Our Desire to Be Saved (Lament)
A sermon by Jeff Beisel preached on May 24th, 2015 at Veritas East as part of the “Gospel in the Psalms” series.
Deacons: Serving the Mission Forward
A sermon by Jeff Beisel, preached on April 12th, 2015 at Veritas East.
Devoted
A sermon by Jeff Beisel, preached on February 15th, 2015 as part of “The Book of Acts” series.
Smyrna
The second church Jesus addresses in Revelation is at Smyrna. In this letter, Jesus offers comfort and assurance to the church through the suffering and affliction they are going to encounter. Their hope and comfort is inheriting the crown of life that Jesus has promised to those who are faithful. This hope is secure because it is offered by the eternally existent God who knows His purpose and that he’ll carry it out.
Misguided Salvation
We really want to be able to identify who is “in” and who is “out”. The Jews asked if someone is circumcised, we may ask if someone is baptized, we may ask if someone has read a specific book or agrees with a certain theology, and there are so many other things we could ask. But is that the point? Is our salvation decided by these actions or by instructing others to do these things? Or is salvation a matter of the heart—a transformation that comes by a work of the Holy Spirit—compelling us to act and teach and learn?
Joyful Exile: A Christian Life
One of our deacons, Jeff Beisel, opens to us Peter’s response to the church’s sufferings: remember the Gospel. How is this helpful? How can remembering a story from 2,000 years ago possibly soothe the soul of a parent who lost their baby to cancer? The Gospel shows us our greater inheritance. The Gospel shows us that our sufferings aren’t meaningless. The Gospel shows us that our trials aren’t a time to lament God’s absence, but rather to rejoice that we have the opportunity to identify with God in our loss and to do work to advance His Kingdom through it.