Since the birth of Christ’s Church, from the dark passages of the catacombs to the private chambers of homes along the streets of Roman cities across the Empire, to this gathering this morning, every believer of all the ages have shared something.
There is a tie that binds every believer to Christ and to each other. Tonight, we share that amazing connection. We have a common confession with every individual believing servant of God alive today either on earth or in Heaven.
As we turn to Romans, think of this: Christ’s death on the Cross is the heart of our salvation. His substitutionary death paid the penalty of our sin, removed the record of our transgressions, and purchased our eternal salvation.
Christ’s life, now lived in and for us, opens to us His sanctifying power to save us from sin’s destructive power and keep us useful for his glory.
One of the greatest works of God in salvation was opening our blind eyes to see.
Protecting spiritual sight is the final of the three elements we are to deliberately pursue, according to Christ’s Last Words. Jesus counsels His Church in life-long, spiritual vision-care, promoting healthy eyes.
Christ Desires Us
To See Clearly
Please open with me to Rev. 3, and listen again to Jesus, telling the church at Laodicea what they needed to have lives that pleased Him. Please give attention to the public reading of Scripture.
ACL-24 971207AM JAMES 1.18 59-20 “SAVED BY GOD FOREVER” JAMES 1:18 James was a master of word pictures. In his pastoral letter to his beloved sheep he paints a picture of God’s love and our responses. He describes the morbid darkness of death that oozes from the unbridled lusts of fallen human flesh. Then from […]
ACL-25 971214AM “THE HAVE’S AND THE HAVE NOTS” JAMES 1:18 Have you ever considered the confident assertion of the songs of Christmas? They declare the incredible gift of God’s grace in salvation. One of the greatest songs is Handel’s Messiah. Perhaps the biography of how we received this great song will stir our love for […]
960929PM WFJ-04 New Life in Christ “Turned to God” I Thessalonians Series Part # 5 Paul entered one of the largest cities in the world in the middle of the 1st Century. There at that cross road of land and sea trading routes he nurtured a group of believers that literally turned the world upside […]
NR3-21 TAB-13 980315PM God is a Terrible God. Have you pondered that lately? When Jonathan Edwards did, he wrote out his thoughts into a message and upon reading it the people listening grabbed the backs of the pews fearful of the fires of His wrath. Look with me at some Scriptures: Deuteronomy 7:21 “You […]
GOS-06 070715PM Today we remember Christ’s death upon the cross. Most communion tables in most churches used to have the words from the New Testament engraved upon them[1]say, “This do in remembrance of Me.” The climactic end of Christ’s redemption as the Lamb of God was captured by John as he stood at the […]
GOS-05 070218PM Join me for the greatest theme in all the Bible—the redemption of lost sinners by the God who so loved the world that he gave His Son to die on a cross and shed His blood to pay the price of sin! And where better to see that theme than the way […]
GHS-05 MMG-18 NR6-37 NR7-25 WWJ-45 Do You Have a Personal Relationship with Jesus 040307AM How is your Relationship with Jesus? Who is in Christ’s Family? Do you have a Personal Relationship with Jesus? Mark 3.31-35 The most important question you will every be asked to answer is the question – “Do you have a […]
FJC-02 091206AM Christmas: Religious BUT Lost How Close Can You Get And Still Miss Him? Salvation is Knowing Him Matthew 2:1-6 Here is a sobering thought from the Christmas story—there were a group of very good, and very religious people in Christ’s day—who missed Heaven by only 18 inches. Can you imagine how horrible it […]
EBG-03 GOS-04 070204AM As we open to Revelation 5, we are seeing ourselves in the future. And what is it we are doing when God lets us see ourselves? Singing praises to our Redeemer! There are few times that God’s Word allows us to actually see what we will be doing in Heaven, and they always […]
EBG-02 GOS-03 GCM-37 070107PM We are continuing to look at our connection to Christ in salvation, the only gift everyone really needs. We have seen that the gift of salvation has seven key elements; and have examined forgiveness and justification. We have come to regeneration. Regeneration is a word that is much wider than the Bible […]
061210AM EBG-01 GOS-01 GCM-33 Christmas–The Only Gift Everyone Really Needs Luke 1.78-79 .doc Christmas: God Came In the Darkest Night The Only Gift Everyone Really Needs Luke 1:78-79 Christmas is all about gifts; gift giving, give buying, and gift receiving make up so much of these weeks of the year. Many are looking for the […]
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Take Up Your Helmet Daily
If you have never tried this, I’d encourage you to start a new dimension of your spiritual life by starting one of the more wonderful spiritual exercises you can ever do.
As you begin each day, one of our greatest privileges is to take up the helmet of the salvation God has given to us.
