Central Baptist Church - Lenoir, NC

For anything we want to do, we find a way to do it. For anything we don't want to do, we find an excuse. This is especially true with obedience.

God changes Moses direction by appearing to him from the burning bush.

Names have significance. When you see the word “name” in Scripture it's used over 1000 times. With this word “name” it carries the idea of power, responsibility, purpose and authority. A name not only expresses the significance of what is being named but it also expresses a quality. Because of the depth of God's character, He has many names. In Scripture He is Elohim, Adonai, Abba, YHWH Another that you are probably familiar with is Jehovah.(variant of YHWH) Throughout Scripture Jehovah is often paired with an adjective: Jehovah- Jireh - The Lord is my Provider Jehovah - Rapha - The Lord is my Healer Jehovah - Rohi - The Lord is my Shepherd I want you to know these names because God has a name for every situation that we find ourselves in. We need to learn the names of God because when we know His character and His capacity , we will find rest, comfort , peace and power in His care over us. The name that I want you to know and take away from our time together in this message, is the name Jehovah-Mephalti. Jehovah Mephalti - The Lord is our Deliverer This is seen throughout Scripture from Genesis to Revelation - but I want us to see it in the 2nd chapter of Exodus in this message.

In construction we have the phrase: “Hurry up & wait!” Everything has to be done … NOW! Most days you kill yourself trying to get from one task to another only to have hold ups because of lack of material, absent sub-contractors, weather, Inspections or engineering… it's always something. However, this isn't only in construction. I hear it's also the same way in the military. If you've been a Christian for any length of time, you know what it means to wait on God. God's ways are not our ways and His timing is often not our timing but what if you waited on God your entire life without hearing from Him? And your kids and their kids and their kids keep waiting, but there's still no word from God. Centuries have gone by, almost 400 years and things are getting worse, not better. You and your people are enslaved by a cruel dictator who is making life miserable. Then, to make matters worse, he orders that all of your male babies be slaughtered. · But God promised. He promised He would be with you and He would deliver you. That's the situation as you begin in the book of Exodus . Through this message on Exodus 1, I want to remind us of God's faithfulness and His devotion to keep His Word.

When you buy a new gadget, it comes with an owner's manual that tells you how to operate it. Maybe you read or skim the manual quickly (at best), or never bother to read it at all. Why is that? Is it because it's too tedious? Is it too time consuming? Or are you confident that you can figure it out? Surely, we're smart enough to figure this out without reading the directions. But then we can't figure out why this stupid product doesn't work right! Maybe we need to go back and read the manual! God has given us His Word as the manual for our salvation. It tells us all we need to know to walk with God and live wisely in light of eternity. But, as we do with so many owner's manuals, we read it superficially or hardly at all and then wonder why our Christian life isn't working the way it's supposed to! We need to go back and read the manual carefully, asking God to give us His wisdom and understanding. So in this series on prayer, my hope for us all, (self included) is that we would see the necessity, the importance and the value of spending time in prayer. And in our prayers it's good to be specific. We often don't have trouble being specific when it comes to physical needs and wants but what about the spiritual needs of our life? In this message we pick up where we left off last week.

Paul, because of the reports he's heard about their faithfulness, their acceptance of the truth, because of their love for each other, he's praying for the church of Ephesus and he prays specific prayers for them I don't know about you but I sometimes struggle praying specifically especially when it comes to spiritual matters for myself or others.  If we want our prayers to be heard/answered, why wouldn't we pray specific prayers? When my kids come to me with a request it's specific and not general. Since God is our Father, we should go to Him with specific prayers. I know we can be specific when there is a physical need but what about our spiritual needs? Do we get specific about the things that matter most? The physical is temporary but the spiritual is eternal. I don't know about you but I want prayers that are far more weighty, that are spiritually ambitious, prayers that get at the root of whatever issue I'm facing. That's what Paul is doing here and he prays specifically for 4 things Pray for a Spirit of wisdom and a revelation in the knowledge of Him Pray for the eyes of your heart to be enlightened Pray to know the hope of His calling on your life. Pray to know the greatness of His power towards us.

