Christ - The Unexpected Gift of Christmas

Christmas Eve 2012: we celebrated with our annual Candlelight Service at FBC, Mulberry Grove (One of my favorite times of the year). Here's a sample of what those who were in attendance heard. And Merry Christmas!

Prince of Peace

Everlasting Father

Mighty God

Wonderful Counselor

Naming Christmas: Who Is This Christ?

"What's in a name?" That is the question that Shakespeare asks through the voice of Juliet. In the asking, though, the Bard implies to us a simple truth - There's a lot in a name. The name can tell us about the person, or what he does. The name becomes synonymous with who someone is. The prophet Isaiah knew this too, as he was shown the coming of the Christ down through the ages (long before the first Christmas). And knowing, the old prophet named for us the Christ of Christmas. He said that Messiah would be called "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" (9:6). Elsewhere, the prophet says that the Christ's name will be "Immanuel" (7:14) which is to say, "God with us."

Over the next weeks during the Christmas Season, we will be examining what the coming of Christ brought us by studying these names one by one. As you think of Jesus, born of a virgin, placed in a manger, this year, think more of who He came to be.

Mountain-Moving Faith

Giving Thanks

We pause in our series on "Faith by the Book" for a Thanksgiving message:

Faith Equals Surrender

Faith & God's Gifts

This week's sermon had a short interruption so you will see it in two parts (about 7 minutes then around 23 minutes):
[part 1]


[part 2]

A Foundation for Faith

Faith by the Book

Baptists style themselves as a "People of the Book." This is a good thing because it is in reference to the fact that the Bible is of utmost importance to us. This past summer I had the privilege of traveling to Kenya with World Hope Ministries International to teach a course in their Bible Institutes. Enhancing the privilege was the chance to meet and teach alongside Dr. David Belk, Pastor of FBC Friendswood, Texas. His course was on biblical faith. Inspired, I began my own study of what the Bible says about faith. Over the next several weeks we will study this together in Faith by the Book.

. . . What's Praiseworthy

. . . What's Excellent

. . . What's Admirable

. . . What's Lovely

. . . What's Pure

. . . What's Right

. . . What's Noble

. . . What's True

Think About . . .

Points to Ponder

Beginning this week we will be studying the things that Paul says we are to think about. You can find the list in Philippians 4:8 - Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

Attempting the Right Mission

Accepting the Right Members

Appointing the Right Leaders

Building a New Testament Church

The current series is a study of the book of Titus.

The Power to Fly

2012 Vacation Bible School starts tomorrow (July 16) at 9:00 a.m.  Following is my Amazing Wonders Aviation theme interpretation sermon -- Awesome God! Amazing Power!

Worship, Traditions, & Religion

I delivered this sermon in early June. I have just (today) been able to get it uploaded to the sermon.net site. Hope you enjoy:

The Truth about Freedom

This is the second in a 2-part series. Part one was lost to technical difficulties.

Come to Jesus with Your Home

Come to Jesus with Your Honor

Come to Jesus with Your Curiosity

Come to Jesus with Your Need

Come to Jesus with Your Shortfalls

Come to Jesus with Your Religion

We apologize for our technical difficulties which did not allow us to post the first sermon in the Coming to Jesus series which looked at Nicodemus' night-time visit with Jesus (read about it in John 3). The sermon was delivered on April 22, 2012, in the AM service at First Baptist Church of Mulberry Grove.

Coming to Jesus

The New Testament records a number of individuals who came to Jesus for various reasons. Over the next several weeks, we will be examining the concept of coming to Jesus with the stories of people like Nicodemus, a rich young man, and even a jailer from Philippi.

Christ Is Risen! So, Now What?

Shaken to the Core

PGIF

Praise God It's (Good) Friday!

Please read Mark 15:21-47 before playing the audio.

Easter, What a Story!

For the next three weeks we will look at the Easter Story for inspiration.

Renewed! Christ Makes Us New

Here's the Wrap-Up from Pastor Benjie's perspective on our Spring Revival 2012:

The Expectation of Christ

March 14, 2012, Final night of Spring Revival:

The Election of Sheep by Christ

March 13, 2012, Spring Revival part 4:

The Explanation of Birth by Christ

March 12, 2012, Spring Revival part 3:

The Extraordinary Power of Christ

March 11, 2012, evening service. Spring Revival session 2:

The Excellency of Christ

March 11, 2012 - Morning service. Spring Revival session 1:

Spring Revival 2012

This is the fourth year that FBC Mulberry Grove will be partnering with Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in their "Revive this Nation" project (formerly known as Spring Evangelism Practicum).  We are hosting Paul Easter, Jr. who is matriculating toward a Master of Divinity degree (anticipating a spring 2013 graduation).  I will be posting the sermons from our revival as quickly as I can (barring continued technical difficulties on one end of the project or another). Services are on Sunday (March 11) at 10:45 AM and 6:00 PM, and then nightly Monday - Wednesday (March 12, 13, and 14) at 6:30 PM. If you're in the Mulberry Grove area, please join us for worship.

Sunday March 18, I will conclude our Revival theme, "Renewed!" with a follow-up sermon. (The final installment of our "Get Ready" series on the Armor of God will be delivered on March 26 and posted shortly thereafter.)

True Followers of Jesus (part 2)

Part 2 of a 2 part sermon by guest speaker Matt Robbins:

True Followers of Jesus (part 1)

Guest Speaker Matt Robbins from Centralia, IL. Morning Worship March 4, 2012:

The Word, Rightly Handled

(Please note: the title of this sermon does not imply the speaker to be the right or best source of handling God's Word in the right manner, but that the best use of Scripture is in the way that Scripture demands.)

The Point of John 3:16

Safety Under Faith

Always Ready

Protective Righteousness

Bound to Freedom by the Truth (The Belt of Truth)

Spiritual Realms

Get Ready! Putting on the Whole Armor of God, #1

Resolve to Renew

This sermon was delivered on January 1, 2012 in the morning worship of FBC, Mulberry Grove. We have had difficulties with our technical equipment and are just now able to post this audio. The quality starts to deteriorate toward the end of the sermon (losing the last part) due to insufficient batteries.

Get Ready

Sunday, January 15, we will start a new series in which we study Spiritual Warfare and the Armor of God.