Archive for the ‘death’ Tag
No One Can – Except The Lord Jesus!
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Part 1A
Part 1B
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 3:16
Introduction:
We’re in the season of Lent, biblically, walking with the historic Jesus as he fights for us against everything that is against us, including the evil that exists in this present evil age! And rather than just focusing on “giving something up” or even “taking something in”, we proclaim to you the Gospel of Someone, namely Jesus, and the Father-Son-Holy-Spirit-God revealed in Him. We proclaim not ideas to you but Someone Who loves you, meets you, and acts on your behalf that you might know Him, call on Him and participate in His action with Him! And in announcing Him we announce His Kingdom that is breaking in now and that will take over everything fully someday! And we do it with him as a source of your encouragement, and reorientation, and warning! We keep calling on you in participation with him to repent and believe this Good News and to enter, by grace through faith, this active relationship with Jesus and the Father you were created for!
Theological Theme:
In Jesus’ conception, life, suffering, death, resurrection and ascension we see the great mercy of God to give us all time to see him, to learn of him, accept him, know him, rethink/act, and join sides with him before he returns for His final judgment! There is coming a point-of-no-return for everyone, including you, at some point! And the questions stand before you: 1.) Who do you say Jesus is? And Whose are you? and Whose world/creation is this?
Christ Connection:
In the light of Who Jesus is Revealed to be, and what he has accomplished on our behalf that
every person might share in his relationship with his Father by the Spirit (John 17:3, John 16:13-
15), you must not underestimate the priority of the Who question. As “Christ”ians we don’t
believe that just anyone could be and do who Jesus is and what he did in his birth, life, suffering
and death, resurrection, ascension and coming again. We don’t believe that just anyone
could achieve the same outcome/s. Jesus is the unique and only Begotten of the Father
(John 3:16). He is the only human Mediator between God and man (1 Tim 2:5). He is the only
one to whom every knee will bow and tongue confess that he is Lord (Phil 2:9-11) This
“Who” is in contrast to the popular “What?”, “How?”, “When?”, “Where?” and “Why?
questions that often claim priority in our lives. (You know what we mean: What will be done about these
troubling political and social issues!? How long will the world continue to suffer racial
discrimination and injustice!? When will this physical, mental or emotional pain end!? Where is that stimulus check??? Where is the man or woman with the real leadership solution to this COVID mess, and why is it taking so long to get understood, organized and solved!? (this year we especially felt the pressure of those questions and issues.)
Missional Application:
Because this is the Son’s world, the Father’s world, and the world of the Holy Spirit, and They, in Christ have done everything to give us life and godliness – and have done everything to pull off every good thing for us, we share this Good News with everyone we can, inviting them to place their trust in God and be his fully devoted son or daughter by the Spirit, in participation with Jesus!
Photos compliments: quotesbeste.blogspot.com, Dr. Gary Deddo,
JESUS: The Most Important PERSON and TASK For Everyone! Part 3 (Jesus’ Suffering / The Biblical Worldview)
Filed under: Bible, By Pastor Timothy, By Tim Brassell, By Timothy Brassell, Christian Living, Christianity, Church, Easter, Faith, GCI Windsor Mill, Maryland, God, God Father Son and Spirit, God the Trinity, God's love, good news, Gospel, Grace Communion Baltimore, Grace Communion International, identity in Christ, Inclusion, Jesus Christ, Love, Ministry, New Life Fellowship Of Baltimore Maryland, New Life Fellowship Of Windsor Mill, MD., On Mission with Christ, Participation with Christ, Participation with Jesus, relationship with God, Sermons, The Church, The Father, Son and Holy Spirit, The Holy Spirit, Timothy Brassell, Trinity, Uncategorized, Union with Christ, Witnessing to God, Witnessing to Jesus, Worship, Worshiping God, Worshipping Jesus | Tags: Christian Living, Christianity, Church, Crucifixion of Jesus, death, Entrusting Ourselves To God, evil, God's goodness, God's Grace, God's Humility, God's Mercy, Gospel, healing, Human Nature Renewed, Incarnational Theology, Jesus, Jesus' Humility, Jesus' Suffering and Death, Living Again, Love, Punishment, redemption, Relationships, Renewal, Sin, Suffering, Suffering With Jesus, Sufferings of Christ, The Christian Hope, The Father's Love, The Forgiveness of Sin, The Incarnation, The Incarnation of the Son, Trinitarian Theology, Trinity, Trusting God, Trusting Jesus
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Part 3A:
Part 3B:
Full Message:
Bible Verses: Luke 4: 1-28
Introduction:
In this series we continue understanding the Person of Jesus and the Father’s Work in Him, and what the entire course of His Incarnate Human Life (God in Human Flesh) meant and means for us. We’re understanding more accurately and biblically what it means to place our trust in and say “Jesus Christ!”
