Dennis R. Wiles

First Baptist Arlington

October 5, 2025

Flourishing Together

First Baptist Arlington

2025 – 2030

2025: Flourishing Together: Rooted in Christ

1 Corinthians 2:6-16 (Gospel Guide: Matthew)

FALL 2025: It is Not Good . . . to be Alone

September 7 – November 1, 2025

The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone.”

Genesis 2:18

Your Spiritual Family

1 Corinthians 12:12-31

COMMUNION: As Christians, we gather at the Lord’s Table in community with our God and with our fellow sisters and brothers.

CONTEXT – The Corinthian church was beset with a lack of social cohesion and characterized by breakdowns in relationships.

Corinthian society was riddled by competitive individualism, and this ethos spilled over into the relationships in the church as wealthier members competed for followers. Socially pretentious and self-important individuals appear to have dominated the church. It is likely they flaunted their symbols of status, wisdom, influence, and family pedigree and looked down on others of lesser status. They appear to have wanted to preserve the social barriers of class and status that permeated their social world but were nullified in the cross of Christ. For some, the Christian community had become simply another arena to compete for status according to the societal norms.

-David E. Garland, 1 Corinthians: Baker Exegetical Commentary

CURE – The answer for the brokenness in the local church is for the church to . . . believe and behave like the Lord intended for the local church to believe and behave!

CHURCH – Paul referred to the church as a field, a building, and a body to help the Corinthians better understand the new family of God known as the church.

Why is the health of local churches such a huge concern? Because of what is at stake!

MISSION OF GOD – God is engaged in the redemption of humanity and the restoration of His creation.

CHURCH – Jesus established the church to serve as His instrument on earth to accomplish the Mission of God (Matthew 16:13-20).

COMMISSION – Jesus has commissioned the church to fulfill the Mission of God through both the Great Commandment (Matthew 22:37-40) and the Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20).

CHURCH - The Church is a purposeful community of gathered believers following The Jesus Way together in the fulfillment of His mission.

DISCIPLE - A Disciple: A person being formed by Jesus as they follow Him in accomplishing His mission.

How do we make disciples?

We lead people to:

-Know God

-Experience God

-Serve God

Every human being needs to:

-Know God: Be saved!

-Experience God: Be shepherded!

Be shaped!

-Serve God: Be sent!

Dennis R. Wiles

First Baptist Arlington

September 28, 2025

Flourishing Together

First Baptist Arlington

2025 – 2030

2025: Flourishing Together: Rooted in Christ

1 Corinthians 2:6-16 (Gospel Guide: Matthew)

FALL 2025: It is Not Good . . . to be Alone

September 7 – November 1, 2025

The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone.”

Genesis 2:18

Why Can’t We Be Friends?

1 Samuel 18-20

Loneliness is far more than just a bad feeling—it harms both individual and social health. It is associated with a greater risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia, stroke, depression, anxiety, and premature death. The mortality rate of being socially disconnected is similar to that caused by smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day, and even greater than that associated with obesity and physical inactivity. And the harmful consequences of a society that lacks social connection can be felt in our schools, workplaces, and civic organizations, where performance, productivity, and engagement are diminished.

-US Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek H. Murthy

God designed us as relational creatures who are to flourish in community. We have the capacity for and the need of friendships.

LOVE – Friendships are forged through love.

UNITY OF SPIRIT – Friends share a sense of unity and companionship.

The essence of Christian spirituality is following Christ on a journey of personal transformation. The distant land to which we are called is not heaven; it is the new creature into which Christ wishes to fashion us, the whole and a holy person that finds his or her uniqueness, identity, and calling in Christ. Spiritual friends accompany each other on that journey.

-David Benner, Sacred Companions

ACT LIKE FRIENDS! Friends take time to express their commitment to their friendship!

LOYALTY – There is an underlying loyalty expressed in true friendships.

INTIMACY – True friends share and confide in each other in healthy ways.

Ryan Chandler
Home is Where It All Begins

Deuteronomy 6:1-12

The idea of the introduction has to be, “Do you want a happy, healthy, whole home?” Everyone does, but how do we create that? Then the rest of the sermon is how to create that home. The ultimate answer is you need the Lord\

A healthy home begins with a healthy individual. “These commands are to be on your heart (Deut. 6:6).” You can’t pass along what you don’t have. You need to love God and listen to His commands.\

LISTEN

These three words are all connected. There is no Hebrew word for obey. The word they would use is shema – hear or listen.\

LOVE

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength. What does that mean? Let’s dig into each one just for a bit.\

HEART

In our culture, the heart is often regarded as the seat of emotion. Not so in the ancient world. In the ancient world, it was the seat of reason and will. It’s the seat of decision-making. \

SOUL

Soul means your whole person. It’s your personality. It’s your body. It’s who you are in your entirety. \

STRENGTH

Strength is not only physical, but also encompasses your resources. It’s economic strength. Social strength. Wherever you are strong, use that gifting to love God.\

Loving God requires all of my inner being (all that I think and feel), my whole person (all that I am), and all that I can claim as my own (all that I have).

Transition: It begins within you, but it doesn’t stay within you. God calls you to share it with all those closest to you. \

Impress them upon your children. How?

Discuss it. Talk about the word of God with them. (What is a good tool that parents can use to talk about our faith with their children?) Grandparents, sometimes the best thing you can do for your grandchildren is to ensure they have a copy of the Bible. Discuss the stories in the Bible, focusing on biblical literacy. As they grow older, you can get into more advance conversations about difficult passages and theology.\

Get creative. Keep it in front of them in visible/tangible ways. In the Israelite and later Judaic religion, they took verses eight and nine seriously. Ancient Israelites would etch the Shema on the doorframes of their home. Today, Orthodox Jews take these verses literally by wearing the Torah on their foreheads and hands.\

What does that look like today?\