Fellowship Bible Church Sermons

Rejoice, but Have no Confidence in the Flesh

March 13, 2022 AM, Philippians 3:1-3.Check yourself out against verse 3 again. Make sure you have the
right focus, and your boasting is in the Lord and not in your own
fleshly accomplishments. Make sure that you are in fact serving
God. Are you wary of bad doctrine that would oppose the true
gospel (v. 2)? And finally (v. 1), are you rejoicing in the Lord no
matter what your circumstances might be?
Our Scripture reading was found in Ezekiel 28:1-26.

Questions and Answers

March 13, 2022 SS, Various.In this message Pastor Matt hosts a questions and answers session, including the following: 1) If God is loving, how could he command the
Israelites to wipe out whole cities of Canaanites during the conquest of Joshua? 2) What would have happened if Adam and Eve had made a fruit pie with the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil and eaten both? 3) When does a Christian get their resurrected body?

Great Gentile Faith

March 9, 2022 PM, Matthew 15:21-28 // Mark 7:24-30.A casual reading of this passage could raise some wrong and even
blasphemous ideas, especially in our overly sensitive culture. For
example: Was the Lord rude and unkind when he initially ignored
the lady? Was he mean or racist to speak about throwing crumbs
to dogs? Did the woman really have faith or was she just clever in
how she replied to the Lord?
Part of the problem is that the text does not tell us background
information on the woman. But it tells us enough that we can
figure out something about her. Another problem is that we were
not there nor did we live in the culture at the time, so we cannot
definitively say what would be offensive or not in this kind of
situation. The woman was a Gentile, but she had great faith. Thank the Lord
that He receives Gentiles as well as Jews. Faith is the basis of that
acceptance—not ethnicity or any other “human” characteristic!

Who are Disciples of Jesus?

March 6, 2022 PM, Various.The Bible is clear about the character and behavior of
disciples. 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 2:1-18.

Rejoice, but Have no Confidence in the Flesh

March 6, 2022 AM, Philippians 3:1-3.Paul commands the church to rejoice but beware of false teachers.
Check yourself out against verse 3 again. Make sure you have the
right focus, and your boasting is in the Lord and not in your own
fleshly accomplishments. Make sure that you are in fact serving
God. Are you wary of bad doctrine that would oppose the true
gospel (v. 2)? And finally (v. 1), are you rejoicing in the Lord no
matter what your circumstances might be?
Our Scripture reading was found in Ezekiel 27:1-36.

Israel Obeyed Him, His Temple Rebuilt

March 6, 2022 SS, Haggai 1:1-15 // Jeremiah 29:11-14.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.

Clean Hands and a Clean Heart, Part 3

March 2, 2022 PM, Matthew 15:1-20.By the title of my message, “Clean Hands and a Clean
Heart,” I do not intend to convey that the Pharisees were
right about the ritual washing of hands but just fell short.
They missed the entire boat. Rather:
“Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? Or who may
stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a
pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor
sworn deceitfully” (Psalm 24:3-4).
And: “That the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands,
without wrath and doubting” (1 Timothy 2:8).
Ritual washing of hands is not the issue. Hands that do not
practice sin is the issue. A heart first washed by the blood
of Christ to break the power of sin and allow the hands to
do righteousness instead of wickedness is what is
needed. You must have a clean heart to have clean
hands. The cleanliness of the hands is like in 1 Timothy
2:8 – a farmer with dirty hands out in his fields, but who
is a good Christian man, can lift those soiled hands to
God in prayer, and do so in complete fulfillment of this
Scripture.

Clean Hands and a Clean Heart, Part 2

February 27, 2022 PM, Matthew 15:1-20.By the title of my message, “Clean Hands and a Clean
Heart,” I do not intend to convey that the Pharisees were
right about the ritual washing of hands but just fell short.
They missed the entire boat. Rather:
“Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? Or who may
stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a
pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor
sworn deceitfully” (Psalm 24:3-4).
Ritual washing of hands is not the issue. Hands that do not
practice sin is the issue…and a heart first washed by the
blood of Christ to break the power of sin and allow the
hands to do righteousness instead of wickedness. The
cleanliness of the hands is like in 1 Timothy 2:8 – a farmer
with dirty hands out in his fields, but who is a good
Christian man, can lift those soiled hands to God in
prayer, and do so in complete fulfillment of this
Scripture.
Our Scripture reading was found in 2 Chronicles 1:1-17.

Epaphroditus: A First-Rate Servant

February 27, 2022 AM, Philippians 2:25-30.Interpreters often say that the book of Philippians is about joy, but
another good theme to observe is service to others. Consider the
teaching of 2:4-5 to all Christians. Consider the examples of Jesus
Christ (2:5-8); Paul (2:17, 22); Timothy (2:19-23); Epaphroditus
(2:25-30, 4:18); and the entire church (4:14-18). Do you think that
God is trying to tell us something?
The church works because of the service of its people. This service
models the love of Christ toward us as we love one another. This
service is not just for pastors or missionaries. It is for everyone.
Our Scripture reading was found in Ezekiel 26:1-21.

Why Build a Temple

February 27, 2022 SS, Haggai 1:1-11.We continue our study in the book of Haggai, led by James Widgeon. We address a question derived from the first eleven verses: Why build a temple? There are many different ways we might think about that question. Directly out of the text, notice in verses 7-8, God's own pleasure is for His people to build His temple, where He will be glorified in it. The other answer to this question is found in verses 9-11. Why? God has drawn His people to focus on Him, for His purpose, for His glory, for His sovereign plan.