The Open Word (Audio)

As Pastor David continues his teaching series through the Gospel of Luke, he'll be explaining what genuine repentance looks like. John the Baptist rebukes the pharisees and tax collectors because they chose to live for themselves, rather than thinking of others. Jesus Himself, demonstrated for us what it looks like to be selfless. He died on the cross for us in order to give us salvation even though we didn't deserve it. God calls us to be selfless and others centered just like our Lord.

Do you realize that the moment you call yourself a Christian, or a born again believer, the world places a microscope on you? Unbelievers are watching you! They are watching the way you live, they are watching how you act under pressure, and they want to see if what you say is genuine in your own life. Today, Pastor David will be encouraging us to abide in Jesus the Vine, so we can produce the fruit of the Spirit. Calling yourself a Christian isn't enough, you need to bear fruits of repentance.

John the Baptist was not seeker sensitive when he ministered to the multitudes. He wasn't afraid to call sin, sin, and he wasn't afraid to use the words hell and repentance. Today, Pastor David will be explaining that it's vitally important for us to love unbelievers to the point of telling them the truth of the gospel. We aren't doing anybody any favors by preaching a watered down gospel and sugar coating the destructive nature of sin. A transformed life is the only proof of salvation.

As Pastor David continues his teaching series through the Gospel of Luke, he'll be reminding us how important it is for us to obey the voice of the Lord. In our text today, John the Baptist is speaking forth the Word of God to the people of Israel after God was silent for an extremely long time. The children of Israel continuously disobeyed the Word of the Lord, and then eventually God stopped speaking to them for a prolonged period of time. When God speaks, obey His voice without delay!

There was a process that even Jesus went through before His ministry started. Today Pastor David, will remind us that in every process we must remember the timing is not in our hands but in the Lord’s hands. He also will teach us not to despise the process. We as Christians will be pulled from our comfort zone if we are living fully in surrender to the Lord. God desires for us to grow in our walk with Him. Therefore, we should ask ourselves regularly if we are growing in the Lord or if we are at a stand still.

In our lives we will go through many processes and it will be worth the outcome if we don’t give up before it is completed. Today Pastor David from The Open Word, will teach us and encourage us by looking closer at the processes Jesus walked through while on earth. What is God taking you through right now? Are you holding onto His truths as you journey through the process? Sometimes we may not care to or ask to go through the process but keeping our eyes focused on the Lord will help us during it all.

The story of Mary and Joseph is a great example that things may not always go as we plan, but that we can always trust that God is in control. How willing are we to allow God to take total control of our lives? In today’s edition of The Open Word, Pastor David will ask us some hard questions concerning who is truly lord of our lives. He will encourage us that surrendering our will to the Lord’s is the hardest thing to do but also the most rewarding thing to do in our lives.

Do we believe that God desires to move and work in our lives? We should be living our lives in anticipation that God will use us for His overall plan. Do we trust that God is sovereign over our lives, and that He has a plan for us? Today on The Open Word, Pastor David will teach us about how God uses ordinary people to accomplish His will. We will also learn that there are no coincidences in life but that God is always in control. God is willing and able to use us, when we are willing and able vessels.

Simeon wasn’t alone. We know there were more who lived with great anticipation for their coming Messiah. While the details remain largely unknown, we see the presence of a prophetess named Anna who lived with the same kind of anticipation. As Pastor David shares her blessed legacy, we see the way God uses the latter years of her life to proclaim the birth of JESUS, our Messiah. In the same way, we should look with great anticipation for the coming of the Lord for us in our generation.

Simeon was a devout man of God. And while little is revealed about who he actually was, we know that he was someone who lived with great anticipation. Simeon never lost sight of God’s promise and never stopped believing, even in the midst of a corrupt religious system. As Pastor David explains, we can learn much from this holy man of God named Simeon. While our religious system may miss the arrival of Messiah, we don’t have to. God’s promises are as sure to us as they were to Simeon.