IBCD Sermon Weekly

It Is Finished

The King on the donkey

Jesus' coming on a donkey symbolized humility and peace. It's not necessarily what the people expected but it is what they needed! How can we follow His example?

You Reap What You Sow

The entire letter to the Galatians has been a reminder, again and again, that there is only one way to build toward an eternal future, and that is to place your investment into eternal hands. Those are the hands of Jesus. We cannot live a life of sin, which is by default an investment into sin, and pay lip service to Christ and expect to live in the blessing of God today and for eternity.

Carry Each Other’s Burdens…Carefully.

I cannot tell you how many times I have known pastors, elders, and other well-meaning people in their churches brought down by the very thing they are trying to step in and prevent in the life of another person. I have known people to get into affairs with the people they were trying to council out of having an affair. I have known people sucked into crippling gambling addictions who were introduced to the world of gambling when they reached out to help someone caught up in gambling. The same go...

Walk by the Spirit

In order to do God's will, we cannot rely on ourselves. Thus, Paul tells us to walk by the Spirit! But what does he mean with that? How can we walk by the Spirit?

Running the Race Without Distraction

Today we are looking at some things which can cut in on you and keep you from obeying the truth as you run the race of faith. And, like yeast that works its way through the whole of the dough, these things are all related to one another to make up the impossibly inedible loaf of salvation through our own works and self-righteousness.

Free to be Free

A lot of what it means to be happy, to be content – not complacent – but content, to have joy take place within our hearts and minds. To be sure, our physical situation affects how we feel about love, faith, hope and joy, which is why the Bible says if you are a slave and can gain physical freedom you should do so – but the physical is also temporary and that which is temporary is not a place to put eternal hope.

Ministry Fair 2024

So, in the sermon today I’d like to explain some of the understandings I have and most of our leadership has around the functions of the church and the involvement of the people which make up the church. The reason I’m doing this is many folks here do not come from a “Baptistic” background and also churches vary from place to place as to how they function and why. In addition, I think many of you are where I was before this time in my life where you appreciate the church, even love the church, b...

No Turning Back

Discipleship is a core aspect of discipleship. A common danger in that journey is that believers start turning back to the earthly principles. How does the fact that God knows them save them from that danger?

Free Indeed

Freedom and Grace often go together in our minds. But Grace in Christ does not mean we are free to sin! But how do we live in a Christ-centered freedom? Galatians 4:6-7 6 Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father." 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.

Bound for Freedom

By faith Christians follow a person, trusting in his character and deeds, not a Law which served only to show how inadequate we are as human beings to follow any Law, be it administered by Kings or angels. This stepping away from following the Law of Moses to following the person of Jesus Christ as the path to righteousness was seen as heresy by many within Judaism. It took the Law, which was revered, and made it obsolete – its purpose fulfilled, which is good, but once fulfilled – obsolete. Thi...

The Dance of Works and Faith

In my experience one of the most underappreciated aspects of Christianity is the nuance of works and faith. While the scripture makes it clear that we cannot earn our salvation through self-improvement or good works. However, our relationship with the Holy Spirit is to so affect our lives that we are, indeed, characterized by good works. How do works and faith work together?

Guided by the Lord

Sunday Sermon by Christopher Uchegbuo Proverbs 3:5-6; Jeremiah 10:23

Love

Today is the fourth Sunday of Advent. The theme we are looking at today is “Love”. What does it mean that God loves us? How does the incarnation show us God’s love? I think one of the most important aspects of love, is the quality of empathy.

Rejoice

Today is the Third Sunday of Advent. The theme is “Rejoice”. The verse used in the more liturgical churches is Philippians 4:4: "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!" What’s interesting is that this is said in the context of conflict. The hope within the rejoicing and conflict is that there is the promise that the Lord is near.

Peace

The second Sunday of Advent has the theme of “Peace”. Peace is not just the hiatus between conflicts. The scripture tells us that there will always be wars and rumors of war, at least so long as sin is present in the world. So, peace has to mean something more than just the space between conflicts. This even goes for personal relationships. It is not really all that “peaceful” to be in between conflicts when you know sooner or later, another fight, argument, or whatever is coming. So, peace is n...

