Tag: paul

Church In The City 1 Corinthians 7:——–

The Corinthian culture was much like the American culture today. It would be nice if marriage were Valentine’s day everyday! The Bible answers questions about sex, marriage, parenting, singleness and every other social and moral question you could ask. If you want the right answer go to God! Everyone seems to like Jesus however following Him seems to be a tripping point for most! People have to give up their sin and just too much for many. We have a sexual ethics problem in America because our culture is following voices that oppose the voice of God! If you follow Jesus you follow peace, joy, kindness and sexual boundaries! A restoration ministry focuses on brokenness. We deal with brokenness of the past! The Church is committed to discipleship. Paul was not anti-marriage when he said it is not good to marry. Paul was also encouraging women who were married to be respected and dignified. Paul went on to say in marriage your bodies belong to each other. Do not deprive one another. Marriage is a gift from God! Sex is powerful and marriage allows the healthy expression of this gift. The institution of marriage allows mutual respect and a healthy environment for sexual expression. One of the common abuses in marriage is couples using scriptures to beat up on each other. The wrong attitude is you owe me sex! The right attitude is we serve each other with sex. Not the power to control each other but to serve each other. We serve each other in marriage with sex. Do not keep score! Do not use sex to manipulate and control each other! Jesus produces a new attitude within us! The wrong attitude is my wife owes me sex. Sex is designed by God for pro-creation and not recreation. Jesus has given us a new way of living to serve each other in marriage. Wrong attitudes is this is your job and this is my job. Be kind and serve each other. Verse 12. Unbeliever’s are sanctified by the believing spouse. Women are often taking the children to church alone. Paul encourages them to stay steady. Do not put him out. Divorce is not an easy option. Divorce is not a fire escape. My mother was a believer but my father was not until I was 20 years old. I still had a great dad! While dad went deer hunting my mother took us to church. There were sometimes arguments about church. Paul also said not to stay in a abusive relationship. Do not give up easy. My mother instructed me in the scriptures and I am saved today because of her care for me. Verse 32. Single people also have purpose! Paul says you are valuable even if single. Couples have to focus on marriage issues while single people can focus on God’s affairs. Singleness is an opportunity! You can use your time and resources on building God’s Kingdom. About 20 years ago I had a couple come into my church office in real trouble. They showed physical aggression towards on another. They sat in chairs at opposite ends of my office and cursed at each other. I came to realize I could not fix their problems in one hour! Curse words flowed like water! You are a mother of this, that and everything! I shared with them that they need to learn to like each other. Need to treat each other like they were living in Mr. Roger’s neighborhood. They needed to forgive each other! They were messed up bad! They scheduled another appointment and this time they did not curse so much! Bad words were there but not so many. No death threats this time so things were looking up. They wanted me to help them have a good divorce! I asked them if they wanted a good marriage? They came back to my office again and again. Finally they sat next to each other on the same couch in my office! They smiled and began to love each other. Then ran a metal works business. They brought me a metal Cross they built in their shop as a gift in gratitude for the help I gave them. It has hung in my office over past 20 years as a reminder of God’s faithfulness! Forgive people! Forgive yourself and others! Let judgment go! We are called to forgive! Do not give up! Do not try to manipulate and control people! God has forgiven us through the Cross! Let Him restore and redeem you! Let us pray——— Source; Pastor Brady Boyd, New Life Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado. Message given on Sunday, February 16, 2014

Sex In The Church! 1 Corinthians 5:1

Ephesus and Corinth both suffered from sexual brokenness! God wants us to live in a new community of sexual purity! In Corinth just like the world today there are no sexual boundaries. The shock value of sin is very low in America. Corinth was a shocking culture! The Corinth culture gradually influenced the Church just like in America today! God wants us to be a peculiar people with a pure image in marriage and in our Church family. Paul confronted a man who had his father’s wife in the Church at Corinth. Even under Roman law a man could not marry his step-mother! Paul goes on to say you are even proud of it and does not seem to bother you? Paul says you should be filled with grief! Perverted un-repented sin among believers should grieve us! Paul was not condemning or judging people struggling with sexual sin but encouraging them to repent. Paul is saying there is an elephant in the room and we cannot ignore him. We cannot pretend to be blind but have to confront this behavior in the Church. Paul said in verse 5 that this man needs to be turned over to Satan so his flesh nature is destroyed and his spirit could be saved on the Day of The Lord! We want to help everyone but everyone does not want help! Willful and public sin needs to be challenged! This sinner may have been a wealthy member of the Church. Sometimes in a small congregation the Church will overlook sin because of money. The pagan’s did not even like what was going on. Sexual sin in America is often celebrated? All of us are tempted in this perverted American culture we live in. Sin must not be tolerated and ignored by the Church. Paul is not cursing this man. Paul is saying if you follow your flesh we cannot help you! This man was personally known to the congregation. Paul was trying to help but this man was premeditated to do wrong. He did not want help. He was in love with his flesh! Paul could not help him until he was ready for help. Until he got sick of himself Paul could not help him. A little sin grows like a cancer and consumes the whole body. Death is the final outcome. First spiritual death and then physical death. Paul says in verse 6 that a little yeast or spoilage spoils the whole lump. The yeast and the swelling up represents pride! Do not allow a little of the world to enter your soul. It will take over you! Let the Holy Spirit clean your house. Guard your home. Dad’s are to pray and give leadership in the home. Guard the innocence of your children! Your children are not your buddies. Lead them in paths of righteousness. Parenting should not be a popularity contest. My children do not stay overnight with parents I do not know. Know your kid’s friends! Do not associate with sexually immoral people. There are different standards for the world and the Church. Dogs bark and cats purr and sinners sin. Laws of nature. The world acts like the world. Be ambassador’s of salt and light. Paul goes on in verse 11 we are not to associate with sinners. Not to be mean or nasty to them but not to let them influence you. Judgment starts at the House of God! Use discernment and grieve the sin not celebrate it. Galatians 6:1-3. Come face to face with ugliness and seek to restore if possible. All of us were broken at one time. We were addicted in bondage. Mercy found us and made us the called out ones in the community. Most of us have a story of how God came in and restored us. God holds us to a higher standard. Sin is a terrible burden but to be Holy is Joy! Jesus has already taken our Judgment. Jesus paid for us on the Cross. Remember no Judgment from people is final! Like the thief on the Cross Jesus gets the final word! What pronouncement have people made over you? Ephesians 2:4-7. God has a great love for you! His Grace has saved us! The kindness of Jesus has moved us. Yes, while we were yet sinners! In spite of our flaws His ocean’s of Grace cover us! Have people written you off? Jesus has written your salvation in His own blood! Is your resume full of sin? Fire the Devil and go to work for Jesus. Jesus has purchased you with a price! His life! God gives Grace! Believe it! I did in August of 1988 and He changed my life forever! He can and will for you! Let us close in prayer———-. Source; Pastor Brady Boyd, New Life Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado. Message given on Sunday, February 2, 2014.

