Deep Springs Baptist Church Sermon Series

Stephen's speech is the longest recorded sermon in the book of Acts. As he stands before the Sanhedrin, he provides them with a history lesson. Beginning with Abraham and the patriarchs, he shows how God's activity was never limited to Israel or the Temple. They also have a pattern of rejecting their deliverers the first time. The patriarchs were moved with envy and rejected Joseph. Joseph is seen as a type of Christ.

As we recognized the high school and college graduates this year, our pastor gave a charge to them and to the rest of the congregation. Moses' life neatly divides into three forty-year segments. We are more familiar with the first forty years and the last forty. But in this message, we will look at the forty years Moses spent in Midian. It seemed like all hope was lost, but God was still on the move. He was developing Moses' character and preparing him for his destiny as the deliverer.

As Jesus continues the "Bread of Life" discourse, He resorts to the metaphorical language almost exclusively. He has plainly told them that He is the Bread of Life and the way that Bread is appropriated is by coming to Him and believing on Him. Now, He will tell them they must eat His flesh and drink His blood to have eternal life. Clearly, He was not advocating cannibalism. He was indicating, however, that His sacrificial death will be necessary to atone for their sins. They may not have understood the metaphor clearly, but they understood enough to find the message hard to stomach! Not much has changed! The world still sees the message of the Cross as offensive and unpalatable.

After the feeding of the five thousand men, the crowds come seeking Jesus. He recognized they were not seeking for the right reasons. He took the opportunity to teach them the spiritual truths behind the miracle of the loaves and the fishes. Here, we find one of the seven great "I AM" passages in the gospel of John. We are forced to deal with two seemingly contradictory truths...Divine sovereignty and human free will. The text does not resolve the tension between the two parallel truths. The Father gives believers to the Son. But believers must come and believe in order to be saved!

When many people come to the genealogies in the Bible, they treat them like "flyover states" on an airplane. They would rather skip to the "good stuff." But tucked away in these genealogical records are great theological truths. Such is the case with Matthew's opening to his Gospel. There, you will find unlikely candidates of God's grace. That's good news for us because we need it too!

John's gospel is unique. He presents Jesus Christ as the eternal Son of God who created the universe. John records the seven "I AM" statements of Christ. The beginning of John's Gospel is very similar to the opening of the Bible in Genesis. He then goes on to say that the eternal Word became flesh and dwelt among us. He describes the glory of Jesus Christ and describes Him as being "full of grace and truth."

The Corinthians had a serious case of sexual immorality going on in their local assembly. Rather than mourning over the sin and disciplining the offender, they were "puffed up." Paul instructs them to hand the man over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh. The end goal, however, is the salvation of the man's spirit. Paul's hope is that this would drive the man to repentance and restoration. Paul then reminds them of who they are in Christ. Just as they had been redeemed by the Passover Lamb (Jesus Christ) they are to get out the old "leaven." Finally, he exhorts them not to fellowship with professing believers who sin rebelliously.