Anchor Bible Church - Sermons: Recent Episodes
Anchor Bible Church
Everything we do at Anchor Bible Church stems from our desire to put God on display. It's why the Bible is preached verse by verse, why we sing songs that reflect the doctrines found in the Scriptures, and why we seek to build each other up to a greater love for Jesus Christ.
Romans 8:28 is one of the most beloved verses in all the Bible, and for good reason. Yet, do we correctly understand this verse in its context? How can it be true that “all things work for good” when we suffer so many hardships and trials? Indeed, our Lord Himself promised that we would have trials and tribulations in this life. Can this beloved verse from Romans 8 really be true? As we study this verse in it’s context, we come to understand what is our “greatest good.”
In this sermon from I Cor. 15:1-4 we look at seven ways the resurrection relates to the saving gospel of Jesus Christ, so you will know why you must believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ to escape God’s wrath and have hope that one day, you too will be raised from the dead with a glorified body like Jesus.
What is the true nature of Jesus’ kingdom? What is the true mission of Jesus’ kingdom? We must know the answer to these important questions in order to live as good citizens of the kingdom of God in this fallen world. Just hours before His crucifixion, Jesus reveals the essence of His kingdom as He stands on trial before the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate.
In this sermon we consider the unchanging standard of biblical morality from I Corinthians 6:9-11 and related texts, learn why the immoral do not go to heaven, and learn how God’s saving grace transforms sinners into saints.
After forty years of wandering in the desert, the people of Israel are now ready to enter the promised land. Joshua is commissioned to lead them across the Jordan River and into battle with its inhabitants. The task was monumental, but God would be faithful. Joshua must only be strong and courageous to follow the word of the Lord in obedience. In this sermon, we learn the timeless principles from Joshua's calling and how we can rise up in courageous faith to do all that God has called us to do for Him.
In this sermon on Acts 5:21 we examine the doctrine of being thankful, look at examples of being thankful, and consider how and why the apostles in the early days of the church, after being persecuted and physically abused, could rejoice and be thankful even in their suffering.
From 2 Peter 1:3-4 I want you to see that both your salvation and sanctification is complete. It has been divinely purchased for you. And it comes with all the spiritual resources you will ever need, so that you can be encouraged that no matter the trial, you know that you have all sufficient grace to live for the glory of God.
From second Peter 1:1-2 we are going to first look at the kind of believer God uses and then we are going to take a closer look at your salvation and see where it comes from and how you are to mature as a believer, so that you will be encouraged, strengthened, and emboldened as you seek to bring glory to God in your life.
Sometimes even believers in Christ can find that they are trying to earn Gods love by their deeds. Living for Christ can soon turn into a burden of pressure and fear, rather than a life of joy. How do we fix this? By getting back to the gospel.
From I Tim. 3:1-7 we learn that the responsibility of every elder is to maintain the necessary biblical qualifications so that Jesus Christ can speak to and have His way in every local church.
The author of Hebrews declares Jesus to be both superior in his personhood and ministry. He seeks to encourage his readers to remain steadfast in their faith in Jesus, and not drift, doubt, or deny Him. In this message we will answer the question, “How then should we live? We will discover that Christ alone is worthy of our allegiance and life. So, the more we mature in Christ individually and corporately, the more we will glorify God. This is the chief purpose for why mankind exists.
In this sermon from Heb. 13:7 & 17 we learn how God wants congregations to treat their elders, so peace is maintained in the church, so elders can do what God calls them to do with joy and not grief, and so God is glorified.
From Psalm 15, I want you to see what God requires of you when you approach Him in worship so that you would be pleasing in his sight, have true joy and assurance that your worship is accepted, and so that your life would glorify Him.
Now more than at any point in history there is increasing concern about global warming, climate change and environmental disaster. Many politicians, scientists and other leading figures have spoken to these issues, but what does God have to say about our world? How should a Christian think about these issues from a biblical perspective?
From 1 Peter 1:22-25 I want you to see that your salvation in Christ, through the eternal word of God, enables and produces in you passionate and sincere love towards others, even in the midst of suffering, so that no matter the trial, you will bring glory to God.
In this sermon you will learn that God commands you to constantly remember His marvelous wonders and judgments so that you will be blessed, kept from sin, and motivated to seek, pray, praise, and worship our great God.
The faith of the disciples did not grow from the miracle of feeding the 5,000; it was the storm that made the difference.
From John 3:16 we are going to look at three important truths about the Love of God, so that you would humbly praise him for your salvation, be emboldened to share your faith, and be encouraged that your eternal destiny is secure.
During a simple supper one night outside of Jerusalem, a woman named Mary gave to Jesus a sacrifice of love so shocking that we are still talking about it two thousand years later.
As believers, we must know what the Scriptures really teach about hell - and however terrible, it cannot be - and must not be - removed, covered up, or dumbed down.
This sermon on Daniel 12 teaches us amazing things about Israel’s final days of suffering during Daniel’s 70th week. We learn about the first resurrection, the increase of prophetic knowledge, the purpose of Israel's suffering, and the time of Israel’s rescue from the persecutions of the Antichrist.
From Daniel 11:32 we learn important lessons about how to face trials and persecution by looking at the faithful, believing Jews who stood up against Antiochus IV Epiphanes, “the Mad Man,” tyrant, and antichrist type figure, who viciously persecuted the Jews and tried to eradicate Judaism.
From Daniel 10:1-21 we encounter a variety of interesting and practical truths about Daniel’s discouragement, Messiah, holy reverence, answered prayers, delayed angel, and strengthening. Each part of Daniel’s life gives us practical insight for living our own life to the glory of God.
In this sermon we survey the chronology and purposes of Daniel’s 70 weeks but drill down a little deeper on the final Antichrist in Daniel’s 70th week to learn about his empire, covenant, abomination, and destruction. The final Antichrist of the tribulation will be empowered by Satan and like the great antichrist figures of history will abominate the temple and try to destroy the Jews.
From Daniel 9:1-19 we encounter Daniel’s amazing prayer of confession and humble plea that the people of Israel might be restored to their land according to the promises of God made to Jeremiah the prophet. Daniel’s prayer is recorded in the pages of Scripture because it is a model prayer for all believers today.
In Daniel 8:1-27 we learn about the character of the final Antichrist of the tribulation from Antiochus Epiphanes, whose evil character and wicked actions gave the Jews a nearer future example of the much worse final Antichrist to come immediately preceding Jesus Christ’s return to earth.
From 1 Peter 5:10, I want you to see that your sufferings as a believer are temporary. The God who saved you will not only use your trials to make you more like Christ, but will also bring you through your trials to his eternal glory. Therefore we can rest in him, even in the midst of intense persecution.
From Daniel 7 we are given an overview of the Gentile empires of the world from the Lord’s perspective. They are seen by God as beastly and cruel. The last great beast, the kingdom of Rome, is never conquered and remains today. Antichrist arises from the Roman Empire. The Ancient of Days, however, gives dominion of the world to the Son of Man, the Messiah Jesus Christ to rule and reign for ever with the Saints of the Holy One.
Proverbs 29:18 teaches us about the value of the Word of God, the blessings it brings to those who obey it, but also the tragic consequences of living without God’s Word. In this sermon we examine Racism, Riots, and Revolution in light of the Word of God, explaining why our only hope is the gospel of Jesus Christ.
From Daniel 6 we learn how to live a no compromise life of faith and trust in the Lord. We see Daniel trusting the Lord in political intrigue and persecution, in the terrifying circumstances of the lion’s den, and see him looking to the Lord for rescue and trusting that as he lives out his faith, the Lord will glorify His name.
In Daniel 5 we learn from the folly of Belshazzar the king and his nobles to never mock God, presume upon God, or act wickedly. As Belshazzar and his nobles partied with the sacred vessels of the temple in Jerusalem, honoring their false gods and idols, suddenly a hand sent by God appeared and wrote a strange message on the wall. Daniel is summoned and interprets the message. Belshazzar he has been weighed in the balances and been found wanting. That night, Babylon fell to the Medo-Persian armies.
In Daniel 4:4-37 we learn that God sometimes gives, interprets, and fulfills dreams, that He sovereignly reigns of all, that He is to be worshiped, and that he is able to humble the proud.
From Daniel 3:28-4:1 we see how a proud pagan king first honors the true God of the Jews but then after his conversion worships and praises the one true God as his God, having been saved by grace.
From Daniel 3:16-27 we learn that strong, biblical faith, looks to God for rescue from trials, temptations, and death and that salvation from sin, evil, and danger is ultimately received in the life to come.
From Dan. 3:1-15 we learn from Shadrach, Meshach, and Abenego how to have courage in the face of temptation and to obey God at all costs, trusting in the Lord to deliver us.
In Daniel 2 we are given the first great prophecy of the book of Daniel, a prophecy that maps out the major Gentile powers of world history all the way through the tribulation to the second coming of Jesus Christ and His eternal kingdom.
Daniel’s example, in Daniel 2, provides us with a crash course in how to be a faithful employee and give God glory even if your boss is a tyrant.
From Psalm 16:10 we learn that believers need not fear death, for they are promised life after death. God will not abandon believers to the grave but resurrect and glorify their bodies in the same way that Jesus was resurrected with a glorified body.
