Isaiah 32-33 - The King of Righteousness

Messiah at the Last Judgment

Opening thought:  Have you ever seen one of those bumper stickers on the back of a car that says, “Peace”?  If I understand it correctly, that bumper sticker is wishing for world peace, that is, no more war. That is an admirable goal. Oh that we would see an end to war, peace among nations, and everyone fed and safe.

That ambitious goal is usually based on the agreement and cooperation of human beings. Unfortunately for all of us, human beings are marred and scarred by sin, and they are unable to hold it all together when it comes to peace. Greed or lust for power or personal ambition enters geopolitical and personal relationships and tanks the hope of peace every time.

Isaiah had that same ambition, but he saw a different path to peace. In his visions, he saw a King who would bring world peace among nations and peace in people’s hearts, an inner peace that saves completely and eternally.

Isaiah has many famous chapters. One of them is Isaiah 9 which we often read at Christmas. It tells us that the Messiah will be a ruler, that the “government will be upon his shoulders” (9:6), and that he is the Prince of Peace (9:6). Chapters 32 and 33 today give us a vision of what that ideal government will look like under a Messianic king. He will correct injustices, judge sinners, and establish righteousness which will bear fruit as peace (32:17).

Pray and Read:  Isaiah 32-33

Contextual Notes: Isaiah’s vision now moves beyond his time and God’s rebellious people to see a king who will reign in righteousness (32:1). Picking up themes from earlier prophecies in the book, Isaiah portrays this King as one who does away with life’s unfairnesses (32:2-8). His judgments will shake the complacent (32:9-14), and he will pour out God’s Spirit, bringing personal and international peace (32:15-20).

After destroying the destroyer, our enemy the devil (33:1-4), the exalted Lord Himself will be the foundation of a better time (33:5-12). The Messiah’s coming will terrify sinners but be a refuge for the righteous (33:13-16). Jerusalem will become the capital of the Messiah’s kingdom, supplying and satisfying all the earth (33:17-24).

Key Truth: Isaiah wrote Isaiah 32-33 to prepare Israel for the coming King of Righteousness, the Messiah, who will rise from the dead, pour out the Holy Spirit, and be a refuge for them.

Key Application: Today I want to show you what God’s Word says about the Coming King.

Sermon Points:

1.   A King will Reign in righteousness (Isaiah 32:1-8)

2.   A King will pour out the Spirit of righteousness (Isaiah 32:9-20)

3.   A King will Arise in righteousness (Isaiah 33:1-12)

4.   A King will be a Refuge of righteousness (Isaiah 33:13-24)

Exposition:   Note well,

1.   A KING WILL REIGN IN RIGHTEOUSNESS (ISAIAH 32:1-8)

a.   32:1 – A king will reign in righteousness and with justice. The pairing of these two words throughout Isaiah have always been used in the context of describing the Messiah (1:27; 5:7, 16; 9:7; 11:4; 16:5; 26:7-9).

b.   32:2-8 – He will do away with life’s unfairness.

c.   32:3 – They will see at last. Direct reference to 6:9; see also 29:18; 35:3-6; 2 Corinthians 3:15-18.

d.   APPLICATION: There is coming a day when the Lord is going to right the wrongs in this world. He sees the employee that gets away with stealing and then gets promoted. He sees the children who are beaten and molested every day. He hears the cries of the victims of cancer and genetic diseases.  He hears the cry of the blood coming from the ground from aborted children. He sees the corruption in our government. He hears the cries for help from victims of human trafficking. He hears the pleadings of the persecuted church. He knows about the broken treaties and the blood on the land. He will right every wrong one day.

2.   A KING WILL POUR OUT THE SPIRIT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS (ISAIAH 32:9-20)

a.   32:9-14 – His judgments shake complacency. Note similarities between 32:1-20 and 3:1-4:6. Complacency is replaced by mourning and humility (32:11-12; 3:17-4:1). Pride is brought low, i.e., the high parts of the city and the forests (32:14, 19; 10:12, 17-19). The people had in complacency had not bothered to consult the Spirit (30:1), but humility opens the way for the pouring out of the Holy Spirit (32:15), and he cleanses and transforms (4:4; Genesis 2:7; Ezekiel 37:1-14; Acts 2:1-4; 2 Corinthians 5:5, 17) everything (32:15) bringing fruits of justice, peace, quietness, and confidence (32:16-19; Galatians 5:22-23). [1]

b.   APPLICATION: This is the picture of revival. When there is no revival and repentance in the hearts of his people, there is complacency and carnality, pride and prejudice. No one thinks they need the Holy Spirit’s guidance. Churches are self-run, or personality-driven, or deacon-possessed, not Holy Spirit-led. When the pride of person gives way to the humility of repentance, and the Holy Spirit is poured out in revival of hearts and minds, cleansing, transforming lives, setting things right and bringing peace with God and reconciliation with others. We need revival in our own lives, in our church, in our community, and in our nation. Oh that the Lord would pour out a spirit of repentance on us so that He may pour out his Holy Spirit upon us in revival.

c.   32:15-18 – Shalom. The Hebrew word for peace is found over 200 times in the OT. In the narrative books, like Joshua, Kings, and Chronicles, it usually is used to describe simply an absence of hostility or strife. In the Psalms and the Prophets the meaning goes beyond that. It expresses a basic and vital biblical idea of not just a condition without war, but goes further to suggest wholeness and harmony, something that is complete and sound, prosperous and healthy, and fulfilled. Two of every three times shalom is found, it indicates a total fulfillment that comes when personas experience God’s presence. In 32:15-16, Isaiah portrays that inner peace and material prosperity that will mark the joyful fulfillment of all man’s hopes and dreams for world peace under the Messiah’s rule. He will be our Prince of Peace (9:6).

d.   32:15-17 – Peace and righteousness: Peace is possible only where there is righteousness and righteousness only where the Holy Spirit transform’s mankind.

e.   APPLICATION: The presence of a Judeo-Christian worldview establishes the environment where people can go to sleep in peace at night, where personal liberty can flourish alongside personal responsibility in governments, where businesses can make money and be compassionate, where healthcare can be caring and profitable, where education can enliven the gifts and talents the Lord has placed in children and young adults, where research and development can innovate and create new and better products and medicines and approaches in various disciplines, where morality is honored and manners are present, where crime and taxes are low, where children outside the womb find themselves well cared for and babies in the womb are protected and celebrated. Every people which has rejected the righteousness to which the Bible points has seen an increase in immorality and crime, a decrease in personal liberty, and increase in social welfare, then socialism, then totalitarianism. Our nation is in desperate need of the reviving work of Jesus Christ in the hearts of our people. We have drifted so that we are now the fourth largest mission field in the world. Are you talking to people about your faith?

