Add PoC for 20260301

BookStudies/Zechariah/Outline.md

@@ -209,3 +209,17 @@ This section seems like it really focuses on more immediate blessings.
       have done to their King.
     * 13:1-6 - False prophets will be ashamed, they will repent, forsaking
       their illegitimate callings.
+* 13:7-9
+    * 7 - God will strike His Shepherd, the sheep will be scattered
+    * 8-9 - Two thirds of the people will be cut off, one third will be tested
+      and refined and made faithful.
+* 14:1-9 - God will bring the nations against Jerusalem, it shall fall, and the
+  saints shall flee through God's provided valley. (70AD?)
+  Blessings will flow from Jerusalem, and Yahweh will be King over the whole
+  earth.
+* 14:10-15 - (New?) Jerusalem shall be raised up, and be a blessed place to dwell.
+  God will curse all who assail her.
+* 14:16-21 - All nations will gather to worship at Jerusalem for the Feast of
+  Booths/Tabernacles.
+  Probably not the literal Feast of Booths, as it is an ordinance of the Mosaic
+  Covenant.

PHBC/PoCs/PoC-20240414.md

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+## Context
+
+Scripture Reading: Psalm 90
+
+Sermon Text: 2 Samuel 21:1-22
+
+## Prayer
+
+Father,
+
+We, all of us here, were born as rebels against you.
+Though you have redeemed many of us here today, we still fall short of the life
+modeled by your Son.
+Our hearts and actions fall short of his love.
+
+We are rash to make commitments and often fickle in following through.
+We have hurt one another with carelessness and unnecessary words.
+We have failed to care for the harm we cause or fail to make amends.
+When we are sinned against, our hearts can struggle eek out the forgiveness
+that you have bountifully lavished on us.
+
+We have set our hopes in created things.
+We have turned your gifts that you meant to lead us to you into curses that
+lead us away from you.
+We set our hearts on stories, games, and gadgets.
+Our hearts are enamored with these things before any action reveals it, and we
+often fail to steer our hearts toward their deeper delight in you.
+
+We have been prideful.
+Even the good is often done in efforts to glorify ourselves apart from you.
+We think much of our image before others.
+
+We have not properly numbered our days to apportion them to your purposes.
+We do not treat our tasks as if they are from you.
+We strive for ends that you have made futile and vain.
+We strive to be placed well in a creation that is passing away, rather than for
+the new creation that we do no yet see, as if we do not believe you that there
+will be a new creation.
+
+But you are faithful when we are not.
+You will bring the new creation and deliver us from these bodies of death, from
+the flesh that serves sin.
+Until that time, please continue in patience with us.
+
+We ask this in the name of your righteous Son, Christ Jesus.
+Amen.

PHBC/PoCs/PoC-20240721.md

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+## Context
+
+Scripture Reading: Psalm 90
+
+Sermon Text: Genesis 1:26-28
+
+## Prayer
+
+Father,
+
+We come before you right now to recognize our sin.
+We come before you to confess that we have not lived according to your purpose
+and design for us.
+
+We have failed as your image and as stewards of your creation.
+We have failed in your call to exercise dominion over creation, and have
+submitted ourselves to worshiping creatures rather than you, our Creator.
+The creation that you made us to be benevolent stewards of suffers because we
+love it wrongly.
+You made us stewards of your creation, and we have brought death upon it.
+We twist and contort your image in the world, and then set our hopes in that
+contorted image.
+
+We have scorned your design for us.
+We are ashamed of your noble callings for us.
+
+We have trained our hearts to delight in and esteem mockeries of the Gospel,
+mockeries of your manifold wisdom.
+We allow our entertainment to breed in us, sympathy for and celebration of
+things you have declared detestable.
+
+Masquerading cowardice as compassion, we fail to speak the truth.
+Masquerading animosity as compassion, we use the truth for harm.
+In this we fail as Christ's body.
+We fail as the body of him who is your perfect image.
+
+We are in many ways disciples of our culture, rather than your Son.
+We are in many ways disciples of whichever popular faction of our time seems
+best to us, rather than your Word.
+Whether we are stalwart devotees of tradition, progress, or moderation, we too
+often set our course according to the ideas of men without ever truly
+consulting your Word.
+
+But by your Word, we know that you gave your Son for us, and so we come to you
+now seeking the peace with you that is bought by the blood of his cross, that
+we may share in his life.
+We ask your forgiveness for our sin, that you would deliver us both from the
+from the consequence of our sin and from our sin itself, that we might image
+you rightly.
+
+We ask this in the name of your righteous Son, Christ Jesus.
+Amen.

PHBC/PoCs/PoC-20241020.md

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+## Context
+
+Scripture Reading: Exodus 13:1-6
+
+Sermon Text: Luke 2:21-40
+
+## Prayer
+
+Father,
+
+We were born in bondage to sin.
+Though sin was a malevolent master, we clung to it and regarded You as our
+enemy.
+But for those of us who are called by Your name, You have delivered us from
+that domain of darkness to the kingdom of Your beloved Son.
+
+Yet even now, we are forgetful of what You have delivered us from, and we look
+back to a life of not trusting You.
+We fail in devoting what You have given us to Your kingdom and glory.
+We at times even purpose Your gifts to our old master, sin.
+
+We forget what You have done for us, and thereby fail in having grateful
+hearts.
+We forget to ponder the enormity of what You have done for us.
+We neglect Your prescribed reminders of Your grace to us.
+Often, we partake only by mere accident of being here on the right day, and
+even then, too often with thoughtless boredom.
+
+In what we speak about, we are too often people marked by lesser loves, but not
+a love of Christ and his people.
+We should be overjoyed with Christ, such that we cannot stop talking about Him.
+But our excitement often falls short of looking to the ultimate Treasure.
+
+We live as though You have not made us stewards of the Truth that is
+foundational to why all things were created.
+We live as though You have not given us a great calling to live lives that
+speak incessantly to the great hope for which creation groans.
+
+We do not delight as we should in the King that You have given.
+We live for lesser kings, for sports, for movies, for games, for family.
+We live for our own kingdoms, for prestige and money, for our own
+accomplishments.
+We live for lesser delights.
+
+Now, on the grounds that You gave Your Son to redeem us, to pay the debt to
+Justice accrued by our sins, we ask that count our record clean.
+Based on Your promises, please allow us to take for ourselves the righteousness
+of Your Son, Jesus.
+
+It is in His great and holy name that we ask this.
+Amen.

