Today you may lack joy. You may not feel very joyful. We all find ourselves there at times. Psalm 16 is your psalm because it gives us a pathway to true and lasting joy. Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

SERIES: Our 7 Shaping Virtues
TEXT: Psalm 16
TITLE: Joy
PREACHER: Derek Overstreet
BIG IDEA: Pursuing the God of all joy produces a joyful Church in all circumstances

POINTS:
1. Know Your Lord
2. Delight In Your Church
3. Guard Your Heart
4. Focus On Jesus

SERMON EXCERPTS:
”Do you believe it’s possible? And I’m not referring to heaven, I mean today. Do you believe its possible to possess joy that transcends even our most difficult circumstances? Psalm 16 compels us to answer with a resounding YES!”

“The truth is, Christians are joy seekers. Joy is a constant theme in the Bible.”
”God wants His church to be characterized by joy. Like a father or mother wants their child to be happy, God desires you to experience joy to the fullest.”

“By joy, we’re not talking about a strong personality trait or a superficial contingent happiness—’I’ll be happy if _______.’ Joy is an abiding and deep delight in God for the sheer beauty of who He is and the infinite worth of what he has done in Christ.”

“When troubles arise, our mind tends to immediately find human solutions. That always leads to anxiety and discouragement. But David fills his mind with the knowledge of his God. This is the beginning of true joy.”

“God is good! In feast or famine. In wealth or poverty. In peace or conflict. In health or sickness, in life or death. God holds my lot. He is in control. He is good. He is my portion, my cup, my inheritance. So whatever he providentially allows into my life, life is good because God is good.”

“Listen, this doesn’t mean we call what is bad, good. Bad is still bad. Cancer is bad. A miscarriage is bad. Losing a loved one is bad. Suffering is suffering, pain is pain, tears are tears. But, in the words of James 1:2, and this is one of the greatest fights in the Christian life—I can count it all as joy because I know who my God is!”

“You want more joy in your life, get to know your God better.”

“David turns his attention to God’s goodness expressed in His people. God, your people love you so I love them. Your people delight in you so I delight in them. This is not idolatry. The church can be an idol. Joy can be an idol, if it’s an end. We take joy in God’s people because God’s presence is with His people. So we love to be in the presence of your people because we long to be in presence of the Lord, where there is joy forevermore.”

“As often as we gather, gathering with your church should be an occasion of great delight and joy. Not because we’re so great but because our God is so great, and when we gather as a church, our great God is uniquely present and glorified. Is it a joy for you to gather with your church? If not, it’s a sign your heart has drifted. Go to God now!”

“The world can throw its best at you, it cannot touch the joy you have in Jesus.” 

“…we must, in the words of verse 8—set him before us. This is the ultimate key to our joy. We don’t set Jesus to the right, the left, or behind us. We set him before us. Right in front of us.”

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 30:5
Galatians 5:22
James 1:2
Philippians 4:4
1 Thessalonians 3:9
Jeremiah 2:12-13
1 Chronicles 17:11

QUOTES:
John MacArthur - “The more you know Him, the better you know Him, the more confident you become, the more secure your joy is… Joy is related to your knowledge of God: little knowledge, little joy; much knowledge, much joy. The more you know of God’s glorious truth, of God’s great covenants and promises, of God’s plans, of God’s faithfulness, of God’s power, the more joy you experience in life… Our joy is connected to the goodness of the Lord. And the more you understand His grace and mercy and goodness, the more stable your joy becomes, no matter what circumstances may come.”

Bob Kauflin - “God is particularly interested in our joy. He tells us, “Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!” (Psalm 32:11). When the church gathers, the sense of confident joy in God should be pronounced. When we fail to demonstrate delight and satisfaction in God, we’re not only dishonoring God, we’re disobeying Him. More than anyone else on earth, Christians have a reason to celebrate.”

Sam Storms - “Your choice isn’t whether to passionately seek pleasure. Trust me, you do. Your only option is where you’ll look or whom you’ll love or whose offer of pleasure you’ll accept.”

John Piper - “Is there anything fuller than full? No. Is anything longer than forever? No. This is no rocket science. This is just glory! Nobody anywhere in the world can offer you anything better than Psalm 16:11.  Because nothing is even conceivably better than verse 11. Nothing is fuller than full or longer than forever. “Fullness” means completely satisfying. And “forevermore” means those pleasures never stop.”

Sam Storms - “God created us so that the joy He has in Himself might be ours. God doesn’t simply think about Himself or talk to Himself. He enjoys Himself! He celebrates with infinite and eternal intensity the beauty of who He is as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And we’ve been created to join the party!”

APPLICATION:
By grace through faith in Christ, you have joined the greatest party ever thrown. You belong to the God in whose presence is fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore. Shouldn’t that make us the happiest people on the planet? It should. And we pray it will more and more. 

As we set Jesus before us every day, may the God of all joy pour out His joy on us as a church, for our good, for our testimony, and for God’s glory today, tomorrow, and forevermore!

Our hope and prayer for this series are that God will grow these seven marks of grace in us as we identify them and learn to obediently pursue them with our hearts focused on Jesus. Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

SERIES: Our 7 Shared Virtues
TEXT: Philippians 2:1-11
TITLE: Humility
PREACHER: Derek Overstreet
BIG IDEA: The humiliation of Christ in the gospel creates humble hearts in His people

POINTS:
I. Our Manifestation of Humility
II. Our Motive and Model for Humility

SERMON EXCERPTS:
”Why this series? It's simple—We desire to become more like Jesus. We exist for God's glory. God's glory is revealed as His church reflects His greatness in Jesus Christ. So, we desire to become more like Jesus. We are not trying to start a revolution; we just long for our lives to proclaim the praises of our Savior. It's that simple.”

