Sermons About World
Sanctification
The church has taken sanctification and twisted it to mean separating ourselves from all unrighteous people, including those of the world who do not know the saving grace of Jesus Christ yet. This is wrong, and here's why.
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Commitment Sunday - The Parable of the Minas
This sermon on the Parable of the Minas from Luke 19 and preached by Rev. Wayne Alexander was the last in the Christ's Investment Advice series and was part of Commitment Sunday at Pembury Baptist Church.
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Useful?
The 7th church to be addressed in our study, receives the harshest criticism. All the other churches seemed to recognize that they were in a "war-zone" spiritually speaking. The church at Laodicea however, felt that they were doing quite well, and that they didn't need a thing! Rather than living as exiles, waiting for the deliverance of Jesus, they had settled in and were quite comfortable with life in the here-and-now. As such, they were no longer useful to the Master, and He was ready to "spit them out." The Laodicean letter is sobering, because it hits so close to home. I hope and pray that God will call out the "dangerous" spirit of exile among us? How much do we LONG for the kingdom to break in? How much do we pray? Do our songs reflect this longing? Are we anchored to the promises of God? Have we given up? Key Passage: Revelation 3:14-22
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Christ's Investment Advice: "Consumed"
In this, the first of our three week series - 'Christ's Investment Advice', Pastor Wayne Alexander looks at the first of our three parables and asks, 'what consumes us?'
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Overcoming the World
I was in Texas for less than 48 hours this week, but in that brief time, I made a few observations. One: the folks in Texas don't know how to handle ice and snow any better than folks in NC. I never saw so many wrecks in my life. Two: even my non-English speaking taxi driver was an expert on the Dallas Cowboys and his ideas about how to fix them are better than the ones I hear from the present coaching staff. Three: When they say everything is big in Texas, they aren't joking. Even the churches are huge. I was in an area where on 3 different corners there were churches of over 10,000 folks each and there was a 4th just a mile up the road When you take a look at some of the pastors and churches in Texas, you'll notice that a large number of them have built their ministries upon the idea that all that God has done in this world and through Christ is really just for you and once we realize all that God has done, we will become better people. Within that philosophy of ministry, I hear nuggets of truth, but upon further consideration, it seems to fall short of the full picture. This point became clear when I heard two pastors speak at the conference One did this incredibly well done video piece of him teaching his son to ride a bike. In it, he talked about how through our failure, we learn how to succeed. His mantra was: try, fail, learn, adjust. He closed by saying that failure was God's way of making you a winner. Now that sounds like a decent theology right? Learn from your failures. God doesn't intend for us to hang our heads in the sand and mope when things don't go well. Yet, it still seemed a bit incomplete. Then, the next speaker came up on the stage, Mark Driscoll from Mars Hill Church in Seattle. If you know anything about Driscoll, he is about a straight shooter as they come, and he is unconcerned and unimpressed with Christian celebrities. He spoke of Righteousness, Risk and Repentance warning pastors like myself not to base our righteousness on the success of our ministries, not to not become addicted to or too scared of risk, and to continually walk in repentance. Then as he closed, he offered this correction to the prior speaker. He said, "Oh yeah, one more thing: only in America will a pastor tell you that that the purpose of failure is so God can make you a winner. You might just fail, and all you will have left is Jesus. The bigger question is, ‘Is Jesus enough for you?'" That bold rebuke struck home to my heart. Folks, when we are said and done here on the dusty bowl called planet Earth, the fundamental question is going to be, "Do you have Jesus or not?" The size of this church, the job you have, the things that make you comfortable, are not going to count. Jesus is what counts. If I preach this sermon or if I preach them all year long, if Sovereign King grows, if we have 4, 6, 8 CE Groups, if we are serving the police well, if we do all of those things and lives are not changed and transformed because of Jesus Christ, we are wasting our time. If your life is not impacted and transformed because you met the risen Savior, then I'm wasting my time up here. Don't let the structure of things going on here distract you. I think our CE Groups are vital and the men's and women's study are vital, but they are means to an end and not and end unto themselves Instead allow the structure of going on here instruct you how you and those you know can be transformed by Jesus. Jesus is not a means to an end. He is not your way to have a happy, healthy, wealthy life. Jesus is the end. The goal is Jesus. When we get done with our day, whether or not it has gone our way or whether or not we feel blessed, ask yourself, "Was Jesus enough for me today?" If the answer is no, it is not because Jesus was insufficient. It was because you found Him insufficient and desired other things. What we are going to find in I John today is that He is going to describe the folks that get that, the folks that get that Jesus is the point. He is going to describe those folks as those that overcome the world.
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2 Timothy 4
In 2 Timothy 4 we have Paul's last recorded words before being martyred. The key exhortation is for Timothy to 'preach the word' in light of the fact that the time will come when people wont listen to sound biblical teaching. Paul shares that he has finished the work that the Lord has for him, and he is satisfied with how he has lived his life. He then closes with some miscellaneous instructions.
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Decisions And Consequences
This sermon take a look the first chapter of Ruth and the decision made by a father to move his family out of God's chosen land and away from God to Moab (the world) because of a famine. It then looks at the consequences of that decision. It looks at his sons decision to marry Moab women and the consequences that follow. Finally, it looks at the decisions made by the women left behind when all the men died and where they were heading.
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Sacred Obsession: Galatians 6.11-18
As Paul closes his letter to the churches at Galatia we see his obsession. His obsession is the cross of Jesus. This is the thing he loves, reviles in, boasts in, rejoices in, and lives for. It is what he preached - its message, triumph, offense and wonder. It meant the world to him. It was truly his obsession. He considered everything else loss compared to it. What is your obsession?
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Terrible Vikings
The Vikings attacked and plundered because of envy—they wanted what their victims had. They believed that they did not have as much as others because their gods were not as powerful. This envy led to the introduction of Christianity into the Viking world. It was a time when groups of people converted together with their leaders.
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