PHBC/PoCs/PoC-20241215.md

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+## Context
+
+Scripture Reading: 2 Corinthians 5:16-21
+
+Sermon Text: Luke 5:12-28
+
+## Prayer
+
+Father,
+
+We, mankind, have sinned against You.
+Through our sin, we have brought sickness, suffering, and death into the world.
+Not trusting You, we brought the misery of failing bodies and fading lives.
+In accord with our sinful nature, our bodies and desires would continually
+degrade without Your intervention.
+
+We have failed in seeking closeness with You.
+We neglect Your Word and we do not seek You in prayer as we should.
+We do not seek our rest in You.
+We often see pursuing closeness with You as a chore, as work rather than rest.
+We instead seek rest in our many hobbies and interest, in things good and in
+bad, we rest in Your good gifts and also in fruits You have not given us to eat
+of.
+We can even regard work as more restful than You, who should be our rest.
+
+We at times only seek You when we have problems.
+Even when we do have problems, we still often do not look to You to be our
+help.
+We come to You only as a last resort, or at other times we seek You only so we
+can cover over our laziness.
+
+We have not regarded with honor, the calling that You give to every Christian
+to steward the message of reconciliation.
+We regularly fail in joining You in carrying into the world the reconciliation
+that You brought forth Christ.
+If the first disciples who's ministry of reconciliation we are to continue had
+our zeal, we might never have heard of Christ.
+We live for ourselves, rather than Your Son.
+
+Now on the grounds that Christ became sin for us, that He died for us that we
+might live for Him, we come to You seeking that reconciliation.
+Please, receive us back, and help us to truly live Him who died for us.
+
+It is in His name that we ask this.
+Amen.

PHBC/PoCs/PoC-20250215.md

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+## Context
+
+Scripture Reading: Hebrews 1:1-6
+
+Sermon Text: Colossians 1:15-23
+
+## Prayer
+
+Father,
+
+We come to you now to recognize that we have sinned against you.
+In accord with the nature of our birth, sin poured from hearts into our
+thoughts and actions.
+
+In turning from You, our Creator, we embraced a myriad of sins.
+In not trusting You, we blasphemed against Your goodness.
+We in turn have lied to cover and enable our sin.
+
+We regularly fail by neglecting our tasks, prioritizing frivolous achievements
+over the things that please You.
+We often regard Your Word with mere momentary interest, and we neglect bringing
+our troubles to You.
+We neglect our brothers, and do not pray for one another with diligence that we
+ought.
+
+We do not boast of our Lord as we should.
+We forget that You have given to the Church as her head, Him before whom even
+the angels bow down in worship.
+Our confidence in His power and glory and the supreme dignity of His name,
+our confidence in these things falls far short of what it should.
+We do not count it as our glory to be seen with Him, to be mocked with Him.
+
+We give ourselves to anger, which is the seed of murder.
+For our own unrighteous vindication, we relish our enmity with others.
+We try to take for ourselves and our own glory, the vengeance that rightly
+belongs to You and should vindicate You before any other.
+
+We have even set out to vindicate ourselves against Your Law.
+In Your love, You have sent many prophets to instruct us and warn us, but the
+heart of natural man would not receive it.
+Even when You sent us Your Son, the Adamic heart seethed at His witness against
+us, and we crucified the Lord of glory who forgives sins.
+
+Yet You did not count that act as unforgivable.
+You received the murder of Your Son as an atoning sacrifice to cover for the
+sins of all who would hail Him as King of kings.
+And so now, on this basis, we come to You seeking the reconciliation that is
+bought by His blood.
+
+We ask this in the most excellent name of Your Son, Our Lord, Christ Jesus.
+Amen.

PHBC/PoCs/PoC-20250601.md

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+## Context
+
+Lord's Supper
+
+## Prayer
+
+Father,
+
+We come to You as reconciled enemies.
+Our old hearts were terminally driven toward a hopeless war against You.
+We were unfailingly loyal to Adam's Rebellion.
+We were without hope, forever bound in the grip of sin and guilt.
+In every thought and deed, even when benevolent to man, we sought to dethrone
+You.
+But for Your grace, we had no capacity to turn to You.
+
+Unlike You, we, even now, fail to love our enemies as Your Son told us to.
+We return evil for evil, and sometimes even evil for good.
+We hold onto our grievances against others.
+We pine for justice, even against those for whom justice is already satisfied
+through the cross of Christ.
+
+We have wielded the tongue carelessly and brought reproach upon Your name.
+
+As the hands and feet of Your Son, who loves us, He would set us to the task of
+caring for one another.
+We neglect this task.
+
+We have played the sluggard and have not utilized our time well.
+We have prioritized trivial things over our responsibilities.
+We have given more thought to the things that please us than to the things that
+please You.
+
+When we do the things that You command, we often are consumed by pride.
+We focus wrongly on the excellence of our work when and fail to beseech You,
+that You would bless it with fruit.
+
+We take lightly the blood of Your Son.
+We give far to little thought the enormity of the price for which we were
+bought, when we turn back to the ways of the nature of our first birth.
+
+When we do well, we think ourselves sufficient before You.
+Though we would never put it to words, we adopt attitudes of thinking we
+are worthy of our spot at the Table, rather than recognizing that this Table is
+an indictment against us that proclaims our unworthiness.
+
+Now we ask that You would receive us again.
+We ask that You would count us among those for whom Christ is high priest.
+We who were washed now reaffirm our reliance on the blood of our King.
+Help us as we remember the price of our redemption, as we partake and thereby
+proclaim that it is for us that the Lamb died.
+Here we see our guilt and our pardon.
+We come to You knowing that our plea for mercy is worthless, but the plea of
+our great High Priest and His Sacrifice on our behalf is worthy.
+
+It is in Your righteous Son Christ Jesus that that we come to You.
+Amen.

