The Bride Church - Video

Key Points The Mercy gift flows through people that can empathize with pain, sorrow, and lack.  The gift of giving flows powerfully through some in the body. This gift helps to fuel the Body in so many ways! The gift of encouragement is a gift that will come alongside others, building them up with hope, courage, and faith.  The gift of administration is the engine room behind so many ministries wi...

Key Points There are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. The Spirit apportions to each one individually as He wills. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. The gift is not for you. It is for the body. Wisdom from above is pure, peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. It lines up with God’s Word and moves the churc...

Key Points Paul longed to see the church so he could impart a spiritual gift to strengthen them. The gifts exist so we can mutually encourage one another’s faith. Every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights. There is no variation or shadow in Him. He is the Giver. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. The gift is not for you. It is for the body....

Key Points God gives many gifts for one purpose. The multi-purpose room only works when different people do different things toward the same end. Gifts are not for display.  We are many members, but one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Isolation keeps us from ever knowing what we’ve been given. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them. Yo...

Key Points The first and greatest gift is salvation. By grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing. We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. After the resurrection the Spirit was poured out richly on the church to convict of sin, point to the righteousness of Jesus, and empower ordinary people....

Key Points This series is not a push to fill ministry slots. Serving is the fruit of a heart Jesus has already washed. We are not saved by works. Works express the salvation we have already received by grace through faith. Selfishness is what keeps us from serving. Even while someone is hurting, we are often already forming a reply about ourselves. James and John asked for the seats of glory right...

Key Points Jesus does not say we will become salt and light. He says we are. That is our identity in Him. Every person already has influence. The question is whether that influence points people to the Father or to ourselves. Salt belongs in covenant, worship, and offering. Our first calling is to present ourselves to God as a living sacrifice. Salt left in the shaker is good for nothing. Light hi...

Key Points This parable is the ending of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus is not giving a building story. He is calling hearers to become doers. Not everyone who says “Lord, Lord” will enter the kingdom, but the one who does the will of the Father. Both builders heard the same words. Both built. Both faced the same storm. The difference was obedience. The wise builder puts his hope in Christ and act...

Key Points. The story does not begin with a man in the ditch. It begins with a lawyer testing Jesus: “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” The law is clear: love God with everything, and love your neighbor as yourself. Do this and you will live. The lawyer wanted to justify himself and limit the command. Jesus would not let him shrink “neighbor.” The priest and the Levite show what the law ca...

Key Points Parables open a window into the heart of God and hold up a mirror to our need for Him. With man, salvation is impossible. With God, it is possible. In the vineyard, every worker received the same denarius. Eternal life is a gift of grace, not a wage we earn. The early workers grumbled at the Giver, not because they were cheated, but because they compared themselves and felt entitled. Th...

Key Points Jesus came to give Zoe, the God-kind of life. Whoever has the Son has it; whoever does not, does not. Jesus is the door of the sheep: the only way into the people of God, and the Shepherd who guards the fold. His sheep know His voice through the Word, prayer, and staying with other sheep. They will not follow thieves and robbers. The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. Jesus c...

Key Points Forgiven people forgive people. Gratitude for our own forgiveness is the fuel for extending it to others. The woman with the alabaster flask loved much because she had been forgiven much. Taking forgiveness for granted produces little love; deep gratitude produces deep love. Unforgiveness is a self-made prison that tortures the one who refuses to release the debt. Jesus calls us to forg...

Key Points Jesus never asks us to count the benefits of following Him. He asks us to count the cost. Following Jesus means loving Him more than family, comfort, reputation, or even our own life. Bearing your cross is a daily decision to die to self and follow Him. The parable of the tower teaches us to sit down and calculate whether we will finish what we start. The parable of the king going to wa...

Key Points Parables open a window into the heart of God and hold up a mirror to the condition of our own hearts. The value of a person does not change when they are lost; God still sees them as infinitely valuable. God is not waiting for us to clean ourselves up; He runs toward us while we are still a long way off. There is more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine who n...

Key Points Parables are stories Jesus “throws alongside” everyday life to reveal spiritual truth. Every parable should be framed with a window (into the heart of God and the secrets of the Kingdom) and a mirror (into the condition of our own heart). The secrets of the Kingdom are given to those who follow Jesus; hardness of heart keeps others from seeing and hearing. The condition of the soil (our...

Key Points The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy but Jesus came to give abundant life (Zoe). There are three kinds of life in Scripture: bios (physical), psyche (soul), and Zoe (the God kind of life). Zoe is the eternal, kingdom life that only Jesus can give through the Holy Spirit. Without Zoe you do not have Jesus; with Zoe you become an agent of His kingdom. The war began in the gard...

Key Points Our view of God shapes who we are and how we live (A.W. Tozer). Our vision of God is often far too low. When we see Him, we will be surprised by His beauty, holiness, and majesty. Holiness means God is completely set apart. Pure, innocent, and free from all sin. When people truly encounter God’s holiness (Isaiah, Moses), they are undone and transformed. Losing a sense of God’s holiness...

Key Points The story of redemption is a love story culminating in the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. Jesus has already paid the ultimate bride price, His life. Many are called, but few are chosen: the invitation is open to all, both good and bad. The proper wedding garment is the righteousness of Christ, not our own good works. Without the garment of His righteousness, there is judgment and outer da...

Key Points Jesus promised He would return: “I will come again and take you to Myself.” He will come visibly on the clouds with power and great glory. He returns as King of kings and Lord of lords to judge the nations with justice. Satan will be bound for a thousand years while Christ reigns on the earth. There will be a first resurrection and the saints will reign with Christ for a thousand years....

Key Points Jesus declares, “I am the first and the last, and the living one.” He is alive forevermore and has authority over death. He is our risen Lord and is actively present with us today through the indwelling Holy Spirit. Jesus is our great High Priest who sympathizes with our weaknesses and intercedes for us at the right hand of the Father. Because of His sacrifice, we can draw near to the t...

Key Points Jesus was not created. He existed before time, before the universe, and before humanity. “In the beginning was the Word…” Jesus (the Logos) was with God and was God from eternity. All things were created through Him and for Him. Nothing exists apart from Jesus. He holds all things together. Our security rests in the One who sustains the entire universe. The cross was not Plan B. Redempt...

KEY POINTS ·      God is faithful to finish what He starts in us and through us. ·      Life involves opposition and tribulation, but Jesus has overcome the world. ·      Whether we feel like life is generally easy or hard, our hardships are light compared to many believers globally. ·      Ezra and Nehemiah (originally one combined book) show three movements of restoration: worship (altar/temple)...

Key Points Jesus knows every church intimately. He commends Philadelphia for keeping His word and not denying His name despite having little power. An open door that no one can shut is a powerful gift from Jesus to those who remain faithful under pressure. Patient endurance (holding fast) is highly valued by Jesus and leads to great reward. The church in Laodicea was spiritually lukewarm: self-dec...

Key Points Our souls are vulnerable to the storms of life: anxiety, grief, brokenness, and uncertainty can leave us feeling cast down and drifting. Biblical hope is not wishful thinking. It is a confident, unshakeable expectation anchored in the unchanging character and promises of God. Jesus is our sure and steadfast anchor. Our hope goes behind the veil into the very presence of God where Jesus...

Key Points Jesus knows the true condition of His church — we may have a reputation of being alive, but He sees when we are spiritually dead or sleeping. The church is called to wake up and strengthen what remains before it dies completely. Spiritual coasting, complacency, and compromise lead to a dying church.  God’s ultimate vision for the church is a spotless bride prepared for the Marriage Supp...