Archive for the ‘Dr. Gary Deddo’ Category
“The Prayer Life God Gives Us!”
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Many Christians discover that the life of prayer can feel both deeply alive and deeply difficult, marked by vitality and struggle, at times unfolding with natural freedom and at other times feeling burdensome or unanswered.
What is God inviting us into when prayer feels this way?
What is God forming in us through both the ease and the struggle of prayer?
What does Scripture teach us about the kind of prayer life God desires?
There is a deep and living relationship at the heart of Christian prayer. One rooted in the life of the Triune God and revealed in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Prayer is not a spiritual vending machine where we drop pious words in order to get what we want. It is not a strategy for managing God or securing outcomes. Prayer is participation in the life of the Trinity. A communion with the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit.
Grace Communion International captures this truth with pastoral clarity:
“Prayer is our cry for help. In prayer, we admit that we are not self-sufficient, that we cannot handle everything on our own. In prayer, we acknowledge a relationship between God and us, a relationship in which God has promised to provide our needs and to bless us in ways he knows are best.”— Grace Communion International— Responding to Jesus With Prayer
Because prayer is relational, Scripture teaches that it can also be hindered. Not because God becomes distant, but because our lives can become misaligned with His will. The apostle James speaks directly to this reality:
“You ask and don’t receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.”— James 4:3 (CSB)
James does not suggest that God is unwilling to listen. Rather, he reveals that prayer becomes distorted when it is shaped by self-centered desire instead of trust in the Father’s goodness. Prayer is not about coercing God or twisting His arm. It is about being reshaped by the God who delights in giving good gifts to His children. John Calvin expressed this truth clearly:
“Believers do not pray, with the view of informing God about things unknown to him, or of exciting him to do his duty, or of urging him as though he were reluctant; but they pray in order that they may arouse themselves to seek him.”— John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book III, Chapter 20, Section 3
Prayer, then, is not designed to change God’s disposition toward us. It draws us more deeply into dependence upon Him. Jesus Himself teaches that our relationships with others profoundly shape our prayer life. He offers a sober warning:
“And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven will also forgive your wrongdoing.”— Mark 11:25 (CSB)
Unforgiveness does not merely strain human relationships; it disrupts our lived communion with God. When bitterness takes root, prayer becomes clouded, not because God withdraws, but because our hearts resist the reconciling life He offers. The apostle Peter brings this truth into the ordinary spaces of life, reminding us that prayer cannot be separated from how we live:
“Husbands, in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with a weaker partner, showing them honor as coheirs of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered.”— 1 Peter 3:7 (CSB)
Here, prayer is inseparable from embodied love. The way we honor others reflects the way we stand before God. When our lives mirror Christ’s self-giving love, prayer rises not as complaint or demand, but as communion.
Yet even when prayer feels unanswered, Scripture invites us to resist the assumption that God is absent or indifferent. Silence, in the life of faith, often becomes a place of deep growth. Jesus Himself gives thanks for the Father’s hidden and gracious work:
“I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and revealed them to infants.”— Matthew 11:25 (CSB)
This means that God’s silence is not emptiness. It is often a gracious space where trust is learned, humility is formed, and Christlikeness is shaped. At the heart of all Christian prayer stands the Trinity. Prayer is never a solo performance. Even when words fail, we are not left alone:
“The Spirit also helps us in our weakness, because we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings.”— Romans 8:26 (CSB)
This is why prayer is possible at all. As theologian Dr. Gary W. Deddo reminds us:
“The Christian life is first and foremost about our participation, as the body of Christ, by the Spirit, in the Son of God’s relationship with his Father.”— Gary W. Deddo, Grace Communion International
Prayer flows from this shared life. We do not pray to reach a distant deity. We pray because, in Jesus Christ, we have already been welcomed into the Father’s fellowship by the Spirit. C. S. Lewis reinforces the deeply personal reality of prayer:
“I pray because I can’t help myself. I pray because I’m helpless. I pray because the need flows out of me all the time, waking and sleeping. It doesn’t change God—it changes me.”— C. S. Lewis, Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer
Prayer shapes us because the gospel itself reshapes our standing before God. The good news of Jesus Christ does not announce something we must achieve, but something God has already given. Scripture proclaims:
“For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written: The righteous will live by faith.”— Romans 1:17 (CSB)
This righteousness is revealed not through religious performance, but through the person and work of Jesus Christ:
“For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.”— 1 Corinthians 2:2 (CSB)
Because righteousness is given rather than earned, prayer becomes a response rather than a performance, participation in grace rather than pressure to prove ourselves. Prayer is not about twisting God’s arm, but about being shaped by His love. It is the daily fellowship of a people invited to dwell with the God who, in Christ, has made His home with us.
