Episodios

  • Have No Fear—Perfect, Fearless Love Is Here | 1 John 4:17-19

    Have No Fear—Perfect, Fearless Love Is Here | 1 John 4:17-19
    Sep 28 2025

    Lord's Day: September 28, 2025 Preacher: Carlos Montijo Series: First John Topic: Love Scripture: 1 John 4:14–19; Ecclesiastes 12:13; Hebrews 4:14–16; 1 Corinthians 2:16; Philippians 2:5–11; Romans 11:22; Ephesians 2:3–9; 1:4–6; Romans 5:6–11; 2 Peter 3:16; 1 John 2:1–2; Titus 3:4–7; Romans 8:29–30

    I. We have more departed brothers who, being united to Christ, are now confident and without fear in the next world

    • Death of Voddie Baucham, please pray for his wife and large family, 9 kids, personal inspiration for us to live up to
    • Llisten to his preaching, teaching, and read his books
    • God has not abandoned us, nor His church. He will continue to raise up godly men for such a time as this, who may not be as famous, but nevertheless faithful, uncompromising brothers, and God’s people can still continue to be edified by the contributions of the faithful men that have recently departed

    II. There is no fear in love…

    • Fear as in “afraid of” or fear as in “awe, reverence, worship”? φόβος phobos
    • God reassures us by telling us not only that perfect love has no fear, but that “perfect love casts out fear”—expels fear

    III. How then does perfect love cast out fear? What is this perfect love?

    • Our perfect love ultimately refers to—and points back to—God’s own perfect, redemptive love for us—the gospel
    • God’s love gives us confidence to live without fear, to have the same mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16) that the Song of Christ (Carmen Christi) reveals to us
    • God is always good, always, without fail and without exception, both in His kindness and in His severity, holiness, justice, judgment (Rom. 11:22)

    IV. All of this and more is why the God-breathed apostle continues to reveal to us in verse 19…

    • We ourselves love God and our fellow man, because He Himself first loved us

    V. This is one of the most emphatic doctrines in all of Scripture—the gospel of what God’s love has done for us.

    • One of the most obvious examples that “are so clearly set forth and explained in one place of Scripture or another” (2LBCF 1:7), of why we no longer have a fearful expectation of God’s judgment, of why we have a perfect love that casts out all fear, is because of God’s own perfect, omnipotent, sovereign, sufficient, sacrificial love for us, His Redemptive, Restorative, Regenerative, Reformative Love
    • Do you see this? Do you believe this? Do you have this perfect, mature, fearless love, that does not fear God’s judgment, but instead looks forward to it? Eagerly anticipates it?

    What have I to dread, what have I to fear,
    leaning on the everlasting arms?
    I have blessed peace with my Lord so near,
    leaning on the everlasting arms.
    safe and secure from all alarms

    Join us on Sundays for worship at 10:00am:

    • ThornCrown Covenant Baptist Church
      4712 Montana Ave
      El Paso, Texas 79903

    Contact us at:

    • web: ThornCrownCovenant.Church
      call/text: (915) 843-8088
      email: ThornCrownCovenantBChurch@gmail.com

    Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com
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  • Confident in the Day of Judgment | 1 John 4:17-18

