North Park Baptist Church of Bridgeport CT

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Loving God – The Privilege

May 9, 2021

Luke 7:36-50

Mark Smith

Loving God – The Privilege

Date Preached: May 9, 2021

Speaker: Mark Smith

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There are two ways to think about loving God: as a duty or as a privilege. In this message we'll meet a person who treated love for God as a privilege. We'll see that viewing love for God as something we are privileged to be able to do, produces love is spontaneous, unashamed, open, and real. Thinking of loving God as a privilege is the right way to think about loving God.

Loving God – The Privilege

Loving God – Clearing the Obstacles

May 2, 2021

Matthew 6:24

Mark Smith

Loving God – Clearing the Obstacles

Date Preached: May 2, 2021

Speaker: Mark Smith

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In this message on loving God we deal with five obstacles that can block us from loving God as we should. These must be cleared out of the way before we will be able to show God that we love Him with all our heart.

Loving God – Clearing the Obstacles

Loving God with All Our Heart

April 25, 2021

Loving God

Matthew 22:37-38, 1 John 4:19

Mark Smith

Loving God with All Our Heart

Date Preached: April 25, 2021

Series: Loving God

Speaker: Mark Smith

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Much is written about God's love for us. Many songs have been written celebrating his love for us. Relatively few books have been written explaining how to love God. Few songs are available to help us tell God we love him. Yet the first commandment, according to Jesus, is to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind. Over the next few weeks we'll attempt to deal with this deficit in instruction by exploring how we can show our love for God and for his Son, Jesus.

Loving God with All Our Heart

Living With a Clear Conscience

April 18, 2021

Acts 24:16, 1 Timothy 1:18-19, Psalm 32:1-5, 1 John 1:9

Mark Smith

Living With a Clear Conscience

Date Preached: April 18, 2021

Speaker: Mark Smith

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Notes

When we do something wrong our conscience lets us know with feelings of guilt. We need to learn how to properly deal with guilt so we can regain a clear conscience and avoid the shame, fear, remorse, and physical and relational damage that unresolved guilt can produce. In this message we'll see that God wants us to live with a clear conscience and has provided a simple way we can regain it once it has been lost.

Living With a Clear Conscience

Forgive One Another

April 11, 2021

Matthew 18:21-35

Mark Smith

Forgive One Another

Date Preached: April 11, 2021

Speaker: Mark Smith

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Peter's question seemed reasonable. We've all asked something like it. His offer even seemed generous. What he heard from Jesus in response must have knocked him back on his heels.

When a relationship is broken something has come between two people. That something has to be taken out of the way for restoration to be possible. Peter understood. Forgiveness removes that obstacle. In this graduate level course on forgiveness we'll learn from Jesus what forgiveness actually involves, and how his radical requirement to forgive is not unreasonable. Join us as we learn to forgive one another.

Forgive One Another

Salvation’s Hope Restored

April 4, 2021

Luke 24:13-35

Mark Smith

Salvation’s Hope Restored

Date Preached: April 4, 2021

Speaker: Mark Smith

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Imagine experiencing the most crushing disappointment in your life. Then imagine just a few days later that what you thought you'd lost forever becomes yours again. These were the emotions experienced by two followers of Jesus during the final days of Jesus' earthly life. We catch them on Easter Sunday journeying home from Jerusalem and we watch as their hope for salvation, which had been lost seemingly forever, is restored by none other than the resurrected Jesus. Their hope for salvation was dramatically restored. That hope can become our hope, too, because Jesus rose from the dead.

Salvation’s Hope Restored

The Passion of Jesus

March 28, 2021

Mark 15:22-39

Mark Smith

The Passion of Jesus

Date Preached: March 28, 2021

Speaker: Mark Smith

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The word passion at one time meant 'suffering'. The term 'the passion of Jesus' referred to the suffering of Jesus on Good Friday. Passion also means emotion or strong feeling. What were the emotions of Jesus, the strong feelings of Jesus on that fateful day? We don't have a lot to go on except the words Jesus spoke that day, but they tell us a lot, and they reveal his true passion as he went to and as he hung on the cross.

The Passion of Jesus

The Holy Spirit Lives in Me

March 21, 2021

Alive in Christ

1 Corinthians 6:19, Acts 2:38-39

Mark Smith

The Holy Spirit Lives in Me

Date Preached: March 21, 2021

Series: Alive in Christ

Speaker: Mark Smith

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To claim that the Holy Spirit lives in me would be incredible arrogance unless the Bible authorizes me to say so. Thankfully it does, and all born-again believers can make this claim without arrogance. But what does this mean? What difference should the Spirit living in me make? What responsibility is mine because of this high privilege? How do I need to respond to the Holy Spirit within me? Those are the questions we'll try to answer in this closing message on what it means to be alive in Christ.

The Holy Spirit Lives in Me

I Am a New Person

March 14, 2021

Alive in Christ

2 Corinthians 5:17

Mark Smith

I Am a New Person

Date Preached: March 14, 2021

Series: Alive in Christ

Speaker: Mark Smith

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Everyone likes something new, so born-again Christians should be the happiest people in the world. Why? Because they became new people when they were born-again. This isn't wishful thinking but Biblical truth. Believers can truthfully confess "I Am a New Person in Christ." In this message we'll see the truth declared and backed up in a number of other passages. We'll explore what exactly is new and what living as the new person we are in Christ involves. Ready for the new? This message is for you.

