http://www.trinityopcnovato.org Serving Novato, Marin County, California and the World Wide Web. This site provides information about the Christian ministry of Trinity Presbyterian Church, OPC. This site also broadcasts the latest sermons and Sunday schools from Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) in Novato, CA. Our sermons seek to exposit Scripture, preaching Christ and the cross, and understanding the impact and demand of the Word on our lives. Thu, 02 Feb 2012 18:45:42 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Copyright © by W. Reid Hankins and Trinity Presbyterian Church, 2011 info@trinityopcnovato.org (Rev. W. Reid Hankins) info@trinityopcnovato.org (Rev. W. Reid Hankins) Religion & Spirituality:Christianity 1440 http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/wp-content/plugins/podpress/images/tpc-vertical144.jpg http://www.trinityopcnovato.org 144 144 http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/?feed=podcast Sermons and Sunday Schools Serving Novato, Marin County, California and the World Wide Web. This feed broadcasts the latest sermons and Sunday schools from Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) in Novato, CA. Our sermons seek to exposit Scripture, preaching Christ and the cross, and understanding the impact and demand of the Word on our lives. Church, Novato, Marin, Hankins, Sermon, Christian, OPC, San Rafael Rev. W. Reid Hankins Rev. W. Reid Hankins info@trinityopcnovato.org no no http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2012/01/29/sea-ceased-raging/ http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2012/01/29/sea-ceased-raging/#comments Mon, 30 Jan 2012 00:37:49 +0000 Pastor Reid Hankins http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/?p=1604 http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2012/01/29/sea-ceased-raging/feed/ 0 0:38:28 Sermon preached on Jonah 1:1-3 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 1/29/2012 in Novato, CA. Sermon preached on Jonah 1:1-3 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 1/29/2012 in Novato, CA. Jonah Rev. W. Reid Hankins no no http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2012/01/29/redemption-applied-sanctification-part/ http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2012/01/29/redemption-applied-sanctification-part/#comments Sun, 29 Jan 2012 22:32:57 +0000 Pastor Reid Hankins http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/?p=1601 http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2012/01/29/redemption-applied-sanctification-part/feed/ 0 0:37:43 Adult Sunday School class led by Rev. W. Reid Hankins at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 1/29/2012 in Novato, CA. This week we continued a series going through the book Redemption Accomplished and Applied by OPC Minister and Professor John Murr[...] Adult Sunday School class led by Rev. W. Reid Hankins at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 1/29/2012 in Novato, CA. This week we continued a series going through the book Redemption Accomplished and Applied by OPC Minister and Professor John Murray. This week we completed considering Part II, Chapter 7, on Sanctification. We did not complete the chapter and will finish it next week. Rev. W. Reid Hankins no no http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2012/01/22/word-lord-jonah/ http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2012/01/22/word-lord-jonah/#comments Sun, 22 Jan 2012 22:02:55 +0000 Pastor Reid Hankins http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/?p=1594 http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2012/01/22/word-lord-jonah/feed/ 0 0:38:28 Sermon preached on Jonah 1:1-3 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 1/22/2012 in Novato, CA. Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div. Jonah 1:1-3 1/22/11 “Word of the LORD Came to Jonah” This m[...] Sermon preached on Jonah 1:1-3 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 1/22/2012 in Novato, CA. Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div. Jonah 1:1-3 1/22/11 “Word of the LORD Came to Jonah” This morning we begin a short sermon series through Jonah. Today’s message will be a little different than normal. I read through the first few verses as a way to introduce us to this book. And that’s what we’ll do this morning. Today’s message will serve as an introduction into this book. This is one of those books where the whole story together has a point to tell, and I’m hoping we can capture some of that day. That we don’t miss the forest for the trees as we dig into the details in the next few weeks. So, today we’ll consider the introductory aspects of this book. We’ll think through some of the basics: the genre, the main characters, the mission of Jonah, the main themes of the book, and the audience. Let’s begin then with briefly noting the genre of the book. For the most part, it would fall under the category of historical narrative. The exception would be most of chapter 2, which contains a