Having instructed the church to honor, with financial support, widows who were worthy of such honor and had no other source of support, Paul now instructs the church on its proper relationship with Elders. Like with the instructions concerning widows, the church is commanded to honor elders with financial support. However, more than just instructions on elder remuneration, this text teaches the church what it should honor, its responsibility to protect its elders, and a warning to be wise in choosing future elders.

The testimony of Achan's sin testifies to the danger of greed and the importance of being thankful for God's provisions. Gratitude and thanksgiving are the responses to God's provision and grace. Greed is the sin of being ungrateful and taking what has not been provided.

This passage teaches us to be thankful for God's provision and honor him with what He provides.

When you travel by ship, there is a moment when you realize that your safety is totally dependent on the integrity of the ship. When the ship leaves the dock, it does so slowly enough that the safety of the land seems to linger and remain within reach. However, as the ship sails further to sea, your sight of land grows smaller and more distant. At the distance of 2.9 miles, any sight of land finally slips beyond your site as the curvature of the earth limits your vision. When any sight of land is lost, and all you can see is water in every direction, is the moment that you realize that your life rests entirely in the ship's ability to reach the next port. As the sun sets and darkness cloaks all but what the ship's lights can illuminate, the feeling of dependency on the ship for safety is made all the more profound.

Paul knew something about shipwrecks. He had experienced near-death experiences in multiple shipwrecks. With these memories in mind, he writes to Timothy a charge to fight the good fight for the gospel and a warning of the grave consequences that come from rejecting the gospel.

For all the advancements in modern media, the most effective marketing approach has remained unchanged since the creation of time. The most effective and powerful persuasive tactic is personal testimony. It is helpful to hear about all the features of a product and how it could improve your life. However, what will draw your attention and acceptance toward purchasing something is when someone you know says, I use it; it helped me; you should use it too.

In this passage, Paul declares that the primary purpose of Jesus coming in the flesh to earth was to save sinners. In making this point, he shares his personal testimony of salvation, his sin before Christ, and the grace that he has now received. Through his testimony, we see the common depravity all experience, the hope of salvation through Jesus, and the testimony and worship that follows.

As Paul concludes his letter, he gives some final warnings and instructions. His final warning can be broken into two parts, confrontation of sin and examining your faith to test if it is genuine. In this sermon, I preach on the first part concerning the confrontation of sin.

Confronting sin and church discipline is something that most Christians know should be happening, but they have not seen a healthy or consistent model of how it happens. And a more honest assessment may be that many Christians have no motivation to faithfully participate in church discipline because they enjoy the lack of accountability in their church.

Understanding this passage and how to confront sin requires understanding three principles of healthy, godly discipline:

1. Discipline is motivated by love.

2. Discipline is connected to worth.

3. Discipline is connected to church fellowship.

Paul knew something about the blindness of sin and the brilliance of the gospel light. He was given the name of Saul at birth, and from his earliest years, he was devoted to keeping the law.

The first introduction we have to Saul in scripture comes in Acts 7 at the stoning of Stephen. As Stephen was stoned to death, Saul watched over the coats of the men who threw the stones. (Acts 7:58) The next chapter describes how Saul became an enthusiastic persecutor of the early Christians (Acts 8:3).

As Saul grew in notoriety for his persecution, he asked the high priest for the authority to arrest Christians and bring them to Jerusalem. After receiving this authority, he made his way to Damascus, but before he arrived, he was confronted by a light from heaven.

Saul’s physical blindness would result in spiritual sight. (Acts 9) God would send a Christian named Ananias to Saul to pray for him. Once God removed the veil of blindness from Saul, God changed his name to Paul.

Paul knew what it was to be blinded to the truth. Paul knew what it was to be blinded to who Jesus is. And Paul knew what it was to see the gospel light. In Corinthians 4, he teaches on the transformation of the gospel, the opposing work of Satan, and the truth that only God can shine the light of knowledge that reveals His glory through Jesus.

When I was a child, my parents would say something to me before administering discipline. They would say, “this hurts me, more than it hurts you.” To be honest, as a child, I could not understand how this could be true. Now as a parent, I both understand what they meant and have said these very words myself. Discipline is a necessary part of raising children. Discipline is an essential part of any kind of growth and development. However, discipline is never fun or enjoyable.

Godly discipline is born out of both sorrow and love. We should weep and have sorrow over sin while being ready to forgive when there is repentance.

Who you recognize Jesus to be determines how you respond to Jesus.

Suppose you see Jesus as an interesting historical figure of the first century. In that case, you may give a passing interest to his life and impact on the world but will pay little attention to him beyond what your curiosity will drive. If you see Jesus as a great moral person, you may respect him for the life he lived and think it may be a good idea to emulate his example. Suppose you see Jesus as a wise or insightful religious teacher. You may feel compelled to study his lessons and even incorporate his teachings into your life.

