Don Elmore Sermons

Compiled from the sermon notes of Pastor Don Elmore

Audio not available.  Published, in part, in the New Covenant Messenger Jan 2022

PSALMS 90:1-2

This psalm (Psalm 90) was written by Moses and was called a prayer.  It is supposed that this psalm was penned upon occasion of the sentence passed upon Israel in the wilderness for their unbelief.

• They were punished for all their unbelief, murmuring and rebellion that their carcasses should fall (all those over 20 years old) and be buried in the wilderness. 
• That they should be wasted away by a series of miseries for thirty-eight years together. 
• And that none of them that were then of age (20 years and older) should enter Canaan.

What if we were living at this time?  Suppose we were thirty years old when the punishment was explained to us by Almighty God that we would not be allowed to go into the Promise Land.  Everyone over the age of 20 years old, except for the faithful two Israelite spies, Caleb and Joshua, would spend the next 38 years being buried in the wilderness.  We would just wander around till the 38 years ended and all of us had died.  How depressing would that time period be?  Would we need something to help us get though this long time?  We couldn’t enter the Promise Land, we just had to wait and wait and wait.  How depressing.  Moses’ second song was written for this purpose.

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January 2, 2022

Scripture Reading: Genesis 4:14

In Jim’s sermon, given on November 14th of this past year (2021), he had the following quote from Josephus, the great ancient historian:

“He [Cain] first of all set boundaries about lands; he built a city, and fortified it with walls and he compelled his family to come together to it; and called the city Enoch, after the name of his eldest son Enoch….” – Antiquities of the Jews, Flavius Josephus, Book 1, Chapter 3, paragraph 2.

And what became of Cain’s descendants?  Josephus adds in the same paragraph:

“Nay, even while Adam was alive [he lived 930 years], it came to pass that the posterity of Cain became exceedingly wicked, every one successively dying one after another, more wicked than the former.  They were intolerable in war; and vehement in robberies; and if anyone were slow to murder people, yet was he bold in his profligate behavior, in acting unjustly, and doing injury for gain.”

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November 28, 2021

Scripture Reading:  Joshua 24:15

When the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, it was a call for the right of statehood rather than individual liberties.  Many scores of years later many Americans began reading the affirmation that “all men are created equal” in different ways than the framers intended.   When the Continental Congress adopted the historic text drafted by Thomas Jefferson, they did not intend it to mean individual equality. Rather, what they declared was that American colonists, as a people, had the same rights to self-government as other nations. Because they possessed this fundamental right, they could establish new governments within each of the states and collectively assume their “separate and equal station” with other nations. It was only in the decades after the American Revolutionary War that the phrase acquired its compelling reputation as a statement of individual equality.

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November 7, 2021

Scripture Reading: Obadiah 1:18

Who was Abraham Lincoln’s, father?  Abraham's mother, Nancy Hanks, came to North Carolina as a young girl with her mother and sister from Virginia.  They lived in Bostic, North Carolina near Puzzle Creek.  When financial problems plagued the family, Nancy’s mother bound her out as a servant to Abraham Enloe’s family. Abraham Enloe was a well-known figure in the community.  The master of the house took “advantage” of his servant girl and she became pregnant.

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October 17, 2021

Scripture Reading: Psalm 92:9

When Apartheid ended, it was decided to keep December 16th as a public holiday, but to infuse it with the purpose of fostering reconciliation and national unity.  It was established by the government in 1994.  Communist Nelson Mandela was part of the group of politicians that helped start the idea for the holiday. On December 16, 1995, the first celebration took place. The first meeting of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission also took place on December 16, 1995. In an address in 1995, Communist Archbishop Desmond Tutu described the holiday as serving the need of healing the wounds of Apartheid.

In America, the plot was harder to execute.

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October 2, 2021

During this time there was a terrific revival of religion.  The reform that the ruler of the land launched cleaned up the country and made the truth of God known and the worship of God popular.  Who could fail to be pleased that the Scripture was once again known and preached?

