​THE CHRISTIAN LIFE -HOW DOES GOD BECOME MY FATHER?
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"Sermon on the Mount" M. Lloyd-Jones

How then does God become my Father? According to the Scriptures it is like this. Christ “came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, to them gave He power (i.e. authority) to become the sons of God” (John 1:11-12). You become a child of God only when you are born again, when you receive a new life and a new nature. The child partakes of the nature of the Father. God is holy, and you and I are not children of God until we have received a holy nature; and that means we must have a new nature. Being evil and even conceived in sin (Psalm 51:5), we do not have one, but He will give it to us. Now that is what is offered to us. And there is no contact or communion with God, nor are we heirs to any of these promises of God, until we become His children. In other words, we must remember that we have sinned against God, that we deserve the wrath and punishment of God, but that He has dealt with our sin and guilt by sending His son to die on the cross of Calvary for us. And believing in Him, we receive a new life and nature and become children of God. Then we can know that God is our Father, but not until then. 

So, how does God become my Father? The answer is illustrated in this story.

There was a man who was very skilled in balancing himself while walking a tightrope, so he had a cable stretched across Niagara Falls. A large crowd gathered to watch his performance on this high wire stretched across the thundering waterfall. Many in the crowd wondered if he would make it, or would he slip and fall to his death? The performer mounted the cable and with great skill he crossed the roaring chasm and returned. Then he asked the crowd if there was anyone who trusted him enough to let him carry them on his back across and safely return. The crowd was silent. Finally one man stepped forward expressing his trust in this man. With the man mounted on his back, the performer successfully crossed the falls and returned. 

This is how God becomes our Father. Christ has already crossed the chasm of death by His own resurrection from the dead. He stands ready to carry anyone across the chasm between death and eternal life who will trust in him alone for their salvation. How about you? Have you trusted in Christ alone for Salvation? You can trust Him now. He will not refuse you.  - Rev. Grady Simpson

At Evangel Church we offer various bible studies by our Pastors and Elders to learn further how to trust Jesus. 
​All are welcome! 

​Evangel Church PCA - 423 Thompson Rd.
Alabaster, AL. 35007  -  205-664-0889
evangelchurchpca.org

THE CHRISTIAN LIFE         

 Are we truly thankful?

Washington's Thanksgiving Day Proclamation (delivered in New York, 3 October 1789)

“By the President of the United States of America, a Proclamation.  Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor-- and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness. Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be.” 

This is the first part of George Washington's Thanksgiving Day proclamation in 1789, requested by Congress, acknowledging God as the giver of all things good and everyone's duty to acknowledge, obey and be grateful for our freedom and his blessing.  Do we understand this today?   Though God's goodness is easily seen, our sins make us incompatible with a Holy God. "The wages of sin is death" (Roman's 6:23). Our sin debt makes entry to heaven impossible (as stated in Matthew 19:26) and God's goodness all the more amazing.      

Genesis 3 says Adam and Eve rebelled and brought sin and death to us.  Yet God, out of goodness, alludes to a Savior who was revealed fully in the New Testament as Jesus, the Son of God. He came in obedience to the Father's plan and took on himself the penalty of sin that we deserve, and He died on the cross and now credits His perfect righteousness to those who will believe and follow him. That's right! When we repent and trust in Christ, He credits His death as payment for our sin and gives us His righteousness for entry into heaven. The result is, we no longer obey out of fear but out of love and gratitude.

As Thanksgiving approaches and we remember the thanks due to God, may we realize the full extent of His blessing through Jesus and the obedience due to Him which reveals true thankfulness (see Romans 12:1-2 and John 14:15).  Delay no longer if you don't know Jesus. Come sincerely willing to trust and follow Him and He will receive you with an everlasting love. 

Colby Reeves - Evangel Member

Evangel we offer various Bible studies by our Pastors and Elders to learn further how to live for Jesus. 
All are welcome!  

Evangel Church PCA - 423 Thompson Rd.
Alabaster, AL. 35007 - 205-664-0889

evangelchurchpca.org

If someone fed you – to your heart’s content and without cost – with food produced “out of thin air,”  I am thinking you would be pretty amazed, if not floored with fascination.  And, rightly so! 

Now, in light of this experience, what might cross your mind? For instance, would your motivation be to know how to get more of that abundant, “magical,” free food? Or, would you more so desire to get to know the person who produced that food and gave it to you? If these were your options, which would be your route?

In chapter 6 of the New Testament Book of John, there is a historical record of how a huge crowd was fed by Jesus Christ in this very manner. After eating their fill, what do you think those in the crowd wanted the most? 

On the next day, when the same crowd tracked Jesus down and approached Him, Jesus told them directly: “Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you” (verse 27). Apparently, according to Jesus Christ, there  is food that does not perish and which “endures to eternal life.” The crowd having been exceptionally well fed the day before with food that perishes (earthly, material food), Jesus refers to that very event in order to point to the real and true food that is of significantly greater worth– indeed, food that never perishes! So what is this food that endures to eternal life? 

Bread. Yes,bread. Bread is that eternal food!

Jesus declared: “I am the bread of life” (verse 35). 

Stunning.

Dear reader, have you yet fed upon the Bread of Life? When you and I get to eat perishable food each day, that is a great blessing. However, a full stomach can never reach into our very core: the soul. To have a “full soul,” as it were, we need the bread of life Himself.

“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household” (Acts 16:31). To believe Him, Jesus explained, is to ‘feed’ upon Him as the bread of life, the bread from heaven (John 6:32). There is everlasting satisfaction in one’s soul only when Jesus is the Person in whom that soul rests by faith. 

Let us delight and feast upon the Bread of Life, the Lord Jesus Christ!

-Paul Moon - Evangel Member

At Evangel we offer various bible studies by our Pastors and Elders to learn further how to feed on Jesus.  All are welcome!  

Evangel Church PCA
423 Thompson Rd.
Alabaster, Alabama 35007   
205-664-0889
evangelchurchpca.org