This week we were blessed with an encouraging message of God's faithfulness by Rev. John Barnhardt. He was our guest preacher for Central Baptist Church's 84th Homecoming Celebration.

Last week we began looking at the Lord's Prayer. This prayer is more than a repetition, it's a template for ho we are to pray. The prayer begins with a request and then follows with six petitions that put our priorities in order. The first three petitions focus on the preeminence of God [supremacy & sovereignty]. While the final three focus on our personal needs in a community context. Here's what we know about Our Father: This title was foreign to those listeners then but should be common to us.  We are to come to Him knowing His love for us and His never ending compassion; Not only is He ready to hear our prayers but He is always ready to come to our help. And because He's our Father we should not hesitate to approach Him but we often fail to do so.  We doubt, worry and we fail to trust Him fully and completely even though He is sovereign over all things. We forget that he holds the world and all that is in it in his hand. This is what sets him apart from us and all other creatures, and should warns us of how we think about Him because he is higher than the whole world.  So, Christ, in teaching His followers how to pray, He wanted to establish the disciples' trust in God's goodness and power. And unless our prayers are rooted in that same kind of faith, they do us no good. In this message we'l look at God's word to see His provision, His protection as well as His deliverance.

Do you know how to pray? While prayer is a natural response – there is a way to approach prayer. Prayer is not an impulse but a lifestyle. One of the most common things we see Jesus do is pray, so that's a pretty good indicator that we should to. Last week my first point from Matt.7:11 was that Jesus invites us to pray. He wants us to come to Him: ask, seek, knock. So, since He wants us to pray, do we truly know the correct way to approach Him in prayer? The Lord's Prayer is familiar to almost everyone. It's widely used in liturgical worship, some used to recite it at school, before ball games and at other gatherings. But originally it was intended as a model for all our prayers. This is part one of looking at "How to Pray" by looking at Jesus' example from Matthew 6:5-15.

Do you pray? More than half (55%) of Americans say they pray every day, according to a 2014 Pew Research Center survey, While 21% say they pray weekly or monthly and 33% say they seldom or never pray. Even among those who are religiously unaffiliated, 20% say they pray daily. Women (64%) are more likely than men (36%) to pray every day. And Americans ages 65 and older are far more likely than adults under 30 to say they pray daily (65% vs. 41%). What about you? Do you enter into the throne room of God and make your requests known to Him? We're all good with what I call “shotgun” prayers. A shotgun prayer is where you, without a lot of thought, you just throw out a lot of requests and hope that some of them will stick.  “Lord , help me”, “Lord let this work out”, “Lord keep me safe.”, etc. But how often do we set aside time and with His word in our hands, spend time praying through the different issues, asking for His guidance, seeking His will, and persistently coming to Him with our reuests? Well, just to clear the air and to be completely honest, I don't set aside a regular time like this. I do have set times when I pray: We pray at meal time. I pray while I'm driving to work. I'll pray when something comes to mind. And in the evening when I put the kids into bed, I pray with them. We pray in the car as we're leaving on a trip... Our lives are intertwined with moments of prayer.But as far as designating a time when I will sit down with His word in my hand, seeking his guidance, expecting a response from Him, I have to admit, it's been too long But I want to.

In Luke 22:31-32 Jesus told Peter “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, 32 but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” And that's what Peter has done through his two letters. He's been strengthening the church. Through 1 Peter, where he's encouraged us to remain faithful in the midst of a world who is hostile in the faith and through this 2nd letter, to remain faithful and steadfast even when apostasy has risen up from within the church. Last week we saw Peter's encouragement to be ready for the return of Christ by giving us a reminder, a warning and a promise. And as we come to vs.14-18 Peter has 4 final commands for us in closing Peter is not saying anything new in these final commands – He is reiterating what he's already said before – and those commands demand action from us.

