VFBC Blog - Valley Forge Baptist Church

Valley Forge Baptist Church

Why is it so Important to John to “Confess Jesus Christ as Coming in the Flesh" - 2 John 7

12/11/2022

John’s purpose was to strengthen Christians to resist the tide of heresy that was rising against the church. Much of this false teaching was an early form of Gnosticism.
The gnostic idea that matter was evil and only spirit was good led to the idea that either the body should be treated harshly, a form of asceticism (Col. 2:21–23), or that sin committed in the body had no connection or effect on one’s spirit. In other words, the false teaching sought to drive a wedge between body and soul. This is why it often maintained that Jesus could not have been God and man at the same time.
The result of this error in teaching was compounded when some, including John’s opponents, concluded that sins committed in the physical body did not matter. Absolute indulgence in immorality was permissible. One could deny sin even existed (1 John 1:8–10) and disregard God’s law (1 John 3:4).
As a bulwark against this heresy, John lifted the confession that “Jesus Christ [came] in the flesh” (v. 7). What Christians do in their physical life is directly connected with what they do in their spiritual life. John emphasized the need for obedience to God’s laws, for he defined the true love for God as obedience to His commandments (1 John 5:3). Jesus, in His human living, offered the perfect example of that kind of love.

Isaiah 7:14 - God Keeps His Promises

12/9/2022

Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.

Each of the four Gospel accounts of Jesus’ life were addressed to a unique audience - Matthew’s account being written for Jewish readers. Fifteen times in Matthew the author refers to Old Testament prophecies being “fulfilled” through the birth, life, and ministry of Jesus. This emphasis on fulfillment was to convince Jewish readers that Jesus was the promised Messiah.

Recommended Reading:

Isaiah 7: 10–14

One of the plainest instances of Matthew’s purpose is found in Matthew 1:22: “So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet [Isaiah].” Matthew was referring to the prophecy that a virgin would bear a Son as a sign that God was with the people (Immanuel). And Matthew wrote that Mary was the virgin and Jesus was the Son who was “God with us” (1:23). Matthew wanted his readers to know not only that Jesus was the prophesied Messiah but also that God fulfills His promises.
Just as God kept His promise two thousand years ago, so He will keep His promises today. He is still Immanuel - God with us - and we can trust Him.

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Let God’s promises shine on your problems.

Corrie ten Boom

December 4, 2022 - AM Sermon

12/7/2022

Colossians 2_11-15 – Complete in Christ – Conclusion

Finishing out our verse by verse study of Colossians with the declaration that the death of Christ brings transformation, pardon, and victory. That adds up to complete salvation with complete forgiveness and complete victory!! It was No wonder Paul said,

“May it never be that I should boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Gal. 6:14).

Click this link:
https://youtu.be/oAjdajAGjNM

What are the 3 Characteristics of an “Overcomer”?

12/7/2022

“Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God” (1 John 5:1). Saving faith is the first characteristic of an overcomer. The term “believes” conveys the idea of continuing faith, making the point that the mark of genuine believers is that they continue in faith throughout their life. Saving belief is not simply intellectual acceptance, but wholehearted dedication to Jesus Christ that is permanent. The object of the believer’s faith is Jesus, particularly that He is the promised Messiah or “Anointed One” whom God sent to be the Savior from sin. Whoever places faith in Jesus Christ as the only Savior has been born again and, as a result, is an overcomer (v. 5). To be “born of God” is a reference to the new birth and is the same word that Jesus used in John 3:7. The tense of the Greek verb indicates that ongoing faith is the result of the new birth and, therefore, the evidence of the new birth. The sons of God will manifest the reality that they have been born again by continuing to believe in God’s Son, the Savior. The new birth brings us into a permanent faith relationship with God and Christ.
“And everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him” (v. 1). Love is the second characteristic of the overcomer. The overcomer not only believes in God, but loves both God and fellow believers. The moral test is again in view.
“By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments” (v. 2). John repeats this phrase twice in these 2 verses. Obedience is the third characteristic of an overcomer. In these verses, John weaves faith, love, and obedience all together inextricably. They exist mutually in a dynamic relationship—as the genuine proof of love is obedience, so the genuine proof of faith is love. The word “keep” conveys the idea of constant obedience (John 8:31, 32; 14:15, 21; 15:10).