The most popular preacher of this time was a man of prominence.  When you saw him at the head of the flourishing religious establishment, you could not help feeling better.  His enthusiasms were electric.  When he stretched out his arm in blessing, everyone, from the least to the greatest, knew that they were included.  Everyone loved to hear him preach.  He was positive, affirmative, and confident.  He had the ability to draw out the best from everything.  He was able to search the Scriptures and find texts that made the darkest days bright.  But his messages were far from being accurate.

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October 1, 2021

Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 29:7

When God’s people failed to follow the laws of their God, God raised up a couple of the countries nearby to invade the land and take the people of Israel into exile.  First, the Syrians took the Israelite tribes east of the Jordan River and then the Assyrians invaded the rest of the House of Israel and the House of Judah and then later the nation of Babylon invaded Jerusalem and took the remaining captives of the House of Judah to Babylon.  Before the exile, false prophets had claimed that what Jeremiah prophesied was untrue and that the exile would only last for two years.  Jeremiah warned that the exile would last for 68 more years. 

“Build homes, and plan to stay. Plant gardens and eat the food they produce. Marry and have children. Then find spouses for your children so that you may have many grandchildren. Multiply! Do not dwindle away! And work for the peace and prosperity of Babylon where I sent you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, for its welfare will determine your welfare” (Jeremiah 29:5-7 NLT).

This sermon will begin with a short question: Who wrote the two paragraphs, which contained the above verse (Jeremiah 29:7), which will be given shortly in this sermon, which was taken from the author’s small booklet?  Everyone here will recognize the author’s name when it is given.  Was he a preacher, a teacher or just an ordinary believer?  Maybe he wasn’t a Christian at all.  Maybe he was an atheist or an agnostic or a skinhead.  Some say that he was a hero; many say that he was a villain.  Some say that he was both.

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September 19, 2021

Scripture Reading John 12:32:

“And I, [Jesus, the Son of God] if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me.”

Universalism has evolved beyond the traditional topics of salvation and future punishment, and now covers many other theological issues and topics.  Universalism began during the early days of Christianity and has fostered as a heresy ever since.  It received a big boost in Europe in 1569 when Transylvanian King John Sigismund issued an edict establishing religious freedom. The Edict of Torda expanded the limits of religious freedom far beyond the standard of 16th-century Europe.  The decree did not put a complete end to discrimination, because official status was granted only to the Catholic, Lutheran, and Calvinist clergymen; but Unitarian, Orthodox, Armenian, Jewish, and Muslim believers could also freely practice their religions.  Although neither the Calvinist nor Unitarian side was declared the winner of the debate at this session, John Sigismund accepted Unitarian ideas, which made him the only Unitarian monarch in history.

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August 21, 2021

Scripture Reading Romans 11:17, 18:

17) “And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakes of the root and fatness of the olive tree:

18) Boast not against the branches.  But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.”

These two verses are a portion of the mystery of God that is mentioned, seven verses later, that pertains to the grafting of the branch of the wild olive tree into the good olive tree:

Romans 11:25:  “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits, that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles [nations] be come in.”

There are five important questions that need to be answered correctly in order to understand the mystery of the verses in Romans chapter 11. 

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August 1, 2021

Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 2:21-25

What do these verses mean?  What is Jeremiah saying to the kingdom of Judah?  Is it important to know today? 

God often pictures Israel as being planted as a noble vine or a goodly tree; a right seed.  Jeremiah then asks a disturbing question.  How did Israel change from a noble vine into a degenerate plant of a strange [or alien, or foreigner or adulterous] vine? 

Could Jeremiah, if he were alive today, ask the same question?  Is the House of Judah and the House of Israel turned into a degenerate plant of a strange vine or is it still a noble vine?   Is the kingdom likened to a well cultivated vine that has grown into a wild plant?  Is the kingdom likened to a filthy object that no amount of washing with soap can cleanse?  Is the kingdom likened to a woman who has left her husband for other men?  Is the kingdom likened to a person who has lusted after other strange women, like a camel in heat lusts for a mate?  Is the kingdom likened to the eagerness of a thirsty traveler who walks the desert searching for water till the sandals drop off his feet?  Could the same thing be said of the Israelite nations of today?  Are they being turned into a degenerate vine?