First Baptist Arlington Sermons

Dennis R. Wiles 

First Baptist Arlington 

August 31, 2025 

Flourishing Together 

First Baptist Arlington 

2025 – 2030 

2025: Flourishing Together: Rooted in Christ 

1 Corinthians 2:6-16 (Gospel Guide: Matthew) 

AUGUST 2025: Gold’s – God’s Gym 

August 3 – September 6, 2025 

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. 

Jesus (Matthew 11:28-30) 

Keep Living! 

Colossians 2:6-7 

Theme for 2025: Flourishing Together: Rooted in Christ 

Theme for August 2025: Gold’s – God’s Gym 

WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED SO FAR? 

-We live in a broken and fallen world. 

-Life is harder than we expected. 

-No matter how things seem, God cares deeply for us! 

-Control the controllables, leave the uncontrollable to our loving God! 

TODAY’S LESSON: No matter what, keep on living! 

EXEGESIS OF COLOSSIANS 2:6-7 

-Plural verbs (ye, we) 

-Progress 

-Pre-eminence of Christ Jesus 

-Passive participles 

-Participatory participle 

-Pupils 

CONTROL THE CONTROLLABLES! 

CHRIST JESUS IS LORD! We must continue to submit ourselves to the Lordship of Jesus in our lives.

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 

-Philippians 2:9-11 

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 

-Romans 10:9 

CONTINUE TO LIVE! No matter what, we keep living! 

All these people were still living by faith when they died. 

-Hebrews 11:13 

But my righteous one will live by faith. 

-Hebrews 10:38 

For we live by faith, not by sight. 

-2 Corinthians 5:7 

COMMUNITY: We must stay connected to the Body of Christ – the Church. 

Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. 

-Hebrews 10:24-25 

CULTIVATION: Allow God to till the soil of your souls so that the roots of your faith grow deeper and deeper. 

But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out is roots by the stream. 

-Jeremiah 17:7-8 

CONSTRUCTION: Keep trusting God to build and shape your life through your hardships. 

Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. 

-Ephesians 4:14-16 

CONDITIONED: Trust God to strengthen you in every facet of your life as you learn to be more resilient in the face of challenges. 

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. 

-Isaiah 41:10 

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 

-Ephesians 6:10 

I can do all this through him who gives me strength. 

-Philippians 4:13 

COMPREHENSION: Remember that God is always teaching us more and more about Him, His will, His ways, and His Kingdom. 

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways may ways,” declares the LORD. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. 

-Isaiah 55:8-9 

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you. 

-Psalm 32:8 

CHECK YOUR ATTITUDE! So often we need to be reminded to just be grateful for all God has done and is doing for us! 

Praise the LORD, my soul; all my inmost being, praise His holy name. Praise the LORD, my soul, and forget not all His benefits — who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. 

-Psalm 103:1-5 

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. 

-1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 

CONTROL THE CONTROLLABLES! 

-Keep surrendering to the Lordship of Christ Jesus! 

-No matter what, keep living! 

-Stay connected to your church! 

-Keep your soul “soft” in God’s hands! 

-Look for how...

Dennis R. Wiles 

First Baptist Arlington 

August 24, 2025 

Flourishing Together 

First Baptist Arlington 

2025 – 2030 

2025: Flourishing Together: Rooted in Christ 

1 Corinthians 2:6-16 (Gospel Guide: Matthew) 

AUGUST 2025: Gold’s – God’s Gym 

August 3 – September 6, 2025 

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. 

Jesus (Matthew 11:28-30) 

You Can’t Control Everything, But You Can Control Some Things! 

Matthew 11:28-30 

Theme for 2025: Flourishing Together: Rooted in Christ 

Theme for August 2025: Gold’s – God’s Gym 

ACCEPTANCE: Life is often beyond our control. 

JOURNEY: When we encounter the crises of our lives, we will embark on a journey that may include stages or seasons: dismay, disorientation, discouragement, despair, and desperation. 

