Pastor aaron cavanaugh, associate pastor at bethel baptist church will be joining us and sharing from the pulpit this week.

"Accepted in Christ: Cornelius and the Outpouring of the Gospel to Gentiles”

ACts 10

Religious devotion apart from Jesus is insufficient. God sends his messenger to a religious Gentile Roman centurion named Cornelius who doesn’t know of Jesus’s substitutionary atoning sacrifice. So today, our neighbors, friends and family that may seem to be upstanding citizens must come to know the Lord Jesus Christ, or else they are separated from God.

          The God who can do miracles sovereignly chooses to use the apostle Peter to bring the good news about Jesus to Cornelius’s Gentile family. So today, God is omnipotent, yet He chooses to use you and I as His instruments in bringing our families and neighbors to Christ. When is the last time you gave the good news about Jesus to a lost sinner?

          God cleans what was considered “unclean” as He brings Gentiles into the people of God, shifting Old Testament laws as well as the strategic direction of Acts. As Jesus welcomed tax collectors and sinners to repent and come to God, let us delight in how God welcomes broken sinners and outsiders like us to join in the riches of his grace and kindness through Jesus!

          Whereas the indwelling Holy Spirit had been poured out in a post-conversion experience in Acts 2, a transition occurs where the Holy Spirit now indwells believers from the very moment of salvation. Believers today are not to seek a secondary giving of the Holy Spirit after salvation, but we are to seek to daily and regularly abide in Christ, in his Word, in his love, and in prayerful, Spirit-empowered obedience to his commands.

“Use your words wisely”

Proverbs 10:18-21

Introduction

The book of Proverbs has much to say about speech. Our speech has the power to be used for both good and bad, to tear down and to build up. Each day we make many choices. One of the big choices we make constantly is our choice of words. We choose what kind of words we are going to use. God places value on our words, and our text tells us that our words have consequences.

REPULSIVE WORDS ARE FOOLISH (v.18)

RESTRAINED WORDS ARE WISE (v.19)

RIGHTEOUS WORDS ARE VALUABLE (v.20-21)

APPLICATION

• Negative: Destructive use of speech

  • Lying

  • Flattery

  • Gossip

• Positive: Constructive use of speech

  • Good words

  • Grace-giving words

  • Even-tempered and timely words

CONCLUSION

Beloved, from Proverbs learn the value of being careful with your speech. It will protect you from much harm to yourself and to others. And it will do much good to yourself and to others. This is why Paul wrote to the Ephesian Christians saying,

“Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.”

Ephesians 4:29

“Fidelity in marriage”

Proverbs 5

INTRODUCTION

The Bible, and especially the Book of Proverbs, has a lot to say about adultery and sexual folly that destroys marriage and family, and about sexual wisdom that builds up marriage and satisfies.

THE PRICE OF INFIDELITY (vv.1-14)

THE JOYS OF MARRIAGE (vv.15-20)

THE WATCHING EYES OF THE LORD (vv.21-23)

APPLICATION

• Love your spouse

• Love your Lord

CONCLUSION

Beloved, the price of adultery and infidelity is terrible, which too many learn the hard way. You can avoid it by heeding God's Word. Therefore, love the Lord with all your heart, and love your spouse as Christ loved His bride, the church.

“Trust in the Lord”

Proverbs 3:5-7

INTRODUCTION

Two Sundays ago, we began a series in the book of Proverbs. Today as we continue, we come to the most famous verses of the book. Here in these verses, God has given us straightforward words of wisdom for navigating our lives

LEAN ON THE LORD (v.5)

LEARN FROM THE LORD (v.6) 

LIVE FOR THE LORD (v.7)

· Don’t be conceited about your own wisdom

· Fear the Lord

· Turn away from evil

APPLICATION

· Trust in the Lord with all your heart

· Lean on the Lord for understanding

· Listen to the Lord’s voice in everything you do

CONCLUSION

Beloved, these verses are teaching us that our trust is not in some impersonal ethic (belief) but in the Lord Jesus Christ himself. He requires wholehearted trust. Are you trusting Him with all your heart? Or are you being wise in your own eyes? 

“the preeminence of the beloved son”

Colossians 1:15-23

INTRODUCTION

This week in our VBS we learned that God is Creator, that God knows everything, that God is our safe place, that God is love, and that God is forever. Today, we will see that Jesus is the beloved Son of God who occupies first place in everything.   

PREEMINENT AS CREATOR (vv.15-16)

· Supreme by virtue of His deity

· Supreme as the unique Son of God

· Supreme over all things

· Supreme as the goal of creation

PREEMINENT AS SUSTAINER (vv.17-18)

· Supreme as sustainer of creation

· Supreme as head over His body, the Church

· Supreme as the precursor of Creation

PREEMINENT AS RECONCILER (19-23)

CONCLUSION

Beloved, Jesus is God and is our Creator, Sustainer, and Savior. Therefore, turn to Him and believe in Him. If you are a believer, “continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven…” (Colossians 1:23).