PHBC/PoCs/PoC-20250727.md

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+## Context
+
+Scripture Reading: Mark 7:1-8
+
+Sermon Text: Luke 11:37-54
+
+## Prayer
+
+Father,
+
+We come to You as a people that has scorned Your holy Name, if not with our
+lips, then certainly with our actions.
+We were born with hearts that hated You.
+We knew better than to oppose You openly.
+We knew that You are unassailable and all powerful, and that all Your enemies
+will be ground into dust.
+Knowing these things, we invented ways to disguise our hate as love.
+We believed our own lies and thereby we comforted ourselves.
+And perhaps we even impressed others.
+But You were never fooled by our ruse.
+Our hearts were indeed far from You.
+
+For those of us who legitimately bear the name Christian, our greatest desire
+has been redirected to You, that we may love You truly.
+But in our flesh, we still desire many things inordinately and wrongly.
+We desire things that we should not.
+We esteem Your gifts more highly than You.
+
+We are too often an ungrateful people.
+Even on our most thankful days, we take for granted more blessings than we
+could count.
+
+We bend the truth.
+We lie both outright and subtly.
+
+We have our own standards that fall far short of Your unapproachable holiness.
+We pretend our standard is Your standard.
+We replace Your Word with vain books and podcasts.
+With eloquent words of men, whether voluminous or brief, we sweep the parts
+Your Word that we do not like away to an obscure corner and meditate on it no
+more.
+
+We esteem ourselves as living lives far more pleasing to You than we really do.
+We think our priorities are Your priorities, that our judgement is Your judgment.
+But our lives are stained tar black by sin.
+We sin in ways that seem small to us, but the natural consequences of which
+will be felt for generations to come in our families and in this church.
+Sins that we think nothing of today will make ruin of Your work here in
+generations to come.
+
+Still, in spite of our sheer abhorrence before You, You love us.
+You are patient with us.
+Unapproachable holiness stoops down in love for those who hated Him.
+The unassailable One came in flesh to bear our guilt and pay its great price,
+to be mocked, beaten, torn, and pierced by lowly creatures, so the we, though
+mired in sin, might have our hearts brought near to You.
+Father please, help us to live lives pleasing to You in all ways, that our
+lives may more closely resemble the record bequeathed to us by Your Son.
+
+It is in the name Your righteous Son, Christ Jesus that we pray.
+Amen.

PHBC/PoCs/PoC-20251116.md

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+## Context
+
+Scripture Reading: Genesis 19:12-26
+
+Sermon Text: Luke 17:20-37
+
+## Prayer
+
+Father,
+
+We come to You now to recognize that we are people of a fallen world.
+In accord with the world that we were born of, we are sinners that seek to
+delight our hearts outside of You and Your prescriptions.
+You are merciful to warn us not to set our hopes on a fallen world and provide
+means of escape.
+We are stubborn, doubting You and clinging to a world who's destruction is
+sure.
+You are again merciful to seize our hearts when we do not listen.
+
+We remain fickle in our conviction of Your warnings though.
+We have a love for the dying world that will inevitably fail us, and we
+continue to ponder what it offers.
+We carry the inclination to again gaze upon that from which we must depart.
+We doubt You and we ponder the hopes of the flesh.
+
+Though we often lack contentment, we are complacent.
+We purpose our days to satisfy desires rooted in a world that we must depart
+from.
+We set our cravings and delight on that which is of this world, rather than
+pouring ourselves into eternal good.
+We delight in possessions and entertainment and vacations, and we let the
+eternal weightiness of our brothers' faithfulness fall by the wayside.
+We neglect warning others of the wrath to come.
+We are embarrassed to speak of Your judgment.
+
+We live as if these few decades in our fallen bodies are the only years we will
+ever live.
+We live as though all that we ever do, we must do now, having little hope for
+the surpassing majesty of the eternity that You have planned for us.
+We work for advancement in the fallen world, giving insufficient thought to
+investment in the world to come.
+We pay little mind to the rewards of the age to come.
+
+We revel in the faded glories of history, seldom recognizing that the glories
+of the great empires of this age and ages past as the paltry things that they
+are compared to the glory of the kingdom to come.
+
+Now, we ask that You forgive us.
+We ask because of the blood of Your Son, which was shed for us.
+You seized our hearts to awaken us to our peril, now keep hold and ensure that
+we press on to the safety that You prescribe.
+
+It is in the name Your righteous Son, Christ Jesus that we pray.
+Amen.

