First Presbyterian Church, Jackson, Mississippi

First Presbyterian Church, Jackson, Mississippi Recently Added Resources First Presbyterian Church, Jackson, Mississippi Recently Added Resources https://www.fpcjackson.org/resource-library The Unseen Battle Ed Hartman Sun, 21 Jun 2020 00:00:00 -0500 https://www.fpcjackson.org/resource-library/sermons/the-unseen-battle https://www.fpcjackson.org/resource-library/2/4838 The Unseen Battle The Unseen Battle The Unseen Battle Audio of The Unseen Battle Jephthah of Gilead Cory Brock Sun, 21 Jun 2020 00:00:00 -0500 https://www.fpcjackson.org/resource-library/sermons/jephthah-of-gilead https://www.fpcjackson.org/resource-library/2/4839 Jephthah of Gilead Audio of Jephthah of Gilead Stories of Faithfulness Episode #13 Aaron Halbert Thu, 18 Jun 2020 00:00:00 -0500 https://www.fpcjackson.org/resource-library/podcast-episodes/stories-of-faithfulness-episode-13 https://www.fpcjackson.org/resource-library/15/

First Presbyterian Church, Jackson, Mississippi Recently Added Resources First Presbyterian Church, Jackson, Mississippi Recently Added Resources https://www.fpcjackson.org/resource-library The Unseen Battle Ed Hartman Sun, 21 Jun 2020 00:00:00 -0500 https://www.fpcjackson.org/resource-library/sermons/the-unseen-battle https://www.fpcjackson.org/resource-library/2/4838 The Unseen Battle The Unseen Battle The Unseen Battle Audio of The Unseen Battle Jephthah of Gilead Cory Brock Sun, 21 Jun 2020 00:00:00 -0500 https://www.fpcjackson.org/resource-library/sermons/jephthah-of-gilead https://www.fpcjackson.org/resource-library/2/4839 Jephthah of Gilead Audio of Jephthah of Gilead Stories of Faithfulness Episode #13 Aaron Halbert Thu, 18 Jun 2020 00:00:00 -0500 https://www.fpcjackson.org/resource-library/podcast-episodes/stories-of-faithfulness-episode-13 https://www.fpcjackson.org/resource-library/15/

First Presbyterian Church, Jackson, Mississippi Recently Added Resources First Presbyterian Church, Jackson, Mississippi Recently Added Resources https://www.fpcjackson.org/resource-library The Unseen Battle Ed Hartman Sun, 21 Jun 2020 00:00:00 -0500 https://www.fpcjackson.org/resource-library/sermons/the-unseen-battle https://www.fpcjackson.org/resource-library/2/4838 The Unseen Battle The Unseen Battle The Unseen Battle Audio of The Unseen Battle Jephthah of Gilead Cory Brock Sun, 21 Jun 2020 00:00:00 -0500 https://www.fpcjackson.org/resource-library/sermons/jephthah-of-gilead https://www.fpcjackson.org/resource-library/2/4839 Jephthah of Gilead Audio of Jephthah of Gilead Stories of Faithfulness Episode #13 Aaron Halbert Thu, 18 Jun 2020 00:00:00 -0500 https://www.fpcjackson.org/resource-library/podcast-episodes/stories-of-faithfulness-episode-13 https://www.fpcjackson.org/resource-library/15/

Please turn with me in your Bibles to the Old Testament book of Judges, Judges chapter 8. This summer on Sunday nights we’re in a sermon series in the book of Judges, and tonight we are looking at the conclusion of the narrative of Gideon. It’s a sad story; it’s a tragic story, this pathology of decline. It’s an all too familiar story, and so we’ll be considering Judges chapter 8, verses 22 to 35. 

Our passage today, Romans 8:17-25, is all about that. It’s all about suffering and finding hope. It’s about understanding the design of God in suffering, seeing beyond our suffering, and learning to wait in patience in the midst of suffering for the glory that is yet to be revealed in us. So this is a passage, in my judgment, that we really need in these days. There are tools here that we’ve got to learn to use as we try to make sense of the days in which we are presently living. And to help us get at Paul’s teaching, we’re going to think about suffering and glory under two broad headings. First of all, suffering and glory in union with Jesus Christ. Suffering and glory in union with Christ.

Please turn with me in your Bibles to the Old Testament book of Judges, Judges chapter 8. This summer on Sunday nights we’re in a sermon series in the book of Judges, and tonight we are looking at the conclusion of the narrative of Gideon. It’s a sad story; it’s a tragic story, this pathology of decline. It’s an all too familiar story, and so we’ll be considering Judges chapter 8, verses 22 to 35. 

