Sermons – Wichita Falls Baptist Church

Solomon searched for life's meaning in wisdom and wealth, but true life and fulfillment therein only come from the fact that Jesus searches for and saves us. Pastor Mollenkopf opens up this beautiful truth.

Solomon's opening dilemma and what sets the stage for the rest of the book is that it appears that under the sun all our toil has no lasting profit since everything is endlessly cyclical. This idea of the cyclical nature of all things finds life in eastern religions, but stands counter to what we find in God's word. Though we may feel weary and that all we do is tedious and in vain, under the Son of God all of our labor is gain. It has purpose and bears great fruit. Jesus' death and resurrection end the endless and pointless cycle and gives meaning and value to all that we do. Pastor Mollenkopf walks us through the opening chapter of Ecclesiastes.

We begin our series on Ecclesiastes with an overview. Pastor Mollenkopf notes that living our lives without reference to God brings futility, but joyfully embracing God's gifts and fearing Him brings fullness of life. If we ignore the difficulties of this life and the peculiarities of the book of Ecclesiastes itself, we miss the goodness and grace of the God who walks beside his children during the joys and darknesses we all face.

When Jesus cried from the cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?," his words echoed from a psalm of David, Psalm 22. A cry of despair, but also hope knowing that “He has done it." Pastor Mollenkopf opens up this rich passage on the Sunday we commemorate Jesus' resurrection.

Pastor Mollenkopf examines David's final psalm, Psalm 145. The shepherd king pens a masterful song of praise to God. Using each successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet he calls on all generations to praise God, the God who cares, rules, and reigns.

Jesus begins the Sermon on the Mount by telling his disciples that those who are poor in spirit are blessed. What does it mean to be poor in spirit? What even does it mean to be blessed? Jesus then goes on to tell them that for those folks, "theirs is the kingdom of Heaven." Okay, but what does that mean. Keith Pond explains what the Beatitudes are and how this opening Beatitude is significant for believers today.

Life has many burdens, sorrows, and trials. Yet, David in Psalm 55 reminds us to cast all your burdens on God because He will sustain you.

Even believers have times where we wrestle and wonder, “Why does evil seem to prosper and doing good get punished?” “Should I bother doing what is right?” “Is there even good in the world?” In Psalm 73 Asaph tells of walking through this dark path, but in the end, he comes out with light and hope as he remembers who God is and what He will do. Pastor Mollenkopf opens up this rich psalm in this morning's worship.

Heaven will be an eternally enjoyable place, but due to misunderstanding, many, even many Christians, are not that excited about it. Sadly, many bound for Hell think it will be a far more interesting place. As we see what God has revealed to us about Heaven, we should be guarded us from such deceptions, filled with hope, and motivated to love our neighbor with an even greater fervor. Pastor Mollenkopf walks the saints through some rich Scripture to explain.

Numbers does not end with Israel entering the Promised Land.  As Pastor Mollenkopf concludes his sermons Series through Numbers, he highlights Israel's final preparations, and highlights the need for us as believers to be ready to enter the "Promised Land," our final destination in glory with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Moses lists  the various places where God led Israel from Egypt to the Promised Land to give Israel confidence and courage to face their future. As Moses' anchors them in God's protection and provision of them in the past, he also calls them to enter the land with the purpose of removing the nations and idolatry that is there.  He concludes, by telling them of God's promised gift to come.  Pastor Mollenkopf explains the great hope the church can have in this Old Testament narrative.

As the second generation prepares to enter the Promised Land, an apparent threat of rebellion rises in Israel. Moses addresses the seemingly agitating tribes and secures from the a commitment to the nation and to God. How then does this apply to us today? Pastor Mollenkopf unpacks the responsibility of every believer to commit themselves to Christ's church, to a local church, to both minister the gifts we've been given, but also to receive the gifts, exhortations and admonitions that come from within a committed body of believers.

This morning, Keith Pond introduces a sermon series that will be scattered throughout the year as he has opportunity to preach. Francis Schaeffer asked a question that became the title of one of his books: in light of the truth of the Gospel, "How Should We Then Live?" Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, begins with great encouragement and exhortation to his disciples regarding what living such a life should look like. Before we delve into the Beatitudes, the background to the Sermon on the Mount. The disciples and the crowds that followed him heard the same message from John the Baptist and Jesus: "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." What does that mean for us as saints 2000 years later?

