Tag Archives: Christian

Sermon – JesusWORKS: What is a Christian?

JesusWORKS aims to introduce you to the Jesus of history by looking at his life, teaching and work. Primarily, it is for the person who wants to check out the claims of Jesus or the claims about Jesus – so that they can make up their own minds about him.

Yet, it is also for any Christian who wants to be prepared to give a reasoned answer for the hope that they have in the gospel of Jesus (1 Pet 3:15).

Jesus calls people to himself, yet he gives everyone the opportunity to examine him and his message before making that decision.

In this talk, the common reservation that a person could never be good enough for God is addressed. We look at what a person can do to respond rightly to what Jesus has done to save.

Read the Bible texts – Luke 18:9-14; Mark 8:34-9:1

Talk 7 – What is a Christian? (Outline)Download
Speaker: Ken Noakes
Speaker: Ken Noakes

For more information and resources that go with the JesusWORKS course – go here

Grounded in the Word

Christians are people of the Word – the written and spoken word. I am not saying that Christians are just bookworms, but I am saying that at ground zero, a Christian is shaped by God’s Word. It informs, it motivates, it comforts, it rebukes, it sharpens, it directs and does so all by the power of the Holy Spirit.

If you have just become a Christian you are faced with this big volume of 2 testaments, 66 books, 1189 chapters, 31,103 verses and you may think – is it worth it, how do I read it, where do I start?

And if you have been Christian for a while, then you may recognise the struggle it often is to read the Bible regularly and well – to let the Bible work on your heart and change your mind and apply to your behaviour. In short, to shape your life.

They are good concerns.

Yet, without the Bible, a person will struggle to grasp the fundamental Christian truth that while they were still a sinner, Christ died for them (Romans 5:8). Without the Bible it is impossible to understand what it really means to be Christian.

Don’t run away from the Bible – ground yourself with it!

 

For more in this Series:

Listening to the Word

Grounded in the Word

God makes himself known – look around!

God makes himself known – look at ourselves!

God makes himself known – look his Word!

How can the Bible be from men but also from God?

What does a Christian do with the Bible?

How can I trust that what was written down in the Bible is reliable?

 

What must I do to be saved? (Part 3 of 4)

Why is salvation by grace so hard to accept?

This doctrine is one of the many points where the Bible is totally out of step with our society!

Romans 5 helps us:

5 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10 For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11 Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

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What must I do to be saved? (Part 2 of 4)

Salvation by Grace

According to Acts 16, the Philippian Jailer and his whole family listened to the Word of the Lord as spoken by the Apostle Paul, accepted it, and were baptised as a sign that they had been saved (Acts 16:16-40).

Christians are people who believe in the Lord Jesus. They are saved, not by what they have done, but by what he has done. Jesus’ greatest gift is his salvation – which is why Christians can clearer and confidently say that they are ‘saved by grace’.

This is a fundamental starting point.

Let me explain.

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