Religion brings death. New birth in Christ brings life. Religion is what human beings do to try to climb up to God, and that is a hopeless endeavor. It kills the soul. Faith in Jesus Christ is not something we do. It is pure gift from God. Faith in Jesus Christ
requires a complete conversion of who we are. Jesus compares it to being born all over again. Ezekiel compares it to having a heart transplant. In a number of places in the Bible, receiving faith is like being blind and receiving the miracle of sight.
In this sermon, we will meditate on what it means to be born of God, to start a new life in Christ Jesus.
Read 1 John 2:28-3:3.
Then listen to “The Spirit of Religion vs. the New Life in Christ.”
©2012 Gary A. Chorpenning; all rights reserved.
- Sermon #24 – The God Who Makes Himself Known: 1 John 1:1-4 (gachorpenning.wordpress.com)
- Sermon #25 — Light and Life–1 John 1:5-10 (gachorpenning.wordpress.com)
- Sermon #26 — Knowing God Through Jesus — 1 John 2:1-6 (gachorpenning.wordpress.com)
- Sermon #27 — Loving Like Jesus — 1 John 2:7-11 (gachorpenning.wordpress.com)
- Sermon #28 — Getting Rooted and Grounded in “Forever” — 1 John 2:12-17 (gachorpenning.wordpress.com)
- Sermon #29 – True Truth, Real Reality, and Discipleship – 1 John 2:18-25 (& Psalm 19) (gachorpenning.wordpress.com)
- Sermon #30 — Baptism with the Holy Spirit — 1 John 2:26-28 (gachorpenning.wordpress)
Gary Chorpenning's Notebooks 
The dandelion in this picture reminds me of the term diaspora and
Mark 4 The Parable of the Growing Seed
26 He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. 27 Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 28 All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. 29 As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”
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