PHBC/PoCs/PoC-20260301.md

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+## Context
+
+Lord's Supper
+
+Scripture Reading: 1 Peter 1:3-19
+
+Sermon Text: Luke 20:27-47
+
+## Prayer
+
+Our Father,
+
+We come to you as sinners, inheritors of futile ways.
+Following our first father according to the flesh, we turned from You and
+forgot You, cultivating inexcusable ignorance.
+We are heirs of a sinful nature, of defiled hearts given to corrupt desires.
+
+Both we and our forefathers have sinned.
+We insulted You by placing our trust in innumerable idols made of perishable things.
+The worshipful cravings of our hearts drifted to unworthy objects, rather than
+the one God that could satisfy.
+
+We have placed our hope for happiness in money and possessions and family and
+all manner of created things.
+We fixate on an age that is passing.
+Desiring the honor of man, we act boastfully and we devour one another, while
+forgetting our great hope for the honor that will come at the revelation of
+Your Son.
+
+We take little joy in the glories of the mysteries veiled in ages passed.
+
+We beneficiaries of the great wonder for which creation exists still seek after
+the cravings of the ignorance from which we are now free.
+We know by Your Word that we must be reminded not to indulge fleshly passions.
+We indulge the desires of the natural man, as we neglect the deeper longings
+that You have awakened within us.
+
+You have awakened us to tastes for Bread more delectable than creation could
+ever imagine, but we indulgent people insult You still.
+We do not glut on the all satisfying glories found in Your Word.
+We taste, but we do not devour.
+We do not drink deeply Your inexpressible joys.
+We settle for the common delights of a fallen creation that was always intended
+to be less than that which we are now called to.
+
+Sinful passions pervade our lives, but we come to You now in hope.
+
+By blood, we are sinners, but the blood of Your Son is righteous and is given
+as ransom for us.
+
+We confess now our sin and our hope in words, shortly we will confess again as
+we partake.
+Hear our plea, as we again appeal to You again for a good conscience.
+
+It was for us, for our sin, that the body and blood before us now was broken
+and shed.
+And in the presence of this blood, no accuser can stand, and so we come to You
+now.
+
+You, oh God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, be Father to us.
+Help us to turn from the inheritance of Adam, and to Your inheritance, that was
+secured for us by the precious blood of Your Son.
+
+It is in the name of Your righteous Son Christ Jesus that that we come to You.
+Amen.

PHBC/Sermonettes/1Cor/1_10-4/1_10-14.md

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+# One Foundation
+
+Paul begins this section of 1 Corinthians with a simple appeal to the
+Corinthians to be united.
+Paul begins this section with a bafflingly simple appeal.
+
+    "be united in the same mind and in the same judgment."
+
+You don't resolve disagreements with such appeals.
+It's usually naive to to think that you can.
+
+## Do Not Divide Over Teachers
+
+But as we read on, we see the reason why.
+To put it bluntly, these are basically just really dumb disagreements.
+The Corinthians are dividing over different *faithful* teachers.
+They are associating so strongly with certain teachers they sinfully exclude
+those who follow other teachers.
+Their faith is defined by the likes of Paul or Peter or Apollos, to the
+exclusion of all others.
+
+I want to start with a point of clarification.
+Paul is opposing division here, but there are other places where he insists on
+it.
+There is good division and bad division.
+As a general rule, we divide over teaching and sinful behavior, but do not
+divide over teachers who teach the same thing.
+
+Now, there are times when we are introduced to new teachers and we just don't
+know what they are about.
+I have family members who I would love to have spend more time listening to the
+likes of John Piper.
+I know the teaching of John Piper and trust him.
+They listen to other people who I am not familiar with, and I have to
+investigate.
+
+Do these teachers faithfully proclaim the gospel?
+Do they faithfully teach God's Word?
+If the answer to that is yes, then we have unity and should act accordingly.
+
+## Christ Is Not Divided
+
+Look at verse 13 - in response to the teacher oriented factions of the
+Corinthians, Paul asks, "Is Christ divided?"
+I'm going to go ahead and say that Paul is asking a rhetorical question and
+that it should be obvious that the answer is 'no'.
+
+Paul is not truly telling us to become united.
+Paul is telling us to act according to a unity that we already have.
+
+If someone is claimed by Christ and commissioned by Christ and they teach
+Christ faithfully, then to set that teacher against another that teaches Christ
+faithfully is to set Christ against Himself.
+
+And of course, the people saying that they follow Paul or Peter or Apollos are
+missing the point.
+But, notice that among Paul's list of factions in verse 12, there is a faction
+that says it follows Christ, and yet Paul still rebukes them.
+We might be inclined to sidestep such disagreements in this way.
+But if we receive Christ and do not receive those who are His, then we set Him
+against His own.
+By saying I follow Christ and I do not follow Paul, we set Christ against Paul.
+We set the Head against the Body.
+
+Saying that we learned from a particular teachers as opposed to other teachers
