April 6, 2022 |
Pastor Gary Combs responds to a question about a recent sermon. The question is from the reading in Zechariah 11:10, which reads: “And I took my staff Favor, and I broke it, annulling the covenant that I had made with all the peoples.” The question submitted was: “Which covenant was annulled by the breaking of
September 11, 2021 |
“Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.” – 1 Corinthians 15:1-2 (ESV) What does the word “gospel” mean? It means
July 5, 2020 | Ephesians 2:4-10 |
Have you noticed how grace-less our culture has become? The so-called “social graces” that used to guide our social interactions, like polite speech, good manners, etiquette, deportment, appropriate dress, have faded into a rude, rough and selfish disregard of others. Add to our declining social graces the political turmoil, the pandemic, the racial unrest, and other problems continuously broadcast to us 24/7 and you have the makings of the graceless and divided country we see today.
How can we change? How can we understand how much “grace matters” to God and how much it matters to how we should live as believers? First, we must understand that in the Bible, grace takes on an even deeper spiritual meaning than just good manners. In the apostle Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, he reminded them how much God’s grace mattered to their salvation. We can understand how much God’s grace matters to our salvation.
September 22, 2019 | Romans 5:12-21 |
There is a great battle raging for our allegiance. Will you be ruled by guilt or grace? This battle began in the Garden of Eden. Guilt is both a status and a feeling. Adam felt and behaved guilty because he was guilty. He had broken God’s law. His guilt made him feel ashamed. We are guilty of breaking God’s law too. And guilty people feel shame. Shame can move us to repent and turn to God, but often we are reluctant to repent. In Romans 5:12-21, Paul wrote to the saints in Rome that they no longer had to be ruled by guilt, but could reign in the grace of God received through faith in Christ.
October 8, 2017 | Galatians 3:15-25 |
That our freedom and salvation depend on God’s promise, not our performance is good news to those who know they are enslaved by sin and want to be set free, but it is challenging news to those who either feel they are already good enough or don’t agree with the Bible’s morality. Since they don’t recognize themselves as a sinner, they don’t feel any need for a Savior.
It is this tension between grace and law, promise and performance, that Paul addresses most clearly today. In chapter 3 of Galatians, Paul taught the Galatian churches that while God’s law had its purpose and place, salvation had always depended on God’s promise, not human performance. It is only by believing God’s promise that we are saved and set free.
September 17, 2017 | Galatians 1:1-24 |
Are you free from slavery to sin? Have you received the grace of Christ which sets you free from sin and sin’s result, which is death? Some have never received this grace and that’s the good news for today. You can be set free because of God’s grace, His free gift of salvation. Many others have received this grace, but aren’t living as one who has been set free. Perhaps you have fallen into the trap of legalism. Having received the mercy of God for salvation, you are now trying to live according to your own merit. Having received God’s favor as a gift, you are now trying to earn God’s favor as a goal — as if God’s love is conditional based on your ongoing effort.
In the apostle Paul’s letter to the Galatian believers, he challenged them to return to Christ’s grace alone that was able to set them free. The only way to experience true freedom is to cling to Christ’s grace alone.
June 2, 2017 |
“Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.” – Ephesians 5:21 (ESV) “What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? …But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’ Submit yourselves therefore to God.”
March 18, 2016 |
“Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom
February 5, 2016 |
“We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity” (2 Corinthians 8:1-2 ESV). “I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give.
March 27, 2015 |
“Just as Christ was crucified between two thieves,” so the gospel “is ever crucified between two opposite errors” (Tertullian, early church father). “If our gospel message even slightly resembles ‘you must believe and live right to be saved’ or ‘God loves and accepts everyone just as they are,’ we will find our communication is not