    Confident in the Day of Judgment | 1 John 4:17-18
    Sep 21 2025
    Lord's Day: September 21, 2025 Preacher: Carlos Montijo Series: First John Topic: End Times Scripture: Ecclesiastes 3:7; Psalm 86:15; James 1:19–21; Matthew 20:16; Acts 20:27; Matthew 28:20; 5:13–16; Ephesians 5:11; 1 John 4:17–18; 1 Corinthians 2:16; 1 John 3:1–3 17By this, love has been perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment, because as He is, so also are we in this world. 18There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. 1 John 4:17–18 Some Christians and pastors started complaining that if your pastor does not address Charlie Kirk’s assassination, you should leave the church I. There is wisdom in taking time, to reflect and pray and mourn in silence, especially before making drastic public statements or decisions We are called to a higher standard, to the upside-down kingdom, where the first will be last, and the last will be first (Matt. 20:16), where our weakness is perfected in God’s strength, to the theology of the cross, the cross-oriented lifeIt is important for elders and pastors to address issues like these in a timely and responsible manner, but there are more biblical reasons for considering when to leave a churchMany churches are reluctant to speak out on current and political issues, even the ones that affect Christians and the churchThat is one of the reasons why we are a free, unincorporated church, because the church needs to be a prophetic voice, like John the Baptist was, in the culture and in society, we are called to be salt and light (Matt. 5:13-16) II. Confident in the Day of Judgment 1 John 4:17 is a long chain of clauses, refers to the doctrines of Assurance, Sanctification, Glorification and our final state, Day of Judgment III. By this, love has been perfected with us… By virtue of the sanctifying, mutually abiding, loving fellowship of God and His beloved, by which our minds are married to God’s mind, in a marriage of minds, so that we have the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16)—“By this,” God’s love has been perfected [τετελείωται teteleiōtai] with us [toward us] already1 John 3:1–3 IV. Without fear of what? A good grasp of the law and gospel distinction corrects imbalanced zeal and legalistic imbalances, and strengthens our assurance and peace of mindBaptist Larger Catechism, Q.82: What shall believers receive at the Day of Judgment?A: At the Day of Judgment, believers will be caught up with Christ in the clouds1 and placed on His right hand, where they will be publicly acknowledged and acquitted.2 They will join Christ in the judgment of reprobate angels and men,3 and be received into heaven.4 There they will be completely and forever freed from all sin and misery,5 filled with unimaginable joy,6 and made perfectly holy and happy both in body and soul, in the vast company of each other and the holy angels.7 They will be particularly blessed in the visual presence and enjoyment of God the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, forever.8 1. 1 Thessalonians 4:17; 1 Corinthians 15:42-43 2. Matthew 25:33; Matthew 10:32 3. 1 Corinthians 6:2-3 4. Matthew 25:34-46 5. Ephesians 5:27; Revelation 14:13 6. Psalm 16:11 7. Hebrews 12:22-23 8. 1 John 3:2; Romans 8:29; 1 Corinthians 13:12; 1 Thessalonians 4:17-18Know Your Enemy: The Devil’s End | Revelation 20 The night is dark but I am not forsaken / For by my side, the Saviour He will stayI labour on in weakness and rejoicing / For in my need, His power is displayed To this I hold, my Shepherd will defend me / Through the deepest valley He will leadOh the night has been won, and I shall overcome / Yet not I, but through Christ in me No fate I dread, I know I am forgiven / The future sure, the price it has been paidFor Jesus bled and suffered for my pardon / And He was raised to overthrow the grave Join us on Sundays for worship at 10:00am: ThornCrown Covenant Baptist Church4712 Montana AveEl Paso, Texas 79903 Contact us at: web: ThornCrownCovenant.Churchcall/text: (915) 843-8088email: ThornCrownCovenantBChurch@gmail.com Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com
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  • Consider the Kindness & Severity of God | Ecc. 3:1-8, Rom. 11:22

    Consider the Kindness & Severity of God | Ecc. 3:1-8, Rom. 11:22
    Sep 14 2025
    Lord's Day: September 14, 2025 Preacher: Carlos Montijo Series: Current Issues Topic: Law & Gospel Distinction Scripture: Ecclesiastes 3:1–8; Romans 11:22; 1 John 5:19; Psalm 12:8; 1 John 4:17; Psalm 86:15; Romans 4:6–8; Numbers 14:18; Romans 12:17–21; Isaiah 5:20–23; Romans 1:28–32; 8:28; Matthew 27:46; Luke 23:46; Philippians 2:8–9; Ephesians 5:15–17 Charlie Kirk was murdered while doing what he did best, reaching out to the youth in college campuses He could have been our future president, yet many were celebrating and mocking his murder on social media Iryna Zarutska was viciously murdered on a train by a violent repeat offenderA 16-year-old fired several rounds and almost killed two of his fellow students at Evergreen High School in Colorado, before fatally shooting himselfAll of these victims were very young—This is a time for weeping and mourning Our prayers go out to the friends and families of the victims: May God give them comfort and solace, and draw nigh to them with the light of His salvation May He bring healing, and restore justice, repentance, and revival to our land May He bring the wicked to justice And may He also convict them of their sin and grant them repentance I. This is a sample of the evil being done all over this world, this wicked world that lies under the power of the evil one Even as “the wicked strut about on every side when vileness is exalted among the sons of men” (Psalm 12:8 LSB)—God is still sovereign, God is still in control, and God’s will is still being donePart of the reason there is much evil in the world is because God is longsuffering, God suffers long, God is patientHis divine patience is revealed in His enduring mercy and love for sinners, and in His delay in exacting judgment, in part to enable wretched sinners like us to repent and be saved. II. Behold both the kindness and severity of God: Our great God and merciful Savior is also a just Judge God alone has a monopoly on vengeance (Rom. 12:17-21)God gives many sobering, dire warnings to the wicked, not just to the ones who murder, but also to the ones who celebrate wickedness (Isa. 5:20-23) III. Wickedness and violence is neither random nor senseless Know Your Enemy: The Devil | 1 John 2:14-17God ultimately designed and decreed a good purpose for us in everything that happens, no matter how bad (Rom. 8:28)We should seek justice, God’s justice, not our own; God’s way, not our own; and by God’s means rather than our own Matt Trewhella's The Doctrine of the Lesser Magistrate The Theology of the Cross (lowliness, suffering, humility) teaches us that God is often most present where He seems most absent.Ephesians 5:15–17: “Therefore look carefully how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. On account of this, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” Join us on Sundays for worship at 10:00am: ThornCrown Covenant Baptist Church4712 Montana AveEl Paso, Texas 79903 Contact us at: web: ThornCrownCovenant.Churchcall/text: (915) 843-8088email: ThornCrownCovenantBChurch@gmail.com Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com
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  • Knowing, Believing, Abiding in the God of Love | 1 John 4:16-17

    Knowing, Believing, Abiding in the God of Love | 1 John 4:16-17
    Sep 7 2025

    Lord's Day: September 7, 2025 Preacher: Carlos Montijo Series: First John Topic: Love Scripture: 1 John 4:16–17; 1 Corinthians 8:4–6; John 4:24; 6:69; 1 Corinthians 13:6–8; 1 John 4:7–10; Ephesians 2:3; Luke 3:38; 1 John 3:1–3; 1 Corinthians 2:16; 1 John 4:13; 3:24

    16And we have come to know and have believed the love which God has in us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17By this, love has been perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment, because as He is, so also are we in this world. 1 John 4:16–17

    I. “And we have come to know and have believed…”

    • Belief, or faith, requires knowledge, understanding
    • Faith in turn seeks a deeper understanding: “Faith seeking understanding” (Anselm)
    • Augustine: Crede ut intelligas, “Believe that you may understand”
    • Faith requires content, an object, something to grasp, something to "hold on" to

    II. What is “the love which God has in us”?

    • God is love (v. 16), and God loves us, His chosen people, we who have come to know and have believed God are the objects of God’s amazing love
    • The love which God has in us is a Redemptive, Restorative, Regenerative, Reformative Love

    III. This passage is highly emphatic about God abiding in us and we in Him—in His love—united to Him in Christ

    • This mutually abiding union of love corresponds both to God and to us, and it must be true in both cases (God and us) and in the same sense (univocal)
    • Abiding in love does not mean to blindly obey God in fear, but to love and believe the truth, which is the foundation of our obedience, because true love “rejoices with the truth” (1 Cor. 13:6)
    • “This intimate fellowship consists of having the same ideas, of thinking alike, of being in extensive agreement. Hence, intimacy with God, too, consists in knowing what God thinks. That is to say, in knowing a good bit of theology.”[1]
    • A Marriage of Minds

    Join us on Sundays for worship at 10:00am:

    • ThornCrown Covenant Baptist Church
      4712 Montana Ave
      El Paso, Texas 79903

    Contact us at:

    • web: ThornCrownCovenant.Church
      call/text: (915) 843-8088
      email: ThornCrownCovenantBChurch@gmail.com

    Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com

    [1] Gordon H. Clark, First John: A Commentary, Trinity Paper, No. 2, 2nd ed. (The Trinity Foundation, 1992), p. 143 .
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  • Confessing the Son of God | 1 John 4:15

    Confessing the Son of God | 1 John 4:15
    Aug 31 2025

    Lord's Day: August 31, 2025 Preacher: Carlos Montijo Series: First John Topic: Faith Scripture: 1 John 4:15; Titus 2:13; 1 Corinthians 13:8; 1 John 4:2–3; Mark 3:11–12; Matthew 25:41; Luke 15:25–32

    15Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 1 John 4:15

    • There are familiar words, phrases, concepts that we have encountered before:
      • True believers, confession, assurance, mutual abiding/dwelling, God, love, God is love, glorification, eschatology ("day of judgment")
    • Interpretive Principle: Whenever the word God is used, without any other qualification or reference to a specific Person of the Godhead, it usually refers to God the Father

    I. Believers know that they belong to God and confess that reality

    • God’s love is final, immutable (never changes), never fails (1 Cor. 13:8)
    • Confessing that Jesus is the Son of God means that you willingly believe, and accept, and receive everything He taught, even though we may not understand all of it perfectly, and are committed to “keep all that He has commanded you” (Matt. 28:20), without hypocrisy and without denying or rejecting the truth of God’s Word that you do understand.

    II. What confession is not…

    • Important to both affirm and deny, compare and contrast, for clarity and understanding
    • This is not a false, hypocritical confession, or a partial confession that willfully denies other primary doctrines (like cults do), but a true confession of faith in the true gospel
    • Mark 3:11-12
    • The Prodigal's older brother, Luke 15:25-32

    Join us on Sundays for worship at 10:00am:

    • ThornCrown Covenant Baptist Church
      4712 Montana Ave
      El Paso, Texas 79903

    Contact us at:

    • web: ThornCrownCovenant.Church
      call/text: (915) 843-8088
      email: ThornCrownCovenantBChurch@gmail.com

    Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com
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  • Witnesses of God’s Redemptive Love | 1 John 4:13-14

    Witnesses of God’s Redemptive Love | 1 John 4:13-14
    Aug 24 2025

    Lord's Day: August 24, 2025 Preacher: Carlos Montijo Series: First John Topic: Love Scripture: 1 John 4:12–14; 1:1–3; John 15:26–27; 1:14; 2 Corinthians 5:7; Matthew 16:15–17; Ephesians 4:1–7; Romans 9:11, 16, 18; Galatians 4:4–6; Titus 2:13–14

    13By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. 14We have beheld and bear witness that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. 1 John 4:13-14

    I. We have beheld and we bear witness…

    • Who heard and saw, and beheld and touched with their hands “that which was from the beginning”?

    II. “Beheld” means more than mere physical sensation

    • Our physical eyes, however, do not impart to us spiritual understanding of and faith in the truth
    • Do we walk by sight, or by faith? (2 Cor. 5:7)
    • Matthew 16:15–17
    • The apostles beheld and bore witness “that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world,” not merely because they physically saw and interacted with Christ on earth—did not Judas Iscariot do the same?—but because God chose them and gave them the gift of faith
    • And we ourselves have received that same gift of that same faith from the same God, the same Spirit, the same Lord, the same Word, the same gospel (Eph. 4:1-7)

    III. To be the Savior of the world…

    • Is the Son the Savior of unbelievers? Of reprobates? Of Esau, or Pharaoh? Who is the Son the savior of?

    IV. Is the doctrine of Particular Redemption a recent development?

    • The Martyrdom of Polycarp (155-160 A.D.): “…we [Christians] will never be able to abandon the Christ, who suffered for the salvation of the whole world of those who are saved, the blameless for the sinful, or to worship anyone else. For we worship this one, who is the Son of God.”

    And when I think - that God, His Son not sparing / Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in
    That on a cross, my burden gladly bearing / He bled and died to take away my sin
    Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee / How great Thou art, how great Thou art

    Join us on Sundays for worship at 10:00am:

    • ThornCrown Covenant Baptist Church
      4712 Montana Ave
      El Paso, Texas 79903

    Contact us at:

    • web: ThornCrownCovenant.Church
      call/text: (915) 843-8088
      email: ThornCrownCovenantBChurch@gmail.com

    Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com
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  • The Person & Work of the Holy Spirit | 1 John 4:13

    The Person & Work of the Holy Spirit | 1 John 4:13
    Aug 17 2025

    Lord's Day: August 17, 2025 Preacher: Carlos Montijo Series: First John Topic: Holy Spirit Scripture: 1 John 4:12–13; Psalm 119:71; John 17:17; 1 Timothy 4:7; Romans 8:28–30; James 3:2; Ephesians 5:18; 1 Peter 1:18; 1 Thessalonians 5:16–18; Romans 8:3; Colossians 1:19; 2:9–10; Mark 10:45; Hebrews 9:14; 1 John 3:24; Romans 8:16–18

