Sermons by Ysrael De La Cruz (Page 23)

Giving, An Act Of Grace

On Oct.28 to Nov.1 some of us attended ICOM, the missionary conference. One of the things I enjoy about that conference is the fact you get to know so many missions throughout the world. You get a glimpse of what God is doing in other parts of the globe. That conference is only possible due to the generosity of churches all over USA. I was encouraged this year when I saw churches in the Richmond area that came together to fund church planting. There were about 4 churches, during the conference, checks were given to those to go plant a church. The goal of the offering that weekend was $ 60, 000. Someone in the conference committed himself to give $30, 000 if they reached the goal. The next day this was reached. I was amazed at the generosity displayed there. Have you ever wondered what motivates people to be so generous?

Reasons For Giving Thanks

There are so many ways people show others how grateful they are; some people just say thank you; some send thank you cards, gifts are always a way to show others love and appreciation. (Giving gifts is known as one of the five love languages DR. Gary Chapman). People bake goods. People do all sorts of things to show others they are thankful. At early age we want to implant this attitude in our kids, especially when they get gifts, so that they remember to be grateful. Throughout the Bible, God’s kindness motivated people to praise him. People composed songs to God, some brought offerings and sacrifices to God just to show the LORD how thankful they were for his loving kindness.

The Secret To Contentment

Webster defines contentment as: satisfied, happy, gratified or pleased. Some people think that in order to be content in life, they must accomplish something. This is the message we hear in our society: in order to be happy you have to have more things, better vacations, fewer troubles. However, the problem truly lies in our sinful self. We often find ourselves discontented in our jobs, our marriages, our churches, our homes, etc. Contentment doesn’t come naturally to us. Benjamin Franklin once said, “To the discontented man no chair is easy”

Supplementing Your Faith

Most of us or most people take supplements; a supplement is something that is added to something in order to make it complete. There are all kinds of supplements, hair loss, for losing weight; to enhance performance; to fight anxiety, and so forth.
The Bible tells us about some supplements we are to add to our faith. As followers of Jesus, we also may experience deficiency in our walk, in our faith or even in the knowledge of how to live for God in a hostile world. God has given us everything we need to continue to grow in him, but sometimes we feel we may not be growing at the rate we want, because we have not added these supplements to our faith in Jesus.

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.