“…we begin with the virtue that is the fountain of all other virtues—Humility.”

“What is humility? Humility is a selfless disposition of the heart created by an accurate view of God, self, and Christ. God is infinitely holy; I am utterly sinful. Therefore, the only way I can joyfully relate to God and generously receive from God is His undeserved saving grace toward me in Jesus Christ. The degree this reality shapes us is the degree we will be characterized by true humility as a church.”

“Humility is interesting. The key to becoming more humble is not focusing on being more humble; it's focusing on the humility and humiliation of Jesus.”

“The first step in growing in humility is understanding pride. By nature, we are proud, not humble. We're prone to conceit because our hearts naturally crave praise. Pride is in our DNA.”

“Pride has many faces. Some are obvious; others are not. But self is at the center of them all: 

• Feel unappreciated when you serve others and receive no recognition for your efforts—Pride!

• Self-deprecating speech actually meant to draw praises for something you are proud of—It's called humblebrag, its false humility, a.k.a. Pride!

• Loudest person when you enter the room, while you're in the room when you leave the room because you desire everyone's attention—Pride!

• Wallow in self-pity because life is hard, and you deserve better—Pride!

• Unwilling to get out of your comfort zone for the spiritual good of another—It's called fear of man, and it may be the most deceptive and destructive form of Pride!

• Characterized by telling others what you know rather than seeking others for input—Pride!

• Expectations to be served by others exceed your enthusiasm to serve others—Pride!

• Hyper-critical of self and others because little things that go wrong reflect poorly on you—Pride!”

“LOOKING is labor. Listen to the phrases connected with the original word for LOOKING: notice carefully; watch out for; fix one's attention. These are intentional activities.”

“Practically, LOOKING means:

• Pausing in the middle of your busy day to listen to someone who needs encouragement 

• Patiently praying for someone when you really what to punch them

• Inquiring instead of accusing when you share a concern or correction

• Judging someone charitably until you know the facts

• Listening to someone instead of interrupting them because you have something so great to say”

“True gospel humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less because you are looking to the interest of others more.”

“The gospel puts this claim on our lives. If this (in Christ), Then this (put on humility). Christ calls us to it. Commands us to it. And, is our sufficiency for it. That’s where Paul points us.”

“Instead of grasping his godness, Jesus willingly surrendered the honor, praise, and glory that was rightfully his and had been from eternity past in the perfect fellowship of the Trinity to become a Jewish boy from Nazareth who would be crucified as a criminal. That's what Paul means in verse 7 when he says Jesus emptied himself. Jesus didn't empty himself of divine attributes. He didn't become less God when he became fully man. Jesus never minimized or denied his deity. He just didn't grasp it.”

“Jesus did not simply take on a human disguise; he took on our human nature. The Creator and Sustainer of all things condescended into our fallen world, subjecting himself to our frailties as human beings in every way except one—he was without sin.”

“Jesus didn’t come high and lifted up in society. He could have—he is God! He came as a scorned slave. Look at verse 7. The word translated servant means slave. Think about that: 

• A slave was less significant than the least significant

• A slave had one interest—the interest of others 

• A slave was above no one and beneath everyone

Jesus humbled himself, assuming our nature, becoming a servant—translation: substitute sacrifice for us—and obediently died the most humiliating, shameful, excruciating, cursed death possible, (8) death on a cross—for you!”

“The cross is the opposite of selfish ambition and vain conceit. In true humility, God the Son counted you more significant than himself, making his entire life about your greatest interest—being made right with God.”

“That is true humility that led to the humility of Christ that compels and enables us to live humbly with one another.”

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
James 4:6
Isaiah 66:2
Hebrews 1:3
Hebrews 2:17
Romans 5

QUOTES:
Jerry Bridges - “Humility opens the way to all other godly character traits. It is the soil in which the other traits of the fruit of the Spirit grow.”

C.J. Mahaney - “The real issue is not if pride exists in your heart; its where pride exists and how pride is being expressed in your life.”

APPLICATION:
How can we cultivate true humility? 

Read book of quarter—contexts of application

Application specific to today’s text

1. Visit the cross often by reminding yourself who God is, who you were, and why Jesus matters

2. Pray the words of Phi 2:3-4 for yourself and our church

3. LOOK for ways to serve others

4. When you complete a task, something good happens to you, or encouraging words are spoken about you, take a moment to transfer all glory to God 

5. Eagerly encourage one another where you see humility and carefully correct one another where you see pride

6. Live today in light of tomorrow

What God began before us, He is still working out through us until He comes back for us! Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

SERIES: Hopeful: The Book of Acts
TEXT: Acts 28:11-31
TITLE: To Be Continued
PREACHER: Derek Overstreet

POINTS:
I. The Same Gospel
II. The Same Results
III. The Same Mission

SERMON EXCERPTS:
”…it’s understandable if the ending of Acts seems a bit unremarkable. The book that began with Jesus physically ascending into heaven ends with an aging Apostle living in a rental, making ends meet, and talking about Jesus to his visitor. …But I think that’s the point. The end of Acts reveals an unfinished task. Acts focuses on Peter and Paul, but the story is not about them. Acts is about the unstoppable gospel advancing in the power of the Spirit through the church's witness to the ends of the earth to the praise of God’s cosmic and eternal glory until His Son returns—and Jesus hasn’t come back yet!”

