Fellowship Bible Church Sermons

By the Resurrection from the Dead

April 17, 2022 SS, Romans 1:3-4.Jesus is not presently hanging on a cross in weakness. He is not
helplessly lifeless in a cave. He did not swoon and then die the
death of a normal man. Instead, He died by crucifixion and was
raised by the powerful working of God (Acts 2:24, 2:32, 3:15, 3:26,
4:10, 5:30, 10:40, 13:30, 13:33, 13:37, 26:8; Romans 7:4, 10:9; 1
Cor. 6:14, 15:15; Gal. 1:1; 1 Peter 1:21).
He is “in power” in a new office, sitting at the right hand of God
awaiting His enemies to be made His footstool (Heb 10:13).
Meanwhile, He is the head of the church (Eph. 1:22, 5:23, Col.
1:18) and reigns as God, the sovereign potentate over all things.
Those people who are “in Christ” by faith will likewise be raised up
with Him physically (2 Cor. 4:14) just as we were spiritually (Col.
2:12, 3:1). We have that certain hope because of the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead (1 Peter 1:3).
He was crucified in weakness, but He lives by the power of God (2
Cor. 13:4). He is not the Son of God in weakness—He is the Son of
God in power! We are partners with Him and have access to His
power. We know He has it, because He was raised from the dead
directly to that place of power, by the power of God that works in
us who believe (2 Cor. 4:7, Eph. 3:20). With that power we can give
testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus (Acts 4:33). We can
know the power of his resurrection. And we know that the second
death has no power over those who believe!
Our Scripture readings were found in Mark 16:1-8 // Luke 24:1-12 // John 20:1-18

The Death of Christ and His Preaching

April 15, 2022 PM, 1 Peter 3:18-20.Jesus Christ has addressed all of humanity, both living and dead,
with His work. Those alive at the time of His death and those who
come thereafter, like ourselves, know what He has done and can
respond to it. Those who died during the wicked time of Noah
know their judgment is sealed, like all others of unbelief during the
Old Testament times.
To those who rejected God during the time of Noah, Christ’s message
was a message of judgment. But to those who are alive right now
today, it is a message of the provision of salvation—and, if
rejected, of certain future judgment.
Christ died for sinners just like us all, the perfect Lamb for sinful
people, in order to bring us to God. He died and then rose again
from the dead. In between His death and resurrection, He made a
proclamation of his victory over sin and death, that victory which
we can share with Him if we turn from sin and acknowledge Him as
Lord and Savior.
Christ’s work and message is a message to you as an individual, and to
the world of individuals who wonder what Good Friday is all about.
Simple question: what are you going to do with it? Are you so
happy with your life apart from Jesus that you will await the Lord’s
proclamation of judgment to you too? Or will you believe in Him
now so that your sins can be placed into Him and judged back on
that day when He once died for sins, the just for the unjust, with
the purpose of bringing us to God?
Our Scripture reading was found in Mark 15:1-47.

Issues in Matthew 16:18-19

April 13, 2022 PM, Matthew 16:18-19.In this message we look at two verses of Scripture located in Matthew 16:18-19, where we address misinterpretations on three ideas: 1) the rock 2) gates of Hades 3) and the keys of the Kingdom.

Denying Yourself and Taking up the Cross

April 10, 2022 PM, Matthew 16:24-28.We last were reading in Matthew 16 where Matthew tells us the Lord
changed His focus to preparing the disciples for his impending
suffering, death, and resurrection. Peter did not like that whole
idea, so he rebuked Jesus for talking about it. The Lord in turn
rebuked Peter because Peter was doing the Devil’s work by trying
to dissuade Jesus from doing God’s will. Notice that Jesus is not
saying Peter is the Devil, nor is Jesus “talking to the Devil” through
Peter, or the Devil is indwelling Peter, or some other mystical kind
of thing. It is simply that Peter is talking like the Devil in his flesh.
Heaven informed Peter about the identity of Jesus, but here Peter
was failing Heaven and instead was informing him to embrace
the man-pleasing idea that Jesus should not die.
Even though there could have been some more direct devilish
influence here, do not excuse Peter! We should not think that
Peter’s mind and desires are out of the picture, as if Satan were
controlling him. That is not the case—it was Peter’s distaste at the
idea of Jesus dying, Peter’s desire for Jesus to live, Peter’s rebuke
of Jesus that is at issue here. Peter really felt and thought those
things because he cared more about the things of men than those
of God. This makes the text all the more applicable to us, because
our affections for the things of the world are indeed ours. We need
to repent of them, and not simply blame them on the Devil! Full disclosure is given: the Christian life is not easy because of the
obstacles of the flesh, the Devil, and the world. You also know the
relative costs of choosing to follow the Lord or not. You know all
that ahead of time so that you can make a wise decision about
what you want to do. You too can use your brain to consider the counterfactual scenarios: if I follow Christ, things will turn out generally in this-and-such way. But if I do not follow Christ, things will turn out in this other way.
I exhort you: use this knowledge of the choice you have to let your
conjecture about living for self to die in your stead. Let the thought
of living for self perish—but don’t you perish!
Our Scripture reading was found in 2 Chronicles 6:1-42.

