Relevant Sermon Video: Recent Episodes
Relevant Community Church
Weekly sermons from Relevant Community Church in Elkhorn, NE. Relevant exists to help transform people into everything God created us to be. We break faith down in practical ways you can apply to your life. Learn more at relevantcommunity.org.
We all have a sense of things we “ought to do” that come from inside us. The feeling of “ought to” points to someone outside of you, who is working in you, to lead you. You take the next steps to follow Jesus by doing the ought to that the Holy Spirit prompts you to even though it may cost you
Jesus died on the cross and rose from the grave to set us free, but experiencing that freedom is a choice.
We are not self-defined, but God defined. One of the ways that God defines us is as “redeemed”. Jesus came and paid the ultimate price to enable your adoption into His kingdom. There is nothing you can do to outspend the redeeming power of Jesus.
We are not self-defined, but God defined. One of the ways that God defines us is as adopted as a child of God. As a Child of God, we have a Father that wants intimacy with you and to give you the power that He provides.
We are not self-defined, but God defined. One of the ways that God defines us is as a New Creation. Becoming a New Creation is not that you become a better version of who you already are, but you become who you were created to be. Part of becoming a new creation is we get a new heart, soul, and mind. When we become a new creation through faith in Jesus, we are described as ministers of reconciliation and Christ Ambassadors.
We are not self-defined, but God defined. One of the ways that God defines us is “justified”. Justified means that when God looks at us, he sees us as blameless, righteous, and holy. You cannot be justified by your heritage, and you can’t earn your justification. Justification is a gift from God and nothing more.
Identity goes far deeper than what can be created by us and observed from the outside. Identity is something bestowed upon us by our Creator. You were never meant to form your own identity; you are not self-defined you are God Defined.
One perception that people about followers of Christ is that they are AGAINST people. This should never be perceived about Followers of Christ because God is FOR people. The only way people will know God is FOR them is if followers of Christ are know for that too.
One perception that people have of Christ-followers is that they are judgmental. The reason we are perceived as being judgmental is because so often we are being judgmental. To embody the kindness of God, that has the potential to lead people to faith in Jesus, we must walk in the fulness of grace AND truth.
People who were nothing like Jesus liked Jesus, and He like them too, but do people like his followers? One perception is that followers of Jesus are hypocrites. A hypocrite is someone who says one thing and does another and acts like they aren’t. The best way to change the perception of being a hypocrite is by not being one.
People who were nothing like Jesus liked Jesus, and He like them too, but do people like his followers? Many people who would say they’re not followers of Christ perceive His followers is unlikable. To change this perspective we must think differently, not about what your positions are but about where you are standing. You don’t have to compromise what you believe to impact people for Jesus, but you do need to change your approach by thinking differently about where you are standing and saying YES to the relationship.
Many people have endured something severe, some kind of trial, some kind of abuse or some kind of heartbreak that has caused trauma. Trauma is often not fair because you weren’t responsible for what happened to you, but you are left to deal with it. Until you heal your hurt, your hurt is going to continue hold you hostage. You may not be responsible for your trauma but pursuing God for healing is your responsibility.
The struggle with mental health is real and anxiety is one of the most common struggles, two out of three people said they were anxious or extremely anxious. People have anxious thoughts over uncertainty of the future, jobs, our financial future, and relationships among others. The way that we can cure anxious thoughts is by replacing them with thoughts of gratitude. When you focus on thoughts of gratitude anxiousness can’t coexist. But your gratitude needs to be founded on what is true because if your gratitude is not, when things go wrong anxiety can and will return.
Depression is one of the most common mental health struggles, in fact, many studies are now saying that depression is the #1 Mental Health struggle in the world today. It is ok to not be ok but don’t be not okay alone. Asking for help is not a sign of weakness but a sign of wisdom. Depression is closely related to toxic thought process call rumination, which is repetitively dwelling on negative thoughts and feelings. To break the cycle, you must focus on what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely admirable and whatever is praiseworthy think about these things.
Mental health is not a static, meaning you can be healthy for a long time then something circumstantial changes and your mental wellbeing is under attack. We will all deal with mental health issues at some point in our life. A root cause of for so many of our mental health struggles is thoughts and feelings of hopelessness. Thoughts of despair characterized by a belief that things will never get better will get us all at point and time. As followers of Christ, we must trust in the certainty that God will fulfill all his promises in His time and way. We do this by starting our day with hope, worshipping until hope find us and by being still and knowing hope. When we do this, we can rest in the promises of God.
Christmas is a reminder that God came to be with us, wants to be with us, and can be with us.
There will be times when we all suffer from hearts that are broken, cynical, hard, and discouraged. Because life is hard and what we experience affects our hearts. The condition of your heart will affect our life, relationships, choices, and faith. God wants you to live a life that is free and full, He wants to heal your heart. We all need a Heart Healer because God uses heart healers to heal our hearts. God puts people in our lives that play an important role in bringing healing where we desperately need it. People who can help us live that free and full life that God wants for us.
Those you hang around with matter and those you hang around with will impact our lives whether good or bad. They will either push you toward God or away from God. Your circle of friends will be a major factor on who you become. God wants to transform you from the inside out, but here’s the thing, this will not be comfortable. But His goal for your life on earth is not comfort, it’s character development. Soul Sharpeners help point you to Jesus so you can become more like Him.
