Sermons That Exalt Christ

The preaching of God’s Word is central to the life of the church. Tom's pulpit ministry is dedicated to providing clear, biblical teaching to equip believers, strengthen faith, and exalt Christ.

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2 Corinthians
An Aerial View of the New Testament
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We Were Made to Worship
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Your Faith, Dead or Alive?
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2022-08-07

The Legacy of Music in Worship - Part 2

This sermon, "The Legacy of Music in Worship (Part 2)," explores the crucial role of music, a practice largely lost in today's church. Music, an art of sound, surrounds God eternally and is always a hallmark of spiritual revival following the recovery of God's Word. It's essential for both individual and corporate worship. The pastor outlines three biblical purposes for music in worship. First, **personally**, it helps believers remember and rehearse God's Word, embedding truth into their hearts, which motivates praise and obedience. Second, **horizontally**, music allows believers to "speak to one another" through psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, teaching and admonishing. This emphasizes that worship music is communication for mutual edification, not entertainment, requiring biblically rich lyrics that prioritize others' spiritual growth over personal stylistic preferences. Third, **vertically**, music is directed "to the Lord," expressing hearts to God in praise, thanksgiving, repentance, and petition. Its ultimate purpose is to glorify God, being profoundly Christ-centered and cross-centered. While Scripture doesn't prescribe specific musical styles�leaving it to the collective conscience of elders�it emphasizes that lyrics must be biblically based and balanced, incorporating Old and New Testament truths, subjective and objective expressions, and both traditional and contemporary songs.

Tom Pennington
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Recovering a Lost Legacy
2022
2022-07-31

The Legacy of Music in Worship - Part 1

Pastor Tom Pennington's sermon, "Recovering a Lost Legacy: The Legacy of Music in Worship (Part 1)," laments the contemporary Christian church's widespread loss of its biblical heritage regarding music. He critiques modern worship practices, identifying problems such as divisiveness, poor lyrical and musical quality, influence from theologically unsound movements, an overemphasis on emotion and performance, and a lack of congregational participation. Pennington grounds music's importance in its divine origin, noting its existence before creation, its rich history in human worship throughout the Old Testament and Jesus' life, and its future role in eternal worship (Revelation). He argues for music's biblical priority based on four points: God commands individual believers to sing (Psalms), a love for God-centered music is an inevitable fruit of being filled by the Spirit (Ephesians 5:19), Christ commands corporate worship in music guided by the Regulative Principle, and profoundly, God Himself sings (Zephaniah 3:17) and Jesus leads in praise (Hebrews 2:12). Music thus serves as a crucial spiritual diagnostic, reflecting one's relationship with God and the Spirit's work.

Tom Pennington
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Recovering a Lost Legacy
2022
2022-07-24

The Legacy of Expository Preaching

In "Recovering a Lost Legacy: The Legacy of Expository Teaching," Tom Pennington advocates for the biblical mandate of expository preaching, defining it as reading, explaining the text in its context, and applying it to hearers' lives, typically moving verse-by-verse through a book of the Bible. He contends that the modern church has largely abandoned this rich legacy, opting for less biblically rigorous methods. Pennington presents several arguments for its recovery. Practically, it ensures a wholly Bible-centered ministry, helps listeners grasp God's logical development of truth, balances scriptural emphasis, and forces engagement with difficult passages. Theologically, it naturally flows from the verbal inspiration of Scripture, as God gave His Word in cohesive, consecutive units. Historically, expository preaching was the consistent practice from the early church (Justin Martyr, Chrysostom, Augustine) through the Reformers (Calvin, Luther, Zwingli) and Puritans. Most significantly, biblical arguments highlight this pattern in Moses' ministry, Old Testament corporate worship (Levites, Ezra), Jewish synagogue worship, Jesus's own teaching ministry, and the priorities of the New Testament church and its elders.

Tom Pennington
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Recovering a Lost Legacy
2022
2022-07-17

Eden's Promise

The sermon "Eden's Promise Genesis 3:15" by Pastor Tom Pennington highlights the pervasive presence of Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, throughout the Old Testament, not just in prophecies but as the primary agent of creation and the visible manifestation of God. The central focus is Genesis 3:15, dubbed the "Proto-Evangelium," the first declaration of the Gospel immediately following humanity's fall into sin. This pivotal verse contains two intertwined promises. First, it prophesies a "continual conflict" between Satan's "seed" (his spiritual followers) and the woman's "seed" (Jesus Christ and all who believe in Him), explaining the enduring hostility between the wicked and the righteous. Second, it promises a "coming Redeemer" who will inflict a fatal "crushing" blow to Satan's head. This victory, however, will involve the Redeemer suffering a "bruise to His heel," signifying Christ's suffering and sacrificial death on the cross. This act, ordained by God the Father, atoned for humanity's sin, offering hope from the very moment of the fall.

Genesis
3:15
Tom Pennington
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Genesis
2022
2022-07-10

The Biblical View of Abortion - Part 2

Pastor Tom Pennington's sermon, "The Biblical View of Abortion (Part 2)," firmly asserts that Scripture unequivocally upholds the sanctity and personhood of human life from conception, thereby opposing abortion. He assures those who have repented from past abortions of God's complete forgiveness in Christ. Pennington refutes common pro-abortion arguments, stating that claims of historical legality are revisionist, a constitutional "right to privacy" is unfounded, and the unborn child is a distinct, genetically unique human, not merely part of the mother. He dismisses the idea that personhood begins later than conception as unscientific and unbiblical. Key biblical arguments include: all human life is made in God's image from conception; God alone gives and has the right to take life; God condemns all wrongful taking of human life; human life and moral identity begin at conception; and Scripture consistently treats the unborn as persons, regardless of developmental stage, with Old Testament law equating harm to the unborn with harm to the mother. Historically, both ancient Jewish sources and Christian leaders from the Early Church to the Reformation consistently condemned abortion as murder.

Tom Pennington
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2022
2022-07-03

The Biblical View of Abortion - Part 1

Pastor Tom Pennington's sermon addresses abortion following the Dobbs v. Jackson decision, asserting the Bible as the ultimate moral authority, not human judges. He declared Scripture teaches human life's sanctity and personhood from conception, unequivocally opposing abortion, yet offering profound forgiveness through Christ for those involved. Historically, abortion was a serious crime in Anglo-American law for 800 years, a fact often ignored by revisionist history, until Roe v. Wade (1973) legalized it, driven by 20th-century feminism and figures like Margaret Sanger. The industry is now a $3.7 billion business, with 63 million U.S. abortions since 1973, largely among unmarried women for convenience, financial, or relational reasons. Pennington detailed fetal development, noting a heartbeat at two weeks and a fully formed child by 12 weeks, and described the violent medical and surgical abortion procedures. Pennington identified abortion's spiritual source as Satan, "a murderer from the beginning," who promotes it through secular philosophies�Darwinism, humanism, feminism, and Marxism�which appeal to human lusts and pride. These ideologies are disseminated via the "world system" through media and social influence, aiming to corrupt thinking and persuade acceptance of ungodly ways.

Tom Pennington
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2022

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