Daniel 9:1-19 We have moved forward in Daniel’s life. We’re now in the 66th year of his exile from Judah, so he’s in his 80’s now. What Daniel did and saw in this chapter dates from 539 B.C., the first year of Darius the Mede’s (Gobryus’) rule as king over...
God opposes and humbles the proud Daniel 4 God pickles the proud and makes preserves of the foolish Questions: What has pride cost you? What has God’s grace gained you? Which is the better paymaster? Chapter 2 records the Living God revealing to Nebuchadnezzar, the source of the greatness of...
Daniel 2 Do you ever wonder: Where am I in history? From the perspective of the sovereign on His throne in heaven, where do we in the 21st century fit into God’s plan of the ages? Is there a plan of the ages, or are we just blindly stumbling forward...
Isaiah 44:28-45:5, Ezra 1:1-2 With all the changes in our society, the confusion and clashes in our government and among nations, one is inclined to wonder, “Just who is in charge of all this?” God’s people have historically taken comfort in the answer to that question, found in the pages...
Nehemiah 7:73-8:12 What does a genuine, Biblically grounded, Spirit-driven revival of a people look like?There have been revivals of different kinds in history. America has had several. Wales had one. Europe during the Reformation period. Some obviously driven by the Spirit using His Word to pierce and change minds and...
A portrait of our loving Savior and God in His Word Word of life, to be held forth Phil. 2:16, John 1:4 Word of reconciliation, proclaimed 2 Cor. 5:18-21 Word of salvation, to be heard Acts 28:28, John 20:31 Word of truth, to be heard/received Eph. 1:11-14 Word of faith,...
James 1:22-25 The fires of our lives as believers in Christ are either stoked by the fuel of God’s Word, regularly consumed and meditated on, or they are stoked by some fleshly and worldly fuels. There’s a wise old saying that goes, “You are what you eat.” This is true...
Nehemiah 8:1-8 Is the Bible understandable and its meaning plain and clear? Or is it obscure, requiring mother church and a priestly caste to safely unravel its mysteries? This was the line in the sand drawn by men like John Wycliffe,William Tyndale, Martin Luther, and Miles Coverdale. They went to...
Jeremiah 23:28-32 Jeremiah the prophet, speaking the word of the LORD, stood like a rusty but grim sign with its skull and crossed bones, warning about the presence of a lethal mine field. Immovable, he stubbornly stood for many years and warned the LORD’s own, the people of Judah, of...
John 8:28-38 In movies, the single most quoted verse in the Bible, (often including just the last portion of it), is John 8:32, “and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” Did you know that in the lobby of the original CIA headquarters in Langley,...
The Holy Spirit uses heresies to clarify truth John 1:1-18 Who, and What is Jesus Christ, the Son of God? In matters of faith, as in matters of science and law, definitions matter! When we say that the Son of God took on flesh, what do we mean by that?...
Jude concludes his brief warning epistle with a formal doxology [glory to God] that included a prayer for his readers. The Apostle Jude wanted to assure them of God’s ability to help them remain faithful in spite of the apostasy that threatened them. “The concluding doxology (vv. 24-25) is universally...
A critical question about the canonicity of Jude, considering that he seems to be quoting from the pseudepigraphal and 2nd century BC Book of Enoch… This is going to get a little technical, and I hope a real blessing in your understanding of the Bible and Jude.
There are certain foods and substances,that when taken into the mouth, instantly suck up the moisture and make you want to spit them out. The teaching and deeds of the apostate teachers are like that to the believer walking in the Spirit. In our passage today they and their deeds...
Jude 11-13 What are the signature markers in the attitudes, actions and fruit (outcomes for them and those who follow) of apostate teachers? Can you see them coming, and if so, why should you stay away? What are their temporal impacts and their eternal destinies?How are they religious and yet...
Jude 8-10 Jude has just laid out three lessons from three groups in history. 1) Israel, 2) certain fallen angels, and 3) Sodom and Gomorrah. Each followed their own desires, rebelled against the good authority of God in a key way, abandoned their assigned positions, and each experienced severe and...
Jude – the half-brother of Jesus has just told his readers to beware of certain licentious/sensual teachers who are creeping in among believers. In their teaching and acts, they effectively deny the inherent right of the risen Jesus to command them (and believers), and they deny his deity. The Lord...
Jude 1-4 If a book of the Bible were a boxer, then Jude is a small, but muscular fighter that punches far above his weight! Pithy and full of sharp jabs, it gets right to work protecting sound doctrine and godly practice. It shows us how to fight the good...
Genesis 15:1-6, Romans 3:19-30 Early in WWII a group of American soldiers on an island in the South Pacific were captured by an overwhelming Japanese force. They were held prisoner along with many British soldiers for many months. To pass the time they organized classes and lectures. One class was...
Romans 3:21-26 Anyone who’s had a sibling, or has when they were a child, interacted on a school playground with other children, has either done this, or had it done to them: Kid A hurts Kid B, the one they’re playing with, either physically, or emotionally with nasty and forbidden...
The meaning and blessings of Salvation! #1 An introduction: Substitution and Redemption 1 Peter 3:18 The doctrine of our salvation by God is both simple and complex. The gnawing problem of one’s sin before our holy God, God’s just wrath toward one’s sin and oneself, and the love of God...
Ephesians 3:14-21 Thesis: The greater good news of the gospel, beyond forgiveness and justification, is that we have been restored to relationship with our triune God through Christ to glory we cannot yet fathom.
