Archive for the ‘Faith’ Tag

God Will Provide

Full


Scripture: Gen 22 , Heb 11


Summary and Goal:

The main message of the sermon is that we should have faith in God’s provision and trust in His plan for our lives. Pastor Andrews emphasizes the importance of recognizing that God is our ultimate Provider and that we should rely on Him for our needs even in difficult times. He cites examples from the Bible, such as the story of Elijah and the widow, to illustrate how God has provided for His people in the past. He encourages listeners to believe that God will continue to do so in the future. The sermon concludes with a call to action to trust in God’s provision and to seek His guidance in all aspects of our lives!

Who Is The Relational God Revealed In Jesus?, Pt. 2

Part 2A

Part 2B


Scripture: Acts 2:33, 2 Cor 13:14


Summary and Goal:

This Sunday, following Trinity Sunday, we continue proclaiming the relational God-Father-Son-Holy-Spirit Revealed in Jesus. This message is meant to help believers remember that the Father-Son-Holy-Spirit-God is not just an add-on doctrine of Christian faith, but that this God IS the Gospel! God the Trinity is “the root and nerve center” of all Christian belief. There could be no beliefs or doctrines apart from the Truth of Who God has revealed Himself to be in Jesus Christ. Indeed, there is no Christian faith apart from this relational God Who, in Love, sent Jesus Christ into our humanity to reveal Himself and share His Love and Life with us in the Holy Spirit. If you don’t get this basic understanding of the Gospel, you don’t get or understand Christianity. God’s primary revelation to us is the revelation of Himself! The scriptures are primarily about Him! We can only understand ourselves, and the scriptures in the Light of Who He is, or we cannot and do not understand either! Check it out!

Christ Connection:

Jesus alone reveals this God and, by becoming human, has given us human beings real knowledge of, and access to, God, through the Holy Spirit!

Photos compliments: trinityandhumanity.com (John Stonecypher)

Who Is The Relational God Revealed In Jesus?

Part 1A

Part 1B


Scripture: Acts 2:33, 2 Cor 13:14


Summary and Goal:

On this Trinity Sunday, we proclaim the relational God-Father-Son-Holy-Spirit Revealed in Jesus. This is an attempt to clarify further why this is so important to grasp, and what it means for our Christian faith. Indeed, there is no Christian faith apart from this relational God Who, in Love, sent Jesus Christ into our humanity to reveal Himself and share His Love and Life with us.

Christ Connection:

Jesus alone reveals this God and, by becoming human, has given us human beings real knowledge of, and access to, God!

Photos compliments: trinityandhumanity.com (John Stonecypher)

JESUS: The Most Important PERSON and TASK For Everyone! Part 5 (Jesus’ Crucifixion / The Biblical Worldview)

Part 5A:

Part 5B:

Full Message:


Bible Verses: Mark 15 Psalm 22 Isaiah 53


Introduction:

On this Transfiguration Sunday we are reminded that the Whole God Father Son and Holy Spirit loves you/us so much that he has suffered for you/us in the Life of the Son made flesh! The Father-Son-Holy-Spirit-God loves you so much that together, in Their utter Oneness, Each distinct Person somehow shares in the humanity of the Son of God in Jesus (only the Son became human!), having suffered for you and having resisted all evil and every temptation on your behalf and in your place! In Jesus, Who sustains you from within his own human nature, you have victory over all evil principalities and powers. Even your present sufferings cannot and will not prevent you from receiving your victory in Christ! Christ’s victory is so full of the glory and love of God that you will consider your present sufferings to be light in comparison to the glory you will receive! Whereas sin and evil have no future, you have an immortal and eternal life to look forward to with Jesus in His eternal relationship with the Father Son and Holy Spirit. Jesus Transfiguration is a picture of our transformation in Him!

Theological Theme:

On one hand is the non-relational, unfeeling god of our sinful imaginations; the God more interested in law and punishment and sin than he is interested in us. On the other hand is the One and only True God – Father-Son-Holy-Spirit – Merciful and compassionate! The Relational, loving God revealed in the Person of Jesus! The triune God WITH US & FOR US despite our sin! The God Who includes us all in His Life & Love, permanently, in Jesus – Who atoned for the sins of the world!

