God – Robert Hatfield

November 11, 2015November 11, 2015

Gratitude for God’s Freedom – Periscope Revival

I was blessed to participate in the first-ever Periscope Revival last night (Tuesday, November 10, 2015). This is a fun little project (that quickly grew into a not-so-little project) that Adam Faughn put together. The theme for the event is “A 20/20 Vision of Gratitude.”

The revival spans the better part of two weeks (with the exceptions of weekends and Wednesdays), and includes nine speakers. Each night’s speaker delivers a brief presentation on a selected passage of Scripture about gratitude, and concludes with several minutes of audience interaction.

My presentation was titled “Gratitude for God’s Freedom,” and it was based out of Romans 6:17-18. You can watch the replay below.

Be sure to check out the other presentations in the Periscope Revival. Plus, you can still tune in live for the rest of the sessions. Click here to learn how to participate and to watch archived presentations.

To God be the glory!

August 10, 2015August 10, 2015

God Has Revealed Himself to Us

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! (Rom. 11:33).

Nothing is more humbling than studying about God. As we dig into the subject, we quickly learn of God’s greatness in contrast to humanity’s smallness.

God’s greatness is more than we can fully comprehend. The Psalms tell us that “His greatness is unsearchable” (Psa. 145:3), and that “His understanding is infinite” (Psa. 147:5). Further, David exclaimed, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain it” (Psa. 139:6).

At the same time, though, the Bible is clear that we can know God. Colossians 1:10 says that we are to be continually “increasing in the knowledge of God.”

We know God by the means through which He has made Himself known to us.

Here are five ways that God has revealed Himself to mankind.

1. Through nature

The heavens declare His glory, and the firmament shows His handiwork (Psa. 19:1). Paul said that God is so evident in nature that those who deny His eternal power “are without excuse” (Rom. 1:19-20). God can be known!

2. Through the Bible

All Scripture is given by His inspiration (2 Tim. 3:16-17). The Bible is God-breathed! Therefore, we would expect to look into its pages to find out more about the Divine One who gave it to us. God can be known!

3. Through history

The rise and fall of nations, for example, show us that God exists. “Righteousness exalts a nation” (Prov. 14:34). Daniel said that God “changes the time sad the seasons; He removes kings and raises up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding” (Dan. 2:21). Later, Nebuchadnezzar exclaimed, “the Most High rules in the kingdom of men” (Dan. 4:17). History declares to us that God exists, and that He can be known.

4. Through humanity, in a limited sense

There is a sense in which we can learn about God by looking at ourselves. Genesis 1:26-27 says that we are made in God’s image, so there is something in us, and something that we can see in others, that points us back to God. We can surely see evidence of God’s amazing design in our bodies. We can see God’s incredible love in the love that other people show to us (1 John 4:12). God can be known!

5. Through Jesus Christ

Jesus said, “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him” (John 14:7). So we can look to Jesus as a revelation of God and who God is. Jesus is “the image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15), and “in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Col. 2:9). God can be known!

Let’s wrap it up: Aren’t you thankful that God can be known?! What a blessing to have the opportunity to “draw near to God” (James 4:8). You know, it is God Himself whom we are to know, not simply facts about Him or things that He does. God wants to have a relationship with us, and He wants us to have a relationship with Him. To be intellectually informed about someone is not the same as having a close relationship with them. So let’s study to know God, and to get closer and closer to Him.

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This is a partial transcript from my weekday podcast, The New You, where we focus on maintaining and accentuating the new that Christ created in each of us as Christians. A new episode is available each Monday through Friday on The Light Network. Click here to see all of the episodes.

July 6, 2015July 6, 2015

We Ought to Obey God Rather Than Men

On Friday, June 26, 2015, the Supreme Court handed down the Obergefell v. Hodges decision. The 5-4 decision mandated the legalization of same-sex marriage in all fifty states, and, in so doing, fundamentally redefined marriage.

Sunday, July 5, I preached a sermon at North Charleston in which we looked at the decision itself, the effects of this decision upon American Christians, and what we should do now. I hope that it can be a blessing to you.