Today’s teaching from the Word is simple: Who is Jesus? What does He claim to be and to do? What is His relationship to His sheep, and theirs to Him? And because of Who He is, His sheep, being secure in Him, have true and knowable moral duties and prohibitions.
Jesus keeps us saved John 10:22-33
Do you have a favorite food? In our passage Jesus, the Good Shepherd, who wants his blessed lambs to be well fed and to grow, presents Himself as the most essential staple for life. For real spiritual life that goes on, never dies, and into eternity. Only the Living God...
Which Jesus brings eternal life, and forgiveness of sins? Verses 1, 5 and 12 beg the question, “Do you have the right Jesus, the only one, who brings the new birth and eternal life?” Why does John belabor this point? Why does he urge his readers to make sure they...
Chapter 4, verses 20-21 leave those of us who lay claim to loving God with a command – “love your brother also!” Which in turn leaves us with a dangling question: Just who is my brother? Our text this morning goes on to answer that question.
Perfect love casts our fear – Just what in the world does that mean? Is it that if we keep a general loving attitude that we’ll never experience or suffer from fear in any area of our life? In other words, is this an anxiety management verse that if implemented...
When we pause to consider the man on the Roman cross in the middle, and then we turn and look at ourselves. We can’t help but see and know and feel what real love is. Selfless love, the deep, deep love of God. Since we have been so very loved...
“Test the spirits.” A snippet of a verse that we all know. What on earth does it mean? Is John pointing out some extra-sensory perception that special Christians have? Are believers to tune up some special, spiritual gift-given antennae with which they can discern the unseen world of demonic forces...
Sermon delivered at Hartstone Bible Camp: Here in Acts 14 in Lystra and in Acts 17 in Athens where Paul speaks to the Stoic and Epicurean philosophers on Mars Hill, the Aereopagus, we have the two cases in the book of Acts where Luke records a presentation of God and...
1 John 3:21-24 If we stand back to get the bigger picture, we see a design theme to what John is building in this epistle: 1 John 2:28 Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in...
The unbeliever, the one who is not regenerate, who is not in Christ through faith in Him, abides in an unbroken slavery to their sin nature. He/she lives in spiritual death, and naturally does the things and has the attitudes of that nature. This even includes hatred. Jesus the Son...
1 John 3:7-12 (Focus on v9) Compasses are curiously simply yet genius devices. When held upright and steady, they point to the magnetic north pole, and with that and a little knowledge, one can reliably find their way. But compasses are also easily upset. When un-level, or when vibrated or...
n 2:28-3:3 John sets the believer’s sight on the imminent and greatly anticipated Blessed Hope, the coming and appearance of our Christ in the rapture of His dear saints to be face to face with Him our Savior! John does this to help the believer rest and regulate their thoughts...
1 John 3:1-3 Have you ever pondered how different, how unusual, how strange, how…exotic it is that we would be loved by God? It is natural for human parents to love their own human children. And animals take care of their own offspring. But God is spirit, invisible, immaterial, eternal,...
John now presses his readers to identify what the false teachers really are, and from whom their errant doctrine of Christ comes: the lying Serpent of old, the enemy of God and so of them! John drives a wedge between his dear readers and the false teachers and doctrines, to...
1 John 2:15-17 John pivots now from encouragement of their assurance and spiritual standing, to stern warnings about an array of different enemies of their souls. Think of this as a guided tour through a museum of devices used to attack and disable Christians and whole churches. A Little Shop...
1 John 2:12-14 John launches into this vital section of the letter by surrounding and buoying his readers in the facts of their essential spiritual competence. He recalls their spiritual standing and further blessings in order to motivate them to cultivate ever more intimacy in fellowship with God. John has...
1 John 1:5-2:2 v5 Provides is the ground, the foundation for what follows in verses 6-10 and, in a sense, for the whole rest of the letter. Findlay said, “Nothing has ever given such relief to the human mind as the announcement of the simple truth of this verse.” The...
1 Corinthians 1:1-9 (NASU) Paul, called as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, 2 To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call...
Welcome and Introduction 1 John 1:1-10 A Christian’s assurance is, in essence their faith, their convinced confidence, that they are in right standing with God now, are beloved in The Beloved, and will continue secure until they reach glorification forever. It is a confidence in Jesus, that he is God’s...
Living the assured life 2 Corinthians 1:15-22 Apprehending and experiencing the assurance, the confidence, of our salvation is intended by our savior God to be our normal spiritual experience and reality. Assurance is an engine for good works in Christ, encouraging us to do and grow well. It is also...
Hebrews 10:19-25, 1 John 5:11-13 Assurance of salvation is simply this: Knowing for sure, being convinced, that you are saved, that you stand forever graciously and undeservedly justified before God by the work of Christ on your behalf, that by faith alone you are now perfectly loved in the Beloved,...
Crucified with Christ – Living life in Christ Living the rewardable life Colossians 3:1-4, Galatians 2:20 John 3:16 concisely sums up the gospel and our saving justification before God the judge, so our verse today, Galatians 2:20, concisely sums up the Christian life and how sanctification and spiritual growth and...
Why does God leave us on earth after we are saved? Aside from the obvious: to witness to unbelievers the salvation of the Lord. The doctrine of rewards for works after justification, in fact, does not stand alone. It is tightly bound to a well defined and grounded theodicy (the...
Revelation 22:12 Introduction: If someone were to ask you what the primary motivation should be to seek spiritual growth, to increase in the walk of holiness, and to pour oneself into doing good works, one might get a range of different answers: To glorify God. Gratitude for eternal salvation. To...
