Sunday Morning Sermon for 10/23/11

We had a great time in the Lord this morning.  A good group of folks with wonderful singing and praises and prayer and fellowship.  The ladies are filling shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child this week and getting ready to send those off as well as doing their Secret Sister celebration for the year.

The message this morning is about circumcision of the heart.  It is a challenge for each of us as we live day by day in God’s grace.  The notes are available below for additional study or just for following along.  May God bless you through His powerful Word.

P.S. The comment about standing and sitting at the beginning of the recording is a reference to the fact that we had just sung “Praise Ye the Lord” as a congregational special with the kids leading the song.

Circumcision of the Heart

Romans 2:12-29

Sermon notes 10/16/11

1. What is a circumcised heart?

   1. Deuteronomy 10:12-21

   2. Deuteronomy 30:1-20

   3. An obedient heart

2. What is an uncircumcised heart?

   1. Jeremiah 6:10

   2. Acts 7:51-53

   3. Unable to hear or obey

3. Who circumcises the heart?

   1. The seeming contradiction

      1. Deuteronomy 10:16; Jeremiah 4:4

         1. Among thorns – Matthew 13:7

         2. Distracted living

      2. Deuteronomy 30:6; Colossians 2:9-15

   2. Bringing it to completion – Philippians 1:3-11

Sunday Morning Sermon for 10/16/11

The audio quality for this week is a little bit spotty.  Since I was unaware of the previous battery issue until right as I started to preach this week, I didn’t have time to fix it.  I had to preach with just the podium mike on and I tend to wander when I preach.  I guess you could say that I wonder as I wander or something like that.  The notes are also available below.  I pray that you will be richly blessed by your time in God’s Word.

The Way You Are Going

Sermon notes 10/16/11

1. Starting the journey – Genesis 12:1-9

   1. Walking by faith

   2. Not knowing where he was going – Hebrews 11:8

   3. I will show you

2. Seeing the path – John 14:1-14

   1. You know the Way – v. 4

   2. A tie to Abraham – Romans 4:9-12

   3. Walking as He walked – 1 John 2:3-6

3. The Walk of Life – Hebrews 12:1-3

   1. Walking by faith

   2. Father Abraham – Romans 4:16-5:5

   3. Abiding in faith – John 15:1-17

Sunday Morning Sermon for 10/9/11

As I was doing my catch up work to post these, I feared that I might have no audio for this week since I didn’t replace the battery in the wireless yet and didn’t know it had gone out mid-sermon the week before.  In checking the audio for this week though, the whole sermon seems to be there.  It doesn’t cut off short in any case.  Maybe God just didn’t want the latter half of last week’s to get out there on the web for some reason.  🙂

Notes are below if you would like to follow along or study more yourself.  May God richly bless you through His Word.

Children of God

1 John 3

Sermon notes 10/9/11

1. Purify yourself – v. 1-6

   1. Be like Him

   2. Purify –

      1. Used regarding Temple purification

      2. 1 Peter 1:13-25 (through obedience)

   3. The nature of sin (lawlessness)

2. Whose child are you? – v. 7-15

   1. Practicing righteousness

   2. Practicing lawlessness (sin)

3. Love the brothers (and sisters)

   1. Love sacrifices

   2. Love is tangible

   3. The commandments of God are love

Pastor’s Desk Column from 10/3/11

There is an old saying that tells believers in Christ that we may be the only Bible someone ever reads; or alternately, that we may be the only Jesus that someone ever sees. Every time I hear that, I admit to having just a little shudder as I say a prayer for those to whom that statement applies. There have been plenty of high-profile Christian leaders who have done and said very unbiblical and unChristlike things over the years. So much so that I wouldn’t even have to go back a month to pull out a shining example or two. From Pat Robertson lying about Alzheimer’s patients being in a “kind of death” and therefore OK to divorce, to Rob Bell declaring that “love wins” and no one should have to worry about hell; I would be willing to give a vast swath of unbelieving people a pass if this is all they have to go on when it comes to the Bible or Christ. And I am not even pulling out the biggies like famous pastors who have committed adultery and such.

