“Appearances Can Be Deceiving” 2 Cor. 5:16-17; Col. 1:15-20. A sermon preached on the weekend of February 6-7 2016 at the First Presbyterian Church of Bethlehem, PA. This video was recorded at the 9:00am Contemporary Service, one of the five weekend services at which the sermon was preached.
A brief introduction to the Reformed Doctrine of Election. In this video I introduce the Biblical idea that God both foreknows (knows ahead of time) and foreordains (chooses ahead of time) those who will come to saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. This choice (or election) is based exclusively on God’s internal decision to do so–or to pass over others–and not related to any merit or goodness in the individual. Election is both an individual experience and a corporate experience: those who are elect are called “the church” in the New Testament.
A brief introduction to the Reformed understanding of discipleship. In this video I introduce the Biblical idea that Reformed Christian discipleship makes use of the means of grace (the Word, the Sacraments, and prayer)–those things that God has given to us as conduits for His sustaining grace to come into our lives–and the Law–the decalogue–as a guide not only to show us God’s perfections, our need for a savior, but also to show us what God requires of us (how we should live as Christians).
Jeff Gissing 