First Baptist Church Lipan, TX

Finding Meaning in the Meaningless - Ecclesiastes 1:1-11, 3:1-8, 3:12-13, 12:13 Sometimes Life Just Isn’t Going To Make Sense Even When Things Seem Hopeless And Pointless, God Is Still Working In The Midst Of It All Finding Joy In The Living Of Life Is A Gift From God A Life Of Faithfulness To God Brings Meaning And Purpose To A World That Can Sometimes Seem Purposeless

The Lions Den - Daniel 6:11-28 When you live a life within the will of God, God will provide allies in unlikely places When you live a life within the will of God, we can be vessels of His glory When we are outside the will of God, we are slaves to our emotions When we are outside the will of God, we will be our own downfall When we are outside the will of God, nothing can bring you true peace Whe...

The Most Important Relationship - Daniel 6:1-10 Living a life in God's commands sets your apart If we wish to be blessed by God, we must first allow ourselves to be used by God We must decide before we are forced to that God is our most important relationship

Trial By Fire - Daniel 3:8-30 When you take a stand for God someone will stand against you God never promised He would keep you out of the fire God does promise to walk with us through the fire

Extreme Gifts - Daniel 2:13-30 You will be judged according to the company you keep Sometimes bad things happen to followers of God Remember to give God credit and glory

Extreme Faithfulness - Daniel 1:8-21 More important to stay faithful to God than to please men Daniel saw the importance of following God even in the little things Daniel respected the customs of others Daniel and his friends were rewarded for their faithfulness

Babel - Genesis 11:1-9 Pride changes/Interferes with your relationship to God Pride changes how we react to ourselves and others Pride usually results in the destruction of what we do have God can accomplish for us what pride cannot accomplish

The Reward of Faithfulness - Luke 2:25-35 God Rewards Faithfulness

Overcoming Temptation - James 4:7-10 THE ONLY WAY TO REGULARLY OVERCOME TEMPTATION IS A LIFE FOLLOWING GOD GOD MAY GIVE YOU THE POWER TO OVERCOME BUT HE EXPECTS YOU TO DO YOUR PART OF THE WORK TO OVERCOME TEMPTATION WE MUST BUILD OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD TO CLEANSE OUR HANDS IS TO TAKE ACTION AGAINST THE OUTWARD APPEARANCE OF SIN TO PURIFY YOUR HEART IS TO CONDITION YOUR THOUGHTS AND FEELING...

Lessons from a mission trip - Acts 1:8. Zechariah 4:10, Isaiah 55:8-9, Romans 8:28 Missions doesn't mean the moon Small doesn't mean unimportant or unsuccessful God's plans aren't our plans God works even when things go wrong There's nothing greater than those moments when one of the kids begins to get it

Can we win the battle? - 1 Corinthians 10:11-13 Whenever you think you have mastered a temptation is when you should be most concerned The good news is you aren't the only one to experience the temptation you experience The bad news is you aren't the only one to experience the temptation you experience The good news is God is faithful and won't allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able The...

Temptation's Soldier and Weapons - 1 Peter 5:8-9 The Devil's only real work is the temptation or leading astray of man The Devil is actively seeking believers to attack The first and most obvious tool of the Devil for temptation is desire A second tool of the Devil for temptation is hardship A third tool of the Devil for temptation is self-righteousness A fourth tool of the Devil for temptation is...

Temptation's Surprising Source - James 1:13-15 Testing/Trials and temptation are not the same Trials are those situations that test our reliance upon God Temptations are those situations that test our obedience to God and His commands Testing can come from God while temptation never can There is something within each person that gravitates toward sin Our desire is deformed No one is to blame for y...

Responding to the Darkness - Habakkuk 1 We have to get real with God We have to quit looking for the why and start looking to the Who We have to remember that the pains of this world are temporary, but the promises of God are eternal We must sing in the darkness because we know of the coming light

Understanding the Struggle - 1 John 2:15-17 In this passage, world means an organized system controlled by ungodly powers that stands against the Kingdom of God First step in understanding temptation is understanding the things of the worldly system are not the things of the kingdom The lust of the flesh is the pull toward something the world tells me will make me feel good, even if it does n...

Genesis 3:1-8 - Defining Temptation TEMPTATION ALONE IS NOT A SIN EVEN JESUS EXPERIENCED TEMPTATION GOD IS NOT DISPLEASED WHEN WE ARE TEMPTED TEMPTATION AT ITS ROOT WILL ALWAYS DEAL WITH A CHOICE SPIRITUAL TEMPTATION IS ALWAYS THE CHOICE BETWEEN TRUSTING GOD OR TRUSTING ME THE CONSEQUENCES OF TRUSTING YOURSELF OVER GOD  - CORRUPTED VIEW OF YOURSELF  - DAMAGED RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD  ...

A Mother's Love - 1 Kings 3:16-28 THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A PERFECT MOTHER GOD CARES ABOUT ALL MOTHERS GOD HAS ANSWERS TO A MOTHER’S PROBLEMS THERE IS NOTHING LIKE A MOTHER’S LOVE

Hope in the Hopeless - Ezekiel 37:1-10 Sometimes the questions of faith seem impossible The answer to every impossible question of faith lies in the person and power of God To see God do the impossible, we must do our part to make the impossible possible Activity does not equal life or God's Spirit Life only comes through the Spirit of God With the Spirit of God comes a promise

Slaying Your Giant - 1 Samuel 17 THERE WILL ALWAYS BE A GIANT WE HAVE TO BE WHERE OUR FATHER TELLS US TO BE WE MUST HAVE A HEART THAT IS MOVED BY THE THINGS THAT MOVE GOD WE MUST TRUST IN THE GOD WE KNOW DON’T FIGHT YOUR BATTLE ON SOMEBODY ELSE’S BATTLEFIELD BE BOLD AND COURAGEOUS FINISH WHAT GOD HAS GIVEN YOU TO DO

Resurrection Moments - Mark 16:1-8; Matthew 28:11-15; John 20:2-9 For the Faithful Few, a resurrection moment must remind them that nothing is impossible with God Unbelieving Skeptics need an explanation for the unexplainable Resurrection moments often challenge the beliefs of "church" people For Religious Skeptics, resurrection moments offer proof their faith is valid Things to Remember 1) T...

At Gethsemane - Luke 22:39-46 Jesus was put under great pressure in the garden In the garden, Jesus felt sin for the first time The Disciples, in this moment, are painting a picture of why Jesus must do what he had come to do Gethsemane also paints a picture of what is to come

Broken and Poured Out - John 12:1-8 The grateful heart knows its place The grateful heart holds nothing back Extravagant offerings bring a noticeable change to the lives of others Extravagant offerings are not understood by those with worldly worldviews Extravagant offerings bring joy and glory to the Master

Truly Free - 1 Peter 2:13-17 We are free, but with self control We are free, but we do it with pure hearts We are free, and our lives are a blessing to others

I Catch 'Em - Mark 1:17 To be a fisher of people you have to go fishing To be a fisher of people you have to use the right bait We must remember that we only catch 'em; God cleans 'em

How far is too far? - Philippians 1:12-24 Advancement of the gospel through tough times Advancement of the gospel by ignoring others Advancement of the gospel through sacrifice