The problem of course is that it isn’t in my purview to be able to give anyone a pass; and furthermore, this isn’t all a person has available to truly know the Bible or Jesus unless a person willfully chooses to be ignorant of the things of God. There is no excuse when a Bible is readily available to all of those who are reading these words even now. The person of Jesus Christ is easily discovered and knowing who He is and what He is like is open to anyone who would like to sit down and read the gospels for themselves. The Gospel of Mark is probably a quicker read than perusing every word of a given week’s edition of this paper in a single setting.

Should Christians be Christlike examples and people of character? Certainly, that is the goal. But the Bible also is patently clear, and human experience tells us even beyond that, that we humans are a very fallible lot. If you place all of your trust in some prominent Christian, whether they be a national celebrity or a pastor in your local church, it is unfortunately misplaced. We fail too. In fact, I am always dumbfounded to find that there are some people who think that their pastor (and this has happened to me before) is perfect. My greatest hope is that I am following Jesus closely enough that you can see right through me to where He is at work in my life. But by all means, get to know Him for yourself. Follow Him yourself. Don’t depend on Pat or Rob or me or any other Christian to be the perfect Christ for you. It probably won’t end well.

Sunday Morning Sermon for 10/2/11

As I was working to catch up on my sermon posting I suddenly realized that this sermon was cut off in the middle by a battery issue.  The mic went dead on me in mid-sermon and no one seemed to notice.  It may mean that I preach too loud.  🙂

I will go ahead and include the portion of the audio that I have along with the notes, but just be forewarned that the sermon audio ends before the sermon itself actually did.  If you don’t like being left hanging, you might not want to listen.

Notes are available below as well so you can pick up where my audio leaves off if you want.  May God richly bless you through His Word.

Marks of a Disciple

2 Peter 1:3-15

Sermon notes 10/2/11

1. Things that pertain to life and godliness

   1. Called to be like Him – v. 3

   2. Given His promises – v. 4

   3. Escaping from corruption – v. 5

2. Stacking up godly character

   1. Faith

   2. Virtue

   3. Knowledge

   4. Self-Control

   5. Steadfastness (Patience)

   6. Godliness

   7. Brotherly Affection

   8. Love

3. Spiritual nearsightedness

   1. The need to see far – v. 11

   2. Diligence and practice – v. 10

Golden Silence?

I have been away from blogging for quite a bit of time.  My good friend Eric mentioned that I hadn’t blogged in over a month and when I looked at the date of my last published post here, I realized it was more like two at this point.  I haven’t been completely unoccupied or silent.  I have been posting the weekday devotionals with only a couple of missed days(like today for instance) and have been responsible for writing the local pastor’s column this month in the area newspaper.  We have found it to be a very busy time on top of all of that also.  Frankly, the time has just gotten away from me for blogging.

I anticipate being able to write more now that colder weather is curtailing my outdoor activities (namely golfing) that keep me running at least some of the time.  That should give me more time to blog again.  I haven’t even been particularly able to keep up with the conversations over at SBC Voices as much of late, but I plan to get more involved over there again as well.

In the meantime, I figured I would post up a couple of the columns I have written this month as I have done in the past and hope to get to regular blogging in a short time.

Sunday Morning Sermon for 9/25/11

This sermon continues on our theme of late – discipleship.  I used a storying method for this particular sermon which draws on the contents of three parables taught by Jesus.  The notes are available below the play button so you may follow along and/or use them for your own study.  May God richly bless you through His Word.

What Are You Doing?

Sermon notes 9/25/11

1. The Laborers in the Field – Matthew 20:1-16

   1. The promise of wages

   2. The search to call

   3. The frustration of expectations

2. The Contrast of Two Sons – Matthew 21:28-32

   1. Good intentions with no action

   2. Change of mind = change of behavior

3. The Tale of the Talents – Matthew 25:14-30

   1. God knows our ability

   2. Faithful in a little

   3. A common theme – Matthew 20:6-7

Sunday Morning Sermon for 9/18/11

Sorry that I have fallen so far behind in posting sermon audio.  It has been very hectic around here this past month or so.  I know that there are several out there who look forward to getting the sermons and I will try and catch up and keep up as best I can.  Look for the last one of September later today and the first two from October within a day or so to catch us back up.  There are no sermon notes from this week’s sermon but we are continuing to talk about discipleship and being a disciple.  May God richly bless you through His Word.