What are you doing with the empty tomb? You have to do something. Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

EASTER SERIES 2023
TEXT: Mark 16:1-8
TITLE: The Resurrection
PREACHER: Derek Overstreet

SERMON EXCERPTS:
”Mark wrote his gospel to show us who Jesus is and force us to make a decision based on that reality. Christian faith is not blind. It is experiential but the experience is built on empirical, historical, undeniable evidence.”

“If the resurrection is true, how can you not believe in Jesus? If Jesus is alive, then doesn’t it take greater faith to be an atheist or an agnostic than it does to be a Christian? Jesus is an undisputed historical figure. His birth, his life, and his death are every bit a part of world history, as King Tut, Julius Caesar, and George Washington. What do we do with an empty tomb?”

“People try to explain it away:
Jesus’ enemies stole his body - There’s no evidence of this; frankly, it doesn’t make sense. Acts teaches us that Christianity exploded after Jesus’ resurrection. All it would have taken to crush the Church was to provide the body. They didn’t because they couldn’t.
Jesus’ disciples stole his body - This conspiracy theory of all conspiracy theories still exists today, BUT In the first century, you would never build a case for anything, let alone a resurrection from the dead with three women as your star witnesses. AND the authority, conviction, and personal sacrifice with which the disciples preached and pursued Jesus would have never lasted if they knew they were frauds.
Jesus never actually died - On numerous fronts, this explanation is so outrageous even Jesus' enemies didn’t push it.”

“There can only be one conclusion - God raised Jesus from the dead. The resurrection is what the OT Scriptures predicted centuries before would happen. It’s what Jesus repeatedly taught would happen. It’s what the authorities feared would happen. It’s what these three women and the disciples said happened. It’s what over 500 people in the following days personally witnessed happening.”

“These women are to be commended for their courageous expression of devotion to Jesus. But even in their devotion, their unbelief was revealed.”

“The resurrection reminds us Christianity is real. Our faith is not in vain. We are not to be pitied. Our lives are not a house of cards because Jesus is alive. That means my sins are COMPLETELY forgiven. The power of death is TRULY broken. The penalty of sin is FULLY paid. God’s love is ETERNALLY mine, and one day I WILL live in Christ’s glorious presence.”

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
Matthew 28:11-15
1 Corinthians 15:3-8
2 Corinthians 5:21
Romans 10:8-13
1 Corinthians 15:54-48

QUOTES:
Thomas Arnold - The evidence for our Lord’s life and death and resurrection may be and often has been shown to be satisfactory. It is good according to the common rules for distinguishing good evidence from bad. Thousands and tens of thousands of persons have gone through it piece by piece as carefully as every judge summing up a most important cause. I have myself done it many times over, not to persuade others but to satisfy myself. I have been used for many years to study the histories of other times and to examine and weigh the evidence of those who have written about them, and I know of no one fact in the history of mankind which is proved by better and fuller evidence than the great sign which God hath given us, that Christ died and rose again from the dead.”

J.C. Ryle - We need not wonder that so much importance is attached to our Lord’s resurrection. It is the seal and headstone of the great work of redemption, which He came to do. It is the crowning proof that He has paid the debt which He undertook to pay on our behalf, won the battle which He fought to deliver us from hell, and is accepted as our Surety and our Substitute by our Father in heaven. Had He never come forth from the prison of the grave, how could we ever have been sure that our ransom had been fully paid? Had He never risen from His conflict with the last enemy, how could we have felt confident, that He has overcome death, and him that had the power of death, that is the devil? But thanks be unto God, we are not left in doubt. The Lord Jesus really “rose again for our justification.” True Christians are “begotten again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” They may boldly say with Paul, “Who is he that condemns – it is Christ that died, yes rather that is risen again.”

APPLICATION:
What is the hardest thing going in your life right now?—If God can raise Jesus from the dead, he can handle your circumstance!

• The empty tomb ensures me He is there! He is Faithful! He is sufficient! 

• The empty tomb ensures God’s promises are Yes and Amen! 

• The empty tomb ensures His throne is approachable as the place of unfailing mercy and all-sufficient grace! 

• The empty tomb ensures my forgiveness and justification before God is full, final, and forever!

• The empty tomb ensures me there is a better life—the resurrection life with Jesus NOW and YET to come!

Mark 11 begins the most significant week in the history of the world. Life and death, joy and misery, hope and despair, heaven and hell lie in the balance of what happens over this next week. Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

EASTER SERIES 2023
TEXT: Mark 11:1-11
TITLE: The Triumphal Entry
PREACHER: Derek Overstreet

POINTS:
1. The Deliberate Details
2.The Royal Reception
3. The Unexpected Ending

SERMON EXCERPTS:
”The triumphal entry is an amazing public celebration of Jesus. The praises of the crowd were theologically spot on. The prophets of old pointed to this moment. Yet, they missed Jesus. By the end of our story, the crowds have disappeared and Jesus stands alone. They missed Jesus. The world has been missing Jesus ever since.”

