Tower View Baptist Church Media: Recent Episodes
Tower View Baptist Church
Grow your faith among family in a Gospel-centered, relationship-driven environment. Featuring sermons and teaching resources of Tower View Baptist Church in Kansas City, MO.
Your best life is only experienced when you learn to trust God beyond what you can see or understand.
God will build his church through his Word & messengers—even in the face of persecution.
Define the virgin birth & you'll lose your mind. Deny the virgin birth & you lose your soul.
In the risen Jesus, our hostility has been replaced with intimacy, peace, acceptance, delight, & affection.
A renewed commitment to biblical discipleship will usher in a new reformation of this time.
As the church, we’re in the middle of a battle we won’t lose & engaged in a mission that won’t fail.
Big Idea: Jesus gives us a comforting vision of His People as they now are, as they are to come, and as they ever will be delivered out of great tribulation unto the Lamb.
The bigger our view of God… the bigger our desire to tell his glory to all the peoples of the world.
God seals his people to shelter them from the coming judgment so they can serve him forever.
True worship begins when God is exalted and honored as holy and man is humbled and eclipsed.
If we did not believe in the sovereignty of God, we might lose our minds. But He is upon His throne. Therefore, we will not fear.
True, saving faith is shown through a passionate commitment to God's name & fame, his people, & his mission.
The greatness of a church isn’t measured by its budget, buildings, or bottoms in chairs, but rather by the size of the Savior whom it faithfully honors, passionately praises, & confidently trusts.
Jesus is more than you can imagine. Yet, the same hand that holds the stars of heaven is the same hand that touches you to ease your fear.
God does not require you to defeat the devil. He requires you to stand firm and persevere.
Every step forward in the Christian life is one of humble obedience to the work & word of God, motivated by grace & gratitude from a heart of love.
Every true Christian must joyfully obey, submit, & pray for their spiritual leaders for God’s glory and their good.
When God speaks, he doesn’t whisper but roars … and his voice drowns out every other opinion.
Even as we keep eyes fixed on Jesus, we haven’t run our faith-race well if we have been unconcerned about the whereabouts & condition of the rest of the runners—both saved & unsaved.
Suffering precedes glory. This was true of Jesus & it is true of those who follow Jesus.
We can’t treasure Jesus & savor his power without treasuring Jesus’ cross & savoring his suffering.
Herod: Deeply Disturbed | Scribes: Disconnected, Disloyal, Disingenuous | Magi: Devoted, Determined
God may call us into a long obedience in a dark direction—&, yet, he calls us to give up our lives & abandon ourselves by faith to his sovereign plan
Faith honors God, and God honors faith. Walk by faith. Live by faith. Witness by faith.
Understanding the Word of God leads your salvation leads to your salvation.
God commanded Israel to learn and obey the Word of God. We are like them. As children of God through Jesus Christ, we need to learn and obey the whole Word of God--the Holy Bible--because of our salvation.
God and his glory: The source of everything in our lives, the sustainer of everything, and the goal of everything.
Be thankful for the grace—and the grace alone—that has covered your past, empowers and protects your present, & guarantees your future.
True saving faith isn’t for those who behave but who believe in risen Jesus. It is not for those who try but who wholly trust in him.
By humbling yourself before God you submit to Him and draw closer to Him. By trusting God with your own eternal future, you can sit back and relax knowing that life on earth is short and Heaven is eternal.
A commitment to Christ always leads to a commitment to his church—& a true love & longing for the people that make it up.
`When our Lord & Savior said, “It is finished,” he meant it. His grace is complete & sufficient, so we can live, by the Holy Spirit, with power where we live every day.
We should never stop celebrating the once and forever forgiveness that is ours because of the willing and substitutionary death of Jesus.
No Christian owns his own life. We are bought with the blood of Christ & are under new management.
In Christ, we not only have access to God, atonement with God, and can see the glory of God—we have the very presence of God living in us.
In the New Covenant, God did not relax his standards, he expanded his transforming grace.
When you come to Christ, you don’t just get the kingdom—you get the King. God’s greatest gift to us is the gift of himself.
Jesus not only made the way—and was the way—but he bore the curse for our sake that we might know Abraham’s blessing.
The return of Jesus is the ultimate hope & promised fulfilled for every true Christian.
Jesus was the temple to end all temples, the priest to end all priests, and the sacrifice to end all sacrifices.
Our changed lives (sanctification) are the clear evidence of our being right with God (justification) and the confident assurance of our future with Him (glorification).
If you believe what you like in the Gospel --and you reject what you don't like--it isn't the Gospel you believe but yourself.
