First Presbyterian Church, Jackson, Mississippi Evening Service

First Presbyterian Church, Jackson, Mississippi Evening Service First Presbyterian Church, Jackson, Mississippi Evening Service https://www.fpcjackson.org/resource-library/service-index/evening-service Blessed are the Meek Billy Dempsey Sun, 02 Feb 2020 00:00:00 -0600 https://www.fpcjackson.org/resource-library/sermons/blessed-are-the-meek https://www.fpcjackson.org/resource-library/2/4640 Blessed are the Meek Audio of Blessed are the Meek The Beatitudes: Poor in Spirit Cory Brock We’re starting a new series tonight for the next several weeks on the Beatitudes. And you can find the Beatitudes at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter 5. And tonight we’ll not only look at the first beatitude about being poor in spirit, but also the second, about a life of mourning and sorrow. You’ll find the Beatitudes in Matthew chapter 5; you won’t find the word “beatitude” anywhere in the Beatitudes. The word

We’re starting a new series tonight for the next several weeks on the Beatitudes. And you can find the Beatitudes at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter 5. And tonight we’ll not only look at the first beatitude about being poor in spirit, but also the second, about a life of mourning and sorrow. You’ll find the Beatitudes in Matthew chapter 5; you won’t find the word “beatitude” anywhere in the Beatitudes. The word “beatitude” is a Latin term from the Latin translation of this passage and it means “the state of blessedness” or “the state of happiness” - of living a blessed life or a truly happy life. 

First Presbyterian Church, Jackson, Mississippi Evening Service First Presbyterian Church, Jackson, Mississippi Evening Service https://www.fpcjackson.org/resource-library/service-index/evening-service Learning Patience in the School of Providence Wiley Lowry Sun, 19 Jan 2020 00:00:00 -0600 https://www.fpcjackson.org/resource-library/sermons/learning-patience-in-the-school-of-providence https://www.fpcjackson.org/resource-library/2/4600 Learning Patience in the School of Providence Audio of Learning Patience in the School of Providence A Song for the Lord's Day Ligon Duncan Sun, 12 Jan 2020 00:00:00 -0600 https://www.fpcjackson.org/resource-library/sermons/a-song-for-the-lords-day https://www.fpcjackson.org/resource-library/2/4596 A Song for the Lord's Day Audio of A Song for the Lord's Day The Lord, Our Home Ligon Duncan Are you sad or lonely or lacking in hope? Then this is a psalm for you. Are you so content with t

First Presbyterian Church, Jackson, Mississippi Evening Service First Presbyterian Church, Jackson, Mississippi Evening Service https://www.fpcjackson.org/resource-library/service-index/evening-service Learning Patience in the School of Providence Wiley Lowry Sun, 19 Jan 2020 00:00:00 -0600 https://www.fpcjackson.org/resource-library/sermons/learning-patience-in-the-school-of-providence https://www.fpcjackson.org/resource-library/2/4600 Learning Patience in the School of Providence Audio of Learning Patience in the School of Providence A Song for the Lord's Day Ligon Duncan Sun, 12 Jan 2020 00:00:00 -0600 https://www.fpcjackson.org/resource-library/sermons/a-song-for-the-lords-day https://www.fpcjackson.org/resource-library/2/4596 A Song for the Lord's Day Audio of A Song for the Lord's Day The Lord, Our Home Ligon Duncan Are you sad or lonely or lacking in hope? Then this is a psalm for you. Are you so content with t

Are you sad or lonely or lacking in hope? Then this is a psalm for you. Are you so content with this life that you have not learned to count your days, to contemplate eternity? Then this is a psalm for you. In this psalm, Moses points us to God as the solution to our plight. He teaches us that God is home and eternal and just and gracious. 

The title of our brief meditation is at bare minimum a paradox - weeping in heaven. How can that be? Weeping in heaven? Is it possible that we would find weeping there?

So we are in a little series on Christmas in the mind-bending book of Revelation. This is the vision of the apostle John at the end of his life on the Isle of Patmos in the 90s, the last decade of the first century. We’re in Revelation 21 tonight, the first six verses. And that chapter addresses one of the age old questions of Christmas; a very old question that David Strain brought up this morning. And that is, “Why has the Son of God become a human? Why the God-man?” 

And so I’d like us to think about the victory of Christmas this evening, and to do that, we really need to think about that victory from the lens of the Old Testament. Because to understand the book of Revelation, you really need to think about it from the lens of what the Old Testament has first said. The clues to understanding all the symbols and all the imagery in this enigmatic book are found in the Old Testament. 

Well we’re going to look at Christmas from that same perspective over the next few weeks. To view Christmas, to view Christ’s birth not as it was promised in the Old Testament, not from the shadow of the cross as the Gospel writers present it to us, but from the spotlight, the spotlight of Christ’s return and what that means for the Christmas message. What that means is that there is an urgency to hear this message. There’s an urgency to fully embrace Christ and to rejoice in Him.  