Christ Connection:

Do you have this great vision of the Gospel before you????? You are being made fit for eternal life, and by God-Father-Son-Holy-Spirit you WILL be fit with the spiritual muscle of Jesus Who has transformed our human nature in His own, turning it back fully to the Father. Our Father does nothing halfway! In Christ and by the Spirit you are becoming who and what you really are and you will be that (or you won’t be at all!) The death of Jesus means the death of death, and a nature turned from God and corrupted now turned back to God in a glorified and permanent way.

Missional Application:

As believers in union with Jesus Christ, and in the light of Who He is and what He has done, we proclaim and witness to others not yet in spiritual union with Jesus that, as George Hunsinger has well-stated “There’s always more grace in God, than there is sin in us!”, therefore, repent and believe, receive the Good News and enter a trust relationship with the Father, through the Son and in the Holy Spirit!

The Most Important Priority For Everyone Everywhere! Part 1 (Our Christian/Biblical Worldview)

Part 1A:

Part 1B:

Full Message:


Bible Verses: Colossians ( Various Scriptures)


Introduction:

Over the past few Gospel messages we’ve been sharing in the mind of Jesus Christ by reading through the book of Colossians and seeking to grasp all that the Father inspired to be written for the Christians living there under His leading! We have been beholding the complexity of the Father, Son and Spirit’s oversight and purpose for everything, everywhere! Understanding His loving care and concern for our faith, hope and love in Him!  Trusting Him for His loving care and concern for His Church, His Kingdom, and the World at large. Receiving His loving care and concern for all created things as Reconciler and Redeemer of each and all of us who have been negatively impacted by evil and are in a state of recovery from the Fall in Christ our Lord!

We’ve been seeking to understand and have God’s view of what it means to live in and amongst all this complexity, even as the Colossian church members were, too! We are hearing the call of the Lord to continue to let the Truth of our Being (Jesus Christ!) be the Way of our Being, participating with him in his earthly historical life!

Theological Theme:

In Astounding and Inclusive Love the Father has sent and given humanity His Son and Word (Jesus), and gives us His Holy Spirit, that all of humanity might share in His Fellowship as Father, Son and Spirit! How do we receive, trust and live out this relationship in the complex situation going on around us? How do we honor and love God and neighbor while we are still in a becoming state of being more like Jesus? In Colossae, and like us, they were believers who are seeking to relate with Jesus and seeking to understand the Jewish/Christian connections of faith in Jesus Christ! At the same time they are also working, living, and breathing in a particular secular culture that had businesses, educational institutions, gossip, industry, various religions, and therefore various idols and powerful influences that threatened to attack and undermine their faith and trust in Christ!

“Human beings are fallen and therefore subject to temptation and being deceived by evil influences. Fallen, we are also inveterate self-justifiers seeking to maintain our own autonomous righteousness (ethics) apart from the gift of God received by repentance and faith upon hearing the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ by the ministry of the Holy Spirit.” – Dr. Gary Deddo.

Abba, Father, help and save us through this tension through our Lord Jesus Christ, by Your Spirit!

Christ Connection:

The Good News of the Gospel is that Christ has already overcome this tension, and our fallenness, through his obedience to His Father by the Spirit, from inside our broken human nature. He has turned our human nature around and back to the Father! From his place of Ascension as a glorified human being he now sends, and we receive freely, the Holy Spirit he sends from the Father, giving us a share in his overcoming power through his very own faith and trust poured out in us!

“For the Lord touched all parts of creation, and freed and undeceived them all from every deceit.”
― St. Athanasius, On the Incarnation

Missional Application:

Jesus is the only hope for all, not just Christians! As Jesus encounters and empowers us believers in our relationship with him, we call upon pre-believers to place their faith and trust in Jesus by the Spirit – calling on them to repent, be baptized, deny themselves and pick up their cross, following Jesus!

