Mar 28

Worship Service 03/28/2021

Preacher: Jeremy Herbert

Text: Ephesians 6:10-20

Theme: Satan, the real enemy

Notes:

Why would God tell us that we need power if He was not going to supply it?

We often do not see our need for God’s power until we fail.

Perseverance is a guaranteed part of salvation, because predestination includes glorification.

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Mar 21

Worship Service 03/21/2021

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Mar 19

Worship Service 03/14/2021

Preacher: Jeremy Herbert

Texts: Ephesians 2:1-10, Romans 12:1-2, 1 John 2:15-17, Matthew 6:24, Ephesians 5:5, James 1:14, Genesis 3:6, Philippians 4:11, Ecclesiastes 1:7-8, Luke 12:13-21, Romans 8:35, 1 Peter 2:2, Ephesians 4,

Theme: Satan

Thesis: We are under assault by a determined adversary, but God has armed us and assured us the victory.

Notes:

  • Lust of the flesh: pleasure
  • Lust of the eyes: satisfaction, security
  • Pride of life: significance, independence from God

Satan tempts us by turning good desires into controlling desires.

“If I only had ____________, I would be happy.”

Or:

“If God took ____________, I would be angry.”

Or:

“What do you rely on to give you peace?”

Whatever you put in those blanks is your god.

God’s many gifts are wonderful blessings but terrible masters.

There is no forcefield against trouble on this earth.

Application:

  1. Believe that Christ has made it possible to change
    • John 16:33, “I have overcome the world”
    • Overcoming sin is possible because of Christ’s finished work
  2. Dedicate your direction, desires, and decisions to Christ
    • Romans 12:1-2, “…present your bodies as a living sacrifice….”
  3. Renew your mind with truth of the word of God
    • Romans 12:2, “…be transformed by the renewing of your mind….”
    • If you aren’t being informed by the Word, you can’t be transformed by the Word
    • Further, we are overestimating our own ability to judge our own lives accurately
    • God transforms us by Spirit-applied truth
    • Most of the Christian life is just obeying the clear things in Scripture
    • If we are obeying the general commands for all Christians, finding the specifics for our particular life will fall into place.

 

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Mar 07

Worship Service 03/07/2021

Preacher: Jeremy Herbert

Theme: Satan, Our Real Enemy

Texts:

  • Ephesians 2:1-10
  • Ephesians 4:20-
  • 1 John 2:15-17

 

Notes:

  • What does Paul mean by ‘dead in trespasses and sins’?
    • Entirely without the capacity to desire or please God
    • Entirely without comprehension of God
  • How can people who are dead be made alive?
    • By the work of Christ
    • By the grace of God
  • Jesus Christ overcame the world (v2), the flesh (v3), and the devil (v2)
    • Those who are joined to Him by faith may overcome as well
      • not by their own power, but by Christ’s
  • We cannot even believe in God apart from God granting us the faith to do so (v8)
  • Why has God deigned to show such mercy as such great cost?
    • God shows mercy in salvation not because of anything worthy in us,
      but because God delights to show mercy
    • If God has made us alive to salvation (v5), would He not make us alive to sanctification as well?
    • A life that displays no sanctification (empowered by Christ), are you truly saved by the same power of Christ?
    • If God has given the grace to save you, He will grant the grace to sanctify
  • Can there be salvation without repentance?
    • Repentance is just as necessary as faith
      • Ephesians 4:20-32
    • Faith is not the same as mentally assenting to a fact
  • Salvation necessitates:
    • A change of direction — “…turned to God from idols”, 1 Thessalonians 1:9
    • A change of desire
    • A change of decision
  • God is so intent on sanctifying you that He will discipline you
    • God’s glory and our joy are not only not exclusive, but are entirely integrated
    • God’s child cannot find joy outside of God’s will
  • Within historical Christianity, different groups have emphasized different temptations
    • Puritan / Reformed have generally emphasized the flesh
    • Pentecostal / Charismatics have generally emphasized the devil / demons
    • Fundamentalists have generally emphasized the world
    • More extreme examples:
      • Monasticism, Amish – apart from the world
      • Manicheism
  • The World and Satan
    • Satan:
      • Satan is on God’s leash–there is nothing that Satan can do outside of God’s righteous rule
        • Example: the events in Job
        • The evil events were caused by Satan, but were ordained by God
    • The World: the spiritual system of this fallen world that is against God
      • 1 John 2: Just what is it about this world that we are not to love?
        • The real question: is who or what do we love?
        • Do we love Christ, or do we love something else?
        • Romans 12, “do not be conformed to the world”
        • Conform–to appear the same outwardly despite being different inside
        • We are often completely unaware of our culture’s values because it so pervasively surrounds us

 

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Feb 28

Worship Service 02/28/2021

 

