11/28/2010

Having trouble with the video? Click here for help

Click here to go to beginning of the service

"What Did You Expect?" - First Sunday in Advent

Dr. Scott Koenigsaecker

 Mark 1:1-8 & Hebrews 1:1-3 ~ November 28, 2010

INTRODUCTION

A. Our life, and faith, often correspond to our expectations.

·       High expectations (Optimists)

·       Low expectations (Pessimists)

·       No expectations at all (Dead)

B. What are your expectations for Christmas 2010?

C. For Christians, Christmas is about a long awaited expectation being fulfilled…the coming of the Messiah. 

I. FIRST, MARK HIGHLIGHTS THE FULFILLMENT OF GOD'S EXPECTATION.

A. "This is the Good News about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God.  It began just as the prophet Isaiah had written….."               Mark 1:1

B. Jesus' coming to earth is no accident, but God's loving planning.

"For God loved the world so much that He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life."                                                                                 John 3:16

C. Jesus is the "Messiah, the Son of God" (Mark 1:1). 

·       Jesus is the fulfillment of God's expectation to redeem the world (Hebrews 1:1-3):

Ø  Jesus is the inaugurator of a new order

Ø  Jesus is God (co-equal with the Father)

Ø  Jesus reflects God's glory

Ø  Jesus is the very likeness of God's own being

Ø  Jesus cleanses us from sin

Ø  Jesus has taken the seat of Honor

II. SECOND, MARK POINTS OUT THAT JOHN THE BAPTIST IS A HERALD   

    OF GOD'S EXPECTATION FOR THE WORLD AND US.

A. "Look I am sending my messenger ahead of you, and he will prepare your way.  His is a voice shouting in the wilderness, 'Prepare the way for the Lord's coming. Clear the road for Him.’  This messenger was John the Baptist.''                                                                       Mark 1:2-4

·       John the Baptist was a Nazirite Prophet.

B. John embraces Jesus as both the Messiah and his Messiah. 

·       Some try to avoid the issue altogether

"But they paid no attention [to Jesus] and went their own way."

                                                                                Matthew 22:5

·       Some responded initially but then drifted away.

"So we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away…"                                                        Hebrews 2:1

·       Some paid very close attention

"All of Judea, including the people of Jerusalem, went out to see and hear…"                                                                    Mark 1:4-5

C. John makes it clear that responding to Jesus requires:

·       Repentance through the confession of our sins

"For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God's glorious standard."                                                        Romans 3:23

·       Receiving forgiveness from God

 "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins."                                                                        I John 1:9

  CONCLUSION

11/21/2010

Having trouble with the video? Click here for help

Click here to go to beginning of the service

"What Difference Does It Make?" - part 3 in the series "Finding God in the Questions"

Dr. Scott Koenigsaecker

Romans 12:1-2 & Hebrews 12:1-2 ~ November 21, 2010

I. WHAT SHOULD WE DO?

A. We need to break from the past.

"Do not conform any longer to the patterns of this world..." 

                                                                                          Romans 12:2a

B. We need to set a new course for our life.

"….be transformed by the renewing of your minds."      Romans 12:2b

·       We need to put off the old and put on the new

"…throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life…Instead let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes.  Put on your new nature, created to be like God---truly holy and righteous."                                                 Ephesians 4:22-24

C. What is included?

"Let them (your bodies) be a living and holy sacrifice---the kind He will find acceptable."                                                    Romans 12:1

D. Why should we do this?

·       Because of what God has planned for our future.

"…test and approve what God's will is--His good, pleasing, and perfect will."                                                                  Romans 12:2c

·       Because of what God has done for us.

"And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.  We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus…He endured the cross, disregarding its shame."                                            Hebrews 12:1-2

II. DOES IT REALLY MATTER WHAT WE BELIEVE?

A. God's plan for your life reaches to eternity.

"For God loved the world so much that He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life."                                                                                 John 3:16

"…but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

                                                                                Romans 6:23     

B. Who wouldn't want to spend eternity with God?

·       In heaven we will be completely in the presence of God.

"And now all glory to God who is able to…bring you into His glorious presence, innocent of sin and with great  joy."   Jude 1:24

·       We will have a glorified body.

"For our earthly bodies, the ones we have now that can die, must be transformed into heavenly bodies that cannot perish but will live forever."                                                         I Corinthians 15:53

·       All of our needs will be satisfied.

"Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst.  The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat."

                                                                                Revelation 7:16

C. How do I know I'm going to spend eternity with God?

·       We need to realize that because of our sin we are separated from God.

"But your iniquities (sin) have made a separation between you and your God…"                                                          Isaiah 59:2

·       We need to acknowledge that Jesus' death on the cross for our sins bridges our separation from God.

"For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God."                                         I John 4:10

·       We have to personally accept God's gift of eternal life.

"Jesus says, 'Listen! I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in.’"

 Revelation 3:20

CONCLUSION

 

11/14/2010

Having trouble with the video? Click here for help

Click here to go to beginning of the service

"What is God Like?" - part 2 in the series "Finding God in the Questions"

Dr. Scott Koenigsaecker

Romans 11:33-36 ~ November 14, 2010

INTRODUCTION

A. The four ways Americans view God:

1.     Authoritative God

2.     Benevolent God

3.     Critical God

4.     Distant God

B. There are two aspects to God---the hidden and the revealed.

"The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever." 

                                                                                Deuteronomy 29:29

·       "The finite cannot contain the infinite."  Professor R.C. Sproul

GOD REVEALED TO US THAT HE IS…

A.  God is omnipotent. 

·       God holds all power over His creation.  Nothing is beyond His sovereign control.

·       "For everything comes from Him and exists by His power and is intended for His glory."                                           Romans 11:36

B. God is omnipresent. 

·       God is present in all places

·       ." 'Am I a God who is only close at hand?' says the Lord, 'No, I am   far away at the same time.  Can anyone hide from me in a secret place?  Am I not everywhere in all the heavens and earth?'"

                                                                                   Jeremiah 23:23-24

·       There is no place where God is not.

·        Yet as Spirit, God does not occupy any place---in the physical sense.

·       This is comfort to Christians and unnerving to the unchurched.

C. God is omniscient.

·       God knows everything.

"How great is our Lord!  His power is absolute!  His understanding is beyond comprehension!"                   Psalm 147:5

·       Only an infinite Being can possess infinite knowledge.

·       Omniscience is linked to God's omnipotence.

D. God is holy.

"No one is holy like the Lord!"                                                         I Samuel 2:2

·       God is "apart" from all that He created and He is pure and completely righteous. 

E. God is good.

"Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father."                                                                         James 1:17

·       God's character is good.

·       God's behavior is good.

F. God is just.

 "The Lord is righteous in everything He does; He is filled with kindness.                                                                       Psalm 145:17

·       God is fair in all His judgments.  He shows no partiality.

·        God always does what right.

·       God tempers His judgments with mercy (grace).

CONCLUSION

 

11/07/2010

Having trouble with the video? Click here for help

Click here to go to beginning of the service

"Does God Exist?" - part 1 in the series "Finding God in the Questions"

Dr. Scott Koenigsaecker

Acts 17:24-26 & Colossians 1:15-17 ~ November 7, 2010

INTRODUCTION:

A. "Through Him all things were made, without Him nothing was made that had been made."                                                          John 1:3 

B. The Cosmological Argument (there is a cause for every effect).  God is the First Cause.

C. The Teleological Argument points to the order and beauty of Creation.

D. The Moral Argument which notes that humanity has a conscience and has identified moral codes.

I.  IS THE UNIVERSE AN ACCIDENT?

A. Why is there something and not nothing?

"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands.  Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge."                                                     Psalm 19:1-2

B. The vastness and complexity of the "external" universe

·       The astonishing origin of the universe

·       The incredible scope of outer space

C. The vastness and complexity of the "internal" universe

·       The amazing complexity of "inner" space. 

D. Did this happen by chance or design?

II. HOW DID WE GET HERE?

A. Are we the result of cosmic coincidences?

"From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live."                             Acts 17:26

·       Stable orbit of planets

·       The fragility of the four fundamental forces of nature.

B. Can you make a human by accident?

·       Our delicate environment

·       DNA and proteins perfectly suited

·        Anthropic Principle

III. WHO ARE WE?

    A. Why do we know right from wrong?

"So God created man in His own image..."                          Genesis 1:27

"Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made covering for themselves."                                                             Genesis 3:7

”So I strive to keep my conscience clear before God and man."

                                                                                                       Acts 24:16          

"For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do."  Romans 7:15

B. Why are we so relationally driven?

·       We were designed for intimate connection

CONCLUSION