“The problem of pursing a life of moral faithfulness is not simply a matter of discerning what God’s will is—as if simply knowing it, figuring it out, takes care of it. The barriers are much greater. No earnest pursuit of moral faithfulness to Jesus Christ will come to fruition unless the Holy Spirit in conjunction with the Word of God, breaks down our resistance to the Word and the Spirit and kills our self-justifying pride that resists repentance and faith in Jesus Christ and his Word.” – Dr. Gary Deddo

Photo Compliments:

http://www.thegospelcoalition.org

Once Faithless, Now Faith-Filled!

Part A:

Part B:

Full Message:


Bible Verse: Hebrews 11: 1-12


Sermon Summary:

Are we living by faith? How do we live our lives as righteous people by faith? Romans 1: 17

“If we’re living our lives faith-filled, then we’re living out who we really are and understanding what we’ve been given in the newness of the life we’ve been given (in Christ) – We’ve been given reconciliation!”

“Our circumstances don’t dictate God’s love towards us and that’s what we’ve been clothed with – HIS LOVE! THAT is who we really are. So despite our circumstances we can really walk in this faith-filled life because of Jesus and who HE is. So we have to understand who he is and know who we are in him.”

“By faith, believers can live a life of sacrifice and consider mistreatment, torture and abuse from the world as worth suffering for Christ’s sake. Faith in Christ does not guarantee a carefree life but a life that is full of trouble and includes many demands to leave behind worldly pleasures and walk with God according to his will.”  –Tesfaye Kassa

  • We have to know WHAT faith is. – “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”- Hebrews 11: 1-3(CSB)

“Faith is the connecting power into the spiritual realm, which links us with God and makes Him become a tangible reality to the sense perceptions of a person. Faith is the basic ingredient to begin a relationship with God.

Faith is the assurance that the things revealed and promised in the Word are true, even though unseen, and gives the believer a conviction that what he expects in faith, will come to pass. Faith is the tangible essence of what is hoped for – so tangible that the faith itself, is the evidence/reality of those things that are not yet visible. In other words, it becomes so tangible that you now possess it. It becomes a reality in the spiritual realm.” – Wikibooks

  • When it comes to faith, we have to know HOW to find it. – Romans 10: 17(CSB)

”Are you hearing about Christ? Faith comes by hearing the message about Christ!”

When we understand the WHO, WHAT and HOW of faith, then we can begin to LIVE by the faith of Jesus Christ! – Hebrews 11: 4-12

Theological Theme:

“By defining faith…as ‘assurance’ and ‘conviction,’ the author indicates that biblical faith is not a vague hope grounded in imaginary, wishful thinking. Instead, faith is a settled confidence that something in the future—something that is not yet seen but has been promised by God—will actually come to pass because God will bring it about. Thus biblical faith is not blind trust in the face of contrary evidence, not an unknowable ‘leap in the dark’; rather, biblical faith is a confident trust in the eternal God who is all-powerful, infinitely wise, eternally trustworthy—the God who has revealed himself in his word and in the person of Jesus Christ, whose promises have proven true from generation to generation, and who will ‘never leave nor forsake’ his own”–David W. Chapman

Jesus is the source and perfecter of our faith. “We can’t be anchored in anything or anyone else. God [Father-Son-Holy Spirit] IS THE SOLD ROCK – an immovable foundation!”

Christ Connection:

To the author of Hebrews, faith is the “reality” and “proof” of the existence of something that at the moment cannot be seen. This is why in Romans 4, Paul said that the Old Testament patriarchs were justified by their faith in the promise—a promise that was yet to be seen. These Old Testament saints hadn’t seen the object of their salvation (yet), but they trusted in God’s promise to one day provide it, which He did in Jesus Christ.

All the examples of faith in Scripture pale in comparison to the life of Jesus Christ, who for the joy that lay before Him endured a cross and despised the shame. Because of His work, the faith and hope of all who have gone before us will be fulfilled when He returns. We have assurance of the reliability of God’s promises.

While we find encouragement from this cloud of witnesses, we ultimately find that the pinnacle of enduring faith belongs to Christ Jesus, and we should emulate Him.

