My Child Does Not Believe in Santa Clause

I want my daughter to believe in Jesus, who is the reason for the season.  As sappy as that sounds, it's very true.

Santa is not as good of a fairy tale as true story of Jesus.  I  am mainly thinking of the song Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town. Nice children get what ever they want for Christmas, and naughty children get lumps of coal. Santa see.ms very conditional

Jesus, on the other hand, forgives everyone who forgives others (Matthew 6:14).  All of us are naughty (Romans 3:10 & Romans 3:23).  The punishment for all of us being naughty is not coal, but death in Hell (Romans 6:23).  Jesus did not wait for all of us to nice either.  While we were still naughty, Christ came into this world and died for us (Romans 5:8).  Jesus gave his gift of the forgiveness of sins to all "naughty and nice children".

During Christmas, I talk to my daughter about why Jesus came into this world and Saint Nicholas, who Santa is based off of.  The stories of Jesus and Saint Nicholas will always be true for my daughter, and she won't ever be devastated that my wife and I lied to her with Santa not being real.

Saint Nicholas

Below is an excerpt from the Saint Nicholas article at the Catholic.org site, which I find is more interesting than the Santa Claus of the North Pole.  If you don't feel like reading the below wall of text, the Saint Nicholas link above has a video too.

"The great veneration with which St. Nicholas has been honored for many ages and the number of altars and churches all over the world that are dedicated in his memory are testimonials to his wonderful holiness and the glory he enjoys with God. [He was alive during the fourth century.]

...

Both of his parents tragically died during an epidemic when he was a young man, leaving him well off, but to be raised by his uncle - the Bishop of Patara. Nicholas was determined to devote his inheritance to works of charity, and his uncle mentored him as a reader and later ordained him as a presbyter (priest).

An opportunity soon arose for St. Nicholas and his inheritance. A citizen of Patara had lost all his money, and needed to support his three daughters who could not find husbands because of their poverty; so the wretched man was going to give them over to prostitution. Nicholas became informed of this, and thus took a bag of gold and threw it into an open window of the man's house in the night. Here was a dowry for the eldest girl and she was soon duly married. At intervals Nicholas did the same for the second and the third; at the last time the father was on the watch, recognized his benefactor and overwhelmed Nicholas with his gratitude. It would appear that the three purses represented in pictures, came to be mistaken for the heads of three children and so they gave rise to the absurdstory of the children, resuscitated by the saint, who had been killed by an innkeeper and pickled in a brine-tub.

...

St. Nicholas is celebrated as the patron saint of several classes of people, especially, in the East, of sailors and in the West of children.

...

This custom in England is not a survival from Catholic times. It was popularized in America by the Dutch Protestants of New Amsterdam who converted the popish saint into a Nordic magician (Santa Claus = Sint Klaes = Saint Nicholas) and was introduced into this country by Bret Harte. It is not the only "good old English custom" which, however good, is not "old English," at any rate in its present form."

Why We want to Continue to Exist as a Church

Scripture Reading

Revelation 4:8 - 5:14 ESV

8 And the four living creatures,each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say,

“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,
    who was and is and is to come!”

9 And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying,

11 “Worthy are you, our Lord and God,
    to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
    and by your will they existed and were created.”

The Scroll and the Lamb

5 Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. 2 And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” 3 And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, 4 and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. 5 And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”

6 And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. 8 And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song, saying,

“Worthy are you to take the scroll
    and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
    from every tribe and language and people and nation,
10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,
    and they shall reign on the earth.”

11 Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a loud voice,

“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might
and honor and glory and blessing!”

13 And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying,

“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”

14 And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshiped.

Main Points

1. God the Father is worthy
2. God the Son is worthy
3. The mission is worthy

God the Father is Worthy

As a small church, we don't have the luxury for our members to sit in the sidelines.  Believe and seek God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Only God is worthy of praise.  

Elders and creatures in the above passage have an unceasing worship. Worship the Father because:

• He's Holy -- distinct -- from us.
• He's all powerful -- not puny.
• He's eternal -- not limited to spare time.
• He's our creator (vs. 11).
• He provides meaning -- purpose -- in life.

