Speak the truth in Love (Sunday’s Sermon from Ephesians)

Yesterday was a great day. I really enjoy Sundays, even though as a pastor, it is not really a day off for me. I get to meet with our church members who serve the Lord on the mission field throughout the week and hear how God is at work. It is amazing to be a member and leader in a church that is active. Each Sunday I get to hear at least 2 or 3 testimonies about God’s goodness from members who are actively involved in the process of making disciples.

After hearing all of those wonderful testimonies and worshiping corporately through song, our Senior Pastor, Vasile Filat shared a great message from the Word of God with us. He has been preaching through St. Paul’s epistle to the Ephesian church and this week’s message come from one verse:

Permit the children to come to Me

This is a short testimony from one of our church members who teaches in the public school. It is a letter received after we taught a lesson on suicide prevention. I thought that you might like it.

Church member:

Cohabitation and Domestic violence

We hear more and more discussions these days about stopping domestic violence. There are many, many campaigns out there that want to “educate” people on the problem of domestic violence and how to stop it. The discussion is very similar to AIDS awareness discussions. They speak of the problem and offer solutions but never address the root of the problem. If you know anything about medicine then you know that if you just treat the symptoms and never get to the root of the problem then the person will never be cured, just becomes dependent on the meds that treat the symptoms. I have written on the subject of cohabitation and you can read it here.

Resolving Conflicts God’s way

I am preparing to teach lesson two tonight at our Romanian Bible study near St. Louis, MO. The lesson comes from “Lord, give me a heart for You“. It is an important lesson because it teaches us how to resolve conflicts among friends. As we live life with the people around us, conflicts will inevitably arise because we are all flawed people living in a fallen world. The question is not whether or not you have conflicts, the question is how do you react in the midst of one? Do you blow up in anger and give the guilty party what he or she deserves? Or, do you seek to resolve the conflict while maintaining the relationship? This lesson will teach us how to value the relationship enough to resolve the conflict.

Be a grateful teenager (Matthew 11:25-30)

I am preparing to teach at the youth group this week. Since this Sunday we are celebrating the fall harvest with a service of thanksgiving, I would like to use the youth message to teach about being grateful/thankful. The title of the message is the title of this article. The Gospel teaches us how to be thankful/grateful no matter what our age is but I really believe that teens need to be taught how to be grateful so that they can remain that way the rest of their lives. Many times, we assume that children will just inherit common sense. They will not. They must be taught. There is a passage in the Gospel of Matthew that teaches about an encounter with Jesus and His Father, God. Jesus shows us a picture of gratefulness, specifically, what a grateful child looks like.

Man’s need for God (salvation)

I am preparing to preach this Sunday morning at Good News church and as a tradition, I like to write out the sermon in article form so that I can think through what I want to communicate. After having a discussion with a person this past weekend, I felt the need to speak about this subject on Sunday morning. The person wanted to know about getting baptized in the church. During the discussion the person made an interesting statement. It goes something like this. We were discussing the meaning of repentance, what your life was like before Christ and how it has changed. The person explained how she had gone to church her entire life but “repented” or “accepted Christ” when she was an adult. During the discussion there was not much evidence on her part of a lifestyle change brought about after repenting. Her question was, “I do not know what you want to hear when you talk about lifestyle transformation? Do you want me to say that I was good before but now I am better because of Christ?”

Profile of a godly person (Titus 2)

I want to present the profile of a godly person, as described in Paul’s epistle to Titus. These are characteristics that should be present in the life of every Christian person. If they are not present in your life and you claim to be a Christian then you need to do some self searching to see what the problem is.

Paul covers every age of life. Godliness is not just for a certain age group. It is for every person who claims to be a Christian, whether young or old. Here is Titus 2.

Baptism Service at Good News

Tomorrow, Good News Church will celebrate a baptismal service. There are 5 believers who want to show their obedience to Jesus Christ by being baptized according to the New Testament mandate. We are praying for a big crowd and a lot of nonbelievers so that we can preach the Gospel on this special occasion. I have prepared a sermon for tomorrow since I will be the one performing the baptisms. I want to share that sermon here so that I can think through the points and improve on the message. Most people in Moldova do not have a proper understanding of baptism since most are baptized in the Orthodox Church as babies. The fact that faith and salvation come before baptism is a hard thing for most to understand, because they have never read the Bible.

Be grateful to God at all times (Psalm 50)

God will judge our ungrateful attitudes.

 A Psalm of Asaph. The mighty God, Jehovah, has spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun to its going down. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God has shone. Our God comes, and He is not silent; a fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very stormy all around Him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, so that He may judge His people. Gather My saints to Me; and those who cut My covenant by sacrifice. And the heavens shall declare His righteousness; for God Himself is judge. Selah. (Psa 50:1-6)

Sermon on the Lord’s Supper

I came across this in some of my documents and thought I would share it here. It is a sermon in outline form.