12/15/24 Worship Service & Sermon: When the Time Has Fully Come - Galatians 4:4-5

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12/15/24 Worship Service & Sermon from Brick Lane Community Church in Elverson, PA.

Scripture: Galatians 4:4-5
Title: When the Time Has Fully Come
Worship Leader: Luke Stoltzfus
Speaker: Steve Estes

NIV: But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.

ESV: But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

Notes:

1. "When the time had fully come, GOD sent his Son"
A. The Father behind the Christmas story
B. God moved toward us

2. "When the time had fully come, God sent his SON"
A. Doctrine of the Holy Trinity
B. Relationship of love
C. Relationship of likeness
D. The self-existent Son

3. "When the time had fully come, God SENT his Son"

4. "When the TIME HAD FULLY COME, God sent his Son"
A. God sent His Son when He alone knew the time was perfect
B. God sent His Son when the means were in place to spread the good news
C. God sent His Son when the felt need for Him had ripened
D. God sent His Son when the time had fully come

#God #Jesus #time

12/8/24 Worship Service & Sermon: Weary of Waiting for Messiah - Malachi 3:13-4:6

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12/8/24 Worship Service & Sermon from Brick Lane Community Church in Elverson, PA.

Speaker: Steve Estes
Worship Leader: Tyler Estes
Scripture: Malachi 3:13-4:6
Title: Weary of Waiting for Messiah

"You have said harsh things against me," says the LORD. "Yet you ask, 'What have we said against you?' You have said, 'It is futile to serve God. What did we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the LORD Almighty? But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly the evildoers prosper, and even those who challenge God escape.'"

Then those who feared the LORD talked with each other, and the LORD listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the LORD and honored his name. "They will be mine," says the LORD Almighty, "in the day when I make up my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him. And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not."

"Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire," says the LORD Almighty. "Not a root or a branch will be left to them. But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall. Then you will trample down the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I do these things," says the LORD Almighty. "Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel. See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse."

Notes:

1. Background
A. Return from exile
B. Weary of waiting
C. God's list of grievances

2. The general problem: Religion wasn't paying off
A. They had religion
B. But their hearts weren't in it
C. From a resentful heart come resentful words

3. How true believers responded to Malachi's preaching

4. God's reaction to the conversations of believers
A. God paid attention
B. What God did for these believers

5. The future Day of the Lord
A. What unbelievers experience
B. What believers experience

6. God's closing words
A. "Remember the law of my servant Moses"
B. "I will send Elijah"

11/24/24 Worship Service & Sermon: Israel’s December: Hoshea, Exile, Samaria Resettled - 2 Kings 17

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11/24/24 Worship Service and Sermon from Brick Lane Community Church in Elverson, PA

Sermon: Steve Estes
Worship Leader: Matt Carter
Scripture: 2 Kings 17
Title: Israel's December: Hoshea, Exile, Samaria Resettled

Notes:

1. The beginning of the end
A. Picture an imaginary future for the United States
B. Israel's situation in today's text

2. Israel's final days and ultimate collapse
A. Too little, too late
B. Hoshea's folly
C. Assyria's vengeance

3. Why God let this happen

4. What counterfeit religion looks like
A. Counterfeit religion often begins with ingratitude toward the one true God
B. Counterfeit religion focuses on what is aesthetically pleasing
C. Counterfeit religion invents itself; biblical faith receives what is revealed
D. Counterfeit religion is after results; biblical worship is after God
E. Counterfeit religion rots a person's soul
F. Counterfeit religion ruins not just ourselves, but also our descendants
G. Counterfeit religion leads to judgment

5. How counterfeit religion is guarded against

6. The weeping Judge

#hoshea #israel #samaria #assyria

11/17/24 Worship Service & Sermon: The Women Who Traveled With Jesus - Luke 8:1-3

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11/17/2024 Worship Service & Sermon from Brick Lane Community Church in Elverson, PA

Worship Leader: Dave Dailey
Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: Luke 8:1-3
Title: The Women Who Traveled With Jesus

After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; Joanna the wife of Cuza, the manager of Herod's household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.

