1998

December 27, 1998

The Groanings of the Spirit

Where is the Lord Jesus right now? He is actually here in the person of the Spirit. But did you know Jesus Christ was crucified, he was buried, he was resurrected, and he ascended into heaven and the Bible says right now he is seated at the right hand of God, the Father, and do you know what he is doing? He is interceding for me. He is interceding for you. The Bible says there is one mediator between God and man. It is the man, Jesus Christ! Isn’t it good to know Jesus is praying for you?

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December 13, 1998

Hang on to Hope

The Apostle Paul said if you take all of the suffering you’ve ever endured in this life, it is like a drop in the bucket compared to a vast, deep ocean of glory that’s going to come. And so today, we’re going to look into the future and talk about the future glory. Paul will give us three examples of why we ought to have hope and the words drawing these three together is the word “groan.” First of all, he talks about creation groaning, then he talks about how we groan, and in the third example the Bible says even the Holy Spirit groans in us in prayer.

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December 6, 1998

All in the Family

You can rejoice because the Father lovingly chose us. It was His love that caused us to be chosen by him. Have you ever stopped and thought, “Why me? Why did God choose me to be his child?” It just pleased God to do so. It gave God pleasure to choose you to be his child. And when God does something he does it so he derives personal pleasure from it. That’s why he did it.

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November 29, 1998

Mindset = Lifestyle

Paul said, “Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.” I call this frustration without faith. Surveys tell us most people in America believes in God. Most people in America really want to try and please God. But if they don’t have faith it is just a constant frustrating experience, because most people think the way you please God is by ceasing to do “wrong things,” stopping the sinful faults we all have, cleaning up our acts, or getting it all together. And the thing we learn in the book of Romans is we don’t have the power to do that!

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November 29, 1998

Samson’s Bad Hair Day

Of course the story of Samson is a story you have heard all of your life. I don’t know about you, but I always used to picture Samson as some huge, built-up, bulked-up, he-man! I mean a guy that looked like Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Incredible Hulk all put together. The more I studied the text, the more I am convinced he probably didn’t look like that at all, because the source of Samson’s strength was not his hair, the source of Samson’s strength was not his muscles, the source of Samson’s strength was the Holy Spirit of God, because of his commitment and his devotion. It is clear every time he did something requiring supernatural strength, it was the Spirit of God coming on him. A study of “the downward slope” of Samson’s spiritual decline.

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November 15, 1998

The Joy of the Spirit-Filled Life

Romans 8 is all about how to live in the fullness of the Holy Spirit. You start out with no condemnation in Romans 8–you end up with no separation–and in between you have all things working together for good for them that love the Lord. So I want to talk to you about how as spirit-filled Christians we can make four wonderful affirmations.

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November 8, 1998

Correcting Your “I” Problem

It is believed Paul was saved around 35 A.D. and we believe he wrote this letter to the Romans in about 57 A.D. That means he had been a believer for 22 years, and after 22 years of knowing Jesus Christ, and as a maturing Christian, he says, “I still have to deal with and confront sin.”

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November 8, 1998

Judge Gideon’s Victory, part 2

God takes the simple things of life and tests us. What was God trying to teach Gideon? What was he trying to teach the Israelites? The New Testament message is this “Be serious. Be vigilant, because our enemy, the devil, roams about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.” You and I as Christians like these three hundred faithful must be vigilant.

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November 1, 1998

Have You Reached the Age of Accountability?

We become accountable when we know we are choosing to sin. When we know it’s right or wrong, that’s when the law has come alive and that’s when as he says in Romans 7:9, “Sin springs to life and that person dies spiritually.” Parents often ask me, “How old is a child when they reach the age of accountability?” I can’t answer that because children develop at different stages, emotionally and spiritually, and this development is not always attached to a biological age. But it has been my observation most children reach that age around 7, 8, 9, 10, when they know what the rules are, but then they knowingly and willfully choose to break the rules. You’ve got to understand the Bible teaches we are sinners by nature from when we are born, but we also become sinners by choice when we choose to break the rules and that’s when we are held accountable.