“The great promise in Acts 1:8 to take the gospel to the ends of the earth belongs to us. Our purpose and mission continue what the Lord began in the first century into our neighborhoods and schools, the workplace and hang-out spot, the classroom and field of competition.”

“How Hopeful is that! Too often we think we need a new perspective. A new message. A new approach. We don’t need something new, we need something true. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation then and it is still today. Whether for your friend’s salvation or your personal sanctification, a crucified and risen Savior is our foundation and hope!”

“Paul was a Jew. These are his people. His family. His friends. His tribe. The desire for their salvation ran deep in Paul’s heart. When they rejected Christ, Paul didn’t charge God. He didn’t interrogate God. He didn’t try to figure God out. Paul understood the pattern as part of God’s plan from texts like Isaiah 6, and took comfort in it. He trusted in the character of God. He let God be God by resting in God’s ways, even when he didn’t understand those ways. Nowhere is this more clear than Romans 9—Go read this week!”

“This final scene of Acts may not have much razzle dazzle, but it is glorious. Paul isn’t globe-trotting and planting churches. Luke doesn’t mention a great moving of God’s Spirit. But the Great Commission, the gospel mission is being fulfilled as Paul pays his bills and shares Christ. Our mission is the same!”

“As an extension of Acts, we worship God with our lives personally and corporately by learning to love Jesus with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. As an extension of Acts, we are devoted to fellowshipping and caring for one another, living lives of glad obedience to Christ who is our head. As an extension of Acts, we take the message of the transforming power of the gospel to the world around us. Some may reject us other will believe, but God is in control of it all and He gets the glory in it all!”

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
Ephesians 3
1 John 2

QUOTES:
Derek Thomas -“Luke has finished his story, but the story has not finished! There is an unwritten “To be continued” in the progress of the gospel.”

APPLICATION:
- Have you stopped giving gospel-centered counsel to someone because they keep rejecting it? 

- Have you quit sharing a gospel-centered perspective on a situation because the person disagrees with it? 

- Have you stopped sharing the gospel with someone because no one has ever believed when you do? 

Allow the results in Acts to make you Hopeful in your life and ministry.

Church, we are not a memorial to greater days of old in Acts. The task is unfinished. We are the unwritten To Be Continued. God’s mission to display His manifold wisdom to the cosmos through the salvation of sinners and the building of His church is full steam ahead, and we are a living extension of that plan. 

“Today, we end Acts in the most appropriate way I can think of—Adoration.
- Adoration to God with our prayers for this church

- Adoration to god with our speech about this church

- Right now, adoration to God with our voices as the church” 

As we near the end of Acts, we see how the Lord not only brings us safely through our earthly storms but continues to sustain and equip us once they have passed - ALL for his glory and our joy! Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

SERIES: Hopeful: The Book of Acts
TEXT: Acts 28:1-10
TITLE: Our Refuge After the Storm
PREACHER: Tom Wilkins
BIG IDEA: God is not done revealing His grace, power, and purposes after the storm.

POINTS:
I. God is our refuge AFTER the storm
1. A refuge following the storm
2. An unusual kindness
3. Divine protection
II. God’s work He performs
1. He has Gospel work right where we are
2. He will provide all that we need for the task at hand

SERMON EXCERPTS:
”He has brought us “safely through” for a purpose! He has brought us “safely through” to Glorify His name, reveal His power and rule, and show that He is our gracious God. He is our powerful God, and He will advance His Gospel!”

“God’s providential shore that these cold and drenched sailors, passengers, soldiers, and prisoners crawl out of the sea onto is called REFUGE! They were terrified, worn out, starving, and confused as thrashed and paddled their way into the beach. For weeks they had fought the storm and each other. Day and night they were met with worsening conditions and desperation. They had lost everything but their lives! BUT THEY HAD SURVIVED! THEY HAD LIVED.”

“We preach and believe that God will be there for us when the Storms come and He will be our refuge in the midst of the storm BUT here find with Paul that God will be refuge AFTER the storm!”

“I love considering the amazing truth’s of God design in creation - Malta will be its name! - I will place the refuge right here!”

“…the islanders get it partly right - sin wreaks havoc. BUT, in this case, the overarching truth is God, not some pagan goddess, will get the His glory and not through His wrath but through His salvation and kindness, and protection.“

“Take heart Christian, God is not done taking care of you! IN the storm - TAKE HEART. AFTER the storm - TAKE HEART - ‘One More Thing’ will not destroy you!”

“NOW Remember our GOSPEL HOPE in these Gospel truths:

What we get What we deserve

Brought safely through Lost in the storm

Unusual kindness Justified Wrath 

A fire to warm A fire to consume us

Shook Viper into the fire We should be in eternal fire

No misfortune Loss of everything and soul”

“In the storm, Jesus is our refuge! AFTER the storm, Jesus still is our refuge!”

“For three months God kept healing and healing and healing and healing. His plan, His purposes continue over and over and over again to unfold and they will not stop in this life until we reach heaven’s shore.”

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 30:55
Romans 8:32
Psalm 62:7-8
Numbers 6:24-26

QUOTES:
F. F. Bruce - “The name of the island was originally given by the Phoenician sailors, in whose language ‘Melita’ meant ‘refuge’, and Paul would recognize how apt the name was.”

