Biblical, Christ-centered Expositional Preaching from Sovereign Grace Church in Midland, TX - Pastor Billy Raies
Sovereign Grace Church Midland: Midland, TX
Growing Christians will be marked by loving generosity as they trust God for all things.
The love of Christ displayed at the cross must increasingly control our motives, our message and our mission.
God calls us to be humble about the reality of our death, joyful in the certainty of our resurrection and faithful in the daily stewardship of our bodies for the sake of the gospel.”
What we believe about our future resurrection directly affects how we behave today.
The resurrection reminds us that Christ reigns over all, both now and forever; which gives us hope in our trials and power for our mission until He comes again.
The resurrection of Christ guarantees eternal joy for those who follow Him and empowers us to live gospel centered lives on mission for Him because we will be resurrected too!
We must remember that the gospel is of first importance because it is to govern our thoughts, our words and our actions for the glory of God, the edification of the church and the evangelization of the lost.
The gifts of the Holy Spirit are expressions of love that edify the church and evangelize the lost because they are understandable, orderly and honorable.
We seek to glorify God by lovingly, maturely and intelligibly using every spiritual gift He gives us; including the gift of tongues, so that the church can be edified and the unbeliever evangelized.
Prophecy is especially emphasized among the gifts because of its unique potential to reveal God's personal love and powerful presence to the church.
Love gives life to gifts until we are with Christ and the gifts are no longer needed.
God does not hold us accountable for what we cannot know, but has graciously revealed to us all we need to please and obey him.
Christlike love for one another must be the blazing center of our godliness and our giftedness in the local church.
God has arranged and gifted the body of Christ in order to make every member a minister for the glory of God in the church.
The health of Christ's body is dependent upon every member of the church knowing their spiritual gifts are needed and knowing they need the gifts of others according to God's divine design.
The baptism in and filling with the Holy Spirit establish the unity and power necessary for the gifts to flourish in the body of Christ.
God blesses us with spiritual gifts so that we can experience the manifestation of His presence and love now and so we can experience a taste of what it will be like to be in His presence forever.
Spiritual gifts exist for the glory of God and by grace are given to each member of the church for the godly good of all members of the church.
The joy that comes from the changing power of the Gospel motivates us to pursue Godliness. The pursuit of godliness increases our REjoicing in the changing power of the Gospel.
Our union with Christ is our eternal identity and must shape how we believe, think, and act today as His disciples.
“Christ is the Lord of peace and when we trust in the blood of His cross we experience the joy of having peace with God and peace from God.
Christ is the loving Lord of Redemption and was born to shine His greatest glory in and through the church.
The Child in the manger is the Lord of Creation and we can trust Him to hold us together in the hardest of times.
Meekness is the Christian's response to the Father's power, plan, and purpose in Christ
Humility creates fertile soil for all other virtues (including kindness) to flourish, as our eyes look away from ourselves and are fixed on Christ.
The primary purpose of the gifts of the Spirit are not to merely manifest God's power, but to mainly manifest Christ's love.
God's plan was to take the wilderness that Zechariah and Elizabeth experienced and use it to bring John the Baptist into the world, the greatest prophet of the entire OT, so that he could pave the way for the Messiah.
We prioritize godliness over giftedness, so that our giftedness can bring God the most glory and bring our Church the most godly good.
The power of the Spirit enables us to experience the love of the Father.
Spiritual people are not spiritual because of their great gifts; they are spiritual because of their great salvation.
God created men and women to be equal in their value, different in their gender and distinctive in their roles and in their mission to display the gospel and we glorify God when we celebrate and demonstrate those truths in our homes and in our church.
"In whatever you do, do all for the glory of God."
We are committed to the teaching of God's Word because we are called to transfer God's Word to the coming generations.
Remembering who Jesus is and what He accomplished for us reminds us of who we are and how we are to live for Him.