First Baptist Church of Orange Park - Sermon Audio

The introduction of Paul's letter to the church at Philippi is often read quickly, or even ignored. Certainly there's not much to gain from the salutation, right? Pastor David Tarkington begins this series with an examination of these two verses and reveals how God's plan of salvation and result of salvation is expressed by Paul here. Not only relevant for the church in Philippi, but for all belie...

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the pinnacle of the gospel. Christ defeated death and sin and rose again. He remains alive for all eternity. Because he lives, we as Christians live. As we close out this series through the Gospel of Matthew we are forced to respond to the resurrection. Everyone is. How you respond is vital.

When darkness fell upon the earth from Noon until 3pm, while Jesus was on the cross a miraculous and amazing separation took place. God was separated from God. The second person of the Trinity did not cease being God and was not removed from the Trinity. So, what happened? In this sermon, Pastor David Tarkington speaks on this and the message of the cross that is often missed.

This message addresses two things - the act of suicide and whether it is the unpardonable sin and the question of what we must do with Christ. The first looks to the end of life for Judas the betrayer. The second looks to the poignant question asked by Pilate when Christ was brought before him. Both of these men sought absolution from people rather than forgiveness from God. This is all too often...

Preached on July 5, 2018 by Pastor David Tarkington at First Baptist Church of Orange Park. When Peter denies Christ while standing in the courtyard of the High Priests's home, his failure did not begin there. There was a progression of responses that began with pride and ultimately led to humiliation. However, the great news of this story is the restoration of Peter by Christ. This offers hope fo...

Jesus went with his eleven disciples (Judas had been dismissed) to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. The name means the Garden of the Olive Press, or the Garden of Intense Pressure. That is what Jesus was facing as the cross and all that it meant was before him. Yet he prayed the prayer we must echo - "No my will, but yours alone God." This sermon speaks of that time of pressure and how we can fac...

Judas ate the Passover meal with Jesus and the other disciples, but when it came time for the Lord's Supper to be instituted, he was dismissed. There was no room at the table for one who does not know Jesus as Lord. This message resonates today as we realize God has invited us to join him, but we must surrender fully in order to join in.

When we read of the betrayal of Jesus by Judas, it's clear that there are details many miss. Even more needed is the reality that while we may not want to admit it, we all can relate to Judas more than we would like. The gospel takes us from betrayal, to belief, to belonging, if we surrender to Christ. Judas never did and remained in the first category. May we be cognizant of this and ensure we ar...

In what could be considered a passage of Scripture simply present to transition from one story to the next, the value of God's inerrant Word appears when you see how three, short, perhaps seemingly unrelated stories actually reveal much about God, His grace, and His expectation of his disciples both in the story and today.

Jesus finishes the Olivet Discourse with a tragic parable revealing what will occur at the end of time. There will be a divide where those who know Christ receive their eternal reward and those who do not will get their's as well. It's a challenging message and one that is often misunderstood, at least when it comes to the serving of the "least of these." For believers, it is vital to know. For un...

Jesus tells his followers a parable about a rich land owner and three servants. The parable of the talents reminds us that while we await Christ's return, there remains work to be done. This is not a works theology assertion, but a reminder that Christians are to be about the business of making disciples daily.

Jesus uses an illustration of a wedding to describe what it will be like when he returns for his church. Yet, due to our understanding of the common western, American version of weddings, much is lost to the reader when Jesus speaks of the bridesmaids, the lamps, and the wedding. In this message, Pastor David explains the three-levels of weddings in first-century Israel and how Jesus' use of this...

Dave Paxton preaches this sermon at the First Baptist Church of Orange Park campus.

Brian Borden, one of our ministers serving at our Oak Harbor campus preaches at the FBC Orange Park campus on this day, focusing on the teachings of Christ from Matthew 24.

Jesus addresses the religious leaders with the final of the "seven woes." The Pharisees and scribes attest that had they lived centuries prior, they would not have killed prophets as their ancestors did. This 20/20 hindsight partnered with pride often leads people to presume they're smarter, more enlightened, wiser, nicer, than those who came before. Yet, Christ affirms that the hearts of man are...

Jesus turns his attention to the religious leaders in this passage, calling them hypocrites. He expresses seven "woes" to them (six covered in this message). While applicable to the religiously pious of the day, they resonate as well with Christians today.

An expert in religious law came to Jesus with what he deemed to be an unanswerable question regarding the greatest of all commandments. Jesus responded with a quote from Deuteronomy and expressed the great commandment, and the second, as unto it. Love God. Love people.

The stories Christ told caused people to marvel and feel astonished. Yet, these marvelous and astonishing stories did not leave all as followers of Christ. In fact, many today marvel and are astonished, but far from God. What transforms the heart of a person is the gospel followed by the surrender of the individual. That's the most marvelous and astonishing story of all.

Jesus tells three stories - each unique, but with similar themes. Each story has a father and a son and each reveals that those who mistreat or ignore the son will be dealt with harshly. These are stories about the Kingdom of God. They're stories about human sin and the rejection of God and His Son. The stories are interesting at a minimum, and convictional when realized that the stories represent...

The religious leaders confronted Jesus with a question about his authority. He never shied away from acknowledging that his authority as the Son of God and Messiah came from the Father, but he turns the question back onto the questioners here. Perhaps the question is not so much to Jesus "Who do you think you are?" but to us. Who do we think we are? As Christians?

The Gilded Age of America describes a time following the Civil War where things looked good from the outside looking in, but was deemed "gilded" (wrapped in gold leaf or paint) which meant looks were deceiving. On the inside, just beneath the surface, there were things that were wrong, unfair, ungodly, and broken. Jesus curses a fig tree in Matthew 21. The tree was full of leaves, but no figs. It...

The ladies (Mary and Mary) arrive at Jesus' tomb early on that Resurrection Sunday, not expecting to find it empty. They definitely did not expect to be met by an angel in a scene too amazing to be imagined. Yet, at this moment, it became clear, and verified by Christ himself when he appeared to the ladies, that Jesus was not dead, but rose from the dead as he said he would. That message of life a...

Seven of our pastors and campus ministers preached in this special Good Friday service. Each pastor spoke on one of the seven last sayings of Christ on the cross. Josh Dryer - Matthew 27:46 Brian Hoffman - Luke 23:34 Brian Borden - Luke 23:43 Stan Rivers - Luke 23:46 Jon Wood - John 19:26-27 Andres Lavanderos - John 19:28 David Tarkington - John 19:30

If Palm Sunday is about the palm fronds, it's likely we have missed the point of Christ's triumphal entry. More tragically than missing the point of a special Sunday is the potential of missing the most important thing in life.

Leading the next generation well requires that we be responsible and holy members of our own.