We all need people in our lives that will love us on different level. The problem with this is that love doesn’t always feel loving. Sometimes love requires that we speak up, confront, and challenge each other. The truth is we want people in our lives who are willing to say what is uncomfortable and kick us in the tail because that is what love requires.
Finding a model we can emulate or an example we can follow helps us take something we wish was true about our life and see what it looks like in real life. When it comes to experiencing growth and change in your life, following a model makes personal transformation easier.
Transformation doesn’t happen in isolation; meaning, we need relationships to be transformed into everything God created us to be. The first type of person you need can see beyond what you see for yourself and point you towards a preferred future. They can also call out of you what God put in you. But for them to be able to do this they have to know who you truly are. Until they know who you are they can’t see who you can become.
Growing in our trust in God doesn’t happen by accident, when we choose to be rich our trust in God richly grows. One way to Be Rich is to love extravagantly by serving sacrificially. When we accept Jesus’s invitation to do what we can and serve, we’re are paving the way for our trust in God to grow, because it’s the only way we’ll ever see what he can do. When you feel the nudge to serve others and your follow through, not only will your trust in me grow, but people will see and experience God’s love for them through you.
When we choose to BE RICH in how we give, serve, and love our trust in God richly grows. The thing that exposes or stretches our trust in God more than anything is money, because what we’re most tempted to trust in most for our future, hope, peace, and freedom is money. No amount of money can give all that Only God can, and he wants to teach us to trust him for it. Jesus’s 1st century invitation was and his invitation for you and me today is simply “Follow me”. Follow Jesus by giving what He is leading you to give, and give it FIRST.
We are in a battle daily, so we must daily prepare for battle. One of the ways we daily prepare to stand firm in this battle is by daily putting on the breastplate of righteousness to protect our hearts from enemy’s attacks. We protect our hearts daily by daily choosing to trust and obey. The protection of your heart is vital because it is the core of your being, the center of everything you feel, think, are and do. If we don't want to be a war casualty, we must put on the breastplate of righteousness.
Each one of us has an enemy who is against you, and who is attacking you. One way the enemy attacks is through the distortion of what is truth. He has been using it since the garden and uses still to this day. We are in this battle daily so we must daily prepare for battle. We prepare by daily putting on the armor of God so when the enemy attacks we will be ready. One piece of the armor is the belt of Truth. Your ultimate authority will determine your truth. We must know God’s principles, promises and ways only known through scripture and then we must apply those truths so we can detect the deception from the enemy.
We are in the midst of a battle every day. This battle is not against him, her, or us, but an unseen battle against someone who fights with the forces of hell to destroy everything and everyone God is for. You have an enemy who is against you and is going to attack you to either keep you from Jesus or as followers of Christ everything He has for us. We are in a battle daily, so we must daily prepare for battle.
Jesus Christ came, died, rose to be the hope of the world. Before he physically left, He established his church to be the physical embodiment of Him as His agent of hope in the world here and now until he physically returns. When a local church is living as the Body of Christ, they are experiencing divine unity despite disagreement, the love of Jesus is seen and felt, people are putting their faith in Him, and lives are being transformed. Unfortunately, this is most people experience inside the local church. For Relevant to operate as the body of Christ it requires each of us to take full responsibility for everything that impacts us living as a fully functioning body of Christ
We all wonder, question, and doubt and do so through a specific frame of reference. When our reasoning doesn’t provide all answers, we wonder about deep stuff through a specific frame of reference. When it comes to Christ-followers, their frame of reference is not theology, philosophy, or a belief system. It's a person. Navigating through doubt begins and ends with fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.
Sometimes it's the Christians you know that are the biggest contributors to your doubt. You think “If they believe all this stuff to be true and still act the way they do then I don’t know if I can believe it.” If your faith is determined by the actions of others than your faith is in people and not God. We navigate through this doubt by focusing on Jesus alone.
What happens when you are in the middle of a situation where you want God to act, you need God to move, and He hasn’t fixed it yet?
Entering a relationship with Jesus is not a guarantee that you will never have any doubts. In fact, even those who saw Jesus in the flesh still struggled with doubt. Learning how to navigate our doubts in a way that strengthens our faith is a key factor in our ability to walk in relationship with Jesus.
It is the parents’ primary responsibility to lead their kids toward a relationship with Jesus. When you raise children, you should parent them with the end in mind. You are not raising children, you are raising future adults. The most important thing to God for your children is for them to have a relationship with him through Jesus Christ, so he can transform them and so they can experience the life only he can give.
We all want to make a difference in the world, but where do we start? It’s a big world with a lot of needs, and there’s no shortage of opportunities. How do we know if we’re making an impact? As a church, we’re working together to transform a specific part of the world and you’re invited to be a part of it.
During the Passover meal, Jesus broke bread and pass around a cup saying, this is my body and blood which is given for you. He then instructed his disciples to eat the bread and drink the cup in remembrance of him. This account has become known as the Lord’s Supper, Communion or the Eucharist, and has been a big source for disagreement in the church throughout history.
Before Jesus physically left this earth, he established a new covenant with a new group of people whom he called His Church. But when he ascended, who did he leave in charge? Who has the authority now?
“What must I do to be saved?” Protestants and Catholics have answered this differently which has created a lot of confusion, division, fear, and different views of God. Who’s right? Is there a checklist?
Jesus' resurrection changed everything for His first century followers. What should the resurrection change for you?
Relationally investing in someone is a series of invitations. But there is one invitation can change someone’s life and eternity: the invite into a relationship with Jesus.
