An exposition of Philippians 3:1-16. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Wednesday evening, December 21, 2011.
The Joy of Knowing Christ
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Christmas Hope
Christmas 2011 #3: An exposition of 1 Peter 1:3-12. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, December 18, 2011.
Intro:
Have you ever lost hope? Have you ever been in the midst of a situation when there appeared there was nothing you could do? Overwhelmed you just threw up you hands and said, “I quit?” As far as you could tell there was no reason for going on. You were just too tired to care and besides it just wasn’t worth the effort. Have you been there? Are you there now? The loss of hope is a devastating thing. Hopeless people do desperate things. Hopelessness and despair are major killers. Hope isn’t just something that helps us over the hurdle – it is essential to life. Hope is necessary for survival. Without hope life is a dark and grim existence. Studies have shown that this time of year is one of the most depressing. For all the talk of “Christmas cheer” and the joy of the season – vast numbers of people find the Christmas season unbearable. How ironic that there would be such despair during the celebration of life’s coming to earth! That is what Christmas is all about. A world wrapped in death and heartache was awakened by the arrival of the Creator come to redeem for himself a people for his own glory. The good news announced that night on the starlit plains of Bethlehem was that a Savior had been born who is Christ the Lord.
The Creator had stepped into his creation to fix what had been broken. His birth was not like ours – his was an advent, a coming. And he came on a mission. The joy, laughter and celebration of Christmas means nothing apart from the meaning and purpose of his coming. The angel said to Joseph, “You are to call his name Jesus for he will save his people.” He came to rescue us. He came to deliver us. He came to give us hope. If I’m ever stuck in an elevator and I push that button and tell them I’m in car number 6 in building number 3 – I’m not interested in feeling a hand on my shoulder and a fellow passenger say, “I feel your pain.” I want to hear a voice from outside that car say, “We know where you are. We are working on it now and we will have you out in 5 minutes.” It’s nice to have someone who shares your burden it is better to have someone who gives you hope.
Webster defines hope as:
“A desire accompanied by an expectation.”
“A belief in fulfillment.”
“To expect with confidence.”
In an increasingly despairing world where are we going to find hope? War rages. Threats abound. Cherished beliefs are mocked. Traditional values crumble. Our once dominant worldview is marginalized. Where do we turn? Well we find some help from a wise old man. He wasn’t a king or philosopher. He was not a sage or guru. He was a fisherman. A man who traveled the road of despair but joyously found a way out. His name was Peter. Our text this morning is found in 1 Peter chapter 1.
Text: 1 Peter 1:3-12
This time of year provides us a great opportunity. It gives us an opportunity to tell others why we sing, why we celebrate, why we have hope. And it is not in a general feeling of goodwill. It is not because of a jolly old man in a red suit. Let’s face it, Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer might make for an enjoyable evening but when the doctor says, “We’ve got to operate and it doesn’t look good” – Rudolf’s not going to sustain you! When that envelop that you thought contained your Christmas bonus turns out to be your “pink slip” – “Have a Holly, Jolly, Christmas” will not lift your spirits.
What is it that will sustain you?
What is it that will grant you peace of mind and heart during the darkest night?
What enables you to stand firm when all hell breaks loose?
It is the knowledge that we are not alone. That unto us has been born a Savior who is Christ the Lord. Not just a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and placed in a manger but one who grew to manhood; lived a sinless life; perfectly obeyed God’s law; and then gave himself for your sin and your rebellion and offers you life eternal and abundant.
Peter was a follower of Jesus.
He came to Jesus through the efforts of his brother Andrew.
He was a mixture of courage and daring yet he lacked consistency.
He was quick to speak but often slow to think!
On the night our Lord was betrayed Peter pledged to “die for him.”
Yet before the evening was over he denied even knowing him.
It is hard to imagine Peter’s pain as a result of denying Jesus.
Immediately he went out and wept bitterly.
We can only imagine the pain of seeing his Lord crucified.
The despair of seeing his lifeless body limp on the cross.
And then came that word – “I am alive. Go. Tell my disciples and Peter.”
Hope was reborn in the heart of that despairing, defeated disciple.
Now, years later, as an old man he is writing to believers in the face of despair.
Persecution, pain and suffering await them.
Peter says to these hurting, struggling believers, “There is hope.”
The words of Peter echo through the centuries bringing encouragement and life to embattled believers today. His words, inspired of the Holy Spirit remind us that:
Thesis: Hope is the birthright of the child of God.
