081217: Romans 4 & 5 & 6

Romans 4 "Abraham Justified by Faith"
- a good summarization of Romans 1-3 and a brief mentioning of the history of God's people
- "If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about--but not before God. What does the Scripture say? 'Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteuousness.'"
- "He is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised... and he is also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised."
- "It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless."

Romans 5:1-11 "Peace and Joy"
- "Since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith ino this grace in which we now stand."
- "Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man... while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

Romans 5:12-21 "Death Through Adam, Life Through Christ"
- "Sin is not taken into account when there is no law."
- "For if the many died by the trepass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!"

notes from NIV:
- Adam introduced sin and death into the world; Christ brought righteousness and life.
- Adam stands for humanity's condemnation; Christ stands for the believer's justification.
- Adam by his sin brought universal ruin on the human race; Christ brought universal blessing through one righteous act.
- Death: physical death is the penalty for sin; it is also the symbol of spiritual death--ultimate separation from God

Romans 6:1-14 "Dead to Sin, Alive in Christ" --> the concept of "born again Christian"
- "We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life."
- "Our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin--because anyone who has died has been freed from sin."
- "Count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus."

081214: God's Radical Intervention

Sermon by Pastor Don Willeman

1 John 4 & 5

theme: what it means to know God

Faith does NOT equal to will power but the power of God within us.

Romans 3:11
"There is no one who understands, no one who seeks God."

Ephesians 2
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that on one can boast."

Love God for God's sake!

Confession of Faith (adapted from Romans 1:1-4)
"The Gospel is what God promised beforehand, through His holy prophets in the Hebrew Scriptures, concerning His Son, He was born of the seed of David, according to the flesh, declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness: Jesus, the Anointed King, our Lord."

081130: Knowing What to Pray For

Sermon by Pastor Don Willeman

Colossians 1:3-14
"For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God."

- what urged Paul to pray:
a. faith of Christ
b. love of saints

- Paul prays for the people living the Christian way, for life-style changes

-the knowledge of "His Will"
misconceptions:
a. moralistic: to know the 10 commandments
b. pre-conceived notion of Christian sub-culture
* "2-step Christianity": how to live as a Christian after becoming a Christian (aka Disciple)
* "what does God want me to do," i.e. God would whisper into my ear about what I should do"
truth:
a. His plan/purposes in Christ, thus, is to really understand God/Christ, to understand the Mission
b. Christians should continually seek more knowledge, to continually wonder WHO Jesus is--"to know it in a way that could never be filled"
and thus, to be continually filled with the knowledge of His will


- thus, knowing what to pray for:
Adolation
Confession
Thanksgiving
Supplecation (asking/petitioning)

081123: The Discipline of Thanksgiving

Sermon by Markes Wilson

Hebrew 12:28-29
"Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire."

- Our gratitude is not for something that we can achieve because we worked hard; our gratitude is received for something that no matter how hard we try, we can never achieve.

- It is our natural tendency to be thankless.

081119: Romans 2 & 3

Romans 2:17-29 "The Jews and the Law"
- The one who is not circumcised physically and yet obeys the law will condemn you who, even though you have the written code and circumcision, are a lawbreaker.
- A man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code.

Romans 3:1-8 "God's Faithfulness"
- "What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew...? Much in every way! First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God."
- "Someone might argue, 'If my falsehood enhances God's truthfulness and so increase his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?'... Their condemnation is deserved."

--> God is righteous and faithful REGARDLESS of human actions.

Romans 3:9-20 "No One Is Righteous"
- "Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin.
- "There is no one righteous, not even one;... There is no fear of God before their eyes."
- "Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin."

Romans 3:21-31 "Righteousness Through Faith"
- "This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are jusified freely by his GRACE through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God present him as a sacrifice of atonement, through FAITH IN HIS BLOOD."

--> Righteousness is NOT earned by following the Law. Righteousness is a GIFT by the Grace of God, by Jesus Christ dying for us on the cross, shedding His blood to wash away our sins; the Law is there to SHOW how we all sin. There is NOTHING we can do to ever make us righteous. We are righteous THROUGH Jesus Christ.

- "A man is justified by faith apart from observing the law."
- "There is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith."

081116: Justification by Grace

Sermon by Pastor Don Willeman

Romans 3:9-25
I. meaning of justification
a. to demonstrate or to prove to be just, right, valid
b. to declare something/someone free of blame; to absolve of guilt
c. a court room term whereby a judge declares a person to be righteous and to save the person from the punishment that the person would otherwise deserve

II. justification by grace
Romans 3: 24 "...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus..."
thus, to be declared righteous by grace alone, through Faith alone, on account of Christ alone

III. implication of justification by grace
a. opens up a whole new world for us to be good, i.e. to change focus from self-centeredness to centeredness on other things
b. opens up a way to a more genuine fellowship

repentance: "I cannot make myself righteous and need the Grace of God"

081109: The Discipline of Speaking the Truth to Our Neighbors

by Pastor Don Willeman

- we are all spiritually bankrupt

I. the need to speak the Truth
- Jesus sends disciples out to speak the Truth, thus as Christians, we all have the calling to speak the Truth --> so that people know about the Truth!!
- Matthew 28:18-20 "The Great Commission"
- Luke 24:45-50

II. the truth we need to speak
- about what God has done to make us possible
- 1 Corinthsians 15:3-12 "The Resurrection of Christ"
"I worked harder than all of them--yet not I, but the grace of God, that was with me."
- The gospel is not about you; it's about what the Messiah has done for you

III. the way/manner we need to speak the Truth
- i.e. WHO we are when we say it

a. via the Church (John 17:20 "Jesus prays for all believers")
- God speaks to us about the Truth via Jesus Christ, thus the Church is our means to speak the Truth about God

b. via ourselves
2 Timothy 2:23-27 "A Workman Approved by God"
to "gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance, lending them to a knowledge of the Truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will."

- repentance is NOT religious, is NOT pious, is NOT sincere in spirit

Confession of Faith (from the Theological Declaration of Barmen)
We confess that as Jesus Christ is God's assurance of the forgiveness of all our sins, so in the same way and with the same seriousness is he also God's mighty claim upon our whole life. Through him befalls us a joyful deliverance from the godless fetters of this world for a free, grateful service to his creatures. We reject the false doctrine, as though there were areas of our life in which we would not belong to Jesus Christ, but to other lords--areas in which we would not need justification and sanctification through him.