Don't Miss the Boat

Blog » Don’t Miss the Boat!  

Thursday, July 11, 2013 Nick Cirino   

This week’s message is called “Don’t Miss the Boat! Part 2.”  

If you missed part 1, I would encourage you to listen to it before Sunday. It is foundation for this week’s message.  

Download “Don’t Miss the Boat” from:

http://www.nlpcfamily.com/NLPC-Web/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=82    

Image from: flickr.com/photos/jocelynaubert/    

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Abraham's Faith

Blog » Abraham’s Faith  

Wednesday, July 10, 2013    Nick Cirino 

Philippians 3:8-9 ESV
          For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order
          that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own
          that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the
          righteousness from God that depends on faith.  

The quote above talks about a “righteousness from God that depends on faith.” We are made right with God by believing in him, not by doing our own works. Another way to say that is, We are justified (made righteous) by faith.  

If you have time today, I would encourage you to read Romans 4:1-12. Notice with me (1) how Abraham justified, (2) when he was justified, and (3) what did not justify him. I was really encouraged by this passage of Scripture when I read it this morning, and I hope you will be, too! 

Image from: flickr.com/photos/dalbera/7026705017/    

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No Hunting, Part 6

Blog » No Hunting, Part 6

Monday, July 8, 2013    Nick Cirino

Luke 18:35 ESV· As he drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging.  


Matthew 20:29-30 ESV

· And as they went out of Jericho, a great crowd followed him. And behold, there were two 

  blind men sitting by the roadside,  

At first glance, the above looks like a blatant contradiction. But there are possible solutions. That’s key. If there are possible solutions, the accounts are not (strictly speaking) irreconcilable. 

Here’s a solution suggested by Zane C. Hodges: the miracle happened inside Jericho. Luke starts talking about the event as Jesus is walking into Jericho. A crowd is going in front of him (Luke 18:39) and the blind man asks them what is going on. The crowd tells him Jesus is passing by, that is, he has entered the city by the time they tell the blind man (Luke 18:38). They start yelling out to Jesus for help.  

So Jesus is walking through the city and intending to leave out the other side when the blind man starts yelling. This is where Matthew picks up. He starts his story when Jesus is in Jericho on his way out. He is in Jericho, leaving. So Luke and Matthew are both right, they just tell the story from different angles. If we were there, it would have made perfect sense.  

But who cares? This detail really doesn’t affect the meaning of the story at all.  

Here’s why I care:  

1. I want us to have a rock solid assurance that the Bible is true.

2. I want us to be able to defend the Bible’s accuracy in a time when the popular thing to do is
    claim the Bible is inaccurate.

3. I want us to have faith that even though men wrote the Bible, God is the real author.


Article: “Blind Men at Jericho” by Zane C. Hodges. Bibliotheca Sacra, October 1965.

Image from: flickr.com/photos/jamesjordan/

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No Hunting Part 5

Blog » No Hunting, Part 5

                                                   Friday, July 5, 2013    Nick Cirino

There is one more difference we haven’t accounted for yet: 

Luke 18:35 ESV
     · As he drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging 

Matthew 20:29-30 ESV
    · And as they went out of Jericho, a great crowd followed him. And behold, there were two
      blind men sitting by the roadside, 

Out of all the issues we’ve talked about, this one is probably the hardest to reconcile. On the surface, this looks like a blatant contradiction. Did the miracle happen as Jesus came into the city or as he went out of the city? 

What do you do when there doesn’t seem to be a way to reconcile two accounts in the Bible? 

My first thought is, Give the Bible the benefit of the doubt. We may not be able to see how two things reconcile, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t reconcile. 

Imagine if I told one person I met my wife at church. And then in a conversation later I told someone else I met my wife in a classroom. Then I tell a third person that I met my wife in a basement. Then imagine if all three of them got together and exchange stories. It would sound like I told three different stories and hopelessly contradicted myself. 

Hopefully though, those three people would give me the benefit of the doubt. Even though they don’t know how to reconcile my story, they don’t assume it is irreconcilable. 

The truth is, I met my wife in the basement of the church teaching a children’s class. If those three people had been there, they would have seen there was no contradiction. 

Likewise, if we had been at Jericho, we would have seen how Luke and Matthew were accurately telling the same story from different angles. Let’s give them the benefit of the doubt, even if we don’t have a solution. 

(But I think there is a possible solution!) 

Image from: flickr.com/photos/jamesjordan/  

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Experiment Time Part 2

Blog » Experiment Time! Part 2

Wed., July 3, 2013 Nick Cirino

Do you want to try the experiment together? 

As you mulled over Philippians 3:1-11, what questions came to mind? They can be questions you know the answers to or questions you don’t know the answers to. 

Here’s a great question I heard last week: “Isn’t Paul a little arrogant to talk about all his accomplishments?” (verses 4-6) 

One of my questions is: “Why is everything Paul used to consider a gain now a loss to him? In what way is it a loss?” (verse 7) 

Use the “comment” link to post your questions below!  


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Photo from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/eleaf/

Experiment Time

Blog » Experiment Time!
Tues, July 2, 2013 Nick Cirino

I want to try something. 

Remember the blog series about asking lots of questions when we read Scripture? Could you take some time to do that this week? This week the sermon will be on Philippians 3:1-11. 

If you find it useful, I made a one column document with Philippians 3 on it: Word Doc, PDF. 

Then, tomorrow I am going to ask if you could put some questions in the comments. 

Here’s what I want to try: Could your questions help me to focus my sermon preparation? Could it help me to key in on the things most relevant to where we, as a congregation, are at?    

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Photo from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/eleaf/

No Hunting Part 4

Blog » No Hunting, Part 4

Friday, June 28, 2013 Nick Cirino



 
Luke 18:37-38 ESV

· a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging... And he cried out, "Jesus, Son of
  David, have mercy on me!" 

Matthew 20:29-30 ESV
· And behold, there were two blind men sitting by the roadside, and... they cried out, "Lord,    
  have mercy on us, Son of David!" 

Continued from yesterday's blog:
3. The meaning is the same either way. If I say, “have mercy on us,” certainly “have mercy on me” is included in that. The authors of the Bible may not have always recorded the exact words that were said. They may have condensed or summarized at times. But they definitely kept the same meaning of what was said. Isn’t that how we all relay information?  

For example: if Jerry says, “Today I walked to the store and bought granola, milk, and bread” and then I tell you that Jerry said, “Today I went to the store and bought some things,” would you accuse me of misquoting Jerry? Most likely not. I didn’t use his exact words, but I was true to the sense of what he said. I accurately represented what Jerry was trying to communicate. And in a normal conversation like that, we don’t expect each other to be able to quote everything we hear word for word. 

Matthew and Luke probably quoted people this way at times too. And the Holy Spirit was at work to make sure that they recorded exactly what God wanted them to record. They didn’t make any errors of judgment. They never misrepresented what Jesus said. We can be confident that when we read the book of Matthew, we are hearing the true voice of Jesus.

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Image from: flickr.com/photos/jamesjordan/