We are excited to announce some new features to the blogsite. As more and more readers are viewing from foreign countries we have added the translate feature to the site. Our readers can also now choose to have the blog emailed to them, and they can search the blog by keywords on various topics. We hope that this makes the site more manageable for you. God Bless.

Hear current audio messages by Pastor Scott Burr at:
http://sermon.net/dayspringchurchag

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

“Temple or Marketplace?”

(part 1)

“When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money.”
John 2:13-14


The Passover celebration was one of the most holy feasts celebrated by the people of Israel. It dated back to the days of Moses, when God delivered the children of Israel out of the hands of Pharaoh. During the feast, the blood of a lamb was shed and its blood applied to the doorposts of their homes. That evening when the death angel passed by, he would see the blood and “Passover” that home.

Passover was one of three feasts God commanded the Israelites they were to celebrate at the “place of His choosing.” In Jesus’ day, that place was at the temple in Jerusalem. So Jesus traveled from Capernaum to Jerusalem to celebrate the feast.

Upon reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and found men selling cattle, sheep and doves. Others were exchanging money. John tells us that a holy indignation rose up inside of Him! What once stood as a place of prayer, the place where the presence of God resided, a place of reverence and sacrifice, a place holy unto God; was now nothing more than a marketplace!

What is a marketplace? It is where things are bought and sold, where ideas are exchanged, compromises made and bartering done. There was once a time when the bleating cries of the lambs coming from the temple meant something. It weighed in the hearts of the people as they came to worship the God of Israel who had delivered them out of the bondages of Egypt, but the people had lost sight of God in their lives.
They began to exchange the truth of God for a lie, compromise their faith, buy into the world system and sell their souls for wealth, power and influence. The sounds coming from the temple courts now sounded more like a circus than a sanctuary.


Pastor Scott Burr
http://faithandworshipseries.blogspot.com

Thursday, November 24, 2011

“Sacred Marriage: A Mirror on Sin”

(part 2 of 2)

“Sin never seems quite as shocking when it is known only to us; when we see how it looks or sounds to another; it is magnified ten times over.”

Gary Thomas

A single person can hide bad habits, personal failures, and a sinful lifestyle by simply removing themselves from certain situations and people. Married couples do not have that luxury, but they do have a tremendous opportunity. Marriage, unlike many relationships, provides us with the occasion to guide our spouse into imitating the character of Jesus Christ. 1 Thessalonians 5:11 states:

“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.”

Possessing the knowledge of someone’s sin is a powerful and dangerous thing. That knowledge can be used to crush, humiliate or gain power over our spouse or it can be used to nurture and guide them to spiritual health. If managed correctly marriage can be a powerful tool to our growing in holiness. It creates a context (safe place) for us to face our own weaknesses and deal with sin. It gives us the opportunity, daily, to build up another person. This, however, can only be done if we are conscientious of our own sin. Matthew 7:5 instructs us to:

“First take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”

I recently read that couples don’t fall out of love as much as they fall out of repentance. Sin, wrong attitudes, and personal failures that are not dealt with will slowly erode a relationship. When those attitudes and behaviors begin to surface the temptation will be to try and hide them from your spouse.

However, let me encourage you to consider that God gave you, your spouse to recognize those flaws and spur you toward greater maturity and holiness.


(This marriage series was developed from principles taken from the book “Sacred Marriage” by author Gary Thomas.)


Pastor Scott Burr
http://faithandworshipseries.blogspot.com

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

“Sacred Marriage: A Mirror on Sin”

(part 1 of 2)

“Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sowed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.”

Genesis 3:7


I think everyone who gets married experiences two “Adam & Eve” moments in their relationship. Like, Adam and Eve, we start out living what we believe to be the ideal relationship with the ideal person until one day our eyes are opened to just how exposed we are to this other person. In the story of Adam and Eve, everything seemed to be going good for our happy couple. Then one day their eyes were opened and suddenly they realized they were naked. Immediately they began to cover themselves and hide themselves from one another.

What was it that caused Adam and Eve’s eyes to be opened? The answer is Sin! Sin entered the world and one of the initial consequences was a breakdown in marital intimacy. As Adam and Eve’s weaknesses were uncovered, it wasn’t long before they felt funny being exposed to one another and shortly thereafter they began pointing the finger at each other.

There is nothing that opens the eyes of two people in a relationship more than when they experience or see “sin” in their spouse’s life. It isn’t difficult because we thought the person we married was “above” that, it stings because we realize if I can see that in them…they can see things in me too!

