The Guide for the Week
of February 5-11th, 2023
The Fifth Week of Epiphany
Bible Passage for the Week
Deuteronomy 30:11-20
Matthew 25:31-46
1 John 4
Psalm 58
Verse to Memorize
Genesis 2:2-3
Catechism Questions
Q. 89. What is the fourth commandment?
A. The fourth commandment is, Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath Day, and hallowed it.
Q. 90. What does the fourth commandment teach us?
A. To keep the Sabbath holy.
Q. 91. What day of the week is the Christian Sabbath?
A. The first day of the week, called the Lord's day.
Q. 92. Why is it called the Lord's day?
A. Because on that day Christ rose from the dead.
Q. 93. How should the Sabbath be spent?
A. In prayer and praise, in hearing and reading God's Word, and in doing good to our fellow men.
Q. What should we remember on the Lord’s Day?
A. We should Remember that
1. God is Creator. Because He created 6 days and rested on the 7th, we should work hard and then rest.
2. God is Provider- Because God used Moses to lead His people out of Egypt and provided for His people in the wilderness, we trust that He will provide for us.
3. God is Savior- Because Jesus died on the cross, was buried, and rose again on the third day, our sinned have been paid and we are saved from our sins.
4. God is Father- Because I have been baptized and made a part of God’s covenant, I am His Child. He gives us His Son and the Holy Spirit.
5. God is King- Because Jesus is reigning now and will return, we will enjoy a feast of all feasts with Him.
People to Pray for:
Church: Christ Church Columbus
Pastor Andrew Halsey
Ministry: Daniel Courney
Civil Magistrate: Jeffersonville City Member
Dustin White
Notes for Parents:
Deuteronomy 30:11-20
Life or Death. Those are the only two options. You will either follow after Christ and receive life or you will reject the commands of God to go after idolatry and receive death. There is no neutral ground. There is no middle way. The path is set before and you must take a fork in the road. Which one will it be?
Matthew 25:31-46
Jesus is the focal point. Everything in the bible and in all of life hinges on Him. We were made by Him, through Him, and for Him. What you believe about Jesus is what matters more than anything in this world. Your salvation depends upon it. What you believe about Jesus will determine how you will live. If know Him, you will love Him, and then you will obey Him. And if you love Jesus you will love His people.
Jesus completes the Olivet discourse by talking explicitly about His return to judge the living and the dead. And the judgement all hinges on what people have done with Christ. Did you love Christ? Did you feed Him when He was hungry? Did you clothe Him when He was naked? Did you care for Him? And you might say well when did I get a chance to do those things? I’ve never seen Jesus with my own eyes. And Jesus says well how you treat His brothers, that is those in Christ, is how you treated Him. In other words the proof of your love for Jesus is your love and care for His people. You can’t see Jesus but you can see Christians. How can you say you love Jesus if you don’t love His people. If you don’t love His people, then you don’t love Him. And since what you do with Christ is foundational for your salvation, then what hope do you have in the judgement?
There are a couple of applications from this.
1. If you love Jesus, you will other Christians as an opportunity to show that love to Jesus. Other believers specifically and even all your neighbors (because Jesus taught us to love our neighbor) are doorways for your love to Christ. You get to shower Christ with love by taking care of your brother when he is down. You get to show your obedience to Christ by helping your neighbor. Even showing your enemies love is a way to show love to Christ because it is obeying His commands. Therefore, see people not as hinderances or interruptions, see them as conduits of your love to Christ.
This is true especially for our children. Fathers, if you are like me it is easy to start a project and your son wants to help. And you just want to get the job done. What do you do? Is your son an aggravation? Or is the real purpose in life not the project but the loving your son by finding ways to involve him in projects? Now this doesn’t mean there are never times when out of love you recognize the project is too dangerous or difficult for him. But often its just that I am impatient with my son and selfishly find the project more important.