3.   A KING WILL ARISE IN RIGHTEOUSNESS (ISAIAH 33:1-12)

a.   33:1-6 – Another Woe! (29:1, 15; 30:1). This one is against the destroyer and traitor. The Babylonians were described in this way (21:2), but the reference to deliverance (31:3) and as traitors (33:8) may refer to the Assyrians (2 Kings18:17; 19:35). But there is another destroyer and betrayer. He is our common enemy, the devil. He will be destroyed in the end-time. Isaiah is looking far beyond his own time. The inhabitants of Judah are called to pray, asking for grace (32:2). Their prayer exalts God as sovereign (33:3-5; Matthew 6:9-10). His protection includes wisdom, knowledge, and fear of the Lord (Psalm 111:10; Proverbs 1:7; Ecclesiastes 2:26; James 1:5; Exodus 1:20-21; Job 1:1-3). These are more precious than riches, because riches cannot buy them (33:6).

b.   33:7-12 – The need for salvation is acutely felt because of the devastation of the land. Even strong men weep. Now the Lord intervenes. There are several key words in 33:10 that refer directly to the Messiah Yeshua, Jesus Christ. “Arise” refers to the resurrection. “Being exalted” refers to His Ascension. “Being lifted up” refers directly to the cross. Only through this Man’s ability is useless (33:11; Psalm 1:4).

c.   ILLUSTRATION: His sovereignty is like a fire (33:12-13) as in Israel’s past and future (Judges 6:20-22; 1 Kings 18:36-39; 2 Kings 1:10; see also James & John’s familiarity Luke 9:54).

d.   APPLICATION: We live in a land that is being devastated by sin as we run headlong into it. When even the strong men, the important people weep for salvation, we will see the Lord intervene. He will come like a fire and cleanse us and save us from ourselves. Oh Lord, do it in our day. Like Moses we cry, “Arise, O Lord, let your enemies be scattered.”

4.   A KING WILL BE A REFUGE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS (ISAIAH 33:13-24)

a.   33:14-16 – Refuge (33:16) for the Righteous Remnant: The OT has a basic concept of the remnant. God’s judgment will purge sinners, but a faithful, righteous remnant will survive and remain. The Hebrew term sa’ar is used by the prophets as a technical term to designate a remnant of converted/believing Israelites who receive the blessings of the OT covenants (33:6). Joel 2:32 and Ezekiel 6:8-9 describe the eschatological / end-time remnant. This remnant has a present meaning as well. No matter how far Israel wanders or how hard God’s judgment is, the Lord will preserve a faithful few (1 Kings 19:18; Malachi 3:16-18). The Apostle Paul shows that salvation has always been by faith and that physical descent from Abraham was no automatic guarantee of God’s favor (Romans 9:8). He wrote that God’s OT promises still stand (Romans 11:26), for a remnant of the Jews will be preserved and in a future day “all Israel will be saved, as it is written.”

b.   33:17-24: The Mighty One – He is the Judiciary (our judge), the legislative power (our lawgiver) and the executive (our king who will save us) (33:22). Not only that, he is the healer of his people, both physical (33:23-24) and spiritual (33:24b). He is greater than any king of Israel (2 Kings 5:7-8; 2 Chronicles 7:14). But Jesus fulfilled that role as the King of Righteousness. He forgives sin and heals (Mark 2:9-12; 3:7-10; John 1:29; 8:1-11)

Invitation: Do you need healing and forgiveness of your sins? Do you know that King of Righteousness? Today is the day to bow the knee to Him. One day everyone will, but it will be too late at the Judgment Seat of Christ. Won’t you choose to serve him now?

Sources:

Africa Bible Commentary, 832-3.

Larry Richards, Bible Readers Companion, 427.

F.F. Bruce, ed. International Bible Commentary, 742-3.

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[1] ABC, 832.

Is it wrong to display a picture of Robert E. Lee?

My answer to the question

Below is my response (for whatever its merits) to the ethical question posed to Dr. Russell Moore on July 28, "Is it wrong to display a picture of Robert E. Lee?" Moore is Dean of the School of Theology and Senior Vice-President for Academic Administration at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and preaching pastor at Highview Baptist Church, Fegenbush campus.

The place of deepest humility to which to aspire is to honor our fathers and mothers, their deeds, their values, their glories, their achievements, their bravery, and to acknowledge freely as well their sins, their iniquities which have come down to us, and to walk in repentance for the sin of “me and my people” before a forgiving God (Nehemiah 9; Ezra 9; Daniel 9).

Robert E. Lee was a great American who deserves honor for his life, faith, and deeds which honored Christ. He deserves honor for brilliant military service to both the United States military and his native Virginia. Lee set his slaves free long before the War and for much of the War advocated offering freedom to any slaves who would fight for independence.

The Confederate government finally approved that measure in March 1865, too late for anyone to notice or for it to affect the war, but that decision gives weight to the argument that there was more for which the South effused the blood of thousands of white men than for some superiority complex of keeping one people under the neck of another.

The world is a complicated place. All our American hands are crimson from the blood of slavery and its subsequent iniquity.

Lincoln sold his wife’s inherited slaves instead of freeing them. He advocated the colonization of Liberia to send as many people of African heritage back to the African continent as possible because he did not believe whites and blacks could live together in peace and equality, that blacks did not have the mental and social capabilities of living in a free society.

His Emancipation Proclamation, a bald political move to pull the United Kingdom back from the brink of formally recognizing the Confederacy, guaranteed the perpetuation of slavery to any territory or state which would lay down their arms and come back into the Union. If slavery was all Lee and the South wanted, none of them took advantage of the offer. On the Union side, General, and later President, U.S. Grant retained his slaves until he was forced by the 13th Amendment to give them up.

There is a reason that slavery was not long tolerated in the North. Northern whites could not abide the presence of people of African descent. That is why the Northwest Territory had a provision that no one of African descent could own land in what is today the MidWest.

The US Army was dispatched to manhandle violent rioters in the streets of New York City when residents found out the Lincoln Administration wanted to change the direction of the War to include freeing the slaves.

