Episodes
Sunday Feb 23, 2020
THE OPPOSITE OF LOVE IS HATE (John 15:21-16:26)
Sunday Feb 23, 2020
Sunday Feb 23, 2020
There are people who deliberately choose to hate anyone who loves the Lord Jesus Christ. They hate God’s people because we are different. We separate ourselves from the world. We are a people chosen out of the world. We stand for the absolute truths about right and wrong as expressed by God in His Word. We remind them of the sin in their lives that they do not want to give up. The world cannot tolerate such absolute standards of right and wrong, nor, can they tolerate a sovereign God that has the right to tell them what is right and wrong. The world hates God's people simply because they are His people. They hate God. Therefore, they hate His people.
They hate us because they do not know the one, true, almighty God. Unfortunately, the persecution of Christ and his church has come mainly from other religious people. It has been the same in almost all the ages of the Christian era. Just because people are religious, or sincere in their beliefs, or active in their faith, does not prove that they know God. Behind all Christ-rejecting religion is Satan, who masquerades as an angel of light, who is the father of lies, and a deceiver from the beginning.
They hate us because they know Satan as their master. They do not know the almighty God. They use different names for God, but they do not worship the same God that we do. They do not know God, and the persecution of God’s people comes from this ignorance.
Click on the link below to hear a message on how Jesus wanted to prepare us for the hardships to come. To teach us how we are to love others in a world of hate, and how we are to put aside our own feelings of fear, and to share the gospel message of Christ that can give eternal life to those who will accept it.
Amen.
Sunday Feb 16, 2020
TO LOVE IN A WORLD OF HATE (John 15:12-26)
Sunday Feb 16, 2020
Sunday Feb 16, 2020
Is Jesus Christ your personal friend? If not, you are missing out on the best of all friends. Jesus is my personal friend. I have all there is of Jesus just for me, and yet, you can have all there is of Jesus just for you as well. Only God can do that. Only deity can do that. He loves us all, but, He loves us each. He loves us individually. He cares for us. The God who runs this universe, in and through Jesus Christ, is your own personal friend. What a friend we have in Jesus!
There are a lot of people out there who have never met our friend Jesus, and He tells us, "You are my friends if you do what I command you, that you love one another as I have loved you." If we are to do this, then we need to say, "O God, help me to find someone that I can love and cultivate for Jesus. And help us to make our church a family of friends.'
When people come to a church that loves Jesus Christ, do you know what they should be impressed with? They should be impressed with the way the members love one another: the bigness of their love, and the warmth of their spirit. They should see any church that loves Jesus as a family of friends. We have the best Friend that a person could have, and we should share that Friend with them.
But there is another side of the world. There are people who deliberately choose to hate us just because we love the Lord. The opposite of love is hate. The Lord has been commanding His disciples to love one another. One reason why such love is imperative is because of the hatred of the world for the Lord and his own. He commands us to love one another, including those outside of the church, but He also wants to prepare us for the hatred that the world has for His followers.
Click on the link below to learn how to love as Jesus loves, in a world of hate.
Amen.
Sunday Feb 09, 2020
ARE YOU PART OF THE FAMILY Part I (John 15:12-17)
Sunday Feb 09, 2020
Sunday Feb 09, 2020
So, what kind of church do you belong to? A growing church, or a dying church? Here at Summit, we have a wonderful staff. Our pastors are some of the best pastors I have ever served under. We have good teachers, and dedicated volunteers. God has blessed those efforts, but is it possible for those blessings to become a negative for our church?
We come on Sunday, and Sunday by Sunday, our preachers, our teachers, our workers, and our musicians, they all present a wonderful program. Each Sunday we come and enjoy it and then go home and wait for the next service, and then we come and enjoy that and then we go home. The problem with a successful church, actually with any church, is that there are a few people working very hard, but a large part of the congregation does not share the load. They don’t become a part. They are in danger of becoming a congregation of spectators. They see the blessings, but they fail to remember the real purpose of a church, which is to be a hospital for souls. They forget that there are so many people in our church, and in our community, who need Jesus. There are so many who are hurting, so many who do not enjoy the blessings, the friendship, the warmth, and the love, that we enjoy. We need to ask ourselves, "How can we change this in our church, and how can we reach out to this community?" What is the message that we want to share?
One of the most important things that a person needs is a feeling of belonging. Well, belonging to what? Belonging to a family of friends who cares for them. Are we a family of friends? If we are to reach out to others and invite them into our family, then we must first be a family of friends.
A church that loves Jesus Christ is to be a family. You say, "Well, Bro. Keith, I live alone." That's all the more reason you need a church family because we are your extended family. And whether you have a great big family sitting around your dinner table or whether you live by yourself in an apartment, or in a room somewhere, your church is to be family. But it is more than family. It's friendship. And the two longings that people have in our world today are, for family, or a sense of belonging, and for friendship, or a sense of caring.
Each week you are given an opportunity to invite people who need Jesus to come and be a part of the family. But how many of you invite those people? Many of you have done that. We have been blessed by those that have come. But the fact that you invited them will only get people in the doors of the church. What they find inside the church is what matters. Do they find a family of friends who will welcome them into their family?
Jesus tells us, “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.” It is not optional, we have a duty, an obligation, a privilege to love others as Jesus loves us.
Click on the link below to hear a message on what it takes to be a friend and to have a friend. To be a family of friends.
Amen.
Monday Feb 03, 2020
A LIFE FULL OF JOY (John 15:11)
Monday Feb 03, 2020
Monday Feb 03, 2020
Many people would define the word joy as happiness. So, what's the difference between joy and happiness? Someone once said, “Happiness may give smiles, put laughter on our face, but happiness is just what the word describes. Happiness depends on what happens. Therefore, you call it happiness. If your hap is good, then you're happy. If your hap is bad, then you're unhappy. It all depends upon happenstance and whatever happens.” But joy depends upon the Lord. It is supernatural. It is not natural. And, therefore, because that joy is supernatural, that joy is steadfast. It is not happiness.
For a believer, joy is more than an emotion. It is a strength. It is the power of our Lord Jesus Christ flowing through us. It is a continuous, contagious, and conspicuous, source of strength for the believer to deal with the tribulations and persecutions of this world. When Christ’s joy emanates from you, people see it, and they want what you have. It is what draws people to you to learn about the Lord Jesus Christ.
Christ’s Joy is a joy that should be a part of every Christian’s life. It is not an automatic gift when you become a Christian, but it is a necessity to anyone wishing to live a victorious Christian life. The problem is that many Christians look for that joy in all the wrong places. They look for it the circumstances they are in. They look for it in their job, their hobbies, the people that they know, such as family members and friends. But those are all the wrong places to find Christ’s joy.
Click on the link below to hear a message on where to find real joy. It is when we abide in Christ that we find the unending love of Christ. It is also where we find true joy, in Christ.
Amen.