Sola Fide (Galatians 1)

Justification by Faith Alone

Justification by Faith Alone (Genesis 22:1-14) Joshua Handford Following last weeks message on Sola Fide, Pastor Josh takes us to Abraham in Genesis 22 to teach us more about the doctrine of justification by faith alone: “Abraham has been brought to faith by a faithful God. His deepest trust and belief was in the One who had promised, and not in this son whom God had provided. God’s faithfulness is evident throughout Abraham’s life—even when Abraham is the villain of the story—even when Abraham makes the dumbest move available. Abraham, a primary biblical example of faith, is also our example of the obedience brought by faith. God’s test required him to give up everything that had come together so far in the fulfillment of God’s promises; everything that had worked out so far for Abraham to get what he was hoping for, trusting God for. And Abraham can let everything good in his life go; every provision; every advance in the achievement of his hope, and ultimately his salvation, because his trust is in the giver and not in the gift…”

Sola Fide (Galatians 1)

Sola Fide (Galatians 1) Leighton Hickman Tune in as Pastor Leighton continues his series on Doctrine, today looking at the second Sola of the reformation: Sola Fide, the doctrine that states we are saved by Faith Alone: “…(R)ather than relaxing his command for humans to be perfect, Jesus reiterates the commands of Deuteronomy 18:13 and Leviticus 19:2 in Matthew 5:48  calling us to be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect. And instead of relieving this righteous demand, God makes the greatest provision for purification ever, in Christ. In order to approach the all Holy God, sinners needed to be made sinless. Which is the impossible thing. So before time began, it was decided that the ultimate and only worthy sacrifice of God’s own Son, would be the necessary and perfect substitute and target of God’s good wrath, and Christ Jesus would die in the place of sinners, in order to cleanse sin fully, once for all…”

Israel Needs a Worshipping King (1 Samuel 21 and Psalm 34)

Israel Needs a Worshipping King (1 Samuel 21 and Psalm 34) Joshua Handford Tune in as Pastor Josh continues to preach from 1 Samuel and this morning also looks to Psalm 34, the Psalm of David connected to the narrative in 1 Samuel 21, where David flees to Gath: “…(L)et us respond to David’s testimony, and recall our own: Have we had the opportunity to ‘taste and see that the Lord is good!’ If so, let us remember and bless the Lord at all times, praise him continually and boast in the Lord to one another.”

Israel Needs God's Covenantal Law (1 Samuel 21)

Israel Needs God's Covenantal Law (1 Samuel 21) Joshua Handford Tune in to hear Pastor Josh preach from 1 Samuel 21 this morning, the narrative of the Priests of Nob: “The commandments of the Law were perfectly designed by God to teach his people the definition of love. But it was their constant predisposition to keep the external elements of the law without understanding its purpose. Though keeping the law was a serious thing, with a death sentence for rebellion, love and compassion always trumped the external trappings of the law.”

Israel Needs God's Covenantal Love (1 Samuel 20)

Israel Needs God's Covenantal Love (1 Samuel 20) Josh Handford Tune in as Pastor Josh preaches from the episode in 1 Samuel 20: “There must have been at least a moment—after Saul’s gaslighting—where Jonathan felt as though he had betrayed his father and dishonored his mother. And he would certainly have had some desire to claim the comfort, control and glory of royalty for himself. Any one of these emotions could have motivated him to break his commitment to David and obey his father’s edict. Looking to the end of the story, we know that Jonathan’s loyalty to God’s people not only cost him in his relationship with his own father and king, but that he suffered lifelong separation from David as well. He did not get an immediate reward of happy fellowship to replace the family relationships, position and glory that such covenant love had cost him…”