Theological Theme:
We’re in the process of answering the question “Who are You Lord?” and Jesus’ own answer back to us as the revelation of God, in the Holy Spirit, is that He is, Himself, God, and therefore He is the human expression of God’s Love. It is Revealed in Jesus that because God is Love and God is a Relationship in His own Being, God stoops and draws near to His creation, to sustain it, and, when it falls into sin, He seizes and lifts it up again in His Son, renewed. He does not forsake His own or turn from what He has made, He fulfills that which He has purposed! He literally fulfills it in Himself! The story of Who God is and Who he has revealed Himself to be for us in Jesus is the Greatest Love Story there is!
Christ Connection:
As the One Who becomes human taking our place in the entire range of our human activity, Jesus is also the one who substitutes for us in our suffering, and our death. With Representation, Substitution and Renewal in mind, we can receive that the suffering and crucifixion of Jesus isn’t about the wrath of the Father against His Son, but the Father, Son and Holy Spirit against sin and for our complete and total salvation! The suffering of Jesus is not about God the Father needing to have a pound of flesh (or an eye for an eye, or a tooth for a tooth) so that he could be satisfied (the Lord does not take pleasure in the death of anyone – Ezekiel 18:23, 32, 33:11!) but because the Father is intent to absorb every drop of evil out of our nature and give us a renewed and healed nature in its place! The suffering and cross of Jesus is not about the Father punishing His Son because He hates us, but about us punishing His Son because we have hated him in the evil of sin! Jesus did take on the punishment we deserved but it was sinners who dealt it out!
God is not afraid of sin as if he is intimidated by it and can’t get near to or touch it. He can and must get near it (assume it by getting inside of it) to get rid of it. His goodness absorbs it completely because he is completely righteous and doesn’t sin at all, therefore “mopping up” the mess of sin – undoing it !
Missional Application:
Because of Jesus, sinners can draw near to God to be healed, reconciled and redeemed. God in Christ touched lepers! Sick people touched him! It was the sickness that was defeated and overcome when Jesus drew near, not Jesus! This is what we proclaim to the world of pre-believers that they might turn from their sin and put their trust in Jesus. This is also why St. Augustine wrote about the Spirit Jesus now sends in this way:
“There is nothing too subtle or dense for the Spirit to penetrate or too sinful for the Spirit to cleanse or too weary for the Spirit to refresh or too dead for the Spirit to breathe life into again. The Spirit strives with us, prays for us, groans with us (Rom. 8:18–27; Augustine, Hom. on 1 John 8).”
Photo Compliments: http://www.crosswalk.com
The Spirit of Truth and Generosity!
