Church Of The Lost Sheep

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 tal...

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...

"(All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.) "So Paul took his stand in the open space at the Areopagus and laid it out for them. “It is plain to see that you Athenians take your religion seriously. When I arrived here the other day, I was fascinated with all the shrines I came across. And then I found one inscribed, to the god nobody knows. I’m here to introduce you to this God so you can worship intelligently, know who you’re dealing with." Acts 17:21-23 Many people have claimed they have no religion. Some say they have no god -- they are godless. Religion is not just Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism or some other ism. The thing is, what ever you believe (or for that matter not believe in) that is your religion. And whatever controls you, is your god. Who Is Your God? When you say you do your own thing and no one tells you what to do - essenti...

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast." Ephesians 2:8-9 NIV Religion is man's way of reaching up to God. Each preaching things that people ought to do or not to do and more often than not giving the false notion of being right or getting right before they can come to God. And this is true of all religions -- the focus is "works" and man-made doctrine. Now what is unique with Christianity is Christ didn't come to establish a religion .  He came down to restore what was lost. He didn't made rules or regulations to come near Him. He Himself came to us -- reaching down to us. Offering us grace which we do not deserve, as a "gift" we did not earn with anything we did or can ever do or can offer back to Him in return. Christ did the reaching, He did the heavy lifting. He showed us where we came from, where we are now, and wher...