Notes:

1. Three familiar scenes of 21st-century people
A. Major TV networks watched by older folks
B. Hollywood scenes of the supernatural
C. The situation in the Middle East

2. A scene of some first-century people
A. The Twelve
B. "Some women"
i. The women in general
ii. Mary Magdalene
iii. Joanna iv. Susanna

3. The Man who drew them out of darkness

#Jesus #women

11/10/24 Worship Service & Sermon: Anarchy in the Northern Kingdom: Zechariah to Pekah: 2 Kings 15:8-31

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11/10/2024 Worship Service & Sermon from Brick Lane Community Church in Elverson, PA

Worship Leader: Matt Griffith
Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: 2 Kings 15:8-31
Title: Anarchy in the Northern Kingdom: Zechariah to Pekah

Notes:

1. The sad political story
A. Two weeks ago--41 years of prosperity
B. Today--21 years of anarchy

2. The bloody succession of kings
A. Zechariah (6 months)
B. Shallum (1 month)
C. Menahem (10 years)
D. Pekahiah (2 years)

3. Pekah's reign and fall
A. The darkening night
B. The prophesied Light

4. What sin destroyed this nation?
A. The sin that stands out
B. Jesus on personal responsibility*

* As you study the Bible, remember that Scripture interprets Scripture

#zechariah #shallum #menahem #pekahiah #pekah #samaria #assyria

10/27/24 Worship Service & Sermon: Jeroboam II and the Writing Prophets - 2 Kings 14:23-29

10/27/2024 Worship Service & Sermon from Brick Lane Community Church in Elverson, PA

Worship Leader: Dave Stoltzfus
Sermon: Steve Estes
Scripture: 2 Kings 14:23-29
Title: Jeroboam II and the Writing Prophets

In the fifteenth year of Amaziah son of Joash king of Judah, Jeroboam son of Jehoash king of Israel became king in Samaria, and he reigned forty-one years. He did evil in the eyes of the LORD and did not turn away from any of the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit. He was the one who restored the boundaries of Israel from Lebo Hamath to the Sea of the Arabah, in accordance with the word of the LORD, the God of Israel, spoken through his servant Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet from Gath Hepher.

The LORD had seen how bitterly everyone in Israel, whether slave or free, was suffering; there was no one to help them. And since the LORD had not said he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam son of Jehoash. As for the other events of Jeroboam's reign, all he did, and his military achievements, including how he recovered for Israel both Damascus and Hamath, which had belonged to Yaudi, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel? Jeroboam rested with his fathers, the kings of Israel. And Zechariah his son succeeded him as king.

Notes:

1. Review and introduction
A. Israel splits in two
B. The southern kingdom
C. The northern kingdom

2. Opening description of Jeroboam II

3. Point 1: It's God's nature to bless undeserving people
A. How God blessed Jeroboam II
B. Why God blessed Jeroboam II

4. God's blessing does not necessarily mean God's approval
A. Examples from the minor prophets
B. Applications

5. God's judgments in one time/place are always to show mercy in another time/place
A. Examples
B. Where is this in today's passage?

#jeroboam #amos #blessings

9/29/2024 Worship Service & Sermon: The Reigns of Jehoahaz and Jehoash - 2 Kings 13

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9/29/2024 Worship Service & Sermon from Brick Lane Community Church in Elverson, PA

Worship Leader: Luke Stoltzfus
Sermon: Steve Estes
Scripture: 2 Kings 13
Title: The Reigns of Jehoahaz and Jehoash

Notes:

1. Jehoahaz
A. "He did evil in the eyes of the LORD..."
B. Result of this evil
C. "Then Jehoahaz sought the LORD's favor"
D. How God did it
E. Israel's response

2. Jehoash
A. Different king, same summary
B. A significant episode
C. A dead man lives again

3. Conclusion

#jehoahaz #jehoash #israel #elisha

9/22/24 Worship Service & Sermon: Jehu Destroys Ahab’s House & Baal Worship - 2 Kings 10

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9/22/2024 Worship Service & Sermon from Brick Lane Community Church in Elverson, PA

