Tag Archives: Sanctification

Ordained to Serve

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Acts 6 and Acts 13 both mention that the church leaders “laid hands” on the new servant leaders before sending them to the work. The official term for that is ordination – a physical symbol of a spiritual reality that confirms the work of the Spirit and identifies the new person as one with the others to continue the work of the Lord.

Acts 13:1-5

Taught Sunday morning, August 24, 2025 by Brad D Harris

We hope that this online service has blessed you.  It is funded by the generous participants of Prairie Oaks Baptist Church.  If you would like to contribute to Prairie Oaks and their audio ministry, we have a donation page so that you can securely give online to help this ministry.  Thank you for listening and prayerfully supporting us.  I hope we continue to further you in your journey with Christ!

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God’s Charge to Serve

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Likewise, Paul continues God’s instruction regarding the character of servant-leaders in the church. We know them as deacons. But we may not know what they are supposed to look like or what they are supposed to do. So let’s see what the Bible says regarding these servants of the Lord.

1 Timothy 3:8-13

Taught Sunday morning, August 10, 2025 by Brad D Harris

We hope that this online service has blessed you.  It is funded by the generous participants of Prairie Oaks Baptist Church.  If you would like to contribute to Prairie Oaks and their audio ministry, we have a donation page so that you can securely give online to help this ministry.  Thank you for listening and prayerfully supporting us.  I hope we continue to further you in your journey with Christ!

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God’s Charge to Pastors

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Jesus the Son of God is the only human who lived the perfect life in God’s eyes. Yet the Word still gives us these characteristics to be seen in pastors and elders. While we may feel inadequate at times, the bigger concern would be if we aren’t humbled by this challenge. Pride is the most deadly sin.

1 Timothy 3:1-7

Taught Sunday morning, August 3, 2025 by Brad D Harris

We hope that this online service has blessed you.  It is funded by the generous participants of Prairie Oaks Baptist Church.  If you would like to contribute to Prairie Oaks and their audio ministry, we have a donation page so that you can securely give online to help this ministry.  Thank you for listening and prayerfully supporting us.  I hope we continue to further you in your journey with Christ!

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Help My Unbelief

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Jesus comes down from His mountain top experience with three of His disciples to find the other nine embroiled in an embarrassing mess. They were unable to help someone in need and no one knows why – except Jesus. Jesus walks a desperate father through the steps of faith so that he can see his son healed and restored. And Jesus helps His disciples learn how they need more faith to handle the challenges that they face.

Mark 9:14-29

Taught Sunday morning, June 15, 2025 by Brad D Harris

We hope that this online service has blessed you.  It is funded by the generous participants of Prairie Oaks Baptist Church.  If you would like to contribute to Prairie Oaks and their audio ministry, we have a donation page so that you can securely give online to help this ministry.  Thank you for listening and prayerfully supporting us.  I hope we continue to further you in your journey with Christ!

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The Way of the Cross

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The disciples recognize Jesus as Messiah and Son of God but without realizing all that the Messiah has come to do. So Jesus begins teaching them the way of the cross. And there is resistance from them. They didn’t expect that. But Jesus knows the way to glory passes through the cross. And if we desire to follow Him to glory, we follow His way too.

Matthew 16:21-28

Taught Sunday morning, June 1, 2025 by Brad D Harris

We hope that this online service has blessed you.  It is funded by the generous participants of Prairie Oaks Baptist Church.  If you would like to contribute to Prairie Oaks and their audio ministry, we have a donation page so that you can securely give online to help this ministry.  Thank you for listening and prayerfully supporting us.  I hope we continue to further you in your journey with Christ!

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Hypocrisy Exposed

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The religious leaders were full of hot air, it seems. Jesus condemned their prideful refusal to believe the evidence from God that Jesus was the Messiah sent from heaven. Rather, they stubbornly clung to what they wanted rather than what they needed. And thus they were not ready when the Judge of all the earth examined their hearts and found them lacking. I hope we won’t do the same.

Matthew 16:21-12

Taught Sunday morning, May 18, 2025 by Brad D Harris

We hope that this online service has blessed you.  It is funded by the generous participants of Prairie Oaks Baptist Church.  If you would like to contribute to Prairie Oaks and their audio ministry, we have a donation page so that you can securely give online to help this ministry.  Thank you for listening and prayerfully supporting us.  I hope we continue to further you in your journey with Christ!

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Generosity and Gratitude

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The believers in Philippi had given generously to Paul once again. And he wanted to express his gratitude without sounding too desperate yet not unappreciative either. Plus he wanted them to know that their sacrifice was like an offering to God and would be rewarded by the Lord. Thus we get some good sayings to contemplate regarding contentment and generosity.

Philippians 4:10-23

Taught Sunday morning, May 4, 2025 by Brad D Harris

We hope that this online service has blessed you.  It is funded by the generous participants of Prairie Oaks Baptist Church.  If you would like to contribute to Prairie Oaks and their audio ministry, we have a donation page so that you can securely give online to help this ministry.  Thank you for listening and prayerfully supporting us.  I hope we continue to further you in your journey with Christ!

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Redeemed and Restored

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Isaiah foretold of the Servant of God who would suffer death as the perfect sacrifice for the sin of God’s people. His words remained mysterious for seven hundred years until Jesus of Nazareth accomplished that sinless life and atoning death on the Roman cross. And His followers used Isaiah 53 to explain the significance of Jesus’s death and the reason for His resurrection. Peter applies that truth as the reason for us to live differently reflecting the new life we have in Christ.

Isaiah 53 and 1 Peter 1:17-21 and 2:21-25

Taught Sunday morning, April 20, 2025 by Brad D Harris

We hope that this online service has blessed you.  It is funded by the generous participants of Prairie Oaks Baptist Church.  If you would like to contribute to Prairie Oaks and their audio ministry, we have a donation page so that you can securely give online to help this ministry.  Thank you for listening and prayerfully supporting us.  I hope we continue to further you in your journey with Christ!

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Pursue the Prize

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Paul has already challenged his readers that he has considered all his prior accomplishments before Christ as worthless in comparison to knowing Christ and being like Him. Now Paul says that it is his one thing he strives to reach – to know and be like Christ. Paul is one of our examples that we might do the same. Put away apathy and complacency in order to make enduring effort to be transformed by Christ. One day, Jesus will complete to work that we might be like His glorious body.

Philippians 3:1-11

Taught Sunday morning, April 6, 2025 by Brad D Harris

We hope that this online service has blessed you.  It is funded by the generous participants of Prairie Oaks Baptist Church.  If you would like to contribute to Prairie Oaks and their audio ministry, we have a donation page so that you can securely give online to help this ministry.  Thank you for listening and prayerfully supporting us.  I hope we continue to further you in your journey with Christ!

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Accursed

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The LORD declared that the possessions of Jericho would be banned from the Israelites – accursed like the sin of Canaanites and the valuables would be devoted to God and His tabernacle. But one man and his family chose to violate the ban and would treasure for themselves the accursed things. Thus they brought the curse upon themselves and corruption upon all the rest of the nation. How would God deal with this corruption among His own people? The same as He would among the Canaanites, they would be accursed until repentance and sanctification purified them again.

Joshua 7

Taught Sunday morning, April 14, 2024 by Brad D Harris

We hope that this online service has blessed you.  It is funded by the generous participants of Prairie Oaks Baptist Church.  If you would like to contribute to Prairie Oaks and their audio ministry, we have a donation page so that you can securely give online to help this ministry.  Thank you for listening and prayerfully supporting us.  I hope we continue to further you in your journey with Christ!

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