Forest Park Church Sermons

What is God? A question that everyone answers differently. For some, God is an inexpressible feeling, a small voice, or an invisible force or energy. However, for God to be truly God, we do not define Him; He defines Himself. Through His word, God tells us that He is the creator of everyone and everything. If that is true, we must submit to God’s rule and authority, depend on Him to sustain us, an...

The reader of the book of Proverbs has been continually instructed to find this woman called wisdom. He might be asking himself, “Who is she? What is her name? Where can I find her? How does she live?” The poem in Proverbs 31 shows us what this woman called wisdom looks like by more accurately depicting what she does through the way she lives. We will learn four principles for how wisdom lives in...

There is a false perception that growing in wisdom requires doing or participating in the extraordinary. But what if wisdom is not found in the extraordinary, but in the mundane, ordinary parts of life? What if growing in wisdom can be part of your ordinary, boring life? It can, and we will learn that growing in wisdom requires diligence in the mundane. 

Agur’s prayer in Proverbs 30 is filled with humanity and wonder. Wonder is a posture before God and His world, with eyes and ears open and hearts and minds seeking understanding. Growing in wisdom requires wonder at the goodness of God and His creation. This wonder drives us to analyze and investigate, to observe and marvel, to attempt to explain, but also to say: too wondrous for me; I cannot und...

The basic principle and motive of the Christian life is that we are not to live as if we belong to ourselves, but to live for God, because God sent His Son to save us by grace and to adopt us into His family. If we are not our own but belong to God, we are never alone, always have hope, and God always comes first. 

Proverbs 30:1–9 gives us a surprising picture of wisdom. Instead of confidence and control, it begins with honesty about our limits and ends with a prayer for “enough.” Thispassage shows that wisdom is not something we master through insight or effort, but something we receive and live out through humility, trust, and daily reliance on God.

Scripture tells us that God created the world by wisdom. In creation, God designed a world marked by rhythms, structures, limits, and fruitfulness, which we call God’s created order. God’s created order affects every dimension of human life. Wisdom is grounded in God’s created order. It means operating within God’s rhythms, structures, and limits. Foolishness, by contrast, is an attempt to move be...

Throughout the book of Proverbs, there is imagery of twowomen. The first woman represents wisdom. She is a sister and an intimate friend who needs to be kept close and will give you life. The second woman represents foolishness. She is a forbidden woman, an adulteress with smooth words, who needs to be avoided and will take your life. We will learn how to avoid foolishness and its dangers.

Throughout the Bible, we are presented with two ways, two paths, two roads, two gates, and two foundations. The path of the righteous is wisdom, life, and prosperity, while the path of the wicked is foolishness, death, and destruction. Why is it that we know the right path to take yet often choose the wrong one? In our text, the son is confronted by different voices, and the voices he listens to w...

The Fear of the Lord is an important phrase repeated 14 times in Proverbs and is considered the motto of the book. What does it mean to fear the Lord? By understanding what it means to fear the Lord, we will better grasp wisdom and how to obtain it. 

When we think about wisdom in general, it is universal across time and cultures, passed down through tradition from one generation to the next, and learned through ritual—all desire wisdom. As we take a closer look at wisdom in the book of Proverbs, we will learn where it comes from, what it contains, and the conditions for wisdom.  

Jesus is the divine Davidic King, the Messiah, who alone hasthe authority to open the way to the Father. He promises to grant salvation, to vindicate his people, to guard his people, and to establish/keep/mark his people for all eternity. As his followers, living out of these truths, our call is to hold fast to what we have: keep his word, patiently endure, and not denyhis name.

The first whispers among Jesus’ disciples that Sunday in the holy city were almost too good to be true. The news of the empty tomb was unexpected. It was a shocking and dramatic reversal of the heartbreak and devastation they experienced over the previous three days. This news was so big, it would take weeks to sink in. In some ways, it would take his disciples the rest of their lives to truly und...

Throughout Jesus’ ministry, He has been casting out demons, healing the sick, raising the dead, and teaching about the kingdom of God through parables. Jesus often veiled His identity until Palm Sunday, which hastened His death. What was Jesus declaring about Himself, and what does it mean for us today? 

The city of Sardis believed it was invincible to attacks, just as the church in Sardis believed it was alive. However, it was actually dead or at least near death. The church needed the power and fullness of the Spirit to come alive again, which Jesus possessed. Jesus calls them to wake up and take action. The matter is urgent. The church is urged to remember and repent, with the promise of eterna...

The church in Thyatira is commended for its love, faithfulness, service, endurance, and progress in the Christian faith. However, the church began to grow soft in its love and turned to permissiveness and tolerance of evil. We learn that genuine love abides in truth; there is both tenderness and toughness, grace and truth. Jesus instructs His people to distance themselves from any teachings that t...

The church in Pergamum is commended for its perseverance in the faith, holding on to Christ and refusing to deny Him, despite severe persecution. However, the church began to compromise on God’s Word, putting itself in danger of destruction and judgment. We, too, are tempted to compromise on God’s Word, and the call to repentance for Pergamum is also for us.

Revelation 2:8–11 draws us into the heart of a suffering church—Smyrna—a people facing pressure, poverty, and slander because they belonged to Jesus. Yet Christ meets them withcomfort, courage, and a call to remain faithful, reminding them that He is the First and the Last, the One who died and rose again, and the One who limits suffering and secures eternal life. Today we’ll explore how Jesus kno...

The church in Ephesus is commended for its works, endurance, spiritual discernment, and hatred of evil. However, over time, callousness has arisen among its people. They have forgotten the mercy and grace they have received in Christ. The Lord Jesus calls them to remember and repent, and Hepromises a reward of eternal life. The message to the church in Ephesus is for our church today.

John encounters a vision of the Son of Man, and is overwhelmed by what he saw, and falls as if dead. The Son of Man speaks, reveals who He is, and instructs John to write what He sees, what is, and what will be. As we take a close look at the Son of Man, we will discover who He is, what He reveals about Himself, and what it means for the believer. 

John extends a prayer of grace and peace, reminding these seven churches that this grace and peace come from the Father, the Holy Spirit, and the Son. This means we can experience peace amid chaos, for God is everlasting, unchanging, faithful, and all-powerful, and He will establish His rule in a new and decisive way. To this, we can join John in a hymn of praise. 

John is writing to seven churches in a culture of increasing hostility and intolerance, where they are tempted to compromise and conform to social pressures. He repeatedly calls upon these churches to persevere to the very end, reminding them that Christ is coming back and sovereign over the evil they face. As we come to the prologue, we discover that Revelation is about Jesus and from Jesus, give...

When the apostles wrote about Christ's return, they did so to encourage believers and remind them of their hope, not to instill fear. It was meant to be eagerly awaited and to require diligent preparation. In our text, Peter instructs us on the preparations we should make while waiting for Christ's return.  

Peter, who rebuked the scoffer for deliberately overlooking the truth, turns to the faithful Christian and reminds them not to overlook the certainty of Christ’s return. Peter also recognizes that the faithful Christian will have questions about the return of Christ, especially after the seeds of doubt sown by the false teachers. We will examine the apparent delay, what Christ will do, and what so...

Peter turns his attention to the content of these false teachers’ teachings. These false teachers deny the return of Christ. Peter is going to encourage us to remember the truth of God’s Word and the Gospel we have come to believe, warn us of the dangers of scoffers who sow seeds of doubt, and provide us with evidence of God’s involvement in human history.