What I Learned This Week

For the last seven days, our church has held a prayer meeting every night in which we worshiped together, prayed together, confessed together, and rejoiced together. God moved in mighty and life-changing ways for many of us. As we gather on this Sunday morning, I want to share from my heart some of what God has been teaching and showing me over this past week. I trust it will intersect with what you have experienced and learned as well. 

The Year of the Lord's Favor

As we begin this new year, let us consider our hopes and desires. What do we hope for in our relationships? Our spiritual lives? Our health and well-being? More importantly yet, what is it that we want God to do this year? In us and through us. As we begin this year, let us embrace a mission and a promise that Jesus sets forth in Luke 4:18-19 when he proclaims the pouring out of the spirit, good news for the poor, freedom for the captives, sight for the blind, and the year of the Lord’s favor. 

Closing the Distance: Guest Preacher, Yemi Okunogbe

Yemi Okunogbe is a minister of the gospel of Christ and a teacher of the Word of God. He leads Fullness, a ministry dedicated to equipping believers to grow in intimacy with Jesus and to walk in the fullness of their purpose in Christ. He is married to the love of his life, Oyebola, and they have 2 amazing children. They live in Alexandria VA and attend The District Church (TDC), where he recently served as the Chair of the Executive Board

The Word Became Flesh and Dwelt Among Us: Bigger Still

The season of advent is a season of possibility. Jesus’ birth means the impossible has become possible. God taking on human flesh means that though you thought life had to be one way, it turns out another way is possible. The Creator becoming part of the creation, means that though you knew God was supposed to do one thing, God knows some things you don’t know. To paraphrase Isaiah, Christmas means, God’s ways are not our ways because His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. And in the face of this kind of bigger-still God, the proper response is faith.

The Word Became Flesh and Dwelt Among Us: Joy-Filled

The third week of Advent is often dedicated to joy. And that is precisely what we want to talk about today. The heavenly joy that erupts when Jesus is born is connected to the heavenly joy that erupts when the lost sheep is found. This joy is essential to Jesus’s character, and he is a revelation of the divine character. This kind of joy is everywhere this time of year if we have eyes to see and ears to hear.

The Word Became Flesh and Dwelt Among Us: Humble

There is no debating that Jesus’ humility is a striking aspect of the Christian faith. Jesus was born in a humble manner, he lived a humble life, and he died a humiliating death. Among the world religions, elevating human humility is not unique. What is unique, however, is that Jesus as God incarnate reveals to us a humble God. Could it possibly be true that we serve an almighty, all-powerful God who is also humble? What would that mean?

The Word Became Flesh and Dwelt Among Us: Life-Giving

In this advent season, we will look at some traditional advent passages to see how they reveal the character of Jesus who reveals the character of the Father. Today we look at the opening lines of John’s gospel. In them we see that the Father and Son are co-authors of all creation. They breathe life into the world. As we prepare for the birth of Jesus, we ready ourselves to receive the author of life himself.

Amazing Grace

Last week we talked about giving thanks and this week we talk about grace. The easiest definition of grace is simply “a gift,” though more often than not it is a gift that is unearned. The relationship between gifts and gratitude is an intimate one. A proper gift should be followed by gratitude, and feelings of gratitude are almost always preceded by a gift of some kind. Gifts come in all shapes and sizes, and in today’s Scripture reading the gift given is that of forgiveness. The response, by the woman who receives it, is gratitude and love. You too have been offered forgiveness, what will your response be? 

Why, Thank You

Going back a few years now, I have made it a habit to speak about gratitude during the week of Thanksgiving. I find thankfulness to be one of the more important virtues one can develop, one that is often overlooked and undervalued. When matured, gratitude becomes a superpower. It shifts our focus onto others, onto life’s blessings, and onto God’s abundance. To live with unceasing gratitude, as Paul calls us to in 1 Thessalonians, is to live a transformed life.

Teach Us to Pray: Lead Us

We have made it to the end of the Lord’s Prayer. Today we talk about the final line: “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” There are some assumptions held within this line that speak volumes about Jesus’ expectations of us. The most important assumption is that if we are praying for God’s leading, it means we must be ready to follow. Is that part of your prayer life? Are you ready to follow wherever God may lead?

Teach Us to Pray: Forgive

We are nearing the end of our series on prayer with one final week after this one. Today we tackle the phrase: “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Jesus connects the forgiveness we desire and receive from God to the forgiveness that flows out of us to those we encounter. We may not always think in these terms, and we may not like it, but there it is, sitting squarely within the Lord’s Prayer. If we’re going to talk about prayer, then we must talk about giving and receiving forgiveness. Let’s dive in.

Teach Us to Pray: Daily Bread

As we continue to look at the Lord’s Prayer, we once again ask that Jesus teach us to pray. Our focus today is the line, “Give us this day our daily bread.” What a beautiful image the Lord has given us. Daily bread. Not a feast or a banquet. Not a shopping cart filled with food that will last us weeks. Just today’s loaf. What Jesus is teaching us here is manifold and has a clear connection to what God was teaching Israel through daily manna in the wilderness. What this means for our 21st century modern life is not altogether different. Let us dive in.

Teach Us to Pray: Your Kingdom Come

"Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Jesus, who teaches us to pray this way, knows a thing or two about submitting to God’s will. On the night before his crucifixion, he cries out to God to keep him from death. But Jesus' desire to avoid crucifixion was surpassed by his desire to do the will of God, praying, “Not my will but yours.” In the moment of trouble, this is a hard saying, nevertheless it sits at the heart of what it means to believe or trust in God.

Teach Us to Pray: Hallowed Be Your Name

How is your prayer life these days? Have you begun to find a rhythm yet? Don’t worry, we’re just getting started, and we’ve got more weeks left to go. I hope this series encourages you to begin or continue a sustainable, regular prayer routine in your life. At the end of the day, that’s what this is all about. Putting into practice what we are learning in God’s Word. This week we turn to the second line of the Lord’s Prayer and ask, What would it mean for us to pray “Hallowed Be Your Name”? Let’s dive in.

Teach Us to Pray: Our Father

We are beginning a new year with a new emphasis, and there is no better way to begin than with prayer. I want to spend the coming weeks diving headlong into the why and the how of a prayer life in hopes that we as a church catch a vision for how God is going to move in our midst. While I desire an outpouring of spirit and power, I believe that the path to following God marches directly through our personal prayer lives and our corporate desire to seek God in the hidden places. If you’ll join me on this journey, I look forward to what God will do in our midst!

The Next 40 Years

Happy 40th Anniversary South Run Baptist Church! What a remarkable day. We are so glad that you have gathered with us this morning to celebrate what God has done in the four decades of our church’s life. We anticipate that God will continue to move in mighty ways, and this morning we set our sights not only on what has come before but the work that is left to be done. 

Part 2: Equipping

Today we continue with the second of three sermons on our strategic plan. Last week we discussed prayer as this year’s cornerstone, and this week we introduce the importance of Equipping the Church in two ways: through regular Bible reading at home and through participation in a small group of some kind. There are lots of reasons why we chose these two elements, and our hope is that by the end of today, you see its value too. Let’s dive in!

Always Start with Prayer

For the next three Sundays, we are going to spend our Sunday mornings casting a vision for where we believe God is leading our congregation. Over the last months, the SRBC church council has spent a significant amount of time working on a strategic plan for the 2023-24 year, and I am excited to share with you the vision of what God has placed on our hearts. The plan is intentionally simple and, at its heart, is a call to return to what makes the church the church. The plan has three parts. This week we discuss part one: Always Start with Prayer.