As Bonnie & I set out for our ride through the shaded woods and sunny breezes of the tall grass prairies of the Al Sabo Nature reserve, we had no idea of the spiritual lessons we would glean.
Moments after gliding onto the Texas Township Bikeway we crossed paths with some serious bikers. They had the gear, the cadence, and the helmets.
We had none of those things. But, they swept past us so quickly they hardly saw us.
Geography is very important to Bible study and interpretation. Everything happened somewhere; and if God repeatedly uses a special place, we should take note.
That brings us to the “most mentioned” place in God’s Word: Jerusalem.
Jerusalem is BIG in God’s Word
The most mentioned place in the Bible is a city called Jerusalem.
The center of the world and the prophetic universe is the same city.
Jerusalem is the city that God has chosen for Himself. 1 Kings 11:13 (NKJV)
Ancient maps put Jerusalem In the center of the world, and I think they were right.
The Eternal, Infinite God of the Universe is a Savior, and offers to anyone who will call upon His Name some amazing, supernatural transformations within. That is what the Gospel has been doing from the start: changing humans from the inside out. That is what Paul watched happen across the pagan world of the Roman province of Asia.
God has given us an amazing picture of salvation in Acts. Salvation has only one Door (Christ), but has many descriptions (these accounts). Every one of us who comes to Christ, finds that He does what these accounts describe when He enters our lives.
Each of us as followers of Christ, have been commissioned by Him to spend our lives going and sharing the Gospel. Some of us preach, some of us pray, some of us go to other lands, others of us serve in the nursery, adult, youth, or children’s ministry; but each of us are seeking to be a part of bringing others to Christ.
I’ve spent the past 35 years of my life preaching the simple Gospel, because I believe that Jesus Christ can change every life He’s allowed to touch.
For most of us sitting in this clean, comfortable, well-lit church auditorium, surrounded by hundreds of believers, that sounds very reasonable.
As we open to Colossians 3 we begin with four verses that declare the wonder of our salvation. Baptism is a look back at what Christ did to us, Communion is a look back at what Christ did for us on the Cross.
Follow along as we read the first four verses:
Colossians 3:1-4 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.
Have you ever wondered how people in the Bible shared the Gospel, and did evangelism way back then? Last week we looked at our Discipline of Discipleship and saw that we have the very same Gospel, the very same Mission, and the very same power source of the Spirit of God. This week we need to go onward to examine exactly how they communicated that Gospel.
This morning as we open to John 3:16, one of the best known verses in the Bible, we also open to just one of over 100+ different times the New Testament records the good news of salvation, or the Gospel, being explained.
While turning to John 3, see if you can repeat with me the best know verse in the Bible. Here we go:
“For God….so loved…”
Yes, there you have it—the best know verse in the Bible; and starting at this passage we are considering the implications of Christ’s convictions about salvation.
The waters of baptism symbolize our new life in Christ. Baptism portrays or pictures what God has done in us through Christ. Open to Colossians 2:11. Actually, v. 8-12 are one long sentence with one primary clause[1] starting in v.8, and six secondary clauses, each with a verb extending all the way down to v.12.
As we open to First Thessalonians 5:23 we are going to read the plan God gave to Paul to start a recovery program is a rough, tough, vice-filled, seaport city named Thessalonica.
In AD 50 or 51, the Gospel had arrived in this thriving commercial transportation hub where intercontinental caravans met at the docks of a huge seaport. In less than three weeks, a group of drunkards, sex-addicts, greedy and dishonest business people, as well as normal well-adjusted lost pagans and Jews had come to Christ.
There is no heart God can’t change. There is no life, no past, no sin, no stain, no failure, and no habit that God can’t change if you will let Him. Are you letting the Lord change you? Are you responding? Is Jesus Christ controlling you more each day?
The Power of Christ’s Regenerating Work
Twenty-six hundred years ago God explained regeneration in Ezekiel. Turn there with me and see what He says in Ezekiel 36:26-27:
Titus 3 this morning is God wonderful good news to all of us. God wants to abundantly pour out His mercy and saving grace upon anyone who will come to Christ. Please open there with me.
As a new pastor fresh out of seminary and starting into my very first pastorate, life sure was full of surprises 20 years ago. I was sitting behind the desk of a historic congregation, as the 25th man to lead that 175-year-old church. As I sat, studied and prayed for God to show me how to reach New England with the Gospel, I never knew how powerfully and directly He would answer my prayer.
Forgiveness: One moment before your last breath, one thing will matter more than anything else—whether you are dying forgiven or unforgiven.
Forgiven: Nothing matters more to any who have sinned—and God says all have sinned.
The peace you can have one moment before you die, is available on a daily basis, if you understand what God has done in Christ and if you choose to respond by faith to Him.
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