We know forgiveness of sins and eternal life comes through faith in Jesus Christ, but what does it mean to believe in Jesus? If you listen to some present the gospel, you might think it’s merely believing Jesus died on the cross to save you from your sins. But this was not the message of the apostles and the early church. The New Testament gospel message is primarily about the identity of Jesus. In other words, it is not merely belief that Jesus did something, but that Jesus is who He said He is. It is not “Believe that Jesus can save you from your sins,” but “Believe in the identity of Jesus so that He can save you from …Continue reading →
(From a message given October 2, 2022 at Beatty Baptist Church) In Matthew chapter 18, Jesus taught His disciples what to do if a brother sins against them. In verse 15 He said to show him his fault privately, and if he listens—if he repents, he’s gained his brother back: the relationship is restored. If he doesn’t listen, then take one or two others who witnessed the offense and try again. If he still doesn’t listen, tell it to the church, and if that doesn’t work, treat him as a Gentile or tax collector. Considering how Jesus treated Gentiles and tax collectors, that pretty much ruled out bad mouthing the guy, taking him to court, or getting some kind of …Continue reading →
(From a message given August 21, 2022 at Beatty Baptist Church) Jesus calls us to love one another—to love our neighbors, and to love our enemies. Our Lord did not leave it up to us to define who our neighbors or enemies are, nor did He leave it up to us to define what loving them means. If left to ourselves, we might define love as not wishing someone harm, or doing a minimum amount of good to someone. But that is worldly love. God’s love is different. It is not merely the absence of hate. In the Bible, love is of the heart and it spontaneously displays itself in actions… extravagant actions, because it genuinely cares for the other …Continue reading →
(From a message given February 13, 2022 at Beatty Baptist Church) In Matthew 16, verse 5 and following, Jesus warned His disciples of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees: And when His disciples had come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. Then Jesus said to them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have taken no bread. But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread? Do you not yet understand, or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how …Continue reading →
(From a message given November 28, 2021 at Beatty Baptist Church) The Parable—Matthew 20:1-16 The parables of Jesus are short stories that use analogies to teach about real things. Jesus spoke in parables to conceal the meaning from those He knew would not accept it (such as the crowds in general), and to reveal the meaning to those He knew who would (such as His disciples). The parable we’re about to look at was intended for His disciples. It’s found in Matthew chapter 20, beginning in verse 1: For the kingdom of Heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. And when he had agreed with the laborers for a …Continue reading →
(From a message given October 24, 2021 at Beatty Baptist Church) Have you ever lost something important, spent a lot of time searching for it, and after reaching your frustration limit, finally pray about it? …then you find it almost right away? That’s happened to me multiple times. Whenever I lose my keys, they usually remain lost until I pray about them. For example, once I lost my keys and couldn’t find them. They’re important, because they included my work keys. After a disappointing two week search, it occurred to me I hadn’t prayed about them. So, I asked God to show me where they were. Less than three minutes later, my mind on something else, I went into the …Continue reading →
(From a message given October 10, 2021 at Beatty Baptist Church) The Parable—Matthew 13:24-30 We’re looking at the parables of Jesus. Jesus told parables to both hide truth and reveal truth. They provided a way for seed to be sown without being rejected immediately. This is how Nathan’s rebuke to David worked. He first told a parable before confronting David with his sin. This prepared David’s heart, and he repented. David Guzik wrote: “…the parables of Jesus were not illustrations making difficult things clear to all. They presented God’s message so the spiritually sensitive could understand, but the hardened would merely hear a story without heaping up additional condemnation for rejecting God’s Word.” The first part of Matthew chapter 13 …Continue reading →
(From a message given September 5, 2021 at Beatty Baptist Church) The parable we’re about to look at is found in in Matthew chapter 13, Mark chapter 4 and Luke chapter 8. It’s considered the first of Jesus’ parables, not because He spoke it first, but because it’s the one which shows us how to understand everything else Jesus taught. What is a parable? It’s a simple, easy-to-remember story used to help us understand something that is real. The way it works is you take what is known and apply that knowledge to what is unknown. Jesus spoke in parables to teach the multitudes and His disciples about God. Jesus didn’t give them theological lectures describing the character and nature …Continue reading →
Ever since Jesus warned His disciples of false prophets in Matthew 7:15, “wolves in sheep’s clothing” have promulgated their doctrine. Most of the New Testament epistles addressed the errors of various false teachers such as the Judaizers and Gnostics. But the New Testament warns us things will be much worse in the end times, just before Jesus returns, …and that some Christians would buy into the doctrines of demons: Now the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will depart from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons… – 1 Timothy 4:1 For the time will come when they will not tolerate sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, will multiply teachers for …Continue reading →
(From a sermon I gave at Beatty Baptist Church on April 12, 2020.) For those of you who don’t know me, I’m the curious type. Always have been. When something interests me, I try to find out as much about it as possible. When I was young, I would satisfy my curiosity by reading National Geographic magazines and encyclopedia articles. In fact, I preferred reading to socializing. I’m still somewhat like that. Social distancing is not a problem for me. When I find something worthy of my interest, I want to know as much about it as I can. Satisfying my curiosity begins with asking the right questions. And my favorite question to ask is “Why?” During this coronavirus pandemic, …Continue reading →
