Message

Today we conclude with our message series from 1 Corinthians called “Spirit Empowered Living.” Our message today is entitled “Blessing of Spiritual Gifts.” What are spiritual gifts? Spiritual gifts are supernatural expression of the Holy Spirit working through individual believers. These spiritual gifts are God’s way of blessing people through His church.

In Old Testament times, only certain select people operated in some of the spiritual gifts. For example, some prophets, such as Elijah and Elisha had the spiritual gift of working miracles. Other prophets, had the gift of prophesying, that is speaking for God to others. In New Testament times, in which we are now living, everything changed regarding spiritual gifts. Peter, preaching on the day of Pentecost quotes the prophet Joel to explain what was now happening.

Acts 2:17a (ESV)  “‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy …

In the last days, which began at Christ’s resurrection and continue until He returns, the Holy Spirit makes spiritual gifts available to all believers. In order to receive the power to minister in spiritual gifts, Jesus taught that a believer must be baptized in the Holy Spirit, something that did not happen in the Old Testament. 

Acts 1:4-5 (ESV)  And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me;  for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

Spirit baptism, available to all believers, is God’s gateway to moving in spiritual gifts. Spiritual gifts have two main uses: first of all, they can be used to build up and minister to believers in the church. Secondly, they can be used to provide the power of the Holy Spirit for witnessing to unbelievers.

Acts 1:8 (ESV)  But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Jesus here tells us that the Spirit’s power enables believers to be bold Spirit-empowered witnesses to those who do not know Jesus. As we go through the book of Acts, we learn that God desires for every believer to be baptized in water and baptized in the Holy Spirit. The evidence that a person has received Spirit baptism and the power behind Spirit baptism is the spiritual gift of speaking in tongues.

Tongues are simply communicating with God in a language that you have never learned. The power of tongues is that it allows a believer to pray a perfect prayer in keeping with God’s will that will always be answered. That is an incredible blessing that God has made available to us today. This morning, we’re going to look at 1 Corinthians 14 to learn more about the blessing of spiritual gifts, particularly within the church. Spiritual gifts are given to …

Today we continue with our message series from 1 Corinthians called “Spirit Empowered Living.” Our message today is entitled “Build a Godly Marriage.” Marriage is a hot topic in our culture today, for all the wrong reasons. Rather than begin with those misconceptions, we going to start today with the biblical definition of marriage.

Genesis 1:27 (ESV) So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

This verse is taken from the very first chapter in the Bible about God’s creation of the universe. We see first of all, that humans were created in the image of God. That means that they possessed a moral likeness, they were created as sinless and holy. They were created with a natural likeness to God, having a spirit, mind, emotions and the power of choice. Finally, they were created in such as way that they could enjoy a personal relationship with their Creator.

God created humans as two and only two genders, male and female. We now know scientifically that gender is determined by the DNA of a person which never changes throughout their lives. Every male has XY chromosomes and every female has XX chromosomes.

Genesis 1:28 (ESV) And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion … over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Men and women were not created to live separate lives, but together to multiple and fill the earth with their children. The Bible speaks of this union or marriage in the second chapter of Genesis.

Genesis 2:24 (ESV) Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

The foundation of human society is the family, consisting of a husband and his wife, who in a mystery become one flesh. Together they reflect the image of God to the world and actually represent the loving relationship of Christ and the church. In every age, Satan comes to steal, kill and destroy God’s design for marriage. Romans 1 speaks of how because of sin, men have perverted sexual relations with men and women with women. Not only is this sin in and of itself, it also destroys the biblical concept of marriage and eliminates the blessing of children.

The good news is that any sin, including sins of homosexuality and gender confusion can be forgiven and healed through the cross of Christ. Today, we’re going to see what God’s Word has to say about building godly marriages and promoting godly marriages in a culture that is headed the other direction. So, let’s see what the Bible has to say about …

Happy Easter! Today, we’re gathered to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The resurrection is the most important event in human history. It was the first and only time that someone was raised from the dead never to die again. 

To get started with today’s message called “Death Defeated,” let’s watch a short video about Jesus’ death and resurrection called A Tangible Passion. Why is the resurrection so important for this world and everyone living on it? We’ve already said that the resurrection is a one-of-a-kind event in world history. Let’s look at some other reasons why the resurrection is important to each one of us. Jesus Himself prophesied many times that he would rise from the dead.

Matthew 17:22b-23a (ESV) … Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.”

If Jesus had stayed dead, he would have been a false prophet. It would have called all of his other teachings into question. The resurrection is important because a person must believe in the resurrection in order to be saved.

Romans 10:9 (ESV) if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

That verse is pretty clear about the resurrection. In fact to say that Jesus is Lord means that He’s alive today, which could only happen through the resurrection. Without the resurrection, there could be no forgiveness of sin and no hope of eternal life. If Jesus was not raised from the dead, then He himself would not have eternal life. We would have no hope of an eternal life with God after death.

1 Corinthians 15:14 (ESV) And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.

Without the resurrection, faith would have no object and Christianity would never have begun. But the good news is that Jesus was raised from the dead. Nothing else fits the eyewitness accounts in the Gospels about the resurrection. Nothing else explains the explosive growth of Christianity on the death of its leader, unless He was still alive.

The resurrection impacts not only our salvation, but our daily lives with the Lord. Because Jesus is alive, He continues to pour out of His Spirit on us. So, today, we’re going to see how Easter 2000 years ago can impact our lives today and into eternity. Let’s see how the resurrection is relevant for you and me today in the year 2021.

