Edgefield Church Nashville – Sermons

This psalm belongs with a group known as thanksgiving psalms. It celebrates God as the one who hears and answers, the God who saves. But whom does God save?

The only way to experience true, lasting joy is to love most what you can't lose.

This first psalm serves as an introduction and an invitation to the whole collection of psalms. It lays out the path to true and lasting happiness. What it says about happiness, and where to find it, may surprise you.

With his final encouragement for his friends, Paul ties together the main themes of his letter, and points to where authentic Christianity shows up: in community.

Throughout this letter Paul has been under examination, but now at the end he tells the Corinthians that they should examine themselves. What sort of test does Paul have in mind? And how will this test be graded?

Paul?s goal in writing to his friends is to deepen their faith. As he defends himself and his ministry against specific accusations, he puts forward an example of relating to Corinthian church, where we find an encouragement to live a self-denying, unified life with brothers and sisters in Christ. The power to live like that comes from our identity in Christ?all of us sinners who need a savior. Ou...

The Christian life inevitably involves hardship. We want God?s victory to look like our success over those hardships, but Paul tells us a different story. God?s strength is made perfect in our weakness, whether we win in this life or not.

How do you expect God to treat his friends?

In this text Paul unleashes a withering attack on teachers he calls false apostles and servants of Satan. He accuses them of peddling a counterfeit version of Jesus and his gospel. What exactly is Paul worried about? And how can we avoid it ourselves?

What do you want your life to be known for?

What will our giving look like if Jesus is our model?

One of the main reasons Paul wrote this letter was to urge the Corinthians to send money to impoverished Christians in Jerusalem. But his approach wasn't what you might expect. He doesn't scold them. He doesn't shame them. He just reminds them of God's grace to them.

Paul says the difference between godly grief and worldly grief is the difference between life and death. So what is godly grief? Why do we need it so badly? And how do we get it?

Deep in every human is a longing for more than what we experience in this world. In this text Paul pinpoints our longing--a longing for life. It's a longing only the risen Jesus can fulfill.

Paul confronts Christians with a direct challenge to be holy--set apart from anything that stands against God. But that challenge is rooted in a precious, mind-bending promise. God has promised to live among his people.

Are Christians supposed to be happy? It depends on what you mean by happy. If Paul's description of his life is our guide, we should expect our lives to be sorrowful. And we should expect to be always rejoicing.

The Bible teaches that we were all made for a relationship we have broken. Our deepest need is reconciliation. This text shows us how to get peace with God, and how to spread it.

"In Christ" is a phrase that comes up all throughout Paul's letters. It's easy to pass right over it without paying much notice. But what does it mean to be "in Christ"? And why is it so important?

Waiting is a basic Christian posture. We walk by faith, not by sight, until God?s promises come to pass. In this passage Paul clarifies what it is that we?re waiting for, and what we do while we wait.

Paul says the problems we face now can't compare to the eternal glory we're promised in Christ. He says we get this truth when we focus not on what we can see but on what we can't see. But how do we compare what we can see to what we can't see?

Because of Jesus, the world's greatest treasure comes hidden in jars of clay--common, unexceptional, even fragile and weak. That means, for the Christian, suffering is never what it seems.

True freedom, the freedom that comes by God's Spirit, is not primarily freedom from something holding you back. It's freedom for--freedom to see, to enjoy, and to be transformed by the glory of Jesus.

What is true Christianity? And how can you see if Christianity is true? Paul?s answer may surprise you. It should definitely encourage you.

How does the knowledge of God spread throughout the world? It?s not a question we would normally ask, but it?s crucial for understanding our calling. Paul shows us we?ve got to recognize the difference between God?s responsibility and ours.

Here are four things we can learn from Paul about how to correct one another in a healthy way.