+is fine.
+We all have teachers who have influenced us more than others.
+If we are faithful in following faithful teachers, then we are united in the
+truth of the gospel with those who follow other faithful teachers.
+
+Like most members of this church, I would not say that I follow Josh Hayward.
+I would not say that I have really learned from him.
+But if he proclaims Christ faithfully, if he proclaims the gospel faithfully,
+then we must regard him and those who do follow him as being of the same body
+as us.
+We do not follow the man Josh Hayward, but we do follow his teaching because it
+is the same teaching that we have here.
+Where we lack unity in under-shepherds, we are united in the Great Shepherd.
+We have unity with them, and we should regard one another accordingly.
+
+## Christ Defines the Church
+
+Look again at Paul's question in verse 13, "Is Christ divided?"
+Paul does not ask, "Is Cephas divided?"
+Peter is in no way a uniting head of the Church.
+Paul and Apollos and Peter are members of Christ - and no other.
+Christ is the one of whom these others are members.
+
+Continuing verse 13, Paul asks, "Was Paul crucified for you?"
+
+By the time of this writing, many martyrs had already been minted for the sake
+of the spread of the gospel.
+Opposition to God's Word spilled the blood of many prophets before Christ came.
+In that sense, we could say that many faithful believers have died for us, but
+Christ stands alone in having a death that appeases the wrath of God.
+
+Accordingly, Paul then asks, "were you baptized in the name of Paul?"
+Which is to ask, did you profess faith in Paul in baptism?
+Is it by the name of Paul that you entered the church?
+
+No.
+We have one baptism, which is in Christ, regardless of whether we were baptized
+2000 years ago by an apostle or here by Samuel - or by the next Senior Pastor.
+It is by professing the name of Christ that we enter the church.
+
+And notice verse 14.
+Paul is grateful that he baptized only a few of them, thinking that they might
+cling to him as the grounding of their baptism.
+Our faith is in no way defined by our baptizer.
+Both our baptism and the faith expressed in it are grounded in Christ.
+
+### Christ Is More Than A Teacher
+
+Christ is more than merely the pedagogical ancestor of all other faithful
+teachers.
+A fully trained teacher cannot ever become a substitute for Christ Himself.
+
+Christ did not come proclaiming a system that can exist apart from Him.
+We do not put our faith in a system named Christianity.
+We put our faith in the person of Christ.
+
+He died for us in a way that no one else could and we are called to be baptized
+in His name, expressing our trust in the significance of His death for us.
+
+Christ did tell us how we should live, but we do not derive our life from these
+things.
+Christ taught more than mere principles by which we should live.
+We do not have life because we live as Christ taught us to live, we have life
+because of how Christ lived.
+We have life because of who Christ is and what He has done.
+
+And then because of that life that we have, we live as He taught us to live.
+
+Many philosophers and mathematicians have systems of thought and formulas named
+after them.
+Platonism can exist apart from Plato.
+The Pythagorean Theorem can exist apart from Pythagoras.
+Marxism could be conceived of apart from Marx.
+But there is no Christianity without Christ.
+And if we truly have Christ, we have Christianity.
+
+Christianity is not incomplete without any particular teacher, other than
+Christ Himself, who is the teaching.
+
+( reference 4:7 here? )
+
+## Ending
+
+I chose this passage months ago.
+In the time since I chose it, we have become a people for whom this passage has
+become increasingly relevant.
+While we do quarrel over teachers at times, I believe that we generally do so
+with lightheartedness.
+
+But in the coming year, we will be called to receive a new voice in our pulpit.
+A new baptizer.
+
+I miss the voice of Ryan and will miss the voice of Samuel, but the Christ that
+they proclaimed will continue be heralded here.
+God used them to build up this church.
+They carried the torch to here, and now Russ carries it forward.
+
+Though we love the voices that we have lost and are losing, the true value that
+they provided came not from them, but from God's Word.
+Samuel's work here will continue, because it is not ultimately his work.
+God will continue His work here.
+
+
+### Comment on Samuel's Mission
+
+As I reflect on how we are thinking that we must release Samuel to go and do
+something that he is almost uniquely gifted to do for the nation of Romania,
+part of me wants to say, "He is going to spread the 9Marks way."
+"Go forth make disciples of the Park Hills way of all nations."
+But other resources exist to convey the ecclesiological teachings of 9Marks.
+
+There is nothing truly unique about our teachers or the 9Marks ecosystem that
+Romania needs.
+In truth, God could have called anyone from any multitude of schools of thought
+to this task.
+What is required is the faithful proclaim of God's Word.
+
+
+As I close here, I want to note that I wrote what I am about to say in the last
+hours of August.
+I had no idea when writing this how prescient this sentiment would be for us
+now.
+
+God can take away our teachers or assign us to other teachers at any time.
+But whoever He assigns to us and to those we love, we should receive warmly as
+gifts from God so long as they remain faithful to the gospel of our Christ.

