First Alliance Church ATL

12-16-18 Kevin Goins - Angels From the Realms of Glory

12-09-2018 Kevin Goins - Go Tell It On The Mountain

“Go, Tell It on the Mountain” Luke 2:8-20

Go, Tell It on the Mountain is one of the spirituals which African slaves in the United States sang to celebrate the birth of Jesus. If people enslaved on plantations found the desire to lift up their voices and enthusiastically proclaim the birth of the Savior, it should be even easier for us to do so. But it is not easy. What can we learn from the shepherd’s story which will encourage us to proclaim the good news of the birth of the Savior?

I First, the Shepherds teach us that it helps if you don’t have a degree in ________ or ___________ (2:8-9).
Why would God choose to reveal the birth of his Son first to
Shepherds instead of the priests and religious leaders?
1. The Savior who was born was n____ a__ a_____ what the
religious leaders were looking for.
2. God wants people to trust _____, not all the religious e_________ they have, not all the religious a__________ they carry out.
B. People who can talk about Jesus in their own w______, without religious w______ - they have a real advantage.

II Second, the shepherds teach us that if you want to talk to people about Jesus, it helps to be t___________ (2:9-14).
A. The message of the angels is like the ministry of the Holy Spirit:
1. The angels c_______ the Shepherds.
2. The angels bring g______ n______ to the Shepherds.
3. The angels specifically tell the Shepherds about the birth of a Savior who is “______ the ______.”
B. The ministry of the angels to the Shepherds is a p_________ of the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

III Third, the Shepherds teach us that if you want to talk to people about Jesus it helps to spend time with the h______ f_______(2:15-16).

IV Finally, the Shepherds teach us that if you want to talk to people about Jesus, it helps to be a g___________ (2:17-20).

 

12-02-2018 Kevin Goins - O Come O Come Emmanuel

“O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” Isaiah 11:1-9

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel is one of the only Advent carols we Evangelical Christians ever sing. What is the difference between an Advent carol and a Christmas carol? Christmas carols look back with joy and celebration at how the Messiah has come to this world. Advent carols look ahead with longing and pleading for the Messiah to come to this earth again. If we want to look ahead, as the early church did, and observe Advent before we celebrate Christmas, how do we do it. Isaiah tells us what we must do:

I First, we must celebrate Advent with a______________ (11:1-3).
A. Sprinkled in with Isaiah’s prophecies of judgment on Israel, there are flashes of h_______ when he describes the coming of a _____________.
B. Isaiah describes how the Spirit of God will e________ the Messiah:
1. First, he will be given the Spirit of w________ and u_______________.
2. Second, he will be given the Spirit of c__________ and of p_________.
3. Third, he will be given the Spirit of k___________ and of the f________ of the Lord.

II Second, we must celebrate Advent by l________ to the f_________ (11:4-5).
A. In the middle of verse four there is a c__________ which spans c____________.
B. The Old Testament prophets often spoke of Messiah as if his s_________ work and his work of j_____________ take place at the same time.
C. Advent is about ____ comings of Messiah, __________ ___:__-__ is about two comings of Messiah, and, if you look at O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, you can see that it too is about two comings.

III Third, we must celebrate Advent with a_____________ (11:6-9).
A. What makes us think these words are anything more than just a f__________?
1. This is not the ____ prophecy Isaiah spoke about the Messiah.
2. Part of Isaiah 11 has a________ b________ fulfilled.
B. We need to celebrate Advent with anticipation because Jesus is going to return and establish a Kingdom of ___________.

11-25-2018 Kevin Goins - I Love A Mystery

“I Love a Mystery” (conclusion) John 7:53-8:12

Someone has said, “We all love a good mystery.” If that’s true, then we should really enjoy the passage we’re looking at today because it is loaded with mysteries.

I The first mystery is the mystery of the misplaced story.
II The second mystery is the mystery of iniquity.

III The third mystery is the mystery of the m___________ a___________ (8:3-6a).
A. The fact that only h______ of the wrongdoers were brought to justice tells us that something s____________ is taking place.
B. Putting Jesus into what they thought was a “No-_____” situation was their ______ reason for accusing this woman.

