Sermon Central
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Galatians: Don't Stray From The Grace-Way
Contributed by David Dykes on Sep 5, 2013 (message contributor)
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1. Galatians: Our Emancipation Proclamation
Contributed on Sep 5, 2013
People are moving faster than ever before, but they have no idea of where they’re going. Galatians answers the age-old question: How can I find real meaning in life?
INTRODUCTION This morning, I’m starting a series on Galatians and I’m excited about what we’re going to learn over the next twelve months. When you get the truth of Galatians, you’ll have a personal grace awakening. That’s why I’ve entitled the series, ...read more
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2. Who's Your Mama?
Contributed on Sep 5, 2013
God promised Abraham that he would have thousands of descendants. Abraham and Sarah showed a lack of faith when they launched the Hagar Solution.
INTRODUCTION The term “who’s your daddy?” has become a part of our cultural vernacular. My golf buddy, Dean Cagle, yells it every time he makes a long putt, which is more often than I like. In fact, the guys who know Dean know him by that phrase. So, a couple of years ago when ...read more
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3. Give Me Liberty...or Give Me Legalism
Contributed on Sep 5, 2013
God's grace isn't a relic from our past, it is our daily manna.
INTRODUCTION Did you hear about the joke about the Baptist pastor who snuck out to the horse race track? He’d never bet on the horses before, so he wasn’t sure where to put his money. Before one of the races he watched as a Catholic priest pronounced a blessing on a particular horse. ...read more
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4. Can You Fall From Grace?
Contributed on Sep 5, 2013
Can you fall from grace? Absolutely. You can’t fall away from salvation, but you can reject the truth of grace.
INTRODUCTION Some of my fondest memories are road trips when my daughters were young. We had an Oldsmobile Delta 88 with a huge bench backseat. This was before child seats were the required, so they had plenty of room to play. But there was an imaginary line drawn down the middle of the bench ...read more
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5. Set Free To Serve—not To Sin
Contributed on Sep 5, 2013
Salvation is the work of the Holy Spirit, and it can’t be gained by human effort.
INTRODUCTION Much of the history of President Franklin D. Roosevelt is predominated by his wartime speeches. However, many historians believe his greatest speech was made eleven months before Pearl Harbor. It wasn’t called the State of the Union address back then, but on January 6, 1941 ...read more
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6. The Inner Uncivil War
Contributed on Sep 5, 2013
Each of us has a sinful nature, we simply call it human nature. When we become a follower of Jesus, God places His Holy Spirit in our hearts, and the war begins.
INTRODUCTION Today is Mother’s Day, so if your mother is still around, I encourage you to tell her how much you love and appreciate her. I recently came across a list of different things our mothers taught us. 1. My mother taught me PRAYER: “You better pray that stain will come ...read more
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7. Rotten Living That Leads To Loss
Contributed on Sep 5, 2013
Don’t treat sin like a weed-eater whacking away at the visible weed—go to the root of the problem. It’s a heart problem, not a behavior problem.
INTRODUCTION In the last message I mentioned one of my favorite Presidents, Calvin Coolidge. He was known as “silent Cal,” because he was a man of few words. One day, President Coolidge was walking home from attending church and reporters gathered around him. They asked, “What ...read more
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8. The Greatest Of These Is Love
Contributed on Sep 5, 2013
Love is the first of the nine Fruits of the Spirit.
INTRODUCTION Over the summer we’re going to be spending time examining all nine fruit of the Spirit. My main goal for this series is the same as God’s goal—for each of us to display these nine character qualities every day of our lives. But you don’t have to try to be ...read more
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9. Joy Is A Choice—not A Feeling
Contributed on Sep 5, 2013
Joy isn't happiness. It is so much more.
INTRODUCTION We’re in a series on the Fruit of the Spirit which I’m calling “Grace-Fruit: Jesus Living in Me.” Fruit is the outward expression of the inward nature. When you see a plum hanging on a tree, you can say, “That’s a plum tree.” When you see ...read more
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10. Jesus Is Your Source For Serenity
Contributed on Sep 5, 2013
Some people think peace is the absence of problems, but it’s not possible to go through life without trouble and adversity.