Your story is the most powerful tool you have. Crossing the line of sharing your story is one of the most impactful things you can do. When you share your story, you’re sharing Jesus’ story too.
So many of us want to talk about Jesus with our friends, family, neighbors, and coworkers because we want to see their lives transformed by Jesus. But we’re afraid to risk negatively affecting those relationships, so we don’t. What do we do? It begins with a spiritual conversation.
When Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life,” He was claiming to be the source of both. But Jesus does more than give life, He is life. Death has no ultimate power over Him. Through Jesus, death has no ultimate power over those who believe and follow Him.
A grapevine is a main vine that sends nutrients from the root of the plant to the branches, which enables the branches to thrive and bear fruit. The gardener prunes branches that do not bear fruit. This week, we look at Jesus claim to being the Vine.
We were created for more than this world, and we all have a desire to be “home” but how do we get there? Jesus said that He alone is the way back to us experiencing what we were created for.
Jesus said He is the Good Shepherd and that He knows His sheep and His sheep know Him. Sheep left on their own are destined to destroy themselves. Would you say you call Jesus your shepherd or are you living as a shepherd-less sheep?
There is darkness in this world at every turn. No one is debating that. Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” This statement presents a dilemma: either choose to follow the light and find life or continue to walk in darkness that ultimately leads to death.
Do you truly know Jesus? When Jesus walked the earth, people followed Him everywhere; not for who He was, but for what He provided for them physically. It’s the same for many today. Too often we don’t want Jesus for who He truly is but for what He can give us. Jesus calls Himself "the bread of life"; the One who satisfies, sustains, and saves.
Let’s talk about Jesus. Do you know Him? There’s a difference between knowing about someone and really knowing someone. When it comes to Jesus, we can have all the knowledge in the world about Him but live our entire lives never truly knowing Him. When Jesus physically walked this earth, there were many different ideas about who He was. Now Jesus himself was very clear about who He was, and he made seven distinct “I Am” statements that eventually led to Him being tortured and crucified. Here’s the most important question for each of us: who do YOU say Jesus is? Does that line up with who Jesus says He is? To truly know Him requires personal experience of Him, experiencing His transformation.
The first way Jesus was tempted was to meet a legitimate need in a way that was disobedient to his Father. The second way Jesus was tempted was to manipulate his Father to act on his behalf instead of cooperating with Him and His plans and purposes. This week, we see that Jesus was tempted to sacrifice what was ultimately important for what was immediately gratifying. If Jesus was tempted to sin in this way, we can guarantee that we will be too. But hidden behind that curtain of temptation is the question, “who will I worship?”
God is a God of love, blessing, salvation, protection, and forgiveness. He only asks for our faith and trust in Him as He works in our lives. When we fall into temptation, we are faced with the choice to either manipulate God and try and force these things out of him or have faith in God by cooperating with Him. The question is, will you try and manipulate God or cooperate with God in the midst of temptation?
Behind every temptation, our faith is at stake because temptation is always a test of faith, not self-control.
We all face temptations of different kinds. Too often we surrender to temptation because, well, it’s tempting, and we’ve failed and have given into that temptation before. But in every temptation we face, there’s always more at stake than we realize.
With each New Year comes the desire to reinvent ourselves, start new habits, turn a corner. Whether we admit it or not, most of us internally think, “Ok, THIS is the year I make a change.” But how often does that happen? Let’s take a different approach in 2022.
For 400 years before the birth of Jesus, God was silent. But even when God is silent, He is never absent.
To live worthy of the calling we received by maintaining unity, we must work on our patience. But not in the way one would think. We must work on our patience with one another by making allowances for each other’s faults. When doing so, patience paves the way to unity.
In order to maintain unity, we must put on gentleness in every way, especially when unity is at stake. Being gentle paves the way to unity, and is how we live worthy of our calling.
Humility is unnatural. We like to think about ourselves, talk about ourselves, and ensure others know what we know and that we are somebody. But the Apostle Paul says there is something we must “put on” when we accept our call to follow Jesus. It’s a continual attitude of humility. When we “put on” humility, we pave the way for unity.
Is the way you have been living worthy of everything God has given to you through His son Jesus? Satan will do everything in his power to pull you away of the call God has placed on your life. How you respond will dictate how you live.
There are people everywhere who live in fear, including us. But why? And more importantly, how do we overcome fear? We overcome fear with love.
Jesus said, “whoever wants to be my disciple, must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their live will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.” Following Jesus is more than believing in Jesus. Sacrificing our lives for Jesus is how we follow Jesus.
In 1 Timothy 6:17-18, Paul says, “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.”
By international standards, if your annual household income is $40k or more, you are in the top 1% of wage earners in the world. That means that most of those that live in the United States are rich! However, according to the writers of Scripture, “being rich” isn’t defined by our level of income.
We can all fall into the same trap along the way, the trap of worry. And usually regarding provision and lack thereof. But if God can provide “then”, he can provide now. And his provision is complete provision. But how do we remember what God has done and how do we trust in his provision for the future?
We often pray for God to protect us and those we love from things like injury, sickness, death, etc. And we should because He is our protector. But what about when it seems like He doesn’t? Sometimes His eternal purposes don’t align with our temporary plans and desires. Maybe it’s because He has a different plan for us in those moments. God never promised He would always “protect” us from every single thing. But He does promise that He will never leave us in our circumstances. And we can be assured that He is always guiding us and has a plan for us.
