Matthew

Immanuel

Jesus came to be the Anointed King over the whole world. This was brought about by a miraculous occurrence. Jesus took on incarnate flesh and became Immanuel: "God with us." He fixed the problem we created by our sins, and came to save us from them. Be happy -- the King has come! The Lord of glory has arrived! Our Savior has come and is still with us today. Do you believe in Him?

Who Are We? Soul

Man was created by God with an immortal soul, and that is the reason why he has inherent worth, value, and dignity – because God Himself breathed the breath of life into him. We are to love the Lord with our whole person – both body and soul. Death is a temporary and unnatural separation of body and soul. When our body dies, our spirit returns to God Who gave it, while our body rests in the grave and awaits the final resurrection. Your soul matters eternally to God!

The Beatitudes: Part 4

Those persons who are in Christ recognize their spiritual poverty, mourn over their sin, and walk in meekness. We must examine our own hearts, deal seriously with sin, extend grace to others, and glorify God in every circumstance. True meekness is not weakness, but strength under control that marks those who belong to the kingdom of heaven, and imitates the way Jesus lived and acted – even when He was mistreated.

Deacons: Servants of God

This sermon, based on Matthew 20:20-28, emphasizes the role of deacons as servants who follow Christ's example. True greatness in God's kingdom comes from humility and service, reflecting Jesus' love and sacrifice. Believers are called to serve others with compassion and selflessness.

Great Commission - Assurance

Do we have a narrow view of what evangelism is? Some of us may feel timid about sharing the Gospel message with others. But God gives is the assurance, multiple times in Scripture, that He will be with us. He's not waiting for us to muster enough strength to be a superhero. As believers, He has already given us His Holy Spirit; and through Him, we may enjoy confidence and strength. Our hope and assurance is that Jesus' presence is with us, even today; and that's wht we want to tell others that God has made a way for them to be reconciled with Him. Be confident that your God is with you as you evangelize!

Go Teach!

Once somebody becomes a disciple of Jesus and they're baptized, they need to be taught. But what is the substance of what we ought to teach? If we aren't telling people about the Gospel of Jesus, then we're missing the point. We must tell people about Him because there's nothing in this world that's going to satisfy anyone ultimately unless they have Jesus Christ. If we are a believer in Jesus, then we have a place to teach others, either formally or informally. There are all sorts of opportunities that the Lord will give us to disciple others if we spend time with one another and live life together. The Great Commission is for us. Will we go, disciple, baptize, and teach all that Jesus has commanded? Are we praying that God will lead people into our lives that we can talk with about the Gospel? This is why the church is alive and continues to grow. But it happens by ordinary Christians taking this Great Commission to heart, and obeying this important command of Jesus Christ.

Baptism - Theology Sermon

Why do we baptize people? Because Jesus commanded us to. That's the simple answer. Baptism signifies a solemn admission into the visible church – Christ's Body. And it is a sign and a seal confirming the Lord's promises to us in the covenant of grace. It's not an automatic guarantee of salvation, but it does represent the fact that our sins have been dealt with and washed away if we have faith in Jesus Christ. It represents our being born again and becoming a part of God's family – "not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit" (Titus 3:5).

No Excuses - GO!

Jesus has given us a job to do, and it's not just to sit in a pew and keep our Christianity to ourselves. The Great Commission tells us to go and make disciples, proclaiming the good news of the Gospel message: Jesus died and rose again to save sinners! The scope of the Gospel is global; God's plan is for all the nations to praise Him and confess that He is Lord. Will you go and take that good news and herald it to the nations? Will you make disciples with those people in your community who need to hear the Gospel? Will you tell your children that there is good news for them if they believe in Jesus Christ? Will we, as a Christian congregation, take the Great Commission seriously?

Authority and Discipleship

This passage – the Great Commission – is the heart of why the Church exists. Our Commander-in-Chief, Jesus Christ, has all authority; and if we want to become a His disciple, it means we're going to have to give up the things that we may like. To be Jesus' disciple means that the absolute foundation of everything is His authority. And in this authority, He gives us a command to go and make disciples of all nations. We're not expected to be Jesus; but as His disciples, we are expected to imitate Him. If we call ourselves His disciples, who are we teaching? Who are we investing in? To whom are we passing down the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ?

Kingdom Living

Being blessed is more than subjective happiness that is based on circumstances. For example, in verse 3 of Matthew 5, why is someone who is poverty-stricken described as being blessed? They are in a position where they realize that they contribute nothing to their salvation. Unlike the Laodicean church in Revelation 3, they recognize their spiritual poverty outside of Jesus. The message of a true Gospel church is that we are dead in our sins. We are totally helpless and lost. Without Jesus, all the self-help we do will doom us to hell. He is not our co-pilot because we do not have any control over our salvation. Salvation is 100% God's grace and 0% any effort of ourselves. How then should we think, feel, and live? When we realize that we are spiritually poverty-stricken without Jesus, we will mourn over our sin because it offends our holy God. The way we think affects the way we feel and live. Mourning and repenting over our sins cannot be separated from the Gospel.

Servants of Christ

The key mark of our faith that is visible to others is love. Do we love the Lord, and does that love manifest itself in love for our fellow human beings? This is the essence of the two greatest commandments that Jesus identified. A living faith is a loving faith; the love of God cannot truly be in our heart if it's not being practically displayed to others. In a very real way, each of us is called to be a deacon – that is, a servant – in Christ's Church. Every follower of Jesus is called to serve. Even our Savior Himself served others; He was the Chief Deacon, not a ruler or a tyrant. We must remember that we are not saved because of our "good works." Rather, such works will be a natural fruit that flows out as a beneficial effect of our being saved. When considering the election of a deacon in the Church, we ought to look for someone who whole-heartedly loves the Lord – because then they will also love their neighbor, not love money, hate slander, manage their family well, etc. (1 Tim. 3:8-13). We want to elect someone who has been tested and seen to love God and their neighbor.

The Value of a Soul