To preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, making disciples to advance the Kingdom of God

Category: Wednesday Evening Service

1 Thessalonians Session 3 – Pastor Chris Black

Last time we went through chapters 3 and 4 which included instructions in sanctification. Sanctification is the about living in a manner that pleases God. Paul stated that these commands came from Jesus Christ himself. He touched on three main areas in a Christian’s life – purity, honesty, and charity and he reveals the rapture of the church and it’s order. When Christ appears, the dead in Christ rise first and the living saints are then translated, and we all meet the Lord in the air to never be separated again. We are instructed to comfort one another with this knowledge.

1 Thessalonians Session 2 – Pastor Chris Black

Last week we went through the first two chapters of this first epistle to the Thessalonians. This letter begins much more personally than Galatians or Colossians. Paul recalls his missionary journey there and how they received the gospel. That the preaching came in power, and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance. He wrote of his great love for them and how he had tried to come back to them but was hindered. He also wrote of their behavior among them…how that they went above and beyond to not be a burden to them and to be gentle and nurturing.

1 Thessalonians Session 1 – Pastor Chris Black

: It was written by the Apostle Paul in 50-51 AD. It’s one of the earliest writings of the New Testament being within 20 years of Christ’s resurrection. Thessalonica is in Greece (called Macedonia in scripture). Paul visited there during his second missionary journey and was the founder of the church there. He had a great love for these people that he expresses in the letter. He wrote the letter to encourage these people because they were suffering afflictions from the people around them, as well as instruct them about the second coming of Christ. Most of his epistles start out doctrinal then move to practical teaching, this letter starts out personal then moves on to practical instructions.

Colossians Chapter 4 – Final Session – Pastor Chris Black

Last week we went through chapter 3 which began the practical part of the letter. The first two chapters were doctrinal and the last two chapters are the instructions for putting it into practical living. Paul talked about a different point of view Colossians 3:1-2 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. He gave instructions about mortifying the deeds of the flesh and how to live as a new creature in Christ. He gave the order of the Christian home as well as for servants and masters.

Colossians Chapter 3 – Pastor Chris Black

Last week we studied chapter 2 which ends the doctrinal part of the letter. Paul warns them of being robbed by worldly philosophers and religious occultists. He then goes
through what believing the gospel really does for a person, circumcision made without hands, buried and raised with Christ in baptism, having all trespasses forgiven and the handwriting of ordinances blotted out and nailed to his cross. We are now not of this world so we don’t need to be subject to the regulations of the world. We now enter into the practical part of the letter – how do we apply what we’ve learned?

Colossians Chapter 2 – Pastor Chris Black

Last week we went through an introduction to the epistle to the Colossians. We went through why this letter was written and the reasons for Paul writing it. The Colossians were converted to Christ through the ministry of Epaphras and Paul had never seen these people before, yet he prayed consistently for them. The Colossians had been exposed to the Gnostics which were people that believed in Jewish rituals and mysticism, as well as Greek philosophy. They believed Jesus Christ to be an emanation that appeared from time to time to his followers like a spirit guide and not the Son of God in flesh. They worshiped and sought the direction of angels as well as hidden wisdom. Paul exalts the deity of and the eternality of Jesus Christ in this letter more than any of his other writings.

Colossians Chapter 1 – Pastor Chris Black

…Paul wrote this letter both to encourage these people that are young in faith and to instruct them against heresies that had been introduced to them by Gnostics. The Gnostics were a mixture of Jewish legalism and Greek hidden knowledge seekers with a dab of Christianity on top. They majored in hidden knowledge for salvation that was only made known to a few. They didn’t believe that Jesus had a physical body but was an emanation that appeared to his disciples to reveal hidden knowledge. They also did not believe in the physical resurrection of Christ but saw it as a spiritual event.

Galatians Chapter 5 – Walkthrough

Last time we went through Chapter 4 where Paul builds on the idea that the law did not give anyone sonship status but treated everyone as slaves and infants. Everyone that broke the law at any point fell under its curse. Jesus Christ died under the law to redeem us from the curse of the law and lift us above it through the adoption of sons. Under grace we are the sons of God and he illustrates this point through the examples of Abraham’s marriages to Hagar and Sarah. The women represent the covenants (law and grace) and the sons represent what they produced – a slave and a son. Ishmael was a product of the flesh and Isaac was the child of promise. In Christ, we are as Isaac was…children of promise.

Galatians Chapter 4

Last time we went through chapter 3 where Paul asks the question “The things that
have begun in the Spirit, can they now be completed by the flesh?” He then goes on to explain the role that the law played and it’s intent. It’s purpose was to drive us to faith in Christ, not to justify anyone. The legalists were focused on taking these New Testament Christians back to Moses, but Paul took them even further back to Abraham…showing that Abraham was justified by believing the promises of God. All those who have exercised faith in Christ for salvation are the spiritual children of Abraham.

Walkthrough Galatians Chapter 3 – May 14, 2025

Last time we went through chapter 2 of which Paul tells of his two defenses of the gospel(once in Jerusalem and once in Antioch). In Jerusalem, he recounts how he took Barnabas and Titus with him and preached the gospel in private to the leaders of the Jerusalem church. False brethren infiltrated one of the meetings and pressed Titus to be circumcised and tried to bring them all under bondage. Paul said that they didn’t suffer them even for an hour that the truth of the gospel might stand which is justification by faith alone in Christ alone.