What if I told you a way that you could be free of anxiety in 2023, or at least have a strategy to successfully fight it? Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

TEXT: Philippians 4:4-7
TITLE: Anxiety, Our Enemy & Prayer, Our Weapon
PREACHER: Guest Pastor, Trey Richardson
BIG IDEA: God is greater than any fear, trust Him and pray.

POINTS:
1. His perspective for us (vs. 4)
2. His nearness to us (vs. 5)
3. His invitation for us (vs. 6)
4. His promise to us (vs. 7)

SERMON EXCERPTS:
”Anxiety is a menacing enemy that affects each one of us. The categories are different for each of us, but the problem is the same.  But how about the anxiety that seems to paralyze you?! Anxiety that leads to fear, that makes you feel that it is impossible to get through whatever ‘it’ is?”

“Our text today addresses anxiety at every level from - ‘will I get there on time in this traffic’ to anxiety that tends to be overpowering and at times even brings crippling fear. Paul addresses the Philippians about anxiety in a way that echoes down through the centuries with truth for us today.”

“Our issues are more 1st world issues [compared to the Philippians] but they are our real problems, they are of no less concern because they are the ones we live with every day, with the enemy of anxiety robbing our thought life of joy and peace.”

“Describing anxiety is not the issue, responding to it in a way that keeps it from overwhelming us, is the issue.  In reviewing our passage, we will be talking about anxiety.  But the greater focus will be on growing in our understanding of how God has provided all that we need to successfully fight anxiety, each and every day.  This fight begins with trusting a sovereign God, and trusting God always includes prayer.”

“Joy and rejoicing are mentioned seven times in Paul’s letter to the Philippians.  Each other reference to joy in this letter is tied to a specific reason for being joyful.  But, in our text today, this command to ‘rejoice in the Lord’ is not connected to any specific reason.  In fact, the addition of the adverb always indicates that the rejoicing that Paul is calling for, does not depend on specific circumstances, but they are called to rejoice in all circumstances.  …notice, it is a rejoicing ‘in the lord’, not in the situation.”

“Paul reminds the Philippians of who they are as Christians. He is helping them to see that their ability to rejoice in the Lord, is a reality for every Christian in every situation.  It comes from seeing life through ‘God’s perspective’ - a perspective that includes seeing Christ’s complete dominion over all things including the individual things in their lives. The resulting perspective is trusting that God is sovereignly in control even though it is not observable.  Knowing this about God, allows them to ‘rejoice… ‘in the Lord’… always’.”

“Do you find yourself rejoicing, or being glad, in the midst of life’s challenges? Typically, this is the opposite of what we feel when life presses in hard. …Paul uses some pretty inclusive language - always, and then he even repeats the command.  Paul gets their attention, and ours, when he adds that adverb - always!”

“Over time, these anxieties (worries, fears, things we fret about) can be destructive.  They can begin to erode our trust and confidence in God’s care for us, seen in His ability to protect us in life’s situations, especially the serious ones.  So, we just live with an acceptable level of anxiety, all the while it is driving us away from experiencing any ‘joy in the Lord’.”

“Paul then goes on in the second part of verse 5 to help us to see more clearly reasons why we can trust Him, in order to ‘rejoice in the Lord’ in the face of anxiety… He is near to us.”

“The Lord is at hand… or more literally, the Lord is near. This Is not a near like Ina Road is near to you, but how your lungs are near to you. This phrase is telling us that God is here, literally here with us, right now He is with every believer.  We have been indwelt by the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38).   His presence with us is not a concept, or a theory, it is a reality.  He is at hand.”

“God is here within every believer. This is something we often just don’t feel, especially in the midst of anxious moments and situations.  But this reality goes further.  Yes, he is with us, present with us, but not as a passive passenger through life, but a powerfully active presence with us. …He is powerfully working for us, on our behalf, against the enemy who is warring against us, bringing fear and anxiety.”

“It is good to plan to think through things, and to count the cost, just as Jesus says in Luke 14:28.  But none of this planning, thinking through, counting the cost, is to be defined as worrying, and being anxious.  We worry when we are afraid that God is no longer protecting us, that he is no longer on our side, and we feel we are really on our own.”

“…there is nothing that will ever affect any believer’s life that in some way falls into a category that is not included in God’s invitation for us to come to Him in prayer when we are anxious about something.  There is absolutely nothing that He cannot carry with us, nothing that we cannot depend on him through prayer, nothing that is beyond His care. Nothing!”

“How does God describe this peace and help us to experience it?  By giving us His great and precious promises to help us see His on-going part in our story.”

“Remember, God is not affected by anxieties. He offers to us His peace, the peace with which he lives. That means that regardless the trouble that comes our way, God is with us, at hand, bringing peace to our souls. This peace is beyond what we can understand, but it is not beyond what we can experience. It is the promise of God.”

QUOTES:
Jerry Bridges - “Accept the adversity and resist the anxiety.  We typically do the opposite.”

H.B. Charles - “The things you pray about are the things you trust God to handle.”

William Hendriksen - “By nature, man is totally unable to comprehend this wonderful peace as is a blind man to appreciate a glorious sunset.”  How do you help a blind man experience what he can’t see?  You describe it to him, and help him to experience it.”

H.B. Charles - “Let me give you a single formula to make sense of life’s problems.  If you have a big God you have only little problems.  But if you have a little God you have big problems.”

