• Friday night services have been cancelled going forward, May 18, 2011 was the last service
• Friday night Men’s Confession & Catechism Class has moved to Wednesday nights @ 6pm, starting May 23, 2011
• Greek class has moved from 7pm to 6pm on Wednesdays, starting May 23, 2011
• Men’s Study (more details coming soon) will begin on Wednesday nights @ 7pm, starting  June 13, 2011

• All other events will stay the same
• Please note that the calendar will be kept up to date
• Wednesday’s events will not meet on Small Group Wednesdays (which is always the first Wednesday of the month)

Outline:

The Salvific Work of the Father: Decreeing Redemption – Part II

• Election is  part of God’s sovereign decree (Eph. 1:11 |Is. 46:9-11 | Matt. 10:29 | Prov. 16:33 | Ps. 139:16 | Dan. 4:34-35)
• We were predestined to be God’s own children [adoption] (Eph. 1:5)
• What is this adoption that we are predestined to?
• Israel was adopted as a nation as God’s first-born son (Ex. 4:22 | Hos. 11:1 | Rom. 9:4)
• We are all individually God’s children (2 Cor. 6:18)
• This wasn’t always our condition, we were born a child of wrath (Eph. 2:2-3)
• The privileges of adoption:
• We can call God our father (Rom. 8:15 | Matt. 6:9 | Mark 14:36)
• God, our father, will take care of our needs (Matt. 6:32-33)
• Gives us assurance of salvation (Rom. 8:15-16)
• We have an inheritance from our Father (Rom. 8:17)
• Responsibilities of adoption:
• Personal holiness (Phil. 2:15 | Eph. 5:8 | 2 Cor. 6:18-7:1)
• The means of our adoption is through Jesus Christ (Eph. 1:5)
• Our election was according to the pleasure of God (Eph. 1:5 | Matt 11:25-27 | Luke 12:32)
• Election magnifies the grace of God (Eph. 1:6 | Luke 1:28)
• Dealing with objections to election (1 Tim. 2:4)

Listen/download the Sermon:

Outline:

The Purpose of Parables:

Listen/download the Sermon:

Related Sermons:

Trinitarian Salvation – The Father: Decreeing Salvation

This past Friday (May 18, 2012) Pastor Jay announced that it would be our last Friday night service. Listen to the announcement he gave and what we have planned (Wednesday Men’s Discipleship starting June 13, 2011) for the future (the audio messes up for a couple seconds but is fine after that):

Download audio file (52112736564.mp3)

Men,

Our church is catechizing our children (in Sunday School). Many of you have expressed a desire to be catechized as well. After all, if we are going to be leading our children through a catechism, isn’t it only right that we have been through the same process? Well, you’ve asked for it, so here it is.

This Friday (April 13, 2012), Sovereign Joy will begin hosting a new study for the men of the church. Robert Cardona and Billy Leonhart will be leading the men through a study of the Second London Baptist Confession of Faith (1689) and the Baptist Catechism (1695). (Note: Though the leaders of the study hold to the teachings of these documents, we do not desire to force anyone to become confessional.) The purpose of the study is to familiarize you with these historic documents and demonstrate how to lead others through confessions and catechisms. Heads of households, husbands, and / or anyone discipling or hoping to disciple others someday should derive great benefit from the study.

The hour-long, weekly study will begin at 6pm sharp. The first week Robert will be covering the history and the philosophy behind the 1689 LBCF. The reading for the first week is optional. We are encouraging all who have the text prior to the first meeting to read the prefaces to both the Confession and the Catechism and to read the original “Letter to the Reader” of the Confession. We hope you are able to make it. May God bless you.