2. Another application from this passage is that this is a comfort to us from our savior. As He sends us out into the world to be faithful servants, He owns us. And He owns what happens to us as happening to Himself. Those who oppose us in our work to proclaim the Gospel and to live out our faith are opposing Christ. They will be judged by how they treated us. They revealed that how they treated Christians, that they did not love Jesus.
1 John 4
The Apostle John in this chapter warns us to be alert because there are false teachers. There are those who do not speak the truth. In the time of John these people spoke against the incarnation of Christ. They denied that He was God in the flesh. They denied His humanity. There was an early heresy in the church that taught that all material is evil. Creation-matter- is tainted and we are just trying to escape into a spiritual existence. They also taught that because matter was evil that there was no way God could take on human flesh. Jesus had just the appearance of a man but was not truly in the flesh. John calls this an Antichrist. The word “anti” does not just mean opposed to something. It can also mean “another.” Antichrist is another Christ. Those teaching these things had created another Christ than the truth one. And of course this would be that they were opposed to the true Christ. There have been all kinds of antichrists throughout the ages. Whether they were people claiming to be the Messiah, people claiming to be God, or people teaching false things about Jesus and creating a Jesus of their imagination.
We need to be on guard that we worship the truth Christ, Jesus of the Bible. We need to obey Him and His Word. Be careful that you don’t have a Jesus in your imagination who goes along with everything you like and do and never has any demand on your life. Be careful that we keep Jesus as central in our lives. Don’t let anything else take his place. Little Children, watch out for idols.
Psalm 58
David before becoming King was despised by the King Saul. Say was envious that David had God’s approval to inherit the throne and so Saul set out to destroy David. David wrote psalms like these while he fled from Saul’s soldiers intent on killing him. The title of this Psalm says it is a Mikhtam of David. The meaning of the word is not firmly understood but it has something to do with an engraving. The Septuigant a famous Greek translation of the Bible translated it as an inscription on a column. Some puritans have suggested that it came about as David was hiding in caves that he would write these into the walls. Whatever the case, in this Psalm, David prays that God would stop those who were his enemies. They were not only his personal enemies but more importantly by opposing David, they were opposing God who had declared David to be his king.
This psalm can be a shocking to our ear because it is so firm against the enemies. David prays that God would shatter their teeth and break out their fangs. He prays that God would make their weapons useless and cause them to fade away. It even ends with the righteous washing his feet in the blood of the wicked. What are we to make of this?
For one, David, is a type of Christ. This psalm is best suited for our Savior, Jesus Christ. Just as those who opposed David opposed God, those who oppose Christ are opposing God almighty. There is no hope for those who reject Christ. He will judge the wicked. They will not be victorious. Yes they are evil and even from birth they breath out wickedness but ultimately their weapons are useless against Christ. As we are in Christ, we ought to take comfort that those who oppose us also oppose the work of God. They will seek to destroy us but ultimately their weapons are worthless. They may kill our body but they cannot touch our soul. Because our greatest enemy death has had its teeth shattered and its fangs cut out. 1 Corinthians 15:55-57 O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Catechism/ Memory Verse
Of all of the ten commandments, this one is the one that people tend to struggle with most. Is keeping the sabbath just an Old Testament thing? Didn’t Jesus do away with it? Did the Apostle Paul say not to judge anyone about it. Those are all questions people have and I won’t be able to give a thorough answer to them all today. But what I do want to point you to is the fact that the Sabbath command is found right in the beginning of the world. Working Six days and resting one is right in the first two chapters of the bible. It predates Moses and the giving of the ten commandments. The Sabbath principle is baked into the universe. It’s not just an Old Covenant thing. It exists before the fall into sin. It is part of God’s moral law and Jesus did not come to do away with the moral law. He did not come to do away with the Sabbath command but He did show us that the command is more than just about working or not working. Yes it does have to do with us resting from our earthly labor but also with us serving God, being merciful and good to others.
