Christian conversion is more than a change of religion or joining a church; it is a spiritual awakening brought about by the Holy Spirit. This awakening involves a conviction of sin, a turning to Christ as Saviour, and receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit. The process of conversion is often contested by Satan, but Christ intercedes on our behalf. True conversion results in a transformed life, described in Scripture as being 'snatched from the burning'. The need for genuine conversion applies not only to individuals but also to entire communities and nations.
Jesus is the central focus for understanding Scripture, as illustrated by the two disciples walking on the Road to Emmaus and being tutored by the Risen Christ. The Bible is best read through a Christ-centred lens. This hermeneutical approach can reignite faith and deepen biblical understanding. The preacher shares personal experiences and historical anecdotes to illustrate the transformative power of allowing Christ to interpret Scripture, encouraging listeners to prioritise this method in their own study and church life.
"In our church we have been talking about in the morning services the old covenant led by Moses the law and the new covenant Led by Jesus and the biblical statement. That's The law came by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ This morning particularly we are looking at the word grace and the fact that grace is when God pours out His love love and does something for you totally undeserved. That's his grace."
"I don't know whether you're aware of the fact that Jesus sees you as not necessarily able to take what he really wants to tell you. Are you aware of the fact that the Bible, in all of its teaching, examples what the theologians now call progressive revelation. And progressive revelation is nothing to do with contradicting some earlier truth and saying it was wrong. It's not correcting things. But it is the fact that God always has the problem with humanity that we humanity can't take in all the things he'd want to tell us."
"Now those Old Covenant, Old Testament, New Covenant, New Testament are very much connected but they're not exactly the same meanings. The Old Testament contains the Old Covenant but also has many promises of the coming New Covenant which actually happens in the New Testament though there are plenty of prophecies in the Old Testament of those coming days. And up on the screen we have from Joel a prophecy which is a very important prophecy about how there's going to come a change in what God is doing by his spirit. And actually it is the change from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant. And my talk this morning is about that difference between the Old and the New Covenants and some of the things that we can learn about the fact that we're in the New Covenant in the fulfilment of many of the promises of the Old."
"Let's change the powerful name to Isaiah in chapter 9 verse 6. And we want to talk about the name of Jesus this morning. As a matter of fact, if you read through the scriptures, you'll find there's quite a number of names that are given to Jesus. Some of them are titles. Some of them are descriptors of the role that he's in and also of his personhood. Sometimes the name is used to bring out the character of a person. And so in Isaiah chapter 9 and verse 6, we have a mention of some of the names of Jesus."
"It's talking about things that are not physical, but they're more in the realm of existence, but not necessarily something with your eyes to see. But it's also what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches that this world is made up of more things than just the ones that can be analysed by the professors at university. This world is made up by more than all the principles of education. And there's more than the learning to be done, that is good learning."
Bible Text: Jeremiah 10:10, Isaiah 44:6, Philippians 2:11, John 1:1 | Speaker: Rev Dr Jim Gibson
Bible Text: Ephesians 4:30-32, Isaiah 63:10, Luke 3:21-22, Acts 13:1-4, Matthew 12:31-32, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-22 | Speaker: Rev Dr Jim Gibson | Series: Ephesians