March/31/ 2021 Filed in:
hey SiriHey Siri
How do I get to heaven?
John 14:1-5 NLT “Jesus said, “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust in me. 2 There are many rooms in my Father’s house; I would not tell you this if it were not true. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 After I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me so that you may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to Jesus, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going. So how can we know the way?”
John 14:6 NLT “Jesus answered, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. The only way to the Father is through me.”
Acts 4:12 NIV “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”
1. Jesus is THE WAY IN.
a. A FUTURE in heaven is only through Jesus
Revelation 3:7-8 NIV “These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. 8 I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut.”
Plan of salvation:
Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”
Romans 6:23 “the wages of sin is death”
John 3:16 “for God so loved the world…”
I John 1:9 “if we confess our sins…”
John 10:9-10 NCV “9 I am the door, and the person who enters through me will be saved and will be able to come in and go out and find pasture. 10 A thief comes to steal and kill and destroy, but I came to give life—life in all its fullness.”
b. A FULLER life here on earth
John 10:10 NCV “A thief comes to steal and kill and destroy, but I came to give life—life in all its FULLNESS.”
I Peter 1:18-19 NIV “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.”
Romans 8:11 MSG “It stands to reason, doesn’t it, that if the alive-and-present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, he’ll do the same thing in you that he did in Jesus, bringing you alive to himself? When God lives and breathes in you (and he does, as surely as he did in Jesus), you are delivered from that dead life. With his Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ’s!”
c. A FAMILY to do life with
Ephesians 1:5 NLT “God’s unchanging plan has always been to ADOPT US INTO HIS OWN FAMILY by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ.”
2. Jesus is THE WAY OUT.
John 10:9 NASB “I am the door, and the person who enters through me will be saved and will be able to come in and go out”
I Corinthians 10:13 NIV “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.”
March/28/ 2021 Filed in:
My ChurchMy Church
Part 2
More and Better Disciples
Matthew 28:18-20 NIV “Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
1. MORE DISCIPLES
Matthew 28:19 NIV “go and make disciples of all nations”
2. BETTER DISCIPLES
Matthew 28:19-20 NIV “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you."
Acts 2:42-47 NIV “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”
Acts 2:47 NIV “And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”
Acts 2:42 NIV “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”
If we want MORE and BETTER DISCIPLES we must first have…
1. A PLACE to grow in
Acts 2:46 NIV “Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts…”
2. A PEOPLE to grow with
Acts 2:46-47 NIV “…They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.”
3. A PURPOSE to grow toward
Acts 2:42-47 NIV “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”
March/21/ 2021 Filed in:
My ChurchMy Church
Part 1
My Church is built for the ONE
1. COMPASSION
Luke 15:20 NLT “And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming and was filled with love and compassion for him.”
Psalm 103:8 NIV “The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.”
Psalm 103:13 NLT “The Lord is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him.”
2. PREPARATION
Luke 15:23 NIV “Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate.”
3. RESTORATION
Luke 15:21-22 NLT “His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. “But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet."
2 Corinthians 5:17-18 NLT “…anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ.”
2 Corinthians 5:18-20 NLT “And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!”
4. CONNECTION
Luke 15:25-28 NIV “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him.”
5. CELEBRATION
Luke 15:29-32 NLT “But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
“‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”