Faith Community Church - Sunday Sermons

God desires all people to be saved. This fundamental truth about God our Savior had grown dim in the church at Ephesus, and Paul seeks to restore it by calling believers to pray for the lost. Here is where our hearts begin to align with the heart of the God of salvation. As beloved children, we are to share His concern, calling those who are not walking with the Lord to reconciliation with Him and restoration to His paths of righteousness. May God be magnified in us as we move in step with His love for the lost.

Scripture teaches us that every church is a witnessing community of believers who need to make disciples of all nations. Every church has a mission to reach the nations with the Gospel and to announce to every creature that Christ has made redemption through his blood and that by repentance and faith, each can receive the remission of sins and entrance into the kingdom of God.

In redemption, we are graciously enabled to partake of the divine nature (v4). This does not mean we become equal to God, but that we begin to reflect His character through godly living. But which aspects of God’s character are we to imitate? In this final study in theology proper, we explore the difference between God’s communicable attributes—those He enables us to reflect—and His incommunicable attributes, which belong to Him alone as the infinite Creator. Peter reminds us that this transformation is not self-produced, but flows from a true and living knowledge of God through Jesus Christ.

Does God ever experience mood swings the way we do? If the Lord is immutable and cannot change, can anything in creation truly affect Him? In this study of divine impassibility, we consider what it means that God is “without passions,” why this truth is theologically necessary, firmly rooted in the language of Scripture, consistent with historic Christian faith, and deeply sanctifying for the believer, especially, with regard to our steadfastness and self-control. This doctrine also sheds light on why the incarnation was necessary for our salvation as well as the constancy of God’s love toward His elect and His hatred for sin.

Paul’s message in 1 Corinthians 2:1–5 is that genuine faith must rest on God’s power, not human wisdom. In a culture obsessed with eloquence, status, and intellectual achievement, Paul deliberately rejected rhetorical showmanship and resolved to preach only Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Though he ministered in weakness, fear, and trembling, the Holy Spirit powerfully worked through Paul's gospel ministry to transform lives. Paul’s example teaches that God often displays His strength through human weakness. Therefore, believers should build their faith on Christ alone, trusting God’s power rather than personalities, performance, experiences, or human ability.  

The LORD God is immutable. This is the resounding testimony of Scripture. As for statements that the LORD changed His mind, relented, or was sorry, these are anthropomorphic and anthropopathic descriptions of God. The immaterial, invisible, and immutable God does not literally undergo such changes. All of this reveals that the LORD is truly the everlasting Rock, and we can (and must!) place our trust in Him. May we learn to depend on Him, pray biblically, and cling to Him as the anchor who keeps us, especially through the storms of life.