Church Of The Lost Sheep

'Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.” And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation.” Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added  to them.  And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with

" Evil plans are an abomination to Jehovah, But pleasant words are pure." Proverbs 15:26 in the Recovery Version [This is the  11th lesson of  this series ] The old book of Proverbs (part of the Jewish Scriptures ) is a treasure chest for God's (Jehovah's) wisdom. It is 31 chapters long, and each one can be read in one sitting, just right for daily readings. In fact, we can read one chapter a day easily if we will just decide to do so. Many wise sayings out there has its origins in Scriptures , so why not go to the source. We might be surprised that many of the things we say or hear are in fact iterations of sayings which were taken from Scriptures. Series on Proverbs -  God's Wisdom Series Anyway, in Proverbs 18, it says: Life and death are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit. And like real fruit, the fruits of our words are both sweet and bitter. Well it can be sour as well. But eventually once our words go out, it is ha

Three Thousand Believe ' When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and asked Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise belongs to you and your children and to all who are far off—to all whom the Lord our God will call to Himself.” With many other words he testified, and he urged them, “Be saved from this corrupt generation.” Those who embraced his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to the believers that day."' Written by Luke, 1st century Acts 2:37-41 [This is the 17th message of this series] Today we are going to look at the origins of the churches. Peter In another series of messages, we spoke about that day (Pentecost Sunday) when "the church" was born. [ New Believers Series - Pentecost Sunday ] From that message

'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 where we left off fr

The Word Brings Salvation ' Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is for their salvation. For I testify about them that they are zealous for God, but not on the basis of knowledge. Because they were ignorant of God’s righteousness and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.' -the Apostle Paul writing to the first Christians in Rome, 1st century Romans 10:1-3 [This is the 15th message of this series ] Today we are going to look at the origins of religiosity or self-righteousness -- where people are trying to reach heaven or righteousness by their own strength. Paul Paul used to be a religious zealot. He used to be a pharisee named Saul. Before he became a Christian (and a missionary), his main goal was to sentence Christians to death if they do not denounce Christ. He believed he was called by God, that he was doing God a favor and doing His work with what he was doing.  This is why he knows what he is talking a

' But we wanted you to have the true message. That’s why we didn’t give in to them, not even for a second. Some of them were supposed to be important leaders, but I didn’t care who they were. God doesn’t have any favorites! None of these so-called special leaders added anything to my message. They realized that God had sent me with the good news for Gentiles, and that he had sent Peter with the same message for Jews. God, who had sent Peter on a mission to the Jews, was now using me to preach to the Gentiles. James, Peter, and John realized that God had given me the message about his undeserved kindness. And these men are supposed to be the backbone of the church. They even gave Barnabas and me a friendly handshake. This was to show that we would work with Gentiles and that they would work with Jews.' -the Apostle Paul writing to the first Christians in Galatia, 1st century Galatians 2:5-9 [This is the 14th message of this series ] With the help of the Holy Spirit, we hav

'Each one of these people of faith died not yet having in hand what was promised, but still believing. How did they do it? They saw it way off in the distance, waved their greeting, and accepted the fact that they were transients in this world. People who live this way make it plain that they are looking for their true home. If they were homesick for the old country, they could have gone back any time they wanted. But they were after a far better country than that —  heaven  country. You can see why God is so proud of them, and has a City waiting for them.' Taken from the letter to the Hebrews [This is the 13th message of this series ] The excerpt above is the   Message paraphrase of this biblical passage on faith. This was taken from the Letter to the Hebrews. The writer of this letter was extolling the early Jewish heroes of faith, giving us a glimpse of where their faith came from. Prologue In the preceding message we learned about Abraham and how he became the father

Abram Obeys the Calling Then  Adonai  said to Abram, “Get going out from your land, and from your relatives, and from your father’s house, to the land that I will show you. My heart’s desire is to make you into a great nation, to bless you, to make your name great so that you may be a blessing. My desire is to bless those who bless you, but whoever curses you I will curse and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed. So Abram went, just as  Adonai  had spoken to him. Also Lot went with him. (Now Abram was 75 years old when he departed from Haran.) From the Book of Beginnings. [This is the 12th message of this series ] Prologue In the Jewish holy book, before Abraham was known as Abraham, he went by the name Abram. After he listened and obeyed the call of God, God changed his name to Abraham and eventually he became the father of three faiths -- Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Muslims through their Islamic holy book, contends that God made a covenant with their pe

