Fork of The Broad/Sermons from Carlton Baptist Church

We’ve arrived at a place in James where there are ten commands grouped together.  Now, they’re sandwiched between two statements about humility – James 4:6 says God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.   If you need Jesus, all you need is to be humble enough to admit your need.  God’s grace is extended even to individuals who would never imagine that they deserved grace. In fact, the d...

When you slander and grumble, you’re removing God from the judgment seat, and placing yourself on the throne.  When you slander and grumble, you magnify the faults of others and minimize your own – That’s called hypocrisy.  Matthew 7:1-5, Jesus said, “Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you...

What if, instead of working so hard to get our plans for life to work, we made getting God our goal?   CS Lewis wrote, ”Aim at Heaven, and you’ll get earth thrown in; Aim at earth, and you’ll get neither.”  Be preoccupied with God's glory, and trust in His plans for you.  No matter what your circumstances, trust in His love.  Lewis also wrote, "And as Paul had it: "He who did not spa...

Having money isn’t inherently evil – It’s our attitude toward our money – how we get it, how we use it, and the good we do with it or neglect to do with it – that indicates what’s inside of our hearts.  Our actions with our money testifies to God in regard to the condition of our hearts.  Ray Pritchard wrote, "How you spend your money is a gospel issue. You needn’t feel guilty about having mo...

Our spiritual lives, the Christian life, is a life of waiting, specifically, waiting on the return of our King, Jesus, so that He can right all the wrongs in this world, and in the words of JRR Tolkein, “make everything sad come untrue”.  Now, waiting in the Biblical sense isn’t a sit on your hands and do nothing sort of thing, though – it’s a very pro-active approach to life, striving toward know...

Today’s text challenges us on a lot of different levels, but ultimately, it’s a call to examine ourselves to see if we’re relating to others in a way that brings glory to God. There’s a particular sin discussed here that we don’t think about very often – partiality. The Greek word that James uses here for partiality means to lean toward one person in favor of another – to play favorites based on s...

Elie Wiesel once wrote, “If an angel appears to you and says, ‘do not be afraid’, then it is most definitely time to be afraid.” Angels are often messengers, so if you meet an angel, he’s probably about to give you some extraordinary news or assignment that will likely throw your life completely off balance, and possibly turn the whole world upside down. Mary responds to the angel’s announcement,...

Isaiah defines the Messiah that is coming as "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace".  Bearing these majestic titles, Jesus is leading us toward a future pregnant and bursting with hope. But it all began with a baby – “To us a child is born…” I Corinthians 1:27 says that “God chose what is weak in the world to put to shame the strong” – God chose a baby with a m...

In today’s text, James identifies three signs of pure religion – three indicators that an individual is a true follower of Christ - How you speak How you serve Your stance toward sin John MacArthur wrote, “It’s not our perfection that proves our salvation; it’s the reaction to our imperfection…Is the normal pattern of your life as you look at your own heart a tongue that speaks good things, pure t...

In today's episode, we hear an exposition of John 3:16 for the second Sunday of Advent, the Sunday we celebrate the love of God.  The Good News of the Gospel is that Jesus Christ gave Himself fully, as a free gift, to bear the punishment for our sins on the cross, so that we don’t have to fear God’s judgment, but instead we can enjoy the forever love of God for all eternity. It’s an incredibl...

James defines people who claim Christianity as their system of faith in two categories - "Hearers of the Word" and "Doers of the Word".  A hearer does hear what the Word says; a doer actually takes the Word to heart, and impacts the way they think about life, sin, holiness, and eternity.  For the doer, the Word changes how they think, act, and feel about every aspect of life, and their p...

In today's text, James commands us to be " quick to hear, slow to speak, (and) slow to anger".   We achieve this change of our actions through a change of the heart, a change that can only be brought about by the Gospel.  God saves us by faith, keeps us in faith, and strengthens us in faith through the power of His implanted Word, renewing our minds, transforming our desires, and buildin...

