Called to Reconciliation

This message was delivered to the congregation of the Milford Bible Church in Milford, PA on Sunday, July 8, 2012. It marked the launch of Reconciler Ministries, a Christian counseling ministry for individuals, couples and families.

Called to Reconciliation

The Patriot's Prayer

What is the obligation of Christians toward the country or nation where they were born, or where they are in residence? What is the place of politics in a Christian's life? Listen to this sermon, delivered by Pastor Dennis Ashley to the congregation at First Baptist Church in Newburgh on Sunday, July 1, 2012.

The Patriot's Prayer

Mid-Term Prayer Progress Report

How are you doing in your progress in prayer? Are you praying with more confidence and boldness? Are you praying more frequently, and in more circumstances? Do you feel less awkward when you pray? Are you seeing answers to your prayers? Is God talking back to you? Take this Prayer Progress Report and be encouraged!

Mid-Term Prayer Progress Report

A Father's Prayer: the Provisional Prayer

What if someone you care about MIGHT be in trouble? What if MAYBE they have fallen out of favor with God? You can't be sure, but you think that there is a CHANCE that somebody needs something from God. You can offer "The Provisional Prayer". To learn more about this, listen to this message delivered on Fathers Day, June 17, 2012, to the people of the First Baptist Church in Newburgh, New York, by their Pastor, the Rev. Dr. Dennis Ashley.

http://fbcn.podomatic.com/entry/2012-06-17T10_45_31-07_00

Great Prayers VI: The Prayer of Desperation

Continuing in the series of Great Prayers, Pastor Ashley delivered this sermon to the congregation at First Baptist Church in Newburgh on Sunday, June 10, 2012.

Jacob was in trouble, and the trouble was of his own making. Would God still hear his prayer and come to his aid?

Great Prayers VI: The Prayer of Desperation

Follow Me!

Below is the text of the sermon delivered on Sunday, June 3, 2012 at the Friendship Baptist Church in Ferndale, New York on the occasion of Pastor Harry L. Brown's First Anniversary as Pastor of the Friendship Baptist Church. The audio recording of this sermon failed, but the text of the message is included below:

Rev. Brown…First Lady Brown…

Fellow ministers…

men and women of the Friendship Baptist Church…

Thank you for the invitation

Greeting from First Baptist Church in Newburgh

May I share a story with you? This is how I came to meet your pastor for the first time. More than 5 years ago, I got a letter inviting me to a meeting…

“Youth Growing In Christ…”

When Rev. Brown invited me to come and speak today, I submitted a Request For Orders to my Headquarters.

Sometimes when I pray and ask for guidance or instructions, I have to wait patiently for an answer, and often I have to repeat my request several times before understanding my instructions.

Not so this time!

I asked God to direct me regarding what He would have me say here on this occasion today, and I received an answer almost immediately.

So I stand among you today in the role of a prophet, for I have heard a word from the Lord and I am delivering that word to you today.

It is NOT a new message of revelation; rather, it is a reminder of something that God has already said to His Church nearly 2 millennia gone by.

Here it is—it is very simple in its expression and elegant in its simplicity. It is so simply stated, in fact, that the weight of the statement might go unnoticed.

The statement to which I am referring—

That word that the Holy Spirit of God directed me to bring to your remembrance today—

is found in the First Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, and the eleventh chapter. Verse 1 of 1 Corinthians 11 reads, very simply:

“Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.”

That’s it. The entire message.

The apostle Paul said to the church in Corinth: “Follow me, as I am following Christ.”

Now, here’s the application of that principle for the Pastor and the People of the Friendship Baptist Church in Ferndale:

First, to the people: follow your leader. Follow him closely. In fact, follow him so closely that if he were to suddenly stop short, several of you would get bloody noses as you bump into the person just ahead of you.

You must not be content to know that your Pastor is following Christ. You must not allow him to be a “professional Christian” and do your Christian living for you—for each one of us must give an account to God for how we ourselves have lived.

2 Corinthians 5:10 tells us: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”

And Hebrews 13:17 instructs us:

“Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch over your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.”

No, you must not think that you can just let your pastor do your Christian duty for you. Rather, you must follow after him, learn what he has to teach you, practice what he preaches, walk in his ways.

Understand this: your pastor has been chosen for you by God! You may think that it was your pastoral search committee and a congregational vote, but you would be wrong! Oh, don’t get the wrong idea about what I am saying to you. Your pastoral search committee, and the vote of your membership, are very important. However, the importance of those things is in your learning to discern the mind of Christ in the matter of identifying who God has chosen to be your shepherd.

God has prepared Rev. Brown. God has gifted Rev. Brown. God has created and redeemed Harry Brown and has called him into pastoral ministry.

God has chosen this man and his wife to be your pastor and first lady.

No doubt during this first year of your ministry together, you’ve been discovering just how gifted and godly this pastor is.

 So follow Rev. Harry Brown! Follow his leadership. See his vision. Share his vision. Let his vision become your vision.

But…

Keep following your pastor closely enough that you can see over his shoulder and get a glimpse of where he is going, and Who he is following, because…

If your pastor is not following closely after Christ, then he is on the wrong road, and may very likely lead you to ruin.

So, Pastor Brown, let me speak more directly to you for the next few moments.

Congregation, you may take a break now…but don’t leave! If you’re interested in what I might have to say to your pastor, feel free to listen in…

It’s a bold thing to call people to follow you. It comes with enormous responsibility. If you ask people to follow you, you’re going to have to be sure where you’re taking them, because you have become responsible in part for their spiritual well-being.

Proverbs 11:30 says that “the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise.”

Pastor Brown—bear the fruit of righteousness; win souls; and be considered wise in the sight of God.

We encourage men and women considering entering into the ministry of the gospel to do something else instead. Don’t do it unless you are both called and compelled by God to preach the Gospel and then to practice every day, every moment of every day, what you’re preaching.

You can’t put your Christianity on the way you put your church clothes on! You don’t just have a new set of clothes when you become a follower of Jesus Christ, you’ve got new skin!

Hear what the apostle Peter said on the matter:

1 Peter 2:21  For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps…

And hear also what the apostle Paul said to one such as you:

1 Timothy 4:12-16

“Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity. Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership. Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all. Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.”

Paul said this, in Acts 20:28:

“Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.”

And then in Ephesians 5:1-2—

“Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.”

Finally, Pastor Brown, and also to the men and women of the Friendship Baptist Church, I call you into remembrance of the word in Ephesians chapter 4, verses 1-3:

“I beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

The Love of God Is Forever--by Deacon Eliseo Ortiz

Click on the link below to listen to the sermon delivered by Deacon Eliseo Ortiz on Sunday, June 3, 2012.

The Love of God Is Forever--by Deacon Eliseo Ortiz