Sam Ford – Page 13

Loving Jesus and Loving like Jesus

2021-07-04T18:01:13+00:00By Sam Ford|Re:Sermon, Theology 101|

I have determined that when it comes to loving others, I feel that I have not loved faithfully. I have loved conveniently, comfortably, levelheadedly, even thoughtfully, but I am not convinced that I loved faithfully. For the most part, I live a very safe life, devoted to the love of myself and my stuff. 1John 4.7-16 challenged me this week as someone who claims to be in love with Jesus. A deep spirit-led introspection has led me to ask some hard questions of myself like: Is there a difference between a "Christian" and a true disciple--and which one am I? If I suddenly stopped loving God (as I confess I do), would my life look any different? If I stopped suddenly loving people (as I ought), who would feel the absence of my love? Needless to say, last week was a tough week as I realized that, for most of [...]

John’s 10 Test Questions for “the spirits”

2021-07-04T18:01:31+00:00By Sam Ford|Re:Sermon, Theology 101|

John begins chapter 4 of his first epistle by telling the church to test every spirit that teaches. Up to this point John has shown how BELIEF in certain things demonstrates spiritual maturity. Now, he is going to show how UNBELIEF in certain things also demonstrates spiritual maturity. Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 4.1 John reminds his the church that we live in a world full of both true and false prophets proclaiming different messages. And every one of these messengers has a spirit behind them, either the Spirit of God or the Spirit of the Devil; the Spirit of Christ or the Spirit of the Anti-Christ; the Spirit of Truth or the Spirit of Error. If we are not careful to test these spirits, we may find [...]

10 Questions to Find the Idol You Worship (If it is not Jesus).

2021-07-04T18:01:45+00:00By Sam Ford|Church Plant Lessons 101, Note to Self...and Others, Theology 101|

Below are 10 thought-provoking questions. Questions like these powerful tools to help us discover the false idols in our heart. There are good and bad answers to these questions. If you want to discern the rightness or wrongness of your answers, check the textbook--the Bible. 1. What is the one thing, or person, you fear losing most? Beyond sadness, how would you feel if that thing or person were gone tomorrow? (What would such a loss do to your life?) 2. What gives you purpose? Where do you find your identity, significance, and meaning in your life? (What role, job, responsibility, talent, title, or position makes, or would, make you most proud of yourself?) 3. What is success? How will you know if your life is a success or a failure? (Who has proven to have a "successful" life in your view?) 4. What gives you hope for the future? What, [...]

Monday’s Obscure Bible Passage: 2Corinthians 4.5

2021-07-04T18:02:02+00:00By Sam Ford|Re:Sermon, Theology 101|

"For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants." - 2Cor. 4.5 I greatly appreciated Kevin DeYoung's recent blog post on "Celebrity Pastors". Reading 2Corinthians this morning reminded me how tempting it is for a pastor to get off track, and for a church to follow him there. I have experienced first hand the evil tendency to adopt a "savior-complex" and begin to believe that you can save everyone...or anyone for that matter. More often than not, this begins as a well intended effort to love hurting people all while failing to admit your own weaknesses and limits. Then there are other pastors who assume a more dangerous position. It's not that they are trying to love like Christ too much, it's that they are trying to assume his job--to in fact be Jesus. In a recent sermon about "anti-christs" [...]

We’re All Wieners, Addicts, and Idolaters

2011-06-15T10:38:05+00:00By Sam Ford|Church Plant Lessons 101, Note to Self...and Others, Random Thoughts|

Sin is so irrational. If someone had written a fictitious short story about a man with the last name "Bottom" who sent pictures of his "bottom" across cyberspace, no one would laugh. The ironic humor would be lost in obviousness of foolishness. On the other hand, laughter and shock abound at such irony in real life. Truth is always stranger, weirder, funnier, and sadder than fiction. That is probably why Reality TV is much more popular than today's Soaps and Sitcoms. I am still trying to grasp the incredible irony found in the sinfully stupid decisions of Representative Anthony Wiener. No one could have written a story to equal both the humor and the tragedy. The story teaches us much about the dangers of position, the power of technology, and the absurdity of the press. If nothing else, a happily married and successful man's decision to blast pictures of his [...]

Bizarro Church (1John 2.12-17)

2021-07-04T18:02:18+00:00By Sam Ford|Church Plant Lessons 101, Re:Sermon|

In last week’s passage, 1John 2.12-17, John addresses three different kinds of Christians that make up the church audience he is writing to. By different kinds, I mean, different stages of spiritual maturity in the Christian life—new believers (children), maturing believers (young men) and seasoned believers (fathers). Every church, our church, must have all of these present all the time. Without new believers, the gospel is either not being preached or new people are not being reached. The church is growing old and will soon die. Without maturing believers, the gospel is not going deeper and fans, not followers, of Jesus are being made. The church is energetic but shallow. And, without old more seasoned believers, the church lacks mentors to help shepherd the new and young believers with the wisdom that comes from years of faith. The church is in danger of becoming prideful and making reckless "youthful" decisions. [...]

Controlled and Governed

2021-07-04T18:03:11+00:00By Sam Ford|Note to Self...and Others, Theology 101|

This is going to be a bit of a ramble... 14 For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 15 and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. 2Corinthians 5.14-15 When Jesus saves someone, His Spirit comes to dwell in their heart. As Galatians 2.20 says, "It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me." The life of Christ in that person is not dormant--it is active. And, as Paul writes, any action that occurs is controlled by the love of Christ (God's love for me), not for (My love for God), that has come into our hearts. 1John 2 says that this amounts to leading us to walk in the light and imitate Christ. [...]

Our Obedience…Part 2

2021-07-04T18:04:23+00:00By Sam Ford|Church Plant Lessons 101, Re:Sermon|

This is part 2 of the redo I probably shouldn't do. I write for myself because it is cathartic, I write for you because I hope to be clarifying, and I write for God to glorify him that much more through the one sermon. The reason for saying anything about the second half of this passage is not to retract everything I said, but simply to ensure that the right emphasis is made. 10 Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. 11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. 1John 2.10-11 Every sermon has an emphasis. Sometimes the depravity, or the problem, is emphasized more than the grace, or the solution. Sometimes it is the opposite. The hope [...]

Our Obedience…more than words

2021-07-04T18:04:13+00:00By Sam Ford|Church Plant Lessons 101, Re:Sermon|

3 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. 4 Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, 5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: 6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. 1John 2.3-6 Pastors wrongly believe that it is possible to preach a perfect sermon. This false belief leads many pastors (at least this one) to replay the sermon in their minds Sunday afternoons, imagining how they might preach it "better" given another chance. This is stupid, at least if you believe in the Holy Spirit. The truth is, the Spirit God says what he wants when he wants to [...]

Our Love for the Brothers – 2John

2011-05-19T16:16:21+00:00By Sam Ford|Random Thoughts, Re:Sermon|

I preached on one of the shortest books in the Bible last week, 2John. For this sermon, I followed up the somewhat innocuous titles of Our Doctrine, Our Sinfulness with the ever-so-creative "Our Love." From the very first verses, we see that John is going emphasize this connection between truth and love. He is writing to the church because he LOVES them IN TRUTH. He says ALL who know the truth LOVE this them also, because of the TRUTH is in their hearts forever. He says grace, mercy, and peace will come from God to us, IN TRUTH and LOVE. We see then that truth and love are inseparable. In many ways, truth and love balance and qualify one another. Love and truth are both essential to any gospel-centered community. Truth without love ends up building community that is theologically strong but relationally cold, hard, and unloving toward anyone who [...]

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