Psalm 51:6
For many within the remnant Church, love of truth is all about acquiring factual knowledge. As long as every doctrinal t is crossed, and every theological i dotted, all is well!! Yet, in the verse before us in this sermon, David prays to God, “Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom” (Ps. 51:6). The truth that David here speaks of is not the pursuit of academic truth but the desire for sincerity and honesty of the heart! Are you a person in whom there is no guile? May the Lord minister through this sermon.
Proverbs 9:10
Woe betide the man or woman that dispenses of the knowledge of God. We live in an era in the evangelical Church where experience trumps knowledge! Everyone wants to experience God!! Away with boring theology (they say) — let it perish with the seminaries!! Give us a fresh encounter!! Let us feel God!! Let us experience His divine touch!! I’m all for experiencing God, but again I go down on record to say, “THEOLOGY MATTERS”. How you understand God will determine how you relate to Him!! What you know about God will affect how you live for God.
In this sermon, we look at two of God’s divine attributes and how through the knowledge of God it ought to move us to fear.
James 1:5-8
Behold the man who wavers in his faith. James likens him to the sea's great waves on a stormy day, driven by the wind and tossed (Jms. 1:6). Contrast this with the stillness of those same waters on a calm summer evening. What’s the difference? Stability!! Albert Barnes in commentating upon James 1:5-8, states the following:
“The wave of the sea has no stability. It is at the mercy of every wind and seems to be driven and tossed every way. So he that comes to God with unsettled convictions and hopes, is liable to be driven about by every new feeling that may spring up in the mind. At one moment, hope and faith impel him to come to God; then the mind is at once filled with uncertainty and doubt, and the soul is agitated and restless as the ocean”.
If you find a man who is unstable in the area of prayer and faith, you will find a man who is unstable everywhere! The burden of this sermon is for God’s children to put away from them the double mind. This sermon is a call to serve the Lord with singleness of mind, with wholeness of heart, in all sincerity and truth.
Acts 20:33-35
Ministry properly defined has nothing to do with being a preacher. It identifies not the words spoken, but the act of service involved, and this can be transposed across the board — waiting on tables, opening a door for another, prayer, giving (the list is endless). “Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:4-8). Can I say; that the giving of our Lord’s life was not only the greatest act of love ever known, it was the greatest act of service!
This sermon is an appeal to servanthood!
Jason brings a critical teaching to the Body of Christ focussing on the cross of Jesus Christ. May you be mightily blessed in understanding more about this foundational doctrine that can never be exhausted.
1 Corinthians 13
Of all the passages in the New Testament Scriptures, none are more sublime in poetical beauty that the words found in the thirteenth chapter of Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians. Hebrews the seventh chapter is known for its great typology; Romans the third chapter for its brilliance in logical reasoning. The second chapter of the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians is known for its rich eschatology and the eleventh chapter of Paul’s Second Epistle to the Corinthians for its moving biographical content. I could go on...the sheer genius of the Holy Bible is a wonder too great to fully comprehend. Is it any wonder that the best-selling book of all time is THE CHRISTIAN BIBLE!! Not Charles Dickens nor William Shakespeare; not Agatha Christie nor Enid Blyton. To this day, the Bible still holds the Guinness Book of Records for the best-selling book of all time at a whopping 5 billion and counting!!
In this sermon, we explore the great commandment given us by our Lord to love one another. It is easy for a man to say, “I love you”, but on what grounds does he assume this to be the case? Let us examine the characteristics of love as outlined in the thirteenth chapter of Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians and we shall see whether the love we have is the agape love of God.
Ephesians 5:15-16
As Christians, we are not always wise in the way that we walk — we live in the land of hindsight — always picking up the broken pieces! We naively walk into many landmines; we allow ourselves to be found in compromising situations because of a lack of foresight!!
“A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished” (Prov. 23:3)
This sermon is an exhortation to the Christian to walk circumspectly, as wise and not as fools; redeeming the time for the days are evil.
Philippians 2:5-11
I fear that in our present day, we have lost the cutting edge of Christianity. The Kingdom of God no longer stands in juxtaposition to the Kingdom of Darkness — the contrasting properties of black and white have been fused into a murky grey — light and darkness into a twilight blue — we’ve lost the radical nature of conversion. I want to say without apology, when light meets with darkness, there can only be one winner, “And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not” (Jn. 1:5).
One of the radical elements of true conversion when set in contrast with a false convert is that as it relates to the human will. Pre-Christ I lived for ME. Post-Christ I now live for HIM! Still one will, but a 180-degree shift in orientation! We have a dilemma in modern-day Christianity which goes something like this; “I can live for me and for Thee”, and I want TO SAY on the authority of God’s Word, YOU CAN’T!!!! Tell me, can you say as our Lord said, “...My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work” (Jn. 4:34)?
1 Kings 18:17-20
The single greatest need of the present hour and any hour is for God to break through into the midst of His people!! It’s one thing for a man to break through — he’s had breakthroughs in all manner of varying contexts. Gunpowder in the 10th century, the compass in the 12th. The steam engine in 1712, and Refrigeration in the 1850s. The airplane in 1903, Penicillin in 1928, the Internet in the 1960s — friends, the list could go on!! I don’t doubt and nor do I limit the many ingenious breakthroughs on the part of man — but none can compare to what takes place when God breaks through!! When God breaks through, no one can stay His hand; when God breaks through, it’s like the walls of a dam giving way — who can stand against the mighty deluge?
This sermon is an exhortation to seek the face of God for authentic fire in this desperate hour of apostasy.
Hebrews 6:1-3
There are only two places in all of Sacred Scripture, where the phrase “dead works” appears. The first is in Hebrews 6:1; “Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God (Heb. 6:1). The second comes later on in the ninth chapter of the very same epistle, “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (Heb. 9:14). There have been various different opinions offered by commentators as to what this phrase “dead works” might mean, ranging from the absurd to the reasonable, to what I believe is the correct interpretation.
In this sermon, we explore the meaning of the phrase “repentance from dead works” and exhort believers to a true and living faith springing out of love for Christ!!