To build a household of faith, we must see children as a sign of God’s pleasure & a source of God’s protection.
Jesus called you to be a disciple. Jesus called you to make disciples. Jesus has given you the strength, knowledge, and wisdom you need to follow Him. Follow Him today!
The perfect, qualifying, & sin-bearing priestly work of Jesus Christ is the sum & substance of all our doctrine, delight, & duty.
There's no pain of life not understood by the Jesus, the sinless high priest and Son of God, who is your Savior—& meets you with heavenly sympathy & just the right mercy.
No matter how deep your sin, weakness and failure is, God's amazing, forgiving and transforming grace is greater.
People rarely fall away from Jesus quickly. The road of apostasy is paved by seemingly small, unrepented sins that callous the heart toward God. Lord, let us never find comfort with any degree of abiding sin.
Unbelief is a failure to recognize the immeasurable greatness & the goodness of the Son of God.
"Consider Jesus” doesn’t mean “take Jesus for a test drive & try him out.” Rather, that we would find our lives satisfied in, in awe of, & enthralled by Christ and Christ alone.
Because of the Past and Present, you have a Future. The troubles of this world will pass away. The joys of this world will pale in comparison to the blessings of Heaven. Pastor Nelson preaching.
Jesus defeated temptation so, when we're defeated by temptation, we would be judged by his record and not ours.
If you are a Christian, you can overcome the devil--not because you are stronger than him, but because Jesus has defeated him.
Jesus came in order to make possible what is impossible for every sinner: eternal, unbreakable acceptance with God.
The greatest danger in life is drifting. Each day we live in a river of worldliness. We can’t escape it. Either we swim toward Christ, or we drift toward the falls.
The greatest of angels claim nothing in their own name. But this Man, Jesus, not only lays claim to heaven, but to the very throne of God!
In uncertain days, let’s stand tall, trusting in God, & face whatever the future brings with calm, courage, & compassion, as the display of His presence in a violent world.
Jesus came to do what you couldn’t do, so you could receive what you wouldn’t have been able to earn.
True contentment is not determined by the fluctuating circumstances of life but in our growing knowledge in the steadfast sufficiency of Christ.
If you could lose your salvation, you definitely would. But you cannot, so you will not. You are eternally secure in Christ.
As the branch receives all it needs from the vine, even so, we find all-sufficient grace in Christ.
There is not one drop of saving grace outside of Jesus Christ. He has an exclusive monopoly on all grace.
A pastor is one sinful sheep leading other sinful sheep to follow the sinless Good Shepherd for eternal salvation.
Worship is more about giving than getting; less about "liking" it, more about loving Him.
The goal of a church isn’t to have a bigger building or budget—but to see the Word of God increase & disciples multiply.
The common goal God has given us as a family in Christ is Christ-likeness, maturity, and growth.
Church exists to show God, to make God known, to be filled up with God, & to fill up the world with God. And God does this all for his glory and our good!
When we lose our unity in the church, it's because something has become more important to us than Jesus.
God has promised to build His church. When we believe that, not even hell will be able to stop us.
The Great Commission is so wonderfully freeing because it is big enough to fill the whole world and yet small enough for every single one of us to play a part.
"No country on this earth supersedes the Kingdom of Heaven. The Kingdom of Heaven unites all Christians across the globe for all times. There are no barriers in heaven—not language, not political systems, not economics, not political parties. Countries come and go; the Kingdom of Heaven is eternal."
-- Pastor Nelson Nissley
What the Lord requires, he enables. With every command he meets us with grace. As he calls us to follow, he works on our desires. Grace!
A Gospel-centered pastor & church member are those who are intimately aware of how broken the local church is, and yet is relentlessly optimistic about her future—together for God’s glory.
The deeper you hope in the return of Jesus, the more like Him you become—and the more the world will know the One you serve.
Sermon big idea: The personal hope the Bible holds out most abundantly for Christians is not rapture but resurrection.
The personal hope the Bible holds out most abundantly for Christians is not rapture but resurrection.
The clear teaching of Scripture: Sex is for marriage, marriage is for life, & marriage is for a man and a woman—all for our good and growth in holiness.
As Christians, we’re called to be a gospel-centered people who grow in biblical community & who serve together on mission to advance Jesus’ gospel in and through suffering.
Jesus is never made hysterical, neither by those who fight him, nor by his disciples when they go a bit wonky.
What you feel and believe about God’s word reflect what you feel and believe about God himself.
