Cultural change always begins with yourself….unless you or I change as Christians, we will never impact the cultural chaos. Instead of adjusting the bible to our lives, we must adjust our lives to the bible. When we do that, God works in and through us to impact our society. Because when we live as God has called us to live, we stand out. To deal with change in Ephesus, the Apostle Paul encourages Timothy to be very selective about the church leaders, to not just fill as position because its vacant, but to train and wait for the correct person. Why? Because the “right people” internally in the church will help self govern the fellowship of believers and keep false doctrines and unbiblical beliefs out. We can learn much from Paul’s instruction in our own church or even our own family.
The society that the young Pastor Timothy served in was insanely secular. Therefore the Apostle Paul writes to him and urges him to live counter culture, to look and live different than those all around him. Paul also encourages Timothy to teach the faithful how they should also live to glory God…..and that way of living is publicly, faithfully, in love, and with all humility. Join us as we allow Paul’s letter to the young pastor impact our lives for the glory of God as well.
Timothy was a young and timid pastor with a ministry in a very secular metropolitan area. The Apostle Pauls encourages him to stand firm in his faith and to confront sin……but to confront it in love…….not like others confront sin. Paul encourages the young pastor to put himself in the lives of those that he is ministering to in order to understand them better, to be able to love them as Jesus loves them, and to share the gospel truth with them to change their lives. We have so much to learn from this small letter
Unity. The bible talks about it all the time concerning God’s people. So, what is the problem, why are we not unified as one single church under Jesus. Simple…..people. People, even with good intentions and being very sincere…..still struggle with sin’s, opinions, and prejudice. So we have the 1st church of this, the 2nd church of this, the real church of this, and so on because opinions happen and instead of unifying to glorify God, churches split. Fortunately there is still hope in Jesus for us forgiven sinners. We must not only have salvation, we must humble ourselves before God and put aside all those things that divide us. In Jesus is resurrecting hope for true unity.
When it comes to suffering, God is not getting back at us…..rather, He’s getting us back to Him. This morning, we look at Resurrection Hope in times of grief, times of loss. Mary, Martha, and Lazarus give us a very clear picture of what grief and loss looks like. Jesus, on the other hand, gives us a very clear picture on what God’s will and hope looks like. Join us and be encouraged.
Disappointment is a terrible thing, especially when we are the one to cause disappointment. Today we look at a man who painfully disappointed Jesus in Jesus’ time of emotional need. He was in the worst and last days of His life and Peter betrays Jesus. Peter carries the emotional scar of his actions and goes back to his old ways of living….that is….until Jesus meets him where he is at and restores him. If you are in need of forgiveness from the painful scars of disappointment, join us today as we receive forgiveness and grace.
The message of Resurrection Sunday/Easter is hope. But as we read the story in the gospels, its amazing how easily hope can turn to despair…..even when the answer to everything is right in front of you. We just don’t see the answer because we are looking down. Today, we see how God meets us in our times of despair…..not just at Easter…..but all the time. We are never alone, He is always with us, and Jesus brings us hope.
The bible tells us that if we keep our lives only for us, and reject God, in the end, we will lose the very thing we tried to save. In contrast, the bible also tells us that if we “lose ourselves in God”, in the end we are given the very life that we hoped for. In this Palm Sunday message, we look at the cost of the cross. Today we are not looking at the cost to Jesus, even though it was tremendous. Today we are looking at the cost to us….as Christians….as disciples of Jesus. The cost to us costs everything….but with that sacrifice of ourselves for Jesus….the end result is that we get it all back and more. Don’t make the mistake of living only for yourself, invest yourself in Jesus and see how much you can gain.
Jesus is often seen as “meek and mild” as He spoke His words of love, grace, and salvation to the world. But Jesus is also a “disruptor” as he confronts sin and religion….whether it was at the time He ministered with the merchandisers at the synagogue…..or today when He disrupts our lives to draw us closer to Him. He confronts and disrupts the things in our life that keep us from a deeper relationship with Him. And this is all done in love. We want to understand the importance of these God-disruptions in our lives.
What is something that we all have in common, but we also can’t stand? Prejudice. In our message today we look at the damage that personal bias does and how we are called to be more Christlike and to see others in the same way that Jesus sees them. He was crucified, died, and rose from the grave for both people like us……and for all other people. We need to learn to mature in Christ and tear down the wall of prejudice in order to share the gospel. Let us live lives that truly glorify Jesus.