“Whether we perceive it or not, we have much in common with them. Even as Christians, it’s easy to miss Jesus amid the allure of the world, the utter evil of society, or the tyranny of the ordinary, we are prone to miss Jesus as the point and purpose in life.”

“For those who don’t know Jesus, your eternity is at stake. For the Christian in the room, your joy in this life and God’s glory through your life is at stake.”

“Mark is not big on details in his gospel. His MO is to move quickly from one scene to another. Mark uses the word immediately 36 times. Thirty-two of those are in the first ten chapters. But in chapter 11, Mark begins to slow down. The first ten chapters cover three years. The last six chapters cover one week. …When Mark slows down, we need to listen up!”

“In 5 days, Jesus will be dead. But he does not ride into the city a victim.  Jesus will be betrayed as a victim. Jesus will not be arrested as a victim. Jesus will not be beaten within inches of his life as a victim. Jesus will not be murdered on the cross as a victim. His deliberate preparation reveals he is in total control of the situation, even his death on the cross.”

“Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. That means he is in complete control of your life today. Whatever is happening in your life today—you are not a victim. To the contrary, you are under the personal care of your loving and sovereign Shepherd.”

“Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem captures the humility of our Savior. It also captures his greatness as the Promised One. The imagery screams—See Me! I am the fulfillment of OT messianic prophecies. SEE ME! I am your King. SEE ME! I am your Messiah.”

“On the cross, in darkness, silence, and loneliness, Jesus will do his kingly work, liberating God’s people, not from Rome, but from Satan, sin, and this world. Jesus will deliver God’s people on the cross, not with a sword, but with his blood. From the cross, Jesus will save sinners, not from oppression but from God’s wrath.”

“It seems the party is over. They celebrated Jesus. They were emotional and enthusiastic about Jesus. They had a mountain-top experience with Jesus. They made him king, but only for a day.”

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
Zechariah 9:9
Psalm 118:25-26
Malachi 3:1

QUOTES:
James Edwards - “The whole scene comes to nothing. The crowd disperses as mysteriously as it assembled. Jesus is not confessed in pomp and circumstance but only at the cross.”

APPLICATION:
Just as promised, Jesus came to them. But they missed Jesus—Have you?

PERSON #1: You like church. It feels good to be here. You enjoy your Christian friends. They are good people. It’s a good life you see them living. But you don’t have what they have—Jesus in your heart. You have missed him. That means whatever you believe you have, you have nothing. Don’t miss Jesus—See him today by crying out in repentance and faith—Hosannah, Save me now! Your eternity depends on it.

PERSON #2: You love the Lord. And it shows…on Sundays. If you’re honest, Mon-Sat you are the king of your life. The picture of Jesus standing alone in the temple reminds you he alone must stand as the Lord of your life. Don’t miss Jesus—See him today by asking him to graciously reorder the priorities of your life.

PERSON #3: Like person #2, you genuinely love the Lord. You are grateful for His blessings in your life. But when life seems more like a curse than a blessing, when hardships appear, when suffering surfaces, your praises vanish like the crowds in Jerusalem. Don’t miss Jesus—He is worthy of your praises in good AND bad times. See Jesus today by bringing your burden TO him and finding your joy IN him so that at all times and in all things your heart can say—Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! He will not fail you!

The Cross takes cold hearts that are ungrateful and makes them new…creating gospel-grounded gratitude. Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

SERIES: Our 7 Shaping Virtues
TEXT: Romans 8:31-39
TITLE: Gratitude
PREACHER: Tom Wilkins
BIG IDEA: The Cross of Jesus creates gospel-grounded gratitude.

POINTS:
1. The Cross of Jesus is the PROOF of God’s undeserved favor
2. The Cross of Jesus is the MEANS of God’s gracious gift of “all things”

SERMON EXCERPTS:
”It is discovered here in these adjoined sections of text that the word of God has the power to cause our souls to burst forth with endless joy and THANKFULNESS to God.”

“God has revealed enough of Himself that every man and woman is held accountable. NO ONE has an excuse! It is only cosmic rejection and rebellion against God to stand back and refuse to acknowledge Him and THANK Him. Yet, in the Gospel, God, in His Sovereign Grace alone, has set His affection on us and makes this amazing declaration: “I am for you!” And this should shock us!”

“‘What shall we say to these things?’ should be followed by ‘God is against you, and everything and everyone will have their way with you’ BUT no… He is for us! Instead of crushing blow after blow in sorrow and abject grief, The Cross of Jesus rescues us by His sovereign grace!”

“To ‘the sufferings of this present time’, the apostle preaches The Cross. In verse 28 - all things work together for good…through The Cross! The “golden chain” of salvation in verse 30 cannot be broken because of The Cross!”

