"assurance" Tagged Sermons
WARNING: Don’t fall away!
As we have been journeying through the book of Hebrews we have seen the preacher calling his people to see that Jesus is far greater than anything the old system of Judaism had to offer. But it seem he is fearful that his preaching is falling on deaf ears… And so he issues a stern and confronting warning that has the potential to rock our understanding of salvation to the core. Pastor Joe navigates this tricky passage to help us…
Jesus the Greater High Priest
There is a deep uncertainty that exists in the minds of humanity about how we might approach a holy God when we are estranged from Him. In the Old Testament this gap was filled by priests. The people relied heavily on their connection to the priesthood in order to secure their salvation. So when Jews became Christians it would have been easy for them to be tempted to feel like their faith in Jesus wasn’t enough to bridge the gap…
Jesus is Everything
While we don’t know too many concrete details about the author or the audience of the book of but what we do know helps us greatly in understanding the true meaning of this book. Basically the deal is that persecution has caused many Jewish Christians to be tempted into forsaking their new Christian faith and retreating into the protection of Judaism. Into this pressure cooker of persecution and temptation, a preacher pleads with these Jewish Christians to see something in…
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 Real Jesus
Late in the first century it was likely that John was the last remaining Apostle… the last eye-witness to the ministry of Jesus. So when teaching began to rise in the churches that called into question the message of the gospel that John and the other Apostles had proclaimed he responded by writing a letter. This letter still stands as one of the most confident and passionate cases for the certainty of Jesus Christ and the salvation we can have in…
Motivated by His Love
Love is something we talk about, hear about, read about and sing about often in our society. From the love stories we read to the love songs we hear on the radio to the chick flicks we watch; love is everywhere. However, with all these contexts for expressing love we still struggle to define exactly what our love for another is. The reality is that love can be described both by how the object of our love makes us feel…