PHBCSteubenville

This sermon was originally preached on April 21, 2024.

This sermon was originally preached on April 14, 2024.

In the second major teaching of Matthew, Jesus gives his disciples instructions for what they are to do as he sends them out to the surrounding cities. These are instructions we should pay attention to as we develop ministries in our churches.

The story of Noah and the Ark is one of the most known stories in all the Bible and it is meant to point us to Christ.

There are no extraordinary people, just ordinary ones who follow an extraordinary God.

With so many methods for evangelism, what is the best one? The one that God established: The church being the church.

We can do all the preparing in the world, but sharing the gospel requires words to be spoken. If we don't speak, we have not evangelized.

Have you ever tried to share the Gospel with someone only to turn away at the last second? You're not alone. We all have been bested by our fear at some point. How can we overcome our fear and be faithful in Gospel proclamation?

Why do we not evangelize? Is it because fear is present? Or is it because we lack love?

In our evangelism we are too quick to assume that people are starting from a similar point as where we ourselves are. This is problematic if we are then unwilling to ask questions to grow to understand why they believe what they believe and how the gospel speaks directly to their lives. Listen in for some helpful teaching on checking the context of the people we are interacting with.

Our first step in sharing the gospel with others is to actually know, believe, and love the gospel and allowing that to overflow into our lives. If we do not start here, then we will ultimately fail to boldly proclaim the gospel to those who are lost. Once we grasp this, then we are able to move on to be faithful evangelists.

We are called to remember and rejoice over the things that God has done. We are also called to confess where we have fallen short and to plan how to better honor God in our future. This week we did all of these at PHBC and sought to unite around a shared goal: to glorify Christ! (This sermon was originally delivered on January 28, 2024.)

In Matthew 9, Jesus tells his disciples to pray earnestly that God would send laborers into the harvest, but does there come a point when, instead of praying for laborers, it becomes necessary that we pray for labor instead?

This sermon was originally preached on January 7, 2024.

This sermon was originally preached on December 31, 2023.

In this short sermon, we are encouraged to go and love others as God has shown His love for us.

We use the word joy a lot, especially around the season of Advent, but far too often we confuse joy with happiness. What does it really mean to have joy, particularly as Christians?

This week we lit the Advent Candle of Peace and studied how our peace with God was brought through the suffering of Christ.

The Advent season is one of great hope and longing for the Messiah to come. We have this hope because our God does not leave us alone.

There are many depictions of Jesus in our culture and all of them ultimately come up short. As we come into the time of Advent, it can be tempting to look to the "sweet baby Jesus" in the manger and stop there, but the book of Revelation gives us a much more glorious view of Jesus that we would be wise to heed.

What wedding is complete without food? Jesus asks a question similar to this in today's passage and introduces us to the concept of Jesus as a bridegroom and his people as his bride.

Do you recognize your need for healing or do you think you have no need for a physician?

What does it mean to be part of the family of God? What are the perks and responsibilities involved with being part of this family? Who actually is part of it? How do we know whether we are a part of it at all?

What's your story? How do you tell it? In today's passage we are introduced to the author of the book of Matthew for the first time when we are already a quarter of the way through the book. The main legacy of his life is his book in the Bible and he's barely in it. Why is that? The story Matthew had to tell was Christ's story and not his own.

There are few stories more beloved by Christians than the story of the paralyzed man being lowered before Jesus. What is interesting to note is that Jesus' primary concern was not the man's physical wellbeing, but rather his spiritual wellbeing.