A Covenant Keeping Advent

Download MP3
Speaker: Matt Carter
Scripture: Matthew 1:1-18
December 1, 2024

Sermon Outline

1. A Gospel built on two covenants

• Davidic covenant

• Abrahamic covenant

2. Grafted to Jesus’ family tree

3. God’s faithfulness through generations

• Famous and kingdom-advancing generations

• Invisible generations

• Foreign generations

• Scandalous generations

• Generations of division and exile

• Generations in which kingship has vanished

• The final generation

4. Two takeaways from our time in Matthew 1

Israel's December: Hoshea, Exile, Samaria Resettled

Download MP3
Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: 2 Kings 17:1-41
November 24, 2024

Sermon Outline

1. The beginning of the end

• Picture an imaginary future for the United States

• Israel’s situation in today’s text

2. Israel’s final days and ultimate collapse

• Too little, too late

• Hoshea’s folly

• Assyria’s vengeance

3. Why God let this happen

4. What counterfeit religion looks like

• Counterfeit religion often begins with ingratitude toward the one true God

• Counterfeit religion focuses on what is aesthetically pleasing

• Counterfeit religion invents itself; biblical faith receives what is revealed

• Counterfeit religion is after results; biblical worship is after God

• Counterfeit religion rots a person’s soul

• Counterfeit religion ruins not just ourselves, but also our descendants

• Counterfeit religion leads to judgment

5. How counterfeit religion is guarded against

6. The weeping Judge

A Pleasant Company: Jesus, the Twelve, and the Women

Download MP3
Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: Luke 8:1-3
November 17, 2024

Luke 8:1-3: After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; Joanna the wife of Cuza, the manager of Herod’s household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.

Sermon Outline

1. Three familiar scenes of 21st-century people

• Major TV networks watched by older folks

• Hollywood scenes of the supernatural

• The situation in the Middle East

2. A scene of some first-century people

• The twelve

• “Some women”

  • The women in general

  • Mary Magdalene

  • Joanna

  • Susanna

3. The man who drew them out of darkness

Anarchy in the Northern Kingdom: Zechariah-Pekah

Download MP3
Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: 2 Kings 15:8-31
November 10, 2024

Sermon Outline

1. The sad political story

• Two weeks ago — 41 years of prosperity

• Today — 21 years of anarchy

2. The bloody succession of kings

• Zechariah (6 months)

• Shallum (1 month)

• Menahem (10 years)

• Pekahiah (2 years)

3. Pekah’s reign and fall

• The darkening night

• The prophesied Light

4. What sin destroyed this nation?

• The sin that stands out

• Jesus on personal responsibility*

*As you study the Bible, remember that Scripture interprets Scripture

A Picture for Perseverance

Download MP3
Speaker: Dave Royes
Scripture: Revelation 1:9-20
November 3, 2024

Sermon Outline

1. An audible call

2. An overwhelming scene

• His presence is real

• His mediation is glorious

• His wisdom is infinite

• His perception is perfect

• His conquest is ongoing

3. A tangible comfort

• John’s response

• Jesus’ reassurance

October in Israel: Jeroboam II and the Writing Prophets

Download MP3
Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: 2 Kings 14:23-29
October 27, 2024

2 Kings 14:23-29: In the fifteenth year of Amaziah son of Joash king of Judah, Jeroboam son of Jehoash king of Israel became king in Samaria, and he reigned forty-one years. He did evil in the eyes of the LORD and did not turn away from any of the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit. He was the one who restored the boundaries of Israel from Lebo Hamath to the Sea of the Arabah, in accordance with the word of the LORD, the God of Israel, spoken through his servant Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet from Gath Hepher.

The LORD had seen how bitterly everyone in Israel, whether slave or free, was suffering; there was no one to help them. And since the LORD had not said he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam son of Jehoash. As for the other events of Jeroboam’s reign, all he did, and his military achievements, including how he recovered for Israel both Damascus and Hamath, which had belonged to Yaudi, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel? Jeroboam rested with his fathers, the kings of Israel. And Zechariah his son succeeded him as king.

Sermon Outline

1. Review and introduction

• Israel splits in two

• The southern kingdom

• The northern kingdom

2. Opening description of Jeroboam II

3. Point 1: It’s God’s nature to bless undeserving people

• How God blessed Jeroboam II

• Why God blessed Jeroboam II

4. God’s blessing does not necessarily mean God’s approval

• Examples from the minor prophets

• Applications

5. God’s judgments in one time/place are always to show mercy in another time/place

• Examples

• Where is this in today’s passage?