Revelation 22:7-21 In this world there are a wide variety of peoples, cultures, professions, habits, likes, hobbies, cuisines, and worldviews. From simple shepherds in the Himalayas to sophisticated billionaires who send satellites into orbit, from a street artist to an island fisherman casting his net, from Gypsy to honor guard,...
John 4:7-14, Revelation 22:1-6 Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well that if she truly understood who He was, to receive Him as such, that He would graciously gift her, “living waters”, with no effort on her part. The free gift was unlike the water she had to labor...
1 Thessallonians 4:13-18 1 Thessalonians 1: 9-10 calls the rapture, ‘a rescue’: “For they themselves report about us what kind of a reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God, 10 and to wait for His Son from...
Hebrews 11:8-16, Revelation 21 When we think of a person coming in faith to God for salvation in His Son, Jesus, we can’t help but connect that to the Holy Spirit’s regeneration. The Spirit’s work is not to come tidy up and patch up a tired old Adamic life, but...
Revelation 20:1-10, Revelation 21:1-4 The millennial kingdom on this earth, as glorious as it and the reign of Christ with his glorified saints will be, will still be tainted by the sins of mortals. For a complete and total reconciliation between heaven and earth to occur, for absolute perfection to...
Ephesians 1:3-12, Col 1:9-14 It is typical to think of the doctrine of last things, including the messianic kingdom (the kingdom of God/heaven) primarily in terms of timing and events. While these are certainly exciting, key features of the Biblical revelation, they are secondary to the central living Person, work...
Isaiah 11:1-13, Revelation 5:6-10 Last Sunday we got a snapshot of the stunning wonder and majesty of what our bodies will be like in glory because of Christ. Today we take just an enticing peek into what life will be like for us and others in His coming kingdom on...
What will we be like? 1 Corinthians 15:35-52 We watched a *video the other day of a Ukrainian church choir in Lviv, composed of believers from all across their country. They were singing, “Because He Lives”. And though the tune was familiar, the lyrics after the first verse were not....
John 11:17-27, etc This is a fascinating broader review of the various resurrections, as predicted/expected in the OT and as achieved by Christ in the NT, and revealed as the future for the saints in the NT. The handout provides two of the graphics presented.
Luke 23:33-43 Our Spirit-inspired scripture this Easter morning is well known and it’s basic teaching comes readily to the lips of most Christians, it is so stark and simple. It’s an incident recorded only by Luke the historian, among the 4 gospel accounts, and reflects Luke’s heart for the spiritually...
The events of the crucifixion day, and the location.
Matthew 20:17-19: Jesus ascent, triumphal entry, betrayal and false trials, death by crucifixion by the Gentiles (Romans) & resurrection prophesied Jesus starkly and plainly tells them what is definitely set to come. He does this not only to prepare them, but to walk according to prophesy, and to break up...
2 John 7, 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 Almost everyone has heard of the Anti-Christ! But who and what is he? Here in 2 John and also in 1 John we get a sense of the theology and Christology of the spirit (demonic person and force) behind the Anti-Christ. If we pair...
2 John 6-11 Christian love, true love, must be jealously guarded by true and unwavering doctrine, particularly the doctrines of God and of the Son, Jesus Christ. Love revels in the great truths in and about our Savior, Jesus. But love among humans, by itself, is a lousy gatekeeper and...
2 John 2-6 Grace, mercy and peace will be with us – a simple sentence, but deep and rich with meaning, purpose and comfort. As born-again children of God these three graces are ours by birthright. Our fuller enjoyment and deployment of these graces depends on a walk in obeying...
2 John Is the primary characteristic of Christianity truth, or is it love? On this question has fallen or risen many church movements and Christian lives. In this personal, brief letter to a church, the aged apostle makes the case that it is necessarily both, but that true love proceeds...
II Corinthians 8:1-15 The Christian is in the unparalleled position to be both the inbound receiver, and a happy channel of God’s outbound grace to others. This special grace, including financial and other material blessings from God, is a stewardship that we can and enjoy and revel in. Giving shows...
Ephesians 4:25-5:2 The imitation of God is the Spirit-illumined, flesh-rejecting golden path of joy and purpose in Christ for those that love Him and who wish to please Him. This path is the hallowed ground on which all true Christian fellowship finds its footing, traction and forward progress. Every child...
Philippians 1:27-2:11 Following Jesus means fellowship in His humility & victory Conduct worth of the gospel: That is the call to every believer, both individually and together as the body of Christ, the church. It includes striving together in defense of the faith, particularly the purity of the gospel. What...
Corinthians 13:11-14 In the New Testament, believers can have fellowship and share together their lives and ministries and their joint expectations of forever, because they first of all have and share a saving, vivifying relationship with Christ and share Him in common (1 Cor. 1:9) Fellowship, then, begins in the...
1 John 1:1-4 Over the entry to the sanctuary, in the foyer, you’ll note that we have the key phrase from 1 John 1:3. “…and our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.” Have you stopped and pondered, to carefully consider those words and what they...
Acts 4:13-22 This passage has several important practical implications & applications for us in the body of Christ right here and right now!
Acts 2:37-44 We often hear people talking about fellowship. We hear it said that what we need is more fellowship. But our modern ideas of fellowship have become so watered down and skewed that the word no longer carries the same meaning it did in New Testament times. We’re missing...