Do you remember the mood in the United States in the months following 9/11?Fighters patrolled the skies. Police were on constant alert. Nobody ignored suspicious activity. Airline security reached its all-time peak. – We had different levels of threat: Red, Orange, Yellow. Everybody knew the threat of unexpected attack was real and pervasive. It could come at any time, anywhere, from anybody. But as time went on and we were removed from those events of 9/11, the original alertness began to wanre and before long, few people knew what threat level the Department of Homeland Security had set, and later on, most didn't care. We grew complacent and just wanted everything to return to normal. And before long no one was really on the alert. We were back to business as usual. That is the same kind of thing that was happening in Peter's day with regard to false teachers. Intellectually believers knew the dangers, the risks, and the threats.They were doing what they could to be Christlike. But they needed a reminder, a wake-up call. And that's what Peter does in this last chapter.

Can you imagine life if we never hungered? If eating didn't give us pleasure and satisfaction? If we didn't need to eat to live? The truth is: We are hardwired to hunger. We have a biological impulse to desire food—especially when our stomachs are empty. You were made to hunger, and to satisfy that hunger by eating. You don't need a PhD or MD to know you need nourishment to live. And God, in his grace and infinite wisdom, made you to experience hunger, and to act on that desire, that physiological impulse. And it's not any different for our souls. He's made us to have a spiritual impulse to desire him. Just as our physical bodies hunger for nourishment that will satisfy us, likewise our souls hunger for nourishment that will give us joy, comfort, contentment, love, peace for the present and a hope for the future. Deep down we know something is missing. We may try to ignore it or fill it with something that won't satisfy, but the truth is without Jesus, we're empty and broken, wicked and weak, desperate and dying. We need hope and healing and life. We need something—or someone— that will satisfy our deepest longings and meet our greatest needs. The question is: What satisfies you? What satisfies your deepest desires and longings? What satisfies that hunger in you? Not physical food. Not any thing: Not that house or that car or that job or more money or those shoes or your team winning that game or getting that grade or getting into that school. Not people: Not your spouse or your parents or a child or a friend or boyfriend or girlfriend. Ultimately, you won't be truly satisfied with anything this world has to offer or that you can earn for yourself. What will satisfy you? Jesus, only Jesus. Jesus is the answer to that critical question.

2 Peter is about confronting apostasy and apostasy is simply the falling away from the faith. In the evangelical church we see that apostasy is approaching, the storm is coming and for some it's already settled in. · This summer almost all of your evangelical denominations have held their yearly meetings :SBC in June, UMC in May, PCA in July, PCUSA in June, ELCA in August. And there are too many sub divisions of denominations to list. All of these denominations are meeting to clarify what they believe and what they will teach Mark Tooley, president of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, a think tank advocating orthodoxy in mainline denominations, has pointed out the decline in America's mainline denominations “Liberal Protestants think that credo orthodoxy is passe and no longer sustainable and that for the church to remain relevant in the world, the focus needs to be on social-political action rather than espousing archaic creeds and beliefs,” Basically – Scripture is too archaic. It has no-relevance to our world today. They believe the Bible doesn't address the problems that we have today such as: racism, gender inequality, transgenderism, poverty, sexuality, etc. Since they believe this to be true, they're rewriting what God's Word says; they're following feeling and preference instead of truth. They're redefining truth and after all, they're the church. They're all about love, compassion and the welfare of their fellow man. But do you know what is excluded from their rhetoric? Any mention of Holiness, sanctification, purity, Christlikeness. And this is what apostasy looks like in the church today. The storm has arrived – and it's nothing new. Peter addressed this same issue nearly 2000 years ago and before that we can trace the history of false teaching all the way to the garden of Eden.

Reminders are important. I use a feature in my phone to help out with this – meetings, appointments,prayer requests, etc. You may use a calendar that hangs on a wall or sits on a desk but we use these things to help us remember. So whether we tie a string around our finger or use an app on our phone, we want to be reminded of important things that we don't want to forget. That's how Peter is following up what we looked at last time in his 2nd letter. He's instructed us to supplement our faith where we are lacking, He's encouraged us to make our calling and election sure through living out Godliness, and now he instructs us to remember the things that have been established in truth.