Church In The City (Lesson 3) 1 Corinthians 3: 6-11

Paul wrote this letter to Corinth from Ephesus. By comparison today’s culture in America looks like Disney World compared to Corinth and Ephesus! God raises up a group of people to follow Jesus in a wicked culture. Let His light shine through you in the midst of a dark world. World history boils down to God looking for a group of people to follow Jesus! Do not get missed! The only one to change the world for good is Jesus Christ. The power of God and His Holy Spirit works through people. We need to improve in our relationships with our marriage, parenting, jobs and all other social relationships. Paul reminds us we need to improve! There are two principles involved in the process of improvement. Paul sends a troubleshooter named Apollos to Corinth. Apollos was from Alexandria Egypt. He was a scholar just like Paul. Apollos had bright shiny new ideas! Whether Paul or Apollos God causes things to grow. Man plants and waters but God gives the increase! We are God’s building. Be careful how you build. We are all building. We are either growing or diminishing. Our foundation has to be Jesus Christ. Planting is difficult! God comes to us and puts his spotlight on us. He zeroes in on our issues! Sometimes we feel like we are being picked on! Seems like God is disrupting our plans. Our ground is unfallowed and hard so God plows up our soil of our heart and removes the hardness so something can grow. Planting is done one or two times a year. As we as a church work through our 21 day fast and prayer period God shines His light on us and shows us where the changes are needed. God wants to uproot our unfruitful work. He wants to make the soil of our heart fertile and productive. There is a season to plant then God waters and a harvest comes. Watering is a determined work. God showers us with His Grace. He encourages us and strengthens us with His Mercy! His Mercies are new everyday! God will finish the work He has started in you. His work redeems us. Man’s work is never done but God’s work as Jesus said on the Cross, ” It is Finished!” His light pushes back the darkness. We have seasons of difficulty but God is determined to water us. God gives us a good crop with increase! We need to know which season of life we are in. Ecclesiates Chapter 3 says there is a time for everything! Look for times to speak encouragement to your spouse and you children. Window’s of opportunity come and go. If you think you are going to fix your spouse you are a train wreck waiting to happen! Parenting seasons change as children grow up. There are many voices out there in the world. Love is lacking when you are always laying down the law! Cheer on your family and encourage them. The Bible over 5000 years ago in Deuteronomy Chapter 6 tells us the best time to speak to our children. The two times they are most apt to listen to you are when they wake up and when they prepare for bed. They used to say the Brady’s are good when they sleep. Let your children make all their mistakes at home! Water the work God is doing in their lives. Plant-water, Plant-water, instruct-encourage, instruct-encourage. Know your strengths! Speak the truth in love. Learn to balance. Life is lived between the extremes. Learn from one another. Know the soil of your heart. Be quick to forgive. You cannot give away what you do not have! You will reap what you sow. Forgive and receive forgiveness. Recognize the soil of your heart. People treat other people the way they think God treats them. How does God treat you? Is God mean? Unforgiving? Do you believe God has forgiven you? Forgive others as God has forgiven you. We are not naturally kind. We are self-protective and defensive. But God has changed this for us. Now He has given us forgiveness and love. Know the season, your soil, your strengths and how you are wired. You can impact the world if you allow God to change you. Paul left about 35-50 people in Corinth out of a city of over a million people. It is a long story how I got to New Life Church! Back in 2007 I was ministering in Dallas Texas. God spoke to me that He was moving me! I thought about some churches i would like to go too. Where Lord? When Lord? I had some desires but God had a different idea. God told me I am going to send you to a church that is already planted and you are going to water it. We got to New Life Church in 2007 and 100 days later we had a shooting at our church. Darkness will never overshadow those in Christ! The scripture that most strengthened me is 1 Corinthians Chapter 3. God brought our marriage together and our children and He will bring our Church family together. Since 2007 God has done a miraculous work here at New Life Church reaching to the ends of the earth! God gets the Glory! What God has started He will finish! Get your soil right and God will water you and make you grow! Source; Message given by Pastor Brady Boyd at New Life Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado. Message given Sunday January 19, 2014.

