Sermon: Otherly Love

Scripture: Matthew 9:9-13 NLT

Main Point: Love broken people before they are fixed.

Misconception #1: Jesus loves everyone but only likes Christians. Truth: Jesus invites everyone to follow him out of a life of brokenness.

Misconception #2: Jesus only accepts people who have it together. Truth: Jesus loves us as we are, but doesn't leave us that way.

Misconception #3: Jesus separates himself from hurting people. Truth: Jesus wants us to go where the hurt is.

Sermon Title: American Jesus, Part 2

Scripture: Matt. 25:1-13, Heb. 12:14-17, Matt. 25:14-30, John 15:2, Jas. 2:14-26, Matt. 25:31-46,

Main Points:

1. Endurance: It is not just about starting the race, we have to finish. Jesus reminds us that

salvation is a marathon that must be run to the end or we will miss the prize of eternity.

2. Active Faith: True faith is alive and active. It reproduces itself and reproduces the Gospel in

the lives of others. It is so much more than the personal thing we make it.

3. Compassion: Jesus offers more than a social Gospel. The activity of our salvation should

produce a heart that sees the needs of others and seeks to be a blessing to the least of these.

Dig Deeper:

1. How is our relationship with God more like a marathon than a sprint? How can we show that to others?

2. What are some characteristics of a person who is living their life completely sold out for Jesus?

3. What has God given to you that you could use to build His Kingdom?

4. Why is compassion ministry so important to God? Why should it be more important to us?

5. What could you be doing to show compassion to the “least of these?”

Sermon Title: American Jesus, Part 1

Scripture: Rom. 10:9, Luke 14:25-30, Matt. 4:18-22, 16:21-28, John 16:33

Main Points:

1. The Cost of Salvation: To truly accept the gift of salvation means that we have to reject

everything that isn’t part of that salvation. We forsake all others and cleave only to God.

2. The Cost of Following: We say that we are “following Jesus,” but the truth is we are often

trying to lead him and include him. Following means surrender and a second seat to Jesus.

3. The Cost of a Soul: We all want God to bless us with a good life, but God wants to bless our

souls with salvation, even if it costs some comfort in this life.

DIG DEEPER-

1. What has your salvation cost you? What changes has it made in your life?

2. What have you given up for the sake of following Jesus?

3. Where do you think that God is leading you in your life? What’s his plan?

4. Share a story of a time when the challenges of life caused you to question God’s goodness.

5. If God is most concerned with our souls, what does that mean for our everyday lives?

Sermon- Omnipotence (omnis potentia)

Scripture: Genesis 1:1-3m, 2 Samuel 7:8-11, 1 Peter 1:3-5

Main Points:

The Paradox of the STONE .

God needs NOTHING to create everything.

God’s power and plan EXCEED our imaginations.

God’s power to SAVE is the greatest miracle of all.

SERMON NOTES:

Omnipotence in the Bible Genesis 1:1 - God creates everything ex nihilo

Job 42:2 – God can do all things

Psalm 33:6 – God created by speaking

Jerimiah 32:17 – Nothing too difficult for God

Isaiah 40:28 – God never gets tired

Matthew 19:26 – Nothing impossible for God

Ephesians 3:20 – Beyond what we can imagine

Sermon: Omnipresence (omnis praesentia)

Scriptures: Psalm 139:5-12, 1 Corinthians 3:16-17, Matthew 18:19-20, 2 Chronicles 7:13-15

Sermon Notes:

Omnipresence in the Bible

• Jeremiah 23:23-24 – God fills the whole earth
• 1 Kings 8:27 – Earth cannot contain God
• Proverbs 15:3 – God’s eyes are everywhere
• Matthew 28:20 – God is with us
• Acts 17:27-28 – God is never far away
• Ephesians 4:6 – God is over all and in all
• Colossians 1:17 – All things held together by God

Main Points:

1. Comfort & Challenge: God sees and knows all things. It comforts us because there is no difficulty that escapes his view. It challenges us because he sees every sinful heart.

2. Fellowship Reflects God: God’s presence is inside us, but his glory is reflected in our fellowship and communal worship. Inviting his glory activates his power.

3. God Dwells In Righteousness: Humility and prayer are important, but God responds to righteousness because it’s sacrificial and reflects the sacrifice he made for us.

