Church of God Webcast promoting Judeo-Christianity through weekly Sabbath Webcasts, Videos, a Blog, Articles and personal correspondance to answer your life's questions
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Join Jeff Today on a journey about the World Tomorrow using proven wisdom from the past 4,000 years
Weekly Sabbath Webcast
Join us for Live Sabbath Sermons, Webcast starts every Saturday @ 11:30am Pacific Standard Time
Comments Off on God’s Enduring Love – Fruit of the Spirit, Sermons and Media, Videos, by CGP.
God’s love for us is greater than you can imagine. It is a warm personal love, and also the love that is loyal and gives us assurance in the promises God has made. Take a walk through the scriptures with Jeff and come to learn about ahav, hesed, phileo and agape, the love of God in action. It will give you hope and confidence in your Creator who loves you with an everlasting love.
Pentecost has the power to change the world. It is one day each year, the second of the three main Holy Day seasons. But the message of the Holy Day is an important one all year long. Our world is facing many challenges, but the scriptures and the yearly festivals point to the power of Pentecost that will change the world. Learn more about that power.
Christians are called to fight an ongoing battle against a spiritual adversary. But this is only possible if we are being transformed by the Spirit of God. Peter encourages believers to stay alert and watch out, so we can successfully conquer and be victorious in our struggles. We win this spiritual warfare by becoming holy as God is holy. It is only the spirit of God that will give us the courage of our convictions, and the godly character that will set us apart from this world. How does this happen?
Applying Wisdom from the Spirit
Paul spoke to the Corinthians of the need for spiritual wisdom to discern one of the dangers in their society. He warned about avoiding mismatched alliances that were inconsistent with faithfully serving God. In Roman society the wealthy would create ‘client relationships’ with their subordinates who were often required to do the ‘dirty work’ for them. Paul was instructing Christians to be careful about people to whom they would owe favours. The believer was to be separate from the ways of society, so that God could dwell with them. They would not need the protection of these ‘client relationships’ for God would be their source of protection. And God’s spirit would lead them.
The Spirit Transforms our Nature
God’s purpose was to have his people become ever more like their Creator. They were to be holy as God is holy, so he could dwell with them. They could eventually be perfected and become his children — sons and daughters of God. How would this metamorphosis take place? Christ was perfected through living a human life and experiencing suffering, so he could fulfil his role as high priest. He would also become the firstborn of many brethren. For believers, this process begins with stripping off all the old evil ways and putting on a totally new nature. It is the spirit of God in us that brings about this transformation.
The Spirit of Comfort and Truth
Jesus, told his followers that the Father would send the Comforter, the spirit of truth, and it would be within them. They would be transformed by the spirit of God! How? At baptism they would be born of water and receive the gift of the spirit. It would give them understanding of the truth, and the love, desire, and power to keep God’s commandments. No longer would they be hostile to God’s ways, self-willed, and loathe to obey God’s laws. God, through his spirit would renew their minds, transform their hearts, and eventually give them the gift of eternal life.
The Spirit Gives Power to Perform
On the day of Pentecost those who were transformed by the spirit of God were given a job to do. They were commissioned to be God’s witnesses to the ‘ends of the earth.’ But they would not do this on their own. God’s spirit would give them power and the ability to perform and achieve God’s purpose. And more than this, it would empower them to be transformed into the very image of Christ. It is ‘all who overcome’ and conquer through the power of God’s spirit who will inherit all things and dwell with the Father. What a great future awaits those who are victorious. For having been transformed by the spirit of God, they can look forward to the establishment of the Kingdom of God. A time when God’s children will dwell with him forever.
The story of Ruth traditionally read on Pentecost unites by analogy the two great covenants of God – the national covenant between the Lord God and Israel and the everlasting covenant with God the Father. It is a story of loving loyalty and commitment to the God of Israel and the need for a redeemer. Learn more about Pentecost and God’s plan for salvation for all people.
A message from 7 years ago that rings even more true today! We live in a divided world and in the church we are often no better than our secular counterparts when it comes to the issue of unity. And yet we know that God wants unity in his body, the church. So how do we achieve this goal? What are the attitudes we must have and what are the actions we must take? Let’s consider the challenges the people faced in Ezra’s time and evaluate how the lessons they learned could help us to have unity in our time.
What are some of the most memorable lessons that your Mom taught you? Jeff Patton delivers and encouraging message and shares some of his favourite lessons from the ‘Moms’ in his life and the Hebrew scriptures. Then, he delves into their role of mothers in the early church as recounted by the gospel writers and Paul. Finally, he asks us to consider “Who is our mother’ spiritually speaking?’
Our gratitude, whether formal worship as the congregation of God, or living with a thankful heart for all of God’s blessings, is important to God. Are we among the meek, who express their appreciation to God, and who will inherit the promises? Do we have this dynamic relationship with God that will lead to eternal life?
