Copied from the sermon notes of Pastor Don Elmore

July 14, 2024

Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 4:1:

“Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the LORD God of your fathers giveth you.”

Who is talking and who is he talking to?  Moses is about to die, and he is giving his final instructions to God’s covenant people--Israel.  Moses was in the valley over against Beth-peor, near Mt. Pisgah.     

Israel had been freed from being slaves in Egypt but had wandered around the Promised Land for about 40 yearsdue to their sin of not believing what their LORD had told them.  Moses was 120 years old and was about to die.  He tells God’s people to hearken or pay attention to the statutes and judgmentswhich he was teaching them.

Copied from the sermon notes of Pastor Don Elmore

June 2, 2024

Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 7:6:  “For thou art an holy [separate] people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto Himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.”

Who is this written about? It can’t be everyone who is alive in the world, for the LORD, the God of these people said, that He has chosen them“to be a special people unto Himself.”And if the LORD God chose a people to be special unto Himself, wouldn’t there be other peoples who are “un-special” unto Him?

One can learn much about God’s character by studying His various names. One of these names is “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” Early in the Scriptures, one can realize that God is a God of people and relationships. Understanding God’s covenants is critical to understanding God’s plan for Israel, His “special people unto Himself.”  The first thing worth mentioning about the Abrahamic Covenant is the fact that God ratified it with Abram alone. Even though Abram was the recipient of the Covenant and the representative of the Israel nation,

Copied from the sermon notes of Pastor Don Elmore

April 21, 2024

Scripture Reading: Psalm 55:12-14

King David is one of the great heroes of Israel. He was a shepherd, who as a boy and young man, killed a bear and a lion, protecting his flock. As a teenager, he slew the giant Goliath when there was no one in Israel’s army who would even attempt to fight him. He was a loyal subject of King Saul who refused to murder him when he had the chance, for he refused to kill the Lord’s anointed.

Copied from the sermon notes of Pastor Don Elmore

March 3, 2024

Scripture Reading: John 10:26

America has experienced and is experiencing the judgments of Almighty God. Texas and a small part of Oklahoma are experiencing the greatest bush fire in its history. Close to one million acres has already burned. California and Nevada are experiencing a huge windstorm (up to 100 mph) and as much as twelve feet of snow. What will we experience next week?

Brother Nathanael Kapner grew up in a Jewish household. Both of his parents were Jewish, and his father took him behind the scenes,when he was young, to where the B’nai B’rith met after the synagogue meeting was over. As a result, he was an eyewitness to a lot of the evil work that the Jewish influencer of Freemasonry (B’nai B'rith) had accomplished and were accomplishing.  He is a Jew who claims that he is now an Orthodox Russian Christian.

Copied from the sermon notes of Pastor Don Elmore

January 28, 2024

Scripture Reading: Acts 5:30:

“The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree.”

Who is the “ye” in this sentence? Who this pronoun represents identifies at least one of the killers.

Who is represented by the pronouns in the Bible is a big key to understanding the Scriptures. A pronoun can never be used first before the noun that it represents. The noun must be used before a pronoun is used to replace it. Pronouns refer to a noun that has already been mentioned. If the pronoun is used first, then the reader doesn’t know who it represents.

GOD’S KINGDOM WILL NEVER BE DESTROYED

Copied from the sermon notes of Pastor Don Elmore

December 17, 2023

Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 20:4

God gives His covenant nation, Israel, the rules for war in this chapter. He says in verse one that when you go out to battle against your enemies, and see their weapons of war and their soldiers, don’t be afraid of the armament or them.  For when you are close to battle, the priest (of Israel) shall approach and speak unto the covenant people (Israel) and say unto them (Israel) that they should not let their (Israel) hearts be full of fear or be terrified against your (Israel’s) enemy. For the LORD your (Israel’s) God will fight for you (Israel).

Let’s investigate the Bible for a story of one of Israel’s battles against an enemy. It was a battle in which they were so overwhelmed that the King of Judah (southern Kingdom of Israel) had no good option to do except one. It was a very dark moment, one of the lowest in the history of God’s kingdom on earth. The kingdom was about to be destroyed forever.

Sermon notes from Pastor Don Elmore

October 15, 2023

Scripture Reading: Ephesians 1:4-6

I was brought up as an Arminian; that is the belief that a man chooses God.  Briefly said, in our church when the children reached the age of twelve or thirteen, they took a few classes and then went to the front of the church and said that they wanted Jesus to come into their hearts.  After doing this, the future new church members were candidates for baptism and their first Lord’s Supper.

The American Baptist Church that I went to with my parents never explained what the word “election” meant in the Bible.  The word was in the Bible, but the church basically ignored it.  They did the same thing with similar words/phrases that are also in the Holy Scriptures: “predestination”, “God chose their seed”, “God elected” and “foreknowledge of God”.   The Arminian church that I grew up in never talked about these terms.  They just continued to invite people up to the front of the church every Sunday service to make their decision.