Judges chapter 7 is about weakness, and the truth is, whether we feel it or not, we are all weak. All of us. We sometimes fool ourselves into thinking that money and training and status will get the results that we desire. But that’s not how God works, is it? Instead, God works through unlikely men and women, unlikely boys and girls, to accomplish unlikely purposes in unlikely ways. And He does that so that He may demonstrate His own power, His own strength, and that He receives the glory that is due to His name. And we’ll see God working in those very same ways in the story of Judges chapter 7, the story of Gideon, as he goes up against the Midianites. And we’ll consider two points from this passage as we study tonight. We’ll consider the weakness that pursues and the strength that prevails. 

If you look at the text with me for just a moment, I want you to see Paul highlighting three aspects of our adoption in particular. Verses 14 through 17, three blessings that are entailed in the fact that we have become the children of God. First, verse 15, he says because we are adopted children of God we enjoy the blessing of access. We have access. We can come boldly to God and call Him Abba Father. Access. Secondly, in verse 16, because we are adopted children of God we can enjoy the blessing of assurance. The Holy Spirit testifies with our spirits that we are, indeed, God’s children. And then finally in verse 17, because we are adopted children of God we enjoy the blessing of a glorious future inheritance. We are heirs of God and coheirs with Christ since we are God’s children now. Access, assurance, and inheritance - because we are the children of God. 

Judges chapter 7 is about weakness, and the truth is, whether we feel it or not, we are all weak. All of us. We sometimes fool ourselves into thinking that money and training and status will get the results that we desire. But that’s not how God works, is it? Instead, God works through unlikely men and women, unlikely boys and girls, to accomplish unlikely purposes in unlikely ways. And He does that so that He may demonstrate His own power, His own strength, and that He receives the glory that is due to His name. And we’ll see God working in those very same ways in the story of Judges chapter 7, the story of Gideon, as he goes up against the Midianites. And we’ll consider two points from this passage as we study tonight. We’ll consider the weakness that pursues and the strength that prevails. 

Well we’re carrying on in the book of Judges tonight as we’ve been marching through it all of these Sunday nights lately and we’ve come up to, as Wiley mentioned, chapter 6, which is the story of the call of Gideon. And it’s a little bit of a longer reading tonight, so I just want to dive right into the text. So I’m going to pray and then we’ll read verses 1 to 27 in Judges chapter 6. 

And as we turn our attention this morning to verses 12 and 13, I want you to see that Paul is beginning now to draw some preliminary conclusions. He is applying at this point all that he’s been saying so far. Notice how verse 12 begins, “So then, brothers.” “So in view of everything I’ve been saying, given all of these glorious truths, brothers, here are the implications.” And he structures his encouragement and exhortations to us around two controlling metaphors. Do you see them in verses 12 and 13? First of all he says, “If everything I’ve been telling you is true, we need to understand that Christians are debtors.” That’s the first metaphor - Christians are debtors, verse 12, “So then, brothers, we are debtors.” Then secondly, the next metaphor he says, “If everything I’ve been saying is true, we need to understand Christians must not only be debtors, they must also be executioners.” Verse 13, “If by the Spirit

First Presbyterian Church, Jackson, Mississippi Recently Added Resources First Presbyterian Church, Jackson, Mississippi Recently Added Resources https://www.fpcjackson.org/resource-library Stories of Faithfulness Episode #10 Auston Edwards Fri, 29 May 2020 05:30:00 -0500 https://www.fpcjackson.org/resource-library/podcast-episodes/stories-of-faithfulness-episode-10 https://www.fpcjackson.org/resource-library/15/4812 Stories of Faithfulness Episode #10 Stories of Faithfulness Episode #10 Stories of Faithfulness Episode #10 Audio of Stories of Faithfulness Episode #10 The Spirit Who Gives Life David Strain This time, we’re going to focus on verses 9 through 11 where Paul elaborates on what it means to have the Holy Spirit come into our lives. And we can sum up the teaching of these three verses very simply in just three words. First in verse 9, Paul talks about residence. The Holy Spirit comes to dwell, to reside within us, and we&r

And tonight, we’re going to look at Judges chapters 4 and 5 and I want to do it in two acts. So first, act one, Judges 4, which gives us the narrative; it gives us what everyone could see. And then act two, we will look briefly at Judges chapter 5, which gives us the song. And it tells us that more was happening than anyone could see, that more was happening than meets the eye. “The Stars Fought From Heaven.” Another way to say this - act one, we will look at the great story and act two, we will look at how through this great story we learn something about how to read our own stories. And so act one and act two. 

