Archive for the ‘Led by The Spirit’ Tag
“6 Ways Of Understanding God’s Gracious Judgement!”
Filed under: Ascension, Ascension of Jesus, Bible, By Tim Brassell, By Timothy Brassell, Christian Living, Christianity, Church, Discipleship, Easter, Evangelism, Fiction, 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, Resurrection, Scripture Paraphrases, Sermons, 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: Basic Christian Doctrine, Being In God's Family, Believe By Grace, Bible, Break The Idols, By Pastor Timothy, By Tim Brassell, By Timothy Brassell, Christian Faith, Christian Living, Christianity, Church, Church As Reminder, Closer Than You think, Communion As Life, Disrupt To Heal, Evangelism, Face To face Faith, Faith, For The Other, GCI Baltimore, GCI Windsor Mill, God, God Father Son and Spirit, God Gets My attention, God Is For Us, God the Trinity, God's Faith, God's Grace, God's love, good news, Gospel, Gospel Cpmmunity, Grace Communion Baltimore, Grace Communion International, Grace Together, Graceful Disruption, Grief With Grace, Having The Peace Of God, Hope In grief, How God Reveals Himself, Humanity Revealed, Humanity Revealed In Jesus, identity in Christ, Inclusion, Intimate God, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Jesus Has Overcome, Jesus Is For You, Judged To Be Free, Judgement As Love, Knowing The Father's Love, Led by The Spirit, Life's meaning and Significance, Love, Maryland, MD., Ministry, mission minded, New Life Fellowship Baltimore MD, New Life Fellowship Of Baltimore Maryland, New Life Fellowship Of Windsor Mill, Outward Faith, Participation with Christ, Participation with Jesus, Pray To Live, Real Presence, Receive Jesus Fully, Relational faith, relationship with God, Relationships, Revealing Your Life's Purpose, Revelation 1, Revelation 1: 4-20, Revelation 2-3, Scripture Is Life, Sermons, Sharing God More Accurately, Sharing In God's JOy, Sharing In God's Laughter, Sharing In The Divine Nature, Son and Holy Spirit, Spirit Of Truth, The Basic Christian Belief, The Church, The Dance and Dream of the Trinity, The Father, The Father Loves and Like You Fest, The God Who Is Love, The Holy Spirit, The Plan of Adoption, the reason for your existence, Timothy Brassell of New Life Fellowship, Trinitarian Theology, Trinity, Uncategorized, Understanding God, Understanding Human Beings, Understanding Life's Calling, Union with Christ, Who Is God?, Who Is Jesus?, Woken By Love, Worship, Worshipping Jesus Adoption
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Part A:
Part B:
Full Message:
Scripture: Revelation 2-3; Revelation 1: 4-20
Summary:
In this theologically rich Ascension Sunday message, Pastor Timothy Brassell unveils Jesus Christ not only as Savior but as God’s active, relational, and loving judgment. Drawing deeply from Scripture and lived experience, he explores six “ways” of understanding God’s judgment in Christ, each centering on the truth that God-Father, Son, Holy Spirit is for us, not against us. Rather than punishment, judgment is presented as intimate correction, grace-filled disruption, and a call to deeper relationship with the Triune God. Pastor Tim calls the Church to repentance, trust, mission, and communion in light of Jesus’s ongoing presence in and with all creation.
Key Points and Highlights:
1. Jesus Is God’s Judgment of Love
Theme: Jesus reveals God’s judgment as a relational act of redeeming, not condemnation.
Quote: “God’s judgment in Christ is: ‘I am for you.’”
Discipleship Question: Do I truly believe God is for me, even when I face hardship or correction?
#JesusIsForYou #JudgmentAsLove #GodIsForUs
🛐 2. We Mourn With Hope
Theme: In Christ, grief is transformed by hope because judgment has already been dealt with at the cross.
Quote: “We mourn, but not as those without hope.”
Discipleship Question: How can I grieve and still anchor my hope in the victory of Christ?
#HopeInGrief #JesusHasOvercome #GrieveWithGrace
💥 3. Judgment Is Intimate, Not Distant
Theme: Jesus’s judgment is relational. He draws near to correct because He desires deeper intimacy.
Quote: “Jesus is seeking to be more intimate with you… that’s why He gets in your face.”
Discipleship Question: What obstacles am I clinging to that keep me from intimacy with Christ?
#CloserThanYouThink #IntimateGod #FaceToFaceFaith
⛪ 4. The Church Is a Reminder of Truth
Theme: Christ uses the Church, not to shame, but to remind us who we are in Him.
Quote: “Gather with others to remind each other what’s true.”
Discipleship Question: How is community shaping my understanding of who I am in Christ?
#ChurchAsReminder #GospelCommunity #GraceTogether
🚫 5. God Judges Our False Idols
Theme: God opposes the thoughts and behaviors that distort our identity and keep us from Him.
Quote: “God is against you, when you are against yourself.”
Discipleship Question: What lies am I believing that God may be disrupting for my healing?
#DisruptToHeal #JudgedToBeFree #BreakTheIdols
🌍 6. Judgment Is Always Missional
Theme: God’s judgment extends outward through creation and especially through humanity. It is never self-centered.
Quote: “Salvation is never just for you. It’s always for the other, too.”
Discipleship Question: Is my faith focused inward, or is it driving me outward toward others?
#MissionMinded #ForTheOther #OutwardFaith
🔥 7. God’s Disruption Is Grace
Theme: Sometimes God’s love comes in the form of disruption because His will is to draw us close.
Quote: “He’ll kick your legs out from under you if it will wake you up to His love.”
Discipleship Question: Am I recognizing God’s loving interruptions in my life?
#GracefulDisruption #WokenByLove #GodGetsMyAttention
🕊️ 8. The Spirit Makes God’s Judgment Believable
Theme: Only the Holy Spirit allows us to receive and trust that God’s judgment is for our good.
Quote: “You can’t receive that truth without the Holy Spirit.”
Discipleship Question: Am I listening to the Spirit or to my circumstances?
#LedByTheSpirit #BelieveByGrace #SpiritOfTruth
📖 9. Scripture and Prayer Are Participation
Theme: Reading the Word, gathering with believers, and praying are how we align with God’s relational judgment.
Quote: “Prayer isn’t a religious checklist. It’s how you survive as a living person.”
Discipleship Question: Am I relating with the Relational God, or checking religious boxes?
#PrayToLive #ScriptureIsLife #RelationalFaith
🍞 10. Communion Is Receiving the Judge Who Saves
Theme: The Eucharist is not a ritual. It’s a real participation in Christ’s glorified life.
Quote: “This is participation with Him in His ascended life.”
Discipleship Question: Am I receiving Christ in communion as a living relationship or as tradition?
#RealPresence #CommunionAsLife #ReceiveJesusFully
Context:
This message was delivered on Ascension Sunday and serves as a theological meditation on what it means that Jesus Christ is both Lord and Judge. Rather than presenting judgment as divine wrath or rejection, Pastor Tim reorients our understanding of judgment to be about God’s relentless pursuit of relationship, holiness, healing, and hope. The sermon touches on themes of grief, correction, community, creation, mission, and communion, all through the lens of Christ as the relational Judge who is present, active, and victorious.
Reflective Moment: Come Closer
Take a quiet moment to ask:
Am I letting Jesus be near enough to correct me because He loves me?
Am I resisting the very disruptions that are meant to restore me?
Have I made salvation about me alone, or am I joining God’s mission for others?
Come as you are. God’s judgment is not a hammer. It’s a hand extended in love.
Once “Works FOR God”, Now “Fruit FROM God!” (And by ‘God’ we mean The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – God)
Filed under: Bible, By Tim Brassell, 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, Liturgy, 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, Pentecost, 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, Witness, Witnessing to God, Witnessing to Jesus, Worship, Worshiping God, Worshipping Jesus | Tags: Adoption, All Are Included In Christ, Baptism of Repentance, Christian Living, Discipleship, father, Fruit of God's Grace, Galatians, Galatians 3, Galatians 3: 27-29, Galatians 5: 16-26, GCI Baltimore, God Father Son and Spirit, God in Flesh, God Incarnate, God Likes You, God the Trinity, God's Faith, God's Faithfulness, God's Gift, God's Grace, God's Healing, God's Hope, God's Humility, God's love, God's Love And Life, God's Mercy, God's Mission, God's Patience, God's Power, God's Presence, Gospel, Gospel message, grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, Grace Communion International, Humanity Uplifted, Humility, Humility of God, Humility of Jesus, Incarnation, Included In Christ, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Jesus Is God's Love Revealed, Jesus is the way the truth and the life, jesus ministry, JESUS THE CHRIST, Jesus Transforms, Jesus' Presence, Led by The Spirit, Love, Outpouring Of The Holy Spirit, Participation with Jesus, Pastor Timothy Brassell of New Life Baltimore, Receiving God's Love, Relationship With Jesus, repentance, Resurrection of Christ, resurrection of Jesus, Salvation, Salvation By Grace, Salvation By Grace Alone, Sharing God's Love With Others, Sin, Spiritual Maturity, Spirituality, The Father, The Father's Love, The Father-Son-and-Spirit-God, The Holy Spirit, The Holy Spirit Of Love, Trinitarian Theology, Trinity, Union and Communion, Union with Jesus Christ, Wholeness in Christ, Worship, Worshipping Jesus
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Part A:
Part B:
Full Message:
Bible Verses: Galatians 3: 27-29, Galatians 5: 16-26
Introduction:
It’s possible to coerce or even force someone to do something, but for an action to be meaningful and fulfilling, it must be done because the person wanted to. This is the key difference between behavior modification and heart change, changing our actions versus changing our motivations underneath our actions. In the letter to the Galatians, especially concerning the fruit of the Spirit in chapter 5, Paul taught on GRACE, WORKS, and PERSONAL TRANSFORMATION in the light of the gospel. What we do certainly matters, but WHY we do what we do matters even more.
