This sermon was originally given as an "In View of a Call" sermon at First Baptist Church of Goodman (MO) in December 2011. It was not, to the best of my knowledge, recorded. So I adapted the sermon notes, arranging the content around a generic and nonspecific local church, and using this as the conclusion to "The Church" sermon series.

While there are many informal rituals in a church - how many songs one sings before and after the sermon, for instance - and while many churches (such as our Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox brothers and sisters) have many rituals, the New Testament only seems to give us two: baptism & the Lord's Supper (i.e., Communion, or the Eucharist). So in this sermon we examine these two rituals of the church.

The New Testament uses the term "church" to refer to the global church - or, all who serve Jesus and are saved by His sacrifice - as well as the local church. In this episode we explore some of what the New Testament tells us about how to organize a local church.

Happy Thanksgiving! This episode looks at the life of the Apostle Paul and all the hardships he faced. And yet he directs us to give thanks in all circumstances. For he knew what it was like to face situations that make gratitude difficult, and yet he preached joy and thanksgiving. In the conclusion of this message, we analyze what it looks like for a church to be known for gratitude and cheerfulness ... and why many churches are absolutely not known for joy and thanksgiving.

The local church's purpose has to include an outward focus (mission), an inward focus (fellowship), but most importantly an upward focus (worship). Worship is the reason we were saved. It is the reason the church exists. It is the reason we do mission, to gain the Lord more people who worship Him. And it is the reason we do fellowship, in order to build up and encourage those who worship the Lord to continue worshipping the One who deserves our worship.

The local church must do outreach; that is covered in the previous episode. The local church must worship God. That will be next week's lesson. In this episode, we look at the "inward" focus of the church. We briefly touch on the fact that an inward focus includes looking after your own spiritual well-being and also giving attention to your family. But in this episode, we focus on the importance of your local church family, and why we should be in devoted and unified to serve God alongside our brothers and sisters in Christ in the local church.

This episode starts a new series that examines what the Bible says about the local church. This episode digs into the outward focus of a church: mission. This includes but is not limited to international missions. This includes but is not limited to missions projects elsewhere in the United States (or whatever your home country is). This includes but is not limited to work in the local community. This includes but is not limited to serving those in need who may even attend your church. It is all mission. Mission is a verb. A church must engage in mission. A church must serve and love people, meeting the felt needs of the needy and also introducing people to the saving grace of Jesus Christ.

This conclusion of the Real Theology series covers - but barely scratches the surface of - Christology, or the study of Christ. Following through on the previous 2 episodes that looked at the Person of God the Holy Spirit and the Person of God the Father, this episode examines the second Person of the Trinity, which is God the Son.

God manifests Himself as God the Father, God the Son, & God the Holy Spirit. The divinity of Jesus Christ and His identification as God the Son is a fount of endless fascinating theological discussion. And despite that God the Holy Spirit is often the forgotten member of the Trinity, His work in the book of Acts alone leads us to theological discourse. And so, despite being perhaps the most obvious manifestation of God, the Father is perhaps the one with the least distinctive traits. And so this episode takes a swing at answering the question, "Who is the Father?"

For our *** THREE HUNDRETH EPISODE!!! *** we will continue in our sermon series entitled "Real Theology." In this episode we take a look at what Scripture tells us about the Holy Spirit.

In this episode we review all the attributes of God that we have previously discussed in the "Real Theology" series, and conclude with a last look at the attributes of God. (1) Freedom: God answers to nobody. (2) Jealousy: God does not suffer any rival. (3) Beauty: God's personality & character are perfectly desirable. (4) Victory: God will not lose.

Theologians divide God's attributes into two categories: communicable attributes, which we share with God (only in much lesser capacity), and incommunicable attributes, which show us that God is much different than we are. This sermon deals with some of God's incommunicable attributes. We discuss in this episode (1) God's independence/aseity/self-existence, (2) God's immutability or His unchangeableness, (3) God's ability to have a personal relationship with all persons despite being infinite, (4) God's perfection, & (5) the fact that God experiences all of His attributes at all times, remaining ever-loving and also ever-just.

The Real Theology series continues as we discuss what the One God (see last episode: "There Is One God") is like. He is (1) all powerful, (2) all knowing, (3) in all places, (4) in all time, (5) all wise, & (6) all good.

This fall begins a new project. I will be preaching at a local nursing home facility, and I will be sharing those sermons on this feed. Our first series is a 7-part series about Christian theology. In this episode, we examine what it means to say that there is one God, and why it is important that God is a singular Being.

Based on the frequency of End Times-related content on this podcast feed, I fear that you may misinterpret how fanatical I am about eschatology. Believe me, I am not an End Times nut. I am quite non-dogmatic in my eschatological views. However, eschatology is a popular topic. Of all the Lifetime Learning classes I have taught, it was the Revelation class that easily had the highest enrollment. The End Times series was my most popular series at First Baptist Church of Goodman (MO) when I was pastor there. And in the Spring of 2018, in the final meeting of the Ambassador Academy, we covered the End Times, by request. So while this makes a bit of an awkward conclusion to a theology and apologetics -heavy series, nevertheless, this is how we concluded my all time favorite Christian small group. After this lecture, Gretchen and I moved away from Neosho, Missouri. ... Note: This is the LAST recording in my pre-2025 archive. Unless someone has a recording - that I don't possess - of any sermon I did in the past, then every episode of this podcast from here on out will be current.

The final apologetic argument in this series is an in-depth look at the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. If Christ is raised from the dead, then that validates so much - perhaps everything - in the Christian worldview. In this episode I look at the Resurrection of Jesus, analyzing this event to see if it can be defended with logic, Scripture, and evidence. I also take a look at a few common arguments against the Resurrection and see if those arguments hold any weight.

This episode functions as a conclusion to the apologetics section of the Ambassador Academy series, except for the argument from the Resurrection of Christ, a topic that I saved for the upcoming Palm Sunday evening service. This episode covers the argument from consciousness, Pascal's Wager, proper basicality in regards to belief in the existence of God, and a response to the Problem of Evil/Pain/Suffering.

Genesis chapter 1 is probably not intended by God to be a scientific text. Rather, it appears likely that it is a polemic written against all of the polytheistic nature gods from the nations around Israel, and Genesis 1 is a bold statement that YHWH is transcendent above His creation and that all of the things that all the weaker gods govern - the waters, livestock, the moon, etc. - were all created by God in a week, almost as an afterthought. This episode includes such an analysis, and ends with the my own "Used Universe" model of Creationism which represented my position in 2018.

The ultimate Teleological Argument for the Existence of God is Creationism. Creationism comes in 3 forms: Young Earth Creationism, Old Earth Creationism, and Evolutionary Creationism (otherwise known as theistic evolution). Creationism's strongest counter-argument is Neo-Darwinian Evolution. So this episode digs into Neo-Darwinism and other forms of evolutionary theories, as well as Intelligent Design, the movement to push back against macro-evolutionary theory. Intelligent Design is merely a minimal commitment to consider the possibility that scientific evidence might point to design. NOTE: This teaching is from 2018, and my opinions of evolution and Creationism have subtly shifted since then.

The apologetics subsection of the Ambassador Academy curriculum continues with an examination of the fine-tuning of the universe and how that strongly supports the existence of a mighty Designer.