Rebellion and Obedience

Download MP3
Speaker: Andrew Hageman
Scripture: 1 Samuel 15
October 20, 2024

Sermon Outline

1. Overt Rebellion: Rebellion against God warrants destruction

• The cruelty and evil practices of the Amalekites

• God’s justice against the Amalekites

• What does this mean for us?

2. Covert Rebellion: The heart of covert rebellion is self-deception

• Covert rebellion begins with self-justification

• Covert rebellion often includes blame shifting

• Covert rebellion results in consequences

3. True Obedience: A relationship with God requires the true obedience which only Christ possesses

• God requires obedience, not sacrifices

• Our hope in Jesus Christ, the obedient King

Spiritual Flourishing

Download MP3
Speaker: Dave Royes
Scripture: Titus 1:1-11
October 13, 2024

Titus 1:1-11: Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life, which God, who lever lies, promised before the ages began, and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior;

To Titus, my true child in a common faith:

Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.

This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you — if anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife, and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination. For an overseer, as God’s steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it. For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party. They must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach.

Sermon Outline

1. Elders are a source of discipleship

2. Elders are a display of the Spirit

• Character

• Conviction

• Competency

3. Elders are for soundness of doctrine

Risky Request

Download MP3
Speaker: David Fogleboch
Scripture: Philemon 1-25
October 6, 2024

Philemon 1-25: Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother,

To Philemon our dear friend and fellow worker — also to Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier — and to the church that meets in your home:

Grace and peach to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, because I hear about your love for all his holy people and your faith in the Lord Jesus. I pray that your partnership with us in the faith may be effective in deepening your understanding of every good thing we share for the sake of Christ. Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the Lord’s people.

Therefore, although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do, yet I prefer to appeal to you on the basis of love. It is as none other than Paul — an old man and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus — that I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, who became my son while I was in chains. Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me.

I am sending him — who is my very heart — back to you. I would have liked to keep him with me so that he could take your place in helping me while I am in chains for the gospel. But I did not want you to do anything without your consent, so that any favor you do would not seem forced but would be voluntary. Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back forever — no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother. He is very dear to me but even dearer to you, both as a fellow man and as a brother in the Lord.

So if you consider me a partner, welcome him as you would welcome me. If he has done you any wrong or owes you anything, charge it to me. I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand. I will pay it back — not to mention that you owe me your very self. I do wish, brother, that I may have some benefit from you in the Lord; refresh my heart in Christ. Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you’ll do even more than I ask.

And one thing more: Prepare a guest room for me, because I hope to be restored to you in answer to your prayers.

Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends you greetings. And so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

Sermon Outline

1. The request

• Reconcile with a runaway slave

• The modern equivalent

2. The risks

• Paul’s friendship with Philemon

• Philemon’s reputation

• Onesimus’ life

3. Risking reconciliation

The Reigns of Jehoahaz and Jehoash

Download MP3
Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: 2 Kings 13:1-25
September 29, 2024

Sermon Outline

1. Jehoahaz

• “He did evil in the eyes of the LORD...”

• Result of this evil

• “Then Jehoahaz sought the LORD’s favor”

• How God did it

• Israel’s response

2. Jehoash

• Different king, same summary

• A significant episode

• A dead man lives again

3. Conclusion

Jehu Destroys Ahab's Family and Baal Worship

Download MP3
Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: 2 Kings 10:1-36
September 22, 2024

Sermon Outline

Destroying Ahab’s house

• Jehu’s challenge

• Heads roll in Samaria

• Jehu seeks support of citizens and soldiers in Jezreel

• Jehu slaughters Ahab’s house in Jezreel

2. Meeting relatives of Judah’s recently departed king

• Remember Ahaziah?

• The deadly meeting on the road to Samaria

3. Meeting a most unusual man

• Jehonadab the Recabite

• Jehonadab joins Jehu

• The principle of this part of the passage

4. Killing Baal worship

• A compulsory command

• Death and destruction

5. What are we to think of this chapter?

• Christian, don’t be naive about politics

• God uses scary unbelievers to achieve his holy purposes

• God often rewards unbelievers (in this life) for the good they do

• It won’t do to abandon the sins we don’t like, but cling to the sins we do like

The Heights of His Holiness

Download MP3
Speaker: Dave Royes
Scripture: Leviticus 14:33-56
September 15, 2024

