Several years ago I was asked to speak to a small group of leaders on the topic of Christian Leadership. In this talk I was asked to share my top five thoughts. Here is a summary…
The talk emphasizes that Christian leadership extends beyond mere influence, highlighting the importance of a close relationship with God, a servant heart, and character integrity. Effective leaders must care for their community and commit to making disciples, following Jesus’ teachings to foster spiritual growth and fulfill the Great Commission in their ministry.
Would you like to find salvation and peace with God? If we are thinking about God and His plan for our salvation, it is important to look at His book – the Bible.
When the Bible talks about salvation it touches on two main areas.
Being rescued from the penalties of sin.
Being brought in to right relationship with God.
In the Bible we see that when Jesus came and died on the cross. He came to pay the price for our sin. He took the punishment that was rightfully ours.
Jesus’ death opened the way for us to be forgiven of our sin and to be brought back into a right relationship with God. In a future tense it means that those those who put their faith and trust in Jesus will spend eternity with God.
The Bible tells us that salvation is found in Jesus Christ and He is the way to the Father in heaven.
Acts 4:12, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”
John 14:6 says, “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”.
Each of us must respond personally to God’s plan for our salvation. God played His part by giving His Son to die on the cross for us to pay the price for our sin. Our part is to receive what Jesus has done for us. God requires us to do three things to find salvation.
They can be described as the A, B, C of salvation –
A – Admit and Ask
We need to admit to God that we have sinned and fallen short of His standards and to ask for His forgiveness.
The Bible says…
Romans 3:23-24 – For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
1 John 1:9-10 – If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.
When we admit to God that we have sinned and not fully followed Him or His ways, it is like a huge weight is lifted from our shoulders. We can know that we are right with God and our sins are forgiven.
B – Believe and Become
We need to believe in Jesus Christ, that He is the Son of God and that He died on the cross for our sin.
The Bible says…
John 3:16 – For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 1:12 – Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.
When we believe in Jesus and what He has done for us, we become God’s children and have the promise of eternal life with Him. We can know in this life that our eternal destiny is sorted out by God. God promises us this in the Bible.
C – Call and Confess.
We need to call on Jesus to save us and we need to confess Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour.
The Bible says…
Romans 10:13 – Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
Romans 10:9-10 – That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.
The final step in the ABC of salvation is to call and confess. We call out to Jesus to save us and we confess Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. This means we are trusting Jesus to save us from our sin (our Saviour) and we are asking Him to be our King and ruler of our life (our Lord).
Prayer to find salvation
Responding to God is as simple as praying a short prayer that expresses our thanks for what He has done, confessing your sin and asking Jesus to be our Lord and Saviour. You can pray this prayer right now.
Heavenly Father, I thank You that Jesus came and died on the cross for my sin. Right now I ask for Your forgiveness for all of the wrong things I have done in my life. Jesus, I believe You are the Son of God, that You died on the cross for my sin and that God raised you from the dead. Right now I surrender my life to You and I ask you to be my Lord and Saviour. Please guide me and lead me in all I do. Help me to live for Your Kingdom by the power of Your Holy Spirit. Amen.
For communion today I want to read a few verses from 1 Corinthians 11. This is where the Apostle Paul tells the believers at Corinth to have the right attitude when taking communion. As they were a mix of cultures and different religions in the past they needed to focus on the right things when taking the Lord’s Supper.
23 For I pass on to you what I received from the Lord Himself. On the night when He was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread 24 and gave thanks to God for it. Then He broke it in pieces and said, “This is My body, which is given for you. Do this to remember Me.” 25 In the same way, He took the cup of wine after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant between God and His people–an agreement confirmed with My blood. Do this to remember Me as often as you drink it.” 26 For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until He comes again. 27 So anyone who eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily is guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup. 29 For if you eat the bread or drink the cup without honoring the body of Christ, you are eating and drinking God’s judgment upon yourself.
In this passage there are three main ideas.
1. A past remembrance – In verses 23-25 Paul repeated Jesus’ words when he said this is my body and my blood. It is a call for us to remember Jesus’ sacrifice and Jesus’ death on the cross for us. It is a reminder to focus on the One who paid the price for our sin. The One who died in our place to purchase eternal life for us all.
2. A present reflection – Verse 28 calls for us to examine ourselves. The people in Corinth were using the Lord’s Supper to fill up. Some were over eating, others were getting drunk. Paul called them to focus – on Jesus and their relationship with Him. As Christians, we can use this time to tell Jesus how thankful we are and how much we love Him. We can also use it examine ourselves and confess any things we have done wrong.
3. A future hope – In verse 26 it looks forward when it says, “For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until He comes again”. Our great hope as Christians is Jesus coming back. He has gone to prepare a place for us. He is coming back so we can be with the Him forever.
So, as we take the bread and the cup this morning. Let us remember Jesus death for us. Let us examine ourselves. And let us look to the future with hope of the Lord’s return.
When I was at Bible College one of the assignments I had to do was about the four main groups of people that were around when Jesus walked the earth. This was to give us an idea of what life was like at that time and to give us a context for Jesus’ words.
The four main groups we have to look at were the Pharisees, Saducees, Essenes and Zealots. Here’s a very brief rundown of each group…
Pharisees – very strict sect who followed the law of Moses and had over 600 laws to guide their daily lives. They spent a lot of time interpreting the laws and trying to apply them to their everyday lives. They believed Israel was a Kingdom of Priests and a Holy Nation and thought that if all of Israel could keep the law for one day, then the Messiah would come. Jesus spoke out against them because they were more interested in keeping the law than showing compassion to those around them and looking good on the outside.
Sadducees – they also followed the law of Moses but rejected many of the oral traditional laws that the Pharisees held. Their main focus was the Temple and Temple activities. They did not believe in an afterlife or future judgement. They believed that God did not intervene in the affairs of men and their motto was if it is to be, it is up to me. Because of this they survived by cooperating with the Roman authorities which gave them much power in the Jewish religion. To be a Saducee you must be of priestly heritage. The Saducees were the main teachers in the Temple.
Essenes – this group of people saw themselves as the only people who worshipped the true faith and that they were the true remnant of Israel. They believe all others had left the true teachings behind and the Temple had been corrupted. Because of this they separated themselves in their own communities and lived a very strict monastic lifestyle. They believed that God would come and judge the rest of the Jews and the world and vindicate their beliefs about God and true religion. They avoided all unnecessary contact with non-Essenes.
Zealots – they were part of the Jewish patriotic party and opposed the Roman occupation of the region at all costs. Their motto was we will have no king, but God. Their goal was a land truly free from Gentile defilement, just as God had originally intended according to them. They sometimes used violence to bring their cause to pass. Some of the community of Jews saw them as bandits, but they saw themselves freedom fighters.
The interesting thing about this assignment and it really helped me to understand life in New Testament times a little bit better. It gave me a window in to religious life at the time that Jesus walked the earth.
It also helped me to understand people (and myself) today too. Many people of faith still live out their faith in a way similar to these groups. Some focus on the Bible like the Pharisees. For some it is all about church like the Sadducees. Some separate themselves like the Essenes. While others are like the Zealots and have no king but God.
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