Sermon - Celebrate with Joy!, part 7: The Joy of New Beginnings

Sermon: Using Your Spiritual Gifts

Today I was honored to be invited to preach at the First Baptist Church of Parsons (KS). This is the audio of that sermon, where I lay out reasons why some Christians think that they don't have any spiritual gifts, and why they are wrong about that.

Sermon: Do Not Love the World (1 John 2:15-17)

The Apostle John tells us to not love the world or the things of the world (see 1 John 2:15). But in John 3:16, we see that God so loved the world. Is this a contradiction? And if not, then we must ask: what does it mean for one to not love the world? In this episode, we see that (1) you either love God, or you love the world, (2) the world draws us into sin, & (3) the world's time is running out.

Sermon - Father's Day: Righteousness, Love, & Maturity (1 John 2:1-14)

Happy Father's Day! As we continue in our expository series through the book of First John, we come to the beginning verses of chapter 2. In this passage we learn a few things: (1) Our goal should be sinlessness, (2) Jesus fixes it (because we will never achieve sinlessness) and He defends us when we fail, (3) we should love one another, (4) our love should be extraordinary, (5) hatred & lovelessness flow from (and result in) sin, and finally, we should mature in Christ, together. This passage concludes with a poem where John explains why he wrote this book to little children, to young men, and yes, to fathers!

Juneteenth

Joyous Juneteenth to fans of liberty & justice for all! I opened worship this weekend with a brief history lesson on Juneteenth. As a history dude (with an actual Bachelor's degree in the subject), I am ashamed to say that I was unaware of Juneteenth until the late 2010s. But I've come to view it as an essential part of "Freedom Fortnight." In a brief 2 week window, Americans can celebrate Flag Day (June 14, 1777), Father's Day (3rd Sunday of June), Juneteenth (June 19th, 1865), The ratification of the U.S. Constitution (June 21, 1788), & of course Independence Day (July 4, 1776). Note: I mention that there will be songs sung during our worship service that are inspired by African-Americans and the struggle against slavery. Because of the sound quality, I am not sharing the audio of the songs, but they can be easily looked up if you want to hear better singers sing them: (1) He's Got the Whole World in His Hands, (2) Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, (3) Lift Every Voice & Sing, & (4) Amazing Grace.

Sermon: Walk in the Light, as He Is in the Light (1 John 1:5-10)

There is a tug-of-war between the extremes of hedonism & legalism, with neither side being the righteous choice. Instead, the Apostle John teaches us to "walk in the light, as He is in the light" (1 John 1:7), emulating Jesus rather than chasing an extreme. In today's sermon, we see that the Apostle John teaches us that (1) the Gospel starts with the glory & perfection of God, (2) our aim should be to emulate Him, (3) neither indulging in sin nor ignoring sin is acceptable, (4) only confession and repentance work, & Christ does all the heavy lifting and He fixes our mistakes.