Sermons | Local Church in Wabash, Indiana | Bachelor Creek

For 33 years, Mr. Rogers was America’s favorite neighbor. He modeled what it looked like to love others well. Today, the need to love our neighbors and community is greater than ever before. In Luke 10:25-37, Jesus shares the famous parable of the Good Samaritan, teaching us that the best way to love our neighbors is to be a good neighbor.

There’s one habit you can cultivate in 2023 that will make a bigger difference in your life than any other, and it’s prayer. Instead of prayerful, most of us lives would be characterized as prayerless. James 5:13-20 uses the example of Elijah to teach us to keep on praying. When we understand the power of prayer we are motivated to persevere in prayer.

At it's core, Christmas is a love story. Love came down when God sent His Son Jesus to show us what love looks like, ultimately expressed in His death on a cross. The love God showed through Jesus becomes our motivation to love others.

We wait for Jesus by living like Jesus. A practical application of the Incarnation helps us to give more of ourselves and be present with anyone God has put in our paths.

It’s easy to believe the lies consumerism tells us about spending, especially around Christmas. Jesus invites us this Advent to spend less and receive a heart posture of contentment. It is possible at Christmas. We just might need to spend a little less.

If we don’t begin the Advent season with a heart of worship, everything else will fall apart. Worship is not just something that happens at church. Worship is a state of your heart. The characters in the Christmas story expressed their worship in a variety of ways: Mary was moved to sing a song of gratitude to God. Joseph obeyed and followed God’s plan. The shepherds stopped their work to go and find and worship the newborn child. Magi confronted anything that stood in the way of worshiping the one true God. A deeper understanding of Christmas leads to a fuller worship of the Savior.

Jesus’s 7th and final letter in Revelation is to the church at Laodicea. He says they aren’t hot or cold—they’re lukewarm. They’re stale. They’re stagnant. They’re ineffective. Because of that Jesus says, “You make me want to vomit!” He couldn’t be more blunt. Despite the stinging force of this letter, within it we learn how we can tell if we’ve become lukewarm and what it takes to overcome a stagnant life.

The greatest thing about the church at Philadelphia is its remarkable opportunity. Jesus provided them with an open door for greater ministry impact. The only question was would they walk through? Today, Jesus gives individuals and churches open doors of opportunity, too. We can easily talk ourselves out of taking that step, but Revelation 3:7-13 shows us that not only does Jesus call us to walk through open doors, He gives us the strength we need to do so.

Nothing kills a church quite like complacency. Thousands of churches in the United States close their doors every year; churches that at one time were vibrant and growing, committed to reaching people for Christ. In Revelation 3:1-6, Jesus issues a stinging indictment on the church in Sardis: although they have a reputation of being alive, they are dead. Despite this sobering reality, Jesus says there is still hope if they wake up.

John Wesley said, “What one generation tolerates, the next generation embraces.” Jesus complimented the church at Thyatira for their growing love, faith, service, and perseverance, but criticized these believers for tolerating destructive, false teaching. In Revelation 2:18-29, we discover what leads growing Christians to tolerate such wickedness and how we can avoid the same mistake today.