On Sunday we will hear Pastor Toph preach from a passage of Scripture that I encourage you to hide in your heart through memorization. It is prayer that by God’s grace should be found on every believer’s lips both personally and corporately for the body of Christ. Think about what Paul asked the Father to […]
Continue ReadingWhat is available in the gospel is absolutely staggering. There is nothing in this world that gives us the resources that are available in the gospel. One resource the gospel gives the believer is an identity. An aspect of this gospel identity is that it is a received identity and not an achieved identity. You […]
Continue ReadingAll the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you. For kingship belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations. Psalm 22:27, 28 There were so many good things to highlight from Pastor Dieudonné’s message this past Sunday. To […]
Continue ReadingHere are grievous words spoken by the LORD our God … You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping his charge.’ (Malachi 3:14) Jubilee … when we seek to imitate the world … are we not speaking those same words with our lives. Are we not proclaiming […]
Continue ReadingI wonder what you are hearing in this series from Malachi as the Lord speaks to us through his servants. I hope that you are being drawn into the arms of the LORD of hosts as he speaks of a bigger story… a story full of life and peace… a place where true instruction abounds… […]
Continue ReadingPastor Lew painted the amazing picture of God’s love for us, the kind of love that we need Holy Spirit empowerment to comprehend. John begins in 1 John 3:1 with the command, “See.” I want to focus on this command. What this command “see” means is that we need to take time to meditate on […]
Continue ReadingOur hearts are designed to be filled. We can either fill them with God’s Word or with other things. For David, he knew the significance of the Word of God and so stored it up in his heart. He says, “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against […]
Continue ReadingIn 1 John, the apostle John has greatly emphasized the inseparability of the Gospel and love. Those who have been redeemed by the Gospel, of necessity, love others. The gospel makes men others-centered, not self-centered. For John, “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does […]
Continue ReadingFirst, I want to give God public thanks for all of the encouragement I received thi summer. So many of you have let me know that you were praying for the Lord to meet us in this wonderful letter. There are not too many things better than knowing how the body supports one another. There […]
Continue ReadingWell, week one of 1 John is in the books. I hope an overview of the whole letter helps makes sense of the pieces. John gave his audience a three part test to assure them that they had eternal life. The test of belief is all about believing in and confessing the right Jesus, the […]
Continue ReadingAs we look back on our May series on Mercy and look forward to our time in the First Letter of John, I would like to bring to your remembrance how Pastor Toph ended his message this past Sunday, May 28th. It is extremely helpful to us as we read commands in the Bible. We […]
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All real love is substitutionary sacrifice. That is a profound statement that Pastor Russ dropped on us this past Sunday. Take a moment and think about the many definitions of love that are shouting like street preachers on the corners of our culture. Ask a unbelieving friend or coworker to define love for you. See […]
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