Category Archives: Sermons Preached

Sermons I Have Preached at Riverview Baptist

Sons Not Slaves

Before I can ever teach you this Scripture, I have to explain something that used to be normal and expected, but in America today has become as foreign as speaking Martian. In the ancient world great civilizations were built by pagan cultures. The longest lasting Empires were:

The Egyptian Empire lasted 3000 years (3100 BC – 30 BC)
The Assyrian Empire lasted 1300 years (2025 BC – 609 BC)
The Babylonian Empire lasted 1351 years (1890 BC – 539 BC)
The Roman Empire lasted 1480 years (27 BC – 1453 AD)

Though not classified as an “Empire”, the Spartan city-state Lacedaemon (pronounced lass-e-demon) lasted 1000 years. All of these empires – along with Lacedaemon – grew to greatness because children were trained to be good citizens – not entertained. We live in a day where children are coddled. When Paul was writing the Church at Galatia, he was speaking to what all parents and adults knew. … Continue reading

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Do Lord

Over the past few years I’ve heard a lot of complaining about our Presidents from both sides, Democratic or Republican. I have to admit, I’ve done my fair share of complaining. But the Scripture reminds us that – rather than complaining – we should rely on prayer and on the sovereignty of God. God can and does control the human heart. God can control the heart of the King, whether the King is a believer or a non-believer. The Bible is full of examples of this.

When the cupbearer to King Artaxerxes, Nehemiah, heard that the walls of Jerusalem were destroyed and the city was in disarray, he was very upset. But rather that grieve and despair, Nehemiah went to God in prayer. Nehemiah’s prayer shows how a believer should pray to change the heart of a king.

Nehemiah 1:4-7 (ESV) {Nehemiah said} I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven. 5 And I said, “O LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God Who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love Him and keep His commandments, 6 let your ear be attentive and Your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before You day and night for the people of Israel Your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against You. Even I and my father’s house have sinned. 7 We have acted very corruptly against You and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, and the rules that You commanded Your servant Moses.

Nehemiah did not blame God nor the enemies of Israel … Continue reading

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To The Saints And To The Faithful

Word Study: Prayer is TO THE FATHER, in the Name or Authority of the Son, and in the power of the Holy Spirit. We do not pray to the “saints”. Beloved, WE ARE THE SAINTS. The word translated “SAINTS” is the Greek hagios, which means those who are blameless or consecrated, whose lives honor God. The Christian is a “saint”. The same Greek word hagios is used in the title of the Third Person of the Trinity, the Holy {hagios} Spirit. When a person becomes a Christian, it is not through OUR power that it occurs, but through the Holy {hagios} Spirit of God.

When a person hears the Gospel of Jesus Christ and is awakened to their sinful state by God:

John 16:8 (ESV) When [the Spirit] comes, He will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment

The person is left in a place of choice. Will they choose to do as God says,

Mark 1:15 (NKJV) The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.

Acts 2:38 (NKJV) Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Repentance is not a human work, but a human anti-work. It is where you acknowledge YOU are a SINNER, and YOU need the Savior. Like Israel in Egypt, you cry out to God for salvation. You believe on Jesus. You cast your life down at His feet! When you do, you have the promise of God: Continue reading

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But, But, But

Whether they know it or not, every single person is born under the Law of God. There are portions of the Law of God that are written in our hearts, in our conscience. Take, for instance, murder, the taking of innocent life. Murder was written into the Noahic Code. When Noah got off the Ark, God told him:

Genesis 9:6 Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed; For in the image of God He made man.

God forbade child sacrifice. He forbade the taking of any life, unless that person took a life. The Inca who gave their 4 year old child up to die alone and under the elements on a mountaintop would be guilty of a capital offense under God’s Law. And we all know in our hearts that murder is wrong, just as we know that theft, lying, rape, sexual sins – these things are wrong. But the heart can be hardened by uncorrected sin. Paul warned us in:… Continue reading

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Order Of The Family

Exodus 20:12 (ESV) Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

The Bibles doesn’t command that we like our parents, or even that we love our parents, but that we show them honor, respect because they are our parents. Our parents may make bad decisions. All are flawed by sin. But God tells us that long life is promised to those who honor their parents. The Apostle quotes this text in the New Testament:

Ephesians 6:1-3 (ESV) Children, OBEY your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 HONOR your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), 3 that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.

I came across this quote from a child psychology site:

“The family unit often acts as society in miniature. When families are strong and stable, they contribute to a thriving community. Conversely, when families struggle, the ripples can be felt throughout society, potentially leading towards breakdown and decline. Today, perhaps more than ever before, the family structure appears weakened, with a significant number of children growing up without a father present in their lives. … Children benefit immensely from exposure to both maternal and paternal approaches. As … research suggests, distinct contributions from both male and female parents seem fundamental to human development. The idea that parenting is gender-neutral doesn’t align with the evidence; fathers offer something unique and irreplaceable.” Continue reading

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The Law Was Added – Why?

