Tamworth Congregational Church

Witnessing God's JOY "throw-off" someone's self-styled leadership, and threaten their illusion of purity ...is the BEST antidote for the hurricane of hatred Christians encounter as we proclaim our love for Jesus Christ. Muslims don't understand (Biblical) freedom, Catholics are confused by grace (alone) and when compared with Heaven - how anyone can agree with the title of Joel Osteen's book, "Your Best Life Now" ...is proof of Society's inability to understand the depth of God's JOY in recovering the lost. Praying Pastor Comparetto's series on the parables of Jesus will unleash the JOY of God as listeners engage with the mission field.

It's noteworthy how the results of Jesus' preaching brought about "Eternal" convictions - in other words, am I truly saved? Contemporary (post-modern) preaching is more focused on "Your best life now" (eg: help me with my finances - or, I'm a great guy, so where are all the women hiding? ...etc). Nevertheless, those who listened to Jesus thought more about matters of Heaven and Hell. The Good Samaritan exposed the "Said faith" of the Priests, Levites, Scribes/Lawyer and helped listeners to "See faith" motivating the genuine love from a foreigner/stranger ...and alien to the nation of Israel. Christians struggling with assurance of their salvation should be comforted "Seeing" God use faith (in the completed work of Christ) ...informing our motivations to love anyone in need.

Love without limits is what it takes to "Earn" ones way into eternal life - has anyone loved without limit (their whole life)? ...No. Just making sure the question (asked by the lawyer) was answered. Not only have we been forgiven for our lack of perfect love toward God (and others) when we were saved, but God continues to forgive us for our inability to love God and others ...without limit. The Good Samaritan (story) was used by Jesus to expose the lawyer's hard-heart. Perhaps a good 'response' question would be, "Did the lawyer repent?"

When I graduated, the BIGGEST subject was the meaning (or length) of a day - was it 24 hours? ...or billions of years?? Hebrews 11:3 is clear, "By faith we understand that the world has been created by the word of God so that what is seen has not been made out of things that are visible". That eliminates evolution from the debate - since (evolution) requires a gradual process of making/becoming 'something' from the visible. It's "Time" for Christianity to wake up from our hangover with Post-Modernism and re-engage the battle for the beginning (of time) - Believing Christ's victory over sin is the only way to see the reality of a young earth (and the foolishness of consensus "Billions of years" science).

One of the joys (of teaching) is guiding believers from the Milk level of truth ...to the Meat (of the same truth). Despite the clarity of this parable (in Matt.20) - Jesus continued to peel away the layers of pride behind His disciple's argument over "Who's the greatest?" ...in the kingdom of heaven. Only 4 verses after the parable (v.20) - Jesus would need to explain the principles of humility to the sons of Zebedee. According to Luke 22, even during the last supper, Jesus would clarify (and demonstrate) servant leadership. Perhaps a principle from the parable of Two Debtors in Luke 7:47 ...will assist with cultivating a spirit of thankfulness, "For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but the one who is forgiven little, loves little.” May the week Americans celebrate THANKSGIVING 🦃 ...be an important reminder for believers to rejoice (always) for the generosity of God and dive deep into the Meat of God's grace 🕊️

Please don't be afraid to unleash everything in chapter 5 (of Isaiah's Parable) ...only when the listener is aware of the depth and extent of God's judgement, will they/we long for the solution. In verse 24, we see that Israel had "Rejected the Law of the Lord" - what kind of wisdom did they/we have? ...human cleverness, polls, voting, surveys, confidence in politicians ...confusion of consensus science (instead of the scientific method). Distinguishing between the faith of Abraham (versus the descendants of Abraham) ...is key 🗝️

The 'preparation' ...going into each week's sermon is (definitely) a breath of fresh air. Helping people (all over the world) to understand the wrath of God (Romans 1) - ie: man exchanges the truth of God for a lie ...and God gives them up, is critical when it comes to maturing the church. Believers are having a hard time with confronting the 24 hour NEWS cycle - because technology is devoted to masking the fact that history is (indeed) REPEATING itself ...something easily discerned with a Romans 1 lens 🔍 Kindly pass along my appreciation to the speaker.

The (binary) classification of those who profess versus confess (Christ) exposes the motives behind all forms of compromise. The 'professing' guests knew they needed to go to the wedding (ie: the broad way to hell is marked heaven, nobody wants to go to hell) - yet, their 'profession' lacked understanding of the significance of being "Covered by" Christ (ie: wearing wedding clothes). Whereas the "Confession" of the parable is that any form of righteousness apart from Christ's ...is insufficient (to the wedding garments/covering provided by the king).