Ok but why Sunday and not Saturday? I believe that the exact day of the week was not critical or central to the moral principle. In the Old Testament it was Saturday following the example of God working six days and resting the last. But Christ came and with his death, burial, and resurrection did the work of a new creation and honored Sunday with his victory over death. Sunday was the day that the work of the Lord in redemption was complete. The day of rest from death and sin. The New Testament tells us that the church called this the Lord’s day and that they met on this day for worship, maintaining the moral principle hardwired in creation but transformed in the new creation.
The last of the catechism questions is helpful for teaching your children what we celebrate and remember on the Lord’s day. It teaches us what the day points us to, Christ Jesus and the future sabbath we will have at His return.
People to Pray for:
Prayer for Christ Church Columbus and Pastor Andrew Halsey:
Our Father who is in heaven. May your name be hallowed in all the earth. Jesus, Our Lord, may your name be praised. We thank you that you are still building your Church and the gates of hell will not prevail. We thank you that you are still planting new local churches like Christ Church in Columbus Indiana. We pray that this church would be established. That it would be a light in Columbus and a testimony to the truth of the gospel. Thank you for Pastor Andrew Halsey. Give him wisdom and your spirit so that he may lead, preach, and teach well. Grow the church in number. Provide for them financially. Help them to find the right meeting places and be able to be good stewards of them. Raise up from among them godly men to be elders and deacons. And may you bless them with many children and new converts. Holy Spirit, we pray you fill them with all power so that the name of God, Three in One, may be praised. Amen.
Prayer for Daniel Courney (Missionary to Nepal)
Dear Most Merciful Father,
Your Son is our Savior and the light to the nations. We thank you that while we were aliens, strangers to your covenant people, that you sent Christ Jesus to fulfill the law, tearing down the dividing wall between Jew and Gentile with His sacrifice, and bringing us into the household and kingdom of light. We pray now that the gospel light would go forth to all the nations. We thank you for your servant Daniel Courney who has answered the call to preach the gospel to all creation. We pray that you would keep him safe from persecution. Guard his family and keep them in your will. Protect him from pride and the other temptations of the flesh and devil. We pray that you would use him to awaken the souls of many sinners in Nepal and other places that he preaches. And we pray this in the name of your dear son, Jesus Christ. Amen
Prayer for Jeffersonville City Councilman Dustin White
O God our Governor,
Thank you for caring for us and giving us authorities to watch out for us. Thank you for Jeffersonville City councilmember Dustin White. Please keep him healthy in body and mind but most importantly give him spiritual health. Cause him to fear you more than anything or anyone in this world and to be sorrowful for his sins. Pour out your Spirit upon him so that He may trust in Christ as His savior and live in obedience to Him. Help him to know that he must answer for the authority that you gave him so that he will rule with wisdom and courage to do what is right. And Lord, give to the people of Jeffersonville grace to obey the gospel of Jesus in whose name we pray. Amen.
Church History Spotlight
Usually in this section I give the biography of a well-known Christian from church history or account of an important event in the life of the church. But if you will forgive me this indulgence, Id like to share a poem from a departed saint who is dear to me.
When you walk through the woods,
Hold your head up high
And gaze at the beauty of the sky.
As you look through the trees,
And feel the gentle breeze,
You’ll know God’s presence is close by.
Walk on, Walk on, praising His name and you’ll
never walk alone, you’ll never walk alone.
As the sun comes up with a golden ray, it gives you light for another day.
You give thanks to the Lord for His love
And blessings He so freely bestows
Walk on, walk on, praising His name and you’ll
never walk alone, you’ll never walk alone.
