I did not preach the complete message in either of our two worship services this past Sunday. I actually had four points. But I only got to three of them. Here is the complete outline from Sunday's message: Title: "The Call to a Surrendered Life" Text: Romans 12:1-2 Theme: Christian discipleship Point: What God wants from you is you! Outline: I. The reason for the surrendered life: "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God" (12:1). II. The reality of the surrendered life: "to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which...

Yesterday I preached on the prayer of Agur in Proverbs 30:7-9. It is the only prayer recorded in the book of Proverbs. Here is the sermon skeleton: Title: "The Wise Prayer of a Weak Man" Text: Proverbs 30:7-9Theme: A pray for a Godward life Point: Wise people confront their spiritual weaknesses through prayer. Introduction: You can learn a lot about a person by listening to him or her pray. So I want to introduce you to a man named Agur by way of the prayer that he prays. Proverbs 30:1 is the only place in the Bible where the name...

This past Sunday, I preached from one of my favorite verses of the Bible. Philippians 1:6 "And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." My goal for the message was to remind the church of the unwavering faithfulness of God to his accomplish his divine purpose in the believer's life and in the life of the local church. Here is the sermon skeleton from Sunday's message: Title: "The Preservation of the Saints" Text: Philippians 1:6 Theme: The preservation of the saints Point:...

This past Sunday, I preached on Psalm 133. It is one of the great psalms of the Psalter. And it is addresses one of the important subjects of the Christian life: spiritual unity. For the record, I love the psalms. Like many Christians, the psalms sustain my devotional life through its various seasons. I find preaching the psalms to be difficult, but rewarding. It forces me to plunge deeper into these great hymns of faith. Psalm 133 addresses the subject of spiritual unity in an interesting fashion. It is not a song, but a sermon. In it, David does not...

I knew all week that I wanted to preach on prayer yesterday. And I spent the beginning part of the week working on a message from Acts 12. But by midweek, I was drawn to this passage in 2 Thessalonians. I have never preached from 2 Thessalonians before. So I had a little extra work to do. But the Lord helped me to get it all done and I was ready to preach. Paul wrote 2 Thessalonians from Corinth, where he was facing various challenges. And he wrote this letter to a young church that was also facing various challenges....

I preached this morning from Paul's doxology that bridges the doctrine (chaps. 1-11) and duty (chaps. 12-16) sections of Paul's letter to the Romans. I wanted to preach a "big God" text. And they don't come too much better than this one. In this doxology, Paul reminds us that God is worthy to praised even when we don't understand what God is doing. Sometimes our faith, worship, and obedience turns into doubt, complaining, and rebellion when we don't understand what God is doing in our lives. But this ought not be the case. God is worthy to be praised for...

I continued our study of the Sermon on the Mount this past Sunday with a message on Matthew 5:14-16, where Jesus declares, "You are the light of the world." This description of Christ-followers, along with Matthew 5:3 where Jesus declares, "You are the salt of the earth," teach us what it means to maximize our influence for the kingdom of God. They are challenges passages, in which the Lord exhorts us to be different that the world around us. But they are also comforting passages, as Jesus reminds us that God is willing and able to use ordinary people like...

Jesus said to be happy when we’re persecuted. Persecution can be good because: (1) it takes our eyes off earthly rewards, (2) it strips away superficial believers, (3) it strengthens the faith of those who endure, and (4) it serves as an example to others who may follow us. We can be comforted to know that God’s greatest prophets were persecuted in the past (Elijah, Jeremiah, Daniel). Our persecution in the present means we have shown ourselves to be faithful. In the future God will reward the faithful by letting them enter his eternal kingdom where there is no more...

Peacemakers release tension, they don’t intensify it. Peacemakers seek solutions and find no delight in arguments. Peacemakers calm the waters, they don’t trouble them. Peacemakers work hard to keep an offense from occurring. And if it has occurred, they strive for resolution. Peacemakers lower their voices rather than raise them. Peacemakers generate more light than heat. Blessed are such great-hearted souls! We need more of them in the ranks of faith. We have more than enough fighters, more than enough who are ready to pounce. – Charles Swindoll, Simple Faith, p. 34This past Sunday, I continued out series on the...

This is one of the greatest utterances in all the Bible. It stretches over everything else revealed in scripture. The theme of purity of heart being necessary to see God is vast and infinite and draws in almost every biblical thread. – John MacArthur, Kingdom Living Hear And Now, p. 119Yesterday, I continued my series of the beatitudes of Jesus, recorded in Matthew 5:3-12, with a message on Matthew 5:8. Here is the sermon skeleton. Title: "The Window in Your Heart" Text: Matthew 5:8 Theme: The blessedness of purity of heart Point: God blesses the pure in heart. Outline: I....

"It is immediately apparent that if the implication of the fifth beatitude were put into practice with greater zeal and consistency the preaching of the gospel would be far more effective! What a blessing for mankind this would be!" - William Hendriksen, The Gospel of Matthew, p. 276Here is the sermon skeleton from Sunday's message: Sermon Title: "A Conspiracy of Kindness" Text: Matthew 5:7 Theme: The blessedness of being mercifulPoint: God blesses those who are merciful. Outline: I. The blessedness of mercy extended (5:7a)     A. The definition of mercy: compassion in action.     B. The demonstration of mercy        ...

Last night we resumed our Tuesday night services. When the church that bought our old building moved in, we switched the time and location for this midweek service. And we started meeting at our new location on Wednesday nights. But we have not met since Easter, as the move has been in full swing since then. So last night, we began again on Tuesday nights. And I picked up my study of Ephesians, which I have been away from since the end of last year. Did you get all of that? Me neither. Bottom-line, we resumed our Tuesday night services...