Required text for the study:

The Baptist Confession of Faith & The Baptist Catechism, Ed. James Renihan

Recommended texts for the study:

1689 Baptist Confession of Faith: A Modern Exposition, Sam Waldron

A Scriptural Exposition of the Baptist Catechism, Benjamin Beddome

Outline:

The Salvific Work of the Father: Decreeing Redemption

• The Sovereign Divine Election of God:
• God has always worked like this:
• God choose Noah, Abram, Issac over Ismael, Jacob over Esau, Israel over any other nation (Deut. 7:7-8)
• 6 Elements of Divine Election (first 3 this week)
• 1) We are Chosen in Christ (Eph. 1:4 | 2 Thes. 2:14)
• “Choose“: to select out of a mass of people
• Covenant of Redemption (John 6:37-39)
• 2) Chosen in Eternity Past (Eph. 1:4 | John 17:24)
• God’s Salvation cannot be Thwarted (Rom. 8:28-30)
• “Foreknew“: God setting His love on His people in eternity past (Jer. 1:5 | Amos 3:2 | Matt. 7:22-23)
• It is not based on anything in us (faith, good works, etc.) (Rom. 9:11-16 | Titus 3:5 | 2 Tim. 1:9)
• 3) Chosen to be Holy and Without Blameless Before Him in Love (Eph. 1:4)
• The ethical implications that election should lead us to (1 Thes. 1:3-4 | Col. 3:12-13)

… continued next week.

Listen/download the Sermon:

Outline:

The Parable of the Soils:

• The Setting (Mark 4:1-2)
• by the sea with a large crowd (Mark 4:1:45, 3:9)
• the boat was his pulpit
• The Parable (Mark 4:3-9)
•  He is asking for the crowd to discern (Mark 4:3,9)
•  4 different kinds of soil:
• hard soil (Mark 4:4)
• rocky ground (Mark 4:5-6)
• thorny soil (Mark 4:7)
• good ground (Mark 4:8)
• The Interpretation (Mark 4:13-20)
• this is a key parable to understanding all parables (Mark 4:13)
• the seed is the gospel (Mark 4:14 | 1 Peter 1:23 | James 1:21)
• 4 different hearts which give 4 different responses to the gospel
• the hard heart (Mark 4:15 | Acts 24:25)
• Satan steals away the word (2 Cor. 4:4 | Eph. 2:2)
• the non-committed heart (Mark 4:16-17 | 1 John 2:19)
• we are to be rooted and grounded in Christ (Col 2:6-7 | John 15)
• affliction/tribulation should be expected and should not sway us (1 Thes 1:6-7)
• the worldly heart (Mark 4:18-19 | 1 Tim 6:5-11)
• we are to seek first the kingdom of God (Matt. 6:33)
• seek the things above (Col. 3:1
• the responsive heart (Mark 4:20)
• regeneration produces change (John 15, Psalm 1:3, Eze 36:27, 1 John 3:9-10)
• sanctification is progressive and it appears there are different degrees of it

Listen/download the Sermon:

Related Sermons:

Faith, Works, & Justification: An Exegesis of James 2:14-26

Outline:

• Because we are in Christ, we have… (Eph. 1:3)
• A renewed ability to please and serve God (Eze. 36:26-27)
• A love and a hope in God (Rom. 8:18-20 | 2 Cor. 4:17-18)
• Forgiveness of all our sins (Rom. 5:1 | Ps. 130:3-4, 32:1-2)
• Been adopted into God’s family ( 1 John 3:1)
• The Holy Spirit and communion with God (1 John 1:3-4 | Eph. 4:30 | 1 Cor. 6:19, 3:16-17)
• Preservation by God (Phil. 1:6 | John 10:27-29 | 1 Peter 1:5)

Listen/download the Sermon:

Related Sermons:

3 Aspects of Resurrection Life

Union with Christ & Future Resurrection

Outline:

• 3 Elements of the Salutation
• The Writer (Eph. 1:1)
• The Readers (Eph. 1:1)
• The Greating (Eph. 1:2)

Listen/download the Sermon:

Related Sermons:

The Multifaceted Grace of God

Here is a collection of the sermons and an article by Pastor Jay on the fourth commandment that he mentioned yesterday [April 29, 2012]:

• The Abiding of the 10 Commandments:
• The Law of God & the Believer [A Reformed Perspective] article from Dec. 30, 2011
• Out With the Old, In With the New (Mark 2:18-22) sermon from Jan. 13,2012
• The 4th Commandment, Sabbath, Lord’s Day:
• The Sabbath Question – Part 1 (Mark 2:23-28) sermon from Jan. 20, 2012
• The Sabbath Question – Part 2 (Mark 3:1-6) sermon from Jan. 27, 2012
• (If you only have time to listen to one sermon then this is a comprehensive overview):
  The First Day of the Week (1 Cor. 16:1-2) sermon from Feb. 5, 2012