2 Peter 3:1-13 The story of the people of Assyria and Nineveh her capital, as recorded by the prophets Jonah and Nahum, is one in a long line of human failures to pay attention to God and His call and his warnings about pride, cruelty and wickedness. In fact,2 Peter...
Luke 2:1-7a God’s playbook of the events and people that are central to His divine plan of the ages is nothing like ours. Our playbooks measure, and we are taught, history from the perspective of major events, important stand-out individuals, migrations , nations, wars, invasions, competing interests, disease outbreaks and...
There are some 630 years between the prophesy of Nahum, announcing the imminent judgment and collapse of Nineveh and the Assyrian empire, and the birth of our Savior, Jesus, being born of Mary in Bethlehem. Six long centuries, and many precipitous events, disasters and amazing recoveries for the nation of...
Nahum 2:1-10 The prophesy of Nahum contains four answers to four vital questions: #1 question: Why does God act in judgment? #2 question: When does God judge? #3 question: How does God act in vengeance? #4 question: How is God’s anger necessary to His love?
Nahum 1:6-15 To understand Nahum’s prophesy of the fall of Assyria’s capital, Nineveh, in 612BC, and with it the great Assyrian empire, is to understand God’s anger and judgment of gentile nations who reject God’s grace and mercy and who abuse His Chosen People and who are cruel and wicked....
Nahum 1:1-8 What happens when a people, a gentile nation, having received the illumination of Who God Is and their relation to Him, who have walked with Him for a season, turn their backs on His goodness and kindness and grace? Well, the oracle that Nahum prophesied is of the...
Luke 17:11-19, Psalm 146 Giving thanks and praise to God for His many and signal blessings has been central to corporate Christian worship since the beginning. In fact, its fair to say that they almost define orthodox worship. And personally, when we pray over a meal, we express the same...
James 5 What is the Christian way to find the path forward in painful and difficult circumstances? Or more specifically, what is the source of illumination, of light, in dark places and periods in our lives as Christians, so that we do not stumble so as to fall and lose...
John 17:20-26 The conclusion of our Savior’s great, High Priestly prayer turns its full intent, ministry and benefit to the believers who would come to know and believe in Him through the word of the apostles! Jesus mission would succeed: He would die and be raised. He would send out...
John 17:17-19 Sanctification, unity of faith and practice (one-ness of believers), and glorification of the believer are one sweep of the Master Artist’s brush on the canvas of spiritual life. They are each distinct colors in themselves, but none complete by themselves. Each is also a color that blends in...
John 17:11-16 Jesus here prays for his disciples, because he is going to the cross, the grave and the resurrection. That leaves them in the world, physically alone and vulnerable. Jesus has protected them from the ravages of the world, and kept them loyal to the Father while he was...
John 17:6-11 Have you ever paused to consider the ground you’re standing on? Ever been on or fallen from a shaky perch like a ladder or roof, or walked on a crumbly path or slippery mud or ice? In reference to the Christian faith and your place in it, what...
What did Jesus accomplish on the cross?
John 17:6 Today we need to begin at the end. Why? Because our next verse, v6, points to something so profound and deeply touching, and which burns so divinely hot, that to even begin to let it sizzle into our hearts and souls and warm us down to our toes,...
John 17:2-3 We tend to think of eternal life in rather limited dimensions. We think of its duration (forever – death is not final) and of its location (with God, perhaps in heaven) and perhaps enjoying future sinlessness. Oh, and being forgiven. On a good day we might extent that...
John 17:1-5 Jesus taught his disciples how to pray in Luke 11:1-4 and more famously in Matthew 6:9-13. That’s been called the Lord’s prayer, but it’s better to think of it as the believer’s prayer or the disciple’s prayer. Because of who he was, Jesus could never pray about himself,...
As the life of Christ began with a declaration of God’s endowing and imbuing this sin-agitated world with his peace in Jesus (Luke 2:14), in the same way Jesus, the mediator and means of that peace concludes his message to his disciples, before the cross, of peace. The Christian...
Sunday, August 22nd 2021 | Malachi 2:11-16 & Galatians 5:13-18 A review of what we’ve learned so far on the Biblical definition of marriage, as well as the basis for divorce: Marriage is a divine institute intended by God to be a lifelong (as long as both live), one-flesh relationship...
Matthew 19:1-10 Just what is a marriage? There is a lot of noise, confusion and pain on this topic in our culture and even among believers. What was God’s intent in marriage, and how do we, as Christians, live that reality out? What did the Lord Jesus think of marriage,...
Sunday, June 13th 2021 | Galatians Ch. 5 How do you define freedom? We generally think of freedom as the autonomous right and power to do whatever we wish, without external restraint of any kind. In the West and in America especially, this definition of freedom, with autonomy itself being...
Sunday, November 8th 2020 | Matthew 16:13-20 At the end of 3 years of training, Jesus takes his Jewish disciples to a radically confrontational and stressful pagan location and asks them two vital questions. The application for our present difficult, confusing and stressful time is helpful and challenging.
Sunday, August 23rd 2020 | Romans 12:9-21 Romans ch 13 and the Christian response to government authority does not begin in ch13, but in chapter 12. This is the second in the series on the stewardship of the Christian in response to God’s grace and mercy.
Sunday, August 16th 2020 | Romans 12:1-8 Romans ch 13 and the Christian response to government authority does not begin in ch13, but in chapter 12. This is the first in the series on the stewardship of the Christian in response to God’s grace and mercy.