“While still holding up His Son, given for us, He promises the ‘gracious gifts’ of ‘all things’. These are given as the very things that we need and will need and are detailed in the following verses - 33-39.”

“Anything that you and I face is found in at least one of these 19 questions. What may come your way is not ultimately unique nor is it outside of the power of Jesus to save. NOTHING will separate us from the love of Christ except for rejection and hatred of Him.”

“Today, you may feel deep thankfulness again! That would be your heavenly Father and the Holy Spirit revealing the majesty of Jesus and reminding you of His great sacrifice at Calvary. But what about tomorrow? Will you still remember and honor and thank God? What will you do then? Do THIS again! Go again to His word of truth and search out the mercy of God revealed in the Cross of His Son and give Him thanks.”

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
Our Dilemma: Romans 1:18-21
Isaiah 53:5
Psalm 107

QUOTES:
Martin Luther - “I feel as if Jesus had died only yesterday.”

APPLICATION:
- Are you able to again take in how wondrous The Cross of Jesus is? Like drawing the Message of the Cross in like a breath and exhaling thankfulness!

- What is it that you need? The Lord says, remember that I have given up my Son for you! This is a joyful, heart-satisfying, fear-calming, foundation-laying, gracious anchoring of our souls…and a gracious reminder that His affection and favor is FIXED on His children.

God’s perfect holiness. Our radical sinfulness. CHRIST’S MIGHTY SACRIFICE. Grace always abounding. Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

TEXT: 1 Corinthians 1:18-25
TITLE: The Wisdom and Power of God: A Study in Leviticus
PREACHER: Guest Pastor, Lynn Baird
BIG IDEA: The violent and catastrophic consequences of sin against a holy God, requires a violent and catastrophic response… the cross!

POINTS:
1. The Holiness of God
2. The Pervasiveness of Sin
3. The Need for Sacrifice - The Cost of Sin

SERMON EXCERPTS:
”Though I'm not going to be preaching on this passage [1 Corinthians 1:18-25] directly, the message here is important to what I want to say… The preaching of the cross causes religious people to stumble and worldly people to consider it foolishness.”

"This is going to be a different sort of expositional message. I'm not going to go through a particular passage of scripture but will be doing an overview of an entire book. The book of Leviticus.”

“From the beginning, God has used bloody, brutal sacrifices to cover or atone for sin. From the animal skins for Adam and Eve in the garden, to the lamb that replaced Isaac, to the sacrificial system under the law and priests. The ultimate culmination of this being Christ on the cross.”

“When we approach Leviticus, we want to ask two questions: Who is God? and What does that mean for us? One of the key ways to understand God is to see how he tells us to relate to him. This is what Leviticus is all about: how do you relate to a holy God?”

“So often we tend to think of holiness as purity or sinlessness, but the root of the word actually means to be separate. Completely other. Separate from them. In this case, God is so profoundly ‘other’ or ‘separate’ that God must communicate to the Israelites how he is to be approached. They cannot come near him, except in the way designed by God himself. If they don't they die.… His holy nature demands you only approach him in the way HE prescribes.”

“The underlying nature of sin is rebellion. Wanting to do things OUR way. The fact you are a sinner is a fact that is never going to change. But because of that, we better recognize who God is and how he wants to be approached.”

“The story of Nadab and Abihu in Leviticus chapter 10 may seem harsh and unjust to us. Death for simply putting the wrong kind of incense or “fire” on the altar? … we should not be surprised by God's judgment for sin, we should be surprised that any of us are still alive and haven't been judged already!”

“Left to ourselves we would simply make up a god of our own choosing, that we could relate to, that we like.”

“God's holiness is to affect how we live in every day life - Leviticus 19:2”

“The effect of sin is radical; everything is tainted by sin. We are not as bad as we could be, perhaps, but every part of us is affected. …Sin is the slightest act of defiance against God’s cosmic authority.”

“Here's the reality, though; the goal is not to somehow become sinless in order to be in God's presence. That is impossible. The goal is to come to God in the way he prescribes. … the doctrine of sin is humbling, and humility is the only appropriate response to it.”

“In one day, God brought the sin of the world and his anger and wrath against sin and rebellion and poured it out completely, and totally on one human being: his Son. His Isaac. His Passover lamb.”

“The same God who's zeal against sin consumed Nadab and Abihu was the one who flamed in fury against his own Son when our sin was placed upon him. The same God who required countless sacrifices, done exactly as he said, to cover the sin of a constantly rebellious people is the same God who required the death of his son for our rebellion. This was the one and only time God punished an innocent man. If you are appalled by the cost of pride and sin in the Old Testament, you should be absolutely aghast at the price. God was willing to pay, the extent to which he was willing to go, to deal with sin once, and for all.”

“The cross was God's design for the offering of the perfect sacrifice that could take away sin. There was no other way of doing it.”

“… we aren't afraid to talk about sin or the cross. We enthusiastically embrace the reality of our sin, knowing that the grace of God in Christ abounds all the more in the face of our sin. This is what gives us the power to fight against sin!”

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
The Book of Leviticus
Hebrews 10:9
Isaiah 63:5
John 14:6
Romans 5:20
Hebrews 13:15

APPLICATION:

• Don't ever let your pride to keep you from doing it God's way!

• Don't ever be dragged down or overwhelmed by your sin or the cross. Be amazed by Grace!

• Don't ever try to minimize sin or its consequences. Be amazed by Grace!

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.

Where there is prayer, there is power because when we pray, the power of God is unleashed. Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

TEXT: James 5:13-18
TITLE: A Passion For Prayer
PREACHER: Derek Overstreet
BIG IDEA: A prayerful church is a powerful church.

POINTS:
1. Prayer is Powerful
2. Prayer is Effective

SERMON EXCERPTS:
”As we begin the new year together, my goal is not to tell you HOW you should pray, WHEN you should pray, or WHAT you should pray for. My PRAYER as we begin the new year is that God would rekindle and refresh a fresh passion, perhaps for some a new passion, to be a person and a people of prayer. Whether your prayer life is robust as ever, on life-support, or non-existent, God wants to stir our hearts to more sweet communion with Him.”

“Everything in this text is connected to prayer. James is trying to persuade his readers that faith-filled prayer is always the truest and most powerful response in life.”

“The truth is, we are too weak not to pray. We are too needy not to pray. We are too busy not to pray. Whatever else we do, prayer is always the best response for a believer.”

“Let’s be honest, there is a mystery when it comes to prayer. Prayer is not magic. Prayer is useless apart from God’s power. It’s God who delivers. It's God who heals. It's God who is working all things according to His perfect purposes. The God of boundless and endless resources does not stand in need of our prayers. Yet, Scripture stresses repeatedly that the release and experience of God’s effective power comes through humble, faith-filled, God-centered prayer.”

“When we depend on God through prayer, we get what God can do!  We get the God who can do more than we can ask or imagine. We get the God of infinite mercy, and grace, and power who avails Himself to us in the most intimate, all-caring, all-powerful way.”

“In times of unanswered prayer we should not grow doubtful of or weary in prayer but continue to pray as we trust in the mercy of God and His promises that in Christ he will never forsake us and His mercies are new every day and His grace is always sufficient for every situation.”

“We should continue to pray knowing the God we pray to has made it clear His ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8). This means he may not answer our prayers the way we would like or in our timing.”

“This promise that our prayers are powerful and effective is for everyone who believes in Christ. What qualifies you as righteous is not what you do or how you do it. It’s who you know.”

“That’s the promise of Hebrews 4:16. We can draw near to God through prayer assured we will always find mercy and grace from God because we come in the name of Jesus who is our eternal high priest who has secure this promise and privilege of prayer for us.”

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
Acts 4 - Under strict orders not to evangelize, the early church gathered to pray for boldness and they were immediately filled with the Spirit and continued to do the will of God which was to boldly preach the gospel under threat.
2 Chronicles 7 - The Lord said when my people humble themselves and pray, then I will work in their midst.
James 1:5 - Take something as practical as wisdom
When it seems as though we face so many unanswered prayers, we are in good company: 2 Samuel 12, 2 Corinthians 12, Luke 22
There is always mystery involved, but James gives us reasons for unanswered prayer:

• Absence of faith— James 1:5-8

• Prayer not in accord with God’s will—James 4:3

• Absence of humility— James 4:6

• God has a better plan—The life of Joseph

QUOTES:
Charles Spurgeon - “My own soul’s conviction is that prayer is the grandest power in the entire universe, that it has a more omnipotent force than electricity, attraction, gravitation, or any other of those secret forces which men have called by name, but which they do not understand.”

Robert Murray McCheyne - “O believing brethren!  What an instrument is this which God hath put into your hands!  Prayer moves Him that moves the universe.”

Charles Spurgeon - “Because God is the living God, He can hear; because He is a loving God, He will hear; because He is our covenant God, He has bound Himself to hear.”

J.A. Motyer - “That is part of the wonder of the way of prayer. Those who by grace have been given the status of righteousness in God’s sight have been brought into the realm where effective prayer operates and have been given the right to exercise a ministry of prayer.”

APPLICATION:
1. Create time to pray your way
2. Resolve to put a few words of prayer between you and whatever you do
3. Replace I will pray for you this week with Let me pray with you right now
4. Plan to pray with your church

• Pre-service prayer 9:30

• 5th Sunday Prayer/Worship nights a priority (Jan 29)

• Attend CG with a heart ready to pray

5. Grow your understanding of prayer—Blog series, A Passion for Prayer

This is no mere birth announcement. In it we discover our true hope and ultimate purpose. Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

SERIES: Who Would Have Dreamed?
TEXT: Luke 2:10-14
TITLE: A Cosmic Christmas Announcement
PREACHER: Derek Overstreet

POINTS:
1. Our Hope has Arrived
2. Our Purpose is Revealed

SERMON EXCERPTS:
”It’s easy to casually read this angelic proclamation. But this is the first time in Scripture we see such powerful and consequential terms strung together in reference to Jesus: 1. The angels recognize baby Jesus as the Christ: The title Christ means this baby is the anointed one, the promised Messiah, the deliverer of God’s people. 2. Christ the Lord: The title Lord conveys everything that is implied in the OT name of God, Yahweh. This baby is God Incarnate. God in flesh. Immanuel. Mighty God with us! 3. But the angel also describes this baby as Savior reminding us that Jesus is the most relevant person in history, giving us exactly what we need.”

“This is the “good news of great joy” of Christmas—God Himself has become a man to save His people. The one the priests foreshadowed, the prophets predicted, and the people prayed for, was none other than God Himself in human flesh.”

“The prospects for 2023 may be promising. You may feel like you are doing just fine. Christmas reminds us no one is doing fine. Before the Christmas story is good news of great joy it is bad news of great grief. Christmas exists because we need a Savior. We need someone to rescue us. It’s a BIG blow to the ego, but it’s true.”

“Your BIGGEST problem is not your spouse. Health. Circumstance. Boss. Government. Parents. Pastor. It’s you. It’s me. We are sinners. It's not that we are guilty of a few sins, at our very core we are sinners. That’s why we sin. That’s why each one of us are utterly helpless to help our situation. We need someone to do what we cannot do for ourselves—save us. We need a Savior.”

“The angels got it right: Christmas begins with God’s glory not man’s good. John Piper defines God’s glory as the public display of God’s infinite beauty and worth.”

“We see His glory in the smallest flower. We see it in the vastest universe. We see it in the highest mountain. We see it in the imago dei—human beings created in the image of God.   But nothing reveals God’s glory more than the riches of His grace, the depths of His mercy and the boundless nature of His love shown through this baby boy Jesus, whose reconciling life brings eternal spiritual peace to sinners who put their faith in Jesus.”

“This peace the angels proclaim transcends time, human relationships, and national hostilities. It’s not a cease-fire between Russia and Ukraine or Republicans and Democrats. It’s not an absence of personal trials or culture wars. The Christmas peace is an eternal inward tranquility that comes from knowing that in this baby boy our dread of death and fear of God’s wrath turns to the praises of angels.”

“It’s in these words our ultimate purpose is revealed. To be redeemed by the blood of this baby and have our existence—our motivations, affections, thoughts, words, and behavior increasingly inclined upward for the praise of another is the highest meaning in life. Nothing glorifies God more than the His Son, our Savior, being brought low so that we could be brought high with praises of His glory!”

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
Matthew 1:21

QUOTES:
Raymond Ortlund Jr. - “Why is the world in such a mess? You and I are the problem. Our good intentions are not strong enough to control our evil impulses. We need a Savior to rescue us from ourselves.”

J.C. Ryle - “Let all true Christians remember, that their best things are yet to come. Let us count it no strange thing, if we have sufferings in this present time. It is a season of probation. We are yet at school. We are learning patience, longsuffering, gentleness, and meekness, which we could hardly learn if we had our good things now. But there is an eternal holiday yet to begin. For this let us wait quietly. It will make amends for all.”

APPLICATION:
To my non-Christian friend - This morning you are hearing about Jesus from Luke so you will believe. Luke and the rest of the Bible is God’s story of saving sinners to himself. And this Christmas you can become a part of it. How? Believe in Jesus.

To my fellow Christian, are you weary, discouraged or weak in your faith this Christmas? As you enjoy your Christmas festivities today, allow them to point you to what JC Ryle calls the eternal holiday yet to begin.

If Christmas brings tidings of hope, joy, and peace, then WHY is life so difficult? Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

SERIES: Who Would Have Dreamed?
TEXT: Revelation 12
TITLE: The Greatest Christmas Story Ever Told
PREACHER: Derek Overstreet

POINTS:
Scene 1 - A Defeated Dragon
Scene 2 - A Victorious Boy
Scene 3 - A Protected Woman

SERMON EXCERPTS:
”This woman is symbolic of God’s people from beginning to end. From the Garden to the church, this woman represents the faith-filled community of God.”

“The dragon is easy to figure out. He is the serpent we met in the Garden last week. Satan himself according to verse 9-12. His description in verse 3 reminds us he is destructive, cunning, powerful, and influential, all of which are demonstrated in 4 where he swept away a third of the stars from heaven with his tail.”

“The messianic reference from Psalm 2:9, rule with a rod of iron, makes it clear—the boy is Jesus.”

“Ever since that moment in the Garden, this dragon has been trying to keep Genesis 3:15 from happening. At the first Christmas, he thinks he finally has his chance.”

“Christmas deals the first blow to the dragon. The Messiah is born. The one who would rule the nations with a rod of iron has come. And instead of being devoured by the dragon, he is exalted to the heavens, with God, where He is seated in the place of all power and authority and dominion.”

“This is why Christmas is so central to redemptive history. 

• Christmas is the beginning of the destruction of the dragon

• Christmas is the inauguration of God undoing what happened in the Garden and making all things new and right

• Christmas is a cosmic demonstration of God’s sovereign power and unfailing faithfulness”

“The dragon is defeated by the boy. In Revelation, the boy is the Lamb. He is the Lamb of God that was slain. The One who is worthy to break the seal and open the heavenly scroll that reveals God’s plan of redemption. His blood shed on the cross covers the sinner’s sin. His blood purchases the sinner away from the dragon whom we all once belonged to.”

“Passages like Romans 3&5, Ephesians 2, and Titus 3 teach us that at one time we were all little dragons. We talked and thought and acted like dragons at war with Christ in our hearts.”

“The manger gave way to the cross. At the cross the dragon was decisively defeated because Christ’s death and resurrection nullified our accuser’s accusations because, in a crucified and risen Savior, we are justified—made right—before God! Not because of anything we did or would do but wholly on the basis of Jesus blood and righteousness. And when his substitutionary sacrifice is our faith-filled testimony, we are saved.”

“There is no gift under your tree more satisfying than eternal salvation.”

“And this is the answer to our opening question—WHY, even with Christmas that brings joy, peace, and hope, is life a struggle?  ANSWER: We live in the age of dragon rage.”

“Christians don’t fight the good fight for victory, we fight the good fight out of victory. We have a taste of heaven here, but heaven is not yet here and so the dragon rages on with his lies and deception desperately trying to destroy God’s people. …But God is protecting His church.”

“We live in the now and the not yet. Regardless of your circumstances, this is what makes your Christmas a Merry Christmas.”

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
Genesis 3:15
Ephesians 2:1-3
Revelation 20:10
Revelation 21:1-5

QUOTES:
G.K. Beale - “The death and resurrection of Christ have banished the devil from this privilege [accusing us] formerly granted him by God, because Christ’s death was the penalty that God exacted for the sins of all those who were saved by faith.”

Charles Spurgeon - “The devil is not afraid of a dust-covered Bible.”

Charles Spurgeon - “I know what the devil will say to you. He will say to you, ‘You are a sinner!’ Tell him you know you are, but that for all that you are justified. He will tell you of the greatness of your sin. Tell him of the greatness of Christ’s righteousness. He will tell you of all your mishaps and your backslidings, of your offenses and your wanderings. Tell him, and tell your own conscience, that you know all that, but that Jesus Christ came to save sinners, and that, although your sin be great, Christ is quite able to put it all away.”

Charles Spurgeon - “The preaching of Christ is the whip that flogs the devil. The preaching of Christ is the thunderbolt, the sound of which makes all hell shake.”

APPLICATION:
How do we live out of victory in the wilderness? The text gives us three ways in verse 11:
- Preach the gospel to yourself
We conquer Satan when we cling to Christ. Living by the blood of the Lamb means we stand in the gospel. We process every aspect of life, the good days and the bad days, through our identity in Jesus Christ.
- Tell others about Jesus
The dragon wants us to be silent because our silence is his temporary victory. But we defeat him every time we speak out about Jesus.
- Persevere to the end
We live in the victory of Jesus when we die to self to live for him in every way of life:

• Honesty instead of deceit

• Love instead of hate

• Purity instead of compromise

• Patience instead of anger

Here is something I know for certain—what Christmas is truly about: God graciously pursuing sinners—God condescending to mercifully save hell-deserving sinners. Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

SERIES: Who Would Have Dreamed?
TEXT: Genesis 3:1-24
TITLE: The Beginning of Christmas
PREACHER: Derek Overstreet

POINTS:
I. A Funeral in a Garden
II. Our Hope in a Manger

SERMON EXCERPTS:
”Genesis 3 records the darkest day in human history. It has been referred to as mankind’s funeral. Ironically, it’s at this funeral that hope springs forth in the first promise of Christmas.”

“The effects of sin and its curse are everywhere and our life experiences affirm it. But there’s an even deeper problem. What we see in verses 14-19 are just symptoms of humanity’s real dilemma—read verses 22-24. Because of their sin and guilt, Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden. Severed from God’s presence. Banished from His Paradise.  Their fellowship with Him was broken and they became spiritually dead.”

“Through Adam we have inherited a sin nature that leads to our personal sin and guilt, making us like Adam, separated from God and spiritually dead and under the wrath of God like the rest of mankind. That’s the great human dilemma that is the dark side of Christmas.”