I love this quote by Gary and Betsy Ricucci taken from the book Sacred Marriage:

“One of the best wedding gifts God gave you was a full-length mirror called your spouse. Had there been a card attached, it would have said, “Here’s to helping you discover what you’re really like.”



Marriage holds up a mirror to our sin! As I gaze into the “full length” mirror called my spouse, I am forced to look at all the flaws in MY character, faced with MY own selfishness and struck by MY own poor attitudes.

Kathleen Thomas Hart wrote that, “Sometimes what is hard to take in the first years of marriage is not what we find out about our partner but what we find out about ourselves.”



(This marriage series was developed from principles taken from the book “Sacred Marriage” by author Gary Thomas.)


Pastor Scott Burr
http://faithandworshipseries.blogspot.com

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

"Sacred Marriage-Building a Servant’s Heart”

(part 2 of 2)

“Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.”

Philippians 2:5-7

What does it mean to become “nothing”? Does it mean that we allow ourselves to be ignored, overlooked or unappreciated? No! However, true servant hood does not begin until we are willing to “make ourselves nothing.”

In Philippians 2 the phrase “made himself nothing” is translated from the Greek word- kenosis- which means to empty oneself. Jesus voluntarily laid aside His position, His glory, rights and riches. He let go of his privileges in or to be a servant to others. The idea of giving up what rightfully belongs to us in order to serve others is foreign in our cultural and is most of our marriages. How do I know? Consider this:

How many of you would drop what you are doing to go pick up a friend or family member whose car broke down, but wouldn’t miss two minutes of your favorite TV show to take the trash out for your wife?

How many of you surge into action to take your kids to dance, soccer, or band practice, but when your husband asks you for a drink of water respond… “Are your legs broke?”

To be like Christ requires us to “make ourselves nothing.” That isn’t natural. In fact, the idea of serving is almost a supernatural concept. That’s because this type of serving is sacrificial. If it doesn’t cost us something, it isn’t really a sacrifice…and I would argue is it really serving?

Gary Thomas wrote… “The beauty of marriage is that it confronts our selfishness and demands our service 24 hours a day.”


Most people do not enter marriage with the expectation of serving. For many it is a means of meeting a need in their own life which, consequently, minimizes marriage to a selfish pursuit. Marriage, more so, is a daily opportunity to put Philippians 2:3-4 into practice:

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”

Do nothing out of selfish ambition! Look to the interest of others! Start at home! Empty yourself, so that you can be a servant to your spouse and so God may be glorified.


(This marriage series was developed from principles taken from the book “Sacred Marriage” by author Gary Thomas.)


Pastor Scott Burr
http://faithandworshipseries.blogspot.com

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

“Sacred Marriage-Building a Servant’s Heart”

(part 1 of 2)

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus; who being in the very nature God, did not consider equality with God, something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.”
Philippians 2:3-7

Many of you have likely heard this passage of scripture before, but I wonder how often we consider it within the context of marriage. Ideas like… being a servant, looking to the interests of others and doing nothing out of selfish ambition are all honorable pursuits that Christians ought to emulate, but there is a very evident disconnect of these ideas in many marriages.

These concepts are viewed by most as a “good” rule of faith when we are at church, at work or in public settings, however many feel that when we get home, alone with our spouse, these expectations of us ought to cease…so that we can have our “me” time.

Marriage, however, was not designed for our personal gratification. In fact, marriage could easily be defined as- the giving up of one’s self. When we marry, we automatically divest ourselves of the idea of “self”:

“This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, for she was taken out of man.”
Genesis 2:23

The idea of two becoming one is not that one is absorbed into the other, but rather they are united together. In some marriages the dreams, desires and needs of one spouse are swallowed up by the other’s with little to no consideration given to this spouses’ needs. This type of behavior in a relationship can have a two-fold negative affect. First it can cause resentment to set in with the spouse that is feeling short-changed, but also if left unaddressed it can cause the offending spouse to become self-absorbed further alienating themselves from their mate.


Let me be the first to say that God did not bring Eve to Adam to cater to Adam’s every whim and desire! He brought Eve to Adam so that the two of them together could bring glory to God’s Name by helping one another according to His will.





(This marriage series was developed from principles taken from the book “Sacred Marriage” by author Gary Thomas.)


Pastor Scott Burr
http://faithandworshipseries.blogspot.com