The Heart of the Problem

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The Heart of the Problem

Kingdom Perspective

April 17, 2024 • Don Willeman

Transcript:

Hello this is Pastor Don of Christ Redeemer Church of Hanover, NH. Welcome to The Kingdom Perspective.

If what Jesus tells us is true, then the heart of our problem is the problem of the human heart.

Jesus warns that our basic problem is not merely external or being in this group vs. that group. Rather, in Mark 7, he gathers all the people and tells them this:

20 … “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. 21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

This reminds me of that powerful statement by the great Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn as he’s trying to make sense of his experience in the Soviet gulag, the labor camp he was unjustly condemned to:

“If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?”

~Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago 1918–1956

Indeed, the heart of the problem is a problem of the heart. And to destroy a piece of our heart, indeed, to be given a whole new heart, is exactly what we need, and it is exactly what God has promised us in Jesus Christ.

Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective.

And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.” And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?”(Thus he declared all foods clean.) And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

~Mark 7:14-23 (ESV)

“I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.”

~Ezekiel 36:24-28 (ESV)

Billiards and the Being of God

May 21, 2024 • Don Willeman

Transcript: Hello this is Pastor Don of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to The Kingdom Perspective. What is God like? What kind of being is He? Well, we must begin with this. The most fundamental distinction in being is that between the Creator and creation. God is a being unlike anything in all the created realm, precisely because He is the Creator of the created realm. God is not a being competing for space in the world. God is not a being competing for causality in the world. The question is not whether you caused something, or God caused something. Or this or that causing something versus God causing something. God’s relationship with matter and causality are quite different than any other being in the world. For example, consider a billiard table. The cue ball competes with the space where the eight ball exists. When the cue ball strikes the space and material existence of the eight ball, it causes the eight ball to move. The two cannot occupy the same space because their existence is contingent upon space and matter. But God does not exist in this way. God’s being is utterly unique from all other being. God’s being is not contingent; it is not dependent upon or caused by anything outside Himself. God is not merely one being existing alongside another, but rather the very ground of being. So, in this sense, God is beyond our common understanding of being. Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective. “Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” ~Exodus 3:13-14 (ESV) *Below, we are appending some basic catechism questions that go along with this Kingdom Perspective. A catechism is a classical Christian teaching device, helping both children and adults better understand the unique claims of the Bible. Below, you will find questions taken from both a children’s catechism and a more advanced catechism. For the full catechisms, you may go to our website by clicking https://storage2.snappages.site/mv392j/assets/files/familydevotionalguide.pdf. Questions for Kids: A Basic Catechism for Children 16. What does God do for His creation? He rules and cares for it. An Advanced Catechism 10. What is the work of creation? The work of creation is a picture of redemption through Christ Jesus, with God making all things (Genesis 1:1) of nothing, by the Word of His power, (Hebrews 11:3) in the space of six days, (Exodus 20:11) and all very good. (Genesis 1:31) 11. What is God’s providence? God’s providence is His wise and absolute rule over all of His creation, including all of man’s actions, in order to reveal the glorious Gospel of His Son for His eternal glory. (Psalm 115:3; Daniel 4:34-35; Ephesians 1:3-14)

