ChristianCrusaders.org E-Preview
October 5, 2008

“The Part We Want to Skip"

Is God still at work in America?
Have you ever heard a story that you really enjoyed, but wish one part had been left out? Likewise, we love to listen to the beautiful and comforting portions of the Bible, but other parts are not received in the same way, and we would love to skip them. We will talk about one such part in this week’s sermon and ask the question, As we watch our country continue to walk away from God, will He take his kingdom away from us?

Scripture: Matthew 21:33-46

“Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey. When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.

“The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son.’ he said.

“But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

“Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”

“He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”

Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:

“’The stone the builders rejected

has become the capstone;

the Lord has done this,

and it is marvelous in our eyes’?

“Therefore I tell you that the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed.”

When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parable, they knew he was talking about them. They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.

Renewing Reflections
We hope Renewing Reflections will strengthen you in the week ahead. These quotes are taken from the sermon “The Church in the World,” delivered by Rev. Homer Larsen on Christian Crusaders on September 16, 2007:

In some circles today it is taught that we must give a little and take a little, not to upset others, no matter how far from the scriptures their ideas are. We are to keep the congregation and the denomination united. If this happens – peace at any price – we soon will have weakened the biblical message and congregations and denominations will have little to offer the culture. This is happening and is a major reason so many thousands of people are leaving mainline Protestantism. 

More About the Hymns You’ll Hear on the Radio Program This Week

“Praise to the Lord, the Almighty,” was written by Joachim Neander in 1680. The picturesque German countryside he wandered, while principal of a Düsseldorf grammar school, was later named the Neander Valley in his honor. It was at this site in 1856, where the remains of early man were first discovered (in German, “Neanderthal” man). When he wrote this hymn, Neander paraphrased Psalm 103:1-6, which begins, “Bless (Praise) the Lord, O my soul: And all that is within me, bless his holy name.”

This week’s second hymn, “Holy God, We Praise Thy Name” was written by a Roman Catholic priest, Ignace Franz, in Germany around 1774 and translated to English in 1858. Franz, who was from Poland, was a noted hymnologist. The hymn is inspired by Psalm 103:3, “All my inmost being, praise His holy name.”

On the Light Side
HIGHER POWER:

A Sunday school teacher said to her children, “We have been learning how powerful kings and queens were in Bible times. But, there is a Higher Power. Can anybody tell me what it is?”

One child blurted out, “Aces!”

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