-Robert O. Spurgeon October 25, 1932- February 1, 2023
Upcoming Events:
Feb 6- Monthly Outreach
Tuesday Morning Study Hour With Pastor 6-7AM
Feb 8th- Women’s Bible Study
Feb 12 Head of Household Meeting
Feb 15 King’s Men and Daughters of the King
Feb 19 Genevan Pub
Deuteronomy 30:11-20
Matthew 25:31-46
1 John 4
Psalm 58
Verse to Memorize
Genesis 2:2-3
Catechism Questions
Q. 89. What is the fourth commandment?
A. The fourth commandment is, Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath Day, and hallowed it.
Q. 90. What does the fourth commandment teach us?
A. To keep the Sabbath holy.
Q. 91. What day of the week is the Christian Sabbath?
A. The first day of the week, called the Lord's day.
Q. 92. Why is it called the Lord's day?
A. Because on that day Christ rose from the dead.
Q. 93. How should the Sabbath be spent?
A. In prayer and praise, in hearing and reading God's Word, and in doing good to our fellow men.
Q. What should we remember on the Lord’s Day?
A. We should Remember that
1. God is Creator. Because He created 6 days and rested on the 7th, we should work hard and then rest.
2. God is Provider- Because God used Moses to lead His people out of Egypt and provided for His people in the wilderness, we trust that He will provide for us.
3. God is Savior- Because Jesus died on the cross, was buried, and rose again on the third day, our sinned have been paid and we are saved from our sins.
4. God is Father- Because I have been baptized and made a part of God’s covenant, I am His Child. He gives us His Son and the Holy Spirit.
5. God is King- Because Jesus is reigning now and will return, we will enjoy a feast of all feasts with Him.
People to Pray for:
Church: Christ Church Columbus
Pastor Andrew Halsey
Ministry: Daniel Courney
Civil Magistrate: Jeffersonville City Member
Dustin White
Notes for Parents:
Deuteronomy 30:11-20
Life or Death. Those are the only two options. You will either follow after Christ and receive life or you will reject the commands of God to go after idolatry and receive death. There is no neutral ground. There is no middle way. The path is set before and you must take a fork in the road. Which one will it be?
Matthew 25:31-46
Jesus is the focal point. Everything in the bible and in all of life hinges on Him. We were made by Him, through Him, and for Him. What you believe about Jesus is what matters more than anything in this world. Your salvation depends upon it. What you believe about Jesus will determine how you will live. If know Him, you will love Him, and then you will obey Him. And if you love Jesus you will love His people.
Jesus completes the Olivet discourse by talking explicitly about His return to judge the living and the dead. And the judgement all hinges on what people have done with Christ. Did you love Christ? Did you feed Him when He was hungry? Did you clothe Him when He was naked? Did you care for Him? And you might say well when did I get a chance to do those things? I’ve never seen Jesus with my own eyes. And Jesus says well how you treat His brothers, that is those in Christ, is how you treated Him. In other words the proof of your love for Jesus is your love and care for His people. You can’t see Jesus but you can see Christians. How can you say you love Jesus if you don’t love His people. If you don’t love His people, then you don’t love Him. And since what you do with Christ is foundational for your salvation, then what hope do you have in the judgement?
There are a couple of applications from this.
1. If you love Jesus, you will other Christians as an opportunity to show that love to Jesus. Other believers specifically and even all your neighbors (because Jesus taught us to love our neighbor) are doorways for your love to Christ. You get to shower Christ with love by taking care of your brother when he is down. You get to show your obedience to Christ by helping your neighbor. Even showing your enemies love is a way to show love to Christ because it is obeying His commands. Therefore, see people not as hinderances or interruptions, see them as conduits of your love to Christ.
This is true especially for our children. Fathers, if you are like me it is easy to start a project and your son wants to help. And you just want to get the job done. What do you do? Is your son an aggravation? Or is the real purpose in life not the project but the loving your son by finding ways to involve him in projects? Now this doesn’t mean there are never times when out of love you recognize the project is too dangerous or difficult for him. But often its just that I am impatient with my son and selfishly find the project more important.