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October 25, 1998

When a Second Marriage is Better

What’s the difference between living under law and living released from law in a relationship with Jesus? There may be some people who put their children in a safety seat because the law says to do it and they’re afraid that if they get stopped and their child is not in the correct seat, they may get a ticket. You know what motivates them? Fear of being caught. That’s what it’s like to live under the law. But I know this is true of all of you who have children. You know the reason you put your child in that safety seat is not because the law of Texas says to do it, but because you love that child. You do it because the very last thing in the world you’d ever want to happen to that child is for him to be hurt. This person does it out of fear–this person does it out of love. I obey the law of God not because I’m afraid, but because I love Jesus. Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”

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October 25, 1998

Judge Gideon’s Victory, part 1

God reveals his will in a variety of ways. Is it okay for me and you to lay a fleece out before the Lord? Christians do it and I’ve done it but it is a dangerous thing to do. God spoke to Moses through a burning bush. Can you give me one other person in the Bible he spoke to out of a burning bush? You make a mistake if you go around to every bush and wait for it to catch on fire for God to speak to you. God spoke to Gideon through a fleece that got wet and then got dry. God blinded the apostle Paul on the road to Damascus and spoke to him in a voice. Are you waiting for God to do that? Who else did he do that to? When you study the word of God you find God spoke in a variety of ways and God has a variety of ways he shares his will.

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October 18, 1998

Life’s Greatest Choice

You ask most people and they say, “living forever, existing forever.” The only thing wrong with that is that some of you are so miserable right now in your life the idea of existing as you’re existing right now forever– that’s eternal misery. No, eternal life is not a quantity of life, it is not how long it is, it’s how deep it is, how wonderful it is, how good it is. If you want to know what eternal life is, look at John 17:3 where Jesus says, “Now this is eternal life. That they may know you, the only true God, and know Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” What is eternal life? It is knowing God; it is knowing Jesus Christ.

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October 18, 1998

The Tragedy of “Secret Sin”

I want to talk to you about the tragedy of “secret” sin. I put quotes around it is because no sin is secret. You just THINK it is secret. Achan thought what he did was a personal “secret” sin. I don’t want you to think so much about Achan tonight and I don’t want you to think so much about any other person who might have committed the kind of sin we are talking about tonight and covered it up. I want you to discover if there is any hidden secret sin in your life.

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October 11, 1998

Joshua DIDN’T Fight the Battle of Jericho

When God tells us to do things sometimes in the word, we look at it and we say, “Why?” That’s not the right response. We should just obey the Lord and not ask why, because God is trying to get us ready for even bigger and better things. Sometimes when God tells us to do simple things in the word of God, we want to look at and say, “Why would we do that? We want bigger and better things!” God is just training us. He is getting us ready.

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September 20, 1998

Free at Last!

The apostle Paul uses the issue of slavery to simply illustrate and demonstrate how sometimes people can be in bondage to sin, and then how we need to be in servitude to God. When you talk about slavery, the only image many of us have of slavery is antebellum slavery in the South, Uncle Tom’s cabin. But, that’s not really the historical backdrop against which Paul is writing. In the Roman Empire there were millions of slaves, and we would call these people indentured servants, bond slaves, people who were often so close to the family members we have many historical records of a slave literally being adopted into a family and becoming the legal heir of the leaders of that family. Paul said you used to be slaves to sin, now you are slaves to God.

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September 20, 1998

Rahab and the Spies

In this first story about the beginning of the conquering of the Promised Land shows us that God can strike a mighty lick with a crooked stick. In other words, God can use all kinds of people–anyone who’s available to him. I want to go below the level of the actual historical story itself and talk about how what Rahab did is a beautiful picture of what all of us must do if we want to be redeemed, if we want to be part of the family of God, because this is basically what Rahab did. She was a part of the people who lived in the area around Jericho, but she made a decision. She said, “I no longer want to be affiliated with my past with these people of my past I choose to be a part of the family of God.” If you want to be a part of the family of God you have to follow five steps.

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September 13, 1998

Wanted: Dead and Alive

A problem for a lot of people who name the name of Jesus as Christians is there hasn’t been a lot of growth in their Christian life. If I could have a timeline up here, there would be a point in time when you were B.C. (Before Christ) but then there was a point of conversion where you passed from death unto life. The problem a lot of Christians have is they don’t grow much beyond that point. There is no growth in grace, as the Bible calls it. They stay to close to the point of conversion.

