PASTOR'S CORNER

MERRY CHRISTMAS.......................TO GOD BE THE GLORY FOR GREAT THINGS HE HAS DONE! SDG

COL 3:18-21 The family is a wonderful gift from God to this earth! But something tragically is happening to the family today! It’s falling apart because we are not listening to God and His instruction for the family. Just as men and women are not listening to what their roles are when it comes to the marriage and even as parenting. The foundations of our homes are falling apart due to the poverty in our hearts! Let me illustrate what that would look like! " While doing relief work in Haiti following the devastating earthquake there on January 12, 2010, one gentleman observed firsthand the tragedy of building a house with a lot of sand and not enough steel: There was a problem in Haiti. Houses were built with too much sand and not enough steel. Sand is cheap, so because of poverty, when many Haitians built their cement-block homes, they used more sand than they should have in their mortar mix. And because steel is expensive, they didn't use enough steel in the columns and r

Col 3:18-21 What is the number one problem with the family? I Googled that question this week and here is what I found! [There were over 400 million responses or hits on this topic] The most common answer was the breakdown of marriage through divorce. • Money ran a close second [and you could probably associate this with most divorces] • Infidelity • Domestic problems or violence in the home • Drugs and alcohol • Inability to manage or resolve conflicts • Over-dependency or extreme autonomy • Communication and trust • Even In-laws to name a few are a cause for family breakdowns! Patrick F. Fagan, Senior Director of the Marriage and Religion Research Institute said this........”In 1950, for every 100 children born, 12 entered a broken family. Today, for every 100 children born, 60 will enter a broken family. Each year, about one million children experience the divorce of their parents, 1.25 million are born out of wedlock, and another 1.4 million are aborted.” Why do we h

Col 3:15-17 We’ve been looking at the character of the old nature and the new nature these past weeks! The sons of Adam versus the sons of Christ! The putting off; to the putting on. The question I asked last week was.....Are you a child of Adam or a child of Christ? The sons of Adam [the old nature] our wicked unregenerate self in which we once walked.....the vile and wicked passions of our former hearts (those former passions found in v5 and v8). Which only leads to death and judgement for the sons of Adam [the unregenerate one in which you once walked] (v6- v7). The sons of Christ [new nature] regeneration by putting on Christ which is a compassionate heart, kindness, meekness and so! (v12). Not just putting on Christ in His humanity.......but the fullness of Christ found in His sovereign election through the grace found in the gospel! (2:10; 3:12). When a child of Christ is called out of darkness and brought into His glorious light, they’re not only given a new nature but t

As the LORD said to Isaiah "And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" Then I said, "Here am I! Send me ." Isa 6:8

Col 3:12-14 What does a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ look like? How can you tell if someone is truly born again? • Do they talk different? • Do they handle situations and finances differently? • Do they dress different? • Do they respond differently? • Do they look at this world different? • Do they treat people different? • Do they treat the marriage and the family different? You could put a RESOUNDING YES to all things mentioned above! • A Christian will talk differently. • A Christian will deal with adversity and finances differently. • A Christian will dress modestly so that they will not draw attention to themselves. • A Christian will make different choices as they see according to the word of God. • A Christian will look at this world differently because they see things as Christ sees them. • A Christian will treat people differently [hopefully with a selfless attitude and not a selfish one]. • A Christian will preserve the beauty of marriage as a gift

Verse 1 Now let's get straight to the topic, God's love is weighty to process And apart from the Holy Spirit, we're unable to digest Because man's depraved in his logic, so God's haters will mock it But inter-trinitarian love should make us astonished Imagine the Son enjoying the embrace of His Father Eternally paying Him homage as He bathed in His knowledge Equally faithful and sovereign, gracious, patient and honest Cosmic greatness blazing with radiance- conscious Holy Spirit also present, full display of His God-ness No creation could watch this- it wasn't safe for their optics What an awesome scene in heaven with all esteem and reverence It's Psalm 16:11 as conveyed through the prophet Overflow of joy and love, the Father made Him a promise To give His Son a people to liberate from their bondage So they're no longer slaves and hostages, but blameless and spotless Consequence of eternal love- our salvation's accomplished! Ch

Col 3:5-11 There’s a story about Raynald III, a fourteenth-century duke in what is now Belgium. Grossly overweight, Raynald was commonly called by his Latin nickname, Crassus, which means “fat.” After a violent quarrel, Raynald’s younger brother Edward led a successful revolt against him. Edward captured Raynald but did not kill him. Instead, he built a room around Raynald in the castle and promised him he could regain his title and property as soon as he was able to leave the room. This would not have been difficult for most people since the room had several windows and a door of normal size, and none of the windows or the door was locked or barred. The problem was Raynald’s size. To regain his freedom, he needed to lose weight. But Edward knew his older brother, and each day he sent a variety of delicious foods. Instead of dieting his way out of prison, Raynald grew fatter. When Duke Edward was accused of cruelty, he had a ready answer: “My brother is not a prisoner. He may leave

Col 2:16-23 Legalism by definition is..... the attempt of self-atonement for the purpose of self-glorification and ends up in self-worship. A legalist is anyone who behaves as if he can win favor with God through his own personal performance. Basically legalism in a nut shell is..... an attempt to earn your salvation by contributing your works to the work accomplished by Jesus on the cross. In others works, it's a "Christ-plus" message. This is something that has plagued the church for centuries........Why do I say that? We can see throughout the New Testament this happening all over the place; especially in the church! A prime example of this found in scripture is in Acts 15:1. "Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved ." There is hree things legalism leads a life to........First, legalism ultimately is a joyless life....because you live by this critical lifestyle that is so demanding because you need to win God’s f

Col 2:11-15 One of the most widespread but unsound religious teachings of our day is that there are many roads to God. One person said this “There are many religions in the world and there are many ways to God. Some call God by the name ‘Allah’ and others by the name ‘Jehovah’ and others by many other names, but there is only ONE GOD, regardless of how He is addressed. All religions have the same goal, namely, to get to God, and it doesn’t so much matter what a person believes, as long as he is sincere and believes he is doing right in his heart. Eventually we will all end up in the same place.” So if men or women are sincere, we are told, it does not matter which path they travel—in the end they will all reach the same destination. Is that the Gospel truth? If so the next time someone tells you that it doesn’t matter what you believe about religion as long as you are sincere ask them these questions..... • Does it matter if a sincere pharmacist puts the wrong pills in a bottle?