New Philadephia Presbyterian

Baptism and the Lord’s supper are the two sacraments of the Protestant religion. Jerry talks about these things conceptually, the fact that these are objective and given to us by God. He goes into detail about each in later sermons. Some of the Scriptures covered are Hebrews 6:13–8; Genesis 15:1-7; 1 Corinthians 4:1; Acts 14:15; Matthew 5:44–45; Exodus, 12, etc. As an aside, it is nostalgic and deeply sweet to hear the interactions between Jerry and his precious wife Angela in this recording. I pray that God continues to comfort, strengthen and bless her. May the Lord make His face to shine upon her and give her tremendous peace. Amen.

Sometimes God works supernaturally. But very often God is working His supernatural will through natural means. He knows what He is doing. Trust Him.

This is such a great sermon! So many wonderful, meaty nuggets of truth here. Mainly, we are not enough. Even the good works we do were prepared for us ahead of time by God. It’s beautiful that He prepared for each of His children the gift of doing His good work, but we must point to Him in it, and not ourselves, because we know that even our best is as filthy rags. We are a sinful people. We have no righteousness on our own. Our good works are not enough. Sanctification is an act of grace. We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, PERIOD. Jesus Christ, God Himself, is our Provider, clothing us in His own righteousness. I will greatly rejoice in the LORD!

This life is not rainbows and lollypops. God never said it would be. In fact Romans 8 helps us understand our lot but reminds us that God’s love will never leave us. Sometimes our sin is a spiritual hinderance; God disciplines His children just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights. His discipline and our conscience can help us recognize our need to repent and put sin behind us. He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

In the sermon, Jerry continues looking at Genesis and the story of Joseph and his brothers. Joseph tests his brothers and sees that they are maturing. He forgives them. Jerry bids us understand what Jesus had in eternity from the beginning of time and what He gave up to save us. In Revelation 5:1 God tells us that no one, but Jesus, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, could open the seals of the scroll. No one but Jesus. Jesus is The Way.

In the sermon, Jerry addresses the evil in the world and the bad things that happen. He encourages us, via Scripture, that God uses for good what humans mean for evil. He reminds us that in God‘s economy, there is no purposeless evil in the world and says that our afflictions can have beneficial outcomes. He does not say that affliction is fun or enjoyable. He only says that it is fruitful for those who love the LORD and are called according to His purpose. Even in death, the Christian gains because of God‘s great love and mercy and because of God’s sacrifice on the cross. Jerry ends the sermon with Revelation 22:17, an invitation for God’s chosen people to receive the never-ending gift of salvation: “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’”

In this encouraging sermon Jerry talks about Joseph always having God on his mind, though bad things definitely happened to him. Even though bad things happen to us, and, many times, it is due to our own evil, our patient and loving God forgives us and provides a way for us to continue being His people. Jerry recommends that we humble ourselves before the Lord and resist the devil so that he, the accuser, will flee. Jerry says we should pray to love what God loves and hate what God hates and reminds us to not lose hope because of difficult circumstances. We should understand how wretched we truly are and realize that we have the amazing wonder and fortune of salvation. God’s promises are secure, and we are secure in the LORD.

In this sermon Jerry continues his examination of the story of Joseph and his family in Egypt. He also mentions multiple Biblical accounts of God speaking to humans. Jerry encourages us to have faith in God as our ancient Christian family did and reminds us that Jesus is gentle with His own, even helping us with our doubts; He is God, and He is good.

This sermon covers important answers to questions such as who are the family of God, how does one get to be the in family of God, Who is the Giver, what should our response be when we suffer loss, and what is our responsibility in this world. Verses covered are Genesis 1; Revelation 22; Genesis, 15:1-6; Genesis 46:8-23; Exodus 33:15–7; Revelation 20:11–15; Genesis 46:28–9; Genesis 46:30–31; John 17:14–8; John 8:44; etc.

Jerry’s sermon about different kinds of blessings, covers texts such as Genesis 1:27–28; Psalm 103: 1-5; Genesis 47: 1-6; Proverbs 2:1-8; Genesis 14:17–20; Hebrews 7:7; 2 Corinthians 5: 1-8: Psalm 90: 10–12; Romans 8:18; Hebrews 12:1-4; etc. One especially interesting concept Jerry covers is how we can bless the Lord. Check it out!

In this sermon, Jerry states that providence can be puzzling and painful, but God has a purpose for all of it. Scriptures cited are: Luke 2:1-7; Psalm 135:6; Isaiah 46:9–10; Romans 8:28; Psalm 33:11; Genesis 50:20; Mica 5:2; Romans 9; Matthew 1:1; Matthew 10:29–30; etc. Jerry makes the point that God does great work in our lives when we are hurting. God uses pain to refine us, to strip away our bad characteristics and make us shine so that we can reflect Him and have better lives. Sometimes God reveals the specific reason for the pain but not always. Still, we can be sure that God is involved in every little detail of our lives, and every trial we go through has a purpose.

In this brief but packed sermon Jerry touches upon Romans, 3:11; John 5:19; John 3:16; John 6:37; John 6:44; Titus 3:6; John 5:22; John 5:24; John 5:35; John 14: 1-10; Luke 12:49–53; Matthew 12:46–50; Mark 3:21; Luke 2:14; Matthew 23; Ephesians 2:8–9; John 10:10–18; etc. Jesus’ Earth mission was brutal; He knew it would be. Why did He take it on? 1) He came to represent the Father. 2) He came to kindle a fire. 3) He came to give us eternal life. He is the good Shepherd. He knows His sheep and we know Him. He went before us, and there are many mansions in His Father‘s house. If it were not so He would’ve told us.

In this sermon, Jerry talks about the law & how it cannot save us, double imputation, & how God made a plan to save his people before the beginning of time. He mentioned that Adam was allowed to be tempted to show that he could send, & Jesus was allowed to be tempted to show that He could not. Jesus, the second Adam, succeeded where the first Adam failed, & all of God‘s timing is perfect. That is comforting. God knows what He is doing from start to finish, & He always accomplishes His purpose. God sent profits, priests, and kings, but they could not save. Jesus, who held all of these offices could, & did. Praise the Lord! Through Jesus, we are adopted into the family of God & are sons and daughters. As children of God, we should represent our Father. As was once said to a son who behaved badly, in spite of his family name, “Change your behavior or change your name.” Our salvation is already secure through Jesus, but we should honor our Father and we should express our love through obedience to Him.

This sermon covers Genesis 49:5–7; Genesis 34:13–17, 30-31; Genesis 12:6–11; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Psalm 1:1- 3; Philippians 2; Hebrews 2:10–13; Hebrews 12:2 & 13; Isaiah 53:4–6; Luke 22:42; Galatians 3:16; Romans 8:30; revelation 7:9; Ephesians 2, etc.

The Lord does as He wills. Everything is in His hands, including us, and He is good. Even in the midst of suffering, we can honor our Father Who knows, cares, and saves. Scriptures covered are 1 Corinthians 1:26–31 & 2:1–10; Genesis 49:1; Genesis 15:20; 2 Corinthians 1:20; John 14:8–11; Exodus 20:12; Genesis 49:3–4; 2 kings 10; Luke 23:46; Hebrews 2:10, etc.