Worship Leader: Dave Dailey
Sermon: Steve Estes
Scripture: 2 Kings 10
Title: Jehu Destroys Ahab's House and Baal Worship

Notes:

1. Destroying Ahab's house
A. Jehu's challenge
B. Heads roll in Samaria
C. Jehu seeks support of citizens and soldiers in Jezreel
D. Jehu slaughters Ahab's house in Jezreel

2. Meeting relatives of Judah's recently departed king
A. Remember Ahaziah?
B. The deadly meeting on the road to Samaria

3. Meeting a most unusual man
A. Jehonadab the Recabite
B. Jehonadab joins Jehu
C. The principle of this part of the passage

4. Killing Baal worship
A. A compulsory command
B. Death and destruction

5. What are we to think of this chapter?
A. Christian, don't be naive about politics
B. God uses scary unbelievers to achieve His holy purposes
C. God often rewards unbelievers (in this life) for the good they do
D. It won't do to abandon the sins we don't like, but cling to the sins we do like

#jehu #ahab #baal

9/8/2024 Worship Service and Sermon: Jehu Kills Joram, Ahaziah, and Jezebel - 2 Kings 9

9/8/2024 Worship Service & Sermon from Brick Lane Community Church in Elverson, PA

Worship Leader: Steve Boyer
Sermon: Steve Estes
Scripture: 2 Kings 9
Title: Jehu Kills Joram, Ahaziah, and Jezebel

Notes:

1. Previously on The Northern Kingdom...
A. Elijah flees
B. Jehovah replies
C. God's plan to topple Baal in Israel

2. Jehu anointed as king
A. Elisha sends a young prophet on a mission
B. Reaction of Jehu's lieutenants

3. Jehu kills two Baal-worshiping kings
A. Killing Joram of Israel
B. Killing Ahaziah of Judah

4. Killing Jezebel
A. Jezebel prepares to die in style
B. Jehu has Jezebel thrown out the window
C. Jehu feasts while Jezebel is feasted on

5. Lessons
A. Rebellion against God is fanned into flame by those we associate with
B. Rebels vs. God are gradually storing up wrath for themselves
C. God avenges His suffering people
D. Is God's wrath so gory and terrible?

#jehu #joram #ahaziah #jezebel

9/1/2024 Worship Service & Sermon: Joram’s Last Chance for Grace - 2 Kings 8:1-6

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9/1/2024 Worship Service & Sermon from Brick Lane Community Church in Elverson, PA

Worship Leader: Matt Carter
Sermon: Steve Estes
Scripture: 2 Kings 8:1-6
Title: Joram's Last Chance for Grace

Now Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had restored to life, "Go away with your family and stay for a while wherever you can, because the LORD has decreed a famine in the land that will last seven years." The woman proceeded to do as the man of God said. She and her family went away and stayed in the land of the Philistines seven years. At the end of the seven years she came back from the land of the Philistines and went to the king to beg for her house and land. The king was talking to Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, and had said, "Tell me about all the great things Elisha has done." Just as Gehazi was telling the king how Elisha had restored the dead to life, the woman whose son Elisha had brought back to life came to beg the king for her house and land. Gehazi said, "This is the woman, my lord the king, and this is her son whom Elisha restored to life." The king asked the woman about it, and she told him. Then he assigned an official to her case and said to him, "Give back everything that belonged to her, including all the income from her land from the day she left the country until now."

Notes:

1. Background to today's text (2 Kings 4 for reference)

2. King Joram had already seen God's divine kindness through Elisha
A. Aramean ambushes foiled
B. Aramean army delivered into Joram's hands
C. Northern kingdom's capital relieved of starvation

3. King Joram asks to hear more about Elisha's great works
A. The widow in debt
B. Death in the stew
C. Feeding one hundred
D. A borrowed ax
E. The Shunammite woman's son

4. Lessons
A. See how God cares for His own people
B. See how important our response to accounts of God's mercies are

Background for next week's sermon

2 Kings 8:7-14 NIV - Hazael Murders Ben-Hadad
2 Kings 8:25-29 NIV - Ahaziah King of Judah

#Joram #Shunammite #Gehazi