I'll Be Honest

John 3:16 is one of the most well known verses in the whole Bible. The reason that verse doesn't stun people like it should is because it's rarely seen in the backdrop of the perfect holiness of God. The Bible has accounts of God completely incinerating people because of their sin against Him. Sinners will perish and go to hell for their sin that they've committed against God. It's in light of this fearful reality that John 3:16 ought to be shocking to us.

If we only had one more opportunity to speak to our lost loved ones, we should urge them to ask for mercy from God that is only found through Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ wants communion and fellowship with His people. He desires the heart of His people so much that He will even act as though He will leave them in order to provoke them to ask that He might stay with them. May we, like those disciples in Luke 24, urge Christ strongly to stay with us.

How did King David go from being full of fear to being full of praise and adoration to God? It was by seeking the Lord through prayer. May we ever seek the Lord and praise Him whenever we find ourselves full of fear like David was.

In our prayers there needs to be persistence and boldness. God will willingly give us what we ask Him for because of what Christ has purchased for us on the cross.

The Christian has a mighty Savior to rely on and trust in. But for those who do not trust in Christ the only Savior, who will they trust? Who can they look to for what only the Lord Jesus can be and do for them?

Jesus prayed to His Father with reverence, in simple language, in an orderly way, while full of faith and confidence, and having an ultimate concern for God's glory.

Ten characteristics of Jesus’ prayer:

1) Jesus prayed with His eyes open
2) Jesus prayed with others
3) Jesus prayed to His Father
4) Jesus prayed with reverence
5) Jesus prayed with simple language
6) Jesus prayed in an orderly way
7) Jesus prayed as one with much experience
8) Jesus prayed with a confident faith
9) Jesus told God things that God already knew
10) Jesus prayed with a concern for God's glory

Two dangers that believers must be warned about: First, don't find your identity and fellowship in something other than Jesus Christ and the Gospel. Secondly, don't fall into having your doctrine right, but lack love for God and for His people.

Listen to Jesse's sermons on Maintaining Unity here https://goo.gl/hzWn3a

How open should single people be about their sexual purity to a potential spouse that they are interested in?

What you've done or haven't done, what you've achieved or what you've failed at, is irrelevant in terms of being reconciled to God. All that's relevant is what the Lamb of God did on the cross.