Sunday Sermon: A Peaceful Church

A Peaceful Church

“Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.”

— Acts 9:31 (NIV)

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

— John 14:27 (NIV)

“And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

— Philippians 4:7 (NIV)

“Great peace have those who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble.”

— Psalms 119:165 (NIV)

Sunday Sermon: Arrow of Deception

Arrow of Deception

“One day I went to the house of Shemaiah son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabel, who was shut in at his home. He said, “Let us meet in the house of God, inside the temple, and let us close the temple doors, because men are coming to kill you—by night they are coming to kill you.”

But I said, “Should a man like me run away? Or should someone like me go into the temple to save his life? I will not go!” I realized that God had not sent him, but that he had prophesied against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.”

— Nehemiah 6:10-12 (NIV)

Nehemiah's Reply: Should such a man as I flee?

“So this is what the Sovereign Lord says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who relies on it will never be stricken with panic.”

— Isaiah 28:16 (NIV)

We are in a world of deception

“But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.”

— 2 Corinthians 11:3 (NIV)

“Remember your Creator in the days of your youth,
before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, “I find no pleasure in them”—”

— Ecclesiastes 12:1 (NIV)

Sunday Sermon: Arrow of Open Letter

Arrow of Open Letter

“I sent him this reply: “Nothing like what you are saying is happening; you are just making it up out of your head.”

They were all trying to frighten us, thinking, “Their hands will get too weak for the work, and it will not be completed.”

But I prayed, “Now strengthen my hands.”

— Nehemiah 6:8-9 (NIV)

“When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.”

— Colossians 2:13-15 (NIV)

Sunday Sermon: Arrow of Compromise

Arrow of Compromise

The 3 Enemies of the Church or Believer: The World, The Flesh & The Devil.

“When word came to Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab and the rest of our enemies that I had rebuilt the wall and not a gap was left in it—though up to that time I had not set the doors in the gates— Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message: “Come, let us meet together in one of the villages on the plain of Ono. But they were scheming to harm me;”

— Nehemiah 6:1-2 (NIV)

“so I sent messengers to them with this reply: “I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?” Four times they sent me the same message, and each time I gave them the same answer.”

— Nehemiah 6:3-4 (NIV)

“You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. ”

— James 4:4 (NIV)

“But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way.”

— Daniel 1:8 (NIV)

Sunday Sermon: Arrow of Financial Crisis

Arrow of Financial Crisis

“1. And there was a great outcry of the people and their wives against their Jewish brethren.

2. For there were those who said, “We, our sons, and our daughters are many; therefore let us get grain, that we may eat and live.”

3. There were also some who said, “We have mortgaged our lands and vineyards and houses, that we might buy grain because of the famine.”

4. There were also those who said, “We have borrowed money for the king’s tax on our lands and vineyards.

5. Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children; and indeed we are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have been brought into slavery. It is not in our power to redeem them, for other men have our lands and vineyards.””

— Nehemiah 5:1-5 (NKJV)

“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”

— Mathew 6:24 (NKJV)

“And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. As it is written: “He has dispersed abroad, He has given to the poor; His righteousness endures forever.”

— 2 Corinthians 9:8-9 (NKJV)

“The blessing of the Lord makes one rich, And He adds no sorrow with it.”

— Proverbs 10:22 (NKJV)