Sunday School, April 16th 2020 | Various Passages Supplemental PDF: Out of Africa Model
Sunday School, April 12th 2020 | Various Passages
Sunday School, April 5th 2020 | Various Passages
Sunday School, March 29th 2020 | Various Passages
Sunday, March 22nd 2020 | Philippians 2:1-18 We are told to have the attitude and mind-set of Christ Jesus. This is especially true with regard to choosing the downwardly mobile path of self-humility. If this life is made the center of our hopes and dreams, we’ll rebel against loss of...
Sunday School, March 22nd 2020 | Various Passages
Sunday, March 8th 2020 | Philippians 2:1-12
Sunday, September 29th 2019 | Various Passages This is a vital topic for the reader of the Bible! Is there a distinction between the gentiles, Israel and the church in the Bible? If there is, then a whole lot of things fall into place. This sermon seeks to demonstrate that...
Sunday, September 22nd 2019 | Galatians 5:1-15 Paul really shifts focus now! He urges his believing children in the faith to walk away from obedience to the Law and it’s outward symbol, circumcision, as a means of justification and spiritual walk. He tells them they’ve “fallen from grace”, not meaning...
Sunday, September 15th 2019 | Galatians 4:12-31 Up to now Paul has confronted the Galatians with powerful and provocative, reasoned arguments to pull them away from Mosaic legalism and nomism. He now drops argumentation, having fired the full logical broadside at them, and switches to entreating them, appealing to their...
Sunday, September 8th 2019 | Galatians 3:22-4:11 Why settle for the limited existence of a child under a hard-nosed, every-watchful guardian-slave, a kind of nose-to-the grindstone whip-master, externally dictating and enforcing behavior and morals, when you’re already a free adult and an heir to a great estate? Why wear the...
Sunday, September 1st 2019 | Galatians 3:6-22 In chapter 3 Paul forms three interlocking arguments to prove to the Galatians that the Law is incapable of justifying a sinner before a righteous God. In vv1-5 he argues from their universal spiritual experience. In v6-9 he argues from Abraham’s justification by...
Sunday, August 25th 2019 | Galatians 2:20-3:5 Getting your “I” put out! By virtue of his incorporation into Christ (cf. v. 17) and so into Christ’s death, Paul’s existence in relation to the Law has been decisively severed, the Law has ceased to have any claim on him (cf. Rom....
Sunday, August 18th, 2019 | Galatians 2:19-21 Our text today is rich, and studded with detail and precious gems. To get the most of it we need to stop the train, get off and inspect it carefully. Pay attention, for here, in compressed form, are some of the most profound...
Sunday, August 11th 2019 | Galatians 2:15-21 Paul continues his aggressive defense of his apostleship by Christ by showing that the mother church in Jerusalem had received him as such, and by his confrontation with a back-sliding Peter! The chapter concludes with a stark and oddly beautiful word picture about...
Sunday, August 4th 2019 | Galatians 1:10-24 In this part of the Galatian letter, launches into a defense of the gospel of God’s grace, by defending the fact that he has been given direct, divine revelation, an entire systematic corpus of knowledge and doctrine, personally, by the living and resurrected...
Sunday, July 28th 2019 | Galatians 1:1-9 Just a few short years after Paul planted the gospel in Southern Galatia, a small band of “Judaizers” led by one particular spokesman, have swayed the newly minted Christians away from the pure saving gospel of God’s grace to a perverted gospel! This...
Sunday, May 19th 2019 | Daniel 6:6-18 Today’s lesson points out that how we see things, even IF we see things at all, is very much determined by what we believe, and by whether that belief corresponds to the truth, especially the illuminating light of the Scriptures Romans 10:16 However,...
Sunday, February 24th 2019 | Jude 1:20-25 Jude has been pounding away the warning about apostates within: What happened to make them that way, what they look like in action, and the results of their “ministry”, and what their destiny will be. Now he turns his attention to his beloveds,...
Sunday, February 10th 2019 | Jude 1:12-16 Jude is deeply concerned for the spiritual, moral and social health of the local body of Christ. He illustrates apostate teachers in their midst with five metaphors from nature. These metaphors were things everyone in the ancient near east would immediate connect with....
Sunday, February 3rd 2019 | Jude 1:5-13 We’ve all heard of the wolf in sheep’s clothing. Last Sunday Jude showed us that apostasy migrates downhill in an individual: from ungodliness (rebellion/disbelief), to licentiousness (immorality), and finally to denial of key doctrines of the faith (telling God He’s wrong and the...
Sunday, January 27th 2019 | Jude 1:4-7 There are three sequential steps into full blown apostasy. Know them, know the signs and we have a fighting chance to stop them in our churches and in ourselves! “The greatest danger to the church today is not humanism, paganism, atheism or agnosticism....
Sunday, January 20th 2019 | 2 Peter 3:1-18 Tom Meyer recites 2nd Peter from memory and then preaches on the 2nd coming from chapter 3! It is riveting! About Tom Meyer: Tom Meyer is a professor at Shasta Bible College and Graduate School, has lived in Israel, receiving two M.A. degrees...
Sunday, January 13th 2019 | Jude 1:1-3 The compact, 25 verse sermon of Jude packs a powerful punch about the maximum effort, high priority call of the local church and all believers to contend for the “The Faith” (the body of doctrines which are given in all scripture). No one...
Sunday, September 23rd 2018 | Revelation 12:1-17 We’re at the mid-point of the Tribulation – 3 ½ yrs. The two witnesses of ch11 have preached, judged, been killed by the anti-Christ, and resurrected and raptured to glory. The saints in heaven see the end approaching and rejoice! Now John’s attention...
