Church At The Cross

Scripture: Romans 8:18-25 Key Takeaways: + Cry Out Genesis 3:17-19   +Look Forward 1 Peter 1:4   The firstfruits of an incoming harvest were, literally, the first batch—and they were a foretaste of what was to come. Currently, the spirit is making us internally alive (v 10); giving us gradual, internal freedom from the effects of sin and death, making us slowly more like Christ (v 29). But this is only the firstfruits—just a taste of the complete, total freedom from the effects of sin and death in our bodies and spirits that the Spirit will one day give us – Tim Keller   1 John 3:2-3 Look about you! Look below you! Note it. Read it. God, whom you want to discover, never wrote that book with ink. Instead he set before your eyes the things that He had made. Can you ask for a louder voice than that? – Augustine   The easiness and naturalness of trees and vines are shadows of His beauty and loveliness. The crystal rivers and murmuring streams are the footsteps of His favor, grace, and beauty. Whe

In this sermon, Minister of Care, Scott Berry, focused on our identity as adopted children of God. He highlighted our identity as conquerors empowered by the Holy Spirit and heirs through adoption, emphasizing the significance of engaging with the Word of God and walking in step with the Spirit.   Key Takeaways:   + We are killers -      We fight by the Holy Spirit -      Word of God -      Walking with the Spirit + We are adopted   + We are heirs  

Text: Romans 8:5-11 As we continue in Romans, Pastor JR Vassar examines the profound contrast between living according to the flesh and living in the Spirit.   Key Takeaways John 3:6 Galatians 5:19–21 Galatians 5:16–17    • Focus on Jesus • Devote time to the Word and Prayer   Romans 12:12

Text: Romans 8:1-4 Notes: + In Jesus you have all the acceptance you will ever need. -       John 12:42-43 -       1 Corinthians 4:3-4 "To please God… to be a real ingredient in the divine happiness… to be loved by God, not merely pitied, but delighted in as an artist delights in his work or a father in a son- it seems impossible, a weight or burden of glory which our thoughts can hardly sustain. But so it is." — C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory. “We all automatically gravitate toward the assumption that we are justified by our level of sanctification, and when this posture is adopted, it inevitably focuses our attention not on Christ but on the adequacy of our own obedience. We start each day with our personal security resting not on the accepting love of God and the sacrifice of Christ but on our present feelings or recent achievements in the Christian life.” Richard Lovelace, Dynamics of Spiritual Life: An Evangelical Theology of Renewal (Preaching and Teaching for Individual Renewal). + In Jesus y

Text: Romans 8:1-2 In Pastor JR Vassar's sermon on Romans 8:1-2, he emphasizes humanity's vital need for reconciliation with God, exploring universal guilt and the transformative power of faith in Christ. The book of Romans acts as a catalyst for reshaping lives and evoking profound spiritual responses. + Why are we studying Romans? + The greatest need we have is to be put in the right with God. + We want to experience the new life we have in Christ. + We are concerned about the condition of this world. + Why did Paul write this Letter?    

Notes: Text: Acts 2:41-47   “Beethoven has the real goods, the stuff from Heaven, the power to make you feel at the finish: something is right in the world. There I something that checks throughout, that follows its own law consistently: something we can trust, that will never let us down.” – Leonard Bernsetin, Composer   +Spirit-Empowered Community is a place where people grow   +Spirit-Empowered Community is a place to invite   “The kingdom is to be in the midst of your enemies. And he who will not suffer this does not want to be of the kingdom of Christ; he wants to be among friends, to sit among roses and lilies, not with the bad people but the devout people. O you blasphemers and betrayers of Christ! If Christ has done what you are doing who would ever have been spared?”

Notes: Text: Hebrews 1:1-3 +The baby in the manger is God’s message to us. +The baby in the manger is God’s savior for us. +The baby in the manger is God’s king over us.

Notes: Text: 2 Corinthians 5:14-21   +A follower of Jesus is no longer a prisoner to death. +A follower of Jesus is a new creation. +A follower of Jesus is sent.   “Plainly, if Paul’s conclusion is to be drawn, the ‘for’ must reach deeper than this mere suggestion of our advantage: if we all died, in that Christ died for us, there must be a sense in which that death of his is ours; He must be identified with us in it: there, on the cross, while we stand and gaze at Him, He is not simply a person doing us a service; He is a person doing us a service by filling our place and dying our death.” – James Denney   “But, behold, a new soul (for it was cleansed), and also a new body, and a new worship, and new promises and covenant and life and table and dress, and all things absolutely new.” – John Crysostom

Notes: Text: Exodus 25:1-9 “The central miracle asserted by Christians is the incarnation. They say that God became man.” –  C. S. Lewis   + Image of Tabernacle in the Encampment of Israel +The Tabernacle was a Place of Glory   +Image of Book Immanuel +The Tabernacle was a place of Grace +Image of Ark of the Covenant +Jesus is the Truer and Better Tabernacle   + In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. – John 1:1 ESV   +Jesus is the Place of God’s Glory   +Jesus is the Place of God’s Grace   +Jesus Belongs at the Center   +Jesus Makes us a Tabernacle

