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.
Tag: sunday
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.
Church In The City
How would the city of Corinth compare today with a modern city? Corinth was the first frontier outpost. It was a prosperous city. Caesar’s Roman army retirement community live there. It was located on a key east-west trade route. The poor got rich in Corinth! You might say all the lotto winners lived there. The displaced Jews lived there because Caesar kicked them out of Rome. Sexual perversion was rampant in Corinth. Somehow money and sex are always linked together? The Temple of Aprodita had 1000 temple prostitutes as part of their worship. The Temple of Apollos had nude statues of male prostitutes. Corinth was much like American culture today with sexual brokenness. When Paul walked into Corinth people were celebrating the Isthmian games which was the ancient Olympics. Corinth had athletic training centers much like Colorado Springs does today. The people of Corinth celebrated strength, independence, intellectualism, materialism and public debate. The Greek orator’s debated constantly. They all figured it out they did not need God! 1 Corinthians 2:3-5. Paul says I was not with you with enticing words of man’s wisdom but in demonstration of the spirit and of power. That our Faith should not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God! Can God raise up people in a corrupt culture? America is becoming more secular. Heathenistic cultures trump pleasure over purpose. The message of the Crucified Christ is not popular in America just as it was not in Corinth 2000 years ago! But it is still really good news! Polite people did not talk about the Cross in the 1st. century. The worst criminals were crucified. How do you message people about the Cross? The cross was cruel and ugly punishment. Jesus was tortured, beaten, bloodied and murdered! He died the lowest kind of death. It goes to say the Cross is foolishness to the perishing. Why did God choose death to redeem? The wages of sin is death! To the saved the Cross is the power of God! Are you grateful for the Cross? The Cross is central to belief. The Cross is entry to everything. The Cross destroys the wisdom of the wise! Intelligent people say that if God cannot answer all my questions then I will not follow him! My adopted son Abram is a very intelligent little boy. His grandfather was a nuclear physics engineer! Sometimes Abram will ask me questions that are deep and thoughtful. Sometimes I do not know the answer to his question. God came to save us and not answer all our questions. Corinth had some of the best minds of that era. They were intellectuals, philosophers, Romans, Greeks and Jews. Preaching Christ was foolish to the gentiles. The Jews expected a military Messiah. What do you want to hear? I want to be skinny and rich! American and Corinth cultures say “Blessed are the smart and the strong, Blessed are the ambitious, God helps those who help themselves!” Superman has arrived! It is me! Jesus said,”Blessed are the poor in spirit,meek,merciful and kind.” The Roman government of Corinth ruled by fear and intimidation like many governments do today. Why did Jesus submit to the tyranny of the Roman government and the Jews and go to the Cross? To show the world a new way to use power! The world uses power to rule over people. Watch an NFL game. Hundreds of millions of dollars spent to try to dominate one another! Competition is to fight for power! Dominate others! Get power to defend yourself! Buy armies and men and women to rule over others. When Pilate had Jesus on trial he told Jesus he had power to condemn Him to death or release Him. Jesus told Pilate I lay my life down and unless my Father gives you power you cannot touch me. Christ goes to the Cross to use power in a new way. Christ gave His life for people and not to rule over people! God has given us power for people in service to people and care for them. Jesus became a nobody to save everybody. Jesus is calling the marginalized and the down and out. Not to manipulate them but release them from the bondages of sin. The nobodies are being invited in. Discover a new way of being powerful. Everyone can belong! No disenfranchised! The Cross is where you start and finish. No substitute for the Cross! All must come to the Cross and believe! Source; Sermon notes taken from message given by Pastor Brady Boyd at New Life Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado. Message given on Sunday January 5, 2014.
