Contrary to what is taught in evangelical churches today, there is no such thing as trusting Christ as Savior without at the same moment submitting to Him as Lord.
Whereas the believer was once under the lordship of Satan, through saving faith he eagerly places himself under the lordship of Jesus Christ.
Whereas he was once the enemy of God and the slave of sin, he is now the loyal subject of his Lord and Master.
Clearly many Christians have not embraced the fact that Christians must be committed to Christ and His teachings. They may have mentally assented to certain gospel facts…joined a church…repeated a prayer…walked forward at an evangelistic meeting. But by any biblical measurement they were never converted. There was no transforming conviction of sin, no repentance, no commitment to Christ’s lordship, no love for those who love Christ.
He is Lord, and those who refuse Him as Lord cannot use Him as Savior. Everyone who receives Him must surrender to His authority, for to say we receive Christ when in fact we reject His right to reign over us is utter absurdity. It is a futile attempt to hold onto sin with one hand and take Jesus with the other. What kind of salvation is it if we are left in bondage to sin?
We will explain this further in our next sermon from the gospel of Mark, “Jesus’ Triumphant Entry”

“There are none so blind as those who will not see.” While that sounds like a verse from the Bible, it is just a well-used saying from the “Works of Thomas Chalkley,” published in 1713.

However, by the time the Lord Jesus finished His first 18 months of ministry, I’m sure He thought about saying it regarding the lack of depth the disciples had about the eternal purpose for His coming. In fact, Jesus opened the eyes of a blind man who cried out to Him to show them what they needed to do to understand what He had come to do, how, and why.

We will explain this further in our next sermon from the gospel of Mark, “From Compassion to Passion.”

Mark said, “Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, ‘the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye and believe the gospel.”

I think it is important to note that the first priority of our Lord’s earthly ministry was PREACHING! Yes, He did other ministries to prove His deity, but the first thing Jesus did to introduce Himself as the Savior sent from God, and to establish His divine authority was to preach the Word of God.

We will explain this further in our next sermon, “The Galilean Ministry!”

While all four gospels tell us the same life-changing message of Jesus, each writer viewed the 
same facts through the lens of their own heart and eyes, and therefore, they each wrote from a 
different perspective. Mark focused on the physical suffering Jesus endured to obtain our eternal 
salvation.  

With everything that’s happened in the last few years, or even in the last two weeks, I believe the Lord Jesus is just about ready to step out on the front porch of the Father’s House and call His Bride to “come forth!” Obviously, such timing rests in God’s sovereignty, but my prayer is that should that call come today, we would all be ready!!

Today’s pulpits are proclaiming the very demonic doctrines Paul warned us about, and many people are falling prey to Satan’s deceptive schemes and deadly delusions. My goal in this sermon is to assure you, God is able to “keep [us] from stumbling and to present [us] before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy!”

We will explain this further in our next sermon, “Earnestly Contending for the Faith.” In this last sermon from the Epistle of Jude, we want to look at “Our Eternal Security.”

According to Lifeway Publishers, if the current trend continues, by 2030, 70% of today’s youth will not identify as Christians. Their solution was that the church must find new ways of reaching today’s generation; for not finding the answers to their questions in today’s churches, they are looking to the dark side, including mediums, crystals, Ouija boards, and such
However, from my perspective, the main problem is that our children are being educated on life’s most critical issues by those with the least knowledge of and respect for God’s Holy Word, including many of today’s pastors and age-group leaders.
If we are to preserve our children from Satan’s deceptive schemes and free those who have fallen victim to his lies, pastors and parents must put away the cheap clichés and gospel gimmicks and return to preaching and teaching nothing but the Word of God.
We will explain this further in our next sermon, “Earnestly Contending for the Faith: Holding to the Truth in the Midst of Apostasy.” In this sermon, we will see how we must take our “Battle for Truth” to those who have any level of influence on our children and youth.

There are over 4,000 recognized religions in the world. The six major ones are: Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Judaism, with Christianity being the only religion based upon the Person and Work of Jesus Christ.
However, within Christianity, some groups have established a false gospel or a false interpretation of the true gospel. While claiming to believe in Jesus, they deny His deity, and therefore are “cults:” Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and to some degree, Roman Catholics.
There are also groups within Christianity that have twisted the Scriptures to form their version of the gospel. We will explain this further in our next sermon, “Earnestly Contending for the Faith – Holding to the Truth in the Midst of Apostasy.” In this sermon, we will look at these false gospels and how we are to counter them in “The Battle for Truth!”

According to the reports I have read this week, in most churches today:

Unbelief is rampant – children are turning from the Church to Satan.
Compromise is rising – pastors are adjusting their worldviews to fit the immoral values of their congregation.
Division is evident – most major denominations have already divided
Error is celebrated – millions of people sit at the feet of the most egregious apostate preachers.
Doctrine is rejected – because it does not agree with their sinful life.
Truth is forsaken – because it is too divisive.

The Church is under attack, and while Jesus said He would never abandon His Church, the question is, will those who claim to be Christians abandon Christ?

We will explain this further in our next sermon, “Earnestly Contending for the Faith – Holding to the Truth in the Midst of Apostasy.” In this sermon, we will look at the five characteristics of a false teacher and introduce a three-part sermon on “The Battle for Truth!” 

I like the quote by Dr. Buck Parsons, senior pastor of Saint Andrew’s Chapel in Sanford, Florida, who said, “There is a name for pastors who never speak of sin, repentance, or hell. The Bible calls them FALSE TEACHERS.” False teaching is easily identified by the fact that apostates, having abandoned their love for the truth of the Word of God, rush to hear it but are never satisfied with it.
However, Jude did not say we should round up all of the false teachers and burn them at the stake. God’s eternal condemnation for those who turn the grace of God into lewdness and deny the deity of Christ was marked out long ago, and when it comes, it will be swift and certain. Jude said we are to “Contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.”
We will explain this further in our next sermon, “Earnestly Contending for the Faith – Holding to the Truth in the Midst of Apostasy.” In this sermon, we will look at the five characteristics of a false teacher and introduce a three-part sermon on “The Battle for Truth!”

In Galatians 1:6, the Apostle Paul challenged his readers, “I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel.” Although it was through Paul’s voice that they had heard the gospel:
They weren’t just turning away from him; they were turning away from Christ and following the voice of those troubling them.
They weren’t turning away from Paul’s version of the gospel; they were turning away from the only gospel and embracing an illegitimate perversion of it.
There is something about the message of the true gospel that is deeply offensive to human nature. When we understand how offensive it is, we can better understand why there are so many perversions of it today.
To turn from the true faith and embrace the devil’s lie is called apostasy. We will explain this further in our next sermon, “Earnestly Contending for the Faith – Holding to the Truth in the Midst of Apostasy.” In this sermon, we will look at “The Corruption of Truth.” (Jude 1-25)