Good News Baptist Church, Surulere - Audio Podcast

Ephesians 2:8-10 - Ephesians 2:8-10 is one of the great evangelistic summaries of the Bible. It answers for every human being two basic questions—namely, how to be saved and the result of being saved. One, these verses tell a man how to be saved. First, Man is saved by God’s grace (v. 8-9). Grace means the favor and kindness of God, but there is a uniqueness about God's favor and kindness. His favor and kindness are given despite the fact that it is undeserved and unmerited. God has given His grace to men despite their cursing Him; rejecting Him; and rebelling against Him. When Jesus Christ hung upon the cross, He was taking our sins upon Himself and bearing the punishment for our sins. Jesus Christ took our penalty and condemnation upon Himself. He died for us—in our place, in our stead, as our substitute. This is the grace of God—God's grace that gave the greatest gift possible to men—the gift of His Son to save the world.

Ephesians 2:1-10 - In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul, using the believers as an example, demonstrated why and how every human being can experience divine elevation from spiritual death to new life in Christ. First, he described the kind of life the believer lived before conversion.

Psalm 75:6-7 - To “elevate” means “to raise somebody or something to a higher place or rank” The word “elevation” means “the process of elevating something or somebody”. Promotion is another word that is often used in place of elevation. It means the lifting up of someone from a lower position to a higher position with all the privileges that pertain to this higher position. God does not leave us in any doubt concerning the source of elevation. The Bible says that it is God, and God alone, that can exalt or promote a man. Nobody can become anything without the permission of God.

Psalm 75:6-7 - By elevation, we mean “the action or fact of raising or being raised to a higher or more important level, state, or position. Synonyms of the word include promotion, upgrading, advancement, advance, preferment, aggrandizement, move up, and step up. Elevation or promotion is a legitimate desire of every human being. There is nothing wrong about wanting to be the head, and not the tail. Unfortunately, the way some people pursue this desire leaves much to be desired.

Romans 15:14-19 - God gives us grace to be saved, grace to live, and grace to serve. To see this truth, we need to remember that grace is an active attribute of God. It expresses his powering us, giving us both the desire and the dynamic to do things his way (Phil 2:13). This is how we have grace for serving. His power is at work in us, giving us the desire and power to serve his way.

Isaiah 59:19 -

2 Corinthians 9:6-11 -

Genesis 41:33-44 -

Psalm 75:6-7 -

Exodus 9:1-7 -

Luke 2:1-14 -

Luke 2:6 - The Bible is full of symbols and to fully understand them, there is the need to pay attention to these symbols. These include: symbolic actions, symbolic words, symbolic places, symbolic events, and symbolic personalities or characters. Since this is Christmas, when we remember and celebrate the birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, one of the prominent symbolic places I feel strongly that we need to pay attention to is the Manger.

Matthew 1:1-17 - Genealogy, also known as family history, is the study of families and the tracing of their lineages and history. The genealogy of our Lord Jesus Christ by Matthew was written for a number of reasons. One, it shows Jesus to be the legal heir to the throne of David (v.1-2). Matthew traces the roots of Jesus Christ in order to prove that He is the promised Messiah.

Micah 5:1-15 - One of the greatest promises ever made to the human race is given in the prophecy here in Micah, verse two: it is the birth of the Messiah, the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. Looking back on this prophecy from the time of Jesus’ death to this present day, we can see the incredible number of details so clearly and accurately predicted. Micah first prophesied that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:1-2). But before the coming of the Saviour, the nation of Judah would be conquered. Its capital city, Jerusalem, would be besieged by the Babylonians and all its people exiled. Despite the grim prophecy in verse one, all was not lost. A Saviour was coming and would be born in the city of Bethlehem.

Philippians 2:1-4 - The propensity to think only of ourselves is one of the causes of conflicts at family, church, and societal levels. It destroys the unity of the family, the body of Christ, and the nation. Realizing the contention that selfish attitudes cause within the church, Paul writes from prison exhorting the Philippians believers on how to combat their selfishness. In the first place, to repel a selfish spirit, we must remember the blessings we have received because of our union in Christ. One, we are to remember how Christ encourages us. Two, we are to remember how Christ embraces us. Three, we are to remember how Christ includes us. Four, we are to remember how Christ enhances us.

Esther 4:1-17 - Last week, we saw how Haman’s extreme prejudice, hatred, and discrimination against the Jews led him to influence King Xerxes to accede to his request to destroy them. To that end, the king authorized him to issue a Decree of Extermination, and send it to all the provinces, for their destruction. However, the Jews avoided the fate that had been decreed for them. We can draw biblical principles from the way it happened that could guide us today. In the first place, the selfless and courageous action of some people from the persecuted group is required. God met the Jews’ desperate need for an intercessor, a deliverer, and a savior through the obedience and courage of Esther. God has a way of preparing people ahead of time to play the role of saviours or deliverers of their people from the hands of their enemies. Such people often occupy positions that give them the opportunity to know what is being planned against their people, and to do something about it. Unfortunately, some of the

Esther 3:1-15 - Prejudice and discrimination are serious problems within every society. The attempt by Haman, a man filled with extreme prejudice and bitter hatred toward the Jewish race, to exterminate the Jews is the basic plot of the book of Esther. This event is recorded in the Bible for all generations to remember and guard against.

Psalm 100:1-5 -

Luke 1:5-14 - The year is running to the end, and more importantly we are entering the month of thanksgiving. Everybody is counting their blessings in the year. Testimonies are being prepared to prove God’s goodness and faithfulness. To some people there can’t be a better year. Some made advancement in business, some got a wholesome promotion. To some it is the year of opened doors. Indeed, to some it’s been a year of watershed achievement. Whereas, for some people they could not explain why life has been so miserable and unfair to them; heaven seems to be cast in iron. The shame and reproach of some people seem to be so obvious and they feel all eyes are on them. But wait before you begin to heap a mountain of guilt upon yourself and to give God names that can never be associated with His character.

Acts 3:1-9 - As the year draws to a close and we begin to seek the face of God on what will be our theme for 2019, God still wants us to look at our theme for this year from another perspective. Truly, 2018 has been our year of complete freedom in Christ. Each and every one of us has experienced freedom in many areas of our lives. However, it is not enough to have experienced freedom in Christ; He also desires that we become agents of freedom. That is, becoming instruments of freedom in the hand of our God to bring about the liberation of others from bondage of sin, sickness, pain, poverty, emotional disorder and other limitations that have held them bound. Our text gives us insight on how to do this. In our text, three important issues could be identified, the crippled man, his environment or location and John and Peter, whom the Lord used to set the man free and bring about his healing. Let’s look closely at each of these three things.