https://midtownchurch.com/
https://midtownchurch.com/
There is a belief by some within Christianity that one's faith in Christ should guarantee health and wealth. But in this week's passage the church in Smyrna was a faithful church, with no rebuke or correction from Jesus, but were experiencing tribulation, poverty, slander and for some, prison and death. It's a text that drives the health and wealth proponents nuts and one important for all of us to learn from.
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As we thank God for His provisions this Thanksgiving, let’s also consider the Lord’s Harvest in Matthew 9:35-38. Jesus’ compassion for the lost and suffering challenges believers to view their communities with the same compassion. While the world’s brokenness reveals a great gospel need, there’s also immense potential. However, with few labourers, the church faces a gospel crisis. Jesus’ call is clear: to pray for workers to be sent out into His mission field.
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These days you can go online and find review of almost everything - from hotels and restaurants to barbershops, and even churches. Those types of reviews can be helpful, but they are highly subjective. But, what if there was a definitive review of specific churches given not by religious consumers, but by Jesus Himself? That is, in fact, what we find in the seven letters Jesus wrote to the seven churches of Asia Minor in the First Century. While these letters were written to specific churches in a specific time and place, they have enduring relevance for every church in every time and place. We begin with the church in Ephesus - a church with much to commend…and one glaring weakness.
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One of the beauties of Revelation is that it paints in pictures what words can't always convey. And that's especially true in today's text where John sees Jesus in His glorified state and writes down the wonderful and colourful ways He is depicted. We end this message by asking what this depiction of Jesus is meant to convey to us.
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In today's message we look at the greeting of John to the churches mentioned in chapters 2 and 3. It's a greeting of grace and peace from the triune God which breaks out into worship and ends with a joyful and sober reminder that Jesus is coming again.
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As we launch a new ministry year this Sunday we also begin a news series on Revelation 1-5. In today's message we highlight the unique nature of Revelation, what we need to know about it, and why this book is not only a blessing but so relevant today.
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Hebrews 12:18-24 presents a contrast of two mountains, Sinai and Zion, which represent the contrast of the old and new covenants. The message focuses on dynamics of new covenant life, including grace, joy, and the presence of God.
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In this final sermon in this series on Galatians Paul may have saved his best for last when saying in verse 14 that he boasts in nothing except on the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. In this sermon we consider two all important and urgent questions: what does a cross-centred life look like? And, why would anyone boast in the cross?
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In last week's text Paul wrote of how Christians are to be people who need to walk by the Spirit to have victory over the flesh. Additionally, he wrote that those who walk by the Spirit will bear the fruit of the Spirit. In this week's text he gets more practical and writes that those who walk by the Spirit will be people of restoration (done in a certain way), holiness and goodness.
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Too many Christians, it seems, are content to live idle lives. Happy to be forgiven of their sin but little or no movement thereafter. In this text Paul call his readers to be people of movement, ever ready for the battle that is ours, by way of the power of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
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https://midtownchurch.com/
If last week's text was Paul at his most emotional then this week's is Paul at his most confusing - at least on a first read. And yet, this text is beautifully helpful where Paul continues to fight for his theologically kidnapped children. He does this in three ways: he tells them an Old Testament story, he allegorizes it to their day, and leaves them with helpful application.
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The apostle Paul wrote 13 or perhaps, 14 New Testament letters. But what's contained in this text is Paul at his rawest and most emotional where he moves from theologian to a spiritual father seeking to rescue a wayward child. This text also includes what greatly motivates Paul and what should motivate us too: that Christ be formed in us and those we minister to.
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One of the great things about the Christian faith is how deep into the weeds you can get with it. It's so simple that a child can understand it and yet, so complex that libraries can be filled with writing about it. In this message we step back from the beautiful complexities of the Christian faith and focus on the big picture of who we are now by faith in Christ - nothing less than a son of God.
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What takes place when we move from being people living under the curse of the law to being people of faith? This message looks at three movements in the life of a believer: a move from the old law to another, a move from one status to another and a move from one future to another.
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This message revolves around the question, "why then the law?" If the keeping of the law doesn't bring the Holy Spirit, justification and wasn't meant to replace faith why did God give it? This sermon focuses on the law as a revealer of sin, a guardian from sin and makes us captive under sin. And ultimately, moving us to find salvation in the promise of God's seed, Jesus.
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Most of us know the challenge of navigating the disappointments of life with true faith. Each time things don't turn out the way we hoped, or our prayers seem to go unanswered, our hearts are tempted to become hard or bitter. What we don't always realize is the way God is working in and through those hardships to expose our hearts and draw us to himself in hope. This is what we find in our passage from 2 Kings 4:8-37
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This passage is one of the most important in all the Bible and includes one of the clearest definitions of the gospel found anywhere. Verse 13: "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us." In this message we will consider why we are cursed, what is the curse that Jesus became, and what God in Christ offers in exchange of the curse.
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