“The Beginning of wisdom”

Proverbs 1:1-7

Today we begin a short summer series in the Old Testament wisdom book of Proverbs. A proverb is a short, pithy, poetic, thought-provoking saying. It is neither an absolute command, nor an absolute promise. It is a general observation about how life works.  

THE PURPOSE OF THE BOOK (vv.2-6)

• To know wisdom, instruction, understanding, and insight

• To receive instruction in wise dealings, righteousness, justice, and equity

• To give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth

• To give the wise man increased learning and guidance

• To help solve difficult problems and some of the riddles of life

THE FOUNDATION OF WISDOM (v.7)

APPLICATION

• How do you get wisdom?

a) Personal experience

b) Others’ experience

c) Artificial Intelligence (AI)

d) God’s Word 

CONCLUSION

Beloved, the height of wisdom is to fear God, and to know Him through His Son, Jesus, who is Wisdom itself. Without Jesus in your life, there is no way to be truly wise. Have you been saved by confessing your sins and believing in Jesus?

 “on observing days and drinking wine”

Romans 14:5-8;20-22

INTRODUCTION

Today I would like to go back to Romans chapter 14, and address two things listed there as matters of Christian freedom. The matter of observing certain days as special, including the Sabbath, and the matter of drinking alcohol. One sermon, two huge topics.

ON OBSERVING DAYS

ON DRINKING ALCOHOL

· What is condemned in the Bible

· What is permitted in the Bible

APPLICATION

· Do not just ask yourself “What am I allowed to do?” but "What will the effects of my actions be on the church, myself, and others?”

CONCLUSION

Beloved, as Christians we are to live in such a way as to glorify and honor God in our observation of the Lord’s Day, and in our eating and drinking.

“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

1 Corinthians 10:31

“The God Who is able to strengthen you”

Romans 16:25-27

INTRODUCTION

Paul brings his epistle to an end by rightly giving glory to God through Jesus Christ. The word doxology means glory. This doxology sums up all the great ideas of the Epistle. The power of the Gospel which Paul was commissioned to preach; the revelation in it of the eternal purpose of God; its contents, faith; its sphere, all the nations of the earth; its author, the one wise God.

THE POWER OF GOD TO STRENGTHEN US (v. 25a)

THE PLAN OF GOD FOR THE NATIONS (vv.25b-26)

THE PRAISE OF GOD (v.27)

APPLICATION

• The God who is able

• The God who is all-wise

• The God who is to be glorified forever

CONCLUSION

Beloved, praise God for He has the power to make you strong in your faith. He is all-wise. To Him be glory alone.

“Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.”

1 Timothy 1:17, NKJV

“Words of warning”

Romans 16:17-23

INTRODUCTION

Last Sunday, we saw Paul send greetings to a list of men and women who were dear coworkers in Christ. Today, he has a final warning to the Roman church not to be deceived by anyone who advocates for a form of the gospel that takes the focus off serving Christ and puts it instead on serving evil human desires.

HIS ENTREATY – WATCH OUT (v.17)

HIS EXPLANATION – DON’T BE DECEIVED (v.18)

HIS ENCOURAGEMENT – BE WISE (v.19)

HIS EXPECTATION – HOLD ON (v.20)

APPLICATION

• Watch out   

• Discern

• Sit tight and watch God work 

CONCLUSION

Beloved, let us love God’s Word and unite around the truths that it teaches. Let us also watch out for false teachers who use their smooth talk to deceive believers.

“Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

1 Peter 5:8

“Greetings to Fellow Workers in Christ”

Romans 16:1-16

INTRODUCTION

In this chapter, we have a list of people who were greeted by Paul as he finished the letter to the Romans. These are people who Paul knew and loved, and who were fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. We do not know much about these people, who might be considered by most to be a list of nobodies. However, each one of these people was somebody special to Paul, and even more importantly, in the eyes of God.

GREETINGS TO WOMEN COWORKERS IN CHRIST

GREETINGS TO LOVED ONES IN CHRIST

APPLICATION

• Not just a mere list of names

• Not just a mere list of acquaintances

CONCLUSION

Beloved, let us learn from Paul to thank God for all those who serve diligently among us. Let us also be open in our show of appreciation and love.

“I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints,”

Philemon 1:4-5

“Turning the tables on faith“

John 2:13-25

Jesus Declared His Divine Authority (vv. 16-17)

• With Actions

• With Words

Jesus Declared His Divine Purpose (vv. 18-20)

• He is “The Temple”

• He would be raised from the dead

The Disciples (eventually) Declared Their Belief (vv. 21-22)

• They believed because of what Jesus said

• They believed because of what Jesus did

The People Declared a False Belief (vv. 23-25)

Do I have faith the way Jesus intended?