Church In The City (Lesson Two) 1 Corinthians 2

Paul was in Corinth for 18 months. Corinth was a dark place. Paul labored in Corinth praying, preaching, proclaiming, evangelizing and leading a small congregation. Paul was a tent maker and labored with his hands rather than demand money from others. He lived in a second story apartment. He stayed with Acquila and Prascilla who were displaced Jews out of Rome. Paul taught in the Jewish Temple in Corinth. Paul also taught in public forums and debated with passion for Christ with unbelievers. Paul himself had a miraculous conversion on the way to Damascus. Paul was faithful, steady and also met resistance everywhere he went. Sometimes you do not get the fruit you are going after. The Gospel is slow but sure! If you are fruitful God will send someone behind you to carry on the work. The foolishness of the Cross transcends all our understanding! Have the mind of Christ or be a fool. Last week we covered some of the particulars of the city of Corinth and it’s brokenness. A prosperous city yet very wicked. The city was ignorant of Christ. God did do miracles there in the midst of darkness. The power of the Gospel has not diminished. 1 Corinthians 2:6. Human wisdom versus God’s wisdom. The wisdom of this age and the rulers of this age. Politicians, military leaders, philosophers and cultural leaders came to nothing in Corinth. Today Corinth is a tourist trap. God’s secret wisdom was hidden before time. If the world had wisdom they would not have Crucified Christ! I am thankful to be an American but that will not save me! Be careful not to let pride steal God’s Glory. Those enamored with intelligence have no room for God! 1 Corinthians 3:18. Do not deceive yourselves. Paul engages the Greek and Roman cultures. A quote from Socrates,”Only true wisdom is to understand that you know nothing!” God has an ocean of wisdom! God’s wisdom is hidden from the world. Just as Paul was blinded from his natural sight the scales were removed from his eyes to see Christ! Here in Colorado Springs we have a 14000 foot mountain in front of us. Pikes Peak towers above all else here. Sometimes the mountain is completely enveloped in a cloud out of view. If you were a tourist passing through our city on a cloudy day they would miss it. So much of the world misses God’s wisdom! How small we are compared to Pikes Peak and the God who created it! Open your mind to the greater. In American culture today you hear you this statement a lot. I am not religious but very spiritual! What does this mean? People are saying I do not need the Bible, I am going a different path, I want my own way, I just do what I understand and I do my own thing. It was spiritual people who murdered Jesus! The Holy Spirit must open our eyes. Listen to the Holy Spirit and He will reveal God to you! The Spirit of God versus the spirit of the world. Is Google your first choice? What God says is right versus what the world says is right. The world points to self as the solution. A great mistake! The greatest mistake and danger to civilization is when you believe you are God! Adam and Eve got tricked by satan when he told them they could be just like God. Yes to know everything! Leave that to God. Be careful if your decisions point to self. Life is simple if you do it the right way. God’s wisdom must be our influence. No decisions without Christ! What did Jesus say about marriage, parenting, money, sex, health, ect? Read your Bible! So many wrong voices out there. Be intentional and make your first call to God! Jesus Christ must be at the center of our decisions. Start with deciding to follow Him. American culture has lost it’s centrality to Christ! We cannot worship intellect and survive. We need right attitude. We are powerless! Humility leads to the power of the Cross! God either leads us or someone else will. Say God I believe and God I choose you! Recognize the limitations of the human mind. Recognize He is God and you are not. Alcoholic recovery organizations have a creed that is really Biblical. They say,”You are powerless to get out of it!” Religion is powerless to overcome sin! Remember Jesus got mad at religious people! God is personal like a home schooler. Parents know best and sit down and teach their children. One of the limitations of public schools is no personal instruction. God connects to us personally so we can understand Him. God is not distant. We are powerless but God is personal! Are you following Him? Source; Message given by Pastor Brady Boyd at New Life Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado. Message given on Sunday, January 12, 2014.

2014 Prediction! Hebrews 13:8

The world changes! People change. Health changes. Finances change. Attitudes change. Economy changes. President’s change, Families change ( Divorce-remarriage). Weather changes. Pastor’s change. Church member’s change, Friends change. Laws change, Time changes. War changes. Taxes change, Technology changes, Nations change, ect. The News that never changes is the Good News as Paul says in Hebrews 13:8; “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever!” Christ is the only one who can give you stability and peace in this unpredictable world you live in! The God of 2013 is the same God of 2014 and on forever! Do not hang your hat on anything else but Him! He will never leave you or forsake you! Others will! Happiness depends on circumstances! Joy is a Gift given to us by God through His Son Jesus Christ! Have a Joyful New Year! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com

