http://www.worshipgrowserve.org Thetford Baptist Church Podcasts en Thetford Baptist Church Podcasts Thetford Baptist Church no Thetford Baptist Church jhartley@wildblue.net ℗ & © 2008 Thetford Baptist Church 720 "The Burden of Self-Esteem" (Romans 7:24-25). This Sunday we circle back a bit and hover over those excruciating words: "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?" How long and hard we work to avoid coming to such a diminishing discovery. Yet this is the way all men must tread if they will come into and remain in the presence of God. "Woe, to me!" the prophet Isaiah cried. "I am ruined." But then grace covered the span and made him clean (Isaiah 6). Sunday we will work our way around the great cultural roadblock that keeps many far from grace's healing touch: self-esteem. We'll see that Christ's gospel bends us away from self-hatred and self-love toward something immensely more satisfying. Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord. http://www.sermoncloud.com/thetford-baptist-church/the-burden-of-self-esteem http://media.monkserve.com/EKK/1055/the-burden-of-self-esteem.mp3 Sun, 01 Jun 2008 10:57:08 CDT John Hartley Romans 32:34 "The Me I Didn't Know" (Romans 7:13-25). This Sunday we continue even further into Romans chapter 7. We have reached one of the more familiar passages in all the New Testament. Here Paul speaks to the torment of desiring an exterior goodness but not having the interior power to make it our own: "For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do...For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing." Sunday we must determine the purpose of this passage in our apostle's teaching the church. By God's grace we will. Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord. http://www.sermoncloud.com/thetford-baptist-church/the-me-i-didnt-know http://media.monkserve.com/EKK/1055/the-me-i-didnt-know.mp3 Sun, 25 May 2008 10:50:07 CDT John Hartley Romans 41:17 "The Christian and the Law (Romans 7:7-13). This Sunday we continue further into Romans chapter 7. Last week we observed two distortions that men make with God's law. The first distortion is giving the law authority when it no longer has authority. We will see this Sunday that this is really the justification distortion. The second distortion is giving the law power where it has no power. We will see this Sunday that this is really the sanctification distortion. We will also see a third distortion this week, one that we'll call, for now, the gospel distortion. By the time we finish up we will have a more clear understanding of how the Christian can be dead to the law yet still delight in it (Psalm 1:2). Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord. http://www.sermoncloud.com/thetford-baptist-church/the-christian-and-the-law http://media.monkserve.com/EKK/1055/the-christian-and-the-law.mp3 Sun, 18 May 2008 11:43:07 CDT John Hartley Romans 35:07 http://www.sermoncloud.com/thetford-baptist-church/the-christian-and-the-law Sun, 18 May 2008 11:51:55 CDT John Hartley Romans Eternal Life and Its Many Happy Omens (Romans 6:15-23). This Sunday we will hear of the benefits that abound to all who have been set free from sin. God's abounding benefits culminate in eternal life but they precede eternal life as well. Yes, the Christian's ultimate destiny is a destiny foretold in his earthly fellowship with God, a fellowship marked by wisdom, holiness, and vision. May the power and presence of Jesus Christ be upon us all. http://www.sermoncloud.com/thetford-baptist-church/eternal-life-and-its-many-happy-omens http://media.monkserve.com/EKK/1055/eternal-life-happy-omens.mp3 Sun, 04 May 2008 10:11:18 CDT John Hartley Romans 37:50 Set Free from Sin (Romans 6:15-23). If you are a Christian, this is your storyline: you have been set free from sin. Those words of Romans 6:18 and 6:22 are precious truth to you. Those words now describe much of your praise to God. Those words now explain much of your contentment of spirit. Those words now propel your faithful love of God and the good deeds you do in His name. If you are not a Christian, this is what Jesus' gospel is calling you to, a new story, where your life is freed from sin through faith in Christ. Sunday we will learn what these words mean and what such a life looks like. We'll learn how to live close to this truth whether we have lived a grossly immoral life or have grown up in the church. May the power and presence of Jesus Christ be upon us all. http://www.sermoncloud.com/thetford-baptist-church/set-free-from-sin http://media.monkserve.com/EKK/1055/set-free-from-sin.mp3 Sun, 27 Apr 2008 11:01:55 CDT John Hartley Romans 36:50 This Sunday we continue our study of holy habits, otherwise known as spiritual disciplines. Thus far we have learned that holy habits move us from merely trying to actually being powerful and effective in the new life. The Christian who practices holy habits will soon thicken and be able to engage the evil around them and within them with the power and effectiveness of Christ himself. This Sunday we continue this course of study by broadening the vision, looking at specific areas of the new life that call for specific holy habits. Try to