We’ve got a real bad situation going on here in Central Texas. Literally multiple wild fires burning hundreds of acres and many homes with a 30+ MPH winds fanning it all. Evacuations all over central Texas. Many homes already lost. We need God to intervene quickly. We would appreciate you sending this to all Trustees and their church families. Tomorrow is suppose to be more of the same!
– From a contact in Texas
By Todd Crosby
What do we believe?
Regeneration is the new birth, whereby God gives to a person a new heart that responds to Him in repentance and faith.
Why do we believe this?
Titus 3:4-7 – But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Why does it matter?
On Wednesday of Week 3, we discussed the depravity of man and his spiritually dead state according to the Bible. So the question is how does a person who is dead and unable to respond overcome their deadness? How does a person become alive in order to respond? How does a person become born again? Nicodemus asked the same question to Jesus in John chapter 3. Christ does not respond with “say this prayer” or “do this thing” or anything like it. Listen to Christ’s response in John 3:8, “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” What he is saying is that regeneration (being born again) is a work of God alone and we only see the results of it. At the beginning of his gospel, John makes this point clear when he says that believers are “born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:13). These are the ones “who did receive him, who believed in his name” and “he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12). The implication is clear. Man is reborn by the will of God. This is how our deadness is overcome. At that point, we are ready to respod rightly in belief with repentance and faith.
The important thing to remember is the fact that we do not cause anyone to be born again. God initiates regeneration (being born again). We are simply messengers of the Good News, and we are commanded to share that Good News (Matthew 28, Mark 16:15-16, Luke 24:47, Acts 1:8). In evangelism, we must understand our role and responsibility. No more, no less. We spread the seed of the Gospel and God will make it effective ever how he sees fit.
How does understanding that man is spiritually dead affect your evangelism? Does it encourage you, challenge you, or does it humble you?
By Don Brown (Elder)
What do we believe?
We believe that salvation is the free gift of God, whereby God, by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, regenerates, justifies, sanctifies, and glorifies an individual. That, in order to be saved, individuals must respond by faith to the call of God by repenting of their sin, believing in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, and committing themselves to follow Christ. We believe that those whom God has redeemed in Christ and sanctified by the Spirit will persevere to the end and can never lose their salvation.
Why do we believe?
Ephesians 2:8-9 – For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Why does it matter?
Our eternal security rests on the biblical teaching that those whom God justifies, He will also glorify (Romans 8:29-30). Those who are saved will indeed be conformed to the image of Christ through the process of sanctification (1 Corinthians 6:11). When a person is saved, the Holy Spirit breaks the bondage of sin and gives the believer a new heart and a desire to seek holiness. Therefore a true Christian will desire to be obedient to God and will be convicted by the Holy Spirit when he sins. True Christians will never “live any way they want” because such behavior is impossible for someone who has been given a new nature (2 Corinthians 5:17).
If someone is truly saved, he has been made alive by the Holy Spirit and has a new heart with new desires. There is no way that one that has been “born again” can later be “unborn.” Because of His unique love for His children, God will keep all of His children safe from harm, and Jesus has promised that He would lose none of His sheep. The doctrine of the perseverance of the saints recognizes that true Christians will always persevere and are eternally secure because God keeps them that way. It is based on the fact that Jesus, the “author and perfecter of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2), is able to completely save those whom the Father has given Him (Hebrews 7:25) and to keep them saved through all eternity.
Be in prayer as Pastor Jason continues in the Renew Your Belief Series. Your prayers are being seen. Last week, Pastor Jason brought a powerful message.
These prayers come from our requests cards on Sunday morning. Please lift these prayer requests up to the Lord.
Pray for Sharon as she is in the hospital with Parkinsons. May she feel God’s love and presence.
Betty suffered a stroke and is in Sky Rehab. Pray for her health and for those who take care of her.
Albert has been diagnosed with an aggressive bladder cancer. Pray for his salvation.
A husband of of member, doesn’t believe and support the wife and kids going to church. Pray for his salvation.
Terry has brain cancer. Pray for healing and that the family feels God’s strength.
Salvation for Steve, Barry, Michael, Bob, Steve, Ron, Tyler, Missy, Joe, Meadow, Lenny, Frank, Dennis, Jason, and Aleesha.
Terry and his wife having troubles in their relationship. Pray that God can heal the relationship and His name is glorified through the process.
Pray for the safe return of SSG. Jesse from Afghanistan.
Pray for a husband and family that lost a wife/mother.
Pray for a wife and family that lost a husband/father.
Hiep is very weary dealing with problems. He is interested in Jesus.
Mike’s wife has cancer. He is having a hard time. Pray for the family to feel the Lord’s strength and direction.
