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Luke 15 3/24/2010
Luke 15- God seeks…finds… restores, rejoices!
God’s heart, as shown in these parables, is that he does
not separate himself from people or abandon them, but actively
finds the lost and restores them to what we mean to him: sons
of God . God rejoices in this.
The parables are Jesus’ response to a question from the
Pharisses (which is really a charge against ...
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Saving Faith 3/24/2010
Saving Faith
Having looked at the great biblical doctrine of repentance,
we are now ready to look at the corresponding doctrine of
faith. This particular subject is one of which we read right
through the Bible. I suppose that there is more said about
faith in the Bible than about anything else because faith
is that by which all the blessings of salvation ultimately
come to us. We are ...
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The Shallow Heart 3/24/2010
The Shallow Heart
As Jesus taught He was usually surrounded by crowds of shallow
souls. They followed, listened, enjoyed His messages
- but never could get around to doing anything with what
they heard. They were fascinated, entertained, even deeply
impressed with His message and ability. They were responsive
in some ways, unlike the hardened hearts. Moved by His message
at times, able ...
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Prosperity Preachin 3/24/2010
Prosperity Preaching: Deceitful and Deadly
When I read about prosperity-preaching churches, my response
is: "If I were not on the inside of Christianity, I
wouldn't want in." In other words, if this is
the message of Jesus, no thank you. Luring people to Christ to get rich is both deceitful and
deadly. It's deceitful because when Jesus himself
called us, he said things like: "Any one of ...
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The Everlasting Covenant 3/23/2010
THE EVERLASTING COVENANT
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who has blessed us with ALL SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS IN HEAVENLY
PLACES IN CHRIST: According as HE HAS CHOSEN US IN HIM (CHRIST)
BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD, THAT WE SHOULD BE HOLY
AND WITHOUT BLAME BEFORE HIM IN LOVE.” (Ephesians 1:3-4)
God is to be praised and to be blessed because of the ...
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Baptism 3/23/2010
Baptism
We are considering the means of grace that are available
in the Church, and are administered by the Church for the
upbuilding and the strengthening of the Christian believer,
and in our last lecture we looked in general at what are called
the sacraments. Now we come to a detailed consideration
of the two ordinances which were commanded by the Lord and
which we regard, therefore, ...
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The Hard Heart 3/23/2010
The Hard Heart
Why do some people never respond to the Gospel? Why do some people hear God's Word and immediately
respond and others wait so long? Why do believers sometimes grow for a while and then stop
growing? What makes us cold as believers at times, and other times
feel so distant from God? Christ answers these questions in His parable in Mark 4:3-9.
Christ's insight into human ...
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John 17:24 3/23/2010
John 17:24 Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be
with Me where I am. O death! why dost thou touch the tree beneath whose spreading
branches weariness hath rest? Why dost thou snatch away
the excellent of the earth, in whom is all our delight? If
thou must use thine axe, use it upon the trees which yield
no fruit; thou mightest be thanked then. But why wilt thou
fell the ...
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Adopting Christ's Attitude 3/23/2010
Adopting Christ's Attitude "Each of you should look not only to your own interests
but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should
be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature
God, did not consider equality with God something to be
grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature
of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found
in appearance as a ...
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The Book You Can Trust 3/22/2010
The Book You Can Trust: Start Some Holy Habits
Habits shape our lives; and little by little, our habits
are cementing us into a form that will someday be finished,
revealing us for who we really were.
What kind of habits do you have today? And what are those
habits making of you? Do you have some consciously chosen
holy habits that are conforming you little-by-little,
into the ...
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Husbands love your wives 3/22/2010
Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the
church. What a golden example Christ gives to His disciples! Few
masters could venture to say, "If you would practise
my teaching, imitate my life;" but as the life of Jesus
is the exact transcript of perfect virtue, He can point
to Himself as the paragon of holiness, as well as the teacher
of it. The Christian should take ...
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Close the door to the devil 3/22/2010
Close the Door to the Devil
When Jesus faced off with the Devil His weapons were simple—three
carefully chosen verses from God's Holy Word. As we
open to Revelation 2, we find that same Jesus writing to
a church that had learned the same lesson—how to use God's
Word to overcome and resist the devil, his demons, and their
own flesh. As we open to these verses we are reading Christ's ...
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Repentance 3/18/2010
Repentance
Repentance, as we have seen, always comes before faith
in our response to the gospel, so we will now look at repentance.
The best way to start when considering all these doctrines
- a method we have consistently adopted - is to notice the
meaning and the connotation of the terms that are used.
Now the word repentance means ‘to think again’, ‘to think
once more’. So ...
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Blessed are the peacemakers 3/18/2010
Matthew 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the
of God. This is the seventh of the beatitudes: and seven was the
number of perfection among the Hebrews. It may be that the
Saviour placed the peacemaker the seventh upon the list
because he most nearly approaches the perfect man in Christ
Jesus. He who would have perfect blessedness, so far as
it can be enjoyed on earth, must ...
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Galatians 3:26 3/18/2010
Galatians 3:26 Ye are all the of God by faith in Christ Jesus. The fatherhood of God is common to all his . Ah!
Little-faith, you have often said, "Oh that I had
the courage of Great-heart, that I could wield his sword
and be as valiant as he! But, alas, I stumble at every straw,
and a shadow makes me afraid." List thee, Little-faith.
Great-heart is God's , and you are God's
too; and ...