Conclusion:
God desires our prayer life to be rooted in relationship with Him and with one another. Prayer is not a wish list presented to a reluctant God; it is the heartbeat of a life united with the Triune God. When we pray, we come as children to the Father. We come through the Son who mediates our access. We are guided by the Spirit whose intercession aligns our hearts with heaven.
And we are not left to invent prayer on our own! Ultimately, prayer is a participation with Jesus IN HIS CURRENT LIFE OF PRAYER as a glorified human being! Jesus prays with us in our humanity (Heb. 5:7) and prays for us eternally as our High Priest (Heb. 7:25).
Jesus Christ Himself teaches us how to pray as those who belong to the Father, placing words of trust, forgiveness, daily dependence, and hope on our lips.
The Lord’s Prayer:
“Therefore, you should pray like this:
Our Father in heaven,
your name be honored as holy.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And do not bring us into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.”
— Matthew 6:9–13 (CSB)
“Who Do You Say I Am, God?”
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Leave a comment Rediscovering Your True Identity in Christ
Galatians 2:20 (KJV)
“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless, I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”
“I will praise you because I have been remarkably and wondrously made. Your works are wondrous, and I know this very well.” Psalm 139:14(CSB)
I don’t know about you, but I’ve wrestled with labels: failure, too broken, unlovable, not enough, invisible, unworthy, making life heavy. Maybe you have too. Sometimes the world whispers them. Sometimes they’re shouted by our circumstances. Sometimes we carry them quietly from our past. And other times, they come like daggers from the very people we thought would love and protect us most. Over time, those words start to settle in, clinging to us like heavy blankets, distorting how we see ourselves, and even how we think God —Father, Son, Holy Spirit sees us.
But the deeper, more healing question is this:
“Who do You say I am, God?”
This question isn’t just self-reflection, it’s surrender. It’s turning away from the unstable ground of human opinion and personal shame and turning toward the One whose voice created us in love and speaks identity over us in grace.
Jesus asked His disciples, “But you,” he asked them, “who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15, CSB).
Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” (v. 16)
Jesus responded, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father in heaven.” (v. 17)
This moment is about revelation. It shows that truly knowing who Jesus is and who we are in Him is not something we achieve through striving or self-discovery, but something revealed to us by the Father. Just as Peter saw Jesus clearly by God’s grace, we too come to see ourselves rightly through that same grace.
And here’s what God—Father, Son, Holy Spirit says:
You are My beloved child (John 1:12, CSB).
You are forgiven and free (Romans 8:1–2, CSB).
You are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17, CSB).
You are chosen and not forsaken (1 Peter 2:9, CSB).
You are hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3, CSB).
You are seated with Christ in the heavens (Ephesians 2:6, CSB).
When God names us, He does so based NOT on what we’ve done, but on what JESUS HAS DONE. As Dr. Gary Deddo writes:
“Jesus alone tells us who we are in him. Through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, he gives us a share in his meaning, significance, security, dignity and destiny.”—Gary Deddo, The Surprising God Blog
This is the truest thing about you:
You are not who others say you are. You are not the sum of your mistakes. You are not even who you say you are. You were designed with a purpose. You were made for a destiny. You are a masterpiece, hand painted by the Master himself. You are Who God Says You Are! “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.” —Ephesians 2:10 CSB).
That identity is not fragile. It’s not temporary. It doesn’t rise and fall with your performance. In another reflection, Dr. Deddo reminds us:
“Let us not forget that it is Jesus’ faith—his faithfulness—that saves and transforms us.”—Gary Deddo, GCI Update, “Embracing Our New Identity in Christ”
This changes everything. We don’t build our identity on shaky foundations of willpower or reputation. We rest in Christ’s finished work. HIS faithfulness, HIS obedience, HIS righteousness given to us by grace.