Filed under: Bible, by Tony Marra, Christian Living, Christianity, Church, Discipleship, Faith, GCI Windsor Mill, Maryland, God, God Father Son and Spirit, God the Trinity, God's love, good news, Gospel, Grace Communion Baltimore, Grace Communion International, identity in Christ, Inclusion, Jesus Christ, Love, Ministry, New Life Fellowship Of Baltimore Maryland, New Life Fellowship Of Windsor Mill, MD., On Mission with Christ, Participation with Christ, Participation with Jesus, Perichoresis, Prayer, relationship with God, Relationships, Sermons, Song, The Church, The Dance and Dream of the Trinity, The Father, Son and Holy Spirit, The Gospel Project, The Holy Spirit, The Plan of Adoption, Timothy Brassell, Trinity, Uncategorized, union, Union In Christ, Union with Christ, Witnessing to God, Witnessing to Jesus, Worship, Worshiping God, Worshipping Jesus | Tags: Acts, Acts 4:32, Acts 5:11, Baltimore GCI, Blessing Your Enemies, Christian Living, Creation, death, Death In Christ, Deeply Rooted In Christ, Discipleship, Empowered By The Spirit, Facing False Accusation, Facing Hostility, False Accusation, Follow Me, Following Jesus, Forgiving Your Enemies, Fruit of God's Grace, GCI Baltimore, Generosity, Generous, Giving, God Father Son and Spirit, God Likes You, God the Trinity, God's Calling, God's Grace, God's love, God's Love And Life, God's Loving Authority, God's Mercy, God's Mission, God's Patience, God's Presence, Gospel, Grace, Grace Communion International, Heaven, Heavenly Riches, Honesty, Humanity Uplifted, Incarnation, Included In Christ, Jesus, Jesus' Authority, Jesus' Presence, Liberation vs. Legalism, Lord Jesus, Love, Make Disciples, Making Disciples, Participation with Christ, Participation with Jesus, Pastor Timothy Brassell of New Life Baltimore, Patient Endurance, Persecuted For Jesus, Persecuted For Your Faith, Persecution, Persecution For Christ, Praying For Your Enemies, Praying For Your Persecutors, Purpose, Radical Generosity, Radical Giving, Relationship With Jesus, resurrection of Jesus, Riches, Strengthened By Jesus, Strengthened By The Spirit, The Boldness Of Christ, The Father, The Father's Love, The Holy Spirit, The Persecuted Church, Treasure, Trinitarian Theology, Trinity, Union and Communion, Union With Jesus, Worship
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Audio – Part A: 23 min
Audio – Part B: 28 min
Audio – Full Message:
Bible Verses: Acts 4:32 – Acts 5:11
“Generosity should be a defining characteristic of the church because God is generous. The Father gave His Son. The Son gave His life. The Father and the Son gave the Spirit. And the Spirit gives the followers of Christ hearts of generosity. The Spirit works through these hearts to bring unity to the body of Christ through their loving support for one another. Greed is contrary to who God is and invites His judgment. The Holy Spirit of God helps us distinguish between generous and greedy giving.”
“Generosity is a fruit of God’s grace, something that an individual
should feel compelled to do from their own hearts. While in one way this understanding liberates us from any legalism around giving, it simultaneously heightens our expectations for giving. Because generosity flows from the heart, it is a tangible way of seeing the condition of the heart. This is why Jesus said, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matt. 6:21).
Theological Theme:
Sin in the Church must not stand in the way of the gospel’s expansion.
Christ Connection:
In obedience to the Holy Spirit’s prompting, the early Christians shared their resources and gave generously to those in need, just as Jesus gave up heavenly riches to share His inheritance with all who trust in Him. But Ananias and Sapphira’s deceptive action was a sin against the church and against the Spirit. The Spirit distinguishes between giving that is from a heart of generosity and giving that is greedy and deceitful.
“Jesus serves as our model for radical giving and the Holy Spirit enables us to follow in His steps.”
“In following Jesus, we’re invited to do the same, not clinging to what we have but giving it away, becoming a servant, and allowing God to multiply it for His good and glory in His church and in the world around us. The Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives should inspire such radical generosity, transforming our hearts to mirror Jesus’ own so that we don’t cling to what’s “ours” by rights but give it away to those in need.
Missional Application:
God the Father, through His Holy Spirit, calls us to show our unity with other believers, always being generous and honest as a reflection of Christ’s truth and love.
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Take Up Your Cross!
