the plan, God’s plan that is. What will happen.

◼︎ Fourth, receive God’s peace.

• (John 3:16–17 ESV) For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
• (2 Corinthians 6:2 NLT) For God says, “At just the right time, I heard you. On the day of salvation, I helped you.” Indeed, the “right time” is now. Today is the day of salvation.
• (Romans 5:1 ESV) Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

◼︎ Fifth, live in the promised peace of God.

• (Romans 15:13 ESV) May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
• (1 Thessalonians 5:23 ESV) Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
• (2 Peter 3:14 ESV) And Peter writes: Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.
• (John 14:27 ESV) Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

Jesus is coming again? Are you ready?

JESUS IS COMING AGAIN!

Only ten generations from Adam to Noah …

Just as it was in the days of Noah …

• (Luke 17:26–30 ESV) Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all— so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed.

By this time there easily could have been millions of people on the Earth. And God only saved eight when he brought the cataclysm of the Flood.

God promised not to destroy this world again by water, but he is preparing once again for Earth’s destruction. This time by fire.

Peter tells us that scoffers will scoff. That’s what they do.

• (2 Peter 3:3-7 ESV) Knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

However the battle is not intellectual, but volitional. Humans want to do what humans want to do. And apart from the work of grace in our lives, we don’t want anyone, including (and sometimes especially) God, telling us how to live our lives.

• (John 3:19 NCV) They are judged by this fact: The Light has come into the world, but they did not want light. They wanted darkness, because they were doing evil things.

Message: “Just As in the Days of Noah”
Message Text: Genesis 5:25–6:13, Luke 17:22–30

• PDF GENESIS MESSAGE 15 – Just As in the Days of Noah : Genesis 5-6 : Luke 17-22-30 : ffc : dave scott : 073116 AM : STUDY SHEET ONE
• PDF GENESIS MESSAGE 15 – Just As in the Days of Noah : Genesis 5-6 : Luke 17-22-30 : ffc : dave scott : 073116 AM : STUDY SHEET TWO
• PDF GENESIS MESSAGE 15 – Just As in the Days of Noah : Genesis 5-6 : Luke 17-22-30 : ffc : dave scott : 073116 AM : STUDY SHEET THREE
• PDF GENESIS MESSAGE 15 – Just As in the Days of Noah : Genesis 5-6 : Luke 17-22-30 : ffc : dave scott : 073116 AM : STUDY SHEET FOUR

Hello All,

Here is our bulletin for this week.

• PDF Bulletin FFC July 31 2016

Hello All,

Here is this week’s bulletin.

• PDF Bulletin FFC July 24 2016

SUNDAY AM

Message: The Adam Family History!

Message Text: Genesis 4-5 & Selected

Everything …

• All the history of this planet, everything that has been and will be … is all about God. He dominates the grand stage; God is the big picture.
• Eugene Peterson writes: First, God. God is the subject of life. God is foundational for living. If we don’t have a sense of the primacy of God, we will never get it right, get life right, get our lives right. Not God at the margins; not God as an option; not God on the weekends. God at center and circumference; God first and last; God, God, God.
• And often we do not get it right. A great part of the human experience is to believe that we are at center stage. If everything is okay in my world, then everything is okay. If I am not happy, if things are not going my way, then something is drastically wrong with this world.
• It seems to be an easy thing for a human to forget who God is. Even Christians it seems.
• In the theater a bit player is a person with a very small acting role with just a few lines to speak. We are bit players in God’s universe, but sometimes we demand the spotlight, the attention, the focus. We are very important people you must understand.
• You have maybe heard the expression that history is “His” story, the story of God.
• We will never fit together the pieces of the puzzle of this world—joy and sadness, failure and success, love and hate, kindness and cruelty, wisdom and foolishness, life and death—until we understand that the crowning moment of everything … all earth history, every person, every event, every circumstance directs us to God in his glory.
• We will see in our text this morning that Cain didn’t realize this. The world he saw through the grid of his darkened mind was a mass of confusion and lies. He didn’t know who he was. He didn’t know who God was. He was a bit player demanding his way with the Star of the show, and when God refused, he was so angry that he could murder someone. So he did.

Where are the mighty men of God?

• Did we leave them behind? Were they only relevant for Old Testament times? Or possibly they were only needed through the first century AD to establish the gospel but are no longer necessary?
• Where are the mighty men of God? Could they be sitting on a pew at Faith Fellowship Church of Tennessee, IL? Are they necessary here?
• Maybe that depends. If we are only interested in “doing church,” then maybe we don’t need mighty men and mighty women of God. But if we are intent on doing the work of God, then we need the mighty men and women of God to step forward and answer his call.

SUNDAY PM

Message Title: Where Are the Mighty Men of God?

Message Text: 2 Samuel 23

• (Genesis 4:6–7 NLT) “Why are you so angry?” the Lord asked Cain. “Why do you look so dejected? ⁷ You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.”

Do what is right, and you will be okay. Refuse to do what is right, and sin is waiting to pounce.

Is it really that simple? Yes, it is. Almost as simple as, “Don’t eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” Pretty simple.

Then why did they fail? Because they decided to reason through the options from their personal perspective, see the world through their eyes. It was all about them, not God. So even though the command was crystal clear, Eve reasoned through her options.

• (Genesis 3:6 NLT) The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too.

We don’t know the specific instructions that Cain was given to be able to present an acceptable offering. But we do know that God speaks clearly. Whatever the reason was that God did not accept Cain’s offering it was not because Cain misunderstood.

Cain demanded that God accept what he presented, and when God refused, Cain was angry enough to murder someone. So he did.

Message: The Adam Family History!

Message Text: Genesis 4-5 & Selected

• PDF GENESIS MESSAGE 14 – The Adam Family History-Eden to Noah : Genesis 4-5 : ffc : dave scott : 071716 AM : STUDY SHEET ONE
• PDF GENESIS MESSAGE 14 – The Adam Family History-Eden to Noah : Genesis 4-5 : ffc : dave scott : 071716 AM : STUDY SHEET TWO
• PDF GENESIS MESSAGE 14 – The Adam Family History-Eden to Noah : Genesis 4-5 : ffc : dave scott : 071716 AM : STUDY SHEET THREE
• PDF GENESIS MESSAGE 14 – The Adam Family History-Eden to Noah : Genesis 4-5 : ffc : dave scott : 071716 AM : STUDY SHEET FOUR

What beautiful weather. Getting some much needed rain in western Illinois. Pleasant temps; turned off the AC last night. Ah … 🙂

Might have to drag that bicycle out of the garage this afternoon. 🙂

Here is our bulletin for this week.

• PDF Bulletin FFC July 17 2016