Missional Application:

Once we are in Christ, we are not finished with faith. Faith is not just the key to unlock the door of salvation; it is how we continue to work out our salvation so God [Father-Son-Holy Spirit] can produce in us and through us the good works He has planned for us. Living by faith is difficult, but God has called us to look at the examples of faith in Scripture—most notably that of Jesus— and draw courage from them as we focus on Christ and fulfill His will for our lives.

Just as it is grace through faith that saves us from top to bottom, it is grace through faith that sustains us beginning to end. We do not start anew in Christ by faith and then embark on a great “good works” selfimprovement project. No, we “walk by faith”

God, through his Holy Spirit, calls us to draw courage from the example of the faithful through the centuries as we fulfill God’s will and focus on Christ.

Conclusion:

Do we see God as the author and finisher of our lives?

Do we see him as the one who directs our steps and says “go left and go right”?

Do we see him as the captain of our ships – the navigator?

Do we see faith, active in our lives despite the obstacles that seem insurmountable in our own lives?

Do we hear God’s “Yes” and God saying “Do” as something that is tangible in our lives to really mandate how we live in our lives?

We must keep our eyes on Jesus. Every good work must be submitted to the glory of Jesus. Every spiritual discipline must be conducted as a means of deepening our friendship with Jesus. Every religious book read, every theological idea explored, every biblical doctrine studied must have as its aim a stirring of our affections for Jesus. It is only by focusing on Jesus that we will be able to endure in the Christian life and have a faith that lasts to the finish line….Jesus gave us the greatest example of enduring faith when He trusted in the Father during His journey to the cross. Jesus trusted in the Father throughout the greatest evil, the greatest hardship, ever. And He did so with the joy that lay before Him—the joy of obeying the Father and glorifying Him. Ultimately, it is Jesus who is able to present us blameless before God’s glory without stumbling. Let us fix our eyes on Him to the very end.

 “The foundation of the Christian life is repentance and faith. You never move on from that, but you do want to build on it.” –Matt Fuller

Photo Compliments:

http://www.iamsignificant.ca

We are All One In Christ Jesus!

Part A:

Part B:

Full Message:

Watch On YouTube

Bible Verse: Galatians 3


Introduction:

Jesus is the Anointed One, referring to the fact that He is the One Man Who has the Holy Spirit of God poured out on Him without measure, and is the One Who pours out the Holy Spirit on all flesh in Himself and upon all people outside Himself (possessing and assuming the human nature of all persons) that we might share in His union and communion with His Father!

Theological Theme:

The Father-Son-and-Holy-Spirit-God is the ground of ALL PEOPLE AND THINGS and the renewal of ALL THINGS IN JESUS CHRIST! As the Cosmic Christ He is fulfilling his promise to draw EVERYONE to himself through In the Holy Spirit, to the glory of the Father!

Christ Connection:

Jesus Christ is not only the anointed ONE, HE is also the ONE who pours out the SAME Holy Spirit on us, in flesh, as the Representative of ALL PEOPLE, and as the Substitute for ALL PEOPLE so that we can discover and become ourselves by the Holy Spirit’s empowerment. Jesus sends the Person of the Holy Spirit Who mediates Jesus to us so we can TRUST and relate with him, sharing in his union and communion with the Father;

Missional Application:

Because Jesus is alive as the Resurrection and continuing in his ongoing ministry to the Father, the Church enthusiastically remains on Mission with Him that all people would come to know, honor, glorify and enjoy his relationship with his Father forever and ever in the Spirit!!As Lesslie Newbigin has written: “Mission begins with a kind of explosion of joy. The news that the rejected and crucified Jesus is alive is something that cannot possibly be suppressed. It must be told. Who could be silent about such a fact? The mission of the Church in the pages of the New Testament is like the fallout from a vast explosion, a radioactive fallout which is not lethal but life-giving.”