The playwright Oscar Wilde wrote, “I can resist anything except temptation.”  Every one of us, at some point in life, has had the desire to do something that we either know is wrong or we know isn’t wise. Now, these choices we make to give in to temptation aren’t always earth-shattering sins – Sometimes it’s simple things like repeating some gossip you’ve heard about someone, or coming up wit...

We have a tendency to categorize people  according to money and material possessions – There are haves and have nots. There are the rich and then there are the poor. The people who are poor resent the people who are rich because they wish they had what the rich people have. The people who are rich look down on the poor because obviously, they’re lazy or they just don’t want to get ahead. &nbs...

Sam Storms defines wisdom this way - "It is the God-given ability to take the scattered, chaotic, and seemingly senseless trials and afflictions of life and understand them as God’s way of producing Christian maturity."  If we ask, God will give us an eternal, Big-God view of our temporary, small trials in life.  The wisdom we need is not from politicians or pop culture – I Corinthians 1...

James teaches us in these first few lines that the trials that come our way aren’t intended to shake our faith or see if our faith is real; instead, these difficult things happen in life to increase and deepen our faith and our confidence in the character of  God. So we go through difficult things to reach a positive end – to make us more like Jesus.  Those who have faith in Christ can r...

Where do you look for joy and satisfaction?  Most of us look horizontally, at temporary, earthly things - our possessions, our social status, our careers, our family, our achievements in life.  But Solomon challenges us to look horizontally, to God Himself, as the greatest source of joy and satisfaction we could ever experience.

In today's text, Solomon gives us 6 negative facts about money, and 2 positive facts about money, and teaches us to keep the gift in context - the Giver, God himself, is of much greater value.  Matthew 6:21 says “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” . How you earn, spend, save, budget, and give away the gifts God gives you is a direct indicator of how much you love the Giver...

In today's text, Solomon gives us four commands for the worship of God - Guard your steps. Watch your mouth. Keep your vows. Stand in awe.  Remember God in the days of your youth. Fear God, and keep His commandments. This fear always asks one question when we’re faced with choices in our lives – “ Does my Father in Heaven approve?” And you ask it not because you are in terror of Him – but bec...

God created human beings to be in relationship - In fact, the first thing God said was "not good" was for "man to be alone".  You’re created to have relationships as a priority in your life – Relationship with other believers in the context of a church family helps ease the weight of burdens you can't bear on your own -and no relationship is of greater importance than your relationship with J...

Sometimes we get caught up in the mindset of wishing people would "get what they deserve" - Which sounds reasonable, until the idea is applied to me personally!  Here's the good news – Life isn’t fair. If life was fair, God would absolutely obliterate us for our sins.  Jesus didn’t come for the winners in the world.  Instead, Jesus identifies with the poor, the blind and crippled, t...

Pastor and author Dustin Benge framed the theme of this passage with these words - “The world is not falling apart.  It’s falling together into God’s sovereign plan.” God is in control, no matter what your circumstances in life may be. No matter what your circumstances are, God is sovereign over them, and the time he has placed you in for this moment is a gift - And in eternity, He will set r...

The theme for the episode is " “True joy comes not from our striving, but from God’s giving.”   We so often get caught up in experiencing the gifts God gives us, we forget the Giver.  There’s a place in your heart that only God Himself can occupy. Knowing Jesus is the most important thing, the one thing, the good portion. I John 4:19 says: “ We love because he first loved us ”. We love G...

Life is short.  Life is repetitive.  Life can be difficult. Ecclesiastes teaches us that life is just a breath.  Knowing that, all of our work and efforts and striving can leave us feeling empty - which is exactly what the writer intends.  This book compels us to understand the emptiness of our short, repetitive, difficult lives, so that we can fill ourselves with eternal truth...

Paul spends the first 11 chapters of The Book of Romans explaining the Gospel, how men might be saved, and the theological implications of this. He closes that portion of his letter by bursting into an explosion of praise. In the text, doctrine blooms into devotion; theology (what we teach) gives birth to doxology (an expression of worship); and Paul’s passion for truth is laid bare for us all to...