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Showing posts from December, 2023

The Glorious Gift of Redemption

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  TITLE: The Glorious Gift of Redemption TEXT: John 3:16-17 TONE: Encouragement TARGET: Unbelievers TASK: To warn and encourage the lost to receive redemption found only in Christ. TEACH: Testimony of the Jeremiah House. TRUTH:   I. The Definition of Redemption   Redemption: To redeem someone or something is to reclaim or buy back the person, animal, land, or nation (e.g., Israel). Generally, there is a price that must be paid to redeem when it comes to person-to-person acts of redemption. One can be a (kinsman) redeemer, [1]   ATONEMENT: Think about it as at-one-ment .   The OT Exodus is perhaps one of the best pictures we have of redemption.   II. The Source of Redemption The source of redemption is none other than the free sovereign love of God. Paul wrote, “God commended His own love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” -Romans 5:8. It is centered in God, He is the God of redemption.   It was

The Glorious Gift of Peace

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  Unwrapping the Christmas Gift -3   TITLE: The Glorious Gift of Peace TEXT: Luke 2:14; John 14:27 TONE: Encouragement TARGET: Believers TASK: Emphasizing the peace that Jesus brings into our lives, amidst the chaos of the world. TEACH: Often when we consider the Protestant Reformation we think of it as largely a series of investigations, debates and discoveries relative to important theological and philosophical issues. Without a doubt this mighty movement of God was the climax of many years of intellectual and spiritual struggles over issues pertaining to the Bible and man's relationship with God. We owe much to the Reformers for their insistence on the authority of the Bible, the priesthood of the believer, the spiritual nature of the church, and justification by faith. These great and glorious truths have come down to us as recoveries of what we know the Scriptures to teach so clearly.   But what we sometimes forget is that the Reformat

The Glorious Gift of Joy

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  Unwrapping The Christmas Gift -2   TITLE: The Glorious Gift of Joy TEXT: Luke 2:8-14 TONE: Encouraging TARGET: Believers TASK: To encourage believers in the joy of the Lord. TEACH: Men have pursued joy in every avenue imaginable. Some have successfully found it while others have not.   Perhaps it would be easier to describe where joy cannot be found: Not in Unbelie f -- Voltaire was an infidel of the most pronounced type. He wrote: "I wish I had never been born." Not in Pleasure -- Lord Byron lived a life of pleasure if anyone did. He wrote: "The worm, the canker, and grief are mine alone." Not in Money -- Jay Gould, the American millionaire, had plenty of that. When dying, he said: "I suppose I am the most miserable man on earth." Not in Position and Fame -- Lord Beaconsfield enjoyed more than his share of both. He wrote: "Youth is a mistake; manhood a struggle; old age a regret." Not in Milita