In this sermon, we learn important lessons from the life of Daniel, who, as a youth, resolved to give God glory in everything, even in very trying circumstances.
In this sermon on Psalm 127 we learn to trust the Lord in all things, from business to children. The Lord must build our house, watch our city, and labor through us, and give us children. We answer the question, “How does the Lord do things that we must also do?” We learn that we must trust the Lord for receiving, training, and launching children into the world.
In this particular sermon we look at two major prophetic events, the Great White Throne Judgment and the Eternal State. These two events both occur after Jesus’ millennial reign, and help us to understand what eternity has in store for both unbelievers and believers.
From Rev. 20:1-6 and a sampling of related Old Testament texts, this sermon addresses the establishment of Jesus’ millennial kingdom, when Satan is bound, the tribulation saints resurrected to reign with Christ, and the duration of Jesus’ reign is stated repeatedly. We why Rev. 20:1-6 should be taken at face value, according to the plain meaning of the text and not spiritualized as is the habit of some.
In this sermon, we examine the 70 prophetic weeks of Israel’s history as related to Daniel by the Angel Gabriel in Dan. 9:24-27. We discuss what the prophets of the Old Testament in general, and Daniel in particular, did and didn’t see as they looked ahead, and how there are often time gaps in prophecies that are undetectable until the future revelation is given. Daniel 9:24-27 is one of the most critical prophecies in all the Bible.
In this sermon we do a quick overview of the various kinds of resurrections in the Bible, but focus on the first stage of the first resurrection of believers at the end of the church age, often referred to as “the rapture” or “the catching away of believers to meet the Lord in the air.” We examine I Thes. 4:13-18 as our primary text, but consider other reasons for believing the rapture will occur before the tribulation.
In this sermon the church, and when the church age began, are defined. Romans chapters 9-11 are surveyed to show why replacement theology is false and there remains a salvation plan of God for the ethnic nation of Israel that is distinct from the salvation plan of God that includes both Jew and Gentile in the church.
This is part 2 of an “Introduction to Biblical Prophecy” series. This sermon defines what a dispensation is, what dispensationalism is, and how dispensationtional premillennialism differs from amillennialism and postmillennialism. Some historical objections to dispensationalism are addressed. A prophetic timelines for the three major prophetic systems are compared.
It was God’s purpose all along for Joseph to be ruler of Egypt. It was predicted in the dreams back in Gen. 37! Twice we are told that Egyptians loathed shepherds. Joseph was a shepherd, a foreigner, a man convicted of try to rape a high official’s wife. There is no way he would ever become ruler of all Egypt. Yet God, through providence, made Joseph ruler of all Egypt!
Every event in Joseph’s life is a link in the chain of God’s providence pulling him to where the all Sovereign God wanted Joseph to be! Believer, God is doing the same thing in your life, every moment of every day! We know it from God’s Word! And we know that God causes all things to work together for good, to those who love God, and to those who are called according to His purposes.
Sometimes we get into a situation that tempts us to fear the future. We know, intellectually, that the future is uncertain, but we fear it anyway. We are afraid about our finances, our job, our children, our relationships, our health, and so many other things. The Bible tells us do not to fear, but trust in the Lord, to use biblical wisdom, and think on what is good and right. Jacob, as we will discover, became very much afraid of what he thought might happen. He was so afraid, he made many sinful choices.
From Genesis 28:10-22, I want to draw out of the text three progressions in this historical account of Jacob’s dream, so that we can learn what God wanted to teach Jacob and us about Himself and His character so we can better live for His glory.
Gen. 27 is a critical text for it explains how the promises of the Abrahamic Covenant came to Jacob, not Esau, who born first. Usually the first-born son received a double portion of the inheritance, the greatest blessing. From Gen. 27, I want you to consider seven parts of the story that culminated in Jacob being blessed by God and Esau being bitter, cursed, and vengeful, so we can learn to avoid the sins of Esau and try to apply the virtues of Jacob to God’s glory.
Our text is one of the greatest examples of God’s hatred towards immorality found anywhere in the Bible. Yet, even in the midst of this iconic text on God’s hatred and judgment of immorality, we still see the mercy of God put on display towards unworthy sinners. From Gen. 18:16-19:38 I am going to point out four different lessons you must learn from the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, so that you will heed the warning, avoid wickedness, flee from wrath, and ask God for mercy.
From Gen. 14:18-20 I want to look at two interesting facts about Melchizedek that relate to Abraham, to Jesus Christ, and all of us, so that we can be encouraged and praise and glorify God.
What is a wife to do when her husband is disobedient to the Word? How can she respond in a God glorifying way while submitting to her husband? What are her options? In this sermon, we are going to look at Abraham, an example of a disobedient husband, and seek to better understand the biblical response a wife can take when her husband is in rebellion against the Word of God.
My goal in this sermon is to have you consider three different categories of information that are related to the biblical covenants, so you can understand how Gen. 12:1-3 and related texts, directly impact your life, if you have repented of your sin and placed your faith in Jesus Christ to save you from the consequences of your sin.
From Gen. 12:1-3 I want to point out two things: the promises imbedded in the Abrahamic Covenant and also the unconditional nature of the Abrahamic covenant, so that in later messages, you can better understand how believers in Christ Jesus are able to partake in the covenant that God made with Abraham some 4,000 years ago.
What is a covenant? What is a theological covenant? What is a biblical covenant? What is covenant theology? What is a bilateral or unilateral covenant? What covenant to Israel is the foundation for all others?
Upon hearing those questions, if what comes to your mind is a blank, no information, nothing on file in your brain, I hope to remedy that this evening as we do a quick overview of the covenants in an attempt to give you the big picture and general information about covenants for our closer consideration of the Abrahamic Covenant in the weeks to come.
What happens when we forget our true riches in Christ, take our eyes off the Lord, and envy the wicked? In this sermon, we are going to find out as we take a look at Psalm 73 and learn how to worship the Holy One when the wicked prosper.
From Gen. 12-25 I want to point out to you 4 characteristics of Abraham’s life to encourage you in your walk with the Lord to give glory to God by following Abraham’s example.
From Gen. 11 we will first look at the sin of the people of Babel, second, we will see how God responded to their sin, and finally, we will consider Shem’s line so we better understand how the Messianic line continued after the flood.
From Gen. 9:19-10:32 I want to point out five key subjects that will help us understand why Noah’s drunkenness is recorded, the reason for the genealogy in Gen. 10, and how they both relate to the Tower of Babel in Gen. 11, so we can marvel at the wisdom of God displayed in His Word.
From Gen. 9:8-17 I want to point out seven characteristics of the covenant that God made with Noah, his sons, all humanity, and all the creatures of the earth, so you will know what the Noahic covenant is, the true meaning of the rainbow, and be moved to praise, thank, and give God glory for extending undeserved mercy and grace after judging the world with a flood.
From Genesis 9:1-7, Pastor Jack will show two main expressions of God’s grace after the flood, so that we can be blessed in the world in which we live, give God glory, and worship Him with gladness.
Have you ever had trouble sleeping at night because of anxiety, fear, anger, or sorrow? Biblically what should we do to deal with our anxious, sleepless nights in a God glorifying way? This is what Kind David teaches us in Psalm 63.
From Psalm 63 David is going to teach us five encouraging ways to find peace in the Lord when the pressures and trials of life make us fearful, anxious, and keep us awake at night, so we can deal with trials in a God-glorifying way and get back to sleep.
From Genesis 8:20-22, this sermon focuses on two aspects of Noah’s worship immediately after the flood, and the Lord’s response to Noah’s worship, so we can learn from Noah’s example, glorify God, and be blessed.
From Genesis 8:1-19, Pastor Jack draws our attention to four observations that will help us understand the events that led to the end of the flood and Noah and the animals leaving the ark, while providing practical application for our lives.
Our text is both sobering and encouraging. Sobering because we see the judgment that fell on the wicked, violent, and corrupt world of men in Noah’s day. Yet encouraging because we see absolute faithfulness of God in fulfilling His Word.
Now consider, if you are going to get into the ark of refuge, safety, and salvation from God’s judgment, several things need to happen: 1) You need a merciful warning of judgment to come from God; 2) You need to believe the merciful warning is true; 3) You need to have not only an intellectual faith, you need to have a trusting, volitional faith that acts upon what you believe is true.
Noah and his family believed and acted upon the Word of God and entered into the ark, they rose above the judgment of the flood. In like manner, all who hear the gospel of grace and place their faith in Jesus Christ, will rise above the fiery judgment of God to come.
Often when people are saved by grace and delivered from the wrath of God to come, they forget that they were saved by grace, that they didn’t deserve or earn salvation. They didn’t receive God’s mercy and grace because they were wonderful or amazing people. We see the same kind of compassion, kindness, and grace, extended from God to the ancient world of very corrupt, wicked, and violent men, through Noah and the ark.
In this sermon, we come to a text that tells us about the righteous and the wicked during the time immediately preceding the flood. Both groups teach us important lessons for life and how to live for the glory of God. The two groups we will encounter in our text are indicative of any time in history or any church.
In this sermon, we are going to look at one of the key texts in all the Bible on the depravity of man. Specifically, the depravity of man before the flood and the reason God sent the flood upon the earth to drown man, beasts, crawling creatures, and birds, and at the same time, extend mercy and grace to a remnant and multitudes of others in the future of mankind.
