Pastor David Cooper

It’s time for us to ask what does it really mean to be a Christian?

Christianity is more than a religion with beliefs, worship and codes of conduct. It’s more than rituals of sacraments, sacred days and symbols. It’s more than regulations with laws, rules and morality. It’s more than self-improvement, positive attitude and getting in touch with spirituality.

To be a Christian is a personal relationship of faith in Jesus Christ.

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”

At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” (Isaiah 6:1-8)

“Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life” (Proverbs 4:23)

The human heart is an amazing organ. Your heart -- a hollow muscle about the size of your fist and weighing between 8 and 12 ounces-- is the body's "perpetual motion system." The Bible also speaks of a spiritual heart -- spiritual, mental and moral self; we talk about the heart of the matter or the heart of the sea; the true person including both motives and morals, emotions and thoughts.

In this message Dr. Cooper speaks about ways in our life to guard our spiritual heart and become spiritually heart healthy.

When God created the universe He established laws to govern it. Laws govern everything from atoms to attitudes, radar to relationships, protons to people. Life not only operates by natural laws it also operates by spiritual laws. Let’s consider the law of sowing and reaping (Gal 6:7-9). The Bible has a lot to say about the law of the harvest. In fact there are 66 verses in the Bible that deal with the law of the harvest. We can choose the life we want by sowing the right seeds. When we plant the right seed, we will get the right harvest!

Sometimes people around us tell us we need to change but we don’t. We try to help others change by pointing out issues in their lives but they don’t listen.

Change occurs when a person gains insight. As long as we are blind to the issues in our lives or we justify the way we are then we stay the same. But when the light comes on and we see it for ourselves then we are on the road to change. Jesus teaches the principle that insight leads to change in the parable of the prodigal son.

“Do not gloat over me my enemy, though I have fallen I will rise.” (Micah 7:8)

We all fall down at times. We need to pick each other up when we fall. We want to walk by faith, but we fall into doubt. We want to walk in the Spirit, but we fall into the flesh. We want to walk in the light, but we stumble in the darkness. But we can overcome our failures. We can say with the prophet, “Though I have fallen, I will rise!”

Dr. Cooper teaches three dynamic life lessons from this Scripture.

The reformers were fond of the rallying cry, let the church be the church! What is the church? The word church appears 110 times in the New Testament. The word church means the called out ones. We are called out of darkness into His wonderful light! In this inspiring message, Dr. Cooper takes us on a journey through the scripture of what makes the church the church.

We read Jeremiah 1:4-9 and say, “So what? I’m not a prophet – I’m just an ordinary person.” Just as Jeremiah was called by the Lord, we have been called. God has a purpose and plan for everyone. Our self-esteem is derived from God’s word to us.

We walk or live by faith not by sight being led by the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the word of God. The phrase by faith best describes the Christian life. Everybody has faith at some level and in something. God has given us the measure of faith (Rom 12:3). Faith is not blind, but it is based on the fact of God’s existence, that Jesus Christ is real and His word is trustworthy.

For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ. And so through him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God (2 Cor 1:20). A promise is an assurance by one person to another. A promise is the reasonable ground upon which we expect something to be done. In this message The promises of God is the foundation of our faith. God never breaks his promise. His promises are always yes in Christ.