NYNCF Sermons

Psalm 73 (ESV)1Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.2 But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped.3 For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.4 For they have no pangs until death; their bodies are fat and sleek.5 They are not in trouble as others are; they are not stricken like the rest of mankind.6 Therefore pride is their necklace; violence covers them as a garment.7 Their eyes swell out through fatness; their hearts overflow with follies.8 They scoff and speak with malice; loftily they threaten oppression.9 They set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongue struts through theearth.10 Therefore his people turn back to them and find no fault in them.11 And they say, “How can God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?”12 Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches.13 All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence.14 For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning.15 If I had said, “I will speak thus,” I would have betrayed the generation of yourchildren.16 But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task,17 until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end.18 Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin.19 How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors!20 Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despisethem as phantoms.21 When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart,22 I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you.23 Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand.24 You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory.25 Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besidesyou.26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portionforever.27 For behold, those who are far from you shall perish; you put an end to everyonewho is unfaithful to you.28 But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord God my refuge, that Imay tell of all your works.

Matthew 6:25-33 (ESV)25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or whatyou will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food,and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow norreap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not ofmore value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour tohis span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of thefield, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in allhis glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of thefield, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not muchmore clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘Whatshall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentilesseek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will beadded to you.

Isaiah 11:1-7 (ESV)1 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his rootsshall bear fruit. 2 And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdomand understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and thefear of the Lord. 3 And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge bywhat his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, 4 but with righteousnesshe shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shallstrike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall killthe wicked. 5 Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt ofhis loins. 6 The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with theyoung goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little childshall lead them. 7 The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together;and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

2 Corinthians 8:1-9 (ESV)We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given amongthe churches of Macedonia, 2 for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joyand their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. 3For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, oftheir own accord, 4 begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of thesaints— 5 and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord andthen by the will of God to us. 6 Accordingly, we urged Titus that as he had started, sohe should complete among you this act of grace. 7 But as you excel in everything—infaith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for you—see that youexcel in this act of grace also.8 I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your lovealso is genuine. 9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he wasrich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.

1 Thessalonians 4: 9-12 (ESV)9 Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for youyourselves have been taught by God to love one another, 10 for that indeed is whatyou are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers,to do this more and more, 11 and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your ownaffairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, 12 so that you may walkproperly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.

James 1:9-11, Gen 3:17-19, Col 3:23-24 (ESV)James 1:9-119 Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, 10 and the rich in his humiliation,because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. 11 For the sun rises with itsscorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So alsowill the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.Genesis 3:17-1917 And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife andhave eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed isthe ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thornsand thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. 19 Bythe sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of ityou were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”Colossians 3:23-2423 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, 24 knowing thatfrom the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the LordChrist.

John 4:39-42 (ESV)39 Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman'stestimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him,they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. 41 And many morebelieved because of his word. 42 They said to the woman, “It is no longer because ofwhat you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that thisis indeed the Savior of the world.”

Genesis 1:28 (ESV)28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill theearth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds ofthe heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Matthew 10:34-39 (ESV)34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come tobring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and adaughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. 37 Whoever loves fatheror mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughtermore than me is not worthy of me. 38 And whoever does not take his cross and followme is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses hislife for my sake will find it.

2 Samuel 9:1-13 (ESV)1 And David said, “Is there still anyone left of the house of Saul, that I may show himkindness for Jonathan's sake?” 2 Now there was a servant of the house of Saul whosename was Ziba, and they called him to David. And the king said to him, “Are youZiba?” And he said, “I am your servant.” 3 And the king said, “Is there not stillsomeone of the house of Saul, that I may show the kindness of God to him?” Ziba saidto the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan; he is crippled in his feet.” 4 The king saidto him, “Where is he?” And Ziba said to the king, “He is in the house of Machir the sonof Ammiel, at Lo-debar.” 5 Then King David sent and brought him from the house ofMachir the son of Ammiel, at Lo-debar. 6 And Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan, sonof Saul, came to David and fell on his face and paid homage. And David said, “Mephibosheth!”And he answered, “Behold, I am your servant.” 7 And David said to him,“Do not fear, for I will show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan, and Iwill restore to you all the land of Saul your father, and you shall eat at my tablealways.” 8 And he paid homage and said, “What is your servant, that you should showregard for a dead dog such as I?”9 Then the king called Ziba, Saul's servant, and said to him, “All that belonged to Sauland to all his house I have given to your master's grandson. 10 And you and your sonsand your servants shall till the land for him and shall bring in the produce, that yourmaster's grandson may have bread to eat. But Mephibosheth your master's grandsonshall always eat at my table.” Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants. 11 ThenZiba said to the king, “According to all that my lord the king commands his servant, sowill your servant do.” So Mephibosheth ate at David's table, like one of the king'ssons. 12 And Mephibosheth had a young son, whose name was Mica. And all wholived in Ziba's house became Mephibosheth's servants. 13 So Mephibosheth lived inJerusalem, for he ate always at the king's table. Now he was lame in both his feet.