Click here for PDF. Sermon Notes Two Kinds of Wisdom James 3:13-18 Pastor John Sloan Introduction: Behind every decision we make there is a driving force or guiding principle, moving us to act the way that we act. There are two of these controlling influences, James says, and they’re starkly different. Complete opposites, really. And… Continue Reading
Click here for PDF Faith That Works James 2:20-26 Pastor John Sloan Introduction: People love stories. This is why teachers use illustrations in the classroom, preachers use personal examples in sermons, and parents pause active children by alerting them to an arresting anecdote. There is no better way to drive home a point than with… Continue Reading
Click here for PDF Sermon Notes The Evidence of Saving Faith James 2:14-19 Pastor John Sloan Introduction: Did James, the brother of Jesus, and Paul, the self-professed “apostle to the Gentiles” contradict one another in their writings? Did these two devoted followers of Christ disagree on the very basics of salvation? Paul repeatedly and passionately… Continue Reading
Click here for PDF Sermon Notes New Year, Renewed Focus Select passages Pastor John Sloan Introduction: Introduction: There’s something about the beginning of the New Year that brings with it a sense of hope. Perhaps this is the year when some of those perpetually frustrating habits can finally be broken. And new (healthier) ones established.… Continue Reading
Click here for PDF 8.17.2014 Sermon Notes No Place for a Dead Body Genesis 23 Pastor John Sloan Introduction: More than one hundred years of marriage together. Six decades of wandering around Canaan with each other, never securing a permanent home. Abraham has experienced more with Sarah, his wife, than he ever thought possible. Good… Continue Reading
Click here for PDF 8.10.2014 Sermon Notes Caught in a Thicket (The Glory of God’s Provision) Genesis 22 Pastor John Sloan Introduction: Some commands of God are mystifying. For example, how could God tell Abraham to slaughter his only son? This atrocity was also committed in ancient Egypt, where the Pharaoh ordered that all Israelite… Continue Reading
Click here for PDF 7.6.2104 Sermon Notes Friend of God Genesis 18:1-19 Pastor John Sloan Introduction: What would it be like to have dinner with God? Would the tone be strictly serious (no joking permitted)? What kind of hors d’oeuvres do you serve to the One who made the world? Would God send His meal… Continue Reading
Click Here for a PDF 6.29.2014 Sermon Notes A Never Changing Promise Genesis 17 Pastor John Sloan Introduction: Throughout time and history, God has spoken. And He still speaks. It is by the power of His word that God upholds the universe (Hebrews 1:3), and it’s by God’s commands that rain pelts the earth and… Continue Reading
Click the date for a PDF: 6.22.2014 Sermon Notes Lost (and Found) in the Wilderness Genesis 16 Pastor John Sloan Introduction: “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise.” So wrote the Apostle Peter (2 Peter 3:9). But it sure seems like God moves at an unhurried pace at times. Especially when a person… Continue Reading
Click the date for a PDF: 6.15.2014 Sermon Notes Doubting God Genesis 15 Pastor John Sloan Introduction: Longtime professor and erstwhile preaching guru, Haddon Robinson, once wrote: “Everybody doubts. Christians doubt. Atheists doubt. Scholars doubt; students doubt. Your pastor doubts and you doubt.” It’s pretty hard to argue with that, isn’t it? Even Abraham, the… Continue Reading