Preacher: Jeremy Herbert

Theme: Satan: the Real Enemy

Texts: 1 Peter 5:8-10

Notes:

Four Things Satan is Using Against God’s People

  1. We need to be aware of the enemy
  2. We need to be alert to the danger
  3. We need to be armed for the battle
  4. We have assurance of victory through Christ

Satan’s Tactics

  1. Deception
    • We combat deception by discerning the truth as we grow through discipleship—together
    • We must speak the truth, and we must do so in love
    • We must teach the truth to our children
  2. Distortion
    • Satan quotes Scripture—out of context, to sinful ends
    • Satan quoted Scripture to Christ
    • While God says no to things, there is so much that God says yes to
    • We must not stray into either license to sin nor legalism
    • Satan perverts God’s word, and he perverts God’s will
  3. Discouragement
    • “God can’t”
    • “God won’t”
    • Success = faithfulness and obedience—not perfection
  4. Division
    • We must do the right things, the right way
    • Truth AND love
    • Not truth OR love
    • 2 Cor 2:10-11, Paul exhorts the church to love the man they had confronted with the truth
    • Matthew 18, Galatians 6: church discipline aims at restoration—it’s not punitive
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Feb 21

Worship Service 02/21/2021

Preacher: Jeremy Herbert

Theme: Satan: Our Real Enemy

Texts:

  • 1 Peter 5:8-9
  • Luke 12:39-40
  • Romans 2
  • Ephesians 5

 

Notes:

  1. We need to be aware of the enemy
  2. We need to be alert to the danger
  3. We need to be armed for the battle
  4. We have assurance of victory through Christ

 

Whatever you think about most is what you worship.

We are often worried and scared about the wrong things.

 

Live It Out!

  1. Are you alert to the danger?
  2. Are you actively seeking and trusting in Christ’s redeeming work for your self and your family?

 

 

 

 

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Feb 14

Worship Service 02/14/2021

Preacher: Jeremy Herbert

Theme: Satan Attacks the Church Through Unresolved Personal Conflict

Texts: Philippians 4:1-2, Philippians 2

Notes:

  • Paul entreats Euodia and Syntyche to get along together–publicly 
  • He entreats members of the church of Philippi to help them

 

Why must we resolve interpersonal conflict?

  1. It hurts our gospel joy
    • Philippians 2, “fulfill my joy by being likeminded”
    • Likemindedness is not agreement in all things–it is agreement on the main gospel issues, and agreeing to let cover the rest
    • The Christian life flows out of our joy in Christ
  2.  It hurts our gospel witness
    • Philippians 2, “do all things without complaining or disputing”
    • It hurts our witness when we can’t love those outside the church
    • It hurts our witness even more when we can’t love those inside the church
    • How can we preach a gospel of reconciliation and yet not reconcile with those united to us in Christ?
    • We are supposed to be known by our love
    • Christ is supposed to be known by our love
    • Christ calls us to love our neighbors and our enemies
    • How can we love those unlike us if we can’t even love those like us?
  3.  It hurts our gospel effectiveness
    • It’s hard to be effective fighting the enemy when we treat one another as the enemy
    • Many ancient empires only succumbed to outside invaders after they rotted from the inside

 

Practical Application

  1. We must see Satan is the real enemy
    • Not co-laborers in Christ
  2. We must see the bigger picture
    • This is about Christ, our king, who desires to redeem people for their good and His glory
  3. We should seek help from our church family
    • Not just in confrontation, but in assistance and advisement
  4. We should seek Christ
    • Christ calls us to kindness, patience, and gentleness–especially with those we are in conflict with
    • Christ calls us to treat others as He treats us
    • We must meditate on Christ and His goodness, not meditate on the conflict
    • We must grow in love and humility, Philippians 2:5-11

 

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Feb 07

Worship Service 02/07/2021

Preacher: Jeremy Herbert

Theme: Satan: The Real Enemy

Thesis: We are under assault by a determined adversary, but God has armed us and assured us the victory!

Texts:

  • 1 Peter 5:8-9
  • Genesis 3:14-15
  • Job 1
  • Isaiah 14:12-15
  • Ezekiel 28:11-19
  • Matt 12:26
  • Luke 4
  • Luke 13
  • John 12, 14, 16
  • Romans 16:20
  • Ephesians 2
  • Ephesians 6
  • Hebrews 2
  • 1 John 4
  • 1 John 5:19

 

Notes:

  • “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.” –Sun Tzu, The Art of War

