First Baptist Owasso

Chris Wall • Galatians 5:16-26 One of our core values as a church is to be led by the Holy Spirit daily. Walking by the Spirit is not a one-time event but a lifelong journey of continuous spiritual growth. At the moment of salvation, the Holy Spirit not only saves, but seals, teaches, and moves the believer to live in step with God’s will. This work moves us to starve the flesh and feed work of the Spirit. This is evident both individually and as a church body. Surrender to the leadership of the Holy Spirit moves us to recognize His voice, follow His Word, and join God where He is working. This core value calls us to embrace the blessing of conviction and pursue life in step with the Spirit so that together we can KNOW GOD and HELP PEOPLE follow Jesus here, there, and everywhere.

Chris Wall • Colossians 1:24-29 We are a church devoted to reading, understanding, and meditating on God’s Word. Scripture is our guide for life, shaping both how we think and how we live. We view the world through the lens of God’s revealed truth. The Bible is inspired, inerrant, and the perfect revelation of God to man. It is a divine treasure—with God as its author, salvation as its goal, and truth without error in every part. Therefore, God’s Word is trustworthy, eternal, and remains the unchanging standard for our lives. The Challenge today is grounded in these questions: Do you understand God’s Word? Are you taking intentional steps this week to go deeper in study. Are you living it? Are you surrounding yourself with godly people who will help you apply His truth every day.

Chris Wall • James 1:1-4 James opens his letter with a bold challenge: “Count it all joy when you meet trials of various kinds.” He’s writing to believers who are scattered and suffering, yet he calls them to see trials not as interruptions, but as invitations. God uses hardship to grow us up in Christ. Trials test our faith, but they also produce endurance, shape our character, and forge a deeper trust in God. This passage invites us to re-focus our view of hardship, not as something to escape, but as the very workshop where Christ builds us into people who are mature, complete, and lacking nothing.

Chris Wall • John 15:1-10

Chris Wall • Acts 1:1-11 The writings of Luke makes up up over one-fourth of the entire New Testament when taking both the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles. Luke gives a vivid description of the the radical life-change that took place among the post-resurrection disciples. Acts specifically fills in the gap between the Gospels and the Epistles. This revelation of God provides the transition of the gospel becoming a world-wide faith. This first chapter in Acts portrays the power of God at work in the church through the Holy Spirit delivered to the world after the ascension of Christ into heaven. This work of the Holy Spirit continues until His glorious return that it certainly on the horizon.

Chris Wall • Ephesians 6:10-13 Our Mission to KNOW GOD and HELP PEOPLE follow Jesus here, there, and everywhere puts us right in the middle of the spiritual battle in Tulsa. We have to be aware of the spiritual battle. In fact, living our lives unaware of the spiritual battle around us is dangerous. Jesus taught us to not only be mindful of the spiritual battle, but we are to take our stand against the schemes of the devil. This week part of our RE-FOCUS is learning to STAND TOGETHER against the schemes of the devil. Ephesians 6 teaches us how to do that well.

Chris Wall • Matthew 9:35-38 As we Re-focus, the revelation of salvation and God’s purpose of grace is critical to keep the MISSION in our SIGHTS. We believe that a person is made right with God by His grace, through faith in Jesus Christ. This describes the experience of being BORN AGAIN. Saving faith is not just mentally agreeing that Christ, the Cross and the Resurrection took place in history. Saving faith occurs when one is born again. This is the moment of transformation. When God brings about a sanctifying life, guided and empowered by the HOLY SPIRIT resulting in a relying on Christ work on the cross. Every person must face the reality that no one can meet God’s standard on their own, no matter how moral they may be. The narrow gate cannot be entered by partly trusting ourselves and partly trusting God. The gospel calls us to depend completely on Christ alone for salvation. This summarizes the MESSAGE and MISSION God has entrusted our church here, there, and everywhere. Nearly 2,000 years after Jesus’

Chris Wall • Matthew 16:12-20 This church was God’s idea and He is the one who called us together. It is Christ who made us…A light to the Word. (Matthew 5) Like a city that is on a hill that cannot be hidden. He calls us a body working together in unity. (1 Corinthians 12) He told us in John 17:20-21 – that it is in our unity that the world would believe that God the Father sent Him. It is the unity of the church that helps the world recognize Christ is Lord (John 17). It is the gathered church where the only hope for the nations is found (Matthew 28). It is the gathered church the gates of hell will not defeat (Matthew 16). It is the church where Jesus builds a living body put into action impacting society (1 Corinthians 12)

Chris Wall • Matthew 7:24-29 Here Jesus wraps up His Sermon on the Mount with a crystal-clear illustration of two builders, two houses and a certain storm. Certainly, hearing His words and putting them into practice reveals wisdom because rain is coming. We can’t just listen to Jesus, we have to put His words into action. Your eternal destiny will rests on how you respond to Jesus. The wise hear and obey, securing life on the unshakable foundation of Christ. The foolish dismiss His authority, building on sand, and face inevitable collapse. Are you experiencing the unparalleled construction of your life? It is available to you.