IV The fourth mystery is the mystery of the w______ in the s_________ (8:6b-9a).
A. It’s not w______ Jesus wrote in the dust that is important – For two reasons:
1. If what he wrote was important, we would have been t_______ what it was.
2. When John says (8:9) that the accusers went away, he says it was because of what they h_______ from Jesus, not because of what they s____ written in the dirt.
B. In response to their question, Jesus i________ the Pharisees, showing them that he doesn’t take their show of righteousness s____________.

V The fifth mystery is the mystery of the Holy Spirit’s power to c___________ us with our sin (8:9).
A. When these men first dragged in the girl, they felt no g_______ at all.
B. Jesus said sentence against the woman must be carried out only by those who are not guilty of the s_______ s_____.

VI The sixth mystery is the mystery of the g________ of the Lord Jesus Christ (8:9-11).
A. The one who had every right to c_________ her, chose not to,
because his mission was not to condemn, but to s_______.
B. When Jesus said, “I do not condemn you,” he knew what those words would cost him - they would cost him the ________.

11-18-18 Thanksgiving Sunday

A brief message about why we should be thankful and then members of the First Alliance family take the opportunity to give thanks.

11-11-18 Kevin Goins - A Mysterious Story

“A Mysterious Story”
John 7:53-8:12

Someone has said, “We all love a good mystery.” If that’s true, then we should really enjoy the passage we’re looking at today because it is loaded with mysteries. This morning we are going to focus on two of these mysteries:

I The first mystery is the mystery of the m____________ s________.

A. Most New Testament scholars are convinced that this incident d____ n____ b_______ to John’s Gospel. Why?

1. First, there is the t___________ evidence.
2. Second, when this account did begin to show up in copies of John’s Gospel, some scribes found a way to let readers know there was a p________.
3. Third, in later Greek texts where it does appear, it is found in d___________ places.
4. Fourth, it doesn’t f______ well after John 7:52.
5. Fifth, the l__________ and s________ of these verses are not like John’s Gospel.

II Does it weaken our faith to know that this story, which is so loved by so many, was not originally a part of the Gospel of John? Not if we know something about h_____ we g_____ our Bible.

A. For 1500 years before the invention of the printing press all copies of the Bible were h______________.

B. What is so significant about the Bible is just how many c________ we have. How many manuscripts do we have of the New Testament? Total: _______.

C. Doesn’t the fact that there are so many copies mean that there are likely to be ________ mistakes?

1. First, because there are so many copies, mistakes are s_____-c_____________.
2. Second, these differences in texts are m_______, not m__________.

III The evidence against this story originally being a part of John is s________, but that does not mean this incident _______ happened.

IV The second mystery is the mystery of i_____________.

A. First, there is the iniquity of i____________ carried out by the Pharisees.

B. Second, there is the iniquity of i________________ carried out by the woman.

11-04-2018 Kevin Goins - A New Year for FAC

“A New Year for FAC” James 4:13-17

Today is our Annual Meeting, but rather than think about where we have been and where we want to go, which I have covered in the Annual Report, I want to direct our attention to something far more important: our commitment to seek the will of God in all we do. It is foolish to make plans without seeking and doing God’s will. Why?

I First, planning for the future without seeking God’s will is u__________ (4:13-14a).

II Second, planning for the future without seeking God’s will is a______________ (4:14b-16).
A. James says our life is like a m_______.
B. Making plans for FAC without seeking God’s will is like making an e______ b_______.

III Third, Planning for the future without seeking God’s will is s_________ (4:17).
A. God defines sin, not only as doing what we know to be w________, but also as not doing what we know to be r________.
B. When we live without any concern for God’s will, we are denying his sovereignty (his right to r_______ over us).

IV What is the answer to all this? What is the correct way to plan for the future? We must say, verse 15, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will l_______ and d_____ this or that.”

V This brings up a separate issue: ____ do I determine the will of God in a p____________ instance?
A. First, to know God’s will in a particular situation we must s____________ ourselves to the will of God.
B. Second, if we want to know God’s will, we must _______ _______.
C. Third, we must s__________ God’s _______.
D. Fourth, we need to learn to read the p________________.
E. Fifth, we need to t_____ s______ in the direction in which God is leading us to go.