REDEMPTION: God can work redemptively in and through your journey to lead you to stages or seasons: encouragement, enlightenment, edification, and example. 

RESPONSE: You can control how you respond to the crises and the various stages of your journey. 

 ENCOURAGEMENT 

• Always run to the Lord! 

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” 

-Jesus (Matthew 11:28) 

When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy. 

-Psalm 94:19 

• Share your burden with trusted believers! 

Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor; If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. 

-Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 

Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. 

-Galatians 6:2 

• Keep worshiping God! 

Hear my cry, O God; From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I. 

-Psalm 61:2 

Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from him. Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken. 

-Psalm 62:1-2 

ENLIGTENMENT 

• Let God change your perspective. 

By faith these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. 

-Hebrews 11:13-16 

These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect. 

-Hebrews 11:39-40 

EDIFICATION 

• Let God strengthen you through your suffering and pain. 

Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. 

-Romans 5:3-4 

In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 

-1 Peter 1:6-9 

EXAMPLE 

• Allow God to use your experience as an example to others. 

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 

-2 Corinthians 1:3-4 
 

SERENITY PRAYER 

God, give me grace to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed,
Courage to change the things
which should be changed,
and the Wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other. 

Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
Taking, as He did,
This sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it,
Trusting that He will make all things right,
If I surrender to His will,
That I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with Him forever in the next.

Amen. 

SUMMARY – WE CAN CONTROL THESE THINGS! 

I can always run to God in my crises! 

I can always share my burden with others! 

I can keep worshiping God! 

I can allow God to change my perspective! 

I can let God strengthen me through my pain! 

I can let God use me in the lives of others!

Dennis R. Wiles 

First Baptist Arlington 

August 17, 2025 

Flourishing Together 

First Baptist Arlington 

2025 – 2030 

2025: Flourishing Together: Rooted in Christ 

1 Corinthians 2:6-16 (Gospel Guide: Matthew) 

AUGUST 2025: Gold’s – God’s Gym 

August 3 – September 6, 2025 

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. 

Jesus (Matthew 11:28-30) 

God Cares! 

Romans 8:31-39 

Theme for 2025: Flourishing Together: Rooted in Christ 

Theme for August 2025: Gold’s – God’s Gym 

ACKNOWLEDGE: Life can be hazardous to our health! 

LOVE AND CARE: Never doubt God’s love and care for us 

“NOTHING” . . . will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. 

-Romans 8:38-39  

PRESENCE: God never abandons us! 

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee your presence? 

-Psalm 139:7 

INTERCESSION: God is at work on our behalf in the midst of our struggles and pain. 

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 

-Romans 8:26 

Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died – more than that, who was raised to life – is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 

-Romans 8:34 

POWER: God is not just available to us; He is able to equip us and empower us to face our challenges. 

If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. 

-Psalm 139:11-12 

My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. 

-2 Corinthians 12:9 

HOPE: God will continue to guide us through our suffering and grace us with hope! 

Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed . . . so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. 

-1 Thessalonians 4:13 

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him. So that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. 

-Romans 15:13 

In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 

-Romans 8:37

Dennis R. Wiles 

First Baptist Arlington 

August 10, 2025 

Flourishing Together 

First Baptist Arlington 

2025 – 2030 

2025: Flourishing Together: Rooted in Christ 

1 Corinthians 2:6-16 (Gospel Guide: Matthew) 

AUGUST 2025: Gold’s – God’s Gym 

August 3 – September 6, 2025 

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. 

Jesus (Matthew 11:28-30) 

Life is Harder than You Expected! 

Job 5:7 

Theme for 2025: Flourishing Together: Rooted in Christ 

Theme for August 2025: Gold’s – God’s Gym 

AUGUST 2025 

God Cares! 

You Can’t Control Everything, But You Can Control Some Things! 

Keep Living! 

Life begins with hope and potential! 

What can happen? LIFE can happen! 