Regardless of your circumstance, regardless of how dark your world may seem – there is hope. Hang on. Only believe. I know that sounds simplistic. And I’m not talking about “positive thinking” or “possibility thinking”. I’m talking about biblical thinking. I’m not suggesting that you “suck it up” and just get on with it. I’m asking you to remember what is yours because of Christ! I know there are those who do not believe that “doctrine” is practical. I know there are those who prefer messages that deal with “real life issues” but consider this. Peter is writing to a group of folks who are in desperate times. Facing life and death issues and he begins by making a profound doctrinal statement about the nature of salvation! And by the way he doesn’t talk to them about salvation because they are going to need it after they die – but because they are going to need it in order to live!
There are four things I want you to see related to our hope in Christ.
- Our hope is anchored in God’s gracious work of redemption. (1:3-5)
- Our hope is fortified through adversity. (1:6-7)
- Our hope is secured by saving faith. (1:8-9)
- Our hope has been the focus of God’s progressive revelation. (1:10-12)
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Joy: The Fruit of God’s Work in You
Philippians #3: An exposition of Philippians 2:12-16. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Wednesday evening, December 14, 2011.
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The Demands of Christ-likeness
Philippians #3: An exposition of Philippians 2:1-11. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Wednesday evening, December 7, 2011.
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Pursuing Righteousness
A message from Romans 12. This message by Andrew Hoyt was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday evening, December 11, 2011.
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The Name Says It All
An exposition of Matthew 1:21. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, December 11, 2011.
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That the World May Know
Christmas 2011 #1: An exposition of Psalm 67. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, December 4, 2011.
Intro:
It is an overwhelming task. There are now 6,750 identified people groups listed as “unreached.” That means that less than 2% of the population is evangelical Christian of any stripe. Of those unreached 3,684 are listed as “unengaged.” That means there is gospel work being done in their midst. These are people who’ve never heard the simple story of Jesus. Many living lives of quiet desperation in the face of famine, disease, war and genocide. West Africa alone has more than 150 million lost people. That 150 million is broken down into 1,612 people groups speaking 1,100 different languages. Currently Southern Baptists have 242 missionaries working in the midst of that population of 150 million. That is one missionary for every 619,834 people!
We are a mission people. We were born “on mission.” Missions has always been at the heart of who we are. Evangelism and missions is said to be the life- blood of the SBC. Through the Cooperative Program we have 4,952 missionaries serving around the world. Last year Southern Baptist established 29,237 new churches, baptized 360,876 people. Our churches impact the globe every day. 11% of our undesignated gifts go directly to the Cooperative Program impacting the work of the gospel here in Oklahoma, across our nation and around the world. Just last week we began our emphasis on the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions. We believe in missions. But why do we believe in missions? What is it that motivates us to be on mission? Why should you care? Why should you give sacrificially to this offering? One great reason – we desire to display the glory of our God throughout the world!
When you think of “mission texts” what texts come to mind?
Do you think of the Great Commission found in Matthew 28:18-20?
Perhaps you think of Acts 1:8.
I’m not a betting man, but if I were, I’d be willing to bet when you think of missions you think New Testament. We are New Testament believers and understandably we tend to focus there. I remember my grandmother saying, “Oh yeah, that’s in the Old Bible” when she was referring to the Old Testament. We have a tendency to think that God thought “locally” in the Old Testament and that he thinks “globally” in the New. God thought only in terms of Israel in the Old Testament and thinks in terms of the world in the New Testament. But our God is the same yesterday, today and forever.
It is true that God singled out a people, the Jews, in the Old Testament to enter into a unique relationship. But that was not to the exclusion of all other peoples. Yes Israel had great privileges but with those privileges came great responsibility. And they were not to keep the revelation of God to themselves. Missions is not a New Testament concept. It is a biblical concept. Abraham was told that his seed, singular, would be a blessing to the nations of the earth. Jonah, the prophet of God was called to go and preach to the people of Nineveh. In fact a great revival came to that wicked city after Jonah finally arrived via the belly of a great fish!
This morning I want us to consider a great mission text found in Old Testament.
Text: Psalm 67:1-7
You know it never fails. When I’m interested in a certain text or have questions – when I go to the commentaries they have little or no information on the text I’m interested in! Psalm 67 is one of those texts. Very few commentators spend much time on it. In fact Martin Luther skipped this psalm entirely in his commentary. He wrote 5 volumes on the Psalms but did not address Psalm 67.
Yet I’m convinced there is a valuable lesson in this Psalm for us.
Keep in mind we are looking at Israel’s hymnbook.
These words where given by the Spirit of God to be sung back to God in worship.
In this Psalm we learn that…
Thesis: Worship and missions are inseparably and essentially linked.
Remember the context of the birth of the mission movement – Acts 13?
The church was in worship when the Spirit of God set apart Barnabas and Saul.
