Viewing entries tagged with 'Sermons'
Why do our lives as Christians seem so powerless? True Spiritual Authority is Trinitarian
True Spiritual Authority is Trinitarian
This past Sunday at services we looked at how the church that Jesus wants to love us into is a church that submits to His spiritual authority that He exercises in and through the church. For a fair number of folks, I realize this may be the first sermon we’ve heard on this subject in our lives. That is a tragedy, for it means we have been robbed of knowing and enjoying more of our Triune God. Let me explain.
Why Jesus' Kingship is Good News for Rebels...
In the opening of our series on the Church that Love builds, we saw a breath-taking glimpse of how Jesus loves the church as our prophet, priest, and king. We saw how Jesus came as the perfect prophet who reveals God to us and speaks to us as God. This is good news for it brings truth into our lives that provides real direction and wisdom.
Pondering Providence
Recently, some of our church family have been going through some real difficulties. Some have faced illnesses, others marital and relational struggles, and still others financial/job setbacks. Often we turn to Scripture for guidance in these times. That’s a good thing. The Bible has much to say about how to approach each of these kinds of things.
The New Age of the Kingdom
This past Sunday, we saw how much freight can be carried in so few words. When you study the gospel of John closely and as a whole, you realize that when John uses phrases like "in that day", he is likely speaking of the New Age of the Kingdom. In order to help us better see what he's talking (i.e. the "freight" behind it), we used a chart to picture the eschatological relationships he is describing. "Eschatology" comes from two Greek words- eschatos & logos, and means "the doctrine of the last things." We normally understand that to mean events which are still to happen in God's plan to fully establish the Kingdom of God on earth. But we saw that it also really includes helping us understand our present place in God's plans for history. In other words, it helps us make sense of our "now" in light of God's big picture of the past, present, and future. So to see that big picture more clearly, here is the chart that I used during the sermon for you to ponder, study, and pray in light of. You may want to just click here and download it as pdf to better see it.
More on John 15 & relationships- Connecting by Confessing
In John 15:12-17 that we looked at on Sunday, we saw how friendship with God through Christ leads to Christ-like friendship with one another. One part of such Christ-like friendships is intimacy (Jn. 15:15). We talked about a few Scriptural examples of such intimacy, but didn't have time to get to the place of confession in building (or destroying) intimacy in our relationships. Confession is key for such intimacy, but only the right kind of confession will do...
Learning to Thank Christ for His Purposeful Atonement
With all the time we spend debating and diatribing over the doctrines of grace, we end up having very little time left to reflect on the benefits of the doctrines of grace. This weakens us by leading us away from worshipping Christ for accomplishing our redemption. So in light of Jesus' declaration of His very purposeful atonement for His people. Lets take a moment to consider the benefits: