Grace Baptist Church Sermons
Web Site: Grace Baptist Church
Total Sermons: 47
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A Church Called Together
The church is to be a unique place in a fallen and broken world. It is to be a place of harmony, purpose, and unity. But too often, the church has been divided, filled with people seeking their personal agendas, or filled with people who are living their own lives without thought of the message that they are sending to other people through their lives. Far too few understand the unique nature of the church that God has called together in this world. As a church, we must strive to be a place of unified diversity—people from all different walks of life who are unified around the lordship of Jesus Christ. As we pursue this, we will be a dwelling place of God in this world, and place from which God will call more people to himself for salvation in Jesus Christ.
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God Calls His Church
God is in the process of calling out his church from this world by his sovereign choice through the preaching of the gospel with the goal of bringing his church to share in the glory of Christ.
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Jesus Is the Head of the Church
Who is the most important person in the church? It is Jesus. He created the world and redeemed the church so that he might come to have first place in everything. Through creation and reconciliation, he has shown himself to be the one to whom the church must submit.
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Jesus Builds His Church
In Matthew 16, as Jesus gets closer to the time of his death, he promises his disciples that he will build his church and that the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. This promise is the hope of the church today.
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Different Strokes for Different Folks
Sometimes people look at the situation of life that they find themselves in and see how it differs from someone else. Almost inevitably the response is to compare our lives with someone else. Interestingly, we rarely complain that our lives are not like the less fortunate. Few people say, “God, why could you not have made me a poor homeless person with cancer?” More often people say, “God, why could not you have give me a better paying job and fix my health problems?” This in itself is a commentary on the way that we view the gifts of God to us. Today, in the continuing story of Joseph, we see once again that God’s plan for people is different. In his sovereign rule over this world, he does not deal with everyone the same way. The challenge for us is to be content with what God is doing in our lives, knowing that he is bringing about his ultimate purpose, and recognizing that we must live in humble obedience to him.
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Going Strange Places
One of the enduring and encouraging truths in Scripture is that God never leaves us alone. He is always with his children, even though his plan for life may take us through some strange places. Today, in the life of Joseph, we see God taking Jacob to a strange place—Egypt. It is strange because it is taking him away from that land that God had promised him, and it is strange because it is a place that both his father had been told not to go to Egypt. But today we are reminded that God is working out his plan through the mess we call life, even when it takes us to some strange places. And when we are confident that God is working out his plan in our lives, we can live in strange places and wait to see the abundant provision of God.
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Reconciliation and Reunion
A firm belief in God's sovereignty enables us to deal with difficult situations with grace. Since Joseph realized that God was in control, he was free to treat his brothers with grace and kindness. In so doing, he did not excuse their sin towards him. He rather depended on God's sovereign rule and grace to rule even in sinful situations.
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The Test of Change
Change is hard. In fact, it is so hard that most people never change, at least for the better. They simply do not want to do the hard work necessary to bring about lasting change. Yet we must understand that God’s purpose for our lives is change. He desires biblical change that comes from bringing our lives into subjection to the lordship of Christ in every area. But God is not interested in just any kind of change. He wants to take us from being self-centered people who live for their own satisfaction to the God-centered people who live for the glory of God. And that change will not come easy. It will be the result of many great works of God’s grace in your life that will bring difficulty and testing. Those tests that come from various people and places will be the opportunity to evaluate the change in your life. Only through testing can you see what has really taken place. Is the change just external, something that is easy to show in times of ease? Or will the change hold up under the stress of life?
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Face to Face with Ugliness
There are some things that are simply too hideous to look at, while at the same time they are too gripping to turn away from. To come face to face with something so horrible can be life-changing. It can soften us and melt us, or it can harden us. Yet the greatness problem is not what is going on around us. It is what is going on inside of us. The ugliness of sin has created a hideous monster—self. We have learned to live with it only by ignoring it. Yet through God’s grace in our lives, he brings about circumstances that reveal to us just how bad we really are. When we come face to face with ourselves, we have come face to face with a monster that is far more gruesome than any fictional character could ever be. Yet that face to face encounter with our inner man is often the tool that God uses to wake us up. Today, in the story of Joseph, we see the awakening of a conscience as his brothers come face to face with their own hideous actions. We are reminded that only God’s grace can awaken our conscience and only that same grace can deal with our conscience and cause us to find grace and hope in Jesus.
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The Road to the Top
Everyone is interested in success. They want to reach "the top," whatever that is in their mind. However, defining success God's way is the only way to please him, and it is the only thing that will enable us to endure difficult circumstances. Success must be defined as being what God wants us to be where he wants us to be it. Joseph shows us what it means to accept God's plan and live life in difficult times with a desire to please God.
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