You might expect the cost of receiving the gift of atonement provided by the eternal Son of God to be high and costly. You might expect the requirements for exchanging your sin for the righteousness of Christ and being made heirs with Christ, adopted as children of God, to be complicated and difficult to achieve. However, in simple language, the Bible declares that to be saved from your sin requires the confession of Jesus as Lord and the belief that God raised him from the dead.

The world is defined by theology. Whatever you hold as true defines how you see the world. Whatever you believe has the power to save has your heart's affection, and it will motivate you to fight for it passionately.

Common throughout psalm 119 is a focus on God's word. One of the basics of being a Christian is knowing and obeying the word of God. If you are a Christian, your faith began when you confessed Jesus as your Lord. If Jesus is your Lord, then you obey His commands. The commands of Jesus are known through His word, the Bible.

In this sermon, I make a case that your devotion to the word of God does not begin with determination but with devotion.

Hope in God's word. Love God's word. And be transformed by God's word.

All relationships require some level of separation. Marriage requires "forsaking all others," citizenship requires "renouncing all other allegiances, and to be a child of God requires forsaking all other masters. Romans 10:9 declares that salvation comes from believing God raised Jesus from the dead and confessing Jesus as Lord. If Jesus is Lord of your life, you have forsaken all other lords and renounced all allegiance and fidelity to any other lord.

2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1 is not a passage that is hard to understand, but it is one that offends the one who seeks to be friends with Christ and the world. It has two commands. One is a prohibition, and the other is a response to the transformation of the gospel. Both commands call the saints of God to live according to the righteousness of God and put away all defilements of the world.

The birth of Jesus is an amazing event. His birth is why we celebrate Christmas. As Matthew retells the birth story, he repeatedly reminds us that these events were the fulfillment of the prophecies that foretold of the coming messiah. Even the family’s escape to Egypt and return to Nazareth (2:13-23) were part of God’s perfect plan. But amazing as the birth and all the events around it are – the birth is not the end of the story.

The birth of Jesus is important but why He was born is even more important. Matthew 3 begins to tell the story of who Jesus is and why Jesus was born. Jesus is the Lord of all creation. The Lord of all creation came to die that we might be saved