Faith Presbyterian Church PCA (Clinton, LA)

Mark 1:1-8; Where do you run for hope when suffering comes? In the first century A.D. Mark wrote his gospel account to encourage Christians in Rome who were being martyred daily for faith in Jesus Christ. They would ask, "Is it worth it? Is Jesus worth dying for?" Marks answer is "Yes! Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God is worth it!"

1 Samuel 15:24-35; Saul has been found out and exposed. He offers a fake repentance, but God knows. God knows the heart, the impossible requirement and the great need.

1 Samuel 15:10-23; 29: Can an omniscient God have regret? Yahweh does and did when he made Saul king over Israel. That doesn't mean that God is out of control or doesn't know what he is doing, but it does show that he is emotionally invested in the lives and well being of his people. In this passage we see God's Disposition, God's Desire and God's Decision.

1 Samuel 15:1-9; God commands Saul and Israel to completely wipe out the Amalekites. Men, Women, Children and livestock. How we treat this passage because of what it teaches us about God actually reveals our hearts. Will we trust God when its hard? Or simply when its easy and convenient for us?

Luke 24:1-12; Christ's Resurrection is presented to us by Doctor Luke as THE historical fact upon which all of Christianity hangs. In this passage some women who first ADMIRE Jesus, are EXASPERATED to find the tomb empty, are transformed by the ANNOUNCEMENT of Christ's resurrection from the dead and finally ADORE their risen Savior. What about you? Do you merely Admire Jesus or do you AD...

Luke 20:1-19; Jesus rides into Jerusalem hailed as the Messiah, Savior of Israel, and the Almighty King. And what does the great King do? He preaches and teaches the gospel, the good news which offends the religious leaders and the people of who recently crowned him. Jesus calls himself the cornerstone, the rock that breaks and crushes. We are called to fall on Christ and be broken by him.

1 Samuel 14:47-52; In the middle of Saul's reign we are given his eulogy and surprisingly, its positive. We are told about Saul's Success, Saul's Family and Saul's Legacy. Saul's Eulogy allows us to reflect on what will be said about us when someone gives our eulogy. Will they say good things about us or will they say the most important thing?

1 Samuel 13:16-14:23; Israel is once again on the precipice of disaster. They are hard pressed and Saul is both incompetent and unable to save Israel. And in steps a man of Faith, Jonathan. But we are not to look at Jonathan's work, but his faith in the LORD to save. We see Faith's Soil, Faith's Security and Faith's Savior.

1 Samuel 13:1-15; Saul's Son wins a great battle with the Philistines. But now they are coming against Saul and the Israelites and the people are fleeing from Saul. Saul then takes matters into his own hands and offers an impatient sacrifice, an improper sacrifice and then he lies about it to Saul and God. Yahweh responds to Saul's failure by promising a better king, one that he chooses....

1 Samuel 12:19-25; Israel has sinned by worshiping other gods and now asking for a king instead of Yahweh. They sin wildly and recklessly. How is Yahweh going to respond to them? He overcomes their wild hearts with even greater wild grace.

1 Samuel 11:1-15; Nahash and the Ammonites are pressing in on Yahweh's People. Jabesh-Gilead is as good as dead. Where is Saul? Where is their King? How will Salvation come to Israel? Today we meet Israel's Adversary, the King's Action and the the King's Acceptance.

Genesis 17:1-14; 22-27--Why do we baptize Infants? It has everything to do with God's Covenant with Abraham. Covenants are signs and seals of the promises of God and he command Abraham to give this sign to himself and his children after him. Water Baptism has replaced circumcision as the New Testament sign of the New Covenant.

1 Samuel 10:17-27; Saul is about to be publicly recognized as the first (human) king of Israel. This should be a time for celebration and joy, but for the people of God its anything but a celebration. Three sour notes are played to match the dissonance of the people's hearts. We see the LORD's Rebuke, the LORD's Choice and even better, the LORD's Provision.

1 Samuel 9:3-10:17; How do we understand all of the ordinary, mundane and seemingly fruitless things of this life? Saul's father's donkey's have gotten out and he Saul is sent to find them. Through a series of coincidences Saul ends up anointed as the King over Israel and the savior of God's people. Yahweh works most often in the ordinary, the mundane and secret things for our...

1 Samuel 9:1-2; How should God treat us? What do we really deserve? i Samuel is the story of Human Dysfunction in our families, our religious worship and in our civil lives. God's response to our human dysfunction and sin is Divine Grace and faithfulness.

Psalm 19-To whom are you listening? God or the world?

Matthew 13:53-58; After Jesus tells his Kingdom Parables he goes home. There instead of a warm welcome the people of Jesus' hometown Matthew reports that the people are astonished by Jesus, they question his message and are offended by him. Jesus' message is astonishing, stands up to interrogation and is deeply offensive because we are sinners.

Matthew 13:47-52; In these final two Kingdom Parables Jesus reveals a Heavenly Judgment and an Earthly Calling. He compares his Kingdom to a large dragnet that is being cast into the sea. In the end the Righteous will be separated from the evil. God's people are then called understand the kingdom and tell others about it.

Matthew 13:44-46; In this passage Jesus uses two similar stories to teach about the Value of his Kingdom. We learn the important spiritual principle: we are all searching for a treasure. The question for us is which treasure are we giving ourselves too? The only real and lasting treasure is the Christ and his Kingdom. The Good News is that Christ gave up his treasure so that we could have the only...

Matthew 13:31-33; What is Christ's Kingdom like? Its small, insignificant and nothing much to look at. And that is just the way that Jesus wants it. Today we see that Christ's Kingdom is Paradoxically Small, Paradoxically Ordinary and Paradoxically Open. The good news is that we sinners fit right in to Christ's Paradoxical Kingdom.

Matthew 13:24-30; 36-43- Jesus plants good seed in kingdom. But the evil one come and plants counterfeit seed in his Kingdom. Jesus says that until the very end the Children of God and the children of satan will coexist. Christians then are called to be discerning, but loving. Careful, but sacrificial. Jesus showed us that he is patient in his judgment, but judgment will come. Finally we are calle...

Matthew 13:3-9; 18-23: Too often the familiar becomes impotent. That is the danger for us when we hear passages and stories like this one. We think we understand it so we toss the message aside to move on to something bigger and better. But Jesus' message is for us, who know this most famous parable the best. And indeed, we are treading in dangerous waters when we toss it aside. Jesus teaches...

Matthew 13:1-3; 10-17; 34-35-Glory: we all want it, but most of the time we accept imitation glory. Jesus wants us to know real glory and so he tells us about his Kingdom. But he does so in Parables. In this sermon we learn three things: 1) What are Parables? 2) Why did Jesus Speak in Parable? 3) How should we understand the Parables?

1 Corinthians 15:50-58; In this, the Final Installment on the Creeds of the Church, we look at the importance of believing in our bodily resurrection and our eternal life. Paul concludes his argument by reminding us that Christians have Spiritual Compensation, a Definite Transformation, a Hopeful Realization, and Present Regulations.

Titus 3:3-7; What do we mean when we confess that we believe in "one Baptism for the Remission of Sins" from the Nicene Creed? We want to avoid two ditches: 1) that Baptism Saves and 2) that Baptism merely symbolized. We confess that the Baptism of the Holy Spirit once and for all washes us from our sins and makes us right with God. Today Paul teaches us about the Blemish of Sin, the Bat...