West Laurel Baptist Church: Recent Episodes
West Laurel Baptist Church
Introduction We are going to talk about money this week. The humor of the fact that many of you recieved “stimulus” checks last week is not lost on me. but... that is not why we are talking about money this week. If you attend regularly you know that what we do is go through Scripture one verse at a…
Introduction Chapter divisions Last week talked about hypocrisy careful to tithe garden herbs, but neglected justice and love of God. Spiritual disciplines are great! Just don’t replace the biggest things with smaller things. == Jesus is still talking about hypocrisy Gives us some ways to avoid hypocrisy…
Introduction When the media talks about religious people, for the most part we are all lumped together as “people of faith.” and... increasingly, that is used to distinguish us from “people of science.” (( absurd distinction - a proper view of God only enhances one’s interest in actual science because…
Introduction Last week we heard Jesus disprove a popular theory that people have about neutrality toward God. Jesus said... 23 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. That should dispel the idea people get in their heads about being okay with God as long as…
During Pastoral Prayer may want to give some updates on SBC Introduction Good morning. (( recap last week )) Dirty politics is not new. Gas-lighting is not new. Definition - Gas-lighting is a form of psychological manipulation in which a person or a group covertly sows seeds of doubt in a targeted individual…
Introduction We will be talking about prayer again this week. This text makes me feel a little uncomfortable, to be honest. I think it may do the same for you when we get done. But before that... I want us to talk about prayer in general. Have you ever given serious consideration to why we pray? Do our…
Introduction Today we will look at the Lord’s Prayer. It probably won’t be the version that most of you have memorized. That one is over in Mt. 6 . Rather than this being an edited version of that prayer, this is almost certainly a different occasion being reported. It is helpful to have both of these…
Introduction Summarize last week. the question the answer the summary of the law is... love God (last week) love neighbor (this week) == God is perfectly lovely. He deserves perfect love. (we still don’t love God perfectly bc we are sinful and selfish) Neighbor is much harder to love. PRAY read passage…
Introduction We are going to deal today with a very familiar story for most of you. It is the parable of the good Samaritan. Sometimes when we deal with the familiar we tend not to listen as closely... because... we think we know all there is to know about it. Let me encourage you from the outset not…
Introduction (list 5 attributes of God - doesn’t matter how you say it - only you will see it) Did anyone write... omniscient - knows everything omnipotent - all powerful omnipresent - he’s everywhere loving wise holy == Those are all good and true. Did anyone write... joyful? (no problem - there are…
Introduction Last week we talked about Jesus sending out 70 or 72 missionaries. These were true believers. They had heard and understood the cost of discipleship that Jesus had been teaching. They knew that to follow Jesus they had to deny themselves, take up their crosses daily, and follow Him. They…
Introduction I hope you had a wonderful Christmas. Recently we have studied two passages that discussed the cost of following Jesus. I hope those studies were profitable to you. I hope they showed you the real gospel... and... made obvious the corruption of the feel-good, no-strings-attached, false gospel.…
Introduction It is almost Christmas. (doesn’t really feel like it though) (church and music since i was a kid) (Christmas Eve service should help) == Today we are not going to talk about baby Jesus. I’ve mentioned before that the world loves baby Jesus. The only thing He demanded was milk and a clean…
Introduction Last week we talked about faith. Faith is believing and acting on what God says. To know what God says, you need to hear from him. Through... listening to real, biblical preaching reading the Word and mingling with the people of God - the church - church member and I talked the other day…
Introduction This week we are going to talk about faith. Faith is one of the most misunderstood concepts in the church today... and It is even more of a confusing concept in the culture. == Faith is not wishful thinking. It is not wishful thinking with some consideration of God mixed in. Some people…
Introduction Recap last week Gospel according to Jesus... 23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. Count the cost? Yes Now you know the cost. I really hope that sticks with you. == Today’s big idea is that Jesus is coming back…
Introduction Last week we looked very briefly at Peter’s confession that Jesus was the Christ of God Christ = Messiah Reign on David’s throne forever (Israel had it great under David and Solomon, but this would be even better.) Overthrow Roman oppression Heal everybody - awesome health care plan Jesuscare…
Introduction Luke has shown us lots of miracles. Ch. 4 Jesus cast a demon out of a man who was in the synagogue. Then he healed Peter’s mother-in-law and lots of other people. Ch. 5 Jesus has Peter catch this miraculous load of fish after they had been working all night for nothing. Cleanses a leper…
Introduction Good morning! Last week - Jesus told us what to do with truth. Hear it - He who has ears, let him hear. Treasure it - for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks he has will be taken away Share it - not under bed or jar, but on a stand ==…
Introduction What is a parable? If you have been in church for a while, you probably know that a parable is a story. It’s a story that teaches a truth in a really memorable way. Once we go through this parable carefully, you will probably always remember it. What a wonderful method of teaching this is!…
Introduction We are going to see an episode in the life of Christ today that we could pass over pretty quickly, but... I hope and pray that it will teach us a lot about the person and the heart of Jesus. There tend to be two theological extremes in orthodox Christianity Rational - somewhat cold - very…
