Hill Country Bible Church Dripping Springs Sermons

Sin is rejection of a God-ruled life; engaging in a self-ruled life instead. The Bible teaches this is a problemtrue of everyone, handed down to us from Adam and Eve. Ultimately sin is a heart problem and the explanation for the world’s brokenness. In Jesus, we have the only effective answer.

The creation story gives Jesus’ disciples the world view for understanding the purpose of our lives. We must recognize someone who is not Jesus’ disciple has a different perspective, sometimes even hostile to ours. We can lovingly question their perspective on life as an opening to share the Good News.

It is only through the Holy Spirit that we can find the power and boldness to share the gospel. When we have a right view of reality, walk in the Spirit and commit to prayer in evangelism we will see great things happen.

We can feel inadequate when sharing our faith. Our reasons are varied; we lack training, we feel intellectually inferior or we do not handle opposition well. Yet, sharing our faith is a Biblical mandate. More than once Jesus promises the Holy Spirit will work within us to let God's glory be displayed through our imperfection.

Grace without truth leads to tolerance of sin. Truth without grace leads to legalism. In describing the incarnation, John tells us that Jesus was “full of grace and truth”. These traits dwelt in Him inseparably, not paradoxically. We are to be the same.

Our words bear witness to our inner character; our spiritual maturity, our thoughts, and our feelings. They have power to destroy or build up. Ultimately the motivation for our words should be to honor God.

A tree produces its own type of fruit. Jesus uses this metaphor show that our words, like fruit, tell us the state of our hearts, the tree. To tame the tongue our need is different than merely filtering our speech. We must depend on God’s grace to transform our hearts and make us the right type of fruit-bearer.

Words, both online and spoken, play a crucial role in our witness. As Jesus' disciples we must let our changed hearts shape the way we communicate.

The appeal of a “false gospel” was as strong in the Corinthian church as it is in the western church today. Are we Christian or counterfeit? The ultimate test is to examine and confirm the presence of Jesus Christ in us, individually and communally. His presence confirms we are, indeed, His disciples.

Paul was the spiritual father of the Corinthian church. However, he was forced to defend the faith in Corinth because he was not as smooth and appealing as that of the false teachers. In doing so, he shows how a true servant of Christ carries out ministry.

Discouragement is common. How often we are discouraged can be an index for our spiritual maturity. Being discouraged all the time shows that we have not yet learned how to deal with challenges in a God-honoring way. Too little or no discouragement shows us not caring or detached from those around us.

When people boast about their accomplishments or credentials, the motivation is generally self-centered. We can find that tedious. Even worse, though, boasting leaves no room for God to be glorified. Instead, we are called to boast about something unlikely, things that show our weakness.

From the moment we place our faith in Christ, our growth must remain grounded in the Gospel. Otherwise, we are susceptible to deception from teaching that sometimes veers from the truth of who He is.

God made each of us unique. As in our creation, we have unique salvation stories with unique parts in His redemption plan (Ephesians 2:10). Paul’s purpose was to preach the Gospel. In giving authority to his ministry in Corinth, he shows us how we should consider the use of our time to advance the Gospel.

: Christians are living in the “right now” and “not yet” of the kingdom of God. We experience many eternal blessings such as the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. However, this world is not the promised new earth and so we constantly confront darkness. We are reminded that how we fight darkness is as important as what we are called to confront.

Just like loving others, speaking truth and sharing our faith, generosity is a characteristic of a disciple of Jesus. Paul has shown that grace leads to repentance and repentance leads to joy. Now he shows that joy inspires generosity. Because we have been so richly blessed, we desire to be a blessing to others.

As unlikely as it may seem, joy is directly and proportionally tied to genuine repentance for sin in ourselves and other believers. Admitting wrongdoing may not seem a right path to joy. However, it is because it leads us to celebrate the things God celebrates.

If we become complacent, the greatest threats to ministry can come from within the church, not outside of it. It is with this perspective that Paul identifies transparent love and uncompromising purity as solutions to two of the obstacles to reconciliation ministry.

Ambassadors of Jesus must represent Him well. Paul returns to the theme that a comfortable life does not affirm God’s power or work in our lives. Instead, it is the way He enables us to persevere, despite distress, that shows us as legitimate ambassadors.

Evil and brokenness have plagued mankind since the Fall. The solution to ridding ourselves of evil’s effects on the world will never originate from people. Instead, our hope comes from knowing God has reconciled us to Himself bringing peace through Jesus. In turn, all believers are called to be ambassadors of this reconciliation ministry.

A glance at the news and you might conclude this is an unprecedented time of crisis. However, times of crisis are not new. Today, as in Paul’s day, reflecting on the eternal “weight of glory” keeps us from becoming pessimistic and fatalistic. We are aware of life’s realities, but our eternal perspective motivates how we live.

Hope in Christ focuses us beyond current circumstances to the future. Paul recognizes that temporal afflictions, no matter how significant they seem, are no comparison to the eternal glory that awaits him (and us).

To have the most impact one would think God uses people and circumstances that have visible blessings in place. So that there is no doubt about whose power is at work, God moves through the unlikely to accomplish His plan to His glory.

Have you ever had the opportunity to share the Gospel but did not? We must think of ourselves as stewards of God’s ministry instead of thinking it is “ours”. Then, success the way the world defines it is irrelevant. We only need declare what God calls us to; Jesus Christ is Lord.

Using the comparison of the glory associated with the two covenants (v1-11), Paul applies it directly to false teaching occurring in Corinth. He shows how the Gospel provides a transformation the Law could not. In the Gospel, we have an unveiled view of God’s glory.