Burnt Hickory | Sermons

Today, we celebrate our students' return from an amazing mission trip to Kenya. Pastor Carey leads us through scripture as we explore our calling to worship as Christ's followers. God commands our worship, and He is the only one worthy of it. We are to declare His glory among the nations and His marvelous works among the peoples! We are made to worship Him, and it is for our good because it brings our focus back to God’s presence and reminds us of our purpose. As we read in Romans, For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Remember to look back and see where he has been unfailingly faithful and look ahead and know he is able.

We welcome a special guest speaker, Sterling Brown, to teach us about our calling as Christ Followers. We explore the passages in Matthew Chapter 4, where Jesus calls Peter and his brother Andrew to drop their nets and become fishers of men. We have redemption and a new commander because we are rescued from darkness and brought into the Kingdom of God. His command for us is our new cause: to become fishers of men. Because of this, we are to spur one another toward love and good deeds through our community as believers.

Special Guest: Sterling Brown.

How can we have assurance of our faith? We seek to answer this question as we continue our sermon series called Blessed Assurance through the book of 1 John. We study the characteristics of an overcomer in scripture today. We see that those who overcome are born again; they love God and keep His commands, and they walk in victory. True faith is not simply believing what God says is true; it’s acting on what God says is true. This shows that we do really trust Him. As true believers, we are not called to live defeated lives. We have been saved, raised up, and made into sons and daughters of the King in order to live in Christ and victory.

Love is the proof that God’s presence is truly in you and that you are a part of God's family. Scripture teaches that God is love, and love cannot be separated from God. In our sermon today, we explore the idea that true love always results in action. We see this through Jesus’ love for us. We, as true believers, live lives that show the love of Jesus to others. As we continue this bible study through 1 John and explore blessed assurance, we learn that fully embracing the perfect love of God will drive away all our past, present, and future fears.

We continue our sermon series through 1 John, Blessed Assurance, with a message today on instructions for last-day living. From the moment of Jesus's post-resurrection ascension into glory, it has been the last days. We know, as Christ's followers, that there is a real enemy that wants to rule, and we have to wholly lean into our anointing of the Holy Spirit to withstand the enemy. We must remain in the truth, through the word of God, in His Spirit, and with assurance in Jesus.

Today, we celebrate senior Sunday with our Radite Students and hear Chip Paul, our Student Pastor, deliver a powerful sermon about chasing God’s presence over our purpose. What does it truly mean to experience God's presence? Through the story of Moses leading the people of Israel, we learn the difference between presence and purpose. In the stillness of His presence, we can find clarity and direction for our purpose. It’s His presence that sets us apart from the rest of the world.

We continue our sermon series Blessed Assurance, where we explore the idea of finding assurance of our salvation through scripture. Today, we look at 1 John 2, where John instructs us not to love the world. The three categories of worldly lusts are the flesh, the eyes, and the pride of life. These are our appetites, affections, and accomplishments—the lusts that operate in open rebellion against God’s love and His commands. True salvation is when God’s glory takes on the ultimate weight of your heart, and you quit putting the weight on the lusts of the flesh, eyes, and the pride of life. The way we lessen these is to embrace the love of God fully.

Today, in our sermon series about having assurance in your faith, we explore the warning signs that your faith may not be genuine. A warning sign for someone might be continually and habitually sinning or if they try to believe but not repent. Another sign is that someone remains casual or openly embraces sin. One way that you can be assured that you know God is to live in an attitude of surrendering all to Him. Closeness to God does not make you feel more holy; it makes you feel dirtier, and you can be assured you know God if you have a deep awareness of your sin and allow Jesus to cover it.

How do you know that you are saved? How can you be confident that you will spend eternity in heaven instead of hell? Where does your assurance come from that faith in Jesus is the way? This sermon series explores these questions and more as we dig into 1 John for blessed assurance. We can build our foundation on the principle that Jesus has always existed and has always been in power and that He is exactly who He says He is. Jesus wants to give you the abundant life precisely as He has promised. Real love and fellowship in God only grow in the soil of security.

We explore the story of the rich young ruler this week as we learn about the true implications of following the gospel. We see in Luke 9:24 that whoever wants to save their life will lose it. This seems like a contradiction to living, but we must abandon our attachment to this world. The cross is not just a symbol of suffering but, more importantly, of victory over sin and death. We have to realize that we have already been crucified with Christ if we have believed in Him. Our response is to act on the truth of the gospel. Romans 6 tells us, in the same way, to count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore, in light of God’s mercy, we should offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, because this is our true and proper worship.