EPC of Plant City

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Dr. Donald Sweeting

“I BELIEVE IN THE CHURCH”
 
 
13
When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say
the Son of Man is?” 
14
They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others,
Jeremiah  or  one  of  the  prophets.”  
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“But  what  about  you?”  he  asked.  “Who  do  you  say  I  am?”
 
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Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 
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Jesus replied, “Blessed
are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.
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And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades
will  not  overcome  it.
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I  will  give  you  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven;  whatever  you  bind  on
earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
20
Then he
warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.
MATTHEW 16:13-20
 
6
Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals
of thunder, shouting:   “Hallelujah!  For our Lord God Almighty reigns. 
7
Let us rejoice and be glad
 and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come,  and his bride has made herself ready.
 
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Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the
saints.) 
9
Then the angel said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper
of  the  Lamb!’  “  And  he  added,  “These  are  the  true  words  of  God.”  
10
At  this  I  fell  at  his  feet  to
worship him. But he said to me, “Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers
who  hold  to  the  testimony  of  Jesus.  Worship  God!  For  the  testimony  of  Jesus  is  the  spirit  of
prophecy.”
REVELATION 19:6-10

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Dr. Ron DiNunzio

“PERPLEXED PROPHET PREACHES PROMISE;
PEOPLE PONDER POSSIBILITIES”
 
JONAH 1:1-10
 
 
1
 The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai:
2
 ”Go to the great city of Nineveh and
preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” 
 
3
 But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he
found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee
from the LORD. 
 
4
 Then the LORD sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship
threatened to break up.
5
 All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they
threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship. 
      But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep.
6
 The captain
went to him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice
of us, and we will not perish.” 
 
7
 Then the sailors said to each other, “Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this
calamity.” They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. 
 
8
 So they asked him, “Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What do you
do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?” 
 
9
 He answered, “I am a Hebrew and I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and
the land.” 
 
10
 This terrified them and they asked, “What have you done?” (They knew he was running away
from the LORD, because he had already told them so.)

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Rev. Freddie Albough

“FREEDOM AND SECURITY”
 
MATTHEW 7:7-12
 
 
 
7
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
8
For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be
opened. 
 
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“Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?
10
Or if he asks for a fish, will give
him a snake?
11
If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how
much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
12
So in everything, do
to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

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Don Mason

Norman Leveque

Dave & Marge Bowden

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 Dr. Ron DiNunzio

“LAWS, LIZARDS AND LEGALISTS”
 
1
 And God spoke all these words: 
2
 ”I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out
of  the  land  of  slavery.  
3
  “You  shall  have  no  other  gods  before  me.  
4
  “You  shall  not  make  for
yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters
below.
5
 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous
God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who
hate  me,
6
  but  showing  love  to  a  thousand  {generations}  of  those  who  love  me  and  keep  my
commandments. 
7
 ”You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not
hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name. 
8
 ”Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
9
 Six
days you shall labor and do all your work,
10
 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your
God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or
maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates.
11
 For in six days the LORD made
the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore
the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. 
12
 ”Honor your father and your mother, so that
you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you. 
13
 ”You shall not murder. 
14
 ”You
shall  not  commit  adultery.  
15
  “You  shall  not  steal.  
16
  “You  shall  not  give  false  testimony  against
your neighbor. 
17
 ”You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s
wife,  or  his  manservant  or  maidservant,  his  ox  or  donkey,  or  anything  that  belongs  to  your
neighbor.”  
18
  When  the  people  saw  the  thunder  and  lightning  and  heard  the  trumpet  and  saw  the
mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance
19
 and said to Moses, “Speak
to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.” 
20
 Moses said to
the people, “Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to
keep you from sinning.”
 Exodus 20:1-20

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Dr. Jack Sharpe

“SUBMITTING IN THE LORD”
22
Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.
23
For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is
the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior.
24
Now as the church submits to Christ, so
also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. 
25
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ
loved the church and gave himself up for her
26
to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with
water through the word,
27
and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or
any other blemish, but holy and blameless.
28
In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as
their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.
29
After all, no one ever hated his own body, but
he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church—
30
for we are members of his body.
31
“For this
reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one
flesh.”
32
This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church
 Ephesians 5:21-32
INTRODUCTION:  THE LARGER CONTEXT
I.    THE CHALLENGE OF SUBMISSION
II.   SUBMISSION “IN THE LORD”
 
WHY IS THE ISSUE OF SUBMISSION SUCH A PROBLEM?
 
IS THERE A PLACE FOR SELF-INTEREST IN SUBMISSION?
 
ARE THERE TIMES WHEN SUBMISSION WOULD BE INAPPROPRIATE?
 
IS IT IMPOSSIBLE TO GET SUBMISSION RIGHT OUTSIDE OF CHRIST?

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Dr. Jack Sharpe

“CHRISTIAN FATHERHOOD”
 
 
1
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
2
“Honor your father and mother”—
which is the first commandment with a promise—
3
“that it may go well with you and that you
may enjoy long life on the earth.”
4
Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them
up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
Ephesians 6:1-4
 
   I.  Regeneration Changes the Way We Live
 
 
 
 
  II.  Being Filled with the Spirit Changes the Way We Live
 
 
 
 
 III.  Being Regenerated and Filled with the Spirit Changes Parent-Child Relationships
 
 
A Dad’s Greatest Job
I may never be as clever as my neighbor down the street;
I may never be as wealthy as some other men I meet;
I may never have the glory that some other men have had,
but I’ve got to be successful as a little fellow’s Dad.
There are certain dreams I cherish that I’d like to see come true,
there are things I would accomplish ere my working time is through.
But the task my heart is set on is to guide a little lad,
and make myself successful as that little fellow’s Dad.
I may never come to glory
I may never gather gold;
Men may count me as a failure when my business life is told.
But if he who follows after shall be manly, I’ll be glad ––
for I’ll know I’ve been successful as a little fellow’s Dad.
It’s the one job that I dream of;
It’s the task I think of most.
If I fail that growing youngster,
I’d have nothing else to boast.
For though wealth and fame I’d gather,
all my future would be sad,
If I failed to be successful
as that little fellow’s Dad.
Author unknown

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 Guest Speaker Jeremy Weart

“HOPEFUL SUFFERING”
ROMANS 8:18-25
 
18
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be
revealed in us.
19
The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.
20
For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the
one who subjected it, in hope
21
that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to
decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. 
22
We know that the
whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.
23
Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we
wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
24
For in this hope we
were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has?
25
But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
Romans 8:18-25 
  
•     Glorious Revealing   verse 18 
  
•     Sons of God  verse 19 
  
•     Subjection to Futility  verse 20 
  
•     Freedom  verse 21 
  
•     Groaning  verse 22 
  
•     Redemption  verse 23 
  
•     Hope  verses 24 & 25

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“Bargaining for Bread” 
 Rev. Mike Glodo

 
24
Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre.  He entered a house and did not want
anyone  to  know  it;  yet  he  could  not  keep  his  presence  secret.
25
In  fact,  as  soon  as  she  heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an evil spirit came and fell at his feet.
26
The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter.
27
“First let the children eat all they want,” he told her, “for it is not right to take  the  children’s  bread  and  toss  it  to  their  dogs.”  
28
“Yes,  Lord,”  she  replied,  “but  even  the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” 
29
Then he told her, “For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.” 
30
She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.
Mark 7:24-30