God made us.  God made the machine of man to run on God. - C. S. Lewis

He is worth it all!

God the Son is Worthy

The seven seals on the scroll means that it was VERY important.  John really wanted to pen the scroll.  The angels, elders, nor anyone were worthy to open it. 

Revelation 4:6 - Sin separates us from God.  We are under judgement.

Revelation 5:5 - Jesus is worthy.

7 eyes indicate the Lamb has great power and sight.

Revelation 5:8 - The elders worship the Lamb in the same manner as they worshiped the Father.

Revelation 5:12 - Jesus is worthy.

Jesus the Christ is the Lamb.  He is why our Church exists.

The Mission is Worthy

Jesus' mission is our mission.  His mission is His people.  Pursue this mission until our dying breath.

Review of the Movie Noah (2014)

Phred's Review on The Noah Movie (2014)

I did not have high expectations of The Noah Movie.  I am usually hesitant to watch a Hollywood movie based upon the Bible and history.  They're usually not that accurate.  We'll get to my comments on the movie in a little bit.

After watching the movie, I went on YouTube to see if there are were any documentaries or presentations about Noah and the flood.  I found Ken Ham's Noah Movie Review.  I like Ken Ham, so I checked it out.  Ken and his panel of six employees didn't like The Noah Movie.  Their recommendation was for people to not watch the movie.  Sorry Ken, I already watched the film.  I hope he doesn't find out I watch zombie and vampire movies.

A Modern Flood Legend

Ken Ham summed up this film very well.  This film is another "flood legend" that, like many flood legends around the world, includes aspects of local, modern beliefs of the people telling the... story.  The legend also contains original aspects of the account from Genesis.  With this in mind, let us continue.

In this modern age of western society, the greatest sin is the destruction that man is doing to the environment.  According to Grist, we're heading towards the looming climate apocalypse.  I do think we have sinned against God's creation, we haven't been doing a good job at taking care of it (Genesis 2:15).  American society is unsustainable to the environment and other countries in dire need.  It should be no surprise that the "great" sin that brought about God's judgement in The Noah Movie is man's destruction of the environment.

Movie Inaccuracies

The Noah movie is not Biblically accurate, even if the writers of the movie say it is.  If you would read Genesis, you find some major differences.  I'll stay away from the nit-picky things like the age order of Noah's sons, who rode the ark, length of the boat ride, etc.  The main differences between the movie and the Bible I will focus on is that the movie portrays animals and creation as innocent, the reason Noah was righteous, evolution and creation as the same, and God being distant and not talking directly to His people.

Innocent Animals

Animals and the rest of God's creation were cursed due to the sin of man, and death came to this world due to the sin of man (Genesis 3:17-19 and Romans 5:12).  The innocence of creation has been gone since God's judgement of Adam's sin. Genesis 6 says that all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.  I am not sure if this passage includes animals, but it easily could.  

The reason for the flood was the wickedness of man and the existence of the Nephilim.  Man did not devote their lives to God but were instead wicked.  Sons of God and daughters of Man getting together and having kids, the Nephilim, were also wicked.  Who are the Nephilim, and where are they in the movie?  Lets talk about them later.

Why Noah was Righteous

What made Noah so righteous in the Bible?  Was it because of his love of flowers and dying "scaly deer"?  Genesis 6:9 says that Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.  Noah had a relationship with God, the rest of the world did not.  Looking around Genesis for righteous acts, Noah was likely righteous and had a relationship with God because he was a good steward of the land (Genesis 2:15) and sacrificed the first born of his flock to God (Genesis 4:4 and Genesis 8:20).  Being a good steward of the land is very much in-sync with the movie, but the sacrificing the first born of a flock is not.  I did not see any animal sacrificing by Noah in this movie, which is vital for a relationship with God in the Old Testament times.

Evolution and Creation

Remember, I am discussing differences between the movie and the Bible, not science and the Bible.  I know some Christians believe in evolution and creation; I don't.  You could classify me as a young earth creationist.  Now that you know what kind of glasses I am viewing this movie from, let us continue.