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+# One Foundation
+
+This passage begins Paul's first major line of thought in this epistle.
+This line of thought will stretch from 1:10 to 4:17.
+
+This passage explains the occasion and is the launching point for a three and a
+half chapter treatment on how we should think about our teachers.
+The occasion for this treatment is division in the Corinthian church.
+
+Paul begins this section with a simple appeal to the Corinthians to be united.
+The appeal is almost bafflingly simplistic.
+
+    "be united in the same mind and in the same judgment."
+
+When was the last time you resolved a disagreement by simply telling the
+parties involve to agree?
+
+## Do Not Divide Over Teachers
+
+But as we read on, we see that these are basically just really dumb
+disagreements.
+The Corinthians are dividing over different *faithful* teachers.
+Now, when someone is teaching dangerous things, depending on degree, we might
+divide over it.
+And we should note that Paul is rebuking all divisions, but specifically
+division over faithful teachers.
+
+### Good & Bad Division
+
+There are times when division is absolutely necessary.
+Later in this letter, in chapter 11, Paul speaks of an unfortunate necessity of
+division, saying that "there must be factions among you in order that those who
+are genuine among you may be recognized."
+In chapter 5, Paul instructs the Corinthians to divide from an individual who
+is living in flagrant sin.
+
+And we here at Park Hills Baptist Church divide over teachings.
+We have a confessional standard for membership in the form of the Baptist Faith
+and Message 2000.
+If someone is unable to subscribe to that, we do not receive them as a member.
+
+This is not an alien idea to Paul either.
+In Galatians, he does establish that there are categories for orthodoxy and
+heterodoxy.
+
+In Galatians, he rebukes the teaching of a faction in the Galatian church that
+advocated for teaching that was so bad that you cannot believe this and be a
+Christian.
+In Galatians 5:3-4, Paul writes this:
+    "I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated
+    to keep the whole law. You are severed from Christ, you who would be
+    justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace."
+
+All of that to underscore the point that there is good division and bad division.
+We absolutely do divide over teach-*ing*.
+Taking the Bible as a whole, this text should not at all be used to say that we
+should never divide over anything.
+But the division over teach-*ers* that we see here is bad division.
+
+I have known very faithful believers who have avidly listened to very bad
+teachers.
+When I point out the dangers, they agree wholeheartedly that those are
+serious deficiencies.
+I don't know how these friends could listen to this teacher believing what they
+believed, but they don't believe as he teaches, so we went on to have great
+fellowship around all of the teachings that agree on.
+I imagine many of you have similar stories.
+
+This is not to say you should not have serious concern if someone is listening
+to a bad teacher.
+It might be wise to warn them away from that teacher.
+But if they remain firmly rooted in God's Word, we should be slow to break
+fellowship over who they listen to.
+Wisdom may dictate that we need to create some separation at a certain point,
+simply over the teachers, regardless of the teaching that someone accepts, but
+we should be much slower to divide teachers than teachings.
+And certainly, we should not divide over different faithful teachers.
+
+I want to focus on teachers that teach mostly the same things here.
+We want to think on divisions over teachers, not teachings.
+
+We should not divide over our preference for John Piper over John MacArthur, or
+vice versa.
+There are some differences in their teaching to be sure, but the overlap is far
+bigger than the difference and they would generally be far more charitable
+toward each other than many of their followers are to the other camp.
+If they both, by in large, serve Christ faithfully and would be joyfully
+claimed by Him, we should wish them both well and rejoice when our brothers are
+helped by them.
+
+## Christ Is Not Divided
+
+In verse 13, in response to the teacher oriented factions of the Corinthians,
+Paul asks, "Is Christ divided?"
+If someone is claimed by Christ and commissioned by Christ, if they teach
+Christ faithfully, then to set Him against another that teaches Christ
+faithfully is to divide Christ.
+
+Now, notice that among Paul's list of factions in verse 12, there is a faction
+that says it follows Christ, and yet Paul still rebukes them.
+We might be inclined to sidestep such disagreements in this way.
+But if we receive Christ and do not receive those who are His, then we set Him
+against His own.
+By saying I follow Christ and I do not follow Paul, we set Christ against Paul.
+We set the Head against the Body.
+
+Saying that you learned from a particular teacher as opposed to another is
+fine.
+We all have teachers who have influenced us more than others, but we are united
+in the truth of the gospel.
+
+I would not say that I follow Josh Hayward.
+He just hasn't had much influence in my life and I've spent very little time
+listening to him.
+With that said, he seems to be a faithful teacher and I would not have any beef
+with the members of Kinney Avenue Baptist Church over the fact that they follow
+him.
+We should and generally do recognize Josh Hayward, and happily greet those who
+sit under his teaching, because he teaches and they receive Christ.
+We should happily commend him and Kinney to our visitors.
+Where we lack unity in under-shepherds, we are united in the Great Shepherd.
+
+## Christ Is The Teaching
+
+In verse 13, Paul asks, "Was Paul crucified for you?"
+Paul points us to what Christ has done, in turn points us to who He is.
+
+Paul then asks, "were you baptized in the name of Paul?"
+Which is to ask, did you profess faith in Paul in baptism?
+Is it by the name of Paul that you entered the church?
+
+No.
+We have one baptism, which is in Christ.
+It is by professing the name of Christ that we enter the church.
+
+Thus far, we have compared Christ to other teachers, and it is true that Christ
+is the ultimate teacher.
+Christ is the great fountain from which all of this flows.
+All teachers, when faithful, teach in accord with what Christ taught.
+
+But Christ is more than merely the pedagogical ancestor of all other faithful
+teachers.
+A fully trained teacher cannot ever become a substitute for Christ Himself.
+Many people today like to talk about the message of Christ, usually His
+teachings on love and giving to the poor.
+Those are good things that Christ did speak to, but the real message of Christ
+is Christ.
+
+Christ did not pass on ideas that can exist apart from Him.
+Without Christ, there would be nothing to teach.
+Many philosophers and mathematicians have systems of thought and formulas named
+after them.
+There can be Platonism without Plato.
+The Pythagorean theorem exists apart from Pythagoras.
+God could have used anyone to convey what we know as the Mosaic Law.
+But without Christ, there is no Christianity.
+
+These other systems could have been invented by anyone, but that simply
+cannot be said of Christianity.
+Where Aristotle taught logic, Christ taught Christ, and no other man would do.
+
+Christ did tell us how we should live, but we do not derive our life from these
+things.
+Christ taught more than mere principles by which we should live.
+We do not have life because we live as Christ taught us to live, we have life
+because of how Christ lived.
+We have life because of who Christ is and what He has done.
+
+And there is simply no other person who could do what Christ has done.
+
+No one else's death could have accomplished what His death has accomplished.
+Every other man already owes his life for his own sin, and even if he did not,
+he simply is not worth what the Son of God is worth.
+
+Christ is the one and only God-man.
+The one and only truly righteous man.
+The Son of God, in the flesh of man, giving His life.
+The just for the unjust.
+The Creator for the created.
+
+PAUSE
+
+No other teacher is the great fountain from which life springs.
+If someone claims to offer you something you cannot get from any other teacher,
+run.
+The only one who offers what no one else can is Christ.
+All faithful teachers are united to Christ, and thereby united other faithful
+teachers.
+
+Christ died for members of Park Hills Baptist Church and for members of Kinney
+Avenue Baptist Church alike.
+We have different under-shepherds, but we share the same Chief Shepherd.
+
+As I close here, I want to note that wrote what I am about to say in the last
+hours of August.
+I had no idea when writing this how prescient this sentiment would be for us
+now.
+
+God can take away our teachers or assign us to other teachers at any time.
+But whoever He assigns to us and to those we love, we should receive warmly as
+gifts from God so long as they remain faithful to the gospel of our Christ.
+