As I emphasized in the sermon, I don’t hate anyone. The last thing I want to do is to make anyone feel as though I hate them. The motivation behind this sermon is to communicate love. The Bible is God’s word (2 Tim. 3:16-17). To study and apply the Bible’s teachings is to apply the love of God to your soul, and to secure the hope of heaven. That is why I preached this sermon.

Click the play button above to listen to the sermon. You can view the slides and download the outline from the sermon below.

[button color=”orange” size=”medium” link=”http://roberthatfield.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/ObeyGod.pdf” target=”blank” ]Sermon Outline[/button]

Obey God Rather Than Men from roberthatfield

April 23, 2015July 2, 2015

Modern Departures from True Worship

Today, I want us to talk about some modern departures to true worship. But first, let me point you back to this week’s episodes of The New You. If you haven’t already done so, go to thelightnetwork.tv and listen to episodes 71-73 of The New You on which we talked about some Old Testament departures from true worship, followed by some applications from those accounts and, finally, the fact that God has specified how we are to worship today.

With those thoughts in mind, let’s tackle four departures from true worship in our day.

1. Hand Clapping In Worship

I know there are congregations all over that allow hand clapping during the singing, during the preaching, and perhaps even at a baptism. This concerns me. Listen: I’m not concerned because I didn’t grow up with hand clapping. I’m concerned about it because hand clapping during worship is simply not authorized. It is an addition to God’s specified commands to sing using our hearts and our voices. It is not expedient in aiding our singing. Further, when people clap during a sermon or after a baptism, it places the emphasis on the person rather than on Jesus, His gospel, and what He has done in the life of a believer who submits to baptism. There’s just no place for that in true worship.

2. Praise Teams

The passages in Ephesians 5 and Colossians 3 clearly state that we are to sing to each other. That tells me that everyone is to participate. Therefore, utilizing a praise team that would sing in our place is unauthorized and is, therefore, unacceptable worship according to the New Testament pattern.

3. Lifting Hands or Body Swaying

You know, 1 Timothy 2:8 speaks of “lifting holy hands” in a worship context. However, this is not a prayer posture. The Bible often uses the hands to represent the work that someone does. James writes, “Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded” (James 3:8). He isn’t saying that they need to wash their physical hands. Instead, the point is that their lives need to be holy. So it is in 1 Timothy 2.

I think some modern worshipers in our culture are appealing to emotionalism instead of to Scripture. Don’t get me wrong, there is an emotional aspect to worship. No question about that. However, we must avoid emotionalism as an effort to feel closer to God without actually being closer to Him. To state it differently, the way we get closer to God is by doing the things that He tells us to do.

4. Instrumental Music in Worship

There’s a lot that could be said on this subject. However, I don’t know of anything clearer to say than this. Instrumental music is a blatant addition to the New Testament. I know it’s mentioned in the Psalms, and I know that there are many talented people who can play instruments. I also freely admit that I like the sound of instruments. However, none of that matters when I look at the New Testament and see that the only authorized instrument to be played in worship to God is the human heart, coupled with the human voice (Col. 3:16; Eph. 5:19).

Let’s wrap it up: It is so important to do what God wants in the way that He wants it done. God is serious about worship. He has specified how we are to do it. Are we listening, or are we making worship about us?

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April 22, 2015July 2, 2015

Vengeance is God’s

I’ve been thinking lately about some biblical principles of peace. When we practice these principles in our lives, then the result will be peace in our lives, our communities, and in our world.

Here’s the principle about which I’m thinking today: Vengeance belongs to God. Paul quotes Deuteronomy 32:35 as he writes, “‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord” (Rom. 12:19). What exactly does that mean? What does this have to do with peace in our live and communities? Here are several observations.

1. Because vengeance is God’s, we can give our problems to Him. The Holy Spirit isn’t asking us to tolerate someone else’s wrongdoings. He isn’t saying that we should let people run all over us to the extent that evil runs amuck in our society. That’s where the civil authority comes in (discussed in Romans 13). Instead, Paul is saying that the right response when we’re tempted to seek out vengeance is to give that to God. God will render to each one according to their deeds (Rom. 2:6).