When Noah talks about the days of creation, the movie showed creatures evolving after each day.  I see a couple things wrong with this part of the movie compared to Genesis.  The Bible says death does not occur until after man sins (Genesis 3:17-19 and Romans 5:12), and God wants a relationship with man (Genesis 6:9 and Hebrew 11:6).  How can you have evolution, natural selection, mass extinctions from an asteroid, death of countless species before the existence of death?  The simple, obvious answer, you can't.  A god that sets evolution into motion, and checks on us every few zillion years seems very distant and not relational.

God's Relationship with Man

In the movie, God communicates to Noah through dreams and visions, which is fine except for the fact that God didn't say anything to Noah like He did in Genesis 6:13.  God doesn't say any words to Noah, but keeps on giving Noah signs that he didn't always see or interpret correctly.  God's and Noah's relationship seemed distant.

God having a distant relationship with His people is easy for western society to believe.  We don't feel the need to rely on God for anything, when we already have "everything".  Many of us don't believe in anything supernatural and spiritual.  We are in a spiritual wasteland.  With the belief in evolution, we don't believe God HAS to do anything for us to continue as we "always" have.  It should be no surprise that this movie portrays God's relationship with man as distant.

God does want a relationship with Man, since He created us (Genesis 3:8-9).  Again, a primary reason for the judgement of man is because we don't walk with God (Genesis 6:9).  In the movie, God should have talked to Noah like He did in the Bible.  There would have been a lot less confusion as to what God's will is for Noah and the ark.  That would have changed some major plot progressions in the movie.

Inaccuracies Conclusion

The reason I spent a lot of time talking about the inaccuracies of the movie, is because I think these inaccuracies shed light on what righteousness is in our society and how it thinks God relates to us.  The main reason that Ken Ham and his employees don't want people to see this movie, is because it is not accurate to the Genesis account.  Ken Ham's review mentioned that people will get confused about what is true in the Bible, believe what the movie says, and will likely not check the Bible for the movie's accuracy.  Christians should always be checking the scriptures if we are told something that may be contrary, and I think Christians can use this movie to talk to non-Christians about God who have watched this movie.

Cool Ideas from the Movie

Now that I'm done bashing the movie, lets move on to what was pretty cool about the movie, which include the Watchers, the weather, and Love winning.

Watchers

In case you don't know, the rock monsters were actually the 200 fallen Watcher angels from The Book of Enoch, which is where the fallen Watchers are talked about extensively.  Ken Ham did not take much time in his review of this movie considering Enoch as I felt he should have.  Ken and his panel seemed to dismiss Enoch, because it is not a part of scripture. The text still likely contains some truth and many early Christians, including Paul, believed much of Enoch (1 Cor. 11:10).  My argument is that just because a text is not part of the Bible, it does not mean that nothing in that text is valid.  The Book of Enoch or another book like it may have been referenced throughout the Bible (1 Cor. 11:10 and, Jude 14).

According to the Book of Enoch, the 200 Watchers took human wives and taught forbidden knowledge.  The offspring from the union of Watchers and women are the Nephilim.  Enoch does not mention the fallen Watchers getting rock bodies -- turning into the Nephilim -- from teaching people "forbidden" knowledge. I have seen modern interpretations of the forbidden knowledge to mean modern science and modern knowledge.  I firmly believe this forbidden knowledge was much more spiritual than we imagined, and is much more dangerous for man -- or half man -- than we expect.

Hypercanes!

While the flood was occurring, the camera zoomed out to the world, and we saw the world was covered in hypercanes.  The movie shows that the flood was global.  I thought it was pretty cool to see how the movie developers envisioned how the would could have been globally flooded.

As the movie suggests, I believe that the flood was global. According to the Bible, Noah had 120 years to build the ark (Genesis 6:3).  If the flood was local, all current local floods make God out to be a liar when He promised to never caste the same judgment upon the earth (Genesis 8:21).  And if the flood was local, why would Noah need all kinds of animals and build a boat?  If the local flood was 120 years away, Noah could move and the animals could migrate.