The war crimes, rapes and torture of slaves, contrabanding of medicines and Bibles, and the total war strategy of making war on defenseless elderly, women, slaves, and children, that Grant, Sherman, and Lincoln prosecuted were sins of incalculable depth toward both white and black Southerners.

The politics of Reconstruction set Southern blacks and whites against one another as a strategy of the Northern victors to maintain a level of social and political control in the American South. ‘Separate but equal’ was an imposed Northern idea. The resulting post-War racism and Jim Crow codes were a direct result of that Reconstruction strategy. Southerners’ sinful resentment and bitterness about the prosecution and results of the war led to the sinful way freed blacks were treated for a century.

Slavery and virulent racism has not been just a Southern sin. It was and continues to be an American sin.

Motivation

Isaiah 30-31: The Holy One of Israel

Isaiah in the Temple

Pray and Read:  Isaiah 30-31

Contextual Notes: Beginning at chapter 13, Isaiah has focused on the coming judgment of God against the nations surrounding Israel and Judah (13-23), all the nations (24-27), and now Israel and Judah (28-31). In chapters 30-31, God’s obstinate people stubbornly continue seeking foreign alliances rather than trusting the Lord (30:1-7). They even pressure the prophets to say only what they want to hear rather than what the Lord’s Word (30:8-11). Refusing the Word of the Lord will bring their downfall (30:12-13). Yet even in all this, God longs to be gracious to Israel (30:14-26) and shatter their enemies (30:27-33).

But Isaiah must instead focus on the situation at hand regarding the political push to ally with Egypt against Assyria. Isaiah pronounces woe on those who would rely on Egypt (31:1-3), yet God in his grace will shield Jerusalem even in their misplaced trust (31:4-9). God kept his promise. In the reign of Hezekiah, Assyria devastated Israel, invaded Judah, but Jerusalem was saved by divine intervention (Isaiah 36-39). Just as God acted in grace then he will in the future keep his other promises. The present may be dark, but the future is bright for the Jews. God’s prescription for salvation remains the same: repentance and trust in Him (30:15).

Key Truth: Isaiah wrote Isaiah 30-31 to teach Israel to trust the Holy One of Israel alone.

Key Application: Today I want to show you what God’s Word says about trusting God in a narrow place.

Sermon Points:

1. The Sin of Rebellion (Isaiah 30:1-14)
2. The Way of Salvation (Isaiah 30:15-26)
3. The Warfare of Worship (Isaiah 30:27-33)
4. The Warfare of Repentance (Isaiah 31:1-9)

Exposition:   Note well,

1.   THE SIN OF REBELLION (Isaiah 30:1-14)

a.   30:1-7: After a vision of the Messiah’s reign (29:17-24), Isaiah presents here the third Woe! (29:1; 15). He calls them obstinate children heaping sin upon sin. Jesus’ teaching had this central theme of repentance and reconciliation with the Father (Luke 15:11-32).

b.   30:2 With Assyria threatening Judah, the councilors urge the king to seek the protection of Egypt (2 Kings 18:9-21). Egypt’s shade is more properly shadow, in the shadow of their protection. The only one who offers protection is the Rock eternal (26:4). All Egypt has to offer is disgrace and shame (30:3, 5). There will be no help from Egypt (30:7; 49:4).

c.   30:8-12: Their rebellion: (1) Israelites refuse to follow God’s instructions (30:9; Deut. 28:1, 15). Listening is central to the life of the believer. (2) They want a religion that imposes no obligations or restrictions. They want God’s blessing, but they want to live outside the boundaries of holiness (30:10-11; Galatians 5:13-26). (3) They chose to trust man rather than God. They chose by the logic of war, confrontation, and power, the oppression and deceit of Egypt (30:12) rather than the Lord’s protection. The wall they built looked strong, but it is cracked and bulging, and would fall in a crash (30:13-14). Faced with a threat, the solution is not to attack or flee, but to trust in God. Trust is the key to peace (5:15; 7:9; 26:4; Matt. 11:28; Mark 5:36; Heb. 4:3-6).

d.   ILLUSTRATION: 30:10: Tell us pleasant things: You wouldn’t want your doctor to only give good news. You cannot treat a serious illness unless you diagnose it. Otherwise it could kill. It is the same with God’s words through the prophets. Their warnings may not be pleasant, but there is hope if we listen and take them to heart.

e.   APPLICATION:  We cannot live any way we want and expect God to bless it. The whole idea of being a Christian means that we give control of our lives over to Christ, his will and his ways. I have heard Christians say, “Nobody is going to tell me what to do. I’m going to do what I want no matter what anyone says.” That is rebellion. Samuel put it on the same level as divination or sorcery (1 Sam. 15). I once had a deacon tell me that he didn’t think it was right to leave church feeling bad about himself. It was my job to make him leave church feeling good about himself, he said. When a congregation or a person demands preaching or teaching that simply affirms them and their self esteem and their prejudices, they are on a path of rebellion.

2.   THE WAY OF SALVATION (Isaiah 30:15-26)

a.   30:15: Salvation. Yasa’ is the term for salvation in Hebrew, usually used for physical threat. The NT emphasis on salvation from sin and evil spiritual powers is not common in the OT, but it is present (see Psalm 45:14; 79:9; Ezekiel 37:23). The concept is applicable in the spiritual and material realms. Salvation is happens when (1) a person or a nation is in danger, suffering harm, or needs outside help; (2) a deliverer, a savior acts to relieve the distress, and (3) there is a change for the sufferer that brings relief. In this passage the salvation is from national enemies. The deliverer is God. The enemy is Assyria. Only by turning to God and appealing to Him for help will Judah have hope. Relying on Egypt, or on any other savior, is to reject God and all hope.

b.   30:16-18: So if they prefer to run to Egypt rather than trust the Lord, God will let them run. Only Jerusalem will remain because of God’s grace (30:17; 1:7-8; 2 Kings 18:13; 19:15-20, 35). But the Lord longs to be gracious to them if they will just place their trust in him.

c.   Similarities with Beatitudes (Matt. 5:1-11): Drying of tears (30:19; Matt. 5:4; see also Isa. 25:8; Rev. 21:4). Hunger and thirst (30:20; Matt. 5:6). Fellowship with God of those who seek purity (30:20b-21; Matt. 5:8). The connection with the Beatitudes, the idyllic situation of 30:23-25, and the cosmic upheaval of 30:26 all suggest more than Hezekiah’s day, but of a future perfect deliverance at the Lord’s return (Rev. 21:1-4, 23).[1]

d.   APPLICATION: How do you run to Egypt when you are in a tight place? What is your Egypt that you trust rather than the Lord? Is your Egypt your credit line? Is it your spouse? Is it your children? Is it alcohol? Is it a pastime that you submerge yourself in? You must rely on Christ and trust him in the tight places. He is your Savior. He longs to be your comfort and your salvation. Will you let him?

