One More Year

Sunday Sermon
Rhema Community Church
December 28, 2008

Sermonic Skeleton:

Sermonic Scipture: ESV Luke 13:6-9 And he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. 7 And he said to the vinedresser, 'Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?' 8 And he answered him, 'Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. 9 Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.'"

Sermonic Sentence: Don't take God's grace for granted.

Sermonic Tension: How much time do we have?

Sermonic Theme: The Mercy and Grace of God NLT Isaiah 5:1-7 Now I will sing a song for the one I love about his vineyard: My beloved has a vineyard on a rich and fertile hill. 2 He plowed the land, cleared its stones, and planted it with choice vines. In the middle he built a watchtower and carved a winepress in the nearby rocks. Then he waited for a harvest of sweet grapes, but the grapes that grew were wild and sour. 3 "Now, you people of Jerusalem and Judah, you have heard the case; you be the judges. 4 What more could I have done to cultivate a rich harvest? Why did my vineyard give me wild grapes when I expected sweet ones? 5 Now this is what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will tear down its fences and let it be destroyed. I will break down its walls and let the animals trample it. 6 I will make it a wild place. I will not prune the vines or hoe the ground. I will let it be overgrown with briers and thorns. I will command the clouds to drop no more rain on it." 7 This is the story of the LORD's people. They are the vineyard of the LORD Almighty. Israel and Judah are his pleasant garden. He expected them to yield a crop of justice, but instead he found bloodshed. He expected to find righteousness, but instead he heard cries of oppression.

Sermonic Background: GRACE, COMMON The grace extended to all humanity through God’s general providence. Its benefits are experienced by the entire human race: the beauty of creation, the sun and the rain, the harvest.

NLT Matthew 5:45 In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and on the unjust, too.

NLT Hebrews 1:2-3 But now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son he made the universe and everything in it. 3 The Son reflects God's own glory, and everything about him represents God exactly. He sustains the universe by the mighty power of his command. After he died to cleanse us from the stain of sin, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God of heaven.

NLT John 1:1-4 In the beginning the Word already existed. He was with God, and he was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 He created everything there is. Nothing exists that he didn't make. 4 Life itself was in him, and this life gives light to everyone.

Sermonic Structure:

I. The Parable of the Fig Tree (And he told this parable)

II. The Planting of the Fig Tree (A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard)

III. The Problem with the Fig Tree (and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?)

IV. The Pleading for the Fig Tree (And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also)

V. The Plan the Vinedresser has for the Fig Tree (until I dig around it and put on manure)

VI. The Possibility of the Fig Tree (Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good, but if not, you can cut it down)

The Providence of God

Sunday Sermon
December 14, 2008
Rhema Community Church

Sermonic Skeleton

Sermonic Scripture: ESV Philippians 4:19 And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

Sermonic Sentence: My God will fully and freely supply every one of your needs.
(Philippians 4.11; 13; 16; 18 and verse number 19)

Sermonic Tension: My God will fully and freely supply all of your NEEDS not your WANTS.
The Apostle Paul is in prison however, all of his needs are met.

Sermonic Point: God will provide. (This text teaches us that God controls our circumstances)

Sermonic Background: PROVIDENCE from the Latin providere, “to provide.” The word “providence” occurs in the Bible once Acts 24.2. It refers, however, to three biblical concepts: (1) In theology, providence is the general foresight, love, and care of God for people.
Romans 8.28 Providence can also refer to the idea that (2) God has divinely ordained or preordained certain events, or that (3) the universe is under God’s control so that ultimately good will be produced.

Sermonic Structure:

I. My God will provide you with multiple Relationships (And my God)
a. God has given us Heavenly Relationships
b. God has given us Human Relationships
c. God has given us Healthy Relationships

II. My God will put you in a place to Receive (Will supply every need of yours)
a. All of our needs are designed by God
b. All of our needs are fully and freely supplied by God

III. My God has plenty of Riches (According to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus)
a. According to His riches in Glory
b. According to His riches in Christ Jesus

The Perseverance of God

Sunday Sermon
December 7, 2008
Rhema Community Church

Sermonic Skeleton

Sermonic Scripture

ESV Philippians 1:1-11 Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. 7 It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. 8 For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. 9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

Sermonic Point:
Although I'm imprisoned, God is not.