Sunday, September 9th 2018 | Revelation 11:7-19 The first woe was the demonic locusts of chapter 9, the second woe is our subject of chapter 11, the two witnesses in Jerusalem. 11:1-2 tell us where the events of 11:3-14 take place: Jerusalem. The focus is on that city and its...
Sunday, September 2nd 2018 | Revelation 10-11:6 The Revelation takes a break before the last trumpet (7th) to give additional revelation. John meets a mighty angel with authority and power of both land and sea (all the earth). The angel brings him a little scroll of additional revelation. He experiences...
Sunday, August 19th 2018 | Revelation 9:1-21 The blowing of the 5th trumpet releases the demonic locust horde upon the earth-dwellers.
Sunday, August 12th 2018 | Revelation 8:1-13 There is a brief pause in heaven as the seventh seal is opened. It, the seventh seal, unleashes the Trumpet judgments on the earth and its inhabitants. There are seven trumpets in all, several of which are described here in chapter 8.
Sunday, August 5th 2018 | Revelation 7:1-17 John’s vision shifts now from breaking of the first 6 seals of judgment on the earth, and there is a sudden shift in time (“after these things” – meta tauta). We now approach the mid-point, the end of 3 ½ yrs of Daniel’s...
Sunday, July 15th 2018 | Revelation 5:1-6:17 The Lamb causes seals 1-6, of the great scroll that only he could open, to be opened!
Sunday, July 8th 2018 | Revelation 4:1-5:14 Recall that 1:19 gives us the divine outline of the Revelation: Things which John has seen (ch 1), things which are (church age in ch2-3), and the things which will take place after these things (ch4-22). Up to now John has seen things...
Sunday, July 1st 2018 | Revelation 3:1-22 Sardis: Half-dead in their deeds. Philadelphia: The church of blessedness and encouragement! Laodicea: The lukewarm (yuck!), complacent church.
Sunday, June 24th 2018 | Revelation 2:12-29
Sunday, June 17th 2018 | Revelation 2:8-11
Sunday, June 10th 2018 | Revelation 2:1-7 You have left (deliberately abandoned) your first love! This implies an intentional decision to make love for Christ of lower importance in their thinking, their emotions, devotions, compared to something else, not merely a love neglected through dis-use. The cure for a hard...
Sunday, May 27th 2018 | Revelation 1:9-20 In this portion of the introduction (pt II), John gets personal and down in the trenches with those he’s writing to. He joins them in their present condition of trial, and grounds it in obedience to the will of God! Then he takes...
Sunday, May 20th 2018 | Revelation 1:1-11 The book of Revelation/Apocalypse: The revealing, the unveiling of the Lord Jesus Christ in all His regal authority as final judge and terminator of the kingdoms of men (see Daniel 2:31-36), as the Lord who disciplines and then redeems Israel, as the Son...
Sunday, April 8th 2018 | John 3:12-18 Jesus told Nicodemus, as recorded in John 3, that “just as (in the same manner) Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert” – so that every sin-striken, deadly snake-bit, helpless Israelite who merely looked in faith to the serpent lifted up on...
Sunday, March 4th 2018 | Romans 6:1-14 We’re used to hearing that Christ died for our sins. But Romans 6:1-14 teach something different: That Christ died TO our sin (singular). This is the concept that he died to sin as the ruling/reigning Master, and we (the Old Man, the man...
Sunday, February 25th 2018 | Romans 5:12-21 O Felix Culpa! – Oh Happy Fault! The universal domination of sin and death. The glorious freedom of God’s grace in the shed blood of His Son. Not the name of a rock band or movie star. It is Latin for, “Happy fault!” –...
Sunday, February 18th 2018 | Romans 5:1-11 Justification by faith alone. Sola Fidei. Just what does this mean? Who is it for? Why is it so? Why is this a most necessary doctrine to grasp? In this tender handling of Romans 5:1-11, Molher gives us the vital context of Paul’s discussion...
Sunday, January 28th 2018 | Matthew 24:32-51 What did Jesus mean by “this generation will not pass away until all these things take place”? This is a serious matter and some even think it means Jesus was a false prophet! Pastor Kooyers takes us through the options and tells us...
Sunday, December 10th 2017 | Hebrews 2 Just what does the incarnation, God the Son in human flesh in the person of Jesus, signal to us, and where does that put us regarding God’s favor towards us?
Sunday, December 3rd 2017 | 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 No talent, gift, or exercise of moral virtue is meaningful in the divine sense, nor reward-able at the Bema, (“it profits me nothing”) unless it is driven by and infiltrated with genuine love.
Sunday, July 16th 2017 | Acts 10:24-11:1 The use of tongues in churches and as a “private prayer language” over the past century has become an explosive, and sometimes divisive issue, even schisming churches and causing entirely new denominations to form. But what are “tongues”, from a strictly Biblical perspective?...
Sunday, July 9th 2017 | 1 Thessalonians 5:12-18 This tender and detailed exposition of Paul’s instruction to the church in Thessaloniki is worth hearing. What is the relationship of the congregation of the local church to its elders/pastors, and vice-versa. How should they respect and love the elders, and why?...
Sunday, July 2nd 2017 | Acts 2:5-21 Many Christians get excited when they think of the tongues spoken at Pentecost. But was that what tongues were intended to evoke? Or were they intended by God to evoke a very different reaction?