3.   THE WARFARE OF WORSHIP (Isaiah 30:27-33)

a.   30:27-28 – Isaiah turns from the vision of the future to God’s intervention against Assyria – now that Hezekiah has turned to God rather than Egypt (2 Kings 19:19, 35). Four images of judgment on Assyria emphasize the seriousness of what is coming: fire, flood (Gen. 6-9), the sieve of destruction, and a bit in the jaws.

b.   30:29-32: Worship warfare: The Lord invites worship as he intervenes on their behalf. He is the Rock on which they must lean (26:4). Jeremiah will denounce those who rely on flesh rather than the Rock (Jer. 17:5). Cloudburst (the Flood: Gen. 6-9); hail (one of plagues on Egypt Exod. 9:13-35).

c.   30:33 – Topheth: This is the district in the Valley of Hinnom near Jerusalem where idolatrous Jews burned their young children alive as votive offerings to pagan gods. The king of Assyria’s final destination: a fire pit, deep and wide (30:33; lake of fire Rev. 20:10, 14; 21:8).

d.   APPLICATION:  Worship is often the warfare. Are you in the midst of an attack by the enemy? Your best weapon may be worship. Worship the Lord. Ask him to go before you and deal with the situation. It worked for King Josiah in 2 Chronicles 20. The principle is “Worship before warfare before work.”

4.   THE WARFARE OF REPENTANCE (Isaiah 31:1-9)

a.   31:1 – Fourth Woe! On those who will not seek help from the Lord but prefer an alliance with Egypt (29:15). Isaiah speaks of the horses and chariots of Egypt, subtly reminding them of the end of those that tried to cross the Red Sea (Exod. 14:28; 15:1, 19). Military power is worthless when compared with trust in the Lord (31:1; 1 Sam. 17:45-47; 2 Chron. 13:3-18; 20:1-24). Human wisdom seeks an ally. God’s wisdom seeks justice.

b.   31:3 – Men and Not God: Today too the choice exists between relying on the flesh or on the Spirit. We need to make wise choices in where we place our trust. Flesh and spirit are set in opposition and developed by Paul in Galatians 5:16-28. Both denounce all compromise with sin. Alliance with the wicked exposes one to the risk of sharing their fate (31:2b).

c.   31:4-9 – God is not impressed by numbers and noise (Exod. 4:10-12; 1 Sam. 16:7). God both shields and delivers. He ‘passes over’ (Exod. 12 – Passover) and rescues. But the people must return to him in repentance (31:6), and he will bring miraculous intervention. Repentance will result in His spiritual warfare in the heavenlies accomplishing his purposes on the ground. (31:8-9; 37:36-38).

d.   APPLICATION:  Paul writes about the difference between operating in the flesh and in the spirit in Romans 8. Operating in the flesh never works. It never comes out right. It never honors God. It never makes you look good in the end. Operating in submission to the Holy Spirit will always protect you, will always give you the way of wisdom, will always honor the Lord, will always end in righteousness.

Invitation:

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[1] Edouard Nsiku, ABC, 831.

Isaiah 28-29: The Precious Cornerstone

Opening thought:  Death is such a part of our culture. There is a fascination with it. We are taken with it. Our culture today is more enthralled with death than any other than probably the Egyptians.

Death is front page stuff. The media have a saying, "if it bleeds it leads." So the stories get gorier and bloodier and we're up for it. Give us shootings, killings, executions, mortuaries, pathologists, blood splatter technicians and odd funeral arrangements and we'll stand in line for tickets. We watch coroners and forensic pathologists on television. There are blood spatter specialists and crime scene investigations, autopsies on television. HBO did an award-winning show called “Six feet under.” Now they are interviewing people with incurable diseases called “Live like you were dying.” Tuesdays with Morey is about Lou Gehrig’s disease, but there was no hope, no Jesus or eternity. There’s a site on the internet called Deathclock.com. You put in your birth date, whether you smoke, your BMI, and it gives you a bogus date of your death.

People are mystified by death and bright lights. The cult classic called “Flat Liners,” where medical students would play a deadly game of taking a shot to make their heart stop and then hit them with electricity to get them back. We walk by the casket and say, “She looks good.” She doesn’t look good, she looks dead! Death hangs over us. Fear of death seems to drive life. Death is our enemy, and the Scripture says it will be the last enemy finally defeated at the Resurrection. Today’s passage points us straight at this enemy and its defeat by the Messiah.

Pray and Read:  Isaiah 28-29

Contextual Notes: In the chapters before us today, Isaiah continues his predictions of judgment that will soon strike the nations of his day in the Middle East. He had begun at chapter 13, and chapters 21-23 are a middle section that ended with an end-times prediction of judgment on the whole world in chapters 24-27.

Now Isaiah shifts back to predictions of judgment, except this time he focuses on the Jews of his day in the northern and southern kingdoms and their unbelief that is found in every age. Their covenant with death will be annulled (28:15-18), bringing in death and terror (v. 19). The season of judgment has come (v. 19-29). Jerusalem will be brought down (29:1-4), but God will in the end fight and defeat Israel’s enemies (29:5-9). Until then, Israel will be blind to the vision (29:10-16) until the mockers are destroyed, and then a shamed Israel will at the end stand in awe of God and receive the understanding she lacks now (29:17-24).

Key Truth: Isaiah wrote Isaiah 28-29 to teach Israel the importance of a heart relationship with the Lord and the lethal danger of dead religion.

Key Application: Today I want to show you what God’s Word says about having a relationship with the Messiah.

