"gospel" Tagged Sermons (Page 3)
Jesus Christ – at one with God
We all feel the brokenness of the world and our lives which results from sin. We try to solve this problem ourselves through religious effort, humanitarian efforts, scientific advancement, and chasing the “good life”. The Bible tell us that these efforts ultimately won’t work. But God has provided salvation for us in his Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus’ incarnation and life show that he is the only one who is able to save. His death on the cross fully achieves salvation…
Creed Prequel: What is the Gospel?
Before we begin our series looking at the essential doctrine of the church we take a moment to reflect on that which is our central, pivotal and definitive message… the Gospel of Jesus Christ! It will be through this gospel that we seek to understand all the other points of doctrine we look at and by which we test all ideas about God. So join Pastor Joe as he unpacks the cosmic picture of what God accomplished in the gospel.
Two Ways to Love
Whether it is love songs, love stories or the classic Disney Princess movies we are very familiar with what the world thinks of love. Unfortunately love in the world rarely works out the way that the songs and movies seem to suggest that it will. When John speaks of love he speaks of something far more satisfying and powerful than any image that Hollywood can conjure up… He speaks of a love that empowered by Jesus Christ through His gospel;…
The Voice of Truth
In life there are so many voices that all promise to give us something true. Even when it comes to church and our faith there are many different people who preach many different ideas about Jesus and salvation. In John’s day there were numerous false teachers who were vying for the hearts and minds of the church so in this passage he outlines how they can be sure that a message is true. Pastor Joe looks at John’s test and…
Good Friday: Mockery & Shame
On Good Friday it is pretty common knowledge that Jesus died on the cross, but I wonder how often we remember the manner in which He was punished. Because Jesus did not just embrace death on Good Friday, but the culmination of everything that is wrong with human hearts. This Good Friday Pastor Joe examines the mockery and shame that Jesus encountered and reveals how it impacts on our understanding of what Jesus did for us.
Gospel Empowered Love
As we continue in John’s letter to the churches we have to remember that he is writing to people who are plagued by false teachers who were trying to capture their hearts and minds. John has been constantly calling for the people to see the flaws in these teachers and see the hope and assurance in the gospel of Jesus. Today he unpacks how the gospel changes our relationships with one another and how the love that it empowers can…
The Love of the Father
A lot of people think that Christianity gives you nothing but a boring life of rules and restrictions now and offers you nothing but a boring life of halo-wearing and harp-playing after death. As we continue to walk our way through John’s letter to the churches we will see that it is nothing of the sort. John outlines one of the greatest truths of all time and how it gives us a glorious hope.
Functional Antichrists
Hearing words like “end times” or Antichrist” can send us into a bit of a spin; we either have visions of apocalyptic horror movies or visions of confusing theological debates. Either way I think John would say that we are missing the point. When John speaks of “the last hour” and “antichrist”, he is not speaking about fearsome future events but a shocking present reality. So join us as we try to see past preconceived ideas that we might have…
Taking the Gospel for Granted
Familiarity breeds contempt… or so they say. Basically the longer you have something or someone in your life, the easier it is to take them for granted. As John writes to the churches who are probably a few generations old now, he desperately wants them to recognise that it is very easy to take Jesus for granted… to get bored of Jesus and chase after something else. So John takes a moment to remind the people just how powerful the…
God is Light
When we are convicted of our sin it can often feel painful… this is mainly because our sin is pretty much always driven by our pride and so when we get ourselves into trouble it is a slap in the face to our pride as we realise we are not as good as we thought we were. As John continues to unpack the implications of the gospel we are going to wrestle with how we should deal with this conviction.