After months of tweaking, our new church site is up at our old location. For our sermon summaries, I’ll just send you a link to our podcasts there. To explore the whole thing, start here:

Grace Baptist Church of Victoria

Let me know if you find any errors! I am sure there are some, I am quite klutzy. I would say my keyboard is depraved, but we all know that would be a lie.

We hope to have more on the site as time goes on. You will see some sections are still a little sparse. We have plans for them, but now I can finish my next project, our evangelism website. I’ll let you know when that is live and ready to go.

Now for the 3.9.08 sermons:

To Everyone who Believes (Rm 1.16c)

Since God’s power for salvation is available to everyone who believes, it is essential that we know what it means to believe. What kind of belief constitutes saving faith? What assurance will we have as we look honestly at our own works, whether the degraded works of the flesh or fleshly pride of moralism, if we do not know the one cure to both?

The Interpretation of the Bible (supplement) (Mt 2.18, Jer 31.15)

Last week I felt I was a little unclear. I left us all confused about the difference between direct prophecies and typical prophecies. So before concluding our lesson on The Interpretation of the Bible, I offered a little supplement dealing with Matthew’s remarks on the killing of the infants in Bethlehem (Mt 2.18) and Jeremiah’s prophecy which Matthew says is fulfilled in this incident (Jer 31.15). How can we say that Jeremiah is fulfilled in Matthew when the two passages are clearly talking about two different events?

The First and Hardest Lesson on Prayer (Mt 5.44; Lk 6.28)

Putting the Lord’s teaching on prayer into chronological order reveals a startling beginning. Lesson 1: “Pray for them that despitefully use you.” What? Couldn’t we work up to that? But this is where the Lord starts his teaching as recorded in the Sermon on the Mount. This is the way of spiritual life and it is a key to godliness.

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All right, that’s it for now… back to php and web-site tweaking…

Romans 1.16 is a glorious passage. We are in message #2 on it this week. At least one more week to go…

The Power of God (Rm 1.16b) || Audio

The gospel can be summed by a clear set of theological facts. But the gospel is much more than a mere collection of facts. It is much more than bare orthodoxy. It is the power of God unto salvation.

Read the notes as you listen.

more…

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Our theme for this Sunday came to us from Rm 1.16a, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel . . .” On a day when almost half of our congregation was out with illness, I found myself praying, being very dismayed. It is one thing to preach the gospel before a larger appreciative audience. It is one thing to preach before a hostile audience. It is still another to preach before a weak, shrinking congregation. This was a time when I knew When to Pray.

And still, we are Not Ashamed, and God gives grace to enable us in our extremities and time of need. I believe the Lord gave his grace for the messages on this day and those who were out profited from them.

The summaries and links are below:

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We had a good crowd Sunday, 47. A few regulars are becoming not so regular, so this week will mean a little looking out after wandering sheep. Sometimes this means compassion on the sick, but other times it means something more. Some wander so far, they never come back, no matter how well you work to be a good shepherd.

Here are the sermon summaries, in a brief form similar to what we will be putting up as podcasts in the near future. Note that we are now formatting the messages in the smaller 16kbps size.

The Obligation of Christian Ministry (Rm 1.14) || Audio
The obligation of Christian ministry is to all – Greeks and barbarians, wise and unwise … the good, the bad, and the ugly. All Christians share this obligation.

Read the notes while you listen.

The Canon (2) || Audio

In which we discuss the evidence for the canon of the Old Testament.

Read the notes as you listen.

The Readiness for Christian Ministry (Rm 1.15) || Audio
What is necessary for readiness? A heart for others, a will submissive to the Lord’s direction, and a mind filled with the gospel.

Read the notes while you listen.

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Our Sunday included our Annual Business Meeting. Last year was a good year from the offering perspective. We are trusting the Lord for about the same this year, which would put us about 70% of the way to being fully self-supporting. For that we are very thankful.

We are also faced with some challenges this year. Our building has settled significantly on one end, the result, we think, of some construction in behind us. The problem is going to cost us some cash to resolve, but we think we have a reasonable handle on it.

Our biggest challenge is evangelism. Our people are committed to new outreach endeavours and to increasing our support for missions. We are delighted in their spirit.

Now for our sermon summaries…

The Objective of Christian Ministry (Rm 1.13) || Audio || Notes

Paul’s objective in his ministry plans is to ‘have some fruit among you’. Paul is after spiritual fruit. That is the point of preaching. It is the result of any ministry of the word. It should be the expectation of all ministration of the word — including that of any faithful Christian in their ministry in church and home.

The Canon (1) || Audio || Notes

During our Bible study time we began a discussion of the Canon and how it came to be recognized. In this session, we consider some preliminary notions including these questions: if one of Paul’s lost letters were to be found, would we consider it inspired? what about the Lord’s writing in the dust – was it inspired?

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BTW, we now have new software for manipulating our sermon files. Now our sermon files are smaller. Hopefully the quality is not so degraded as to be unbearable. Let us know if you notice a difference.

Our Sunday morning message focused on the theme of the Christian and his role in the local church. For the afternoon, we looked back at Leviticus for our communion service.

The Ministry of Christians to One Another (Rm 1.11-12) || Audio || Notes

Our proposition: “Christians, gathered in local churches, are God’s agents for the purpose of strengthening one another’s spiritual life.”

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Sunday was a wintry day. Attendance down a bit. For us, winter means temps around freezing, but usually very little snow if any. Also, for us, winter only lasts for about two weeks. Spring should be here in mid February.

Making Mention of You (Rm 1.9-10) || Audio || Notes

Two prayer emphases in this message: 1. What it means to constantly pray for others. 2. What I must do to bring about the answers to my own prayers.

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It is a blessing to be back home again. Our people exhibited the grace of God in their thoughtful cards and letters to us concerning our recent sorrows. It is wonderful to be on the receiving end of this ministry because it is evidence that our own ministry among these dear folks has not been in vain. God is working in their midst, and I feel privileged to be God’s agent in bringing about some of that work – especially in those who have been converted and discipled almost exclusively through our ministry. I tell you, there is no greater thrill than this! 3 Jn 4.

Now for the sermon summaries…

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