Thetford Baptist Church Sermons
Web Site: Thetford Baptist Church
Total Sermons: 25
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The Burden of Self Esteem
"The Burden of Self-Esteem" (Romans 7:24-25). This Sunday we circle back a bit and hover over those excruciating words: "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?" How long and hard we work to avoid coming to such a diminishing discovery. Yet this is the way all men must tread if they will come into and remain in the presence of God. "Woe, to me!" the prophet Isaiah cried. "I am ruined." But then grace covered the span and made him clean (Isaiah 6). Sunday we will work our way around the great cultural roadblock that keeps many far from grace's healing touch: self-esteem. We'll see that Christ's gospel bends us away from self-hatred and self-love toward something immensely more satisfying. Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.
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The Me I Didn't Know
"The Me I Didn't Know" (Romans 7:13-25). This Sunday we continue even further into Romans chapter 7. We have reached one of the more familiar passages in all the New Testament. Here Paul speaks to the torment of desiring an exterior goodness but not having the interior power to make it our own: "For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do...For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing." Sunday we must determine the purpose of this passage in our apostle's teaching the church. By God's grace we will. Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.
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The Christian and the Law
"The Christian and the Law (Romans 7:7-13). This Sunday we continue further into Romans chapter 7. Last week we observed two distortions that men make with God's law. The first distortion is giving the law authority when it no longer has authority. We will see this Sunday that this is really the justification distortion. The second distortion is giving the law power where it has no power. We will see this Sunday that this is really the sanctification distortion. We will also see a third distortion this week, one that we'll call, for now, the gospel distortion. By the time we finish up we will have a more clear understanding of how the Christian can be dead to the law yet still delight in it (Psalm 1:2). Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.
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Eternal Life and Its Many Happy Omens
Eternal Life and Its Many Happy Omens (Romans 6:15-23). This Sunday we will hear of the benefits that abound to all who have been set free from sin. God's abounding benefits culminate in eternal life but they precede eternal life as well. Yes, the Christian's ultimate destiny is a destiny foretold in his earthly fellowship with God, a fellowship marked by wisdom, holiness, and vision. May the power and presence of Jesus Christ be upon us all.
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"Set Free From Sin"
Set Free from Sin (Romans 6:15-23). If you are a Christian, this is your storyline: you have been set free from sin. Those words of Romans 6:18 and 6:22 are precious truth to you. Those words now describe much of your praise to God. Those words now explain much of your contentment of spirit. Those words now propel your faithful love of God and the good deeds you do in His name. If you are not a Christian, this is what Jesus' gospel is calling you to, a new story, where your life is freed from sin through faith in Christ. Sunday we will learn what these words mean and what such a life looks like. We'll learn how to live close to this truth whether we have lived a grossly immoral life or have grown up in the church. May the power and presence of Jesus Christ be upon us all.
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Holy Habits Clothed with Christ
This Sunday we continue our study of holy habits, otherwise known as spiritual disciplines. Thus far we have learned that holy habits move us from merely trying to actually being powerful and effective in the new life. The Christian who practices holy habits will soon thicken and be able to engage the evil around them and within them with the power and effectiveness of Christ himself. This Sunday we continue this course of study by broadening the vision, looking at specific areas of the new life that call for specific holy habits. Try to read the following scriptures before Sunday: Matthew 11:28-30, Colossians 3:1-14, 1 Corinthians 9:24-27.
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Holy Habits: Stop Trying, Start Being
We continue this Sunday our encampment in the teaching Paul began in Romans 6, verse 12. Our apostle is showing us the way of not only ending our careers as pitiful sinners but of beginning our careers as powerful saints. He has introduced now for the first time in Romans the necessity of holy habits in living the new life. The power of Jesus' resurrection life is fully available to us but it is not fully at work in us. Effort is required. Old habits are still active and must be displaced. New habits are at hand and must be activated. Sunday we will see that living in the power of Christ is not some happy accident, a hit or miss proposition. No, his life of power is a happy promise for all who will train themselves for godliness through holy habits. Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.
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A Clearly Marked Path
The life Jesus has opened for us is a new life. It is a life under the care of the Trinity. It is the life to come but also a new life that has come. Jesus calls us to follow him out of the world and into his kingdom. Transformation will be standard issue. But how do we change, how do we follow? In this Sunday's passage, the apostle shows that our following the Great Lord requires a willful denial of self and a willing embrace of God. But as we shall see, these are not efforts that stay safely hidden behind the drapery of the mind, Jesus is calling our mortal bodies to the frontlines. Sunday we will see how the Lord Jesus enlists our bodies into a civil disobedience before the demands of tyrants: the flesh, the world, and the devil. If you can, read Luke 9:23-26 and 9:57-62 before Sunday. Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.
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Getting Lost with Jesus
Getting Lost With Jesus" (Romans 6:9-11). A life that follows Jesus where he is going will often feel lost. The "new life" the apostle Paul speaks of in Romans 6 is no small adjustment for 21st century citizens of North America. Though we live on the frontier of human history, we are surrounded by a world that has grown old in sin. It is dying and will soon pass away. Yet Jesus lives, and lives forevermore, and he beckons us to follow. Sunday we will learn how, Lord willing; how to step into the strange land where Jesus knows everything and we know little. This is square one, the place we must learn to return to again and again, day by day, if we will find ourselves, a year from now, a thicker Christian than we are today. Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.
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