Please turn with me in your Bible to Luke chapter 18; Luke chapter 18. Tonight we are concluding a Sunday night mini-series looking at the parables of Jesus. Tonight we will be in Luke chapter 18, verses 9 to 14. And so the question for us tonight is this. “Who gets to be in the kingdom of heaven?” 

Let me invite you to take up God’s Word and to turn with me to the gospel of Matthew this evening as we read from Matthew 25:14-30. In our evening services, many of you will remember, over the last few weeks we’ve been studying a number of the parables. And the one we’re going to be looking at this evening is a parable that encourages us to faithfully improve that which has been entrusted to us. And in the midst of the encouragement, there’s also a very stern warning, and it’s a warning that ought to cause us to stop and to assess our life before God this evening once again. 

And I wish we had the time this passage really deserves to dwell on those details, but we simply don’t. All we can really do is pick out a few of the prominent details and meditate on them. Let me mention three for your consideration this evening. First, I want you to see that the Father delights in His servant. The Father delights in His servant. Secondly, the Father ordains His servant. The Father ordains His servant. And thirdly, the Father empowers His servant. The Father empowers His servant. The Father delights in, ordains, and empowers His servant. Now before we consider those themes, let’s pause and pray together.

First Presbyterian Church, Jackson, Mississippi Evening Service First Presbyterian Church, Jackson, Mississippi Evening Service https://www.fpcjackson.org/resource-library/service-index/evening-service Following God Fully Joel Beeke Sun, 03 Nov 2019 00:00:00 -0500 https://www.fpcjackson.org/resource-library/sermons/following-god-fully https://www.fpcjackson.org/resource-library/2/4519 Following God Fully Audio of Following God Fully Ready for the Return of Christ Ed Hartman Luke 12:35-48 really is not just one parable; it’s three mini-parables. And there’s one unifying theme. Each one of these mini-parables points to the certainty of the return of Christ. And that should give us pause because scholars, as they talk about these three parables, say that these are among the weightiest parables in the New Testament. They deal with the dominant New Testament doctrine repeated more often than any other doctrine in the New Testament. You understa

Luke 12:35-48 really is not just one parable; it’s three mini-parables. And there’s one unifying theme. Each one of these mini-parables points to the certainty of the return of Christ. And that should give us pause because scholars, as they talk about these three parables, say that these are among the weightiest parables in the New Testament. They deal with the dominant New Testament doctrine repeated more often than any other doctrine in the New Testament. You understand that, right? The doctrine of the return of Christ is the most often repeated doctrine of any other of our doctrines in the New Testament.

What does Jesus give us here that might actually change us, that might wake us up and motivate us to pray? Well He gives us in verses 5 to 13 these two brief parables and they focus on the identity and the character of the One hearing our prayers. First in verses 5 to 10, to motivate you to pray you have to see that God is your friend and you are a beggar. God is your friend and you are a beggar. And then second in verses 11 to 13, to motivate you to pray, you have to see that God is your Father and you are His beloved child. And so God is your friend and God is your Father and you are a beggar and you are His child and He is the best friend and He is the best Father that you could imagine. 

And we’re looking at another one of Jesus’ parables tonight. This is not a dramatic parable. There’s no joyful embrace at the reunion of a father and his wayward son. There’s no beaten and bloody traveler left for dead on the side of the road waiting to be rescued by a stranger, an enemy even. No, it’s just a man, a master of a house, and he brings out of his treasure what is new and old. It’s very simple. There’s not a lot of detail there, and yet the teaching of this parable is foundational for how we live the Christian life. 

We’re starting a new series at nighttime in October looking at some of the parables in the gospels, and we’ll look tonight at Matthew 13:44-46. Parables are simple stories that Jesus was taking daily life experiences that people had all the time in the first century and telling a very simple story but teaching a cosmic lesson from a normal life happenstance that people would have experienced all the time.

We really want to look at two things tonight. We want to look at Timothy’s charge and we want to look at the something better. Not a very pretty outline, but I think serviceable. Timothy’s charge, and then what is the something better. 

So what I want us to look at this evening is three things from the passage; three things. Three things that Paul gives thanks for. The first one is the evidence of saving grace. The evidence of saving grace. The second is the bedrock of grace. And thirdly it’s the impact of grace. 

We’re continuing in our study of the three primary Christian virtues - faith, hope and love - looking at how they work together, how they are fueled, what their goal and target is, why they are critical for us. This evening I’d like us to think about the freedom that is ours in those Christian virtues. And in that freedom, how do we not abuse that freedom, how do we not lose that freedom, and at the core, how do we live a life of love that we in the Holy Spirit are freed to live? Particularly, how do we love people who are difficult to love? How do we love people that are impossible, humanly speaking, to love?