Honoring God January 5, 2003 Malachi - Topical Scripture Reading: Introduction: If you truly wanted to honor someone, how would you do it? The most prominent biblical example that comes to mind is in the book of Esther. Remember King Xerxes' choice of Esther for a new queen to replace Vashti who had…

Introduction: The presence of the Lord Jesus, alive just as He promised He would be, transforms everything. We can see this very clearly in the fall and restoration of the apostle Peter after the resurrection. The Text: “And the servants and officers stood there, who had made a fire of coals; for it…

Introduction: In the Scriptures, jealousy is a virtue. Like all good things, it can be bent and distorted into sin, but for some reason, we have come to think that jealousy is necessarily sinful. This is not the case at all. In the modern world, we are not nearly jealous enough. THE TEXT: /Take heed…

My Record is on High Job 16:19 Records play an important role in our society. We have records of our birth in the counties where we were born, and that starts a life long process of both individual and civil record keeping. We keep records as a proof of purchase. Records of crimes and violations are…

Introduction: Marriage is instituted by God, and rightly understood it is one of the most glorious pictures of the gospel given to man. And of course, abused as it often is, it presents a potent false gospel as well. That false gospel either seduces people into a sentimental mess, or it presents a caricature…

INTRODUCTION No home can function in a scriptural way without discipline. In fact, some form of discipline is inescapable; children are always being disciplined and directed. The only question is whether or not the standard that governs this is a scriptural one or not. THE TEXT 8But if ye be without…

The Importance of the Blood Lev 17:11 If I can take some time to build on the foundation that Brent laid during Sunday school we can save a lot of introduction time. The premise of his lesson was the importance of doctrine which are teachings; specifically Bible teachings. An important point was made…

INTRODUCTION: Sleep is an important part of our lives, even though we can recall very little of it. We spend about a third of our lives asleep, which amounts to twenty-five years for a seventy-five-year-old man. And if the chief end of our lives is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever, as the Shorter…

INTRODUCTION: For various reasons, evangelism is a difficult subject for many Reformed Christians. Some die-hard Calvinists may have glanced at the title of this message—friendship evangelism—and asked, “What’s evangelism?” Or, if they are really die-hard Calvinists, perhaps they asked, “What’s friendship?”…

Introduction One of the most obvious symbols of the Christmas season is the star of Bethlehem. Countless Christmas cards have portrayed it, our carols sing about it, and we tell one another the story associated with it every year. In this, we frequently just skim over the surface of what we actually…

INTRODUCTION As we consider home life, we must recognize that circumstances vary—whether from home to home, life to life, or culture to culture. But one of these variations supplied by our technocratic culture has created something of an optical illusion. We have a tendency to want to get death away…

INTRODUCTION: The last description of Christ’s resurrection appearances is found in the very first part of Acts. As we celebrate His resurrection, we want to take care that we learn everything that the Scriptures teach us about it. THE TEXT: /“The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that…

Introduction: It may seem odd to include a message on imitation in a series of sermons on marriage, but it is actually a very important aspect of marriage. In fact, it is so important to godliness in marriage that the world has an entire framework of “countermeasures” arraigned against it, so that most…

Introduction: The apostle Paul was a polarizing figure. You either really loved him, or you really didn’t. Not only was this the case in his day, it remains the case down to the present. The Text: “Would to God ye could bear with me a little in my folly: and indeed bear with me. For I am jealous over…

INTRODUCTION The constitution of a biblical home consists of faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these is love. Love is not to be understood as mere sentiment, but rather self-sacrificing obedience to the Word of God—with a whole heart. This can be quite an elevating concept until there are dishes…

Why Terri Schiavo Matters Making Sense of End-of-Life Issues Message Purpose: Presentations: [PowerPoint: “Why Terri Schiavo Matters”] Handouts: Introduction There exists today a battle of worldviews. A worldview is a lens in which we view and interpret events and issues. Everyone has a worldview, whether…

Introduction: We are beginning this series on marriage with a short introductory series on why teaching on marriage frequently does no good at all. The first reason we considered was discontent, because discontented people are unteachable. The second stumbling block is our tendency to trust in the letter…

Introduction: Pentecost is not only an important event in the history of the Church, but is also one of the key events in the history of the world. Pentecost celebrates something that has happened to the world, and the Scriptures teach that nothing can be done to reverse this. THE TEXTS: /“Then came…

INTRODUCTION Isaiah is very concerned with the importance of names. We have seen that he named his two sons with the future of Israel in mind, and they were both types of Immanuel. And Matthew tells that the Messiah was named Jesus because He was named Immanuel. And now we come to a glorious pinnacle…

INTRODUCTION: One of the hardest lessons for an egalitarian age to learn is the necessary lesson of honor. But this honor must not be carnal—we are called to render honor as understood in a biblical and Christian way. This directly affects how husbands and wives are to grow old together. THE TEXTS: “Thou…

INTRODUCTION The apostle Paul wanted to sing in the Spirit, but wanted to sing with the mind also (! Cor. 14:15). In a similar way, we come here week after week to worship God in the Spirit of God. But it is important for us to understand what we are doing, and why we are doing it. Otherwise we will…

The Sanctity of Human Life: Abortion Introduction The third Sunday in January is the day that we call Sanctity of Human Life Sunday. It marks the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the U. S. Supreme Court decision that allowed abortions to occur for any reason up to moments before and even during birth. Abortion…

INTRODUCTION: The gospel changes lives. Not only does it do this, but it has this impact on every aspect of our lives, which includes our sexual identity, our sexual lives. This fixes a number of problems, but if we are honest with ourselves, we have to admit it also creates some new problems, some new…

INTRODUCTION Before resuming our study of Galatians, it is important that we consider recent events in Moscow and around the country in the light of God’s Word. The Lord has been very kind to us thus far, but part of our responsibility is to understand His kindness. He has given us the great privilege…

November 17, 1996 - OBC - AM BEHOLD THE LAMB THE LAMB TYPIFIED The Blood Atonement Genesis 4:1-8 Gen 4:1-8 1 Now the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, "I have gotten a manchild with {the help of} the LORD." 2 And again, she gave birth to his…