Faith in Who? Faith in What? Ephesians Chapter 3 Verses 11-12

I have translated the two verses above by going back to the original Greek and then reinserting the English translation from Greek back into the text. Verse 11 and 12 reads as follows; According to the past, present and future intension by visibly showing forth something which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. In whom we have boldness and admission with reliance by the belief in the truth of salvation by Christ. God has given every man a measure of faith! Faith is a Gift from God! So our Faith is not really my faith or your faith but God’s Faith! This is the Faith Paul is speaking about. Not faith in yourself, wife, husband, bank account, job, father, mother, son, daughter, government, retirment, church, pastor but Faith in God! Faith in Jesus Christ alone secures our Salvation both now and forever and nothing else will! Although our family, jobs, ect, are important to us they must never be idols in worship before God! Thankyou. James Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com

Law Verses Grace!

Text; Galatians Chapter 5, Verse 4. This text is often missused to teach that the phrase “fall from grace” means that a person can loose his or her salvation. In the context of the verses one through three Paul is teaching how depending on the law of Moses for salvation makes Christ’s work on the Cross meaningless! Then in verse four, he speaks about those who think they can justify themselves through the law. Because these people chose to obey the law for salvation , they have no room for Jesus Christ and His Grace.The key to understanding the phrase “you are fallen from grace” is seen in the verb(expesate, Srongs 1601), which is better translated from the Greek as, “have fallen.” It does not mean that the Grace of God was evident at one time and then lost. Rather, a person deviates from the truth of grace and chooses justification by law. Grace does have law in it, (Christ on the Cross for our sin), but the law has no grace outside of itself! The law has only penalty which is death. God has given us Grace which is a Gift and He will not take it away! If someone rejects His Gift it will not void His Gift to those who accept it! Christ kept the law completely and fulfilled the law even to death on the Cross! Source; Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible, Copyright 2008. Thankyou. James Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com

Does Justification Make One Inwardly Holy? Romans Chapter 3 Verses 19-20

These verses form a key conclusion in Paul’s argument regarding sin and righteousness. In the previous verses, Paul has quoted the Old Testament to demonstrate man’s sinfulness (vv. 10-18). The “law” (v.19), referring to the Old Testament, was designed to silence all mankind under the conviction that they have nothing to say against the charge of sin. Likewise, the law was intended to convince all men of their guilt, or liability to punishment before God. Paul concludes that since all men are guilty, they cannot be “justified” by their own personal character or conduct (v. 20). Justification is a legal term meaning to remove guilt (liability to punishment) of the sinner. IT DOES NOT INVOLVE MAKING ONE INWARDLY HOLY but merely declares the demands of justice have been satisfied. Hence, there are no grounds for condemnation (Romans 8:1). Not even obediance to the law can justify one before God. Paul reasons, because the very nature of the law is to prove to each person that he or she is sinful and deserves God’s punishment. Thus the purpose of the law is to lead people to renounce THEIR OWN RIGHTEOUSNESS and TRUST in the IMPUTATION OF CHRIST’S RIGHTEOUSNESS as the only grounds for acceptance with God. In Conclusion; The above subject of justification applies to all whether saved or not! Many of us after getting saved through ministries and good works can fall into the trap that it is all the good stuff we do that makes us Holy! If we can remember it is Christ’s Righteousness that has, is and will continue to save us! Thankyou. James Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com Source: Key Word Study Bible Hebrew-Greek, Page 1406, AMG International 2008 Edition.

Who Built the Bridges and Roads

Christ built the Bridge to Heaven for us! If I were Mitt Romney or Paul Ryan I would be asking President Obama this question? The truth is the American Taxpayer built the Bridges and Roads! Not only in America but in many nations around the world! No government can exist without funding from its citizens! Yes, Hard working Americans built their Buisness but also the Bridges and Roads! Straight Talk! James Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com