God can, and does, heal those who are sick and hurting. But although He can heal us, we must never presume that He must. There are times when he chooses to heal and when he doesn’t? Regardless of if he chooses to or not, one truth remains the same. He is more concerned with our soul.
Not everything bad that happens in life is because of the devil, but there are evil forces in this world seeking to destroy you and everything about your life. Yes, there is an enemy. But Jesus already conquered sin and darkness, and through a relationship with him, you have miraculous authority over darkness.
Sex is not just a physical thing. It’s a soul thing. When we take sex outside of God’s design, we damage our soul. If we’re honest with ourselves, none of us would choose that. But let’s get more honest, we naturally want to step outside of God’s design. What’s the issue? The real issue for all of us when it comes to sex is surrender. Surrender what? Everything.
How do you relate to those who are living in sexual immorality? Do you relate to them with more grace or more truth? Some approach with mostly grace, while avoiding truth. Others ensure only truth is spoken, not leaving room for much grace. But which is better to lead with? The reality is, neither is best to put forward more than the other. As Jesus both taught and lived, we must walk in the fullness of both grace and truth.
God is the creator of humanity, and stamps both male and female with a divine imprint, in His image. The difference between male and female is woven into the fabric of creation, and it is beautiful. But sin distorted who we are and who God created us to be. Sin distorted sex, which in turn distorts us. So what do we do?
There’s truly nothing else in the world like sex. Because of that, there’s also nothing else in the world that impacts us like sex. It connects people, drives people, destroys people, and divides people. Culture convinces us, and sometimes we convince ourselves, that sex is only physical. But if that is true, why is the pain of sexual sin so deep? It’s because sex is not just a physical thing. It’s a soul thing.
Everything rises and falls on leadership. Your school, your church, your family, your marriage; it all rises and falls on leadership. And leadership is influence.
Young people are not the future church; they are the church now. The greatest influence we can have is on young people. But the only way to be a church that influences young people is by being a young church. And we are a young church when young people are operating as the body of Christ.
Jesus established his church to be His agent of hope, to be His body, to carry on His mission, and ultimately, to positively influence the world for God’s glory. But we cannot do this by ourselves. It requires every single one of us living and operating as the body of Christ.
Jesus said in order to follow him, we must pick up our cross daily and never look back. But in order to do so, we have to turn away from living by our flesh. We have to literally die to ourselves so that we can live for Him and what he wants to do in us and through us. Jesus demands sacrifice. Jesus never hid that cost. To follow Jesus means to follow him wherever, whenever, in whatever.
In a world where everything revolves around self (protect yourself, promote yourself, preserve yourself, entertain yourself, comfort yourself, take care of yourself, love yourself, serve yourself), Jesus said that whoever is going to follow him totally must deny themself.
Going all in with Jesus can make us uneasy, anxious and fearful. When you decide to become a disciple of Jesus yougive control of your life to Him. You go where He goes, do what He says and allow Him to lead you. We can be reassured in His leading, because He doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called.
Pain and hardship will certainly cause us to pray; sometimes even more than our needs and wants. But why do we continue finding ourselves in hard places, difficult places, even addicted places? We experience pain and hardship because we live in a broken world, and in an unseen war where there is an “evil one” against us. What do we do? The fourth way Jesus told us to pray is found in Matthew 6:13, and that is to “lead not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”
What if the reason our prayers aren’t answered is because we have issues of unforgiveness between us and God along with us and others? When we pray for forgiveness it transforms our hearts. It restores our relationship with our Heavenly Father and allows us to forgive others in the way He forgave us.
What if the reason our prayers aren’t answered is because we are not praying persistently? When we ask persistently God answers consistently. As we continue to pray God will always provide what we need, which is more of Him. We can always trust our God to provide all we need. If an earthy father desires good gifts for his children, how much more does our heavenly Father desire for us?
What if the reason our prayers don’t seem to work is because we are not praying correctly? What if we are doing it wrong? Can we do it wrong? What if prayer hasn’t worked for you because you don’t understand how prayer is supposed to work? We MUST learn how to pray so we don’t go our whole lives participating in it without experiencing the power of it. Maybe if we’d simply said, “Lord teach us to pray” we would experience prayer in a completely different way.
At one time or another, we’ve all been told we should pray. Many do, many don’t know how, and many have given up. Why do we pray anyway? How should we pray? Jesus’s disciples had the exact same question.
Throughout history, the people who have changed the world are those who have chosen to be pioneers, in countries, in social policy, in the medical fields and even in outer space. There have been some great pioneers throughout history, but you can’t argue with the fact that Jesus has changed the world more than anyone who ever lived. While on Earth, he was the ultimate example of pioneering for the glory of Father God. And all followers of Jesus are called to pioneer in the same way.
In a world where churches are often known by what they’re against, we want to be known by what we’re FOR. And we are FOR people because God is. The problem is, we often take the wrong approach toward people who disagree with us, to stand firm by our positions (morally, spiritually, doctrinally, etc) As a result, a gap gets formed between the church and the rest of the world. We must think different. Not about what our positions are, but about where we are taking that stance. And that is by saying “yes” to the relationship.
Chances are, your positions are not the primary problem in people believing that you are for them, but your posture toward them. What are you known for? Being FOR people or against them? In order to be FOR the people that God is FOR, we need think differently about our posture, and put that ahead of our positions.
