I’m first and foremost a follower of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, striving to learn more and grow closer to Him. I am also a former public middle school English, Reading, Social Studies teacher now spending my days trying to figure out where God needs me to go next! I'm privileged to help author-friends with beta-reading and editing their work. I’m honored that I get to lead a Bible study and play librarian at my little church in southwestern Colorado. I love to serve God, meditate on His Word, read great books, take photos, be crafty, jot down random thoughts, and crochet poorly.
Memorial Day weekend found Terry teaching about what’s next, based ultimately on 1 Corinthians 15. To listen to this message, simply click play on the audio player below. I’ve also included notes and links to BibleGateway for the verses he references. May it bless you richly!
What Next?
Genesis 3 – man fell into sin & generally made a mess of everything
God, in His love and mercy, made a way for fallen, sinful man to be reconciled unto Him – the blood of Jesus Christ
1 Thessalonians 5:23 – created in the image of God means that we are three parts (spirit, soul, body), just as He is three parts (Father, Son, Holy Spirit)
Ephesians 1:13-14 – the Holy Spirit brings salvation (comes to indwell those who believe), seals/marks us as the property of God (a down payment/earnest money for eternal life)
God bought us out of sin & death at a tremendous cost to Jesus
We are a purchased possession of God
Spirit and Soul are made alive at the moment of salvation, but we are still looking forward to the redemption of the Body (which is dying every moment of every day)
It takes the grace of God to nurture this bag of bones over the finish line!
Romans 8:28 – our bodies breaking down is part of the humbling that we need to realize our need for the salvation that is found only in Christ.
The full, eternal, everlasting inheritance that we have in God includes redeemed bodies.
Our already redeemed spirit and soul are for us to be the salt and light for those who are still in darkness
Hello! Two Sundays ago, Alan continued his teaching through the Proverbs by taking us to Proverbs 13:1-25. To listen to this message, simply click play on the audio player below. I’ve also included Alan’s outline, along with some notes and links to BibleGateway for Scriptures referenced.
*Note: the audio recording was not started until about halfway through the message. Check the outline for where the audio matches up with the notes.
Proverbs on Wealth, Speech, Satisfaction, and Destinies
The Big Theme: Through morally good behavior there are gains earned.
Proverbs 13:1 – sets the stage, essentially saying that you will listen to the rest of what he has to say if you are wise; if you are foolish, however, you will ignore it.
Proverbs on Wealth from an Ethical Perspective – Proverbs 13:7-11
Morality (the quality of what you do) vs. Ethics (how you should live) in our culture.
v. 7: The fraudulent use of money.
Here there are two ways to be a fraud:
“Thousand-dollar millionaires” – those who lead others to believe they are wealthier than they actually are, who live outside their means.
Those who pretend to have nothing – not flaunting their wealth, but also not willing to share with others, using the excuse that they can’t afford to help
v. 8: Two dangers with wealth:
The danger of finding false security in your wealth
The attitude of not caring because you don’t have wealth, which could (not always) be linked to lack of ambition and not saving
v. 9: Just as speech was connected to righteousness or wickedness, so is the use of money:
The righteous use money and speech in their lives in a way that lights up life
The wicked use their speech, money, and lives in ways that God will see to it flicker out in the end
v. 10: This proverb is a word on listening:
A person whose pride rules their view of everything will always be ready for a fight
A humble person will listen because of their wisdom (One can’t have godly wisdom without God! You can only have worldly wisdom, which is foolishness to God. – 1 Corinthians 1:18-25)
Surround yourself with wise people, not “yes” men
v. 11: This proverb deals with the danger of high risk, get-rich-quick schemes versus the virtue of diligent accumulation of wealth
Proverbs on Fulfillment (Satisfaction) or Frustration – Proverbs 13:12-19
v. 12: The truth is, it’s impossible to live a fulfilled life without hope.
You can survive almost anything if there is a ray of hope, but without it, it’s a sickness slowly killing you.
The believer’s hope is Christ – our Living Water & Tree of Life
v. 13: Two choices with two outcomes are given in life.
You can esteem God’s Word and be rewarded.
You can despise God’s Word and face the built-in penalty
It’s the maxim of you reap what you sow.
v. 14: This world is an ever-increasingly dangerous minefield. *Note: this is where the audio recording begins.