John Piper says the goal of history is the worship of God – therefore missions exist because worship does not! There are people around the world who do not actively engage in the worship of God. How can they worship a God they do not know? And how can they know unless there is a preacher? How will there be a preacher unless we go? Worship and missions are inseparably linked.
Alexander Maclaren says of this psalm, “This psalm is a truly missionary psalm, in its clear anticipation of the universal spread of the knowledge of God, in its firm grasp of the thought that the Church has its blessings in order to evangelize the world, and in its intensity of longing that from all the ends of the earth a shout of praise may go up to the God who has sent some rays of his light into them all, and committed to his people the task of carrying a brighter illumination to every land.”
Spurgeon commented that, “The great theme of the psalm is the participation of the Gentiles in the worship of Jehovah.”
The hymn is divided into three stanzas.
- Through worship we seek God’s favor in order to be a blessing to the peoples of the earth. (67:1-2)
- A genuine encounter with God imparts a passion to see others come to a saving knowledge of Christ. (67:3-5)
- Our overwhelming passion is to be God’s glory above all else. (67:6-7)
What Can You Do?
- You can go – long term, short term, mission trip – opportunities available. Can you say with certainty, “God has not called me to give my life to mission service?” Who knows but that sitting in this service this morning is the person that God will use to open to the door to some distant unreached people?
- You can also recognize that you live in a mission field. One of the great foreign mission fields right now is the college campus!
- You can give – Lottie Moon, – your tithe. Give enthusiastically, joyfully to the work of God. If you cannot go – you can make it possible for others to go.
- You can pray –
- What you cannot do – remain indifferent.
God grant that we become passionate about missions. That we come to the point we are so enamored with the glory of our God we will not rest until the world joins us in praise to his glorious name.
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It’s a Matter of Perspective
Philippians #2: An exposition of Philippians 1:12-26. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Wednesday evening, November 30, 2011.
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God’s Mercy Towards a Wayward People
1 Samuel #07: an exposition of 1 Samuel 7:1-17. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday evening, November 27, 2011.
Intro:
It is a common misperception. “The God of the Old Testament is an angry, vengeful God.” When you have a defective view of both God and man such a misperception is understandable. If you do not fully comprehend what it means to say that God is holy and that man is sinful you will naturally mischaracterize both God and man. Too often when we say man is “sinful” we think of a lovable, bumbling character who makes some bad decisions. When we think of God as holy we think of Him as rigid and unyielding. If you think in those terms then you will misread a passage like 1 Samuel 6. The Ark is returned to Israel the people rejoice, make sacrifice and then God kills 70 men because they “looked” at the Ark! That seems a bit rigid. That seems to be an over reaction. But there is more to this story. There are other issues in play. Though there is much death and destruction in the opening chapters of 1 Samuel, it is actually the story of God’s grace.
In fact as we work through this evening’s text we are going to discover that…
Thesis: 1 Samuel chapter 7 reminds us of God’s gracious, merciful dealings with His wayward people.
Let’s make sure we put the passage in context.
This overlaps the period of the Judges – “When every man did what was right in his own eyes.”
There was great wickedness and corruption throughout the land.
Much of it in Shiloh – in the house of God!
Eli’s boys, Hophni and Phenihas were “worthless” men, who did not know God.
The priests were corrupt!
They showed contempt for the things of God.
They used the House of God as a brothel.
There was a famine of the Word of God.
Israel went to war against their archenemy, the Philistines and was routed.
They asked, “Why has God done this to us?”
They brought up the Ark of the Covenant and said, “It will deliver us.”
They treated the Ark as if it were a “rabbit’s foot.”
They were routed again, 30,000 men died, the army fled, Hophni and Phenihas died and the Ark was captured.
When word reached Shiloh – Eli, dropped dead, Mrs. Phenihas went into labor and died from childbirth and with her dying breath asked, “Where is the glory of God?”
These were dark days in Israel.
Meanwhile – things weren’t so good in the land of the Philistines.
Dagon was humiliated.
A plague broke out.
The hand of the Lord was heavy on the people.
It was a miserable 7 months.
They sent the Ark back to Israel along with a guilt or trespass offering.
God brought judgment on the people of Beth-shemesh.
They should have known better.
Leviticus and Numbers gave clear instruction about sacrifice and handling the Ark.
Instructions that were ignored.
A burnt offering was to be a male without spot or blemish
They sacrificed two milk cows
The Ark was never to be touched
They took it off the cart
They put it in place
It was never to be looked upon (it was to be covered)
They looked upon it
If you are going to act like Philistines don’t be surprised when you get treated like Philistines!
The folks at Beth-shemesh said, “This Ark needs to go somewhere else.”
