Sermons by Pastor Toby Locke (Page 36)

I joined the staff as lead pastor at First Baptist in March 2017 after nine years of ministry in Racine, Wisconsin as an associate pastor. I grew up as the child of missionaries in South America, where I got to live among and learn from the beautiful people of Bolivia and Chile. After high school I attended Baptist Bible College of PA (now Clarks Summit University) and graduated at long last in 1998 with a Pastoral Ministries degree. After completing a two-year short term missionary assignment in Chile, I returned to Baptist Bible Seminary for my Master of Divinity, which God graciously enabled me to complete in 2007. From there it was off to Rochester, New York for a year-long internship at North Baptist Church (now Northridge Church) before jumping into full-time vocational ministry at Fellowship Baptist Church in Racine in the fall of 2007.

About What God Wants

God has communicated clearly what He wants from us. He is not impressed by our lineage, accomplishments, or status as moral people, because they cause us to shift all our confidence and hope onto our own abilities and skills. The only way to be “good” with God is to put all of our confidence in…

about Role Models

Ahhhh…role models. Is there even a point to following them anymore?

about my Salvation

Sermon Summary: While God alone is the one who gives the gift of salvation, those of us who receive it are responsible to put it into practice in our everyday life. We do this by taking the initiative to obey God while trusting Him to empower our efforts to obey Him.

Like Jesus

February 11, 2018
Pastor Toby Locke
Philippians

Sermon Summary: Living in a completely selfless and others-centered way is impossible unless we learn to think the way that Jesus thought. But if we come to Jesus in desperate faith, he can help us to think differently about ourselves and others, which will enable us to live the way that Jesus lived.

about My Lifestyle

February 4, 2018
Pastor Toby Locke
Philippians

Paul expects us to make sure we understand that our lifestyle (the values, goals, and choices that we live by) is “in sync” with the good news about Jesus. To help us judge how we’re doing, he gives us four benchmarks in this passage to help us measure how closely our own personal lifestyle matches…

about Life and Death

January 28, 2018
Pastor Toby Locke
Philippians

We only have so much “life” and how we choose to spend it is crucial. Right-side up thinking, according to Paul, means that we will spend our lives honoring Jesus and not ourselves. Death, while not pleasant or desirable, is not to be feared or avoided, because it ushers me into the arms of the…

Thinking “Right-Side Up” About Setbacks

Paul was in prison, which was a significant setback to his plan to share the good news of Jesus with the world. Instead of pouting or getting angry, though, he chose to see his situation from God’s perspective and discovered that God’s plan was better, which enabled him to make courageous and faith-filled choices.