Fanny J. Crosby, “What A Friend We Have In Jesus” Lyrics - What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear, what a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer. / Oh, what peace we often forfeit, oh what needless pain we bear.  All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.”

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
Matthew 8:23-27
1 Peter 5:7

Feeling alone in your struggle with anxiety? Matthew 28:20, Romans 8:26
Feeling helpless against your fear? 2 Corinthians 12:9
Feeling hopeless that it will ever change?  1 John 4:4, Romans 8:31
Feel that your temptation is too strong? 1 Corinthians 10:13
You fear what might happen next?  Psalm 31:15
You can’t see how things can work out? Romans 8:28
You don’t think God sees you and knows your struggle? Psalm 56:8

APPLICATION:
-If joy is deficient in your life, is that the result of dealing with constant anxiety? Anxiety unchecked will eventually eclipse your view of the sovereign and loving God, and your joy in the Lord will become a casualty, because a right view, or perspective of God, has been lost. On a scale of 1-10, where would you register your level of joy?

Have we just learned how to live with a certain level of anxiety, and put on a happy face?  Have we just considered that our lives are going to have to deal with a certain amount of anxiety?  We know how to deal with it and ‘put on a happy face’.

Remember - God is greater than any anxiety, trust in Him and pray!

• Follow the direction of scripture: When you feel anxiety pressing in, at any moment, anytime, anywhere, take your anxious thoughts and convert them to prayerful expressions (supplications), and add thanksgiving to your prayer.

• Spend more time praying about our situations than thinking about them. Remember, thinking and praying are different…pray more about it than you think about it, or talk about it.

What storm is brewing in your life today? God is God of your storm, and His promise to be with you and preserve you through it is Yes, and Amen in Jesus. So, as long as the storm lasts and as difficult as the storm becomes, you can trust him and testify to Him with true joy and peace. Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

SERIES: Hopeful: The Book of Acts
TEXT: Acts 27
TITLE: Heavenly Anchors for Our Earthly Storms
PREACHER: Derek Overstreet

POINTS:
1. God’s Promised Presence is an Anchor
2. God’s Saving Son is an Anchor
3. God’s Unchanging Character is an Anchor

SERMON EXCERPTS:
”Like the storm in our text, people witnessed the events of the Bible, giving verbal and written testimony with amazing details and accuracy. One more reason we should have confidence in the veracity of the Bible.”

“Oh, how we need that confidence, especially in the storms of life. Acts 27 is meant to strengthen our faith and courage as we face storms of a very different kind. Sometimes they are a slow brew, like a relationship that keeps declining or an illness the doc can’t correctly diagnose. Other storms are sudden and fierce. One day you are healthy, you run routine labs, and the next day you're prepping for cancer. …In these moments, what keeps us anchored? What calms our troubled hearts when the storm rages all around us?” 

“…neither experience nor expertise anchored Paul’s confidence. His confidence amid the storm was anchored in the presence of God. The ship was sinking, but Paul knew the Lord was with him. God's most significant promise to His people is His constant presence. From the garden to Moses to the prophets, the mark and source of confidence for God’s people was His presence.”

“This was Jesus’ promise to his disciples in Matthew 28:20—I am with you always to the end of the age—and it is our promise today through the ever-present Holy Spirit. There is nothing you go through without God going through it with you. And while an angel might not appear to you at night, in the midst of the storm, God reassures you of His presence in many ways:

• Through His Word 

• Through encouraging fellowship

• Through the quiet voice of the Spirit (sermon or prayer)”

“Our problem is not that God takes His eyes off us; we take our eyes off God. He is there. Do you see Him?”

 “We believe in God’s promise of His presence. But it’s easy to feel all alone when the ship is sinking. If that is you today, hear and believe Hebrews 13:5—I will never leave you nor forsake you. Whatever your storm today, ask the Lord to awaken your faith to His merciful and faithful presence in the storm.”

“In the storm, Paul remembered he belonged to God. He doesn’t belong to the sea. He doesn’t belong to fate. He doesn’t even belong to himself. He belongs to God. This is more than a general statement of God as His Creator, so all things are His. It’s a gospel proclamation. Paul is identifying with Christ. He belongs to God because he is purchased with the blood of Jesus.”

“What a promise we have in Jesus! No matter how hard, hopeless, and horrific the storm may seem, our identity in Christ as the forgiven and accepted possession of God anchors our hearts in peace.”

“Ultimately, only one storm can sink you—God’s just judgment for your sin. But that storm was dealt with 2000 years ago on the cross where Jesus was swept away by it in our place. On the cross, he faced the hurricane of eternal justice for your sake. Now, by faith in Jesus, you belong to God, hidden, safe, and secure from the ultimate storm.”

“We never outgrow the gospel. We must preach it to ourselves daily if we are to continually live in the good of it. How true is this amid the storms of life?”

“While you and I don’t have the luxury of direct, special revelation like Paul, we do have the promise that God is sovereignly and providentially with us in Christ, and no storm can alter his good purposes for us. He always knows what we need when we need it, and He graciously provides it. Isn’t God merciful?!”

QUOTES:
C.S. Lewis - “He walks everywhere incognito. And the incognito is not always hard to penetrate. The real labor is to remember, to attend. In fact, to come awake. Still more, to remain awake.”

Kent Hughes - “We are often objective oriented, but God is process oriented. We just want to get to Rome, but God is even more interested in how we get there.”

