First Baptist Arlington Sermons

Dennis R. Wiles 

First Baptist Arlington 

June 22, 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 Formation: Seek God’s Kingdom! 

Matthew 6:25-34 

Psalm 1 Tree – A Flourishing Person 

FOUNDATION: Who am I? Why am I here? 

FORMATION: What is happening TO me? 

METAMORPHOSIS – Derived from the Greek word, metamorphóō – which means “to change or to transform.” This word is used in Matthew 17:2 and Mark 9:2 to express the “transfiguration” of Christ. 

MORPH – The Greek word morphé (shape or form) is combined with prefixes in the New Testament, resulting in words like conformed or transformed. These words are often connected to the process of spiritual formation. 

Spiritual Formation is a universal human phenomenon. 

Spiritual formation, without regard to any specifically religious context or tradition, is the process by which the human spirit or will is given a definite “form” or character. It is a process that happens to everyone. The most despicable as well as the most admirable of persons have had a spiritual formation. 

-Dallas Willard, Renovation of the Heart 

Spiritual formation for the Christian basically refers to the Spirit-driven process of forming the inner world of the human self in such a way that it becomes like the inner being of Christ himself. 

-Dallas Willard, Renovation of the Heart 

The ways Jesus goes about loving and saving the world are personal . . . The ways employed in our North American culture are conspicuously impersonal: programs, organizations, techniques, general guidelines, information detached from place. In matters of ways and means, the vocabulary of numbers is preferred over names, ideologies crowd out ideas, the gray fog of abstraction absorbs the sharp particularities of the recognizable face and the familiar street . . . My concern is provoked by the observation that so many understand themselves to be followers of Jesus, without hesitation, and apparently without thinking, embrace the ways and means of the culture as they go about their daily living “in Jesus’ name” . . . They seem to suppose that “getting on in the world” means getting on in the world on the world’s terms, and that the ways of Jesus are useful only in a compartmentalized area of the life labeled “religious” . . . This is wrong thinking, and wrong living. Jesus is an alternative to the dominant ways of the world, not a supplement to them. 

-Eugene Peterson, The Jesus Way 

Jesus’ model of apprenticeship was a far cry from our Western educational system . . . To follow Jesus, then, meant to walk alongside him in a posture of listening, learning, observation. Obedience, and imitation. For Jesus’ first apprentices, the goal wasn’t to pass a test, get a degree, or receive a certificate to frame on your office wall; it was to master the art of living in God’s good world by learning from Jesus how to make steady progress into the kingdom of God. It was less like learning chemistry and more like learning jujitsu. 

-John Mark Comer, Practicing the Way 

THE SACRAMENTAL JOURNEY – The Christian life is a holy, sacred, mysterious journey as we learn to glorify God by following The Jesus Way in the fulfillment of His mission. 

thesacramentaljourney.org 

A Disciple: A person being formed by Jesus as they follow Him in accomplishing His mission.  

How can we be formed, conformed, transformed – as followers of Jesus? 

PROHIBITION: Stop worrying! Quit the practice of total self-reliance! 

Herein lies a deep irony of human existence. According to Jesus’s teachings, when people seek to keep everything together and provide for themselves apart from God, the result is not the sought-after peace, but rather, anxiety. 

-Jonathan T. Pennington, The Sermon on the Mount and Human Flourishing 

PRACTICE: Seek God’s Kingdom . . . first! 

PROMISE: God will provide! 

2 Corinthians 3:7-18

Dennis R. Wiles 

First Baptist Arlington 

June 15, 2025 

Father’s Day 

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 Foundation: Love God! 

Matthew 22:24-40 

Theme for 2025: Flourishing Together: Rooted in Christ 

Theme for Summer 2025: You Are Here! 

HUMAN FLOURISHING: One of the domains currently being researched in the Global Flourishing Study is Meaning and Purpose. 

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? 

IMAGE OF GOD: God has designed human beings to flourish in a loving relationship with Him. God has always desired for His people to know and love Him. 

Hear the word of the LORD, you Israelites, because the LORD has a charge to bring against you who live in the land: There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land. 

-Hosea 4:1-2 

For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings. 

-Hosea 6:6 

HEART: The will or heart of a human being is the seat of decision-making. 

MIND: The mind is the center of thought and feeling. 

SOUL: The integrating and organizing principle of a human being.

Dennis R. Wiles 

First Baptist Arlington 

June 8, 2025 

Pentecost Sunday 

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 

Humanity’s Glory 

Psalm 8 

I’m going to use the vocabulary test from Children’s Camp – so we can put the word on the screen first – and then add the definition when I call for it: 

ALAMAK - Expressing surprise, shock, dismay, or outrage. 

