Preaching with a purpose

And so we continue looking at what salvation is.  We learned last time that sin is inherited from our ever so many great grandparents.  We also learned that the wages of sin is death.  Who is it that will bring up the question of our sin and mete out the wages? It is God Himself .  God demands that we should obey Him, that we should love Him with all our hearts and we fail miserably.  This is not some wicked tyrant but the holy righteous and perfect One who is our Maker.He deserves our love and is totally worthy of all our worship.  Think of the worship you give to your pop idol or sport's personality.  You don't even give God Almighty a little part of that. We all deserve God's wrath to come upon us.  None of us deserves anything else and yet God Himself has provided a way for us to be totally forgiven and brought back into fellowship with Him if we will come in the way He has provided. More tomorrow.

This is not a quick topic, if I am to give you a full answer.  First you need to know that the bible is always my text book to tell me all things. I am going to cover the following aspects of salvation:- Why do I need saving? What or whom do we need saving from? Who gives us this salvation? Can it be earned? What benefit will I get from salvation? Is it possible that I can be saved? I may well think of other aspects as I go on. Many answers will overlap.   So let's start with, "Why do I need saving?" To find this out we need to go back to the garden of Eden and see how Adam and Eve rebelled against God.  God had created them and placed them in a beautiful garden with many, many trees with fruit they were told they could eat.  Such a variety and choice was there . And yet when Eve was tempted by the serpent she took and ate that one forbidden fruit.  Then she gave some to Adam. they immediately knew what it was to feel guilt. We have all inherited that s...

How many times do we hear this statement when a terrible event has taken place?  The father of one of those lost in the airplane tragedy in the French Alps earlier this week used these very words.  Whilst it is very important for airlines to put in place measures to minimize such events, it is in fact not possible to cover every eventuality.  We live in a fallen world where we are all effected by sin at work in our lives.  We have inherited from Adam and Eve sin, which pervades our lives even though we try to present a moral life to the outside world.  Now and again someone who has the lives of others in their hands cracks and behaves in a sinful manner. What is amazing is that it does not happen more often.  This is God's grace to us, His undeserved favour.

As Christians we used to know what we meant when we talked about "salvation" or "justification by faith" or "grace." But now so many different people have defined these concepts differently and we are now in great danger of losing what we once held fast to. Indeed our ministers may be using these words but meaning something other that what we hold dear and want to hold on to. The time has come when we need to define our terms if we can be sure of conveying the precious truths of God's word to those around us. When we speak of salvation we need to say why we need saving, which will necessitate recalling the creation account and the fall of Adam and Eve. We will also need to speak of only Jesus being able to bring about this salvation for all who will believe in Him. It's going to get complicated but it has to be done.  We can no longer assume that our congregations understand the words being spoken to them. The new idea is that the good old words sh...

In my last post in January I asked if the christian needs to speak out against evolution.  This Sunday I was planned for a little country chapel where they have three youngsters.  Since my youth we have all been continually brain washed by both the education system and the television into thinking that evolution is a proven fact. If you only use your own brain to think things through it becomes apparent that this is not the case. It is just another faith that the atheists cling to because they dare not countenance the idea that God exists and will hold them accountable. I challenged the idea that things can happen by chance by discussing pigeons bred by pigeon fanciers, such as tumblers and pouters.  If you look in Trafalgar Square you will see none of these special birds but just common or garden pigeons.  The special breeds need the interference of a human.  Darwin seemed not to cotton on to this fact in his "On the Origin of Species." So what Bible passage di...