December 2, 2022
HOW TO PREPARE FOR CHRIST’S RETURN Determine to finish well. How? “Remain in fellowship with Christ.” Stay close. If you wander, come back. If you stray, return. If you sin, repent. Keep short accounts. “Remain.” Which is to abide, to stay, to live and walk in constant “fellowship” with Jesus. This is not working or
December 1, 2022
CHRIST IS BOTH THE MEDIATOR AND MEANS OF SALVATION The Greek word translated here in the NLT as “the sacrifice that atones” is the word “hilasmos.” This word is often translated as “atonement” or “propitiation.” It points back to Israel’s sacrificial system, whereby a lamb without spot or blemish was offered as an atonement for
August 28, 2022 | 1 John 1:3-2:2
What’s your response when you sin? Do you make excuses and say, “Everybody’s doing it”? Or do you struggle with guilt and shame, feeling distant from God? And what do you do about repetitive sin areas? You know those sins that you’ve confessed to God, but you still struggle to overcome? So now you’re either discouraged or you’ve given up and started doubting your faith? And what about when you sin against a family member or friend? In other words, you’ve offended them in some way. How do you handle that? Do know how to reconcile with them, giving and receiving forgiveness so that fellowship is restored. So that you feel accepted again?
This is what we’re considering today from the apostle John. How to experience God’s acceptance. In the apostle John’s first epistle, he taught believers how to experience God’s forgiveness and acceptance. We can learn to experience God’s forgiveness and acceptance.
December 1, 2020
CHRIST IS BOTH THE MEDIATOR AND MEANS OF SALVATION The word “propitiation” points back to Israel’s sacrificial system, whereby a lamb without spot or blemish was offered as an atonement for sins. Yet those lambs, offered every year on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, were only like checks written on a future deposit. Jesus
December 2, 2019
HOW TO PREPARE FOR CHRIST’S RETURN Determine to finish well. How? “Remain in fellowship with Christ.” Stay close. If you wander, come back. If you stray, return. If you sin, repent. Keep short accounts. “Remain.” Which is to abide, to stay, to live and walk in constant “fellowship” with Jesus. This is not working or
July 9, 2017 | 1 John 2:3-6
Many in the church today falsely think they are Christians when in fact, they are not. They have prayed the prayer, but they have not truly come to faith in Jesus, because their lives are unchanged. So, how can we be sure?
In the apostle John’s first letter, he wrote to give believers confident assurance of their salvation in Jesus Christ. We can have confident assurance of our salvation in Jesus Christ.
January 1, 2017 | 1 John 2:7-17 |
Are you one of the 45% of Americans who make New Year’s Resolutions each year? Check out our New Year’s Day sermon for 2017 to learn how to view resolutions from an eternal perspective.
December 2, 2016
Many start life’s race well, but finish poorly. But I want to finish this life well for Christ. Don’t you? What is the secret to finishing well? “Abide” in Christ. Stay close. If you wander, come back. If you stray, return. If you sin, repent. Keep short accounts. “Abide.” Which is to stay, to live and walk in constant fellowship with Jesus. This is not working or earning. It is remaining. It is clinging continuously to the One who saves and keeps us. It is depending on Him for all things and being satisfied in Him at all times. If we stay in constant fellowship with Him, we won’t be ashamed when He returns. He has done the heavy lifting, declaring, “It is finished!” There is no earning, nor striving for us to do. Yet, we must continually abide in Him to finish well.
December 2, 2014
Determine to finish well. How? “Remain in fellowship with Christ.” Stay close. If you wander, come back. If you stray, return. If you sin, repent. Keep short accounts. “Remain.” Which is to abide, to stay, to live and walk in constant “fellowship” with Jesus. This is not work or earning. It is remaining. It is clinging continuously to the One who saves us. If we stay in constant fellowship with Him, we won’t be ashamed when He returns. He has done all the work. He declared, “It is finished” on the cross. There is no work for us to do. It is done. Yet, we must remain in Him to finish well ourselves.
December 1, 2013
These same three “desires” were the weaknesses that Satan targeted in the garden and the wilderness. The first Adam and his wife fell to the temptation that the fruit was good to eat, pleasing to the eye, and would make you wise like God (Gen.3:6). But the second Adam, Jesus, did not succumb to Satan’s 3-way temptation in the wilderness (Matt.4). Satan still uses these same three temptations. But living in the power of Christ, we can overcome.