The Pushback Against the Messengers
We shouldn’t be surprised at pushback from people when we faithfully deliver the gospel, because God always uses it for the unpleasant work of exposing sin and guilt before he uses it to save.
Forgiveness
Healing Grace
Because of God’s grace, our lives are full of potential usefulness for Jesus Christ. God has a proven track record of consistently reaching out to restore his stumbling servants. Proverbs 24:16 compares the “falling” of
Calling for Repentance
We, like Peter, must proclaim the offer of forgiveness in Christ by calling people to repentance and the hope of a promised future inheritance in God’s coming kingdom.
Love the Lord
Essential to developing, cultivating, and maintaining a vibrant love for God is the practice of continually recalling and affirming the profound expressions of love God has demonstrated toward us.
White as Snow
One of the most heartfelt Psalms as David cries out to God for forgiveness after he is confronted by Nathan for his sin with Bathsheba. Be encouraged by the forgiveness we have from God when we confess our sin to him and are made white as snow.
Gateway to Real Life
We are vulnerable to so many harmful effects of being sinners and living in a deceitful and sinful world, but Christ grants real life, daily provision, and ultimate protection from the consequences of sin.
Pardon for the Penitent
God is rich in mercy to all, but shows the magnificence of his grace in bestowing favor to the penitent who deserve nothing but his unmitigated justice.
The Price of Forgiveness
The perfect and infinitely valuable life of Son of God fully paid the just demands of the Father’s holiness by incurring all the painful punishments our sins deserve.
Christ’s Unfaithful Friends
Peter’s denials certainly remind us that our best intentions to follow Christ will be punctuated by stumbling, but they should also motivate us to quickly get up, confident that God uses imperfect servants to do great things.
Pain and Temptation
The triune God demonstrated love for us in the most costly transaction imaginable; in response we ought to eternally thank him and sacrificially obey all that he commands.
God’s New Covenant
Christ’s institution of the Lord’s supper in the presence of Judas should lead us to a vigilant introspection as we regularly and actively remember Christ’s death and coming kingdom.
The Picture in the Passover
The biblical Passover celebration provides us a helpful picture of the eternal redemption that has been provided for us by the eternal and divine Lamb of God.
The Impact of Repentance
Dig into the key verse for Book of Luke. We should rejoice in our salvation and pursue our sanctification knowing that when God works repentance in our lives his forgiving grace entirely covers our sins and permanently redirects our lives.
It’s Good to Be a Christian
We should regularly ponder the great privilege it is to be a Christian, having received the grace of God to have hell cancelled, heaven secured, and all of our sins paid in full by Jesus Christ.
Loving God’s Undeserved Mercy
We must identify and thank God for his many acts of mercy toward us, remembering that these are small foretastes of the ultimate mercy of the eradication of our debt of sin by his cross.
Loving God’s Flawed People
We must remember that our friends’ sanctification is flawed, just like our own, and so we must continue to graciously forgive them when they sin and be wholeheartedly restored to them when they repent.
Astonished at God’s Amazing Grace
Christians should regularly examine and contemplate the amazing grace of God that provides our salvation so that we might rightly worship and sincerely thank him for it.
Patience & Forgiveness
Because for now our Christian friendships will be periodically marked by insensitive actions and sinful transgressions, we must for Christ’s sake resolve ahead of time to reflect God’s patience and forgiveness.
Question & Answer Service 2016-Part 1
Pastor Mike answers questions on the Bible, God and Christianity Questions in this service: 1. Must a special person perform a baptism? There is no mention in Bible. 2. How does a man define kindness (from a wife)? 3. Scriptual decision on using the name Asa in the geneology in Matthew 4. Question on tongues …
Accepting Hard Truths
While the hard realities of God’s just retribution of the lost in hell should sober us, we ought to sincerely rejoice in the gracious realities of Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf to free us from that penalty.
How the Truth Sets Us Free
For those of us who believe Christ’s teaching and continue to trust in him, God promises to release us from the eternal penalty of sin, helping us now to increasingly overcome the corrupting power of sin in our lives.
The Fear of Perfect Justice
Understanding that God is able to be gracious toward us because his perfect justice was satisfied on the cross should prompt us to be profoundly grateful and extraordinarily gracious toward others.
The Prayer of a Righteous Person
We can pray the powerful prayers of a righteous person that are spoken of in James 5:16 when we are careful to sincerely confess our sins and wholehearted turn from them.
Teaming Up to Prepare Our Generation
Our personal dissimilarities and diversity actually work in favor of our mission when we pull together as a church to evangelize and disciple our generation in preparation for Christ’s return.
The Hallmark of the Spiritually Prepared
To be prepared for the arrival of Christ’s kingdom we must be sure that we have grappled with the gravity of our sin and are trusting exclusively in Christ for our forgiveness.
Godly Perspectives in a Godless World
God rewards us as we mercifully relate to others, mindful of his kindness and mercy toward us – that may not preclude all forms of judgment, but it does rule out the petty and hypocritical kind.
Our Struggle to Say “Any Thing”
Because Christ is the sovereign Lord knowing best how our lives should be invested, we must resolve to love and trust him enough to willing do anything he might ask of us.
Urgency & True Importance
We need to see all of our seemingly urgent concerns in light of the incomparable gift of God?s gracious forgiveness secured for us by the life and death of Christ.