Sermons

Dear Friends,

What is the change that gets noticed? Wither its losing weight or stopping smoking, being kind where you used to be impatient and harsh. these are the changes that get noticed.

Jesus said…

Mat 7:20 “So then, you will know them by their fruits.

Changes in action get noticed.  James made this clear.

Jas 2:14-19 What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.

As we consider change of actions for these few weeks. Consider the following questions together as a group that you can help each other change where God gets noticed.

Blessings,
Joe

• How can you show your faith by your works?
• Describe how the generosity of others has affected you?
• How does giving demonstrate the Gospel in an obvious way?

Joh 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

1 Jn 3:16-17 We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?

• Do you know a hoarder?
• Why do we tend to horde?
• Why is daily doing the work of forgiveness essential for sharing the gospel?

Mat 5:9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

2 Co 5:17-19 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

• What is reconciliation?

2 Co 5:20-21 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

• Describe a time when you felt like a stranger or outsider?
• Why do we unconsciously and intentionally exclude people from our circle?
• How have Christians excluded people?

Act 6:1 Now at this time while the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint arose on the part of the Hellenistic Jews against the native Hebrews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving of food.

Jas 2:2-4 For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,” have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives?

• What is hospitality and why is it so hard?

Rom 15:7 Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God.

1 Pe 4:9 Be hospitable to one another without complaint.

Heb 13:2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.

• Is hospitality as a reflection of Christ in the American churches?
• Why do we become indifferent to each other so easily?

1 Pe 4:8-10 Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another because love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without complaint. As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

• Why is taking the Lord supper regularly and with sincere reflection important to loving practically?

1 Co 11:23-28 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same way, He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes. Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup.