Luke 11:24-28: A Call for True Conversion
In 2021 there are about 2.5 Billion Christians in name in the world today. But how many of these Christians in name are Christians in truth? What is the difference between a Christian in name and a Christian in reality? There are all sorts of people who are associated with Christ but who are not believers. There are many who fill out in their funeral forms, or any forms that ask for religious affiliation, that they are Christian. There are those born in a so called Christian country and who have been baptised into a national church but are...
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Luke 8:16-21: Fruitful Hearing
Famous Reformed Baptist pastor Al Martin preached a 16 part series on Luke 8:18, the series is called Take Heed How You Hear. 16 sermons on how to listen to the word of God! He deals with how we should prepare to listen before the sermon, how we should listen during the sermon, and what we should do after the sermon. Many might think that this is overkill, but Jesus Himself in the portion before us continues to talk about how we hear God’s word. The state of your heart, whether you are willing to listen, the consequences of...
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Luke 7:36-50: A Forgiven Sinner’s Love for Christ
When do you know if someone is truly a Christian? This can be a difficult question to answer for on the one hand you and I cannot read the heart of another and so will always have an imperfect ability to make a judgement. However, there is also a call in scripture for us to evaluate a person’s credible confession of faith. The true test of someone’s faith is not the amount of religiosity they indulge in, a person can go to church a lot and not be saved; the amount of theologically correct doctrine we have, for some...
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Luke 6:43-49: Concluding Challenges to True Religion
As my introduction to this sermon let me give a quote about conclusions to sermons: ‘The last sixty seconds are typically the most dynamic moments in excellent sermons. With these final words, a preacher marshals the thought and emotion of the entire message into an exhortation that makes all that has preceded clear and compelling. A conclusion is a sermon’s destination. Ending contents are alive—packed with tension, drama, energy, and emotion. This never means bombast and does not necessitate grandiloquence, since deep and powerful thought are often expressed in quiet, sincere terms. Masterful conclusions sometimes thunder, and other times...
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Luke 6:12-16: The Twelve Apostles: Part Two
2 Cor. 4:7, ‘But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.’ Paul is talking about the treasure of the knowledge of God in the gospel having been put into the jars of clay of the sinful apostles. He tells us that God delights to use the weak things so that His power is evident. The twelve apostles are a menagerie of jars of clay, each is earthy and ugly, bearing all the imperfections of being made by hand, each item is completely unique from the...
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1 Samuel 10: King Saul
Outline Saul is given three signs Saul is given the Spirit Saul is given the Kingdom Introduction Don’t judge a book by its cover is the key lesson of Saul’s life. His good looks, His height, that fact of his apparent humility and even the fact that he appears to have the Spirit all warn us a king, a leader, a fighter, a follower of God is more and must be more than just these things. God is giving Israel the king they want and the king they deserve. God will use this king despite himself to accomplish His...
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Church Membership 2: Regenerate Church Membership
Introduction: What are the most important distinctives that make a Baptist Church a Baptist Church? You might think that believer’s baptism would be the first thing offered. This is not true! Baptists believe in the direct unmediated Lordship of Jesus Christ through His word in the local church. We do not need Popes or Presbyteries to know His will for our church. Baptists believe in the priesthood of all believers recognising that the Spirit has gifted every Christian for service in the church, and an ability to know God’s will through the word and Spirit and be responsible for...
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Proverbs 14:14: Backsliding in heart
Introduction: One of the greatest spiritual battles facing the Western Christian is the fight to stop being a backslider in heart. In other parts of the world like Northern Iraq where ISIS is beheading children, the great struggle is for faithfulness and patience in the face of aggressive persecution. In the West we have the opposite problem; we struggle against ease, pleasure, comfort, excess and the other conveniences of modern life. And so we must conclude that one of our greatest dangers is the innocuous unseen danger, not of cancer, but backsliding. As Christmas approaches and we are inundated...
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Romans 10:10: Heart Faith
Introduction: As a young Christian my friend and I were always willing to learn from what we considered to be any zealous, consistent and effective Christian. One early example was a man called Don Leonard, we called him Oom Don. He was a converted actor and alcoholic who was turned into a raging evangelist. He was the boldest man I have ever met. He would drive a car around that said, ‘TURN OR BURN’, and ‘Hell has no fire escape.’ He would walk through the streets of Randburg preaching loudly in the shopping malls and squares. However, he was...
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