Sermons

Hebrews 12:1-2

Big Idea: We Can Run Our Race Faithfully Because Jesus Has Won THE Race Completely!

How To Run Well:

1) Run unfettered like a marathon runner. (1b)

2) Run with fortitude like a running back. (1c)

3) Run focused with your eyes on Jesus. (2)

Hebrews 11:32-40

Big Idea: Seeing God As Worthy Fuels Me To Live Faithfully

God Is Worthy:

1) Because God’s grace is stronger (v. 32-34)

“In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”
– Judges 21:25

“Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
– Hebrews 4:14-16

2) Because the life God offers is better (v. 35-38)

3) Because God’s provision is greater (v. 39-40)

“Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.”
– Hebrews 12:28-29

Hebrews 11:30-31; Joshua 1-6:27

Big Idea: We Are Saved By God’s Grace To Be Agents Of God’s Grace

“By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.”
– Hebrews 11:30-31

“The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick; who can understand it? I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”
– Jeremiah 17:9-10

Agents of God’s grace:
1) Humble their heart before God in all (Joshua 1-6:27)

”But this is the one to whom I will look; he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at My word.”
- Isaiah 66:2

Heart postures of humility (Joshua 1-6:27):
1) Dependance on God (Joshua 1:1-18)
2) Confidence in God (Joshua 3-4)
3) Witness for God (Joshua 4)
4) Identity in God (Joshua 5:1-9)
5) Trust in the deliverance of God (5:10-12)

“And you were dead in trespasses and sins … But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved.”
– Ephesians 2:1, 4-6

6) Reverence for God (5:13-15)
7) Obedience to God (6:1-27)

2) Elevate God over all (Joshua 2; 6:15-27)

Hebrews 11:29, Exodus 13:17-15:21

“Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?”
- Exodus 15:11

Big Idea: Grasping God’s Greatness Empowers And Emboldens My Faithfulness

“By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned.”
- Hebrews 11:29

“I will get glory ... and the Egyptians shall know that I Am the Lord.”
- Exodus 14:4; 17-18

God Is Greater:

1) Because the Lord is my Leader, I follow Him wholeheartedly (Exodus 13:17-14:9)

“Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”
- Psalm 119:105

2) Because the Lord fights for me, I trust Him steadfastly (Exodus 14:10-14)

Battle Cry Prayers (Exodus 14:10):
1) Lord, Free Me
2) Lord, Help Me
3) Lord, Strengthen Me
4) Lord, Focus Me

“For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” - Philippians 1:21

5) Lord, Use Me

“Now I know that the Lord saves His anointed; He will answer him from His holy heaven with the saving might of His right hand. Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. They collapse and fall, but we rise and stand upright.”
- Psalm 20:6-8

3) Because the Lord is my salvation, I step forward faithfully (Exodus 14:15-15:21)

Hebrews 11:28, Exodus 11-12:51

“This day shall be for you a Memorial Day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast.”
- Exodus 12:14

Big Idea: The Grace Of God Delivers Me From The Wrath Of God Through My Faith In God

“By faith he (Moses) kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them.”
- Hebrews 11:28

“I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of the land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey .... Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”
- Exodus 3:7-8; 10

By the grace of God, I am delivered:

1) From God’s wrath (Exodus 11-12:14)

Realities of God’s wrath:
1) Apart from God’s grace, death and destruction are coming for us all (Exodus 11:5-6; 12:12-13)

“As it is written: ‘None is righteous, no, not one ... for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
– Romans 3:10; 23

“For the wages of sin is death ... “
– Romans 6:23a

“Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity towards those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in His kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off.”
– Romans 11:22

2) God did not exempt His people, but He did cover His people (Exodus 12:7,13)

2) Through God’s substitute (Exodus 12:1-32)

“For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.”
– 1 Corinthians 5:7

“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
– John 1:29

“Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned – every one – to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.”
– Isaiah 53:4-7

My response to the gospel (Exodus 12:7-27):
1) Receive it through faith (v. 7; 13; 28)

“because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
- Romans 10:9

2) Readiness (v. 14; 26-27)
3) Remembrance (v. 14; 26-27)
4) Rejoicing (v. 14; 27)

3) For God’s Glory (Exodus 11:9; 12:14-51)

3 Ways God was glorified:
1) God provided for His people (Genesis 15:14; Exodus 12:35-36)
2) God multiplied His people (Genesis 12:2; Exodus 12:37)
3) God diversified His people (Genesis 12:2; Exodus 12:38)

Jonah 4

Big Idea: God Graciously Works To Instill Hearts Of Grace In His People

3 Check Engine Lights For My Heart:

1. When I think I know better than God. (1-4)

2. When I want grace for myself, but judgment for others. (5-9)

3. When I don’t share God’s heart for the lost. (10-11)

Jonah 3

Big Idea: God Is The God Of Second Chances, So We Must Proclaim His Grace To All Who Will Hear

1. God’s grace restores the runner. (1-3a)

2. God’s grace reaches the rebel. (3b-9)

3. God’s grace rescues the repentant. (10)

Jonah 2

Big Idea: God Graciously Hears And Responds To Us When We Call On Him With Repentant Hearts.

Repentant hearts are...

1. Humbled by grace. (1-4)

2. Lifted by grace. (5-7)

3. Changed by grace. (8-10)

Jonah 1

Big Idea: God Graciously Pursues Us Even When Our Hearts Are Far From Him.

A heart that’s running from grace is…

1. Disobedient to God’s Word. (1-3)

2. Indifferent to God’s discipline. (4-10)

3. Unrepentant for sin. (11-17)

Hebrews 11:24-27; Exodus 2:11-15

Big Idea: Treasuring Christ Above All Emboldens And Empowers Me To Live Faithfully For Christ In All

“One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people. He looked this way and that, and seeing no one, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. When he went out the next day, behold, two Hebrews were struggling together. And he said to the man in the wrong, ‘Why do you strike your companion?’ He answered, ‘Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?’ Then Moses was afraid, and thought, ‘Surely the thing is known.’ When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian. And he sat down by a well.”
- Exodus 2:11-15

When Christ is my greatest reward:

1) I am emboldened to identify wholeheartedly with Christ (Heb. 11:24-25)

“When he (Moses) was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand.”
– Acts 7:23-25

“But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”
- John 1:12-13

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
– Matthew 6:21

“But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith – that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, become like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”
- Phil. 3:7-11

2) I am empowered to endure suffering for Christ (Heb 11:26-27)

“Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.”
- Acts 5:41

“The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs - heirs of God and fellow hearts with Christ, provided we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with him.”
- Romans 8:17