Every local church is imperfect & flawed. Yet, the church is, like Noah’s, the ark of salvation, providing safety for God’s people in a storm of judgment to come. So, climb aboard—even if some of the animals stink from time to time.
The One who lived above history, entered history, & by his life, death and resurrection, would make a mark on history that could never be erased.
What Israel celebrated was a partial fulfillment of God’s plan as they knew it, we can celebrate as the complete fulfillment through Jesus Christ the Son of God.
Concerning sin: it's kill or be killed. You're either fighting the war or you're losing it. There's no Switzerland in being like Christ.
We will never be satisfied trying to fit God into the corners of our lives. We were created for so much more!
Sermon for March 14, 2021 | Nehemiah 11-12
True revival happens when the Spirit of God uses an intensification of ordinary means to bring about extraordinary results.
Guest Preacher: Jon Moody "The Christian life is a battle - are you on the winning side?"
Don't ever underestimate spiritual warfare and the mischievous work of our enemy to keep you from gathered worship.
God’s grace has given us what we have (especially in Christ!)—& it’s his grace that will work in our hearts to be generous with all that we have.
Nehemiah has faced opposition from without ... now... what happens when it comes from the inside?
Today's big idea is: "If you're a Christian, you're my brother or sister, and the blood of Christ is more powerful than whatever may threaten to divide us. Let’s refuse to treat like trash those whom the Lord himself embraces, for how we treat fellow Christians will show if belong to Christ."
Nehemiah and crew start rebuilding the walls of the holy city--while facing challenges from without and within.
Today's big idea:
"We can’t avoid suffering--we can’t avoid opposition--but we make it worse when we think it is something strange or unusual, for all of us everywhere, if we are following Christ with a radical unflinching devotion, will have opposition."
We continue our study of Nehemiah and look at a chapter most skip over. Today's big idea is:
"We only have a limited time to serve God. Not a day to waste. We must make every moment count."
The depth of our convictions about God fuels the intensity of our passion for SERVING God.
Today's big idea:
There's no damage that sin has done that God's grace--fully complete in Christ—can't reach, restore, and rebuild
Today's big idea:
There's no damage that sin has done that God's grace--fully complete in Christ—can't reach, restore, and rebuild
As Christians, you have bee placed into the race of faith. Run with all the might God has given you. Don't slow up or down. Don't drag your feet. Stay the course. Press on with endurance. Look to the reward that awaits you beyond the finish line - God himself.
Following Jesus your Savior is not easy, convenient, nor without risk. Following Jesus may cost you your power, your wealth, and your reputation.
Today, we look at the King with four names / titles - Jesus! What does this passage mean for us? Today's big idea: "Ponder his names: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Each is worth a lifetime of meditation."
In a world that denies the supernatural, is the virgin birth of Jesus really still a thing?
Today's big idea:
"As Christians, we must face the fact that a denial of the Virgin Birth is a denial of Jesus as the Christ."
All are welcome to join us as we explore this important topic!
Today's big idea: "From before the foundations of the earth, Jesus placed his love on you and he knew the cross would be the price."
Big idea: Measured by eternity, the hardships of life won't be long. So: Don’t’ be afraid, don’t be surprised, don’t cave in, don’t give up on Jesus and His work
Sunday School November 15, 2020 God's Servant Suffered for You Isaiah 52:13-15; 53:1-12
Today's sermon is preached by TVBC seminary intern, Lane Paul. The big idea is:
"Christ’s finished work on the cross is the fulfillment of God’s covenant faithfulness to save his people."
Today's sermon is preached by TVBC seminary intern, Lane Paul. The big idea is:
"Christ’s finished work on the cross is the fulfillment of God’s covenant faithfulness to save his people."
Join us as we continue our study over what the Bible says about rulers and God--and how it affects us!
We look at the Lord's Supper and remind ourselves of the basic truths of the ordinance Christ gave us.
In this life, we’re never so far away from God that he can’t hear us when we call upon his name.
Ask the Pastors: Review of “State of Theology Survey”
(Posted by Ken Lupton—if you’re a Christian, this should make you cringe 🤕)
+++++++++++
Among "evangelicals" in U.S. from Ligonier on thestateoftheology.com Concerning!
-31% say science disproves the Bible. -33% say gender is a choice. -38% say Jesus was not God. -62% say God accepts all religions. -62% say the Holy Spirit is the force. -66% say people are good by nature. -75% say God first created Jesus.
—Ligonier
https://thestateoftheology.com/?fbclid=IwAR2UqmOzh8fun_mMnQRIuThRx5NiYK4x4hZDaG_ycsM8yV1gDWGxPInvVFI
Questions submitted this week:
- What about ghosts?
