Genesis 4:17-24
Do you ever feel that you are trying to become someone of worth but your goals are driven by worldly influences? The Bible teaches us that we are created to be dependent upon God, not ourselves, and that God created each of us with a good purpose ordained by Him even before the creation of the world. This sermon teaches that we live our best lives when we are submitted to God’s will for our lives and fulfilling the purpose for which He created us.
Do YOU See the Light?
Luke 8:16-18 (Feb. 17, 2019)
The outline of Luke 8:16–18 is as follows:
i. The lampstand as a picture of Jesus’ public teaching (8:16)
ii. Secrets to be manifest eventually (8:17)
iii. A call to hear and a warning (8:18)[1]
We are to be salt and light. But Jesus is the real Light of the world. Each person much choose how they will respond to the Light. How have you responded to Jesus’ teaching?
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The enemies of Jesus are not to be feared. They will be revealed. We should beware how we respond to Christ’s message.
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Have you heard Jesus’ message or have you heard what you want to hear? Have you only heard what someone else has told you instead of pursuing the truth on your own?
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Care should be given as to how we respond to Christ’s message. If we respond by receiving the message, we access a blessing of receiving more. If we receive Christ’s message wrongly, we lose all that we perceived we had. Have you responded to Christ’s message correctly?
[1] Darrell L. Bock, Luke: 1:1–9:50, vol. 1, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 1994), 743.
In my opinion, it’s just too dark for an office environment. So when the youth at the previous church where I was pastor asked me one day to choose a color for my office…I chose orange. A few weeks later at one of the Wednesday evening services, one of the kids came up to me and took me by the hand. She said she wanted to show me what the youth had done for me. She led me up the stairs to my office, and from that point, the rest is history. I had an orange office!
I loved my orange office. It wasn’t an optic orange, nor was it a deep, warm orange like one would imagine in autumn. The color was straight-up, out-of-the-box-of-Crayons orange. One of the church members was gracious to make a set of curtains that matched. I even ended up with an orange “Pastor” plate on the door. I had many good experiences in that office, including the recording of several sermon examples for preaching classes in seminary.
It has been my vision for some time to start a ministry blog. Since finishing my seminary work in 2016, I have needed an outlet for sharing the gospel and other practical and theological matters. It fell upon me one day that “Orange Office Ministry” would be a good beginning, however, my interest in writing wasn’t piqued until my retirement from public education in June ’18. Now that I have time for more reading and sermon preparation, I find that I also have more time to write for people I may never physically meet.
Soon after retirement from teaching, I also found myself moving to the pastorate of a new congregation, Providence Baptist Church in Adair County, Kentucky. With the move, I suspected that my residence in an orange office would come to an end. Thankfully, soon after I arrived at Providence, the pastor’s office was repainted…kinda orange! It’s a deeper orange than the office before. But it’s close enough that “Orange Office Ministry” is going to commence from the walls of my new church abode. Thank you for joining me.
Titus 2:11–14 (NASB95)
11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men,
12 instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age,
13 looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus,
14 who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.
Orange Office Ministry 