Grace Fellowship Church

Final Thought: The pursuit or aim of the Christian life is Jesus Christ and His revealing. We are to live our days disciplining our minds and focusing our thoughts upon God and His truth in prayerful dependence. We are to love one another with everything we have even when we are met with sin, indifference, rejection, or opposition. We must love just as Christ has loved us as we demonstrate our love to Him by the way we love His bride. We are each to uniquely serve the body of Christ by His strength, in everything, and for His glory.

Closing Thought: Beloved, as those baptized into Christ, we now have no penalty for our sin, we have power over sin through His Spirit, and at death we will be fully freed from the presence of sin. Therefore, let us be armed for asceticism, living in disciplined love for Christ and His glory and prepared for the battle of holiness. Now, to those who have not yet trusted Him: today is the day to turn from your sin, receive Christ's forgiveness, and be joined to Him — that you too might be alive in the spirit, prepared to die in the flesh.

Closing Thought: Beloved, the main thing is this: Jesus' suffering had great purpose, for in it He triumphed over sin and death and made a way to bring us to God. Because of His suffering, we have been saved by our baptism into Him. Now that we are in Christ, we have been called to be prepared to suffer for doing good, just as Jesus did. Our suffering shapes us to be more like Him and, while it will not save others, it will affirm the Gospel we proclaim and may bring them to salvation.

Closing Thought: As we live faithfully, being zealous for what is good, we will often avoid harm from others. But when we do suffer for the sake of holy living, we are blessed, for Christ our Captain also suffered at the hands of men. So Peter instructs us: do good, fear not, and be ready to give a reasoned defense for the hope within us. And we are to do this with gentleness and reverent fear of Christ, letting our faithful conduct silence and put to shame those who would seek to harm us.

Pastor Muringi Igweta of Trinity Baptist Church, Nairobi, Kenya, brought this morning's sermon--an encouraging word from Hebrews 11:1-3.