Sermon Outline

The holiness of God in his sovereignty

• God’s promises are sure

• God’s providence is real

2. The holiness of God in his separation

• Uncleanness is contagious

• Uncleanness is deep-seated

• Uncleanness is persistent

• Uncleanness renders something fit for destruction

3. The holiness of God in his Son

• Provision for the cleansing of uncleanness

• A High Priest who is also a carpenter

4. Applications

• Do not despair over the shame you feel today

• There is great purpose in seemingly insignificant obedience to God

Jehu Kills Ahaziah, Joram, and Jezebel

Download MP3
Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: 2 Kings 9:1-37
September 8, 2024

Sermon Outline

1. Previously on The Northern Kingdom...

• Elijah flees

• Jehovah replies

• God’s plan to topple Baal in Israel

2. Jehu anointed as king

• Elisha sends a young prophet on a mission

• Reaction of Jehu’s lieutenants

3. Jehu kills two Baal-worshiping kings

• Killing Joram of Israel

• Killing Ahaziah of Judah

4. Killing Jezebel

• Jezebel prepares to die in style

• Jehu has Jezebel thrown out the window

• Jehu feasts while Jezebel is feasted on

5. Lessons

• Rebellion against God is fanned into flame by those we associate with

• Rebels vs. God are gradually storing up wrath for themselves

• God avenges his suffering people

• Is God’s wrath so gory and terrible?

Joram's Last Chance for Grace Meeting the Shunammite's Son

Download MP3
Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: 2 Kings 8:1-6
September 1, 2024

2 Kings 8:1-6: Now Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had restored to life, “Go away with your family and stay for a while wherever you can, because the LORD has decreed a famine in the land that will last seven years.” The woman proceeded to do as the man of God said. She and her family went away and stayed in the land of the Philistines seven years.

At the end of the seven years she came back from the land of the Philistines and went to the king to beg for her house and land. The king was talking to Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, and had said, “Tell me about all the great things Elisha has done.” Just as Gehazi was telling the king how Elisha had restored the dead to life, the woman whose son Elisha had brought back to life came to beg the king for her house and land.

Gehazi said, “This is the woman, my lord the king, and this is her son whom Elisha restored to life.” The king asked the woman about it, and she told him.

Then he assigned an official to her case and said to him, “Give back everything that belonged to her, including all the income from her land from the day she left the country until now.”

Sermon Outline

1. Background to today’s text (2 Kings 4 for reference)

2. King Joram had already seen God’s divine kindness through Elisha

• Aramean ambushes foiled

• Aramean army delivered into Joram’s hands

• Northern kingdom’s capital relieved of starvation

3. King Joram asks to hear more about Elisha’s great works

• The widow in debt

• Death in the stew

• Feeding one hundred

• A borrowed ax

• The Shunammite woman’s son

4. Lessons

• See how God cares for His own people

• See how important our response to accounts of God’s mercies are

Background for next week’s sermon

• 2 Kings 8:7-14, NIV: Hazael Murders Ben-Hadad

• 2 Kings 8:25-29, NIV: Ahaziah King of Judah

Who, Then, Is This?

Download MP3
Speaker: Wendell Stoltzfus
Scripture: Mark 4:35-41
August 25, 2024

Mark 4:35-41: On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

Sermon Outline

1. The fisherman and the sea

• Simon Peter

• Sea of Galilee

2. Jesus in the boat

• He had been teaching all day

• He still had a lesson to teach that night

3. The storm

• More than experienced fishermen could handle

• Eventually, the disciples ask Jesus to help

• Jesus rebukes the storm, then rebukes his disciples

4. The disciples’ reaction

• “Who then is this?”

• These sinful men realize they’re in the presence of the Holy One

• Jesus’ lesson for his disciples

5. The storms we encounter

• What makes us afraid?

• “Why are you so afraid?”

“Saints, When Absent from the Body, Are Present with the Lord” — A Sermon by Jonathan Edwards (1747)

Download MP3
Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:8
August 18, 2024

2 Corinthians 5:8: We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

Sermon Outline

1. Departed saints live in the same wonderful place as Christ

• Christ in Heaven still has a human nature

• Heaven is a place

• Angels are in heaven

• Departed saints are in heaven

• We who are saved will be in heaven

2. The souls of saints in Heaven have an unhindered sight of Jesus Christ

• When absent from friends, we can only think about them

• “But then we shall see him face to face”

• Those in Heaven see him “as he is”

3. Departed saints become perfectly like him by seeing him

4. Departed saints enjoy a glorious and immediate closeness with him

• Departed saints are present with the Lord

• But His glorious state won’t intimidate them

• Reasons with his majesty won’t intimidate them

Elisha's Fiery Horses and Chariots

Download MP3
Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: 2 Kings 6:8-23
August 11, 2024

Sermon Outline

1. Intro: Secrets are sometimes hard to keep.

• Aramean king’s secrets are being leaked.