Filed under: Bible, By Richard Andrews, Christian Living, Christianity, Church, Discipleship, Faith, GCI Windsor Mill, Maryland, God, God Father Son and Spirit, God the Trinity, God's love, good news, Gospel, Grace Communion Baltimore, Grace Communion International, identity in Christ, Inclusion, Jesus Christ, Love, Ministry, New Life Fellowship Of Baltimore Maryland, New Life Fellowship Of Windsor Mill, MD., On Mission with Christ, Participation with Christ, Participation with Jesus, Perichoresis, Prayer, relationship with God, Relationships, Scripture Paraphrases, Sermons, Song, Spiritual Warfare, The Church, The Dance and Dream of the Trinity, The Father, Son and Holy Spirit, The Gospel Project, The Holy Spirit, The Plan of Adoption, Timothy Brassell, Trinity, Uncategorized, union, Union In Christ, Union with Christ, Witness, Witnessing to God, Witnessing to Jesus, Worship, Worshiping God, Worshipping Jesus | Tags: Acts 6, Acts 6: 7-60, Acts 6: 8-15, Baltimore GCI, Blessing Your Enemies, Christian Living, Creation, death, Death In Christ, Deeply Rooted In Christ, Discipleship, Empowered By The Spirit, Facing False Accusation, Facing Hostility, False Accusation, Follow Me, Following Jesus, Forgiving Your Enemies, GCI Baltimore, God Father Son and Spirit, God Likes You, God the Trinity, God's Calling, God's Grace, God's love, God's Love And Life, God's Loving Authority, God's Mercy, God's Mission, God's Patience, God's Presence, Gospel, Grace Communion International, Heaven, Humanity Uplifted, Incarnation, Included In Christ, Jesus, Jesus' Authority, Jesus' Presence, Lord Jesus, Love, Make Disciples, Making Disciples, Participation with Christ, Participation with Jesus, Pastor Timothy Brassell of New Life Baltimore, Patient Endurance, Persecuted For Jesus, Persecuted For Your Faith, Persecution, Persecution For Christ, Praying For Your Enemies, Praying For Your Persecutors, Purpose, Relationship With Jesus, resurrection of Jesus, Self-denial, St. Stephen's Suffering, Strengthened By Jesus, Strengthened By The Spirit, Suffering For Jesus, Suffering With Jesus, Take Up Your Cross, The Boldness Of Christ, The Father, The Father's Love, The Holy Spirit, The Persecuted Church, The Sufferings Of Jesus, Trinitarian Theology, Trinity, Union and Communion, Union With Jesus, Worship
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Audio – Part A: 25 min
Audio – Part B: 20 min
Audio – Full Message:
Bible Verses: Acts 6:8-15; 7:44-60
“In this session, we will see how God’s Holy Spirit empowers the followers of Christ to endure suffering for the sake of Christ. Whether that suffering takes the form of false accusations, death, or other variations, our faithful witness in the midst of suffering is a testimony to Jesus Christ, who came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets and to save us from our sin. When we suffer in faith, we are following in the footsteps of our Savior and bearing witness to His worth above all things, even our very lives.”- The Gospel Project
Theological Theme:
God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit strengthens his people to testify to Jesus Christ in persecution and death.
Christ Connection:
In his death as the first martyr, Stephen followed in the footsteps of His Savior. Both Jesus and Stephen were falsely accused and charged for blasphemy. Both Jesus and Stephen prayed for their executioners. Both Jesus and Stephen entrusted their spirits to God as they died. As a follower of Jesus Christ, Stephen reflected His Master, in life and in death.
Missional Application:
God the Father, through His Holy Spirit, calls us to bear witness to the greatness of Jesus Christ, even when we are maligned or persecuted for our faith.
“The history of the church is rich with stories of Christians who, emboldened by the Spirit, faced suffering and death while testifying to Jesus. Missionaries have died while going to share the gospel with hostile people. Countless martyrs the world over and through ages past have faced torture and death for their faith in the risen Savior…..
The persecution of the church and the martyring of its people is like the pruning of a plant. It grows stronger, richer, and more deeply rooted as a result…..
As we face ridicule and persecution for our faith, we are following in the faithful steps of these martyrs, just as they were following in the trailblazing steps of the Savior. He gave Himself for us—may it be our joy to give ourselves for the glory of His name.” – The Gospel Project
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The Comfort of Cruciform Love
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Christ in us, Christian Living, Christianity, death
Comments (2) 
The heart-wrenching picture of the drowned Syrian toddler and the follow-up stories with his father, the only survivor from the family: these are typical images of suffering that we see on the news. However, we also cannot pick up our local paper without seeing deaths from illness or accidents, and when we look on Facebook, we see friends and family dealing with grief and loss. Many of these friends are believers, and we wonder to ourselves (if not aloud), “Where was God?”
