The last three weeks at Foureleven we have been walking through the book of Philippians.  We are taking large portions of Scripture and are roughly covering a chapter each week.  We are not covering every verse but are focusing on certain large passages in each chapter and trying to get the general idea of each chapter, theme, and the book as a whole.

Below I have posted the sermon notes for our first three sermons of the series and the audio links for the first two.  We some how lost the audio for this week’s service, “Loser’s That Win” on Philippians 3.  Next week we will look at chapter four and contentment.

Week 1:

Audio Sermon: Priorities>Put the Gospel First>Philippians 1

Sermon Notes: Put the Gospel First>Philippians 1

Week 2:

Audio Sermon: Attitude>Humility>Philippians 2

Sermon Notes: Attitude>Humility>Philippians 2

Week 3:

Sermon Notes: Losers that Win>Philippians 3

Here is the mp3 link and the sermon notes for part 2 of Issac and Rebeka in the 3 part series Boy Meets Girl.

Audio: Isaac and Rebeka Part 2

The Story of Isaac and Rebeka P2

We are currently finishing up a series at MedowBrook with our high school students on dating and relationships.  During our middle school service we did a series called “Relate” that was geared towards relationships in general.  Last week I dealt specifically with the how God desires for middle school students to relate to the opposite sex.  This is topic is something that needs to be addressed with this age group in a way that meets them where they are.  I do not have the audio of this message but I am posting my sermon notes below.

Sermon Notes: How does God want me to relate to the opposite sex?

We are in a series on dating and relationships at Foureleven Student Worship.  In week 2 we began to look at the story of Isaac and Rebeka in Genesis 24.  Our culture has drifted far from biblical principles when it comes to how the opposite sex relate to one another.   The current system our culture is using is a broken system.  It is important that Christian students know that there is a better way than the one the world is currently offering.  The will of God and the Lordship of Christ apply to all areas of life.  So how should Christian students relate to the opposite sex?  Is dating biblical?  What are biblical principles for dating and relationships?  Below you will find a link to the sermon and sermon notes for Isaac and Rebeka Part 1.

Sermon Audio: The Story of Isaac and Rebeka Part 1

Sermon Notes: The Story of Isaac and Rebeka Part 1

Last week in our high school ministry at MeadowBrook we started a series on relationships and dating called “Boy Meets Girl.”  I’ve never read Joshua Harris’ book by the same title, though from what I know of his ministry I am sure it is great, I simply could not think of a better title for our series.  To kick off our series I thought it was important to deal with the sexual sin issue first.

We live in a culture that scoffs at the idea of almost anything sexual being considered sin.  Casual sex and “friends with benefits” are becoming increasingly more common.  Sex is everywhere and our culture is worshiping at its temple regularly.  In the midst of this Christian teenagers are being bombarded with temptation from all sides.  For me it is important that our students understand that if they are going to follow Christ as Lord then His Word and His will must saturate every part of their lives including sexuality.

By clicking on the “audio sermon” link below you can listen to the message on sexual sin and by clicking on the “sermon notes” link below you will find a detailed version of my sermon notes on The Danger of Sexual Sin.   I will also try and post our PPT slides for the series.  The picture above is the slide we used to promote the series on the week before it started.

Audio Sermon: The Danger of Sexual Sin (1 Thess. 4:3-8)

Sermon Notes: The Danger of Sexual Sin (1 Thess. 4:3-8)

September 2nd at MeadowBrook we had our 2009 Back to School Event.  This event was geared to get as many middle and high school students on campus as possible and to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with them.  We had a great event!  We had around 300 students on campus and about 40 adults volunteering!  MeadowBrook students THANK YOU  for inviting your friends and classmates.  We really could not have asked for the event to of went any better.  Students were crawling all over the inflatables and having a great time.  Paul Lynch from Rome, GA brought his band up to lead worship and I had the opportunity to share the Gospel from Romans 6:23.  Several students indicated that they were making spiritual decisions, and most of those were indicating that they desired to become followers of Jesus Christ.  I have posted some pics of the event and hope you will take a look.  We are excited about what God is doing at MeadowBrook and in the student ministry.  The following Wednesday night from this event we had the largest non-event Wed. night that we have had in months.  Students you are doing a great job of inviting your friends … keep it up!