Love Wins

Ken Ham's review says that God wanted Noah to kill the baby girls.  God never "said" He wanted to wipe out man.  He made Ila fertile, and she had twins by God's grace.  Noah couldn't see the error of his ways because God was distant, and Noah did not see the signs from God -- in the movie.

In the end, Noah could not kill the little girls because he was overwhelmed with love.  Love won.  God is Love (1 John 4:8), which means God won.  Any Bible-based, Hollywood movie that has love winning by the end, has grasped the Bible's primary teaching.

Learning from the Little Books: 2 John

ADD Moment:

Pastor Aaron Jozwiak has been covering the Little Books in his current sermon series.  I thought it would be funny to have Bible studies of the same books.  Of course, a Bible study on 2 John would only be a week long. :-D

2 John

2 John 1 English Standard Version (ESV)

Greeting

1 The elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all who know the truth, 2 because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever:

3 Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father's Son, in truth and love.

Walking in Truth and Love

4 I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father. 5 And now I ask you, dear lady—not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning—that we love one another. 6 And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it. 7 For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist. 8 Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we[a] have worked for, but may win a full reward. 9 Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, 11 for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.

Final Greetings

12 Though I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink. Instead I hope to come to you and talk face to face, so that our joy may be complete.

13 The children of your elect sister greet you.

Main Points:

1. Commit to the truth

2. Commit to the holiness

3. Commit to gospel purity

Sermon Notes:

Why Commit your life to Jesus?

• God is our creator, and He created us.  C.S. Lewis said that cars run on gas, and people run on God.  We need God to work and operate our lives properly.
• Poured Himself to us and provided us with the Holy Spirit.
• Provides joy to our hearts.
• God's joy for us is when we commit and delight in Him.
• The joy of others (vs. 12), other believers, and others in our congregation.

1 John

Reaping and sowing is a theme in 1 John.  Love like Jesus did and discern what is godly.

Commit to the truth

What is truth?  Is it subjective? Timeless?  Many people in the U.S. 'decide' what is true, and think of truth as subjective.  "Whatever is true for you, is not true for me."  "It is absolutely true, that there are no absolute truths."

Jesus is the truth.  This is a common theme for John.

Commit to holiness

Following the commandments of scripture is how to be holy (vs. 5).  Show love to one another by being holy.  Not following Christ's commands is unloving  to other Christians.  I need to watch what I I am feeding into my heart (GIGO).

Commit to gospel purity

Don't add or take away from the gospel.  In 1 John, some people left the church because of their beliefs in an impure gospel.  We must be watchful of false teachers, antichrists (vs. 7 & 8).  An antichrist is one who is at war against the truth.

Just because you know facts about Jesus, doesn't mean you know Him.  Satan knows plenty of facts about Jesus, but does not know Him.

Don't allow false teachers in your home (vs. 10-11).  In the New Testament times, churches gave hospitality to their teachers.  How often do we validate that which is not true with family, coworkers, and friends?  It is unloving to validate false gospels.

Discussion:

What is True?

• God is for us, not against us.
• God gave us His all.
• God is powerful.
• God is sufficient.
• God provides.

How can we be holy?

• Confession of our sins to God and others.
• Read His words.
• Speak in a wholesome manner.
• Stay away from sexual immorality and impurity.

How do we keep the gospel message pure?

• Share it.
• Love others and remind others who we are.
• Remember we are sons and daughters of the King.

Nehemiah Summary

Nehemiah Summary

Pastor Aaron Jozwiak - May 17, 2015 Red Village Church

Initial Scripture Reading: 

Nehemiah 1:1-4; 13:31b


"1 The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah.

Now it happened in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Susa the citadel, 2 that Hanani, one of my brothers, came with certain men from Judah. And I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile, and concerning Jerusalem. 3 And they said to me, “The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire.”

4 As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven."

"31b ... Remember me, O my God, for good."

Main Points:

1. God calls us to an impossible task.
2. There will be joy and sorrow.
3. There will be commitment and sacrifice.

Sermon Notes:

Nehemiah's purpose was to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem.  What is our wall?  People.
Ephesians 2:10 "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."
As followers of Jesus, we are to walk in good works, proclaim the good news, and make disciples.

