KJV Bible Wallpapers: 2013

The Gift of God - Romans 6:23

December 20, 2013

Over the past few weeks, our Pastor has been preaching on the necessity and importance of Christ's 1st coming to earth (His birth). So, I thought that seeing as Christmas is almost upon us I would share a few of the points outlined in the sermons. :)

The Necessity of Christ's 1st Coming
1 John 4:11-21
Jesus did not just come to be a part of a nativity scene, or part of a holiday; His purposes in coming to earth were much greater than that.

Why did Jesus come to earth?

1) He came to be our sin bearer. (1 John 3:5)

Note that in the verse, the word "manifested" is used. This infers that our Lord was pre-existent. He was manifested (made known to us) that He might take away our sins. John 1:1-3 - the Word always was, but then He became flesh.

Jesus' primary purpose in coming was to deal with the root problem of sin. He came to be our sin-bearer so He could take away or sins. (John 1:29, 1 Peter 2:24)

Have you trusted in the Saviour?

2) He came to destroy the works of the devil. (1 John 3:8)

Jesus was manifested to destroy the power of the devil. The devil is real, we mustn't underestimate him lest we get caught off guard. "Be strong in the Lord and the power of His might" God has provided us the weapons of our warfare that we might walk in victory. The devil is a defeated foe, his powers are limited, and his time is short. We don't fight for victory, but in victory.

3) He came that we might live through Him. (1 John 4:9)

Jesus came to give us eternal life. Without Christ, we are spiritually dead. Christ came to give us life, spiritual life, eternal life! The gift of eternal life is the greatest gift of all, and God offers it to us free through faith in Jesus Christ. (John 3:16)

4) He came to appease the righteous wrath of a Holy God by an acceptable offering. (1 John 4:10)

Because of God's holiness, He must deal with sin. Jesus came to be a propitiation. His blood was shed for us. His offering is the acceptable sacrifice for our sins. He came to atone our sins.

Hebrews 9:1 - Without the shedding of blood there is no remission for sins. The Israelites of the Old Testament had to sacrifice regularly. But, Jesus' sacrifice was a perfect sacrifice! It was complete, and once for all. (He is the perfect Lamb of God) Jesus satisfied God's righteous judgement through His sacrifice on the cross, and because of this, God can show us grace and mercy! We can have a free pardon!

Praise God that He does not give us the just deserves of our sin! Instead, He offers us grace and mercy through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

5) He came to be the Saviour of the world. (1 John 4:14)

Christ's sacrifice was not a partial one. He paid for all people's sin, everywhere!

Luke 2:10-11 "For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord."

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This short series of sermons has been a blessing to me as I listened, and I hope it is as much of a blessing to you as you read it. (And I hope my notes made sense ;) I often get home and have to decipher my hurried writings!)

May God bless you all this holiday season!

Hannah

Ps. I love this song... it has such a great message! <3 :)

Beach

Be still - Psalm 46:10

November 30, 2013

Christian living

Not Ashamed - Romans 1:16

October 10, 2013

Just last week I had the great privilege of attending the National Baptist Fellowship Meetings in South Australia. The meetings were such a blessing and I came away challenged and encouraged in the Lord. Over the next few months I plan to share some of the notes I took during the messages in the hope that they will be a blessing to someone else. And as the audio files get uploaded to the internet, I will put a link to them in my post so that you can go listen to the sermons for yourself. :)

There were so many good messages, it is hard to decide which one to share first; so I will start with a message from one of my favourite sessions from the week (although all of them were excellent, there was quite a bit in this message that was really encouraging & challenging!)

3/10/2013 {2nd Morning Session}

Not Ashamed - Pastor James Herringson

Romans 1:16 - For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

God has called each one of us to serve Him.

Paul is a great example of someone who was not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. In Romans 1:15 he said he was ready to go wherever the Lord wanted him to go, even though he knew he would be persecuted for it! And this is because he was not ashamed of the gospel and he understood the power of the gospel.

Are we ashamed of the gospel? Do we fear rejection of the world?

The problem is, when we fear rejection from the world, our focus is on ourselves. When we focus on Christ and what He has done for us we won't be ashamed of the gospel.

3 Things Paul realized that helped him not be ashamed of the gospel

1) Paul was not ashamed because he knew the power of the gospel He was preaching! (Romans 1:1-4) The gospel has power, we have the treasure and precious message of salvation! (Isaiah 53:5)

a) 1 Corinthians 4:13 - One point Pastor Herringson made was the fact that Paul would have had every excuse and reason to be ashamed... everywhere he went the gospel & he was hated for preaching it! Yet he was not ashamed! And this is because he knew that he had God's message, and he knew the power of that message! We need to have faith in the power of the gospel.

2) Paul knew that souls would be saved when the simple gospel was preached. (Acts 17:32-34)

v 34 - certain men clave unto him and believed.

We will face opposition when we preach the gospel, but that does not mean we should try and package the gospel with the world. Souls are genuinely saved through the simple gospel of Jesus Christ. (Hebrews 4:12)

3) Paul knew that it was the will of God for him to preach the gospel. The will for our lives is the gospel. God has called us to be witnesses wherever we are. Knowing this gave Paul boldness. He knew what was in store for him, but none of this moved him because he knew that God's will was more important than the trials he might have to face. We need to know where God wants us to be. We can have boldness in His will.

God wants you and I to be a witness for Him. Do you know what God's will for your life is? Where does he want you to be a witness? (it could be in your school, workplace, church, or even on the mission field!) Ask God what His will for you is.

We need not be ashamed of the gospel. We don't need to fear the reproach if we fix our focus firmly on the Lord Jesus Christ.

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I have tried to put my incoherent sermon notes into some kind of order, so hopefully they made sense! :) This session was such a blessing! (as were all of the meetings!)

Here is a link to the official skydrive where the NBF 2013 sermons are. This sermon was Session 10 by James Herringson. NBF Sermons 2013

Link to National Baptist Fellowship page : baptist-church.com.au/nbf

Hope you have a blessed week!!

Hannah

Christian living

Be Not Conformed to the World - Romans 12:2

September 02, 2013

Lately, I have been thinking a lot on the topic of living a life set apart for Christ. And thinking over the question, 'What does it truly mean to live a set-apart life?'
As I was thinking about it, these verses came to my mind. So, I thought I would share a few things that sort of "jumped out" to me as I read it in the hope that it encourages someone else to pursue a life fully surrendered to Him, as it encouraged me.
(Please note: I am not claiming to be a great theologian, nor do I claim to know much about the Bible. - I still have so much to learn about our precious Saviour and His Word!- I am simply sharing what I personally noticed about these verses when I came across them :) All the credit and Glory goes to the Lord, because it is only through HIM that I can even write this)

Romans 12:1-2

1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

The first thing that stood out to me is in verse one, where it says "present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service" It is our reasonable service! God expects us to live for Him.

The second thing, was in verse two. "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind." True transformation starts with a heart change Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.. We need God to renew our hearts and minds. It's easy enough to put up a good "Christian" front, go to church, do and say all the right "Christian" things etc, but what is in your heart? Have you set your heart on following Him? Do you desire to be set apart for Him?

Psalm 139:33-34 "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."

This video by Leslie Ludy was such a challenge to me in regards to living a set-apart life. It's worth watching, and I hope that it challenges you too :)