In this sermon, Pastor Jack speaks on the one thing that is necessary in our Christian walks, which is through sitting at the feet of Jesus just as we learn through Mary's example. You must let Jesus shepherd you, serve you, minister to you, equip you, and care for your burdens. You will learn that the core and foundation of Christianity is your relationship with Jesus. Jesus is the great shepherd of the sheep and in Psalm 23, you are going to delve more into this topic.
In this sermon, we will step away from Gen. 4 to look at the great chapter of faith, Heb. 11. The author of Hebrews speaks of needing to have faith in creation, points us to Abel, who worshipped God in faith, mentions Cain, who did not worship God in faith, and then mentions Enoch, who walked with God by faith. From Heb. 11:5-6 I want to point out first, Enoch, our example of faith, and second, the necessity of living by faith so that we might glorify God.
From Gen. 4:9-15 I want to show you six different responses between the Lord and Cain, so that you can be reminded that God is a God of great mercy and grace, even to the vilest of sinner, which should make you love and praise Him even more.
From Gen. 4:1-8 I would like to point out seven pairs of like-truths from our text, so that we can learn why the world and mankind are the way they are and be reminded of why everyone needs the grace of God in Christ Jesus if we hope to give our Creator glory and escape judgment.
In this sermon, you will learn about the 4 different parts that Psalm 5 is broken up in to. Psalm 5 will also answer the question "How is it that we sinners living in a world of sinners can worship a perfectly holy and just God?"
From Gen. 3:22-24 I hope to show you three events that happened after the fall of man so that we can see the love, mercy, care, and grace of God towards sinners, which hopefully will cause us to worship God with thankfulness.
"You see the killing of innocent animals by the Lord, was a lesson for Adam and Eve. They would then know, by the Lord’s example, that sin requires sacrifice and sacrifice leads to atonement and reconciliation with God. This is the doctrine of substitution."
At that time, only one prohibition was given by the Lord. Though Adam’s leadership was implied at multiple levels before the fall, only eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was forbidden and came with a death sentence. Yet Adam failed to protect his wife against that sin, and instead, followed his wife into sin.
From Gen. 3:14-15 I want to show you why and how the Lord God cursed the serpent, so that we can learn about God’s justice and grace, even in the midst of cursing the serpent.
We can all relate to the sin of blame-shifting which is the evil offspring of pride. We don’t want to be at fault, we like to pretend we are righteous, or more righteous than others, and often present ourselves as innocent victims when we sin. Where do we get this relentless and habitual inclination to blame others for our sins? Our text answers that question.
From Gen. 3:8-10 I want to look at two more consequences of Adam and Eve’s sin which the Lord’s presence exposed, sins we can all relate to and be on guard against, so we can show love to God and give Him the glory He deserves.
From Gen. 3:7 I want to show you two more consequences of sin, one bad and one good, so that you can avoid the bad and understand the purpose of the good, for God’s glory.
From Gen. 3:7 I want to show you the first two consequences of sin in our text, so that you can understand how sin affects us, watch for these sinful tendencies in your own life, be able to spot, repent of, and confess them to God for His glory.
From Gen. 3:6-7 I want to show you four sad stages in the fall of man, so we can all learn where sin begins, how sin expresses itself, how sin spreads to others, and the devastating consequences of sin, so that we can learn to hate sin and pursue holiness in the fear of God.
From Gen. 3:6-7 I want to show you four sad stages in the fall of man, but this morning we will only get to the first, which provides amazing application for all of us in our fight to avoid sinning and walk in obedience to the Word of God.
From Gen. 3:1-5 I want to point out three major parts of Eve’s temptation, so that we can understand the subtlety of Satan’s temptations and be on guard against them so that we are led astray from God’s Word into sin and rebellion.
From Gen. 3:1 I want to consider the grand question of the origin of evil in order to help equip you to give answers to skeptics and not adopt strange views that contradict the Bible or impugn the character and nature of God and then we will consider when the fall of Satan occurred.
We will consider many Scriptures to consider Satan’s main goal, some of his devices, demon possession, and the believer’s more than adequate resources against the world forces of darkness in the heavenly places.
In this sermon, I want to consider the ministry of holy angels in relation to unbelievers, and then get into the identity and works of demons so that you can have a better understanding of what both holy angels and demons are and do, so that you are not led astray by the mountain of false teaching about angels and demons in the world.
This morning we are going to examine the different ministries of holy angels described in the Bible so you can better understand what holy angels do and so you are not deceived by popular but false views of holy angels promoted in the world.
I want to address four categories about Satan, angels, and demons, to protect you from being led astray by false teaching, and to better equip you to live for God’s glory.
I want to address two different doctrines before we start moving through Gen. 3. One of those doctrines is the doctrine of angels and demons, the other the doctrine of man and sin. Understanding those two doctrines will help us understand Gen. 3 and its implications for our lives.
We are taking our time in Gen. 2:24-25 to learn the truth about marriage and sexual relations in the context of marriage, so that we can defend the truth against those who would teach the doctrines of demons. We have seen three purposes of marriage in Gen. 1 ruling, reproduction, and relational needs. We have also looked at the necessary criteria of marriage in Gen. 2:24 which have both sequential and practical significance. We learned: 1) God designed marriage, 2) marriage is between one man and one woman, 3) marriage requires public leaving of former commitments to establish a new family, 4) marriage involves emotional joining together in mutual commitment, 5) marriage requires becoming one flesh, physical consummation, and 6) God joins a couple together spiritually until death, if they meet the criteria of marriage and enter the marriage covenant.
The necessary criteria for marriage in Gen. 2:24, are quoted four times in the New Testament as God’s blueprints for marriage. However, there is one more statement that was made about the first and only pre-fall marriage, that though not a necessary criterion for marriage, certainly a necessary goal for any marriage.
We have been looking at marriage in some detail because Satan is waging a terrific battle against marriage. Satan knows that if he can destroy marriage, he can promote misery, pain, death, and topple nations. Marriage and the family are the glue of civilization.
Thus, we are going back to the beginning, looking at God’s design for marriage, and setting the record straight in the face of a hostile world and the forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Three purposes of marriage are given in Gen. 1 before marriage is defined. 1) Marriage is for ruling over God’s creation, 2) Marriage is for reproductive needs, and 3) Marriage is for relational needs both emotional and physical. In Gen. 2:24-25 God gives us the definition and necessary criteria that must be met in order to have a marriage that glorifies God and brings us blessing. The criteria God gives for marriage have both sequential and practical significance.
From Gen. 2:24-25 we are given six important aspects of marriage that we must understand in order to give God glory in our marriages, be blessed, and equipped to stand against worldly attacks that Satan is leveling against God’s glorifying marriage.
We must remember is that while many Christians are taking what the Bible says about marriage in a very cavalier way, Satan, the god of this world, is taking on the task of destroying your marriage very seriously. Satan wants you miserable in marriage.
Evolutionary thinking is destroying marriages because it has replaced God’s design for marriage with a worldly, man-made, self-serving model. Our text this morning brings us back to the truth as we go back to the beginning to see what God, the one who invented marriage, has to says about it.
From Gen. 2:24-25 we are given six important aspects of marriage that we must understand in order to give God glory in our marriages, be blessed, and equipped to stand against worldly attacks that Satan is leveling against God’s glorifying marriage.
What are we to do about the gender confusion, immorality, attacks on marriage and the family? We go to the book of Genesis where we are given God’s perfect design and instructions to be truly blessed, not by indulging in our fleshly desires and being slaves to sin and Satan, but repenting of our sin and submitting to the Lordship of Jesus Christ who has our eternal well-being in mind, by submitting to God’s original design.
In the last few weeks we have been looking at the world God created for man. Moses has let us know what the garden of God was like, its abundance of food, beauty, water, but also that God planned to bless man with natural resources outside the garden after he would sin. Moses, having given us some context, now turns to man himself, the pinnacle and focus of God’s creative acts. Adam is placed in the garden, given instruction about what he can and can’t eat, and all this occurs before the woman is created.
From Gen. 2:10-14 I want to point out three key aspects of the river that flowed into God’s garden in Eden, so that we can understand the kindness and goodness of God towards man in the pre-fall, pre-flood world, and later, in Chapter 3, the dire consequences of sin and the curse after the fall.
From Gen. 2:8-9 I want to point out five facts about the garden of Eden, so we can better understand the pre-fall, pre-flood world, the grace and kindness of God, and get a glimpse of the paradise that was lost because of Adam’s sin, but which will be regained by all who repent of their sin and place their faith in Jesus Christ alone for salvation.
From Gen. 2:7 we will consider the formation of man by God out of dust and how man became a living being, so we can know the truth about where mankind came from and see the goodness of God in placing man in a perfect place.
From Gen. 2:4-6 we will consider three characteristics of the sixth day of creation, so we can learn about God, the world right before man was created, and better praise and worship God for His goodness and kindness.
Though we have only covered Gen. 1:1-2:3 so far, we have learned a great deal of critical doctrine, coming to understand why the early chapters of Genesis are foundational for the Christian faith. If you can’t believe in the first chapters of Genesis, then when do you start believing the Bible? If you reject the early chapters of Genesis, you undermine biblical authority. Jesus and the authors of Scripture believed in a literal Adam and Eve, fall, serpent, flood, etc.
