Unity ARP Church - Sermons

1Timothy 6:11-12                                                    05/31/09

The Bible is the instruction manual for biblical manhood. Scripture is God’s means to teach men, train men and fully equip men to be what God has called them to be. A real man is “a man of God.” Verse 11 and the verses just quoted from 2Timothy are the only places in the New Testament where the phrase “man of God” is used. The phrase is found frequently, however, throughout the Old Testament. “Man of God” is a title that referred to the servants of God, the prophets and leaders of old. Men like Moses, David, Ezekiel and Elijah were each referred to as a Man of God. So then, these men are examples of what true manhood looks like. And of course our Lord Jesus Christ is the perfect man and perfect pattern of manhood. A real man is a “man of God.”

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1Timothy 6:6-10 05/24/09

In 1Timothy 6:5 the apostle Paul says that one of the marks of false teachers is that they “suppose that godliness is a means of gain.” There are many such teachers around today who daily urge their listeners to send them money, promising that God will multiply the money and give it back to them. One listener received a letter from a TV preacher that said if he gave to his ministry he would receive a hundredfold return on his money. The listener wrote the preacher back and said, “If it really works that way, you send the money to me, and God will give you a hundredfold!”[1] When we use God as a means for our personal success or wealth, then we have turned the tables and made God the servant of our own little kingdom.

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1 Timothy 6:3-5

Our passage today is a warning to be on guard against false teachers.  It would be nice if we could simply focus on the positive truths of the glory and majesty of Jesus Christ our Savior, and didn’t have to be negative about anything.  But the very presence of sin in our lives, in the church and in the world prevents us from saying only positive things.  In fact, saying only positive things is a mark of a false teacher!  There are multitudes of preachers today that preach as the false prophets in Jeremiah’s day.  In chapter 6:14 Jeremiah declared that the false prophets have “healed the hurt of My people slightly, Saying, `Peace, peace!’ When there is no peace.”  Those false prophets were the original positive thinkers.

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1 Timothy 6:1-2

Our passage in 1Timothy 6:1-2 has to do with all three of these forms of love - love for God, love for our neighbor and love for one another as Christians.  Though Paul is addressing bondservants or slaves in this passage, these verses have just as much application for us today.  This passage teaches us how to honor God in the practical application of the fifth commandment, the third commandment and the new commandment.

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1Timothy 5:17-25                                   04/26/09

In order for the church to have order and for it to faithfully carry out the Great Commission, God has given elders to lead His church. It is crucial that the church have good leadership! Without godly, capable leaders, the church will not be able to fulfill this commission. Spiritually mature elders are vital to the church’s health, and a spiritually mature church is vital to carry out the Great Commission. Today’s church, more than ever, is in need of good leadership. We have already looked at the qualifications for that leadership in 1Timothy chapter three. Now in chapter five we are instructed further concerning the nature of the office of elder and how we are to treat elders in the church.

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Revelation 1:9-20

Verses 9-20 record the vision John had of the triumphant, exalted Christ. Verse 10 indicates that this occurred on the Lord’s Day, the first day of the week – the day on which our Lord was raised from the dead. Since the resurrection, our Lord Jesus has been meeting with His people in a special way on this day which we call the Christian Sabbath, or the “Lord’s Day.” John was “in the Spirit” on this day – in total communion and fellowship with God. His heart was set completely on God and the world was shut out of his mind. He heard behind him “a loud voice, as of a trumpet.” Jesus spoke and said, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last,” signifying His deity and eternal nature as Almighty God. John was commanded to write down what he saw. John had been a close companion and disciple of Jesus. He was in the inner circle with Peter and his brother James, and of those three, he was known as “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” John had seen Jesus after the resurrection and had witnessed Him being taken up into heaven at His ascension. Of all people, John was as close to Jesus as one could be. And yet nothing he had experienced on earth could prepare him for the force of this heavenly vision of Christ.

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Matthew 16:21-23

I trust that everyone in this room today would agree that without the cross, there is no salvation. True conversion must be conversion to Christ with faith in His death on the cross. Yet Christian author Stephen Smallman has written that “In the actual experience of coming to Christ, very few people have an adequate understanding of the work of the cross.” This morning, as we reflect on this passage of Scripture, I pray that we would grow in our understanding of what the cross is all about. Almost anyone you talk to knows that Jesus died on the cross, but hardly anyone understands why. The cross of Christ is the very center of the message of Christianity. Without the cross there is no salvation. Without the cross, and the resurrection which followed, the apostle Paul said, “You are still in your sins!” And without faith in Jesus Christ and His cross, you will die in your sins and spend eternity separated from God in hell. Without the cross and resurrection, there is no good news.

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1Timothy 5:1-2                  03/29/09

Underlying what Paul says here is the fact and reality of sin in the members of the church. You know, if it wasn’t for the existence of sin in the lives of church members, pastoring a church would be easy. And if it wasn’t for the existence of sin in the life of the pastor, it would be a joy to hear him preach and to submit to his leadership! It is helpful to remember that the church is a family. That is what Paul pictures here in these two verses – the church as a family. He urged Timothy to treat others in the church as he would the members of his own family…with respect, gentleness, love and purity. Like the family, the church is to be a place of mutual accountability, and great care must be taken in the way we relate to different kinds of people.

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1Timothy 4:11-16                           03/22/09

You and I are either making visible progress in the Christian life, or we are shrinking back. If you are shrinking back and not making progress, you are not pleasing to God….you are not fit for the kingdom. So this morning, my prayer is that this message…based on Paul’s words to a young, timid minister who was tempted to shrink back, will challenge you to turn around, get up and get moving in the right direction so that you will make progress that is visible to all.

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1Timothy 4:6-8

There is a huge problem in the church today that we have imbibed from the world. Political correctness dominates our culture. Everyone is afraid to speak out against what is wrong. That PC attitude has filtered over into the church. Ministers refuse to condemn error anymore. No one wants to be accused of going on witch-hunts. We are concerned about not offending people and we end up offending God. Something is wrong with that picture. Part of the problem is that the postmodern world has done away with the very notion of objective truth. In such a climate, everything becomes fuzzy and hazy. There is no black and white anymore, only shades of gray. The message of 1Timothy is that there is truth and there are lies. There is doctrine that comes from God and there is the doctrine of demons. There is teaching that exalts Jesus Christ and His finished work of redemption, and there is teaching that exalts man and his feelings, his goodness, and his importance.

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