Some well-meaning folks may respond with “Well, God is in control,” or “God is teaching you something in this.” These responses are rarely helpful, and they keep us from realizing that we cannot make sense of evil, pain, and death by using reason. Instead, we must recognize that while evil and suffering exist, God is good and all-powerful in his love.
What we must consider is the way we define God as all-powerful. Humanly speaking, we think of power as control, and we can see throughout scriptures that God not only permits but desires free will from human beings. God allows vulnerability by rejecting control (when defined as coercion), though God also shows great power and authority through creation and great love through the cross.
On the cross God as Christ bore evil and suffering even as we do now, and in a sense, he shows us that enduring such pain can be healing and transformative though we may not see this perspective for a very long time. Galatians 3:13 says that “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole’” (NIV). Author Bradley Jersak comments about this, saying, “This means that in his death, Jesus himself absorbs the curse of sin and death for all of us, sucking the darkness of the world into himself, where his own blood is the all-powerful, spiritual anti-venom that cleanses sin and overcomes death. Assuming the likeness of fallen humanity, he is able to heal it” (A More Christlike God: A More Beautiful Gospel). Jersak points out that Jesus doesn’t passively witness our suffering and ‘do nothing,’ but instead, he “enters the suffering, experiences the anguish, lives the sorrow for all, with all, for all the time…In love, he consent[s] to co-suffer with us in solidarity.” We are never alone in our grief; we are never alone in our suffering.
Though we may wish that our loving Father would wave a magic wand and prevent the grief and suffering we experience, we know that God’s heart has given humanity free will with the hope (the calm assurance?) that human beings will choose relationship with the Divine and each other. This free moral agency does not come without a price, but it is a price that God as Christ has demonstrated a willingness to share with us. The suffering we endure is not ours alone, and this is the comfort of cruciform love.
“God Is His Amazing Grace!” (SPECIAL CONFERENCE AUDIO)
Filed under: Bible, By Tim Brassell, Christian Living, Church, Evangelism, Gospel, Grace Communion International, Humor, Love, Ministry, Perichoresis, Relationships, Sermons, The Dance and Dream of the Trinity, The Plan of Adoption, Trinity, Uncategorized | Tags: Adoption, Amazing Grace, Benevolence, Bible, Christian Living, Christianity, Church, compassion, death, Forgiveness, Forgiveness of Sin, God, god the father, God the Holy Spirit, God the Son, God the Trinity, God's Amazing Grace, God's Grace, God's Judgment, God: Father, Gospel, Grace, Grace Communion International, healing, Holy Spirit, Idolatry, Incarnation, Jesus, Jesus Christ, jesus ministry, Judgment, kindness, Love, new life fellowship, Participation, Participation with Christ, Pastor Tim, Preaching, Rebellion, Reflection, Relational God Revealed, Relationships, response, Salvation, Sin, Sinners, Son and Spirit, Suffering, Theology, Timothy Brassell, Trinitarian Theology, Trinity, Worship
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Understand the meaning of God’s Grace better in this two-part audio of a conference message of God’s Good New given by Timothy Brassell at the Myrtle Beach Fall Harvest Festival 2014!
In this message Pastor Tim explores Hebrews 10 as we are met by the God Revealed in Jesus, and poses the significant question:
“Will you continue to understand yourself, and life, in terms of [your] idolatry, rebellion and sin? OR will you begin, as the scriptures do, by looking at the Revelation of God in Jesus Christ [to understand yourself]?”
Life After Life
Filed under: Bible, By Bill Winn, Church, Gospel, Love, Perichoresis, Prayer, Relationships | Tags: AL, death, funerals, Jesus, Life after death, memorials
Comments (5) I have a very close friend. His name is Albert DeStephanis but most of us just call him Al or, a lot of the time, Big Al. At church he had his own special greeting. It usually didn’t matter what was going on when he walked through the door someone would call out, “Big Al!”. In 2011 Al had some heart trouble and doctors gave Al a new lease on life with a new technology called an LVAD or Left Ventricular Assist Device. It’s a heart pump.
In 2011 Al went into the hospital for a bypass and, after the surgery, had two massive heart events. Al slipped away twice that night and the doctors and nurses at St. Mary’s in Richmond fought hard all night long and brought Al back. A few days later, after Al had his new heart pump installed, he said to me, “You know I died twice during all this right?” Then, very contemplatively, Al said, “Someday, when I die for real I don’t think I’ll be that worried about it because I’ll just say been there, done that.”