J.C. Ryle - “By affliction, God shows us our emptiness and weakness, draws us to the throne of grace, purifies our affections, weans us from the world, makes us long for heaven. In the resurrection morning, we shall all say, “It is good for me that I was afflicted.”  We shall thank God for every storm.”

APPLICATION:
Two important implications of being properly anchored in the storm:
1. When we are appropriately anchored, we grow spiritually through the storm.
2. When we are appropriately anchored, we can help others through the storm.

We often put ministry on pause amid the storm. We are tempted to isolate as we wait for the storm to pass before we return to serving and telling others about Jesus. 

Paul doesn’t wait until he gets to Rome. No doubt he wishes the wind would cease and the sun would shine. But Paul doesn’t wait until then. God gives him the grace, as He will you, to continue trusting and testifying to Christ at a time when trusting and testifying to Christ is most intriguing to people—during the storm. 

How can he do that? The heavenly anchors of God’s presence, God’s Son, and God’s character.

Have you ever been told you were crazy on account of your faith? If you live for Jesus, someone at some time will call you crazy, but true sanity can’t be defined by the world! Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

SERIES: Hopeful: The Book of Acts
TEXT: Acts 25-26
TITLE: Crazy for Jesus
PREACHER: Derek Overstreet

POINTS:
1. A Futile Mob
2. A Confused Governor
3. An Embarrassed King
4. A Victorious Evangelist

SERMON EXCERPTS:
”If you live for Jesus, someone at some time will call you crazy. And my prayer for us today is that when that happens, we would take courage in the Lord to look beyond what others think of us and testify to the transforming power and glory of Jesus with our words and actions.”

“Let’s be honest, it’s easier said than done. The crazy label from your neighbor can be a powerful paralyzer. Paul’s example today is a reminder that in Christ we are victorious and we have nothing to fear so living Crazy for Christ is the sanest thing we can do.”

“…in verse 7 we learn that for all the serious charges the Jews brought against Paul, they couldn’t prove any of them. None of their accusations would stick. How frustrated must these Jewish leaders be—Once again, their plan is proven futile.”

“This Paul situation was driving Festus crazy. He is confused. He couldn’t offload the problem to Jerusalem. He knows if he sends Paul to Caesar, he has to explain what and why the situation demands the Emperor's attention. You can’t just send problems up the ladder. Festus’ political career and legacy is at stake here. Then he remembers King Agrippa is in town so he thinks—Oh, maybe this guy can make my problem go away.”

“Ever been in an intimidating moment? For instance, the only one in group who believes abortion is an abomination to the Lord or Jesus is the ONLY way to God? If Paul was standing next to you, I think he would say, Take courage, don’t worry about what they think of you, live for Jesus right now and speak. That’s exactly what Paul does as he stands in the shadows of powerful people.”

“Paul’s mission is to bring the good news of Jesus to the Gentiles. His call was to call sinners like himself to repent and believe in a crucified and risen Jesus and live for his glory instead of their own. By the way, that mission hasn’t changed, has it. We get sidetracked by competing causes and personal ambitions, but the Christian life is about living for Jesus and telling others about him.”

“When people call you crazy because you live for Jesus, let Paul’s words comfort you—It’s God’s plan!”

“So often, this is what keeps people from embracing Jesus—What will others think?”

“An embarrassed king. A confused governor. A futile mob. None of them can thwart God’s plan for Paul to take Rome to the gospel. In all the power and pomp of our text, guess who turns out victorious? Paul!”

“The pomp and power and philosophies of this world are a powerful temptation. They are also fleeting and hollow. The praise and acceptance and approval of men are like king Agrippa and all his pomp, passing fantasies that are here today and gone tomorrow. But Paul’s gospel prevails today. The gospel is victorious throughout the ages. It is preached. It is believed. It radically transforms lives. The gospel stops people in their tracks, turns them around, and produces a life lived for Christ’s glory. It did that to Paul and it continues to do that today—you are exhibit A. Why? Because the gospel is not a philosophy. It’s not a theory. It’s not a religious idea—it is the power of God unto salvation.”

“THE GOSPEL is the good news that Jesus has come to set the helpless and hopeless sinner free. It is the good news that reveals God’s undeserved mercy. It is the good news that unlocks the mysteries of God’s eternal plan. It is the good news that brings great joy to your life everyday. It is the good news that transforms your life as you live in the good of it. It is the good news that reminds you true life awaits you when this life is over.”

“If you are in Christ, you are the sane one. You are the victorious one. So take courage and be crazy for Christ by living in all humility, with deep gratitude, and for no one’s glory but God’s!”

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
Romans 1:16

APPLICATION:
I bet everyone here could think of one area right now where you need much grace to live crazy for Christ instead of something else. Whatever it is, identify it right now, and together, let’s give it to God in prayer!

Tucked away in this story, in this drama, in this narrative is The Greater Story, The Grander Drama, The Redemption Narrative! Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

SERIES: Hopeful: The Book of Acts
TEXT: Acts 24:1-27
TITLE: Before The Greater King
PREACHER: Tom Wilkins
BIG IDEA: We can stand before the kings of this world because we are ruled by The Greater King - Jesus!

POINTS:
1. Before a Lesser King
2. Before a Greater King

SERMON EXCERPTS:
”The reality in this sinful kingdom is that the truly guilty (unrighteous) often are not held accountable before the kings of this world. The innocent (righteous) are the ones that are often deemed the guilty ones!”

