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.example.com http://www.example.com#comments Mon, 04 Jul 2011 00:09:39 +0000 Pastor Reid Hankins http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/?p=1418 http://www.example.com/feed/ 0 http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2010/11/28/be-strong-and-of-good-courage/ http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2010/11/28/be-strong-and-of-good-courage/#comments Mon, 29 Nov 2010 00:26:53 +0000 Pastor Reid Hankins http://www.novatoopcsermons.org/?p=972 http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2010/11/28/be-strong-and-of-good-courage/feed/ 0 0:36:28 Sermon preached on Deuteronomy 31 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 11/28/2010 in Novato, CA. Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div. Deuteronomy 31 11/28/10 “Be Strong and of Good Courage” [...] Sermon preached on Deuteronomy 31 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 11/28/2010 in Novato, CA. Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div. Deuteronomy 31 11/28/10 “Be Strong and of Good Courage” Be strong and of good courage. That’s commanded three times in this passage; once to the people, and twice to Joshua as the new leader. When we think of our leaders, that’s part of what we want. We want them to be strong and courageous. We want them to inspire us to be strong and courageous. Finding this kind of leadership can be hard. Think of all our political elections. From one election to the next, the balance of power seems to constantly switch back and forth between the major parties. The masses keep looking for someone to provide good leadership. Now, people can disagree on who will provide that, or what is even good leadership. And yet even when we do find good leaders, we ourselves don’t always follow those leaders as well as we ought. In our passage for today, we read a lot about the leadership among God’s people. God appoints Joshua to succeed Moses, and Moses instructs the priests and the elders about their leadership. A lot of this leadership has to do with the succession of the covenant. As Moses is about to die, he’s preparing the next generation of leaders, and the next generation of Israelites to live out the covenant. He’s setting things up so the covenant will continue after he’s gone. The whole book of Deuteronomy has been recounting the covenant. We’ve seen all the major parts of a covenant as we’ve studied this book. Two final elements of a typical covenant back then are found in this chapter. One element is that a copy of the covenant document would be deposited in the people’s sanctuary. We see that in verse 26. The other element would be that witnesses would be invoked to hold the parties accountable to keep the covenant. Three such witnesses are recorded in this passage as well. The law, deposited in the Ark of the Covenant, was one of these witnesses, verse 26. The Song of Moses recorded in the next chapter, but discussed here, is a witness, verse 19. And heaven and earth, in other words, the creation, is called to witness in verse 28. These witnesses would exhort both the leaders and the people to be strong and courageous in living out the covenant in the generations to come. So today we’ll spend some time considering this call to be strong and courageous. We’ll think about it from both the vantage point of the leaders and the people. We’ll think about it in the context of them all being called to live out the covenant in the generations to come. We’ll then apply this all to our new covenant context. So let’s think then first what this strength and courage should look like in the old covenant. In other words, what exactly does this passage have in mind when it calls them to be strong and courageous here? Well, you notice the first two occurrences of this command are in verses 6 and 7. In verse 6, the people are told, “Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them.” The context here is that God doesn’t want them to be afraid of the enemies they will be facing in the Promised Land. They are on the eve of an invasion to take hold of the Promised Land. The exhortation is pretty clear here. Be strong and courageous. Those are essentially two synonyms for an internal strength of conviction that God would give them the victory. That’s immediately followed by two synonyms about not being afraid, “Do not fear nor be afraid of them.” God likes to repeat important points. Four different verbs here to get at the same idea. There’s nothing to fear, so be brave, as you face the enemies in the Promised Land. Part of their strength and courage would come in the fact that God was[...] Deuteronomy Rev. W. Reid Hankins no no http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2010/05/16/proclaim-an-offer-of-peace/ http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2010/05/16/proclaim-an-offer-of-peace/#comments Mon, 17 May 2010 03:33:28 +0000 Pastor Reid Hankins http://www.novatoopcsermons.org/?p=727 http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2010/05/16/proclaim-an-offer-of-peace/feed/ 0 0:37:34 Sermon preached on Deuteronomy 20 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 05/16/2010 in Novato, CA. Manuscript: Proclaim an Offer of Peace Sermon preached on Deuteronomy 20 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 05/16/2010 in Novato, CA. Manuscript: Proclaim an Offer of Peace Deuteronomy Rev. W. Reid Hankins no no http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2009/08/02/we-utterly-destroyed/ http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2009/08/02/we-utterly-destroyed/#comments Mon, 03 Aug 2009 03:58:13 +0000 Pastor Reid Hankins http://www.novatoopcsermons.org/?p=438 http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2009/08/02/we-utterly-destroyed/feed/ 0 0:39:29 Holy war.  That’s a scary subject today, with Muslim terrorists in the name of jihad, their concept of holy war, going around killing civilians in things like 9/11 and suicide bombings.  And this was a scary thing in the past, when Crusaders in the [...] Holy war.  That’s a scary subject today, with Muslim terrorists in the name of jihad, their concept of holy war, going around killing civilians in things like 9/11 and suicide bombings.  And this was a scary thing in the past, when Crusaders in the name of Christianity went to war over the so-called holy lands, killing people, sadly, in the name of Christ.  Those are just a couple of examples of the many atrocities that have been committed under the guise of holy war. Well, what about this passage?  In this passage, Israel begins their military conquest of the Promised Land.  The Hebrew word for this sort of conquest is the word cherem.  Cherem warfare.  It’s when they utterly destroyed man, woman, and child, in the name of God.  It’s basically the biblical word for a sort of holy war.  I hope this causes you to sit up straight in your seats when you hear this.  So the question becomes, is this an atrocity, akin to what Muslim terrorists do today, and what the Crusaders did in the past?  If you do think so, and you’re a Christian, do you just try to ignore passages like this?  Or, if they are not the same sort of thing, then why?  What’s the difference? Listen in as we consider this topic and it’s impact on our lives today. Sermon preached on Deuteronomy 2:26-3:11 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 08/02/2009 in Novato, CA. Manuscript: We Utterly Destroyed Deuteronomy Rev. W. Reid Hankins no no