Pray for a broken marriage. The husband is struggling with drug addiction.
Pray for Dan who has bladder cancer and heart problems.
Pray for Don who has hip and leg pain.
Pray that a family embraces their faith as they deal with a loved one with cancer.
Pray for a young teen that is dealing with the effects of being bullied last year.
Pray for a man who has two family members with cancer.
Pray for Brian’s treatment for a cardial arrhythmia.
Pray for Harley as he has follow-up medical appointments.
Rebecca has breast cancer, pray that through this trial her son-in-law and daughter, along with their sons, will return to God and rededicate their lives to Him.
Pray for a members Granny who is really sick.
By Will Burnham
What do we believe?
These realities bring them under the just condemnation of God.
Why do we believe this?
Hebrews 9:27 – And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment
Why does it matter?
If God did not judge and condemn then He would not be the Holy One. In order for God to show His divine holiness He must point out that which is not holy. And upon that separation, He must hold His people accountable to living according to His perfect ways.
We all believe in justice. We believe in a just and right legal system and government that creates and maintains rules and laws to protect its people. How much more then should we as Christians understand the need for our Holy God to be just in His condemnation of our sins? For God to not hold us accountable to our sins would erase the very need for Jesus to have come and died for our sins. The beauty of our coming judgment as followers of Jesus is that our right standing with God is already decided…we are His sons and daughters! Our judgment then focuses on what we have done for His glory in this life. This should spur us into action to live lives which exalt His holiness.
By Cindy Starr
What do we believe?
As a result, all human beings are born with a sinful nature and also willfully choose to sin.
Why do we believe this?
Romans 3:23 – for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
Why does it matter?
“Who am I?” At some point in your life, you have asked yourself that question – a question about your own identity, your worth, and your purpose in life. It could be that you still seek the answer. People who do not understand the answer to this question invent all kinds of crazy ideas to explain where humans came from, why they behave the way they do, why the world seems broken, is there really any hope for humanity, etc. Fortunately God has not left us in the dark as to the answer to this question.
Only man is the image bearer of God (Genesis 1:26-27; 5:1; I Corinthians 11:7). All creatures have life and are living beings but Adam was shaped from the dust of the earth and then infused with life by the Spirit of God and made in the likeness of his creator. Man and woman, Adam and Eve, were created in perfection without a sin nature. Left to their free will, they were equally capable of falling from their innocence by choosing to reject God’s ways or of setting a course for holy obedience. They were able to sin and not able to sin. When tempted, they rebelled against God their creator. The Bible tells us in Romans 5 that since Adam, all mankind is born with a sin nature – we are enemies of God and without God seeking after us, we would all be lost. Adam was our representative, our federal head and when he sinned, we all sinned. We also know from experience that we choose to rebel and disobey, that is, our hearts are inclined to rebellion. Read the first 3 chapters of Romans. Paul lays out the sin problem that plagues mankind. He asks the question, “Who has sinned?” By the end of chapter 3 you know the answer – ALL!
When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden did they seek after God to make things right or did God go after Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:8-13)? Did Abraham seek after God or did God reach out to him in Genesis 12:1-2? Did Moses seek after God after he fled Egypt or did God go after Moses (Exodus 3:1-6)? Did David seek after God or did God call David through Samuel (I Samuel 16)? How about Gideon in Judges 6:11? Who initiated with Jeremiah in Jeremiah 1:5-8? Did Jesus call the disciples or did they seek Him in Matthew 4:18-22? Did Lazarus walk out of the grave or did Jesus call him forth in John 11:43-44? How about Paul in Acts 9:1-9? Do you see the pattern? It is God who initiates and seeks us out. Apart from His grace and mercy we are rebels, bent as our Father Adam was on going our own way. We want to be King; we do not want to submit and yield to the True King of Kings.
God rules His creation whether the creation acknowledges that fact or not. Fallen man is under the wrath and curse of God because His holiness cannot abide sin. Mankind is spiritually dead, just like Lazarus, and needs a Savior. In Jesus, God has provided such a Savior, who has willingly taken the wrath of God upon Himself that we might be forgiven and our relationship with God restored as it was in the Garden of Eden. When you understand how lost you are, the grace of God is magnified as you realize Jesus willingly came to die for men who were His enemies. As you consider God’s holiness and our sinfulness, how can you respond in any other way but gratitude and service for the love the Father has shown us!
Understanding these things allowed a modern day martyr to answer as follows right before his execution. “I do not need to plead my own cause…I am a dead man already. My life is dead and hidden with Christ. It is your lives that in danger, you are dead in your sins. I will pray to God that after you have killed me, He will spare you from eternal destruction.”
– Kefa Sempangi facing 5 would be assassins in Idi Amin’s Uganda