Following Jesus – The Ultimate Adventure
Sunday, October 4th, 2009 : By Dan Miller
Simply put, Christians are people who follow Jesus. Christians are to follow Jesus in every category of living: emotionally, mentally, physically, relationally, educational, vocationally, etc. This means that as we go through life we seek to submit to how Jesus would want us to conduct ourselves in each of these areas. Although we live in modern times we are still to hold to the ancient pattern that Jesus gave us in how He lived life. Is this some new insight or teaching? No. Today we will consider how Jesus has been and is the pattern that Christians follow. We follow Jesus.MP3 download.
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Judgment Day Follow-Up
Sunday, July 12th, 2009 : By Eric Farr
In a previous post, I dealt with a question about the final judgment. One aspect of the question had to do with why there is a judgment if it is a simple matter of unbelievers being condemned and believers being pardoned and entering paradise with the Lord.
In that post, I covered some background on the final judgment. Now I would like to expand on the question of why believers stand in judgment if Christ has already been judged in our place. This is something that was cloudy for me before I examined it more closely and now brings a lot of things together. Much of this comes from the message What Happens When You Die? All Appear Before …
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Faith Alone or Faith Plus Works?
Sunday, May 17th, 2009 : By Ken Rutherford
Are we justified by faith alone (SOLA FIDE), or are we justified by faith plus our works? That issue divided the Reformers from the Roman Catholic Church and it is still the major issue between Roman Catholicism (along with other groups) and the evangelical Protestant church today. We consider this issue as it is presented in James 2:20-26. MP3 download.
View the “Apostolic Grudge Match: Faith Alone vs. Faith Plus Works” video.
View the “You Do The Math” video.
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Testing Our Focus – Faith? Works!
Sunday, May 10th, 2009 : By Dan Miller
Last week we were resuscitated in our understanding that true spirituality never remains hidden between just you and God. Our spiritual health can be seen in how we relate to others around us. The New Testament drips with the dynamic that how I treat others corresponds directly with how much I love God since God tells me to love my neighbor (2:8). Put in another way, my relationship to the invisible, omnipotent God of the universe is directly connected with how I relate to you in this church and my neighbor when in need. However, what if someone says, “I do love my neighbor… in my heart.” How do you judge the legitimacy of that person’s faith? Do you have …
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Feel Overwhelmed with Life?
Wednesday, April 8th, 2009 : By Dan Miller
The video below introduces Paul Tripp’s latest book, A Shelter in the Time of Storm: Meditations on God and Trouble. A follow-up to Whiter Than Snow: Meditations on Sin and Mercy (Psalm 51), these 52 brief meditations are on Psalm 27. See the link above for endorsements and sample pages.
HT: Justin Taylor
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Testing Our Faith in Trials, Part I
Sunday, March 8th, 2009 : By Dan Miller
Take a moment and capture in your minds-eye a particularly painful moment in your life. A relationship gone bad, a sickness, etc . . . Now try and articulate how that event or experience led you to be a more mature follower of Christ. Don’t settle for a series of sloppy cliches or watered-down “God-talk”. Try hard to clearly connect how that experience matured you to trust God more. The teaching today is all about realizing the powerful relationship between the difficulties of life and the development of our trust in God. We cannot have the one without the other . . . and this is exactly how God designed it! MP3 …
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Jesus Is… Part 1, Mormonism
Sunday, November 9th, 2008 : By Dan Miller
In almost 170 years since Joseph Smith first published the Book of Mormon, the Mormon Church has grown to a following of approximately 5.8 million people in the United States and 12.8 million world-wide. Have you ever thought that there must be something to Mormonism since so many people follow it? Today we examine the beginnings of Mormonism and what they believe. Then we will examine its teachings in light of the teachings and person of Jesus Christ. We will take a look at four religions over the next four weeks including Jehovah’s Witnesses, Islam, Hinduism, and starting today with Mormonism. MP3 download.
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Reformation, Part 1
Sunday, October 26th, 2008 : By Dan Miller
Did you know that October 31 is called Reformation Day and marks the anniversary of the “official” beginning of the Protestant Reformation? On October 31st in 1517 Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses on the door of the University Church in Wittenberg Germany. The 95 Theses were a consolidation of Martin’s disagreements with the Roman Catholic Church regarding the sale of indulgences. Today we will seek to better understand the reasons that led to the actions of Martin Luther as well as the implications of that day has in our lives now. MP3 download.
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graceTALK, July 2008
Monday, July 7th, 2008 : By Leadership Team
The Leadership Team answers your questions.
Q1 (1:50): Why are matters such as leasing\buying a building put to vote by the whole church? Specifically, what issues are to be decided by the church members? Why is it biblical?
Q2 (13:30): Hi and thank you for reading this: I recently heard Andy Stanley tell a story about how they had lost one of their pastoral staff to cancer. It was a terribly sad story. The man who lost the fight to cancer was a man of God in his early 30’s and was a father of two. Mr. Stanley said, shortly before he passed away, that the church elders gathered and anointed him with oil and prayed over him. Obviously the …
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Is Repentance Required for Salvation?
Monday, June 2nd, 2008 : By Dan Miller
There are those who would have you believe that trust in Christ is all that is needed when it comes to the foundational element in starting a relationship with God. Furthermore, if anything is added to this basic formula the Gospel message will become corrupted. Consider the following:
In the same way [as first-century legalism], the most telling modern assaults on the integrity of the Gospel do not deny the cruciality of faith in Christ. On the contrary, they insist on it. But to faith are added other conditions, or provisos, by which the essential nature of the Gospel is radically transformed. Often, in fact, a distinction is drawn between the kind of faith which saves and the kind which does
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