Chris Wall • Matthew 7:13-23 Most people who live in the world think they are going to heaven when they die. The sad truth is that most will walk through the door of death only to discover they were wrong. In this sermon, Jesus makes it clear that the path to destruction is wide and the path to eternal life is narrow. Though there are many false teachers who are gifted with the art of confusion, God has clearly revealed this narrow path to eternal life. In this sermon, Jesus reveals this narrow path while simultaneously exposing the way to recognize false teachers. Today, will you wisely examine your life to see if you are on that unparalleled narrow way to eternal life.

Chris Wall • Matthew 7:7-12 One of the key aspects of our unparalleled life as a believer is the benefits of the indwelling Holy Spirit. When Christ saves you, His Holy Spirit indwells you providing an interactive relationship extending through heaven. In this incredible sermon, Jesus unveils the benefits of this interactive relationship that is unparalleled in every season of life. Is the Holy Spirit indwelling in you? This can start today.

Chad Balthrop • Matthew 7:1-6 It’s the most misquoted verse in the Bible. We live in a generation that rightly rejects and ridicules judgmental people, yet struggles to practice good judgment. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus calls out hypocrites, holds the Scribes and Pharisees accountable for manipulating people, and calls some people dogs and pigs. In the middle of all that name-calling, He reminds us, “Judge not lest we be judged.” In His unparalleled way of living, Jesus teaches us how to practice good judgment without becoming judgmental.

Andrew Wade • Matthew 6:19-24 Worry is not going away. But could we begin to look at a couple of areas in our life that this passage speaks to directly and start to loosen our grip on them? Could we begin to become more dependent on King Jesus and less consumed about building our own kingdom that leaves us exhausted? Too often when we do finally recognize we need to stop worrying about something, it turns into another to do list instead of turning our hearts to God and relying on Him. This week, let's look to the author and perfector of our faith and truly be dependent on Him.

Chris Wall • Matthew 6:16-18 Every one of us are experienced fasters. Maybe not this discipline of going without meals for the purpose of prayer, but all of us have fasted in daily life. Did you ever miss a meal in school because you were focused on a test. Did you choose not to watch a certain show because work required some extra time. At some point, you had to get up early to make an appointment or lose some sleep to get a job done. When the church was younger, fasting was much more common for followers of Christ. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught us about Fasting and He did not say, “if you fast, but “when” you fast. Fasting is a spiritual discipline that God calls us to experience because it produces incredible power in your life. This week, give up something that matters to you for the sake of turning your face to Christ in prayer.

Chris Wall • Matthew 6:9-15 It is good that most people can quote the Lord’s prayer by memory. Any scripture that is memorized is profitable. At the same time, Jesus quoted this prayer in the Sermon on the Mount so that we utilize the prayer to learn to actually pray. Often our prayers become monotonous and repetitive and come off of our lips with very little meaning. This is not the kind of conversation we are to have with the Lord. This morning, lets all lean into the Lord and learn to use this famous passage of Scripture like Jesus intended: To learn how to pray.

Chris Wall • Matthew 6:5-9 Jesus defined prayer simply defined is communication with God. Communication involves both listening and talking. Prayer is a fascinating and remarkable opportunity for us. Every one of us in this room could start talking to God right now and He has the power to not only to completely understand each one of us, but His Holy Spirit miraculously leads each of us in unique ways. We need to pray not because God is somehow needy. God leads us to pray not for Him but for us. Through prayer, we come to see the Lord’s hand uniquely. We come to know the Lord’s heart specifically. We come to understand the Lord’s will directly. This morning, allow the Lord to teach you to pray.

Chris Wall • Matthew 6:14 The call to follow Christ comes with an invitation to pursue heavenly rewards. A life produces heavenly rewards when it is marked by giving, praying, fasting, serving, and growing in faith for the praise of God over man. Giving from selfless desire focused on pleasing God produces heavenly rewards you do not want to miss. At the same time, giving with a selfish desire to look spiritual in front of others produces nothing. Is your giving stretching into eternity or are you missing the blessing by giving for selfish gain, building up an ego, or working to get your name on a little plaque. Allow God to get to the heart of the matter ensuring you are on the path of giving in a way that truly counts.

Chris Wall • Matthew 5:38-48 An unparalleled life is marked by forgiveness, not retaliation. In fact, God calls us to love our enemies and do good to those who wrong you. In fact, loving our enemies is one of the ways God’s love is evident in our lives. Who are our enemies and what does it look like to love them? An enemy is someone who comes against you, curses you, uses you, and abuses you. Of course, we are not called to be “doormats” but we have a responsibility to love our enemies. Ironically, the best way to defeat an enemy is to show forgiveness. Let’s dig into this idea that we are never more like Jesus than when we are forgiving someone.

Chris Wall • Matthew 5:33-37