“Tucked away in this story, in this drama, in this narrative is The Greater Story, The Grander Drama, The Redemptive Narrative! Verse 14-16 begins to reveal how it is possible that we can stand before the kings of this world! It is because we stand in THE Greater King, Christ the Lord!”

“While his cross looms over his head, Paul has his eyes fixed on another Greater Cross! Knowing THIS, his soul is at peace and joy.”

“The tension in the court is high! What is this king going to do? And a smile breaks over Paul’s soul as he remembers again Golgotha! He will not worry what this king might do to him because his soul is anchored in what His King Jesus has already done for him!”

“Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, with God at his right hand, preaches the Gospel to this king and now we see Felix, the lesser king has been brought before the Greater King, and he didn’t even know it… yet!”

“We all stand before the Righteous King of the Universe and His moral claim on our lives cannot be cast aside, dismissed, or suppressed! We ARE able to stand before the kings of this world… BUT we must remember at all times that we are standing before the Holy One of Israel, The Son of God Himself, The Son of Man who is high and lifted up in Majesty.”

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
Luke 12:11-12
Luke 21:12-18

APPLICATION:
Q. Has your heart become dulled and the eyes of your soul become dim? Are you knowingly caught in sin but unwilling to repent? Is the reason now revealed?

Q. Are you putting repentance off?
Hebrews 6:7 “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”
Don’t put it off any longer! God says in 2 Corinthians 6:2 - “...Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”

Q. If we are able to stand before even the lesser kings of this world because we can come before The Great King, then who is it that we are afraid of standing before?
Recommended Reading: “The Joy of Fearing God” - Jerry Bridges

Peace instead of anxiety. Patience in adversity. Gratitude instead of bitterness. Perseverance through trials. Humility in prosperity. Contentment in poverty. Hopeful in the unknown. Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

SERIES: Hopeful: The Book of Acts
TEXT: Acts 23:12-35
TITLE: Living Hopeful In A Hard World
PREACHER: Derek Overstreet

POINTS:
1. Man’s Plan to Kill Paul
2. God’s Plan to Protect Paul

SERMON EXCERPTS:
”Peace instead of anxiety. Patience in adversity. Gratitude instead of bitterness. Perseverance through trials. Humility in prosperity. Contentment in poverty. Hopeful in the unknown. Where do these come from? Ultimately, they are the fruit of the Spirit’s work in us. But the Spirit works through our faith, so we experience these blessings as we trust that our heavenly Father is sovereignly ruling over our lives, in all things, at all times.”

“It's called providence. It’s mysterious and mind-blowing. But believing God is in control and at work in all things to accomplish His redemptive plan, even though we don’t fully understand how that works, is foundational to Living Hopeful In a Hard World.”

“Today’s text is a wonderful illustration of God’s providence that I pray will result in a greater trust in God, no matter your lot in life right now.”

“The Greek word translated oath is anathema. It means curse. These guys want Paul dead so badly that they put themselves under a curse that goes like this—Let God do to us and more if we eat or drink anything before Paul is dead.”

“You want an apologetic for Sunday mornings, CG, and any other opportunity to gather with God’s people—Satan. Is he invincible?—No. Is he formidable—Yes. And our hearts, like sheep, are prone to wander from the flock to the fence line, are vulnerable to his schemes. Satan would like nothing more than to isolate you from God’s people and wreak havoc in your relationship with God.”

“Do a bible study on the 35 one another’s in Scripture. Reorient your personal and family calendar to church life. Find a place to serve. Understand your hospitality as an opportunity for sanctification. As you socialize (hang out) with one another, move into fellowship (Christ-centered conversation) as often as possible. It is a primary means of God’s grace to protect and grow His people. That’s why it always has been and always will be a priority at this church.”

“Psalm 147:5 describes God as being beyond measure. That’s what we mean when we describe Him as an infinite God. In his being and greatness, God has no limitations. And that includes the resources to bring about His sovereign will in your life. We never know HOW God is at work and we never know WHO He may work through.”

“This one young man who has no prior place and no future place in Scripture is at the heart of God’s plan to deliver Paul from his enemies and make sure he continues toward Rome with the gospel.”

“I don’t know if you have caught this yet, there is no mention of God, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit in our text. Zero. Yet, the Lord was in the midst of it all, causing the events of Paul’s ordeal to fulfill His plans. The Invisible Hand of God faithfully protecting Paul and furthering His divine will.”

“Over and over, God has faithfully directed Paul’s steps, protecting and positioning him. And now, from an obscure nephew to a mighty Roman army, God is orchestrating it all, accomplishing His plan.  Whatever you are facing today—Take courage. The Lord who stood by Paul and said “take courage” is the same Lord who stands by you today.”

“I don’t know what God’s providence looks like in your life today. It may be bitter, sweet, or a little of both. But I know this: Before the Lord stands by you, he stood for you on the cross. He stood in your place at Calvary so you could have a place in his kingdom. Christ took courage in the face of divine wrath so you could receive divine love by faith. There is no greater act of God’s providence than your salvation. He orchestrated it all. And now He stands with you.”

“God’s spoken word to Paul is His written word to us. We may not understand God’s providence. We may not see it in the moment. But we can live mindful of it so that we will be encouraged by it. How? Preaching it to ourselves through his word.”

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
James 1:22
Psalm 147:5

QUOTES:
Derek Thomas - “A firm faith in the providence of God is the solution for all earthly problems.”

John Flavel - “The providence of God is like a Hebrew word—it can only be read backward.”