SPELT - A species of wheat, once much cultivated in Europe and the Middle East until superseded by common wheat but now again being grown for its different agronomic and nutritional properties.  

PROCRASTIBAKING - The act of baking or cooking as a way to avoid doing something else, usually tasks that are less enjoyable. 

GENERATION ALPHA - A term used to describe the generation of people born between the early 2010s and the mid 2020s and following Generation Z, noted in particular as the first generation to be born in the era of widespread use of online communications. 

Theme for 2025: Flourishing Together: Rooted in Christ 

Theme for Summer 2025: You Are Here! 

HUMAN FLOURISHING: One of the domains currently being researched in the Global Flourishing Study is Meaning and Purpose. 

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. 

“WHAT EMINENT PEOPLE HAVE SAID ABOUT THE MEANING OF LIFE” – Journal of Humanistic Psychology: 

 
1. Life is primarily to be enjoyed and experienced. Enjoy the moment and the journey. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Cary Grant, Janis Joplin, and Sinclair Lewis 

2. We live to express compassion to others, to love, to serve. Albert Einstein, Mohandas Gandhi, and the Dalai Lama 

3. Life is unknowable, a mystery. Albert Camus, Bob Dylan, and Stephen Hawking 

4. Life has no meaning. Joseph Conrad, Sigmund Freud, Franz Kafka, Bertrand Russell, Jean Paul Sartre, and Clarence Darrow-Darrow compared life to a ship that is "tossed by every wave and by every wind; a ship headed to no port and no harbor, with no rudder, no compass, no pilot, simply floating for a time, then lost in the waves." 

5. We are to worship God and prepare for the afterlife. Desmond Tutu, Billy Graham, Martin Luther King Jr., and Mother Teresa 

6. Life is a struggle. Charles Dickens, Benjamin Disraeli, and Jonathan Swift  

7. We are to create our own meaning of life. Carl Sagan, Simone DeBeauvoir, and Carl Jung

8. Life is a joke. Albert Camus, Charlie Chaplin, Lou Reed, and Oscar Wilde - Charlie Chaplin described life as "a tragedy when seen in close-up but a comedy in the long shot." The rock star Lou Reed said, "Life is like Sanskrit read to a pony." 

Where can human beings find ultimate meaning? 

PSALM 8 – “This psalm is an unsurpassed example of what a hymn should be, celebrating as it does the glory and grace of God, rehearsing who He is and what He has done, and relating us and our world to Him; all with a masterly economy of words, and in a spirit of mingled joy and awe.” 

-Derek Kidner, 

MAJESTY AND GLORY – Everything starts with God! 

MANKIND – Created in God’s image, crowned with God’s glory, and chosen as God’s co-rulers! 

Dennis R. Wiles 

First Baptist Arlington 

June 1, 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 

Creation Testifies! 

Psalm 19:1-6 

Theme for 2025: Flourishing Together: Rooted in Christ 

Theme for Summer 2025: You Are Here! 

HUMAN FLOURISHING: One of the domains currently being researched in the Global Flourishing Study is Meaning and Purpose. 

The search for the purpose for life has puzzled people for thousands of years. That’s because we typically begin at the wrong starting point—ourselves. We ask self-centered questions like What do I want to be? What should I do with my life? What are my goals, my ambitions, my dreams for my life? The purpose of your life is far greater than your own personal fulfilment, your peace of mind, or even your happiness. It’s far greater than your family, your career, or even your wildest dreams and ambitions. If you want to know why you were placed on this planet, you must begin with God. 

-Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life 

Everything starts with God! 

 
God is a Personal Being! 

God has infused His creation with purpose and meaning.

Dennis R. Wiles 

First Baptist Arlington 

May 25, 2025 

Flourishing Together 

First Baptist Arlington 

2025 – 2030 

2025: Flourishing Together: Rooted in Christ 

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

SPRING 2025: Walk This Way! 

April 27 – May 31, 2025 

Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. 

Jesus (Matthew 5:48) 

Walk This Way . . . Together! 

Colossians 3:1-17 

Theme for 2025: Flourishing Together: Rooted in Christ 

Theme for 2026: Flourishing Together: Transformed on The Jesus Way 

Theme for 2027: Flourishing Together: Impacting Our World for Christ 

Six Domains of Human Flourishing 

• Happiness and Life Satisfaction 
• Mental and Physical Health 
• Meaning and Purpose 
• Character and Virtue 
• Close Social Relationships 
• Material and Financial Stability 

WINTER: Happiness and Life Satisfaction 

EASTER: Easter! 

