Praising God
Not only for their temporal mercies and enjoyments of life, which they partook of in so delightful and comfortable a manner; but for their spiritual mercies, that the Lord had been pleased to call them by his grace, and reveal Christ to them, and pardon them who had been such vile sinners, give them a name, and a place in his house, and favour them with the ordinances of it, and such agreeable and delightful company as the saints were, they had fellowship with:
having favour with all the people;
they not only behaved with such true and sincere love towards one another in their church state, but with so much wisdom, courteousness, and affability towards them that were without, and walked so becoming the profession they made, that they gained the good will of the generality of the people:
and the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved:
partly by the conversation of these young converts, and chiefly by the ministry of the word, many souls were won and gained to Christ, were wrought upon, and converted, whose hearts the Lord inclined to give up themselves to the church, and walk with them in all the ordinances and commandments of the Lord; and these were such whom God had chosen to salvation by Jesus Christ, and whom he had redeemed by his precious blood, and who were now regenerated and sanctified by the Spirit of God, and so should certainly be saved; which is not always the case of persons added to churches, many of whom have not the root of the matter in them, and so fall away; but is of those who are added by the Lord, for there is a difference between being added by the Lord, and being added by men.
The Bible instructs us to be involved in worship physically and emotionally. It can include music and our voices, but Skip explains in the message “Hands Up, Face Down” that it is an acknowledgement of who God is and what He has done.
Worship is fundamental to who we are as Christians. The worship of God is the reason we gather together as the church, and it is the primary thing we will be doing in heaven.
The work of evangelism is really God’s work. He uses people to reach out to the lost, but ultimately He's the one who does the work. In the message “Soul Winning,” Skip explains that God is the one who calls and the one who saves.
Jesus said He would build His church, but how does that happen? In the message “Soul Winning,” Skip explains that it happens by the work of evangelism—when believers proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ and people respond to it.
Evangelism is not a sporadic event; it’s a daily, lifelong event—and a part of our mission. As Skip wraps up the message “To the World,” we find out what happens when the called ones become the sent ones.
The word gospel means good news—and to the Christian, the gospel of Jesus Christ is the best news. For some, however, it is the best-kept secret.
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