I Am a New Person

It’s Not About Me

March 7, 2021

Alive in Christ

2 Corinthians 5:14-15

Mark Smith

It’s Not About Me

Date Preached: March 7, 2021

Series: Alive in Christ

Speaker: Mark Smith

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Self-centeredness seems to be celebrated in American life. It is disguised as taking care of oneself, looking out for number one, and the 'you deserve it' advertising we hear all the time. To be alive in Christ means the focus of our life changes from self to Christ. In the verses we'll cover today, Paul will tell us about a fact that transforms us and how that fact is to change us. We'll also discuss why God went to the trouble he did to make this change in focus in our life and conclude with a call to make this transformation real in our lives.

It’s Not About Me

I Am More than a Conqueror

February 28, 2021

Alive in Christ

Romans 8:31-39, Romans 8:37

Mark Smith

I Am More than a Conqueror

Date Preached: February 28, 2021

Series: Alive in Christ

Speaker: Mark Smith

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Some Christians seem to believe that they are always supposed to struggle, always supposed to just barely be making it (if they are making it at all). We've already seen that we can have a positive attitude in all of life's situations. This week the Apostle Paul (who suffered and struggled more than most of us ever will) explains that despite all that happened to him and all that could happen to us, he was, and we can be, more than conquerors in every situation through Christ. What does that mean? Can it change how we feel and how we respond to life's challenges? That's what we'll discover in this message.

I Am More than a Conqueror

I Am Alive in Christ

February 21, 2021

Alive in Christ

Ephesians 2:1, Ephesians 2:5, 1 Thessalonians 5:23, 2 Corinthians 2:14-15, 2 Corinthians 3:3

Mark Smith

I Am Alive in Christ

Date Preached: February 21, 2021

Series: Alive in Christ

Speaker: Mark Smith

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Notes

What does it mean to be a Christian? Some think it just means having a new set of rules and new moral standards. This is far from the truth. As we'll see in this message, the fundamental truth of the Christian life is that believers are alive in Christ. But what does this mean? How does it impact how we live the Christian life. We'll explore those questions before we come to the application. This message we presented with extensive diagrams on PowerPoint slides. You can access those in this message file.

I Am Alive in Christ

Maintaining a Winning Attitude

February 14, 2021

Switch Your Attitude

Philippians 3:1, Philippians 4:4

Mark Smith

Maintaining a Winning Attitude

Date Preached: February 14, 2021

Series: Switch Your Attitude

Speaker: Mark Smith

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The four convictions Paul held that helped him have a winning attitude in every circumstance can help us experience the same spirit as we remember and reflect on them. However, Paul had a practice which we will find tremendously helpful in maintaining a winning attitude regardless of what is happening to us. It was one he practiced, and a habit he taught to others. We'll discover it in this message.

Maintaining a Winning Attitude

Conviction #4: I Can Do All Things Through Christ

February 7, 2021

Switch Your Attitude

Philippians 4:10-13

Mark Smith

Conviction #4: I Can Do All Things Through Christ

Date Preached: February 7, 2021

Series: Switch Your Attitude

Speaker: Mark Smith

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The fourth conviction that produces a winning attitude is the conviction that through Christ my only limitation is what God wants me to do or to experience. We'll see how this conviction buoyed Paul up through many afflictions and trials and gave him a contented and peaceful spirit. This same conviction will give us confidence, courage, and hope as we face today's needs and whatever the future may hold.

Conviction #4: I Can Do All Things Through Christ

Conviction #2: God Is In Control of Everything

January 24, 2021

Switch Your Attitude

Philippians 1:18-26, Romans 11:36

Mark Smith

Conviction #2: God Is In Control of Everything

Date Preached: January 24, 2021

Series: Switch Your Attitude

Speaker: Mark Smith

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Conviction #2 that leads to a positive spirit is that God is in control of everything. We'll see how Paul's experiences in getting to Rome and while in Rome reinforced what he already knew from scripture: that God was in control of his life and of everything around him. That conviction gave him peace about his uncertain future while imprisoned and waiting for a trial that could result in his execution. His conviction, when it becomes our conviction, will give us confidence in our present circumstances and confidence about our future.

Conviction #2: God Is In Control of Everything

Conviction #1: God Is Still at Work in Me

January 17, 2021

Switch Your Attitude

Philippians 1:6

Mark Smith

Conviction #1: God Is Still at Work in Me

Date Preached: January 17, 2021

Series: Switch Your Attitude

Speaker: Mark Smith

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The remarkable presence of optimism, joy, hopefulness, expectancy, and contentment in the New Testament can be traced to the convictions that followers of Christ possessed. These convictions were based on God's nature and his actions on their behalf. Today, these convictions can also help us move from discouragement to optimism, from despair to hope, and from defeat to expectation. We'll be discovering these in this series, starting with four in the book of Philippians. Today: the conviction that God is still at work in me and in others. Find out the difference that can make in your attitude today.

Conviction #1: God Is Still at Work in Me

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