The Church continues to call all people to repent and believe the Good News of Jesus because, realistically, the degree to which people are not found trusting Christ in a worship relationship and do not have him as their fundamental and primary vision is the degree to which something else, an idol and a false vision does have a grip on their minds, hearts and actions! The real problem is not that people don’t love their neighbors – the deeper problem is that people do not see or love God, the Father, Son and Spirit, with all their heart soul mind and strength! Nor do they trust or believe as primary that Jesus does stand in with and for them to make this so, on their behalf, and even if it doesn’t look like it! And the reason for that is that they have not yet received or need to receive even more deeply the Holy Spirit that Jesus sends!

Photo Compliments: juniaproject.com

Jesus Is Risen! So Go…Make Disciples! Part 4

Disciple Making Logo

Audio – Part 4a: 27 min

https://trinityandhumanity.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/19.6.02-jesus-is-risen-so-go-make-disciples-part-4a-8-matt-28-1-cor-15-tah.mp3”

Audio – Part 4b: 30 min

https://trinityandhumanity.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/19.6.02-jesus-is-risen-so-go-make-disciples-part-4b-8-matt-28-1-cor-15-tah.mp3”

Audio – Full Message:

https://trinityandhumanity.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/19.6.02-jesus-is-risen-so-go-make-disciples-part-4-8-matt-28-1-cor-15-tah.mp3”


Bible Verses: Matthew 28


 This Good News series is about Jesus’ Believers and Disciples “GO”ing in Active Participation with Him, Wherever He Says to “Go!…” AND MAKING DISCIPLES WHO CAN MAKE DISCIPLES!

Theological Theme:

Christian Disciples are those who willingly, by grace through faith, and in loving obedience, participate with Jesus in offering their total humanity in allegiance to the Father, through the Son and in the Spirit! Christian Disciples participate with Jesus in his repentance and baptism, being incorporated into his body, the Church. Christian Disciples become fully committed to making disciples of Jesus who can make disciples of Jesus that make disciples of Jesus – in the Spirit, through the Son and to the Glory of our Father!

Christ Connection:

“When the people of Jesus follow the way of Jesus, their stories will begin to look like his story (which is beautiful but it also comes with a cost).” – The Gospel Project

We have been drawn into the self-giving, other centered, self-sacrificing and generous, loving compassion of the Father, Son and Spirit God, through Jesus Christ. And though it comes at great cost, it also comes with great joy!

Missional Application:

*Don’t just “Bring a Friend” (everyone needs Jesus!), more than that, bring a pre-disciple of Jesus to the community of the Church Body.

*Start with one person (and only more if Father has made it obvious!) When rejected, go elsewhere. Feel free to look everywhere! Talk to disciples more about Jesus than something called Christianity. Talk more about Jesus than his Church!

*Don’t worry too much about bringing others to Church at first (think relationship, home, small group first!)! A person genuinely called by Jesus will be drawn to his Body, the Bible, prayer, the Father, the Spirit and loving all people.

*Remember that life is short and death is sure and people are living under the sentence of death! Physical death and spiritual death are real but now is a day of salvation.

*We must not be lax in discipleship because of past  and poor teachings  but we must be renewed at the living voice of Jesus Christ! “Can these bones live??? You know Oh, Lord!”

You received Christ though the proclamation and discipleship of his Church! Now is not the time to put down the Church but to lift up and be the Church and pray for the Church! God is not limited to the Church but in his oversight of this world Jesus is building his Church (and his Church is called to participate with him and to go and make disciples of all nations).

For the purposes of discipleship: There is a “them” and an “us”! We must never confuse who Jesus is on behalf of all, and who we are as individuals distinct from him and each other! There are some of us who are knowing, loving and trusting Jesus as he draws us to himself, and some who aren’t knowing, loving or trusting Jesus as he draws them to himself!

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Photo Compliments: pinterest.com

The Risen King’s Commission (Being Co-lovers with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit!)