If you’re a Christian, you will obey because you want to obey, not because you have to. The Spirit of God living inside of us ensures it. We will bear good fruit. This doesn’t make us sinless, but it does make us sure of spiritual growth and it does make us more conscious and convicted of our sin. This Gospel-driven way of living means that we ourselves are a Gospel project, always being developed and shaped by the Gospel – Jesus! And it means that we are always acknowledging that the changes in us have not come primarily through our own efforts but through the Spirit of Christ working in us. We don’t get the glory. The Father does.
Theological Theme:
The fact that the gospel begins and ends with Jesus Christ, means that the gospel is PRIMARILY about the Father’s commitment to YOU! The Father receiving/ including YOU (our human nature) PERSONALLY into His love and life through Jesus and by the Spirit. The Father’s Faith and repentance on YOUR behalf in Christ. Secondarily it is about you being committed to Him and your faith and repentance towards Him.
Christians crucify the flesh and walk by the Spirit who, too, is God of GOD [ Father -Son and Holy Spirit]. The Spirit is the one poured out on Jesus Christ without limit, and the one who Jesus pours out on us human beings so that we might participate with Him in who He is and what He is doing. By the Spirit we participate with Jesus in His worship of The Father and in His witness to this world that His Kingdom is already in our midst, and that his rule and reign are yet coming in full!
Christ Connection:
In contrasting the works of the flesh with the fruit of the Spirit, Paul showed the Galatian church what it looks like to belong to Christ Jesus. To be crucified with Christ means to put away our fleshly passions and desires and to follow the Spirit.
Walking after Christ – with Christ, by the Spirit, means Christ leads and by the Spirit we follow Him and move in that same direction that He indicates. When we walk by The Spirit we go where He goes, we live how He lives and how He directs us to live. Walking by the Spirit can be frustrating but it doesn’t have to be that way because we have been gifted by God through Jesus and in the Spirit, to be able to see through the eyes of FAITH. If you are to walk by the Spirit you will need to spend more time with the Spirit, reading and studying and meditating on Jesus Christ through scripture by the Spirit. The Spirit mediates Jesus and Jesus will meet you in and through scripture by His grace.
“We are not to challenge and envy one another. We are to get down from our high chairs and start walking in the Spirit. The Christian life is not a balloon ascension with some great overpowering experience of soaring to the heights. Rather it is a daily walk; it is a matter of putting one foot ahead of the other, in dependence upon the Holy Spirit.” –J. Vernon McGee
Missional Application:
God calls us to follow the Spirit in humility as we develop Christian character that sets us apart from the world.
As the Holy Spirit produces the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control within us, we will also see that our external actions will change too. A person who is loving will act in love with others. A person who is joyful will act joyfully before others. Being leads to doing. And in this case, when we are changed to be more like God on the inside, we will live more like Him on the outside.
“It is in the midst of difficulties and hardships that we especially need the fruit of the Spirit, and it is in such times that God may especially work through us to touch other people for Christ. As we bear the fruit of the Spirit in our lives, others will see in us ‘the family likeness of his Son’ (Rom. 8:29, Phillips) and be attracted to the Saviour.” –Billy Graham
Conclusion:
The power of our obedience and the source of our holiness is not our own efforts but the effort of the Holy Spirit applying to our lives the finished work of Jesus Christ. It’s God who works in you to will and to work for His good pleasure! Your participation with Christ in his good works were ordained beforehand. The same gospel that empowers our conversion empowers our sanctification. It is Jesus who both authors and perfects our faith. It is God alone who is faithful both to start the work in us and to complete it. Jesus Himself is our Sanctification!
Of course, it’s not that we don’t expend any energy. We have to remember that “grace is not opposed to effort, but is opposed to earning.” Instead, it is simply that the energy we use to obey from our hearts for the pleasure of God comes from God’s Spirit. Here is how Paul explained the source of righteousness in Galatians 5:22-26: “22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.”
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