Today is Palm Sunday, the day when we remember Jesus riding into Jerusalem to the cheers of the crowds. The people were waving Palm branches and shouting “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” Let’s watch a video entitled “Our King” about Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. Yet, how quickly the crowd would turn on Jesus. By Friday of the same week, they were shouting, crucify him.

I’ve entitled today’s message “Power of the Cross.” Jesus’ great triumph would come not on Palm Sunday, but on the cross. It was all part of God’s grand plan.

Acts 2:23 (ESV)  this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.

This verse is taken from Peter’s message on the day of Pentecost. He makes it clear that Jesus’ death on the cross was not an accident or surprise to God the Father or to Jesus. The cross was part of God’s plan to save man from before the creation of the world.

Why was it necessary for Jesus to be crucified? Thousands of people had been crucified before Jesus and many afterwards. What was special about Jesus? The Bible teaches us that every person is a sinner and so is separated from a relationship with God. That separation from God means that each person is doomed to an eternity apart from God in hell. There is no way for any of us to pay the penalty for our sin, as we are all guilty.

God’s plan was to send His only Son, Jesus from heaven to earth in human form. Jesus lived a perfect life, he never sinned. Jesus chose to die on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin. As the only sinless human being to ever live, he was the only qualified to pay the price. God accepted Jesus’ sacrifice as paying the penalty for sin by raising him from the dead.

Acts 2:24 (ESV)  God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.

Jesus came back to life, never to die again and so is alive today ruling and reigning. Next Sunday, we will celebrate the resurrection on Easter.

Today, we want to acknowledge that Jesus made it possible for us to be saved by dying on the cross. We want to study the importance of the cross, both for our own lives and for those that we know. The cross is the hope of the world, it holds the answers to every problem. As we experience the power of the cross in our lives, we must tell others, so they can have eternal hope as well. The cross shows …

Today, my message is entitled “Reject Cultural Idols”. So, what is an idol? An idol is anything that is worshipped or served other than God. Therefore, an idol is something that has been created, whereas God is the Creator.

We tend to think of idols as some type of carved image worshipped in primitive societies. Yet, an idol can be anything that has been created by God or man. The sun, moon, stars or the earth can be idols that are worshipped. People, money, pleasure, power are things that can be idols.

Idols do not have to be intrinsically bad things, they can even be good things. Someone can make their job an idol or even their family. So what makes something an idol that is worshipped? An idol is anything in your life that is more important than God for you. Whatever is the most important thing in your life, that is what your worship.

Everyone worships something or someone. God commands us to worship Him alone. When we worship or give something a higher priority than Him, that becomes an idol for us. 

Therefore, in the world today, there are two kinds of people. There are believers who worship Jesus and there are unbelievers who worship idols.

Romans 1:25 (NIV2011) They [unbelievers] exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

Why would people choose to worship and serve idols rather than God? First of all, they believe the lie that worshipping idols is better than worshipping God. Or perhaps they believe that are indeed worshipping God when they are worshipping idols. You see, every religion, except biblical Christianity, worships idols that they believe are God. Secondly, the reason that people worship idols is that there is demonic power behind idols.

Psalm 106:35-38 (ESV)  but they mixed with the nations and learned to do as they did.  They served their idols, which became a snare to them.  They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons;  they poured out innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with blood.

These verses refer to the nation of Israel which turned from worshiping the Lord God alone and began to worship the idols of other religions. The worship of those idols led them to sacrifice their own children to these idols and the demons behind them. When innocent blood is shed in the worship of demons, the land is defiled.

The same thing is happening in America today. People worship the idols of money, career, pleasure and choose to serve those idols by sacrificing their unborn children through abortion. America has been polluted with the blood of the sacrificed unborn.

Romans 12:2 (ESV)  Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

The world seeks to pressure us as believers to worship their idols of all kinds. We must resist that pressure, speak out against it and learn to follow God’s perfect will. Every sin that anyone ever commits is a result of worshipping an idol and believing it’s lie. Today, we’re going to learn more about rejecting cultural idols and worshipping God alone from the book of 1 Corinthians.

Today we begin a new message series Spirit Empowered Living. This series will be looking at lessons from the book of 1 Corinthians. The church at Corinth was planted by Paul the apostle along with Priscilla and Aquila. This church had some wonderful aspects, but also had some things that needed adjustment. Just like churches and people today.

God desires to encourage you regarding the good work He is doing in your life. And He wants you and our church family to grow more mature in Him.

Today’s  message is entitled “Unity in Christ.” True unity or fellowship can only exist in Christ. That is, there can only be true unity between believers in Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 6:14 (ESV)  Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?

This verse gives us an idea about what fellowship is all about. Fellowship is about being yoked or in partnership with another person. The imagery is of a team of two oxen being yoked together to plow a field. As a believer and unbeliever are not in spiritual agreement, they cannot have fellowship with one another.

1 Corinthians 1:9 (ESV)  God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

We see from this verse that every believer is in fellowship with Jesus. To be in fellowship with another person, you must be in agreement with them. We know from Scripture that sin can hinder our fellowship with Jesus.

1 John 1:6 (ESV)  If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

To maintain fellowship with Jesus, we must repent of our sin and walk, not in darkness, but in the light. Sin can also inhibit our fellowship with other believers. Sin of any kind, including wrong beliefs, can cause divisions between believers.

Today, we’re going to be talking how we can have unity in Christ with other believers and how that unity can grow. Depth of fellowship that you can have with other believers is dependent on your agreement together on the truth of God’s Word. The more fellowship we have with Christ and other believers, the greater the power of the Holy Spirit that will be released. The power of the Spirit is released as our fellowship with Jesus increases. And the Spirit’s power is released in our church as our fellowship with one another increases. So, let’s begin by talking about how we are …