Washed in the Word

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Do you understand God’s plan for your life?  Do you understand your kingdom calling?  Do you understand who you are in Christ & what that means as you seek to live for Christ?  Our text today is the very heart & core of the epistle of First Peter.  Our passage is the fulcrum from which all the teachings of First Peter pivot. Everything before our passage points to it.  Everything aft...

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Today Peter speaks on something so basic you might be tempted to skip past it.  But it is so intrinsic we must imbibe it until we own it.  Until it is rooted in the very fabric of our daily existence.  Today’s topic is "Christ & the Christian."  May I be so bold as to say never let this passage become old because it is pure gold.An argument can be made that our text today is th...

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In 1980 Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers offered the world a catchy chorus: “You don’t have to live like a refugee.”  Christians find that is not quite the case.  Hebrews 13:14 tells us “this world is not our home; we are looking forward to a home yet to come.”  Peter calls us elect exiles because Christians are temporarily, providentially placed in this world to impact it for Christ, yet t...

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Our subject today is one from which folks tend to shy away.  The subject is holiness.  Today we are in 1 Peter 1 & the what of our passage is clear in verses 14-15: "As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.."  The why of our passage is clear in verses 15-19: 15 but...

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Sometimes following Christ is hard.  So when our allegiance to Jesus arouses anger from our neighbors God wants us to know three things so we stay the course when the wind & waves are battering our ship of faith.  Today, the Apostle Peter continues his letter to beleaguered believers These saints have endured political, social, & personal persecution.   If you are listening today &am...

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Salvation is a subject clouded by confusion.  Prosperity preachers promise salvation from pain & paucity.  Concerning salvation Buddhists urge us to pursue nirvana.  The salvation they seek is from suffering by trying to snuff out the fires they claim cause it: attachment, aversion, & illusion.  Hindus seek salvation through moksha which is liberation from the supposed cycle of reinc...

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Back in 1971 Jean Knight released Mr. Big Stuff.  The song has a rousing riff which asks “Who do you think you are?”  That is an excellent question for the Christian.  When the world tries to squeeze us into its mold… When all the cool kids are doing it…When our superiors intimidate us to tow the line or they will take a hard line, putting us on the firing line, what is your bottom line, lin...

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The ancient Greek philosopher Diogenes once noted: “We have two ears & only one tongue in order that we may hear more & speak less.” Mark Twain observed: “It is better to keep your mouth closed & let people think you are a fool than to open it & remove all doubt.”  What are those?  Those are proverbs about taming our tongues. James says "If anyone considers himself relig...

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“Laziness travels so slowly that poverty soon overtakes him.”  “God gives the birds their food, but He doesn't throw it into their nests.”  Thomas Jefferson used to say: “I'm a great believer in luck, & I find the harder I work the more I have of it” Vince Lombardi used to say: “The dictionary is the only place that success comes before work.”  Those are all statements regardin...

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Money is an essential facet of our modern lives.  Mishandling money can cause a multitude of hardships.  Overemphasizing money has derailed many a saint.  What does God teach regarding "Proverbial Wisdom on Money Matters?"  In our time together today we will explore 11 practical principles on this critical subject.  So, grab our Bible, a pen, & print out the free downloadable s...

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Proverbs are nuggets of truth poured into minuscule memorable packets.  God Himself has given us many proverbs.   Divinely inspired proverbs are more than whimsical & winsome they are wise beyond degree.  A cursory study of the book of Proverbs reveals over 200 verses which directly address the benefits of wisdom.   If God’s wisdom is so valuable to our existence, if it is the key to a l...

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There are over two hundred verses in Proverbs that address the benefits of wisdom.   Today, in this our first message plodding through Proverbs, we want to zero in the first four chapters to glean a dozen of the benefits of wisdom & garner a plan to personally get more out of this immensely practical book.  Grab your Bible, a pen, & download the free sermon outline & accompanying...

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All across the world on Sunday mornings something happens in nearly every continent & in nearly every culture.  Preachers preach.  It is universally done, but is it biblically done?  We all have our thoughts on preaching but what are God’s thoughts? Today we are going to do something very meta.  We are going to have a sermon on sermons.  Most of us have probably never heard a sermon abou...

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Years ago, I came across a piece of wisdom written by a pastor who had a couple of bestselling books & a thriving mega-church, yet at the very same time his wife was locked in a life or death battle with cancer.  Eventually the ministries of the church reached a global profile yet in the midst of all that success this pastor’s eldest son took his own life.  This pastor who had seen many ...

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Everyone who goes to church has a pastor.  Most of us have opinions of what a pastor ought to do, but what is God’s opinion?  Biblically speaking what is the pastor’s central calling?  Perhaps the clearest Scriptural answer to that critical question is found in our text today in 2 Timothy 4:1-8. Grab your Bible, a pen, & printout the free downloadable sermon outline & accompanying st...

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The wisest man who ever lived was King Solomon.  In Ecclesiastes 4:12 he wrote that “a cord of three strands is not easily broken.”  A three-strand rope is strong because when twisted together they increase the diameter of the cord & take stress off the outer fibers.  This is the principal behind the cables that hold up our modern suspension bridges.  This is how over two billion vehicle...

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In 1 Chronicles 12:32 the Bible says the “men of Issachar… understood their times & knew what Israel should do.”  The church today needs people like the sons of Issachar.   We need to understand our times so that we know what we should do.  One of the keys to success in an endeavor is having a clear eyed understanding of your situation.  In 2 Timothy 2 God encourages us to be like a hard...

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One of my favorite Far Side’s is the one with the kid pushing with all his might against the pull side of door at the “Midvale School for the Gifted.”  I once saw a sign on a shop that said “Push, if that doesn’t work, pull, if that doesn’t work we must be closed.”  Life has a lot of push-pull moments.  Like ferrous metals alongside magnets we seem pulled into some things & pushed away b...

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Steven Wright used to say: “right now, I’m having amnesia & de ja vu at the same time.  I think I have forgotten this before.”  Fred Allen used to say: “I always have trouble remembering three things, faces, names &… whatever that other thing was.”Caroline Rhea used to say: “I constantly walk into a room & I don’t remember why, but for some reason, I think there is going to be cl...