This Sermon Will Light Wet Wood (1Jn5:1-4)

Ever meet someone who called himself a ‘Christian’ but it didn’t quite match who he said he was? Better still — does the Christianity you’ve been taught line up with what Jesus and his Apostles taught us?

Most of us have met yahoos who are so buttoned-down legalistic that if a message of grace ever accidentally slipped past their lips it might crack their plastic smile. Or the clowns on the other end who promise God they’ll give a generous donation from the church if so long as God keeps the feds from figuring out how they REALLY earns his money.

Extreme examples? Sure. But somewhere between those nightmare extremes is the happy middle where God has called us to live as Christians. But since both of those clods would tell you they’re doing Christianity the right way, how do we know WE aren’t just as self-deceived as they are?

Fortunately, there’s a way to know if we’re dialed-in to walking God’s path or if we’re a bubble off level and asking God to bless our rebellion.

You don’t need group therapy, a Ted Talk or an invite-only self-improvement seminar. You need to go back to the Book and see how well your ‘today’ matches up against the Biblical idea.

And the good news IS the Good News. If you see a minor correction or a glaring discrepancy, you can repent, course-correct and make sure that you get to the end of tomorrow having made made some incremental improvements against today.

Repeat that process for enough days in a row and you’ll discover you’ve become a whole other person.

But to do that, we need to flip over to 1 John and find out what that template Jesus left us with really looks like.

And the art book he mentioned at the end? You can find it here:

The PERFECT Gift For The Art Loving Warrior

Dear Fellow Warriors: My new book just dropped, GILES VOL. I: The Biblical Warrior Collection. It’s a full color coffee table compilation of my biblical paintings over the last 20yrs. As you know, I don’t depict the biblical men in this book as sweet bearded women but rough troublemakers who shook all of hell’s habitations. It’s a great gift for the male and female scrappy warriors on your Christmas list. Young kids will love it too. 70+ original paintings. 234 pages with the scriptural inspiration behind each painting. It’s a beautiful book.

RECOMMENDATIONS. “One reason I buy Doug’s priceless art is to make bold statements on the walls of my home. Lively discussions come alive to bring home the Gospel messages behind the brushstrokes gifted to Mr. Giles. Pastor Doug’s creativity in canvassing the Biblical perspective is daring and courageous.”
– Captain Robert Reinecker

For bulk purchases (More than 5 copies) we’re offering 50% off list price of $69.95 if you purchase directly from the publisher. Email Skip Coryell at skipcoryell@hotmail.com for this offer.