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, 09 Feb 2012 23:54:18 +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/2011/07/17/hand/ http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/07/17/hand/#comments Mon, 18 Jul 2011 04:33:29 +0000 Pastor Reid Hankins http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/?p=1428 http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/07/17/hand/feed/ 0 0:00:01 Sermon preached on 1 Peter 4:7-11 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 7/17/2011 in Novato, CA. Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div. 1 Peter 4:7-11 7/17/11 “End of All Things is at Hand” The[...] Sermon preached on 1 Peter 4:7-11 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 7/17/2011 in Novato, CA. Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div. 1 Peter 4:7-11 7/17/11 “End of All Things is at Hand” The “End is Near.” If you see someone holding a cardboard sign with those words hand written on it, it’s likely you might scoff a bit inside. We’re used to seeing on TV or movies all sorts of doomsdays preachers that hold up signs like that or shout that in the city streets. Just recently Harold Camping and his followers said such things, and are still essentially saying such things. Others have before them as well. But let us be clear. We can disagree with Harold Camping setting a date. We might disagree with the approach and tone of people holding up cardboards signs. But the biblical truth is that indeed the end is near. That’s our very first verse for today. Verse 7 says here, “But the end of all things is at hand.” The NIV translates that as “The end of all things is near.” Same thing. Not just of some things. The end of all things has drawn near. That’s a biblical truth. And Peter says it should inform how we live right now. And so this will be our study for today. We’ll consider first the nearness of the end. Second, we’ll consider the general response commended here, based on this reality. In other words, how do we live in light of the end of the world. Third, we’ll hone in on one of those responses – we’ll consider in more detail the serious and watchful prayer commended in verse 7. Let’s begin with considering the nearness of the end. That’s verse 7′s bold pronouncement. Since Peter said this about 2000 years ago, it’s a fair question to ask what he meant by this. If the end was so near back then, how come it hasn’t come yet? So in this first point, I want us to understand in what sense the end has drawn near. Let’s start with the translation. The NKJV does a very good job with the translation here. To say that the end of all things is at hand, it to say how the end has drawn near. It expresses in one sense, the imminence and closeness of it, while at the same time acknowledging that’s it not here yet. Jesus used this exact same language with regard to the coming of the kingdom. The gospels start out recording Jesus saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.” Well, I think there’s a helpful parallel there in thinking about the kingdom of God being at hand, and the end of all things being at hand. These things are closely connected. At the final end of all things, that’s when the kingdom of God will come in its fullness. And yet when Jesus teaches about the coming of the kingdom, we see there is a present dimension to it as well. There’s a sense in which the kingdom has come already through Christ’s ministry, especially his death and resurrection. His kingdom rule already operates by his Spirit and through his church, reigning from heaven at the right hand of God. His kingdom advances ever forward on earth, having a definitive victory already over Satan at the cross, as souls are won for him. And yet there’s clearly a sense in which the kingdom of glory has not come yet. That will happen in its fullness on Christ’s return. And so Christ’s kingdom has come, already, and not yet. It’s so imminently at hand, that in part we already taste of it, though not in its final fullness and glory. Well, that’s very similar with the end of all things. The New Testament talks about us being in the last days. Let me mention just a few. John says in 1 John 2:18 that it is the last hour. Hebrews 1:2 says that we are in the last days. James 5:3 says we are in the last days. It’s the implication of Jude 1:17 and Paul in 2 Timothy 3:15. [...] Rev. W. Reid Hankins no no http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/02/22/bible-survey-class-%e2%80%93-revelation-part-2/ http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/02/22/bible-survey-class-%e2%80%93-revelation-part-2/#comments Wed, 23 Feb 2011 00:28:42 +0000 Pastor Reid Hankins http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/?p=1256 http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/02/22/bible-survey-class-%e2%80%93-revelation-part-2/feed/ 0 0:42:16 Adult Sunday School class led by Rev. W. Reid Hankins at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 02/27/2011 in Novato, CA. This week we continued Revelation discussing different views on the millenium of Revelation 20 and how it frames the book. Adult Sunday School class led by Rev. W. Reid Hankins at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 02/27/2011 in Novato, CA. This week we continued Revelation discussing different views on the millenium of Revelation 20 and how it frames the book. Rev. W. Reid Hankins no no http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/02/20/bible-survey-class-%e2%80%93-revelation-part-1/ http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/02/20/bible-survey-class-%e2%80%93-revelation-part-1/#comments Sun, 20 Feb 2011 20:31:35 +0000 Pastor Reid Hankins http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/?p=1248 http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/02/20/bible-survey-class-%e2%80%93-revelation-part-1/feed/ 0 0:42:09 Adult Sunday School class led by Rev. W. Reid Hankins at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 02/20/2011 in Novato, CA. This week we began Revelation. Adult Sunday School class led by Rev. W. Reid Hankins at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 02/20/2011 in Novato, CA. This week we began Revelation. Rev. W. Reid Hankins no no http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2008/12/28/watch/ http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2008/12/28/watch/#comments Sun, 28 Dec 2008 23:15:27 +0000 Pastor Reid Hankins http://www.novatoopcsermons.org/?p=230 http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2008/12/28/watch/feed/ 0 0:40:48 When you look at a mountain range from a distance, you probably see a number of peaks and they probably appear to all be very close together.  They might even look right next to each other.  And yet, as you get closer and closer to the mountain peak[...] When you look at a mountain range from a distance, you probably see a number of peaks and they probably appear to all be very close together.  They might even look right next to each other.  And yet, as you get closer and closer to the mountain peaks, you usually find that they are actually very far apart, maybe many miles away.  You see, perspective is everything, and sometimes looking at two different things from far away, they can look much closer than they actually are. I bring up this simple analogy because in our passage for today we have a lot of prophecy about the end times.  And this prophecy is in one sense about the destruction of the temple.  But in another sense it’s about all the tribulation leading up to the end when Christ returns.  And yet the prophecies in this chapter, to a certain degree, seem to bring these events together, all in close proximity to each other.  And yet we know from history that the temple was destroyed all the way back in 70 AD.  That’s almost 2000 years ago, and the end has not yet come.  You see, a very simplistic reading of this prophecy could lend you to think that the end should have already came back in 70 AD.  But, that would be too simplistic of an interpretation. Passage: Mark 13 Author: Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div. Sermon originally preached during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 12/28/2008 in Novato, CA. Click here for the manuscript. Mark Rev. W. Reid Hankins no no