There are traps we cannot see without the life-giving fountain of God’s wisdom in Christ.
We need to be in connection with God to be able to discern traps and then avoid them.
v. 15: We need the moral clarity that comes from Proverbs’ instruction to shape our conduct.
Bad conduct is inherently destructive – it never ends well.
v. 16: A shrewd person is characterized as knowing not to openly play a fool’s life.
Know how to use self-control
v. 17: This proverb asks the question of us, “Are we faithful messengers of God who don’t speak on our own authority, or are we the world’s foolish messengers?”
We are supposed to be God’s ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20), speaking from God’s authority.
v. 18: If you can’t be disciplined (by self or others), you end up a poor disgrace.
If you can be disciplined, there is hope for you!
v. 19: All about the frustrated life of the fool…
A fool doesn’t want to give up what may well be poisonous “fun”
Addictions are hard to break
Because a fool abhors the idea of giving up evil fun, they can’t know what would be a truly sweet deal, what will truly satisfy their soul.
Hello again. Last Sunday, Alan taught on Proverbs 27:1-22 regarding relationships. To listen to this message, simply click play on the audio player below. Also included are Alan’s outline with some notes and links to Bible Gateway for the verses he references in the message. Enjoy!
Fools (the emotionally irrational) – avoid the vexation (frustration, annoyance, or worry) of a fool
Hotheads (the angry) – are cruel & destructive, like a torrent or raging river
Jealous people (the envious) – an angry person is bad enough to deal with, but a jealous person is on a whole other level (think of Saul’s jealousy of David)
Hi all! Alan started the month of May with a message about some of the sevens of Proverbs, going in a bit more depth about the seven perverted types of humanity that are described in chapters 25 & 26. To listen to this message, simply click play on the audio player below. I’ve also included Alan’s outline with some notes and links to referenced Scriptures at Bible Gateway. God bless!
Hi again! A few weeks ago, Alan taught on Proverbs 10:1-16 all about the use of speech and money matters. To listen to this message, simply click play on the audio player below. I’ve also included Alan’s outline with some notes and links to Bible Gateway for the Scripture references. Enjoy!
*Note: we didn’t get the first bit of this message recorded, so it starts in the midst of part two. Sorry!
Words have powerful effects on ourselves and others. (Proverbs 10:6-14)
Big truth: Harmful words have a boomerang effect.
v. 6 – the wicked hide their true motives, but it will come back to haunt them.
v. 7 – the words of the righteous will bring them honor, but the words of the wicked will rot (decay, make it stink) their reputation
v. 8 – the wise person is teachable, but know-it-alls come to ruin.
v. 9 – the more you lie, the better your memory needs to be! The schemer will be found out.
Some people have a long enough tongue to cut their own throat.
v. 10 – the “wink, wink guy” or people who use prayer requests as an excuse to gossip, etc. – they are troublemakers, they divide people & will come to ruin
v. 11 – the speech of the righteous is refreshing – it brings eternal life; wickedness/deception is draining/soul-sucking
v. 13 – those whose ears are closed to the truth sometimes need the rod, nothing else will get through to them
v. 12 – two ways to respond to others’ words against us:
in like kind (with hatred, baiting)
in love (which covers all transgressions)
v. 14 – need to have a knowledge base to deal with people we encounter
Wealth can give a false sense of security and poverty can be a terrifying thing. The only way to get a proper perspective is to weigh things in light of eternity.
Conclusion: Another reason to read Proverbs is to keep a proper view on the power of words and money.
In our continuing study in the book of Proverbs, Alan taught about Proverbs on Righteousness a couple of weeks ago. To listen to this message, simply click on the audio player below. I’ve also included Alan’s outline and some notes with Scripture references linked to Bible Gateway or the NET Bible (which takes you to the chapter, so you’ll need to scroll down to the specific verses).
Proverbs on Righteousness
Introduction: Righteousness Defined
God sees righteousness as to be free of guilt or sin. For man, it is walking the morally straight path.
Types of Righteousness
Self-righteousness is comparative righteousness – Romans 10:3-4
Positional righteousness – Justified because of Christ – Romans 3:19-26 (NET Bible). We are not made righteous; Christ’s righteousness is imputed to us.