Examples on the Way to Heaven

April 10, 2022 AM, Philippians 3:17-21.Last time we learned about energetically pursuing Christ because our highest priority as a Christian is to know Him and be like Him. That is what the apostle Paul was all about, and so we should be also. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a
far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. (2 Cor. 4:17)
Follow Paul’s example; leave behind the junk and press forward
toward Christ-likeness. Beware of the false believers who want to
share their Christ-denying misery with you and recognize that you
are citizens of heaven. You have a name better than to permit
yourself to wallow in the world’s mess.
Our Scripture readings were found in Matthew 21:1-11 and Ezekiel 32:1-32.

Israel Obeyed Him, His Temple Rebuilt, Part 2

April 10, 2022 SS, Haggai 2:1-5, 1 Kings 8:12-21.The Lord allowed the nation of Israel to be carried into captivity by the Babylonians. However, God did not abandon His people. He provided instructions on how to live during their captivity: commanded His people to bear fruit and multiply, and be peaceable among the Babylonians. In fact, God tells His people they will remain in captivity for seventy years, until that day when He brings them back to their homeland, Jeremiah 29:11-14. When His people return to Jerusalem, God instructs His people to rebuild His temple, so that He can be glorified and that His people can worship Him in His house. His people would obey and rebuild the Lord's temple.

Jesus Reveals His Impending Death

April 6, 2022 PM, Matthew 16:21-23.In this message Pastor Matt shares this evenings message on how Jesus introduced His death and resurrection, which includes the following themes: 1) Jesus Prophesies About His Upcoming Suffering 2) Peter’s Indignant Response 3) Jesus Replies with a Focus on the Things of God.

Jesus is the Christ

April 3, 2022 PM, Matthew 16:13-20.According to multiple passages in the Bible, a key point of gospel
preaching is that Jesus is the Christ. The following texts use this
pattern: John 20:31, Acts 9:22, 17:3, 18:5, 18:28, 1 John 2:22, 1
John 5:1. The approach that Paul used was to show what the Old
Testament said about Messiah (Christ). Then he explained the
identity of and events surrounding the life of Jesus. Then, he put an
equals sign between the two, saying Jesus = Christ. This exact
identity is critical to correctly understand the plan of God. Denying
it is the same as denying the gospel, for to deny Christ’s person
and/or work is to deny the gospel. Jesus concludes the section with a command that the disciples tell no
one about his identity. This was unfortunate in one sense: people
need to know who He is. But it was right in another sense:
revealing this information too early and too widely did not fit the
timeline that Jesus had to follow that He would be killed at just the
right time, in Jerusalem, around Passover, etc.
If you have a brain-freeze when witnessing for Jesus, just do this:
show that Jesus is the Christ. Remember that: Jesus is the Christ.
Go to the Old Testament for a few verses, and then to the New
Testament for a few, and tie the two together. That will prime the
pump and get the conversation going.
Examples: Connect Isaiah 53 with the events of suffering of Christ in
the gospels. Show Psalm 110:1 with its New Testament quotations
such as Heb. 1:13, Matt. 22:44, Acts 2:34-35, Mark 12:36, Heb.
10:12, Eph. 1:20, Heb. 1:3, 8:1, 10:13.
Our Scripture reading was found in 2 Chronicles 6:1-21.

Energetically Pursuing Christ

April 3, 2022 AM, Philippians 3:12-16.There is no resting on laurels in the Christian life as if we have
"arrived" at whatever it is we think we have arrived at. There is no
such thing as a “lazy Christian.”
There is always "pressing on" the upward way, new heights gained
every day, etc. But the author of that hymn, Johnson Oatman,
inconsistently it seems to me, believed in complete sanctification,
“the washing of the soul of a true believer from the remains of
sin.”1 That appears, on his view, to happen in this life. No, no no!
We move from one level of glory to the next until we reach final
glorification (2 Cor. 3:18) in the presence of Christ.
There is a life-focus here that keeps its eye on Jesus all the time. He
saves us from start to finish and our life is to be growing in our
relationship to Him, our likeness to Him, our pursuit of Him and His
heavenly calling.
Our Scripture reading was found in Ezekiel 31:1-18.

Lord’s Table Service: Observing Resurrection Sunday and Passover

April 3, 2022 SS, Various.In this message Pastor Matt reviews how the date of Resurrection Sunday and Passover is observed, on the first Sunday after the first full moon of Spring. The Bible tells us how to observe the Lord's death and resurrection, whereby believers partake in communion and participate in the memorial significance of the Lord's Table.