Twin Cities Grace Fellowship Sermons

Christ Before All Things | Lesson 9

Have you ever started your view of God’s plan with yourself, your needs, or even with sin and redemption—rather than with Christ Himself? In this sermon from Colossians 1:15–17, we explore the “determinant counsel of God” before the foundation of the world and learn that everything God purposed began not with man, but with the exaltation of His Son. Christ is revealed as the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature, the One by whom and for whom all things were created, and the One in whom all things consist. From creation to authority structures, from history to eternity, everything is designed to center in and display the glory of Jesus Christ. Building on supporting passages in 1 Peter 1, John 17, Psalm 2, Proverbs 8, Hebrews 10, and Ephesians 1, the message shows that Christ was foreordained before the world began, set up as the Father’s wisdom and delight, and willingly accepted the Father’s eternal will. Redemption, then, is not God’s main purpose but the necessary means to reach His ultimate goal: the full exaltation of His Son and the gathering together of all things in Christ. The sermon challenges us to stop beginning with ourselves and to start thinking from Christ outward—seeing creation, history, salvation, our identity, and our future all “in Him,” where God has placed every spiritual blessing.

The Model of Christian Entrance | Lesson 6

What do people see and experience when you first enter their lives with the gospel? Drawing from 1 Thessalonians 2:1–12, this message explores Paul’s “entrance” among the Thessalonians as a model for how believers should approach evangelism and relationships with unbelievers. We see the integrity of the messenger—boldly proclaiming the pure gospel without deceit, manipulation, flattery, greed, or a desire for human glory, all under the searching eye of God who “trieth our hearts.” Paul’s manner shows that what we refuse to do as we share Christ is just as important as what we say. The sermon then unfolds Paul’s deep affection and clear aim. Like a nursing mother and a caring father, Paul was gentle, sacrificial, and personally invested—imparting not only the gospel of God, but his own soul, laboring night and day so as not to burden them. His goal was not merely a momentary decision, but that they would “walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.” Listeners are challenged to embody the gospel they proclaim: entering unbelievers’ lives with integrity, genuine love, and a long-term aim for their salvation and growth in a life worthy of God.

The Determinate Counsel of God | Lesson 8

What anchors your life when everything familiar can change in a moment? This message launches part two of the series, “That Which May Be Known,” shifting from how God reveals Himself to what He has eternally purposed—the “determinate counsel of God.” Beginning from Acts 2:23 and tracing through Romans, Ephesians, Proverbs, Isaiah, and Colossians, the sermon defines “counsel” biblically, contrasts God’s immutable, wise, and eternal counsel with the unstable, dark counsel of men, and shows how all of God’s planning before the foundation of the world centers in Christ. We see that God did not create or redeem on impulse; He acted according to a deliberate, eternal purpose formed within the Godhead itself.   This overview of divine counsel is not just theological “academia”; it is meant to ground believers in something that truly cannot be shaken. While our possessions, plans, and even our lives are uncertain, God’s counsel “shall stand” and He “works all things after the counsel of His own will.” The sermon presses probing questions: Do you know God’s counsel? Which counsel are you actually trusting—His or your own? Are you resting in the certainty of His purpose in Christ? As the series continues, the teaching will unpack the specific substance of that eternal counsel and what God has predestined as the believer’s everlasting end.

Work of Faith, Labor of Love, Patience of Faith | Lesson 5

***first 33 minutes no audio - sorry for the inconvienence

God of gods | Lesson 7

Drawing from Deuteronomy 10 and other key passages, Josh Strelecki, Pastor-Teacher, highlights that God is utterly unique as the “God of gods and Lord of lords,” possessing incommunicable attributes such as eternity, aseity, immutability, omnipresence, omniscience, and omnipotence. These belong to God alone, showing Him to be self-existent, unchanging, beyond time and space, and limitless in power and knowledge. In contrast, communicable attributes—like wisdom, holiness, goodness, justice, and love—are reflected in humanity in a faint, dependent way and are brought into proper expression and growth in believers as they are conformed to the image of Christ. He stresses that real spiritual change does not flow chiefly from practical instruction or behavior tweaks, but from beholding the glory of the Lord in His Word by faith. As believers gaze on Christ—the perfect image of the invisible God—the Spirit transforms them “from glory to glory,” so that ordinary spheres of life (marriage, family, work, citizenship, church) become the very places where God’s character is displayed. Josh Strelecki, Pastor-Teacher, urges Christians to stop chasing worldly greatness and instead rest in God’s unchanging promises and eternal purpose in Christ, allowing His attributes to be formed in them and expressed through them in the seemingly small, everyday details of life.