The fourth commandment is to "keep the Sabbath day holy." Maybe you read an old preacher who speaks of the need to keep Sabbath, though they worshiped on Sunday. You know from the Old Testament that at times God punished the Israelites for not keeping the Sabbath. You are not quite sure what to think about all this. From Gen. 2:1-3, I want to point out three key facts about the day after creation--the day God ceased from creating, so you can better understand its doctrinal and practical application for your life and better live for God’s glory.
This morning we return to Gen. 1 and the sixth day of creation. We have learned that God created all of the land animals, cattle or domesticated animals, beasts, and crawling creatures. Having created a perfect world, God turns His attention to creating mankind in His image and likeness making man distinct from the animals, giving him both attributes, value, and function that animals do not have. We will look at the creation of man and God’s instructions to him this morning.
The story of God’s redeeming love is to restore to mankind God’s image which was mostly lost in the fall. We, after repenting and believing in the gospel, are being transformed from one glory to the next into the image of Christ, we become godlier, the image and likeness of God shines brighter as we display godly character.
From Gen. 1:24-25 I want to show you 3 different categories of creatures that God created of the six day, so you can better appreciate what God did, why He did it, give Him glory because of it.
God made the earth as the center stage of His creation—of man. He placed man on that center stage so that man could be blessed and give glory to his Creator. I am sure that God received pleasure from His creation, and there is no doubt that apart from man, there is a very real sense in which creation gives glory God. But the human race was created to worship their Creator. Creation is one of the things that should prompt us to worship and praise our Creator.
From Gen. 1:14-19 consider three different categories of celestial bodies created by God along with their purpose, so that we might understand the power, wisdom, and majesty of God, be blessed, and glorify God because of what He has made.
We return again to Genesis 1 which tells us in summary fashion about God creating the heavens, and earth, and all they contain. He made time, the laws of physics, angels, the spiritual realm/s, everything that exists and is outside of himself, God made in six days. As you might expect, God created everything with order, with a purpose, with His glory and our blessing in view.
From Gen. 1:9-13 I want to point out three different aspects of creation that happened on the third day so you can better understand how God brought forth the land, sea, and vegetation and see His handiwork in these things as you encounter them in the world, and so you will praise Him for what He has done and not take it for granted.
If you reject the literal meaning of the days of creation, you open the flood gates to deny every other historical and miraculous event in the Bible making the authors of Scripture and Jesus into liars by treating the Bible as a book of myths. God used every mechanism possible in the Hebrew language to let us know the days of creation are literal, consecutive, sequential, 24-hour days! Gen. 1:8 then tells us, "God called the expanse heaven. and there was evening and there was morning, a second day.”
This morning I to point out four features of the first day of creation from Gen. 1:2-5, so you can understand what happened, be protected from false views of origins and worship God your creator with zeal.
If you wrote an email to a friend telling them what you did day by day on your vacation, what is the chance your friend would think that each of those days were hundreds of millions of years long, or that there were millions of years between each of the days of your vacation? None. And yet, this is how many modern-day Christians interpret the days of creation. Remember, the interpretation of a text is what the original author meant for his original audience to understand by what he wrote. The interpretation is not what a text means to us, or what we wish it meant based on what we think it should say.
God tells us what He did day by day during the six days of creation. Bible believing Jews and Christians throughout the ages have understood the days of creation as 24 hour, sequential, solar days, a straightforward historical account of what happened based on the testimony of God, a firsthand witness, who told Moses, who then under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit wrote it down. There are no billions, millions, hundreds, or tens of thousands of years in the creation week.
This morning I want you to consider two things related to Gen. 1:1, in order to stretch your mind around the amazing and mind-blowing implications of the first verse of the Bible, to provoke you to worship and praise God, and to know your life has meaning.
What did God do before He created the heavens and earth? We might think, that because Gen. 1:1 is the first verse of the Bible, and records the creation of all things, that there is nothing to discuss before Gen. 1:1, but that would be incorrect. Someone existed before everything we know existed – God! God the triune God, one God in three persons, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, has existed from all eternity.
The Bible says the living God created life. Evolution says that life came from non-life. The Bible says God is the ultimate cause of all things, but evolution says that matter is the ultimate cause of all things, even though it contradicts the scientific law of cause and effect. It is easy to prove that evolution is a faith based religion, an anti-god philosophy, clung to by those with inflammation of the wish bone.
Evolution cannot be integrated with the Bible, though some have tried to do so. Now you might be wondering, “But how do Christians know that what they believe is true?” And the answer is by faith, just like evolutionists. But what is more plausible, that everything came from nothing, or that everything came from an all-powerful, infinitely wise, and sovereign God?
This morning we embark on an exposition of the book of Genesis. Genesis has received many blows from the hammers of critics, some who even profess to be Bible-believing Christians, but as one wise preacher said, “the Bible is an anvil that has worn out many hammers!”
The God who knows all things, has existed in all times, and all dimensions, was there because He created the heavens and earth and all they contain! As the Apostle Paul says in Rom. 3:4, “let God be found true, though every man, be a liar.”
If you wonder what my approach is going to be in interpreting the book of Genesis, specifically the first eleven chapters, I am going to interpret it like I interpret the rest of the Bible, using a literal, historical, grammatical approach, paying attention to the contexts both near and far, using inspired cross reference to declare what the text says and means by what it says. If the literal sense makes sense, and there is reason in the context to not take it literally, we will take it literally!
From Rom. 15:4 I want to show you four reasons why the Old Testament Scriptures are necessary for New Testament believers, then look at four different statements to help us solve the problem of finding application in the Old Testament as a New Testament Christian.
Calvin’s last words confirm he held to the reformation cry "Soli Deo Gloria," which means to the glory of God alone! The desire to give God glory was the rainbow that bent over Calvin’s life. He did not seek fame. He did not seek wealth. He lived a modest life, worked hard, died poor, and had as the goal of everything he did, "Soli Deo Gloria," which is our focus for this morning.
I want to focus your attention on Acts 4:12 which teaches us two basic truths about the reformation cry of Solus Christus – so that you understand that salvation is in Christ alone and to prompt you to check your own heart to see if you are trusting in Christ alone.
This morning we want to look at Sola Fide, justification by faith alone. I want to show you what Martin Luther discovered as a monk, one of the backbone doctrines of Protestantism. From Romans 3:28, I want to point out two important concepts related to Sola Fide, the reformation cry “by faith alone,” so that you will understand how a sinner is justified before God, and so you can examine your own life to see if you are justified before God.
God is the one who grants saving faith, by grace alone, Soli Gratia. Some 500 years ago God revealed to Martin Luther the Reformation cry of Sola Gratia – that salvation was by grace alone. God supplies us with all that we need to understand, repent, believe, and be saved by grace alone, so He gets all the glory! From Rom. 3:23-24 I wish to draw your attention to two universal truths about salvation, so that you will know and examine your life to see if you have been saved by grace alone. God is the one who grants repentance.
Sola Scriptura, is the anchor doctrine of the Five Sola’s of the Reformation. Sola Scriptura is the bedrock that Luther, Calvin, and all the other reformers fixed their doctrinal stakes into. It was Luther who said while on trial at Worms, “my conscience is bound and held captive by the Scriptures.”
Arriving at marriage, for Christians who want to glorify God, can be difficult to achieve. Once a single person determines they are ready and want to get married, finding the right person isn’t always easy and sometimes requires years of waiting. What do you do when no one is pursuing you or you can’t find someone you want to pursue? What do you do when you are waiting for your knight in shining armor or your princess to come along? You have to wait patiently on the Lord. This leaves many singles in a holding pattern, circling the airport of marriage, wanting to land, but never touching down on the tarmac of holy matrimony. They are stuck, waiting for their knight in shining armor or beautiful princess to show up.
The big question is: How do you acquire a spouse without being corrupted, attacked, or taken captive by a fake Christian? Don’t let your desire to get married, someone's mere profession of faith, and the fact that someone attends church deceive you into dropping your guard. In this sermon, Pastor Jack gives us three practical steps for acquiring a spouse in sanctification and honor.
Having giving us many reasons to abstain from immorality, the Apostle Paul addresses one of the safeguards against immorality. Marriage is a protection against immorality, but not a cure. From these verses I would like to show you four directives that will help all of us, especially those who are single, avoid the sin of immorality, maintain purity, and live in holiness to the glory to God.
Pastor Jack gives four main categories of proverbial wisdom related to parenting, so parents can better understand what God says, raise children to His glory, be blessed, and have children that are a blessing to others.
Biblical parenting requires biblical methods. The world is not going to teach you how to train your children to the glory of God. Don’t look to the world and unbelievers to help you parent. Forget about popular trends that come and go. There are two primary challenges when teaching about parenting. First, giving people the biblical data, but not giving them helpful examples of how to apply that biblical data, often leads to frustration. Parents see the biblical goal, but they don’t know how to achieve the goal. A second challenge when teaching on parenting is spending too much time on “how to examples” and not enough time on what the Bible says about parenting. Helpful examples of how things might be done are often confused with biblical mandates and what must be done.
Biblical parenting is a spiritual discipline that gives parents an opportunity to glorify God, be a blessing to their children, their own lives, and others in society. And even when you do what the Bible says, results aren’t guaranteed. You can teach your children the gospel, but you can’t save them. You can teach your children how to obey the Lord, but you can’t sanctify them. You are powerless to do the two most important things you do as a parent, which is why you must trust the Lord for your parenting. As you do, God will get all the glory.
Every Christian has God, the Holy Spirit, dwelling within them. The Holy Spirit is given to believers at conversion and never leaves. But if you don’t know how to tap into the Holy Spirit’s power, it is doubtful you will ever have a God glorifying marriage.
From Ephesians 5:22-33, Pastor Jack gives you four ways that the cross of Christ intersects with your marriage, so you can have a marriage that is blessed by God, is a blessing to you, a blessing to your children, a blessing to others, and points people to Jesus Christ, who died on a cross to conquer sin and death.
All marriage problems might be distilled down into three categories: 1) We don’t understand God’s blueprint for marriage. 2) We understand God’s blue print for marriage, but don’t want to submit to it. Or 3) We understand God’s blueprint for marriage, want to submit to it, but don’t know how to put God’s Word into practice.
You can have a great marriage. Your spouse can be your best friend, your closest confidant, the source of your greatest earthly pleasure and happiness. This is how God designed marriage. God wants you to experience the wonders of all that marriage can be and He gives you all the resources you need to receive the fulness of a God glorifying marrige.
This does not mean things will never break down in your marriage now and then, but God is the great marriage mechanic. He can repair your marriage. He can give you a Ferrari marriage. You don’t have to yell or scream at each other, ever! Disagreements don’t need to end with hurt feelings and a cold war. God gives you all you need to have a great marriage. Yet, He expects you to use the resources He gives you to be blessed.
Today we come to the end of the book of Titus, 61 sermons later! Why is that? Why go so slow through such a short book? Why go slow through any book of the Bible? There is one simple reason, the slower you go, the deeper you can get into the doctrines found in the text and explain their practical application to life. We need doctrine to live right, think right, and have a biblical world view and discernment.
The text before us has many good things about how congregations are to take care of those in gospel ministry. From Titus 3:12-13 I want to show you three ways you can support those in gospel ministry, so that they are encouraged, receive relief, and have all their needs met.
Church discipline is good, loving, not harsh, vindictive, or an opportunity for leaders in the church to take revenge on those they don’t like, or who don’t meet up to their personal expectations. As we shall see in our text this morning, the factious man has a profile, and we must never adjust that profile and seek revenge.
In Titus 3:9 we are warned to avoid three different categories of conversation as believers, because these kinds of conversation harm rather than help the church.
From Titus 3:8 I want to expose the primary directive of elders and two necessary consequences of that prime directive, so that we can understand the importance of gospel preaching and the fruit it produces in the lives of those who have been saved by it.
We are told that God saves us because of His kindness, love, and mercy for mankind, moved Him to lavishly pour out the Holy Spirit upon us, causing us to be washed, regenerated, renewed, through the person and work of Jesus Christ. But why? Why do this? Our text this morning gives us one of the reasons why God saves sinners.
In our text for this morning we will see how the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit work together in saving us, again proving that salvation is a work of God, not a work of man.
It is the miraculous spiritual transformation that occurs when we believe in Jesus Christ for salvation that is our focus for this morning. I want to point out two more steps in how God saves us, so we can be encouraged, evaluate if we know the Lord and praise God for His work in our lives.
Titus 3:4-7 is one of the greatest texts on salvation found anywhere in the Bible. It is in the middle of a small book that constantly exhorts us to obey, to do good works, and to be zealous for good deeds. I want to give you three perspectives on the mercy of God so that you can understand what God’s mercy is, see what the Bible says about mercy, and how mercy applies to your life.
From Titus 3:5 I want to consider three different points that will give us assurance that salvation is not of works, that we can’t lose our salvation, and that God, by His grace, not only saves us, but keeps us saved to the end.
From Titus 3:5 I want to look at a final, complicated, and devious way people are deceived into trusting in their works to save them, so that we can guard against this very popular but false gospel.
From Titus 3:5 I want to continue where we left off last week looking at various ways people are deceived into trusting in their works to save them so that we can guard against being inoculated against the gospel of grace.
From Titus 3:5 I want to consider two antithetical facts about salvation so that you understand how a person is saved, evaluate your own spiritual condition, defend the gospel of grace, and share the gospel with the lost.
I want to give you four different broad categories that relate to the love of God and specifically, His love toward unworthy sinners, which causes Him to save some, so that we can thank, praise, and obey Him for His wonderful love towards us.
From Titus 3:4 I want to point out five characteristics of the kindness of God, so you can understand God’s kindness better, be thankful for God’s kindness because it led you to salvation, and glorify God in your relationships with unbelievers realizing your salvation was all of God, and none of you.
From Titus 3:4 I want to consider four major points of doctrine that if understood, accepted, and believed, change your relationship to God, your eternal destiny, and your reason or living!
Once the grace of God has invaded our lives, it is very easy to become proud, puffed up, look down on other sinners, isolate ourselves from the unbelievers of the world, to malign them for not being as godly as we are. Spiritual pride can creep in along with an ungracious condemning attitude towards others if we don’t stop to remember what we also once were before God saves us from our sin.
Let’s consider what we all once were before the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, so we don’t become proud, look down on others who don’t know Jesus Christ, and treat them as our mission field and share the gospel with them.
It is the grace of God in the gospel of Jesus Christ and the Word of God that puts to death the nine different sins mentioned in our text. As we look at each of these descriptions of the believer’s former life keep in mind that salvation makes these qualities a thing of the past. This doesn’t mean believers don’t sin any more, but they don’t live in unrepentant sin anymore like unbelievers do. The desire of the Christian is give God glory by loving righteousness, holiness, and by obeying the Word of God, being zealous for good deeds.
From Titus 3:3 you will see that Paul lists nine past lives of every believer that by God’s grace must be kept behind them, in order for God to be glorified, and the gospel and sound doctrine adorned by the church.
Jesus is the Savior who transforms people’s lives by His grace. Turn to Him! Look to Christ! Believe in Jesus, and follow Him now! If you have done that, then you will love His Word, His Church, His people, and His service. You will be motivated from within, to obey God’s will. It will be a joy to you. From Titus 3:1-2 we are considering seven specific godly pursuits that fit exactly into the perfect bull’s eye of God’s will for your life, so you can live in the will of God, be blessed, be a witness, and give God glory.
From Titus 3:1-2 we are going to consider seven specific godly pursuits that fit exactly into the perfect bull’s eye of God’s will for your life, so you can strive to stay in the will of God, be blessed, and give God glory.
Biblical preaching is no easy task. And when you get to the delivery part, God requires that preachers preach in a certain way, His way, the biblical way, with a certain tone of delivery. From this text, I want you to see three major facets of biblical preaching, so if you are called to preach, you will do what God commands you to do, and if you are not called to preach, you will know what is require so that you can seek out preaching that conforms to the Word of God and better pray for and encourage those who preach to you.
Our text is a good new year’s text for it is foundational to Christian living. Doctrine is for living, not merely for knowing, and those who study doctrine merely to know truth but not practice is are like tadpoles with ugly swollen heads and tiny atrophied bodies and limbs. Many have strong opinions about what they believe is right, but fail to practice even the basic disciplines of the Christian life.
Doctrine and theology are necessary for learning and understanding so that we may obey. Without knowing the truth, living becomes dangerous, for knowledge rejected merely increases our condemnation before God and makes us vulnerable to every wind of doctrine.
Our text speaks of the appearing of Jesus Christ. God knows we need to know what the future holds and that is why there is so much about prophecy in the Bible. We need it and should never ignore it. Jesus’ any moment return for those who are His should be every believer’s longing and source of endless praise. When trials strike, the believer wishes Jesus would return. When they see wickedness in the world, or when persecuted, or when pinning away in prison for their faith, they long for Jesus’ return.
Remember that this entire section addresses how saving grace transforms our lives as a testimony to the world of the saving power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Your life either is an advertisement encouraging people to repent and believe in Jesus Christ or a walking contradiction, giving Jesus’ enemies occasion to blaspheme His fair name because your life shows that the gospel has no power to change a person’s life. There is an evangelistic reason why grace instructs us to live as our text instructs, but the ultimate goal is the glory of God.
From Titus 2:12 I want to show you two pitfalls the saving grace of God teaches us to deny, so we can live the kind of lives God instructs us to live and give Him glory.
The coming of the promised Messiah is what our text is about this morning. We are in an amazing section of the book of Titus, chapter 2:11-15. Many of the grand themes and doctrines of Christianity are packed into these few verses such as the grace of God, the first coming of Christ, the second coming of Christ, and what we are to be doing in the middle.
Only hell deserving, wicked, immoral, unrighteous, evil sinners with incurably wicked hearts receive God’s grace. And grace is given by God, to undeserving sinners, solely at His discretion, for His own eternal reasons, that are unknown to us. He saves some unworthy sinners by grace, and doesn’t save others. But whenever God sovereignly gives grace, it is always for a purpose and that is what we are going to consider this morning, and Lord willing, in the weeks to come.
From Titus 2:9-10, we see six different ways every person working under authority can be a blessing to others by being a positive testimony to the Word of God.