INTRODUCTION This is the third message in my series on “Grace-fruit: Jesus living in me.” Today, we’re going to focus on the fruit of peace. Our text is Galatians 5:22-23 which says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, ...read more
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11. I Want Some Patience—now!
Contributed on Sep 5, 2013
A discussion of three important truths about patience: What it is, why it's so hard to have, and how you can display it.
INTRODUCTION We’ve come now to the fourth fruit of the Spirit, Patience. Remember, there is one fruit, and it has nine flavors. We read about the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23 which says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, ...read more
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12. Kiss 'em With Kindness
Contributed on Sep 5, 2013
An examination of three scriptural truths about kindness illustrated with aspects of kindness from the life of Jesus and how we can demonstrate kindness.
INTRODUCTION The Book of Galatians is all about the beauty of God’s grace. And one way that God’s grace is displayed in our lives is through the Fruit of the Spirit. So, I’m calling this series, “Grace-fruit: Jesus Living in Me.” Here are the nine expressions of the ...read more
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13. Good For You!
Contributed on Sep 5, 2013
We tend to lump people into categories of good people and bad people. What makes something or someone good?
INTRODUCTION We’re in a series about the Fruit of the Spirit. Fruit is the outward manifestation of the inner nature. When you see a banana hanging on a tree, you know it’s a banana tree. When you see these nine traits in someone’s personality, you know that they are a Jesus ...read more
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14. A Long Obedience In The Same Direction
Contributed on Sep 5, 2013
Like all the other flavors of the fruit of the Spirit, faithfulness is not something we have to manufacture ourselves. It is part of the character and nature of our God.
INTRODUCTION This is the seventh message in the Fruit of the Spirit series I'm calling “Gracefruit: Jesus Living in Me.” Let’s look at our key passage again. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and ...read more
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15. People Are Fragile—handle With Care
Contributed on Sep 5, 2013
If you learn anything about gentleness, please understand that real gentleness requires supernatural strength. In fact, the way to be gentle is to be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit.
INTRODUCTION Orange you glad you came to church today? Fruit is the outward expression of an inner nature. When you see an orange hanging on a tree, you can safely assume, that’s an orange tree. The reason you can identify the tree is because of its fruit. Jesus said the same thing about ...read more
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16. Who's In Charge Around Here?
Contributed on Sep 5, 2013
Everybody struggles with self-control. We all wish we had more of it.
INTRODUCTION Love is the first flavor of the fruit of the Spirit and today we come to the last, self-control. I think these two virtues are placed first and last because love is the primary fruit and drives the rest, and self-control is the virtue that holds them all together. Our scripture ...read more
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17. The Secret To A Fruitful Life
Contributed on Sep 5, 2013
God’s plan for your life isn’t that you’ll be successful. Instead, He wants you to be fruitful.
INTRODUCTION This is the final message in the series “GRACE-FRUIT: Jesus Living in Me.” Over the past nine weeks we’ve examined the nine flavors of the Fruit of the Spirit. In order to put the Fruit of the Spirit in the full context of Galatians, let’s read Galatians ...read more
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18. Grace For The Disgraced
Contributed on Sep 5, 2013
The Bible is full of stories about spiritual superstars who fell into sin and disgrace. So what should be our response when this happens today?
INTRODUCTION This just in…recently released secret documents indicate that spiritual terrorists have infiltrated the church. These secret agents have joined our churches to disrupt our fellowship. But don’t worry, these agents have been identified and photographed. See if you ...read more
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19. How To Handle Burdens
Contributed on Sep 5, 2013
There are three kinds of burdens: The kind we share; the kind of we bear; and the kind we wear.
INTRODUCTION On my mission trips to China, I’ve noticed the standard of living keeps rising. More Chinese people are driving cars, and because of American fast food, they are getting overweight as well. But there is one thing that hasn’t changed yet—the main mean of ...read more
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20. The Law Of The Harvest: You'll Pick What You Plant
Contributed on Sep 5, 2013
Seeds are small, but they turn into large plants. You may think a tiny word or deed is insignificant, but it always multiplies and grows into big consequences.
INTRODUCTION After this message, I have only three more messages from Paul’s letter to the church at Galatia. We started this series last September, and over the past year we’ve learned that Paul wrote this letter to a group of churches in what would be southern Turkey today. He ...read more
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21. Never Give Up...never, Never, Never!
