Florida Coast Church

In order to understand marriage, we need to go back to the creation of the woman in Genesis 2:18-25 .

Because some preachers were saying that God’s grace permits Christians to practice immorality, Jude urged us to avoid their error by keeping ourselves in the love of God.

In 3 John , there is a sharp contrast between one church member who loved Christ and his missionaries and another who loved to be first.

Since the early days of the church, people have tried to deny the Incarnation and still call themselves Christians. The little letter of 2 John is an answer to them and a reaffirmation of the truth about God in the flesh.

In Isaiah 10:33-11:10 , we find a picture of trees that were all chopped down.  However, out of one stump a sprout would grow and eventually transform everything.  This picture portrays the coming of Jesus and also what he can do in your life.

In our worship service today, we received new members and baptized new believers, two of whom told their stories of becoming Christians. In Romans 3:19-26 , we have an explanation of why and how someone can become a Christian.

All agree that the Lord’s Supper is a remembrance meal, but it is also communion with the Lord and with each other. In 1 Corinthians 11:17-34 , Paul corrected errors and explained the Lord’s Supper, who should participate, and how to participate.

From several texts in the New Testament, this message answers four questions: What is the meaning of baptism? Who should be baptized? How should we baptize? Is baptism necessary?

Although faith in Christ has become more and more of an individual matter in the West, those who became Christians in the New Testament were added to local churches.   Acts 2:36-47 records the addition of 3000 new church members in one day and describes the privileges they shared.

In the last three verses of our Old Testament, Malachi 4:4-6 , two of the biggest figures of biblical history make a cameo appearance, Moses and Elijah, representatives of the law and the prophets and forerunners of Jesus.

In the sixth dispute between God and his people in Malachi 3:13-4:3 , we find the proper response to everything God was saying to them. That response will make all the difference on the day God promised to bring, a day for which we all need to be ready.

In another dispute with his people in Malachi 3:6-12 , God gave his people of that day a lesson in generosity, which Christians need to learn as well, especially as it has been transformed by the coming of Christ.

While the people cynically questioned God’s justice and longed for his intervention, in Malachi 2:17-3:5 , God told them he would be coming in judgment after his messenger prepared the way. In the New Testament, we learn who that messenger was and what God did when he showed up, which was a shock to all.

In the third dispute, found in Malachi 2:10-16 , God accused his people of being faithless to his covenant with them by being faithless to the covenant of marriage. This timeless message calls each one of us to marry within the faith and stay faithful to our spouse.

As God continued talking to the priests in Malachi 2:1-9 , he rebuked them for failing in their two duties: offering sacrifices and teaching.  If they refused to change their ways, God threatened them with extinction.  Although they lasted another 500 years, they eventually disappeared and became obsolete, once the perfect high priest offered the perfect sacrifice.

In God’s second dispute with his people, recorded in Malachi 1:6-14 , he accused the priests and the people of despising him. After they objected, God demonstrated how they were cutting corners in their worship. Their failure points to the need for a perfect priest who would offer a perfect sacrifice for sins, which is just what we find in Jesus.

As God’s beloved people were in very difficult circumstances and doubting God, the LORD spoke to them in Malachi 1:1-5  a simple message: I love you. After they challenged his love, God proved it, but not nearly as extravagantly as he has proved his love to us.

In Acts 20:17-38 , Paul passed the torch of ministry to the elders of the church in Ephesus.  In his speech to them, Paul described the character of elders and their work of ministry.  With a few such elders as Paul described, the church has the team it needs to fulfill the mission that God has given it.

As the number of non-Jewish believers in Jesus began to overwhelm the original Jewish Christians, some wanted to make it harder for non-Jews to become Christians.  As recorded in Acts 15:1-31 , the church met in Jerusalem to discuss the matter and reaffirmed that both Jews and Gentiles receive salvation in the exact same way: by God’s grace through faith in Jesus.

In all times, and especially during a pandemic or persecution, it is better for churches to focus on making disciples, not on building and maintaining structures. However, some structure is necessary to send out missionaries to make disciples elsewhere. In Acts 13:1-5 we meet the first church that sent out its own missionaries.

Although there was one lone Ethiopian who became a Christian, in Acts 10:1-48  a whole house full of non-Jews heard the gospel, believed it, and was baptized.  Their conversion was a big surprise to the first Christians, all of whom were Jewish.  Yes, God loved those people too.

It is hard to imagine what the world would be like without Saul of Tarsus (the apostle Paul), but it would have been harder to imagine that such a violent persecutor of Christians would become a Christian and a missionary. His conversion and call, recorded in Acts 9:1-22 , teach us not to despair of anyone or of ourselves, because God’s grace is sufficient for them and for us.

In Acts 8:26-40 , God took Philip from a growing church to a deserted place to talk about Jesus with one African man who came from the ends of the earth.  Then God guided Philip to a Scripture text about Jesus.  These are the two elements we need in order to evangelize: people and a message about Jesus.  To whom is he guiding you today?

When were the glory days of the church: perhaps when it was being persecuted, or maybe when it held sway over the culture? In an excellent sermon on Acts 8:1-25 , Pastor Robbie Crouse shows Christians how we should act in both of these situations and in every other situation as well.

The explosive growth of the church in Jerusalem led to the first threat of division between two groups, as recorded in Acts 6:1-7 .  Wisely the apostles recommended that the church choose a few good men to handle the urgent need that had arisen.  These seven men freed up the apostles to preach and pray, and the church grew even more.  The threat to unity and the way the church handled it can teach...