Hill Country Bible Church Dripping Springs Sermons

From the moment we place our faith in Christ, our growth must remain grounded in the Gospel. Otherwise, we are susceptible to deception from teaching that sometimes veers from the truth of who He is.

God made each of us unique. As in our creation, we have unique salvation stories with unique parts in His redemption plan (Ephesians 2:10). Paul’s purpose was to preach the Gospel. In giving authority to his ministry in Corinth, he shows us how we should consider the use of our time to advance the Gospel.

: Christians are living in the “right now” and “not yet” of the kingdom of God. We experience many eternal blessings such as the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. However, this world is not the promised new earth and so we constantly confront darkness. We are reminded that how we fight darkness is as important as what we are called to confront.

Just like loving others, speaking truth and sharing our faith, generosity is a characteristic of a disciple of Jesus. Paul has shown that grace leads to repentance and repentance leads to joy. Now he shows that joy inspires generosity. Because we have been so richly blessed, we desire to be a blessing to others.

As unlikely as it may seem, joy is directly and proportionally tied to genuine repentance for sin in ourselves and other believers. Admitting wrongdoing may not seem a right path to joy. However, it is because it leads us to celebrate the things God celebrates.

If we become complacent, the greatest threats to ministry can come from within the church, not outside of it. It is with this perspective that Paul identifies transparent love and uncompromising purity as solutions to two of the obstacles to reconciliation ministry.

Ambassadors of Jesus must represent Him well. Paul returns to the theme that a comfortable life does not affirm God’s power or work in our lives. Instead, it is the way He enables us to persevere, despite distress, that shows us as legitimate ambassadors.

Evil and brokenness have plagued mankind since the Fall. The solution to ridding ourselves of evil’s effects on the world will never originate from people. Instead, our hope comes from knowing God has reconciled us to Himself bringing peace through Jesus. In turn, all believers are called to be ambassadors of this reconciliation ministry.

A glance at the news and you might conclude this is an unprecedented time of crisis. However, times of crisis are not new. Today, as in Paul’s day, reflecting on the eternal “weight of glory” keeps us from becoming pessimistic and fatalistic. We are aware of life’s realities, but our eternal perspective motivates how we live.

Hope in Christ focuses us beyond current circumstances to the future. Paul recognizes that temporal afflictions, no matter how significant they seem, are no comparison to the eternal glory that awaits him (and us).