Sermon Archives - David Westerfield

Taste and See That the Lord is Good

On July 9, 2016

“Taste and see that the Lord is good.” Psalm 34:8

“There is a difference between having an opinion, that God is holy and gracious, and having a sense of the loveliness and beauty of that holiness and grace. There is a difference between having a rational judgment that honey is sweet, and having a sense of its sweetness. A man may have the former, that knows not how honey tastes; but a man cannot have the latter unless he has an idea of the taste of honey in his mind. So there is a difference between believing that a person is beautiful, and having a sense of his beauty. The former may be obtained by hearsay, but the latter only by seeing the countenance. There is a wide difference between mere speculative rational judging any thing to be excellent, and having a sense of its sweetness and beauty. The former rests only in the head, speculation only is concerned in it; but the heart is concerned in the latter. When the heart is sensible of the beauty and amiableness of a thing, it necessarily feels pleasure in the apprehension. It is implied in a person’s being heartily sensible of the loveliness of a thing, that the idea of it is sweet and pleasant to his soul; which is a far different thing from having a rational opinion that it is excellent.”

Jonathan Edwards, A Divine and Supernatural Light, https://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/onsite/edwards_light.html

David Phillips Final Sermon He Never Got to Deliver on Anxiety

By David Westerfield

On March 5, 2015

In Personal, Theology

Originally posted at blog.myspace.com on Friday, February 17, 2006, archived here http://old.westerfunk.net/archives/personal/Dave%20Sermon%20Notes/

I. INTRODUCTION

A. Read Philippians 4:4-7

B. ILLUS. Chaplaincy. Summer 2002. I was assigned to the reception station at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma. I was counseling teenagers just about to step into Basic Training. The ones who stopped by my office were stressed and anxious about girlfriends they left behind, mean drill sergeants, the radical culture change, etc. and I did my best to soothe their worries and give them hope. One afternoon, halfway through my assignment, the Deputy Assistant Installation Chaplain and my Brigade Chaplain (my boss) entered my office. They told me that the Red Cross just informed them that my dad had had a massive coronary and was being care-flighted to a hospital 100 miles away and that my mom was in a car trailing them. I was to be released immediately to fly home and take care of family business. The counselor had now become the counselee.

New Year’s Resolutions Are About Law, Not Gospel

By David Westerfield

On January 6, 2011

In Audio, Theology

I heard a sermon (MP3 here) recently by one of my best-friend’s, Jon Dansby, given at his new church home, Austin Stone Community Church. It was timed for the new year when many are looking to make changes in their lives of various kinds and to different degrees. The scripture Jon preached on was Galatians 6:7-9. Ryan McCarthy, College Minister at Christ Chapel Bible Church, also reiterated many of the same points (with Jon’s permission of course) in a talk he gave to the college group last night. They both made some great, practical points (their points) I wanted to share.

First of all the text, Galatians 6:7-9 (ESV):

Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.

The Outrageous Love of God – R.W. Glenn

By David Westerfield

On January 25, 2010

In Audio, Theology

God’s Outrageous Love – R.W. Glenn (MP3) – HT: Justin Taylor

I honestly haven’t been impacted by a sermon like this in a while. Justin Taylor has already blogged about this, but I think it’s worth repeating. God’s Outrageous Love is a sermon R.W. Glenn gave at John Piper’s church, Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, MN a couple of weeks ago. It’s a message on Jonah 4 and how outrageous it is that God loves any of us. Here is a quote: “Until you’re outraged by God’s love, you’ll never think it’s outrageous; until you’re offended by God’s love, you’ll never be overwhelmed by it.” This was really convicting and yet at the same time pointing to the greatness of the mercy of Christ. Highly recommended!