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August 23, 1998

Many People in One Grave

This passage of scripture addresses Christians who have been born again and describes what has happened to us. I’ll remind you this is not about things that ought to happen to you. These are not things you ought to try to do. These are things that are true realities in your life if you are born again.

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August 23, 1998

Snakes in the Wilderness

From the very moment Satan slithered his slimy existence before Eve, there has been something sssinister and sssinful and ssscary about sssnakes! A study of the nation of Israel’s rebellion against God and the swift punishment they received.

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August 16, 1998

A Tale of Four Kings

Do you remember what happened to Adam when he sinned? He died immediately in his spirit, he died gradually in his soul, and he died ultimately in his body. Now, let me tell you what salvation is. It reverses it. Look at it. When you receive Jesus you receive life immediately in your spirit. Instantaneously, you are justified. Immediately, you receive life in your spirit.

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August 2, 1998

Don’t Waste Your Sorrows

As long as we are cruising along, we have everything under control and we can handle it. We are not depending on God. So, one reason God allows suffering is so we will depend on him. I didn’t say God causes suffering, but he allows it. Here’s another reason, because suffering shows us the value of God’s grace. Sometimes, we think grace was just something way back yonder when we got saved. It was grace that brought about the forgiveness of our sins, but we forget that God’s grace is active right now, present tense.

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July 27, 1998

Are You Wandering in the Wilderness?

There are a lot of Christians who are wandering in the wilderness. You can tell you are wandering in the wilderness by the landmarks you pass by every day. Landmark number one is spiritual boredom, when the things of the Christian life don’t excite you.

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July 26, 1998

The Blessed Benefits of God’s Love

The secret to living the Christian life is not trying to imitate Jesus. It is not trying to perform all these Christian acts in the strength of your flesh because Jesus said in John, 15:5, “Without me, you can do nothing.” The secret to the Christian life is allowing Jesus simply to control every part of your life so his character is just displayed.

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July 19, 1998

A Foretaste of Glory Divine

I admire women and men who can take a piece of fabric, put it down on a table, and then can take a dress pattern and put the pattern down on the fabric and cut out along the dotted lines, and then sew it together, and have a beautiful garment. That’s a miracle to me! I want you to know that I could never do that. What God is saying, “Upon the fabric of human suffering, I have superimposed my Biblical pattern, and if you will understand what I am trying to do, the result will be something beautiful if you just don’t mess it up.”

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July 12, 1998

A Credit Line of Righteousness

The difference between when Jesus died and the death of every martyr or every hero who ever died is this: Those people died and they are still dead. The thing about Jesus Christ is he died, he was buried, and he came back after three days. We wouldn’t have Christianity to celebrate if there was not a risen Savior. He would be just a good man who died. We wouldn’t be here today. We wouldn’t believe this book. We wouldn’t tell people how to be saved. It’s the fact he’s alive today! That was God’s stamp: PAID IN FULL. He was delivered over for our sins and was resurrected for our justification.

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July 5, 1998

Faith 101

When somebody directs us to do something, before we take the first step, most of us want to know all the details. In fact, if Abraham had been like most of us, and God had spoken to us, we would have said, “Now wait a minute. I need to know who you are, God. What’s your name?” Abraham didn’t ask. We would have asked, “Now, Lord, we want to know exactly where it is you are going to take us. What is the name of the land you are leading us to?” Abraham didn’t ask that. Later on, Abraham just kept on moving by faith until he came to this land that was going to one day be Israel.

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June 28, 1998

God of Grace and God of Glory

Have you ever been in a relationship with somebody and it seemed like you could not please them? Some of you I’m sure have been and may be married to people like that. That’s somewhat true of God, because if you try on the basis of your own behavior to earn God’s approval or his glory, you’ll miss the target every time.

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June 21, 1998

Look in the Mirror

You and I struggle with guilt, because we’re guilty. The sooner you and I admit we are sinners by nature and by choice, and we are guilty, the sooner we can move on to receive the forgiveness of God. A reflection of our guilt in four areas.