For far too long the church has been known for what we’re against. We need more people (and churches) who are known by what we’re FOR.
Much of what you normally do isn’t a result of conscious choices but a result of daily habits. Based upon who God wants you to become, what do you need to stop doing?
We all generally have the same good intentions physically, emotionally, relationally, financially, etc. But good intentions rarely turn into actions and success. Why? Because goals don’t determine success, systems do. Much of what we normally do isn’t a result of conscious choices but a result of daily habits.
Change isn’t easy, but it’s not impossible. How? Starting a few small habits can change how you see yourself today and transform you into the person you want to be tomorrow, and ultimately who God wants you to become.
If you were to take an entire day and evaluate your life right now, what would you say? Is it a life of peace or pain, joy or depression, health or sickness, happiness or sadness, love, bitterness? The bad news: Jesus said that in this world we will have trouble. The good news: Jesus has overcome the world and it’s troubles, your troubles, BUT you have to WANT to get well. Do you?
What do we do when we’ve done everything we can to resolve a relational conflict with someone else, but the other person simply won’t reconcile? Do we get revenge? Do we play their game? Do we get even?
It’s important to remember that a lasting solution will always be a combination of the resolution of the issue and the reconciliation of the relationship. If you only resolve the issue, the solution will never last. The only hope for ongoing peace after a conflict is to seek a reconciled relationship, which comes through the incredible act of forgiveness.
In a conflict, clearly acknowledging and owning up to your contribution, no matter how big or small, models the response you’d like to see from the other person. But also, clearly communicating how another person’s words or actions have impacted you sets the stage for reconciliation.
In a conflict, our hearts tend to go right to blaming the other person. But playing the “blame game” only escalates the situation. Someone needs to break the cycle. Where do we start? In order to fight right, we need to take a different approach. We must first look in the mirror.
Conflict is all around us. It affects our marriages, families, churches, neighborhoods and workplaces. It can wear us down and damage our relationships. But it doesn’t have to be this way. There’s a better way, but we must learn to Fight Right.
Jesus didn’t come to start a religion. He came for a different reason…relationship. He came to lead us into a growing relationship with God. Ultimately, so that he can transform us into everything God created us to be. And that happens by us taking one next step at a time.
Christianity is not faith in an ideal, but in a person. It’s a belief that something happened. A single event changed how those closest to Jesus viewed Jesus, and it should change the way we view him too.
We live in a world that rewards performance. It’s ingrained in us from an early age. Tests, sports, education, manners; almost everything. And this performance-based mindset affects our view of and relationship to God. We can believe we must perform to certain standards to be in right relationship with God. We feel that when we do the right thing, God turns his chair toward us. We feel that when we do the wrong thing, He turns His is back on us. As such, we begin creating religious performance-based rules for ourselves and then live by them, in bondage. But Jesus didn’t come to start a religion. He came to restore a relationship.
If you are like most people, there’s probably a chapter in your life you’d like to erase or go back and do over. It might have been as far back as high school or college or maybe a recent relationship. We’ve all made bad decisions we can look back and laugh about, but just as many that elicit nothing but shame and regret. Addressing lingering shame and regret can lead to an experience that ignites personal faith in a way you may not believe possible. But there is only one primary way we actually experience forgiveness for this.
If you were raised in a religious home or attended a religious school, it was probably the rules that made you question whether religion had a place in your future. Perhaps these rules associated with the faith tradition you were raised in made you feel judged. Maybe that faith community ostracized you. Whatever your case, most religious rules run contrary to human nature. And being the human that you are, that’s a problem. In spite of that, all faith systems agree that in order to be in good standing, followers need to keep the rules. But here’s something you may have never considered before. Rules always assume a relationship. And when it comes to God, he established “rules” as a confirmation of a relationship with him, not a condition for a relationship with him.
The introduction of sin into the human experience left God with somewhat of a dilemma if you will. Where would He begin the task of restoring the world from the effects of sin? Best we can tell, He had a choice to make. Either destroy the sin-infected world and start over, or roll up His sleeves and go to work fixing it, restoring everything to what He originally created it to be.
Let’s talk about sin baby…let’s talk about you and me. OK but seriously, sin is an uncomfortable word. It’s so uncomfortable that we’ve pretty much abandoned it. We do everything we can do avoid that word. But here’s the real deal. Sin harms our relationship with God and our relationships with other people. So we must talk about it.
The starting point for faith is not a Bible story. It’s not even the Bible. It's an event that leads to a question.
Singing of peace on earth at Christmas time stirs something within us. We want that peace but aren’t experiencing it in our hearts or in this world. Is the “peace on earth” that was pronounced at Jesus’s birth even a reality that can be experienced, or does it just make for good Christmas songs?
This week, Tim Bohlke returned to close out the “Thin Places” series reminding us how important it is that we don’t forget about the moments where we experience God because they will keep us going.
As a reminder, a “Thin Place” is a moment where heaven and earth collide, and we experience God. But we can’t create these moments. We can only position ourselves to recognize and experience them. In this week’s message, we discovered that one reason we don’t experience God more often is because we are being weighed down by some of the things we are holding onto.
“Thin place” are moments where heaven and earth collide and, for a moment, we experience God. Our hearts long for thin place moments, but we can’t create them. We can only position ourselves to recognize and experience them. This week as we continue in this series, author of the book, “Thin Places,” Tim Bohlke reminds us that God is already moving in our lives through thin places, we just have to be alert in order to not miss them.
