Light on SermonAudio

This is not prayer 101. This is advanced prayer. We will review what Mark assumes you already know, and in light of that consider this advanced lesson on prayer.

Pastor Brian challenges and encourages us to press on and fight the Spiritual battle waging in each of our lives.

John 5:30-47 30 "I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me. 31 If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true. 32 There is another who bears witness about me, and I know that the testimony that he bears about me is true. 33 You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. 34 Not that the testimony that I receive is from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved. 35 He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. 36 But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me. 37 And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, 38 and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. 39 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. 41 I do not receive glory from people. 42 But I know that you do not have the love of God within you. 43 I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. 44 How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? 45 Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. 46 For if you believed Moses...

The sermon expounds on the supremacy and splendor of the gospel as presented in 2 Corinthians 4, contrasting its divine glory with the ministration of death found in the law. It argues that the gospel is glorious because it originates from God, conveys absolute truth, and centers entirely on the person and work of Jesus Christ. The preacher emphasizes that this message offers life, grace, and peace to all who believe, regardless of their past sins or status. By highlighting the eternal nature of the good news and its power to save sinners from wrath into hope, the text calls listeners to recognize the weighty value of this divine revelation. Finally, it urges those blinded by spiritual darkness to seek the light of Christ for salvation.

Acts 13:4-12 4 So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. 5 When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had John to assist them. 6 When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they came upon a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus. 7 He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. 8 But Elymas the magician (for that is the meaning of his name) opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. 9 But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him 10 and said, "You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? 11 And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time." Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand. 12 Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord.

Pastor Brian continues his challenge and encouragement as we fight the Spiritual battle we are all in.

Cyrus is the Lord's Anointed (Is. 45:1), who receives the "treasures of darkness" (Is 45:3) rather than "the inheritance of the saints in light" (Col 1:12); and the Morning Star, who may be Jesus (Rev 22:16) or Satan (Is 14:12). Similarly, our text this evening applies four different titles or attributes of Christ to . . . Nebuchadnezzar. In their dominion all kings image to us something of Christ the King. The greatest earthly monarchs are the ones whose glory comes closest to that of the Son of Man. Daniel, and the rest of Scripture, are not afraid to say that all the glory of Nebuchadnezzar, all the glory of the serpent, all the glory of the morning star, really and truly belongs to Jesus Christ. It's actually His, rightfully speaking. The enemies may have borrowed it, or even been loaned it, for a time. But by right of begetting, by right of nature, by right of victory, His is the kingdom, power, and glory forever. He is the morning star and the Lord's Anointed and the king of kings. Others may enact a similitude of those roles for a time. Only Jesus enacts the reality of those things. This evening, I hope to show you simply this: The glory of Nebuchadnezzar is great, but the glory of Christ is far greater, infinitely greater.

Adult Berean Sunday School class. A verse-by-verse study through the book of Revelation.