Worship Gathering Sunday

I am excited about Sunday's Worship Gathering because once again we'll be having another new speaker: Jerry Childers. Many of you may know Jerry as the guy who gives the welcome and a mighty fine greeter, but this week he'll be the preacher. Make sure to try and come out this weekend to hear the message on "Imitating Christ" and bring some friends.


The service will be Sunday @ 2pm in the Christ Covenant Church-Blue Room

If you need a map click here.

HangOUT @ Ian's

The HangOUT will be over at Ian's house tomorrow. We are gonna have a good time hanging out outside in the nice weather. We'll probably toss the frizbee around out in the field or whatever it is young people do outside these days. We'll be over at Ian's starting around 7. If you need directions, shoot us an email at thecorefoundation@gmail.com

Spurgeon's Recipe for Church Growth

From "Christ Lifted Up" preached by Charles Spurgeon on July 5, 1857.

My good ministering brother, have you got an empty church? Do you want to fill it? I will give you a good recipe, and if you will follow it, you will, in all probability, have your chapel full to the doors.

Burn all your manuscripts, that is No. 1. Give up your notes, that is No. 2. Read your Bible and preach it as you find it in the simplicity of its language. And give up all your Latinized English. Begin to tell the people what you have felt in your own heart, and beseech the Holy Spirit to make your heart as hot as a furnace for zeal. Then go out and talk to the people. Speak to them like their brother. Be a man amongst men. Tell them what you have felt and what you know, and tell it heartily with a good, bold face; and, my dear friend, I do not care who you are, you will get a congregation.

But if you say, "Now, to get a congregation, I must buy an organ."

That will not serve you a bit.

"But we must have a good choir."

I would not care to have a congregation that comes through a good choir.

"No," says another, "but really I must a little alter my style of preaching."

My dear friend, it is not the style of preaching, it is the style of feeling. People sometimes begin to mimic other preachers, because they are successful. Why, the worst preachers are those who mimic others, whom they look upon as standards preach naturally. Preach out of your hearts just what you feel to be true, and the old soul-stirring words of the gospel will soon draw a congregation. "Where the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.

"But if it ended there, what would be the good of it? If the congregation came and listened to the sound, and then went away unsaved, of what use would it be? But in the next place, Christ acts as a net to draw men unto him. The gospel ministry is, in God’s Word, compared to a fishery; God’s ministers are the fishermen, they go to catch souls, as fishermen go to catch fish.

How shall souls be caught? They shall be caught by preaching Christ. Just preach a sermon that is full of Christ, and throw it unto your congregation, as you throw a net into the sea; —you need not look where they are, nor try to fit your sermon to different cases; but, throw it in, and as sure as God’s Word is what it is, it shall not return to him void; it shall accomplish that which he pleases, and prosper in the thing whereto he hath sent it.

The gospel never was unsuccessful yet, when it was preached with the demonstration of the Spirit and of power. It is not fine orations upon the death of princes, or the movements of politics which will save souls. If we wish to have sinners saved and to have our churches increased; if we desire the spread of God’s kingdom, the only thing whereby we can hope to accomplish the end, is the lifting up of Christ; for, "I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me."

You can read the whole sermon here.

Donnie Thurman Jr. and JB Real

Hey guys, ya'll don't want to miss the service this Sunday. All of you G-Dubb people make sure to come back earlier from Spring Break and make it out Sunday afternoon. Donnie Thurman Jr. will be coming to speak to us an Rafael Hartgrove aka JB Real , a Christian Hip Hop artist will be coming to do some of his music. Make sure to invite some friends, because this service should rock.

We'll be meeting over in the Blue Room at Christ Covenant Church at 2pm on Sunday. Click here for Map.

Jewish Idioms: Disqualifying the Servant

The third idiom comes from Mark 14:43-50 where Peter cuts off the ear of a servant of the high priest:

“ 43And immediately, while he was still speaking, Judas came, one of the twelve, and with him a crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders. 44Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, "The one I will kiss is the man. Seize him and lead him away under guard." 45And when he came, he went up to him at once and said, "Rabbi!" And he kissed him. 46And they laid hands on him and seized him. 47But one of those who stood by drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear. 48And Jesus said to them, "Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs to capture me? 49Day after day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me. But let the Scriptures be fulfilled." 50And they all left him and fled.”

This servant with the high priest was not just an ordinary servant, but he was the chief assistant to the high priest known as the segan hacohanim. The understanding we usually have about this passage is that Peter was a little cranky because Judas and the gang woke him from his sleep and was trying to arrest Jesus, so Peter goes to swinging trying to kill the servant but he only manages to cut off his ear. (Well maybe something along those lines)

But, what if Peter actually did what he intended to do? (he always catches a bad rap for doing something stupid). According to Judaic law, to lose an ear not only shamed the servant, but also disqualified him for service in the Temple.

