Church Of The Lost Sheep

'Christ is the fulfillment of Moses’ Teachings so that everyone who has faith may receive God’s approval. Moses writes about receiving God’s approval by following his laws. He says, “The person who obeys these laws will live because he obeys them.” However, Scripture says about God’s approval which is based on faith, “Don’t ask yourself who will go up to heaven,” (that is, to bring Christ down). “Don’t ask who will go down into the depths,” (that is, to bring Christ back from the dead). However, what else does it say? “This message is near you. It’s in your mouth and in your heart.” This is the message of faith that we spread. If you declare that Jesus is Lord, and believe that God brought him back to life, you will be saved. By believing you receive God’s approval, and by declaring your faith you are saved.' -the Apostle Paul writing to the first Christians in Rome, 1st century Romans 10:4-10 [This is the 16th message of this series ] We are continuing wher...

"Peter and the apostles answered, “It’s necessary to obey God rather than men. The God of our ancestors raised up Jesus, the One you killed by hanging him on a cross. God set him on high at his side, Prince and Savior, to give Israel the gift of a changed life and sins forgiven. And we are witnesses to these things. The Holy Spirit, whom God gives to those who obey him, corroborates every detail.” When they heard that, they were furious and wanted to kill them on the spot. But one of the council members stood up, a Pharisee by the name of Gamaliel, a teacher of God’s Law who was honored by everyone. He ordered the men taken out of the room for a short time, then said, “Fellow Israelites, be careful what you do to these men. Not long ago Theudas made something of a splash, claiming to be somebody, and got about four hundred men to join him. He was killed, his followers dispersed, and nothing came of it. A little later, at the time of the census, Judas the Galilean appeared and ...

" Remind the believers to submit to the government and its officers. They should be obedient, always ready to do what is good. They must not slander anyone and must avoid quarreling. Instead, they should be gentle and show true humility to everyone." Titus 3:1-2 New Birth = New Life The passage above was taken from the letter of the Apostle Paul to Titus. Titus is among the first Non Jewish leaders of the early church. In the passage above, Paul was instructing Titus to remind believers under his leadership to do five things. 1. Be law abiding citizens 2. Do good 3. Not to slander 4. Not to fight 5 Be humble and gentle Like the instructions to Timothy, which we talked about in the previous message in this series*, this new kind of living is not easy and hard to fake. It can only be done with and through the Spirit of God. Yes, in fact, without being reborn in the spirit, this new life will be impossible to live. Christian Belief In this letter, Pau...

"Be ready to spread the word whether or not the time is right. Point out errors, warn people, and encourage them. Be very patient when you teach."   2 Timothy 4:2 The passage above was taken from the second letter of the Apostle Paul to Timothy, the young pastor. In the passage above, Paul was reminding Timothy to do five things. Five, which all believers also need to be doing. 1. Spreading the Word 2. Pointing Out Errors 3. Warning People 4. Encouraging Others 5. Teaching with Patience Believers are to spread the good news of Jesus -- the Word. Patiently teaching others, encouraging them and not antagonizing. And they are also to warn them and point out the errors of their ways. Not An Easy Thing Of course, no one said these are going to be easy. In fact, without being born again, these will be impossible. Now with the Spirit of God, all things are possible. And with God's Spirit living inside them, believers are capable of carrying out all these a...

Jesus Comes to Jerusalem as King "After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it.’” Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?” They replied, “The Lord needs it.” They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road. When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they ...

Note: this is the eleventh message in this series, if you missed any of the previous messages, it would be advisable to go back and read through them first. At this point, it could be fairly easy to get lost (confused/have a lot of questions) or shall we say, bite more than we can chew. This is not unusual for the things of God. Heavenly things go over our own mortal heads, the bible tells us many instances of these. For your convenience, the links to the previous messages could be found @ the end of this message. But of course, you could always do what you want to do or are used to doing -- old habits die hard, we all know that. No one's forcing anyone to do anything they don't want to anyway. And this is not the way Jesus did things. Let's continue... Sing It Out! Taking off from what we started to do in one of the previous messages (the ninth), let us shake it a bit and begin this message once again with a song (instead of a passage of Scripture). Mind you, onc...

To the Ends of the World "Dear Theophilus, in the first volume of this book I wrote on everything that Jesus began to do and teach until the day he said good-bye to the apostles, the ones he had chosen through the Holy Spirit, and was taken up to heaven. After his death, he presented himself alive to them in many different settings over a period of forty days. In face-to-face meetings, he talked to them about things concerning the kingdom of God. As they met and ate meals together, he told them that they were on no account to leave Jerusalem but “must wait for what the Father promised: the promise you heard from me. John baptized in water; you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit. And soon.” When they were together for the last time they asked, “Master, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel now? Is this the time?” He told them, “You don’t get to know the time. Timing is the Father’s business. What you’ll get is the Holy Spirit. And when the Holy Spirit comes on you, y...

This is now the ninth message in this series, if you missed any or all of the previous messages, I would recommend that you read through them first. You could find the links @ the end of this message. Rebirth No real born again believer would be able to stand up, much less stand singing to God for even five minutes if they have not been reborn in the Spirit. That would be a real test for anyone. It would be natural for the Spirit of God (living inside a believer), to be in tune with heavenly singing. Now if it was any other spirit in you, you'd know they would not be able to. To shake things up, we will not begin this message with a passage of Scripture but instead we will sing it and hopefully sing from our heart, our spirit and mean what we say... Original video above no longer working, substituted something else below: Stop Running (Away) Little Sheep Are you still running away, like a little lost sheep? Are you hungry, thirsty, scared? Are you begging for lo...