Notes: Text:  Psalm 105:37-43 “Hearts on earth say in the course of a joyful experience, “I don’t want this ever to end.” But it invariably does. The hearts of those in heaven say, “I want this to go on forever.” And it will. There is no better news than this.” – J. I. Packer + Awkward Christmas Photos + Forever Life + Full Life

Notes: Text:  Exodus 12:1-13, 21-28 Typology exists when there is a historical correspondence between events, institutions, and persons found in the OT and the NT. I argue that typology does not merely represent correspondence but a correspondence intended by God. - Thomas Schreiner “J. Barton Payne identified 1,239 prophetic predictions in the Old Testament that involved some 6,641 verses, or 28.5 percent of the total corpus of the older testament...Payne also found 127 personal messianic predictions in some 3,348 verses in the Old Testament...” Kaiser, Walter C., Jr. 2009. Recovering the Unity of the Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. If you were to calculate the probability of any one person fulfilling, sheerly by chance, all the Old Testament Messianic prophecies that Jesus fulfilled, it would be as astronomical as winning the lottery every day for a century. Even if Jesus deliberately tried to fulfill the prophecies, no mere man could have the power to arrange the time, place, events, and circumstan

Notes: Text: Colossians 1:3-14   “To have found God and still to pursue Him is the soul’s paradox of love, scorned indeed by the too-easily satisfied religionist, but justified in happy experience by the children of the burning heart.” – A.W. Towzer   +The Gospel creates a secure community that loves   +The Gospel creates a witnessing community that multiplies   +The Gospel creates a wise community that pleases God   +The Gospel creates a thankful community with one allegiance   “You cannot know anything about Jesus, anything, if you miss the kingdom of God…You are zero on Jesus if you don’t understand this term. I’m sorry to say it that strongly, but this is the great failure of evangelical Christianity. We have had Jesus without the kingdom of God, and therefore have literally done Jesus in.” – Gordon Fee   -      Remind one another of the Gospel -      Repent of any ways we’ve lacked love -      Renew our minds to know what pleases God -      Respond with thanks to God for bringing us into his Kingdom

Notes: Text:  Romans 7:7:5-6, 14-25 +Who is the “I”? +There are many in the Church who fit the description of the “I”. +There are true believers in the Church who are still trying to live the Christian life by the law and not by the Spirit. -       Repent of grieving and neglecting the Holy Spirit. -       Acknowledge the Holy Spirit and cultivate a relationship with him. -       Surrender to Him daily. -       Engage in activities in your life that open you up to his presence and power. + It’s not the script of the law outside of you; it is the Spirit of God inside of you!

Notes: Text:  Romans 7:7-13 “…these motions of sin are irritated, provoked, and increased, through the law’s prohibition of them; which is not to be charged as a fault on the law, but to be imputed to the depravity and corruption of man; who is like a mighty torrent of water, which rises, rages, flows and overflows, the more any methods are taken to stop its current, or like a filthy dunghill which when the sun strikes powerfully on it, it exhales and draws out its filthy stench; which nauseous smell is not to be imputed to the pure rays of the sun, but to the filthiness of the dunghill. – John Gill. An Exposition of the New Testament, vol. 2, The Baptist Commentary Series. + The law is perfect -       Psalm 19:7 -       The law of the Lord is perfect + The law brings conviction of sin + The law brings provocation to sin + The law brings condemnation for sin

Notes: Text: Romans 7:1-6 “Men quietly got in touch with Him... and found themselves doing things they couldn’t do, thinking thoughts they couldn’t think, and loving people they couldn’t love. They were a surprise to themselves and others.” - Mastery, E. Stanley Jones    + Christianity is a new relationship with Jesus    + Christianity is a new purpose    +Christianity is a new existence    New Master  New Husband  Effectiveness in the mission of Jesus 

Notes:   Text:  Romans 7:1-4   “On your exceedingly great mercy rests all my hope. Give what you command, and then command whatever you will.” - Saint Augustine, The Confessions    +License (Antinomianism)   +Legalism    +The Principle  The law is binding on us while we live +The Illustration  Marriage +The Application  You died to the law and are now belong to Christ +Jesus motivates us by His love and likeness  +Jesus always supplies what He commands  +Jesus always forgives when we fail Him  +Jesus will never leave us  +Don’t bring yourself back under the law  +Focus on your relationship with Jesus 

Notes:   Text:  Romans 6:11-13, 19   “Grace is opposed to earning, but it’s not opposed to efforts.” - Dallas Willard   • Prayer  • Fasting  • Service - disciplines of community (giving, generosity, confession)

Notes: Text:  Romans 6:11-23 + Vision + Intention + Means “There is no need to despair; hundreds of these adult converts have been reclaimed after a brief sojourn in the enemy’s camp and now are with us. All the habits of the patient, both mental and bodily, are still in our favor.” Screwtape Letter, CS Lewis • Solitude • Scripture

In this sermon, Pastor JR explains how every Christian is free from sin as a fact, but not every Christian lives in that freedom as an experience. Notes: Text:  Romans 6:15-23 + Conversion is a Total Transfer of Loyalty + Conversion is a Total Transformation of Life + Every Christian is equally free from sin as a fact, but not every Christian lives equally in that freedom as an experience.

Notes:  Text:  Romans 6:12-14+ What is the Promise? ·       You Belong to Christ and Christ Belongs to You.   + What are the Practices? • Mortification • Vivification