Sermon Points:

1. Our Cornerstone is the King who overcomes legalism and death; therefore, trust him (Isaiah 28:1-29).
2. Our Cornerstone is the Almighty who overcomes your enemies and brings Good News; therefore, revere him (Isaiah 29:1-24)

Exposition:   Note well,

1.   OUR CORNERSTONE IS THE KING WHO OVERCOMES LEGALISM AND DEATH; THEREFORE, TRUST HIM (Isaiah 28:1-29)

a.   Our Cornerstone (28:16) is the King (28:5) who overcomes legalism (28:10-13; 29:13) and Death (28:14-15, 18; 29:15); therefore, trust him (28:29).

b.   (28:1-6) – The beautiful floral wreaths of the drunken leadership of Judah will give way to the glorious Crown, the Messiah, whose glory and beauty are full of justice and strength. This justice is for the courts and the military/law enforcement.

c.   28:10-13 – “Do and Do” Isaiah uses the repetition as a drunkard’s babbling, words without meaning, sav lasav kav lakav kav lakav. They will hear a jabbering foreign tongue which will attack them. Paul quotes 28:11 on the subject of speaking in tongues (1 Cor. 14:21). But there is more here. Isaiah warns that a people who will not hear God’s Word will not only find it meaningless, but misinterpreted, and fall into a deathly religious legalism. Rather than a message of salvation (v. 12), the Word of God becomes a set of rules: do and do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule (v. 13).

d.   Colossians 2:20-23- “²⁰Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: ²¹"Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!"? ²²These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. ²³Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.” Believers should listen to the Word to understand it (Deuteronomy 6:4-6; Mark 4:9).

e.   28:14 – ‘scoffers’ – probably Hezekiah’s counselors who scoffed at Isaiah’s advice and instead encouraged Hezekiah to join the ill-fated revolt against Assyria in 705 B.C.

f.    28:15-18 – In a stunning sermon praised as one of the most powerful of all the prophets, Isaiah bewails his peoples foolish reliance on a protective ‘covenant with death’ which God will annul bringing in death and terror (v. 19). This is a covenant with occult forces (Leviticus 19:31). They made an agreement with death to avoid it, but by embracing it they will find themselves a victim of it.

g.   ILLUSTRATION: When I arrived at Southeastern Seminary in 2005, it was my second go-round at seminary. In my first class, I decided to start over with summer NT Greek since I had not studied it since my undergraduate time. Dr. Lanier was going over vocabulary one day early in the class and came to the word thanatos, the Greek word for death. He was trying to help us remember the words, and he referred to William Cullen Bryant’s poem, “Thanatopsis,” which encourages us to embrace death as part of life. Since it is inevitable, we should not fear death but embrace it as a friend in the circle of life. Then Dr. Lanier whirled around with a shout and said, “That is a lie! Death is not your friend. It is our last enemy, and Christ will defeat death. Never embrace death. Repel it. Fight it. It is our enemy. Have nothing to do with death. Death is a robber and our enemy, and our Lord Jesus Christ died to defeat death.

h.   APPLICATION: Have nothing to do with death or the occult or the books or organizations or movies or TV shows that promote it. We also often find ourselves embracing a deathlike religious activity in our legalisms and pet doctrines and rules made up by men. When we refuse the Holy Spirit’s teaching of the Word, when we refuse to allow the Word to speak to our hearts, it becomes just a book of rules, then religious activity, then legalisms, then you find you’ve lost the whole spirit of the relationship with Jesus Christ, and you are just a religious nut, a church lady, the kind of person that gives Christianity a bad name.

i.    28:16-17 – The NT picks up this imagery of the cornerstone and applies it to Jesus as the Messiah (Romans 9:33; 10:11; 1 Peter 2:4-6). The stone image is repeated here from Isaiah 8:14 where the leadership is failing as well. When the two ‘stone’ passages together, we see a fascinating revelation. The same stone cannot be both a foundation stone (cornerstone) and a capstone, holding the arch together. But the Messiah is both foundation and capstone in God’s holy temple, the beginning and end, alpha and omega, aleph and tav, a and z. This stone both IS God and is laid BY God. Only Jesus, sent by God and yet also God the Son, could possibly fulfill this requirement.

1. Romans 9:33: ³³As it is written: "See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame." (Isaiah 8:14; 28:16). Romans 10:11: ¹¹As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame." (Isaiah 28:16). 1 Peter 2:4-6: ⁴As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him— ⁵you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. ⁶For in Scripture it says: "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” (Isaiah 28:16)

j.    28:20 – too short a bed: Vivid picture of a bed too short for what they need. Not enough

k.   28:21-22 – God had wonderfully protected in earlier days, Mount Perazim (Joshua 10:1-11) and Valley of Gibeon (2 Samuel 5:17-25), but now judgment has been decreed. God’s judgment is a strange and alien deed. Would God really bring disaster on his own people?

l.     28:23-29 – Parable of the Farmer – the season of judgment has arrived. God is the farmer of the vineyard. Farmers have to sometimes apply violent activity to get achieve results (v. 27f), but they dare not overdo or they will lose everything. God must be severe with his people, but there is a purpose behind them, and the punishment will not go too far. The Lord is wonderful in counsel and wisdom in contrast to false counselors (vv.14ff), and recalls and reinforces 9:6.

m. APPLICATION: This mystery of suffering and death is at the heart of Christianity. Jesus explained his death as Savior in a similar illustration as a seed that dies to produce life (John 12:23-33). Like Christ, Christians endure suffering times with the aim of glory (Romans 8:18-39; 1 Peter 4).

2.   OUR CORNERSTONE IS THE ALMIGHTY WHO OVERCOMES YOUR ENEMIES AND BRINGS GOOD NEWS; THEREFORE, REVERE HIM (Isaiah 29:1-24)

a.   Our Cornerstone (28:16) is the Almighty (29:6) who overcomes your enemies (29:5) and brings Good News (29:18-19); therefore, revere him (29:23) (Isaiah 29:1-24).

b.   29:1 – Ariel – This name, applied to Jerusalem, means ‘altar hearth,’  and ‘lion of God.’ viewing Jerusalem as the place of sacrifice, where Judah, bent on ritual but not heart relationship (Isaiah 1) was so deeply diverted. 29:13 complains that their mouths but not their hearts are close to Him. In a remarkable use of words, God will be the lion who will attack the lion of God (Jeremiah 25:30; Amos 1:2). God will besiege the city David besieged (2 Samuel 5:6-10). God will burn the city of burning sacrifice.

c.   29:5-8 – Sennacherib’s army will fade away like a dream (see 37:36f; 1Kings 19:35 for fulfillment), but the context is set against the End when all Israel’s enemies will be destroyed. Jerusalem will never be obliterated. But there is more here than the partial fulfillment of the destruction of Sennacherib’s army. This is also a picture of the end that Zechariah takes up in Zechariah 12:1-9, when the nations gather to force Israel and besiege Jerusalem.

