Jan 9, 2013 | Matthew
I have borrowed the title for tonight’s message from a movie of a few years ago – “The King’s Speech.” I have more than just a passing interest in recent British monarchy. When I was born, the King of England and of the British Commonwealth, was George VI. Even...
Jan 8, 2013 | Matthew
I am trying to be thorough in our study of this great Book of Matthew. Sometimes we have spent four or five messages looking at one paragraph in an attempt to see all that the Lord might have for us. But then in some cases we have skipped over certain statements or...
Jan 7, 2013 | Matthew
As I tried to say this morning, the seven parables in this chapter discuss the days in which we live. One of the things unique to the Word of God is its ability to cross the lines of time, culture, language and all the other things which separate people in this world...
Jan 6, 2013 | Matthew
Matthew 13 is sometimes called the chapter of the “Kingdom of Heaven Parables.” Although the first parable didn’t begin like the rest of them here – it could have. Notice verse 24 – “The kingdom of heaven is likened unto…” Verse 31 – “The kingdom of heaven is...
Jan 5, 2013 | Matthew
If this message was delivered in about two weeks, you might think that it was designed to be a Thanksgiving Day message. But I often say things like “Thanksgiving should not fall on only one day out of the year” – and I mean it. Our hearts should always be full of...
Jan 4, 2013 | Matthew
Thursday, as I was getting ready for my plasma donation, the man across from me was being sent home. He was told that he couldn’t return for several months. The machine which had drawn his blood had permitted some of his red blood cells into the container which was...
Jan 3, 2013 | Matthew
Here are a couple of obvious, but hated Bible doctrines. First, God gives His saving Grace only to those who are empty – not to the proud, satisfied or self-satisfied. The second principle is that God likes to give more and more – “He giveth more Grace.” God gives...
Jan 2, 2013 | Matthew
Let’s begin this morning with a short philosophical question: “What is the purpose of life?” “What is the purpose of life?” I suppose that the answer depends on the person. I saw a television commercial the other day showing some sports star whose name I can’t...
Jan 1, 2013 | Matthew
I feel as though a dozen of you might be able to preach this scripture as well as I can. This is one of the great and glorious parables of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is one of the stories of the Lord which children learn fairly early in their Sunday School classes....
Dec 20, 2012 | Matthew
That the Son of God came into the world through a normal human birth is a basic part of Bible Christianity. We call it the “incarnation” of Christ – where “incarnation” in this case means “to take a human body.” In the incarnation – the Son of God was conceived...
Dec 18, 2012 | Matthew
These three verses develop into a very good gospel message – a salvation message. But since most of us here today are professed Christians, I would like to take this in a slightly little different direction. And yet I cannot ignore the salvation aspect of these...
Dec 17, 2012 | Matthew
Have you ever read or heard much of Shakespeare? It is said that William Shakespeare wrote 68 plays, 122 sonnets, several narrative poems, as well as a few other things. The numbers vary between scholars, because there is debate about what he might have written and...
Dec 15, 2012 | Matthew
Please turn to Acts 26 and let’s think about Paul’s defense before King Agrippa. “Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Thou art permitted to speak for thyself. Then Paul stretched forth the hand, and answered for himself: I think myself happy, king Agrippa, because I shall...
Dec 14, 2012 | Matthew
If I was the produce manager of a grocery story, my job would be to display and sell fruit and vegetables. If I laid out light bulbs instead of apples or batteries instead of bananas, I would probably be fired or sent to a mental hospital. As your pastor, my most...
Dec 13, 2012 | Matthew
This was Christ Jesus’ response to the Pharisees’ charges that He was a tool of Satan – if not Satan himself. “Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw. And all the...
Dec 12, 2012 | Matthew
It is not a major part of my ministry to attack other people’s doctrines – heretical though they might be. I would prefer to preach positive truth and let heresy just slide naturally into the mud by the force of gravity. But that doesn’t always work, and sometimes...
Dec 11, 2012 | Matthew
I wish that we had a choir. I wish that our church in Post Falls had a 120 or 150 voice, well-trained choir lead by a musical master. I wish that we had a group of people to whom we could listen as they sang the praises of God, lifting us up to the very gates of...
Dec 10, 2012 | Matthew
I don’t plan to keep you long this afternoon. My message has only about a dozen primary points. I call this a “message” or perhaps a “discourse,” but it would be hard to call it a “sermon.” It’s not that it’s without a purpose, but that purpose is more to inform and...
Dec 9, 2012 | Matthew
You and I should have a great deal of interest in this scripture – because this scripture has interest in us. There is one word – repeated – which throws these somewhat mysterious words right onto our laps. I am thinking about the word “Gentiles.” As far as I know,...
Dec 8, 2012 | Matthew
If I told you that when I awoke this morning, there was a thousand pounds of pure gold at the foot of my bed, you probably wouldn’t believe me. That is preposterous. If nothing else, how could someone walk into my bedroom with a thousand pounds of gold, and I didn’t...
Dec 7, 2012 | Matthew
You might think that this scripture has no relevance to your life or to anyone else in the 21st century. In verse 14 we have something which is repeated in different ways a dozen times in the New Testament. You might consider it a matter of historical curiosity; a...
Dec 6, 2012 | Matthew
Last Wednesday I received this email – which I immediately dispatched to the virtual round file. But I resurrected it later when I began thinking about our message for this evening. It reads – “Pastor David Oldfield. It is with a sense of urgency that I contact you...
Dec 5, 2012 | Matthew
Two weeks ago, on Sunday morning, I preached a message entitled – “The Lord of the Sabbath.” The title was related to the last point in that message. I was attempting to bring glory to our Saviour, by looking at several things from these verses. First, the Lord...
Dec 4, 2012 | Matthew
I probably shouldn’t be preaching this subject this evening – for several reasons. First, we’ve already moved on to the next paragraph, so we are we re-tracing our steps. (You wives know how hard it is for husbands to turn the car around once they are on the road....
Dec 3, 2012 | Matthew
I am calling this sermon “The Parable of the Withered Hand” although I have no Biblical right to do so. This scripture did not start with the words, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a man with a pair of hands,” or “salvation is like hand surgery.” In the three synoptic...
Dec 2, 2012 | Matthew
I’d like to share a little topical message, coming out of what the Lord Jesus told the Pharisees. Those Pharisees had problems with many of the things which the Lord Jesus did, and with the way that He did them. Of course, those problems stemmed from their unbelief...
Dec 1, 2012 | Matthew
If a stranger visited with us this morning and then was asked to describe our church in a single word, what would he say? Perhaps it would be better if he visited for a month or perhaps a year, before he was asked to describe us. And of course his answer would be...
Nov 13, 2012 | Matthew
It might be fun to make a survey based upon this question: What is the greatest word in the English language? Some of the more pious might answer – “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith….” Others might come up with words like: “friend,...
Nov 12, 2012 | Matthew
I can’t speak with authority about your particular hobby. But I would guess, that if you quilters, or if you modelers had a choice, you’d prefer to design and make something which was different from all the others in the world. Sure, you might like to teach others...
Nov 11, 2012 | Matthew
Years ago, the Prince of Grenada, heir to the Spanish crown, was kidnaped and imprisoned. For thirty-three years he lived in solitary confinement within the walls of Madrid’s Skulls Prison. Then finally he was released – by death. When workers went into that man’s...