Contributed on Sep 5, 2013
The only people God can’t use are those who quit. In the Christian life, it’s not how you start the race, but whether or not you FINISH the race.
INTRODUCTION Last week we started our examination of God’s Law of the Harvest: You Pick What you Plant. If you plant selfish seeds according to your sinful nature, you’ll reap of bumper crop of misery. But if you plant seeds of the Spirit, you’ll experience a bumper crop of ...read more
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22. One Cross: Three Crucifixions
Contributed on Sep 5, 2013
What does it really mean to be crucified with Christ?
INTRODUCTION One of the reasons some Christians keep changing churches is that they can’t seem to get along with anyone. Maybe they don’t like the preacher or the minister of music, or the deacons. A ship captain sailing through the South Pacific saw smoke rising from a little ...read more
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23. Every Scar Has A Story
Contributed on Sep 5, 2013
We don’t have a visible brand, but do people know you belong to Jesus?
INTRODUCTION Years ago, when people used to buy and sell horses, a man arrived at a ranch to check out a horse he was considering buying. The owner said, “Now, this is a religious horse. He doesn’t respond to ‘giddyup’ or ‘whoa.’ To get him to go you have to ...read more
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24. The Bad News Gospel
Contributed on Sep 5, 2013
Discovering freedom through God's grace.
INTRODUCTION An oxymoron is a set of words that cancel each other out and the English language is full of them. Here are ten of my favorites: (1) Live recording; (2) Original Copy; (3) Freezer burn; (4) Jumbo Shrimp; (5) Minor miracle; those are fairly evident, but there are others that you have ...read more
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25. The Perils Of People-Pleasing
Contributed on Sep 5, 2013
If you devote your life to trying to please others you will find yourself enslaved to their opinions and approval.
INTRODUCTION If you’re not involved in our Student Ministry at Green Acres, you may not know that it’s called “The One-Ten Student Ministry.” Do you know why? It’s not because the Student Center is located on Highway 110. It’s because the theme of the ministry ...read more
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26. From Terrorist To Evangelist
Contributed on Sep 5, 2013
Paul lived the first part of his life learning how to be a good Jew, not knowing that from the beginning of his life, God had other plans. And God has a plan for your life.
INTRODUCTION Wow, I can’t believe what I just read. I follow Ted Turner on Twitter and this morning he posted an amazing tweet. In case you didn’t know, Ted Turner is a billionaire. He created CNN and owns the Atlanta Braves. In the past, he has been very critical of Christianity. He ...read more
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27. Born (Again) Free
Contributed on Sep 5, 2013
We were all born in bondage to our sinful nature, but there is something within each one of us that longs to be free from the guilt and shame of our past.
INTRODUCTION A lot of attention was given to the death of Steve Jobs on October 5. All the attention surrounding his death probably caused most of us to miss the fact that just three days later another American creative genius also died of pancreatic cancer. His name was Roger Williams, a ...read more
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28. Too Graced To Be Two-Faced
Contributed on Sep 5, 2013
THE ART OF STUMBLING When Peter’s behavior didn’t line up with the gospel, Paul confronted him publicly.
INTRODUCTION Someone sent me a list of popular sayings third graders were asked to complete. Their surprise endings made me smile. 1. Better safe than punch a fifth grader. 2. Strike while the bug is close. 3. It’s always darkest before Daylight Savings Time. 4. Don’t bite the ...read more
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29. How God Rescues Sinners
Contributed on Sep 5, 2013
It takes faith to believe that Jesus lives in me, but it takes an understanding of grace to stop trying to be good and do good.
INTRODUCTION Charlie Chaplin was the first movie actor in America to attain superstar status. He was the king of the silent movie era in the early 20th century. He was most famous for playing “the tramp.” The tramp was such a popular character that look-alike contests were held all ...read more
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30. Are You Wired For 220?
Contributed on Sep 5, 2013
A dead man isn’t interested in the things of this world.
INTRODUCTION Someone once said there are two kinds of people who work with electricity: One is an electrician and another is a fool. Someone else said the last words of a redneck are, “Hey, watch what happens when I plug this in!” I’m not an electrician, but I know slightly ...read more