A Fundamental Contrast between the Way of Religion and the Way of Love

Healthy Churches Encouraged by Eternal Promises Are Lighthouses for Gospel Mission.

This will be true until Christ comes. This purpose is reflected in our church's mission statement: "Grace Church of Mentor exists to glorify God by evangelizing the lost and equipping the saints with the goal of Christ-likeness." Every Bible-believing church has been given this Gospel mission. Our Savior intends us to live His life, and His disciples demonstrated this. Both men and women tremendously affected Gospel progress in their areas in the New Testament.

Living a New Life in Christ.

The healing process takes time. The Corinthian church was healing, and Paul urges them to return to their mission. The overall focus in this chapter is pleasing God and living for redemptive purposes.

What It Means to Please God.

2 Corinthians 5:11-13

The aspiration of the believer is to please God, whether here on earth or in His presence in Heaven. The Spirit compels us to become more like the Son every day.

Explanation & Application of Coming Glorious Realities.

Paul had unescapable recurring threats to his physical life. How did he not become distracted? 2 Corinthians 5:1-10 gives an explanation and application of why he so looked forward to coming glory. There are several glorious realities that await us.

Why do bad things happen to good people? We know there are no truly good people, but we still wrestle when it seems justice is not being served. We want God to honor people who obey. Jesus addresses this idea of "retribution theology" in today's passage, Luke 13:1-17.

Focusing on Spiritual Realities to Find Spiritual Renewal and Productivity.

The world's allurements and performance-based external religion distract us from Gospel productivity. Paul instructs the Corinthians to enjoy working together in Gospel living and focus on their confident hope so they will avoid distraction, find renewal, and keep being spiritually productive.

Growing Pains Are Divinely Appointed for Our Growth.

No one enjoys growing pains, but most would rather have pain than not be growing. The Bible repeatedly tells us that painful times are divinely appointed for our growth. As we go through these times, God’s grace is an unlimited available resource we can utilize in every natural rhythm of life. God’s grace saves us and continues to compel us to grow in our Christian walk.

The Requirements and Assurances of Being Christ’s Disciple.

Luke presents Jesus as the Son of Man, rejected by Israel, offered to the Gentiles. In this presentation, Jesus is seen as a universal Savior. The second book written by Luke, Acts is about the ministry of Jesus’ disciples after Jesus rose from the dead and went back to Heaven. In Acts we see the Gospel of Jesus spread from Jerusalem in Israel all the way to the ends of the known world.

God wants us as a church to live life in transformative newness.

If anyone owns the word "new," the church does. Those who have been transformed by the Gospel and have been given a new nature know the true meaning of the word. In a new year when much is uncertain, we know the Lord is still on the throne, and we are qualified and equipped for whatever may come our way.

Nothing we can gain in this world remains for the next, but we have an enduring treasure in our relationship with Jesus Christ.

We’ve all delighted in new things—new things that ultimately God has gifted to us. But our delight in new things quickly fades. New becomes old. The universal, unescapable truth is that nothing stays new—not things, people, or relationships. Psalm 49 addresses this readily apparent yet rarely apprehended truth.

Jesus, as the predicted Messiah, fills out infinitely and eternally all human suffering in order to eradicate it!

At Christmas time, it is fitting to turn our minds to prophetic truths concerning Jesus the Messiah. The books of the prophets are usually the first to come to mind, and the literal fulfillment of the circumstantial facts they predicted hundreds of years prior to Jesus’ coming is nothing short of miraculous. Another prophetic witness is found in the Messianic Psalms. In total, twenty-five different psalms (one out of six) include at least one Messianic prophecy. Messianic psalms are quoted in eleven New Testament books.

These psalms are prophetic in a special way: in the words and feelings of the Psalmist were found the very words and feelings of the Messiah. (See Hebrews 2:12.) The Psalmist knew that the coming Messiah would “fill out” the emotional and physical suffering he was experiencing by experiencing them in a way he never could. The pain he spoke of figuratively, the Messiah would know literally.

2 Corinthians 4:13-15

Giving Thanks.

When reading Psalm 136, we can quickly tune out the constant refrain of “His love endures forever.” But God never wastes His breath. He repeats things for a reason. He knows that we need constant reminders of his steadfast lovingkindness.

Pastor Tim Potter led a time of giving thanks and the Lord's Table. Pastor Mark Mavar exhorted us from Psalm 107 and Colossians 3.