http://www.trinityopcnovato.org Serving Novato, Marin County, California and the World Wide Web. This site provides information about the Christian ministry of Trinity Presbyterian Church, OPC. This site also broadcasts the latest sermons and Sunday schools from Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) in Novato, CA. Our sermons seek to exposit Scripture, preaching Christ and the cross, and understanding the impact and demand of the Word on our lives. Thu, 09 Feb 2012 23:54:18 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Copyright © by W. Reid Hankins and Trinity Presbyterian Church, 2011 info@trinityopcnovato.org (Rev. W. Reid Hankins) info@trinityopcnovato.org (Rev. W. Reid Hankins) Religion & Spirituality:Christianity 1440 http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/wp-content/plugins/podpress/images/tpc-vertical144.jpg http://www.trinityopcnovato.org 144 144 http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/?feed=podcast Sermons and Sunday Schools Serving Novato, Marin County, California and the World Wide Web. This feed broadcasts the latest sermons and Sunday schools from Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) in Novato, CA. Our sermons seek to exposit Scripture, preaching Christ and the cross, and understanding the impact and demand of the Word on our lives. Church, Novato, Marin, Hankins, Sermon, Christian, OPC, San Rafael Rev. W. Reid Hankins Rev. W. Reid Hankins info@trinityopcnovato.org no no http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/04/24/unbelieving-believing/ http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/04/24/unbelieving-believing/#comments Mon, 25 Apr 2011 01:56:56 +0000 Pastor Reid Hankins http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/?p=1324 http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/04/24/unbelieving-believing/feed/ 0 0:37:13 Sermon preached on John 20:24-31 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 4/24/2011 in Novato, CA. Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div. John 20:24-31 04/24/10 “Do Not Be Unbelieving, But Believing[...] Sermon preached on John 20:24-31 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 4/24/2011 in Novato, CA. Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div. John 20:24-31 04/24/10 “Do Not Be Unbelieving, But Believing” Jesus Christ is risen! This is what the Christians church affirms on Easter. It is what we affirm all year round. And let me make this clear. The church affirms that this was a historical event. The resurrection really did happen in history. And the church affirms this was a physical, bodily, event. We affirm that Jesus really did die on the cross. We affirm that he physically was raised from the dead on the third day. That on that first Easter morning, Jesus went from being dead, to being alive! In other words, Easter is not just a nice story with a moral message at the end. Easter is not just about some spiritual feel-good message or concept, without a historical basis in reality. It actually happened. Easter was a historical event that was verified by a number of eye-witness accounts. The Christian faith is especially about faith in this event. Faith in the resurrection. If you don’t have a real resurrection, then you don’t have a biblical faith. The faith we have is in a savior who died for our sins and overcame death in the resurrection. This gives us the hope that we who are sinners can be forgiven of our sins because of the cross. Because Christ paid the price in our place. And we can have then the hope of resurrection because Christ himself rose from the dead. This is our hope; that this world is not the end. That even though we die, we know we will rise again to eternal life. The historical fact of Easter is where we find our trust that we will actually rise again one day ourselves. Every year at Easter I think about how so many people today don’t want to believe in this. They think it sounds foolishness to think of someone rising from the dead. Liberal Christianity has indeed spiritualized Easter. Even worse, the unbelieving world, doesn’t believe it at all. They come up with all sorts of theories to try to explain Easter away. But we still affirm it. And yet in our passage for today, we are confronted with something very personal. This passage acknowledges a real subject in our lives as Christians. Doubt. This morning we’ll spend our time reflecting on doubting Thomas, and verses 24-31. Thomas at first doubted the resurrection. This unbelief wasn’t coming from the outside. This was Thomas, one of the twelve. This doubt wasn’t coming from a liberal wing of the church. No, it was Jesus’ inner circle; those who knew his teachings intimately. Thomas doubted. At first he couldn’t believe that Jesus actually rose from the dead. This is a real subject for us today. Many Christians experience doubt in their faith from time to time. Surely, Thomas had believed in Jesus. He had vowed to follow him to the death. He had confessed him as the Christ. But now his faith was faltering. He doubted the resurrection. Christians can experience doubt in their faith from time to time. Of course Thomas is real about it. He boldly admits it. He doesn’t pretend he doesn’t have any doubts. Most Christians today probably wouldn’t admit their doubt, even if they have it. But God gave us this passage for a reason. It addresses the issue of doubt head on. It’s my prayer that it can encourage you whenever you are finding doubts in your own hearts. And what a wonderful thing to consider in Easter, about growing our faith in the certainty of the resurrection. So let’s think about Doubting Thomas. Let me set the context. On the first Easter, in the evening, the risen Jesus appeared to the twelve disciples. That was verses 19-23. Well, we pick up the action in verse 24. There we find that one of the twelve wasn’t present for this encounter with Jesus.[...] Easter, John Rev. W. Reid Hankins no no http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/03/20/saints-suffer/ http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/03/20/saints-suffer/#comments Sun, 20 Mar 2011 23:01:37 +0000 Pastor Reid Hankins http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/?p=1280 http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/03/20/saints-suffer/feed/ 0 0:36:29 Sermon preached on John 9:1-7 by Rev. Richard C. Miller during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 3/20/2011 in Novato, CA. Sermon preached on John 9:1-7 by Rev. Richard C. Miller during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 3/20/2011 in Novato, CA. John Rev. Richard C. Miller no no http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2010/04/04/i-have-power-to-take-it-again/ http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2010/04/04/i-have-power-to-take-it-again/#comments Sun, 04 Apr 2010 23:18:01 +0000 Pastor Reid Hankins http://www.novatoopcsermons.org/?p=686 http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2010/04/04/i-have-power-to-take-it-again/feed/ 0 0:33:35 Sermon preached on John 10:11-21 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 04/04/2010 in Novato, CA. Manuscript: I Have Power to Take it Again Sermon preached on John 10:11-21 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 04/04/2010 in Novato, CA. Manuscript: I Have Power to Take it Again Easter, John Rev. W. Reid Hankins no no http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2010/04/02/i-thirst/ http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2010/04/02/i-thirst/#comments Sat, 03 Apr 2010 04:07:14 +0000 Pastor Reid Hankins http://www.novatoopcsermons.org/?p=679 http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2010/04/02/i-thirst/feed/ 0 http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2009/12/24/christmas-eve-2009-the-coming-of-the-incarnate-word/ http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2009/12/24/christmas-eve-2009-the-coming-of-the-incarnate-word/#comments Fri, 25 Dec 2009 05:49:41 +0000 Pastor Reid Hankins http://www.novatoopcsermons.org/?p=570 http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2009/12/24/christmas-eve-2009-the-coming-of-the-incarnate-word/feed/ 0 0:26:45 Sermon preached on John 1:1-18 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Christmas Eve Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 12/24/2009 in Novato, CA.  This special service was held at Atria Tam Creek Retirement Community. Manuscript: The Coming [...] Sermon preached on John 1:1-18 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Christmas Eve Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 12/24/2009 in Novato, CA.  This special service was held at Atria Tam Creek Retirement Community. Manuscript: The Coming of the Incarnate Word Christmas, John Rev. W. Reid Hankins no no http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2009/05/31/commands-for-the-troubled-heart/ http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2009/05/31/commands-for-the-troubled-heart/#comments Mon, 01 Jun 2009 00:00:47 +0000 Pastor Reid Hankins http://www.novatoopcsermons.org/?p=384 http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2009/05/31/commands-for-the-troubled-heart/feed/ 0