Future Promises: Sermon Series by Eric Bancroft

Future Promises: Sermon Series by Eric Bancroft
  1. High View of God (April 20, 27)
  2. High View of the Bible (May 4, 11)
  3. Low View of Man (May 18, 25)
  4. High View of the Gospel (June 15, 29)
  5. High View of the Church (July 6, July 13)
  6. High View of Church Leadership (July 20, July 27)
  7. High View of Personal Holiness (August 3, August 10)


"What will my future look like?" This is a question that everybody would love to know the answer to. Consider that the fortune telling business alone, from China to Indiana, is a multi-million dollar industry. People are eager to pull back the curtain that veils the future and see what is behind it. Anybody from moms wondering what will happen to their kids when they grow up to business owners wondering what the price of their company’s stock will be in six months, everybody is interested in knowing what the future looks like.

I have great news! I know what the future looks like. No, my knowledge does not come from reading a palm or staring at the stars. It comes from the Scriptures. God’s Word has not left us to ourselves to wander around on this planet crossing our fingers hoping it’s all going to work out okay.

Consider our church - Castleview Baptist Church. We have a rich 111 year-old history in Indianapolis. But that is not what excites us as much as what the next 111 years could look like, if the Lord does not come back sooner. We all share dreams and hopes about what God could do with us as a church. From planting churches throughout Indianapolis to sending more missionaries overseas to seeing many of our neighbors in our community come to the saving knowledge of our Savior Jesus Christ, we get excited.

Though the details are unclear we can be confident that the Lord will bless our future as a church if we remain faithful to His Word. We have started learning on Sunday mornings what the Lord wants from us as a church. This includes a high view of Him, a high view of His Word, and a right view of ourselves. God wants us to understand that it is only Christ that saves, only the Holy Spirit that sanctifies, and only churches that are faithful to obey all that His Word has commanded that He will bless.

The apostle John teaches in Revelation 2 a sobering reminder to us as we learn about the church at Ephesus. They were known for good works, endurance, and resistance to false teachers. Many, by today’s standards, would say they were a great church. But then why does Jesus in verse 5 threaten to remove their "lampstand" (meaning to judge them and bring an end to them as a local church)? John says because "you have left your first love." Right works divorced from the right motivation are a waste of time. The Ephesian church had lost their focus on why they did what they did. Jesus went from being the main point to a footnote.

Consider the teaching of Paul to the Colossians about Jesus Christ, "He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything He might be preeminent" (Colossians 1:18). That must be our goal as a church - to keep Christ preeminent in all things. From our children’s ministry classes on a Sunday, to a small group meeting on a Tuesday, to our baseball games on a Saturday, Jesus must be the motivation behind all that we do and all that we do is to honor Him.

Next month we will continue to look into the future by learning, for certain, who are the people that the Lord will bless and not bless. Until then, help Castleview become the church that we want it to be by reminding one another in all of your ministry involvement that the main reason we are here is to know and love our Savior.