Sermons from 2005 (Page 6)
Principles of Spiritual Leadership
When a certain Dallas church decided to split, each faction filed a lawsuit to claim ownership over the church property. The judge finally referred the matter to higher authorities in that particular denomination and a church court assembled to hear both sides of the case and awarded the property to one of those two factions. The losers withdrew and formed another church in the area. During the hearing the church courts learned that the conflict had all begun at a…
Persecution and Preaching
Persecution rides on the wings of the clear proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Gospel makes such an offense that whenever this Gospel is told clearly, boldly, and publicly persecution against the Message stands never far away. This makes the work of the church difficult because the church’s primary objective in this realm is to proclaim the message of Jesus Christ boldly and broadly, so the church’s history is littered with threats, beatings, imprisonments, and even deaths for…
The Fear of the Lord
On January 9, 2005, Pastor Jack Arnold was preaching at Covenant Presbyterian Church, in Ovada, Florida, and he was preaching a sermon based on his life verse – Philippians 1:21, “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” He had quoted Charles Wesley, saying. “Until my work on earth is done I am a mortal.” He went on to say, “But, when my work for Christ is done, I am out of here! I don’t know about…
Unity in the Church
Someone asked Willey Sutton, who was a notorious bank robber, why he robbed so many banks. He replied, “Because that is where the money is!” I appreciate Willey’s honesty that he would rob banks because that is where the money is. Money was his driving influence for life, yet too often we make major decisions in our lives with the same motivation; where we work, how much time we put into our jobs, who are our friends, what our hobbies…
Holy Boldness
Professor Howard Hendricks used to say to his students, “If Christianity were a crime, would there be enough evidence to convict you?” That is a tough question, isn’t it? Because of the fear of man and the desire to obtain from men, many Christians act as though Jesus was some great secret in their life to be shared only with the intimate, private, inner-circle of one’s life. The message of the Gospel demands that each of us boldly proclaim it.…
Blessing of Persecution
A faith commitment to Jesus Christ improves other human relationships, and it destroys them. Your Christianity will bear the sweet fruit of fellowship or possibly the bitter weed of hostility from others. Jesus said in Matthew 10:34, “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn ” ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law – a man’s enemies will be the members…
Times of Refreshing
As you know, the most powerful earthquake in forty years erupted under the sea, off the coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, on December 26th. The quake unleashed what we now know of as a “tsunami;” that is a series of waves that can travel through the ocean with speeds over five hundred miles per hour. They can crest upon the shore with ninety to one-hundred foot high waves. Today the estimated death toll of this tsunami in south…
Leaping for Joy
At the end of each year a prominent Christian researcher, George Barna, releases a summary of his finding concerning the church in America. Some of his research this past year has been encouraging. For instance, an estimated 22 million adults have been added to the church in America in the last decade. America’s youngest pastors are more aware of and responsive to the battle for the minds and hearts of children. Most Americans, nearly two-thirds of them, continue to give…