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June 14, 1998

Objection Overruled!

The question the writer of Hebrews asks is the question all of us ought to be considering: How shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? Here’s the bottom line! God is holy, and he must punish sin. We are sinful and in one way or another, we’re going to have to deal with the punishment of God against sin.

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June 7, 1998

The False Security of Religion

You can be religious, ritualistic, a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof, and people around you will look at you, and they will say, “Oh, what a fine, religious, spiritual person he or she is.” And you’ll receive the praise of men. Or you can choose to live Godly, and one day the only applause you will hear will be the applause of the nail-scarred hands and he’ll say, “Well, done good and faithful servant.” Let’s just boil it down. Who are you trying to please? Are you into a religion or are you into a relationship?

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May 31, 1998

The Law Written on Your Heart

Our judgment is not like God’s judgment. Man’s judgment is blind, not only to all the evidence, but we are blind to our own mistakes. We all have blind spots in our character that a lot of other people can see, but we can’t see them. Paul says, “You are doing a dangerous thing when you judge other people because you may be guilty of the same thing.” God’s judgment is perfect. God’s judgment is perfect! He has no flaws, no character deficiencies, so His judgment is perfect because His character is perfect.

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May 24, 1998

Following the Fire

The Exodus is not just an historical story about God delivering the children of Israel. It is a story about what has happened to every one of us who are children of God. We have been set free from the bondage the slavery of sin and that’s the picture portrayed when the children of Israel come out of Egypt. A message about when God sets you free and the characteristics of this freedom and how he deals with us in much the same way he dealt with the children of Israel.

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May 24, 1998

The Slippery Slope of Sin

Did you know it is possible to commit sin without even doing an act? Jesus said in Matthew 5:28, “Anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” So many people have trouble with that verse, because they realize it is possible to commit what we call “mental adultery,” or adultery in a person’s heart. The difference between a tempting thought and a sinful desire is you could look at somebody of the opposite sex and say that person is nice-looking, but if you entertain thoughts about entering into a sexual relationship with that person, you begin to fantasize it and visualize it, then you can step over the line and you can commit adultery in your heart with that person, but it all began with a tempting thought.

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May 17, 1998

Passover and Freedom

A study of the Passover and how marvelously the Lord Jesus Christ fulfills the prophecy of the Passover lamb. Five of the details of the requirements for the Passover lamb.

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May 17, 1998

Homosexuality: Lifestyle or Deathstyle?

I’m going to say something that may shock you out of your socks: Jesus had to deal with homosexual temptation. How I can say that? It’s simple. Jesus dealt with every kind of temptation. He dealt with alcoholic temptation. Jesus dealt with the temptation to lie. According to Hebrews 4:15, Jesus is our high priest and he’s the high priest who was tempted with all of our weaknesses. It says, “He has been tempted in every way, just as we are–yet without sin.”

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May 10, 1998

Moses and Pharaoh

Moses resisted all the compromises of Pharaoh. He said, “No, we’re going to go! Not only are we GOING to go, we’re going to go all the WAY! Not only are we going to go all the way we’re going to take our FAMILIES with us. Not only are we going to take our family with us, we are taking all of our POSSESSIONS with us!” Where have you drawn the line? Do you say, “Well that’s as far as I’m going. I’m a Christian, but I’m not going to go all the way with Jesus. I’m just going to stand on this side and make sure I have my ticket to heaven.” or “I’m going to really get fired up, but I’m going to leave my family out of it!” If you have gone all the way and you say, “I’m going all the way with Jesus. I’m taking everybody I can with me and I’m taking everything I own, everything I possess, and it all is going to be offered to God. That’s what total commitment is all about.

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May 10, 1998

No Excuse!

Have you ever wondered what the eternal destiny is of a person who is born and raised and lives and dies in a place where they never once have access to a Bible, they never hear about God, they never hear the Christian message? What’s going to be their eternal destiny? What about a person who is faithful to another religion, say Buddhism or Islam all their lives? Is God going to excuse them? Is God going to excuse those people who never had access to the Bible?

