Sermons from 2015
What Fruit Were You Getting?
Romans so far. Romans 1-3: God’s righteousness is revealed in The Gospel through his wrath at unrighteousnesses and ungodliness of every single individual of mankind. And through His free gift of grace and mercy offered in Jesus Christ’s atoning sacrifice, which leads to eternal life. Romans 4: This promised eternal life comes only through faith in Jesus’s work for us, and not through any work of our own. Romans 5 All those with faith in Christ’s work are now at…
Grace Abounds Much More
Romans 5:12-21—Week 10—Grace Abounds Much More During my high school and early college years, I was a sinner. I was enslaved to sin. My excessive drinking was constant. My cursing and offensive speech regularly hurt and annoyed people, and certainly offended God. My anxiety over school and money was consuming, at times. I was a slave to my sin. And as I heard the gospel message as a 19-year old, I realized that I was a slave…
Peace with God
Romans 5:1-11—Week 9—Peace with God Memory verse: Romans 5:1 ESV “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” I have had a horrible month. I have been stressed out to the max. Financial worries. Family worries. Been on the verge of rage every day. And I can’t seem to shake it. My wife and I have had 3 horrible fights. Once I almost hit her. I’ve spent many hours…
Sons of Abraham
Review – Paul’s message so far The core message of Romans, and everything that we’ve been talking about so far is that God’s righteousness is revealed in The Gospel message. It is necessary, both because it is such a familiar term to those with a long-history as Christians, and such a foreign term to those who are new to the teachings of the Christian faith, to briefly define “God’s righteousness.” Both its familiarity and its foreignness make it difficult to…
The Advantage The Jew Has
“THIS IS HARD TO UNDERSTAND” – COMPLEXITY IN THE BIBLE. A warning from the Apostle Peter: 2 Peter 3: 15-17 “And count the patience of the Lord as salvation, just as your beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own…
Reliance Upon God or the Law
Does anyone enjoy bad news? Well, most of you must find some satisfaction in it, for we read it and listen to it every day. Shooting in Oregon. Monsoon rains in South Carolina. Political bickering. ISIS rampaging in the Middle East. There is bad news every day. The Bible has bad news. And we just read some of it in Romans 2. But the bad news is what makes the good news good. We are in…
God Shows No Partiality
INTRO AND RECAP – picking up Paul’s argument Today we’re picking up our series from the book of Romans in chapter 2, so if you’d all turn there with me, we’ll be working our way through the whole chapter, but with special focus on verses 1 through 16. As you are turning, I just wanted to comment on the difficulty of a series like this. Romans is one of the longest letters in the New Testament, and it is a…
The Gospel is the Power of God for Salvation
We call this book the Bible. Interestingly, the word “Bible” mean “book.” But this is not actually one book but 66 books or 66 writings written by 40 different authors over a 1,500 year time period. We are beginning a study of one of those writings, the letter of the Apostle Paul to the Romans. But it might be even a bit misleading to call it a letter. Because it is unlike a typical letter that you or I…
Romans Intro: Astonishing Salvation
Romans: Intro and 1:1-7 Astonishing Salvation If you were the CEO of a large corporation, and you were choosing someone to be the FACE of your company, what kind of person would you want? Someone with a good reputation. Kind Honest. Full of integrity Believable. Loved Sometimes the corporations have to FIRE someone as their spokesman, for though they may have started out good, bad things happened. Like Lance Armstrong Like Tiger Woods. Like Jerod for Subway. …
Don't Waste It. Part 2: The Gospel Lens
Last week, this week and next week, Brad, Paul, we are taking some time to talk big-picture. Like really big picture: all of life. Our theme for these weeks: “Don’t Waste It. God’s Glory & Your Life”. So you know, very specific and easily applicable. So, two big concepts, often spoken of in the church. So familiar, in fact, that we need to take time this morning and define both of them. Defining Glory Last week, Pastor Paul showed us…
Malachi: The Unchanging God
Forgotten OT Books: Malachi—The Unchanging God Have you ever said—or do you know someone who has said—that the Bible is out of date? Old-fashioned? We can criticize it for being out of touch with our advanced, sophisticated culture. Yet when I read the Bible, I find it is incredibly relevant and up-to-date. Why? Because human nature hasn’t changed. The externals have changed. Technology, for example. But the condition of the human heart has not. We are still…
Esther: The Unseen God
Forgotten OT Books: Esther—The Unseen God Has anyone here actually ever seen God? Has anyone actually seen heaven, like the Apostle Paul may have in 2 Corinthians 11? Has anyone actually seen a miracle? Like someone rising from the dead? Like a man with a shriveled arm made whole? We cannot see or touch God, yet we believe that he is there. This is what FAITH really is. Hebrews 11:1 ESV “Now faith is the assurance of…
Lamentations
Today we’re continuing our series on “The Forgotten Books” with everyone’s favorite devotional read: Lamentations. I don’t know about you but I haven’t typically considered Lamentations a “go-to” book when I’m looking for some encouragement from the scriptures. In my bible reading plans, Lamentations is one of those that I tend to just kinda coast through without much engagement because frankly I have a hard time relating to its contents. Anyone else? There are a few verses here and…
Song of Songs
Forgotten OT Books: Song of Songs We’re going to start with a quiz to the married men, and those men who want to be married. We are going to read three Bible verses. And in each case, you tell me if is a good thing to say to your wife. Song of Solomon 1:9 ESV “I compare you, my love, to a mare among Pharaoh’s chariots.” Husbands, is this a loving thing to say to your…
Leviticus: Holy God, Holy People
Forgotten OT Books: Leviticus: Holy God, Holy People Introduction I would wager the most JOKED-about-book of the Bible is Leviticus. I know I have. I’ve joked how BORING and DRY it can seem. Here’s a notice: I have repented of my disrespect toward God’s word. You should, too. This morning, I am going to teach about Leviticus. Admittedly, parts of it seem rather dry. Unrelateable. Strange. I won’t exaggerate and tell you…
Job
Introductory thoughts. Today we are beginning an 8-week series overviewing often neglected books of the Bible, the ones we don’t typically get around to when we’re thinking through sermon series. I get to kick us off with a single sermon on 42 chapters of the book of Job. A large task, and one that I’ve really enjoyed digging into in the last couple of months. Of course 40 minutes on this book is going to be totally insufficient for an…
The Reality of Resurrecton
Easter is that time in the Christian calendar when we set our sights on the very foundation, roots, essence, and core message of our faith: the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, the Messiah, from the dead. It is very easy, with all the cultural and religious trappings of the holiday, to turn Jesus and his resurrection from the dead into another mere myth. I want to say emphatically that the Gospel Message that Christians proclaim, is not good…
To Him Be the Dominion Forever
Introduction Suffering. Who wants it? Who likes it? When faced with suffering, our normal human response is to escape it. Whatever it takes to get out of pain, we will do. That’s normal, and even an appropriate response, because pain is…well….pain. It hurts. We would advise ourselves and other sufferers to do whatever it takes to escape from the pain. Today we are finishing a series on a letter the Apostle Peter wrote to churches in Asia Minor, modern-day…
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