The Message of the Resurrection
We are commissioned to bring the message of salvation to everyone, mindful that God will sovereignly choose to effectually empower our efforts as we are faithful to accurately relay the biblical gospel.
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The Centrality of the Resurrection
The defeat of death is the logical product and central feature of God’s successful redemptive solution for the impact and effect of our sinful rebellion.
Condemned In Our Place
We must learn to appreciate the great exchange of our redemption wherein Christ’s perfection is granted to sinners like us while the entire penalty for our sin was borne by him in his suffering and death.
Second Chances
We must be mindful and vigilant of the continual battle we face with sin and temptation, grateful for God’s restraining grace and his immeasurable patience.
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.
The Ongoing Betrayal
Spiritual defection and apostasy should rightly concern and even anger us, leading us to personal vigilance and a thoughtful ministry of strong encouragement in the lives of others.
The Turbulent Intermission
We ought to expect a turbulent and hostile experience as we seek to stand with Christ and advance his cause in this world, remaining resolute, unafraid, and confident in God’s promise of ultimate deliverance.
Lamenting His Rebellious Subjects
We will undoubtedly experience genuine grief if we truly understand the problem of sin and the consequences of rejecting Christ, yet it should also motivate us to continue to urgently and regularly share the gospel.
God’s Payment for Lawbreakers
Pondering God’s longtime plan of redemption humbles us Christians, as we realize that Christ’s horrible suffering was the judgment our sins and transgressions had earned.
The Law of God
To get right with God we must humbly admit we fall sinfully short of his absolutely perfect standards, knowing that our only hope is to fully trust his power to save and his right to lead our daily lives.
Seeing Our Need
We must never try to measure our worthiness before God by comparing our morality with others, instead we must honestly admit our utter sinfulness and embrace his amazing gift of unearned acceptance.
Loving God’s Holy Standards
If we love Christ we will love what he loves and hate the sins for which he died and which cause such great damage to the body of Christ.
Caring for the Wandering Sheep of Your Church
God would have us be vigilant about those who wander away from the teaching and practice of the truth, concerned enough for the ramifications of their falling away to lovingly go after them to bring them back.
Grateful for the Gift Repentance
Christians need be extremely grateful for the way God planned, orchestrated, and empowered our turning from sin and our calling out to him to be forgiven.
Grieving Over the Sinfulness of Sin
We must see sin for the grievous and scandalous rebellion that it is so that we can learn to rightly appreciate and celebrate the gracious salvation which God grants penitent sinners.
Feeling Godly Grief
We must seek to be zealous enough for God’s honor that we find ourselves selflessly grieving over those who reject the truth (with all its commensurate consequences) and sincerely rejoicing over those who repent.
Knowing Genuine Repentance
We must see our absolute necessity to repent of our sins regardless of any sense of security we may feel based on a relative comparison of our sinfulness.
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.
Cynicism
We must understand some of the motives of those who react cynically and skeptically to the gospel, responding to them with gentleness and respect but never devoid of urgency.
Taming Fire
God has granted us the powerful gift of communication, which we must employ with great care and deference to the good intentions of our all-knowing and all-hearing God.
Confident in His Power to Protect
Extreme examples of demonization can provide us with insight into Satan’s agenda regarding our own lives, making us vigilant but always confident in Christ’s supreme power and authority.
Christ on Hearing God
Understanding and applying God’s truth are gifts from God to underserving people, yet even those graced with the gift of perception must work hard to carefully understand and apply the truth.
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.