First Presbyterian Church, Jackson, Mississippi

Ready to Give a Reason

Now if you would take a Bible in hand and turn with me to 1 Peter chapter 3 on page 1016 of the church Bibles. We have been working our way through 1 Peter together on Sunday mornings. We’ve come to 1 Peter chapter 3, verses 13 through 17. Peter has given us some counsel on how to navigate opposition. He wants to help us face the possibility of suffering for the sake of the Gospel, and he continues to reflect on that theme in our passage this morning. 

A Song for the Lord's Day

If Psalm 90 is for pilgrims - they don’t have a home but God is their home. If Psalm 91 is for danger - you’re in danger but God is your shelter. Then Psalm 92 is a psalm for worship - your delight is not in the world considered apart from God, but your delight is in the God who created the world and everything in it. And so you delight in Him and His works on His day. 

Parenting for the Long Haul

The Good, the Bad, and the Way Forward: An Interactive Breakout on Social Media

Life on the Hamster Wheel

Parenting From the Heart (Main Session)

Picking up the Pieces: Fresh Start in a Fallen World

Raising Boys

Making Family Memories: Our Quest for Nostalgia and Nurture

The Lord, Our Home

Are you sad or lonely or lacking in hope? Then this is a psalm for you. Are you so content with this life that you have not learned to count your days, to contemplate eternity? Then this is a psalm for you. In this psalm, Moses points us to God as the solution to our plight. He teaches us that God is home and eternal and just and gracious. 

Communicant Class Part One 2020

Membership Question 1 (week 1)

Desire to Love Life

And if you look at the passage, verses 8 through 12, you’ll see it focuses on Christian behavior in three directions. First, Peter has counsel for how we are to live toward one another within the local church. There in verse 8, do you see that? “Finally, all of you” - he’s writing to the church - “all of you who hear this letter read or read it together, have unity of mind,” and so on. How the Christian is to relate within the local church. Then verse 9, secondly, how we should relate to tho...

Go Tell it on the Mountain

Like Grasshoppers

The reality of time as God has created it will propel us forward into 2020, whether we want it to or not. Both, they and we, are bounded by God’s promise to do good to those who belong to Him. With that in mind, I want to look at three things from our passage as we prepare to read it. One is, “What does the passage teach us about faith? What does our passage teach us about unbelief? And what does the passage teach us about our responsibility to one another?” 

Weeping in Heaven

The title of our brief meditation is at bare minimum a paradox - weeping in heaven. How can that be? Weeping in heaven? Is it possible that we would find weeping there?

The Cost of Christmas

And that means of course that we are, today, at verse 8 where we’ll think together now about “The Cost of Christmas.” “The Cost of Christmas.” It takes us, verse 8 takes us from the manger all the way to the cross. And that may seem to you to be an unusual move for the Sunday before Christmas to be talking about the thirty-three year old Jesus hanging on a Roman gibbet on Golgotha instead of talking about the infant Christ nursing in Mary’s arms, laid in a manger in Bethlehem. But it could n...

Why the God-man?

So we are in a little series on Christmas in the mind-bending book of Revelation. This is the vision of the apostle John at the end of his life on the Isle of Patmos in the 90s, the last decade of the first century. We’re in Revelation 21 tonight, the first six verses. And that chapter addresses one of the age old questions of Christmas; a very old question that David Strain brought up this morning. And that is, “Why has the Son of God become a human? Why the God-man?” 

Men's Ministry Gathering - Harry Reeder

The Heart for Christmas

And now this week as we turn our attention to verse 7, we’re going to look at the very heart of Christmas. The words of verse 7 take us into the core of the Christmas story, into the heart of the Gospel, and the glories contained there. And we’re going to unpack them under three headings, really three apparent paradoxes that you’ll find in verse 7. If you’ll look at it closely, you’ll notice the first we’ll call “subtraction by addition,” the first paradox; “subtraction by addition.” You see...

The Victory of Christmas

And so I’d like us to think about the victory of Christmas this evening, and to do that, we really need to think about that victory from the lens of the Old Testament. Because to understand the book of Revelation, you really need to think about it from the lens of what the Old Testament has first said. The clues to understanding all the symbols and all the imagery in this enigmatic book are found in the Old Testament. 

The Plan for Christmas

Well this morning we continue in our Advent series looking at Paul’s use of Philippians 2:5-11. We began looking at this together last time. You remember it is sometimes called “The Carmen Christi,” “The hymn to Christ,” used in the churches during Paul’s day, and Paul is quoting it here in Philippians as an apt summary of the significance of who Jesus is and what He came to do. 

The Call of Christmas

And to guide our thinking, we’ll be working our way line by line through Philippians 2:5-11. It’s a famous passage, sometimes known as the “Carmen Christi,” the “hymn to Christ.” It was probably sung or used in some way in the apostolic churches, and Paul is quoting it here in the context of his letter to the Philippians as an apt summary of the message about Jesus’ person and His work - who He is and what He came to do. And our plan over the next several weeks is simply to take one line at ...

