Read: 2 Timothy 1:1-14
Text: Verse 10b
“The hope of eternal life is not the natural desire that most people have to escape death. It is not more of the same of this life. It is to enter into the fullness of life which is the enjoyment of worshipping and serving God. What that means is that if there is not something of that now already, we are not partakers of the eternal life that that we celebrate when we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus and the defeat of death that he accomplished.”
Read: Acts 1
Read: Psalm 5
Read: Daniel 1
“We are not defined by our desires. We are made by God and for God. The way to life and blessedness is the way of salvation in Jesus Christ, and the way of being, renewed in the image of Christ. That involves dying to self. It involves that for all of us, no matter what our particular struggles and inclinations are. Just giving into our desires is the way of death. One of the great themes of the New Testament is that in Christ it is possible to live a life that is pleasing to God – not perfectly in this life, but nevertheless really. The Bible does not hide the fact that this is sometimes very hard. But it insists that the Christian life is the life of blessedness and true well-being. There is no better way to live than the life that is the result of salvation in Christ – the life of submission to God – the life of love and service – the life of putting God’s will before our own.”
Sermon Series: The Ten Commandments
Read: 1 Kings 16:29 - 17:7
“There are a lot of warnings in Scripture. But these warnings are motivated by God’s grace and mercy and they all anticipate Jesus and his mission because it is in him that we escape the punishments that are the consequences of sin.”
Sermon Series: The Message of Elijah
“Fighting against sin is a multifaceted thing – it is about putting off sinful attitudes and actions and putting on godly attitudes and actions. It is about drawing on the resources that God has given us in the gospel. It is about being part of the body of Christ and receiving rebuke and encouragement from the other members of the body, and it is about nurturing love for God and our fellow man through the nourishment of the means of grace.”
Sermon Series: The Ten Commandments
“The greatest oppression that human beings experience is the oppression of their own sin and the tyranny of the devil. Jesus came to set us free from that and as Jesus himself said in John 8:36. “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.””
Sermon Series: Biblical Responses to Secular Beliefs
