Romans 12:4-5: The Body
Outline Body Unity and diversity One of another Introduction Your viewing affects your doing. Your perspective on a thing will affect how you act. For example, if sexual intercourse is viewed as an expression of love for marriage and prefigures our consummate union with God, this will affect how you view your sexuality and what you do with it. Worldview shapes action; belief shapes doing. Paul knows this and so as he is calling us to be living sacrifices, he calls us to serve in the church. But you will see that Paul doesn’t call it the church he...
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Revelation 21:9-27: The New Jerusalem
Outline The city’s appearance The city’s life Introduction We are well familiar to the rags to riches story, but the story of the church is a story of riches to rags to riches. God’s people in Eden were perfect in the image of God, Adam and Eve would have been perfect in beauty. I do believe that our obsession with beauty in appearance is due to the loss we suffered when we fell into sin. With the fall humanity lost all its beauty and riches and we became slaves. But God came and redeemed us in Christ so as...
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Colossians 1:28: Healthy Churches Have Gospel-Grounded Identity: Part Two
Outline Faith Sanctification Church Glorification Introduction Healthy Churches have a Gospel-grounded identity. What we are hoping to show today is that in order for a church to be healthy, it must be grounded in the gospel, and in particular to see its identity grounded in the gospel. To try and get at this topic I would like us to read Colossians 1:28-29 together, ‘Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.’
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Colossians 1:28: Healthy Churches Have Gospel-Grounded Identity: Part One
Outline Introduction Election Justification Adoption Introduction Healthy Churches have a Gospel-grounded identity. What we are hoping to show today is that in order for a church to be healthy, it must be grounded in the gospel, and in particular to see its identity grounded in the gospel. To try and get at this topic I would like us to read Colossians 1:28-29 together, ‘Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.’
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Ephesians 6:10-11a: The Imperatives of Spiritual Warfare
Outline Be strong in the Lord Put on the whole armour of God Introduction Every Christian is caught up in the most powerful struggle in all time and the universe. Every Christian is called to be prepared and to play their part in this battle. Paul writes His letter to the Ephesians not to a pastor like Timothy or Titus, nor to an individual like Philemon, but to the whole church in Ephesus. His words on spiritual warfare are addressed to everyone in the church, not merely a select few. He writes to mothers, fathers, children, workers not only...
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Romans 10:10-13: The Universal Results of Faith
Introduction: What is faith? One of my favourite ways to define faith is to look at faith’s opposites, what is the opposite of faith? Firstly, the opposite of faith is unbelief. When Christ was walking on this earth proclaiming who He was and attesting these declarations with miracles, there were those who did not believe what He said. Secondly, the opposite of faith is fear. Hebrews talks about faith being the assurance of things hoped for, faith does not doubt whether this promise is true but finds God trustworthy and is full of confidence not fear and doubt. The...
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