    By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. 1 John 4:13

    • “Sanctification is a work of God's free grace whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness.” (1693 Baptist Catechism, Q. 39)
    • God uses some of our good works and our participation in His means of grace as well as our participation in affliction which we are called to endure with hope, as secondary means of our sanctification (1 Tim. 4:7)
    • God’s love never fails us, and never gives up on us, His Spirit is always with us, abides in us, and remains in us

    I. The Holy Spirit is the primary Agent by which God’s Reformative Love is applied to us

    • Abraham Kuyper: “…bad habits of a certain character sometimes pass from father to child even where the early death of the former precludes propagation by education and example.”[1]
    • We are in the sanctifying process of being perfected by God’s Reformative love and through the Person and work of His Holy Spirit

    II. God’s Son, Christ Jesus, was the only one who was perfectly full of the Spirit

    • Christ relied on the Holy Spirit perfectly to accomplish His mission, “to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45)
    • Abraham Kuyper: “…what Christ needed was the gifts of the Holy Ghost to enable His weakened [human] nature, in increasing measure, to be His instrument in the working out of His holy design; and…to transform His weakened nature not by regeneration, but by resurrection into a glorious nature, divested of the last trace of weakness and prepared to unfold its highest glory.”

    III. If Christ on earth needed the Holy Spirit, how much more do we?

    • The Holy Spirit is frequently the most slandered Person of the Trinity, especially by religious people who call themselves Christians
    • He is often abused to justify all manner of wild imbalances, blasphemies, and heresies
    • Relying on the Holy Spirit primarily means to rely on His means of grace—Word, sacraments, prayer

    IV. One of the precious blessings that the Holy Spirit gives us is assurance

    • To grow in your understanding of the Person and work of the Holy Spirit, search the Scriptures carefully, systematically, apologetically

    Join us on Sundays for worship at 10:00am:

    • ThornCrown Covenant Baptist Church
      4712 Montana Ave
      El Paso, Texas 79903

    Contact us at:

    • web: ThornCrownCovenant.Church
      call/text: (915) 843-8088
      email: ThornCrownCovenantBChurch@gmail.com

    Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com

    [1] Abraham Kuyper, The Work of the Holy Spirit (Christian Classics Ethereal Library, n.d.), p. 102 [accessed 16 August 2025].
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  • The Reformative Love of God | 1 John 4:11-13

    The Reformative Love of God | 1 John 4:11-13
    Aug 10 2025

    Lord's Day: August 10, 2025 Preacher: Carlos Montijo Series: First John Topic: Love Scripture: 1 John 4:11–13; 1 Corinthians 1:30–31; 1 John 4:8–9; 3:2; Romans 8:16–18; 5:1–5; Hebrews 12:5–11; Ephesians 2:3–13; Romans 9:23; 2 Peter 1:3–4; Romans 8:28–30; John 17:17; Jeremiah 23:28–29; Matthew 28:19

    11Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12No one has beheld God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. 13By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. 1 John 4:11–13

    I. The excellencies of God’s love correspond to the order of our salvation (ordo salutis)

    • The order of salvation is a result of, the consequence of, God’s love being poured out richly on all of us who have been chosen by God, to be loved by Him—it is all God’s gracious gift to us! Because God is love (1 John 4:8)

    II. Reformative: After regenerating us, God’s love continues to mold us, rebuke, chasten, discipline us, to conform us to the image of His Son

    III. The path of God’s Reformative love refines, sanctifies, prunes and perfects us

    • God’s Reformative love sanctifies us and “is perfected in us” (1 John 4:12) through suffering—but not as those who are without God and without hope in the world (Eph. 2:12)
    • God’s adoptive love for us as our heavenly Father disciplines and reforms us (Heb. 12:5-11)

    IV. God’s Law & Gospel of Love

    • A Redemptive, Restorative, justifying love, and a Regenerative and ongoing, Reformative, sanctifying love that disciplines us unto holiness, to make us more like His precious, unique Son, “so that we may share His holiness” (Heb. 12:10)

    V. God’s law and gospel both sanctify us in special ways, because they are both God’s holy Word

    • God’s holy love transforms us by His holy law, His holy gospel, His Holy Spirit

    Join us on Sundays for worship at 10:00am:

    • ThornCrown Covenant Baptist Church
      4712 Montana Ave
      El Paso, Texas 79903

    Contact us at:

    • web: ThornCrownCovenant.Church
      call/text: (915) 843-8088
      email: ThornCrownCovenantBChurch@gmail.com

    Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com
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