Ephesians Sermon Manuscripts now available

The preaching notes for the series on Ephesians (at least what has been preached thus far) are now available online.  As always they are the rough copy that I take into the pulpit with me and it always ends up being a tad different than I have originally written.  May the Lord bless you through these.  Here are the sermons and their links:

Ephesians 1:3-14 The Cure for Broken People and a Broken World Part One

Ephesians 1:3-14 The Cure for Broken People and a Broken World Part Two

Ephesians 1:3-14 The Cure for Broken People and a Broken World Part Three

Ephesians 1:15-23 You’ve Already Got It: Living in what Christ has purchased

 

Ephesians 2:1-5 How Broken Are We?

Ephesians 2:4-6 The Cure for Brokenness, No Matter How Broken

Ephesians 2:7-10 Are You Different? The Gospel Changes You

Ephesians 2:11-22 Don’t Forget to Remember

 

Ephesians 3:1-13 Losing Heart

Ephesians 3:14-21 Life Shattering Prayer

 

Ephesians 4:1-6 Walk in Unity

Ephesians 4:7-16 Unified or Unstable?

Ephesians 4:17-24 What Does a Christian Look Like?

Ephesians 4:25—5:2 Living Out Redemption Part One: Lying v. Truth

New Sermons Available

We have actually taken a brief hiatus from our Colossians series to deal with the Atonement. However, there are a few sermons from Colossians that I have yet to make available.

Kill Sin or It Will Kill You is part one from Colossians 3:5-11. The primary question in this sermon is "what must I do to cultivate a love for Jesus?" In this sermon we deal with the issue of mortification. And as you might expect I got quite a bit of help from John Owen.

Look the Part is part two from Colossians 3:5-11. In this sermon we deal with the issue of hypocrisy. We compare life in Adam's community to life in Christ's community. Since we have been delivered out of Adam's community and transferred into the community (or kingdom rather) of Christ we need to look the part.

Could They Tell is part one from Colossians 3:12-17. The key question from this sermon is this: "If an unbeliever were to observe our interactions with fellow believers could they tell how beautiful God is?"

The Gathered Church is part two from Colossians 3:12-17. It is very important for us to be an active part of a community of believers, but what are we to do when we gather? Colossians 3:12-17 gives us some guidelines.

Catching up in Colossians

Again I have fell somewhat behind in posting sermons from Colossians. So, here you go...

In Colossians 2:6-8 we discuss living the "full" Christian life: Walk Like You Talk. It is really rather simple--"be a Christian and live like it". Living the "full" Christian life is found in living out what Christ has already accomplished.

Everyone is either a slave or they are free. In our sermon on Colossians 2:9-15, Slave or Free, we ask 4 Questions to Determine whether or not you are a slave or free. 1) Are you enslaved to deceit or are you made free? 2) Are you enslaved to depravity or has your sin nature been stripped 3) Are you enslaved to death or have you been given new life? 4) Are you enslaved to debt or has your debt been conquered?

Our sermon on Colossians 2:16-23 is controversial. Does that mean that it will get more hits? I hope not--honestly the sermon on Colossians 2:9-15 is better (at least in my opinion). In this sermon we try discover how to make gospel-permeated decisions on areas that are not crystal clear. We do this by discussing the issue of alcohol use: To Drink or Not to Drink.

Finally, the latest sermon was on Colossians 3:1-4: Battling Sin with a Superior Pleasure. The previous sermon helps us to learn how to determine what we should and should not be doing--but it does not give an answer to conquering sin. I am indebted to Sam Storms, Charles Spurgeon, and Thomas Chalmers for the idea behind this sermon. How do you fight sin most effectively? You conquer sin with a superior pleasure. We do this by looking at what Christ has done and what Christ is going to do.

Sermons from Colossians

I realize that I am quite behind on posting past sermons. There are four new sermons on Colossians that I have preached.

The first one is part 2 of Colossians 1:15-20: Jesus, Lord of Reconcilation. It is always neat for me looking back at sermons that the Lord uses (at least in part) in His mighty process of reconciliation. One young lady came to know Jesus the night this sermon was preached.

The second one is Colossians 1:21-23: Must I Endure? In this sermon we consider the doctrine of eternal security (or as we Calvinist call it--Preservation of the Saints). I am indebted to Tom Schreiner for many of thoughts in this sermon. He helps us to see how we ought to heed the warning in this text.

