Fork of The Broad/Sermons from Carlton Baptist Church

The priest Zechariah is visited by the angel Gabriel, who announces to him that he's going to be the father of a son. Zechariah responds with unbelief, because he and his wife are old, and she is barren. So the question for today is, how do you respond to the Word of God?  There’s only two responses – either you respond with unbelief, or with belief. Either you trust God, or you don’t.  RC Sproul wrote, "In the Bible, there are two ways that people die.

We all have times when we struggle with doubts – when we seem to have insurmountable odds to overcome, when we never can seem to get ahead financially, when the medical condition just won’t get better, when the relationship issues just won’t resolve – But these are temporary lapses – When John the Baptist was born, Zechariah’s voice was restored, and his first words are described in Luke 1:67-68  And his father Zechariah was filled with

The angel Gabriel appears to Mary and delivers a message - "Mary, you’re going to give birth to the Son of God, God in the flesh – His name will be Jesus". Here’s what’s interesting about the name Jesus – it means Healer – It means Saviour.  Mary understands the implications of this -She knows the Old Testament teaching about a Messiah coming from the family tree of David to save Israel from their sins – A King who will have more than

Magnifying God isn’t about making God look bigger than He really is – It’s about sharing a true picture of how big our God is.  Our worship of God, in our singing and in our normal, day to day activities are opportunities to demonstrate how incredible and magnificent Jesus is, even though the world doesn’t pay Him much attention; even though Hollywood and Washington, DC don’t think He’s that important. Mary’s story teaches us that magnifying God doesn’t mean you have to do huge things for God; just do small things with huge love.  The greatest spiritual act of worship that Mary ever performed in life was carrying and giving birth to and nurturing a baby.  The most profound and eloquent sermon she ever preached was being a mom. In worshiping God with her lips and with her day to day living, Mary magnified her God, and she took incredible joy in magnifying God, so the world could see how big He really is.  John

Zechariah's song is one of four songs sung in The Book of Luke. The overarching theme in Zachariah’s song is hope– remember, this is a people who

There are constant battles going on in our world – on a macro level, we see the United States and China bickering about airspace; we see Democrats and Republicans debating about gender ideology and race and inflation;  on a smaller scale, we see husbands and wives arguing over loading the dishwasher

 James is going to answer the question "What causes quarrels within us?" by identifying three battles, three wars

-the war inside us

-the war outside us

-the war up above us

If you find yourself wanting what the world has to offer, listening to all the voices in the world that tell you to chase that perfect Instagram moment and

We’ve arrived at a place in James where there are ten commands grouped together.  Now, they’re sandwiched between two statements about humility – James 4:6 says God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.   If you need Jesus, all you need is to be humble enough to admit your need.  God’s grace is extended even to individuals who would never imagine that they deserved grace. In fact, the defining characteristic of grace is that it isn’t deserved at all.  It can’t be earned in any way whatsoever.  So if you humble yourself, admit you need a Saviour, then God gives you not just a small helping of grace,

When you slander and grumble, you’re removing God from the judgment seat, and placing yourself on the throne.  When you slander and grumble, you magnify the faults of others and minimize your own – That’s called hypocrisy.  Matthew 7:1-5, Jesus said, “Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.”

 You see what this is?  It’s a call to self-examination – Jesus is not saying that you can never tell someone that they have a pebble in their eye – He’s just saying to make sure you work on that concrete block in your own eye first.  Don’t judge someone else’s actions, when your own actions are just as sinful.  You don’t have to be the judge.  God holds that authority.  I Corinthians 4:5 says Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart.  We don’t have to judge others, because God is going to judge us all.  James wrote, "...behold, the Judge (with a capital “J”) is standing at the door."

What if, instead of working so hard to get our plans for life to work, we made getting God our goal?   CS Lewis wrote, ”Aim at Heaven, and you’ll get earth thrown in; Aim at earth, and you’ll get neither.”  Be preoccupied with God's glory, and trust in His plans for you.  No matter what your circumstances, trust in His love.  Lewis also wrote, "And as Paul had it: "He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all, will he not also give us all things with him?"

Having money isn’t inherently evil – It’s our attitude toward our money – how we get it, how we use it, and the good we do with it or neglect to do with it – that indicates what’s inside of our hearts.  Our actions with our money testifies to God in regard to the condition of our hearts.  Ray Pritchard wrote, "How you spend your money is a gospel issue. You needn’t feel guilty about having money or being blessed beyond what you deserve. We all deserve hell, and apart from Jesus, that’s where we will all end up. Be thankful for the grace of God that has saved you, and then pray that grace may reach all the way to your pocketbook.”