read the following scriptures before Sunday: Matthew 11:28-30, Colossians 3:1-14, 1 Corinthians 9:24-27. http://www.sermoncloud.com/thetford-baptist-church/holy-habits-clothed-with-christ http://media.monkserve.com/EKK/1055/holy-habits-clothed-with-christ.mp3 Sun, 24 Feb 2008 13:36:00 CST John Hartley Romans 48:40 We continue this Sunday our encampment in the teaching Paul began in Romans 6, verse 12. Our apostle is showing us the way of not only ending our careers as pitiful sinners but of beginning our careers as powerful saints. He has introduced now for the first time in Romans the necessity of holy habits in living the new life. The power of Jesus' resurrection life is fully available to us but it is not fully at work in us. Effort is required. Old habits are still active and must be displaced. New habits are at hand and must be activated. Sunday we will see that living in the power of Christ is not some happy accident, a hit or miss proposition. No, his life of power is a happy promise for all who will train themselves for godliness through holy habits. Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord. http://www.sermoncloud.com/thetford-baptist-church/holy-habits-stop-trying-start-being http://media.monkserve.com/EKK/1055/holy-habits-stop-trying-start-being.mp3 Sun, 17 Feb 2008 14:11:35 CST John Hartley Romans 46:42 The life Jesus has opened for us is a new life. It is a life under the care of the Trinity. It is the life to come but also a new life that has come. Jesus calls us to follow him out of the world and into his kingdom. Transformation will be standard issue. But how do we change, how do we follow? In this Sunday's passage, the apostle shows that our following the Great Lord requires a willful denial of self and a willing embrace of God. But as we shall see, these are not efforts that stay safely hidden behind the drapery of the mind, Jesus is calling our mortal bodies to the frontlines. Sunday we will see how the Lord Jesus enlists our bodies into a civil disobedience before the demands of tyrants: the flesh, the world, and the devil. If you can, read Luke 9:23-26 and 9:57-62 before Sunday. Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord. http://www.sermoncloud.com/thetford-baptist-church/a-clearly-marked-path Sun, 10 Feb 2008 15:28:57 CST John Hartley Romans Getting Lost With Jesus" (Romans 6:9-11). A life that follows Jesus where he is going will often feel lost. The "new life" the apostle Paul speaks of in Romans 6 is no small adjustment for 21st century citizens of North America. Though we live on the frontier of human history, we are surrounded by a world that has grown old in sin. It is dying and will soon pass away. Yet Jesus lives, and lives forevermore, and he beckons us to follow. Sunday we will learn how, Lord willing; how to step into the strange land where Jesus knows everything and we know little. This is square one, the place we must learn to return to again and again, day by day, if we will find ourselves, a year from now, a thicker Christian than we are today. Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord. http://www.sermoncloud.com/thetford-baptist-church/getting-lost-with-jesus http://media.monkserve.com/EKK/1055/getting-lost-with-jesus.mp3 Sun, 03 Feb 2008 14:53:25 CST John Hartley Romans disciple-making,sanctification 40:57 "Jesus' Country: A Land Thick and Free" (Romans 6:5-11). Does the world we live in gain its legitimacy merely by existing? That is, does our 21st century world--a world of sexualized songs, cynical talk show hosts, celebrity entertainment, technological hegemony, sentimental counsel, historical amnesia, crass humor, self concern, and worship of adolescence--does this world automatically deserve our participation simply because it is there, because it exists? Jesus didn't think so. Jesus comes from another world to lead us out of this one and into his own. His death in this world shows how inhospitable to life it really is. We too must leave it if we'll live. A new world is near. Yes, it is a world where the earth, the great Lord's creation, remains the gift it is, but it is a new world nonetheless. It is a world within a world, or better, a world alongside a world. It is an already-but-not-yet kingdom with a citizenship of thick Christians, men and women who stand firm in faith, hope and love. It is a society shaped by the character of one man, the Lord Jesus Christ. And it is a society that, like him, has come into the old world to show others the way out. Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord. http://www.sermoncloud.com/thetford-baptist-church/jesus-country-a-land-thick-and-free http://media.monkserve.com/EKK/1055/jesus-country.mp3 Sun, 27 Jan 2008 14:43:35 CST John Hartley Romans 44:24 "Baptism: Exit and Entrance" (Romans 6). Leaving the thin life and entering the thick life has something to do with our baptism, but what? Strangely, the apostle Paul directs our attention to our baptism (6:3-4) to compel us to leave the old life behind and get busy in the new ways of Jesus. Why doesn't he simply direct our attention to the cross? Or has he? Sunday we will see how Christian baptism serves us in becoming thick Chrisitans. Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord. http://www.sermoncloud.com/thetford-baptist-church/baptism-an-exit-and-entrance http://media.monkserve.com/EKK/1055/baptism-an-exit-and-entrance.mp3 Sun, 20 Jan 2008 12:40:08 CST John Hartley Romans 43:44 Becoming a thick Christian is our pursuit as we continue in Romans 6. If we will make progress that glorifies God; if we will make progress where our own soul is healed and thickened with the character of Christ, it will be because we take sin with utmost seriousness. Sunday we will consider vv. 1-4, where we learn that sin is no short list like sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll. Sin is not just those few things that would really embarass us if we were caught. No, unfortunately it is much more. But there is also good news, life-changing news: we owe sin nothing. Its wages have been paid. We are free to leave it behind and move on, to live where Christ is, in newness of life. Sunday we begin to learn how. Try to read Romans 6 before Sunday, if you haven't already. Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord. http://www.sermoncloud.com/thetford-baptist-church/leaving-the-thin-life http://media.monkserve.com/EKK/1055/leave-the-thin-life.mp3 Sun, 13 Jan 2008 15:00:58 CST John Hartley Romans will,self 36:24 We return to our study of Romans. We enter at Romans 6, a pivotal chapter in the apostle Paul's teaching. His concern: What is to become of the converted? Does the grace that saves us also change us? Or, does grace only keep our soul safe for God's heaven but in the meantime leave it threadbare and thin upon earth? Sunday we will hear God's call to become thick Christians, children of God who are firm in mind, body and spirit, able to withstand lies and temptations from within and without, people receiving Christ's own solid life into their souls. Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord. http://www.sermoncloud.com/thetford-baptist-church/thick-christians http://media.monkserve.com/EKK/1055/thick-christians.mp3 Sun, 06 Jan 2008 13:42:44 CST John Hartley Romans 38:44 "Witnesses to the Incarnation: Angels" (Matthew 2:1-23). Here we look to our last witness of the incarnation, the angels of heaven. With the presence of angels among men we discover that the faith we profess is no mere headgame, no mere "better-principles-for-better-living" self-help alternative. The presence of angels, singing o'er the hills of Bethlehem, gloriously betrays the presence of another world. No, not so much another world but a wider world! God's angels puncture the starry veil of earth with an urgent message--we are not alone in the universe, celestial beings and a divine prince dwell under the veil. Sunday we will look into this doctrine of angels and how their presence among men foretells the destiny of the redeemed. http://www.sermoncloud.com/thetford-baptist-church/witness-to-the-incarnation-angels http://media.monkserve.com/EKK/1055/witness-to-the-incarnation-angels.mp3 Sun, 30 Dec 2007 15:22:55 CST John Hartley Christmas 2007 29:49 "Witnesses to the Incarnation" (Matthew 2:1-23). Here we look to Herod the Great, King of the Jews at the time of Christ's birth. Herod was a wretched ruler. He killed his first wife, then his mother in-law, then two of his sons. He was a weak man with great power, very much like the portrayal of Commodus in the recent film, Gladiator. Try as he does, Herod's power can not thwart God's purpose in Christ Jesus. So Matthew leads us to see a great paradox of Christmas: though Rachel is weeping in the darkness, God is triumphing. The sun will dawn, Rachel will be comforted. http://www.sermoncloud.com/thetford-baptist-church/witness-to-the-incarnation http://media.monkserve.com/EKK/1055/witness-to-the-incarnation.mp3 Sun, 23 Dec 2007 15:20:05 CST John Hartley Christmas 2007 43:24 "Witness to the Incarnation: Simeon & Anna" (Luke 2:29-38). Now adding herself to the little church gathering in the court of the temple is the old widow Anna. What timing! Her excitement and prophesying are more fuel to the wonder and amazement of the Christ child's parents. Should we just keep walking and pass by? Shouldn't we stop, inquire? But who are we? Are we not outsiders here? This chattering joy and fondling love for the boy seems much too personal for us to stop and go back. Yet, why do we feel so alone and so full of longing as we pass by these happily huddled five? Is it because such happiness seems so long past in our own lives? They are speaking our language but the happiness that carries their songs makes it all a foreign tongue to us. We must turn back! Too much could be lost. So much is already lost. Let's go and see. Come, let's walk in the light of the Lord. http://www.sermoncloud.com/thetford-baptist-church/witness-to-the-incarnation-simeonanna http://media.monkserve.com/EKK/1055/witness-to-the-incarnation-simeon--anna.mp3 Sun, 09 Dec 2007 15:30:22 CST John Hartley Christmas 2007 30:09 Witness to the Incarnation: Simeon (Luke 2:25-35). Let us meet Simeon as he meets Mary's child, the consolation of Israel. Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord. http://www.sermoncloud.com/thetford-baptist-church/witness-to-the-incarnation-simeon http://media.monkserve.com/EKK/1055/witness-to-the-incarnation-simeon.mp3 Sun, 02 Dec 2007 15:06:24 CST John Hartley Christmas 2007 35:16 The first gifts Jesus gives to us upon our homecoming are the indestructible gifts of the inner life: peace, grace, hope, joy. For several chapters now in Romans, Paul has been serving us as a theologian by doing the work of polemics, that is, defending truth against error. But now, in chapter 5, he begins to serve us more as a pastor, leading us into the depths of the Christian life. Sunday we hear about the indestructible inner life, those strengths God places in us through the Holy Spirit that keep us from disintegrating along with the world. Read Romans 5:1-5 before Sunday, if you can. Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord. http://www.sermoncloud.com/thetford-baptist-church/the-indestructible-inner-life http://media.monkserve.com/EKK/1055/indestructible-inner-life.mp3 Sun, 14 Oct 2007 13:30:25 CDT John Hartley Romans 42:45 How will God deal with me? This is the ultimate question of every life. How my friends will think of me, how history will remember me, how my family will honor me...as precious as these concerns are, they are dwarfed by this question: How will God deal with me? Sunday we give careful consideration to this question. Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord. http://www.sermoncloud.com/thetford-baptist-church/god-pays-no-man-wages http://media.monkserve.com/EKK/1055/god-pays-no-man-wages.mp3 Sun, 30 Sep 2007 11:20:54 CDT John Hartley Romans righteousness,imputation 35:37 The misery index is strong: a sexual predator at school, widespread cheating on exams, Osama bin Laden videos, disgraced Senators, cheating NFL coaches, not to mention a slow burning war in the Middle East. "We sure could use a little good news today" sang Anne Murray in her 1983 hit song. Indeed. But is the follower of Jesus called to more than hearing good news? Aren't we called to make good news? Sunday we will see that personal piety is not our only strategy in restoring God's shalom to the earth. Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord. http://www.sermoncloud.com/thetford-baptist-church/sowing-and-reaping-shalom http://media.monkserve.com/EKK/1055/sowreapshalom.mp3 Sun, 23 Sep 2007 10:02:07 CDT John Hartley Sowing & Reaping justice,poverty,simplicity 38:08 Is the church worthy of more than our leftovers? Is the church more than a drive-thru cheer-me-up? What if the church is really an institution, even a new race, an alternative society even, of men and women who are bearing the image of Christ? What if this institution, this race, this society, is most dear to the heart of God? What if this is the one institution that God has pledged to empower by His Spirit so a recurring manifestation of His love and power is revealed to the world in each new generation? What if? These questions frame the message from God's Word this Sunday. Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord. http://www.sermoncloud.com/thetford-baptist-church/sowing-and-reaping-the-church http://media.monkserve.com/EKK/1055/sowreapchurch.mp3 Sun, 16 Sep 2007 12:02:46 CDT John Hartley Sowing & Reaping church,serve 43:22 For children and parents alike, home is a sanctuary, a place to hide away from the demands of public life. But for people of faith, the children of God, home is also a sanctuary, a sanctuary of worship with God at the center. Sunday we continue in our series on sowing and reaping by looking at the Christian home. Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord. http://www.sermoncloud.com/thetford-baptist-church/sowing-and-reaping-at-home http://media.monkserve.com/EKK/1055/homelife.mp3 Sun, 09 Sep 2007 17:20:48 CDT John Hartley Sowing & Reaping children,home,family 47:03 God has built into the earth a principle for living well upon it, the sowing and reaping principle. You will spend about 150,000 hours of your life on earth at work, that's 40 to 60 percent of your waking hours. We should not be surprised then that God has so much to say about this dominating arena of life on planet earth. Here we will look at how the sowing and reaping principle applies to life on the job...in fact, life before the job and life after it, too. Come, walk in the light of the Lord. http://www.sermoncloud.com/thetford-baptist-church/sowing-and-reaping-at-work http://media.monkserve.com/EKK/1055/sowing--reaping-at-work.mp3 Sun, 02 Sep 2007 20:13:45 CDT John Hartley Sowing & Reaping job,work,retirement,sowing,reaping 39:03 God has built into the earth a principle for living well upon it, the sowing and reaping principle. This Sunday we began a seasonal sermon series on this basic principle of living well. The intention of the series is to re-habit our homes and our hearts so we can reach the green pastures the Lord has for us as His children. We will return to Romans in late September. Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord. http://www.sermoncloud.com/thetford-baptist-church/the-abcs-of-sowing-and-reaping http://media.monkserve.com/EKK/1055/abcsowing2.mp3 Sun, 26 Aug 2007 19:40:58 CDT John Hartley Sowing & Reaping wisdom,reaping,sowing 46:59