Lenexa Baptist Church

A Church for all generations. Weekly Sermons from Lenexa Baptist Church.

A Church for all generations. Weekly Sermons from Lenexa Baptist Church.

Paul breaks forth in glorious worship as he comes to the end of this section where he examines and works through God’s dealings with Israel. He concludes his summary of the redemptive purposes of God among both Jews and Gentiles. Then, he worships. It is a picture of how deep God’s salvation had penetrated his soul. Prior to Christ, we picture Paul as a very constrained, narrow and unemotional man...

Man has a natural inclination to believe (if they believe in God) that God is gracious on the basis of something in them. This is our native disposition, even if converted and born again: that God is gracious to me because of something in me. At that point, however, we deny the graciousness of God. We begin to make contracts with God. If I do (fill in the blank), then God will be more gracious to...

A bishop who served at Princeton Seminary during the 19th century was preparing to send 500 missionaries into an African country where they would risk their lives for the cause of Christ. The Bishop was asked, “Why would you send these young people to this place?” The response of the bishop was clear and simple. “Unless they go, the gospel will not go there. Unless the messengers are sent the gosp...

Have you ever shared the gospel with someone you loved and cared about and no matter how much you prayed and shared, they just wouldn’t accept Christ? It’s heartbreaking to see someone like this reject God, attempting to earn salvation when the salvation of Christ is extended before them as a gift of grace through faith. That was Paul’s heart for the Jewish people. Paul knew the gospel. Paul knew...

At the heart of Romans 9 is Paul’s evangelistic zeal for his kinsmen according to the flesh, Israel. Israel had been given so much privilege. They were given the wonderful privileges of the Law, the promises, the glory, the covenants and temple service. How could they miss the One to whom all these privileges pointed, Jesus Christ? This was not merely some theoretical or theological issue for Paul...

This week, we come to one of the most difficult and challenging sections in all of God’s Word. The text itself is not that hard to understand but is often hard for us to accept. Many come to these chapters looking for clarity and answers to some of their deepest theological questions. Some of you will come over the next few weeks to find out where I land on some of these issues regarding Israel an...

Romans 8 is the chapter of Christian assurance. The chapter begins with “no condemnation.” There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. No condemnation now or any time in the future. God’s verdict of acquittal in justification is a verdict that is irreversible. Then, at the end of the chapter, we find that there is “no separation.” There is no separation from the persisting love of God wh...

Mel Gibson’s “Passion of the Christ” portrayed the death of Christ in one of the most accurate ways ever seen by man, except for those who saw it firsthand. I saw the movie once. I have never seen it again. It is one thing to imagine the death of Christ; it is altogether different to see it portrayed in such a realistic way. In our Good Friday services, we will look at another portrayal of Christ’...

A Church for all generations. Weekly Sermons from Lenexa Baptist Church.

Why did Christ leave the glory of heaven? Why did Christ come to earth? Why did Christ die on the cross for our sins? These are primary questions that we must understand. If we get the answers to these questions wrong, we will end up rejecting Christ just like many in the crowd on that first Palm Sunday. When Jesus arrived in Jerusalem on that Palm Sunday, the majority of the crowd was overwhelmed...

Every week, we receive numerous prayer concerns. As pastors, we seek to pray over all these prayer concerns. When you combine the full prayer list with our cares and hospitalization list, it can be overwhelming. Just this week, some of our fellow church members received discouraging cancer news. We also held funerals for two beloved church members. Earlier in the week, Pastor Kelly conferred with...

In 2 Chronicles 20:12, Jehoshaphat prays, “For we are powerless before this great multitude who are coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are on You.” I wonder if some in the crowd weren’t thinking to themselves, “You call that leadership? No power. We don’t know what to do.” Most of the time we are looking for people who will say, “I am very powerful and I know exactly what t...

Imagine for a moment being someone with great financial troubles and difficulties—someone who has trouble making ends meet. For some of you, this may not be too difficult to imagine. It may be your present circumstances. But then imagine waking up one morning to discover that you are an heir to one of the wealthiest individuals in the world—someone who is infinitely and fabulously wealthy. One day...

As we have seen in previous weeks, genuine believers are no longer under God’s condemnation. We have been freed from the penalty and power of sin. But while sin no longer reigns, it does still remain. In our text this week, Paul expounds on the truth that not only are we not under condemnation, but we are also not under sin’s obligation. We can say no to our flesh every day. How? Through the patte...

We all long for security. We long for security in our relationships, our financial situation and when we sleep at night in our homes. If you have been the victim of identity theft, you know the value of a secure identity. Romans 8 is all about security. We have security with God because of what Christ has accomplished for us. The security of the believer, however, is not just some propositional tr...

This weekend we begin to study what many have referred to as the greatest chapter in all of God’s Word, Romans 8. It’s salvific and theological significance cannot be overstated. Few chapters in the Word rival Romans 8 in setting forth the Gospel and the plan of salvation. An old German commentator named Spener said that if the Bible was a ring and the book of Romans, a precious stone, chapter 8 w...

Romans 7:13-25 has been described as one of the most difficult passages in Romans to interpret. The primary question that dominates most of the discussion is, “Who is this man who is speaking here?” Is this Paul as a believer or an unbeliever? Is this Paul as a mature believer, or Paul reflecting on his past before fully grasping God’s revelation in Christ? Certainly, there are aspects of what Pau...

In order to keep the law, we must die to the law. If we are under the bondage of the law, we are not free from the dominion of sin to live and serve the Lord with joy. These are shocking statements. They are the essence of what Paul says in Romans 6-7, and they were the foundation of the accusations that haunted Paul in writing his letter to the Romans. Paul’s opponents were fearful that his teach...

If you have read ahead in Romans 7, you’ve probably asked the question, “How do marriage and death relate to sanctification?” Paul is a wonderful teacher in his use of illustrations. He has already helped to define sanctification as being “in Christ,” and last week he helped to define sanctification through the lens of the slave and master relationship. This week, as we turn our attention to Roman...

When the New Testament speaks of our salvation, it does so in the past tense. It speaks of believers as chosen, washed, justified and sanctified. At the moment of salvation, you were given to the Lordship of Christ. Yes, there is a process of growth, and you will continue to move forward and advance. Jim Elliot once said, “It takes the whole of your life to give the whole of your life to Christ.”...

Up to this point in Romans, we have received no real commands from Paul. He has not given us something to do. He has told us what Christ has done and who we are in Him. This is the pattern of Paul. He starts with doctrine and then moves to daily living, because Paul knows that behavior always follows our beliefs. This week, we will be introduced to our first real commands from Paul as we move from...

Where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more! This is a glorious statement and a wonderful reality of the gospel. For many living in Paul’s day, however, it was an incredibly dangerous statement. For them, it was a license to sin. If grace abounds more when I sin more, why not keep on sinning? To answer this question, Paul reminds us of what has really occurred in our hearts when we placed our fa...

If you have read ahead in Romans 5 to the verses we will study this week, you probably noticed that there is a significant difference between verses 12-21 and verses 1-11. A few years back, the deacon body set out to memorize Romans 5. The first eleven verses were no problem. The last nine were incredibly difficult, not just to memorize, but also to understand. I even had the thought this week tha...