This time, we’re going to focus on verses 9 through 11 where Paul elaborates on what it means to have the Holy Spirit come into our lives. And we can sum up the teaching of these three verses very simply in just three words. First in verse 9, Paul talks about residence. The Holy Spirit comes to dwell, to reside within us, and we’ll need to unpack that together in a few moments. Residence. Then verse 10, regeneration. That is, when the Spirit comes to dwell in us, He gives us new life in union with Jesus Christ. He regenerates us. Residence. Regeneration. And finally in verse 11, resurrection. The Spirit who resides in us, having regenerated us, will, God promises us, one day raise our bodies according to the pattern of Christ’s own glorious resurrection from the dead. 

And tonight, we’re going to look at Judges chapters 4 and 5 and I want to do it in two acts. So first, act one, Judges 4, which gives us the narrative; it gives us what everyone could see. And then act two, we will look briefly at Judges chapter 5, which gives us the song. And it tells us that more was happening than anyone could see, that more was happening than meets the eye. “The Stars Fought From Heaven.” Another way to say this - act one, we will look at the great story and act two, we will look at how through this great story we learn something about how to read our own stories. And so act one and act two. 

There is some graphic and potentially offensive material in Judges chapter 3, but do you know what is the most offensive part of this chapter? The most offensive part of this chapter is sin. It is Israel’s turning away from God and turning to idolatry and doing evil in the sight of the Lord. All sin is repulsive, it is ugly, and it deserves God’s anger and discipline. And that’s exactly what we find in this chapter in the book of Judges. But we also find good news. We also find good news about God’s deliverance and good news about God’s gift of rest. 

This week, in verses 5 through 8 where our attention will fall, Paul is unpacking the basic contrast with which he has been working - the contrast between the flesh and the Spirit. He wants to make particularly clear that the whole world falls into one of these two categories. Either we live according to the flesh or according to the Spirit.

There is some graphic and potentially offensive material in Judges chapter 3, but do you know what is the most offensive part of this chapter? The most offensive part of this chapter is sin. It is Israel’s turning away from God and turning to idolatry and doing evil in the sight of the Lord. All sin is repulsive, it is ugly, and it deserves God’s anger and discipline. And that’s exactly what we find in this chapter in the book of Judges. But we also find good news. We also find good news about God’s deliverance and good news about God’s gift of rest. 

First Presbyterian Church, Jackson, Mississippi Recently Added Resources First Presbyterian Church, Jackson, Mississippi Recently Added Resources https://www.fpcjackson.org/resource-library Walking According to the Spirit David Strain Sun, 10 May 2020 00:00:00 -0500 https://www.fpcjackson.org/resource-library/sermons/walking-according-to-the-spirit https://www.fpcjackson.org/resource-library/2/4792 Walking According to the Spirit Audio of Walking According to the Spirit The Meaning of History Cory Brock Sun, 10 May 2020 00:00:00 -0500 https://www.fpcjackson.org/resource-library/sermons/the-meaning-of-history https://www.fpcjackson.org/resource-library/2/4793 The Meaning of History Audio of The Meaning of History Stories of Faithfulness Episode #7 Julia Wright Thu, 07 May 2020 09:00:00 -0500 https://www.fpcjackson.org/resource-library/podcast-episodes/stories-of-faithfulness-episode-7 https://www.fpcjackson.org/resource

First Presbyterian Church, Jackson, Mississippi Recently Added Resources First Presbyterian Church, Jackson, Mississippi Recently Added Resources https://www.fpcjackson.org/resource-library Walking According to the Spirit David Strain Sun, 10 May 2020 00:00:00 -0500 https://www.fpcjackson.org/resource-library/sermons/walking-according-to-the-spirit https://www.fpcjackson.org/resource-library/2/4792 Walking According to the Spirit Audio of Walking According to the Spirit The Meaning of History Cory Brock Sun, 10 May 2020 00:00:00 -0500 https://www.fpcjackson.org/resource-library/sermons/the-meaning-of-history https://www.fpcjackson.org/resource-library/2/4793 The Meaning of History Audio of The Meaning of History Stories of Faithfulness Episode #7 Julia Wright Thu, 07 May 2020 09:00:00 -0500 https://www.fpcjackson.org/resource-library/podcast-episodes/stories-of-faithfulness-episode-7 https://www.fpcjackson.org/resource