Blog Archives
Jeremy Foster will be our guest speaker on May 4th, 2014
PromiseLand San Marcos Church – 9am and 11am services
Jeremy grew up in a family of preachers and cowboys.
His life journey has taken him from political consulting to a few years as a bull-riding cowboy. He’s always had a passion to reach his generation with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ. That dream became a reality through the429.
After 10 years in ministry together, Jeremy and Jennifer launched the429 in 2010 and God moved in an amazing way. In three short years, the429 experienced a weekly attendance of more than 1,500 and has seen thousands of 20s and 30s come through the doors and receive the complete and life changing love of Jesus Christ. In 2013 alone there were 586 baptisms and 1,027 people gave their lives to Jesus.
Jeremy and Jennifer just recently passed the torch and have embarked on a new journey to plant a life-giving church within the next few months. They are currently traveling to share leadership principles, inspire congregations and equip teams for next level leadership. His honest, open and humorous delivery style appeals to people of all ages and backgrounds.
They live in the Houston area along with their daughters Jayden, Jeselyn and Jillian Grace. They ride horses every week and pray fervently that God anoints the New Orleans Saints.
“What We Have Learned” sessions are set!
We are hosting a one day event and there are only a few spots left. What We’ve Learned, on Monday, August 5th – 9am-3pm.
This is a great opportunity see our new facility, hear our story, ask questions, hang out with new and old friends. We will have a lot of fun, and hopefully you will walk away with some new ideas.
This is free and only offered to a limited amount of folks. Please register if you know that you are able to attend!
The folks that signed up early have voted and we have selected the sessions that will be offered. Check them out below. You will get an inside look at everything we do (and the mistakes we have made). You will get our actual documents including: budgets, tracking spreadsheets, web tools, access to google docs, etc.
SESSION ONE
Setting Goals and Taking Risks – Our path of challenge, risk, failure and reward. How we make a decision on change. (adding or subtracting: weekend services, facilities, staff, ministries, tech, etc).
SESSION TWO
Spirit Led vs Well Planned – Our journey as a “Spirit filled” church with solid goals and thought-out plan. How it has been challenging and how it works
BREAKOUT SESSIONS 4 Options (you will pick one the day of the event)
Small Groups – Our history of Small Groups over the last 10 years. Where we are now and where we want to go.
Marketing – Our philosophy and method behind getting our message out those inside and outside of our congregation
Beyond the Budget – How, Why, and When we make financial decisions about staff, facilities, outreach, ministries.
Weekend Worship – Our philosophy and process on designing the weekend worship service on a week by week basis and yearly basis. How we schedule, planning center, 5 star, try outs, etc.
PLUS:
Special Lunch Session Eat a free, delicious lunch with us! Plus, We will be joined by an Israel expert, Munir Sayegh. Munir is a wonderful Christian from Nazareth and can offer up to date information about the Middle East.
Podcasts are Back!
PromiseLand Church is now podcasting again. However, this time we are podcasting the entire sermon every week!
There are a couple ways you can listen to the podcast.
- iTunes – If you are an iTunes user, you can subscribe to our podcast directly through iTunes. Click here for iTunes. If you subscribe through iTunes it will automatically download to your account (your iPod, iPhone, computer, etc) as soon as we post it online.
- Non iTunes – If you do not use iTunes, then you can go directly to our podcast website: Click here From this site, you can listen directly to any podcast or you can subscribe through other ‘players’.
If possible, please go to our iTunes page and RATE (5 stars 🙂 or REVIEW our podcast. The more ratings and reviews the more we will show up in search engines and get a bigger audience!
If you have any questions, please comment below and I will try to help out!
The Gospel to the City: Justification and Sanctification
Justification and Sanctification
Titus 2:11 For the grace of God has been revealed, bringing salvation to all people. 12 And we are instructed to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures. We should live in this evil world with wisdom, righteousness, and devotion to God, 13 while we look forward with hope to that wonderful day when the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be revealed. 14 He gave his life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds…
3:3 Once we, too, were foolish and disobedient. We were misled and became slaves to many lusts and pleasures. Our lives were full of evil and envy, and we hated each other.
4 But—“When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, 5 he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. 6 He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior. 7 so that being justified by His grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Justify / Justification – our legal system brings justice. The judicial system analyzes the situation, sets free or sentences. After that “justice has been served”
to declare innocent. To absolve, Acquit. to free from guilt or blame or their consequences
How are we justified from our sin?
Romans 6: 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
1 John 1: 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Ephesians 2:8 God saved you by his grace when you believed (by faith). And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.
Sanctify / Sanctification – being made holy or purified. To act right, no longer sinning. To be like God.
Lacy Schwien – “Using the Word and the cleansing Blood of Jesus, God’s Holy Spirit sculpts me from a useless lump of clay into a vessel of honor, triumphant over sin and fit for God’s use.”
Ephesians 2:10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
Romans 6:22 But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life.
(ESV the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.)
1 Corinthians 1: 30 ….Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy (sanctified), and he freed us from sin.
The problem that a lot of us have is we get justification and sanctification all mixed up.
The biggest problem with confusing the 2 is that our motivation gets all screwy.
We do things for the wrong reasons and it messes with our relationship with God and everyone else.
- We are driven into depression because we think we aren’t perfect enough.
- We are judgmental because we think others are perfect enough.
- We look for power and acceptance in our obedience.
- Our motivation for living right is: fear of hell OR the good feeling of the acceptance
Galatians 5:19 When you follow the desires of your sinful nature/flesh, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, 21 envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God. (hell)
22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!
24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. 25 Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. 26 Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another.
Blogging Update
Hello Peeps,
I have over 600 posts on this blog and it is a great place for me to post on my life and church stuff. However, since February 2012, my wife and I have launched a ministry specifically dealing with our life with Kennady (our daughter born with severe special needs). Ever since that time, I have blogged very little here on pastorrobin.com.
I will always keep this site going and will post from time to time. The most recent stuff on this blog is in the “Leader’s Resources” tab above. I have been posting leadership and general church stuff in that area for your reference. I intend to post more videos and resources from what we are doing at PromiseLand. Hopefully, you will get some benefit and be able to apply some of it to your scenario. I am very interested in helping other pastors and leaders. If you are in need of general or specific help in your ministry or church, please comment below and we can connect.
Most of the daily or current blogging centered around my life and personal experience will now happen at
www.mademeaningful.com. We would love for you to join the conversation over there.
Robin Steele 