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+
+# Analysis
+
+1. Structure
+
+    * 10-11: Opening appeal for unity in the face of division - just agree!
+    * 12: Examples of specific category of divisive behavior.
+    * 13: Is Christ divided? Were you baptized in the name of Paul?
+    * 14-17: Thankful he baptized a only small number of people.
+    * 17: Paul was sent to preach the gospel, but not by his own prowess.
+
+2. Context
+
+    1. Before: Greeting, After: The power of the gospel is not in man.
+       1 Cor. 1:10-4:21 basically makes one long argument about how we should
+       regard teachers, for the sake of speaking against dividing over
+       teachers.
+    2. Christianity is not highly regarded in Roman or Jewish society.
+       Christians represent a small minority.
+       Christianity is seen as a sect of Judaism started by a band of
+       uneducated commoners.
+    3.
+    4.
+        * 1 Cor 10:12-31 - divisions issuing from pride over gifts
+
+3. Argument of author?
+
+    Christ died for us, so we center on and agree in him.
+    Christ is the focal point, thus we are united with all who unite with him.
+
+4. What aspect of the gospel is here?
+
+    * Christ's death is explicitly talked about.
+    * The word gospel is used.
+
+5. My argument.
+
+    Following author.
+
+6. Application
+
+    * Don't identify with teachers over Christ.
+    * Don't divide over faithful teachers.
+
+7. Title and Outline
+
+    The Unity of Christ
+
+    * Christians ought to be united in and agree in Christ.
+    * The form of division being addressed here is quarreling over teachers.
+    * Side note: unity in Christ requires unity in belief, as tested through
+      our lives. Grave sin is cause for division.
+    * Setting the Body against itself divides Christ, as does setting the Head
+      against the Body.
+    * Christ is our focal point, not lesser teachers.
+
+# Manuscript
+
+## Intro
+
+This passage begins Paul's first major line of thought in this epistle.
+This line of thought will stretch from 1:10 to 4:17.
+
+Paul's argument through these chapters revolves around how we should regard our
+teachers.
+The occasion for this is an early instance of a pattern behavior that would
+repeat itself countless times between his writing this letter and now.
+To our sorrow and to our shame, the history of the Church is replete with
+unnecessary division.
+We are no strangers to cults of personality.
+
+In our own church here, we know various people who like and dislike the
+teachers that we listen to.
+We can form an affinity for someone from knowing that they listen to the same
+people that we listen to the same people, that they think like us.
+On the other hand, we can have a tendency to regard our brothers as foolish or
+even as adversaries when we hear that they listen to people that we do not
+like.
+
+## The Corinthians should be in agreement.
+
+Paul starts this section of this letter to the Corinthian church with a
+bafflingly plain admonishment.
+On the surface this admonishment sounds rather naive.
+"Agree. Be united in one mind."
+It's a bit like asking a sick person, "Have you tried not being sick?"
+
+My initial reaction as I approached this passage was, "Paul, don't you
+understand that they disagree? They can't just snap their fingers and agree!"
+Disagreements can take much effort and contention to resolve.
+On what should we agree?
+How about telling them how they should resolve their disagreements?
+
+Now, we do have other places in Paul's writings where he addresses how to
+handle disagreement.
+In Romans 14, Paul instructs us to show grace with regard to differences of
+conscience.
+There are some issues, with examples given, that we should not divide with a
+brother on.
+Not every conviction that we hold should be regarded as essential to a credible
+profession of faith.
+We should have unity in Christ amidst certain disagreements.
+
+Calls for unity are not simply unbounded either.
+Later in this same epistle, Paul tells the Corinthians to expel one of their
+own for sexual immorality.
+But Paul gives no qualifier here.
+He is not telling us to, tolerate our differences on Pentecost or foods or
+yoga.
+Where in Romans 14, Paul tries give some sort of instruction for navigating
+disagreement, here Paul simply says to agree, be of one mind, and be united.
+
+I think plainness of Paul's admonishment here directs us to look at the nature
+of the disagreement.
+This is not an appeal for unity that can be applied to any division in the
+church.
+Paul is able to make such a plain and simple appeal here because the
+disagreements that Paul is addressing have no substance to them.
+These disagreements are baseless, and Paul is about to spend the next two and a
+half chapters explaining why they are baseless.
+
+
+## The Corinthians are dividing over faithful teachers
+
+So, what is it that the Corinthians are dividing over?
+They are fighting about which teachers they like best.
+That might be a matter of substance in some circumstances, but we know from
+other parts of the New Testament that Paul happily partnered with both Peter
+and Apollos in the gospel.
+The Corinthians are fighting about teachers who all more or less teach the same
+things.
+These teachers in fact happily commend one another.
+
+And if you think you can side step all of these disagreements by simply saying,
+"Well, I'm of Christ", then Paul has something for that too.
+If we cannot affirm Paul and Peter and Apollos as all being of Christ, then we
+set Christ against his faithful servants.
+You cannot preserve the unity of the church by throwing faithful men under the
+bus.
+
+It can seem godly and enlightened to try to transcend conflict by saying that
+both sides are wrong, and we just follow Christ.
+But what if Christ is actually pleased with the person that we are throwing
+under the bus?
+
+If a teacher is faithfully doing what God, through his Word, has told him to
+do, and we indict him as unfaithful, then we are sinning.
+For one, we are sinning against a faithful brother with false charges.
+Two, we undermine his good work by saying that it is not of God, and thereby
+hinder our hearers from benefiting from it.
+So, we sin against those who might benefit from his work.
+Three, we besmirch the name of Christ by setting him against something
+legitimately good and lie about his loving regard for a faithful servant.
+
+We are allowed to have our favorite teachers.
+I could certainly name some well respected teachers that I think are overrated,
+and I could name others that I wish were more highly regarded.
+Even among faithful men, I think some of the big names are just overhyped.
+And I don't see anything wrong with me holding that opinion.
+
+But if I set Christ against them, either directly or through
+other faithful men, then that harms the Church.
+
+So, this sinful division can manifest in a couple of ways:
+
+    1. We can singularly associate following Christ with a particular teacher
+       or institution.
+       Looking at history, western Christians made entered into this error
+       rather strongly 1000 years ago when we allowed the Pope at the time to
+       anathematize all who do not recognize the Papacy.
+       Within our circles, we might look upon with suspicion anyone who is not
+       explicitly a proponent of John Calvin.
+       Or we might be more narrowly only want to associate with those who
+       follow John MacArthur or 9 Marks.
+    2. We can be overly dismissive of other believers for who they do follow
+       and associate with.
+       Now, there is prudence in teachers choosing to only work closely with
+       those with whom they share fairly close agreement.
+       And if someone is following teachers with radically differing teachings,
+       there can be real challenges to unity.
+       If someone listens to the likes of Andy Stanley, then most of us would
+       probably find meaningful disagreements with that person.
+       But if our factions revolve around pitting the likes of John Piper
+       against John MacArthur, then we are probably making mountains out of
+       molehills.
+       Factions within evangelicalism do exist around these two individuals,
+       despite the fact that the have happily worked together as recently as
+       last year.
+
+## Setting the Body against itself divides Christ.
+
+Our focal point should be Christ.
+Our unity should be set on Christ.
+But simply saying that we are united in Christ is not enough.
+
+
+## Christ is our focal point, not lesser teachers.
+
+The Church is defined by her union with Christ.
+
+Other than Christ, there is no unifying head of the Church.
+We are not all united in Peter, who is listed here with the name Cephas, as
+among those who are not the focal point of unity.
+The supposed first Pope receives no special mention as a uniting head of the
+Church.
+Peter's name shows up right along side Paul and Apollos, as nothing particularly
+special.
+
+Unity with Christ means unity with others who are also united with Christ, and
+so dividing with them divides Christ.
+
+Now, thus far, we have compared Christ to other teachers, and it is true that
+Christ is the ultimate teacher.
+All teachers, when faithful, teach in accord with what Christ taught.
+
+But Christ is more than simply the pedagogical ancestor of all other faithful
+teachers.
+Many people today like to talk about the message of Christ, usually His
+teachings on love and giving to the poor.
+Those are good things that Christ did speak to, but the real message of Christ
+is Christ.
+
+Christ did not pass on ideas that can exist apart from Him.
+Without Christ, there would be nothing to teach.
+Many philosophers and mathematicians have systems of thought and formulas named
+after them.
+But Platonism could exist apart from Plato, and the Pythagorean theorem could
+exist apart from Pythagoras.
+These systems could have been given invented by anyone, but that simply cannot
+be said of Christianity.
+Where Aristotle taught logic, Christ taught Christ.
+
+We unite in Christ not merely because of his teaching, but because of His deity
+and because of He died for us.
+And His death carried a significance that no other death could.
+...