Hope

The first Sunday of Advent has the theme of “Hope”. The first candle is called the “prophet’s candle” because it represents the Old Testament expectation of the coming Messiah. Hope is more than wishful thinking, it is living with expectation. As Christians, we are to be people of Hope because we have the risen Christ to assure us of our own victory over sin and death.

Conflict to Enlightenment

Today we are looking at an argument Paul had with Peter regarding Peter’s relationship with non-Jewish believers. Paul retells the story of this conflict in order to illustrate the point to the Galatians that they are making a mistake by placing themselves back under the law of Moses.

Old Beliefs Die Hard

In the letter to the Galatians, the old belief which is having a hard time dying was the necessity for a person to become first a Jew, men by circumcision, women by baptism, before then becoming Christians. It was essentially placing oneself under the Old Testament Law, and then, somehow, fitting in Jesus and his sacrifice for our sins. It was trying to have both of these religious beliefs somehow live together. The problem is, they cannot.

A Living Testimony

In the letter to the Galatians, Paul gives a lot of autobiographical information. One reason he does this is because he is a living example of God’s grace and forgiveness, which the Galatians seem to be trading in for going back under the Mosaic Law.

Grounded in Grace

Today we are starting a sermon series through Galatians. It is a letter in which Paul gives a lot of insight into who he is and why he believes the way he does. (He is an intense guy.) Understanding the man helps us understand what he wrote, so today we will be looking at Paul’s perspective on himself and on Christ.

Preserved for a Purpose

As the prophecies of Amos come to an end, just like we so often see in the Psalms, what begins as sad or broken ends with a note of hope because, even though sometimes it does not feel like it, God does have a plan. And the plan for Israel was to be a nation from which salvation would come – a fact Jesus reminds the descendant of the Northen Kingdom of Israel of when he speaks to the woman at the well: John 4:22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvati...

Compromise and Faith

Amaziah the High Priest of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. He is undoubtably aware of the parallels going one between the first Jeroboam and the unnamed prophet 150 years earlier and the current Jeroboam and Amos. (1 Kings 13:1-10) Amaziah is not about to let this turn into the kind of event which took place 150 years ago - so he decides to cut this whole thing short. As a result, he is only remembered for compromise.

How Does God Measure Righteousness?

One of the questions Amos forces us to ask is what makes a nation, a community or individual righteous? How does God measure righteousness? This is the lesson in the plumb line.

Are You Rich?

As we continue in the book of Amos, one of the themes in his preaching was the abuse of the poor by the rich. It was an abuse of economics, and an abuse of justice – both of which often went hand in hand. In Chapter six, he uses words to paint a picture which presents a group of people who are living lives completely numbed to reality by their comforts and entertainments.

Who Does God Stand With?

It seems that the people of Israel felt that God had to be with them, had to support them, and would never allow their Kingdom to fall simply because they were Israelites. They were the people of promise, the children of Abraham, and God simply had to be with them, and for them, because of who they were. They could not conceive that God’s hand could ever be against them. Are we any different? What can we learn from this?

The Message of Affliction

I know my first inclination when I face difficulty is to say, “life is hard in a fallen world”. However affliction is different. Affliction has the element of the “deliberate” attached to it. Most often affliction is brought about by some area of unrighteousness in a nation, or an individual’s life; it is brought as a wakeup call by God, not Satan. You may say, “That seems cruel of God,” but when you read the scripture, God only brings this affliction when people, especially those who claim him ...

What Makes A Nation Righteous?

Several weeks ago, a couple months ago in fact, the Lord laid on my heart to preach out of the book of Amos. I have to admit my first thought was, “Amos? Why Amos?” However, as I read, prayed and studied it became apparent that Amos was a man who struggled with the question of “What makes a nation righteous?” He struggled and then preached without compromise and, as a result, made himself a few enemies, but history has vindicated his words as true from the Lord.