God sends Israel to go to war against Midian to get vengeance for their tempting Israel to sin in Numbers 25. This war not only serves God's purpose for vengeance but also prepares Israel for the many battles they are about to face as they enter the Promised Land. The war is not so much against Midian, though, but against any and all rebels (including our own sin) against God.

It's not uncommon to hear somebody say, "I swear it's true," or they will add some other point of emphasis. They want you to know what they are saying is the truth. But what does God say about making an oath? Should you vow? As Israel prepares to enter the Promised Land, they must be aware of the serious nature of keeping their oaths and promises. And we must come to terms with what Jesus' says about oaths and vows in Matthew 5. Pastor Mollenkopf covers this important ground today.

Reading through the Bible can be tough when you get to Numbers. What's the point of all of the sacrifices and feasts? We may find that we get bogged down in the repetition. God doesn't want us to get bogged down. He desires that his people would remember and rejoice. He wants them to consider the glory of what's to come. Pastor Mollenkopf opens up these challenging chapters in Numbers.

While Israel's unfaithful thoughts and actions led them to wandering in the wilderness for almost 40 years, God's faithfulness kept them alive and preserved a second generation to receive the blessings of his promises. With the faithless generation having passed away, God now has Israel recount their numbers and prepare anew to enter the Promised Land. These passages show time and again God's faithfulness and the faith he desires of us in response to Him.

Many in the nation of Israel die in a Balaam-induced temptation to the men of Israel. Sexual temptation leads to sexual sin which leads to spiritual adultery and idolatry, and only by God's mercy in stirring up Phinehas is Israel delivered. The cost of their sin? 24,000 in Israel die. Pastor Mollenkopf highlights the holiness of God, the wretched and adulterous nature of all sin, and God's righteous provision for his people in this morning's sermon.

Paul exhorts the saints to set their minds on things above, next things. What's the big deal? How extraordinary will eternal life be? God gives his people tantalizing snippets of the wonder of the life to come both in the Old Testament and  in the New. Such knowledge ought not make the saint complacent and idle in this life but should fire our engines to be the men and women God created and redeemed us to be in this life as we anticipate the life to come. Keith Pond explains.

Jesus' incarnation is celebrated worldwide, but why did he come? What were the reasons for God coming in the flesh? Hebrews 2:10-18 opens up the importance of Jesus' incarnation, and Pastor Mollenkopf explains.

God gave Mary an incredible blessing in being the one to bear the Messiah and Savior, Jesus. History has borne out how man will take one of two extremes regarding Jesus' mother; to venerate Mary beyond what God's word allows or to ignore her altogether. Pastor Mollenkopf highlights the biblical blessedness of Mary but also highlights that Jesus tells us that though Mary is blessed, we can be even more blessed if we do his will.

So much competes for our attention between Thanksgiving and Christmas. That fact is seen in that most folks see the Christmas season beginning on “Black Friday.” In times past, Advent, the Sundays preceding Christmas, prepared the hearts of saints in the Church to be prepared for the celebration of the Son of God made flesh. This morning, Keith Pond opens up the first verses of Hebrews to turn our hearts to the majesty of the Son of God.

Numbers 22 has no direct mention of Israel, Moses, the Levites, or the priests, but God is still watching out and caring for His people. God knows the forces against us, and in His love He protects, guides, and cares for us (even we don't know He is doing a single thing about them!). All of this goes down with a foreign people, a foreign prophet, and a peculiar donkey. Pastor Mollenkopf explains.

After the faithless generation failed and did not enter the Promised Land, the second generation of Israelites to come out of Egypt, by God's grace, faithfully (most of the time) responds to the challenges God gives them. Pastor Mollenkopf shares and applies these thirty-five hundred year old lessons to the saints today.