2. Because vengeance is God’s, we know that the injustices committed against us will be handled fairly. We tend to allow the wrongs committed against us to swell out of proportion in our minds, don’t we? Little things become big things quickly. God is just and fair.

3. Because vengeance is God’s, not one evildoer will go unpunished. God sees everything (Heb. 4:13). He knows what happened in every situation, and He knows every detail of truth about that situation. Romans 12:19 teaches me that His wrath will come on those who are disobedient to Him – including those who may deeply hurt you.

4. Because vengeance is God’s, everyone has an opportunity to repent. Now this point can be a hard pill to swallow. Remember, God loves everyone. That, of course, includes the blasphemer, persecutor, the violent aggressor, the adulterer, the thief, the drunkard and the extortioner, to borrow some from Paul’s listings in 1 Corinthians 6:9 and 1 Timothy 1:13. The goal is that they will learn of Jesus and respond to Him in obedience to the gospel. So, even here in Romans 12:20, Paul writes,

Therefore
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
If he is thirsty, give him a drink;
For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.”

Treat your enemy with kindness and love. Be willing to forgive the moment that he or she asks your forgiveness. Do everything you can to fill your heart with the love of Jesus. The Bible teaches that God allows the earth to stand today because He wants everyone to come to repentance (2 Pet. 3:9; 1 Tim. 1:15). Certainly that includes your enemy.

Let’s wrap it up: God is faithful. God is just. You know, when we seek to avenge ourselves and to get back at someone else because of something they did to us, are we not stepping into God’s territory and putting ourselves in a place that God says clearly belongs to Him? We better be careful. We better be people of peace.

And so, Paul offers this final exhortation at the close of Romans 12: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

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February 13, 2015July 2, 2015

God is Love

Long ago, in the eleventh century, a Jewish man lived in a place called the City of Worms (modern-day Germany). He was a poet. Just after the turn of the century this poet put his quill to the parchment and wrote what is now called the Hadamut. One passage of this poem is so profound that it has lasted until today.

Years later, in the late 1800s, a man in an insane asylum passed away. As his former room was being made ready for the next occupant, the staff found some very interesting scribblings on his walls; it was the passage from the Hadamut, written centuries before.

Frederick Lehman heard the story of the man’s words on the wall. He was so impressed with the passage that it stuck in his mind for years. In 1917, Lehman took the passage, adapted it, and added two verses in front of it to create a hymn. Here’s that original third verse:

Could we with ink the ocean fill, and were the skies of parchment made, were every stalk on earth a quill, and every man a scribe by trade, to write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry. Nor could the scroll contain the whole, tho’ stretched from sky to sky.

The love of God is amazing. In 1 John, the Holy Spirit uses the apostle of love to make us more acquainted with God’s amazing love. He informs us that love is part of God’s essential nature, because God is love (1 John 4:7). He shows us that love in a physical manifestation – the Son of God dying on the cross for the sins of the world (1 John 4:10). What are we to do with this kind of love? How do we respond to it?

The Holy Spirit shows us exactly what the love of God should mean to us when He, through John’s pen writes, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (1 John 4:11).

No one, having experienced the love of God, can keep that love bottled up. It is designed to be shared. True love is expressive; it expresses itself in service to others. We show the love of God to others by the love that we share with them (1 John 4:12). We prove that we have a relationship with God by the love that we have within us (1 John 4:16). The late Guy N. Woods wrote, “Love is the one characteristic of the Christian religion which it is impossible to counterfeit.” So true!

Let’s wrap it up: Tomorrow, Valentine’s Day, there will be a lot of attention placed on love. It’s a nice time to think about the people you love and to focus on that love that you share. But let’s use this opportunity to remind ourselves that love is more than boxes of candy and flowers. It’s more than date nights at great restaurants. Love is of God. When we show love to others, we are showing them a part of the godliness that dwells within us. That love you show someone else just might bring them closer to God in heaven. May others see our love and know that we’re Jesus’ disciples.

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