Fellowship Bible Church Sermons

Doctrinal Leaven

March 30, 2022 PM, Matthew 16:5-12.The first thing I noticed is that my NKJV MacArthur study
Bible had a title above this section which was
“Withdrawal of Jesus—Mark 8:13-21.” This is a bad
heading, and I believe in this case it is the responsibility
not of MacArthur, but of Thomas Nelson’s editors of the
Bible text and reference material. (These headings are
not part of the original text.)
The errant heading reflects only the narrative of the
immediately prior verse, both in Matthew 16:4 and in the
parallel passage of Mark 8:13. It does not reflect what is
taught in the section that follows. In the upcoming three
paragraphs, there is no mention there of Jesus
withdrawing, no details of his departure, and no reasons
are explained as to why he left. Instead, the section is all
about the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. The
section heading should at least reflect that if not also
include what is being said about this leaven. At Mark
8:14, the heading is “Disciples Do Not Understand Matt.
16:5-12.” This much better reflects what the section is
about.
Lesson? Take the headings in your study Bible with a grain
of salt. Compare them carefully to the text the follows,
and see if you agree with the heading or not. In this case,
the NKJV editors get a failing grade. You and I too need to take heed and beware of false
doctrine. It is all around, it is subtle, and it is deadly. The
ways of our world today, including tolerance and
promotion of all forms of wickedness, follow-your-heart
beliefs, etc. are leavens that we need to get out of our
lives. A little of that goes a long way to make a mess of
your thinking and consequent behavior.

Who are Disciples of Jesus? Part 4

March 27, 2022 PM, Various.What are we to make of the fact that the word disciple does
not appear in the epistles? Not much. The narrative form
of the gospels and Acts lends itself to the use of that
noun for Christians. The epistles are written to disciples
and do not have to say the word for the target audience
to be understood. Disciples look like the kind of people
described by Jesus in the gospels.
Our Scripture reading was found in 2 Chronicles 5:1-14.

Knowing Christ

March 27, 2022 AM, Philippians 3:4-11, Part 2.The resurrection of Christ is a stupendous display of divine power. It is
the standard unit of measurement of God’s omnipotence. It is like
the parting of the Red Sea or feeding of the 5,000 or healing a
handicapped person instantly. It is a first-rate miracle of God.
But even though it was a powerful event, there is no way the
resurrection will have any meaningful influence in your life unless
you accept that Jesus Christ is Lord and that He died and was
resurrected for you, in your place. Then, Christ can live in your
heart through faith and you can have his resurrection power
operative in your own life.
Are you reading these notes and realizing that you need to come to
Jesus to be saved from sin, and thus come to know this
resurrection power?
Perhaps you are living a life that has a lot of sin in it and finding that
resurrection power hard to see or experience. Where are your
priorities? Where is your thinking? Do they match what Paul tells
us here? Have you:
1. Abandoned your confidence in yourself?
2. Had a major change in thinking on the value of your resume,
that your former religious confidence was actually worthless?
3. Changed how you understand God accepts a person, not by
works of righteousness, but by His grace?
4. Experienced and implemented a major change in priorities,
with knowing Christ at the very top of your life goals?
5. Gained a new future outlook, striving toward the resurrection
from the dead?
Our Scripture reading was found in Ezekiel 30:1-26.

Several Issues in Philippians 1:6-7

March 27, 2022 SS, Philippians 1:6-7.In this message Pastor Matt leads our study, where we learn about the defense and confirmation
of the Gospel, how God works in Christians, and how we can
better support our missionaries.The Apostle Paul loved the Christians in Philippi. He had
seen them in their pre-salvation state and was privileged
in that God used him to lead them to saving faith in Jesus
Christ. He had baptized some of them and formed the
infant church. He may have directed Luke to minister there
in his absence; he was moved with gratitude that the
church remembered him and supported him and
partnered with him in his missions work. He prayed
frequently for them.