“I love this picture: The moment Adam and Eve fell into sin, God pursued them with these words: Where are you?  The question does not reveal a lack in God—It reveals the love of God. It demonstrates the wonder of God’s love for and His grace toward sinners. Man runs and hides from God, but God calls and pursues.”

“Verse 15 is known as the Protoevangelium—first announcement of the gospel. In the middle of mankind’s funeral, the hope of life appears!”

“God says to Satan, who has seemingly destroyed God’s perfect creation, I will defeat and destroy you. Think of it as the three C’s of Satan’s demise:

1. Christmas: The first blow to Satan, as we will see in Rev 12 next week, is when Jesus was born into this world to inaugurate God’s promised plan of redemption.  

2. Consummation: The final blow to Satan will be Christ’s return according to Romans 16.

3. Cross: The DECISIVE blow that crushed and defeated Satan was at the cross.”

“The cross removed Satan’s one certain weapon against us—his accusations before the throne of God that we are guilty sinners that deserve to perish along with him—and he’s right. But Christ’s death and resurrection nullified those accusations because in a crucified and risen Savior, we are justified—made right—before God! Not because of anything we did or can do but wholly on the basis of Jesus’ blood and righteousness.”

“Christmas is the beginning of the fulfillment of this glorious promise made in the darkest hour of human history. In the manger lay Jesus, a fully human baby boy, yet still fully God, who came into this world to redeem sinners from the curse by becoming a curse for us. He was born in a manger, grew up in sorrow and grief, and died on a cross to destroy Satan and liberate sinners from his bondage, just as the Christmas angel proclaimed.”

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
Romans 5:12-21
Isaiah 59:2
Ephesians 2:1-3
Romans 16:20
Colossians 2:13-15
Hebrews 2:14
Matthew 1:21
Hebrews 9:22

QUOTES:
John Piper- “It’s a season [Christmas] for cherishing and worshipping this characteristic of God-that he is a searching and saving God, that he is a God on a mission, that he is not aloof or passive or indecisive. He is never in maintenance mode, coasting or drifting. He is sending, pursuing, searching, saving. That’s the meaning of Advent.”

APPLICATION:
UNBELIEVER: This Christmas, in the words of God to Adam and Eve in the Garden—Where are you? Are you hiding from God? Guess what, you don’t have to hide this Christmas. Only BELIEVE:

• BELIEVE, not in the spirit of Christmas, but in the Christ of Christmas. 

• BELIEVE, not in the goodwill of humanity, but in the infinitely good mercy and grace of Christ.

• BELIEVE, not in yourself, but in in the person and work of Jesus that provides righteousness and forgiveness of your sins.

• BELIEVE, not in the power of your believing, but in the promise of God that all who believe in him will be saved.

CHRISTIAN: I ask you the same question this Christmas—Where are you? 

• Are you spiritually parched?

• Are you feasting on secret sin?

• Are you battling besetting sin?

• Are you paralyzed by sinful anxiety?

• Have the distractions of this world left you spiritually apathetic?

Is that where you are? Wherever you are, God mercifully calls you to return to the true JOY and HOPE of Christmas. Irrespective of your circumstances, this is possible if you look to Jesus.

Relish the present - By that I don’t mean you have one life to live so live it to its fullest. I mean in a season characterized by the question—What do you want?, we must remember what we have already been given. There is no greater gift than eternal salvation in Jesus.

Focus on the future - We spend so much time preparing for the future practically. The Christian hope is in Christ’s return, not the prospects of life getting better in 2023. God has promised that the cross will give way to a new heaven and a new earth. One day this child will return as the risen Lamb and make all things new and right! There will be no more broken promises, no more suffering, no more sin. As far as the curse is found, Jesus will bring eternal blessings!

How are you currently magnifying God with your life? How many of us would say—I live life with a thankful heart. Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

TEXT: Psalm 69:30-32
TITLE: Magnifying God With Gratitude
PREACHER: Derek Overstreet

POINTS:
I. A Call to Magnify God
II. A Heart That Magnifies God

SERMON EXCERPTS:
”My hope for today is that the Spirit would speak to us and work in us in such a way that we could all say, and others would say about us—My life increasingly magnifies my Savior because my life is increasingly characterized by thankfulness to God in everything for everything.”

“David wants to be a telescope that brings God right into the midst of his affliction and pain. David does not magnify his affliction. He does not magnify his pain…that would be to magnify himself. His heart is to magnify His Redeemer.”

“If you have been saved by grace; if you are in union with Jesus by faith; if the Spirit of God lives in you; if by divine mercy you belong to the eternal family of God, then your heart should say with David and Paul—Magnify the Lord oh, my soul!”

“Of course, we are forgetful. We forget WHY we exist, and more importantly, we forget WHO God is. Our feelings, experiences, ambitions, sinful cravings, and deceptions of our own hearts move us to magnify self. We can marvel in the goodness and sufficiency of God one day and be oblivious to it the very next.”

“Paul prays they would have the eyes of their hearts enlightened. These are believers who have already had the eyes of their hearts enlightened. But Paul doesn’t want them to forget. He wants them to be more and more anchored in the hope they have in Christ, the riches of his inheritance, and the immeasurable power of the Spirit at work in them.”

“The desire to magnify self is at the heart of an ungrateful heart. In our pursuit of greatness, we make God small. When we apply this to a God who is infinitely great, we see our utter foolishness and sinfulness.”

“Put on a heart of thankfulness by looking upward as David did in verse 29—to the God of your salvation. This is where true thankfulness begins.”

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
Philippians 1:20
Corinthians 10:31
Ephesians 1:15-20

QUOTES:
John Calvin - “There cannot be a more powerful incitement to thanksgiving than the certain conviction that this religious service is highly pleasing to God.”

APPLICATION:
If you want to grow in gratitude or help someone who lacks gratitude, don’t begin with nice platitudes or common courtesies—begin with a BIG God who redeems and rejoices in His people!

In spite of prophecies depicting a clear and present danger and the pleadings of his friends not to go, Paul was still determined to go to Jerusalem. Why did Paul do what he did? The answer has implications for us today. Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

SERIES: Hopeful: The Book of Acts
TEXT: Acts 21:17-26
TITLE: Paul’s Last Visit to Jerusalem
PREACHER: Tom Wilkins

POINTS:
Q. Why did Paul do what he did?
1. Christ is Worth It
2. Christ’s Church is Worth It
3. His Kinsman Are Worth It

SERMON EXCERPTS:
”From the moment of his salvation - Paul did what he did so that that which of ‘first importance’ was declared - the Cross of Christ! - shorthand for ‘Jesus Christ and Him crucified!’”

“Paul revisits in detail each and every single thing ‘that God had done.’ And the desired effect on those gathered - They GLORIFIED GOD!”

“Paul did what he did because he was constrained by the love of Christ! Paul did what he did so Jesus would be glorified! (Vs. 13) ‘For I am ready not only to be imprisoned and but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.’”

”Some observations of Vs. 20b-25: In verse 20b we have Jewish believers that were zealous for the law - an issue and reason that Paul would elsewhere refer to them as “weak”, and in 21 we have Jewish believers that were believing slanderous rumors, half-truths, and misrepresentation about Paul. The elder's feared what these zealous people would do once they heard that Paul had come, threatening the health and unity of the Church.”

“Here is where I see one of the dangers of how we respond to misinformation. At times we must let it go, and at times we work to correct it - Study 1 Corinthians and see where Paul will defend himself on some charges and in others he will “let Christ be his judge.” In this passage though, an effort is being proposed to counter the lies with actions that hopefully will speak louder than words - in the end likely a foolish attempt - but Paul submitted himself to these leaders, his conscience clear that there was no ‘additional yoke or burden’.”

“The church [in Jerusalem] was facing a two-fold affliction: zeal for / addiction to the law and defiled by slanderous rumor.”

“They grew up in this water! Here in Jerusalem, the elixir of the formalities, rites, and ceremonies pulled on them daily… they could hear it, see it, smell it… it is ‘who they are’ - though freedom from the Law is declared in Christ!”

“The destructive nature of gossip and slander is more damaging than we can imagine - the very next section of Acts 21 will show that the elder’s efforts will not undo the effects of slander and misrepresentation!”

“This request could possibly advance the mission of the Gospel by removing a distracting barrier. While it was indeed an imperfect effort, and it was not even the best effort in Paul’s mind to address the situation, he so loved Christ’s church that he would do this.”

“Is the church weak at times? - yes it is! Is the church nearsighted at times? - yes it is! Does she need care and help at times? - ALL of the time! Will she stumble at times? - she has two left feet! BUT SHE IS PRECIOUS TO JESUS SO SHE IS PRECIOUS TO ME.”

QUOTES:
”The Image of a Man” by Dallas Holm -
“Why do I do the things I do?”…
”There's a picture in my mind that time can't erase
There's a memory of days gone by that helps me keep my place
It's in the front of my mind, in the back of my mind
To the left and to the right
There's an image of a man on a cross”

Charles Spurgeon - “If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our dead bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with our arms wrapped about their knees, imploring them to stay. If hell must be filled, let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go unwarned and unprayed for.”

APPLICATION:
Q. Is Christ worth it to you?
Q. Is Christ Church worth it to you?
Q. Are your lost loved ones, your friends, your neighbors, the stranger at the ballgame, the student in your class… Are your “kinsmen” worth it to you?

Q. What are two things that I can do this week to grow in my love for Christ? 
No. 1: I would submit that an honest, humble return to the foot of the Cross, to the Gospel, to that time in your life when Christ saved you… THIS will revive your affections for Jesus!
No. 2 Honestly and humbly tell someone that same old story of when Christ saved you!