Pioneer Presbyterian Church of Beaumont

Pioneer Presbyterian Church of Beaumont A small, vibrant congregation pursuing God with all our heart

08/28/2021

Services at Pioneer have been cancelled for tomorrow (Aug 29).

05/30/2020

Worship will resume at Pioneer Presbyterian tomorrow (Pentecost Sunday) at 11 am.
Masks and hand sanitizer will be provided.

04/13/2020

Seeing Is Believing, NOT Seeing Is Proof 7

The fifth thing we do NOT see is the body. We do not see a dog digging up the partially decomposed body of Jesus and exposing the Resurrection claims of the disciples as fraud. We do not see the Romans or the Jews producing and parading the body of Jesus to put the whole matter to rest.

In fact, we do NOT see a very convincing “spin” put on the story of the missing body. The Roman soldiers were told to say “His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.” (Matthew 28:13). That spin on the story has all of the problems of a total lack of military discipline that were covered earlier. It should have resulted in the soldiers being executed. Nevertheless, this unbelievable story that the chief priests and elders came up with was widely believed.

“While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, telling them, ‘You are to say, “His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.” If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.’ So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.”
-- Matthew 28:11-15 (NIV)

04/12/2020

Seeing Is Believing, NOT Seeing Is Proof 6

The fourth thing we do NOT see is the body in the grave clothes. In both John’s and Luke’s account it was the empty grave clothes that is the clincher that leads John and Peter to believe.

“Both were running, but the other disciple [John] outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed.” John 20:4-8 (NIV)

The first thing that struck the disciples was not the empty tomb, but rather the empty grave clothes – undisturbed in form and position. If the body had been stolen, then it would have been taken grave clothes and all. But even if the thief decided to take the time to remove the grave clothes, then they would be in pile – not in the original outline of the body. It was the intact grave clothes that caused John and Peter to believe immediately.

04/12/2020

Seeing Is Believing, NOT Seeing Is Proof 5

The third thing we do NOT see is an in-place stone. All of the Gospels mention the stone the very first thing in their accounts of the Resurrection.

** The stone was there to prevent grave robbing so it would have been so massive that a couple of thieves could not have rolled it away. The tombs in Palestine were somewhat like a cave hewn out of the rocky side of a mountain or hill. The opening to the Tomb was covered by a large circular stone or heavy disc of rock set in a slanting groove so that when the stone was released it would roll by its own weight and cover the entrance. Because of its enormous weight (possibly several tons) it would require the combined efforts of more than a few men to move the stone back up the groove and block it in place.

** Who rolled away the stone?
1. It wasn’t the Romans or the Jews – they wanted to keep Jesus’ Tomb sealed.
2. It wasn’t the disciples – they would have had to deal with over a dozen armed Roman soldiers.
3. It wasn’t the women – they knew that they did not have the strength.
4. The only other alternative is that an angel rolled it away as Matthew tells us – Matthew 28:2

** But why roll the stone away? Jesus’ Resurrection body could walk through walls, remember? (John 20:19) The stone needed to be rolled away so that the disciples could see the empty Tomb.

04/11/2020

Seeing Is Believing, NOT Seeing Is Proof 4

The second thing we do NOT see (continued from 3) is the Roman guards. Not seeing the Roman guards meant that something extraordinary had taken place.
“There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men … While the women were on their way [from the Tomb], some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened.”
-- Matthew 28:2-4, 11 (NIV)

The force of Roman soldiers guarding the Tomb was substantial. Sixteen guards would have been stationed at the Tomb. Four would take their post immediately in front of the tomb. The remaining twelve would have been in groups of four fanning out in a semi-circle. These were not Jewish temple guards, but Roman legionnaires – they were the Green Berets, not the Gomer Pyles.

Roman soldiers were terrified of falling asleep at their guard post. The punishment for falling asleep at your guard post was being stripped naked and being burned to death in a fire started with your own clothes. These soldiers did not merely fall asleep and allow the disciples to steal Jesus’ body.

Roman soldiers were terrified of desertion. The punishment for desertion was crucifixion. These soldiers did not merely run away and allow the disciples to steal Jesus’ body.

What is extraordinary is that the Roman guards, upon realizing that the tomb was empty, did not go back to their superiors, but went to the Jewish priests. They did not go to their superiors because they would not have believed the soldiers’ story and would have crucified them – literally. They went to the chief priests because something so supernatural had taken place that they knew that only someone very religious would believe them rather than crucify them.

04/11/2020

Seeing Is Believing, NOT Seeing Is Proof 3

The second thing we do NOT see is the Roman guards. Some have argued that the guards were Temple guards and not Roman soldiers, but this does not fit the facts.
“The next day [after the crucifixion], the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.” “Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.”
-- Matthew 27:62-66 (NIV)

The first evidence we find that these were Roman soldiers is that the word for guard in Matthew 27: 65 (custodia) was Latin, not Greek or Hebrew.

The second evidence we find that these were Roman soldiers is that the chief priests and the Pharisees had to ask Pilate, the Roman Governor, for them to be assigned.

The third evidence we find that these were Roman soldiers is that if only Temple guards were involved, the chief priests would not have to talk to the Roman governor when word of the Resurrection reached him, nor would the chief priests have to bribe anyone.

04/10/2020

Seeing Is Believing, NOT Seeing Is Proof 2

The first thing we do NOT see is an intact Roman seal.
“Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.
-- Matthew 27:65-66 (NIV)

The Roman seal was made up of a rope slung across the surface of the stone, and attached to the sides of the tomb wall.

