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/2011/04/03/sojourners-pilgrims/ http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/04/03/sojourners-pilgrims/#comments Mon, 04 Apr 2011 04:43:52 +0000 Pastor Reid Hankins http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/?p=1298 http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/04/03/sojourners-pilgrims/feed/ 0 0:39:27 Sermon preached on 1 Peter 2:11-12 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 4/3/2011 in Novato, CA. Sermon preached on 1 Peter 2:11-12 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 4/3/2011 in Novato, CA. Rev. W. Reid Hankins no no http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/02/13/rejoice/ http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/02/13/rejoice/#comments Mon, 14 Feb 2011 00:14:37 +0000 Pastor Reid Hankins http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/?p=1233 http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/02/13/rejoice/feed/ 0 0:36:30 Sermon preached on 1 Peter 1:3-9 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 2/13/2011 in Novato, CA. Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div. 1 Peter 1:3-9 2/13/11 “In This You Rejoice” Last’s w[...] Sermon preached on 1 Peter 1:3-9 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 2/13/2011 in Novato, CA. Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div. 1 Peter 1:3-9 2/13/11 “In This You Rejoice” Last’s week’s message from 1 Peter reminded us that we live as pilgrims and sojourners right now on earth. Last week’s focus was on the sojourning. This week’s passage takes up that topic again. It describes the trials and the tests of faith that we may go through in this short pilgrimage of life. But it also draws us into the hope beyond this life. A real and certain hope of a heavenly inheritance. That hope will require faith. The trials in this life will challenge that faith. But it will also refine that faith. All of this will be a reason to find joy in the midst of the grief brought by the trials of life. This sojourning, our lives on earth, will have difficult times. But this passage reminds us that we are growing in faith, hope, and joy in the midst of all of these. That’s basically our message for today. But let’s dig into this passage and see how Peter brings this out. Let’s begin first this morning by considering what this passage describes as our living hope in verse 3. In the midst of living lives as pilgrims, sojourning on this earth, we have a living hope in front of us. Verse 3 says that according to God’s abundant mercy he has caused us to be begotten again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus. Our hope is called a living hope. In other words it’s not a dead hope. It’s a hope that’s alive. A hope that grows. A hope that is sure. It a hope that we can count on as true and genuine. What is this living hope? Verse 4 spells it out. It’s the hope of a heavenly inheritance. An inheritance safeguarded in heaven; kept by God for you. And what is this heavenly inheritance like? Verse 4 says it’s imperishable, it’s undefiled, it’s unfading. Hearing those adjectives probably makes you think of Jesus’ words about heavenly treasure. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told us not to set our hearts on earthly treasure. He said that earthly treasure is something that can be lost. Thieves can break in and steal it. Moth and rust can destroy it. Instead Jesus said to pursue heavenly treasure. Well, this passage talks about this living hope in similar terms. This heavenly inheritance can’t perish, can’t be defiled, won’t fade away. This heavenly inheritance is what Jesus was talking about. It’s the Christians’ hope that in Christ they receive such heavenly treasure. And yet to be precise, Peter doesn’t use the word treasure here. He doesn’t speak in terms of heavenly treasure. He speaks of heavenly inheritance. I do think both descriptions essentially get at the same thing. Yet, Peter’s use of the word inheritance is something we don’t want to miss. Peter is a Jew, and even as a Christian Jew, the idea of an inheritance from God, has a rich history. For a Christian Jew to talk about an inheritance from God, something specific is going to come to mind. You’re going to think about the Promised Land. As a church we just finished a study going through Deuteronomy. Repeatedly, we saw that God described the Promised Land as an inheritance he was giving to Israel. Deuteronomy 4:21, as just one example of many. The Promised Land was the inheritance for God’s people in the Old Testament. That’s the language Peter chooses to use here to describe our living hope. But he’s obviously not talking about the Promised Land. Describing our living hope as an inheritance, makes us think back to the Promised Land. But describing this inheritance as something reserved in heaven for us, makes us look beyond the earthly Promised Land. Peter draws a subtle comparison between our living[...] Rev. W. Reid Hankins no no http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/02/06/grace-peace-multiplied/ http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/02/06/grace-peace-multiplied/#comments Mon, 07 Feb 2011 06:44:25 +0000 Pastor Reid Hankins http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/?p=1208 http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/02/06/grace-peace-multiplied/feed/ 0 0:00:01 Sermon preached on 1 Peter 1:1-2 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 2/06/2011 in Novato, CA. Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div. 1 Peter 1:1-2 2/6/11 “Grace to You and Peace be Multiplied![...] Sermon preached on 1 Peter 1:1-2 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 2/06/2011 in Novato, CA. Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div. 1 Peter 1:1-2 2/6/11 “Grace to You and Peace be Multiplied!” Today we begin a series through the letter of 1 Peter. We just covered this book in our Bible Survey class. Also, Darren Hsiung just preached on this same passage here a couple weeks ago when I was on vacation. So, hopefully by now you’ve been given a chance to start thinking about this wonderful book. I didn’t hear Darren’s sermon, but I did get a short summary of it. Hopefully I won’t repeat too much of what he said, but if I do, I’m sure they will be truths worth repeating. These two verses are a wonderful reminder to us of our Christian life in this world. We are chosen pilgrims, strangers and aliens in this world. God is growing us during this time, and we look forward to Christ’s return when we will taste of our heavenly inheritance reserved for us. As we dig into this letter, let me start with some introductory remarks about it. This was a letter written of course by the Apostle Peter. As we see in these opening verses, it was a circular letter. It wasn’t written to just one church, but it’s addressed to believers spread out at the time throughout several areas in Asia Minor. As such, the issues that it addresses were not unique to just one church. Rather, the context reflects concerns that affected a whole region of Christians. As the letter reveals, Peter was addressing Christians struggling to live in a world that did not embrace them or their faith. Peter speaks of how Christians are to faithfully endure in their faith, even when it means they face opposition from the world around them. Given the historical context, this persecution probably doesn’t reflect some of the larger empire-wide governmental persecution that would later affect Christians. And yet these Christians were living in a pagan world that in many ways was hostile to them. They were likely facing at least things like social ostracism, slander, malicious talk; things that undermined their relationships with family and friends and business relationships. More and more they would have likely felt like outsiders, and treated as such. Scholars like to debate if Peter’s letter was written to Jewish Christians, or to Gentile Christians, or to churches filled with both. If we knew with certainty, it would add some helpful perspective to our reading of the letter. I’m not going to go into all the detailed arguments right now. If anyone wants to hear more on that afterwards, I’ll be glad to share. Let me suffice it to say, that I think the evidence leans fairly well to see Peter writing to primarily an audience of Gentile Christians. And yet, since we don’t know with certainty, I think we have to be content to accept how the church has historically used this letter. Regardless of who the original audience was, the church has generally received the teachings of this letter as applicable to all Christians, both Jew and Gentiles. I think we ought to do the same; to receive these teachings as very applicable to us as well. And I think that brings out how profound this letter is, because Peter uses several statements in this letter that would have traditionally applied to the Jews, but now they get applied to Christians in general. We see that right here in the opening verses when the Christians are called the elect; the chosen ones of God. That was how Israel of Old would have been described. Here now it’s applied to Christians in general. Those who find their hope and life in Jesus Christ. As we study this letter over the next few months, we’ll see several topics addressed. We’ll see this topic of Christian suffering dealt with. We’ll talk a lot about pilgrim theology; how God[...] Rev. W. Reid Hankins no no http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2009/06/21/eleven-days-journey/ http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2009/06/21/eleven-days-journey/#comments Mon, 22 Jun 2009 04:56:37 +0000 Pastor Reid Hankins http://www.novatoopcsermons.org/?p=400 http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2009/06/21/eleven-days-journey/feed/ 0