First Alliance Church ATL

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__________.

10-07-2018 Kevin Goins - 6 Steps to Peace, part 6

“Six Steps to Peace” (Pt 6)  Proverbs 3:9-10

In Proverbs 3:1-12 Solomon tells us about the six dimensions of life for which God has a special kind of peace for us. Today we look at verses 9-10 which focus our attention on financial peace.

I Let’s begin with the command: (3:9) “Honor the Lord with your w_________.”

A. The noun “wealth” originally meant all p________ or m__________ p____________ which have value.

1. The Hebrew word literally means e___________.

2. What’s striking about this is that Solomon doesn’t say “Honor the Lord with your t__________.”

B. To honor God is to say that God is worthy of r___________, o__________, and a_____________.

II With the second part of the command Solomon pokes even harder: “Honor God with your wealth, with the f____________ of all your crops.”

A. Solomon says we should give God the raysheeth, or firstfruits, which means the f______ and the b________.

B. Giving God our firstfruits means we make giving to the Lord our f_____ p__________, before anything else.

III That’s the command and the command hurts, but there is o______________ in the form of a p____________.

A. The promise is that God will bless us with that which can be used to do good to ___ and to o________ p_________.

B. The principle is simple: honor God with what we h_____ and he will give us m______ which we can use to honor him.

IV But this raises a question: isn’t this the p___________ G___________?

A. What’s wrong with this teaching?

1. First, they lack convincing S__________ s___________.
2. Second, they do not live like m___________ of the Gospel.
3. Third, they treat God like a get-r____-quick scheme rather than the righteous j________ of the universe.
4. Fourth, they give people the idea that we should never have to face s____________ in this life.
5. Last, they talk about money as if it is the u_____________ blessing.

09-30-2018 Kevin Goins - 6 Steps to Peace, part 5

“Six Steps to Peace” (Pt 5)   Proverbs 3:7-8

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. Today we look at another kind of Shalom.

I When we are well, we don’t think about how our s_________ life is connected to our p____________ life.

A. This connection is c_______________.

B. This connection is b_______________.

II Today we are looking at p____________ shalom – the peace we can experience in our b__________.

A. This shalom catches us o_____-g___________. We don’t e_________ it.

B. Those uncomfortable with this connection do their best to interpret verse 8 as a reference to s__________ healing, rather than p__________ healing.

C. But S__________ makes it clear he is talking about physical healing.

III The promise states that there is something we can do spiritually which will bring h_______ and p________ to our physical body. But what?:

A. If you ask me today, ‘How can I be healed?’ I would refer you to J_________ ___:____.

B. The interesting thing about the Old Testament is that while it speaks about God’s cure for spiritual and physical sickness, it puts more emphasis on p___________.

IV Let’s look at the commands:

A. First, “Do not be w_______ in your own e_______.”

B. Second, “F______ the Lord.”

C. Third, “S_______ evil.”

09-23-2018 Kevin Goins - 6 Steps to Peace, part 4

“Six Steps to Peace” (Pt 4) Proverbs 3:1-12
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 focused on Community Shalom, or peace with people. Today we look at verses 5-6 which focus on decision-making shalom.

I The reason we need decision-making shalom is because we have so many c___________.
A. Choice can be great, but only if we know how to choose w_____.
B. God, Solomon says, has a special kind of peace for the d_________-m________ dimension of our life.

II This shalom is unique because Solomon gives us o_____-and-a-h______ verses for the command and only a h______ verse for the promise.
A. Yashar means either to b_____ straight or to m________ straight.
B. Yashar means not only straight or right, but it also means s__________ or p___________.
C. Throughout the Bible there is a connection between doing what is r_______, as God defines it, and having a s____________ life.

III Verse 6b is a stellar promise, but how do we make it w_______ for us? That brings us to the command, and the command consists of ______ parts:
A. First, t_________ in the Lord with all your h_________.
B. Second, l_____ not on your own u______________.
C. Third, in all your w_____ a_____________ him.
1. First, to acknowledge means to be aware of what it is the Lord e__________ of ____.
2. Second, it means to have a d_________ to do what I know he expects of me.
3. To acknowledge him in all our ways means to p__________ the p__________ of Christ.
4. If we are not willing to do that in all the s________ decisions of life, we will not be able to do it when it comes to the m_________ decisions of life.