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 6:23

Colossians 1:15-20 15 says:

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.”

This passage and its surrounding verses are some of the most important verses in all of Scripture. Last night at Foureleven week looked at Colossians 1:13-23 to focus in on why we do what we do. As we move toward an event next week that will hopefully position us to tell many students about Jesus and as we prepare to begin a series after that about what God says about relationships and sexual purity, I think it is vital that we stay Christ centered. What good is an event if Jesus is not at the center of it? We want to reach students in Etowah County for the glory of Jesus because He is worthy of the worship of every single student in this area and the entire world.

As we move into a series on relationships and sexual purity we don’t want to simply proclaim Christ-less morality. We want to see God awaken a group of students whose moral fiber flows from a heart that has been transformed by the grace of Christ Jesus so that they want to live for His glory.

So last night we reminded ourselves that everything we do is all about Jesus. Church is about Jesus. The Christian life is about Jesus. Everything we do should be for His glory. I hope you will join with me in praying for many students to come to faith in Christ Jesus at MeadowBrook on September 2nd. Lost students need to be rescued from a Christ-less eternity and Jesus is worthy of their worship.

It has been a busy summer in the student ministry at MeadowBrook.  We started the summer with middle school camp at Crossings Camp in Bagdad, Kentucky.  Our students had a great time and just this Sunday we baptized a student that trusted Christ at camp.

We also had a blast in Virginia and Washington D.C. on our high school mission trip.  We were able to serve Stafford Baptist Church and a church they have planted in Quantico City, VA  inside the Quantico military base.  It was great to see our students serving and helping others.  We also took a couple of days to tour our nation’s capital and our students had the opportunity to meet Senator Jeff Sessions, who was kind enough to take time out of his busy schedule to invest in our students.

Aside from this we also had tons of fun with pool parties, Six Flags, a scavenger hunt, and a bowling night.  It’s been a busy summer, and we are looking forward to a busy fall.  We just recently went back to our normal Wednesday night schedule and Wednesday night marks yet another change.

Beginning this Wednesday, Brandon Morgan, will begin leading worship with our student praise band for both our middle school service at  6 pm and our high school service at 7:15 pm.  Brandon has lead worship in many venues and many times with Breakaway Ministries at their camps.  We are excited to have Brandon as a part of our Wednesday night team!

As excited as I am about this week, I am even more excited about next week!  On September 2nd at 6 pm our middle school and high school students will come together for our back to school event.  We are encouraging our students to go crazy inviting friends and I am praying that God will save many students that night.  I hope this event will be a night we will always look back on and know God did a great work in the hearts of many students.  I hope you will pray with me.

Message: Not What You Expected
Text: Matthew 11:2-6
By: Josh Malone @ MeadowBrook Baptist 8/2/09

The Christian life is full of surprises.  Many of the surprises we encounter are not the kind of which we had hoped.  Salvation in Christ Jesus does not mean a life without pain and suffering; in fact, many times our faith in Christ can attract persecution from unbelievers.  Aside from persecution there is also the difficult circumstances of life that many times we never see coming.  People lose jobs, loved ones, health,  and friendships just to name a few.  Our churches are full of people that expected their life to go one way and now they are in a totally different place.  Our churches are also full of those who have suffered or are currently suffering intense pains in life and many are asking “why”.  Satan would love to use the difficult times of life, the things we do not expect, to tempt us to doubt God.  God, on the other hand, will use even the most difficult of times to shape us into Christ’s image and to receive much glory through our praise in the midst of the pain.

Earlier this month I had another opportunity to preach our morning services at MeadowBrook while Pastor Randy was on vacation.  Above and below is a link to the message that I preached where we looked at John the Baptist and his encounter with the unexpected.  I pray God will use it to minister to you if you dealing with one of the unpleasant surprises of life.

Message: Not What You Expected
Text: Matthew 11:2-6
By: Josh Malone @ MeadowBrook Baptist 8/2/09

This past Sunday Pastor Randy was away and asked me to preach at MeadowBrook.  Below is a link to the message for those that are interested.  I spoke from 1 Corinthians 1:18-31.  This link is to our entire service.

Message: The Messsage of the Cross