Whether you fully believe this or not, your heart aches for thin place moments; moments where your heart and soul come alive, moments where heaven and earth collide and moments where you experience God. You can’t help but long for these moments because they are ingrained in you. Why? Because God created you that way, with the hard wiring to long for his presence. But no matter how hard we try to experience these moments, we will never experience them if we are not positioned correctly. So what do we do?
Since the beginning of time, humans have offered their crops, their animals, even their children as sacrifices to the gods. Why? Two thousand years ago, in a shocking reversal, God offered a sacrifice to us. His Son Jesus. So what now? How should we respond to this?
The Apostle Paul said to “do good…be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share (1 Timothy 6:17-18). This week, we move into the final component of our Be Rich Initiative, which is to LOVE. But what does love require of us? According to Jesus the answer is simple; to love others just has he first loved us. Simple right?
The name “Be Rich” comes from 1 Timothy 6 in which Paul tells Timothy: “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share” (1 Timothy 6:17-18). This week, we're talking about how we can be rich by being generous with our time, in the way we SERVE others.
Chances are that if you’re reading this, you are in the 1% club. By international standards, you’re rich! This week, we're talking about what it truly means to "be rich" as we kick off our annual Be Rich initiative where we Give, Serve, and Love.
A deception all of us tend to believe is that success will bring fulfillment and happiness. We try to measure up, thinking that if we could perform and meet certain standards, we would feel good about ourselves and find our value and worth. We believe we have to earn our worth. Thus, we get caught in the performance trap – I must perform to certain standards to feel good about myself. When we believe this about ourselves; about our self-worth, Satan’s distortion of truth is often reflected in our attitudes, behaviors and feelings. But through Jesus, we have been justified and made righteous in God’s eyes and are fully pleasing to him.
Whether we know it or not, success or failure is often our primary basis for evaluating our self-worth. If success, worthy. If failure, unworthy. And so consciously or unconsciously, we live a life of trying to avoid failure. Which leads us to playing the blame game. Whenever someone fails, we point an accusing finger. When we fail, we search for a reason, a culprit, or a scapegoat. Why? Because we don’t understand God’s unconditional love and grace. We believe the lie that when we fail, we are unworthy of love and deserved to be punished. Whether the accusations are focused on ourselves or others, because we believe that with failure comes condemnation and with condemnation comes due punishment.
We spend so much of our time building relationships, striving to please people and win their approval and respect. And yet, after all of our sincere, conscientious efforts, it takes only one unappreciative word from someone to ruin our sense of self-worth. Why is that? It is because we are living according to the lie that I must be approved by certain others to feel good about myself. But basing our self-worth on what we believe others think of us will cause us to become addicted to their approval. And this is dangerous. Our acceptance and worth are not dependent on others’ acceptance of us, even if they are fellow followers of Jesus! Whether they accept us or not, we are still deeply loved, completely forgiven, fully pleasing, totally accepted, and complete in Christ. And He alone is the final authority on our worth and acceptance.
From the moment we are born, we find ourselves searching to satisfy some inner and unexplained yearning; to feel good about ourselves, to know who we are, our true identify, and ultimately, our worth. But if we base our worth on past failures, dissatisfaction with personal appearance, or bad habits, we often develop a false belief; I am what I am, I cannot change. I am hopeless. I am a shameful person. When we have a distorted view of ourselves, we will never fully experience the peace and freedom that only comes from God.
We are an emotional people. But when we let our emotions take over, they can cloud our judgment. Politics can raise emotions leading many to become frustrated and angry. And when we leave our emotions unchecked, we can easily become divisive. Why does this happen? Is it because we are focused on what we want; for our own kingdom? Or is it because we are fearful of something and do not trust God for his outcome? As we approach this election, ask yourself this question: Is what you want driven by human emotion or informed with God’s truth and aligned with what God wants?
Our political views are shaped by a number of variables: our backgrounds, education, personal experiences, and the families we came from to name a few. It’s easy to feel like our view is the right one, but the person beside you is more precious to God than your political view.
Your favorite candidate will win or lose based on how our country votes this November. However, the church will win or lose based on our behavior between now and then.
Our ultimate purpose as Jesus’ followers is to carry on Jesus’ mission. In order for us to do this, we must accept His simple invitation to follow Him and allow Him to transform us into everything He created us to be. When we live for Jesus’ mission, we experience His awesome power, and we will impact the world for Him.
Our heavenly Father has one desire for us- to transform us into everything He created us to be. But we weren’t meant to do this alone. Connecting in authentic relationships within the church is vital to continually be transformed into everything God created us to be, because our lives were not meant to be lived in isolation.
Creator God has one ultimate desire for you—to transform you into everything He created you to be through Jesus. Transformation happens when we enter into relationship with Jesus and grow in our relationship, not religion, with Him.
The bad news is you’ve probably been fed this lie at some point in your life: "You can be anything you want to be if you believe or work hard enough." The good news is that you can be transformed into everything God created you to be. So, how do we live the life we were meant to live?
Jesus built the church, not a building but a people, to advance God’s kingdom on earth. Satan wants to do everything in his power to stop the church from carrying out Jesus’ mission. So, it makes sense that he wants to attack OUR body along with our hearts, minds, bodies, and souls because ultimately he is against God. So, how can we do our part to protect and defend OUR body?