Life is a series of choices. We make our decisions and our decisions turn around and make us. You are who you are today because of decisions and choices you made years ago. Most of the time we don't realize how important small choices can be. That's especially true when we are young. Many of life's most important decisions are made during our teenage years: · Where will I go to college? · What will I major in? · Should I get married? And if so, who will I marry, and how will I meet my future mate, and when will it happen? · What career will I choose? · Who will be my best friends? · What kind of content will I absorb? · How far will I go? Will I keep myself pure? · Will I follow the crowd or will I chart my own course? And sooner or later we face the most important decision of all: Will I decide to follow Jesus? This question is crucial because surveys repeatedly show that 90% of all those who come to Christ do so by the age of 18. And by following Christ you are deciding to follow Him and not what this world/culture would have you follow. Believe it or not we are at a turning point in our country and we will have to make a decision about who and what we will follow. We've been in this dilemma for some time but it really took center stage in 2020. And the decision we are facing, our kids, grandkids and great grandkids are facing is not unsimilar to what we see in Scripture. 

No matter how hard we try, we cannot get God's results if we refuse do things God's way. But when we do what God tells us to do, we will get results that count. This is a final word from Peter to the church - his swan song. And here Peter is on death row, awaiting execution, and he pens this letter to the saints. Now if you had one last time to tell someone something before you died, what would it be? Peter, forever the preacher, gives what some would call a mini sermon. And the purpose of this sermon/letter is to exhort believers on the importance of living a life of godliness. He knows the danger of falling away and he wants his church family to be equipped to live the life God has for them.

For most of my life, I have worked with wood - From framing Houses and roof systems, all the way to cabinetry and furniture - if it's been done with wood, I've done it or at least attempted it. Depending on the type of wood I'm dealing with I have learned to predict how basic elements will react under given situation or circumstance. Knowing those proclivities, will determine how I approach the task. If only life were that easy. But you can never anticipate every circumstance and trial that you will go through. And so your life is a process of learning how to deal with not only circumstance and trial but also how to deal with those who are against you. That is why Peter wrote this second letter to the church. There are some aspects of life that you don't expect to have to deal with. We expect attacks from outside the church but not necessarily from within. But the churches in Asia minor were being infiltrated by false teachers and were leading many astray. Peter writes to the churches to stand firm in what they know and to defend the faith.

Some things money can't buy and you just can't earn. Especially when it comes to the things of God. God's love for us is priceless and because of His love for us, He has prepared for us a place, for when our training is done here on Earth. As believers we are citizens of a great Kingdom with a Sovereign King. And somehow we take this for granted, we take what God has to offer and we treat it as trivial. That's been the reason behind this series on “Kingdom Worth”. Does the Kingdom of Heaven, God's Kingdom, really have value to you? If so then it will manifest itself in your life through the attributes that we've looked at. In this message, I wanted to close out this series of messages with what the Kingdom of Heaven is like and just how important it is from Matthew 13:44-46.

I'm convinced that there are 2 types of people. Those who plan and organize and those who (on a whim) go & do. And they're married to each other. There's something to be said for those who are prepared. Preparation means that they're ready no matter what may happen. Jesus' instruction to His followers is that they are to always be prepared. In fact, over 55 places in Scripture, we are told to be ready/prepared. Here in this passage alone – 5 different illustrations are given to show us the importance of being ready. The message of the Bible isn't just about His Birth, Death and Resurrection. It's also about how we're to live between the time He ascended into Heaven and when He'll Return. We may not know the specific time but we're promised that He's coming back and this world as we know it will be no more. We're promised something better. But are we ready for it?  If you value God & His Kingdom, you will

We've been looking at the topic of Kingdom Worth - what is the kingdom of Heaven worth too you? We've looked at in several different ways. Is it worth you influencing those you come into contact with? Is it worth showing mercy & compassion towards others? Is it worth committing your whole life too? Is it worth you getting to the end of your self and allowing God to have complete rule and reign I hope it is. Now I want you to consider this question of Kingdom Worth with a different approach - What is truly important? If you and I truly value the Kingdom of Heaven and we value these attributes, what is important about the life I've been given? The lesson for us is this: You value the Kingdom of Heaven when you use what God has entrusted to you to provide for eternity. Jesus is telling us that there is a way you can take it with you, namely, by wisely investing the resources that God has entrusted to you now in things that matter for eternity.

We've been talking about Kingdom Worth and what the Kingdom of Heaven worth to you. So far we've looked at the value of : Influence, mercy, and commitment. These are really marks of the follower of Christ – If you value what Christ has done for you, you will value these attributes in your life This Sunday's message was on the Value of Humility. Through this parable of the two sons, I wanted us to see the value of humility but also the danger of not having humility in our lives.

Everything that matters is hard. Everything that matters is costly. Anything worth something will cost you. So there is a disconnect when we hear that Salvation is free because after all, Salvation costs us nothing! It's free to us, but it cost the giver something. It cost Jesus His life - It cost God His Son. So while Salvation is the free gift of God, there was a price paid. And since there was such a great price paid, it is our responsibility, our obligation, and our privilege to hold that gift close to our heart. To commit our life to it.

What is mercy? We're familiar but it can be difficult to define.Mercy is basically, compassion in the place of judgment. And if anyone should exhibit the quality/characteristic of mercy, it is those who have been shown mercy. It should be those who claim Christ as their savior, because of the mercy they have been shown. But often that is not the case. Too often, those who call themselves Christian, take mercy for granted and rarely offer it to others. Jesus gave us an example of the value of mercy, and He gave us an illustration of what it looks like to value His kind, compassionate, mercy from the Gospel of Luke.

How do you determine the value of something?How do you know what something is worth? The value of something is determined by the willingness of someone to invest in it. There are things in this life that are worth the investment to some but not others - Art, Stocks, baseball cards… almost anything. So the value is based off of the willingness of an individual to invest their money, time and resources to. Which leads me to surmise that if you're willing to invest in something, not only is it worth it but it's important to you. So what is the Kingdom of Heaven worth to you? What value do you place of belonging to the Kingdom of Heaven? It's easy to put a value on our kingdom: what we want, what amuses us, entertains and occupies our attention with all of our toys and selfish desires. But our kingdom is fleeting; it's temporary. And the Kingdom of God is eternal - It's what we do with it and for it, that we'll answer for. Since this is true there are some characteristics as believers that carry value in our lives.

I came across an article a while back titled: “What God Does Not Know”. At first I was floored and offended - until I read the article and here is the jest of it. 5 Things God Doesn't Know -by Micah Maddox A Person He Does Not Love A Soul He Cannot Save A Heart He Cannot See A Wound He Cannot Heal A Life He Cannot Change I know that the title of the article was there to grasp my attention and I don't know about you but I'm glad that there is nothing that God doesn't know. He is Sovereign and He is our Savior. Jesus - God in the flesh - knows all things. He knows all of the good and all of the bad. And that's where I want your focus as we see Jesus in the Upper Room, instituting the Lord's Supper,with His disciples. In spite of knowing what was happening and what was to come, Jesus loved them and He loves us to the very end.

We have been looking at the last week of Jesus' life. We've seen His triumphal entry, the cursing of the fig tree and this week we fast forward to the end of that week. Up until this moment Jesus has been teaching them through His example what it means to minister and what it means to disciple others. What Jesus begins to show them here in this passage of John 13, is the heart behind His ministry - after all that is really where all of our struggles are. Jesus isn't concerned so much about our behavior, He is gravely concerned with the condition of our heart! Because if our heart is right with Him, our behavior will reflect it. And no one knows our heart like Jesus.

What does Jesus see when He inspects the leaves of our lives, our families and our churches? Does He find belief and faithfulness? Is it found in our homes, in our relationships with others and in our businesses? Does He find us living out our lives characterized by the things we do because we trust Christ or is He going to find the empty leaves of self-love and self-absorption? Jesus pronounced a curse on the fig tree in Mark 11 but it was merely an illustration of the judgment to come to Israel. And it stands as a stark example to us that we can just as easily fall into the same trap as Israel, as the church. I pray that He finds fruit amongst the leaves!

