Feb 7, 2012
Posted by Dave on Feb 7, 2012 in Bible, Updates | 0 comments
We’ve been going through the stories of the Bible, and this Sunday we came to the book of Daniel. Rather than preach the stories of Daniel, I took 3 prophecies and expounded them. Afterwards, I talked to a lot of people who were just blown away that God (through Daniel) prophesied such major events in world history.
As I said Sunday, unless the Scriptures say ‘…this is what it means…’ we can only speculate through study what the prophecies mean. In Daniel, both of those things happen! The interpretations of the 3 mentioned prophecies come from the Scriptures, world history, and theological study. I want to encourage you (if this topic interest you) to go a bit deeper by studying some really great resources.
The first was the dream/statue. Read Daniel 2. Here is a quick explanation. The emphasis of this passage is on the stone that crushed the feet of clay; that stone grew into a great nation. The stone is Christ, and the great nation is the church. A kingdom was coming that was greater than any kingdom before it – an everlasting Kingdom. Jesus said that He is the Kingdom.
The next prophecy we talked about was a prophecy on a famous Greek general, namely – Alexander the Great. Read Daniel 8. The passage speaks about Greece overtaking the Persian empire, and even speaks of Alexanders fall and his dividing the Greek empire among his four generals. You can read all about Alexander the Great here. Did you know that according to the historian Josephus, Alexander spared Jerusalem after being shown the Daniel 8 passage?
Last, we talked about the seventy weeks prophecy. Basically, God showed Daniel how long it would be before the Messiah would come into Jerusalem. This corresponds to our calendar quite beautifully. Here is a really good article explaining the seventy weeks. It’s rather long, but if you’re looking for a detailed explanation, check it out.
Hope you enjoy digging deeper into Daniel.
Pastor Dave
Jan 7, 2012
Posted by Dave on Jan 7, 2012 in Bible, Updates | 0 comments
There’s been a lot of talk about baptism lately, so I wanted to take a minute and give a brief overview of why we baptize. This will be a quick overview, but for more info you can contact us.
First, let’s understand the word baptism. The New Testament of the Bible was written in Greek, the international language of the time. We have english translations like the KJV, NKJV, NIV, NASB, ESV, etc. Just grab any Bible you have and see what translation it is! Anyway, the word we translate into ‘baptize’ comes from the word ‘baptizo.’ If we look at the meaning of ‘baptizo’ we see that is means ‘immerse, dip, or submerge.’ By purely looking at the original word used in the New Testament, we can only conclude that baptism should be by immersing, dipping, or submerging. All of the stories of baptism include going into water. That’s why we immerse when we baptize, because it clearly represents Scripture.
Next, we ask who can be baptized. It’s pretty clear throughout the book of Acts that baptism was for believers. See Acts 2, 8, 9, 10, and 16 for starters (though there are many more). Never did the apostles or Christians baptize unbelievers, or infants. Immersion is for those who have faith in God, and want to have their sins washed away.
That’s exactly what baptism does. It washes away our sins. See Acts 2:38, Acts 22:16. It is the place that our sins are forgiven. It’s also the place where we receive the Holy Spirit. Again, Acts 2:38 (as well as Romans 6) talk about this. We are united with Christ in baptism, and we receive the same spirit in our baptism. Speaking of Romans 6, it beautifully describes what happens when we’re immersed. We are buried in the water (death with Christ), and raised back up (resurrection with Christ). Baptism unites us.
Last, Peter tells us that baptism saves us (1 Peter 3:21). It is at our baptism that we have the assurance of salvation. There is no prayer that can bring this, nor is there any act that was done to us without our knowledge or faith (see Colossians 2:12). It is only at baptism that we can have the forgiveness of sins and receive God’s spirit.
The Bible teaches that all of these things are equally important in becoming a follower of Christ – faith, repentance, confessing Jesus as Lord of your life, baptism, and faithful living. Baptism is no more or less important than any of these. They are all equally important.
And that’s why we baptize. For more information, email us at info(at)dasselchurchofchrist.com or give us a call.
Pastor Dave
Oct 18, 2011
Posted by Dave on Oct 18, 2011 in Bible | 0 comments
The following is written from The Story.
It was perhaps the greatest opportunity ever. God tells Moses that he wants to come to his people and dwell right in the middle of their camp. Not on the outskirts. Not in the ‘burbs. But right in the middle of where they were living.
You might wonder, “What preparations would a people need to make for God to live in their midst?” Would it be like getting ready for weekend guests or someone special coming to dinner? You feel com- pelled to make sure your home looks as good as possible. You want to make a good impression and you want your guest to feel welcome.
God anticipated the question and told Moses what needed to be in place for his coming. First, he wanted to be close to them but there was the problem of sin that created a breach between them. So God pro- vided Moses with instructions about the practice of sacrificing, offering a covering for the people’s indis- cretions before a Holy God. Sin is serious stuff, not to be taken lightly, and the sacrifice of unblemished animals was necessary to give the people a picture of sin.
Second, he wanted to stay close to them. Moses was given the blueprints for the building of the Taber- nacle. It’s a big word for “tent.” A portable place of worship. Kind of a mobile Motel 6. And he wanted to camp out right in the middle of where they were camping. God wanted to be close to his people.
But he also wanted them to be close to each other. So he declared a third thing to get ready. He gave them Ten Commandments concerning relationships. The first four commandments focus on how we are to demonstrate our love to God. The second set of six have to do with how to show love to other people. In seeing these relationships of love it was God’s desire that people would come to know Him too.
Jesus said the same in John 13:34: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another. . . By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
God gave the Israelites guidelines so that, when they sought to live by them, other nations would see them as different and know that they were God’s people. God gave us Jesus so that, when we live like him, others will know that we are his people.
For those who know him, God took care of our sin through the sacrifice of Jesus. He tabernacles in the hearts of those who have drawn near to him. Could it be then that the degree to which we are obedient to him in this command to love each other is the degree of his presence we will find among us? It could be our greatest opportunity ever.
At Dassel Church of Christ, we are all about being real. You won't find us doing a bunch of traditional stuff that churches do just because...well, they've been doing it for a long time. We want to be real, and we want you to be real. We want you to connect in worship, experience relationships with others, and live a life of service. We are an nondenominational church that is built solely on God’s Word. We don’t follow anything man has created, or try to be something that God hasn’t made the church to be. We are a simple church, with a simple message: love God, & love others.