Job lost his flocks, his servants, and his children in one fateful day. Then his body was ravaged by disease from his head to his toe. 

Job’s friend, Eliphaz, offered this summary of Job’s condition: 

“Yet man is born to trouble as surely as the sparks fly upward.” 

-Job 5:7 

The Bible is clear --- life will not always be easy! 

“In this world, you will have trouble.” 

-Jesus 

Life is harder than you expected! 

-Traumatic Event 

-Strained Relationship 

-Serious Health Problem 

-Crushing Disappointment 

-Unchangeable Circumstance 

-Painful Loss 

How are we to respond to the challenges, the suffering, the difficulties that life may bring our way? 

DESPONDENCY, DESPAIR, DEPRESSION 

Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, LORD, “ he said. “Take my life, I am no better than my ancestors. Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep. 

-1 Kings 19:3-5 

God has provided the resources we need to face our suffering, our circumstances, our challenges --- with hope and resilience! 

“I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” 

-Jesus (John 16:33) 

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” 

-Jesus (Matthew 11:28-30) 

As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them (Elijah and Elisha), and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. 

-2 Kings 2:11 

Dennis R. Wiles 

First Baptist Arlington 

August 3, 2025 

Flourishing Together 

First Baptist Arlington 

2025 – 2030 

2025: Flourishing Together: Rooted in Christ 

1 Corinthians 2:6-16 (Gospel Guide: Matthew) 

AUGUST 2025: Gold’s – God’s Gym 

August 3 – September 6, 2025 

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. 

Jesus (Matthew 11:28-30) 

What Happened? 

Genesis 3 

Theme for 2025: Flourishing Together: Rooted in Christ 

Theme for August 2025: Gold’s – God’s Gym 

HUMAN FLOURISHING: One of the domains currently being researched in the Global Flourishing Study is Mental and Physical Health. 

Flourishing Measure Questions 

• In general, how would you rate your physical health? 
• How would you rate your overall mental health? 

MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS IN US – According to the American Psychological Association, most people agree there is a “mental health crisis” in America.  

ANXIETY – According to the American Psychiatry Association, increasing numbers of American adults are experiencing growing levels of anxiety. 

Genesis 1-2 records the Creation Account in Scripture. Human beings were uniquely created by God in His image. He placed His blessing upon humanity. What happened? 

PARADISE LOST – or perhaps, a deep sense of the loss of the intimate access to God. 

Three kinds of disorder, covering the greater part of human suffering, make their germinal appearance in this chapter . . . In personal relations . . . In the spiritual realm . . . and on the physical plane . . . This multiple disarray is, from one aspect, his punishment, pronounced by God; from another, it is the plain outcome of his anarchy. Leaderless, the choir of creation can only grind on in discord. 

-Derek Kidner, Genesis 

THEOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK 

“Understood from a Christian perspective, sin, wrongdoing, and rejection of God are ultimately the root cause of brokenness, illness, and death. Sin is understood as the cause of ill health at the most fundamental level . . . That does not imply that every instance of ill health is the consequence of one’s own sin . . . However, while certainly not every instance of ill health is attributed to a wrongdoing of the person, the deep connection between sin and ill health is portrayed in the biblical texts in various ways . . . The relationship between sin and ill health is sometimes pictured in the biblical text as the general all-persuasive fallenness and brokenness of the created order that is the consequence of sin and the rejection of God. 

-Tyler VanderWeele, A Theology of Health 

In Genesis 3 humanity experiences shame, blame, separation, judgment, banishment, and provision. The brokenness that resulted from the story recorded in Genesis 3 remains with us today ------ on every level of human existence. 

ACKNOWLEDGMENT – Let’s acknowledge our need for our Good Shepherd in the face of our anguish. 

Sermon 7.27.25 – Rev. Luke Stehr

Making, Baptizing, Teaching

Matthew 28:16-20

Acts 1:8

Romans 6:3-4

Galatians 3:26-28

Rev. Connor Torrealba 

Sermon: Living a Godly Life 

July 20, 2025 

2 Peter 1:3-4 

“His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.” 