Joy to the World: The Lord is Come

Well we’re going to look at Christmas from that same perspective over the next few weeks. To view Christmas, to view Christ’s birth not as it was promised in the Old Testament, not from the shadow of the cross as the Gospel writers present it to us, but from the spotlight, the spotlight of Christ’s return and what that means for the Christmas message. What that means is that there is an urgency to hear this message. There’s an urgency to fully embrace Christ and to rejoice in Him.  

A Thanksgiving of Sacrifice

This morning we’re turning to Leviticus chapter 7. Leviticus is unfamiliar territory for many of us. We are thousands of years away from these regulations. We’re not accustomed to grain and animal sacrifices and the cultural differences between this culture and our culture may seem like more than thousands of years. But my hope is from this passage as we think about the thanksgiving sacrifices that it would give us a fresh angle on Thanksgiving and it would teach us something of what it mean...

Parables: The Pharisee and the Tax Collector

Please turn with me in your Bible to Luke chapter 18; Luke chapter 18. Tonight we are concluding a Sunday night mini-series looking at the parables of Jesus. Tonight we will be in Luke chapter 18, verses 9 to 14. And so the question for us tonight is this. “Who gets to be in the kingdom of heaven?” 

Waiting: God's Call to Faithful Improvement

Let me invite you to take up God’s Word and to turn with me to the gospel of Matthew this evening as we read from Matthew 25:14-30. In our evening services, many of you will remember, over the last few weeks we’ve been studying a number of the parables. And the one we’re going to be looking at this evening is a parable that encourages us to faithfully improve that which has been entrusted to us. And in the midst of the encouragement, there’s also a very stern warning, and it’s a warning that...

Joint Heirs of the Grace of Life

We have been working through 1 Peter together as a church on Sunday mornings and we come to one of those passages that preachers often dread, and you’ll see why in due course. Peter is engaged in a practical section of the letter. He began by outlining for us the main contours of the Christian Gospel and now he is applying those truths to a number of practical areas. First, how the Christian should relate to civil government, then secondly, what do you do if you are a slave without any way o...

The Deacon and His Deacons

And I wish we had the time this passage really deserves to dwell on those details, but we simply don’t. All we can really do is pick out a few of the prominent details and meditate on them. Let me mention three for your consideration this evening. First, I want you to see that the Father delights in His servant. The Father delights in His servant. Secondly, the Father ordains His servant. The Father ordains His servant. And thirdly, the Father empowers His servant. The Father empowers His se...

To This You Have Been Called

And I want us to think through Peter’s answer under three headings. He essentially says three things about how to live for Christ in difficult circumstances. He says first we need to learn to live under the gaze of God. We need to learn to live coram Deo, “before the face of God,” to live for His smile and His blessing and not the approval or good opinion of any earthly human being. That’s verses 18 through 20 - live under the gaze of God; verses 18 through 20. Then secondly he says we also ...

Following God Fully

Well tonight I want to address a subject with you of following God fully. Following God fully. I want to look at the meaning of it - by grace, what it means that Caleb followed God fully. Second, I want to look at the root of it - in grace, why Caleb could follow God fully. And third, I want to look at its reward - a reward of grace, the promise that God granted to Caleb for following Him fully.

Steward's of God's Varied Grace

But 1 Peter 4:10-11 do have something to say to us about our stewardship. We’re going to think about the teaching of the passage under five headings. First, the perspective that we need. The perspective that we need. Then, the presupposition that we doubt. Then, the purpose we must pursue. Fourthly, the pattern we must follow. And the priority we must maintain. The perspective we need. The presupposition we doubt. The purpose we must pursue. The pattern we must follow. And the priority we mu...

Great is Thy Faithfulness

Ready for the Return of Christ

Luke 12:35-48 really is not just one parable; it’s three mini-parables. And there’s one unifying theme. Each one of these mini-parables points to the certainty of the return of Christ. And that should give us pause because scholars, as they talk about these three parables, say that these are among the weightiest parables in the New Testament. They deal with the dominant New Testament doctrine repeated more often than any other doctrine in the New Testament. You understand that, right? The do...

1 Sunday 2019 - Joint Sunday School Class

Together, On Mission

And here in chapter 4, we join the laborers in the city on the building site as they work on the walls. And they are surrounded, as we are going to see, by enemies on every hand. And if you’ll look at the text, you’ll see the chapter divides very simply into two main sections. One through 14 talk to us about the opposition facing the people of God. Fifteen through 22 focus on the response. Our headings might be “the difficulty of the work” and “the dedication of the workers.”

A Friend at Midnight

What does Jesus give us here that might actually change us, that might wake us up and motivate us to pray? Well He gives us in verses 5 to 13 these two brief parables and they focus on the identity and the character of the One hearing our prayers. First in verses 5 to 10, to motivate you to pray you have to see that God is your friend and you are a beggar. God is your friend and you are a beggar. And then second in verses 11 to 13, to motivate you to pray, you have to see that God is your Fa...