From Titus 2:9-10 I want to point out six ways that every person working under authority can be a positive testimony to the Word of God.
From Titus 2:7-8 I want to address four more qualities or character traits that every young man should make a conscious effort to pursue, so that those who hate Christ and Christianity will be put to shame and have no legitimate grounds of accusation against Christ, His Church, or the truth claims of Christianity.
From Titus 2:6-7 I want to point out and discuss three goals God wants all young men to strive for, so families are blessed, the church’s testimony and the gospel is not tarnished, and God is glorified.
We are in the midst of a very important section of Scripture, especially since our text is antithetical to much of what the world is promoting. In fact, our text for this morning is possibly the single most attacked text in all of the Bible. Our text is the text the world loves to hate the most because it gives us God’s expectations for women. And the world has a very different view about women, their roles in the home, marriage, and society, than the Bible does.
From Titus 2:5 I want to address three more attributes or qualities that the older women are to be teaching the younger women, so that families can be blessed and so the Word of God will not be blasphemed.
Having dug into the text last week, I am now going to address how younger women can love their children in the area of parenting. Let’s jump into our crash course on how younger moms can love their children through their parenting. What I am going to do is give you a five-step overview of how moms can love their children, so children will be blessed, so parents will be blessed, so others will be blessed and God glorified.
What we see in the text before us is highly practical. The portion we are looking at is what older women are to know, obey, and constantly be teaching and encouraging the younger women in the church to know and do.
These truths make for God-glorifying families, relationships, and bring happiness and blessing. God is not out to make people miserable, that is what Satan’s goal is. God’s desire is to see people fulfilled in their life, to give Him glory, to be blessed, and to bless others.
God wants older, wiser, biblically mature women, who have learned how to love their husbands, keep house, and raise children, to teach the younger women. It insures strong marriages and families. Older women, what are you to teach younger women about loving their husbands? Let me show you the kinds of things you should teach them.
This morning we consider God’s will for older women. God is concerned how we live. He wants us all to live for His glory in light of Jesus return and eternity. We are told in the text before us the character traits that should exemplify our lives.
Our text this morning is about God’s will for older men. Just as the elders are to meet certain qualifications for shepherding the church, so older men have their own set of qualifications they are to strive for in order to be a blessing to others and give glory to God.
This morning we begin to consider one of the greatest chapters in all the Bible on how God desires Christian relationships to function. From Titus 2:1 I want to point out three God-given admonitions for church leaders: 1) the antithesis of what elders are to be, 2) the method elders are to employ, and 3) the content of what they must proclaim in order that the church might be set in order, so sinners are saved, saints are sanctified, and God is glorified.
Our text this morning is one of the key texts in the Bible on the depravity of man. Last week we started looking at a problem that was occurring in the churches on the Island of Crete, ungodliness.
New converts, though saved, come messed up and believing false doctrine. Thus it is every elder's job to teach, train, counsel, and disciple those in the church so they become sound in faith. We all have Cretan like tendencies. All of us are sinners, liars, deceivers, evil beasts, and lazy gluttons to one degree or another. Thankfully, by God’s grace, the Holy Spirit, and the Word of God we can grow in holiness and become more like Jesus over time.
From Titus 1:10-14 I want you to point out the profile and prescription for dealing with rebellious men, so you can avoid being rebellious yourself, and show grace to those who are in the process of growing in Christ.
From Titus 1:9 I want to show you four more qualifications of an elder so you can see what the primary responsibility of elders is in the local church, that primary responsibility being the teaching and preaching of the Word of God, to equip the saints for ministry.
Paul left Titus to finish the organizing process of the churches there. The first thing Titus is instructed to do is to go to the churches and find qualified elders, men who pass the inspection of biblical scrutiny. Keep in mind that elders are to conform to all these character qualifications and demonstrate a serious commitment to the local church so they can be an example for everyone to follow. Elders are examples to the flock, so we can follow their example of faith and faithfulness.
It is vitally critical to have spiritually oriented men, men of the Word, men of prayer, leading the church, constantly saying no to the infiltration of worldly wisdom and yes to the biblical methods that Christ has commanded us to follow in the Bible. From Titus 1:5-9 I want to address the first seven elder qualifications, so you can have a clear idea of some of what is required for a man to be qualified as an elder and so you can better pray for your elders.
Meeting and maintaining elder qualifications is what I want to direct your attention to this morning before we get into the specific qualifications of an elder that are mentioned in the text. I want to point out two critical ways Jesus wants us to go about finding and keeping qualified elders for the church, so that we don’t have unqualified elders that will cause the local church to suffer.
I want to consider three categories related to appointing elders in the church: 1) Different forms of church polity, 2) The process of appointing elders, and 3) the importance of appointing qualified elders.
This morning we are going to discover what Paul told Titus concerning the churches on Crete. It may surprise you. As we have worked our way through the introduction, we are getting into the inspired revelation that Jesus wants us all to know about what He wants in His churches.
Again, this is not to burden us, but to bring Jesus Christ, the Head of the church, maximum glory. It is to help us grow in grace, live holy lives, and be the best ambassadors for Christ in this world. Paul’s letter to Titus helps us live lives of grace-fueled obedience. I want to point out two characteristics of a God glorifying local church so that you can understand what Jesus Christ wants for His churches.
What comes to your mind, when you read in your Bible, “Grace and peace?” From our text, I want to give you two blessings from the Father and the Son to encourage you who know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and to tempt you to repent and believe if you do not.
The Bible has many promises waiting for you to discover and lean upon. They are in the Bible to teach you about God, give you hope for the future, to encourage and instill courage in you. They are your life-line in times of trial and difficulty. From the phrase, “The God who cannot lie” I want to consider three things we must know so we can be encouraged and blessed about the truth of God’s Word and its promises.
Is there a way to live forever? Is there a way to preserve your life for eternity? Is there a way to have a perfect body that never grows old, never ages, but lasts forever? Yes. The Bible promises all these things. This morning I want to give you four reminders why Paul, a bond slave and an Apostle, preached the Word of God so that unworthy sinners might have a hope of eternal life.
Early in my Christian walk I studied and memorized the Scriptures often for the wrong reasons. Eventually the Holy Spirit brought strong conviction upon me that what I was learning was for me to apply, not just know. I needed to let the Word of God examine my own life. I needed to look into the mirror of the word and see my own blemishes. I needed to learn more about God so I could love Him better.
What about your life? What do you do with your Bible knowledge? Why do you study, read, meditate, and memorize the Word of God? Is it to get a grade? Is it to impress people? Is it to win an argument? Is it to make people think you are spiritual? Or do you study to see your sins better and know and love your God better? If you truly believe the Bible is the Word of God and get to know it, it will grow you more into the image of Christ as our text teaches us today.
From Titus 1:1, I want to show you two pieces of the multifaceted ministry instructions, given to Paul by Jesus, so you can understand why we are bond-slaves and our purpose for being on this earth as believers.
If you have been born again by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, have you ever thought about your spiritual genealogy? Have you ever wondered who you are related to spiritually and how your spiritually genealogy can be traced back to Jesus?
In this sermon, I want to help you know three truths about what it meant to be an apostle of Jesus Christ, why it matters in your life today, and how it can fuel your praise to God.
From Titus 1:1, I want to consider two qualifications of Paul, one is implied by the name Paul, the other is stated, a bond-servant of God, so we can be reminded of the power of the gospel to totally change and transform a person’s life, and how we should see ourselves once the gospel has saved us, changed us, and transformed us.
Titus is one of the key books that reveals to us what Christ wants in his pastors, elders, overseers. He describes their necessary giftedness, training, testing, character, and gives us their job description. We don’t need a committee, we just need to read and obey Jesus Christ in humility trusting He knows best.
Men’s hearts are hard and it takes clear, direct, bold, reproving, rebuking, exhorting, preaching with all authority, to drive the truth into a sin cursed heart. Titus was the man sent by Paul to get the churches at Crete set in order and to preach sound doctrine with all authority.
We have learned about the different uses of the word Church, Church membership, discipline, and baptism. This morning we address the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper. There is only one text in all the letters to the church’s that addresses the Lord’s Supper or Communion. The fact that Lord's Supper is only addressed once in the letters to the churches is surprising, but informative.
This sermon reminds us of the power and sufficiency of the Word of God to both save and sanctify sinners.
When the church is faithful to practice Church Discipline believers will be drawn to the truth and accountability, because they want to be more like Jesus. Unbelievers will also see that Christians and the church are serious about not sinning. They will see a difference between Christians and those in the world. God uses this to save sinners.
Church Discipline is a loving doctrine, a gracious action, a kindness extended to those caught in unrepentant sin. It is the hallmark of every healthy church. In fact you can’t have a healthy church and not practice Church Discipline.
All spiritual gifts are for the edification of others, never self. There is no such thing as a private spiritual gift. God, in saving you, purchased you with the blood of Christ, you are no longer your own. You are a slave of Jesus Christ. And your master gave you a gift for the express purpose of edifying others in the church. He empowers you to use that gift, but if you don’t use the gift, you are stealing blessings from others, from yourself, and stealing glory from God. We are saved to serve God and others with whatever gifts and resources God has given us.
