We're a Gospel-centered church fellowship in Columbia, Missouri, proclaiming salvation through Jesus Christ and following Him together as a community of believers. Our emphases are sound Bible teaching, joyful worship, hearty fellowship, and ongoing evangelism.
2Cor. 5:17 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation..." This sermon connects this familiar concept about believers being a "new creation" with the original creation at the time of Adam, the world after Noah's flood, Abraham the patriarch, the Israelite kingdom under David / Solomon and finally Jesus Christ as the Last Adam.
This sermon explores one basic question: Is the Christian life easy or is it hard? The Bible teaches *both* concepts. So how do we bring the two ideas together, reconcile them in our minds and apply them in our life?
In Luke 11:27-36 the Lord Jesus teaches about how people respond to the truth of God, either receiving it with faith or rejecting it in unbelief. His teaching can be broken down into these four headings:
1. The blessing of ordinary Bible-centered Christianity (v27-28).
2. The wickedness of unbelievers demanding more evidence (v16,29-30).
3. The judgment coming upon those unbelievers (v31-32).
4. The gateway for receiving truth into ourselves (v33-36).
In Luke 11:14-26 the Lord Jesus casts out a demon and then gives teaching regarding the demonic realm. The passage can be summarized in these five principles:
1. Jesus was horribly slandered (v15).
2. Disunity destroys (v17-18).
3. Satan is strong, but Christ is stronger (v20-22).
4. There’s no neutrality regarding Christ (v23).
5. Reformation without regeneration is disaster (v24-26).