NLF_Final_Man_Woman_Child1

Audio – Part 1a: 27 min

https://trinityandhumanity.files.wordpress.com/2020/01/19.5.12-the-risen-kings-commission-part-1a-matt-28-tah.mp3”

Audio – Part 1b: 27 min

https://trinityandhumanity.files.wordpress.com/2020/01/19.5.12-the-risen-kings-commission-part-1b-matt-28-tah.mp3”

Audio – Full Message:

https://trinityandhumanity.files.wordpress.com/2020/01/19.5.12-the-risen-kings-commission-matt-28-tah.mp3”


Bible Verses: Matthew 28:16-20


We are to go to the nations with the authority of the risen King, for Jesus alone has the power to save. In Him also is the power for our mission as we go. We are to make disciples through the proclamation of the risen King. We are to teach the believers of our proclamation to obey all that the Father commanded us, through Jesus and in the Holy Spirit, knowing that Jesus will finish the good work He began and that He will never forsake us.

Theological Theme:

The mission of the church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ.

Christ Connection:

Before Jesus ascended to the Father, He commissioned His disciples to go into the world and make disciples of all nations. Under the authority of Jesus, we make disciples by baptizing people in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and by teaching them everything Christ commanded us. As we go, we trust in the presence of Christ, who promises to be with us on mission.

“The church is sent on mission by Jesus. It’s not that the church has a mission, but rather that the mission has a church. We join Jesus on His mission.” – Ed Stetzer

Missional Application:

The Father-Son-and-Spirit God calls us to make disciples of all nations by declaring the truth of the gospel with our words and demonstrating the reality of His love with our actions.

“God hath work to do in this world; and to desert it because of its difficulties and entanglements, is to cast off his authority. It is not enough that we be just, that we be righteous, and walk with God in holiness; but we must also serve our generation, as David did before he fell asleep. God hath a work to do; and not to help him is to oppose Him.” – John Owen (1616-1683)

Photo Compliments: newlifebaltimore.org

Jesus Is Risen! So Go…Make Disciples! Part 3

Disciples who make disciples

Audio – Part 3a: 24 min

https://trinityandhumanity.files.wordpress.com/2020/01/19.5.05-jesus-is-risen-so-go-make-disciples-part-3a-7-matt-28-1-cor-15-tah.mp3”

Audio – Part 3b: 22 min

https://trinityandhumanity.files.wordpress.com/2020/01/19.5.05-jesus-is-risen-so-go-make-disciples-part-3b-7-matt-28-1-cor-15-tah.mp3”

Audio – Full Message:

https://trinityandhumanity.files.wordpress.com/2020/01/19.5.05-jesus-is-risen-so-go-make-disciples-part-3-7-matt-28-1-cor-15-tah.mp3.mp3”


Bible Verses: Matthew 28


 This Good News series is about Jesus’ Believers and Disciples “GO”ing in Active Participation with Him, Wherever He Says to “Go!…” AND MAKING DISCIPLES WHO CAN MAKE DISCIPLES!

Theological Theme:

Christian Disciples are those who willingly, by grace through faith, and in loving obedience, participate with Jesus in offering their total humanity in allegiance to the Father, through the Son and in the Spirit! Christian Disciples participate with Jesus in his repentance and baptism, being incorporated into his body, the Church. Christian Disciples become fully committed to making disciples of Jesus who can make disciples of Jesus that make disciples of Jesus – in the Spirit, through the Son and to the Glory of our Father!

Christ Connection:

Who is Jesus? Jesus is God’s concrete love, revealing that God’s love has substance and is personal and dynamic! God Himself is his love toward us in Jesus! God the Father’s love is JESUS himself and therefore not a loosey-goosey “just do whatever you want, whenever you want” non-love that overlooks transformation. We don’t go out with a sappy sentimental human-centered love but with God’s real love (Jesus!) that supports and challenges others to receive the Spirit, personally, and become truly human, according to what the Father has made of us in Jesus and the fully human way he lives. We must remember though that God’s love respects the differences and uniqueness of each person, just as Jesus is a different and unique person. Jesus can help you discern the unique ways you might witness about him to each person, in the Spirit, without being tied down by laws and rules.

Missional Application:

Because we are united toJesus and his Father in the Love and Communion of the Holy Spirit, we go with him in his outgoing love and compassion, witnessing to all persons about him, but especially to those who don’t know and trust him yet! Disciples can and will be made by God-Father-Son-and-Spirit with our participation, so let’s go together and make disciples!

Photo Compliments: briansandifer.com

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