Judge Not, Despise Not
Sermon text: Romans 14:1-9
It Starts with “Yes”
Sermon text: Numbers 14:8-9 Every great endeavor for the Lord begins with someone submitting to God’s directives. Joshua and Caleb are great examples of this. The situation on the ground was daunting. The odds were long. But they trusted that the Lord would lead them. This was all they needed to know. The same is true for us. If the Lord leads in a direction, He will give us the resources to bring His plan to completion.
Be and Fulfill
Sermon text: Romans 13:6-14 As we finish out Romans 13, Paul provides us further guidance on how we are to treat each other, in light of the government God has instituted. We mentioned in the previous message that verse 6 is transitional. It leads us directly into fulfilling our obligations, loving each other with God’s kind of love and being ready for the return of Christ Jesus.
Government: God’s Idea
Sermon text: Romans 13:1-5 As we continue our study through the book of Romans, we come upon some very practical guidance regarding government from the apostle Paul. It was God’s idea that man have a system for dealing with each other. We need not fear it, when we are doing what is right. We also open with a disclaimer that disobedience is sometimes warranted.
Christian Responses
Sermon text: Romans 12:14-21 In a world that is truly no friend of Grace, we are, as Christians, often having to respond to the culture around us, both within and outside the church. Paul, in this passage gives us clear guidance regarding how God’s children should respond in various situations and our message this week is a discussion on that topic.
Love’s Priority
Sermon text: Romans 12:9-13 In this passage we examine five aspects of love. In doing so, we also look at the fascinating structure of the Greek text and learn a little bit of Greek grammar, as well as a little bit of our own English grammar. All in all, we establish some of the characteristics of the Christian Community to which we should aspire.
The Castle of Calm
Sermon text: Psalm 37:3-6 In the previous message we looked at some of the craziness of the world in which we live. In this message we investigate some of the factors of the fortress to which we may run for solace. David, in trying to encourage the victims of the Babylonian captivity, shares what are to do rather than fretting about the evil-doers prospering.
Loving Self vs. Loving Scripture
Sermon text: 2 Timothy 3:1-17 As we are most aware of the craziness that is our world today, it helps to be able to put it into Biblical perspective. That is just what we try to do here. We first take a look some of the root characteristics of our current society in some depth and then turn to see the direction we need to head, the focus we need to have. We, also, point out the results of each.
Resurrection Life Now
Sermon text: Romans 5:20-6:5 Easter Sunday is a time when we usually look back with gratitude to what Jesus did on the cross. We should rejoice in the fact that He conquered the grave by rising from the dead. In Romans 6, we are encouraged to make that resurrection life a present personal possession, to live the resurrection life in the moments we have now.
The Man Born Blind
Sermon text: John 9:1-7 In this passage, we look into one of Jesus’ most notable miracles and some of its various aspects. We cannot help but see His greatness, as John’s primary focus is the deity of Jesus and the proclamation of Him as God. We especially look into the seeming odd question of the disciples and why it might have made sense to them to ask it, in their time period.
God’s Contract
Sermon text: 2 Corinthians 1:20-22 The sealing of the Christian is more than a “stamp of approval!” God’s agreements have their basis, their foundation in some very important concepts and we dig a bit into these in this message. The promises of God can be extremely encouraging when things are not going as we might like. Here we look at His agreements and the actions that result.
Living Water or Stale Wells
Sermon text: Jeremiah 17:13 Chronologically, Jeremiah wrote this verse at about the midpoint of his extensive ministry, during the reign of Jehoiakim. In order to understand the verse more fully, we dive into the history behind it. In this verse, we find specific words that draw us to three sobering questions. Our response to these questions can be life altering!