Big Al Sept. 30, 1939 -eternity!
I recall being very impressed with Al’s attitude about the episode. And so as time went on Al recovered and went back to a fairly normal life. He attended his grandchildren’s swim meets and came to church on a regular basis. Al is the rare type of person who, when you meet them, you wish you’d known them your whole life. He is as kind and gentle a man as you could ever meet. I simply adore him!
So last week Big Al transitioned from this life into the next. He passed into what C.S. Lewis called the full Weight of Glory and now knows Jesus more intimately than any of us here. In fact it was just yesterday that a large number of people attended his memorial service.
Paul the apostle says death is swallowed up in victory and defeated. Athanasius says, “Jesus it is Who has destroyed death and freely graced us all with incorruption…”
Death is not a reality. How can anything that has been defeated and destroyed by Jesus be a reality? Indeed death is not real- life is real. Jesus is life and Jesus is real. Jesus has given us new life and new birth through his life, death, resurrection, and ascension. We are seated with Him- in Him- at the right hand of the Father in the communion of the Holy Spirit.
There is no life after death. Did I shock you? Keep reading. There is no life after death because; how can there be anything after something that is not real? We may as well ask whether there is life after magic Pegasus unicorns. Death is not real so there can’t possibly be life after death.
There is only Life after Life. The life that was given to Al was the very life that originates in, flows from, and is the life of the Father, Son, and Spirit. The life that Al was given in 1939 was the very life of the eternal Triune God. That life has no end!
We may not see Al the way we used to, we may not actually see him walk into the room, but Al is very much alive… in fact I would posit that Al is more alive than he has ever been!
A prayer: Father, we grieve the loved ones who have gone to Glory. We sense separation but know it is not real. Comfort us Holy Spirit. Teach us to honor our grieving, to know that grief is evidence of love and that deep grief is evidence of even deeper love. Show us the beauty of our tears and the joys that await us when we, someday, catch up with our loved ones who have passed into the full weight of glory. Jesus, thank you for including humanity in the life you share with your Father from eternity. Amen
~Bill Winn
Everything In and Through Jesus The Christ!
Filed under: Bible, By Tim Brassell, Christian Living, Church, Evangelism, Gospel, Grace Communion International, Liturgy, Love, Ministry, Perichoresis, Prayer, Relationships, Scripture Paraphrases, Sermons, The Dance and Dream of the Trinity, The Plan of Adoption, Trinity, Uncategorized, Worship | Tags: Adoption, Advent, Answers, Bible, blessings, Christ in our place, Christ in us, Christian Living, Christianity, Church, compassion, Day of Atonement, death, Forgiveness, Forgiveness of Sin, God, God Father Son and Spirit, god the father, God the Holy Spirit, God the Son, God the Trinity, God's adopted sons and daughters, God's Amazing Grace, God's good news, God's Grace, God's Judgment, God's Will, good news, Gospel, Grace, gratitude, Holiness, holy, Holy Spirit, Incarnation, James Torrance, Jesus, Jesus Christ, jesus ministry, JESUS THE CHRIST, Jesus's coming, life, Love, new life fellowship, Participation, Participation with Christ, Pastor Tim, Preaching, Purpose, Questions, Reality, Receiving Christ, Receiving God's Love, Relational God Revealed, relationship with God, Relationships, repentance, response, Salvation, Sin, Sinners, Suffering, The One for the Many, Theology, Through Jesus Christ, Timothy Brassell, Trinitarian Theology, Trinity, Will of God, Worship, Yom Kippur
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On this 2nd Sunday Of Advent 2014, Pastor Timothy Brassell of New Life Fellowship of Baltimore delivers this GOSPEL FILLED GOOD NEWS entitled, “EVERYTHING IN AND THROUGH JESUS THE CHRIST” as we come to understand just what “Everything In and Through Jesus Christ” means. Learn more what it means that God is not only here but comes to us IN JESUS CHRIST; what it meant that the Son came as a man, and assumed our REAL HUMAN NATURE!
