Revelation 3:14-22
To Laodicea: The Lukewarm Church Think back with me over the last few times you’ve entertained someone at your home. As a gesture of hospitality, you undoubtedly asked your guests, “What would you like to drink? Iced tea or hot tea? Coffee? Cold cider (or maybe if it was winter, hot cider)? Coke? Ice water?” I’m willing to wager that no one has responded, “Just give me a lukewarm Pepsi,” or even “How about a glass of tap water at room temperature?” Most red-blooded Americans don’t like anything…
Revelation
The Eighth Letter: To First Evangelical Free Church of Wichita Have you enjoyed our study of the letters to the Seven Churches of Asia Minor this summer? Maybe “enjoy” is the wrong word to use. Have you “profited” from it? I know I have. For the sake of those who may be visiting with us this morning, for the past two months we have been reading someone else’s mail. We have been reading and studying seven letters dictated by Jesus Christ to the Apostle John…
2 Thessalonians 3:6-15
Money–Godly and Ungodly Ways of Getting It We are launching a new sermon series this morning, entitled “Finding Financial Freedom.” Please note that I didn’t say, “Finding Financial Security.” Biblically the phrase “financial security” is an oxymoron, a contradiction in terms. By the way, I collect oxymorons, and I have literally hundreds of them in my file. Maybe you’d like to hear a few, or maybe not, but here are some of my favorites anyway: Amtrak schedule California expressway Civil War Country music (please no…
Various Passages
Money–Godly and Ungodly Ways of Spending It John Wesley advised his followers concerning the use of wealth: “Make all you can, save all you can, give all you can!” I think most Christians would offer a hearty amen! to Wesley’s words, but many live a slightly different version: “Make all you can, spend all you can, and hope that Social Security is solvent when you hit 65.” I am personally convinced that most Christians would like to be more frugal in their saving and…
Various Passages
Money–Godly and Ungodly Ways of Saving It A few weeks ago you all received a bookmark with our church’s new mission on it. It’s really not a new mission–just a restatement of what our mission has always been: “To glorify God through honoring His name, teaching His word, loving His people, and expanding His kingdom.” One of the values under “expanding His kingdom” is this: “We value generous stewardship over all of the resources God has entrusted to us.” We value that because God commands it and because God…
Acts 4:36-5:11
Money–Ungodly Ways of Giving It Please turn with me to the book of Acts 4 and let’s read together the Word of the Lord, beginning in verse 36. Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement), sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet. Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. With his wife’s full knowledge he…
Luke 16:1-9
Money–Godly Ways of Giving It: A Bad Man’s Good Example Every one of us in this room this morning has a set of priorities, a ranking, if you will, of those things that we consider the most important in the world. I’m sure if asked to put these priorities on paper, most of us would probably list God first, family second, then work, church, friends, and country in some order, followed by eating, golf, TV, sleeping, and other common pursuits. But I am…
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
How the Gospel Impacts the Church Those who know me well know I can be a very critical person. And I confess that there are times when I’m critical of this church. Some of you may have some criticisms of our church as well. After all, churches are composed of sinners. There is room for improvement in any church, but overall I think we have much to be thankful for at First Free. When the gospel has an obvious impact…
1 Thessalonians 2:1-12
How the Gospel Impacts the Pastor It’s no secret to any of you that the media loves bad news. Bad news sells. Bad news titillates the public. Bad news can be used as a tool to further personal agendas, as we saw in the recent tragedy in Tuscon, Arizona. The media particularly likes bad news when it focuses on a politician they don’t like. The conviction of Tom Delay and the fall of John Edwards received a lot of attention because both men had already…
1 Thessalonians 2:13-16
How the Church Receives the Gospel Consider this quote from Graham Cole. “When it comes to the problem of evil, the Bible is not as interested in the arrival of evil as it is in the survival of evil.” The problem of evil simply put is this. How can a God who is perfectly loving, powerful, and just allow evil, pain, sickness, death, hardship, and conflict to exist? We are faced with these things on a daily basis. And these…
1 Thessalonians 2:17-3:13
How the Church Suffers for the Gospel The Apostle Paul and his two missionary companions, Silas and Timothy, came to Thessalonica and planted a church during Paul’s second missionary journey, but within weeks their success in winning converts stirred up tremendous opposition. In fact, a riot was generated, and they had to flee the city during the night. Paul’s detractors apparently used that fact against him, claiming he had used and abused his new converts and then abandoned them to handle persecution…
1 Thessalonians 4:1-12
How the Church Must Live in Purity According to the Gospel God saves a people for himself through the gospel. Those people are called the Church. The title of this sermon series in 1 Thessalonians is “The Gospel and the Church.” We have explored how the gospel impacts the church and impacts pastors, and how the church receives the gospel and suffers for the gospel. Today we will look at how the church must live a life pleasing to God…