Atlantic Gospel Chapel Messages

As Paul continues his letter to the church in Thessalonica, he calls to mind the sufferings this young church endured at the hands of their own countrymen, just as the churches in Judea suffered at the hands of their Jewish kinsmen.  Because of such suffering, Paul feared this young church might fall away.  This deep concern caused him to send Timothy from Athens into Thessalonica to see how they fared.  And the news coming from this church couldn't give Paul any more joy.  Rather than faltering, this church was vibrant and thriving; an example to the churches in Greece.
Paul, in his letter, also answers his critics.  In today's lesson we see what appears to be a charge that he was insincere in regards to his concern for this church.  Paul's response gives us three lessons for the believer today:
The Destiny of the Believer
The Duty of the Believer
And the Hope of the Believer
Thank you for listening to today's lesson.  May you be encouraged through the teaching of God's Word.

Throughout the book of Acts, we have seen growth of the church, which is then met by persecution.  And as the persecution grew, the church also grew.  When Stephen was martyred with Saul's approval, the church spread throughout Judea and into the surrounding areas.  With Saul's conversion, this persecution eased up a bit.
But then Herod Agrippa comes onto the scene.  Acts 12 opens with the arrest and execution of James, the brother of John; the firs apostle to be martyred.  Seeing how this pleased the Jews, Herod has Peter arrested, with the intention of executing him also.  This was a change from persecution at the hands of the Jewish authorities, to now persecution coming from the secular authorities.
And as persecution came, where do we find the church?  We find the church on its knees.  And as we explore today's passage, we draw some important lessons:
The importance and power of prayer
God sometimes answers prayer in ways we don't expect
God protects and preserves his people and brings judgment against those who would do them harm.
Thank you for listening to today's lesson.  May you be blessed through the teaching of God's word.

When we come to the Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13, the general question that comes to mind is, which of the soils represent the believer and which represent those who have not trusted Jesus for salvation.  The first soil is the pathway onto which the seed falls.  As Jesus explained to His disciples, this is the one who hears the Word but does not understand it and Satan comes and takes it away.  This points to the unbeliever.
On the other end of the spectrum is the fourth soil, the good, prepared, fertile soil which yields a crop a hundredfold, sixty-fold and thirty-fold.  This is the one who hears the Word, understands it and produces abundant fruit.
But in the middle are two other soils which have been the subject of much debate.  The second soil is the rocky ground, the person who receives the Word with joy, but has no root in himself and the troubles and trials of life cause him to quickly fall away.  Likewise, the third is the seed which falls among the thorns, and the worries of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke out the Word and he can bear little fruit.
How do we understand these two soils, and how can we, as believers, apply this to our own lives?
Thank you for listening to today's message.  May you be blessed through the teaching of God's Word.

In Acts 10, we see Peter do something which no "good" Jewish person would do--he entered the home of a gentile, namely Cornelius, a Roman Centurion described as, "a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, and gave many alms to the Jewish people and prayed to God continually" (Acts 10:2 NASB).
In response to a vision from the Lord, Cornelius called for Peter to come.  At the same time, Peter had his own vision and command from the Lord, "Behold, three men are looking for you...get up...and accompany them without misgivings, for I have sent them Myself." Acts 10:19-20).
In this, Peter learned three lessons that are still true today:
No one is outside the reach of God
God is near to all who will draw near to Him
We are all level at the foot of the Cross
The question for us today is, are there Cornelius's in our lives to whom the Lord may be calling us to preach the Gospel?  Do we think of anyone as beyond the reach of God's saving grace?  And how do we approach these people with the Gospel?
Thank you for listening to today's lesson.  May you be blessed through the teaching of God's Word.

The Christian life is a call to a daily walk.  We recognize that Satan is ever ready to trip up the believer.  We must therefore take care to occupy ourselves with prayer, the study of God's Word, fellowship with fellow believers, and to walk in obedience to Him daily.  The problem, however, is without intending it to happen, we find ourselves in a rut.  We pray, when we think of it.  We read Scripture as if it were any other book, a novel or text book.  We never really get excited about what the Christian life is all about.
It is, therefore, important that we get excited about the Christian life.  But how do we foster this excitement?  Today's lesson suggests two means; first to really study God's Word, and second, to consider our future as one of God's beloved children.
In considering the future, we conduct a survey of the book of Revelation, taking a bird's eye view of the last book of the Bible while also looking at key passages that should get us excited about what the future holds for the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Thank you for listening to today's lesson.  May you be blessed through the teaching of God's Holy Word.