- Was Nicodemus the same man who helped take down and prepare Jesus' body?
Big idea: Simple-minded trust in a big God beats big-minded thoughts of a small God every single time.
Bible questions submitted to us this week:
- What does the Bible say about reincarnation?
- What about mediums?
Sunday School for 23 August 2020 Song of Solomon 2:15-3:5 God's View of a Marriage Relationship
Sunday School for 23 August 2020 Song of Solomon 2:15-3:5 God's View of a Marriage Relationship
We have two for this week: 1. Marriage in Heaven? 2. Can you be saved and still follow a false teacher?
Wherever life takes us—no matter how hard or dark—you carry God with you there, because he really does dwell inside you.
Trials reveal our weakness. Weakness reveals our need. Need moves us to pray. And prayer opens the door to God's endless supply.
The Christian life requires. Patience with God, patience with brothers & sisters in Christ, and patience with yourself.
Either we trust God by affirming all his revealed wisdom, or we play God by deciding what he got wrong.
Words may seem like small things, but they have huge effects on all those around you for God's glory.
Outline:
- Your words steer your life.
- Your words can bring disaster to all those around you.
- You words must be tamed by God.
- All your words must be healthy all the time in all circumstances.
Because God has laid claim to every area of your life, how you respond to and treat the people that you encounter every day shows how much you understand all he has done for you in the Gospel.
Join senior pastor Darin Smith as he continues our next installment of "Street-Level Faith" from the book of James. Today, we are looking at James 1:19-27:
--Sermon Big idea: If you only obey God's & His Word when it seems fair or valuable to you—well, that isn't really obedience at all.
**NOTE: Please hit the speaker icon in the bottom right corner to unmute the audio.
Join senior pastor Darin Smith as he continues our third installment of "Street-Level Faith" from the book of James. Today, we are looking at:
*Sermon text: James 1:2-15
*Sermon title: "Why Can't I Blame You, Lord?”
*Sermon big idea: Trials are God’s unannounced exams to reveal your motivations in the faith: “Am I serving God, or do I want God to serve me?”
Today, we will see how the apostle presents three profound questions to consider in the midst of suffering:
Question #1 – Does it really benefit me to obey (James 1:12)?
Question #2 – Does God really mess with people (James 1:13)?
Question #3 - If all this is true, why do I sin (James 1:14-15)?
In tough times, God gives us money so that we will use it to show that he is more precious than what money can buy.
In troubled times, James shares two ways mature Christians boast in what money can’t buy.
- Mature Christians boast in spite of their poverty (1:9)
- Mature Christians don’t boast in their wealth (1:10-11).
Like Thomas, Jesus embraces your spiritual doubts & resolves them with a decision, a present, & a miracle only he can provide.
Big idea: God will freely provide wisdom to face life's trials when you come to him in believing prayer
In James 1:5-8, we see two duties to access wisdom in life’s trials.
- Ask God for the wisdom you need (1:5).
- Trust God for the wisdom you need (1:6-8).
Explore the Bible series for our small groups taught each week right now by Pastor Nelson.
Trials are God’s unannounced exams to see how we are doing in the school of faith.
- Your spiritual identity (James 1:1a)
- Your Lord (1:1b)
- Your need for spiritual family (1:1c)
- Your call to joy (1:2a)
- Your providential lot (1:2b)
- Your sanctification (1:3)
- Your call to endure (1:4)
In the new birth, the Great Physician cures our soul, removes our old heart, & gives us new heart--& He still makes house calls.
God’s holiness cannot be treated with contempt or discarded like last week’s church bulletin.
We shouldn’t fear atheism as much as we are OK asking God to coexist comfortably with the idols of our heart.
Many people who say "Only God can judge me" live like he won't. Know this: God cannot be mocked. He sees, he knows, and he will not be silent forever.
We measure worship by how we feel as we worship. True worship is measured by what God thinks about our worship.
God has always worked through a small group. He desires quality not quantity, depth not breadth
Sharing the Gospel often looks like a waste. You will never see, in this life, all the good that your witnessing has done. Just keep sowing… sowing…sowing.
God calls us to follow him without telling us what tomorrow will hold. Because there is a more important vision for us than the future.
The light of God's glory often shines into our lives during our darkest hours. The darker the night, the brighter the light.
Like Anna, we become like what we focus upon. Fix your eyes upon Christ and be conformed into His image.
Like Simeon, may we live thankfully & expectantly, asking God to continue to show us the difference between the things that matter, & the things that don’t matter.