Sermonic Sentence:
The only reason you are alive today is that God is still working on you.

Sermonic Tension:
The Apostle Paul is in prison when he pens this epistle to the church at Philippi. (Verse 7)

I am saved. (Justification); I am being saved. (Sanctification); Moreover, on "That Day" I will be saved. (Glorification)

Salvation is a process.

Sermonic Background:
TULIP a mnemonic of the traditional five points of Calvinism: Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistible Grace, and Perseverance of the saints. These five points were adopted by the Synod of Dort in 1618.

CALVINISM a theological system associated with John Calvin (1509-1564) and later to his followers. Calvin first published his Institutes of the Christian Religion in 1536. The formal principle of Calvin’s theological system is embodied in the Latin phrase sola Scriptura (Scripture only), the common call of most of the sixteenth-century Reformation. Especially importance to Calvinistic thought are the doctrines of the sovereignty of God and predestination. God rules all things in such a way that nothing happens “without His counsel.” This includes God’s destining some for salvation before the foundations of the world, not because of any merit or even foreseen faith, but simply by His free will and the unmerited grace which He extends.

J. I. Packer summarizes the five points as follows:
(1) Total depravity: Fallen man in his natural state lacks all power to believe the gospel, just as he lacks all powers to believe the Law, despite all external inducements extended to him. (2) Unconditional election: God’s election is a free, sovereign unconditional choice of sinners to be redeemed by Christ, given faith and brought to glory. (3) Limited atonement: The redeeming work of Christ had as its end and goal the salvation of the elect (4) Irresistible grace: The work of the Holy Spirit in bringing men to faith never fails to achieve its object. (5) Perseverance of the saints: Believers are kept in faith and grace by the unconquerable power of God until they come to glory.

A “High Calvinist” is one who accepts all five points. Other Calvinists accept or reject various points, although High Calvinists would argue that all five points are logically and scripturally necessary. For example, some Calvinists do not subscribe to a limited atonement, that Christ died only for the elect. See, for instance, Norman F. Douty, The Death of Christ (Williams and Watrous, 1978), who accepts four of the five points, but strongly believes that the Bible does not teach limited atonement. Some have argued that even John Calvin did not hold to limited atonement. Calvinists Moise Amyraut, Richard Baxter, John Bunyan, John Newton, John Brown, and many others accept a generalism called “hypothetical universalism,” the idea that Christ died for the sins of all and that all are capable of believing.

Sermonic Structure:

I. GODS PERSEVERANCE IS DEMONSTRATED THROUGH PEOPLE (Vrs.1,2)
a. Through His Servants
b. Through His Son
c. Through His Saints

II. GODS PERSEVERANCE IS DISCOVERED IN PRAYER (Vrs.3-6)

NLT 2 Kings 6:17 Then Elisha prayed, "O LORD, open his eyes and let him see!" The LORD opened his servant's eyes, and when he looked up, he saw that the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire.

NLT Luke 22:42 "Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will, not mine."

NLT Acts 16:25 Around midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening.

III. GODS PERSEVERANCE IS DEFENDED WITH PASSION (Vrs.7-11)
a. I am passionate about the Grace of God
b. I am passionate about the Goodness of God
c. I am passionate about Growing in God
d. I am passionate about the Glory of God

HOW TO RESPOND TO GOD'S WORD

Sunday Sermon
November 30, 2008
Rhema Community Church

Sermonic Skeleton

Sermonic Scripture:

ESV James 1:22-25 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

Sermonic Point:
The epistle of James is a practical guide for Christian living.

This pericope is a call to action.

Sermonic Sentence:
My active obedience to God’s word is true evidence that I know what the Bible teaches.

Sermonic Tension:
The human tendency is to hear the word of God and do absolutely nothing about what you have read and heard.

Don’t be a fool, you will answer to God for all the biblical teaching you have read and heard.

We are biblically (legally) accountable to God.

Sermonic Structure:

I. I AM TOO ACTIVELY LIVE IN PERPETUAL OBEDIENCE TO THE WORD OF GOD.