Introduction Good Morning! Business Meeting in 2 weeks. We have seen in our study of Luke so far that Jesus has authority... in his teaching over demons over sickness over nature and over the law itself. Today we will meet a man that truly understands authority. We are going to see someone who embodies…
Introduction Good morning! Last week Jesus spoke some very hard truth to me, and hopefully to you. I have dealt with it continually this week. ((You know, if I preached on tithing, and you don’t tithe, you could just go fix it. You could set up a bank draft and be done.)) But... Jesus told us that we…
Introduction Luke has shown us over the past few weeks that Jesus has authority... in his teaching over demons over sickness over nature and this week we will see that he has authority over the law. Jesus was not a law breaker but... as the law giver, he knows the spirit of the law and the correct interpretation…
Introduction Last week we looked at the parable of the soils. My belief is that most of the people attending church in this country are 3rd soil people. Those are folks who Jesus described as... 14 And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked…
Introduction Good morning. This is going to be a tough sermon this morning. Some of the sermons in Daniel were tough because the passages took a lot of study and then I had to figure out how to relay to you what I learned clearly and within the time frame. This is hard in a completely different way.…
Introduction Last week we saw the temptation of Jesus by Satan in the wilderness. We saw that while Jesus was hungry, isolated, and weak in the flesh he still overcame Satan. He knew what the Word of God said, and how to apply it. We too can have victory over temptation by knowing and correctly applying…
Today we are going to look at the temptation of Jesus. It is more accurate to say one of the temptations of Jesus, because we will read that after Jesus successfully rebuffed Satan’s attempts, Satan departed until an opportune time. == You will sometimes hear Jesus referred to as the second Adam. The…
Introduction Good Morning! Last week we saw the authority of Jesus... in His teaching over demons and over sickness Ultimately, right before His time on earth was done, he told his disciples that ALL authority had been given to him. == Chapter 5 shows us the holiness of Jesus. I want to give you our…
Introduction Last week we saw John the Baptist proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. We talked about what repentance is and what it produces in the life of a believer. We saw that repentance means unconditional surrender to God. For those of us who have repented, He is the…
Introduction Good morning! (missed you - vacation - hope you missed me) When you think of the preaching of John the Baptist, what comes to mind?... What was his central message? (Repentance) Why do you suppose that message is largely absent today? People will not often tolerate being told what to do…
Introduction Luke tells us basically everything that we know about the early life of Jesus. There is a whole lot that we do not know. Having three kids, I cannot imagine what a sinless 2 year old would look like... Can you? Lots of parents who don’t believe in the doctrine of man’s depravity and original…
Introduction wk 1 we saw 2 different responses to the Word of God Zechariah - doubted and wanted a sign got a sign - he was struck dumb Mary - accepted with humility and submission (even though didn’t understand) Hopefully we learned to respond like Mary when we encounter the Word of God - lk 1.38 38…
Introduction Good morning! We are going to do something a little different today. In my humble but correct opinion, preachers should normally take a passage, find the main point of the passage, and make that the main point of their sermons. Then the preacher should explain and illustrate things that…
Introduction Luke is one of the three synoptic Gospels along with Matthew and Mark. syn - together optic - see so, the synoptic gospels tell the same basic story about the Lord Jesus. John wrote his Gospel later and was thoroughly familiar with the other gospels. Of course John did not write to correct…
Introduction Last week we looked at the Rise of Greece The division of Alexander the Great’s empire into four parts. The Rise of the Seleucid king, Antiochus IV His persecution of the Jews. =============== Then we transitioned to his greater and later counterpart, the end times antichrist. He will win…
Introduction Last week we saw the prelude to Daniel’s last vision. In that prelude, Daniel was blessed with a vision of the pre-incarnate Christ. Then he was ministered to by an angel. We got a glimpse into the reality of Spiritual warfare. We saw that the prayers of the saints have effects in the physical…
Introduction Daniel has one more vision to tell us about. The content of his final vision is found in chapters 11 and 12 . Chapter 10 is a prelude to that vision. Chapter 10 is very important though as it gives us a unique glimpse into the relationship of prayer and Spiritual Warfare . Much of what the…
Announce prayer list - starting from scratch. Announce Sunday School thoughts - Tell me if you want literature by next Sunday . Introduction Last week we looked at Daniel’s prayer. Today we will look at God’s answer. There is some good news and some bad news . Good news - present Babylonian captivity…
Introduction Daniel’s life and habits are obviously worthy of our imitation . We need to learn from this prayer that is recorded for us. Question: If God is sovereign , why pray? (elaborate) The better question is... Why pray unless God is sovereign? Prayer is often the means that God uses to bring about…
We have been talking about four kingdoms for a few weeks now. Do you remember what they are? Babylon Medo-Persia Greece Rome Daniel 1-5 dealt with Babylon, so we have covered that one pretty thoroughly. We spent last week talking a good bit about the fourth kingdom, Rome. That leaves the second and third…
Last week we saw Daniel’s vision of 4 beasts. We saw that they represented kingdoms and they paralleled the different parts of the statue in Neb.’s dream. We identified the beasts as ... Babylon Medo-Persia Greece Rome … which is the majority report amongst evangelical scholars. And we said the point…