SPRING: Character and Virtue 

SUMMER: Meaning and Purpose 

AUGUST: Mental and Physical Health 

FALL: Close Social Relationships 

MISSIONS: Missions! 

ADVENT: Advent! 

CHARACTER AND VIRTUE – Colossians 3 

-Love is the greatest virtue! 

-As our character is transformed, we exchange vices for virtues. 

-Our character is expressed through virtuous living in community with fellow believers. 

Life in the Kingdom of God is meant to be lived in community. The virtues listed in Colossians 3 are relational in nature. In other words, the practicing of virtuous living takes place in the context of community. We are to treat each other according to the ethic set forth by the New Testament. Virtuous living emerges from a redeemed Christian character. Our character is also shaped by our decision to live fully into a virtuous life. When we do so, we live in such a way that is beneficial to others. This is a blessed life. This is actually what is known as . . . flourishing! 

BELONGING: In the Body of Christ, we all belong to Jesus and all human barriers erode in the face of this Age to Come reality! 

BELIEVING: We are joined together by the incredible power of the Gospel – the message of Christ! 

BEHAVING: We live together in community through accountable relationships, admonishing each other, serving the interests of the Kingdom of God together . . . for the glory of God!

Dennis R. Wiles 

First Baptist Arlington 

May 18, 2025 

High School Grads 

Flourishing Together 

First Baptist Arlington 

2025 – 2030 

2025: Flourishing Together: Rooted in Christ 

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

SPRING 2025: Walk This Way! 

April 27 – May 31, 2025 

Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. 

Jesus (Matthew 5:48) 

Designer Fashions 

Colossians 3:1-17 

Theme for 2025: Flourishing Together: Rooted in Christ 

Theme for Spring 2025: Walk This Way! 

HUMAN FLOURISHING: One of the domains currently being researched in the Global Flourishing Study is Character and Virtue. 

INAUGURATED ESCHATOLOGY: We live in the intersection of This Present Evil Age and The Age to Come. Personal application of this reality is seen in the Apostle Paul’s teachings that the transformation of our inner character, revealed through virtuous living, is the anticipation of our promised future state as believers in the Age to Come. 

I’m going to begin the message with a series of photos of Fashion Designers – to quiz the congregation to see if they know them by sight: 

Coco Chanel 

Calvin Klein 

Girogio Armani 

Ralph Lauren 

Tom Ford 

Donna Karan 

God is the original Fashion Designer! 

We must deal radically with our earthly nature! 

These clothes no longer fit! 

In Christ, we’ve been fitted for a new wardrobe by the greatest Fashion Designer!

Dennis R. Wiles 

First Baptist Arlington 

May 11, 2025 

Mother’s Day 

Flourishing Together 

First Baptist Arlington 

2025 – 2030 

2025: Flourishing Together: Rooted in Christ 

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

SPRING 2025: Walk This Way! 

April 27 – May 31, 2025 

Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. 

Jesus (Matthew 5:48) 

Love is the Greatest! 

Colossians 3:1-17 

Theme for 2025: Flourishing Together: Rooted in Christ 

Theme for Spring 2025: Walk This Way! 

HUMAN FLOURISHING: One of the domains currently being researched in the Global Flourishing Study is Character and Virtue. 

INAUGURATED ESCHATOLOGY: We live in the intersection of This Present Evil Age and The Age to Come. Personal application of this reality is seen in the Apostle Paul’s teachings that the transformation of our inner character, revealed through virtuous living, is the anticipation of our promised future state as believers in the Age to Come. 

FUNDAMENTAL TRUTH: Followers of Jesus have been redeemed, restored, and raised to a new life in Him! 

FAITH JOURNEY: We are on a path to learn to know our Creator and become like Him! 

FOREMOST VIRTUE: Love! Love is the greatest! 

The English word “love” is trying to do so many different jobs at the same time that someone really ought to sit down with it and teach it how to delegate. 

-N. T. Wright, After You Believe

Dennis R. Wiles 

First Baptist Arlington 

April 27, 2025 

College Grad Sunday 

Flourishing Together 

First Baptist Arlington 

2025 – 2030 

2025: Flourishing Together: Rooted in Christ 

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

SPRING 2025: Walk This Way! 

April 27 – May 31, 2025 

Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. 

Jesus (Matthew 5:48) 

Put Your Mind To It! 

