Here are some “sound bites” from Sunday morning’s sermon, “God’s Bail-Out Plan” based on Acts 4:8-12:
The economy is in crisis. We got that way by the irresponsible actions of many.
The government has tried/is trying multiple “bailout plans” to rescue the economy.
Two of the bailout plans seem to have failed. The third may not do much either.
Our spiritual condition is in crisis. We got that we because we sin.
We have tried multiple ways to get ourselves out of this mess, but nothing seems to work.
God decided that HE would take charge of the situation and bail us out.
God became Flesh and dwelt among us as Jesus Christ.
Jesus died for us on the cross, taking our punishment upon Him.
If we accept His act on our behalf, we are “bailed out” of our sin debt.
If we do not accept Jesus’ act on the cross, we must face the full wrath of God.
You can listen to the sermon here or by clicking on the audio player below.
You can also listen to Sunday evening’s sermon, “The Church Has Left the Building” based on Matthew 9:10-13 here, or by clicking on the audio player below.
But why? What was the purpose of Jesus? John 3:16 says “God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who has faith in him will have eternal life and never really die.” (CEV)
You see, there was a problem. God loves us, but He HATES sin. There was only one solution: “He made Him who knew no sin (Jesus) to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (I Corinthians 5:21) God punished Jesus for OUR SIN! All of God’s wrath was poured out on Jesus on the cross.
When He came back to life, He provided the way for us to have eternal life, if we believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that God raised Him from the dead, we can be saved from our sins. (Romans 10:9-10)
As we put our presents UNDER the Christmas Tree, God hung His gift to us ON the tree, that is the cross. If we accept that gift, then the punishment for our sin is fulfilled in Jesus. If, however, you do not accept that gift, you will face the full brunt of God’s wrath when you die. That is the “Good News” or the Gospel. That Jesus died in your place so that you don’t have to!
This Christmas, won’t you open your gift from God? The Bible says that “Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved!” (Romans 10:13)
May God bless you and your family for a very Merry Christmas!
Most of us only think about Eric Liddell as ‘the man who wouldn’t run on Sunday’, for whom about the movie “Chariots of Fire” was made. After his running career, he served as a missionary to Shandong Province, China. He was captured during WWII by the Japanese and died in a prison camp in Weifeng, China, in 1945, just five months before the camp’s liberation. In a prisoner exchange bargain, his freedom was arranged by Winston Churchill, but he gave it up and let a pregnant woman leave instead. He was known as the “Flying Scotsman” and by his Chinese name, Li Airui, 李愛銳.
I had the opportunity to visit Weifeng in 2004. I saw the camp and hospital where he died. There is a wonderful monument erected in his memory, but someone has defaced it by scratching out the cross at the top and the Bible emblem at the bottom. During the Cultural Revolution, the cornerstone of the hospital was defaced by the Red Guard. They committed a similar act on the monument to Lottie Moon in Penglai.
One of the most moving monuments was the wall of names. It listed everyone interred by the Japanese. Liddell’s name is, of course, listed as well.
Monument to Eric Liddel in Weifeng Prison Camp
Wall of Names at Weifeng Prison Camp Memorial (I circled Liddell’s name in red)
Hospital where Eric Liddell died in Weifeng Prison Camp in 1945.
Immanuel Southern Baptist Church 