No question is more central to the missionary enterprise than the state of those without Christ. Are they really lost? Are those who never hear also lost? And that raises an important question. How can God send people to hell for not believing in Jesus, if they never even heard of him in the first place?
Text: Romans 2:12Indeed, this world is not our home. Let’s see if we can understand more about how we can be ready […]
Text: Philippians 1:19-26I’d like to begin with an informal survey. What do you think are the most pressing challenges facing the local […]
Text: Philippians 1:12-18If this be the day before the end of the world, let it be a day in which we say, “Not less for Jesus, but more.”
Text: 1 Peter 4:7-11Throughout history, God has grown and moved his church as his people scattered to diverse locations geographically. This pattern has not changed and believers are still called to grow and expand as a church today, whether we move across national boundaries, ethnic and cultural boundaries, or do church planting in our immediate communities. Beginning with the first generation of believers in the book of Acts, we hear of Phillip, who was emboldened and changed by the power of God as he moved out in obedience to spread the Gospel. Despite severe persecution, great joy descended on those who received the truth that came with power. In this present age, we have the account of the phenomenal growth of the church in China. In 1949 all Christian missionaries were evicted leaving less than one million indigenous believers behind. They faced relentless bloodbaths and eradication. Yet the church grew in the midst of that persecution when determined believers scattered and went underground. The challenge to believers today remains the same—to be willing to be moved out of our personal comfort zones, to walk in faith, to make personal sacrifices, and most importantly, to trust God for our personal well-being and needs.
Text: Acts 8:4-8God uses catastrophe and disasters to scatter the church so that His word can be spread to all parts of the world. We can become comfortable and content in our lives, but God in His sovergn nature does things we are not used to.
Text: Acts 8:1-4“Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against […]
Text: 1 Peter 2:11-12I’d like to suggest this morning that evil is not so much “out there” as it is “in us,” or […]
Text: Titus 3:3-7“Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with […]
Text: 1 Peter 1:10-12John Ortberg tells the story about a man who wanders into a small and cluttered antique shop. In the midst […]
Text: Ephesians 6:18-20