Sermons by:

John McFarland

The Lord is Opening Hearts to Respond

The back-story for the ‘first Euro church’ includes the dramatic conversions of Lydia, a slave-girl, and a jailer … with supernatural wonders plus the clear news that GOD must open territorial doors AND the doors of our hearts … but that is what He does!

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Nailing This Down

  •   7/29/2024
  •   Psalm 40:6-8, Colossians 2:6-15
  • Preacher: John McFarland
“Nailing it down” is a figure of speech about confidence and commitment. The nail by which a bondservant was formally dedicated to his master’s lifelong service matched the nails by which Jesus was affixed to the cross. These give sinners confidence if the record of our sins was nailed to that same cross with Christ (acc. to Colossians 2).

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Every Knee & Every Tongue

Of course, under the Bible’s careful description, we ARE Christian nationalists (see Psalm 2)! Our word to ourselves, the high, and the low is to cease rebelling against the LORD & His Anointed (Christ), serving Him in all our roles and relations. Blessed are all who ‘kiss’ and hide in the Son.

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Blessed Is THE Man

Psalm 1 with Ps. 2 form the Psalter’s intro, asserting God’s rightful interest in things personal & cosmic. In Ps. 1, the wicked & righteous man are contrasted, but both are revealed in their relationship to God & His word. May you be judged righteous in THE Righteous Man.

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The Sin & the Story, the Song & the Savior, Cont’d

Part 2 of this sermon on Psalm 51 (the Sin, Story, Song, and Savior) emphasized the inside (heart) work which God must do, to make us clean within … and how that impacts joy, witness, & sacrificial service to Him. All this points to the impact of our Savior, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of atonement.

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The Sin & the Story, the Song & the Savior

Psalm 51 gives us one of those rare worship songs for the church for which we know the precise historic circumstance behind it … in this case, King David’s notorious sins involving Bathsheba & Uriah. Can such a sinner have a truly clean heart? Depends who you ask and the basis for your plea.

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A Praise-the-Lord Sandwich?

The special contribution of this Psalm is to describe the members of God’s universal choir of praise, and also to challenge our highly limited sense of what praise (& worship) really are … ultimately, being & doing precisely what God created us to be & do. Affections follow.

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God Alone is My Rock and Salvation

Can we trust in and experience God as our Rock & Salvation in a world of lies, violence, and treachery? David under the Holy Spirit says YES, but we will have to call ourselves often to this faith and ask God to make it a habit of the heart.

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The Shepherd for Sheep Like Us

Jesus is the perfect Shepherd for sheep like us; we might recognize ‘design’ in the relationship! As such, Jesus knows, leads, feeds, and protects His flock and each member of it. Let us trust, thank, and follow.

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For His Name’s Sake!

Because of the good, great, chief Shepherd that Jesus is, His blessed flock can know eternal peace & provision. Put away the proverbial calm, pastoral scenes; Jesus must be more like a warrior to bring us all the way through … and this He does, for the sake of His own name.

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