April 16 2017 Easter - The Foundation For Happiness

EASTER, THE FOUNDATION FOR HAPPINESS

Col. 1:14 – Christ bought our freedom with His blood.

John 10:10 – Jesus said, “I come to give you life to the full.”

Matt. 28:5 - He is not here, He has risen.

Psalm 146:5 – Happy is he whose hope is in the Lord.

Happiness is Possible:

1. Because Christ can free you from guilt.

Eph. 1:7 – By the death of Christ we are set free, that is, our sins are forgiven.

Col.2.14 – He has cancelled every record of the debt

we owed. Christ has done away with it by nailing it to the cross.

Rom 8:1 – There is no condemnation awaiting those who belong to Christ.

2. Because Christ can free you from worry.

I Peter 1:2 – God’s Spirit has been at work in you heart through Jesus Christ. May God grant you increasing freedom from all anxiety and fear.

Ph. 4:13 – I am ready for anything through the strength of Christ who lives in me.

3. Because Christ can give you purpose.

Eph. 2:10 – We are God’s work of art, created in Christ Jesus to live the good life as He meant for us to live it.

Acts 20:24 – Life is worth nothing unless I use it for doing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus.

4. Because Christ can give you a home in heaven.

Col. 2:20 – Christ has set you free from following the world’s ideas of how to be saved by doing good and obeying various rules.

Rom 4:4 – You don’t earn the right to heaven, no, for being saved is a free gift. If a person could earn it by being good, then it wouldn’t be free, but it is.

Rom. 6:23 – The free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ.

A Prayer That Leads to Happiness: Dear God, I believe Jesus Christ was who He claimed to be, Your Son, and that He proved it by rising from death. Jesus Christ, thank You for dying for me on the cross. I want You to forgive my sins and I want to know You personally and experience the freedom You offer. As much as I know how, I ask You to come into my life and be my Lord and Savior. Amen.

April 9 2017 A Gift For The Deeper Life

A GIFT FOR THE DEEPER LIFE

Mark 15:33-47

1. The gift speaks of a penalty paid.

Mark 15:31 - He saved others, they said, but He can’t save Himself.

II Cor. 5:15 - He died for all.

2. The gift speaks of a way to God is opened.

Verse 38 - The curtain in the Temple was torn in two from top to bottom.

3. The gift speaks of a new motivation.

Verse 39 - And when the Centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus hear His cry and saw how He died, He said, “surely this Man was the Son of God.”

Verse 43 - Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Council, who was himself waiting for the Kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body.

Verse 40 - Some women were watching from a distance. Among them was Mary Magdalene, Mary the Mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome.

4. The gift speaks of our need for intention

Verse 34 – My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?