The Beginning of The Good News

Why on earth do you come together each week on a Sunday morning? Why do you take time out of your week later on many times to come back again and meet for something else, maybe even multiple times? Why do we give time and help serve? Why do we give from our resources to support the work of Jesus Christ? Why do we use our skills and our gifts and our talents to help meet the needs of other peoples? Why would we do that when we could keep it all for ourselves like the rest of the world does? [00:22:43] (32 seconds)  #ChurchOnMission

They'll tell you, oh, it's not just it's not even fair that somebody would do anything for me. You're right. It's not. It's called grace. And none of us are worthy of it. He purchased us back saving us from sin, saving us from death, from eternal separation with the heavenly Father. And if we choose to truly accept Jesus as our Lord and savior, we will be with him for eternity in a place where there is no more pain, no more sorrow, no more tears, no more fear, only God's perfect peace and perfection. [00:39:58] (32 seconds)  #GraceSaves

Now, did those Gentiles see those Jewish Christians go, oh, at them fighting and arguing and squabbling, I think we want that too. They looked at them. They saw their eagerness. What is it they're so excited to go and learn about and go be a part of? What is it you're studying? What is it you're trying to prove? Not fighting and arguing, not debating things, looking it up to find out if it's true. They saw their witness and went, Yeah. That looks good. [00:29:26] (27 seconds)  #WitnessThatDraws

We flock to people that are like us, but the body of Christ is different. We don't have the same interests. We don't all have the same hobbies, the same jobs, the same income levels, the same opinions on the things of the world. We don't even all speak the same language. Amen. We come together because of Jesus. He's the only thing that unites us in the end and it's all that matters. His love for us allows us to look past any difference that the world puts in the way as an obstacle. [00:23:24] (33 seconds)  #UnitedInChrist

Now, what an amazing truth it is that God has brought you to this point in your life, Yeah. Where you are now grown and developed a new understanding of what Jesus calls you to do. Not what he called your parents to do for you, what he's called you to do to follow him and desire to fully dedicate your life to Jesus now. To fully rely on him, to fully place your faith and hope and trust in him, to fully trust in him for the forgiveness of your sins, for the grace required to save you, to fully trust in him, to fully receive that gift of the Holy Spirit, and place your hope in him completely. [00:56:56] (35 seconds)  #FullyTrustJesus

And what I'm doing now, baptizing you, it's awesome, the forgiveness of sins, it's great, but something more powerful than anything you can imagine is about to be unleashed on this earth. John was fulfilling this great need for the people of God and preparing their hearts and minds for the coming of Jesus. Reminding them to pursue the things of God, to repent of their sin. The people had gotten lost. No different than today. And reminding them that the kingdom of God is near. Now, he's speaking a little differently of a kingdom of God than what we can speak of today. But church, is the message any different today? [00:48:03] (37 seconds)  #PrepareForJesus

but the harder that we push and try to learn the things of God, the better equipped we are when those trials come, and they will come. Church, how about this? By studying and reading and reconsidering these things and taking notes you see, whenever something strikes you, that's not me. That's not me. That's God saying, hey, you. This part right here, these words, this this was for you. I would really appreciate it if you would take note of that because I'm telling you this for a reason. [00:32:02] (39 seconds)  #NoteWhenGodSpeaks

And when they went, their hearts were moved. They repented of their sins. They were baptized in the River Jordan right there in those moments by John. Church, I think we miss so many important things from this, one of which is the idea of repentance. Yes. We hear so much about salvation and coming to know Jesus and having him as our savior and be forgiven of our sins and things like that, and that is all true, but there's a part of this package that is essential, and it is the repentance of our sins. When we come to faith in Jesus, repentance is essential. [00:44:12] (37 seconds)  #RepentanceIsEssential