This identity frees us to stop hustling for approval and start walking in assurance. In Jesus, we don’t just have a NEW NAME, we have A NEW NATURE. A NEW FUTURE. A NEW HOPE.
Reflection Questions:
– What labels or false identities have you been clinging to that Jesus never gave you?
– What might change in your life if you truly believed what Christ says about you?
– How can you let God’s—Father, Son, Holy Spirit—define you more than your inner critic?
Prayer
Lord Jesus, when I’m tempted to believe the lies, the ones that say I’m not enough, too far gone, or too broken, pull me back to the truth. Remind me that my identity doesn’t rise or fall with my performance. It rests securely in who You are and what You’ve done. When the old labels come rushing in… When the voices of the past get loud… When shame tries to cover me like a heavy blanket…. Lift my eyes. Remind me that I am not who the world says I am. I am who You say I am. You call me beloved. You call me new. You call me Yours. So today and every day, I ask you to help me to rest, not in striving, not in perfection, but in Your faithfulness, Your righteousness, Your finished work. Help me live from the identity You’ve already spoken over me: FREE. FORGIVEN. CHOSEN. REDEEMED. In Your powerful and loving name, I pray, Amen.
The Father Loves and Likes You 2023 Workshops
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Discover how the Gospel of the Father-Son-Holy-Spirit-God can guide us through the trials and tribulations of today’s world in 5 insightful teaching sessions. 
[Special guests Gary and Cathy Deddo lead us on a transformative exploration of Who Jesus is and our identity in Him amidst the challenges we face as the Church. Don’t miss out on this enriching experience and check it out! 
]
#GospelConference
#FaithInChallengingTimes
#NewLifeBaltimoreGCI
“The Scope of Christ’s Lordship”
“The Scope Of Christ’s Salvation”
“The Lord’s Prayer”
“Living As Christian’s In This World”
Marriage: Profound Mystery About Christ And The Church! pt.1
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Part 1A:
Part 1B:
Full message:
Scripture: John 14:6 1 Cor 6:17 Ephesians 5:31-32
This Message Series:
Living Into This Challenging Christian Life With Jesus! #12
Introduction:
“Paul’s governing insight was that all relationships between persons or groups of persons are to be informed, moved and regulated and so disciplined by God’s agapē love, provided as a gift of grace to his people. This love purifies and cleanses and repurposes the natural loves: family love, marital love and friendships. That love is first demonstrated in the relationship between the Triune Persons, seen concretely in Jesus in his relationship with the Father. Secondly, it is seen in Jesus’ words and deeds towards all he came in contact with. That love culminated in Jesus giving his life for us in his crucifixion and resurrection, ascension and promised return. So, every word and act of the members of his body in relationship to each other are to be moved and measured by conformity to and even sharing in God’s kind of love……it is only as we share in and live out of our relationship to Christ and his love that we are able to relate to one another in ways that bring about a fruitful unity and diversity in loving relationship, fellowship and communion.” —Gary Deddo
Theological Theme:
“Christian marriage is grounded in God‘s [Father, Son and Holy Spirit] own creative activity. The basic unit of creation is not the individual human being, male or female, but Man and Woman as one Man, one flesh. ln marriage God completes His creative act. in making man and woman one flesh and through them creating new life. When a man and woman marry they partake of God‘s creative completion of their being. and so in marriage man and woman do not have to do only with one another, but have to do with their Creator. “—T. F. Torrance
Christ connection:
“Jesus Christ is the one Word of God in, by and for whom humanity is constituted. He alone reveals God’s will for human life and flourishing. Consequently, marriage ought primarily to be understood christologically. The Church therefore rejects as false all efforts to ground its doctrine and ethics in sources apart from and besides this one Word of God. Such efforts threaten to turn an institution or relationship into an idol, an anti-Christ.” —Jason Goroncy
When it comes to identity, you are not the sinful acts you perform. Your identity is firmly grounded in Christ. In Christ, you are a true person and human being. That is who you REALLY are. The attacks we experience in our day are not just on us and our family, on nature, on creation, on the universe or on the church. It is an attack on Jesus Christ, the Lord of heaven and earth. When we have received the Spirit of God, we’re in union with Jesus Christ and have been sealed with the Holy Spirit so, by nature of that union, that attack is coming at us too.
