Authentic Unity Produces Effective Gospel Ministry

The Natural Fruit of Expectant Believers.

Looking for Jesus Christ's return motivates us to live in a proper manner. Faithful living is personal and characterized by a loving disposition and moral behavior. God is faithful to enable you to grow on your own, but He also wants you to be helped by others in a local church family. This interdependence will have a supernatural influence inside and outside the church.

Tonight we get a sneak peak into one of the early church’s most poignant moments: a private conversation of elders.

Expectant Believers are the Best Learners, Lovers, and Worshipers.

We long to see people we love. Christians love Jesus Christ because of all He has done for us, and we can't wait to see Him. Our anticipation of Christ motivates us to live in a way that pleases Him.

Anticipating Christ Compels Our Personal and Public Relationships.

Transparent spiritual relationships in the local church take hard work, but they are worth it. These relationships are more meaningful than checking off the number of times you attend church services. Christians cannot live the Christian life without each other.

Tonight we get a sneak peek into one of the early church's most tender of times: a private conversation of elders.

Looking Governs Living.

Our theme for 2019 will be "Looking and Living." The expectation of seeing our Lord Jesus Christ is always attached to our living (Titus 2:11-15).

Though an evangelist, Paul always made it a priority to strengthen and maintain relationships with believers.

Why does God passionately pursue us?

Tonight we continue our study of the heroic acts of the Holy Spirit as He presses the gospel from Jerusalem to Rome.

The Organic and Practical Lifestyle of the Expectant Believer.

1 Thessalonians speaks often of the New Testament believer's hope of seeing Jesus. We eagerly await Christ's return. This anticipation only grows as we get older.

The Wisdom of Anticipation in the New Testament

The Wisdom of Anticipation: Old Testament.

The longer you walk with the Lord as your Savior, the more you long to see Him face to face. This was true of both Simeon and Anna in Luke 2.

The Divine, Practical Purpose of the Incarnation.

Love is talked about often during the Christmas season. The love of God in our hearts produces hope (Romans 5:5). The Holy Spirit instructs us about God's love. The gifts given by the Holy Spirit are to be lived out in love (1 Corinthians 13:1-13 and 1 Peter 4:9-11). It is God Himself who teaches us to love (1 Thessalonians 4:9-10).

Paul returns to previously planted churches to strengthen them, then goes to Ephesus, establishing a church which impacts the nearby region.

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?

Paul took the gospel to the city of Corinth as his last stop in his second missionary journey.

From sorrow to singing, Psalm 13 reflects our human emotional shifts and points us to stability.

Psalm 12 expresses how David felt when he had been abandoned by godly friends. In Psalm 13, David is so alone, he feels he has been abandoned by God Himself. This feeling is prompted by the length of his suffering. Perseverance in a long time of difficulty is perhaps the most trying to our minds and hearts.

David's struggle will feel familiar to many people of God. In a marathon of trust, we often ask similar questions. Is God one who abandons? Through David's wrestling, we will learn that God's character and work confessed in prayer sustains us during long, drawn-out periods of suffering.

God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility go hand-in-hand as the Gospel spreads to the nations.