Message on building our faith
Teaching Pastor John examines the perceived conflict between a God who is both just and merciful. How does Scripture reconcile God’s need to be just with his desire to show mercy? The answer, of course, is Jesus. At the end of today’s message Pastor John gives us a recommendation for a New Year’s resolution – a formula for loving others that involves the reflection of God’s justice, mercy and faithfulness in our lives.
In today’s message, Teaching Pastor John reveals the clever teaching strategy Jesus uses to explain to his disciples that the Pharisees had been neglecting the more important matters of the law – justice, mercy and faithfulness. After the cross, these matters of the heart which reflect the character of God, become the new Law of Christ, written on the hearts of all who believe.
2020 Will forever be remembered as a most difficult year. It has been a year of virus’, contested elections, and riots in the streets. Many people just want to go back to the way things once were, but unfortunately those days are gone, and our society is settling into a “New Normal” of having to deal with these various challenges. Change is hard and not always welcome, but 2000 years ago Jesus resurrected from the dead and changed everything! He ushered in a Spiritual “New Normal” for the whole world, and it was (is) glorious! Listen today as Pastor Bob discusses this “New Normal”, as he continues his study through the Gospel of John.
There are few days through the course of the year that reveal our propensity towards evil and death more than our celebration of Halloween. Just a quick review of the television shows and movies that play on our tv’s, reveal programs filled with demons, murderers, and everything evil. These shows tell a compelling story about our fascination with these unholy things. Our flesh seems to cry out for them (which is why people continue to make and profit from these productions). However, at the same time we love life and we don’t want to die. The tomb of Jesus Christ represents both of these things. He was buried in that tomb because of sinful man, but on the 3rd day Jesus conquered that tomb (and death with it) so that sinful man could find life through Him. Listen today as Pastor Bob discusses the significance of the empty tomb.
It is no secret that the world we live in as Christians can be a very hostile place towards us at times. As a result, rather than boldly professing the name of Jesus to those who need to hear his name, we live our faith out in secret becoming “Closet Christians”. Listen today to Pastor Bob as he talks about how Christians need to get out of that closet, and what it means to do so.
There are those in the world today who seek to undermine what Jesus did on the cross by trying to make a case that He never really died by crucifixion. His disciple John, wants to make sure that we know this wasn’t the case at all, and that because of His death we have been granted blessing upon blessing. Listen today as Pastor Bob unpacks the importance of this event and what it means to all mankind.
When we come to receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior we are given several new things. For instance, we are given a new birth into a new life, making us a new creation with a new purpose! That’s a lot of new things, but God doesn’t stop there. In addition to all of those wonderful “new” things, God has also given us a new family! Listen today as Pastor Bob discusses the beauty of the family of believers.