2. Another application from this passage is that this is a comfort to us from our savior. As He sends us out into the world to be faithful servants, He owns us. And He owns what happens to us as happening to Himself. Those who oppose us in our work to proclaim the Gospel and to live out our faith are opposing Christ. They will be judged by how they treated us. They revealed that how they treated Christians, that they did not love Jesus.
1 John 4
The Apostle John in this chapter warns us to be alert because there are false teachers. There are those who do not speak the truth. In the time of John these people spoke against the incarnation of Christ. They denied that He was God in the flesh. They denied His humanity. There was an early heresy in the church that taught that all material is evil. Creation-matter- is tainted and we are just trying to escape into a spiritual existence. They also taught that because matter was evil that there was no way God could take on human flesh. Jesus had just the appearance of a man but was not truly in the flesh. John calls this an Antichrist. The word “anti” does not just mean opposed to something. It can also mean “another.” Antichrist is another Christ. Those teaching these things had created another Christ than the truth one. And of course this would be that they were opposed to the true Christ. There have been all kinds of antichrists throughout the ages. Whether they were people claiming to be the Messiah, people claiming to be God, or people teaching false things about Jesus and creating a Jesus of their imagination.
We need to be on guard that we worship the truth Christ, Jesus of the Bible. We need to obey Him and His Word. Be careful that you don’t have a Jesus in your imagination who goes along with everything you like and do and never has any demand on your life. Be careful that we keep Jesus as central in our lives. Don’t let anything else take his place. Little Children, watch out for idols.
Psalm 58
David before becoming King was despised by the King Saul. Say was envious that David had God’s approval to inherit the throne and so Saul set out to destroy David. David wrote psalms like these while he fled from Saul’s soldiers intent on killing him. The title of this Psalm says it is a Mikhtam of David. The meaning of the word is not firmly understood but it has something to do with an engraving. The Septuigant a famous Greek translation of the Bible translated it as an inscription on a column. Some puritans have suggested that it came about as David was hiding in caves that he would write these into the walls. Whatever the case, in this Psalm, David prays that God would stop those who were his enemies. They were not only his personal enemies but more importantly by opposing David, they were opposing God who had declared David to be his king.
This psalm can be a shocking to our ear because it is so firm against the enemies. David prays that God would shatter their teeth and break out their fangs. He prays that God would make their weapons useless and cause them to fade away. It even ends with the righteous washing his feet in the blood of the wicked. What are we to make of this?
For one, David, is a type of Christ. This psalm is best suited for our Savior, Jesus Christ. Just as those who opposed David opposed God, those who oppose Christ are opposing God almighty. There is no hope for those who reject Christ. He will judge the wicked. They will not be victorious. Yes they are evil and even from birth they breath out wickedness but ultimately their weapons are useless against Christ. As we are in Christ, we ought to take comfort that those who oppose us also oppose the work of God. They will seek to destroy us but ultimately their weapons are worthless. They may kill our body but they cannot touch our soul. Because our greatest enemy death has had its teeth shattered and its fangs cut out. 1 Corinthians 15:55-57 O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Catechism/ Memory Verse
Of all of the ten commandments, this one is the one that people tend to struggle with most. Is keeping the sabbath just an Old Testament thing? Didn’t Jesus do away with it? Did the Apostle Paul say not to judge anyone about it. Those are all questions people have and I won’t be able to give a thorough answer to them all today. But what I do want to point you to is the fact that the Sabbath command is found right in the beginning of the world. Working Six days and resting one is right in the first two chapters of the bible. It predates Moses and the giving of the ten commandments. The Sabbath principle is baked into the universe. It’s not just an Old Covenant thing. It exists before the fall into sin. It is part of God’s moral law and Jesus did not come to do away with the moral law. He did not come to do away with the Sabbath command but He did show us that the command is more than just about working or not working. Yes it does have to do with us resting from our earthly labor but also with us serving God, being merciful and good to others.
