“In The Beginning, God” (Genesis 1:1 sermon)

Posted on 2018/01/08 by Shawn Thomas

Some books have such famous opening lines that many people can name them just from hearing the first words of the book. See if you can name some of these books from their first lines:
— “It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.” (Tale of Two Cities)
— “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” (Pride & Prejudice)
— “Marley was dead, to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that.” (A Christmas Carol)
— “You don’t know about me without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; but that ain’t no matter.” (Huck Finn)

I hope we all know this one: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” As memorable as some of those other opening lines may be, there are no more important ones to be found anywhere in human language than those in Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning, God.” In the very first words of the Bible we find so many foundational truths about God which affect our lives: Continue reading →

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Our Confident Access

Posted on 2018/01/08 by Shawn Thomas

“in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him.” (Ephesians 3:12)

One Sunday a young boy in our church in Tulsa was talking our daughter Libby at church. He told her that he had wanted to tell me something, but he was afraid to. Libby promptly took him by the hand and brought him to where I was sitting at the front of the church, saying, “He’s just my dad!”

The confidence Libby had as she brought that young man to me has always reminded me of this verse. Continue reading →

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What We Preach

Posted on 2018/01/03 by Shawn Thomas

“To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ.” (Ephesians 3:8)

Here Paul shares the essence of the Christian message. Both what this message is, and what it is NOT, are significant: Continue reading →

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“Every Day With Jesus” in 2018 (Ezra 7:10 sermon)

Posted on 2018/01/02 by Shawn Thomas

A few weeks ago they came out with an interesting list of the books that people lie about reading, in order appear well-read: among them are George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, (42%), Tolstoy’s War and Peace (31%), James Joyce’s Ulysses (25%) and, of all books — the Bible (24%). It’s more than a little bit ironic, of course, that one of the top books people LIE about having read all the way through, is the Bible, of all books, when one of its most prominent commandments says not to lie!

Well I don’t know how many of you here today have ever read all the way through the Bible, but I hope that by the end of 2018, you will be able to say that you did. It is a big deal – to have read THE single greatest book in all the world. I know one young man who claimed to be an atheist, who was asked by a friend if he had ever read the world’s #1 best-selling book of all time? When he found out it was the Bible, he decided to read it just so he could say that he had. And as he read God convicted him, and saved him. God has great things for us, if we will only turn to Him in His word.

So I hope that you will join us tomorrow as we start on a year-long journey of reading through the Bible in 2018. As we prepare to do that, I want us to look at the commitment that one of the great men of God in the Old Testament had to word of God, in Ezra 7:10:

“For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord and to practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel.” (Ezra 7:10) Continue reading →

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Your Stewardship of God’s Grace

Posted on 2018/01/02 by Shawn Thomas

“If indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace which was given to me for you.” (Ephesians 3:2)

These two little phrases are important regarding Paul’s ministry, and our own: “TO ME”/“FOR YOU.” God gave His grace “to” Paul; but God did not give the message of this grace to him just for himself alone; it was so that he could minister it “to” them! Continue reading →

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“Immanuel: God With Us” (Matthew 1:23 sermon)

Posted on 2017/12/18 by Shawn Thomas

One of my favorite parts of the Christmas program last weekend was when B.J. and Amy and Greg sang that beautiful song of the annunciation, which is right out of Luke 1:28, where the angel appeared to Mary and said: “Hail, favored one, the Lord is with you.”

To know that God is “with you” is the greatest blessing there is. That’s the comfort that David knew in Psalm 23, when he said “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil, for YOU ARE WITH ME.” He knew he could face anything – even death – because God is with him.

And that is the blessing we celebrate at Christmas time: that God the Son came to earth, to be “with us,” just as our passage for today says:

“Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,’ which translated means, ‘God with us.’” Continue reading →

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“For The Mouth of the Lord Hath Spoken It” (Isaiah 40:1-8 sermon)

Posted on 2017/12/11 by Shawn Thomas

A few weeks ago, we celebrated the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation which Martin Luther initiated when he questioned the unbiblical teachings of the church of his day. Emory University in Atlanta actually has a big collection of Lutheran writings, and a couple of years ago, they found this old document, which was printed in 1520, 3 years after the Reformation had begun, on which someone had handwritten a note. It turns out after study that this note is from the hand of Martin Luther himself, who had written a comment on this page, mocking the Pope, who had excommunicated him for his beliefs! It was a surprising discovery, and now of course that document is one of the treasures of Emory University, as they have the very words of Martin Luther Himself on that document!

But although that pamphlet is quite a treasure; the fact is, every one of us has something far greater in our hands today: the very words of God, in the Bible! Our passage for today talks about the confidence we can have in God’s word, and the comfort we can find in it, as well as the attention that we should pay to it. Continue reading →

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“ALL The Saints”

Posted on 2017/12/06 by Shawn Thomas

“For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints …” (Ephesians 1:15)

The smallest little words in scripture can sometimes have the biggest impact — if we are paying attention to them! Such is the case here in Ephesians 1:15, where Paul commends the faith that the Ephesians have in Jesus, and their love for “all” the saints.” Continue reading →

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Is Your Christianity Vertical & Horizontal?

Posted on 2017/12/05 by Shawn Thomas

“For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you, and your love for all the saints, do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers.” (Ephesians 1:15-16)

Many people seem to think of Christianity solely as their own personal relationship with God. That personal relationship with God IS essential in true Christianity, but it is also not the whole story. Continue reading →

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“The Greatest Mission Trip” (Philippians 2:5-13 sermon)

Posted on 2017/12/04 by Shawn Thomas

After our morning service today, we have the opportunity to stay for soup and sandwiches, sponsored by our student ministry, to support the Hamburg, Germany mission trip that they will be going on this summer. I’m excited that a dozen of our young people are going — because they are following in the footsteps of the mission that Jesus undertook when He came to earth to save us.

We do all of our mission trips, because Jesus first went on mission for us. And He gives us an example here in Philippians 2 of what we should do whenever we go on mission — whether it is across the seas to Germany, or down the road at the CoMMA this week. Let’s look first of all at:

 

I. Jesus’ “Greatest Mission Trip”

The first thing we see here is that we are to model our own mission efforts after what Jesus did for us. Verse 5 says “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus.” So JESUS is the model for us as we go on mission.

So what did Jesus do, that we are to model ourselves after? The next verses tell us: Continue reading →

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