APPLICATION:
Memorize three passages that preach providence:
1. Proverbs 16:9
2. Matthew 10:29-31
3. Romans 8:28-39

Muse over them. Memorize them. Meditate on them. BASK in them. Preach them to yourself as often as you can.

Living in such a polarized culture, I pray the Lord convicts us here. In the heat of the moment—Be courageous. Stay calm. Remember your call. God is always with you, He is fully in control, and He has a redemptive purpose in your situation! Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

SERIES: Hopeful: The Book of Acts
TEXT: Acts 21:27-23:11
TITLE: Take Courage
PREACHER: Derek Overstreet

POINTS:
1. Viciously Slandered and Assaulted
2. Publicly Rejected for Speaking Truth
3. Violently Threatened by Leadership

SERMON EXCERPTS:
”’So many things are against us, but we know the Lord is at work.’ Have you ever felt that way—So many things are against me? Nothing is going as planned. Constant sickness. Relational turmoil. Cultural hostility. Financial drought. Church troubles. Your weary heart cries out—Lord, where are you? and your fragile faith privately wonders—Is it worth it?  This morning, I am giving you the answer right up front. As Christians, we live by faith in what is real, not what we feel. And regardless of how we feel, nothing is more real than the promise that anchors our text today.”

“In the previous passage, Paul got some disturbing news. Luke reveals in verse 21 there were some accusing him of being opposed to Jewish converts keeping some of their Jewish customs. This was a lie. What Paul was opposed to was anyone finding forgiveness or salvation through their customs.”

“Paul is at the Temple worshipping, and he is accused and attacked by a group of Jews. Their accusations are clear. First, they claimed Paul was teaching against the Jews, the law, and the Temple. They were wrong. It was gossip and slander.  This is not the primary point, but it’s a worthy point: As we are about to see, their gossip and slander of Paul was dangerous and destructive. As James 3 says—The tongue is a fire, full of deadly poison.”

“Paul is worshipping when suddenly he is viciously attacked, and drug out of the temple where the people tried to kill him. No one brings a Gentile into our temple and lives. That was their attitude. In verses 31-36 we find the interesting providence of God in that Paul’s life was spared only because he was arrested by a Roman commander, who, ironically was a Gentile.”

“After clearing his name with the tribune, Paul begs the officer to speak to them. When he does, he shares his gospel testimony in a way that connects with their Judaism. Once again, to the Jew Paul is being a Jew.”

“What changed Paul wasn’t theological enlightening. He didn’t change because he hit a ceiling as a Pharisee. Paul didn’t change because he was fed up with how the temple was run. He was changed by Jesus. Jesus came to him. Jesus revealed himself to him. Jesus saved him.”

“Not only can we relate to Paul here, we learn from him for our evangelism and Christian relationships. Paul isn’t afraid—he is courageous. He doesn’t excoriate his enemy—he is calm. He isn’t offended by them—he sticks to his call. Trusting in God’s providence, Paul knows he has been spared by the tribune (God’s doing) and he knows why He is there (preach Christ to the Gentiles).”

“But it wasn’t time for Paul to die. In verses 24-29 we learn that the tribune once again rescued him from the Jewish mob. This time they wanted to beat him to figure out what was really going on, but in the providence and common grace of God, Paul’s Roman citizenship spares him from the beating.”

“…One thing is clear, Paul can’t catch a break and he must be growing weary. Paul is not a robot, he’s a human being just like you and me. Some of the men on this council were his buddies at one time. Now they want to kill him. He came to Jerusalem to share Christ. Nothing has gone his way the last two days. Slandered. Attacked. Arrested. Rejected. Assaulted. Threatened. Everything seems to be against him. But Paul never gives up. He is mission-minded. And whatever his motivation in the moment, what he does next allows him to live another day to preach Christ.”

“The resurrection is central to the gospel because it is God’s stamp of approval that vindicates Christ as the Son of God and defeats death. No resurrection, no salvation. Paul makes this tense situation about what Jesus did, not his opinion on a set of rules.”

“Luke begins verse 12 with—When it was day, meaning, all that occurred in our text happened in 24-36 hrs. What a day for Paul. As he sat in the barracks under arrest, he must have been thinking to himself—Everything is against me. Paul was perplexed, wearied, and discouraged. How do we know 1) He was human like us. (Guard against sterilizing the people and situations of Scripture as if we can’t know without being explicitly told!) and 2) It’s implicit in verse 11.”

QUOTES:
Derek Thomas - “Paul was governed by greater concerns than his ethnic or racial background. He was now, first of all, a missionary to the Gentiles. God had given him a single purpose: to witness to Gentiles of the saving love of Jesus Christ for sinners and to call them to repentance and faith. The concerns of the gospel came before his natural concerns for his race or country. He had learned to put these things secondary to his primary concern to preach the gospel and make it known in the world.”

APPLICATION:
What an amazing moment for Paul! The Lord stands by him and says—Take courage, I have a plan! Take courage…Today, this promise belongs to us in Christ.

And our application of it can be described in one word—BASK. That’s right. BASK in VERSE 11. Synonyms and related phrases for BASKING: revel, luxuriate, wallow, delight, take pleasure, rejoice, glory, indulge oneself; enjoy, relish, savor, lap up; informal get a kick out of, get a thrill out of, get a charge from.

We all have moments, days, weeks, seasons where it seems everything and everyone is against us and the Lord is not with us. But take courage Christian, BASK in this promise—The Lord is at work. The Lord is with you and he will never leave you.