Sermons from December 2017

Sermons from December 2017

You Are Sealed

Sometimes you receive a gift that you don’t quite understand how to use and sometimes you receive a gift that you intentionally or unintentionally abuse. One blessing that Paul identifies in Ephesians 1:13-14 that might qualify as such a gift is the Holy Spirit with whom he says believers “were sealed.” How are believers sealed with the Holy Spirit? What makes the Holy Spirit a “gift”? What is the benefit of being sealed by the Holy Spirit? Sermon Handout EPHESIANS…

When Poor is More

Jesus’ second letter in the book of Revelation was to the church in Smyrna. This church was struggling because they faced tremendous persecution, and this church received a message from Jesus indicating that their situation was not going to improve any time soon. Despite their bleak situation, the Christians in Smyrna received no criticisms from Jesus and were commended by Jesus as being rich where it counts. What was the source of their wealth? Sermon Handout REVELATION 2:8-11 8 “And to…

You Are Free

One of our “in Christ” blessings that can be easily overlooked is our freedom. When we think about freedom, we tend to think about our freedom to worship without the threat of interference or persecution. While that is a great freedom in this country it is not a blessing promised to Christians in Scripture. The freedom that passages such as Galatians 5:1 and Romans 8:2 is offering is freedom from the Law. So, in this lesson we want to explore…

What’s Love Got To Do With It?

Jesus’ first letter in the book of Revelation is to the church in Ephesus. Now, this was a historic congregation that was founded by Paul during his second missionary journey. But even though this is a church that possessed a rich history and marks of a quality congregation, Jesus still saw something that deserved criticism and correction. What did the church in Ephesus need to do in order to be pleasing to Christ and what impact does Jesus’ words to…

You Are Destined

Predestination is a controversial subject even though it is a biblical subject. Paul said in Ephesians 1:5 that God “predestined us for adoption.” What does that mean? Does it mean that God has predetermined our eternal state or does it mean something else? Predestination is identified as one of our spiritual blessings, so should we not be concerned with understanding it? In this lesson we will try to examine the biblical doctrine of predestination so that we can understand and…

Envisioning Jesus

After John provided his introductory statements explaining the purpose of the book of Revelation, the first thing he records is a vision of Jesus that He witnessed on the island of Patmos while he “was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day” (Revelation 1:9-10 What is the significance of this vision? What does it tell us about Jesus? How does it relate to the crisis facing the churches of Revelation? Why do Christians today need this vision of Jesus? Sermon…

You Are Heard

Scripture repeatedly presents prayer as a privilege (Matthew 7:7-8; Philippians 4:6; James 5:16; 1 John 5:14-15) and an expectation (Matthew 6:5-7; Ephesians 6:18; Colossians 4:2; 1 Thessalonians 5:17), and, yet, it is so easy for us to neglect prayer. Why is prayer such a big deal? More importantly, why should we view prayer as a blessing? And, if prayer is so important, then should we not always be trying to improve our practice of it? Sermon Handout 1 JOHN 5:13-15…