Bottom line: whether you believe God’s word or not, Jesus is coming...again.
Whether you believe God’s word or not, it will come to pass. Even when you fail to believe, God’s mercy is there for you. He disciplines his children when they fail to trust him. But he brings them back into fellowship as well. Just ask Zechariah. You can please God when you take him at his word. Just ask Mary. (Cf. Heb 11:3). Make sure you don’t miss the point for the pointer. The point is that God wants to walk in fellowship with you. He sent Jesus to restore our fellowship with him. That’s why he came the first time. The second time he’s coming to finish what he started. A re you ready?
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Bottom line: Doing good means always being prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you why you have hope and to do so w/ gentleness, respect, and a clear conscience. That includes your enemies and your persecutors. Be prepared & ready to share with anyone why you have hope.
In the Old Testament, the tabernacle (and later the temple) was the place where people went to meet with God. This was God’s home as we see in our Old Testament passage for today (Ezekiel 43:5).
The message of our New Testament passage though is that the glory and presence of God is to be found supremely in Jesus. It is at the very moment that Jesus is rejected and crucified that God’s presence among people is finally and fully realized. From that point on there is no need for a physical temple. The only church building the New Testament speaks about is a building made of people (Ephesians 2:20–22), founded and built upon Jesus, the chief cornerstone. The holy temple in the New Testament is one made of ‘living stones’ (1 Peter 2:5) – in other words, people like you and me. This is God’s new home.
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Bottom line:
- Church Discipline is Essential for doing Good together. (Around the corner and around the world)
- Church discipline calls us to avoid the foolish, reject the divisive, confront sin, and follow the leaders devoting ourselves to doing good.
What is it?
It is the effort to lead a wayward church member towards repentance and faith that results in reconciliation.
Bottom line: We have been saved to be and do good. Our bullseye to fruitfulness. We do this when we embrace the grace of Christ letting it shine outward where we live, work, learn and play.
What do you want said about you at your funeral?
Your answer reflects what you truly value in life.
is it worthy of Christ?
is it all about you?
Are you ordering your life around what you value most?
I want my funeral to be about family and friends reflecting on my life in such a way that it exalts who Jesus is and what he's done in my life that’s praiseworthy. That way, my legacy is simply stories of a life lived reflecting Jesus in such a way that others trust and follow him.
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Recap
1. Grace isn’t cheap. Don’t treat it cheaply and don’t represent it as cheap. That’s false teaching.
Grace Christian Fellowship –the sign says: “Love God, Love People”. We love God, and we love
people because we so strongly desire to show people the true Grace of God through Jesus Christ.
That tells people
the message is more important than the brand…
that love is more important than a logo…
that the objective is more important than optics
that it’s better to be a hospital for the lost, than a country club for the saved
that Grace itself is precious…that time here is short, but eternity isn’t…
that conviction is more important than comfort
we can’t say “we’re good”, when we know we’re all bad
Grace is costly. Grace is Honest. And Grace is redemptive
but at the same time, any of this done without love is worthless
2. Let Grace train you…like a marathon. Training can hurt, but understanding what you’re training for
puts everything in perspective.
3. Put away anything in your life that doesn’t bear fruit for God’s kingdom, and keep Him as your main
focus.
4. Know His word and teach it with authority.
5. Stand tall, confidently and passionately love God and love people.
Our hearts should well up with praise in response to the Grace of God.
Grace has a Face and He truly is amazing.
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Be On Display Titus 2:9-10
Titus Chapter 1 - Guidance for Church Leadership
Titus Chapter 2 - Guidance for a Holy Example
Titus Chapter 3 - Guidance for a Holy Lifestyle
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The Main Thing
“The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.” Keith Eitel
Bottom line:
•When we see God as he truly is, it reveals to us how we are to live. [Principle]
•When we see God as Truth, we teach it with character and competency so that God’s people live good, godly lives.
Most people are blind to the truth. That’s why they don’t teach it.
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For the Church to be sound in the faith (doctrine & deed; belief & behavior; creed & conduct), we must confront false teachings and the Errorists who spread them.
Remember what an elder does:
Lead - Follow me as I follow Jesus
Feed - Teach/Train
Protect - Confront/Rebuke/Correct
Series: Underserved Grace Scripture: Titus 1:5-9 (Main passage); 1 Peter 5:1-4; 1 Tim 3:1-7 Title: Choosing Your Elders
Bottom line: Choose elders who are blameless under-shepherds where they live, work, learn, and play. Pastor Darien walks us through the qualifications for elders as it relates to their role as husbands, fathers, Christians, and theologians. Having qualified, biblical elders is part of churches coming into maturity. Elders shepherd the flock, guard against false doctrine, sin, and other dangers. Additionally, they nurture, lead, and teach.
Have you ever felt like a failure, or of no use to God, or thought that God wouldn’t want to answer your prayers?
Until I first read Colin Urquhart’s book, In Christ Jesus, I had never realized how significant that little word ‘in’ is in the New Testament. Understanding that, as a Christian, you are ‘in’ Christ Jesus revolutionizes how you see yourself, your self-image, your identity and how you understand your value to God.
Write your name on a piece of paper. Take hold of your Bible to represent Christ. Place the paper in the book and close it. You are in Christ. Where the book goes you go. Where the paper goes he goes. You are not part of the book, but you are now identified totally with the book.
Paul uses this expression, ‘in Christ Jesus’, over and over again. God has taken hold of you and placed you inChrist. In Christ, you have received ‘every spiritual blessing’ (Ephesians 1:3). All of the blessings, including those that the Old Testament speaks about, are yours in Christ.
Who are we? Why are we (still) here?
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Pastor Darien takes us into a study of Psalm 85 and the events surrounding it. We learn about the critical need to remember movements of God in the past, and pray for Him to move now. Revival. Bottom line: Recall what God did in the past, Pray for God to wake us up in the future, and in the meantime Trust and Obey today in the present.
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Scripture: Acts 17:1-15. “Turning The World Upside Down” Bottom line: Paul and Co. gives us a battle plan for turning things around (180˚) where we live, work, learn, and play. We learn from the Bereans about how to approach the truth of God, and we learn from others on what NOT to do.
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Continuing our series , “Better Together” Pastor Darien Gabriel takes us into a study of 1 Corinthians 12 in the sermon, “Body Builders.” Pastor Darien teaches on how God has designed every Christian to have a gift or many gifts that come together to edify, that is to “build up” the Body of Christ. Bottom line: God sovereignly arranges the body of Christ with his spiritual gifts for the common good. Listen now.
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Continuing our series, “Better Together” Pastor Darien teaches on Matt 9:35-37 and Acts 2:42-47. This sermon’s bottom line: When it’s time to deliver, it’s time to move. Therefore, check your spiritual vital signs and move out! The church is pregnant with harvesters ready to enter the harvest. The harvest is ready to receive. Now is the time to faithfully make disciples, proclaim the Gospel, and do the ministry work.
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Chris & Amy Karpus share about their extraordinary experience of multiple miracles that brought Chris back from cardiac arrest (2x) and a “Brain dead” diagnosis in late July 2020. Just over a month later, Chris shares from the heart and from God’s word lessons learned along the way. Amy shares lessons too but also a lot of the medical details that help us see how miraculous this really was.
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The Big Blot Out (Psalm 51:1-9). In this sermon, we learn three key realities: 1. Broken People Need Forgiveness. vv1-9. 2. Forgiven People Need Renewal. vv10-12. 3. Renewed People Need to Serve. vv13-17. Wise warning: Wrong person + wrong time + wrong place = wrong thing happening. Only God Can Fully Forgive vv1-3. If you are coming to God for the first time, He is ready to respond to your cry of repentance. If you are a follower of Christ and have sin in your life, take a moment to repent and have your fellowship restored.
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Bottom line: Because Jesus has absolute authority in the world and deserves absolute allegiance from the world, we trust, rest, submit to and rejoice in that authority. But we must count the cost.
Jesus is worthy of unconditional trust, even if it means giving up earthly security and comforts. (Matt 8:18-20; parallel Luke 9:57-62)
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When Jesus came to die on the cross, he came to address the root problem—not suffering, but sin. The price was his life to over our sins. Does that mean his will for the world is we no longer experience pain, sickness, and suffering? No. These pictures of miraculous healings are to give us a picture of what is to come in the fullness of God’s kingdom when Christ fully exerts his absolute authority and reign over the earth. But not yet. In the meantime, we live in a world of suffering and pain. In fact, suffering will actually increase as a result of trusting Christ for salvation. So consider that before trusting and following Jesus. Lots of words from Jesus and Paul confirm this will happen.
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Jesus shows us His authority over all things, even the weather when he commands the storm to cease. Only God can speak things into being. Only God can command the winds and the waves and have them obey. This same Jesus, fully God and fully man is sovereign over every circumstance in your life.
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