Notes: David is uniquely positioned to speak of God’s Kingdom Authority because he himself is a king. He understands that a kingdom is accessible to a king, but that a king is not always accessible to the kingdom. However, he sees God’s ability to be everywhere at all times for all his people and he marvels over it. God’s presence is in us personally, but his glory is found in our fellowship and corporate worship. He says he is always with us but makes it so that we must gather two or three to see his power activated fully. The presence of God is further activated through upholding a Biblical standard of righteousness in our lives. When we live for God, it invites him to move in and through us with greater fluidity. Humility and prayer are good, but it takes turning away from sin to truly see the power of God activated personally and/or corporately.

Sermon Title: New Year, Same God, Part 2- Omnibenevolence (omnis benevolentia)

Scriptures: Genesis 1:31, Genesis 2:15-17, Deuteronomy 30:19-20, Jeremiah 29:11-14

Main Points:

Why should God get all the credit for good things and none of the blame for bad things?

God demonstrates his goodness through instruction.

Human will conflicts with the goodness of God's will.

Even when it hurts, God has a good plan for my life.

Sermon Notes:

Definition: Possessing perfect and limitless goodness

The goodness of God can be conceived in terms of God in himself (ad intra) and God’s work in creation (ad extra). A thing is good to the extent that it is all that it can and should be—namely, perfect. God alone is all that he can and should be. Thus, since God is wholly perfect, lacking nothing, he is the supreme and absolute good. Moreover, since he is already himself fully perfect according to his nature, there is no end—no good—toward which he strives. That is to say, God is immutably incapable of becoming more good or less good. To refer to God’s goodness is simply to refer to God himself. That is to say, God’s essence is identical with goodness, and goodness is an essential and necessary attribute of the divine nature. Since God is infinite, his goodness is as immeasurable as his being and nature. Moreover, as self-sufficient, God does not derive his goodness from anything else. Thus, he rests in himself as good. -Lexham Survey of Theology, God’s Goodness

Inevitably, when we talk about the goodness of God, this is the question that plagues most people. We treat this question with incredulity because it seems unfair in our eyes that God should only get credit for something if it’s good. Even for those who believe in God’s ultimate goodness, there remains the question of the things that he allows which are not good. He himself is good. He has the power to stop that which is not good. If he doesn’t stop that which is not good when he instruction, stop it, how can he himself still be good?

How do we teach out children what the word hot means? Some of us will tell a kid over and over again, ”No. Don’t touch. That’s hot.” Now the truth is a child does not know what hot means until one day they touch something either because you permitted them, they disobeyed or a combination of the two. When a child gets burned, are you a bad parent because that happened? No. You had warned them. You had even scolded them for getting too close to whatever was hot. instruction, the fact remains that they did not know what hot meant until they got burned.

Sermon Title: New Year, Same God, Part 1- Omniscience

Scriptures: Psalm 139:1-4,16, Romans 8:26-30, Hebrews 4:10-13

Main Points:

1. God has a PLAN for me in 2025.
2. I need the Holy Spirit more than a resolution.
3. I will give an account to God for everything.

Sermon Notes:

While there are many doctrines that are not agreed upon universally, the doctrine of omniscience has always been an ecclesial belief. It is deeply rooted in scriptures of the Old and New Testatments. The word omniscience can only define God. It is derived from the Latin words omnis (all) and scientia (knowledge) and literally means that someone possesses “all knowledge.” Who, other than God, could ever truly embody this concept?

If you are someone who has had their life completely changed by one day… are you willing to believe that it can happen again?

When we read the Bible, it REVEALS to us what is already EXPOSED before God, to whom we must someday give an account!

Sermon: Hope is Alive

Scriptures: Psalm 16:1-11, Psalm 84:10-12

Main Points:

1. Hope begins when we make the decision to follow God completely.
2. Hope follows Trust in Jesus as we let Him show us the Way of Life.

Sermon Notes:

What does it mean to completely trust in God?

• John 11:25 – God will save you from your sin
• Deut. 31:5 – God will never leave you or forsake you
• Jas. 1:5 – God will give you wisdom to guide you
• Ps. 37:3 – God will direct your steps if you are righteous
• Mal. 3:10 – God will provide for you if you are generous
• Is. 55:8-9 – God sees and knows what you do not
• Matt. 6:33 – God will take care of everything if you put him first
• Rom. 8:28 – God is working good things for those who love him

How can we confidently approach 2025 and hope for it to be a good year? Let’s move away from ideas that it might be “the best year ever” or “a better year than last year.” We are too downtrodden with our thoughts. There is a biblical pathway for choosing hope in our lives and it begins with a foundation of godliness that we must each choose to build upon each day.