How to keep a fire going?

Psalm 119:11-28

1. The Word guards our hearts from sin.

He answered, “It is written: Man must not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”,

Then the devil took him to the holy city, had him stand on the pinnacle of the temple,

and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written:

He will give his angels orders concerning you,

and they will support you with their hands

so that you will not strike

your foot against a stone.”,

Jesus told him, “It is also written: Do not test the Lord your God.”,

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.

And he said to him, “I will give you all these things if you will fall down and worship me.”

Then Jesus told him, “Go away, Satan! For it is written: Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.”,

Then the devil left him, and angels came and began to serve him.

Matthew 4:4–11 (CSB)

2. The Word teaches me to find my delight in God.

A good person produces good out of the good stored up in his heart. An evil person produces evil out of the evil stored up in his heart, for his mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart.

Luke 6:45 (CSB)

Your words were found, and I ate them. Your words became a delight to me and the joy of my heart, for I bear your name, LORD God of Armies.

Jeremiah 15:16 (CSB)

3. The Word opens our eyes to our total dependence upon God.

Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul.

1 Peter 2:11 (NASB95)

4. The Word revives us when our soul is dry and our spirit is numb.

The Spirit is the one who gives life. The flesh doesn’t help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.

John 6:63 (CSB)

5. Practical Steps to treasure God’s Word

• Set a realistic time and place.

• Read “smaller and slower” if necessary.

• Memorize strategically.

• Obey the next clear thing.

Goodbye Guilt

Psalm 32: 1- 7

1. The Blessing of forgiven guilt

Likewise, David also speaks of the blessing of the person to whom God credits righteousness apart from works

Romans 4:6 (CSB)

2. The Burden of hidden guilt

3. The breakthrough of honest confession

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

1 John 1:9 (CSB)

The one who conceals his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them will find mercy.

Proverbs 28:13 (CSB)

Releasing Arrows

Ephesians 6:1-4

Behold, children are a gift of the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a reward.

Psalm 127:3 (NASB 95)

1. Parents must exercise authority before you give them autonomy.

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and discipline.

Proverbs 1:7 (CSB)

2. Use authority to train, not to crush.

Rules without relationship leads to rebellion.

Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.

Proverbs 22:6 (ESV)

3. Transfer responsibility before you release them completely.

And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and with people.

Luke 2:52 (CSB)

Release them with prayer, not panic.

Raising Arrows, Not Boomerangs

Deuteronomy 6:4–9, Psalm 127: 1-5

1. Children Belong to God Before They Belong to Us.

2. Parents Must Love God Before They Can Lead Children Toward God.

3. Parenting Is Formation, Not Mere Information.

Single, Not Stalled

1 Corinthians 7:6–9, 25–35

1. Being Single is honored in the New Testament.

2. Being Single can be an advantage for mission.

Singleness is not life on hold. In Christ, singleness can be life on mission.

3. Being single requires Spirit-filled discipline.

“For this is God’s will, your sanctification: that you keep away from sexual immorality, that each of you knows how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not with lustful passions, like the Gentiles, who don’t know God.”

1 Thessalonians 4:3–5, CSB

“Guard your heart above all else, for it is the source of life.”

Proverbs 4:23, CSB

4. Being Single requires deep community.

“‘Who are my mother and my brothers?’ he asked them. Looking at those sitting in a circle around him, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.’”

Mark 3:33–35, CSB

5. Being Single requires wise desire, not cynical despair.

Vintage, Not Outdated

Ephesians 5:22–31; 1 Peter 3:1–7

Dr. Bob McCartney, Senior Pastor • May 24, 2026

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God’s design is better than culture’s experiment.

1. A Word for the Wise Wife: Respectful Submission

“Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.”

Colossians 3:18, CSB

so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands and to love their children, to be self-controlled, pure, workers at home, kind, and in submission to their husbands, so that God’s word will not be slandered.

Titus 2:4-5 CSB

a. Submission is not inferiority

“There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female; since you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

Galatians 3:28, CSB

b. Submission is not silence

c. Submission is spiritual beauty

d. Submission is ultimately unto the Lord

2. A Message for the Modern Man: Sacrificial love

a. A husband’s love is sacrificial

b. A husband’s love is sanctifying

c. A husband’s love is sensitive

d. A husband’s love is nourishing and cherishing

“To sum up, each one of you is to love his wife as himself, and the wife is to respect her husband.”

Ephesians 5:33, CSB

e. A husband’s love honors

3. But How?

a. Stop saying, “They started it.”

b. Obey your command, not your spouse’s command.

c. Replace reaction with obedience.

d. Speak your spouse’s God-given language.

e. Remember marriage requires the gospel.

The Marriage God Made

Genesis 2:15–23

Dr. Bob McCartney, Senior Pastor • May 24, 2026

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Big Idea: God’s design is better than culture’s experiment.

I. God Created Man with Dignity and Responsibility

“Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.”

Genesis 2:15, NASB95

II. God Revealed Man’s Need for Companionship

Marriage is a covenant partnership.

“The woman was made of a rib out of the side of Adam; not made out of his head to rule over him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved.”

Mathew Henry

III. God Created Woman with Equal Value and Complementary Design

“But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ.”

1 Corinthians 11:3, NASB95

“For man does not originate from woman, but woman from man.”

1 Corinthians 11:8, NASB95

IV. God Presented Woman as a Gift to Man

The Conclusion of the Matter

Ecclesiastes 11:8–9; 12:1; 12:13–14

Dr. Bob McCartney, Senior Pastor • May 17, 2026

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1. ENJOY YOUR YOUTH — BUT DON’T WASTE IT

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may be repaid for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

2 Corinthians 5:10 (CSB)

2. REMEMBER YOUR CREATOR BEFORE LIFE HARDENS YOU

3. THE WHOLE POINT OF LIFE

He has made everything [a]appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, [b]yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 (NASB95)