Lead Pastor
Sermons by Wade Allen (Page 25)
As we continue looking at the “One Big Story” of Scripture, I believe that it is vitally important that we understand God’s motivation for redeeming mankind out of the degenerate state of sin that we are in. Isaiah 43:6-7 says: “Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth [says the Lord] . . . everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory.” It is God’s goal for us to bring glory to His Name! It is God’s desire that we pursue His glory in and through our lives, but we are unable to do that without the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit at work in us.
After the fall of man in Genesis 2-3, there were very few ‘bright spots’ mentioned in Scripture. Mankind seemed to be spiraling further downward into sin and self-indulgence. By the time we come to Genesis 6, the Lord looked down upon the earth and saw only wickedness—except in the heart of a man named Noah. Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. In this study, we will take some time to consider the well-known account of Noah and his ark. In keeping with our sermon series—One Big Story: God’s Redemptive Story through Scripture—we will not be focusing on all the details of Genesis 6-8. Our focus will be on the foreshadowing of God’s redemptive work through His Son, Jesus, in this chronicle concerning the ark.
After completing His creation, God placed Adam and Eve into the Garden of Eden—a beautiful garden that provided for all their needs. There in the garden, Adam and Eve walked and talked with God. They were friends! But when Adam and Eve chose to disobey God, that friendship was destroyed. The consequence of their disobedience was death—both physical death and a spiritual separation from God. There was nothing that Adam and Eve could do to restore that relationship; and there is nothing that we are able to do either. But God made provision for us by His mercy and grace to be reconciled to Him.
God will be the focus of this study. Of course we will learn about many other historical characters as we crisscross the pages of Scripture, but God is the Hero of this story. The Bible is His book and it is One Big Story. We will begin our study of this One Big Story in the beginning—the very beginning—when God created man and woman in His own image. God made man in His image so that man would be able to know God and communicate with Him. It is God’s desire to know everyone personally. That’s why He created us!
Part 3 of Series…The Life of Jesus according to the Book of Matthew
We are continuing our study through 2 Timothy and considering the concept of exhortation. Paul is exhorting Timothy to fulfill the work of the ministry. In this study, we’ll look first at the motivation for fulfilling the work of the ministry. Next we’ll consider the mandate to “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.” Finally we’ll spend some time considering the reasons or purposes behind this encouragement.
As we continue our study through 2 Timothy—Live truth. Pass it on.—we’re going to take some time today to consider the true essence of the Bible. We believe that the Bible was breathed out by God—in other words, it is the verbal plenary inspiration of God. That means that “every word found in the Bible is given to us by God (verbal), everything in the Bible is authoritative (plenary), and every word is also divinely directed (inspired).” We cannot pick and choose what we want to believe. We believe the Bible in its entirety or not at all!
Part 2 of Series…The Life of Jesus according to the Book of Matthew