How God Grows His Church (Psalm 62)

The Spirit can have it wash over you like a river. Strength comes straight from God when you—teenager, adult, grandparent, parent—depend upon God by pouring out your heart to Him. When you depend on Christ crucified and raised again—God’s work for the purpose of saving you and others—you will begin to deeply experience God. This is true because God is literally enfleshed by Christ whose Spirit will overflow in you on account of God and His plan. This is how God grows His Church.

The link below takes you to the audio of this message. We apologize for the not perfect quality of the audio.

https://vocaroo.com/i/s0i3DOrnNceN

The Earth Shattering Truth (1 Corinthians 6:12–20)

Snap out of it! Snap out of the boring state of Churchy mind, the boring Church; snap out of boring preaching, and wake up! Wake up to the earth-shattering truth: If you are a Christian, you are one with Jesus Christ. There is one God who created heaven and Earth whom you can know and be united with. I dare you! I dare you to get bored as a Christian. If you are a Christian and you are bored, you have eyes but cannot see.

A link to the audio of the message is found below.

https://vocaroo.com/i/s0afWU503wSL

The Manifold Wisdom Of God (Ephesians 3:1–13)

Ephesians declares that the Church is the manifold wisdom of God made known in the world. In the ancient Church, Christians were sometimes mistaken for atheists. They stuck out like sore thumbs because they did not worship the ubiquitous gods of their age. Is the Church today in any way comparable? Is the Church today the manifold wisdom of God made known to the world? Modern Christians too, should stick out like sore thumbs, and not for bad reasons—but rather for commitment to following Jesus.

A link to the audio of this message is found below. Apologies for the not-perfect audio quality.

https://vocaroo.com/i/s1sAeynTGQdF

2018: A New Year, A New Life (Luke 2:22ff.)

This sermon was preached on December 31st, 2017. For Jesus, God the Father’s great plan was the journey to the cross, dying for the world, and being raised from the dead—and, to our surprise, God’s design for our lives is actually much the same! “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it” (Luke 9:23–24). So God’s plan for Jesus mirrors our destiny in Christ. In fact our lives are designed for this very purpose—losing ourselves for Christ. Will 2018 finally be the year when we live how we’re designed by God to live—and thereby live the best life possible?

A link to the audio is found below and we apologize for the not perfect quality of the audio!

https://vocaroo.com/i/s0fQ9y1MaSSO

What Is God Thankful For? (Amos 5:18–24)

Dear Reader, if you are new here and curious, or are looking for answers immediately, please follow this link to our Start Here page: https://hewasraised.wordpress.com/about/. The Start Here page is designed as the beginning point of this website to which these further posts correspond. Thank you, and may “the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (2 Corinthians 13:14, NIV).

The following sermon, preached on November 12th, 2017, considers Amos 5:18–24. What Is God Thankful For?—is the message title. Is God thankful for people always coming to Church, not watching bad movies, not cussing, or not smoking? Or is God thankful for justice, social equality, and disaster relief for those in need? Is God thankful for people’s hearts being cleansed from the sinful nature by the Holy Spirit so that they don’t pick up that gun and walk into the Church, guns blazing? The answer is of course, the latter stuff! God cares about things that actually matter! God is in fact **thankful** for it. God doesn’t NEED the things He is thankful for—He’s God. He doesn’t need anything! But God desires that we obey and follow him with a heart transformed by the Gospel.

A link to the audio is found below and we apologize for the not perfect quality of the audio!

https://vocaroo.com/i/s0fkhNOFZoNf

Our Everlasting, PRESENT Hope (Romans 8:26–39)

Dear Reader, if you are new here and curious, or are looking for answers immediately, please follow this link to our Start Here page: https://hewasraised.wordpress.com/about/. The Start Here page is designed as the beginning point of this website to which these further posts correspond. Thank you, and may “the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (2 Corinthians 13:14, NIV).

The following sermon, preached on July 30th, 2017, focuses on how Scripture talks about our everlasting, present hope in Jesus Christ. Revealed here in Romans 8:26–39, is the resurrection hope for this PRESENT life by the Spirit. Now of course we have a future hope, a reward in heaven, but our hope in Christ right now is what sets us apart from the world; it is our hope right now! causing us to act differently than the rest of the world, and it is our hope right now! causing us to engage with, for, and in the world, for Christ’s sake. Scripture’s emphasis, in fact, is on hope right NOW. What does Scripture tell us concerning this: our hope right now? “There is NOW no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, (2) because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:1-2).

A link to the audio is found below. Click on the link for the audio. And we apologize for the not perfect quality of the audio!

http://vocaroo.com/i/s1u0rfvjYoIB