Speaker: Bill Simpson

Only through the truth of the Gospel can we undo years of lies, undo the damage and wrong thinking about who we are, what we’ve been created to be, and replace it with what we’ve been promised through Christ Jesus.

The Gospel is the power of God in your life—the way God reverses the corruption of sin & repels the power of Satan from you. It’s the antidote that keeps death from eroding your life & the shield that keeps Satan from manipulating it. Paul is urging the Ephesians to take the things he taught them about God and cover every part of them with it … The way we keep the corrupting influence of the enemy out of our lives is by establishing every part of our life—our hopes, dreams, failures, worries, fears, relationships, disappointments—on the Gospel. The flip side is that whatever part of you is not established in the Gospel—whatever part is not saturated in the Gospel is subject to manipulation of the enemy against you.

You won’t coast your way to spiritual victory… If you don’t have a plan, you are not setting priorities, choosing relationships & growing intentionally… you’re dead. We are either killing sin or being killed by it.

We are created for God, and when we are one with God, our hearts are satisfied & filled. When we rejected God, we lost that essential, life-giving, soul-satisfying relationship. We found that our souls were starving; we felt naked. We know we’re missing something. We may not even realize what it is, or how we got to this place, but we know we’re searching for something.

Many feel unfulfilled and bored spiritually because they’ve never experienced the power of Christ surging through them.
When we are united in the body, we beautifully reflect the unity of God to a world that is divided on so many things.

You don’t have to quit your job, but you’re probably going to have to quit something. You don’t have to leave the country, but you will have to leave your comfort zone. You don’t have to give all your money away, but you’re probably going to have to start giving more than you currently give. And I hope this bothers you until you do something because you have no idea what hangs in the balance of your decision to embrace the burden that God has placed in your heart. And the only way to discover what hangs in the balance is to decide that it’s not just going to be vertical from now on. You’re going horizontal. You’re going to find a way to actively love the people who are in the situation that breaks your heart, because as Jesus taught in unmistakable terms, it is doing, not believing, that makes the difference. It is doing, not simply believing the changes the world.

Whoever devotes themselves to themselves will have nothing but themselves to show for themselves. But if you devote yourself to more than yourself, you will have more than yourself to show for yourself.

You have no idea what hangs in the balance of your decision to embrace the burden God has put in your heart.

The world cannot take away what the world cannot give. The world cannot take away what it cannot give to us. The world cannot take away deep rich promises because the world cannot give deep rich promises. The world can’t take away your security, the world can’t take away your peace because the world cannot give security, and the world cannot give peace. It can’t take away this hope that serves as an anchor for our souls, because this world was never designed to give us hope. Not that kind of hope. The world can’t take away what the world can’t give. And you can’t lose what only Jesus gives. He gives life, you can’t lose it. Love, freedom, joy, salvation, you can’t lose it. He gives peace. He gives promises you can’t lose. He gives assurance you cannot lose. What Jesus gives Jesus, the Rescuer of His people, gives hope. The world can’t take that away. What the world can’t give, and you can’t lose only Jesus gives. This is the story of Christmas, the hope of Christmas. It’s not a feeling. It’s not a desire. Hope is a person. He is Jesus the Rescuer, the Savior of His people.