True or False? Matthew 7:15-23
False Prophets! Not all that shines is gold! Jesus warning His disciples. Wolves attack just to kill while other beasts kill only for food. Assassins! Dressed in sheep clothing. They look like you, dress like you, have a good church language but are suicide bombers wearing a Christian costume. Intentional people who purposely mislead us to hurt. Evil at the core. Verse 16- By their fruit you will recognize them. Good or Bad! True or False! Pay attention to the right thing. Walk and be not deceived. Good fruit is moral fruit. Bad fruit is immoral or evil fruit. Verses 21-23. Final Judgment! I prophesied in your name? I cast out demons in your name? I did miracles in your name? Jesus said but I never knew you! Worst thing you could ever hear! Warning! Big crowds always follow those who perform prophecy, cast out demons and perform miracles. They may be genuine or total deceivers? Work for the right fruit. Do they sell products and then sprinkle Jesus on top of their sales pitch? How does fruit come? Fruit takes time to produce. Galatians 5:22- Fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace———-. Is our motivation on self or Christ? Look for sound doctrine! Is your household built on sand or rock? 2Timothy 4:3-4. People want a doctrine that fits their desires. Our desire and God’s desire is different. Make me happy God! The 21st century church theology is called; Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. It says that God is here to make me happy! Use Jesus to get what you want. No sound doctrine. A lot of money made under this false doctrine. Money made in the God business. Why? It sells! Itching ears. We want to hear this! Pleases the flesh. Marketing 101- Find out what the people want and tell them how to get it. Politicians today- They follow the culture rather than lead it! Flow with the stream down the drain. Sound doctrine- Iron sharpens iron. Follow Jesus. Believe Him. False Prophets will appear to go along with the Gospel but yet will say Jesus did not die and raise from the dead. The Death and Resurrection of Christ is foundational to our Faith! The Nicene Creed has been foundational to our Faith for over 1600 years. The early church father’s wrestled these heresies to the ground for us. You have to be able to discern truth to avoid the destruction of the false! Source: Pastor Brady Boyd, New Life Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado. Sunday Sermon Notes Message given on September 8, 2013. Thankyou. James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
What Did Jesus Say About Following Him? Matthew 7:13-14
Jesus had a radical message! You can only enter in at the narrow way, narrow passage or narrow gate to follow me. A narrow gate would only be about the width of your shoulders. You cannot carry any baggage with you when you go through it. Following Jesus through the narrow gate requires focus with no distractions in the way. The broad road or gate leads to destruction. Jesus does and did not go this path. It is a dead end road. Few people choose the narrow gate. American culture is more Christ resistant than anytime in our history. To follow Christ today is more costly than in previous generations. We are considered radicals by our culture and ridiculed. We are considered on the outer fringes like space cadets. Did you ever notice the on-line surveys always give you a way out. You are never committed to a yes or no answer. Kind of like politics today. Christ gave His disciples no third choice. It was either Heaven or Hell. The same holds true for us today! Yes or no? Easy or difficult. Matthew 5:1-2. Jesus real audience was more than the crowds it was His disciples. They had already made up their minds to follow Him but their trust level was low. It takes time to figure out if you can trust someone. Jesus told them the Kingdom of God is right now! It was not yesterday or tomarrow. Living right now is Monday through Saturday working, school and difficult schedules. Jesus said let Heaven break into your boring day to day world. Jerusalem has 12 gates. The wide gate is the most used gate. Examples today are convenience stores, shopping malls, fast food, ect. We like the best paved roads with the fewest traffic lights. They even have drive through churches today. Just hear a message on the internet or television. Why go to church? Studies have found that women like to shop on the internet after 9:00PM. Why? Convenient! We like to choose the easy way over the difficult. Going through the wide gate we can take along as much baggage as we want. No constraints, no sacrifices, easy choices, no boundaries, no commitment applies to all who travel the wide gate. Taking this path leads to ruin. Jesus took a narrow path from The Judgment Hall to Calvary. It was also a steep climb carrying your Cross! He took your unforgiveness, hurt, pain and all your sin. Jesus was a teacher of virtue. Creativity exits between boundaries. Whether it be inventions, music, poetry, sciences, discoveries or even the work of a humble farmer. All great work is done within constraints and boundaries. Jesus had to be sinless to fix your sin. Because of the discipline of constraints and boundaries we have very few great people. People do not like boundaries. Live together why get married? Why study? Why work? Get on welfare. Pregnant? Get an abortion. Vote for the political party that offers you no constraints or boundaries. Revelation 7:9. Heaven is not sparsely populated but has a great multitude. Salvation belongs to our God! It is a free gift like a Christmas gift under a tree and is easy to find. Jesus is easy to find but very difficult to follow. Weddings are exciting but then the couples have to learn to live together. Marriage goes from easy to difficult. The wide gate is to get a divorce or just live together unmarried. To remain in covenant is a miracle from God and requires His Grace. To stay married is hard work and a challenge. Getting pregnant is easy but raising children is hard work. The family under the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman is God’s only plan and design for relationships and for the security of future generations. Worship even requires constraints and boundaries. All people will make one of the following four choices in their life. 1. Secularism- autonomy, it’s my life, live for yourself, no boundaries, no restraints. Not Jesus way. No! 2. Moralism- Follow the rules and get the life I deserve. Entitlement. Steeped in religion that says it is all about me. I deserve to be rich and famous because I am a moral person. 3. Religion- I owe my life to God. Obligation. Things better go right with me because I am serving God! Bad exchange. Problems come! Death and disease comes to all! 4. Grace- Jesus says your life for my life! Wonderful exchange! Great Exchange! My nothingless for His everything. Give God your life and He gives His life back to you! Stop living for yourself. It is a dead end. Let Christ come in. Welcome the Holy Spirit! You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. What needs constraint in your life? Do you eat food for comfort? Do you have a drug or sex addiction? Do you feed your senses to no avail. Let Christ increase and you decrease. Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and He will add to your life that will help you to victory. Source: Pastor Brady Boyd, New Life Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado. Message given Sunday September 1, 2013.