Seeking Signs

March 23, 2022 PM, Matthew 16:1-4.The last time we encountered the Pharisees and company
was at the beginning of chapter 15, where they were
criticizing the Lord’s disciples for not washing their hands
before eating. In their way of thinking, this caused
ceremonial defilement. The Lord corrected two errors in
their thinking. First, eating with unwashed hands does
not cause defilement; rather, defilement comes from a
person’s inner nature. Second, they placed more weight
on their traditions than they did on the words of God,
with the effect that they voided God’s word.
Now they come with another test. Hard-hearted unbelief is shown here in the lives of the
Pharisees and Sadducees. We must make sure that we do
not have any scraps of that kind of attitude in our hearts.
There is a lesson not just in avoiding the example of the
Pharisees, but more positively in how the Lord answers
their inquiry. He rebukes them for being focused on the
wrong things. How often we too are wrongly focused—
not on the things of Jesus, but on the things of the world.

Answering Islamic Objections to Christianity, Part 2

March 20, PM 2022, Various.We started tonight's service with a question and answer session led by Pastor Matt. Additionally, we continue our study on Answering Islamic Objections to Christianity, where Pastor Matt was inspired to respond to some material covered in chapter 14 of Nabeel Qureshi, Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus. As this is the main source material for these notes, there may be variant Islamic beliefs that are not covered here. He is also drawing on personal experience speaking with Muslims. What do we conclude? The Christian can successfully answer Islamic objections to Christianity, including to the Bible and to the person and work of Christ. We can do so by careful attention to the context of words, and to the theology of the person of Christ.
Our Scripture reading was found in 2 Chronicles 4:1-22.

Paul’s Theological Autobiography

March 20, AM 2022, Philippians 3:4-11, Part 1.Christ died on a cross and bore in His own body our sins that He might
bring us to God (1 Peter 2:24, 3:18). This destroys all other
righteousness-seeking programs in the sight of God.
Christianity is not a righteousness-earning system. We are talking
about Paul’s highest desire, a total change in his thinking from his
prior legalism. Now his life is animated and directed toward Christ,
the person of the God-man. He wants to fully know Christ—
resurrection power, sufferings, righteousness, etc. Is Christ your
highest prize, deepest desire?
Our Scripture reading was found in Ezekiel 29:1-21.

Answering Islamic Objections to Christianity

March 20, SS 2022, Various.Pastor Matt was inspired to respond to some material covered in chapter 14 of
Nabeel Qureshi, Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus. As this is the main
source material for these notes, there may be variant Islamic
beliefs that are not covered here. He is also drawing on personal
experience speaking with Muslims. What do we conclude? The Christian can successfully answer Islamic objections to
Christianity, including to the Bible and to the person and work of Christ. We can do so by careful attention to the context of words,
and to the theology of the person of Christ.

More Miracles

March 16, 2022 PM, Matthew 15:29-39.Miracles authenticate Jesus as a messenger of God,
and more than that, as the Son of God. How can we be
sure?
Look at John 5:18-46. The Lord claims equality with the
Father, is able to give life, is responsible for all judgment
(Acts 17:30-31), and will raise the dead. These are
functions of God, not man. Beyond that, Jesus calls them
to hear the testimony of witnesses to his claims: John the
Baptist, the greater witness of His miraculous works; the
Father who testified of Jesus (remember His voice from
heaven?), and the Scriptures of Moses and the prophets
of old. We could also add the angels from Luke 2:11, and
the New Testament Scriptures. Their cumulative
testimony of these witnesses make it clear Who we are
reading about here: the Son of God.

Who are Disciples of Jesus? Part 3

March 13, 2022 PM, Various.What are we to make of the fact that the word disciple does
not appear in the epistles? Not much. The narrative form
of the gospels and Acts lends itself to the use of that
noun for Christians. The epistles are written to disciples
and do not have to say the word for the target audience
to be understood. Disciples look like the kind of people
described in the gospels.
Our Scripture reading was found in 2 Chronicles 3:1-17.