Sermon Central
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The Faith That Endures
Contributed by James Wallace on Jan 1, 2021 (message contributor)
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1. The Very Real Danger Of Spiritual Neglect
Contributed on Jan 1, 2021
The issue of Christians who fall away from the faith was present in the New Testament, even as it is today. How can we prevent this from happening, and be vigilant against growing weary of following Christ ourselves?
Today we begin a new message series from the Book of Hebrews which I’ve entitled “The Faith that Endures.” It’s a sobering book because it addresses a sobering topic—an issue that I know that I would prefer not to admit that it exists. It addresses the issue of Christians who are tempted to fall ...read more
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2. What Happens When You Fall Away
Contributed on Jan 7, 2021
What happens when a believer falls away from the faith? What really constitutes as salvation? Where do we get the assurance of our salvation from? Are some falsely assured they are saved? This message addresses these questions.
I received a call from a precious sister in Christ a couple months ago that was intended to encourage me. And it did, in some respects. This sister was calling to share with me that she had used my approach to witness to a friend who had by marriage also become a member of our extended family. ...read more
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3. The Cost Of Abandoning Christ
Contributed on Jan 18, 2021
Life is often a matter of focus? As we follow Christ, we can focus on the struggles and persecution we might endure. Or we can focus on the benefits, eternal and glorious, of continuing to follow Christ. Hebrews 2 encourages us to do the latter.
The Cost of Abandoning Christ Hebrews 2:5-14 A few years ago we had what we called a water bottle outreach at Lazy 5 Recreational Area. It was during one of the music festivals they used to have there, before Covid, on weekday summer evenings. We would hand out water bottles and invitations to ...read more
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4. The Peril Of Hardening Your Heart
Contributed on Jan 25, 2021
Have you gotten used to saying "No" to God? It became a habit of the Children of Israel in the wilderness and ultimately resulted in an all-out rebellion against God that disqualified most of them from God's rest.
Author, theologian and Professor Craig Keener tells how his mother asked him if he believed in an after-life at the age of nine, and he replied no. She agreed with him and told him how most intellectuals did as well. So he felt affirmed in his atheism. The problem was that such a worldview left ...read more
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5. Today, If You Hear His Voice . . .
Contributed on Feb 1, 2021
The possibility of falling away from Christ is greater than most of us think--no one is entirely immune from this awful outcome. It all begins with how we come to respond to God's voice, when we know He has spoken to us, and even in small things, choose to ignore Him.
One of the great challenges of the pastoral profession is discerning who to help among those who are in evident financial need, and when to help them, and then how much to help them. Despite our best and most sincere efforts, pastors young and old, sometimes fail. I remember well the story of a ...read more
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6. How To Finish Well
Contributed on Feb 8, 2021
Stories abound of folks who began well in the Christian faith, and in ministry, but failed to finish well. What does the Word of God say about how we can be motivated to follow Jesus faithfully to the end?
I was listening to one of our secular news and talk radio stations one morning this past week. And there was an innocent joke, of all things, about our subject this morning. A married couple was having a debate about who should get out of bed in the mornings to brew the coffee. Finally, the ...read more
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7. Accept No Substitutes
Contributed on Feb 15, 2021
Various pseudo-Christian spin offs claim to provide exclusively the priesthood that allows its worshipers to be made right with God. However, Hebrews 5 presents the truth that there is only one priest we will ever need--the Great High Priest Jesus Christ.
In the summer of my 19th year I was excited to take a summer job in Yellowstone National Park working as a dishwasher in Canyon Village. I say I was excited, because I had longed dreamed of the great trout fishing amid all the natural beauty that Yellowstone is famed for. But what I didn’t count ...read more
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8. No Turning Back
Contributed on Feb 22, 2021
One of the most sobering warnings in all of Scripture is found in Hebrews 6. There is a great, even awful danger of making an irreversible and eternally destructive choice to abandon Christ. This passage stresses why you don't want to go there.
This past year I faced a bit of a dilemma. My high school class, the class of 1970, was planning to celebrate its 50-year class reunion. I was invited. Would I go? That wasn’t the real dilemma. The real dilemma was that my spiritual father was on the organizing committee—yes, the fellow who ...read more