Ok but why Sunday and not Saturday? I believe that the exact day of the week was not critical or central to the moral principle. In the Old Testament it was Saturday following the example of God working six days and resting the last. But Christ came and with his death, burial, and resurrection did the work of a new creation and honored Sunday with his victory over death. Sunday was the day that the work of the Lord in redemption was complete. The day of rest from death and sin. The New Testament tells us that the church called this the Lord’s day and that they met on this day for worship, maintaining the moral principle hardwired in creation but transformed in the new creation.
The last of the catechism questions is helpful for teaching your children what we celebrate and remember on the Lord’s day. It teaches us what the day points us to, Christ Jesus and the future sabbath we will have at His return.
People to Pray for:
Prayer for Christ Church Columbus and Pastor Andrew Halsey:
Our Father who is in heaven. May your name be hallowed in all the earth. Jesus, Our Lord, may your name be praised. We thank you that you are still building your Church and the gates of hell will not prevail. We thank you that you are still planting new local churches like Christ Church in Columbus Indiana. We pray that this church would be established. That it would be a light in Columbus and a testimony to the truth of the gospel. Thank you for Pastor Andrew Halsey. Give him wisdom and your spirit so that he may lead, preach, and teach well. Grow the church in number. Provide for them financially. Help them to find the right meeting places and be able to be good stewards of them. Raise up from among them godly men to be elders and deacons. And may you bless them with many children and new converts. Holy Spirit, we pray you fill them with all power so that the name of God, Three in One, may be praised. Amen.
Prayer for Daniel Courney (Missionary to Nepal)
Dear Most Merciful Father,
Your Son is our Savior and the light to the nations. We thank you that while we were aliens, strangers to your covenant people, that you sent Christ Jesus to fulfill the law, tearing down the dividing wall between Jew and Gentile with His sacrifice, and bringing us into the household and kingdom of light. We pray now that the gospel light would go forth to all the nations. We thank you for your servant Daniel Courney who has answered the call to preach the gospel to all creation. We pray that you would keep him safe from persecution. Guard his family and keep them in your will. Protect him from pride and the other temptations of the flesh and devil. We pray that you would use him to awaken the souls of many sinners in Nepal and other places that he preaches. And we pray this in the name of your dear son, Jesus Christ. Amen
Prayer for Jeffersonville City Councilman Dustin White
O God our Governor,
Thank you for caring for us and giving us authorities to watch out for us. Thank you for Jeffersonville City councilmember Dustin White. Please keep him healthy in body and mind but most importantly give him spiritual health. Cause him to fear you more than anything or anyone in this world and to be sorrowful for his sins. Pour out your Spirit upon him so that He may trust in Christ as His savior and live in obedience to Him. Help him to know that he must answer for the authority that you gave him so that he will rule with wisdom and courage to do what is right. And Lord, give to the people of Jeffersonville grace to obey the gospel of Jesus in whose name we pray. Amen.
Church History Spotlight
Usually in this section I give the biography of a well-known Christian from church history or account of an important event in the life of the church. But if you will forgive me this indulgence, Id like to share a poem from a departed saint who is dear to me.
When you walk through the woods,
Hold your head up high
And gaze at the beauty of the sky.
As you look through the trees,
And feel the gentle breeze,
You’ll know God’s presence is close by.
Walk on, Walk on, praising His name and you’ll
never walk alone, you’ll never walk alone.
As the sun comes up with a golden ray, it gives you light for another day.
You give thanks to the Lord for His love
And blessings He so freely bestows
Walk on, walk on, praising His name and you’ll
never walk alone, you’ll never walk alone.
-Robert O. Spurgeon October 25, 1932- February 1, 2023
Upcoming Events:
Feb 6- Monthly Outreach
Tuesday Morning Study Hour With Pastor 6-7AM
Feb 8th- Women’s Bible Study
Feb 12 Head of Household Meeting
Feb 15 King’s Men and Daughters of the King
Feb 19 Genevan Pub