Sermons on Isaac Carried The Wood:

Jesus Gives Us Truth Series

Contributed by Isaac Butterworth on Mar 9, 2015

The Holy Spirit tells us the truth. He tells us the truth about sin (the sin of unbelief), about righteousness (in Jesus), and about judgment.

WHAT JESUS IS DOING here is: He is consoling his disciples. This is the last night before his death, and he tells them that he is gong away. And, of course, they are sad. But he reassures them. He tells them that his departure is for their good. “It is to your advantage that I go ...read more

Scripture: John 16:4-15

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Jesus Gives Us His Word Series

Contributed by Isaac Butterworth on Mar 23, 2015

Make Jesus' passion your passion, his aims your aims, and pray for these things every day.

THIS PAST TUESDAY, I took a day away from my desk, and Jan and I made a trip to Frisco, which is one of the places we like to go when we can. We ate at a favorite restaurant, relaxed and talked a bit, and then, as we almost always do, we went our separate ways – Jan to shop, and what I always ...read more

Scripture: John 17:1-26

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Advancing The Gospel Series

Contributed by Isaac Butterworth on Mar 23, 2015

Can we look at this or that circumstance in our lives and say, “As bad as my situation is, I can see a way to press it into the service of the gospel. I can bear witness to Christ even in the midst of this”?

Patsy Bonner shared with our Friday Bible study group a spoof news story that had been sent to her recently. The dateline is ostensibly Dallas, and the brief that follows says: Dallas Cowboys football practice was delayed nearly two hours today after a player reported finding an unknown white ...read more

Scripture: Philippians 1:12-26

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Embodying The Gospel Series

Contributed by Isaac Butterworth on Mar 23, 2015

Living in a manner that is worthy of the gospel has three conditions.

If you don’t mind, let’s go back to the beginning of this passage. We read there – in chapter 1, verse 27 – that we are to live our lives “in a manner [that is] worthy of the gospel.” This is a simple but urgent appeal to us, and if we are to respond to it, if ...read more

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

The Greatest Gain Series

Contributed by Isaac Butterworth on Mar 23, 2015

Whatever advantage you think you have, consider it a loss, so that you may know Christ and be found in him.

Tim Keller has said that there are three ways to live. One is the way of the rebellious. The second is the way of the religious. And the third is the way of the redeemed. You can see all three of these played out in the Parable of the Prodigal Son, a story that Jesus told about two brothers. One ...read more

Scripture: Philippians 3:1-11

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Running In A Standing Position Series

Contributed by Isaac Butterworth on Mar 23, 2015

Consider three moves of grace. Our record is cleared of sin. Our lives are conformed to Christ. And our destiny is sealed by God.

There are three great moves that God makes on your behalf – three initiatives of grace that have to do with securing and insuring your salvation. They are, first, justification, second, sanctification, and, third, glorification. In his mercy, God justifies you – that is, he pronounces ...read more

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Mind Your Thoughts Series

Contributed by Isaac Butterworth on Mar 23, 2015

When you "mind your thoughts," you don't have anything to worry about.

Next Sunday is Stewardship Commitment Sunday. You and I recently received pledge cards from our Finance and Stewardship Committee, and they are asking us to make a commitment about what we will give in the year 2015. There will be a time set aside in next Sunday’s service for those of us who ...read more

Scripture: Philippians 4:4-9

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

An Acceptable Sacrifice Series

Contributed by Isaac Butterworth on Mar 23, 2015

If you give out of love for God, you will get what you desire most. You will get God's riches in Christ.

I once missed a great blessing. I was part of a student organization in college, and we were having a clothing drive. Our leader encouraged us to donate an article or two of clothing, but, when he did, he said, “Don’t give away something you won’t miss. Give something you really ...read more

Scripture: Philippians 4:10-20

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Easter Reservations

Contributed by Isaac Butterworth on Apr 9, 2015

Our risen Lord thrusts us into a future we’d never choose but we’d hate to lose.

THE FAMILY I GREW UP IN was highly conflicted. You would think that, for all the fighting we did, we would have gotten good at it – or, at least, that we would have seen something constructive come out of it. But the incessant bickering never seemed to bring about change; we just grew ...read more

Scripture: Mark 16:1-20

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Vital Christianity

Contributed by Isaac Butterworth on Apr 13, 2015

Only a vital Christianity creates vital Christians.

Without Jesus at the center of our faith and life, what are we left with? As far as our Christianity goes, it’s going to be nothing more than some form of bland moralism, religious formalism, or an anemic spirituality that neither motivates us nor appeals to others. We must have a ...read more

Scripture: John 20:19-23

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Dispelling The Darkness

Contributed by Isaac Butterworth on Apr 23, 2015

What we’re trying to do is push back the darkness.

So, Matthew says that, “when Jesus heard that John [the Baptist] had been arrested, he withdrew….” What does that tell us? It tells us – doesn’t it? – that there is a force of darkness at work in this world. And we know what that means, of course. It means there ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 4:12-23

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Grace Produces

Contributed by Isaac Butterworth on Apr 23, 2015

You will respond to God's mercies by doing what it is in your nature to do. Grace produces "fruit."

When we first moved into our home – it’s been twenty-five years ago now – but when we first moved in, we had a peach tree growing on the north side of the house. And it produced peaches, hundreds of them! The birds loved it, and the neighbors hated it. The neighbors hated it ...read more

Scripture: Romans 12:1-2

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

He Is The One

Contributed by Isaac Butterworth on Apr 23, 2015

Two things we need most are found in Jesus: real security and deep satisfaction.

King Saul was a major disappointment. As you know, he was the first king of Israel, and he was everything you would want a king to be. When we first meet him in the pages of Scripture, we are told that he was “a handsome young man.” In fact, “there was not a man among the people ...read more

Scripture: 1 Samuel 16:1-13

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Hurting People

Contributed by Isaac Butterworth on Apr 23, 2015

Whether you have been hurt or have hurt someone else, you seek reconciliation for the glory of God.

In Paul’s brief correspondence with the Philippians, as he drew his letter to a close, he mentioned an issue of some importance in his mind. There were two women in the church – dear women, women who had “labored side by side” with Paul in the gospel, women “whose ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 5:21-26

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Idol Thoughts

Contributed by Isaac Butterworth on Apr 23, 2015

Let us determine to know God and to worship him, not as some idol devised by our own natural preferences, not as many people configure him to be, but as “the book of nature” and the Holy Book together reveal him to be.

The two passages before us today [Acts 17:22-31 and John 14:15-21] could not be more different from one another. And yet, in some ways, they could not be more similar. In the first one, the one from Acts, we have the Apostle Paul speaking to a group of Gentile skeptics who know nothing of the ...read more

Scripture: John 14:15-21

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed