Joy begins with love when our love 1) Abounds More and More, 2) Approves What is Excellent, 3) Is Filled with the Fruits of Righteousness. Each hearer will understand that he must love God and others to have joy. I want to impress upon the hearer that the standard of love is God, not humans.
Where does our focus need to be in 2023? Jesus tells us. “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 22:37-40). How do we do this? Come to church. Read the Bible. Pray to God. Take care of your family. Help the needy. Love your enemies. “Fear God and keep His commandments for this is man’s all” (Ecclesiastes 12:13).
Do we feel the same joy for the gift God gave to us as we do for those fleeting baubles that we exchange each December? When Paul wrote, “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice” (Philippians 4:4), he had Jesus in mind. He is the gift given for all time with whom and by whom we may rejoice forever. After the “season of giving” has ended, God’s gift giving goes on.
When we apply God’s righteousness through Christ to our lives, we will be a 1) Living Sacrifice, 2) Liberal Servant, and 3) Loving Spirit. Each hearer should understand what it means to exemplify Christ in his life.
The bride is blessed with the whole armor of God so that she may 1) Stand and Be Strong, 2) Engage in Battle with the Enemy, 3) Protect and Be Protected, 4) Win the War. Each Christian will understand that we are in a spiritual battle and we need God’s armor to fight and win.
It is important that we tell the truth regardless of how uncomfortable that may be. That does not mean that we must be mean spirited or belligerent to do it. We must speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15). Lies, however, are so appealing to many today. This is because people generally want to justify how they act without worrying about whether what they are saying and doing is right or wrong.
David praises God for victory over his enemies: 1) Praise, 2) Prayer, 3) Power 4) Providence, 5) Protection, 6) Preeminence, 7) Predominance, 8) Praise. Each person should be able to give glory to God for his victories as did David. I want to communicate David’s conviction that the battle belongs to the Lord.
The Bible and only the Bible must be our sole standard for spiritual authority today because 1) Only the Bible is Inspired of God, 2) Other standards are woefully inadequate, 3) The Bible is all sufficient to meet every spiritual need. The hearer should be able to state why other standards are lacking, understand Bible inspiration, and state why the Bible is all sufficient. To establish in the mind of each hearer the importance of letting the Bible settle all spiritual questions today.
God wants godly offspring from marriage. The unique purpose of marriage is for loving parents to have, shelter, and rear children so that they may become godly adults. It takes both a husband and wife being faithful to each other over a lifetime to do this.
God is the foundation of all spiritual families. Psalm 127:1a says, “Unless the Lord builds the house, They labor in vain who build it.” We want to build our families with the Lord as the foundation. God wants great families!
God is serious about keeping his message pure. It is inconsistent for us to preach that we ought not to add to nor take away from the word of God, and then choose a Bible translation that does just that. A translation should be understandable and legible. However the deciding factor in choosing a specific Bible translation should be whether or not the translators have accurately reflected the word of God in their translation.
This is a translation of the Greek word ἀσέλγεια (aselgeia). In the New Testament it means: unbridled lust, excess, licentiousness, lasciviousness, wantonness, outrageousness, shamelessness, insolence. It has reference primarily to sexual type sins. So some examples of this behavior are: filthy words, indecent bodily movements, unchaste handling of males and females. In what contexts might such behavior be found today?
God is the God of all comfort when we 1) Listen, 2) Pray, 3) Work, 4) Love. Each person may know the comfort that God gives through faith in Him. I want to emphasize that we receive comfort when we are open to it.
Truth that rests on God’s revelation means the unchanging word of God serves as the underlying basis for government. Truth that rests on man’s reason results in fickle public opinion making the law. The difference is between a government that fundamentally stays the same and one that changes with popular opinion.
The Sins of David and Bathsheba included lust, sloth, adultery, murder, drunkenness, conspiracy to commit murder, deception, immodesty, and lasciviousness to name a few. These things displease the Lord.
God’s Moral Compass 1) Is Not Corrupted like the World’s, 2) Corrects, 3) Condemns, and 3) Clarifies. Each should understand that morality comes from God not from humans.
God created people for love and fellowship (Genesis 2:18). The church is God's community of love where our need to love and be loved is fulfilled in Christ.
Jesus commanded men to baptize other men (Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:16). What baptism did He command? He did not command a baptism that only He could do, but that all His disciples could do, namely, water baptism. “Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). To be born of water and the Spirit is to be baptized in water according to the teaching of the Holy Spirit. Acts 8:12-13 says Philip baptized those who heard and believed the word in water. They did not receive the Holy Spirit, however, until John and Peter came later (Acts 8:16).
9 But there was a certain man called Simon, who previously practiced sorcery in the city and astonished the people of Samaria, claiming that he was someone great, 10 to whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is the great power of God.” 11 And they heeded him because he had astonished them with his sorceries for a long time. 12 But when they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized. 13 Then Simon himself also believed; and when he was baptized he continued with Philip, and was amazed, seeing the miracles and signs which were done.
In this song, the writer illustrates how to have a giving spirit by looking at both the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. He uses them as metaphors for what happens to us when we give punctuating it with the example of Christ. Each person should examine his life to see if he is giving freely and generously to others.