Jesus warned us about the enemy’s tactics to steal, kill, and destroy, but also reminded us that He came so that we may have life and have it to the full (John 10:10). So, we shouldn’t be surprised when Satan attacks our hearts, bodies, minds, and souls and tries to keep us from loving God with all that we are. Instead, we should be prepared for his attacks by being deeply connected to our living, real God.
Jesus came so that we may have life and life to the full, and he promises to provide that when make him the leader of our lives. But just as much as Jesus wants us to experience the life only he can give, there is an enemy who wants to take that away. And Jesus said that this enemy, the devil, comes only to steal, kill and destroy. This week, in part three of our series, we focus on our physical bodies. Why? Because our bodies, created by God for the indwelling of His Spirit, affect us both physically and spiritually and will be under attack. So, we’ve got to protect our bodies.
There is a real enemy who is out to attack everything good that God wants for your life. He will attack your heart, body, soul, community, and targets your mind to gain control of your life. So, how do we protect our minds from Satan’s attacks?
Do you ever feel like something is fighting against you? No matter what you do or how you do it, you just can’t win. Maybe you feel constant worry, fear, or anxiety. Right now we live in a world full of lies, distractions, and divisions. It seems as if everything and everyone is under attack including our hearts. So how do we protect our hearts from the attacks of the enemy?
There are many important priorities competing for the attention of parents, but what is the most important to God? Jesus taught that the greatest commandment is to love God. Jesus also taught that loving your neighbor is the second greatest commandment. We choose what’s most important to God by loving Him first and others just as Jesus first loved us. As we wrap up our series, we learn that we must train our kids to choose what’s most important to God by loving everyone just as Jesus first loved them.
Every child will eventually become a wise or foolish adult who will face hardships, disappointments, and suffering in this life. That’s why it is so important that parents intentionally train their children up in God-honoring wisdom. As children go through suffering, parents can make them, let them, and help them suffer by teaching them to fix their eyes on Jesus- allowing Him to transform them through their trials.
How you train your children today greatly influences whether they will become a wise or foolish adult. Your children will either become an adult of God-honoring wisdom or an adult who makes foolish decisions. What’s important and a priority today, will become important and a priority for them later. And what’s most important, is for you, your children, and your future children to have a personal and growing relationship with Jesus.
Parenting is hard. But being a parent is the most important job you will ever have. It’s hard because we are living with and dealing with other human beings; human beings that grow up and make decisions. Decisions that define them. Whether wise or foolish, these decisions not only affect them, but others as well. One thing’s for sure, every child will eventually become a wise or foolish adult. What will be the result of your parenting? Will your child become a wise adult full of wisdom, or the opposite; a foolish adult stumbling around in folly?
Going back to the way things were before Quarantine isn’t what your Heavenly Father wants for you. He desires for your soul to be awaked, healing for all that’s broken in your mind, heart, and soul. He wants to transform you, your family, your health, your church, and impact others’ lives through what He’s doing in you. He wants you to experience the full life that Jesus came to offer. The more we focus on how things were, the more we miss out on all that God wants for us today and in the future.
Over the last couple of months, our lives have changed in many ways. Ways that we never would have expected, that were out of our control. And it’s been different for everyone. But even though some restrictions have been lifted, none of us really know how long some aspects of this moment will last, which has left many of us saying, “I can’t wait for things to go back to the way they were.” But do we really want them to? Do we want things to go back to the way things were or does God have something else for us?
All over the world we see injustice, brokenness, and evil with a lot of needs. We know something isn’t right and we want it to change. We want to make a difference, but where do we start? Can we even begin to make dent? Yes! On Global Impact Sunday, we focused in on what we are doing as a local church to do our part in transforming a specific part of the world: the Karen people from Burma. And guess what? You are invited to be a part of it. Together, we can help transform the Karen people.
Throughout this series, we discovered that our words have so much power. Words spoken to us have positively and negatively influenced the quality and direction of our lives. Similarly, words that we’ve spoken to others have done the same. One of the most negative kinds of words spoken about someone happens when they aren’t even present—gossip.
Our big mouths can be destructive, but they also have the power to build others up. What we say can impact the quality, and even the direction, of the lives of the people around us. But, there is one thing that stands in the way of us building others up. That one thing is bitterness.
Words are powerful! Your life, my life, our lives have been shaped by the words that have been spoken to us, over us, and about us. Words shape our childhood, marriages, social and work environments. Words impact your confidence, self-worth and even who you see in the mirror. The words we speak (our tongue) have more destructive power than any other part of our bodies. Our words control the trajectory of our lives and the lives of other. Words carry a lot of weight!
Have you ever opened your mouth and inserted your foot? Has you and your big mouth ever gotten you in trouble? We have all stuck our foot in our mouth at some point. We all want to be heard and understood. So, our natural inclination is to be slow to listen and quick to speak. But, that inclination damages relationships, which no one wants. One of the most powerful things we can do relationally is “be quick to listen and slow to speak.” The longer we listen, the more we learn, and the better chance we have of protecting ourselves from our own big mouths.
Belief is a force that accomplishes powerful things. It can lead to war or peace, division or harmony, and even changes history. When Jesus was crucified and died on the cross, the disciples and followers of Jesus were disheartened and lost their belief. But on that third day, when Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to them in person, they believed and began what we know as Christianity today. So what do you believe?
More than ever, people are open to God and need the hope that Jesus offers. We are the light of this world, so how can our simple invitation lead to something greater in the lives of others? This week we wrap up our Ignite series as we learn to stay close, give hope, and go to God.
