The Local Christendom Podcast with Aaron Ventura Aaron Ventura

Spirit, Flesh, and DivinitySunday, July 21st, 2024Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA

Mark 14:26-42
26 And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives. 27 And Jesus saith unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered. 28 But after that I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee. 29 But Peter said unto him, Although all shall be offended, yet will not I. 30 And Jesus saith unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this day, even in this night, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. 31 But he spake the more vehemently, If I should die with thee, I will not deny thee in any wise. Likewise also said they all.
32 And they came to a place which was named Gethsemane: and he saith to his disciples, Sit ye here, while I shall pray. 33 And he taketh with him Peter and James and John, and began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy; 34 And saith unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death: tarry ye here, and watch. 35 And he went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. 36 And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt. 37 And he cometh, and findeth them sleeping, and saith unto Peter, Simon, sleepest thou? couldest not thou watch one hour? 38 Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak. 39 And again he went away, and prayed, and spake the same words. 40 And when he returned, he found them asleep again, (for their eyes were heavy,) neither wist they what to answer him. 41 And he cometh the third time, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: it is enough, the hour is come; behold, the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 42 Rise up, let us go; lo, he that betrayeth me is at hand.


Prayer
Father, we thank you for the glory of the Incarnation, and that Your Son, the Eternal Word, took himself a true humanity, a rational soul and a passible body, in order to die and rise again impassible, incorruptible, never to die again. We thank you for this eternal life that is offered to us in Christ. Join us to Him more deeply by Your Spirit, for we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Introduction
There is a famous saying amongst the theologians that just as in God three persons are one essence, so also in the Incarnate Son, three essences are one person.
I’ll say that again in more explicit terms: Just as in God three persons (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) are the one Divine Essence, so also in the Incarnate Son, three essences (the human soul, the human body, and the divine nature) are one person, namely the God-man Jesus Christ.
There is a kind of numerical symmetry between who God is as Trinity, and who Jesus is as the God-man (three persons in one essence, three essences in one person). And what we have here in our sermon text this morning is one of the clearest windows into that ineffable mystery of who Christ is.
We know that Jesus is fully God, he is the eternal Word and Image of the Father.
We know that Jesus is fully man, he has a rational nature, a body, and soul, and yet he is perfect and without sin.
We know that Jesus is one divine person and not two different persons. In the incarnation, the eternal Son joined to Himself a real humanity. He is one person with two distinct natures, fully man, and fully God.
But how do these three distinct essences of a human spirit and human flesh (with together constitute human nature), and the divine nature of the Son all interact with one another?

Well here in the Garden of Gethsemane, just before Jesus is arrested and crucified, we have one of the greatest revelations of that mystery. And so while you may not think of yourself as a theologian (and indeed v

A New Year’s MealSunday, July 14th, 2024Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA

Mark 14:12-25
12 And the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the passover, his disciples said unto him, Where wilt thou that we go and prepare that thou mayest eat the passover? 13 And he sendeth forth two of his disciples, and saith unto them, Go ye into the city, and there shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of water: follow him. 14 And wheresoever he shall go in, say ye to the goodman of the house, The Master saith, Where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the passover with my disciples? 15 And he will shew you a large upper room furnished and prepared: there make ready for us. 16 And his disciples went forth, and came into the city, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the passover.
17 And in the evening he cometh with the twelve. 18 And as they sat and did eat, Jesus said, Verily I say unto you, One of you which eateth with me shall betray me. 19 And they began to be sorrowful, and to say unto him one by one, Is it I? and another said, Is it I? 20 And he answered and said unto them, It is one of the twelve, that dippeth with me in the dish. 21 The Son of man indeed goeth, as it is written of him: but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! good were it for that man if he had never been born.
22 And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body. 23 And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them: and they all drank of it. 24 And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many. 25 Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God.


Prayer
Father, we thank you that what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, You have done, by sending Your own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, You condemned sin in the flesh: so that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. We ask for that same Spirit now, in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Introduction
When God was about to deliver Israel out of Egypt, it says in Exodus 12:1-2 that, “the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.” The text then goes on to describe the Passover meal and the feast of unleavened bread, which carried the regulation that “Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.”
So starting on the night of Passover, all the old leaven was to be purged from the house. And anyone who did not purge out that old leaven, or who partook of leavened bread during that week, was excommunicated (cut off) from the priestly nation.
And so the New Year festival for the Jews began with a literal spring cleaning (Passover was in late March/early April), and this was a hard reset on everyone’s daily bread. Nobody’s leaven was allowed to continue for more than one year. Now why is this?