God’s will 101: Obey. Repeat. Confess. Repent. Do this & you’ll always be where He wants you to be doing what He wants you to do.
The Lord’s Supper isn’t a “TV dinner” that you enjoy on your own terms. Rather, it’s a family reunion where God’s redeemed children come together to celebrate the bond that we share in Christ.
Pastor Nelson wraps up with the big themes of the Gospel of Mark and these apply to our life--after 2.75 years in the book!
The five "solas" aren't just the solas of the Reformation, they are the solas of the Gospel and the entire Christian life.
God has called us out of the world by the gospel to go back into the world with the gospel—and this is our chief business in the world.
As they mock him, they submit to prophecy. As they lift him, they exalt him. As they kill him, he conquers.
In the great exchange of the cross, the worst of me (my sin) was laid upon Jesus Christ & the best of Him (his righteousness) was laid upon me.
News flash: Christians can sin terribly. However, like Peter who denied Jesus, a true Christian will go out and weep bitterly, for sin has no happy home in a believer's heart.
At Jesus's first coming, he stood trial before the world. At his second coming, the world will stand trial before him
Every Christian & church is headed for either reformation & revival OR retreat & ruin. There’s no middle ground.
All men are dead in their sin. Our calling as Christians is not to plan their funeral, but to plan for their resurrection.
When we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, we’re not just remembering the past, we’re tasting the future.
Any like betrayal before us – or the one Jesus experienced: In the end, because events don't determine God's plan—God's plan determines events—He will use evil to do the opposite of what was intended.
Take heart: Our Savior sits in active, sovereign control over all the things that would confuse, overwhelm, surprise, disappoint, or disturb you.
We must champion both the inclusiveness & exclusiveness of Jesus because this is the struggle that makes Jesus so irresistibly compelling to all who truly know him.
Stand by every word of Jesus Christ—the ones the world loves, & the ones the world hates.
Christ is coming soon! Be ready. It is going to be difficult – but we aren’t home yet. Keep your heart clean & your teeth brushed.
Deep longings for Jesus' return should be matched—or overmatched—by a deep engagement with Jesus' mission to reach the world with the Gospel.
God has not called us to entertain the goats, but to feed the sheep, and to tell the goats to become the sheep.
Jesus is eternally God, perfectly man, the God-man, the only One who could be the Mediator between God and man.
We're called to love God and neighbor, but our standing with God isn't based on how much we love, but on his boundless love for us.
Because of Jesus, our guilt is gone, judgment is exhausted, shame is broken, pain is redeemed, hearts are healed, lives matter, and our future rocks!
A faithful church is from above and identifies with the King of the universe—not any country, nationality, or political party.
If we are open to God's word and do not hear his voice, the problem is not with his speaking but with our listening.
There's no need to give way to fear because today the Lord reigns in unfettered authority and is working his unstoppable eternal plan.
Because of God's salvation, you can be secure that God cannot and will not lose you or forget you.
The same Jesus who turned over tables & cleansed the temple isn’t one who allows the trivialization of public worship. Let us come together with awe & reverence before Him.
If your life doesn't echo with the thunder of generosity, you have not been struck with the lightning of God’s grace.
We are often like the worshippers on the Passover: eager for the party, not quite ready for the cross.
Jesus knows what it's like make your way in this fallen world, so he offers you mercy that is form-fit for your particular moment of need.
Jesus came that we would be born again. He came to earth that we would go to heaven. He became like us that we would become like Him. Let’s own our helplessness.
The doctrine of total depravity simply means there’s no area of your life in which you can say, “I don’t need Jesus for that.”
Jesus didn't redeem our potential save-ability--he took names to the cross and he marched those names out of the tomb
A godly life isn’t built in a day, a year, or a single event, but by the daily practice of prayer and renewing the mind in the Word of God.
The incarnation in Jesus Christ is God's clear evidence that he will always make good on all of his promises to us.
Focus on Jesus Christ, the Son of God, not on your own position nor on your own title, but on the one named Jesus
Christianity is not merely a cause to join, nor a code to keep, but a Christ to receive.
Jesus came to dethrone us & enthrone Himself as King in our hearts because people, places, & things will never be our Savior.
The church’s best days are ahead. It's time to expect great things of God, & attempt great things for God.
Fools believe they know enough about Jesus. The wise would trade the world just to know him more.
There are no superhero Christians…only super-dependent Christians with a child-like faith
Jesus' view was that sex is for marriage, marriage is for life and marriage is for a man and a woman.
Hell is a real place, populated with real people, suffering real agony, from real fire. Avoid it at all costs. Trust Jesus.