d.   29:11-12 – This vision is Isaiah’s revelation. Most who heard it could not grasp its words or missed the meaning (Isaiah 6:9).

e.   29:13-24 – Jesus used verse 13 to describe the external religion of the Pharisees (Matthew 15:9), full of legalism, secrecy. The Pharisees and Sadducees, says Alfred Edersheim, were secret societies who used the secret occult teachings of Judaism, the Kaballah. Paul was a Pharisee, and this is why they took an oath not to eat until they killed him (Acts ). But Paul proclaimed another secret, the one long hidden but is now revealed to anyone who wants to know it, that the Almighty God, our King, would die for us as an accursed criminal to defeat death and bring eternal life to all who would receive it.

f.    1 Corinthians 2:6-10 – “⁶We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. ⁷No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. ⁸None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. ⁹However, as it is written:  "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him" (Isaiah 64:4) — ¹⁰but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.”

g.   One day (v. 18) the Jews will hear and respond to the message of Christ (vv. 19, 23). In verse 19, it will take a new humility (Job 22:29; Psalm 147:6; Micah 6:8; Matthew 5:3; 1 Peter 5:5) like the Messiah’s (Matthew 11:29; Phil 2:1-8).

h.   29:22-24 – One commentator says, “It is difficult to find a precise historical background for v. 22ff.”[1] Well, there is a reason for that. It hasn’t happened yet. Romans 4:3; 11:26-28. Abraham is a type of the (1) the transformation to be an instrument of salvation (Genesis 12:1-3; Joshua 24:2-3); (2) the Lord’s faithfulness to Abraham and Jacob (Genesis 32:10; Romans 11:26); and (3) a Covenant like Abraham’s (Romans 4:3; Genesis 17:1-11) based on faith.

i.    APPLICATION: One day Jesus is coming back, and he will fulfill his promises to Israel and Abraham. If he doesn’t, then he is not trustworthy. That is the reason the Church cannot replace Israel. Israel is a people through whom God will glorify his Name throughout eternity.

Invitation:

---

[1] Bruce, ed. IBC, 741.

Baptism on Grassy Creek

Baptizing Cayla Crute

I'm still a little bit stunned over it, to tell the truth.

Today Amanda and I and the children went back to Granville County, NC, to baptize Cayla Crute, the daughter of Charles and Tammy Crute. Ordinarily I would not go back to a previous pastorate to do a baptism, because the people need to embrace the pastor the Lord has provided for them. For those involved in church regularly, they should look to the one the Lord has provided to them at that time. That is why I did not go back to baptize another person who had come to Christ just at the end of my tenure at Amis Chapel. That family was involved in the church. 

Family, friends at baptism

Cayla's family is a different case, and while I will not go into the delicate details for their sakes, I can say that it was appropriate to come and minister to this family when their daughter specifically requested me to baptize her. So I did that today. She had made a public profession of faith during Vacation Bible School commencement at Amis Chapel at the end of June. Amis Chapel's pastor, Terry Howard, attended today's baptism as well, and I count him a friend in Christ, and a valuable colleague.

Several years ago when I was pastoring Amis Chapel, I was at the Grassy Creek Community building for a supper. I walked out to the creek with several of those who had been baptized in that spot many years before and listened to stories of their baptisms. 

It is an historic spot, because Baptists have been baptizing in this Grassy Creek since about 1754. They came to this place just two miles from the state line into North Carolina, fleeing vicious persecution in Anglican Virginia, in order to practice what they understood from the inerrant Scripture to be the correct mode of baptism and congregational worship. 

Baptizing Cayla in Grassy Creek

And it was not just any group of Baptists. Elders Shubael Stearns and brother-in-law Daniel Marshall did the baptizing, even baptizing Grassy Creek Baptist Church's first pastor, James Reed. Stearns and Marshall were the dynamic duo who led the great Sandy Creek Revival and planted scores, no, hundreds of churches that became the backbone of the Southern Baptist Convention a century later. (Daniel Marshall also planted in 1771 the Bush River Baptist Church in Newberry County, SC, the church in which I was baptized over 200 years later.) Thousands of Southern Baptists trace their spiritual heritage to these two men.

So as I stood there on the bank of the Grassy Creek some years ago, I asked the Lord for the privilege of baptizing someone in that creek one day, in order to connect somehow with that great heritage of revival and spiritual awakening of those New Light Separates. 

Their call of repentance and revival fire lit up the Colonial American South, formed the philosophical backbone of the Regulators of North Carolina who fought for local self-government against the Royal North Carolina colonial government. When they lost the Battle of Alamance, they moved to East Tennessee not to be bothered until they received word that Patrick Ferguson was coming with an Army of American Loyalists to the British Crown to burn their homes. Then these Overmountain Men marched back across the mountains and destroyed Ferguson's army at King's Mountain, the turning point of the first War for Independence in the South.

Cayla Crute baptized

Today I baptized Cayla Crute in Grassy Creek. The Lord answered that prayer of mine from 2006. I didn't really think about it that much in the moment. It was a beautiful day with a beautiful baptism. Cayla is a sweet girl. It was a joy and honor to baptize her. She had specifically asked her mom to let me do it for her, and I am grateful. The Lord used her to answer that prayer to participate at some small level in the evangelistic mantle and revival anointing that Stearns and Marshall wore. What a blessing.

Then, almost as a sign of the mantle of evangelism at work, something unusual happened.

Baptizing Daniel McGee

As Cayla and I slowly trudged out of the water at the swimming area of the Grassy Creek Recreation Area, Tammy Crute came to me with a young man, a teenager named Daniel McGee. He asked me to baptize him. I asked him for a basis for baptizing him and shared the Gospel with him. Daniel has been living with the Crutes for about a year, and he said he had been reading the Vacation Bible School material that Cayla had brought home this summer. He wanted to make a public profession of his faith through baptism. I led him in a prayer asking forgiveness of his sin and giving control of his life over to Christ Jesus. I explained to him that baptism does nothing at all for him, but it announces his being buried with Christ in baptism and being raised from the dead through new life in the Lord.

Baptizing Daniel in Grassy Creek

So I called together the remaining witnesses to Cayla's baptism, and we headed into Grassy Creek a second time and baptized Daniel McGee. I pray that his decision to be obedient to Christ will follow in his public profession and membership in a local church very soon, and I entrusted him to Terry Howard who counseled with him during the outdoor celebration meal for Cayla.

