Bridge Point Sermon Podcast

Paul reminds the church of the importance of "waking up" to the reality that we're a part of. It is easy to get lulled to sleep, forgetting the story of redemption that we're caught up in as a part of God's Kingdom.

In Acts 16, we hear the account of Paul's trip to Philippi and how the church began there. The first three converts in the city are all utterly different types of people from different walks of life, showing that the Gospel message is for everyone.

Lent is a season of the church’s calendar that begins on Ash Wednesday and goes through Holy Week (the week leading up to Easter Sunday). It is a season to prepare our hearts for the joy and celebration of Easter, reminding us that the journey to the empty tomb goes through the cross. In this way, it prepares us for the brokenness we inevitably will face in this life. As we practice even small ways of self-denial, we remind ourselves of the true source of peace and comfort: Jesus himself.

Paul tells us that the Christian life is one that has moved from darkness to light. As children of the light, we must remember our identity and strive to walk in the light as we pursue what is good, right, and true.

Paul reminds us of the goodness of God's sexual ethic and the dangers of stepping outside of that ethic. Sex was created as a gift, and it is precisely because it is so wonderful that it must be stewarded well.

Paul instructs the church to be "imitators of God," which, ultimately, is a fulfillment of the very thing we were created for. As his children, we imitate our Heavenly Father. We sacrifice for others as he sacrificed for us. We love others because he first loved us.

The reality of the Gospel leads us into a new life. We are to put off certain behaviors and take on others, not as a way of earning favor with God but as a way of responding to the favor we've been shown in Christ.

One of the marks of our identity in Christ is the commitment that we have to put our sin to death and put on what the Bible calls "the new self." Jesus doesn't just save us from the penalty of sin, but he is also with us, presently, saving us from the power of sin.

One of the implications of the Gospel is that as we all pursue unity together, we will also all be pursuing maturity in Christ together. Paul reminds us that everyone in the church is needed in this endeavor and that it will require a humble commitment to speaking the truth in love.

Paul begins Ephesians 4 with the word "therefore," telling the church that the Gospel demands of us a life worthy of it. We must allow the truth of the Gospel (its doctrine) to inform our lives and relationships (our culture).

Prayer is an essential component of our faith. It's how we access God. Yet, so often we take it for granted and miss out on what a treasured resource it is.

We finish our Advent series by looking at what was, ultimately, the main reason that Jesus came to Earth: to be our substitute. Jesus earned a righteousness we needed and took on the sin that separated us from God, all so that we might have a reconciled relationship with God, the one thing we need above all else.

The season of Advent reminds us what it's like the wait on the Lord with a sense of expectation. Just as Israel expected the Messiah's first coming, we now live expectantly, longing for his second coming

The Incarnation is the greatest and most wonderful mystery in the Universe. In Christ, God himself became like us so that we might become like him. And the implications of the Incarnation are many, and they deserve our attention and reflection.

All of us know what it's like to wait on the Lord—to anticipate his intervention and action. The season of Advent helps us reflect on what it means to wait on the Lord well. It shows us that we can be honest about the brokenness that we experience in this life while at the same time cling to the hope that God will always make good on his promises in the end.

Our guest preacher, Pastor Subash, joins us all the way from Bangalore, India, where he labors as a pastor, church planter, and seminary professor. He shares from a story about David what it means to truly give thanks to the Lord.

Paul's prayer for the church is that we would have hearts filled with Christ—that he would be the driving force behind everything that we do. That means we have to be diligent to allow the Spirit to turn our affections back to Jesus through the means he has ordained to do just that.

Paul grounds his entire ministry—his entire identity!—on one thing: the Gospel. A right understanding of the Gospel and implications is foundational to our role as the church.

At the end of Ephesians 2, Paul makes a twofold statement about the identity of Christians: that we are citizens in God's Kingdom and members of God's household. These identities have enormous implications on our lives, and they are both aimed at the purpose of displaying God's nature and character to the world around us.

Coming off of the wondrous explanation of our salvation in verses 1-9, Paul then explains what that salvation means for our unity with one another. Where there was once a "dividing wall of hostility," there is no more. We are all one in Christ.