  • Context of 1 Peter: 
    • Simon, now Peter–“rock”
    • 30 years after Christ’s crucifixion Peter is writing to churches in Asia Minor from Rome
    • Written after Rome was burned and Nero blamed Christians
    •  The church is an outpost of the kingdom of God on earth, and as such subject to assault by the kingdom of Satan
    • Peter’s goal for his audience is that they would endure to the end
    • Persecution has a way of reordering a Christian’s priorities
    • Persecution has a way of purifying the church, causing false believers to leave
  • We need to be aware of the enemy
    • God has created all things–including the being who would become His arch-enemy
    • Ezekiel 28:11-19, a prophecy concerning the king of Tyre, and Satan who was influencing
      • Satan is:
        • a created being
        • a person, not a force
        • an angel
        • v14-15,  “…an anointed guardian cherub…”
        • While Satan can work widely and powerfully, he is not
          • Omniscient
          • Omnipresent
          • Omnipotent
        • A defeated foe
  • Live it out!
    • Ask God to reveal any areas of rebellion and confess them
    • Ask God to help you develop combat readiness
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Jan 31

Worship Service 1/31/2021

Preacher: Emmet Cox

Theme: Contentment

Texts:

  • Matthew 6:19-34
  • Luke 14:11-
  • 1 Timothy 6:7-12, 17-19

Notes:

  1. What is contentment?
    • Being in Christ
    • Growing in Christ
    • Matt 6:24, “…you cannot serve God and mammon….”
    • We cannot pursue the material things of this life and pursue Christ–they are opposite pursuits
    • Finding identity in jobs, money, sports will always leave us empty
  2.  Contentment grows from eternal values
    • It grows from humility
    •  Luke 14:11-14
    • True humility puts others first
  3.  Barriers to contentment
    • Bitterness
    • Covetousness
    • Materialism
    • 1 Timothy 6:7-12, 17-19
      • v7 We can taking nothing with us
      • v8 We should be content with what God gives us
      • v9-10 The love of money often draws people into sin
      • v11 Pursue instead those things with eternal value: “…righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness”
      • v17-19 God blesses us materially so that we might have more to bless others
    • It is false that we deserve better
    • But it is true that God hasn’t given us what we deserve
      • Because of Christ we have received far better
    • Much discontentment stems from false beliefs that we deserve better than God has given us
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Jan 24

Worship Service 1/24/2021

Preacher: Jeremy Herbert

Theme: Love Your Enemies

Thesis: By actively loving our enemies we display God’s redemptive love.

Texts:

  • Matthew 5:43-48
  • Leviticus 19:18
  • Proverbs 25:21-22
  • Colossians 1
  • Romans 5
  • Leviticus 11
  • 1 Peter 1:13-16
  • Romans 12
  • 1 Peter 3

 

Notes:

Christ, like the OT prophets, confronts Israel’s tendency to try to keep the externals of the Law, without loving God from the heart, and without keeping the true spirit of the Law.

He wasn’t adding anything new to the Law–He was explaining the true spirit of the Law.

‘An eye for an eye’ wasn’t meant to enable tit-for-tat, it was meant to place limits on reparations in civil disputes so that the punishment fit the crime.

No-one can keep the standard gives in the Sermon on the Mount–only Christ was able to keep it perfectly.

But the fact that we cannot keep it perfectly should not license us not to strive toward keeping it.

  1. Loving your enemy is difficult
    • It is our tendency as sinners to attempt to explain away the hard things of the Bible
    • “Christ did it in my place” — doesn’t let you off the hook
    • “Nobody’s perfect” — doesn’t let you off the hook
  2. Loving your enemy means doing active good
    • Not just not returning evil for evil
    • Love means doing, not just feeling
      • Bless
      • Pray
    • “Turn the other cheek,” aka, turn away from wrath
    • Note that this is talking about interpersonal / civil conflicts, not actual criminal matters
    • “Bless,” to speak well of
      • We do not have to speak well of wicked behavior; we speak well of them as an image-bearer of God
    • Practical suggestions:
      • Examine Yourself: have I provoked this animosity?
      • Look for Positive Traits That Are Praiseworthy
      • Be Thankful
      • Show Appreciation for Them to Others
      • Do Good to Them:
        • Forgive,
          • Note: Forgiveness does not obviate punishment of crimes committed
        • Ask for forgiveness,
        • Try to reconcile,
          • God is a reconciling God
        • Look for opportunities to show small acts of kindness,
        • Treat them as friends,
        • What would I do for a friend in this situation?
        • Don’t rejoice when they enter trials
  3. Loving Your Enemies Demonstrates God’s Love
    • “Perfect” = “complete”
    • Common grace = God is good to all whether they love Him or not, e.g., “the rain falls on the just and the unjust”
    • Romans 2, “the goodness of God leads us to repentance.”
    • Loving our enemies displays a picture of God’s uncommon redemptive grace
      • Christ, “Father, forgive them, for the know not what they do.”
      • Stephen, “Father, forgive them.”

 

Live It Out

  1. Ask the Holy Spirit to change your heart toward your enemies
  2. Study the Gospel
    • Meditate on the mercy and goodness God displays to rebels
  3. Overcome evil with good
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