First Baptist Owasso

Chris Wall • Ezra 5-6 ESV Have you ever had a setback in life? This is exactly what Israel experienced between chapters 4-5 in Ezra. In the moments of setback, God is working to empower his people to put into action who they are in Him and what they know they should do for Him.

Steve Dighton • Ezra 4:1-6 ESV It was James who reminded us to count it joy when tough times come. JOY??? It is true that the most difficult circumstances produce some of the greatest and most memorable moments with the Lord. It is right to stay close to the Lord even when circumstances seem to be falling apart. God had moved so powerfully and had orchestrated incredible circumstances, but now there is intense opposition. Powerful leaders are now opposing what God is doing and God’s people are again powerless to stop it. But God works in and through His people.

Chris Wall • 1 Corinthians 13:1-6 ESV All of us want to have integrity. We struggle with ourselves when we don't show it. Unfortunately, too many times there is a gap between what we want to do and what we actually do. In this message, let’s zero in on 1 Corinthians 13:6. It says, "Love does not rejoice in evil but rejoices with the truth". Shine a light on the word “rejoices.”  The word means that love desires truth, it wants it, it needs it. Love needs you and me to be honest and to be a person whose word can be trusted.

Chris Wall • 1 Corinthians 13:1-6 ESV It's a fact of life that people hurt each other. Either intentionally or unintentionally we hurt each other. You're going to hurt people; they're going to hurt you. How we handle that hurt will is going to determine some of our health and happiness in life. If we don't respond correctly to hurt, it turns into resentment. If we hold on to a hurt, it becomes hate. I have had people tell me, “I don't love my husband anymore....  I don't have any feelings for my wife; it’s dead inside. What's wrong with me?” Usually what turns out to be wrong is the accumulation of resentment and bitterness. Bitterness has the ability to so eat away at the relationship that eventually they are emotionally empty. That is true about marriage, but it is also true about any relationship in our lives. The good news is that we can recover from the resentment and hurts in our life.

Chris Wall • 1 Corinthians 13:1-5 ESVThis message keys in on a part of this passage, 1 Corinthians 13:5, which says "Love is not easily angered." Let’s pay attention to the fact that it doesn't say 'love never gets angry' because there are sometimes that love does get angry. Sometimes the loving thing to do is to get angry. It says that "Love is not easilybangered". Anger comes in many ways. Sometimes anger expresses itself in explosions but sometimes it just simmers below the surface until some choice moment. Sometimes it ignores. Sometimes it complains and gripes. Sometimes it withdraws into bitterness. No matter how you express your anger, so many relationships go down the tubes because one or both didn’t control it. Learning how to control our anger may be one of the most important things we can do in improving our love for others.

Chris Wall • 1 Corinthians 13:1-5a ESV

Misael Gonzalez • 1 Corinthians 13:4 Have you ever tried to love someone by being jealous of them? When is the last time you felt loved by someone because they never stopped talking about their muscles, trophies, or super car? You see, we must remember Who love is in a world that has distorted what love is. Love is not an attribute of who God is, God Himself is the perfect embodiment of love. God clearly defines what love IS and what it IS NOT in one little verse.

Chris Wall • 1 Corinthians 13:1-4a ESV Have you ever met someone who naturally assumes the worst? That person will usually see other people negatively. That person will usually be quick tempered because they assume the worse. That person will usually be basically a judgmental person and will often fall short on both patience and kindness. The truth is, we have a choice of how we will view each other. We can choose to let our natural inclination be negative or positive. We can choose patience. We can choose kindness. Agape love is the act of living out the character qualities of God in how we approach God and others. There is nothing easy about this, but it is a level God has called us to. It is the entire point of 1 Corinthians 13. Patience is possible when we remember how patient God has been with us. Kindness is a reaction when God’s kindness is recognized. None of us will be more patient or kind than God has already been with each one of us. If we are going to develop patience and kind

Chris Wall • 1 Corinthians 13:1-8 This first message sets the stage for the entire series. From the very beginning, let’s get to the heart of the matter. Love isn’t a feeling. Love is a decision todo something that reflects the character of God toward someone else even when they don’t deserve it. It is a decision to reflect the character toward God toward someone else even when you don’t feel it. Love is a decision to take an action that reflects what God would do, not what you would do, not what public opinion says to do – what God would do.