For you did not receive a spirit of slavery that returns you to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” From the letter to the First Church in Rome, 1st century -written by the Apostle Paul Romans 8:15 [This is the 11th message of this series ] Prologue For sure when the first message of this series was written down, the idea of this series going over three  messages was remote. But just like any other time when we start doing what the Holy Spirit is nudging us to do, the outcomes are far beyond our expectations. By God's grace, this is now the eleventh message of this series and almost daily there is a new message being dropped by the Holy Spirit and when it will end, we do not know or care for. (God is looking for obedience not sacrifice). Freedom Jesus of Nazareth have set us  (captives) free. He paid the full price (our ransom). And He settled the price (of admission) into God's eternal Kingdom.  This Kingdom is unseen with t

Woes to Scribes and Pharisees ' The greatest among you shall be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let in those who wish to enter. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You traverse land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.' -Jesus of Nazareth, Judean countryside, 1st century written by Matthew [This is the 10th message of this series ] Jesus preached the gospel of love and reconciliation. But I wasn't sure if He wanted the hypocritical scribes and pharisees (teachers of the law and religious leaders of His day) to be included, as He describes them as vipers (and a spawn of hell from the writings of Matthew above). [The passage above is a  continuation of where we left off from

Woes to Scribes and Pharisees ' Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples: “The scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So practice and observe everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.' -written by Matthew, 1st century [This is the 9th message of this series] For hundreds of years the Jewish people turned their relationship with God into a religion of rules and regulations, of dos and don'ts and a smorgasboard of religious festivals, practices and tradition. Jesus did not care for religious people, and cared less for religious leaders and how they turned out after generations of the blind leading the blind. Their religious leaders' words and actions had the opposite effect of bringing people to God -- they made people turn around and go the other way, away from God.  New Day When Jesus arrived in the scene, He turned religion and everything else upside down. The hypocrisy that pervaded everything a

Jesus, undeterred, went right ahead and gave his charge: “God authorized and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I’ll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age.” -Jesus of Nazareth written by Matthew, 1st century This is the 8th message of this series ] In the preceding messages, we've learned about how the first followers of Jesus finally believed Him and also how succeeding believers after them were able to do the same. Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today and tomorrow and this is why Christianity is still here after 2,000 years, and even after all the persecution and attempts to silence it. [Gamaliel had the right idea when he said something like if this is from human origin then it will die a natural death, like all the

The Seventh Trumpet ' Then the seventh angel sounded his trumpet and loud voices called out in heaven: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever.” -written by the Apostle John, 1st century This is the 7th message of this series ] The passage above is taken from the Book of Revelation (last book of the New Testament bible, the Christian Scriptures). Prophetic Most of the contents of the Book of Revelation is prophetic -- events which are to take place in the future. So much of what made believers into believers, is the fulfillment of biblical prophecies. Fulfilled Prophecies In the time of Jesus, the prophesies which were recorded in the Jewish Scriptures (the Old Testament bible) were regarding the Promised Messiah, written over a thousand years before the time of Jesus. All of these prophesies were fulfilled in His birth, life, death and resurrection. Those whose eyes were opened, whose ears could he

The Purpose of John’s Book ' Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book.  But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.' - John the Apostle, 1st century This is the 6th message of this series] Im the preceding message , we discussed how the first followers of Jesus finally believed everything Jesus have told them after they have seen the final proof with their own eyes. That was the source of their belief*.  Moving forward after Jesus' work was done, He sent the Holy Spirit to continue the expansion of the Kingdom of God.  With Jesus ascending back to heaven, then the Third Person of the Holy Trinity will be taking over and working within and with those who are believing from then on.  In the beginning, it was God the Father who was with humankind. Then came the time of God the Son -- the Word who became flesh, Jesus

Faith in What We Don't See 'The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see. The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd. By faith, we see the world called into existence by God’s word, what we see created by what we don’t see.' Hebrews 11:1-3 -written to the first believers, 1st century [This is the 5th message of this series] In the preceding message , we discussed about the very first preaching of the Gospel -- the good news of salvation through the finished redemptive work of Jesus of Nazareth. It all begun when Jesus showed Himself resurrected back from the dead to Mary of Magdala. Jesus then told her to go back to the disciples and tell them what she had just seen and heard -- that the final proof that the Kingdom of God is here, it is real and active on earth. (Their faith has been revealed and f

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene 11 Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. 13 They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. 15 He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”). 17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” 18 Mary