Piercing the Darkness Sermon Series
CONVERT: a person who has been persuaded to change one’s religious faith or other beliefs.
DISCIPLE: a person who trusts that Jesus is who He says He is. He/she spends time with Jesus in order to learn how to live his/her own life as Jesus would live it. And they rearrange their life to KEEP doing it.
PERFORMANCE BASED SPIRITUALITY: making the outside look good but no inner transformation happens at all
GOSPEL: good announcement, or good news
KINGDOM: the realm in which a sovereign king rules. A king asserts his rule and his activity within his kingdom. In a kingdom, what the king wants to be done is done.
ETERNAL LIFE: knowing God; an interactive relationship with Him.
THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD: (Jesus’ gospel) (Long version) The Gospel of Jesus is that life in the Kingdom is available to us now! We can experience the Kingdom of God and live in it by placing our confidence in Jesus for everything. And because we have complete confidence in Jesus, we will be His constant students in living out this life.
THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD: (Jesus’ gospel) (Simple version). You can live in the Kingdom of God by trusting in Jesus.
THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD: (Jesus’ gospel) (Even more simple version) Jesus is available to trust…and so what you need to do…is to trust Jesus!
SPIRITUAL FORMATION: the process of shaping an individual so that they love God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength and love their neighbor as themselves.
4 amazing truths that happened because of the cross.
EXPIATION: the removal of our sin and guilt
PROPITIATION: the removal of God’s wrath
RECONCILIATION: removal of our alienation from God
REDEMPTION: buying us back from the kingdom of darkness
SUBSTITUTION: Jesus took our place on that cross. [It is the means by which we were reconciled: Jesus the just one, died for us, the unjust ones, so that He might bring us to God. So that we could be reconciled. Jesus was our substitute.]
REGENERATION: the event when a new life from above enters a person and his/her spirit is made alive
JUSTIFICATION: the act of God that forgives our sin and enables us to have eternal life in God’s presence (now and later). Within Justification is also regeneration which is the instant rebirth of our spirit in which we are given a new self that can live like Christ. It is a PART of the process of salvation, not the END of it.
SANCITIFICATION: the intentional process by which our inner person comes to resemble that of Christ. It is dependent upon regeneration, human effort, and God’s Grace. It results in ever-growing and easy obedience to God and relationship with Him.
GRACE: God’s POWER working in you to accomplish what you could never do on your own. Grace is not opposed to effort, it is opposed to earning.
GLORY: it is the magnificent outpouring of the radiant splendor of God’s power, strength, beauty, and goodness. Glory constantly fills the universe, permeating all of God’s creation, and validating the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. It is fully reflected in the person of Jesus, and we have access to participate in it through our adoration and obedience to Jesus.