Therefore, when we talk about ANY challenge of life, Jesus is the answer and because HE is also the LIGHT, and the WAY, we MUST talk about ALL subjects, more specifically, Marriage, Singleness and Sexuality only in the light of HIM.
Missional Application:
As Christians we worship the Father, through the Son, in the power of the Spirit. We then witness to him that all may turn to Him, receive his Spirit and live in union and communion with Him. We seek in His power to glorify Him in every part of our nature and in every relationship!
“This ongoing ministry of the Holy Spirit is essential for our participation in relationship with God on the basis of Christ’s ministry. The Spirit is the one who, in the proclamation and our hearing of the Word, gives us freedom to respond, who delivers to us the desire and willingness to repent, believe and trust Christ, and thus to receive the forgiveness God has, in Christ, already extended to us, and to receive the power to become and live as the adopted children of God that believers are….
Most particularly, life in the Spirit of Christ looks like a joyful, free “obedience of faith” in God through Christ that works itself out in following the many commands, imperatives and exhortations and correctives addressed to the church found throughout the New Testament. It involves a deliberate and purposeful participation in ministry as worship and witness that follows the patterns and priorities set out in the New Testament as enabled and gifted by the Holy Spirit. We can summarize all this under the heading of the Great Commandments of love for God (with all we are and have) and love for our neighbors (as God’s representatives)” —Gary Deddo
Conclusion:
1) Christian Marriage has to do with both people worshipping The Lord in a covenant.
2) A marriage is not just about the marriage itself- “the happening”.
“In the Bible, marriage is placed within the structure of the Covenant between God and man in which God revealed the inner basis and purpose of the creation. Marriage involves people in a way of life that is rooted beyond itself in the eternal Will and Truth of God and because in the sexual union of man and woman in marriage they are concerned with God‘s act, sexual acts outside that union are a sin against the Lord. Those who indulge in them are playing with God, and prostituting to their own selfish ends God’s creative act which constitutes the basic unity of man.” – T.F. Torrance
Psalm 51: 4 “Against you, and you alone, have I sinned; I have done what is evil in your sight. You will be proved right in what you say, and your judgment against me is just.”
Sin is sin against The Lord who created it the way HE wanted it to run, as a mirror image of HIM. If you indulge in something against the way of The Lord you are adhering to your own selfish ends and going against God’s creative acts which constitute the basic unity of man.
The way God designed creation it is what brings people together and holds us together and makes us whole. To do anything contrary to that is to destroy one another and to destroy the unity which we are seeking to have in Christ.
Photo Compliments: Faithlife Sermons
Contending For The Faith Delivered To The Saints! – Part 11
Filed under: Bible, By Tim Brassell, Christian Living, Christianity, Church, Dr. Gary Deddo, Faith, God Father Son and Spirit, God the Trinity, God's love, good news, Gospel, Grace Communion Baltimore, Grace Communion International, identity in Christ, Jesus Christ, Love, Ministry, New Life Fellowship Of Baltimore Maryland, On Mission with Christ, Participation with Christ, Participation with Jesus, Prayer, relationship with God, Relationships, Sermons, The Church, The Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Timothy Brassell, Trinity, Uncategorized, Union with Christ, Witnessing to God, Witnessing to Jesus, Worship, Worshiping God, Worshipping Jesus | Tags: Authorities, Biblical Politics, Christian Politics, Church, Citizenship, Contending for the Faith, Democracy, Faith, Faith-based Politics, Future Government, God's Grace, Government, Government Authority, Grace Communion Baltimore, Hope, Human Government, human relationships, Jesus and Politics, Jesus Politics, Jesus' Church, King Jesus, kingdom of god, Love, Ministry with Jesus, New Life Fellowship Baltimore MD, Participation with Christ, Partisan Politics, Politics, Pop Theology, Relationships, Scriptural Politics, Should Christians Vote, Social Justice, The Great Commandment, The Politics of Jesus, Timothy Brassell, Timothy Brassell of New Life Fellowship, Unconditional Love, Union with Christ, Voting
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Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X08EByCsRQg
Slides: NLF Sermon Slides 12.2.18
Audio: Part 10a: 32 min
Audio: Part 10b: 32 min
Audio: Full Message:
This Specific Message in the Series Points to the Truth in Christ that: “The Church in its witness must never give ultimate or unquestioned allegiance to any political or social ideology, or to the absolute rule or reign of any person or human institution. It must not idolize any humanly imagined ideal, and it must not justify evil means to accomplish the ideals promoted by ideological zealots. Instead, the church must carefully discern what limited good government (be it local, regional, national or international) can achieve without causing more harm than good (see Romans 13:1-7).”…other good stuff!
