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Core Blessing
Selected Scriptures
December 30, 2018
Lord’s Day Worship
Sean Higgins
Download the bulletin.
Download the Kid’s Korner.
The sermon starts at 14:10 in the audio file.
Or, On Being Filled with the Fullness of God
It is easy to be pessimistic. Not everyone is pessimistic, some are more prone to it than others, but it is the easier angle. Seeing what’s wrong is natural; and there are a lot of things that are wrong. Confidence that things will work out (by God’s grace) is a learned virtue, and joyful hope requires faith. Faith is hard. The world, the devil, and our own sinful hearts pull against faith.
Yet “without faith it is impossible to please [God], for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him” (Hebrews 11:8). Believing that Christ is God and that God raised Christ from the dead is the way to salvation (Romans 10:9); it’s the only way. Faith is the way of life. “For the Scripture says, ‘Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame'” (Romans 10:11, quoting Isaiah 28:16). Our faith is the victory that overcomes the world (1 John 5:4).
Faith takes more than comprehension like investment takes more than strategy; you’ve actually got to transfer the money. What we believe is truth, God’s Word, but faith means that we have conviction about it. Believing means being convinced, it means being compelled, it means staking our lives on what God has said. Faith is the conviction of things not seen, and by faith the people of old received their commendation (Hebrews 11:1-2). If we want to please God and be commended by Him, we also must do more than learn about faith, we must live by faith.
Pessimism is easier. Pessimism is a kind of anti-faith, a living by sight of all the problems and the unfinished business. There’s a universe of chaos around us, so complaining about it, or making peace with the status chaos, seems to make a lot of sense. But it takes real faith, even if only the size of a mustard seed, to move mountains, said Jesus (Matthew 17:20). Without faith we’d rather just set up camp in the shadows of the foothills.
The apostle Paul told the Philippian believers that even though he desired to die, which would be better because it would bring him face to face with Christ, he also was convinced that staying would enable him to work “for your progress and joy in the faith” (Philippians 1:25). Progress and joy in the faith…what a thing that we should want to be said of us.
The advance of faith is a week by week effort at TEC. The goal is not to make you question and doubt your faith every Sunday, but instead to build you up in the faith, in your faith. We want you to leave boasting in the Lord more than when you came in. We want you to go out having received God’s blessing again. We want you to head into your week more full of God than you were.
Next Lord’s day we’ll start a short series on how our liturgy, our order of service and worship, aims to increase our love for God and each other, and also how worship and discipleship belong together. For this morning, though, as we prepare to tie a bow on 2018 and open up 2019, I’d like to consider the core convictions that we hold as a church and that we’re trying to pass on to the next generation.
In September our L2L group leaders and wives discussed this issue, and there were three central, fundamental, core values or convictions or themes that came out fairly quickly and that were agreed upon. These three beliefs are not new, but they are things we keep returning to, and they are more than bookish, they are heart satisfying and body building.
What are the core convictions we hold at TEC?
1. God is Triune.
It’s part of our church’s name. We did have one Sunday evening series a few years ago on the doctrine, and there was one epic ellipses, “If I hear the word Trinit[...]
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By Trinity Evangel ChurchSelected Scriptures
December 30, 2018
Lord’s Day Worship
Sean Higgins
Download the bulletin.
Download the Kid’s Korner.
The sermon starts at 14:10 in the audio file.
Or, On Being Filled with the Fullness of God
It is easy to be pessimistic. Not everyone is pessimistic, some are more prone to it than others, but it is the easier angle. Seeing what’s wrong is natural; and there are a lot of things that are wrong. Confidence that things will work out (by God’s grace) is a learned virtue, and joyful hope requires faith. Faith is hard. The world, the devil, and our own sinful hearts pull against faith.
Yet “without faith it is impossible to please [God], for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him” (Hebrews 11:8). Believing that Christ is God and that God raised Christ from the dead is the way to salvation (Romans 10:9); it’s the only way. Faith is the way of life. “For the Scripture says, ‘Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame'” (Romans 10:11, quoting Isaiah 28:16). Our faith is the victory that overcomes the world (1 John 5:4).
Faith takes more than comprehension like investment takes more than strategy; you’ve actually got to transfer the money. What we believe is truth, God’s Word, but faith means that we have conviction about it. Believing means being convinced, it means being compelled, it means staking our lives on what God has said. Faith is the conviction of things not seen, and by faith the people of old received their commendation (Hebrews 11:1-2). If we want to please God and be commended by Him, we also must do more than learn about faith, we must live by faith.
Pessimism is easier. Pessimism is a kind of anti-faith, a living by sight of all the problems and the unfinished business. There’s a universe of chaos around us, so complaining about it, or making peace with the status chaos, seems to make a lot of sense. But it takes real faith, even if only the size of a mustard seed, to move mountains, said Jesus (Matthew 17:20). Without faith we’d rather just set up camp in the shadows of the foothills.
The apostle Paul told the Philippian believers that even though he desired to die, which would be better because it would bring him face to face with Christ, he also was convinced that staying would enable him to work “for your progress and joy in the faith” (Philippians 1:25). Progress and joy in the faith…what a thing that we should want to be said of us.
The advance of faith is a week by week effort at TEC. The goal is not to make you question and doubt your faith every Sunday, but instead to build you up in the faith, in your faith. We want you to leave boasting in the Lord more than when you came in. We want you to go out having received God’s blessing again. We want you to head into your week more full of God than you were.
Next Lord’s day we’ll start a short series on how our liturgy, our order of service and worship, aims to increase our love for God and each other, and also how worship and discipleship belong together. For this morning, though, as we prepare to tie a bow on 2018 and open up 2019, I’d like to consider the core convictions that we hold as a church and that we’re trying to pass on to the next generation.
In September our L2L group leaders and wives discussed this issue, and there were three central, fundamental, core values or convictions or themes that came out fairly quickly and that were agreed upon. These three beliefs are not new, but they are things we keep returning to, and they are more than bookish, they are heart satisfying and body building.
What are the core convictions we hold at TEC?
1. God is Triune.
It’s part of our church’s name. We did have one Sunday evening series a few years ago on the doctrine, and there was one epic ellipses, “If I hear the word Trinit[...]