July 24, 2022 |
Ephesians 4:15-16 |
communication, family
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How are you and your family doing with communication? If you’re single, do you have good communication with your parents and siblings? What about with close friends? Do you ever feel lonely with no real family to talk to? If you are married, are you and your spouse experiencing the joyful oneness and intimacy that God designed for marriage? Is there unity in your family with mutual understanding?
How can we learn to communicate for mutual understanding in our families?In the apostle Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, he taught them to communicate for mutual understanding as the family of God. We can communicate for mutual understanding in our families.
July 17, 2022 |
Ephesians 3:14-21 |
family
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How has your family life marked you today? Some of you had a great family life growing up, but some of you are still trying to find healing from growing up in a dysfunctional family. And to be clear, no family is perfect. Every family has problems and challenges. Regardless of the kind of family you grew up in, there is hope and healing in Jesus!
In the book of Ephesians, the apostle Paul prayed that believers would experience God’s blessing on the family. We can experience God’s blessing on our families.
Gospel Saturation is the church owning the lostness of an identified people in a defined place, ensuring that every man, woman, and child has repeated opportunities to see, hear, and respond to the Good News of Jesus Christ where they live, learn, work, and play.
This is just a way of restating the command that Jesus gave the church: Mark 16:15 (ESV) And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation."
Perhaps the church in America has been too focused on building its own kingdom, rather than being active members of Christ’s ever-increasing Kingdom.
July 10, 2022 |
Acts 9:31 |
discipleship
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Over the past three weeks we’ve talked about being a church of people who are mobilized to live transformed lives wherever they live, learn, work, and play, collaborating with other believers to see that every man, woman, and child has repeated opportunities to see, hear, and respond to the Good News of Jesus.
Today, we’re going to be looking at the book of Acts. The book of Acts, or the Acts of the Apostles, is the record of how the first century church obeyed Christ’s command to make disciples and quickly multiplied from Jerusalem, to Judea, Samaria, and throughout the Roman world! In the book of Acts, Luke recorded the how the early believers obeyed Christ’s command to be a multiplying church.
July 3, 2022 |
John 17:20-26 |
collaboration
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We live in a competitive and divided world today. The list of things that divide us has outgrown what might unite us. Aren’t you tired of the division? What would it look to see or be a part of a group of people who are united and willing to work together for a common purpose?
Did you know that one of the last prayers that Jesus prayed on earth was that we would be unified and willing to collaborate in proclaiming the gospel to the whole world? It’s true. He prayed it that night in the Garden. In the 17th chapter of the gospel of John, he recorded one of Christ’s final prayers for believers that the Father would make them one with Him and with one another, so that the world might believe in Him. We can recognize Christ’s prayer that we collaborate as one, so that the world might believe.
June 26, 2022 |
Romans 12:1-13 |
discipleship
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God wants His people to be more than attenders of church services and programs. For gospel saturation to begin to happen in our city, God’s people must be transformed by the power of His Spirit. Transformation cannot be programmed by any leader, no matter how gifted.
Has your life been transformed by faith in Jesus? Are you becoming more like Jesus in character and behavior? How has your life been changed by faith in Christ? And if it hasn’t changed, don’t you want it to change? Life Transformation happens when we make Jesus King and Lord over our lives! In the 12th chapter of the apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans, he appealed to the believers in Rome to give themselves fully to the Lord that He might transform their lives. We can give ourselves fully to the Lord that He might transform our lives.
June 19, 2022 |
2 Timothy 4:1-5 |
discipleship, evangelism, gospel
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As the American population has increased to 335 million and counting, the church in America has declined, both in attendance and influence. We’re living in the greatest decline of Christianity in our nation and it’s happening on our watch! Why is the church losing ground in our nation? We could blame it on the devil, or the evil in our culture. We could blame it on Hollywood, social media, or the government. But maybe we should take a look in the mirror instead?
In order to reverse this trend, we need to make 4 shifts in priorities to saturate our communities with the gospel. In today’s sermon, we’re going to consider that first priority shift: “Mobilization over Collection.”
May 22, 2022 |
1 Peter 1:13-21 |
hymns
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The lyrics to this hymn were written by Elvina M. Hall (1820-1899). On a Sunday in 1865, while sitting in the choir loft, Elvina’s mind wandered during the pastor’s rather lengthy prayer. She begin to think of our need for salvation and the price Jesus paid for it. Words began to form themselves. She had to get them down. But she had no paper., so she started scribbling on the blank flyleaf of her hymnbook, writing, “Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe; sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.”
In the apostle Peter’s first letter, he challenged believers to live in such a way that always remembered the precious blood of Jesus that paid for their sins. We can live in such a way remembering that Jesus paid for our sin.
May 19, 2022 |
Isaiah 6:1-8 |
holy, hymns
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The lyrics to this hymn were written by British pastor and poet, Reginald Weber. Weber was born in Cheshire, England, in 1783. He was a “preacher’s kid,” and later succeeded his father in the church his father once pastored. He later felt God’s calling to the mission field and in 1822, at the age of 40, he was appointed to oversee the Church of England’s ministries in India. While in the village of Trichinopoly on April 3, 1826, he preached to a large crowd in the hot sun, and after trying to cool off in a pool, suffered a stroke and died.
It was later that same year after his death, that his widow found 57 hymns he had written among his belongings that had never been published. Among them was “Holy, Holy, Holy,” which she had published along with her husband’s other hymns.
In Isaiah chapter six, the Lord gave the prophet a revelation of His holiness. We can understand what it means that God is holy.
May 8, 2022 |
1 John 5:11-15 |
hymns
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The lyrics to the hymn, Blessed Assurance, were written by Francis Jane Crosby, or as she was commonly known, Fanny Crosby. The tune was written by her friend, Phoebe Knapp. Fanny Crosby was an American mission worker, poet, lyricist, and composer. She was a prolific hymnist, writing more than 8,000 hymns. She is also known for her teaching and her rescue mission work in NYC. By the end of the 19th century, she was a household name. Crosby was known as the “Queen of Gospel Song Writers.”
Do you know the blessed assurance of belonging to Jesus? Are you sure of your status with God? Do you have confidence that you’ll spend eternity in heaven? To be “assured” of something means “to be certain, to be confident of a thing.” It means to feel “secure” that what God has promised in Jesus is truly yours. Do know this blessed assurance today?
May 2, 2022 |
Ephesians 2:4-10 |
hymns
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“Amazing Grace” was written by English poet and clergyman John Newton (1725–1807) and was published in 1779. It is one of the most recognizable songs in the English-speaking world. Newton wrote the words from personal experience. He grew up without any particular religious conviction but his life’s path was formed by a variety of twists and turns that were often caused by his own rebellious insubordination. He was pressed into the Royal Navy and became a sailor, eventually participating in the slave trade. Towards the end of his sailing career he was a slave ship captain. One night a terrible storm battered his vessel so severely that he became frightened enough to call out to God for mercy, a moment that marked the beginning of his spiritual conversion.
Do you know this amazing grace that Newton wrote about? In the apostle Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, he reminded them of God’s amazing grace. We can understand why God’s grace is so amazing.
