Christ Died to Save Sinners

Today in a little while we will participate in the bread and the cup together, remembering Christ’s sacrifice for us. We have these times once a month as a church and encourage you to do this even more often because we wish to obey Christ in remembering Him in the manner He told His disciples to do so. Also, we do this because we know that there can hardly be a more profitable and beneficial way to spend time than by remembering the Lord and worshiping Him for His sacrifice of Himself to us. And, in addition, we do this simply because we love Him!

Following this, we will have a sharing time, where all are welcome to share a word of encouragement, a scripture, a prayer request, even a poem; anything that the Lord lays on your heart. We do this because we truly believe that the Holy Spirit lives in all believers and can speak through every believer. Also, we do this because we truly believe that all believers in a local body are gifted with different spiritual gifts that are intended to be used to edify the entire body. And in addition, we do this simply because we love each other; especially, we love to see Christ in each other just as the early church in Acts saw Christ in each other when they had the same kind of fellowship together.

Knowing and Overcoming Lust

Be Imitators of God

Ephesians 5:1-21
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.

But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints; and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them; for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light. For this reason it says,

A New Year, a New Series

Welcome! I hope you are excited about the fact that we are about to embark on a brand new series, a series on an encouraging, uplifting topic – the topic of … sin. Now, actually I do believe this will be an encouraging and even uplifting series, because, if we are honest, we have to admit that sin is a huge issue in all of our lives. I think sometimes we think that talking about sin is depressing, discouraging; but the reality is that it isn’t the talking that is discouraging, it is the actual sinning and the effects of sin that are so depressing. The name of our series is Understanding and Overcoming Sin because I hope that this series can help us in our daily battle against sin and help us more to do what we want to do. We are all familiar with the Apostle Paul’s cry in Romans:

I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. – Romans 6:15

Looking Back, Looking Forward

As we begin the year 2009 A.D., I think it is appropriate to spend some time looking back over the past year and looking ahead to the year to come. I think it is valuable to do this as individuals, as a body of believers, and even as a nation. I will focus on the first two of these today.

About 10 of us just came back from the Faithwalkers conference in North Carolina. There were about 800 people at our location; in a parallel conference in Missouri, there were about 2300 in attendance. The conference was filled with worship, fellowship, and challenging teachings. The theme of the conference was “Total Commitment,” and teachings focused on commitment in the areas of living in the grace of God, honoring Christ as Lord of your life, being devoted to God’s Word, dying to self, living a life of purity, resolving conflicts, carrying out the Great Commission, serving a local church, and fighting the good fight for the rest of your life.