What All Christians Need to Know

The church declares the glory of God (Ephesians 3:20-21)!

God the Father has chosen and predestined us according to His sovereign plan. We are redeemed and claimed according to Christ and His sacrifice for us. Those in Christ are part of His bride. By the Spirit’s work, we are sealed until the day of redemption. All of this is to the praise of His glorious grace.

While in this age of distractions, busy, preoccupied, and often interrupted, Ephesians 1:15-23 teaches us how believers need to think. Paul prays for the Ephesian Christians to be thinking about what they should know.

Praise God for Our Salvation, Part 2: Praise to the Son.

In Christ, we are chosen by God and predestined to adoption as sons and daughters. These spiritual blessings are from the Father (Eph. 1:3-6).

Ephesians 1:7-12 explains the role of the Son of God in our salvation and how the church can praise God for His glorious grace.

Principles of Prayer:

Jesus is going to depart, and the disciples cannot go with Him. Jesus says, “Do not let your heart be troubled (John 14:1).” While the disciples had Jesus physically present, they did not need to pray to Him, making the instructions given by Him in John 14:12-15 to pray in Jesus’s name new information.

Prayer is a tool given to Christ’s disciples to encourage their belief in Him. We cannot grow in our faith without prayer. Believers must rightly understand and exercise prayer in agreement with the Word of God.

Jesus Will Be Glorified through Suffering.

In John 12:27-36, we come to the end of Jesus’ public ministry. We’ve already talked about the curious Jew worshiping Jesus, the marvelous worshipper Mary, and covetous Judas. As we look at these groups and their responses to Jesus, hopefully we aren’t interested in just calculating what we can get from Jesus like Judas did. Instead, let’s elaborate on how the seed has to die in order to bear fruit.

To Worship Like Mary.

We learn from the woman at the well that true worshippers of God must worship in spirit and in truth (John 4:23-24), while those who are forgiven much, love much, as demonstrated by the woman who washed Jesus’s feet with her tears (Luke 7:36-50). In John 12:1-11, we learn from Mary how to worship.

Symptoms of Unbelief

John 11 marks the turn of Jesus’s public ministry to His private ministry. Jesus states that the purpose for the death and resurrection of Lazarus is the glory of God so that the Son of God may be glorified (John 11:4). The response to this miracle by the Jews and the religious leaders is the focus of the remainder of this chapter. Though some Jews believe in Jesus because of this miracle (John 11:45), many who were eyewitnesses to the death and resurrection of Lazarus do not believe in Him (John 11:46). We see unbelief acknowledge the miracle but resist submitting to the lordship of Christ.

Jesus' Seventh & Greatest Sign.

For approximately 90 days between the events of John chapters 10 and 12, Jesus ministers in the Perean area. John 10 contains Jesus' last public invitation for the Jews to believe in Him, and John 11 contains Jesus' most powerful self-proclamation and most dramatic miracle.

Jesus, the Door and the Good Shepherd.

In John 10, Jesus refers to Himself twice as the door/gate as well as the Good Shepherd twice. Jesus is speaking to the Pharisees (John 9:40), the religious leaders and spiritual shepherds of the Jewish people. These men, spiritually blind and deaf to the truth of Jesus (John 10:6), are causing division (John 10:19).

Jesus' First Miraculous Sign.

Our Freedom to Be Bold in Spiritual Growth.

2 Corinthians 3:17-18 teach us about the power, boldness, and freedom we have in Christ to grow in Christ-likeness.

The Comparison of Glories.

God created the moon to be the lesser light of the night sky and the sun to rule the day (Genesis 1:16). When the sun comes up, the light of the moon no longer seems bright. Paul makes a similar comparison between the Old and New Covenant in 2 Corinthians 3:7-11, using a typical rabbinical comparison of the lesser to the greater.

Stewarding God's Glory.

The book of Psalms is divided into 5 sections. As the book progresses, the theme shifts from psalms of prayer and supplication to praise and thanksgiving. Psalm 106 falls at the end of the 4th section. It was probably written by an Israelite living in captivity. It rehearses the Jewish nation's pattern of giving up God's glory, seemingly never learning from their history.

A Birth Foretold and a Bright Future to Behold.

Luke 1:67-80 occurs just before the birth of Jesus, after the birth of his cousin John the Baptist. Zechariah is holding his newborn son and speaks promises inspired by the Holy Spirit. He answers the question, how can we be sure of Jesus' ability to save us from our sins?

We can trust in Jesus because God says we can. His Word is enough, because His promise will always come true. What He says, He will do.

The Song of Gospel Praise, Part 2.

Romans 16:25-27 may not be a song, but these are glorious words spoken about God. They encapsulate our focus as we end our study of this book. While we live out the Gospel, our singular goal is to bring glory to God.

The Song of Gospel Praise.

Setting goals and achieving them is a reflection of God's image in humans. Focusing on one thing has proven to produce great success for many entrepreneurs, although their achievements are only temporal. The ultimate goal of the Gospel is to spiritually and positionally restore us in Jesus Christ back to our original spiritual condition and purpose in the eyes of our Creator. The Westminster Shorter Catechism puts it this way: "the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever." How is this done?

The Glory of God in Salvation Forever.

Alva J. McClain said, "the person who knows well the first 11 chapters of the book of Romans knows more about the philosophy of human history than all the wisest historians that the world has ever seen. There is a philosophy of history here that is unmatched. It makes the historians on the earth appear like children playing with their toys." This passage simplifies what man has complicated. Paul reflects on the beauty of simplicity in salvation: humanity is composed of 2 groups of people, who both have 1 Savior. God has given our biggest difficulty the simplest solution in Jesus Christ.

The Glory of God in Salvation Forever.

Romans 11:33-36 is so rich, we are going to study it in small portions. This week, we focus on verse 33 as preparation for the rest of the passage. Paul's doxology is a hymn of praise for what God has done in salvation history. This is a natural response of a Spirit-filled, born-again Christian.

Our Security in God’s Eternal Purpose.

Romans 8:28-30 is a text of comfort and reassurance along with the entire chapter of Romans 8. In these verses, we find:

• Our Ultimate Purpose
• God's Supreme Plan
• Our Pursuit

All these are discovered in the light of being in Christ.

Our Incomparable Glory, Part 2.

Last week, we discussed our personal approach and perspective in suffering. Now we will consider our prize, a glory that is beyond our comprehension.