Wednesday Bible Study, June 21st 2017 | 1 Peter 4:12-19 This message discusses how the growing Christian think of suffering for the name of Christ. About Mike Fenton: Mike Fenton is pastor of Trinity Baptist Church, Ukiah.
Sunday, June 18th 2017 | Acts 2:1-13 The Coming of the Mighty Holy Spirit! Start of the Dispensation of the Spirit/Grace. Start of the Church Age.
Sunday, June 17th 2017 | Acts 2:1-4 First sermon of the series. This sermon discusses the Old Testament preparation for the event of Pentecost and the types and shadows pointing to the Acts 2 event.
Sunday, February 19th 2017 | 2 Chronicles 34:1-33 Young king Josiah, against the evil tradition of his fathers, sought the Lord early in life, and persistently expanded and reinstituted the worship of the true God. He did this through a strategy of total warfare against pagan idolatry and its wicked,...
Sunday, February 12th 2017 | John 14:15-26 Part 2 of the exposition of John 14 – the Upper Room Discourse. Here Jesus comforts, encourages and prepares his disciples for his departure by emphasizing the superior and enduring ministry of the Holy Spirit, who He will ask the Father to send...
Sunday, February 5th 2017 | John 14:1-14 Jesus comforts his distraught disciples in view of his soon departure, with six specific encouragements, the 6 P’s: Promise of Provision in the Father’s house (v2), Pledge to Rapture them to a prepared Father’s house (v3), the Prospect of doing greater works (v12),...
Sunday, January 29th 2017 | John 13:12-30 In considering all that Jesus had taught and done, there were the two things (one is in this passage) that Judas Iscariot seems to have understood that the other disciples did not seem to fully grasp yet? It is what Judas did understand...
Sunday, October 23rd 2016 | James 1:1-4 Trials, painful and sometimes bitter. What does the Christian faith have to say and offer the believer? How do we cope? Are we to escape by any means we can? Trials are Providentially ordained by a sovereign and good God with kind intentions...
Sunday, October 16th 2016 | Acts 3:1-4:22 Peter and John interact with a crippled beggar seated at the Gate Beautiful. The fascinating cultural background set us up to illuminate vital truths about Jesus Christ! About Karl Poppelreiter: Karl has been a pastor/elder in the Sierra Nevada mountains. He served as pastor/elder...
Sunday, October 2nd 2016 | John 8:1-11 Jesus is caught in the horns of a dilemma. He’s called to judge a capital case by the Law of Moses, but if he does that properly, he’ll be guilty of treason against Rome. See how Jesus rigorously applies the Law of Moses,...
Sunday, June 5th 2016 | John 1:35-51 Jesus calls John, Andrew, Peter, Phillip and Nathaniel to follow Him as disciples. Each one is dealt with distinctly, and Jesus reveals both His deity and his ancient existence as the one Mediator between heaven and earth!
Sunday, May 29th 2016 | John 1:19-34 John the Baptist! Just who was this man, where did he come from, and what was his relation to and message about the Word, the Messiah
Sunday, May 22nd 2016 | John 1:6-18 Just who was Jesus Christ? Was he a prophet? A great spiritual teacher? Was he sent as an example of how we should live and love? Was he the founder of a new religion? Was he just a misunderstood itinerant preacher?
Sunday, May 15th 2016 | John 1:1 An introduction to John the Evangelist’s gospel. We delve into the unique aspects of John’s purposes in writing the gospel and the distinctions between this gospel and the synoptic gospels.
Sunday, March 6th 2016 | 2 Timothy 2:1-13 If you were entrusted with spectacular, invaluable special knowledge (like that found in the movie, National Treasure), how would you behave, who would you trust, and how would your life be different? Paul tells Timothy that because of the priceless treasure of...
Sunday, February 28th 2016 | 2 Timothy 1:8-18 Paul describes the characteristics of a Roman Pretorian Guard, and uses that as the standard of faithfulness expected of Timothy. But he doesn’t leave him to his own strength, he commends Timothy to the love and grace in Christ, who sends the...
Sunday, February 21st 2016 | 2 Timothy 1:1-7 Introduction to Paul’s last epistle, from Rome, just before his beheading on the Ostian way under emperor Nero. Paul’s final charge to Timothy is full of care and seriousness. Timothy must be faithful to carry on the work of the gospel and...
Sunday, February 14th 2016 | Romans 8:31-39 God’s love in creation, and God’s love expressed in fullness in the Person of Jesus Christ, the effulgence of God Himself. About Karl Poppelreiter: Karl has been a pastor/elder in the Sierra Nevada mountains. He served as pastor/elder with Eric Peterman from 1991 to...
Sunday, February 7th 2016 | Exodus 11:1-12:-14 Just how much faith, and what great quality of faith does it take to be saved from the wrath of God and be put in right standing with Him? Is that even the right question? An examination of the Passover passage in Exodus 11-12...
Sunday, January 31st 2016 | John 2:15-17 There are three enemies, the Evil Triad, opposing our sanctification: The World, The Flesh and The Devil. These must be seen in balance. Each has their own characteristics and approach, and each requires a unique Biblical response.
Sunday, October 25th 2015 | Galatians 1:5-24 The gospel of grace is under various kinds of siege in our day. In this sermon Karl demonstrates how humanism and self-reliance and human “ability” have undermined the gospel and it’s authority and power to save and to change lives supernaturally. About Karl...
Sunday, August 16th, 2015 | Romans 4:1-5 What conditions must be present in the life, attitude and mind of the unbeliever before they can be justified by faith alone in Christ? The answer from the Bible catches many people off-guard, because it is against human nature, and because wrong ideas...
