Key Points:

• We are called to SALVATION in Christ.
• We are called to SANCTIFICATION in Christ.
• We are called to SERVICE (ie. mission and ministry)
• We discover our unique purpose as we surrender to God's purposes in salvation, sanctification, and service.
• Suffering brings clarity and conviction to our unique identity and calling.

Scriptures:

• 2 Timothy 1:6-14

Sermon by Pastor Blaine Keene

Scripture Reading by Mark Goode

Key Points:

• Invitation #1: Redefine your legacy centered on the promise of life in Christ Jesus.
• Invitation #2: Rekindle the gift IN you by walking in power, love, and self-discipline.
• 2 Timothy is all about receiving and sharing (or multiplying) the promise of life in Christ.

Reflection Questions:

• Who is your Paul?
  • Identify the people who helped you receive the promise of life in Christ, and send them a word of thanks for their legacy of faith passed on to you.
• Who is your Timothy?
  • Prayerfully consider who are the people God has called you to influence with a legacy of life in Christ Jesus.

Scriptures:

• 2 Timothy 1:1-7 (CSB)

Key Points:

• Death does not get the final words for those who trust in the resurrected Jesus.
• Rejecting the resurrection is the death of hope. Trusting in the resurrected One is the doorway to hope.
• Jesus's resurrection power replaces tragedy with triumph, selfish fear with selfless love, isolation with family, and sorrow with joy.

Scriptures:

• Matthew 28:1-10
• 1 Corinthians 15:12-58
• Romans 5:3-5

Key Points:

• The mystery of our faith becomes the reality of our lives by the power of God’s grace.
• Because Christ has died, we have died to sin and our old life.
• Because Christ is risen, we are raised to new life in Christ.
• Because Christ will come again, we will reign with God in his eternal kingdom, which has already begun.
• We are motivated and empowered by grace to participate in the mystery of our faith becoming reality. Grace is NOT opposed to EFFORT; but Grace IS opposed to EARNING.

Reflection Questions:

• How are we putting grace-motivated and grace-empowered effort into living out the mystery of our faith? Dying to sin and self? Living in the power of resurrection? Participating in the coming of God’s Kingdom?

Scriptures:

• 1 Corinthians 1:2 AMP
• 1 Corinthians 15:1-11, 50, 52
• Romans 6:1-3, 12, 14
• Ephesians 2:1-5
• Colossians 3:1-10

Key Points:

• Not only is God speaking to and leading us, but we can grow in our confidence that we are accurately and consistently discerning God's will for our lives.
• Receiving REVELATION through God's Spirit is distinct from acquiring INFORMATION / KNOWLEDGE.
• The Holy Spirit reveals who God is in Jesus Christ.
• The Holy Spirit reveals what God has done in Jesus Christ.
• The Holy Spirit reveals who we are becoming in Jesus Christ.

Scriptures:

• 1 Corinthians 2:6-16
• Romans 12:2
• Ephesians 1:17-19

Key Points:

• The wisdom and power of the world exalts self-sufficiency, worldly wisdom, impressive power, and freedom to do whatever we want.
• The wisdom and power of the gospel is Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.
• Living according to the wisdom and power of the cross is mutually exclusive with living according to the wisdom and power of the world.
• Being made righteous in Christ is mutually exclusive with earning a right relationship with God.
• Receiving the gift of holiness (ie. transformation) in Christ is mutually exclusive with pursuing self-centered happiness.
• Receiving the gift of redemption in Christ is mutually exclusive with slavery to the familiar bonds of sin and its consequences.

Scriptures:

• 1 Corinthians 1:26 - 2:6
• Romans 3:21-25
• Romans 8:1-4, 10-11, 28

The key to clarity, unity, and growth toward maturity among God’s people in divisive and tumultuous times is surrendering to the gospel of Jesus Christ, by focusing on the cross and empty tomb.

Obstacle #1 is OFFENSE because God does not meet our expectations of miraculous deliverance.

Obstacle #2 is NONSENSE because God’s way of salvation seems foolish compared to the wisdom of the world.

"For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." - 1 Corinthians 1:18 NIV

Fundamental error #1: Progressive Christianity exchanges the authority of the Creator for the created.

Fundamental error #2: Progressive Christianity eliminates the need for repentance, reconciliation, and salvation.

Fundamental error #3: Progressive Christianity falls prey to the same problems as secular humanism, including logical inconsistency and moral relativism.

Fundamental error #4: Progressive Christianity redefines love as acceptance and affirmation.

Fundamental error #5: Progressive Christianity exchanges Christ-centered identity for self-centered identity.

What we believe matters. Truth can be known because God has revealed the truth in Jesus Christ.

"The dominant conclusion among progressive Christians is that love means affirming whatever journey a person wants to be on, such that they don’t feel judged….Whereas Christians with a biblical worldview should understand love to be the act of wanting for others what God wants for them, progressive Christians tend to understand love as the act of wanting for others what they want for themselves." -Natasha Crain, Faithfully Different

“Love, I have come to learn, is not God. Flip that. God is love. The God revealed in Jesus Christ is the definition of love. This difference changes everything...The cross is where that strange and holy God most clearly reveals his love...The cross is God’s intimate act of self-giving, his gentle way of critiquing our love of money, sex, self, romance, fame and power. These weaker loves, these idols we raise in our own image, could never compare with his infinitely greater love...It sounds like heresy in our culture, but romantic and sexual love are not the deepest expressions of our humanness. Unconditional love – God’s love- is.” - David Bennett, A War of Loves

A Prayer: “Jesus I trust in you as the Son of God, my Savior, and Lord over all creation. I confess and repent of any known sin in my life. I surrender to your love and lordship in my life. I receive your grace to save me and continually transform me as I follow you one step at a time. I rely on your love to empower me to participate in the coming of your kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.”