Messages from Pleasant City Church

Faith in God is the only protection for those who are vulnerable and under attack from the enemy. Without faith in God, the follower of Jesus does not stand a chance against the enemy. Faith must be placed, developed, and exercised in the Jesus follower to be able to withstand the weaponry (darts) of the enemy.

There are two main ideas as it relates to “the shoes of the gospel of peace.” First is the idea of taking the gospel to those who need the gospel of peace; second is the idea of living daily in what the gospel of peace has provided us as follower of Jesus.

Righteousness is about the prospect of being right and in fellowship with God. Many even in the church have a misunderstanding as to what is means to be righteous or right before God. Matter of fact, how a person views righteousness determines their eternal destination.

The foundational truth in the Bible is that there is one God, who has revealed truth and one can know Him. However, western culture has rejected God’s truth and has created lies that have produced great deception.

Someone has said, "The Christian Life is not a playground but a battleground."

The joy that can be found in giving.

In a spiritual context, peace is not the absence of problems, but the presence of Christ. True peace is not affected by circumstances. It is the opposite of conflict, ungratefulness, and worry. It is the purist path to joy.

In this text Paul is making a sharp contrast between those who live for this world and those who live for the world to come. It appears that both groups were professing Christians but had vastly different perspectives about how they lived their lives--one group ends in destruction while the other group receives the assurance of Heaven.

The pursuit of Christ is the one thing that will bring joy like nothing else.

Joy comes when teamwork takes place in a local church.

For growth to take place in a follower of Jesus, it is dependent on both divine sovereignty and human responsibility. This growth is a process of God working in and us working out. Not us working for our salvation—that is God working in us—but us working out our salvation—obediently surrendering and following. This is the path to true joy.