Daniel McGee baptized

What a joy to baptize two, one of them led to the Lord there on the banks of Grassy Creek. What a blessing to perform a baptism in that historic waterway, where once nearly 250 years ago the firebrands of revival and spiritual awakening baptized many.

May the Lord do it again in our day. Oh, how we need an awakening in our land. I fear it is our only remaining hope.

Shared links from Facebook

Links I've posted on Facebook up until 8/21/2010: 
MINISTRY
Mark Driscoll on Twilight Mark Driscoll talks about the top preteen and teen books sold on Amazon and ends with his thoughts on Twilight.
Congregations Gone Wild - NYTimes.com The unspoken reason why American clergy are burned out is that their congregations want sermons that entertain rather than offer moral counsel.
Prayer really does help cure the sick

Moralistic Therapeutic Deism–the New American Religion
‘HIGH NOON’ at Church | Church Executive Tullian's challenge at Coral Ridge
Baptists see GCR Task Force promoting growth
God Save America
Young Evangelical Takes So. Baptists Back to the Gospel
Protestant Seminary Joins Hands with Jewish, Muslim Schools

Young Southern Baptists Urged Not to Walk Away Yet

How human sex trafficking spurred on a Largo church to act - Florida Baptist Witness
New staff positions to emerge this decade
Spurgeon's Worst Sermon
10 Reasons Small Churches Stay Small
Idol Worship « Videos « The Skit Guys

Air Conditioning Hell: How Liberalism Happens - AlbertMohler.com
Types of Fasting | TheResurgence
Report Finds Over 1,200 Crimes Against Churches in 2009
How Much is the pastor Working?

Reasons (why people don't come to church)

Evangelicals do some soul-searching - washingtonpost.com

Lord of the Wedding Dance

John Piper - Are You a Church or a Club?

Placebos Are Getting More Effective. Drugmakers Are Desperate to Know Why
The Toughest Test in College: Why Students are Failing to Keep Their Faith on Campus
Offering Time!! [HQ]
Many Christians have gross misunderstanding of faith

PRAYER
Prayers really can help to cure the sick

PrayerShop-More prayer guides and prayer materials to help churches grow in prayer

Leading The Way: God Save America Looking for 100K to pray for America

National Day of Prayer Observance on the Steps of the U.S. Capitol

A Call To Anguish by David Wilkerson

Without revival, U.S. will become unrecognizable - Land

MISSIONS
How Missionaries Lost Their Chariots of Fire and Why They Should Add the Gospel Back...Wall Street Journal op-ed chides Christians for divorcing service to the needy from gospel proclamation.

Baptists see task force priming growth

IMB president asks Southern Baptists, 'Are we there yet?'

So. Baptists Adopt Major Changes to Tackle 'Lostness'

DJ Horton: The Great Commission Resurgence from a Young Pastor's Perspective

A Great Commission Resurgence

Ed Stetzer - Exponential and Church Planting Trends
99 Goats - (A Must Read)

Errbody in the Church Helpin' Lottie!

Islamic Christianophobia - WSJ.com

Church Growth Exploding in China
David Platt: SBC Pastors Conference 2009

Lottie Moon: Little Woman with Big Legacy

Ralph D. Winter Remembered as 'Giant' in Mission Field

Jungle Aviation with a Flying Car – The Maverick Flying Buggy - Popular Mechanics

GCR: Merge mission boards, chairman of North American Mission Board says
Liberia, West Africa - April 2009 Update

A Man Fell in a Hole - BluefishTV

THEOLOGY
The Foundation of Biblical Zionism by Rev. Malcolm Hedding

He is not here-he is risen

Finding Meaning in the Pentateuch | Review of John Sailhamer's book on CT

FOXNews.com - When Was the Bible Really Written?
The Truth Project

Charles Stanley on Spiritual Intimacy

The Nativity According to Luke - BAR Ben Witherington

Life After Death

TrueU Promo - Is the Bible Reliable?

The New Calvinists

Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia BHS free in pdf. No critical apparatus

The Great Debate: Lennox vs Shermer 9/10

Axiom 3 [HQ] Akin on the doctrine of inerrancy

FRIENDS

BUILD A BED? « Story Time Marilyn Thomas mentions me in a story from our 1999 tour group to Petra

When Oconee parks director is called to guard duty, family soldiers on My college roommate, John Gentry, Iraq and Afghanistan vetera

N.C. couple to manage New York mission house Seminary friend Barry Lawrence

Dennis Aggrey: Biographical and Visional

Steve Saunders 'miracle' recovery  //  Sheriff's lieutenant fights for life at Duke
Jeff Duncan for Congress
Hero Mom Linda Graham Haiti Earthquake//Missionary: No buildings survived quake  // Durham women deliver babies  // Triangle women take mission trip to Haiti

ncbaptist.org: Prayer Conference 2008

''Big' Gene Pinson passes away

Faithfulness: David and Judy Humphries
Meet Editor Sandy Brooks

HISTORY

Arizona, Borderlands and U.S.-Mexican Relations The immigration issue is rooted in the history of the US Mexican War.
Where America got its name How an unknown Greek scholar named America with a pithy pun.

1776 in a New Light - Science and Tech - The Atlantic Multispectral imaging now shows that Jefferson crossed out the word "subjects" and replaced it with "citizens."

Ancient hunters may have begun global warming Now global warming is the mammoth hunters' fault

Stalagmite reveals carbon footprint of early Native Americans

Dates That Destroyed America | Chuck Baldwin Live

Jesus Era House Discovered in Nazareth

Near Morganton, NC: Fort San Juan (Juan Pardo) 1567 - 1st European interior settlement
Citadel flag used in 1861 firing on Star of the West found

An Edwards-ian Thanksgiving

How Lice Thwarted Napoleon's Invasion of Russia

2,000-year-old ritual cup found in Old City of Jerusalem - Los Angeles Times
Researcher counts N.C.'s death toll in Civil War Getting an accurate count of NC's WBTS dead. An error in the article is corrected here: http://michaelchardy.blogspot.com/2010/08/no-confederate-left-behind.html

SCV National Reunion in SC, two real sons meet // Manse Jolly stories from Rev. John Weaver at SCV //

SCV opens. Mayor Terence Roberts welcomes visitors // Sons of Confederate Vets National reunion opens

145th Anniversary - 1865 Battle of Bentonville

Descendants want memorial for Immortal 600

Honest, Abe? In Bostic, NC, they say Abraham Lincoln was son of Abraham Enloe and Nancy Hanks, then sent to Kentucky with Enloe's hog-drover Thomas Lincoln.

