December 14th 2025 - "The Making of a Christian" - Ephesians 1:13-14

We can listen to those voices and we can answer those voices with our emotions, with our experiences, or we can answer those voices with the very word of God. And the word of God tells us that our identity is not in our failures, that our identity is not in our shame. Our identity is not in the reality of what our temptations are or may be. Our identity is not in the reality of our sinfulness. [00:35:08] (31 seconds)  #TruthOverShame

Hearing the gospel alone does not save us though does it many people hear the gospel if it was that simple everyone would be saved but it doesn't work that way hearing the gospel alone does not save us something must take place in our hearts the gospel is not meant to merely enter our ears it's meant to take root in our hearts and so Paul tells us that hearing must be accompanied with believing for identity to change from center street to saint street to be in Christ. [00:56:27] (34 seconds)  #GospelThatTakesRoot

When Paul says and believed he's not describing a casual agreement with religious facts James 219 tells us that the demons believe the religious facts of the gospel but they shudder and they're going to be condemned for all time. See I think sometimes growing up in America we certainly have had a privilege and that privilege is that many of us have heard the gospel before but if we're not careful we'll think that simply giving intellectual assent to the truth of what happened historically is enough to be saved like that World War II historian who believes the truths and the facts of what took place. [00:57:12] (41 seconds)  #HeartNotAssent

``See saving faith is transferring every bit every ounce every particle of our hope from ourselves or anything else to Jesus alone that's saving faith that there's no way that I'm going to be saved and made right with God according to myself or anything else according to my lineage my ethnicity my family's history whether or not my mom taught Sunday school or played the piano none of that saves me what saves is Christ and Christ alone and so I look upon him by faith and I put all of my faith all of my hope in him alone. [00:59:01] (42 seconds)  #AllInChrist

You know many of us we have we have children we have parents brothers and sisters aunts and uncles who are not in Christ some who seem to be wandering from God in this season I certainly do and I know what that's like for every parent who carries a holy ache for their children for every child who hurts because their parents are not in the faith for every grandmother who is on her knees daily begging God to save we all together cling to the promise that God has given based on his character that God is merciful he's patient he's mighty to save and so we never stop praying we never stop loving we never give up. [01:00:11] (57 seconds)  #NeverStopPraying

I'm a man who stands on the very foundation of the prayers of my grandmother she's 89 years old and right now she's in the Baptist Retirement Center in San Angelo Texas and I guarantee you she's praying for me right now and she's praying for you right now as a 39 year old man she's been praying for me for close to 40 years she was praying for me before I was born she's been asking God to do what only God can do in my life and she's been trusting him for it. [01:01:07] (38 seconds)  #GrandmasPrayers

Grandma do you trust the Lord mom do you trust the Lord trusting the Lord is where we find peace we don't find peace anywhere else because it's nowhere to be found do you trust the character and nature of God who is patient kind and merciful we keep praying we keep sharing we keep trusting God God is the one who brings about faith in people's lives God does it by his grace he does it by his spirit he does it through the preaching and the hearing and the believing of the gospel. [01:02:00] (51 seconds)  #TrustBringsPeace

And you know what's beautiful about the gospel that saves us and gives us a brand new identity is it gives us a brand new purpose. The scripture says that when we were found in Adam not in Christ in other words in sin instead of in him and our identity was South Center Street not North Saint Street when our identity moved to in Christ so did our purpose and we now glorify God by living on mission with him. See God never saves just for ourselves he saves us and seals us and then sends us. [01:02:50] (45 seconds)  #SavedForMission