This series on God’s Good News urges believers to contend FOR the faith once delivered to the Church, in participation with Jesus Christ!, and AGAINST the ungodly cultural pressures and influences of our current times!
This is a Gospel message to a specific congregation of our times facing issues similar to congregations in other times as seen in the scriptures, particularly the Books of Jude and John. In this series, we make Christ-centered comparisons with the congregation in Jude and the Samaritan woman of Jesus’ time in John 4 to our particular congregation. You may see that the Church in general (especially if in the United States!), faces these same issues and also be helped by WHO and HOW He is proclaimed!
In the light of Jesus and the God revealed in Him (and over the course of 12 messages), we address today’s big questions regarding relationships, race, marriage, love, gender/sexual identity, politics, and worship and witness as it relates to the Christian God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Photo Compliments: http://jacksonwu.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/jesus-politics.jpg
NLF Baltimore 2018 Gospel Intensive with Dr. Gary Deddo, pt. 2 (Videos)
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Dr. Deddo is Special Assistant to GCI President Joseph Tkach. He is the president of Grace Communion Seminary and is the doctrinal advisor of GCI.
This year was the 5th Gospel Intensive event led by Dr. Deddo., and it’s Specific Purpose was to proclaim:
“Jesus Christ, Lord of all of Life”
“We will look into what it means to live as if Jesus Christ is Lord of all of life. It’s often said that we are to live in the world but not of the world. But what does that mean? How can we be the church in our secular world? How can we be witnesses to the Triune God and his coming Kingdom in “this present evil age,” as Paul calls it? Is the church really called and equipped to “turn the world upside down” or right side up? What kinds of difference can we individually and as a church make in our communities? Our schools? Our work? Our families? Is the church to be a social change organization? What does the Gospel have to say to our culture? We will especially focus on exploring what can we do with our education and vocations. We will not come up with all the answers but gain some very specific biblically based and theologically grounded direction.”
Jesus Christ, Lord of all of Life – Video 1: 60min
Jesus Christ, Lord of all of Life – Video 2: 58min
Jesus Christ, Lord of all of Life – Video 3: 60min
Jesus Christ, Lord of all of Life – Video 4 – Part a: 50min
Jesus Christ, Lord of all of Life – Video 4 – Part b: 50min
Sermon: Jesus, a Towel, a Basin and Our Feet, the Real Lesson to be Learned Video 5: 60min
NLF Baltimore 2018 Gospel Intensive with Dr. Gary Deddo
Filed under: Bible, by Dr. Gary Deddo, Christian Living, Christianity, Church, Dr. Gary Deddo, Faith, God, God Father Son and Spirit, God the Trinity, good news, Grace Communion Baltimore, Grace Communion International, identity in Christ, Inclusion, Jesus Christ, Love, Ministry, New Life Fellowship Of Baltimore Maryland, On Mission with Christ, Participation with Christ, Participation with Jesus, Prayer, relationship with God, Relationships, Sermons, The Church, The Father, Son and Holy Spirit, The Holy Spirit, Timothy Brassell, Trinity, Uncategorized, union, Union In Christ, Union with Christ, Witnessing to God, Witnessing to Jesus, Worship, Worshiping God, Worshipping Jesus | Tags: Dr. Gary Deddo, Faith, Faithfulness, God's Faithfulness, God's goodness, God's Grace, God's Guidance, God's Holiness, God's Power, Goodness, Grace, Grace Communion Baltimore, Holiness, Jesus Christ, Meshach, New Life Fellowship Of Baltimore Maryland, New Life in Christ, Pastor Timothy Brassell
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Dr. Deddo is Special Assistant to GCI President Joseph Tkach. He is the president of Grace Communion Seminary and is the doctrinal advisor of GCI.