• The new prophet on the block

2. The Aramean king sends an army to capture Elisha.

3. God is with His people, even when they cannot see it.

• First of three prayers

• Picture the fiery beings.

• Think of their number.

• Think what the actual miracle was.

4. How God protected Elisha and his servant

• Who made the first move?

• Second of three prayers

• Last of three prayers

5. God protects His people so that unbelievers may find that same protection in him.

• How Israel treated the captured Arameans

• What do we learn about God from this?

6. Lessons

Elijah, Elisha, and Chariots of Fire

Download MP3
Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: 2 Kings 2:1-12
August 4, 2024

2 Kings 2:1-12: Now when the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. And Elijah said to Elisha, “Please stay here, for the Lord has sent me as far as Bethel.” But Elisha said, “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel. And the sons of the prophets who were in Bethel came out to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that today the Lord will take away your master from over you?” And he said, “Yes, I know it; keep quiet.”

Elijah said to him, “Elisha, please stay here, for the Lord has sent me to Jericho.” But he said, “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they came to Jericho. The sons of the prophets who were at Jericho drew near to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that today the Lord will take away your master from over you?” And he answered, “Yes, I know it; keep quiet.”

Then Elijah said to him, “Please stay here, for the Lord has sent me to the Jordan.” But he said, “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So the two of them went on. Fifty men of the sons of the prophets also went and stood at some distance from them, as they both were standing by the Jordan. Then Elijah took his cloak and rolled it up and struck the water, and the water was parted to the one side and to the other, till the two of them could go over on dry ground.

When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask what I shall do for you, before I am taken from you.” And Elisha said, “Please let there be a double portion of your spirit on me.” And he said, “You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it shall be so for you, but if you do not see me, it shall not be so.” And as they still went on and talked, behold, chariots of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it and he cried, “My father, my father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” And he saw him no more.

Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them in two pieces.

Sermon Outline

1. Vexation at Elijah’s departure

• Anxiety at coming change

• The prophets go to Bethel

• The prophets go to Jericho

2. The prophets go to the Jordan

• Elijah’s last miracle

• Elijah asks his protege what he can do for him

• God takes Elijah away in style

• Elisha’s reaction

3. God reveals Elijah’s successor

• Elisha mourns, then gets to work

• Elisha is recognized as Elijah’s successor

4. Three short episodes to start Elisha’s ministry

• Episode 1: Ordinary ministry with Jericho’s prophets

• Episode 2: Ministry of God’s grace at Jericho

• Episode 3: Ministry of God’s judgment at Bethel

Ahaziah's Deathbed and Jehovah’s Stubborn Holiness

Download MP3
Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: 1 Kings 22:51-53 & 2 Kings 1:18
July 28, 2024

1 Kings 22:51-53: Ahaziah son of Ahab became king of Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel two years. He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, because he walked in the ways of his father and mother and in the ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin. He served and worshiped Baal and provoked the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger, just as his father had done.

2 Kings 1:18: As for all the other events of Ahaziah’s reign, and what he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel?

Sermon Outline

1. Ahaziah’s disappointments

• Disappointments over money

• Disappointments over his country

• Disappointments over physical trauma

• Disappointments from a shortened life span

2. In his disappointments, Ahaziah sought relief in idols

• The Lord of the Flies

• The insanity of idolatry

• How people “consult idols” today

3. God refused to tolerate Ahaziah’s idols

• Elijah intercepts, Ahaziah responds

• The ethics of the fire from heaven

• Ahaziah’s final attempt to arrest Elijah

4. God gives grace to the humble

• Humility grows from proper fear

• The Lamb of God bore God’s wrath for those who would believe

The Death of Ahab

Download MP3
Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: 1 Kings 22:1-40
July 21, 2024

Sermon Outline

1. A meeting between Ahab and Jehoshaphat

• The significance of Gilead

• Ahab proposes to retake Ramoth Gilead

• Jehoshaphat’s request

2. Pressure on Micaiah

• The pressure in general

• One pressure in particular

3. Micaiah speaks the truth

• Micaiah’s sarcastic sycophantic answer

• Micaiah’s serious, truthful answer

• Micaiah recounts his vision

4. Micaiah is punished for speaking the truth

• Zedekiah slaps Micaiah

• Ahab incarcerates Micaiah

5. Ahab dies in battle

• The battle proper

• God’s sovereignty in the battle

• Ahab’s burial

• A summary of Ahab’s life

6. A final word