Chris Wall • 1 Corinthians 15:42-58It is good for us to take the time to process how mankind was created in the image of God. This realization produces in us a profound sense of dignity in life. Even though the image of God is currently distorted because of sin, the journey of being transformed into God’s image moves us to respect the image bearer. God decided to offer the gift of salvation to His image bearers because He loved us so deeply. His work of salvation includes men and women from every tribe, race, language, and people group (Revelation 5:9). God always completes what He starts. His work of redemption will not be completed until our entire being is set free from the effects of the fall and brought to that state of perfection God intended for us. The day we are glorified will be an incredible day for all of us because, on that day our last enemy, death itselfwill be destroyed and the follower of Christ will be completely restored to God’s imag

Chris Wall • Colossians 3:9-11When redemption takes place in the life of a believer, God begins the life-long process of progressively recovering more of His image. The amazing promise of the New Testament is the shift of moving from being like Adam to becoming more like Christ. The full measure of our creation in the image of God is not complete all at once. But God is progressively creating His image in us as we grow up in our faith. Jesus is the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15), and in Jesus, we are being conformed into His likeness. (Romans 8:29; 1 Corinthians 15:49)

Chris Wall • Chris Wall • James 2:1-13Though there are many relevant examples to use when articulating the impact of the fall, the sin of partiality is a pertinent focus for today. Of course, it is normal to question whether man can be like God after the fall, but Scripture confirms that even though man is sinful, there is still enough likeness to God that we are naturally moved to honor every life. In fact, the New Testament confirms this in James 3:9 where it says that men generally, not just believers are made in the likeness of God. However, since man sinned, moral purity has been lost and sinful character remains a struggle. Man struggles to reflect God’s holiness and begins to allow corruption to run rampant. Sin corrupts intellect, speech, worldview and relationships. Sin causes selfishness to replace love, pride to reject humility, and partiality to diminish generosity. Sin causes the Imago Dei in humanity to become distorted. When God created man, His creation was very good

Chris Wall • Genesis 1:26-28Man, out of all the creatures God made, can claim to be made in God’s image. As stated earlier, the fact that man is in the image of God means that man is like God and represents God. Of course, the Hebrew of Genesis 1:26-27 refers to something that is similar and not identical. Man in many ways represents God. The Scriptures tell us three things about human creatures: (1) Humanity is made in the image of God; (2) Humanity is intended to rule over other earthly creatures; (3) humanity is made male and female. In fact, every human person’s identity is determined by the reality described in Genesis 1:26-28. As a follower of Christ, our fundamental orientation is established in the fact we are made by God to represent God in the world.

Chris Wall • Colossians 4:2-6

Chris Wall • Colossians 4:2-6

Chris Wall • Colossians 3:18-21 Faith in Christ does not only change individual lives; it changes entire families. We now live in a day when the homes of our church members really do not look much differently than the homes of the lost. In this message, we need to paint a biblical picture of the home. God intended the Christian home to be a shelter from the storm. The godly family is the learning center of life. It is in the family where it is normal to experience that habitat for happiness, contentment, and wisdom. This is the reality when Christ is at the core of the family. Family is the place where integrity and godly character are built.

Chris Wall • Colossians 3:12-17 The people of God ought to be a clearly recognizable group in the world. We are not recognized as God’s people because of our political party, doctrinal stances, or our social media posts. The evidence we are the people of God is in our lifestyle. In the last message, we saw what should be put off in our lives and in this message, we see how our lives should look as the body of Christ.

Chris Wall • Colossians 3:1-11 The final two chapters of Colossians, Paul gets really practical in applying the doctrine of the preeminence of Christ. As Christians, it is important not to just know the truth, but to actually live the truth. In fact, I would argue if there is not an inward heart change and desire to live out faith in Christ, close examination of knowing Christ would be wise.This passage begins with the practices Christians should “take off” because Christ has “put on” a new self in the believer. He then goes on to explain what these desires produce in the believer and unbeliever alike. The grip of sin produces anger, wrath, malice, slander, obscene talk and lying. Because of what Christ has done from the inside out, it is now possible for these things to be put off and we are able to live in this new self that is being renewed in theknowledge after the image of our Creator. Though this is only possible because of the heart surgery that has supernaturally taken pla

Chris Wall • John 21:1-19 Peter and the disciples had encountered the resurrection of Christ. Weknow that they had gone to the Sea of Galilee because Jesus told them he would meet them there. We don’t know why Peter decided to go fishing. Some claim he was just passing the time. Some claim he was just trying to earn a little cash. But most believe that Peter was contemplating going back to his old way of life. The sad reality about this choice for Peter is that when he went fishing, six other disciples went with him. Peter had already denied Christ and now Jesus finds him leading others down the wrong path. It is not uncommon for a failure to lead to progressively failing. However, Peter’s resurrection encounter changed his trajectory. Resurrection encounters change your path. It changes your destiny. Perhaps it was Peter’s impulsiveness that was showing up again. Maybe it was shame for failing Christ. Maybe it was just a longing for an easier path, but would walking away from the Lord

Misael Gonzalez • Acts 9:1-19 Have you ever been so mad that you acted out of hate? Saul, the man in this portion of Scripture, was blinded by HATE towards God, yet encountered the LOVE of God. This murderer found real forgiveness and was transformed into a missionary by the grace and power of Jesus Christ Himself. If anything, Saul teaches us that when we have an unmistaken encounter with Jesus, it will produce an undeniable authentic change in our lives.