I'll Be Honest

Have you ever asserted something is in the Bible without knowing for sure that it is? It is important that we take responsibility for affirming what one was uncertain of and maintain a high level of sensitivity to keep a clear conscience. The clip below shows Tim taking it seriously to maintain a clear conscience and not let what bothered him from the previous study be swept under the rug as if it did not matter.

The reason today exists is that God wants more people to be saved than are currently saved. He's willing to prolong human history to get them into his kingdom. Every morning as you rub the sleep out of your eyes, you should be aware of the fact that today is a time for evangelism.

From the full sermon, "Looking Forward to the Second Coming Amidst the Scorn of Scoffers".

That work that Jesus is talking about is the business of saving souls, furthering the gospel, and advancing the kingdom. It's often hindered by procrastination. 

In this Q&A from 2002, Paul was asked what discourages him the most in his own personal life.

In God's economy is there truly any "wasted time"? If God in his providence put me there then it is not a waste, there is no waste in God's economy of building people to be like Christ.

I've talked to so many men who think that their lust problem, their masturbation problem, is a 15-minute-a-day problem. I honestly think it's related to the other 23 hours and 45 minutes where there's a complete lack of self-control. It's just for 15 of those minutes, you're alone. But a great growth in self-control, in general, will result in greater victory in the particulars. - Ryan Fullerton

"God wants to create people who aren't acting. He wants to create a new people who aren't faking it. God wants to create people who love Him and love His commands from the heart. The goal is not that you convince your parents you're pure and then you sneak into sin. The goal is not that you convince your spouse that you're pure or your church, that you're pure, and then you sneak in to sin. The goal is to be known by God and for God." - Ryan Fullerton

[From the full sermon: Fighting Lusting.]

This is from Ryan Fullerton's Sermon on the Mount Series.

Do you realize the profound love God the Father has bestowed on you by calling you his son and daughter? Believer, are you overflowing with praise to God because of the truth of your adoption? Sadly, we are not impacted by this truth as much as we should be.

The apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 1:5-6 that God, "predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved." May the Lord help us to all the more see and recognize what this love that the Lord has bestowed upon us, as John writes in 1 John 3:1, "See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are."

0:00 - Ephesians 1

0:34 - What blessings does Paul refer to?

2:49 - What is my agenda? What praise has the truth of your adoption produced?

10:38 - What verse makes a strong claim about God making you sons? 1 John 3.

16:29 - Are you aware of this category of love?

20:45 - What did Jesus say to Mary in the garden? Go tell who? Disciples or brothers?

23:09 - Quote from Packer, describing how us being adopted is like a fairytale, it is too good to be true.

24:44 - It is IN LOVE that the Lord has predestined us.

28:27 - Have a problem with the Lord predestining? Jeremiah 3.19

29:05 - Why does the Old Testament not mention adoption? Take a look at what adoption meant to the Romans.

33:31 - Compare justification to adoption.

46:43 - Wake up and realize the glory of adoption!

49:01 - Closing prayer.

Ichabod Spencer | A Pastor's Sketches | In conversation with a young man, who desired to join the church, he surprised me very much by a reference that he made to his former “detestation of religion,” as he called it, and by mentioning the manner in which he was first led to any considerable concern in reference to his salvation. I had known him with some intimacy for several months, had frequently conversed with him as a serious inquirer, and afterwards as one who entertained a hope in Christ. But he had never before mentioned to me so definitely the means of his awakening, and his previous opposition to religion....

In the last message of this series, we will consider Genesis 18, and how the Lord tested Abraham. All that the Lord was teaching Abraham was leading up to this point.