The faithless generation's 40 years of punishment draws to an end, and God returns the next generation to Kadesh where the first rebellion occurred. How will they fair? How can they handle the loss of leaders (Miriam and Aaron)? While their actions are up and down, we see God's faithful love for His people even while upholding his glory and his justice. Pastor Mollenkopf opens up Numbers 20 to the saints.

Where are you going? God desires us to be on a straight vector to eternal life with him. One of the ways God exhorts us occurs when we come face to face with death. Solomon exhorts us to that end in the Old Testament (Ecclesiastes 7:2-3, 12:1). Jesus, with the death of Lazarus, confronts Lazarus sister, Martha, with the same truth: the end of life must make us stop and consider what road we are traveling. Keith Pond explains.

In order to cleanse Israel from the uncleanness that came from the death of so many in their rejection of Aaron, God provides a red heifer sacrifice. The author of Hebrews, 2000 years later, sees this as a clear connection to Christ: "For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God” (Hebrews 9:13-14) Pastor Mollenkopf highlights the glory of the gospel of Christ within the heart of Numbers.

Following God's authentication of Aaron as the priest by having his staff produce almonds, the Israelites fear that no one can approach God. God reminds them that he set up the priests and Levites so that they might draw near to him through them. How does that apply to us in an era where the priesthood has past? Pastor Mollenkopf  explains from Numbers 17 & 18.

A breathtaking examination of the Gospel in what most people would consider a very strange location, the book of Numbers. In what appears to be a trio of obscure stories, we are given pictures of who Jesus is and what He came to do. As Jesus said in John 5:39, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me…” Pastor Mollenkopf delivers these challenges truths to the saints this morning.

Though American's think freedom, joy, and life are found in being the rebel, Numbers 16 shows the tragedy and destruction that comes from rejecting God's authorities. Pastor Mollenkopf opens this sobering reality in God's word.

Numbers 15 seems like an out of place chapter, but over and over God reiterates His love for Israel and His faithfulness to His promises. Israel must respond with complete obedience and by keeping God first. Pastor Mollenkopf explains the beauty in this chapter and the lavish love of God's grace for his people.

In the midst of Israel's unbelief and rebellion, we are given snapshots of faithful living in the examples of Moses, Joshua, and Caleb. Pastor Mollenkopf highlights from Numbers 13 and 14 what it looks like to fully follow God.

Israel is on the cusp of entering the Promised Land, and tragically they are derailed by their unbelief. God wants to bless them, but they (and we) must trust His word to receive them. Within the passage, we hear God lament the disbelief of his chosen ones. Such despising God's love and commands has serious consequences. Pastor Mollenkopf explains.

Moses' siblings, Miriam and Aaron, envy Moses' recognition as God's spokesman ad complain against him. Numbers 12 lays out for us the destructive nature of envy but also the solutions for it. Pastor Mollenkopf explains.

Israel began their journey toward the Promised Land well, but after only three days their complaining began. As we march to the Promised Land there is much that is sorrowful, much that is difficult, but we can trust God in the good times and the bad.

After almost a year in the wilderness at the base of Mount Sinai, God lifts His cloud from over the tabernacle, and Israel marches out enroute to the Promised Land. Their journey starts well because they go out following God's desires for them and in His strength. Pastor Mollenkopf highlights the applications for the Church of  the Lord in the 21st Century.

This is the last section in Numbers before Israel begins to move toward the Promised Land. In this passage, God gives two final sets of instructions, which will make sure that no matter what the future might hold, they can rest assured they are in God's good hands.

Vaulting off of his message from last week on the dual-citizenship of every believer, Keith Pond looks at the great responsibility offered to us as citizens of the United States: the opportunity to vote. What is the most important thing to consider when we cast our vote? Ought we weigh the issues or the candidate more heavily? Is there ever a time not to vote? How do I get ready for this? And at the end of the day, after we vote, what ought to be my heart attitude? Keith touches on each of these issues to provide us biblical guidance as we hurtle into the political season.