What is a godly life? 

How did Peter get there? 

How do we get there? 

We are called to hold fast to truth, walk in holiness, and look forward to the day of the Lord.  

A godly life: A life lived in right response to Jesus 

How did Peter get there? 

“For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.” 2 Peter 1:16 

Peter lived a godly life through knowing Jesus, following his example, and depending on the Holy Spirit. 

How do we get there? 

Do you know Jesus? 

When was the last time you witnessed the majesty of Jesus? 

Disciple: A person being formed by Jesus as they follow him in accomplishing his mission. 

1. Regular time with God to connect and learn from him 
2. Personally and directly invest in the spiritual life of another person

Katy Reed-Hodges
July 13, 2025 

Clarity and Community 
Romans 12:1-8 NIV

Romans 12:3b “as to each God has measured a measure of faith." (Dr. Terri Moore edition) 

“The ‘measure’ here, then, is not a kind of measuring-jug containing different amounts of faith, apportioned to different people, but a measuring-rod, the same for all, called ‘faith’.  It is up to each Christian to see where they come against that standard, since it is the only one that matters.” – N.T. Wright 

“Understanding that Christians belong to one body and have in common the same grace of God and faith, will help stifle exaggerated ideas about one’s own status or ministry.  And recognition of the significant contribution made by each member of the body of Christ will prevent one from thinking too highly (or too lowly) of himself or herself.” – Douglas Moo

Ryan Chandler
July 6, 2025 

The Problem of Worship  

Scripture: Psalm 95 

Psalm 95:7d-11  

Psalm 95:1-7c 

When God is the focus of your worship, you discover your true meaning and purpose in life.  

The Call to Worship 

The Reason for Worship 

The Result of Worship 

The Call to Worship 
Psalm 95:1-2 

The Reason for Worship 

Psalm 95:3-5 

The Result of Worship 
Psalm 95:6-7c

Dennis R. Wiles 

First Baptist Arlington 

June 29, 2025 

Flourishing Together 

First Baptist Arlington 

2025 – 2030 

2025: Flourishing Together: Rooted in Christ 

1 Corinthians 2:6-16 (Gospel Guide: Matthew) 

SUMMER 2025: You Are Here! 

June 1 – August 2, 2025 

Psalm 1 

Flourishing Fruitfulness: Love Others! 

Matthew 22:34-40 

Psalm 1 Tree – A Flourishing Person 

Two Questions from Human Flourishing Measure (One Slide) 

-Overall, to what extent do you feel the things you do in your life are worthwhile? 

-I understand my purpose in life. 
 

FOUNDATION: Who am I? Why am I here? 

FORMATION: What is happening TO me? 

FRUITFULNESS: What is happening THROUGH me? 

COMMAND: The first command in the Bible is found in Genesis 1:28 – “Be fruitful . . . “ 

This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. 

-John 15:8 

Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-23) – remember the fruitfulness of the seed that fell on good soil. 

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. 

-Galatians 5:22-23 

GREATEST COMMAND: Love your neighbor as yourself. 

Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD . . . When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the LORD your God. 

-Leviticus 19:18, 33-34 

Jesus is not simply advocating an emotional attachment or an abstract love. Rather, love here indicates a concrete responsibility, the act of being useful and beneficial to one’s neighbors, both Jew and Gentile. To love is to give to someone what that person needs. In the same way that individuals are called to care for themselves responsibly and attune their lives to carry out God’s will in their lives, they are to give themselves to others to care for them responsibly and help them attune their lives to carry out God’s will. 

-Michael J. Wilkins, The NIV Application Commentary: Matthew 

COMMUNITY: We are to love the people in our community through our actions. 

CIRCLE: We are to love the people within our “circle” through our actions. 

COMMISSION: We are to love the people of God’s world through our actions.