Practical righteousness – Sanctified – Romans 6:13-14 – walk in righteousness.
Key Words about Righteousness in Proverbs
uprightness – carries the idea of equity, being fair or impartial. Also has the sense of walking straight according to a fixed moral order.
blameless – the word denotes completeness, wholeness, consistency. Not being double-minded, double-tongued, or double-hearted.
goodness – in Proverbs, the emphasis on a good person is one who acts in the benefit of others, not in selfish gain.
kindness (hesed) – much the same as goodness, but commonly paired with reliability and faithfulness.
The third Sunday of April had Alan taking us back into the book of Proverbs. To listen to this message, simply click play on the audio player below. Also included are Alan’s outline and some notes with links to Scripture at either the NETBible (which Alan references) or Bible Gateway. Enjoy!
Review: The key attribute of godly wisdom is a fear of God – Proverbs 1:7 (NET Bible)
The phrase “fear of God” means to live life in respect to God for who He is and what He can do. It’s to align our attitudes, thoughts, and actions to God’s will, as stated in Scripture. An example of a “fear of God” would be Jesus’ words in Matthew 7:24-28.
Wisdom is a key attribute of God
Wisdom is seen as existing with God before creation and even orders creation itself.
“Oh, come thou Wisdom from on high, and order all things far and nigh; to us the path of knowledge show, and cause us in her ways to go.” -Henry Sloan Coffin
While we, unfortunately, did not get the message recorded from Easter Sunday, I am posting Alan’s outline and notes with links to the Scriptures on Bible Gateway. It was a beautiful message about what it means to be a Christian. Enjoy!
Introduction
Two Aspects of the Gospel
The objective aspect, which involves the actual reality of the person and works of Christ. Specifically, this week the focus is on the cross and resurrection as actual events that occurred. The objective aspect is the Truth.
The subjective aspect, which involves how we appropriate and benefit from the realities of the person and work of Christ. One example of this aspect is understanding and appropriating the truth that the risen Christ is alive to live in and through us. But for that to happen, we need to be aware of and act upon that truth. The subjective aspect is how you apply the truth to your life.
We will focus today on five elements of the subjective aspect. In light of the crucifixion and the resurrection:
Let’s be clear: we are all sinners. There is no such things as those who sin and those who don’t. It’s a matter of whether we are repentant/justified/reconciled sinners or unrepentant/unjustified/unreconciled sinners.
We must reject works
We can never merit/earn our way to being right with a Holy God.
How do you become dead to sin? Identify yourself with the cross of Christ. Say, along with Paul, “I want to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings.”
Know that with Christ we have the capacity to not sin.
Hi all! I am attempting to get caught up (again!), so I’ll be posting the messages we have from Alan from the last few weeks over the next days, beginning with his Palm Sunday message. To listen to this message, simply click play on the audio player below. I’ve also included his outline and some notes, along with links to Scripture at Bible Gateway. Praying you are blessed by this message.
Jesus’ Entry to People’s Worship
Introduction: Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, at the beginning of Passover week, is met by the praise of people. This event is commonly referred to as the Triumphal Entry and also referred to as Palm Sunday. Every gospel records this event. This event teaches us the reasons we should praise Jesus. I’ll only read one of the gospel recordings, but look at all of them, because there are unique words in each record. Palm Sunday is all about praise! We will look at praise from four aspects.
The four gospel accounts of Jesus’ Triumphal Entry:
Hello again! Terry’s final message in his series on Christian Living – taking us through the book of Ephesians – was given on March 19th. You can listen to it below. I’ve also posted the recording of his message last Sunday about The Kingdom based on Matthew 6:24-34. I pray these messages bless you!
To listen to a message, simply click play on the audio player below.
**Special Note regarding Easter Sunday: We won’t be holding Sunrise Service at the Cross this year (it’s still quite cold, and we’re expecting possible snow this week). However, we will be having a potluck breakfast at the church at 9:00 am, followed by Easter Sunday Service at 10:30 am. Praying you can join us for a blessed day of fellowship and worship!
The Armor of God: March 19, 2023The Kingdom: March 26, 2023
Colona Community Church 