Sermons from April 2019

Sermons from April 2019

Truly Blessed (Ephesians 1:1-3)

As we learned in the background of Ephesians, the church at Ephesus was facing financial loss and persecution. The more faithful they were to the Gospel the more their economy dried up. The more faithful they were to Christ the more their neighbors hated and persecuted them. The more they followed Jesus the harder things got. The closer they walked with the Lord the more their blessings disappeared. Wrong theology This brings us to a major paradox of the Christian…

Introduction to Ephesians (Ephesians 1:1)

As we begin to study Ephesians we must make sure that we interpret it correctly. The golden rule of interpretation is “What did the original hearers hear?” In order to know this we must know something of the author, his audience, and the circumstances surrounding his writing. Paul is the human author When God inspired the Bible the men He used were not robots. The Holy Spirit used these men’s experiences, personalities, and vocabularies to communicate His truth. Understanding who…

Fruits of True Repentance (Matthew 3:7-8)

As we end our study on abuse, we now want to address how to help an abuser repent and be restored. Because such sins require very personalized counseling our focus is going to be how our church as a whole should approach the process. Pure but not Deceived As believers we have changed hearts and renewed minds; because of this our minds do not naturally fathom or understand the impulses, urges, and deception that engulf the minds of abusers. This…