I'll Be Honest

Omitting and neglecting to do the right thing you know to do is sin and it causes no small damage. Think of how a small thing of neglecting to add oil to your car can cause the same damage as driving your car into a tree. In this sermon Bob Jennings considers the sin of omission from James 4:17 - So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

Christ created everything the way He created it to put His glory on display. It is all about Him and all for Him, even including marriage.Ephesians 5:25-27 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, (26) that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, (27) so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

Everyone tends to agree that men and women are equal, in that both are created in the image of God. However the big question that comes up is whether men and women are equal in their roles? One side says they are, and the other says the different roles complement each other. Yet we must ask ourselves: What does the Bible say? In this Ask Pastor Tim we go to Genesis to look at both views.

The Christian is called to follow Christ and move into the realm of Him who abandoned comfort and safety and went outside of the camp to suffer and die upon the Cross for our sins.

Bob Jennings preaches on "The Gospel of the Glory of Christ" (see 2 Corinthians 4:4), a very helpful consideration of the hindrances, content, and spread of the Gospel of Christ.From Granted Ministries Conference 2008

So often folks think "I've gotta have a ministry" but you know what ministry means? It means to serve. All of our "ministries" are about serving. It's not about an official capacity, it's about humbly serving others for their sake, not your own.

In the Old Testament the high priests that served in the temple were never allowed to feast on the great sacrifice of atonement, which was only once a year. Yet as believers we can feast on Christ morning, noon, evening, and in the middle of the night. God gives us the right to feast on His Son.

It is so burdensome to me when I want to preach about something like love because it forces me, when I look at the text, to look at the mirror of my own life and see how small my love, how inconstant my love truly is. - Paul Washer

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. And His high priestly work of sacrificing Himself to put away sin was once and for all and He always lives to make intercession for us. Therefore we can confidently say, "The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?"

Christian love does not undervalue or disregard natural family ties; it gives them their due importance and condemns those who are without natural affection. - David Hiebert

For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. - Mark 10:45Excerpt from the full sermon: The Christian's Love for the Blood Bought Ones

To resist the love of money is to resist the love of the things that money can get you and what those things promise you. It all comes back to faith. Do we believe the promises made to us in the Word of God or in the TV commercials. Do you believe that your possessions will ultimately satisfy or that Christ will?

Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. - Hebrews 13:4

If anyone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. - 1 John 4:20

We must never forget that God uses us as the means by which to reach the man down our street who has not heard the Gospel. The Lord calls us to turn from passivity and command men to come to Christ that they might be saved.

For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. - 1 Corinthians 1:25

God does not supply the Spirit to you because you have fulfilled some legalistic checklist of expectations. He does it simply because you believe the Gospel.

From conception to resurrection the Spirit of God was active in the earthly life of the Lord Jesus Christ. In this sermon Mack looks at the much forgotten humanity of Jesus Christ and how much He depended upon the Holy Spirit. In trying to defend the deity of Christ we must never go to the extreme of lessening His humanity.

Asking someone what they think about Jesus Christ is one of the most telling questions you can ask in order to discern where someone is spiritually.

Refusing God is not always an outright defiance like Pharaoh saying "Who is the Lord that I should obey Him?" It's not always like that. Sometimes you just refuse Him when it just gets to the point where the race is hard and you make excuses and ignore what He says.

Mt. Sinai says "Do this and you will live." Yet Mt. Zion shouts "It is finished!" Mt. Zion is a mountain for those to come to who have nothing to offer but instead trust in Jesus Christ who perfectly kept the Law on their behalf. He promises to save those who come from the penalty and power of their sins.

If men don't come to Christ, their inability to not come is that they love their idols more. There is only one thing that keeps men from coming to Christ and it is because they are wickedly married to their sins and refuse to come.

Unbelief is a sin and it's never presented in the Bible as something innocent. Some say "I don't have enough evidence to believe." Yet believing in Christ is never presented like that. Men have overwhelming evidence and yet they still refuse to believe.

Homeschooling is not Christianity, it is not the badge of you being godly, it is not the great means in order to raise great children. It is the Gospel of Jesus Christ! - Paul Washer

One great sign of a healthy church is that when sin creeps into your life and you get "unhealthy"; other believers in the church are able to spot it in your life, give you the remedy, and then point you in the right direction. Having fellowship with like-minded believers is a vital part in our sanctification and being made more holy.

Our emphasis must be on the Gospel of Jesus Christ, for it alone will produce true godliness. We can emphasize external things all day long and it will not produce true holiness.Preach on 7/28/2013 Paul Washer of HeartCry

Once you stop believing that the offer of the Gospel is valid for lost sinners, then it only leads you to no longer evangelize. Yet no lost sinner in the Bible is ever told that they cannot come because there is no sufficiency in Christ's atonement.

The Bible calls us to put off the old man with his practices, and one practice, in particular, is lying. Interestingly, one of the reasons Paul tells us to put off lying is because we are members of one another. When we lie to others in the church, it damages our fellowship with them. If we are going to live as new men and have good fellowship with others in the church, we need to put off lying and start speaking the truth.

Join us as we gather together for the 6th time to fellowship around the things of our glorious Savior Jesus Christ.Denton, Texas April 2-5, 2015

If you just think about what pride is, that is what racism is rooted in. It's an attitude of superiority of valuing one race above all others or above another. Racism is a manifestation of the anti-God system that the Bible tells us not to love.

It's amazing how often the authors of the New Testament do not quote the ten commandments, but rather they tell us to imitate the example of Christ and so fulfill the law of Christ (Gal. 6:2). Husbands are called to love their wives as Christ loved the church (Eph. 5:25). We are called to forgive others as Christ has forgiven us (Col. 3:13). We are called to welcome one another as Christ has welcomed us (Romans 15:7). What a high standard that we can only live out in the power of the Holy Spirit.

When you seek to be perfected by any other way than by the Spirit, you are not going to succeed. Instead, Paul says what you will succeed at is "biting and devouring one another." (Galatians 5:15) However as you seek to be perfected by the Spirit, you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

The enemy of your soul will seek to condemn you because of your failures, but you know what? You can answer the devil and say that 1 John was written to me saying that my "sins are forgiven for His name's sake." (1 John 2:12) It does not say I'm forgiven because I've kept these tests, but I've been forgiven for "His name's sake." Every time the devil brings up accusations, you bring up the Name, the blood, the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know what you don't want to do? You don't want to argue your performance with the devil. You rely absolutely and utterly upon Jesus Christ.

One of the great tests of true Christianity is that God puts in His people a special love for other true Christians.In 1 John 3:14 it says "We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death." This verse leads us to ask, "What does John mean when he says love?" If it is the test of whether we are actually saved or not, we don't want to get the meaning wrong. He goes on in verse 16 to show us what true love looks like, "By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers." Then in the following verse he gives us something very practical to tell if we have this love or not: 1 John 3:17 - But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?

We must realize that anxiety accomplishes nothing. What will being fearful and worried change one bit about that difficult situation you are in? Nothing. Overcoming anxiety will only happen as we turn from our fears and unbelief and trust the Lord in all our circumstances.Preached on February 15, 2008

The Christian is not under the law, but is being changed into Christ's image as they live a life looking to Him. Looking to law will only cause men to "bite and devour one another". The church where you are going to find true righteousness is where you find Christians who are most enthralled with Christ; those who study His person and glory in Him.

When it comes to interacting with lost family members there is no pre-prepared formula to follow. Rather if we truly love them and have been praying for them, the Lord will lead us in what to say.

Men are imprisoned under the law but due to the weakness of the flesh they do not want to be there. But now God has done what the law could never do, in sending His Son He has now provided a way by which looking to Christ in faith we walk in the power of the Spirit.

The book of 1 John shows us that the difference between the lost and saved man is so clear that it is discernible and recognizable. John asserts that rather than it being vague, it is something that is evident when he writes verses like, "Whoever says 'I know Him' but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him..." - 1 John 2:4.

In this sermon Tim deals with questions about the Lord's Supper such as this: How consistently should a church be taking it? What does it mean to eat "without discerning the body" and by doing so "drink judgment" on yourself?

God does not intend for the Christian to always approach everything they do from a negative perspective by asking, "What's wrong with that?!" Rather we should be focusing on doing the good that we know we should be striving after!Excerpt from "Christian, Don't Sin"

The Galatians were wanting to be perfected and grow and advance in the Christian life, and yet Paul came in and rebuked them for being conceited and biting and devouring one another. Why? Because they had gotten their eyes off of Christ and Him crucified and had turned back to the works of the law.

1 John 2:1 shows us that what is normative for the Christian is that they don't sin. However, so often professing Christians have the mindset that sin is what is normal, but that is not the way John talks. He "writes these things to us so that we may not sin; but if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous."

What does it mean to confess my sins? The Greek word means "to say the same thing", it's agreeing with God; agreeing that you missed the mark. Confessing of sin is an evidence of someone who is in the light and has fellowship with God.

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. - 1 John 1:7

Acts 20:24 - But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. This message was preached at Richard Gonzales' funeral on October 19, 2014.

The Apostle Paul was being accused of preaching a different gospel to the Jews and to the Gentiles. Yet Paul comes along in Galatians and says "by works of the law no one will be justified." for "if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose."

There are all sorts of subtle ways that we can turn from Christ and the purity of the Gospel. Men will come along and say, "If you really want to be perfected, you need 'Christ plus something else'". In Galatians Paul is adamantly arguing that his Gospel came by the authority of Jesus Christ and that this is the Gospel that we want to lay a hold of.

The task of taking the Gospel to the lost is to be taken not only occasionally, but intentionally; which is when you set aside time in your weekly schedule to go share the Gospel with the lost. If you do that on a consistent basis, you will find it is not easy. It is because at the point you decide to be intentional in sharing about Christ, you cross a certain line, and that is the territory of the evil one. You invade Satan's territory and he is really strong there, but we must not be intimidated but go in the power of God.

To be walking in darkness does not just mean that you are living in scandalous sins, but it means your life is not regulated by the Word of God. Do you start out your decisions by what you want to do and then come to the Bible and say "I hope it lines up"? Yet when it doesn't you just kind of justify it away? Rather to walk in the light is to start out with the Word of God and let it control your decisions.