Reflection from my message today at NRN - Our Greatest Need

T oday was an awesome day of worship and fellowship at North Raleigh Church of the Nazarene.  Through out the week I have been praying with great expectation about our time together.  I want to express my deepest appreciation to Elvin Barwick, who I fondly refer to as the Pit Master of NRN! His gift to the church and his labor of love for the Lord is a big part of what makes today such a special day for us. 

Last Sunday I shared that the musical group scheduled to be with us for today had cancelled.  It has truly been a God- thing... that Jonathan and Emily Martin have been with us today! 






God has placed an important message upon my heart for today.  The sermon has been preached and the responses have been noted.  I trust several gave their heart to the Lord today and we welcome them into the family of God!   Here are the notes from my message
 I preached today:

If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent us an educator.
If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist.
If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist.
If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent us an entertainer.
But our greatest need was forgiveness, so God sent us a Savior.

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.                                                       1 Corinthians 1:18

For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God freely and graciously declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.                                                   Romans 3:23-24 NLT

When we sin:

        We procure a DEBT

        We commit a CRIME against God’s law

        We VIOLATE our relationship with God

We need a Savior!

 The person who is lost in a desert or jungle, or who is adrift on a raft in the ocean, needs to be found and rescued. The starving man needs food; the condemned prisoner needs pardon. The person who has been poisoned needs to be cured. Although these needs are vital, you have an even greater one. You are much more than a body. You have a spiritual nature, a soul. Your soul is the spring of real life in you. Without God, though, it is ruined. You are like a person dying of thirst. Life and health for your soul are more important than the most urgent need of your body.

Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned...                                   Romans 5:12

The Bible teaches us that our soul is lost, starving, deathly sick, and condemned to die. 

We need a Savior to find, feed, cure, and pardon him.

    A Savior is your greatest need because you can't save yourself.

· Having Christian parents won't save you.

· Being a church member won't save you.

· Trying to be good won't save you.

· Without a Savior, you can't be saved.

This is the gospel:

   Jesus paid my DEBT

   God, the Father ACCEPTED the payment!

At the Cross:

        My GUILT            was transferred to Christ.

        His GRACE          was transferred to me.

For the grace of God has been revealed, bringing salvation to all people. And we are instructed to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures. We should live in this evil world with wisdom, righteousness, and devotion to God, while we look forward with hope to that wonderful day when the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be revealed.   He gave his life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds.              Titus 2:11-14 NLT

When I repent of sin, I am assured by God that Christ himself has already dealt with the guilt of it. At the cross the guilt of that offense was transferred to Christ. He took that sin—the full, objective, legal guilt of it—upon himself to such an extent that my sin became his sin.

Jesus Christ took every hateful thought and adulterous glance and spiteful word and every other sin upon himself. He took that sin to the cross and suffered God’s wrath against it to the point that justice was satisfied. This means that the offense has been truly and fully paid for. It is gone. I am no longer guilty before God! 

But Christ did more than that. Not only did he take away my guilt, but he also gave me his righteousness. This is the great exchange of the gospel that my sin was transferred to him and his righteousness was transferred to me. I am not only not sinful, but I am actually righteous. Because the guilt of the offense is gone the shame is gone as well. Because that sin is no longer my own, the shame is no longer my own.

“I—yes, I alone—will blot out your sins for my own sake and will never think of them again.                                                                                               Isaiah 43:25