Leaven in Scripture can be either a positive symbol or a negative symbol, but in both cases, leaven is a principle of growth and of transformation. Leaven is contagious and depending on whether your leaven is good or bad, so also the spreading of it can be either good or bad.
For example, in Matthew 13:33, Jesus says that “The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.”
How did God’s kingdom grow? He took a handful of Jews from the old Israel, gave them His spirit, hid them in the world, and today there are millions of Christians across the gl

The Fragrance of LoveSunday, July 7th, 2024Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA

Mark 14:1-11
After two days was the feast of the passover, and of unleavened bread: and the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take him by craft, and put him to death. 2 But they said, Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar of the people.
3 And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head. 4 And there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said, Why was this waste of the ointment made? 5 For it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and have been given to the poor. And they murmured against her. 6 And Jesus said, Let her alone; why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good work on me. 7 For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good: but me ye have not always. 8 She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying. 9 Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.
10 And Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went unto the chief priests, to betray him unto them. 11 And when they heard it, they were glad, and promised to give him money. And he sought how he might conveniently betray him.


Prayer
Thy love O Lord is better than wine, Thy name is as ointment poured forth, Therefore do the virgins love thee. Open now unto us the gates of heaven, that we might behold in your Word, the exceeding riches of Your grace and kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. And Amen.

Introduction
This morning, we are picking back up in the Gospel of Mark. We began our study of Mark’s Gospel way back in April of 2023, so for over a year now we have been steadily plodding through this book, and finally we have come to the last movement of this symphony, and the final act of this gospel.
Chapters 14-16 record what is typically called “the Passion Narrative,” which begins with Christ’s body being anointed for burial and ends with the crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord.
So these last three chapters are what the previous 13 chapters have been preparing us for. For three years Jesus has preached the gospel, he has healed the sick, he has performed miracles, he has cast out demons, he has taught and fed the multitudes, and now, two days before the great Passover feast, Jesus is himself prepared as a sheep for the slaughter.

Overview of the Text
Our text sets up a contrast between two kinds of people.
1. There is the unnamed woman, who from love and devotion, pours out precious ointment upon Jesus’ head, an amount valued at 300 denarii, or about 1 year of wages.
2. And then there is Judas, who from greed and self-interest, betrays Jesus for money. How much? Thirty pieces of silver.
And then we might also add a third group of people, which is the guests, the other disciples, those observing and judging the value or prudence of this woman’s actions. In their eyes this is anointing is wasteful, whereas in Jesus’ eyes it is meritorious and praiseworthy.
So, there are many lessons for us in this text, so let us walk through it and then make some applications from it.

Verses 1-2
After two days was the feast of the passover, and of unleavened bread: and the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take him by craft, and put him to death. 2 But they said, Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar of the people.
So it is two days before Passover, and in our reckoning this would likely be Wednesday of Passion Week. And Jesus has just finished his scorching condemnation of the Temple from the Mount of Olives, where he foretold the city’s destruction within one generation. That was Mark 13.
And now here we have the Je

How Excellent Thy NameSunday, June 23rd, 2024Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA

Psalm 8:1-9
To the chief Musician upon Gittith, A Psalm of David.
1 O Lord our Lord,
How excellent is thy name in all the earth!
Who hast set thy glory above the heavens.
2 Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength
Because of thine enemies,
That thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.
3 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers,
The moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;
4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him?
And the son of man, that thou visitest him?
5 For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels,
And hast crowned him with glory and honour.
6 Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands;
Thou hast put all things under his feet:
7 All sheep and oxen,
Yea, and the beasts of the field;
8 The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea,
And whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.
9 O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!


Prayer
Father, we thank you for the prophet David, and how you inspired Him to write this most excellent song of praise. Inscribe these words upon the tablet of our heart, that we might not sin against you, but rather praise you at all times, for you are the God who gives, and takes away, and then rewards us beyond all that we could ask or imagine. We pray all this in Christ’s name, Amen.

Introduction
One of the blessings of summertime in the Northwest, is that there are occasionally fewer clouds in the sky. And when the sky is clear, especially on a warm summer night, you can go outside, and look up, and behold the handiwork of God’s finger.
When the sky is clear you can see the moon, you can see more stars than you could ever count. And if you are ever able to get out of the city, away from the light pollution, and into the mountains or a high place, the views of God’s creation, the heavens above, are astonishing. They make us to wonder and to marvel that someone made all of that.
What are stars in the night sky but God poking little holes of light into a blanket of darkness. Stars are little windows into the heaven beyond the heavens, beyond the firmament, where the beauty of God’s light dwells. From our perspective, down here on earth, looking up, the stars are shining portals into the place where God dwells. And they make us to marvel even as David did when he wrote this psalm.
The Apostle Paul says in 1 Timothy 6:15-16, that Jesus Christ is “the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.”
The divinity of Christ is a light unapproachable. As it says in John 1:18, “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.” And again in John 1:4-5, “In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.”
So because God is up there in a light so bright it would blind us, the Son of God, took to Himself human flesh, and he veiled His infinite and divine glory, His uncreated light, so that one day we might see God as He is.
St. Ephrem the Syrian (died 373 AD), has this wonderful poem where he says, “God had seen that we worshipped creatures. [So] He put on a created body to catch us by our habit. Behold by this fashioned one [Christ] our Fashioner healed us, And by this creature [the Lord Jesus] our Creator revived us.”
God saw that idolatry was in the heart of man. We see something amazing like the moon or the stars or the galaxies far off, and we are tempted to worship them. But it is that temptation to transcendence, to adore and worship what is awe-inspiring, that God intended as a signpost of His glory and His beauty as the Creator.
God int