Pastor Tim explores the Gospel through Hebrews 10 :10 – 23 and reading from James Torrance’s article “Christ In Our Place”, showing that:
~Jesus has a personal relationship with God on OUR behalf and we have a relationship with God THROUGH JESUS CHRIST! Because of God’s goodness, he makes our responses for us, so that when we respond we are only responding to Jesus’ response to his Father. In Him, and through Jesus, we are renewed by the Spirit in the image of God and in the worship of God and His life of SHARED COMMUNION!
~We burden ourselves with questions like: Do I have to ask for forgiveness before God will give it to me? Do right words, regulations, rules, and repentance take my sins away? But the scriptures tell us that JESUS is MEDIATOR between God and Man and that God draws near to humanity IN AND THROUGH CHRIST to fulfill His purposes of our human worship and communion with God! This means that FORGIVENESS IS LOCATED IN THE PERSON OF CHRIST and that IN AND THROUGH CHRIST, God HAS ALREADY FORGIVEN US! So, WHEN YOU ASK FOR FORGIVENESS YOU CAN BE SURE OF GETTING IT! Why? Because it has already been given to you in Jesus! For God: Father, Son and Spirit, there is no going back on forgiveness of your sins because the Son of God will live as Jesus the God/Man forever!! In Jesus Christ, sin has been COMPLETELY ELIMINATED!
~There is NO such thing as a transaction Gospel, or “If you do this THEN God will save and adopt you!” We can unburden ourselves with that mentality by hearing the Fathers’ response to us: I have forgiven you, therefore ENJOY AND receive it! I LOVE YOU therefore FOLLOW ME IN TRUST AND LOVE because YOU ARE ALWAYS GOING TO BE CARED FOR! THE GOSPEL IS REALLY GOOD NEWS!
~Specifically, because everything is IN AND THROUGH CHRIST, we can give a real word of REST and JOY to people, so that in the JOY of Jesus they can RUN as WE DO, as The ADOPTED SONS AND DAUGHTERS THAT GOD ALWAYS WANTED!!!
~There is not so much work we have to do in getting the words right, or in getting the concepts down. We receive that Jesus got down here for and with us in our place and that there is NOTHING we can ever do to make God more Gracious and we are NEVER going to be able to condition God to like us. What we need to understand is WHO JESUS IS and WHAT HE has done for us, participating in His Response of gratitude and thankfulness to His Father, and in His Trust and Obedience!
What Jesus’ Coming Means For Us Today!
Filed under: Bible, By Tim Brassell, Christian Living, Church, Evangelism, Gospel, Grace Communion International, Liturgy, Love, Ministry, Perichoresis, Prayer, Relationships, Scripture Paraphrases, Sermons, The Dance and Dream of the Trinity, The Plan of Adoption, Trinity, Uncategorized, Worship | Tags: Adoption, Advent, Amazing Grace, Answers, Bible, blessings, Christian Living, Christianity, Church, compassion, death, Forgiveness, Forgiveness of Sin, God, God Father Son and Spirit, god the father, God the Holy Spirit, God the Son, God the Trinity, God's Amazing Grace, God's Grace, God's Judgment, God's Will, Gospel, Grace, gratitude, Holiness, holy, Holy Spirit, Incarnation, Jesus, Jesus Christ, jesus ministry, Jesus's coming, Judgment, kindness, life, Love, new life fellowship, Participation, Participation with Christ, Pastor Tim, Preaching, Purpose, Questions, Reality, Rebellion, Reflection, Relational God Revealed, Relationships, response, Salvation, Sin, Sinners, Suffering, Thanksgiving, Theology, Timothy Brassell, Trinitarian Theology, Trinity, Will of God, Worship
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On this 1st Sunday Of Advent 2014, Pastor Timothy Brassell of New Life Fellowship of Baltimore delivers a message of Good News entitled, “What Jesus’ Coming Means For Us Today!” Through Hebrews 10:1-10, he proclaims the GOOD NEWS that GOD THE SON’S COMING IN JESUS IS OUR REALITY, LIFE, and RESURRECTION and that WE WILL BE FULFILLED BY NOTHING LESS THAN HIM!
In this message we reinforce that:
~ Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of ALL and will appear a second time not to bear sin but to bring salvation to those waiting for him.