This sermon surveys the gospels extracting key aspects of Jesus’ discipleship style and how we can learn to disciple as Jesus did.
When we disobey the Word of God, our sins are like rapidly growing dragons. Unconfessed sins tempt us to forsake the assembly of believers because we are ashamed and don’t want to turn from our sin. We soon discover we lose what we love the most, a close walk with the Lord, in order to keep what is forbidden. Pastor Jack gives us eight weapons we can use to kill our beloved sins, so we can live with a clear conscience, walk in the Spirit, give glory to God, and not consumed by our dragons.
This sermon addresses the power contained in the Word of God and why we need to trust God’s Word to accomplish what God desires, rather than taking matters into our own hands.
This sermon addresses the attitude we need to have as we labor for the Lord in the context of the local church. Pastor Jack gives us five attitude adjusters that will help us serve the Lord and others on His behalf, for our blessing and His glory.
This sermon reveals the gravity of the call to be a preacher of God’s Word, what every preacher can expect in the ministry, and how a congregation can pray for their preacher.
This sermon discusses the worst judgment God can send upon a nation – a famine of God’s Word. Many Christians around the world are suffering from a sort of spiritual anorexia. They see themselves as fat with biblical knowledge, when in fact they are starving. They are not starving because they don’t have access to the Bible. They are starving for three primary reasons: 1) They refuse to read, study, and meditate on the Bible in their possession; 2) the pastors of many churches refuse to preach the Word of God and feed their sheep sound doctrine from the pulpit. Instead they feed them chaff and junk food; 3) Congregations will not call a preacher to be their pastor who preaches the Word of God, instead they want their ears tickled and lusts fed.
This sermon reminds us it is every believer’s responsibility to share the simple message of the gospel with others.
Some of the reasons for church membership and why every believer should be committed to a local church. Christians who love Christ, who love the church He died for, will demonstrate their commitment by identifying themselves with the local church, so they can receive all the benefits the local church has to offer and fulfill their responsibilities to the local church, out of love for Christ and other believers.
Do you know what it means to walk in the Spirit? Do you know what it means to be filled with the Spirit? Do you know what causes you to not be walking in or filled with the Holy Spirit? Do you know how to get back to walking in or being filled with the Spirit again? Many, I have found, do not. And this is a huge problem, for if you are not walking in the Spirit, you cannot glorify God. Thankfully, the Word of God helps us understand what it means to walk in the Spirit and how to keep divine power flowing for a victorious life.
This sermon gives us a glimpse of Jesus, not in His humiliation, but in His exaltation, as He is today. What do you supposed Jesus is doing today, this morning, right now? What does He look like? If you could pop into heaven and take a peek, what would you see? This is what we are going to find out as we take a look at the resurrected Lord of glory.
This sermon explains how God wants every preacher to preach the Word of God and how every congregation can pray for their preacher.
This sermon explains why the Word of God is more sure than personal experience and is alone sufficient for life and godliness. The Bible is more sure than even the greatest God-given experience because it is inspired. Men, moved by the Holy Spirit, wrote down for us in the pages of Scripture, perfect, objective, infallible, inerrant, all sufficient truth.
We must pay attention to what the Bible teaches so that we are not deceived by experiences which can lead us astray into false doctrine, which always leads to ungodly behavior. The Bible is a more sure guide for everything pertaining to life and godliness and to equip us for every good work.
Explaining the necessity of repentance for salvation and the relationship between repentance and faith. In Lk. 13:23-24 Jesus was asked by someone how many people would enter heaven. His answer is fearful and sobering. Lk. 13:23-24 reads, "And someone said to Him, 'Lord, are there just a few who are being saved?' And He said to them, 'Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. The many, the majority, the bulk of humanity, most will perish in hell.'" The word “strive” is word we get agonize from. Agonize, labor, exert maximum effort to enter the narrow door. Notice that Jesus said many will seek to enter, but will not be able!
Basics about the various kinds of baptism mentioned in the New Testament and why every believer must participate in believer’s baptism.
This sermon discusses the importance of having personal devotions with the Lord for spiritual vitality. There is a clear connection between people who neglect the one thing necessary, and those whose growth in sanctification is stagnating. You remember to charge your cell phone every day don’t you? Then remember to sit at Jesus’ feet and let Him charge up your soul.
In this sermon, Pastor Jack shows us two things we must know if we are going to be healthy, growing, and vibrant Christians. First, that Jesus is the eternal Savior, and second, that He is the Lord God, so that we can believe, worship, and serve the correct Jesus, and not be deceived.
Expository preaching seeks to accurately communicate God’s Word, apply it, and explain the doctrine, so that Christ can speak to His church, and people can understand what the Bible says and means by what it says.
People often ask me if I think expository preaching is the best way to preach. I always answer, “Yes!” Why? Because it is commanded in the Word of God. It is modeled in the Word of God. And it is confirmed by Church history.
This sermon discusses the necessity of feeding on the whole council of God’s Word for spiritual health.
This sermon looks at one of the greatest evangelistic texts in all the Old Testament where God gives a universal call to look to Jesus Christ alone for salvation from God’s judgment.
The Church is here on earth to accomplish three different ministries that at times overlap with each other. The church exists to 1) exalt and worship God by doing ministry for God's glory according to God's Word, relying on God's resources, (Eph. 3:21; 1 Pet. 4:10-11); 2) edify and equip believers by preaching and teaching the whole counsel of God in love, so that they can live and minister in the likeness of Christ (Eph. 4:11-16); and 3) evangelize the lost by proclaiming the Gospel of Christ both privately and publicly to all the world (2 Cor. 5:18-21; 2 Tim. 4:5). This is why this church and every other God glorifying church exists. All ministry falls into these three groups.
In this final sermon preached at Calvary Bible Church, Pastor Jack reminds the congregation of ministry among them so they would be encouraged, challenged, comforted, and prosper more than ever after his departure.
From Genesis 2:1-3, I want to point out three key facts about the day after creation, so you can better understand its doctrinal and practical application for your life and better live for God’s glory.
In Genesis 1:28-31, God gives five commands to mankind as well as His self-evaluation of creation, so that we can better understand who we are, what the general function of mankind is, and how that relates to living for God’s glory.
In this sermon, Pastor Jack points out three facts about God’s creation of man so we can see the theological and practical implications of each, which should help us lively more wisely and honor the Lord better.
In this sermon we will learn about 3 different categories of creatures God created of the sixth day, so we can better appreciate what God did, why He did it, and give Him glory because of it.
In this sermon we will consider three different categories of celestial bodies created by God, along with their purposes, so we might understand the power, wisdom, and majesty of God, be blessed, and glorify Him because of what He has made.
From Genesis 1:9-13 I want to point out three different aspects of creation that happened on the third day so you can better understand how God brought forth the land, sea, and vegetation, see His handiwork in these things as you encounter them in the world, and so you will praise Him for what He has done and not take it for granted.
Let’s consider the two creative acts of God as He spoke the atmosphere into existence and separated the waters above and below. As we do so, we will continue to marvel at God’s power, wisdom, and care in creation.
In this sermon we learn about four features of the first day of creation from Genesis 1:2-5, so we can understand what happened, be protected from false views of origins and worship God our creator with zeal.
In this sermon, Pastor Jack wants us to consider two things related to Genesis 1:1 in order to stretch our minds around the amazing implications of the first verse of the Bible, to provoke us to worship and praise God, and to know our lives have meaning.
In this sermon Pastor Jack provides the background and understanding we will need to gain more from our study in this important book.
In this sermon, Pastor Jack helps us better understand the grace of God and its work in our lives so we can give God glory.
In this sermon, we learn that God is specific in how He wants us to worship Him. Any act of disobedience in this area is to treat God as unholy and dishonor Him.
Consider four exhortations we can draw from the text to help us live this next year and the rest of our lives for the glory of God and the kingdom of Christ.
In this sermon you will be given three truths about orphans from James 1:27 and what it means to practice pure and undefiled religion in relation to orphans.
Today, Jesus is the resurrected, Lord of Glory! And this is how we see Him in the book of Revelation. Our text has two main points to help us think rightly about Jesus.
Singleness is not a curse, but a blessing, even if it is only a temporary blessing while one waits for the right person to marry. Pastor Jack urges singles not to waste their singleness pining away and wishing and longing for what the Lord hasn’t provided for them yet. Instead, he urges them to use their singleness to the glory of God for however long it lasts.
From this text, Pastor Jack points out four ways the church can help children and singles become marriageable in order to help them be God-glorifying husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, and families.
In this sermon, Pastor Jack provides us with concrete ways to get the most out of our Bible reading.
In this sermon, Pastor Jack gives us three guiding principles for acquiring a spouse so that Christians can form a plan and have biblical criteria for finding a spouse that will give protection from marrying a Judas or Jezebel.
In our text, Paul gives three regulations for relations between husband and wife so immorality can be avoided, marriage will be a blessing, and God will be glorified.
From these verses, we learn about four directives that will help all of us, especially those who are single, avoid the sin of immorality, maintain purity, and live in holiness to the glory to God.
Pastor Jack examines twelve reasons why God wants every Christian to abstain from immorality and maintain pure lives.