PHBC/Sermonettes/1Cor/1_10-4/1_17-25-manuscript.md

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+
+
+Now, thus far, we have compared Christ to other teachers, and it is true that
+Christ is the ultimate teacher.
+Christ is the great fountain from which all of this flows.
+All teachers, when faithful, teach in accord with what Christ taught.
+
+But Christ is more than merely the pedagogical ancestor of all other faithful
+teachers.
+Many people today like to talk about the message of Christ, usually His
+teachings on love and giving to the poor.
+Those are good things that Christ did speak to, but the real message of Christ
+is Christ.
+
+Christ did not pass on ideas that can exist apart from Him.
+Without Christ, there would be nothing to teach.
+Many philosophers and mathematicians have systems of thought and formulas named
+after them.
+There can be Platonism without Plato.
+The Pythagorean theorem exists apart from Pythagoras.
+God could have used anyone to convey what we know as the Mosaic Law.
+But without Christ, there is no Christianity.
+
+These other systems could have been given invented by anyone, but that simply
+cannot be said of Christianity.
+Where Aristotle taught logic, Christ taught Christ.
+
+As Paul says in verse 17, he brought nothing to give power to the gospel
+through eloquent wisdom.
+There is nothing that man can devise that will truly turn man's heart to God or
+make man acceptable to God.
+We must go to the cross of Christ.
+
+Some teachers are well spoken, and we appreciate that, but the gospel is of
+Christ.
+It is more than a man's instruction on how to live.
+It is about the God-man who lived and died and lives again for us.
+
+Philosophy and ethics are laughably hopeless endeavors to set man aright.
+Stoicism will not save us, neither will someone's 12 rules for life.
+Those things may do some worldly good, but they will make for a pitiful defense
+on the last day.
+
+Christ did tell us how we should live, but we do not derive our life from these
+things.
+Christ taught more than mere principles by which we should live.
+We do not have life because of how we live, we have life because of Christ.
+We have life because of who Christ is and what He has done.
+
+And there is simply no other person that could do what Christ has done.
+Christ is the one and only God-man.
+The one and only truly righteous man.
+The Son of God, in the flesh of man, giving His life.
+The just for the unjust.
+The Creator for the created.
+
+No one else's death could have accomplished what His death has accomplished.
+Every other man already owes his life for his own sin, and even if he did not,
+he simply is not worth what Christ is worth.
+
+PAUSE
+
+No other teacher is the great fountain from which life springs.
+If someone claims to offer you something you cannot get from any other teacher,
+run.
+The only one who offers what no one else can is Christ.
+
+Christ died for members of Park Hills Baptist Church and for members of Kinney
+Avenue Baptist Church alike.
+He died for 9 Marks followers and for Founders followers.
+We have different under-shepherds, but we share the same Chief Shepherd.
+
+God can take away our teachers or assign us to other teachers at any time.
+But whoever He assigns to us and to those we love, we should receive warmly as
+gifts from God so long as they remain faithful to the gospel of our Christ.
+