God loved Adam, and proved it by what he did. But Adam doubted the love of God, and proved that by what HE did. He disobeyed God. He hid from God. He blamed God. This is THE Transgression (1 Timothy 2:14). And yet, God loved him anyway, and gave Adam life for death. Death reigned on the earth from Adam to Moses. Why? It wasn’t because people ate of the forbidden fruit as Adam did (for no one could get into Eden).

Death reigned because people rejected the love of God, choosing instead love of self and by extension love of sin. The wages of sin is death, and God is life. There was no law, and man embraced death while rejecting God.

When Jesus Christ came to this earth, He came to mediate a New Covenant, to bring us, through the Gospel, into a loving relationship with God. The Bible says: Continue reading

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Bible Doctrine Matters

Here’s a question: You’re a Christian without a Church. What should you look for in a Church? The National Association of Evangelicals asked that question, and people said that the most important things were:

1. Friendliness (19 %)
2. Children’s Programs (19 %)
3. Worship Music (16 %)
4. Sermons (14 %)
5. Likability of the Pastor (12 %)

How does this match up with the Church that Jesus, through the Apostles, formed? Let’s look at the beginning, the Book of Acts. We read:

Acts 2:40-47 (ESV) … {Peter} bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” 41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. 42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

The Apostle Peter’s message was separation, not union Continue reading

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We All Need The Lord

It’s all the fashion now to get on the Internet through your “smart phone”, then to rant and rave over the phone via a video – usually about politics. I had to laugh out loud at a young black woman in her car. She went to a drive up ATM at bank, and got $60 in cash out (three 20 dollar bills). She suddenly had what my mama called a “conniption fit” because someone had stamped on the back of one of the 20’s, right over the picture of the White House, in red letters “Trump Lives Here”. She said she was so mad she wanted to throw the money away. I support that. Throw the money MY way.

The Internet has amplified self righteousness & virtue signaling. God says no one is clean

I know a lot of people do not like Trump, but he’s the President of the United States whether you like it or not. Yes, he lives in the White House. President Trump has his failings, but also his good points. Beloved, no one makes themselves clean. Shouting into your phone doesn’t make you clean, but stupid looking. If this nation was settled not by White Europeans, but Black Africans, I suspect we’d STILL have had a problem with slavery – only in reverse. We’re all a mess.

The heartbeat of Christianity is that “all sin, all fall short of God’s glory” (Romans 3:23). King Solomon wrote:

Ecclesiastes 7:20 (ESV) Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.

It is a sign of a deluded person who thinks they are righteous and perfect, but all others have flaws. Sadly when that young lady screamed and hollered about nothing, all this proved was that she is delusional. Those who are deluded stay in a perpetual child-like state. They never mature, and often become those in Continue reading

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Paul’s Second Amen

To be honest with you, there are parts of the Bible that I skim through, parts that I find difficult to read. Those parts are what I call the phone books of the Bible. Younger people have no idea what a “phone book” is, but when I was growing up you had phone books. These were thick, alphabetized books where everyone who had a phone number was placed in it. Unless you paid the phone company extra, everyone had access to your phone number. It was in the Phone Book!

As you go through the Bible, there are lists of names, often hard to pronounce, written in the Book. You find lists like this in Genesis, Exodus, Chronicles, Nehemiah, Matthew and Luke. One of the greatest lists of names is in the Book of Numbers. Name after names is listed, like: Continue reading

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The Curse Of The Law

The Mosaic Law did not bring a blessing to God’s Israel. In fact, it wasn’t supposed to bring a blessing. God has never ruled His people by Law, but by Promise and by Love. The Law was not given until Mount Sinai, and it was given to Israel to show them that they needed the love of God.

Galatians 3:10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.

Paul is quoting the Bible of his day, from

Deuteronomy 27:26 (ESV) CURSED be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

The Law demanded compliance, or else the curse. God told Israel:

Deuteronomy 28:15-21 But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these CURSED shall come upon thee, and overtake thee: 16 CURSED shalt thou be in the city, and CURSED shalt thou be in the field. 17 CURSED shall be thy basket and thy store. 18 CURSED shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. 19 CURSED shalt thou be when thou comest in, and CURSED shalt thou be when thou goest out. 20 The Lord shall send upon thee CURSED, vexation, and rebuke, in ALL that thou settest thine hand unto for to do, until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish quickly; because of the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me. 21 The Lord shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until He have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to possess it.

The Law had to be kept perfectly, something that no one but Jesus Christ has ever done. The Law did not bless, but CURSE every aspect of your life. Continue reading

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