Fundamental Christianity

  The miracle of salvation    Matthew 8 v1-4 In Matthew 5-7, we have the teachings of Jesus; in chapters 8-9 we have His miracles of which there are 10.   I want to speak to you today of the miracle of salvation as illustrated in the miracles of Jesus, in particular the cleansing of the leper.   We should never forget what we were before God saved us; the Lord spoke through Isaiah the prophet in chapter 51 v1, “ ”Hearken to me ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord: look unto the rock from whence ye are hewn and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged .”   The apostle Paul never forgot what he was saved from-1 st Timothy 1v13 “..who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious (a violent bully). ”   He wrote to the Ephesians to remind them what they once were;   Ephesians 2v2 and v3 “in time past”, or “once”, what you were individually, before God intervened in mercy.   What they were was “dead in  ...

Christianity is not a creed, nor a doctrine, nor a religion; it is fundamentally a person. and that person is Jesus Christ.  You can have Buddhism without Buddha; Islam without Mohammed; but there is no Christianity without Christ-He is Christianity, and this fact pervades the whole of scripture.  He is the subject of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation and in all sections of the book-Luke 24v27 and 44-45.  Without Christ there is no existence of anything-John 1v3; apart from Him even disciples can do nothing-John 15v5; apart from Him the human race is doomed-John 3v36.  He is the founder, the centre and the circumference of Christianity.  The phrase "in Christ", or "in Him" is used hundreds of times in the New Testament, and separates the saved from the lost.  In the great epistle about the church-Ephesians, this is found 27 times.  The whole world is divided into two groups, those in Christ, and those not; it really is as fundamental as that.  ...

                                               Growing up in Christ "He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens that He might fill all things,  And He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers: for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.  Till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ"     Ephesians 4v10-13. The unity of the Spirit is a fact, a done deal in modern parlance.  "One body and one Spirit, even as we are called in one hope of our calling."  As we saw before, we are not called to create it, for such a thing is beyond human ability, we are simply asked to guard it.  In Chr...

  "And He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers: for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: till we all come in the unity of the faith , and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ."    Ephesians 4v11-13 The word unity only occurs in Ephesians 4, and means unanimity, oneness of mind, thought, and purpose.  There are two aspects of this unity--the unity of the Spirit(v3) and the unity of the the faith(v13).   The unity of the Spirit is a fact, it is inviolable, unbreakable, the Divine side of our salvation.  We are not asked to make it, we are simply asked to keep it (guard it with military might).  We did not and could not create it but we are asked to observe it in all that we do.  The reality of this, that the Spirit has bound all believers together in vita...

      FUNDAMENTAL CHRISTIANITY  There is an ever present danger, especially in times of rank church divisions, such as exists in these modern times, to present the truth of Christ in a sectarian way, thus diminishing the keen edge of Christian doctrine.  Such an approach does not enhance the message which is most important from any viewpoint, and has the effect of stagnation in a world which does not seek God.  There must be a return to the radical message of the early church, which turned the world upside down, traversing the globe in just 30 short years.  The gospel(God's good news to the world) transcends petty differences to establish bedrock principles on which lost people can place their trust for eternity.  This is the purpose of this series, to uncover fundamental truth that can be absorbed by all for the better of the individual, and the society where they live, and the world as a whole. The Church, which ought to be an oasis in the deser...