Rocky Mount Baptist Church - Sermon Audio

"True joy means giving up our rights and preferences and serving everyone else." - Thom Rainer, I Am a Church Member

Unifiers in the church serve Christ; gossipers in the church serve Satan.

Country club membership is a business relationship of dues paid and services rendered; church membership is a relationship rooted in love for Christ and a local faith family, which involves self-sacrifice. "Do you know how to remain a member of country club? Pay your dues. Do that and people will be available to serve you. Do you know how to remain a biblical member of a church? Give abundantly and serve without hesitation… The concept of an inactive church member is an oxymoron. Biblically, no such church member exists. Such is the reason we are exhorted to know our gifts and abilities, so we can use them best to serve the church for the glory of God. The fact that there is so much diversity in our church is our strength. Everyone has a function. Everyone should be functioning. Everyone should have a role." – Thom Rainer, I Am a Church Member

All it takes is one lost generation to lose a culture. "And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction." - Malachi 4:6

God-honoring hard work and rest are both acts of worship and should point to the glory of God. "The essential goodness and God-givenness of work means that we must not dichotomize work as an evil necessity and leisure as where we find pleasure and self-fulfillment. To demand that leisure compensate us for working hard is to ask too much of it. Work when done for God's glory and the good of others has a measure of inherent reward. Leisure is not the reward we get for work; we do not earn it. Work and leisure are both gifts." – John S. Hammett, Human Nature

Obedience to the Gospel grounds your life on a solid foundation.

Many people think they are going to Heaven when they are really not.

Be on the lookout for imitations. Important Distinction: Unbalanced teaching is not the same as blatantly false teaching. False teaching is blatantly denying the truth or claiming things as true that are actually false. On the other hand, unbalanced teaching is neglecting to talk about all things that are true; only telling part of the truth.

Be on the lookout for imitations.

Appearances can be deceiving

Love your neighbor as yourself. "So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets." - Matthew 7:12

Confidence in prayer comes from knowing who God is.

Hypocrisy clouds our perception of both ourselves and others.

Worry is a lack of faith; so seek first what God values and God will provide what you need.

God has a special plan for practical orphans; He steps in where absent fathers check out. Orphan: a child whose parents are both dead or who has been abandoned by his or her parents, especially a child not adopted by another family.

Money is a heart issue. "I have not met many people possessed by demons. But I have met a lot of people possessed by their possessions." - Dr. Ted Traylor

Money is a heart issue. "I have not met many people possessed by demons. But I have met a lot of people possessed by their possessions." - Dr. Ted Traylor

Combating evil is a noble thing.

Fasting is real-life training in resisting temptation and practicing your dependence on God.

There is no higher calling than motherhood.