In this sermon we do a quick overview of the various kinds of resurrection in the Bible, but focus on the first stage of the first resurrection of believers at the end of the church age, often referred to as “the rapture” or “the catching away of believers to meet the Lord in the air.” We examine I Thess. 4:13-18 as our primary text, but consider other reasons for believing the rapture will occur before the tribulation.
Pastor Jack begins a series addressing singles and some of the issues they face, endeavoring to paint a landscape of the war zone that our youth and singles are growing up in.
In life, it is wise and prudent to remember it is appointed unto men to die once and after that comes the judgment. It is wise to remember that we have not been placed in this world to indulge ourselves but to live for God and His glory.
In this sermon, Pastor Jack answers the question, “Does the Bible teach Christians should belong to local church and if so, why?”
Here we see the sovereignty of God planning and predestinating the crucifixion of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. In our text we discover the tension between man’s responsibility and God’s sovereignty, which must be accepted and believed in for it is true.
When the church practices church discipline in a loving, biblical way, the world hears about it and realizes that the church is serious about sin. This then is a strong witness for the holiness of Christ and his church.
There’s much we can learn from the lives of the Puritans. In this sermon, we’ll look more in depth at their example to see how it can help shape our own lives.
From this text, we will learn about 4 ways to love and affirm one another, especially when dealing with sin in the church. As we obey these directives, God’s church will be holy, and God will be glorified.
This is our sixth and final message in the angels and demons series. In this last message, Pastor Jack addresses a few issues related to Satan and how to resist temptation, so we will not fall into rebellion against God.
From these two verses God gives you six commands so that you might know how to conduct yourself in the church in relation to others.
We have been working our way through the gospel of Luke and have taken some time in the middle of Luke 8 and the story about the Gerasene demoniac to do a mini-series on what the Bible teaches about angels and demons. Most people have a very shallow and unbiblical view of angels, demons and Satan because of worldly input and ignoring or mishandling of God’s Word. In this sermon, we will try to address some major misconceptions about Satan and demon possession.
We continue in our series on angels and demons prompted by the text that lies before us in Luke about the Gerasene demoniac. So far in our series, we have looked at holy angels and demons, their numbers, appearance, and activities. Now we focus our attention on Satan, the ruler of demons, and his tactics for deceiving men to believe his lies.
We are taken a sabbatical from our exposition of Luke to study up on Angels, demons, and Satan before looking at Luke’s account of the Gerasene demoniac. We spent two weeks so far looking at holy angels, their creation, appearance, and ministry to both believers and unbelievers. In this study, we focus on demons. Because of the world’s influence, most Christians do not have a biblical understanding of Satan and demons, which is why we will see what the Bible teaches so we can better understand what they are and what they do.
We are going to examine the different ministries of angels described in the Bible, so you can better understand what angels do and so you are not deceived by popular but false views of angels, which you encounter in the world.
In this sermon I want to address four categories of facts about angels, so you can begin to form a biblical view about them, so you will not be led astray by the world, and so you will be encouraged and thankful that God created certain spiritual beings to minister to you during your life.
In this sermon we learn about a variety of theological poisons so that if we encounter them, we can avoid their error.
False teaching is insidious because it causes people with good intentions, who want to obey God, to sin against God intentionally and not know it. Those who are deceived unwittingly become purveyors of false doctrine themselves and Satan loves it when that happens. In this sermon we are warned about dangers that face the church.
In this sermon we will do a quick review of the first three sermons on Christian liberties and learn how to exercise our liberties in a God glorifying way and so as not to cause other believers to stumble. (I have a handout to include with this sermon.)
In this sermon you will learn how lust and selfish desires drive legalism and why the Christian needs to be driven by the Word of God and a desire to give God glory instead.
In this sermon you will learn to avoid two dark motivations that every Christian should strive to avoid, so that you do not fall into one of the three different kinds of legalism.
In this sermon on Christian Liberties you will learn about six different motivating factors that drive believers to do what they do.
In this sermon you will learn how our Declaration of Independence has its roots in the English Reformation, Puritanism, and the desire for religious freedom.
In this sermon God asks you two questions to remind you of the only power given by God to man that can transform sinners into saints and turn back the tides of evil in a wicked perverse culture.
God’s Word, and all the means of God’s grace that flows through the Word, is absolutely and totally sufficient to deal with anyone’s spiritual problems. Second Timothy 3:17 tells us God’s Word equips believers for every good work. The world relying on its own wisdom cannot deal with the spiritual problems of fallen man. God says the wisdom of man is foolishness, so in this sermon, we will examine why psychology can’t bring healing to man’s heart.
Christians are God’s creatures, His special creation, which He features in the world as witnesses of Jesus Christ and proof of His saving grace. In this sermon we will see what the Word of God tells us about being new creatures in Christ.
In this sermon we will look at what the Bible has to say about baptism and why it’s important for every believer to make a public profession of their faith in baptism.
Pastor Jack warns about seven different dangers facing the church. Though preached in 2003, the dangers are still present and must be guarded against, so that we are not deceived and shaken in our faith.
In this sermon, we look at some other names for the New Covenant law system and we’ll also clarify or define the content of the laws in the New Covenant law system.
In order to grasp the full significance of the birth of Jesus Christ, it is helpful to understand what God-fearing Jews were anticipating before His birth and why.
Our identity as believers is revealed by our obedience to Christ’s commandments. Jesus and John both tell us that if we love Christ, we will keep His commandments. But we must consider what Law system we are living under. In this sermon, we will learn about the promise of a new covenant and the New Testament law system.
Last week we started to address some of the more difficult issues pertaining to the Law in an age of grace. There are many texts which tell us that the Old Testament is still profitable to teach us things, and there are texts which tell us we are not under the law of Moses. We want to look further at how all Scripture can be profitable and yet not all the Scriptures apply.
In this sermon, we will look at three important issues related to Law in an age of grace. We’ll first define the Law, then discuss the purpose of the law, and then how Christians and the Law relate.
How does the Old Testament apply to New Testament believers? How do we deal with the many texts in the New Testament that seem to say the Old Testament is done away with? As we begin to answer these questions, Pastor Jack gives us a simple paradigm or rule of thumb by which we can approach the Old Testament.
We continue our look at some Old Testament misconceptions. Many Christians have beliefs about the Old Testament that they have picked up from one place or another and those beliefs caused them to have an incorrect perception about the Old Testament, its use, and its purpose.
We continue our look at some Old Testament misconceptions. Many Christians have beliefs about the Old Testament that they have picked up from one place or another and those beliefs caused them to have an incorrect perception about the Old Testament, its use, and its purpose.
This morning we want to begin to look at some Old Testament misconceptions. Many Christians have beliefs about the Old Testament that they have picked up from one place or another and those beliefs caused them to have an incorrect perception about the Old Testament, its use, and its purpose.
In this sermon, Pastor Jack introduces us to the content and structure of the Old Testament, while also explaining the chronology of the Old Testament.
In Psalm 29 God is described as reigning as King over the great worldwide flood. We can take great comfort in times of troubles because our mighty King strengthens and blesses His people.
In this sermon, we learn the importance of examining ourselves and confessing our sin before taking part in communion.
Pastor Jack continues to teach on the importance of giving from 2 Corinthians chapters 8 and 9. We’ve already discovered that giving is the grace of God flowing through the believer; giving shouldn’t be hindered by affliction or by poverty. And now we will discover that our giving should be proportional to how the Lord has blessed us.
As Pastor Jack teaches on stewardship and giving, we look at principles we can glean from 2 Corinthians chapters 8 and 9 where we learn that God helps us give generously, even in suffering and affliction.
In this sermon, we look at the last of the 10 Commandments— “Do not covet.” This command targets the secret sins of the heart. It is only commandment out of the Ten which cannot be seen yet gives birth to other sins that can be seen. In the parable of the rich fool, Jesus gives us a forceful exhortation to take action against covetousness.
In this sermon, we’ll learn about the foolishness of withholding from God the glory due to Him by being stingy in our giving, thereby robbing ourselves of a blessing. We’ll also see the great blessing that comes from being a faithful, cheerful, and generous giver.
From this sermon, we need to have two truths etched on our hearts that will help us not to rob ourselves of God’s blessing, and instead, gain His blessing in our lives.
In this sermon we see that all things come from God's hand, even our ability to provide for ourselves. We learn how God provides all things for us and orchestrates circumstances to teach us to depend on Him.
In this sermon, Pastor Jack addresses some of the trends in the world and in the church that we need to beware of, be on guard against, use discernment toward, so that no advantage will be taken of us by Satan. In doing so, he hopes to equip us to deal with many of the things we may encounter in the coming year.
In I Cor. 6:11, Paul tells us how all believers are a bunch of “has beens” in Christ. From this sermon, we should gain an understanding about three life changing things that happen to every person who places their faith in Jesus Christ.
In this text, we learn we need to give thanks to God for His many acts of kindness to us because He saved us, in spite of our sin, He rescued us from our enemies, and He provided for us.
Trying to summarize the role of an elder in one sermon is like trying to stuff an elephant into a thimble, so we need to be selective. In this sermon, Pastor Jack teaches us about the role of an elder as a model, as a shepherd, and as a target of Satan.
In these verses we learn about three different groups of characteristics about the Word of God. We learn how God’s Word changes us, why we should treasure God’s Word, and how the Bible helps us fulfill our reason for existing.