We cannot truly believe in the radical claims of Christ without it having a radical, drastic, or even devastating effect upon our lives.
The better we know Jesus, the quicker we will repent of being narrow-minded, pig-headed & small-hearted. Grace frees!
The characteristics of a true disciple include the desire to worship, serve, and witness.
Your hope isn’t in what you wish Jesus would provide, but in what is already yours by means of his life, death, & resurrection
Prayer calls me to abandon the present as my only lens on life and to commit to look at life from the perspective of eternity.
Gathering each Sunday to worship the resurrected Lord with other believers should be an island of get to in an ocean of have to.
Getting biblical church leadership is necessary for the church to display the glory of Christ.
Summary: When you become a true Christian—a disciple of Christ Jesus—you don’t become his helper. Rather, He becomes your helper—to do all his will.
Summary: Your main difficulty, and mine, is that we do not gaze enough upon the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Summary: You want to be relevant? Preach the gospel, deny yourself and take up your cross and follow Jesus and be ready to be called irrelevant.
Summary: Churches that don't practice church discipline because they think it's unloving are in fact not loving churches, nor are they real churches.
Summary: Satan doesn't need to get rid of the cross,…he's content simply to make you misunderstand it and get bored with it.
Summary: If Jesus is who He says He is…then everything in your life will and should change
Summary: There's no rebellion too great, no weakness too deep, no blindness too profound that God's grace can't conquer.
Being a committed member of the Bride of Christ, His church. Requires first that we die to self daily.
Summary: Our erratic hearts & slow growth to maturity don’t have the power to make God abandon the work of grace that he's begun in us.
We are qualified to be ministers of reconciliation because we know who and from what we have been saved.
If Jesus calls you a dog…don't get mad. Simply ask for crumbs, &, suddenly you have the inheritance of sons.
Summary: Since sin is greater than bad behavior, simply trying to do better isn't the answer. Only God’s free grace that changes the heart can rescue us.
Don't trust your heart, your head, your friends, your science, or your traditions more than you trust God's Word.
The Resurrection is a giant receipt stamped across history saying your debt has been paid for and you don't have to pay it ever again.
God is gracious to give us seasons of prosperity and seasons of adversity. We need both.
The Gospel isn't just a a "Jesus flu shot" or a "get-out-of-hell-free" card that you apply to your life. The Gospel is the A to Z of all we do as individuals, families, and churches for now and eternity.
You will have times of physical weakness, but your most significant weakness is spiritual, and for that you have a strength-giving Savior.
If you think you can be a Christian without facing opposition, then you’re not following Christ of the cross.
God’s work must be done God’s way according to God’s Word if it is to know God’s blessing
We should never become focused on the storms of life to the exclusion of the sovereignty of God.
God, the Creator of the Universe, is the center your worship. Scripture is the center of knowing God and what He has done for you. Scripture is the center of knowing God’s will for your life.
Because you’re not God, you will face mystery and confusion in your life. Remember God deals with neither. He just carefully works his plan.
The only New Year's Resolution we need to make every year is to collapse more fully on Christ. We trust in Jesus' resolve.
The Christmas story climaxes with a tree - no, not the one you decorated, but the tree of victory and forgiveness on Calvary.
Jesus doesn't see himself as another prophet, the last prophet, or the greatest of all the prophets....but as fulfilling all prophecy.
Jesus doesn't see himself as another prophet, the last prophet, or the greatest of all the prophets....but as fulfilling all prophecy.
When you believe God is sovereign, you do more praying to the Lord of the harvest to bring the increase than hating and beating up those without.
Jesus never said, "If you obey me, I'll love you." Rather, "If you love me, you'll obey me." The difference = the gospel
If we take away the uncompromising scandal & demands of the exclusiveness (Christ Alone), what’s left behind is an empty, hollow message that can’t save.
We ought to be so sick at any suggestion that even the slightest part of our salvation is by anything other than grace alone.
We'd rather be starved, tortured, and murdered than distort the doctrine of justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.
As culture changes, society changes, morality changes, & church changes, the Bible never changes—it’s sufficiently living & active.
Judas heard all of Christ's sermons. To repent is more than feeling sorry for your sin. Judas was sorry for betraying Christ and went straight away from God for eternity.
The Gospel gives us three things we need most - a new heart, a new record, and a new master.
Intern Nathaniel King talks about how we have a real Savior who came back and we shouldn't be so hard on Thomas.
Like Bartholomew, my greatest needs are death to self, conformity to Christ and the filling of the Holy Spirit. Apart from this, I can't be a useful servant.