"If you suffer for being a Christian, don’t feel ashamed, but praise God for being called that name." 1 Peter 4:16 [We have been discussing about this concept of being born again for several previous messages of this series. This is now the eighth message, if you have missed any or all of the previous messages, it would be my advice to go back and read through them first. The links will be at the end of this message. Otherwise this message might  not mean anything to you.] Today, I could say something about the passage above but I don't really need to. We only need to read and take time to savor what it is telling us right from the Scriptures itself. Let us read chapter four of the first letter of the Apostle Peter to the early believers in the first century: Living for God’s Glory 1 Therefore, since Christ suffered in His body, arm yourselves with the same resolve, because anyone who has suffered in his body is done with sin. 2 Consequently, he does not li...

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." Jeremiah 29:11-13 [This is the seventh part of this series and if you have started reading from the very beginning you shouldn't feel like you don't understand. Now if you do feel lost, then you are always welcome to go back and read any or all of the first six messages. Here are the links: Born Again Series Born Again? I Don't Get It! Born Again? I'm Starting to Get It. Born Again? I Get It! Born Again? I Want It! Born Again? I Believe I am. What's Next? Born Again? I Believe I am. What Now?  (Two Part) Prelude I have been reading bible verses (daily) for the last 20 years. I have read countless times the short passage above found in th...

"Then ‘a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt.’ He dealt treacherously with our people and oppressed our ancestors by forcing them to throw out their newborn babies so that they would die. “At that time Moses was born, and he was no ordinary child. For three months he was cared for by his family. When he was placed outside, Pharaoh’s daughter took him and brought him up as her own son. Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action. “When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites. He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian. Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not. The next day Moses came upon two Israelites who were fighting. He tried to reconcile them by saying, ‘Men, you are brothers; why do you want t...

"To this he replied: “Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Harran. ‘Leave your country and your people,’ God said, ‘and go to the land I will show you.’ “So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Harran. After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you are now living. He gave him no inheritance here, not even enough ground to set his foot on. But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land, even though at that time Abraham had no child. God spoke to him in this way: ‘For four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated. Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him as a slave into Egypt. But God was with him and rescued him from all his troubles. He gave Joseph wisdom and enabled him t...

"(O Lord) what are mere mortals that you should think about them (mere man that you should think about him),     human beings that you should care for them (son of man that you should care for him)?"   Psalm 8:4 NLT [Psalm 8 For the choir director: A psalm of David, to be accompanied by a stringed instrument] This message is the 5th Part of this series. Shepherd Boy King David who wrote the psalm where we took the passage above was a mere man. In his younger years, he was a teenager who tended his father's sheep. In those quiet times alone with the flock he tended, he would have realized that there is more to life than just herding, shepherding and protecting sheep. While he learned to fight off wild animals which at times would attack their sheep, he also composed and sang songs (psalms) for the Lord. In one of several songs he had composed, he was asking the Lord who am I that you are mindful of me, who am I that you care for me. Surely, he t...

"The Life-Light was the real thing:     Every person entering Life     he brings into Light. He was in the world,     the world was there through him,     and yet the world didn’t even notice. He came to his own people,     but they didn’t want him. But whoever did want him,     who believed he was who he claimed     and would do what he said, He made to be their true selves,     their child-of-God selves. These are the God-begotten,     not blood-begotten,     not flesh-begotten,     not sex-begotten." John 1:9-13 MSG Jesus, the Living Word of God was born as a man, through the power of the Holy Spirt. He came down for you, me and everyone else. His Words have power and they are Life. He is Light. He is the Way. He is Truth. [This is the 4th pa...

"You have been born again, not from a seed that can be destroyed, but through God's everlasting word that can't be destroyed." 1 Peter 1:3 Jesus said "heaven (the sky) and (the) earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away". Born Again Series Jesus is the Word -- read this message if you wish to understand more about this. [This is the third part of this series, if you missed the first two parts, read them first to better understand where we are at on this message]. Born Again How to know if you have been reborn (in the spirit)? 1. You no longer merely 'believe' in Jesus of Nazareth. (Believe it or not even demons know and acknowledge who Jesus is). 2. You also need to have Him 'live' within you. ('Be living' in you). How? By His Spirit -- the Holy Spirit (the Spirit of God, the Living Word, the Way, the Truth, the Life) will take residence inside of you. How so? Through the same way, everything el...

"He saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit." (Paul's letter to) Titus 3:5 (written in the first century) Born Again Series If you do not get it, then you need to read the first part of this message -- "Born Again? I Don't Get It". Now if you want to take the next step, then let's continue below. Prelude Science teaches us that there are some things that are just beyond our capacity to understand much less explain. One such thing is something happening out of nothing. Before everything begun, there would have been something eternal -- the Source, the Supreme Being, Prime Mover, Intelligent Designer, or whatever else people call Him. We could call Him God. The Creator God made (spoken) into existence what we see existing -- the sky, the sun, the moon, the stars, the earth, land, plants, animals and humankind. Th...

'Jesus replied,  “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again."' John 3:3 Aside from the Name Jesus, one other bible reference that is polarizing, and mostly misunderstood, maligned or misused is the term "born-again". Although it is not unusual as even in the first time it was mentioned by Jesus Himself (in the psssage above), the person Jesus was speaking with totally didn't get what He meant (if you'd stick around we will get to read the whole narrative shortly below). A Rebirth? If you are totally against (or just do not understand) this term, then you have this in common with all other unbelievers who were struggling themselves, just like you are, and all believers before they experienced their own rebirth. A-ha Moment Like them, anyone can have their own a-ha moment. This is when one finally realizes that everything they have heard, seen and read about Jesus (from the gospels and the Book of Ac...