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Bruce Prindle: Yielding Your Past AND Your Present (1 Corinthians 6:11)
Bruce Prindle, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Midlothian, counts fielding questions as one of his greatest privileges. In the previous week, he fielded many questions with the same theme—shame—which he differentiated from guilt and conviction. Guilt can lead to making things right; shame convinces change isn’t possible.
When we are convinced our past is too bad, we can become numb to redemption, Prindle contended. To address this, he returned to 1 Corinthians 6. He wanted to make sure his hearers heard that even with their past, “But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God” by Christ (emphasis added).
We cannot do enough to redeem the wrongs in our past, but we have redemption by God’s grace in Christ, Prindle asserted. He charted this argument through Paul’s letters to Titus, the Philippians and the Ephesians. He named this redemptive process as regeneration, new life.
Prindle concluded by inviting his hearers to know this redemption, peace and joy.
This sermon was delivered April 3, 2022, for the morning worship service of First Baptist Church in Midlothian. It is Part 13 of a series on 1 Corinthians titled “YIELD: Let God Lead.”
A sermon manuscript is available here.
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