The ultimate joy is to know Jesus Christ personally. The second ultimate joy is to make Him known.
We never, even at our seeming best, benefit God at all. If he uses us at all, it's all thanks to his grace and mercy.
We must have one ultimate passion for the 3-in-1 God, never lukewarm, but with a eager heart full of zeal for Christ and His kingdom.
Dear hurting and struggling Christian: You're as loved by God as the Jesus-denying Peter, the murderer-adulterer David, & the thrice holy, perfect God-man--Jesus Christ.
The pen God uses to write our story is filled with grace and takes us places we may never know or desire.
To all single, abandoned, heartbroken, widowed, divorced, or happily-married women: May your first and ultimate love be in Jesus Christ.
To all single, abandoned, heartbroken, widowed, divorced, or happily-married women: May your first and ultimate love be in Jesus Christ.
We don't need a new kind of Christianity, but a new passion for the old kind. We need a passion for knowing the Gospel and making the Gospel known.
Being a woman or a man has nada to do with how much God loves you, but it does inform something of how you love God.
To be a man is a magnificent privilege from God. To be a woman is a magnificent privilege from God. Don't throw your gift away.
Every season of true revival in the church’s history has started with an immediate return to the sufficiency of & authority of Scripture alone.
The most wonderful pastoral ministry takes place when we understand the best we have to offer is the Word of God & prayer.
Jesus’ resurrection: Till it’s truly believed, one can’t and isn’t a biblical Christian. Till it’s truly presented, the Gospel hasn’t been proclaimed
Jesus was fixed on the cross & then consumed by wrath. We are to be overwhelmed by grace as we are fixed on the cross.
A believer’s life isn’t an amusement park, but a warzone. The nearer we follow this great God, the more we advance to the ground zero of the war.
We should be very careful not to grow an attitude of hostility & anger for the world that our God loves & for the people he plans for us to reach.
The Sabbath is a (needed) weekly reminder that God will keep ALL things properly working even when we rest from working.
Christianity isn't just a relationship, as is often said…It's an all-of-life-embracing Gospel religion established on & flowing from our union with Jesus
Absolutely, Christ was a 'friend of sinners'....but because he was a real friend, he summoned those friends to repent and believe the Gospel.
The miracles of Christ teach us that he has the power and authority on earth to forgive sins: seek the Savior, not the sign.
No missionary strategy or marketing scheme could have ever advanced this foolish, offensive stumbling block called theGospel. BUT GOD...
If the love of God for His people is weighed by our wealth, comfort, & health in this life, God hated everyone who has ever suffered for Him
Jesus arrived to place us under His authority—the only authority that releases us from our slavery to sin & openly calls us into His family of grace.
Christ didn’t beg people to open their hearts, parrot a prayer, & ask Him in. Rather, He commanded them to repent & believe the Gospel.
Our problem is not whether God will be faithful to his promises, but whether we will be faithful in trusting him.
The grandest works for God are frequently done during the dimmest and most demanding days.
Define the virgin birth and you will lose you mind…deny the virgin birth and you will lose your soul.
Every sin pardoned, every need provided for, every said promise fulfilled, zero of God's covenant believers forgotten = G R A C E!
You can glance over the fence and crave someone else’s life… or you can tell yourself that the God of the Bible has blessed you in ways you never could've earned or deserved.
Tell the truth and people will really hear you when you tell them you love them. Really love people and they will hear you when you must speak to them the truth.
In Scripture, one of the unique traits of God’s people is that we view sex differently. We know sex is a cherished & holy gift for which there must be boundaries to guard and sanctify it.
The sacredness of God's name and the sacredness of human life go together. Where God's name is no longer revered, neither is life.
Your relationship (or lack thereof) with your parents has a weighty sway on how you view, worship, and obey God
You’ll never regret one sacrifice in Jesus' name—your only regret will be how much you’ve held back and how little you’ve lived for Him!
What is our responsibility in the 21st century as we seek to honor the Lord's Day as holy?
If you’ll have God on your own terms and image, it's not God that you have—but an idol.
As Christians, the real threat isn’t atheists or atheism, but that we ask God to co-habitate comfortably with the idols of our heart."
Since Jesus finishes the law to the utmost of its demands, He can achieve our salvation to the utmost of our need.
Every spiritual need is tackled & every one of God's purposes is guaranteed by the person & work of Jesus.
To live for Christ means He is our solitary purpose, supreme passion, and single pursuit in life.
Our love to others should be so far-reaching, intentional, biblical, Christ-centered, pure, and self-sacrificing that the world may hate us for it.