All of the Jews knew the basis for cutting off the ear; it was derived from Leviticus 21:18-21:

“16And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 17"Speak to Aaron, saying, None of your offspring throughout their generations who has a blemish may approach to offer the bread of his God. 18For no one who has a blemish shall draw near, a man blind or lame, or one who has a mutilated face or a limb too long, 19or a man who has an injured foot or an injured hand, 20or a hunchback or a dwarf or a man with a defect in his sight or an itching disease or scabs or crushed testicles. 21No man of the offspring of Aaron the priest who has a blemish shall come near to offer the LORD's food offerings; since he has a blemish, he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God. 22He may eat the bread of his God, both of the most holy and of the holy things, 23but he shall not go through the veil or approach the altar, because he has a blemish, that he may not profane my sanctuaries, for I am the LORD who sanctifies them." 24So Moses spoke to Aaron and to his sons and to all the people of Israel.”

There are several other incidents of this in history. In 40 B.C., Antigonus, a Persian candidate for high priest, had the ear of this uncle, Hyrcanus II, cut off to disqualify him for the office. Josephus mentioned in “Wars”, that it happened more than once during the reign of Herod the Great. The Mishnah, which contains the Jewish “oral law”, gives details of the practice, saying it was actually the ear lobe that was cut off. The Mishnah along with the Gemara (rabbinic commentaries on the Mishnah) makes up the Talmud, which is a major religious text for Rabbinic Judaism.

So maybe the moral of the story should be that Peter was skilled with a sword after all.

Beacon HangOUT

We are heading down to the world-famous Beacon in Spartanburg this Thursday for the HangOUT. Meet over at the Renfro Center at 6pm (an hour earlier than usual) and we'll leave from there. We should be back by 9.

Make sure to bring your TUMS!

Jewish Idioms: Secondary Burial

The second idiom comes from Matthew, where a disciple asks Jesus to let him first go and bury his father before following Jesus.

“18When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake. 19Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go." 20Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head." 21Another disciple said to him, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." 22But Jesus told him, "Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead."(Matthew 8:18-22)

Jesus’ rebuke was not aimed at the disciples care for his father, but toward a Jewish tradition concerning burial which violated the Scripture.

This tradition required the body of the deceased to be placed in the ground on the day of his death (Deut 21:22-23, John 19:31, Acts 5:6-10). The family then observed a seven-day period of mourning called shivah, where they couldn’t even leave the house. After the body was placed in the burial chamber, it was left to decompose. The Jerusalem Talmud says, “When the flesh had wasted away, the bones were collected and placed in small chests called ossuaries. After the flesh had gone from the bones, and the bones were placed in the ossuaries, the son stopped mourning.”

This transfer of the bones to an ossuary was known as the secondary burial. It was done by the oldest son, who then took them to Jerusalem or to a family burial cave, where they were placed near the bones of their ancestors. This practice had become popular during the first century, but it had an unscriptural concept behind it that Jesus did not agree with.

There was a belief that the decomposition of the flesh between the first and second burials atoned for the sins of the dead person (Jerusalem Talmud). At the secondary burial, the son could rejoice because the sinful flesh was off the bones and the sins were atoned for.

Jesus wasn’t against the fact that the son had to show respect and honor to his father, Jesus was opposed to the secondary burial, which was motivated by an idea that something other than the Messiah could deliver a person from their sins.

More than likely, the first burial had taken place a year earlier, or the son would have been in mourning and not with Jesus. Some have suggested that this incident occurred just before the Feast of Tabernacles since Jesus and his followers were headed for Jerusalem. Since they were heading for Jerusalem the disciple probably thought this would be a good time to take his father’s ossuary there.

The Lost Tomb?

If you haven't already heard...The Discovery Channel aired a TV special last night called "The Lost Tomb of Jesus," a documentary made by Jewish film maker Simcha Jacobovici and Titanic director James Cameron.

The Facts:
In 1980 a tomb was discovered in Talpiot inside of modern Jerusalem that contained 10 ossuaries or bone boxes. Six ossuaries had names carved on them with the following names:

1. Jesus Son of Joseph
2. Mary-written in Aramaic
3. Mary-written in Greek as Mariamne
4. Jose- a 'rare' nickname for Joseph
5. Matthew
6. Judah son of Jesus

The filmmakers claim that this tomb is the resting place of Jesus of Nazareth and contained Jesus' remains, his DNA, the remains of his wife Mary Magdalene and his son Judah.

Theological Implications:
To be honest here...if these findings proved to be true then we might as well drop the faith and start over because Christianity as we know it would be over. The whole measure of Christianity hinges on the belief that Jesus Christ died and was resurrected from the dead. If his remains are in a tomb somewhere then he was not the Messiah and was not raised from the dead.


Thoughts and more reading:
I find this type of research and archeology very interesting and feel that as Christians we should engage ourself into the academic and archaeological studies on the person of Jesus. I believe that as more research and studies are completed, more evidence will actually point to the truth of Jesus Christ and not lead us away from it. That is the case with this film if we look at all of the facts and not just the skewed bias of a Jewish filmmaker with a personal agenda (but what filmmaker doesn't have a bias or personal agenda). The documentary is very well made and well worth watching. Much like the Da Vinci Code, it makes for great entertainment but is historically wrong, with as much evidence in opposition to the claim as there is presented in the film. Below I'll list a few links to sources I've found that seem to have credible info on the topic.

Links:
Discovery Channel Site on Tomb

The Lost Tomb Documentary Official Site

Extreme Theology Article (Critique of Documentary)

Podcast Rebuttal to Documentary

PowerPoint Presentation to Accompany Podcast



What are you thoughts on the documentary? Feel free to share.