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Not in Word Only 3/18/2010
Not In Word Only 1 Thessalonians 1 : 4-10 “For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in
power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as you
know what manner of men we were among you for your sake” (1
Thessalonians 1:5). Introduction: One thing that you will notice in the reading
of 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 is that it’s main theme is “The
Presentation of the ...
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Psalm 39:12 3/18/2010
Psalm 39:12 I am a stranger with thee. Yes, O Lord, with Thee, but not to Thee. All my natural alienation
from Thee, Thy grace has effectually removed; and now,
in fellowship with Thyself, I walk through this sinful
world as a pilgrim in a foreign country. Thou art a stranger
in Thine own world. Man forgets Thee, dishonours Thee,
sets up new laws and alien customs, and knows Thee not. When
Thy ...
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Proverbs 1: 10-11, 18 3/18/2010
My , if sinners entice you, do not consent. If they say,
"Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood, let us ambush
the innocent without cause." ...But they lie in wait
for their own blood; they ambush their own lives. (Proverbs
1: 10-11, 1 Don't ambush your own life! Enticement to sin can come from many different sources.
It can come from within, from your own sin nature, tempting
you during ...
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Characteristics of Praying in the Spirit 3/17/2010
Cbaracteristics of Praying in the Spirit
But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers
shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the
Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and
they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
(John 4:23—24)
We have been considering the regular manifestations of
worshipping or praying in the ...
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Psalm 19:13 3/17/2010
Psalm 19:13 Keep back Thy servant also from presumptuous sins. Such was the prayer of the "man after God's own
heart." Did holy David need to pray thus? How needful,
then, must such a prayer be for us babes in grace! It is as
if he said, "Keep me back, or I shall rush headlong
over the precipice of sin." Our evil nature, like
an ill-tempered , is apt to run away. May the grace
of God put the ...
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Psalm 39:12 3/17/2010
Psalm 39:12 I am a stranger with thee. Yes, O Lord, with Thee, but not to Thee. All my natural alienation
from Thee, Thy grace has effectually removed; and now,
in fellowship with Thyself, I walk through this sinful
world as a pilgrim in a foreign country. Thou art a stranger
in Thine own world. Man forgets Thee, dishonours Thee,
sets up new laws and alien customs, and knows Thee not. When
Thy ...
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Praying in the Spirit 3/16/2010
Praying in the Spirit
‘Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for
salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is,
when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit
and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him
in spirit and in truth.’ (John 4:22-24)
The question we ...
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Stones by Ann Spangler 3/16/2010
Stones were used for building altars, homes, palaces,
and temples. When "capstone" or "cornerstone"
is mentioned in the Bible, it refers to a particularly important
stone that held two rows of stones together in a corner,
one that stabilized the structure at the foundation, or
one that formed the keystone over an arch or at the top of
a roof parapet. In order to hold the structure together,
the ...
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Four Hearts 3/15/2010
Four Hearts-One Soil
Parables are fascinating. Above all others Jesus was the
Master storyteller and the supreme 'parabler'.
In the Gospels more than 35 of Christ's parables are
recorded. Many others were spoken John says - but these
are the ones He wanted us to hear. Parables were primarily not for reading, but hearing.
Not for studying but for heeding. And Jesus uses them to
expose the ...
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Accepting His Deity 3/15/2010
Accepting His Deity In Jesus' high priestly prayer in John 17, He says:
"And now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself,
with the glory which I had with You before the world was"
(v. 5). Here Jesus alludes to a position He held before creation.
It is a tacit claim to His participation in the eternal glory
of God. In the fourth century, the church faced a serious crisis
with respect to the ...
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2 Timothy 2:1 3/15/2010
2 Timothy 2:1 Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Christ has grace without measure in Himself, but He hath
not retained it for Himself. As the reservoir empties itself
into the pipes, so hath Christ emptied out His grace for
His people. "Of His fulness have all we received,
and grace for grace." He seems only to have in order
to dispense to us. He stands like the fountain, always ...
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Ephesians 6:13, 17 3/15/2010
Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will
be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything,
to stand firm. ...take the helmet of salvation, and the
sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. (Ephesians
6:13, 17) The Bible is God's weapon for the spiritual battle
in my life! The reality is that every one of us is involved in a spiritual
battle. The real struggle ...
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Do You Have a Personal Relationship with Jesus? 3/15/2010
Do You Have a Personal Relationship with Jesus? The most important question you will ever be asked to answer
is the question - "Do you have a personal relationship
with Jesus Christ?" Mark 3.31-35 "Then His brothers and His mother came,
and standing outside they sent to Him, calling Him. And
a multitude was sitting around Him; and they said to Him,
"Look, Your mother and Your brothers are ...
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1 Samuel 30:13 3/15/2010
1 Samuel 30:13 To whom belongest thou? No neutralities can exist in religion. We are either ranked
under the banner of Prince Immanuel, to serve and fight
His battles, or we are vassals of the black prince, Satan.
"To whom belongest thou?" Reader, let me assist
you in your response. Have you been "born again"?
If you have, you belong to Christ, but without the new birth
you cannot be His. In whom ...
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The Gospel Explained by Peter 3/12/2010
The Gospel Explained by Peter
People need heroes. Part of life is looking up to someone,
being inspired by them, and rising to greater levels of
accomplishment in whatever field they represent. There are golfing heroes who inspire; basketball and football
heroes who inspire; entertainers and authors who become
heroes and inspire; political and civic heroes who inspire;
medical, rescue ...
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