~ We, IN OUR BROKENNESS, don’t GET to start everything; don’t get to control or guide the outcome of life with our questions and answers. It is our pleasure, our role, to RESPOND IN GRATITUDE to what has been done to us, and INITIATED by GOD FOR US, IN HIS GRACE. GOD, in Christ, and by the Spirit, SHARES THANKSGIVING with us as a human response to HIS GREAT INITIATIVES in our lives!
~ God’s will for the world was for the Son to be born into it as Jesus. The purpose of Jesus Christ was to BE AND DO THE WILL OF GOD AS MAN! It was NEVER put upon anyone other than Jesus to meet the will of God or to meet God’s expectations for Man. We were never meant to carry the burden and impossibility of working out our own adoption and salvation. It was always up to Jesus Christ to meet the expectations of God. We were meant to be dependent on Christ. It was the will of God to make humanity HOLY – to rule over everything and everywhere under Christ, God himself! Further, it was the will of the Father to bring us to Glory as his adopted sons and daughters through Jesus Christ and by the Holy Spirit.
~ The Reality of God in Jesus not only stands FOR US, but also against us and against all other people, things, and attempts for us to fulfill our own lives and create our own purpose!
~ The Lord wants us to run in the JOY of being sons and daughters and not with the weight of trying to prove that He exists or in our trying to transform the world. He empowers believers to be witnesses and proclaimers of who HE IS, and to be a people of Promise and Hope!
– There are better ways we can take part in Jesus’ Ministry as His Church that will make us more free and less bogged down as we join Jesus in His Mission to His World.
~ Whatever Jesus’ coming means for us TODAY doesn’t mean He isn’t coming in the future, and whatever His coming means for us in the future doesn’t mean He isn’t already here!
Photo Compliments Rio Vista Community Church
Thank God He Is His Amazing Grace!
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In this 24th Sunday after Pentecost, Pastor Timothy Brassell of New Life Fellowship of Baltimore proclaims the GOOD NEWS that God is His Grace in this riveting Gospel Message entitled “Thank God He Is His Amazing Grace!”
Pastor Tim explores Hebrews 10 and poses the question:
Will you continue to understand yourself and life in terms of man’s idolatry, rebellion and sin or will you begin, as the scriptures do, by looking at the revelation of God in Jesus Christ? After All, it can only be idolatry to trust in anything other than God, anything other than the One Who made and sustains you!
In this gospel Message we learn that:
~Jesus is the Light of the world, and our idolatry, rebellion and sin are NOT, therefore understanding “Who Jesus is?” is the ONLY Way to begin understanding all of scripture. The Context of Jesus, Himself, must fundamentally guide all of our interpretations of the biblical text!
~Jesus is God as Man, and therefore, in Him God the Father and Spirit have also taken up the cause of humanity forever, determined that we will not perish!
~Some of our sufferings, though not caused by God, He works in and allows so we can come to the end of ourselves and trust only in Him!
~Grace isn’t something that stands apart from or beside God. GOD IS HIMSELF HIS BENEVOLENCE AND KINDNESS! Grace isn’t something we manipulate, or a magic symbol that we make – God is himself HIS GRACE and He is the one Who ultimately acts and delivers us. He, personally, is your REST!
~We are often looking for God to give us something primarily other than himself when God says in Christ “I AM YOUR RESPONSE TO ME! The one who stands in for YOU! Work to believe and trust that! I Am your reward!”
~We need to THANK GOD HE IS HIS AMAZING GRACE and not divide Him too strictly from the great Works HE does. IT IS HIM at work when His works are being done, NOT a substance or a commodity called “grace”!
~If we don’t understand and proclaim God as his own Grace then we will subtly allow a “works based” and legal orientation into our lives. We will think that it is our prayer or religious things that are getting the job done when it is actually GOD IN AND AS HIS AMAZING GRACE getting the job done, many times in and through those things!
~God’s judgment and destruction doesn’t mean the end of us as men and women, but the end of what seeks to destroy us as men and women! Threats in scripture don’t always mean that the bad consequences are actually going to happen because, as the writer of Hebrews wrote, “we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.”
Listen, Enjoy, be Encouraged, and find rest in the GOOD NEWS of God as His Amazing Grace!
Trinity and Humanity 