Great Distractions Of Worry! Matthew 6:25-28
Radical Jesus! Live out the beatitudes through counter-culture behavior! Jesus gave us a new way of being human! The Kingdom way of being human. Pray with listening ears, seeing eyes and hearts to receive the scriptures by impartation and inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a servant. Are you? Distractions such as money, possessions, and inside out language will take your focus off God and make us dysfunctional for the Kingdom. What we focus on is what we worship. Worry cannot add a single hour to our life. Stress which comes from worry can shorten our life. Jesus warned us not to worry about our clothes. Pagan’s run after these things. Jesus must have had the inside track on women’s dress habits. Ladies really dress to impress other ladies. Men do not have a clue about this? Worry distracts us, divides us, wastes time and keeps us from witnessing to others. Seek first the Kingdom and He will add what is needed for you. God can do the math! Luke 10- Martha and Mary. Martha worried about many things? She did not have CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox and other media to help her find worries. She did it all by herself! Mary chose what was better with no distractions. Look at the birds of the air! Be a bird watcher. Doves mate forever. No divorce here. I watched two silver doves that were in my driveway yesterday. So contented! A bird brain may be a good deal? Are they too stupid to worry? No, God has programed them to understand He will take care of their every need. They do not worry about global warming. They rest in the cool of the day. Take a deep breath and relax. The Theology of Heaven is God always has enough! Have God’s world view. People stress out and die trying to get more. Humans are limited but God is unlimited! Father knows your needs. Seek first the Kingdom and His righteousness. Definition of God’s Kingdom; God’s Kingdom is Jesus Christ ruling over His people. Ruling ever part of our life. Is Jesus Lord of All? V.34- Each day has enough trouble of it’s own. Worry about yesterday today and tomarrow? Regret Saturday and dread Monday? If so you cannot enjoy Sunday! To worry about yesterday and tomarrow is to worry twice! Worry about nothing? Trust God today and no regrets tomarrow. Cares of today are sufficient. Concern verses worry; Concern is to take issues to prayer and let the peace of God under the Lordship of Christ establish you. Worry comes when Jesus is not the Lord of your life. Worry and fear is not the fruit of the spirit. Love and fear are opposite each other. They come from two different sources. The Lord of Fear is leaving God out of your life and trying to run things on your own. The name Israel means ; “To Rule as God.” Can you do better than to rule as God? If you reject God then Satan will rule over you. The choice is yours? Source; Pastor Brady Boyd, New Life Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado, Sermon Notes, Sunday Worship Message, August 4, 2013. Thankyou. James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Pentecost Sunday May 19, 2013
We have a birthday today! Yes the birth of His Church! Fifty days after Christ was raised from the dead His Church was born! Remember the Torah or Law was given to the people after 50 days. In the Old Testament God gave us the standard to live by but in the New Testament at Pentecost through His Holy Spirit He gave us power to live up to the standard! Source; Introduction to message given at New Life Church by Pastor Brady Boyd, Colorado Springs, Colorado. Thankyou. James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Mansions or Mansion? John 14:2
The English rendition of the Greek word (mone), is translated mansions. The problem is the Greek word mone is singular not plural. Is this a big deal? it could be if it renders in your mind a different concept than the original Greek language intended! We have an earthly concept of mansions as individual houses like in our neighborhood block. If we think of one mansion where everyone lives then the concept is changed. Let us think about going to church on Sunday morning and parking your car in the parking lot with all the other cars. Now during the service i call a tow truck and pay to have all the cars towed away! At the end of the service the Pastor says do not go the parking lot because your vehicle is not there? We are now all going to live together in the church in one mansion here forever! Troubling? You are now thinking i cannot even get along with my spouse how can i get along with all these folks? I cannot divorce these people and move into my own mansion! Do we have the capacity to live together forever in the same house? Only God can give us this capacity! It is humanly impossible otherwise! If you go to John 14:23 you can see this from a different perspective. If by pre-conditions laid out by Jesus here then God makes his abode in individual believers. Then Christ dwells in many mansions(believers). He dwells in many mansions while we are on earth but one day we end up in the “Big House” together as we say down here in Georgia! Please do more than just read your Bible! Study it! James Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
How many times did Jesus talk about money?
Jesus talked more about money than heaven and hell combined! Jesus talked more about money than anything else except the Kingdom of God. Facts; In 11 of 39 parables he talked about money. In 1 out of every 7 verses in the Gospel of Luke he talked about money.Why? We will cover these reasons as we explore James Chapter 5 in our Sunday School class this Sunday. I will post this class on YouTube. Just Google Youtube and then type in IndiaJesusLovesyou’s channel. Thankyou. James Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Children’s Sunday School!
Little Isaiah came out of Sunday School carrying his papers and his coloring pages. I asked him if I could see them? I told him his work looked very good! This one creature he drew looked like a low profile dinosaur with thick legs and a very thick tail. There was also a plume of something coming out of his mouth? Isaiah said this figure drawn was a dragon with fire coming out of his mouth! I talked to Sharon our children’s church teacher and asked her if she could change the curriculum a little and try to get little Isaiah to draw an angel! Thankyou. James Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com