What were some of the challenges facing the early church in the first century?  Does the church today face these same dangers?
Jude opens his letter to the church identifying himself, not as the half-brother of Jesus, but as a bond servant of Jesus.  He notes his intention to write regarding "our common salvation;" an encouragement which rejoiced in the implications of the finished work of the cross.  Instead, he felt the need, "to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith" (Jude 3).  He wrote exhorting this church to fight for the faith.  But what does it mean to contend for the faith; and why is this warning necessary?
In today's lesson we learn that, just as happens today, "certain men have crept in unnoticed...who turn the grace of our God into lewdness" (Jude 4).  These false teachers threatened the young church and the believers needed to be ready.  In studying this letter we find much in common between the culture and society of the first century, and our own.
Thank you for listening.  May you be encouraged by the Word of God to stand firm and contend for the faith and to earnestly fight for the Gospel of Jesus Christ; that the Son of God came into this world to take our place in judgment, bearing the penalty for our sin upon Himself so that we can enter into the Lord's presence.

Christmas is among the favorite holidays of most people.  It is a time for families to gather; a time for giving gifts and time away from work.  But Christmas is so much more.  In this week's lesson, we examine four aspects of the Incarnation; that time when God the Son, as the second Person of the Trinity, took upon Himself flesh, coming to earth as that babe in a lowly manger.  We look at:
The Preincarnate Christ, examining His divine nature
The foretelling of the Incarnation in Scripture
The birth of Christ as recorded in the Gospels
And the reason for the Incarnation, the fact that the manger led to a cross
We pray you enjoy this special message from the leadership at Atlantic Gospel Chapel, and that you are blessed through dwelling upon Immanuel, God with us.
Thank you for listening.

Before the Lord Jesus ascended into heaven, He left His apostles with this charge, beginning with Jerusalem, carry the Gospel message from Jerusalem, then to Judea, to Samaria, and finally the ends of the world.  In the first several chapters of Acts, we witnessed the Gospel exploding in Jerusalem and expanding into Judea.  In Acts 8, using Philip, the Holy Spirit carried the message into Samaria.  And now we see that the Lord has set His sights on the whole world; demonstrating that His Gospel plan encompasses all nations.
Here in Acts 10, we are introduced to Cornelius, a God-fearing centurion of whom the Jews spoke favorably.  This Gentile devoted himself to the things of the Lord, acting on the revelation he had to reject the polytheistic paganism of the Roman Empire to accept the God of Israel.  Yet, he had no knowledge of Jesus.  But we see the Lord preparing the heart of this Gentile to receive the Gospel.
At the same time we see Peter.  A believer on the Lord Jesus, yet still a devout Jew who would not defile himself by associating with a Gentile.  Despite this, God's sovereign plan is to use Peter to bring the Gospel to Cornelius.  But before he can, the Lord mus prepare Peter's heart to see God's plan of salvation, not only for the Jew, but for the whole world.
Thank you for listening to today's lesson.  May the Lord bless you through the teaching of His Holy Word.

In Paul's first letter to the church in Thessalonica, he pours out his love and thankfulness for this local body which, despite fierce opposition, grew and thrived and prospered.  In 1 Thessalonians 2, we see Paul defending his ministry against his critics, who appeared to accuse him of deceitfulness, immorality and hypocrisy.  But Paul always returns to the Gospel.
But what is it about the Gospel message that allows Paul to withstand these attacks?  And how well do we understand the power of the Gospel for our own lives?
In today's lesson, we learn how the Gospel is not just good news.  The original readers of Paul's letter would have understood this term to be the good news of a history changing event that impacted everybody's situation and to which people need to respond.  In the Gospel of Jesus Christ not only impacted history, but eternity, as well.
Is this how we view the Gospel?  Does the Gospel impact us as the life changing, eternity altering event it truly is?  And if so, how does this change our lives?
Thank you for listening to today's lesson.  May God bless you through the teaching of His Word.

In the narrative of the book of Acts, we have seen explosive growth of the church.  In a very short period of time, the church expanded from Jerusalem into the the region of Judea and into Samaria.  Within three years of Saul arriving in Damascus, the church there was a growing and vibrant church.
Now the narrative returns briefly to Peter.  In this short passage we see two accounts of Peter performing miraculous works resulting in many people believing in Jesus.  But in both cases, Peter acknowledges that he is not the one performing the work, but Jesus Christ.  In all cases, Peter gave all glory to His Lord and Savior, his focus being on spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and ministering to the needs of believers wherever he went, obeying the call of his Lord to, "feed my sheep."
Thank you for listening to this week's lesson.  May you be blessed through the teaching of God's Word.