Sermon text: Revelation 21:1-8

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This is our final Sunday in the E100 and next week we will be beginning a new sermon series from the book of Galatians. You are probably familiar with the “fruit of the spirit” in Galatians 5. There is a whole list of wonderful characteristics that the Holy Spirit enables Jesus followers to have. But that is not what our sermon series is going to be on. Immediately before all those good things there is a list of 12 things that Paul calls, “the acts of the sinful nature.” This is what our next sermon series is going to be on. Those particular sins that are difficult for us to overcome.

And I want to give you a heads up because the first sin on this list is “sexual immorality.” Next week we are going to be talking about sexual immorality and some parts of the sermon might not be appropriate for your kids depending on their age. I am going to call the sermon PG-13. We are going to talk about sex frankly, so if you think that might not be appropriate for your kids and they are usually in the service with you . . . then please plan to have them downstairs for Children's Church. If you are unsure or have other questions, please feel free to talk to me.

Sermon text: I John 4:1-6

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I believe one of the most difficult aspects of our Christian journeys is determining the difference between things of God and things of the world.  When I have a decision to make in my life, how do I determine what God wants me to do?  Better said perhaps, how do I know which voice in my head to listen to.  (you all hear voices too, right?)  How do I know which person amongst my friends to trust and believe have the best advice in a given situation?  And as you will see in our passage this morning, John describes this as discerning between the spirits.  And John urges us to “test the spirits to see whether they are from God.”

Let’s go ahead and read this passage.  Read 1 John 4:1-6.

Sermon text: I Thessalonians 5:1-11

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This morning we are going to take a look at a passage in 1 Thessalonians. We will look at the beginning of chapter 5, which is primarily about the end of the world, particularly when Jesus will return again.

In the Bible we have two of Paul's letters to the Thessalonians. They are written to a predominantly Gentile church of new converts. Part of the purpose of 1 Thessalonians is to comfort and motivate the believers there with the truth of the Lord's sure return. So the primary issue that Paul emphasis throughout is that of the second coming of Christ.

The city of Thessaloniki still exists today. In fact it is one of the few cities from the New Testament times that still exists. Thessalonica was a very important city in biblical times. Its main street was a part of the very road which linked Rome with the East. Trade poured into the city from east and west. It is impossible to overstress the importance of the arrival of Christianity in Thessalonica. If Christianity was established there, it was bound to spread east along the Egnatian Road until all Asia was conquered, and west until it stormed even the city of Rome.