It was taken to Kiriath-jearim to the house of Abinadab.
It would stay there until David has it brought to Jerusalem (about a 100 years later)!
It seems their attitude was, “out of sight, out of mind.”
At least that’s how it reads to me beginning at 7:2: From the day that the ark was lodged at Kiriath-jearim, a long time passed, some twenty years, and all the house of Israel lamented after the LORD.
As we work our way through the 17 verses of this chapter I want you to note a progression. I think there is something for us to learn from this passage about the nature of God and how He deals with His wayward people.
How does God deal with His people when they fall into sin?
When corruption consumes, how does He respond?
3 things.
- In response to our desperate, belated cries, God’s mercy allows for full restoration. (7:2-6)
- Such a restoration brings a renewed sense of humility and an attitude of complete dependence. (7:7-11)
- Humble dependence allows for a settled rest and increased sanctification. (7:12-17)
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Gratitude for Grace Given
This is an exposition of 1 Timothy 1:12-17. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, November 27, 2011.
Intro:
We’re all different. Some of us are more “out-going” than others. Some more verbal. Some easily share their feelings or emotions while others are more guarded. It’s not that one is right and the other is wrong – it’s just that we are different. Rheadon is learning to deal with it – but I’m not a “great fan.” When at a ball game I don’t clap and stomp and shout and cheer. When those cheerleaders tell me to stand up and cheer I sit there in absolute defiance! Stone faced, arms crossed – “you can’t make me cheer.” You see I’m perfectly capable of enjoying a game without making a fool of myself. I just happen to believe what is needed is a little dignity and decorum in the stands. Let’s show a little class here. But try as I might – some things bring me to me feet. Sometimes, without warning, words, phrases fly out of my mouth. Without a moment’s thought – without being aware of any formation of words – I’m cheering. When that happens, I quickly survey the room and see if anyone noticed my outburst and then I regain my composer. Regardless of my disposition some things just demand a response. Some thing internal says, “You aren’t setting through this one and you aren’t remaining silent!” I didn’t plan it and I can’t stop it. The more unexpected and the more incredible – the louder and the more exuberant the response. Now I don’t care for Pentecostal enthusiasm – but some things will make even a Baptist shout!
The apostle Paul was writing to young Timothy, his son in the Lord and co-laborer in the Gospel, about life in the church. Paul was writing to inform Timothy about how “one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of truth (3:15).” Timothy had been placed as pastor of the church in Ephesus. Ephesus was a dearly loved congregation. Paul had ministered in the city for three years and bid it a tearful farewell in Acts 20. This dearly loved fellowship had succumbed to false teaching. They had abandoned the truth Paul had delivered them and given themselves to endless myths and genealogies. They had wandered from the truth and lost themselves in vain speculation. Paul placed Timothy there and then wrote him charging him to stand up to those who were teaching lies. Stand in opposition to those who like to see themselves as “teachers of the law” but who do not understand what they are talking about or have any real knowledge of the things about which they make such confident boasts. This letter from the great apostle is very pertinent to us given the similarities in our culture with that of Ephesus. Ephesus was a pluralistic culture, dominated by materialism and commercialism and enamored with “spirituality.” Timothy was called to hold the biblical rope in a thoroughly pagan culture not unlike the task before us today. Our text this morning begins in verse 12 of 1 Timothy chapter 1.
Text: 1 Timothy 1:12-17
Chapter 1:1-11 is about staying the biblical course.
Standing on a sure word with divine enabling.
Demanding doctrinal integrity – the aim of which was love (agape).
Remaining focused on the Gospel and evangelism.
Keep in mind this is a letter not a doctrinal dissertation.
Paul is writing to a dear son in the Lord about a beloved church in great trouble.
Thus it is a passionate letter/expressing his heart not just his head.
Our text is an expression of his heart about the passion of his life – the Gospel.
In fact it contains the Gospel in miniature in verse 15.
Our text is a burst of emotion – but must be read in the context – 1:3-4; 1:18-19.
To loose sight of that is to miss the message.
This is not a peripheral issue – it is central to the faith.
It is the heart and soul of the faith.
As we walk through these verses we learn that…
Thesis: The heart touched by grace erupts in spontaneous praise of God’s saving work.
When you consider what God has done for us in Christ – it is not time to sit on your hands. It is not time to defiantly sit with arms crossed – unmoved – it is time to cheer!
There are three things I want us to note in our text.
- Those who have been forgiven are overwhelmed by the magnitude of the mercy shown to them. (1:12-14)
- Those who have experienced the grace of salvation joyfully declare the wonder of salvation to all. (1:15-16)
- The heart set free bursts forth in praise to God our Savior. (1:17)
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