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May 3, 1998

Not Ashamed!

Some people think they are going to go to heaven by doing good deeds or acting righteously. I asked a retired lady in our church the other day how she was feeling. “Oh, I feel so great today.” She said, “I led two Boy Scouts across the street.” Some of you think you are going to heaven by helping little old ladies across the street, or by feeding the poor, or clothing the naked. You think you are going to go to heaven by doing all these good things. No, God’s righteousness is humanly impossible. The very best thing I have ever done in my flesh compared to God’s holiness and purity, looks like dirty, filthy, stinking rags before God. It’s all a matter of comparison.

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April 26, 1998

What’s in the Heart of a Believer?

Some of the greatest things ever accomplished in this world have simply been accomplished because people refused to quit. A big oak tree is nothing more than an acorn that refused to give ground. It just hung on. There’s great value in persistence.

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April 12, 1998

The Good News About Jesus

Let’s say you own a secular bookstore and everything in your bookstore is classified as fiction and nonfiction. Where would you put the Bible? Would you put it in the nonfiction section with historical truth, or would you put it over here in the fictional section with the other fairy tales and mythology? If you were a librarian and your job is to classify all the books in the library, where are you going to put the Bible? That is a fundamental decision everybody must make.

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April 5, 1998

The Résumé of a Real Christian

Have you ever wondered what the apostle Paul looked like? While it is true we do not have any written eyewitness description of Jesus’ physical appearance, we have a fairly reliable one for Paul the apostle. A pastor living in the second century (which means the 100s) who perhaps as a child had actually seen Paul, describes him: “A man small of stature with a bald head and crooked legs in a good state of body, with eyebrows meeting and nose somewhat hooked, full of friendliness for now he appeared like a man, and now he had the face of an angel.” Can you just see this little man so full of energy? Before he became a Christian, he was full of energy for the wrong thing, but once he was tamed and changed by Jesus Christ, he used his energy for the right cause. Three ways Paul was changed by Jesus.

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March 29, 1998

The Call of Moses

I think one of the reasons we can all relate to Moses is because he was called to God and gifted by God, yet he was very reluctant to serve God. That is the case for most of us.

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March 15, 1998

Joseph’s Ministry

There are lessons we can learn from Joseph’s life: Be positive in negative experiences. Wherever you are, you should do your best. Bloom where you are planted. Every experience in life is training and always be a blessing to those around you.

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March 15, 1998

Joseph’s Mystery

We want microwave character. We want instant perseverance. We want God to shape us and change us and fix us right now. God is not in a hurry. If you are suffering or you know someone who is suffering, you ought to do what Joseph, the apostle, Paul, and Job did: Make the best out of it and say, “I will not let this make me bitter. I will let it make me better.” And you’ll let God take his time with you.

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March 8, 1998

Joseph’s Misery

The story of Joseph was terribly important to all the Hebrews in slavery, because Joseph was their hero. We’re going to see that the life of Joseph parallels the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. Joseph is one of those characters in the Bible who (most of the time) was totally faithful to God. He was one who was rejected by his own brothers, just like Jesus was rejected. We’re going to see that Joseph was particularly loved by his earthly father, just as Jesus was particularly loved by his heavenly father. A study of the parallels between the life of Joseph and the life of Jesus.

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February 15, 1998

Wrestlemania

Jacob was not the finest character you could ever meet. He was a liar, a cheat, and a swindler. His very name means “grabber.” But Jacob was a part of God’s plan. God can take failures and change them and then use them. For anybody who has ever made a mistake, God can still use you. For anybody who is not absolutely perfect, God can still use you, because God always saw what he knew Jacob could become rather than who Jacob was. That’s the great thing about God’s grace.

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February 8, 1998

Jacob the Grabber

The account of Esau’s stolen birthright by Jacob and Rebekah and how greed and deception divided a family.

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February 1, 1998

Love Story

The story of Isaac and Rebekah is a beautiful love story in and of itself but it’s also a beautiful story of how God, the Father, loves you and wants the best for you. He sends the Holy Spirit to draw you to the Father and then you as a person, like Rebekah, chooses whether or not to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit but when you do, you are entered into an intimate, personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

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