Today's Sermon: The Possibility of Change
Character Counts- Week 15

I. Our Goal is a New ..... - Vs. 3-7

II. Our Resource is Divine .....- Vs. 3

III. Our Hope is in Precious ...... - Vs. 4

“The life you’ve always wanted is already here. Right now. Not next year. Not after you get through this particularly difficult season. Not after your kids reach a certain age. Not after your husband gets his act together, or you’ve gone to counseling, or acquired a college degree, or read the latest self-help book. Here and now you have everything you need.”
-Mark Buchanan

IV. Our Role is..... - Vs. 5

“There is a kind of surrender in the saying that negates or neglects the simple fact that I am called to battle sin…God does not confer scandal-busting grace each morning that I just sit back and receive, hoping it is enough to defeat the day’s sin. Rather, he calls upon me to receive his grace and to be obedient to his Word. He gives the grace to obey. This is not a grace I receive passively, but a grace I act on and act out.”
-Tim Challies

V. The Result is Human ...... - Vs. 8-10

VI. The End is ..... - Vs. 11

VII. The Means to Change

We need honest voices helping us see the sin in ourselves that we cannot see and to confront us when we need confronting. Indeed, one of the most effective ways to discover our shortcomings is through the perspective and honest sharing—and especially the honest and forthright critique—of others. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “Nothing can be more compassionate than the severe reprimand which calls another Christian in one’s community back from the path of sin.”-Scott Sauls, A Gentle Answer

C. Records