This year was the 5th Gospel Intensive event led by Dr. Deddo.
Dr. Deddo’s specific purpose for this Intensive:
“Jesus Christ, Lord of all of Life”
“We will look into what it means to live as if Jesus Christ is Lord of all of life. It’s often said that we are to live in the world but not of the world. But what does that mean? How can we be the church in our secular world? How can we be witnesses to the Triune God and his coming Kingdom in “this present evil age,” as Paul calls it? Is the church really called and equipped to “turn the world upside down” or right side up? What kinds of difference can we individually and as a church make in our communities? Our schools? Our work? Our families? Is the church to be a social change organization? What does the Gospel have to say to our culture? We will especially focus on exploring what can we do with our education and vocations. We will not come up with all the answers but gain some very specific biblically based and theologically grounded direction.”
Jesus Christ, Lord of all of Life – Audio 1: 60min
Jesus Christ, Lord of all of Life – Audio 2: 58min
Jesus Christ, Lord of all of Life – Audio 3: 60min
Jesus Christ, Lord of all of Life – Audio 4 – Full Message: 1hr 40 min
Jesus Christ, Lord of all of Life – Audio 4 – Part1a: 50min
Jesus Christ, Lord of all of Life – Audio 4 – Part1b: 50min
Exploring Authentic Life In Christ – Avoiding Obstacles, Finding Freedom
Filed under: Bible, by Dr. Gary Deddo, Christian Living, Dr. Gary Deddo, Gospel, Grace Communion International, Love, Ministry, Relationships, Sermons, The Dance and Dream of the Trinity, Trinity, Uncategorized, Worship | Tags: Authentic Life, Bible, Christian Living, Christianity, Church, Faith, Freedom, god the father, God the Holy Spirit, God the Son, good news, Gospel, Grace, Grace Communion International, Hope, Incarnation, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Life In Christ, Love, New Life Fellowship Of Baltimore Maryland, Relationships, Trinitarian Theology, Trinity, Worship
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Jesus presents a serious challenge for all of us to rethink everything we think we know when he stated “I Am the Way, the Truth and the Life!” in John 14:6!
In this message Dr. Gary Deddo proclaims the astounding and gracious Good News of mankind’s reconciliation to God in the person of Jesus! He encourages us to take Jesus seriously as proclaimed by the Apostle Paul in Colossians 2:6-7, and explores the implications of our identity in Jesus. This is not easy to discern, so avoiding obstacles is important if want to experience the fullness of our true liberation and freedom in Christ!
*picture courtesy of worshiphousemedia.com
Gospel Intensive: Spirituality, Last Things, and The Kingdom of God!
Filed under: Bible, by Dr. Gary Deddo, Christian Living, Church, Dr. Gary Deddo, Grace Communion International, Love, Ministry, Relationships, Trinity, Uncategorized, Witness, Worship | Tags: Bible, Christian Living, Christianity, end times, eschatology, Faith, god the father, God the Holy Spirit, God the Son, God the Trinity, good news, Gospel, Grace, Hope, Incarnation, Jesus, Jesus Christ, kingdom of god, Last things, Love, new life fellowship, New Life Fellowship Of Baltimore Maryland, Participation, Participation with Christ, Pastor Tim of New Life Fellowship, Spirituality, Theology, Trinitarian Theology, Trinity
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Jesus tells to seek the kingdom of God before anything else. That sounds exciting and meaningful. But what does that mean? How do we go about it? Pursuing those questions requires exploring the question: Who is Jesus Christ in relationship to the world and its history? If Jesus Christ is Lord of time and space, and all of history, then out of that center our whole understanding of spirituality and eschatology [last things] is transformed and renewed!