10-28-18 Kevin Goins - 6 Steps to Peace, conclusion

“Six Steps to Peace” (Conclusion) Proverbs 3:11-12

In Proverbs 3:1-12 Solomon tells us about the six dimensions of life for which God has a special and unique kind of peace for us. Verses 1-2 focused our attention on Spiritual Shalom, or peace with God. Verses 3-4 were about Community Shalom, or peace with people. Verses 5-6 directed our attention to decision-making shalom. Verses 7-8 were focused on physical shalom, or peace in our body, and verses 9-10 were about financial shalom. Today we conclude with verses 11-12 and corrective shalom.

I What makes verses 11-12 so interesting is that we can easily see the l_____ s___________ out of which these words came to be written.
A. According to Prov 13:24, the parent who allows a child to do as she or he pleases actually h________ his child.
B. Refusing to follow God will not s______ you from God’s discipline.

II Living our life knowing that there is an almighty and absolutely holy God w_________ us, and knowing that our willful disobedience of his commands could bring his discipline, can make us very u____________. But we can have ________ if we’re willing to following his instructions:
A. Solomon says, verse 11, “My son, do not d__________ the Lord’s d____________.”
1. The question Solomon asks is this: when we mess up and when God brings discipline (correction) into our life, how will we ________?
2. When we despise God for his discipline, we are r________ what he is working to do in our life.
3. When we despise God’s discipline we not only reject God, we miss out on what his discipline could a___________ in our life.
B. Then Solomon says, “and do not r________ his r_________.”
Rebuke means to use words to convince someone they have done wrong, not to s_______ them, but to call them to r__________.
2. When we resent rebuke, we are actually getting angry at _____. We resent the fact that he allowed someone to
confront us with his _________.

III As with the other five kinds of shalom, to obey the c_________ of verse eleven, entitles us to the r_________ of verse twelve.
A. The first reward is __________ ___ ______ __________.
B. The second reward is knowing that God does his work of discipline so that he can take d___________ in us.

10-21-18 Kevin Goins - Theology of Missions

“A Theology of Missions”

As a foundation for our Missions presentation today, the Missions Committee has asked me to give a brief theology of Missions. To do that I will ask three questions:
I First, w_____ is missions? Missions is g_______ o______ and t_________ someone about Jesus.
II Second, w____ should we do that?
A. First, we must tell people about Jesus because the ________ tells us to.
B. Second, we must tell people about Jesus because they are ________.
C. Third, we must tell people about Jesus so God will receive the __________ he deserves.
II Third, do we have the d_______ to do missions?
A. Ralph Winter says that at least ______ out of every _______non-Christians in our world have never experienced any type of Christian evangelism.
It’s because of the ______________ of our first century Christian ancestors that we are here today.

10-14-18 Kevin Goins - C&MA Day

C&MA Day!

Exactly what kind of church is FAC? How did we get to be this way? What do we think is important? All these questions can be answered when we talk about Dr. A. B. Simpson and the organization of churches he founded more than one-hundred years ago.

I Dr. Simpson believed we need to tell the world about Jesus: The first thing our founder believed we need to tell the world is that Jesus is S____________.
A. Simpson understood that everyone needed to be r________ as he had been and that Jesus came “to s______ and to s_______ the lost.”
B. The story of the C&MA is the story of w_________ m___________.
1. It’s the story of people like R__________ A. J___________.
2. And it’s the story of people like M__________ F__________.

II The second thing our founder believed we need to tell the world is that Jesus is our S____________.
A. The Sanctifier is the one who has the power to make people h__________________.
B. Sanctification is not a t____________, it’s a p__________.

III The third thing our founder believed we need to tell the world is that Jesus is our h__________.
A. There weren’t a lot of ministers talking about divine healing – for these reasons:
1. Advances in m___________.
2. The p____________ nature of divine healing.
3. The fear of d________________.
B. There are reasons why some are not healed, but God calls his children to trust him, not only for _____________ health, but also for ____________ health.

IV The fourth thing our founder believed we need to tell the world is that Jesus is our C___________ K__________.