Atlantic Gospel Chapel Messages

Mankind shares a single destiny.  At some point, unless the Lord returns, every one of us will die.  Death is the just penalty of a Holy God for our sin (Genesis 2:61-17; Romans 6:23).  But while we all share a common destiny, we do not all share the same destination.  The truth of Scripture is that our existence does not end at death.  Rather, we will continue to exist in the presence of God in His glory, or we will exist separated from Him in Hell. In today's lesson, we are introduced to two characters.  One simply known as "Rich man," the other is given a name, "Lazarus."  Both die, joined together in that single destiny.  But while the poor man is found after his death in the bosom of Abraham, that is heaven, the rich man finds himself in the agony of Hades; that is, Hell. From our passage, we will draw five lessons: All die and share the same destiny, but there are different destinations The nature of Hell The eternity of Hell God's Word provides the means of escape from Hell If we don't accept what God says in the Scriptures, we won't listen to anything else. Thank you for listening to today's lesson.  May you be blessed and encouraged through the teaching of God's Word.

False religions tend to have one thing in common, they will elevate the teaching and traditions of men to the same level of Scripture.  In today's lesson, the Pharisees take on Jesus for the fact that His disciples eat without washing their hands. This is not an issue of cleanliness for the Pharisees; they are not concerned that they are eating with dirty hands.  Rather, the concern of the Pharisees is spiritual defilement, equating external cleansing with spiritual purity.  Taking the purity laws, the religious leaders expanded them with their traditions, treating them as if Moses himself had handed them down.  Promoting themselves as the protectors and teachers of God's Law, the Pharisees instead prohibit the people from following the true Law of God. Following a scathing rebuke which drew upon Isaiah, Jesus condemns the practices of the Pharisees, reminding them, along with His disciples, that defilement does not come from the outside in.  Nothing we take in can defile us.  Rather, defilement is a matter of the heart; coming from within.  The heart of the matter, then, is the human heart, which is filled with evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murder, adulteries, etc. If the problem is our heart, is there a solution?  Is there any hope for us? Thank you for listening to today's lesson.  May you be blessed through the teaching of God's Holy Word and learn the hope for the defiled heart.

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.