Audio Part 1: “https://trinityandhumanity.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/4-30-16-spirituality-eschatology-and-the-kingdom-of-god-pt-1-dr-gary-deddo.mp3”
Audio Part 2: “https://trinityandhumanity.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/4-30-16-spirituality-eschatology-and-the-kingdom-of-god-pt-2-dr-gary-deddo.mp3”
Audio Part 3: “https://trinityandhumanity.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/4-30-16-spirituality-eschatology-and-the-kingdom-of-god-pt-3-dr-gary-deddo.mp3”
Audio Part 4: “https://trinityandhumanity.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/4-30-16-spirituality-eschatology-and-the-kingdom-of-god-pt-4-dr-gary-deddo.mp3”
Audio Part 5 Questions and Responses: “https://trinityandhumanity.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/4-30-16-spirituality-eschatology-and-the-kingdom-of-god-pt-5-qr-dr-gary-deddo.mp3”
Why Jesus’ Church Fellowships More And More! pt.5(b)
Filed under: Ascension, Ascension of Jesus, Bible, By Tim Brassell, Christian Living, Church, Dr. Gary Deddo, Evangelism, Gospel, Grace Communion International, Love, Ministry, Prayer, Relationships, Sermons, The Dance and Dream of the Trinity, The Plan of Adoption, Trinity, Uncategorized, Worship | Tags: Adoption, Adversary, Bible, Body of Christ, Christian Living, Christianity, Church, Church Fellowships, Citizenship, Civic Responsibility, dual citizenship, Easter, Easter Season, employment, Faith, Fellowship, Followers of Jesus, god the father, God the Holy Spirit, God the Son, God the Trinity, good news, Good Works, Gospel, Grace, Grace Communion International, Hope, identity in Christ, Incarnation, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Jobs, kingdom, kingdom of god, Love, Ministry, new life fellowship, Participation, Pastor Tim, Pastor Tim of New Life Fellowship, Pastor Timothy Brassell, Preaching, Relational God Revealed, Relationships, Salvation, Satan, Scripture, Scriptures, Sermons, Suffering, Temptation, the Light of Jesus, Theology, Timothy Brassell, Trinitarian Theology, Trinity, Uncategorized Bible, Union with Christ, Work, work ethic, Worship
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On this 4th Sunday after Pentecost, Pastor Timothy Brassell of New Life Fellowship of Baltimore, Proclaims the GOOD NEWS of The God Revealed in Jesus Christ in the continuation of pt. 5 of this Gospel Series, entitled, “Why Jesus’ Church Fellowships More And More!” and continues to show through Hebrews 10: 1-25 and 1 Thessalonians 2 that the historical context of Hebrews demonstrates that living in God’s image (in relationship together!) is SO CRUCIAL to our well-being that we ARE CALLED to FELLOWSHIP WITH EACH OTHER, all the more, even in the middle of persecution!
We hear in this message:
- Through a quote by Deitrich Bonhoeffer that “the Christian needs another Christian who speaks God’s Word to him. He needs him again and again when he becomes uncertain and discouraged, for by himself he cannot help himself without belying the truth. He needs his brother man as a bearer and proclaimer of the divine word of salvation. He needs his brother solely because of Jesus Christ. The Christ in his own heart is weaker than the Christ in the word of his brother; his own heart is uncertain, his brother’s is sure.” – Life Together, p.22-23. This is why we meet. We were meant to hear the Gospel proclaimed to us!
- There are many pressures placed on us, especially on fathers, because of society’s myth which is that the primary goal of life is the American work ethic and how it will give you power and save you, especially since our jobs are where we get our paychecks, or livelihoods.
- A more detailed answer to the question: “How do we sort out our calling to the Body of Christ and our calling to our Civic Responsibilities including our jobs?” Specifically we understand the responses to that question to be that:
- (1) In this world we have dual responsibilities and they relate around one true center – JESUS CHRIST, so we should NOT rank our responsibilities but prioritize CHRIST IN ALL OUR RESPONSIBILITIES!
- (2) We should NOT conceive of our job or the Body of Christ as independent of one another because in Christ, the Kingdom of God has broken into THIS AGE so that Jesus has the SAME END RESULT for BOTH YOUR SPIRITUAL LIFE AND YOUR WORK LIFE!
- Jesus IS our Work and our Ethic even if that appears confusing or troubling to us! Our Identity IS in Him! The right thing to do is whatever God is doing through us, in participation with Jesus and in the Holy Spirit. We not only live FOR Jesus, but we also live FROM Jesus!
Listen and understand more clearly that we can and need to think of our participation in life as DUAL CITIZENS who relate in our dual roles around the One Center of reality: Jesus!