Toward the end of John's ministry and the beginning of Jesus', he saw Jesus coming toward him. He shouted for all to hear, "Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" He went on to say that Jesus was the son of God and the one for whom God had called him to prepare the way.

John wanted his disciples and all those who listened to him to know who Jesus is and what he came to do so that they might know true salvation found only in Jesus. Thus, he was focused on pointing the world to Jesus so that we might see who He is, know what He has done, and receive the gift of salvation.

The first chapter of John’s gospel is packed with some of the most amazing statements in all of scripture. John 1:14-18 is one of those passages. John declares in verse 14 that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. The importance of this statement cannot be overstated.

• Jesus, who is all God and all man, came to dwell amongst humanity.

• Jesus, who is all God and all man, lived without sin.

• Jesus, who is all God and all man, died on the cross as a substitute and sacrifice for man’s sin.

• Jesus, who is all God and all man, rose from the dead three days later.

These truths are central and fundamental to Christianity. If you deny any one of them, you deny them all and the entirety of Christianity. John would say more about how Jesus worked to save us from our sins. Still, in these opening verses, he makes clear that Jesus is the promised Messiah, who demonstrates the grace of God so that we might know God the Father.

In an attempt to demonstrate His weakness and powerlessness, Jesus is ridiculed as a false king. But even in His suffering and mistreatment, His kingdom is unshaken. His authority as King of all kings is not threatened.

Death on the cross was intended to be humiliating and shameful. But on the cross, Jesus confronts the guilt and shame of our sin and overcomes it with His own blood.

This passage follows a very significant moment in the life of Peter. Jesus had asked his disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” Peter replied with the powerful confession: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” In verses 18-19 Jesus responds to Peter’s confession. Jesus declares that on this confession of Peter, Jesus will build His church. In this passage, we see that the church is founded on Jesus, sustained by Jesus, and is the testimony of the gospel.

In this passage, Paul encourages the church to rid itself of sinful rebellious members. I think this passage is instructive to us as individuals as well. Each of us must constantly work to rid our lives of the corruption of sin. As we begin 2022 let us consider how we can make a fresh start towards righteousness.

Sometimes all you have is a few minutes. With this in mind I am excited to announce that I am working on a new podcast channel called “Sermon Shorts”. I will be posting 5 min or less clips from recent sermons. I hope you will subscribe and listen. The channel is already available on Apple podcast and will be coming to Google podcast, and other podcast sites very soon.

The following is an example of what each sermon short will be like. It is from a sermon I preached from 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 titled “Our Identity is in Christ alone.” I hope you enjoy.

If you fear the wrong thing, you will pursue the wrong thing. If you fear the right thing, you will pursue the right thing. In Luke 12:1-7, Jesus warns His disciples against fearing man and that they should fear the judgment of God.

The consequences of the pandemic have made the fleeting nature of life inescapably exposed. Every day there seems to be news of someone you know who has become very sick or has died from the virus.

Recently, I received the news that a friend was diagnosed and died quickly thereafter with COVID. This news broke my heart because I fear that he breathed his last breath here on earth without ever giving his life to Jesus. On many occasions, I had spoken to him about the gospel, but he was never receptive. For my friend, the opportunity to receive the gospel is no more.

The church does many wonderful and good things, but the most important thing we do is proclaim the gospel to our community. Preaching is fundamentally

The proclaiming of the gospel.

All biblical sermons are gospel-focused. Some are more explicit than others. Recognizing the perilous times we are experiencing I want to spend the next several weeks being as explicate as I can about the hope of the gospel, the eternal peril of God’s judgment, and the glorious promise of heaven.

Today we consider the wonderful declaration of Romans 6:23.

The biblical testimony of Esther is not a fairy tale. It is not a happy-ever-after story. This is a story of a subjected people being used without regard by the king according to his whims. Esther is not an autonomous actor. She is trying to survive in a hostile place. In this very broken and dark moment, we see both the ugliness of living in a broken world and the hope of God’s sovereignty to make a way for His redemptive work.

In this passage we have witness of the last words of Jesus on the cross. They are words of despair and agony. But in this very dark and sad moment there is a display of amazing grace – Jesus is giving His whole life and bearing the whole weight of sin so sinners might be totally redeemed.

The cancer that is consuming the church today is a lack of concern for the danger of sin and the consequences sin brings. The cancer grows in our homes and in our personal lives as we grow comfortable with things, we know are wicked and contrary to the will of God, but we justify their presence by saying that they “are not that bad.” Or we find false comfort in the knowledge that others tolerate the same in their homes.

This cancer grows in our nation as well – as our nation grows ever more comfortable with open rebellion against the goodness of God’s created order and God’s authority to declare what is right and wrong. The great evil of our day is abortion. From this flows related evils of euthanasia, genocide, and human trafficking. If any life is not sacred, then no life is sacred.