Galatians 1:10-24 Paul’s great concern in writing to the churches of Galatia is the purity of the Gospel as itwas handed to him and as he gave it to them. As with nearly every generation ofChristians since, the churches were being tempted to add to the Good News ofsalvation by grace through faith.Paul is adamant that if you add anything …
Distorting the Gospel
Galatians 1:6-9 As stated in last week’s discussion guide, turning aside from the true Gospel- the oneproclaimed by Jesus and the apostles- to a different gospel was a concern for the church from avery early time. Keeping the purity of the Gospel is a challenge to which every single generationof Christians has had to rise.Austin’s sermon challenge zeroed in on …
Galatians 1:1-5 Discussion Guide
Some scholars believe that Galatians is one of the first, if not the first, of the New Testamentbooks to be written. There is zero debate among any Biblical scholars. that it was written by theApostle Paul and that it reflects his concerns for the church in his day. Even some of the mostradically anti-Christian skeptics who study the New Testament …
A Redeemer and a King
Today’s sermon and discussion guide will tie together to conclude all of the multiple layers of themes that we have seen in the short book of Ruth. Take time in your group to review some of the things that we have learned so far. Today we will focus on the many ways that God provides for his people. He has …
Love is Patient
In the first two chapters of Ruth we have seen the loving characters of Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz. The love they exhibit is not tied strictly to feeling or emotion, but to faith in knowing the character of God. In Ruth 3 we begin to see some action taken out of the preexisting character of love that is already seen …
Defining Love
We live in a culture where people claim very much to adhere to the concept of love. Love is still the number one subject of popular songs. People still watch movies and TV shows that are love stories. Despite all the professed “love for love” that is in the world, we have a great lack of understanding for what love …
How Are You Living?
This week is the last week in which Venture is learning from 1 Peter in our sermon series. The context of 1 Peter has been to churches living in community with one another as they are being cancelled by the outside world. Remarkably, most of what Peter has to say to the believers under pressure has very little to do …
Pastors in 1 Peter
Many people have commented over recent years that in the western world there is a crisis of understanding the nature of the church. It could also be said that wherever there is a crisis understanding the nature of the church that there is usually also a crisis in the understanding of the role of a pastor. While there are stories …
Dying to Old Habits
1 Peter 4:1-7 Last week’s sermon primarily concerned the atonement that is found in the death of Jesus. We found out that Jesus suffered and died for the purpose of taking away our sins in order to make us right with God. A life lived by faith in Christ has nothing to fear because we are reconciled to God and …
Responding to Atonement
1 Peter 3:18-22 Jonathan’s sermon for this week put the focus on the atonement of Christ. Atonement simply refers to how it is that Jesus brings peace between man and God. While the Bible has much to say about different aspects of the atonement of Christ, we cannot emaphasize other aspects at the expense of 1 Peter 3:18- that Christ …