Honor Everyone

Through verse 12 of chapter 2, we’ve seen Peter give us, you might say, general theological and practical principles. And now, beginning in our passage this morning, he’s going to press some of those principles into the particular areas and contexts of our Christian lives. He will speak, for example, as we’ll see in a few weeks’ time, about slaves and masters, husbands and wives. Here, in verses 13 through 17, he’s going to speak to us about how Christians should relate to the civil magistra...

A Treasury of Things Old and New

And we’re looking at another one of Jesus’ parables tonight. This is not a dramatic parable. There’s no joyful embrace at the reunion of a father and his wayward son. There’s no beaten and bloody traveler left for dead on the side of the road waiting to be rescued by a stranger, an enemy even. No, it’s just a man, a master of a house, and he brings out of his treasure what is new and old. It’s very simple. There’s not a lot of detail there, and yet the teaching of this parable is foundationa...

Elisha and the General

We have a really great story from the Old Testament this morning and 2 Kings chapter 5. It’s one of the great stories of the whole Old Testament, I think, and it’s happened around 850 BC and it’s about a Syrian general named Naaman who goes to look for the prophet of Israel, Elisha, in order to be healed. And at the center of it really is what it means to be clean, to be made clean; that the only way to become truly clean is from the inside, out. That’s the message of the story that we’re go...

That They Might See Your Good Deeds

Look at verses 11 and 12 with me just a moment before we begin and notice the central concern of the apostle Peter in these two verses. He wants to promote the practice of Christian holiness. That’s his burden in verses 11 and 12. He tells us first negatively, verse 11, “abstain from the passions of the flesh.” And then positively in verse 12, he wants our conduct to be “honorable among the Gentiles” and he wants us to do “good deeds.” So you see both negatively and positively his concern is...

Pearl and Leaven

We’re starting a new series at nighttime in October looking at some of the parables in the gospels, and we’ll look tonight at Matthew 13:44-46. Parables are simple stories that Jesus was taking daily life experiences that people had all the time in the first century and telling a very simple story but teaching a cosmic lesson from a normal life happenstance that people would have experienced all the time.

Coming to the Living Stone

First of all, the passage before us is going to call us to come to Jesus. Come to Jesus. Secondly, come to Jesus by faith. Third, come to Jesus continually. Fourth, come to Jesus corporately; come to Him together. Fifth, come to Jesus to be like Him. Sixth, come to Jesus to praise Him. Seventhly, we are to come to Jesus to proclaim Him. And then eighthly, come to Jesus for mercy.

Like Newborn Infants

And if you’ll look at verses 1 through 3, I want you to notice that Peter says essentially two things. If you’re going to live for Christ in a dark world, you need to do two things. He says you need to dress the part. You need to put on a new wardrobe. And he says you need to eat right. You need to cultivate an appetite for the right kind of food. You need a different diet. Do you see that in verses 1 through 3? First he says we need a new wardrobe. “Put away” or “Put off” - like worn out ol...

Something Better

We really want to look at two things tonight. We want to look at Timothy’s charge and we want to look at the something better. Not a very pretty outline, but I think serviceable. Timothy’s charge, and then what is the something better. 

The Living and Abiding Word

So there are five stages to this journey back to the source of the river that we need to follow. First is brotherly love. Second is the question of the purification that took place in their lives. Third is obeying the truth, conversion. Fourth is the new birth. And fifth is the means God uses to effect the new birth - the ministry of God’s holy Word.

An Aroma of Gospel Grace

So what I want us to look at this evening is three things from the passage; three things. Three things that Paul gives thanks for. The first one is the evidence of saving grace. The evidence of saving grace. The second is the bedrock of grace. And thirdly it’s the impact of grace. 

Ransomed from Futile Ways

And so, Peter, in verses 18 through 21, our passage for this morning, is turning the diamond of the ransom, of the redemption, of the price paid for sinners at the cross by Jesus Christ so that we can see it, that godly fear may grow and flourish in our hearts and we may live for His praise and honor. We’re going to notice four things about the ransom that has been provided for sinners like me and you by the Lord Jesus Christ. First, we’re going to think about in verse 18 what we’ve been ran...

Faith Working Through Love

We’re continuing in our study of the three primary Christian virtues - faith, hope and love - looking at how they work together, how they are fueled, what their goal and target is, why they are critical for us. This evening I’d like us to think about the freedom that is ours in those Christian virtues. And in that freedom, how do we not abuse that freedom, how do we not lose that freedom, and at the core, how do we live a life of love that we in the Holy Spirit are freed to live? Particularl...

All You Need

And we hear about love a lot. “All you need is love.” “What the world needs now is love.” “In the name of love.” “What’s love got to do with it?” We think we know what love is. Love is so basic, it’s so elementary; it’s timeless and universal. The need for love is undeniable and so we think about love and we read about love and we write about it and we talk about it and we sing about it. But how often, and how well do we actually practice love? Well 1 Corinthians chapter 13 is the definitive...