It's not uncommon for an American couple working in a foreign country to have a child, and through no effort on the part of the child, he or she has dual citizenship, a citizen of America and a citizen of the nation in which the child was born. Every Christian has a dual-citizenship. Hebrews 11:13-16 and the entirety of 1 Peter make plain to us that we are sojourners on this Earth, that God has prepared for us a far greater homeland in which we will one day experience unmeasured delight in the presence of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. At the same time, here and now, we are indeed citizens of a city, state, and country, and God's word makes plain to us that we have responsibilities as citizens in the place we call home. Keith Pond begins a two-part series on what it means to be a Christian and a citizen of the United States, today looking more closely at that dual citizenship and next week examining how that plays out in an election season.

This morning, our missionary to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes in northern Utah, Josh Longoria, exhorts the saints to "consider Jesus" from Hebrews 12. Not only did our Savior obtain salvation for all those who would believe in his name, but he is the very one who will perfect our faith. Will we "fix our eyes on Jesus" or will we get distracted in this life under the sun and never complete the Race?

Josh Longoria gives an update and answers questions about the ministry opportunities taking place in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes in northern Utah.

Numbers 7 and 8 provide the essentials needed for Israel to worship God. What is needed for us today? Do we need anything? The world seems to think we can come as we are, but is that really true? In today's message, Jeremy Mollenkopf notes who the worshipers are, who is the Main Audience in worship, and who God has ordained to lead the worship. All of this culminates in the application to our worship today.

At the conclusion of God giving Israel the law and their instructions on entering the Promised Land, he reiterates his desire to bless them. Sin has brought a curse upon us and this world, but God has been working his plan since the fall into sin to redeem the world and bring blessing to us. A gift. Will we take what he is offering us?

Nazirites. A peculiar group mentioned in the Old Testament and hinted at in the New Testament. Long hair. No alcohol. And don't touch a dead body. To our 21st century sensibilities, this seems odd. But God had purpose and a plan for his people who wanted to pursue him more deeply, with greater conviction. What about today? What can the present-day church learn from God's commands to the Nazirites as we seek to walk with our God and Savior today? Pastor Mollenkopf opens God's word to us in Numbers 6.

Man's sin has placed an insurmountable obstacle between himself and God. Nothing man can do will allow him to scale the obstacle or bring it down that he might find his way to God. Rather than man doing the work, God had to do the work. The provision of Christ is the only thing that will carry man to God through the atonement through Jesus' blood. No where is that more evident today than regarding man's inclination toward sexual immorality. Pastor Mollenkopf brings these truths to light in this weighty passage from Numbers 5.

God instructs Israel what to do when they sin. How can they approach him when sin stains their soul. God guides them on how they are to cleanse their guilt through confession, restitution, and atonement. Pastor Mollenkopf guides us through this important text

From the second chapter in the Bible where God warns of suffering for disobedience to the second to the last chapter of the Bible where suffering is no more, the reality of suffering is a constant in God's word. It is a reality in this life. Our lives. Mine. Yours. This morning, Keith Pond opens up what God's word says about the truth of suffering to all men and women, but more than that, he highlights how God tells us in his word that in our suffering God has certain purpose, and he is ever present with us.

A major aspect of God's requirements for Israel to dwell with Him was maintaining a clean (vs. unclean) status. Why was this important to God? Have those requirements vanished since Christ has come? What should we even think of such a system? This sermon begins a look at several passages that deal with purity within the camp and drawing near to a holy God.

The American way of religion is like a buffet; we think that WE can pick and choose how we worship God. God, on the other hand, notes that his creatures must worship him in a manner that is acceptable to him. God set apart the Levites to guard and serve the priests and the tabernacle, to guard his holy presence and to guard the holiness of who He is. Today, Jesus alone enables us to come into God's presence (1 Pet 3:18), the Church now being his Temple (1 Cor 3:16-17). We, the Church, must see the importance of  guarding and serving God's holy presence.

God demanded all Israel's firstborn males be his since the first Passover, but God provided the Levites (or 5 shekels per person) as a redemption for each of the first born. Pastor Mollenkopf explains how an event 1500 years before Christ points to God's redemptive purposes for us and for his glory in Christ.

What does the ordering of the Israelite camp in the book of Numbers have to do with living a life for Christ in the twenty-first century? God desires for His people to live ordered lives, centered on Him, and following His will. Then. And now. Pastor Mollenkopf explains.