Sermons – Eastside church of Christ

With a global pandemic, lockdowns, economic woes, a contested Presidential election, and more, this has been quite an unusual year. “There is nothing new under the sun,” but from our perspective, things may seem unprecedented. As the events of this year has unfolded, there are some important truths that have been highlighted. These have always been true, but they are more apparent in light of recent events.

Sometimes when we think of evangelism and converting the lost, we may have a picture in our minds of the type of person who would be receptive. If we’re not careful, we could subconsciously reject/overlook some who may have otherwise been interested (the single mother, the person with tattoos, the immigrant who speaks broken English, the poor man who can’t afford nice clothes to wear to “church”, etc.). Sometimes the ones who are converted are not the ones we would expect. In this lesson, we’ll notice some examples in the New Testament.

As Christians, we have given our lives over to God. This necessarily means we will be different from the world – not conformed, but transformed. Yet too often we are tempted to be like the world. How might we be tempted to conform to the world? We’ll notice four ways in our lesson.

In the Great Commission, Jesus told His apostles to go out and make disciples. A disciple is a follower of Jesus. While on earth, Jesus also went out and made disciples. But while His apostles would tell people to follow Jesus, He would tell them, “Follow Me.” There are a few examples in the gospels in which Jesus offered this invitation. We’re going to look at these statements in the book of Matthew and make some applications.

When Paul wrote to the church at Philippi, there were very few problems that he needed to address. These brethren were faithfully following the Lord and were an encouragement to the apostle. So he encouraged them to continue serving the Lord in a way that would please Him. He told them to “conduct [themselves] in a manner worthy of the gospel.” What does this mean? How can we do this today?

On the day of judgment, there will be “books” opened before the Lord – one is the “book of life.” The names that are in this book are those who have been saved (Revelation 20:15; 21:27). Whose names are in this book? Was this determined before creation and our place is forever fixed? How we understand this will affect the nature of our hope and our sense of responsibility. Let us consider what the Bible has to say about the book of life.

The gospel records many occasions in which Jesus cast out demons. On this occasion, a man came requesting this be done to his son. Jesus’ disciples “could not cure him,” but Jesus cured him immediately. Afterward, Jesus’ disciples asked Him why they could not cast out this demon. Jesus’ answer provides an important lesson about faith. We can make application to our lives today.

Our country has just endured a difficult and divisive Presidential election. Now that it is over, there will be ongoing challenges and changes that will take place. However, there are certain things that have not changed since the election – and they will not change.

There are many things that Christians SHOULD NOT do. However, the Bible also says that there are some things that Christians CANNOT do. In this lesson, we will focus on the points mentioned by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount.

In our text, Paul used the word exult three times (NASB). The KJV used the words rejoice, glory, and joy in its place. The word means to boast about something. Usually we think of boasting as something that we shouldn’t do as Christians, but it depends on what we are boasting in (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:31). We can and should boast/glory/rejoice in the things which God said. Let’s notice three in our text.