Layers of Love - Romans 5:5

12/5/2022

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Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
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Love comes in layers. The intimate love of a married couple is very exclusive. The love we have for our children is intense. We have friends we love on a different level, and there’s a special bond of love that unites followers of Christ. And yet, even with all those love layers extending from us, there is still enough love within us—thanks to the Holy Spirit!—to love the whole world.

Recommended Reading:

Matthew 25: 37 – 40

That’s why the Bible tells us to entertain strangers (Hebrews 13:2), to have pity on the poor (Proverbs 19:17), to bear one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2), to visit orphans and widows in their distress (James 1:27), to love our enemies and do good to those who hate us (Luke 6:27), to support the weak (Acts 20:35), and to “be kindly affectionate to one another” (Romans 12:10).
Love is demonstrated not just through words, but through actions. Be intentional in loving others, and God will reward you for your faithful obedience to His command.

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True love is an act of the will—a conscious decision to do what is best for the other person instead of ourselves.
Billy Graham
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Knowing God’s Will - Ephesians 5:17

12/1/2022

“Do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”

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God’s will is revealed in His Word.
How can a Christian walk wisely and know the will of God for his life? The will of God is explicitly revealed to us in the pages of Scripture. God’s will is that we be:

Saved - “This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:3–4; compare 2 Peter 3:9).
Spirit–filled - “Do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit” (Eph. 5:17–18).
Sanctified - “This is the will of God, your sanctification” (1 Thess. 4:3).
Submissive - “Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right. For such is the will of God” (1 Peter 2:13–15).
Suffering for His sake - “It is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong” (1 Peter 3:17).
Saying thanks - “In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thess. 5:18).

You may say, “Those are good principles, but they don’t tell me where I ought to go to school or whom I should marry.” But if you’re saved, sanctified, submissive, suffering, and saying thanks, you can do whatever you want! That’s what the psalmist meant when he said, “Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart” (Ps. 37:4). Does that mean He fulfills the desire? Yes, but before He fulfills it, He puts it in your heart. If you are living a godly life, He will give you the right desires and then fulfill them.

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Suggestions for Prayer: Give thanks to God for revealing His will in His Word so that you can live wisely, not foolishly.

For Further Study: Christ acted only in accordance with His Father’s will. Read the following verses, and note how that was so: Matthew 26:42; John 4:34; 5:30; 6:38.

Elder Stephen P. Diem Preaching on Joshua 6 – “Obedience!”

12/1/2022

In the place of Pastor Bill (Seizure activity) Elder Stephen P. Diem Preaching on Joshua 6 – “Obedience!”

"How Israel followed the Lord’s command and achieved complete victory!"
Click the link below:

https://youtu.be/0x5shV9lDmA

Righteousness and Mercy - Matthew 5:7

11/29/2022

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“‘Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.’”
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What’s your attitude toward someone who has sinned? Whether it’s someone who doesn’t know the Lord at all or a Christian who has fallen, how do you feel toward the person?
If your reaction is that you can’t believe they did what they did, and if you’ve thought, “What a loser! I thank God I would never do something like that!” then it tells me something about you.
On the other hand, if your heart is broken, if you’re concerned for the person’s situation and want to help them get back on their feet again, it tells me that you’re a godly person (see Galatians 6:1 NKJV).
A happy person will be forgiving and merciful. Jesus said in the Beatitudes, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy” (Matthew 5:7 NKJV). The statements of Jesus in the Beatitudes have a specific sequence; one leads to another, which leads to another, and so on.
First, we see ourselves as we are. Then we mourn over our condition. Next, we become meek and empty ourselves, and we find a new hunger for God Himself. Then we become people of mercy. Because we have experienced mercy, we want to extend it to others.
A litmus test of our real condition before God is whether we have gone through these steps.
The more righteous someone is, the more merciful they will be. And the more sinful someone is, the harsher and more critical they will be. Show me a person who’s always condemning and nitpicking and I’ll show you a person who’s not walking closely with God.
If you’re poor in spirit, if you’ve mourned over your condition and know what it is to be meek, if you hunger and thirst for God, then you will be merciful.
And if someone isn’t merciful, the question is whether they know anything about the mercy of God themselves.

Jonah is Terribly Upset - Jonah 4

11/27/2022

Jonah is terribly upset (Jonah 4) because the judgments he has pronounced against Nineveh have not taken place. The people have repented, from king to pauper, and God has relented and shown mercy to the great city. “O Lord, is this not what I said when I was still at home?” (4:2). This is stronger than an idiomatic and caustic “I told you so.” The expression “what I said” is literally “my word”: Jonah pits his own word against “the word of the Lord” (1:1) that he had been called to deliver. He is telling God, “See? I told you so. My word was right, and your word was at best ill thought out.” He explodes, “I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity” (4:2). This basic creedal confession is found in Exodus 34:6–7; Jonah cites it in the same form in which it is found in Joel 2:13 (which may be significant: Joel 2:14 is cited in Jonah 3:9). When the prophets want grace and mercy for themselves, they appeal to God’s character; when Jonah does not want grace and mercy for others, he portrays the same attributes of God as fatal weaknesses. He has forgotten 2:1–9, where he recognizes that only God’s mercy could have released him from the big fish. The ironies call to mind one of Jesus’ parables in which grace is gladly received but denied to another (Matt. 18:23–35). In 4:3 Jonah pretentiously strikes a pose: his words “take away my life” are culled from Elijah (1 Kings 19:4)—but instead of continuing “for I am no better than my ancestors” (a confession of personal weakness and failure), Jonah says “for it is better for me to die than to live”—which is nothing but whining self-pity.
There follows the incident of the “vine,” probably a ricinus plant, whose broad leaves provide some shelter. When it dies, Jonah repeats his whining desire to die (4:8), and God repeats the question he raised earlier: “Have you any right to be angry?” (4:4, 9). In rough language Jonah insists he has every right to be angry. What’s the point of living in a world that pops up a ricinus and then cuts it down again, dead almost before it is alive? So God debunks Jonah’s thinking. Jonah shows more concern for the death of a plant than for the death of a city. Yet even here, his concern for the ricinus is not deep, but provoked by self-interest. He views the Ninevites the same way—with no thought for what is good for them, but out of self-interest. It is God, the gracious and merciful God, whose compassion extends to “that great city” (4:11). Reflect on Matthew 23:37–39; 28:18–19.

Christian History - White Blood

11/25/2022

The truth of the Bible is hard and clear as diamonds, providing a solid basis for both life and death. “You can’t argue with the Scriptures,” Jesus said firmly in John 10:35. But you can (and actually MUST) argue with some of the legends and half-truths of church history. Take, for example, the remarkable story of Saint Catherine of Alexandria.
Born in the third century to a noble Christian family in Alexandria, the beautiful Catherine gave herself to Christ and refused to sacrifice to pagan gods. Emperor Maxentius, lusting after her, offered her pardon if she would sleep with him. She refused, saying she was the bride of Christ. Hoping to dissuade her, Maxentius summoned 50 brilliant scholars to debate her. She conquered all of them, winning all 50 to the Christian faith. They paid for their conversions by being burned alive, compliments of the emperor.
Catherine, meanwhile, converted the emperor’s wife, his top general, and 200 of his best troops. These, too, were immediately executed. Maxentius, enraged, ordered Catherine attached to a spiked wheel to be tortured and broken. When the wheel fell apart, Maxentius demanded the executioner behead her. We’re told that “Milk” rather than blood flowed from her severed neck.
The so-called “virgin martyr” became one of the most venerated women of antiquity, and November 25 was appointed Catherine’s feast day on the church calendar. She was admired and adored without measure by medieval worshipers, becoming the patron saint of young women, wheelwrights, attorneys, and scholars.

But how much of her story is true? Perhaps not much. Behind the legends, there may have been a beautiful martyr whose full story is known only in heaven. But the earliest mention of Catherine dates from the ninth century when her bones were reportedly transferred to the monastery of Mount Sinai, and the earliest biographies of her date from the tenth century. Though she was among the greatest heroes to the masses of the Middle Ages, there is scant evidence that Catherine of Alexandria ever existed.

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Warn them to stop wasting their time on senseless stories and endless lists of ancestors. … You must teach people to have genuine love, as well as a good conscience and true faith. There are some who have given up these for nothing but empty talk. 1 Timothy 1:4-6
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