The third sermon is on Colossians 1:24-29, where we consider: Are You a Faithful Minister? This was (is) and extremely difficult text to preach. (At least it was for me). At the beginning of preperation it was one of my least favorite sermons. However, once I began writing it quickly became one of my favorites. If I had it to preach over again I would spend more time on the final point--but until I edit you get the uncut sermon.

The fourth sermon is last weeks sermon on Colossians 2:1-5: Truth Matters. This is another sermon that students responded to. I know for me, considering whether or not I truly believe Jesus to be the storehouse of all wisdom and knowledge, this was convicting. In case you read the sermon and want the answers to the first 13 questions: 3, 4, 5, 8, 9 are true the rest are false. You may disagree with calling 11 false--I mean it to be somewhat tricky.

May God be glorified!

Enjoying What Christ Purchased

One of the most difficult things for me to preach are Paul's prayers. For one the actual text is usually packed and lengthy; typically being one long sentence in the Greek for our 8 or 9 verses. It is also difficult to apply. Do we discuss what Paul prayed for? Do we discuss prayer? In this particular sermon on Colossians 1:9-14 (primarily focusing on v.9-10) we discuss the importance of having a knowledge of God's Will. If we desire to fully enjoy that which Christ has already purchased then one way of doing that is to be filled with a knowledge of God's Will. You can now view Wednesday's sermon online.

Two Recent Sermons

I apologize that I have not posted much lately. Just when it seemed that this blog was beginning to gain some momentum (as far as number of visitors) I found myself ridiculously busy, and unable to post much. Hopefully, today that will change.

There are two recent sermons that are now available online. The first one is the introduction to our new series on Colossians. The introduction and conclusion are under-developed in the written version that is available; for that I apologize. The body of the sermon is, however, very much intact. Although it was probably preached a little different than this "uncut" sermon. You can find it here.

The second sermon that is available is the one that was preached last night. It is on Colossians 1:3-8, You can find it here.

Jesus Christ, The All-Sufficient Treasure

Despite having to meet in the larger sanctuary, Wednesday night went quite well. Our attendance seemed to be up. But more importantly God was there. The music was phenomenal, I always love it when Brian is able to lead us. And the Word, I believe, came with much unction. Numerous times during the week I prayed that the Lord would overwhelm us with the gospel. What an insane task to preach on the benefits of the Gospel. It is but one cut in the beautiful diamond, that is Jesus. And to think that this too is but a word picture. Oh, how awesome must be the reality.

Here is my feeble attempt to display the All-Sufficiency of Jesus Christ.

The Suicidal Exchange of Licentiousness

I just realized that I never put the sermon from January 30th online. In our five-part series on Enjoying the Gospel, this is the third sermon. We have previously discussed that The Gospel is Meant to be Enjoyed. Our second and third sermon was dedicated to two pitfalls in enjoying the gospel. The Impossible Burden of Legalism and The Suicidal Exchange of Licentiousness. As always, this is a somewhat rough copy and the actual delivery of the sermon is sometimes a little different than what you read.

The Gospel MUST Be Enjoyed

Last night we began our new 5 week series on Enjoying the Gospel. It is my prayer that last night served as a fitting introduction to this topic. I am always a little reluctant to do a quick "topical" series and break away from our typical book by book messages. You can find the full text here.

The Promised King

Last night we completed our series on the Minor Prophets. As we reviewed each one of these prophets we saw that each is looking to something greater. Every book leaves us with nagging questions. It is almost impossible to paint a compelling enough picture for you of the heart and longing the Jewish people had for their coming Messiah. Therefore, when we look at the baby in the manger we are not filled with relief, excitement, wonder, and thankfulness at the long-awaited King.

The sermon is in only a little better than outline form, but you can find it here. Simeon knew that he held in his arms the Promised King. As the holiday season approaches we too must see Jesus as the Promised King.

Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.”
And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him. And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.” (Luke 2:25-35)

The Message of Zechariah I

Last night was rough! We were down in attendance, we were not able to do music, and it seemed as if half our listeners were going to sleep. What is the most disappointing about all of that is that this is one of the most important messages that you will ever hear. Not that my delivery of it or really even the sermon itself is the most important but the topic is vital to everything that we do. Perhaps our lack of feeling a deep burden like John Bunyan keeps us from clinging to the gospel of grace with as much passion as we need to. It is my hope that you will read over this sermon and that the Holy Spirit might use it to preach the gospel to your heart--that's our only hope! The full text of the sermon can be found here.