Hayti First Umc

ADVENT BEGINS WITH HOPE A Christian’s definition of hope is far superior to that of the world. Instead of wishing or hoping for something to happen, a believer knows that their hope is solid, concrete evidence because it is grounded in the Word of God and we know that God cannot lie (Heb 6:18; Num 23:19). The Christian has a hope that is “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Heb 11:1). It is a hope that is like faith…a faith that cannot be moved by circumstances or what the eyes see because an unseen God is seen in His faithfulness.

It all comes down to this! There is a key, to living the Christian life, to being the church that Jesus called us to be! In this final part of our series we take a really close look to see what that key is and how we can use it to open the door to being the church we were called to be!

What Christ did on the cross, if we accept it, changes us, we take off the old cloak of sin and self, and put on the new cloak of righteousness and love, so how is we keep wanting to put on our old dirty clothes instead of wearing our brand new clean ones?

If we are in Christ then we have died with Him and we are raised with Him, He lives in us and we take Him with us everywhere we go and He is with us in everything we do. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me to will and to do His good pleasure. So then why do we get bogged down with the rules and regulations that the world tries to shackle us with?

There was a time when spiritually earnest people were told to justify themselves by charitable works, pilgrimages, and all kinds of religious performances and devotions. They were encouraged to acquire this “merit,” which was at the disposal of the church, by purchasing certificates of indulgence. This was the context that prompted Luther’s desire to refocus the church on salvation by grace through faith on account of Christ by imputation of Christ’s righteousness to us. To those spiritually oppressed by indulgences and not given assurance of God’s grace, Luther proclaimed free grace to God’s true saints

God wants established Christians, solid, deep rooted, strong, who don't get pushed around by false information. And here's how. Get the Word in your mind. Scripture Tells us "In him lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" Start out by feeding on the Word, let it produce activity. That activity will give you settled conviction, the conviction will be that Christ is who He claimed, and then you can claim all of His promises and begin to walk step by step like He walked, and that's where your life will come from and as you walk in Him you'll be built up, and you'll even be more established in the faith!

There’s a lot of disenchantment for the church these days there’s a lot of disgruntled people who look at the church as irrelevant, a waste of time, and a useless endeavor. A lot of Christians seem to have forgotten the value of the church. For some it is nothing – a place one could go to. Some have lost the meaning, the purpose, and the joy of church. The church is, at it's core, Christ body here on earth, all serving under the headship of Jesus!

In the first chapter of Colossians Paul includes a hymn, whether it is one Paul wrote himself or one that was being used in the first century church is unimportant, what is important is that this hymn is used to remind us of who Christ is and what He has done for us!

The church of Jesus Christ exist for a reason, and it is when we forget the purpose of the church that Jesus bought with His own blood, that the church goes astray, it amazing how much of what the Colossians were facing we are facing in the church today! in this message we continue our study

The church at Colosse had established a good reputation among the Christian community of the first century, perhaps that is why Paul went to such lengths to remind them of that in his letter to them, to help combat the heresy that was making it's way into the church by reminding them of what they had first learned!

"Because of the rising tide of human philosophies confronting us today, no New Testament book speaks with more relevancy than does the epistle to the Colossians. Not only do we live in an atomic and space age, but in the most technologically advanced age of all time." Dr. S. Lewis Johnson In this message we begin our study of the letter to the Colossians.

If you have accepted Jesus as Lord and savior you have a new nature, but that doesn't mean that your old nature doesn't try to hang on, there is a constant battle within yourself, a battle for your mind and heart for your very soul, there is a conflict of interest between the things of God and the things of the world. We'll talk about how to battle that in this important message!

"Come Unto Me and I will Give you Rest" This is one of the most quoted bible verses from Jesus, but what does it really Mean? Most Christians are dealing with the same stresses and busyness of the world, but we know that God keeps His promises, so what is this all about? Find out in this special labor day message!

This is the final Lesson in the "Head Games" series and in this lesson we give some practical things you can do right now to begin renewing your mind, to think like Christ thinks, to become all that He wants for you to be, it really is simple, but it isn't easy, it takes an intentional effort to overcome the voices of the world and the enemy! But God has given the tools, and one of the best, your imagination!

Bad things may have happened in your life, things that made you wonder if God was there, if He really cared for you! The thing is, whatever has happened to you is NOT what defines you, and when you start looking at you, the way God looks at you, then your whole world will change!

Christ has given us a wonderful gift, the gift to be transformed from what we were into something totally new, but we have to do something too, we need to accept His gift and we we do, we find that we are transformed, like a butterfly fro the caterpillar we are a new creation made in the very image of God!

The 2 biggest questions of life who is God? and who are you? Answering these will determine everything, the world would have you conform to it's standards, but we are called to be different, to be a light to those who are living in darkness and when you realize who you really are in Christ, then you can fulfill the mission God has for you!

Who are you, that is the real question, some have, over the years, tried to convince us, in essence, that Jesus sacrifice isn't enough, that we must also conform to some set of do this and don't do that rules. But the truth is, that if you are a Christian, then you are the dwelling place of Jesus through the Holy Spirit, and if that is so, then God is with you everywhere you go! Let's think about what we are thinking about!

What we are thinking about is important! God has given us all the tools we need to live a Godly and Holy life, but if we don't take advantage of it we can be conned by the world into thinking that this is all there is! Time to think about what we are thinking about!

Whatever occupies most of our thought life is what we are meditating on, and what we meditate on ends up controlling us, God wants His people to start thinking about what they are thinking about!