Being A Kingdom Person

We began to talk about the kingdom of heaven. Jesus inaugurated this kingdom when he came to earth and began preaching “repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” We talked about that the Sovereign reign of Christ is not here yet. God’s people are to long for his coming kingdom, the time in which Jesus will return to earth as the King of kings and Lord of lords. As we wait for Jesus to return, have you ever wondered what you are supposed to do in the meantime? We are to continue spreading the good news that God’s kingdom is at hand and people need to repent and come to Jesus for salvation.

The Kingdom Of Heaven

Most people would like to think that when they die they would go to a place the Scriptures called heaven. Heaven is one those topics we need the Bible to redefine our theology and misconceptions we have regarding this place everyone wants to go; we know so little about heaven because we let our ideas, presuppositions form our beliefs, rather than Scripture.

Facing Giants In Your Life

We all have to fight battles in this life; perhaps you may be fighting one right now. We all face challenges that make us feel helpless, hopeless, to say the least. At times these challenges get the best of us; stress and anxiety, fear and insecurity. This is how the first king of Israel felt for at least 40 days; he faced a huge problem as king and leader of the nation. He didn’t know how to overcome the issue; he was afraid, insecure regarding a war he was fighting against the Philistines. The Philistines had a champion named Goliath who taunted the nation of Israel for 40 days. Goliath’s words “Choose a man and have him come down to fight me” King Saul ran out of resources.

Irreverent Worship

Many of worship services are taking place right now in this nation and around the world. The main goal is to honor God. I often wonder how pleased God is with the way, approaches and attitudes we bring to our worship services. There are churches in which God doesn’t even show up in their gathering. God doesn’t show up because people are not truly seeking his presence, they may want something else, but God’s presence. Sometimes God doesn’t show up because their approach to worship doesn’t glorify God. When it comes to worshiping God, you cannot worship whichever way you think. You must know what God expects in worship because you may think you are worshipping right and you may be disrespecting him,

Challenges In Ministry

“Ministry is messy” those were the words of my professor and adviser Dr. J.K. Jones during my ordination sermon. He wanted me to remember that serving God has its challenges. It’s messy. It doesn’t matter the ministry or service you may be involved in, you will face big challenges. One of the reasons I didn’t want to become a preacher like my father was because I saw firsthand what he went through. If you start working for God and expect it to be a walk in the park, you are in for a big surprise. Every service or ministry has its challenges but the Bible gives us guidance in how we can overcome such challenges.

The Biblical Reality Of Hell

Today we will talk about one of the most misunderstood teachings in the Bible; hell. Most people don’t believe hell is a real place; others claim that they would not believe in a God who sends people to hell. According to Lifeway Research 60 % of Americans believe that hell is a real place but you have to be real bad to go there. 67 % of Americans believe heaven is a real place. 45% believe there are many ways to heaven. The beliefs about heaven and hell come from the Bible, but people have been making these beliefs more palatable as they continue to refuse the authority of the Bible and create their own beliefs in order to feel more comfortable. Ed Stetzer said it right. “People like to believe in a generic Christian-ish god with cafeteria doctrines”
This is why we must redefine our theology, our beliefs and in order to do so, we must go to the Scriptures. Jesus believed in hell and he spoke many times about this dreadful place.

Redefining Our Theology

More than ever in our nation we Christians need to know what we believe and stand for those beliefs. However, there exists the need for us Christians to redefine our theology (our beliefs). Most of us grew up believing certain things that were passed from generation to generation which may not be in line with the word of God. Our beliefs and our worldview (the way we look at the world) must come from God. God is the one who tells us what to believe and what not to believe. He sets the standard, not man.

Are You A Child Of God

There is a need to redefine our theology today; most of us grew up believing certain things that have been passed from generation to generation. We have believed them without questioning. There are lots of things people believe today just because it makes them feel better about themselves; however, that doesn’t mean their beliefs are accurate or true. Sometimes we believe things without applying logic or reasoning. We don’t research it ourselves to see if they are true. As disciples of Jesus we need to know what God has said and says in his book, the Bible. Our theology will be messed up if we don’t know the teachings of the Bible. For example, most people believe they are children of God just because they are humans and believe God exists. What does the Bible say? Who are the children of God? How does a person become a child of God?

A Compassionate Father

A young woman at a Bible study had the toughest time viewing God as a father. Her earthly father was abusive and was never in her life. She didn’t understand a father’s love because she didn’t receive love from her biological dad. I explained to her that God is the ultimate Father; that our earthly fathers would do well to emulate God. God is not like our earthly fathers but our earthly fathers should be more like God. There is a story in the Bible that illustrates to us the kind of Father God is.

Forfeiting Gods Blessing

Last year we celebrated the 45th anniversary of this church and we had chosen a theme “Moving forward.” We talked about in order to move forward you must not linger in the past; leave the past behind and press forward to the goal. We all set goals in life, we make plans but many times we don’t accomplish them all because somewhere along the way, we stop pressing forward. At time we forfeit victory because we give up too quickly; we keep ourselves away from the blessing God had for us due to our attitude.