Since our final inheritance is certain, secured by God himself, we can be marked by unwavering hope through faith in Christ.

We can have true joy in suffering (like Christ) when we understand trials as God proving and purifying our faith for His glory.

Peter helps us put our lives and our sufferings in perspective of our blessed era in God's saving plan. Through the lens of the O.T. prophets, we see that we are the recipients of fulfilled prophecy concerning Christ, who is the great exhibition of God's grace.

Salvation Has Come - Luke 2:21-38 INTRO: Last week in Luke 2 we emphasized the significant interruptions that take place sometimes in our ordinary lives. God intervened in the lives of some humble shepherds keep night-watch over their sheep and announced through an angel (and then a host of angels) that,…

PRAY INTRO: Everybody’s a theologian. R.C. Sproul accurately quipped, “Everybody’s a theologian.” Theology at its core is thinking about God . Even those who vehemently, and arrogantly, proclaim that there is no God, are thinking theologically. They either don’t want God to exist because they don’t want…

Sheep don’t choose their shepherds; children don’t choose their parents. [pause] And such are the appropriate metaphors the Bible uses to explain God’s gracious choosing of us to be his children, his sheep—by faith alone in the work of Christ alone. This favor from God bestowed on us, based on his good…

[ The Gospel of Luke ] Intro: Let’s get back into Luke’s head as we begin this morning. He has shown his reader the miraculous conception, announcement, and birth of this Jesus. He depicts the boy Jesus with an awareness of his unique connection to the Heavenly Father, followed by the prophet John the…

PRAY INTRO: Last week in our study of the second half of Acts 6 , we discussed how Stephen became Stephen. How did the humble helper for charity distribution become a target of the religious establishment and then become the first martyred follower of Jesus? Upon examination, it becomes clear that Luke’s…

Intro: What do you think of when you consider death? Do you even slow down in life long enough to ask what happens when this is over? When you lie on your bed and ponder life’s end and what’s comes after, do you try to suppress the thought? Do you tremble in fear? Or do you let the notion of passing…

Intro: To a large degree, Jewish rejection of Jesus continues to this day. I have no doubt that you are aware of this, but sometimes things don’t sink in until we stop to think about them. (We drive safely here and there in our cars every day, and rarely think anything of it. But if we or someone close…

[Subtitle - The First Christian Sermon, Part Two] PRAY INTRO: Jesus does what he says he will do. He has power and authority to accomplish it. He takes broken sinners and restores them to God. Chief among his chosen Apostles was a handful of fishermen, whom he told to leave their nets behind in the Lake…