The Triune God

May 16, 2024 • Don Willeman

Transcript: Hello this is Pastor Don of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to The Kingdom Perspective. God is a being like no other. Since the Creator is the one who gives being to everything—something no other being can do—it follows that He must be categorically unlike anything else. Thus, we should not expect to totally comprehend God. However, just because we cannot know God fully, doesn’t mean we can’t know him Truly. Although we are unable to “climb up” and discover God, this is no hindrance for God to, so to speak, “come down” and reveal Himself to us. And this is exactly what God has done for us in the Bible. Now, one truth God has revealed about Himself is that from all eternity He has existed as a love relationship of three persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is what we call the Trinity. The theologians summarize this in three basic propositions: · First, each person of the Trinity is equally God—the Father is God; the Son is God; the Holy Spirit is God. · Second, the three persons of the Trinity are all eternally distinct persons—the Father is not the Son; the Son is not the Father; the Holy Spirit is neither the Father nor the Son. · And yet, thirdly, there is only one God—One God in three persons, and three persons in one God. Although we can know this for certain, yet the triune nature of God remains a great mystery—something we will ponder, worship, and delight in all our days. Although we may not get our minds around it, yet this truth drives us to praise God, for by it we know that love is real because we now know that God IS eternal love relationship. And that’s something, not only to think about, but to adore in worship, from the Kingdom Perspective. “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete." ~1 John 1:1-4 (ESV) “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” ~John 17:20-26 (ESV) *Below, we are appending some basic catechism questions that go along with this Kingdom Perspective. A catechism is a classical Christian teaching device, helping both children and adults better understand the unique claims of the Bible. Below, you will find questions taken from both a children’s catechism and a more advanced catechism. For the full catechisms, you may go to our website by clicking https://storage2.snappages.site/mv392j/assets/files/familydevotionalguide.pdf. Questions for Kids: A Basic Catechism for Children 14. How many Gods are there? There is only one true God. 15. How many persons is this one true God? Three. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. An Advanced Catechism 8. Are there more Gods than one? There is but one only, (Deuteronomy 6:4) the living and true God. (Jeremiah 10:10) 9. How many persons are there in the Godhead? There are three persons in the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one God, the same in essence, equal in power and glory. (1 John 5:7; Matthew 28:19)

What is God Like?

May 14, 2024 • Don Willeman

Transcript: Hello this is Pastor Don of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to The Kingdom Perspective. What is God like? In one sense, this is a very difficult question. Why? Well, whenever we ask what something is “like”, we are trying to make a comparison to other things. But God is not like anything in creation. The most fundamental theological distinction is between the Creator and the creation. There is an infinite gulf between the Maker and the thing made. As God says in Isaiah: “To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him?” (Isaiah 40:25, ESV). God, by definition, is a being like no other. However, though we cannot fully comprehend God, this doesn’t mean that God is unable communicate Himself to us. God longs for us to know Him, and so, He has stooped to make Himself known. We may not be able to make sense of God, but God is able to make sense of Himself to us. So, what are some things that God has told us about Himself? God has told us that He is Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, love, purity, and truth. He has told us that He is not constrained by creaturely limitations. God is not limited in knowledge; He’s omniscient. He’s not limited by time and space; He omnipresent. He’s not limited in power; He’s omnipotent. Although we are limited by all sorts of things—time, matter, space, the will of others—God is not. He is totally free to do all His holy will. Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective. Isaiah 40 (ESV) 9 Go on up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!” 10 Behold, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. 11 He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young. 12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? 13 Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord, or what man shows him his counsel? 14 Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding? 15 Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales; behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust. 16 Lebanon would not suffice for fuel, nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering. 17 All the nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness. 18 To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him? 19 An idol! A craftsman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts for it silver chains. 20 He who is too impoverished for an offering chooses wood that will not rot; he seeks out a skillful craftsman to set up an idol that will not move. 21 Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? 22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in; 23 who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness. 24 Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows on them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble. 25 To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One. 26 Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name; by the greatness of his might and because he is strong in power, not one is missing. *Below, we are appending some basic catechism questions that go along with this Kingdom Perspective. A catechism is a classical Christian teaching device, helping both children and adults better understand the unique claims of the Bible. Below, you will find questions taken from both a children’s catechism and a more advanced catechism. For the full catechisms, you may go to our website by clicking https://storage2.snappages.site/mv392j/assets/files/familydevotionalguide.pdf. Questions for Kids: A Basic Catechism for Children 9. Where is God? He is everywhere. 10. How long has God existed? Forever. He has always been. 11. Does God know all things? Yes – God knows all things. 12. Can you see God? No, but he can always see me. 13. Can God do all things? Yes – God can do all His holy will. An Advanced Catechism 7. What is God? God is Spirit, (John 4:24) infinite, (Job 11:7) eternal, (Psalm 90:2, 1 Timothy 1:17) and unchangeable (James 1:17) in his being, (Exodus 3:14) wisdom, power, (Psalm 147:5) holiness, (Revelation 4:8) justice, goodness, love, purity and truth. (Exodus 34:6,7)