What manner of men were these? War Between the States soldiers

Grand opening: National Civil War Chaplains Museum

Read about the Confederacy - The Times-Herald Federals do battle with naked Rebels - Washington Times

Original Citadel 'Big Red' Palmetto flag found in Iowa (10/09)

Pasquotank (NC) Guards Confederate flag remnant ends journey - News | DailyAdvance.com

Still Standing: The Stonewall Jackson Story

Remembering Last Reunion Of Civil War Veterans : NPR

A salute to Memorial Day: "Thousands died"

Lincoln’s War|Tenth Amendment Center

PARENTING

The Resurgence of Classical Education

Home schools multiply in N.C. Up 5.8% since last year to 80K NC children
Mark Dever - For Children Only - Mark 10:13-16 Children are not hindrances to be avoided, but rather blessings to be discipled
Not spanking -- is it better for kids?

Miley Cyrus presents parenting dilemma She's a bad role model for girls

The New Demography of American Motherhood - Pew Research Center

CULTURE
Home Depot fires cashier over 'God' button - Careers Articles
Two-tone twins So exactly how did we get different racial groups?
A Gavel Falls on Marriage: The Proposition 8 Decision

By the Numbers: How the Digital Revolution Changed Our World Incredible graphic on technology's reach

Black Pastor Arrested for Preaching on Public Right of Way

Al Qaeda breeds terror in Sahara - Washington Times

How Facebook Is Making Friending Obsolete - WSJ.com

Roy has fan escorted out during game against Presbyterian // Roy freaks out over heckler, asks everyone else to calm down

Woman allegedly pours grits on sleeping boyfriend: Grits - breakfast of champions and scorned women

Spiral light puts Norway in a spin | The Sun |News

Football and religion in SC

The 12 most annoying types of Facebookers - CNN.com

Facebook: An Entertaining Saboteur

POLITICS

TANCREDO: The case for impeachment - Washington Times
KUHNER: President's socialist takeover must be stopped - Washington Times

Returning to Our Roots  Our nation was not founded on human ideals, but on the truths of the Bible.

Newt Gingrich: Impeach judges

CitizenLink: What Would an Obama Presidency Look Like? Back in 2008 it looked too crazy to be true . . .

Obama Recess Appointment dangerous for the elderly

Charles Stanley Warns of Socialism, Departure from God

Charles Stanley July 4th message: Turning the Tide

Freedom of Religion: gutting our inalienable right

Former Marine ‘Stuns Crowd’ at Georgia Tea Party Event

The End of Religious Freedom in America?

Gubernatorial Candidate: ‘This is Alabama; We Speak English’

When Dictatorship Came to America by Thomas DiLorenzo

30+ States pushing Personhood legislation for unborn

Six Radioactive Elements From Coakley Collapse In Massachusetts - Watching Washington Blog : NPR
Obama’s TSA Nominee Worries About Those Who Are ‘Christian Identity Oriented'

Executive Order: International Police Granted Full Immunity in US and Not Subject to FOIA Requests

Boy Obama Statue erected in Jakarta

The Manhattan Declaration

China's top Christian lawyer Gao Zhisheng vanishes as government stifles dissent

Even Babies Discriminate
Obama: Afghan war 'fundamental' to U.S. - Washington Times History teaches us that every nation which has invaded Afghanistan has fought to a bloody and costly stalemate that ended in withdrawal which appeared to be defeat. Ask the British, the Russians, the Medes and Persians, Alexander the Great, the Seleucids, the Indo-Greeks, Turks, and Mongols.

Ronald Reagan Speaks Out Against Socialized Medicine
Senator DeMint Speaks Against President's Government Takeover of Health Care
Sen.DeMint (R-SC) & Dave Ramsey on DC spending out of control

"Testing" Gov't Run Health Care (Part 2 of 3)

Barack Obama's books 'too dangerous for prisoners to read'

Newsweek’s Evan Thomas: Obama Is ‘Sort of God’ | NewsBusters.org

Texan Woman Told to Remove 'Offensive' American Flag From Office

Obama to be prayer day no-show - Washington Times

Governor Says Texas Can Leave Union If It Wants

LBJ and the Great Society - WSJ.com Sound familiar?
Stimulus Package Explained in VERY Simple Terms

Star Parker : Obama's vision is far from that of Founding Fathers

Ken Blackwell : Obamanomics

LIFE

Obama recess appointment 'dangerous' for the elderly, SBC ethicist Land says

Planned Parenthood: Pro-Abortion Bill a Victory, Executive Order Meaningless

Over 30 States Push to Establish Personhood for Unborn

Even Babies Discriminate: A NurtureShock Excerpt. | Newsweek Life

Unborn babies have memories, Netherlands study says

CitizenLink: Sotomayor 'Never Thought About' Rights of the Preborn

No, Mr. President: John Piper's Response to President Obama

Births Dropped Just Before Recession

Axiom 7 [HQ] A Great Commission Resurgence means having a lot of kids

ISRAEL

Obama mum on Bush's borders for Israel - Washington Times

War may be imminent for the Middle East

Helen Thomas: Jews go back to "Germany and America"

Flotilla Choir presents: We Con the World

16-yr old "Daniel" confronts lion's den of haters to stand for the honor of Israel
What Will Happen If the World Does Not Stop Iran?
HAMAS PLAYS HOST TO PEDOPHILIA | The Last Crusade

FUN
Drink Up! The Stories Behind 11 Regional Soft Drinks

South Carolina barbeque, BBQ sauce recipes

Dad Life

Don't be a Tumbleweed.mpg
Sports Sunday: The Big Show -BluefishTV.com

To Catch a Double Dipper

Easter Invite Bundle « Videos « The Skit Guys

Love Words « Videos « The Skit Guys
Tim Hawkins Free Credit Report Dot Com Spoof
Larry Platt - Pants On The Ground

"A Charlie Brown Christmas" Full Episode

A small church shows its devotion They love their Bojangles'

"This Too Is Liberia"

Dude Perfect - Summer Camp Edition

The Lonesome Stranger - All-Monkey Western!
What if Worship was like an NBA game?

Obama Proposes Government-Funded Salvation

Tithe Rap
DROP KICK ME JESUS by BOBBY BARE

Jerry Clower ~ Knock Him Out John