Faith Baptist Church

Hungry after Righteousness

An altered physical appetite is a sign of changes in the body and an altered spiritual appetite is a sign of a work of God in a man's heart. People that are blessed by God have a hunger and thirst after righteousness. In this case "righteousness" is referring to a desire to be right with God. This is not the appetite of men and women apart from the grace of God. When a man has an appetite to be right with God, the longings of his heart will be satisfied by God himself.

Saving Repentance

The Sermon on the Mount is not an anti-dote for social ills and a promotion of political activism. Neither is it applicable only for a future millennial kingdom. Jesus was evangelizing through this sermon. The first three beatitudes point to marks of a saving repentance.

The Priority of Proclamation

The ministry of Jesus consisted of teaching/preaching and of healing/miracles. The miracles were not primarily displays of compassion but signs of the identity of Jesus. Christianity at its core is not about physical and social dynamics; it is at its core a matter of responding with faith and obedience to the words of God.

Fishers of Men

This text records the call to four men to leave their occupation and serve in a full time capacity. The first prong of the call was to walk with the Lord. The second prong was to invest their lives in reaching men with the gospel. Their response was immediate even though it was at considerable cost.

Jesus's Enlightening Ministry

Matthew 4:12ff, records Matthew's first report of the public ministry of Jesus. From cross-referencing we know Matthew has skipped over earlier ministry in Judea and Nazareth and the opposition and rejection experienced. Matthew just points to the hand of God fulfilling Isaiah's prophecy to favor people in darkness with the light.

Tempted to Obtain God's Will Prematurely

In the third temptation the devil appealed to Jesus to obtain from him what the Father had already promised he'd give the Son. The appeal was to shortcut the wait and the difficulty endured during the wait. The response of the Lord indicated that waiting to receive God's will in God's time and God's way was an act of worship.

Tempted to Presumption

In the first temptation the devil urged Jesus to display his divine power to meet the needs of his humanity. In the second the devil used the Scripture to urge Jesus to prove his professed dependence on the words of His Father by doing something presumptuous in the name of faith.

Edifying Sacred Music

What are the qualities of sacred music that contribute to a true spiritual blessing as opposed to just a good feeling? A text saturated with the Scripture. A purpose to teach and admonish. And the entire package - text, sound, musician, musicianship, and all accessories be a suitable offering to the Lord.

Transformed by Renewing the Mind

You can be saved, surrendered, and separated and still miss out on living in the will of God if your mind is not saturated with the Word of God. The Word is the means the Spirit uses to transform us into the image of Christ.

A Living Sacrifice

Living very practically surrendered is not just a "requirement" to be in full time service and especially to be a missionary but is a necessary step to living in the center of God's will for every believer. The heart of the surrender is a heart of worship not just of doing my duty.

Combatting Conformity to the World

Living in the center of God's will requires battling the pressure of our enemy the world. The world functions under the control of the devil and includes not just overarching alienation from God but the fads that reflect the spirit of the current age.

Saving Faith

God wants you to experience life in the center of His will. He has outlined a proving process to that end. The Scripture first makes the assumption that those exhorted to apply the proving process are personal recipients of the mercies of God embraced through a saving faith. What are the marks of such a faith?

Unexplainable Suffering of a Godly Man

Job was godly and rich and the devil seized on this combination to claim Job was insincere and God had bribed Job into worshipping Him. God allowed Satan to afflict Job "without cause" in Job. Job grieved and yet still worshipped. What was the foundation of his worship?

Infinite God Revealing Himself to Finite Man

The eternal Creator God would remain unknowable and as if a Supreme Being or Supernatural Force if it were not for Jesus's taking on man's form and living among men and revealing a person full of grace and truth

Jesus, Rejected and Received

How did men respond to the claim Jesus is the Eternal God? How did men respond to the light that is in Jesus? How do those responses parallel the responses of the men of our day?

Jesus, The Light of Every Man

By virtue of being the Creator, Jesus is every man's light.

Jesus's Eternal Divine Nature

The true identity of Jesus is the foundation of the goodness of the Christmas story

The Lord's Table

Romans: Gospel Righteousness By Faith

The epistle of Romans reads like a doctrinal treatise and the thesis is that the gospel reveals the righteousness of God received by faith. What is this righteousness? In what way does man "receive" it?

Acts: Testify of the Gospel

After the first four books record the Good News of the coming of Jesus into the world, Acts continues the story of what Jesus had begun. He is still the primary actor in church history. Acts tells us what the Ascended Christ wants all disciples to be doing with the gospel record.

A Church and It's Missionaries

The Ascended Christ has made it clear he intends for the church to reach not only it's Jerusalem but Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth. What kind of a partnership does that require with the missionaries sent out of a church?