This Generation Shall Not PassSunday, May 12th, 2024Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA

Mark 13:24-37
24 But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, 25 And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken. 26 And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. 27 And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.
28 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is near: 29 So ye in like manner, when ye shall see these things come to pass, know that it is nigh, even at the doors. 30 Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done. 31 Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.
32 But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father. 33 Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is. 34 It is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch. 35 Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: 36 Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. 37 And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.


Prayer
Father, we ask that by the power of Your Word and Spirit, you would awaken those who are slumbering in the dark. Raise us up again to walk as children of the light, and to so let our light shine before men, that they might see our good works and glorify you O Father in heaven. We ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Introduction
Do you remember the very first words that came out of Jesus’ mouth when we began Mark’s gospel?
Within the opening 13 verses of Mark 1 we cover a lot of ground: Jesus is baptized by John, he is anointed by the Holy Spirit, he is driven into the wilderness, he is tempted by Satan and with the wild beasts, and then it says in Mark 1:14-15, “Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.”
In these opening words from the mouth of Jesus he makes two definitive statements about timing. First, a certain “time is fulfilled,” and second, the kingdom of God is “at hand” (ἤγγικεν), or more literally the kingdom of God has approached/drawn nigh.
It is this same gospel of the kingdom that by the time we get to our text here in chapter 13, the disciples have also themselves preached. And yet still they have some lingering questions about how exactly this kingdom comes, and when exactly this kingdom comes.
As pious Jews they would have almost certainly known the prophecies of Daniel 2 and Daniel 7.
It says in Daniel 2:44 referring to the days of the Roman Empire, “And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.”
Likewise, it says in Daniel 7:14, that when the one like the Son of Man ascends to the Ancient of Days, “And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.”

This is the kingdom the prophets foretold. This is the kingdom that the angel Gabriel announced to the virgin Mary in Luke 1:31-33 saying, “And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and br

The Gathering of the ElectSunday, April 28th, 2024Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA

Mark 13:24-31
24 But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, 25 And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken. 26 And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. 27 And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven. 28 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is near: 29 So ye in like manner, when ye shall see these things come to pass, know that it is nigh, even at the doors. 30 Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done. 31 Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.


Prayer
Father, we thank you for these words of Christ, which are reliable, which are trustworthy, and which are supremely authoritative. Please order our lives in accord with Your Word, for we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Introduction
When you first professed faith in Jesus Christ, and when you were baptized into the Triune Name, what changes took place inside of you? What changes took place outside of you, in your relationships, your “network,” the people and places you frequented?
At conversion, many changes take place, some are visible, some are invisible, some are inside of you, some are outside of you, some are immediately noticeable, and some changes you only notice after many years. The Bible speaks of many diverse effects of God’s love and His saving power amongst His people. And while every person may experience God’s grace a little differently, there is one common effect and change that is true for ALL of God’s elect. And that is a new presence of faith, hope, and love for God that did not exist before.
At conversion, God infuses into our nature, He breathes into our soul, three supernatural virtues: faith, hope, and love. And it is through our use of these virtues that many other spiritual benefits are realized.

Paul says in Ephesians 2:1-3, that before conversion we were, “dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.”
So prior to your conversion, you were enslaved to the world, the flesh, and the devil. But then Jesus Christ came and as it says in 1 John 3:8, “For this purpose the Son of God was made manifest, that He might destroy the works of the devil.” Or as we sing in that great hymn, I Know That My Redeemer Lives, “He lives to crush the fiends of hell, glory hallelujah!”
And so Jesus Christ came to conquer, and he conquered by dying and rising so that you also could die and rise again with Him. But salvation does not stop there, Jesus Christ also ascended into heaven (Acts 1), he was enthroned and now reigns supreme. And why? So that you also might ascend to heaven, and sit down and reign with him.
This is exactly what Ephesians 2 goes on to say, “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”

Now have you ever wondered, “How exactly can that be true of me?” In what sense has God made us to sit together in heavenly places with Christ Jesus when our bodies are clearly still down here on earth?
Or, in what sense can Paul say to