Biblical Marriage Part 3

Family

pastor-jeff-smithJeff Smith

The very truths that I will preach about apply in many ways to those who are not married also. Let’s pray.

Lord, our God, we pray asking for the presence of Your Holy Spirit. That He would take Your truth and the principles of Your truth and apply them to every single heart, every life from the youngest to the oldest, whether married or not. We cry to You, that You would do this for Your glory, for the exaltation of Jesus Christ, and for the good of own souls and marriages. We ask these mercies in Jesus’ name. Amen.

In previous messages I started with some presuppositions that we must have. I would like to remind you of two.
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Lessons Learned from the Death of a Loved One

Comfort

pastor-jeff-smithJeff Smith

Pastor Piñero called me this afternoon and informed me of the death of Mr. Mesa. In the light of Mr. Mesa’s death, your pastors have asked that I preach an appropriate sermon, so this afternoon I went to my little study and my Bible, and I prayed and asked God to help me. Tonight I hope to give you a message related to this matter of the death of Mr. Mesa, and before we consider God’s Word, let’s pray one more time asking for His blessing upon our study of His Word.
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Biblical Marriage Part 2: The Grace of God and Obedience

Family

pastor-jeff-smithJeff Smith

Let’s ask God for His blessing upon our time together. Let’s seek Him in prayer.

Our God, we ask that You would give us minds and hearts that are eager to receive Your Word; that You would work, by Your Spirit, that every one of us would believe and embrace Your Word, would love Your Word, and then would, by Your grace, go forth from this very church building determined to obey Your Word. In all of these things, we ask that Christ would be honored, that Christ would be glorified, and that Christ would be the supreme love of each of our hearts. We ask for these mercies, in His name, amen.
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Help for Today’s Pastors #7
Encouragement for New Converts

Pastors

donnellyEdward Donnelly

This is a subject that I have been treating at this conference for some years, working through the Epistles of Paul. The only ones left, after today, are Philippians and 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus. So, if we’re spared, you’ve got an idea of what we’ll be looking at, God-willing, this time next year. For the benefit of those of you who are new to the conference, these are not expositions of the Epistles, nor are they overviews or surveys of the Epistles. We are treating them as pastoral documents. Paul is a pastor, these are his flock. How does he shepherd them? How does he advise them in their different situations? What can we learn about pastoring people from the example of the Apostle?
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Encouragement for New Converts →

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To the Church at Ephesus (Rev 2:1-7)

Uncategorized

pastor-d-scott-meadowsD. Scott Meadows

Title to distinguish among 7 “letters,” but to all churches—to us! (2.7 → 7x.)

Context: John (1.9); visions of Christ, His warfare, future triumph. Dramatic, symbolic vision of our King (1.10-20). Charged to relay messages to 7 churches in Asia Minor (1.11, same order in Rev 2-3).

7 literal local churches in first century—not as dispensationalists say:

a description or prophetic outline of the “Spiritual History” of the Church from the time when John wrote the Book in A. D. 96, down to the taking out of the Church, . . . This interpretation of the “Messages to the Seven Churches” was hidden to the early Church, because time was required for Church History to develop and be written, so a comparison could be made to reveal the correspondence. If it had been clearly revealed that the Seven Churches stood for “Seven Church Periods” that would have to elapse before Christ could come back, the incentive to watch would have been absent (Clarence Larkin, 1919, in loc.).

“This interpretation was hidden to the early Church” because it is wrong. These letters are perspicuous for all Christians in all times and places. This principle should serve as a check on fanciful interpretations, e.g.,
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Help for Today’s Pastors #6
Study of the 2nd Epistle to the Corinthians

Pastors

donnellyEdward Donnelly

I’ve been a pastor for 35 years, this week. Over the years I’ve had a number of men seated in our front room, often with their wives. Many of them have wept, their wives have invariably wept. Their faces have been white, their hands have been shaking, their confidence has been shot to pieces, they’re not sleeping properly, and they’re on the verge of quitting. These are not wimps or weaklings, these are strong men who have been ground down by problems, and, I think in every single case I can remember, within their own churches; not from the world, not from the outside, but from their own people. I’m seeing more of such men, not less.
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Study of the 2nd Epistle to the Corinthians →

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Biblical Marriage, Introduction

Family

pastor-jeff-smithJeff Smith

So, let’s pray, asking for God’s help for all of us as we hear His Word. Let’s seek Him in prayer.

Our great God, we do thank you for the Lord’s day. We thank you that You have given us this privilege to worship You. We thank you that You have given us this privilege to hear Your Word. We confess, Lord, that we need Your Holy Spirit to come and take Your Word, and bring it home with grace and power to each one of our minds and hearts and lives. That we would not be hearers of the Word only, but we would be hearers and doers of the Word of God. We ask, our gracious Father in Heaven, that You would give Your Spirit to all of us, from the youngest to the oldest; that we would know You speaking to each one of us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Well, I’ve been asked here to preach some messages from the Word of God. On two previous occasions, here in North Bergen, I’ve preached messages regarding the Bible’s teaching about marriage, and your pastors believe that it would be wise and good for me to come here again, not just today, but, God willing, next Sunday, and then perhaps some other times in the near future, in order to preach some of these messages—actually all of these messages, that’s forty—but to preach messages concerning the Bible’s teaching about marriage. They’ve asked me to go back to the very beginning. This is a series that I’ve done at Trinity Baptist Church, so they asked me that I would today go to the very beginning. So that’s what I’m planning to do.
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The Dragon’s Two Beasts
An Exposition of Revelation 13.1–18 Part 2

Eschatology, Revelation

pastor-d-scott-meadowsD. Scott Meadows

Let us resume our exposition of Revelation 13 begun this morning. We took most of our time with general advice about how to interpret this passage properly, and only expounded the first two verses in particular. This afternoon we should be able to conclude the exposition, but I will have to be concise.
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An Exposition of Revelation 13.1–18 Part 2 →

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The Dragon’s Two Beasts
An Exposition of Revelation 13.1–18 Part 1

Eschatology, Revelation

pastor-d-scott-meadowsD. Scott Meadows

Interpreting the book of Revelation, and chapter 13 in particular, is like “shooting the rapids” in a raft—exhilarating, challenging, and dangerous. Ironically, novices are sometimes drawn to it like mosquitoes to a bug zapper, and the most experienced teachers only approach it, if at all, with fear and trembling. A fair comparison would be the caution with which a nuclear scientist handles enriched Plutonium. Probably the greatest Bible expositor of all time, John Calvin, has left us commentaries on most of the books of the Bible, but he left Revelation alone.
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An Exposition of Revelation 13.1–18 Part 1 →

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