Breaking or removing a Roman seal had dire consequences. The Roman Empire’s equivalent of the FBI was called in to find the person or persons responsible. The punishment for defacing a Roman Seal was death, carried out by being crucified upside-down.

Not seeing the Roman seal on Jesus’ tomb meant that something extraordinary had taken place. People were terrified of breaking, let alone removing, a Roman seal.

04/09/2020

Seeing Is Believing, NOT Seeing Is Proof 1

Immediately after dying, the 9/11 su***de bomber finds himself with his feet encased in concrete facing a long line of very angry-looking men dressed in the attire of the days of the American Revolution.

The first man walks up to the su***de bomber.

He says, “What you did is despicable,” then he slaps him.

The second man walks up the su***de bomber and says, “I am Thomas Jefferson. In the name of the great Commonwealth of Virginia I declare you beneath contempt,” and slaps him.

The third man walks up to the su***de bomber, but the bomber recognizes him.

“Aren’t you George Washington? You cannot tell a lie. Please tell me what is going on here.”

President Washington says to him, “Mohammed did not get it right. God did not say that for all of eternity 100 anxious virgins would serve you. He said that for all of eternity 100 angry Virginians would slap you.”

Is it possible that we do not have it right, and that the Buddhists, Hindus, or atheists do?

What if the Buddhists are right, and the best we can hope for is to be absorbed into a cosmic cloud called Nirvana?

What if the Hindus are right, and that we face thousands of reincarnations over millions of years to work our way into heaven?

What if the atheists are right, and at the last moment of our life we discover that after death there is nothing more?

As Paul told the Corinthians, our whole faith hinges on the empty Tomb: “And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.” – 1 Corinthians 15:14 (NIV)

If you have doubts about the truth of Christianity and of the Resurrection let’s take a walk in our sanctified imagination back to the First Easter morning and take a look.

What do we NOT see?

Seeing is believing, but NOT seeing is proof that we have it right.

03/29/2020

If you get the chance you will want to read over the Lectionary readings assigned for today, the 5th Sunday in Lent. They are very appropriate (amazing since these were chosen many many years ago. The Valley of Dry Bones, Lazarus' Resurrection ... these will preach.
Ezekiel 37:1-14
37:1 The hand of the LORD came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones.
37:2 He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry.
37:3 He said to me, "Mortal, can these bones live?" I answered, "O Lord GOD, you know."
37:4 Then he said to me, "Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.
37:5 Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live.
37:6 I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the LORD."
37:7 So I prophesied as I had been commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone.
37:8 I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no breath in them.
37:9 Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord GOD: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live."
37:10 I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude.
37:11 Then he said to me, "Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, 'Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.'
37:12 Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel.
37:13 And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people.
37:14 I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the LORD, have spoken and will act," says the LORD.
Psalm 130
130:1 Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD.
130:2 Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications!
130:3 If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand?
130:4 But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revered.
130:5 I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;
130:6 my soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning, more than those who watch for the morning.
130:7 O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem.
130:8 It is he who will redeem Israel from all its iniquities.
Romans 8:6-11
8:6 To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.
8:7 For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God's law-- indeed it cannot,
8:8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
8:9 But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
8:10 But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
8:11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.
John 11:1-45
11:1 Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.
11:2 Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill.
11:3 So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, "Lord, he whom you love is ill."
11:4 But when Jesus heard it, he said, "This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God's glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it."
11:5 Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus,
11:6 after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.
11:7 Then after this he said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again."
11:8 The disciples said to him, "Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?"
11:9 Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world.
11:10 But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them."
11:11 After saying this, he told them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him."
11:12 The disciples said to him, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right."
11:13 Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep.
11:14 Then Jesus told them plainly, "Lazarus is dead.
11:15 For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him."
11:16 Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him."
11:17 When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days.
11:18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away,
11:19 and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother.
11:20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home.
11:21 Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
11:22 But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him."
11:23 Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."
11:24 Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day."
11:25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live,
11:26 and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"
11:27 She said to him, "Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world."
11:28 When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately, "The Teacher is here and is calling for you."
11:29 And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him.
11:30 Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him.
11:31 The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there.
11:32 When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."
11:33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved.
11:34 He said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to him, "Lord, come and see."
11:35 Jesus began to weep.
11:36 So the Jews said, "See how he loved him!"
11:37 But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?"
11:38 Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it.
11:39 Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, "Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days."
11:40 Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?"
11:41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, "Father, I thank you for having heard me.
11:42 I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me."
11:43 When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!"
11:44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go."
11:45 Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.

03/22/2020

Services for this morning have been cancelled.

12/22/2019

Your Crisis of Faith 8

I want to conclude this series with some words of encouragement for those in a crisis of faith. In our crisis of faith God looks at our history of following Him, not just our time of questioning.

In John the Baptist’s crisis of faith, Jesus made it clear that He was focusing on John’s years of faithful ministering rather than his occasion of doubt. “As John’s disciples were leaving, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: ‘What did you go out into the wilderness to see?…A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written: “I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.” Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist.’” (Matthew 11:7, 9-11a NIV). Jesus redirected the attention of His listeners to John’s long and faithful ministry, not his current crisis of faith.

In our crisis of faith, Jesus focuses on our years of being faithful rather than our current occasion of doubt. We say, at least to ourselves, “God must hate me right now for all my doubts and unbelief.”

No !! God looks at your years of serving Him, not your current time of doubt.

God loves you just as much now in your crisis of faith, as He did when your faith was more solid.

Address

3750 E Lucas Drive
Beaumont, TX
77708

Opening Hours

10am - 12pm

Telephone

(409) 898-4228

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