Sunday, August 9th 2015 | Daniel 9:24-27 Daniel is given the prophetic interpretation by the holy angel regarding the 70 years of captivity written by Jeremiah. The Jeremiah scroll has made its way to Babylon. Also included is the specific calculation for when Messiah will enter Jerusalem in 33 AD.
Sunday, July 12th 2015 | Daniel 7:10-28 Daniel is revealed the Little Big Horn, the blasphemous fake messiah-Christ that is given power for a short time to persecute the people of Israel and draw all worship to himself as the great deceiver. The court of Heaven sits and passes judgment...
Sunday, July 5th 2015 | 1 Corinthians 5:1-13 In light over recent cultural and legal changes, how should the body of Christ respond to sins within and without. 1 Corinthians 5 gives us a good idea. The most important moral task the church has is to keep itself free from...
Sunday, June 28th 2015 | Daniel 7:1-18 In Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in Ch2, the kingdoms of mankind were revealed in their human splendor, relative to one another. Now Daniel is taken to the throne-room of the Ancient of Days and sees the same kingdoms through God’s eyes: Depraved, terrible, and ultimately...
Sunday, June 21st 2015 | Daniel 6:1-28 Like Nebuchadnezzar, Darius’ pride gets the best of him, and is used by his usurping Satraps to control him. Daniel’s humility before man and God causes him to disobey the king, and thus bring about the restoration of Darius’ authority, and Darius’ conversion....
Sunday, June 14th 2015 | Daniel 5:1-31 One cannot rest on their ancestor’s faith. Each generation, each individual must come to terms with the Living God, on His terms alone. This is the sad end of Nebuchadnezzar’s mighty golden empire, rolling over into a meaningless defeat by the Persians because...
Sunday, June 7th, 2015 | Luke 23:33-47 The sure and certain promise of Jesus to the dying thief is powerful proof that grace from God does the work of converting, and then begins the work of working out sanctification, even in the last hours of a life saved by Christ....
Sunday, May 31st 2015 | Daniel 4:1-37 The humiliation of a king – recorded by his own hand and published to the people of his kingdom. Nebuchadnezzar is given Divine revelation, but it is to his utter horror and judgment, and the fact appalls Daniel. The king’s pride brings him...
Sunday, May 24th 2015 | Daniel 3: 1-30 The unregenerate, semi-believing mind and heart receive God’s blessings and attention not as a reason for humble rejoicing, but as reason for self-approbation and self-exaltation. God is able to use the salt and light of believers to humble the proud… if, and...
Sunday, May 17th 2015 | Daniel 2:37-45 God uses the humility of Daniel to reveal His decree, His sovereign will to and through pagan Nebuchadnezzar. The God of history reveals to the king that his Babylon is at the top of the slope of what will be the course of...
Sunday, May 10th, 2015 | Daniel 2:1-35 Charismatics feel that the right environment must be cultivated for the gifts to shower down in the service. But Nebuchadnezzar shows us that when God determines to reveal a divine mystery of the ages, the only qualifications were: 1) Be a pagan, 2)...
Sunday, May 3rd 2015 | Daniel 1:8-31 The key point from this sermon is that God does not need our worship or our great service. He merely uses our smallness to be most glorified in us. The advantage that Daniel and his friends had was their smallness and insignificance compared...
Sunday, April 12th, 2015 | Hebrews 6:10-20 Hope is what makes the future worthwhile. The hope of the future of the believer, after this life, is anchored firmly in the character, promise and perfection of God. We are storm tossed, yet the captain of our ship has gone ahead and...
Sunday April 5th, 2015 | Luke 24:13-35 Our Easter day sermon. The two disciples on the road to Emmaus show the tragic personal result of not believing the difficult passages of Scripture, and show us what happens when we pick and choose the “happy” passages for ourselves. Jesus uses the...
Sunday, March 29th 2015 | Matthew 21: 1-14 This sermon takes a different approach to the Triumphal Entry (Palm Sunday) and traces the coming of Messiah back through the Abrahamic and Davidic covenants and then finally connects the body of Christ, by God’s grace through faith alone in Christ alone,...
Sunday, March 22nd 2015 | John 15: 12-16:1 The Lord Jesus does not leave his disciples, who would become apostles to the church, without instruction, comfort, and the promise of Divine unction to carry out the Father’s mission to the world, and to build Christ’s church. In this passage they,...
Sunday, March 15th 2015 | 1 Corinthians 15: 14-32 The earthquake, rocks splitting, graves opening at the crucifixion attest to atonement for our sins on Calvary. The subsequent raising of many dead believing Old Testament era saints provide further proof of God’s acceptance of the atonement and of the power...
Sunday, March 8th 2015 | Hebrews 9: 1-14 The veil indicated both the utterly alien holiness of God and the vulgar sinfulness of man, and was an implement specified by God as an act of mercy and grace so to protect those priests and followers who served and brought sacrifices...
Sunday, March 1st 2015 | Matthew 27: 45-53 There were 5 miracles performed by the Father and the Spirit to attest to the uniqueness of Jesus Christ as the only man who could atone for our sins. This sermon introduces those miracles, their necessity, and then exposits the miracle of...
Sunday, December 7th 2014 | Amos 3: 7-8 Introduces the 4 main types of OT messianic prophesies then dives into 14 specific OT messianic prophesies. Christmas is not about our “spirit of giving” it is about the sovereign, saving God who is the author of history. Sermon includes a personal story...