In our society, we have become entitled in our thinking that everything should be our way. This has even overflowed into our approach to the Bible and the truth about who God is.It has become popular to take the truth of the gospel (Christ's life, sacrifice, death and resurrection) and formulate it to be about how it can best serve me and about what we can have our way. The danger becomes then, that scripture isn't so much about how it points me to Christ but about how it can best suit my thinking.And so we begin to move away from the true intention of Scripture (pointing us to Christ) and begin to adapt it to what we want it to say or what we think it should say. This is the same problem that those individuals faced on the first Palm Sunday when Jesus entered into Jerusalem.

Paul concludes his letter to the Galatians, reminding them that at the end of the day, we should never think it's up to us to measure up. We're to put all of our confidence, all of our boasting, in what Jesus has done for us. In fact, if you're going to brag about anything, brag about Jesus and his saving work. This is all that matters. From now on, for those of us who are in Christ, there should not be any confusion about the gospel. The Gospel is not about us but for us. And when we're confronted with a gospel that is contrary to the true Gospel we're to call it out and we're to live it out, by walking in the Spirit, exhibiting that fruit of the Spirit. And when you do, you can boast in the one thing that made it possible for you to walk in the Spirit - The cross of Jesus Christ!

Paul teaches us in this chapter that we are not made right with God by the seeds of goodness we sow.But those seeds we do sow are consistent with the new nature that God has sown within us by His grace in Christ. And if we walk by the Spirit, then we will be sowing to the Spirit. So, when by God's grace, we are sowing to the Spirit, we will reap eternal life from the Spirit. God wants us to do good to one another, to love one another, to pray for one another, to stand with one another, and to bear one another's burdens. Why? Because that's how we truly REFLECT His light to one another. And when that happens, the reflection of divine sunshine that the world sees is that much brighter.

Following up where he left off in Chapter 5, Paul begins to outline what it looks like for Christians to be spiritual.

Scripture tells us that the Spirit and our sinful nature are always in conflict. It's like a tug of war, pulling in opposite directions and our sinful nature wants gratification, but at the same time our new nature wants to please God. Paul shows us how it's possible to walk by the Spirit and not the flesh.

Legalism in many ways looks pure, righteous and pious, after all its rooted in the law and tradition. But trusting in it for your salvation brings about slavery and ultimately death. Only faith in Christ alone brings us freedom and life.

Paul's frustration but encouragement to the churches of Galatia is that through adoption into God's family, they are no longer slaves.

Wednesday night audio from our study in Ecclesiastes

When the time was right, God sent His Son to be like us, for us and adopted us into his family.

Romans 12:1-2 part 2 - We continue looking at this passage in the letter to the Romans by the application of what Paul taught in vs. 1. We don't follow the blueprint of the world we let the Word of God transform our hearts and our minds!

Romans 12:2-2 part 1 - Paul calls us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice. We do that by offering the blank check of our lives to Jesus Christ.

The greatest gift the Magi had to offer Jesus was not gold, frakencinsense and myrrh. Their greatest gift is the same as our greatest gift for Him: love, adoration and sacrifice.

The story of Ruth concludes with her marriage to Boaz and the birth of her son Obed. We see how God's greater story of Jesus is evident throughout this book.

Ruth's interaction with Boaz on the threshing floor reveals the Joy we have in our redeemer.

We continue with week 2 of our Advent focus through the book of Ruth.

A study from the book of Ruth loking at the themes of Advent

Our God is the only One who can keep His promises fully and perfectly!

Paul's continued defense of Justification through Faith by the example of Abraham.

Justification is a warm blanket to our souls that we wrap ourselves in – it comforts us, secures us and it allows us to rest.

Galatians 2:11-16 No one is immune to sin and our sin can cause others to fall.

Galatians 1:11-24 Only the Gospel of Jesus Christ has the power to transform our lives.

Galatians 1:1-10 There are many teachings that are attributed to the gospel or profess to be the gospel but there is no other gospel than the Gospel of Jesus Christ!