Iowa Falls Evangelical Free Church Sermon Podcast

God really can save anyone. Do you believe that?

In Acts 9, we will see God save a man who was

bent on destroying the church, a man who

would later refer to himself as the “chief of sinners.”

Yet God would carry out His plan to transform this man

into His instrument to carry His name to many different kinds of people in many different places around the world.

God really can save anyone.

Are you ready? That’s a question we ask a lot. Are you ready for summer? Are you ready for bed? Are you ready for retirement?

But are we ready to go where God sends us and share the gospel with whomever God places us so that people who are ready to hear it might believe and be saved? That’s an important question we’ll be asking ourselves this week as we walk through the account of Philip and an Ethiopian man in Acts 8:26​-40.

Remember January 2020? Life seemed more normal for most of us, then. That’s when we started a series through the first 7 chapters of Acts. In May we finished chapter 7 and today we pick it up in chapter 8. Acts is the true story of how Jesus’ work continues through Holy Spirit-empowered believers who proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.

In the first 7 chapters, the church expanded in Jerusalem but chapter 7 ended with the execution of a believer named Stephen. Jesus said that the believers would be His witnesses beyond Jerusalem to Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth. As chapter 8 opens with a breakout of persecution, how will God ensure that the gospel continues to be proclaimed and the church continues to expand?

What is the good life? What does the next generation need?

The world around us would have us believe that the good life is one in which we are all free to be whoever we want to be and do whatever we want to do. If this is the case, the next generation needs to be told that pretty much everything is acceptable as we empower them to go out and do and be whatever they wish.

Is that what the next generation really needs? Do we trust the world to teach our kids what the good life is?

Today, on a Sunday in which we will do some child dedications, we take a brief break from our series in Nehemiah to look at Deuteronomy 6:1-9. Here we will see a radically different view of the good life and a better prescription for what the next generation really needs.

Kids quite naturally disobey their parents. Likewise, disobeying God comes quite naturally to all of us.

What motivates us to obey?

In Nehemiah 10, we will see that God's covenant faithfulness to His people throughout the generations (which included lots of grace and some discipline) has led them to respond by making a covenant together to obey Him.

There is much to process and pray about in our nation, in our church, and in our own personal lives. This is done best when the church gathers together around God's Word. We now do this 2 times on Sunday. Our full worship service is at 10:15 and we have a shorter, simplified worship service without music at 9:00. Join us as we look together at Nehemiah 9 to see how God's people look back through the storyline of Scripture and are led to confess sin and worship God. In our day, on this side of the cross, we need to do the same.

2020 was, among other things, unpredictable. What will 2021 be like? Of course there are many things about 2021 that we simply don’t know but there are some things we can expect. Join us for the simplified version of our worship service which includes some words of welcome from a couple of our members along with a time of prayer and a sermon from James 1:1-18 called “5 Predictions for 2021.

2020 has been filled with disrupted plans. Today's recording of our simplified Saturday evening worship service will include Part 1 of a message in which we will look at the accounts of both Matthew and Luke to see how the plans of Joseph and Mary were disrupted in some major ways. And we will anticipate part 2 of that message on Christmas Eve in which we will see how everything actually went just as planned.

What was your interaction with the Bible like in 2020? Did you use it sparingly or were you hungry for it?

When you consumed it, what affect did it have on you?

Today in Nehemiah 8, we'll see what happens when God's people are hungry for God's Word.

How might 2021 be different if we were increasingly molded by God's Word?

What kind of work has God called you to do? Does it seem important to others? Does it seem important to you?

In Nehemiah 6-7, despite distractions and deceptions, an important milestone in the work God has given Nehemiah to do is accomplished. But there is more important work yet to be done.

Are you growing weary of the work God has called you to do during this season? Ask God for strength to press on as we continue to do all kind of important work for the good of others and the glory of God.