Lethal injection by religion. Religion vs a relationship with Jesus is one of the most damaging deceptions that keeps people from living in freedom in salvation in Jesus Christ. Its subtle and easy to buy into. We can slide into religious thinking so easily because its so well accepted…..but its deadly. In the message today we look at how Jesus approached religion and why it is important to be aware of its deception and to stay away from it at all cost as well as helping others out of its shackles.
When the devils temptations and subtle tactics don’t work, he turns to a more frontal assault. The good news is that Peter and Paul give us direction on how to overcome the attacks through Jesus. No one is immune from struggles or pain, but we do have a choice in how we respond to the struggles and pain. We can allow them to beat us or divide us…..or, as the bible states, we can overwhelmingly conquer them. We need to remember that often in our worst times of struggle, God does His best work.
The spiritual battle rages on all around us and sometimes it is so subtle that we both carry it on for generations and propagate the deception ourselves. As we continue our study of this spiritual battle, we look at the deception today of traditions and of keeping thee status quo. Its as real today as it was in the time of Christ. The problem is, tradition and keeping the status quo often keeps us from a real, thriving, dynamic relationship with Jesus. We need to be aware of the deception and we need to be “in” and “live out” the Word of God in the bible.
There is a diabolical battle that is going on for our world that is completely unseen. It’s a spiritual battle that is going on all around us. John 10:10 tells us about this battle. The apostles Peter and Paul warn us about this battle. And Ephesians 6 instructs us to attire ourselves in spiritual armor. As Christians, we need to be aware of this spiritual battle and how the devil tries to distract us from fighting it. Join us in our new series as we become aware of the spiritual battle and how to fight it.
The story of Nehemiah is an amazing one as we look at the highlights today. This man was called by God to rebuild; to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem that stood as a symbol of God’s protection and provision. The people had neglected it and allowed it ruin to continue is to get worse. No action, until Nehemiah, was made by the people to rebuild the wall. It was a symbol of their relationship with God.
Second, Nehemiah was to call the people to a spiritual rebirth from the complacency of their lives. In that, God had done His part, now it was time for the people to do their part, to take action.
In the end, the wall is rebuilt, sadly the people choose to stay in spiritual complacency, but Nehemiah’s life is change. This book is a challenging book to us that also calls us to get out of our complacency and to do something about our spiritual lives and our relationship with God.
Service. It’s a foundational part of the Christian life and runs completely counter-culture to our American lifestyle. Even in the church, service is often overlooked. Why? Often because we believe that we’ve earned the money and resources that we have and that many don’t deserve what we might give them. Today we look at both the biblical importance of serving and the motivation as to why we should serve. Its Christlike and it’s a proof of our salvation. Join us today as we get “kingdom minded.”
Confession is one of the foundations of the Christian faith. Through confession to Jesus, we come to salvation. In continued confession to Jesus, we grow in our spiritual maturity. Although confession is not practiced often, it is something that we need to make a daily part of our relationship with God. For hidden sin makes us run from God expecting condemnation. God forgives our sins and want us to have freedom in life and freedom in our relationship with Him.
“Back to the basics” is our theme in January as we turn our attention to the foundations of the Christian faith. We want to have those “basic” so involved in our daily lives that it bothers us when they are not there. This week we look at the importance of daily spending time with God in the bible. Ironically, most people know the bible is important, but most people also don’t make time to invest the bible in their lives. The hope for todays message is to change that irony that we know intellectually the importance of the bible, but we also change our ways to make time for the bible in our daily lives. Join us as we hear God’s voice through His word….in the bible.
Starting the new year is like starting on a long hike in the mountains. Its important to know that you are starting at the correct trailhead, because if you don’t, you won’t make it to your destination and you’ll be lost. As we seek to know God’s plans for us this new year, we want to go “back to the basics” of the Christian life. We want to make sure that we are founded and grounded in the elementary things of being a Christian, so that as we mature, we do not get off track. And the bible tells us to build our lives on the solid foundation of God, not on the emotional shifting sands of feelings. Today we remember the importance of prayer in the daily life of the follower of God. Join us and set this year on the right path from the very beginning.
Christmas is more than just the birth of our Savior, it is Gods saving an unfaithful people and the fulfilment of God’s promises. We often make promises and break them, but God never does. Join us as we celebrate all that God had done for us in the gift of Hi Son. Merry CHRISTmas everyone!
