House Church Sermons

The "if" clauses of this section have been used by some to cause a great deal of guilt in Christian's lives. Yet, properly understood, this is a wonderful section (1:6-10) that brings assurance in our relationship with God and much joy

After finishing John's prologue in the first four verses we now see that John's first words center in the gospel of God - God is light. The gospel is a message primarily about God and his first description of God is "Light" Here we find that God reveals himself. He wants us to know him and what it means to be holy.

The proclamation of John that there is good news to share brings us into a restored relationship with God. Through His Son we have the joy of fellowship with the Creator of the world and that relationship is extended to all who enjoy fellowship with God. This fellowship is maintained through the power of the Holy Spirit and is matured as we put into practice the fruit of the Spirit.

After taking three lessons to introduce the first epistle of John we begin a closer examination of the first four verses. John is saying that he had a message to proclaim. Not an ideology or a theory but a message of a person. That person was God in the flesh, one who came to bring us a new way to live on this earth.

John states, "We write this to make our joy complete" (NIV). We examine the difference between happiness and joy and see that this complete joy is God's desire for us. How do we experience this joy? John gives us a key word in his letter which we will see many times in this series. That key word is "know". We will begin to see how joy comes in knowing and we will build on...

After discussing John's testimony and the validity of his testimony, I give 6 reasons why I think we should believe him.

As I began this study of 1st John, I did not realize how inspiring (and long) it would be. John is unique and difficult to follow when we are trained in our thinking to approach a study linear. John reasons in a circular way and thus he is difficult to outline. A key to my study is presented in this first lesson. He tells us, three times, "I wrote this so" and in the Greek the word is cl...

We live toward that which we hope. All of us live in hope - for some it is a false hope and for some it is the firm hope of a resurrected life in Christ and all that means in the present world and into the age to come. The superiority of Christ over all powers gives us direction in life and hope for the future.

Learning to pray for people and have an effective prayer life begins with the continual awareness of God in our lives and learning to "pray without ceasing." Here we see that Paul's time of prayer was "continually." His trigger for prayer was remembering the Ephesians Christians faith and love and the subject of his prayer was God-centered.

Paul says we are marked with a seal - the Holy Spirit. We see what a seal is used for and it's application to Christian's lives in this study. At what point do we receive the Holy Spirit? What does this look like practically in my Christian walk? Is the Holy Spirit an "experience" in my life or a daily event? These are some of the questions we explore in this study.

God choses those in Christ to be his special ones. And the invitation is open to anyone who hears the word of truth and responds to the gospel of salvation. Salvation is more than being saved from sins - it includes that - but it covers every aspect of our lives. Salvation is a way of life!

The world is not right, something is terribly broken. This section of Ephesians shows how God has begun the process of bringing back all things to their right order. At the cross he did all the work necessary to bring the world back to where it should be. As Christians we have begun that journey and one day the full consumation of this work will take place.

We focus on Redemption in this lesson. Redemption leads me to think of three concepts: Value, Justice and Ownership. After introducing this lesson with God's grace upon grace, talked about in 1:6, we examine being redeemed through his blood. Why Blood? Why couldn't God simply say, "You're forgiven?" The concept of redemption and what it means answers that question for us.

There is so much to discover in these three short verses. We find that there are 9 things said about God that are attahced to the two blessing he gives us. This section of Ephesians has been called "doctrine set to music" and it is a beautiful doxology of praise to God.

Thirty years ago, I spent 6 months reading through Ephesians every day in different translations. The impact of this letter is immesurable on my life. It caused me to see God as Father, to rejoice in who he was and marvel at his attitude toward me. I hope studying Ephesians is as impactful to you as it was to me.

The superlatives regarding Ephesians seem unending. "Marvelous, the crown of Paul's writings, etc." and certainly it is one of the most amazing letters ever written. The first two verses highlight the entire book. It centers on God the Father and focuses on Jesus Christ. It calls us to remember who we are in Christ, reminds us that we are saints and faithful and sums up our life in...

God's character is displayed in this Aaronic blessing. We learn of who he is and through this blessing we are encouraged to become more like him.

After this lesson I was asked "But how is it possible to see the face of God?" My answer is found in the lesson - it is through the Face of Christ; 2 Corinthians 4:4,6. If we do not see Jesus in this Aaronic Blessing then we miss the message. Christ's work is plainly see in the blessing of graciousness and how he "catches our eye", turning his loving attention to each of u...

The beauty of the Hebrew language is in concrete word pictures. We exaime the word "keep" and see that it means protection. Further God makes his face to shine upon us. His face is his presence and his face "smiles" upon us. It is hard for many to believe that God's attitude towards us can be summed up in a smile but this blessing shows us that this is true. God ultimately...

Before actually getting in to the blessing we look at 3 questions to ask when studying the Old Testament This will help us make correct application to Old Testament scriptures. We then look at the phrase "the Lord bless you" and see how God blesses Christians today

The Wright family and the Central church has a history of working in New Zealand and Fiji that dates back to 1963. Allen made a three week trip and shared. with the church some of the highlights of the trip

After introducing the lesson my 1st point comprised a series of video clips of my trip to Turkey last April. My hope in doing this was to connect everyone with the real people that these 7 letters were written to. My main point is specially for the Podcast listeners is how we are overcome reus in Christ in what that means

The command to "Be earnest and repent" means more than "get fired up" or "be enthusiastic" about God. Those who are not extroverts often feel guilty if they can't be "pep-rally" Christians. You can be an introvert and still be zealous for God.

We found a lot of "scripture echoes" especially in Collosians and Ephesians regarding the gold, garments and eye salve. The Laodiceans most certainly had a copy of both of these letters. In the previous lesson we had looked at Jesus counseling or giving advice. I introduced the lesson by reading Isaiah 30, a "scripture echo" that really spoke of God's counsel to us.