For every biblical truth there's a matching falsehood, thus, a Christian is known not only by what he believes, but by what he rejects.
The church is a horde of people who know how down they are, how much they need their Savior, and how much they need each other.
Our perseverance in the faith isn’t the fruit of our resolve, but the result of God's faithfulness.
False teaching starts with the assumption the Lord wants to give us our best life now rather than of our best life later.
Your obedience doesn't lock-in God’s grace for you, but is a sure sign that His grace in the Gospel has really invaded your life.
Jesus can't just be favorited or liked--either you murder Him or crown Him in your life.
The scandal of Christianity is that there is only one way to heaven but many roads to hell.
Marriage is God’s shaping agent that helps us turn into our future glory selves in Christ.
What you believe the purpose of marriage to be determines the outcome of your marriage before God.
We were chosen by God before the world and called out of the world, to go back into the world, in order to reach the world to bring Him praise.
Gratitude to God that finds His gifts pleasing, but Himself displeasing, isn’t a gratitude that glorifies Him.
Weekly corporate worship is an invitation to remember again that you are not in the center of your world and a welcome to worship the One who is.
We worship not to get right with God, but because He has declared us right with Himself in Christ, & thus we can’t help but worship Him.
The depth of our worship will be dependent upon how brilliantly & beautifully we see Christ.
Unless you believe in hell, you will never know how much Jesus loves you. Hell is full of sincere, religious people, never born again, and heaven is full of immoral people who repented and believed in Christ.
Guest preacher Blake Loy explains that: The basis of God's faithfulness begins with God Himself.
God's care for you is secure because it does not depend on your faithfulness, but on his.
Happiness depends upon our happenings—ever changing…But joy relies upon our Lord—unchanging
Every part of my Christian life is totally & utterly dependent upon a correct knowledge of God.
Spell out the Trinity, & you may lose your mind. Snub the Trinity, & you’ll lose your soul.
The best defense to the lies we hear from within our hearts is the rehearsal of truth—Scripture.
If we’re reluctant to forgive those who repent, we may prove that we’ve not truly experienced God's forgiveness.
The more you rejoice in your own forgiveness in Christ, the quicker you will be to forgive others—Christian or not.
Heaven isn’t a carnival hall of mirrors where we like what we see, but the grand gift of self-forgetful joy in the glory of Christ and His Gospel.
Jesus' reputation was for being a friend of sinners, not for being continually outraged at the Pharisees. Is mine...Is mine...Is yours...Is ours?
Everyone in a church usually wants to be like Jesus in some way—but no one wants to turn tables, rebuke false teachers, or wash the feet of doubters.
Because the Gospel of Christ is endlessly rich, it can handle the burden of being the one "main thing" of a church—in truth and love.
If your heart doesn't ache for people who don't know Christ, you may not know Christ yourself.
If you desire to be more useful to the Master, you must become more like the Master—your greatest need is greater conformity to Christ.
Your salvation didn’t start with you deciding to seek God, but with Him choosing to seek you.
If homosexual sin is beyond the reach of the Gospel we preach, then we’re not preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
If you don't believe in or understand the wrath of God, the Gospel won't empower, thrill, or move you.
God’s purpose for you & the church in Christ & the Gospel is big enough to captivate, sweet enough to satisfy, & strong enough to sustain.
If you don’t believe that God is absolutely sovereign over everything & everyone, then you have every reason to worry about tomorrow.
The Gospel that leads to eternal heaven one day leads to personal & church-wide holiness today.
The goal of the Christian life is that Christ would become more attractive & desirable than the appeal and allure of sin.
The Gospel doesn't call us to receive Christ as an addition to our life, but, rather. as our life.
• Do you care more about yourself or others (2:19-24)? • Do you & others see God’s work in your life (2:25-30)?"
The fear of God is the death of every other fear. The Gospel is the difference between having the fear of the Lord and being afraid of God.
The extent to which you’re unimpressed with the cross is the extent to which you are impressed with yourself.
Adversity revives the church, while prosperity ruins her, & we most often grow spiritually through adversity than prosperity—through trials than triumphs.
The church is flooded with the latest strategies to grow the church & reach the world. What is needed is the Word, prayer, & holiness.
Healthy church members want to get better at following Jesus, not for their pride's sake, but for God's name's sake.
--Understands its true identity and mission (1:1a-c) --Includes leaders who lead by example (1:1d) -- Walks in grace and peace (1:2).
Dr. Tony Preston, guest preacher, gives Pastor Darin's installation service sermon before his first full week.