psalm that Jonah sang, and so that would fall under the genre of Hebrew poetry. But notice that I said, this is historical narrative; emphasis on the “historical.” Scholars agree that this book is narrative. It clearly is telling a story of a prophet named Jonah. Sadly, however, there are a some today who acknowledge that it is narrative, but want to throw out the historical part. Some for example, have said that the book of Jonah is just a parable. Like how Jesus told parables. Life stories that people can relate to in order to understand a spiritual point. Well, that might sound nice to say about the book of Jonah, but the question becomes why would you come to that conclusion? What evidence inside the text or even outside of the text would lead you to come to that conclusion? Usually, what seems to lead people to that conclusion is unbelief. They just think the story of Jonah sounds too outrageous to them. Well, the fact that there is miraculous material in a historical narrative of Scripture should not be surprising to a believer. We shouldn’t take something to be a parable that otherwise presents itself as historical narrative. For example, in the gospels, people can tell when Jesus is speaking in a parable. There’s not a question if he’s telling them a historical fact or not. For that matter, parables don’t tend to be filled with stories of miracles. They tend to be filled with stories of everyday normal occurrences. They explain a spiritual truth by making points with natural truths. Jonah as a parable doesn’t seem to make sense as a parable because there is nothing ordinary about it. It’s all about supernatural, miraculous interactions with God. Rather, instead, the book of Jonah itself claims historicity. It’s not just any random made-up person named Jonah, it is as verse 1 says, Jonah the son of Amittai – a historical person. And Jesus himself stamps it with historicity when he refers to Jonah in the New Testament. For example, Matthew 12 sees Jesus refer to Jonah. In the same breadth, he refers to Solomon and the Queen of the South. Those who want to deny Jonah’s historicity try to explain that verse away – it’s just Jesus’ referring to the truth of what they would call the Jonah parable. But that’s not the best way to take the evidence. No, everyone would agree that Solomon is a historical figure and that the Bible paints the Queen of the South as a historical figure. Jesus talks about all these characters in the same way in Matthew 12, as real historical people. And so at the end of the day, Jonah is a historical narrative, and the only real reason to take it otherwise would be someone’s [...] Jonah Rev. W. Reid Hankins no no http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2012/01/22/redemption-applied-adoption/ http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2012/01/22/redemption-applied-adoption/#comments Sun, 22 Jan 2012 21:55:51 +0000 Pastor Reid Hankins http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/?p=1592 http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2012/01/22/redemption-applied-adoption/feed/ 0 0:37:43 Adult Sunday School class led by Rev. W. Reid Hankins at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 1/22/2012 in Novato, CA. This week we continued a series going through the book Redemption Accomplished and Applied by OPC Minister and Professor John Murr[...] Adult Sunday School class led by Rev. W. Reid Hankins at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 1/22/2012 in Novato, CA. This week we continued a series going through the book Redemption Accomplished and Applied by OPC Minister and Professor John Murray. This week we completed considering Part II, Chapter 6, on Adoption. Rev. W. Reid Hankins no no http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2012/01/15/overwork-rich/ http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2012/01/15/overwork-rich/#comments Sun, 15 Jan 2012 21:47:29 +0000 Pastor Reid Hankins http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/?p=1589 http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2012/01/15/overwork-rich/feed/ 0 0:38:20 Sermon preached on Proverbs 22:22-23:11 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 1/15/2012 in Novato, CA. Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div. Proverbs 22:22-23:11 1/15/12 “Do Not Overwork to be Rich[...] Sermon preached on Proverbs 22:22-23:11 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 1/15/2012 in Novato, CA. Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div. Proverbs 22:22-23:11 1/15/12 “Do Not Overwork to be Rich” Americans know how to work hard. This can be one of our greatest strengths. Americans also know how to overwork. Too often the American dream, a good thing in itself, can be twisted into American greed. Greed expressed in a love of money and pursuit of riches resulting in too much work, too much stress, and not enough time for rest, and family, and friends. From a spiritual standpoint, this certainly has its effect. When you ask people how their time of devotions have been going, their time in the Word and prayer, what’s the most typical answer it seems? I just haven’t had the time. Usually that’s because other work has taken first priority in our lives. Don’t get me wrong. Work is a good thing. The Bible tells us that. Money is not a bad thing, in itself, either. The Bible acknowledges we need money, and certainly paints a picture that poverty is not something to be sought after, per se. Rather, we are to work hard to provide for our families, to give back to God, and to have something to share with others. The Bible acknowledges this, and certainly the book of Proverbs acknowledges this. And yet this passage reminds us that even good things can be perverted with the wrong focus. So often man’s wisdom perverts the good things of God. This verse, however, presents us with God’s wisdom. God’s wisdom on work, particularly as it relates to the pursuit of wealth. And so today we’ll begin first by analyzing verse 4 in some detail – what is it specifically saying. Second, we’ll spend some time assessing the teaching – trying to understand it within the larger context of the Bibles’ teachings on work and wealth. Lastly, we’ll think about how to apply it to the Christian’s life. So let’s begin with some analysis of verse 4 – what is it saying? In typical Hebrew poetry, there are two parallel parts here. The first part is the first half of the verse, “Do not overwork to be rich.” The second part is the rest of the verse, a call to cease. Let’s begin with the first part. It’s a command to not overwork. This word of overwork here is about hard work; working to exhaustion. This word can be simply translated as labor, but there is also a more general word in Hebrew to be used to simply refer to someone’s job or business. And so here the focus of this word is the kind of work that involves toil; lots of effort; hard work. To translate it as overwork is slightly interpretive of the NKJV here, but it is within the scope of the idea of this word. A more literal translation would be like the KJV, which simply has “do not labor to be rich.” The ESV is similar, “Do not toil to acquire wealth.” I actually prefer those more literal translations because they better bring out the subtle nuance here. The word for overwork here is not something you’d usually translate as “overwork” in Hebrew. It’s a general enough word used for labor or toil. It’s a word in Hebrew that is often used to refer to legitimate hard work. You see the problem is not the toil, per se, it’s the purpose of the toil. It becomes a problem when the purpose of the toil is simply for the pursuit of riches. When you labor and toil with the chief goal to become wealthy. Wealthy like the royalty mentioned in verse 1. Then it becomes foolish and unwise. And so the wisdom of verse 4 is expressed in the negation. In the word translated as “Do not”. In other words, “don’t!” Don’t do this! Don’t spend all your life’s energy on the pursuit of wealth – just[...] Proverbs Rev. W. Reid Hankins no no http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2012/01/15/redemption-applied-justification-part-ii/ http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2012/01/15/redemption-applied-justification-part-ii/#comments Sun, 15 Jan 2012 21:43:07 +0000 Pastor Reid Hankins http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/?p=1586 http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2012/01/15/redemption-applied-justification-part-ii/feed/ 0 0:35:02 Adult Sunday School class led by Rev. W. Reid Hankins at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 1/15/2012 in Novato, CA. This week we continued a series going through the book Redemption Accomplished and Applied by OPC Minister and Professor John Murr[...] Adult Sunday School class led by Rev. W. Reid Hankins at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 1/15/2012 in Novato, CA. This week we continued a series going through the book Redemption Accomplished and Applied by OPC Minister and Professor John Murray. This week we completed considering Part II, Chapter 4, on Justification. Rev. W. Reid Hankins no no http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2012/01/08/blessed-man/ http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2012/01/08/blessed-man/#comments Sun, 08 Jan 2012 23:33:06 +0000 Pastor Reid Hankins http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/?p=1581 http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2012/01/08/blessed-man/feed/ 0 0:43:11 Sermon preached on Psalm 1 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 1/8/2012 in Novato, CA. Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div. Psalm 1 1/8/12 “Blessed is the Man” Here we have Psalm 1. A ps[...] Sermon preached on Psalm 1 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 1/8/2012 in Novato, CA. Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div. Psalm 1 1/8/12 “Blessed is the Man” Here we have Psalm 1. A psalm that serves as the entrance into the entire Psalter. A psalm long recognized for its beauty both in terms of its poetry and content. Standing at the beginning of the Psalter, it calls us to the way we must approach the psalms. It calls us to the way we must approach all of life. We cannot truly worship God without going down the path of life commended in this passage. And so what we have in this psalm is a theme found in several places in Scripture. It’s the theme of two ways. There are two ways you can go in life. Two directions. Two paths. Which will you take? One leads a good way. The other quite the opposite. Jesus spoke of such a choice too in the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 7:13-14, Jesus spoke of the two ways. One way, he said, was wide and broad, but it leads to destruction. The other way, Jesus said, was narrow and difficult, but it leads to life. This is what this psalm presents to us. Two different ways. As in the words of verse 6, it’s the way of the righteous, versus the way of the ungodly. This will what we’ll consider today. We’ll consider first what these two different ways entail. Second, we’ll consider the outcome of these two different ways. Finally, we’ll consider how to live out Psalm 1′s admonition. But before we dig into this psalm, let me offer a helpful side note. What we have here in Psalm 1 is an idealized picture of how God’s way is the best way, and ultimately the only real way of any true value. We should not understand this concept simplistically. Some who have understood passages like this simplistically, have come up with a prosperity theology. That effectively says if you but order your life in God’s way, you will have health and wealth and virtually no problems and only prosperity in this life. That, however, doesn’t fit with the reality of life or the Biblical witness. Just read the books of Job and Ecclesiastes and you’ll find that things are a little more complex than that. The Bible is clear – sometimes in this world, the wicked seem to prosper for a time and the righteous do suffer for a time. We just studied that a bit in our series through Malachi. A Biblical worldview has to accommodate that, and in fact the Bible does accommodate that in its teaching. That being said, Psalm 1 doesn’t deal with that fact in any detail. And since we’ve dealt with that subject a decent bit recently, I’m not going to delve into it very deeply today again. Rather, I will just say that Psalm 1 presents that the way of the righteous is ultimately the best way. That’s true, even if the way of the wicked might at times in this life seem more advantageous. The point of this psalm, and Scripture as a whole, is that it is not ultimately the best way. Rather Psalm 1 says that if you want it to go well with you, then go God’s way. This we will see in our passage for today. So, then, let’s begin first by comparing the two ways. What does each way look like? The psalms are divided up into three sections. Verses 1-3 deal with the way of the righteous. Verses 4-5 deal with the way of the ungodly. Verse 6 is a final summary verse. Let’s look first then at the way of the righteous. What does that way look like? Verse 1 starts the description. Interestingly, it begins by telling us what righteousness does not look like. It does not look like the way of the wicked. Verse 2 will then tell us in positive terms what the way of the righteous does look like. This might seem strange at initial glance, to start with what righteousness is not, but it actually does make sense. It follows the common pattern of life[...] Psalms Rev. W. Reid Hankins no no http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2012/01/08/redemption-applied-justification/ http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2012/01/08/redemption-applied-justification/#comments Sun, 08 Jan 2012 23:24:29 +0000 Pastor Reid Hankins http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/?p=1577 http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2012/01/08/redemption-applied-justification/feed/ 0 0:37:38 Adult Sunday School class led by Rev. W. Reid Hankins at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 1/8/2012 in Novato, CA. This week we continued a series going through the book Redemption Accomplished and Applied by OPC Minister and Professor John Murra[...] Adult Sunday School class led by Rev. W. Reid Hankins at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 1/8/2012 in Novato, CA. This week we continued a series going through the book Redemption Accomplished and Applied by OPC Minister and Professor John Murray. This week we considered Part II, Chapter 4, on Justification. Rev. W. Reid Hankins no no http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2012/01/01/great-dreadful-day-lord/ http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2012/01/01/great-dreadful-day-lord/#comments Sun, 01 Jan 2012 23:36:38 +0000 Pastor Reid Hankins http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/?p=1571 http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2012/01/01/great-dreadful-day-lord/feed/ 0 0:34:21 Sermon preached on Malachi 4 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 1/1/2012 in Novato, CA. Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div. Malachi 4 1/1/12 “Great and Dreadful Day of the LORD” It’[...] Sermon preached on Malachi 4 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 1/1/2012 in Novato, CA. Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div. Malachi 4 1/1/12 “Great and Dreadful Day of the LORD” It’s a common thing I’ve heard in my life – people don’t generally like fire and brimstone preaching. Some preachers are labeled that by people, and I think I’ve only heard that label used negatively by people – as a critique of someone’s preaching. Now, sometimes that comment is made for understandable reasons – the person is responding to a preacher who has had an imbalance in their preaching. That preacher seems to always be preaching about fire and brimstone in a way that appears to miss the balance of Scripture and especially the central focus of God’s grace and salvation in Christ. Biblical preaching should convey the balance of topics of Scripture and should not over-emphasize one topic at the detriment of another. Rather, the amount of attention and importance we place on a doctrine in our preaching should reflect the importance and air time given it in the Scriptures. And so, if that’s all a person is saying when they are critiquing someone as a fire and brimstone preacher, then I can appreciate their concern. And yet, more often than not, it seems that people today make this comment because preaching about fire and brimstone is just not popular. People don’t want to hear about it. They don’t want to think about a final day of judgment. They don’t want to think about God sending people to hell. Some would prefer we rarely talk about things like hell and a judgment day. Others would prefer we never talk about it. Too many in the Christian church today don’t want to believe that God actually has wrath or that he’ll bring judgment. They want to focus on God’s grace and love, and get rid of God’s wrath and judgment altogether. Well, you can do that, if you are going to be a church that invents your own god. If you make a god of your own creation and devising, then you can throw out the wrath of God. But that’s not what we do here. We don’t invent God. God has revealed himself to us in his Holy Word. That’s how we know about him. He has revealed himself as a God of love and grace, but also as a God of justice. Justice that will bring forth his righteous wrath in a final day of judgment. Judgment that will include fire and brimstone. The Bible may not talk about this fiery judgment on every page, but it does talk about it quite a bit. This judgment is something that Hebrews 6 says is part of the element principles of our Christian faith. Scripture talks about it. This passage talks about it. We have to talk about it. About this great and dreadful day of the LORD. And so there are plenty of passages like this in the Bible. They are meant to warn and awaken people. But they are also meant to encourage God’s people who face oppression from the godless people in society. We’ll see both here today. Let’s begin by looking at how Malachi describes this coming day of judgment. Then we’ll see how he calls us to respond in light of this coming day. We’ll then think further about that response in light of the New Testament and the coming of Christ. And so this description of the coming day of judgment begins in verse 1. It begins by getting our attention. Behold! Look! This day is coming! The tension raised in the book of Malachi is about when justice would be served. In chapter 2, the question was if the God of justice would be coming to bring justice. In chapter 3, the concern was that the proud and wicked seemed to prosper over the righteous. In light of these questions and concerns, God responds by getting our attention – Behold, the day is indeed coming. That’s verse 1. Don’t miss[...] Malachi Rev. W. Reid Hankins no no http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2012/01/01/redemption-applied-repentance/ http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2012/01/01/redemption-applied-repentance/#comments Sun, 01 Jan 2012 23:34:49 +0000 Pastor Reid Hankins http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/?p=1569 http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2012/01/01/redemption-applied-repentance/feed/ 0 0:31:59 Adult Sunday School class led by Rev. W. Reid Hankins at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 1/1/2012 in Novato, CA. This week we continued a series going through the book Redemption Accomplished and Applied by OPC Minister and Professor John Murra[...] Adult Sunday School class led by Rev. W. Reid Hankins at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 1/1/2012 in Novato, CA. This week we continued a series going through the book Redemption Accomplished and Applied by OPC Minister and Professor John Murray. This week we considered Part II, Chapter 4, on Repentance. Rev. W. Reid Hankins no no