09/05/2026
PRAYING ON MORRIS CREEK SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 6, 2026
After praying, I thought of a song called Jesus is right for whatever is wrong in your life: Before I met Jesus, my life was empty and vain and nothing ahead could I see but sorrow and pain. But then at an altar one night I knelt. I found assurance that never has left. And Jesus was right for what was wrong in my life Jesus is right for whatever's wrong in your life. Jesus is right for whatever's wrong in your life. Just give Him a chance and Jesus will prove. That every promise He made is true. For Jesus is right for whatever's wrong in your life. The Gospel is God’s Cure for Our Fatal Sin Disease. Let me introduce to Christ. Christianity is Christ. It is not a lifestyle. It’s not rules of conduct. It’s not a society of people who have joined together by the sprinkling or covering of water. Christianity is a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. So, before we get to us and our need, let’s back up a bit and talk about Jesus. The New Testament opens with the births of John the Baptist and Jesus. About 30 years later, John challenged the Jews to indicate their repentance by submitting to water baptism. Repentance means turning from sin and toward God. Water baptism was a familiar Old Testament practice used for repentance. It was also used when a non-Jew converted to Judaism. In the Bible, anyone who was not a Jew was called a Gentile. Water baptism for the new convert represented being washed clean of their former idolatry. Shortly after John started baptizing people, Jesus presented Himself to the public. The account of His earthly life is recorded in the first 4 books of the New Testament known as the Gospels. Those biblical books called Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are named after the writer of each account. Each Gospel presents different aspects of Jesus’ earthly life and ministry. All present Jesus as “the Christ. The word Christ” is from the Greek word Christos, a translation of the Hebrew term “Messiah” meaning “anointed one.” The Old Testament prophets promised that the Messiah, as the anointed one of God, would come and do many wonderful things for God’s people, including to restore God’s Kingdom on earth. Christians are followers of Jesus, who is the Christ. If you have heard the good news of the gospel and believed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God who gave Himself for your sins, you have eternal life just by believing in Him as your Savior. But more than salvation, Jesus Christ calls all humans into a close relationship with Himself as brothers, sisters, and friends. Yet, He is also our Lord, the one who sits at the right hand of His Father God as head over everything else in heaven and on earth. As Lord, Jesus Christ is our master—the one to whom we should willingly give our obedience. He is our model of how to live as humans in a dependent relationship with God, and He is our one and only mentor in walking with us in that dependent relationship. Jesus’ disciples 2000 years ago were no different than we are except they physically beheld the risen Christ. We must see Him through eyes of faith and allow the Gospels to leap off the page revealing our Lord. This is so that we may know this God-man who changed our lives as we received the Good News. We need to frequently read the Gospels, watch movies based on them, and tell the stories about Jesus as often as needed to know His life well because Christianity is Christ! Besides knowing Christ, we need a good understanding of the Gospel message. Understanding the Gospel message. The ultimate grace gift came—Jesus Christ. But, why did He come? What was His purpose? From the time sin entered into the relationship of us humans with our Creator God, there is one question that continually demands an answer. “How can any guilty, sinful human be made right in the eyes of a holy God?” Or, in other words, how can God have any kind of a relationship with a sinful human? We humans have a spiritual problem that can be compared to death caused by a fatal disease. It’s a two-fold problem. Sin is the disease. Romans 3:23 says that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Everyone has the sin disease. And, death is the result of the disease. We are born spiritually dead sinners. Our double whammy problem demanded a two-fold solution. The great news is that God acted on our behalf! The gospel is God’s cure to our fatal sin disease. For the problem of sin, people need sin to be removed and replaced with righteousness. God’s answer is Christ’s death on the cross. Because of His finished work on the cross, we can now be cured of the sin disease. For the problem of death, people need the restoration of life. God’s answer is Christ’s resurrection. We can now be given life that is forever. The gospel is an announcement to the world of an accomplished fact. What God set out to do for humans, He accomplished. The apostles declared from the time of Pentecost (Acts 2) and beyond that salvation is available on the basis of a single condition. That one condition is faith in Jesus Christ. So, it’s important to know what faith is and what it is not. What faith is and is not. First, let’s cover what faith is not. Faith is not a blind belief or mindless gullibility. It is not a life of passivity and doing nothing. Faith is also not a religious feeling like a tingle or good feeling from performing some ritual. So, if faith is not that, what is it? The word “faith” means a “belief, trust, and commitment of mind and heart to something or someone. Christians of the first century AD recognized that the whole content of the gospel message is Jesus. They agreed that the information about Jesus was definitely true. They decided to trust God completely and believe in His Son Jesus Christ. Simply put, faith is a full commitment to Christ. God acted. We are to respond to His action by saying yes to faith in Jesus Christ and jumping into the new life God has for us. Instead of believing in your own ability to earn God’s favor, you now trust in what Christ has done for you. That’s biblical faith. Christ’s finished work on the cross. On the cross, just before he died, Jesus declared, “It is finished” (John 19:30). He meant just that. Finished. Complete. Done once for all. Because of Christ’s finished work on the cross, our relationship with God is changed forever when we put our faith in Jesus Christ. It is much more than having our sins forgiven and going to heaven when we die.