Good morning everyone. Oh give thanks unto the Lord for He is good yes He is good and worthy of our praise. I was in worship earlier this week with a group of young people who are new to Christianity when one of them said to me; “are these real facts or did somebody make this stuff up?” today I’m going to present some simple facts in order to move things in the right direction so get ready.
TODAY’S PRAYER
Father, help us to see the “now ness” of our Christian faith. The past is past, and put aside, and the future is in Your hands Lord, but the “now” is up to us. This is where we either reflect You or not, in how we live today. Fill us with Your Spirit, and enable us to be more than we are, so that we may seize this precious time that will not come again, and live today to Your glory. In Jesus’ mighty name we pray, Amen.
Let’s eat.
FOUR FOUNDATION FACTS
Ruin by Adam’s fall
Romans 5:12-14
When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned. Yes, people sinned even before the law was given. But it was not counted as sin because there was not yet any law to break. Still, everyone died—from the time of Adam to the time of Moses—even those who did not disobey an explicit commandment of God, as Adam did. Now Adam is a symbol, a representation of Christ, who was yet to come.
Our Ruin Redemption by Blood
Hebrews 9:11-15
So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good things that have come. He has entered that greater, more perfect Tabernacle in heaven, which was not made by human hands and is not part of this created world. With his own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever. Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow could cleanse people’s bodies from ceremonial impurity. Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins. That is why he is the one who mediates a new covenant between God and people, so that all who are called can receive the eternal inheritance God has promised them. For Christ died to set them free from the penalty of the sins they had committed under that first covenant.
God’s remedy; Regeneration by the Spirit
John 3:1-8
There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee. After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus. “Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.” Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” “What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?” Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”
Our Need Reception by faith
Acts 16:16-31
Paul and Silas in Prison
One day as we were going down to the place of prayer, we met a demon-possessed slave girl. She was a fortune-teller who earned a lot of money for her masters. She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, and they have come to tell you how to be saved.” This went on day after day until Paul got so exasperated that he turned and said to the demon within her, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And instantly it left her. Her masters’ hopes of wealth were now shattered, so they grabbed Paul and Silas and dragged them before the authorities at the marketplace. “The whole city is in an uproar because of these Jews!” they shouted to the city officials. “They are teaching customs that are illegal for us Romans to practice.” A mob quickly formed against Paul and Silas, and the city officials ordered them stripped and beaten with wooden rods. They were severely beaten, and then they were thrown into prison. The jailer was ordered to make sure they didn’t escape. So the jailer put them into the inner dungeon and clamped their feet in the stocks. Around midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening. Suddenly, there was a massive earthquake, and the prison was shaken to its foundations. All the doors immediately flew open, and the chains of every prisoner fell off! The jailer woke up to see the prison doors wide open. He assumed the prisoners had escaped, so he drew his sword to kill himself. But Paul shouted to him, “Stop! Don’t kill yourself! We are all here!” The jailer called for lights and ran to the dungeon and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, along with everyone in your household.”
Our responsibility
It’s simple, we are to spread the good new about Jesus Christ wherever we go regardless of whether it is received or not.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“The more a true saint loves God with a truly gracious love, the more he desires to love Him, and the more miserable he is at his lack of love to Him. The more he hates sin, the more he desires to hate it. The more he mourns for sin, the more he longs to mourn for it. The more his heart is broken for sin, the more he prays that it may be far more broken. The more he hungers and thirsts after God, the more he faints and fails in seeking after God. Forgetting those things that are behind, he reaches forth to those things that are before. He ever presses toward the far-off mark.”
Jonathan Edwards
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REV. ELDER G E STERRETT
FOUNDER
GCKRS HELPING HAND FOUNDATION & THE RELATIONSHIP FACTORY