God calls us to an impossible task

You may be able to breeze through the New Testament, but when you get to the Great Commission, it's an impossible task.

Nehemiah was set with an impossible task.  He asked to be released by the king to leave for Jerusalem and was afraid to make this request before the king.  However, he was blessed to go on his quest by the king.  At Jerusalem, the city and its people were in terrible shape.  This rag-tag group started this impossible work.  They were threatened by others, and they were threatened from within when some were trying to get rich at the expense of others.  If God is not in control, the walls couldn't have been built and the Great Commission won't work.

We must pray together and plead with the Lord to do the impossible.
We are to make disciples and proclaim the Christ of the scriptures.
We must read the scriptures, sometimes together.
We must repent of our sins.
We all must be part of the team.  The Great Commission is a team project.

There will be joy and sorrow

Nehemiah was a roller coaster of fear, sorrow, joy, certainty, etc.

There will be sacrifice and commitment

The people of Jerusalem could not neglect the temple.  Nehemiah committed his entire life to the wall of Jerusalem.  These are our marching orders.

Red Village Church has only a existed for a short time, and already there are people, missionaries who are around the world who were members of Red Village Church.  The sun never sets on this congregation.

Additional Notes from Our Village Meeting

Philippians 2:16 "holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain."

People, Christians don't disciple, don't know how to pray.  We give up too quickly.  It took Thomas Edison about a year to make an inexpensive, commercially viable light bulb, that inventors had been working on for the last fifty years (HC.com).  In  Philippians, Paul was looking for people to labor for Christ.

How do you (or I for that matter) share the gospel?  

Churches want to harvest (supposedly), but no one is spreading the seed!  There is something wrong with our faith, if we aren't growing.  

Nehemiah 10

Nehemiah 10

Pastor Aaron Jozwiak - April 26, 2015 Red Village Church

Initial scripture reading:

Nehemiah 10:28-31,39b ESV

28 “The rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple servants, and all who have separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the Law of God, their wives, their sons, their daughters, all who have knowledge and understanding, 29 join with their brothers, their nobles, and enter into a curse and an oath to walk in God's Law that was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our Lord and his rules and his statutes. 30 We will not give our daughters to the peoples of the land or take their daughters for our sons. 31 And if the peoples of the land bring in goods or any grain on the Sabbath day to sell, we will not buy from them on the Sabbath or on a holy day. And we will forego the crops of the seventh year and the exaction of every debt."

"...We will not neglect the house of our God.”

Main Points:

1. Be committed.
2. Be Holy.
3. Be generous.

Sermon Notes:

John Piper's book was mentioned, Jesus Demands the World, where people have demands from Jesus, yet Jesus has demands from us that we don't follow through with or even consider.

Christianity is not a works based religion.  We are saved by grace.  However, our works testify our beliefs in only graces.  "Faith without works is dead." from James.  Works is used as a test to see if we're followers of the faith.

1. Be Committed

People in Nehemiah did hard work, made sacrifices, and had great opportunity for failure and quitting.  Decades ago in the U.S., a person would work at the same company throughout their working life.  Now, people are no longer committed to their employer, and employers are no longer committed to their employees.  We have a faith of commitment.  "Let your yes be yes." Matthew.  A non-committal life leads to no impact for the Lord.  Communal nature of Jesus.  Throughout the passage of Nehemiah, we, we, we is used throughout the passage, verses 30-39.  Everyone was committing to the temple, and we must commit to the Church.

2. Be Holy

Be holy as He is holy.  We are to separate ourselves from the world and commit to that which is Godly, verse 29.  Run from sin, and run to Jesus.

3. Be Generous

From the rich young ruler passage, it's easier to thread a camel through a needle that in is for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven.  From verses 33+, don't let a lack of generosity to get in the way of following Christ.  We are to at least follow the laws from the Old Testament.  Laws of the Old Testament are magnified, see Matthew 5 & 6.  Therefore, the tithe is greater than 10%.  Give your all to Christ and His Church! Acts 2:45.