Romans 12:1-2 

Theme for 2025: Flourishing Together: Rooted in Christ 

Theme for Spring 2025: Walk This Way! 

HUMAN FLOURISHING: One of the domains currently being researched in the Global Flourishing Study is Character and Virtue. 

PHOTO: Global Flourishing Study Press Conference 

INNAUGURATED ESCHATOLOGY: We live in the intersection of This Present Evil Age and The Age to Come. 

Romans 1:18-25, 28 (Let’s put the actual text on the screens – I will read this entire section.) 

Humanity in this Present Evil Age has often refused to worship God. This refusal leads to an “unfit” mind that results in all manner of sinful behavior. 

Jesus Christ desires to absolutely, completely, and holistically redeem every part of you, transform you by the power of the Holy Spirit at work within you and through His redeemed community, to conform you to His image. 

CALL TO WORSHIP: God is inviting us to engage in a lifetime of worship. Choosing to worship God offers us an opportunity to give Him glory! 

CHALLENGE OF CONFORMITY: The forces of evil work to press upon us so that we will be conformed to the whims of this present evil age. (Greek aion – from which we get the word “eon.”) 

CHANGE OUR MINDS! God is at work within us to renew our minds. Our minds must be renewed by the transforming work of God’s Spirit so that we will choose to follow The Jesus Way in every area of our lives. 

Philippians 1:9-11: Let’s put the text on the screen – I will read the entire text. 

COMPLETE! God is leading us on a journey towards what it means to be “complete” in Him! 

Reflection: This week, reflect on Colossians 1:24-2:15

Dennis R. Wiles 

First Baptist Arlington 

April 27, 2025 

Flourishing Together 

First Baptist Arlington 

2025 – 2030 

2025: Flourishing Together: Rooted in Christ 

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

SPRING 2025: Walk This Way! 

April 27 – May 31, 2025 

Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. 

Jesus (Matthew 5:48) 

New Age Wisdom 

1 Corinthians 2:6-16 

Theme for 2025: Flourishing Together: Rooted in Christ 

Theme for Spring 2025: Walk This Way! 

HUMAN FLOURISHING: One of the domains currently being researched in the Global Flourishing Study is Character and Virtue. 

CONTEXT: The theological context of first-century Israel was influenced by both Jewish theology and Greek/Roman philosophy.  

INNAUGURATED ESCHATOLOGY: We live in the intersection of This Present Evil Age and The Age to Come. 

What is the aim, or the final goal, of the whole Christian life? Though many Christians in the Western world have imagined that the aim or goal of being a Christian is simply “to go to heaven when you die,” the New Testament holds out something much richer and more interesting. Yes, those who belong to Jesus in this life go to be with him once they die—that’s a promise made in various places in the New Testament. But that’s only the start of it . . . God has promised to give the entire world, the whole created order, a complete makeover . . . We will be given new bodies in which to live with delight and power in God’s new world . . . the transformation we are promised at the end of time has already begun in Jesus. When God raised him from the dead, he launched his entire project of new creation, and called people of all sorts to be part of that project, already, here and now. 

-N. T. Wright, After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters  

WISDOM OF THIS AGE: The wisdom of this age is earth-bound, limited in its horizon, and leads to a rejection of God’s revelation of Himself in Jesus Christ.  

NEW AGE WISDOM: We need the wisdom of God to enable us to live fully into this new age as redeemed, restored spiritual people. God’s Spirit reveals His wisdom to us through the Word of God! 

CHARACTER AND VIRTUE: As God reveals His wisdom to us, our lives are shaped, our character is formed, and we are enabled to live virtuous lives.

Dennis R. Wiles 

First Baptist Arlington 

April 20, 2025 

Easter Sunday 

Flourishing Together 

First Baptist Arlington 

2025 – 2030 

2025: Flourishing Together: Rooted in Christ 

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

LENTEN EASTER 2025: The Real Story 

Gospel of Matthew 

March 5 (Ash Wednesday) – April 26, 2025 

He is Not Here, He Has Risen! 

Matthew 28:1-15 

Theme for 2025: Flourishing Together: Rooted in Christ 

Theme for Spring 2025: Walk This Way! 

Theme for the Lenten/Easter Season: The Real Story 

MIRACLE – At the heart of The Real Story is the miracle of Easter—Jesus Christ was resurrected from the dead! 

MESSAGE – The message of Easter is that He is risen! Death has been defeated. The Kingdom of Heaven has come on this earth. Everything has changed! 

MANDATE – Go and tell! 

MEETING – In order for all of this to mean anything to you, you must personally meet Jesus!