The privilege of sharing our faith isn’t limited to people who have been in church their whole lives. We are all called to make disciples and ignite the faith of others. We must be ready to be where, aware, and prepared at all times to share with others the reason for our eternal hope.
How we respond to life circumstances can ignite the faith of others. As our country is experiencing life changes during this time, fear has crept in and is spreading faster than Covid-19 itself. But we are a people who possess the power, peace, joy, and hope of the Spirit of God living inside of us. This is our greatest opportunity to ignite the faith of others and for our faith to be ignited as well.
When we discover a new TV show, restaurant, or band we love, we can’t wait to share about it. When it comes to something we are good at, we don’t hesitate to look for ways to help others. But when it comes to sharing about our faith, we’re much more hesitant. Why is that? Is it that we don’t feel qualified? Is it that we are too nervous, shy or scared of the potential response? Regardless of our reasoning, we all have a unique circle of influence and opportunity to ignite the faith of the people around us. And thankfully, it’s not as hard as we think. This week we discover that one of the easiest ways we can begin sharing our faith is through our stories.
The Bible wasn’t written primarily for our information but for our transformation… becoming everything God created us to be. God’s intended purpose of giving us the Bible is to lead us to his son Jesus and to equip us to follow him so that we are transformed by him. But transformation comes only through application. So the question stands…do you want to be transformed into everything God created you to be?
The Bible did not create Christianity. Christianity is the result of an event (the resurrection of Jesus) that created a movement (the church) that produced sacred and reliable texts that were collected and bound into a book (the Bible). But how do we approach not being at peace with everything we read in the Bible? Well Paul—once a Pharisee turned apostle, author, preacher, who became one of the biggest church planters in history, offers us clarity and confidence to move forward.
The Old Testament. Is it a rule book something else? Do we align our lives around it or simply know it? What is it? Simply put, the Old Testament is the backstory to THE Story. It chronicles God’s redemptive history. It’s a fabulous, gritty, epic history of the Hebrew people. One that presents the history of God preparing the world for a Savior.
“In the beginning…” can be a loaded phrase – one that forces us into debate and doubt. But maybe we’re missing the point of Genesis 1:1- a point Moses made to a world where the violence and injustice of the gods justified and legitimized the violence and injustice of human rulers. Many civilizations had creation stories that supported the idea that the human race was an afterthought. Consequently, throughout history, individuals had no rights, hope, intrinsic value… until Moses introduced a radically different, unparalleled, and untested worldview.
Most of us are familiar with some stories in the Bible, but many of us are unfamiliar with how we got the Bible in the first place. As the purpose of the Bible is for our transformation, grasping the reason we even have this “Good Book” is key to understanding the stories written in it.
The Bible is probably the most misunderstood book in history, yet it has powerfully shaped human history for the past 2,000+ years. For many, the reality is that our approach to this “Good Book” is influenced by our past experiences and issues with the Bible. So, if all of our individual issues are different, how can we know its primary purpose?
The kingdom of this world won’t provide you with what you really want. It will distract you from what really matters. It will rob you of what you value. What you were created for is connected to WHOM you were created by. The way to get what you really want is to surrender to your heavenly Father and renew your mind.
What do you want? What do you really want? We’ll never get what we really want until we discover what is most valuable. And what we naturally want is often in conflict with what we ultimately value. So, in order to figure out what you really want, you have to figure out what you value.
We’ll never get what we really want until we discover what is most valuable. But choosing what’s valuable doesn’t come naturally. We’ve all had the experience of getting what we naturally want, only to discover it’s not what is most valuable—it’s not what we ultimately want. But how do we avoid being deceived by our short-term desires?
We all have wants, and life can feel like a constant pursuit of those wants. We want to do what we want to do. And we want what we want now. But actually getting what we want can lead us into a dangerous cycle of wanting more and more. So, what do you want?
MAIN POINT: "Baptism is a public declaration of faith in Jesus. It’s evidence of salvation, not a requirement for it."
KEY VERSE: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” – Matthew 28:19
CHALLENGE QUESTION: "If you’ve put your faith in Jesus but haven’t been baptized since, would you take the next step to be?"
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES: Matthew 28:19, Mark 7:4, Luke 11: 38
SUMMARY: Originally, "baptism" was not a religious concept. Yet over time, baptism has become an exclusively religious idea. Are you confused about what baptism is all about? Does it seem like a weird practice? Unsure if baptism is a next step for YOU? In this sermon, we explore the purpose of baptism, what Jesus and the writers of Scripture had to say about it, and why it’s so important for us today!
MAIN POINT: "When you confront me about a gap I’ve created, I will tell you the truth."
KEY VERSE: “Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.” – Acts 5:4 (NIV)
CHALLENGE QUESTION: "Will you commit to tell the truth when you’re confronted about a gap you’ve created?"
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES: Acts 5:1-11
SERIES DESCRIPTION: We have expectations in every relationship. What happens when our experiences don’t match those expectations? It creates a gap. What we choose to put in the gap determines the quality of that relationship.
MAIN POINT: "When I’m convinced I will not be able to fulfill an expectation, I will tell you AHEAD of time."
KEY VERSE: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." – 1 John 1:9 (NIV)
CHALLENGE QUESTION: "Who do you need to proactively confess to?"
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES: 1 John 1:5-9
SERIES DESCRIPTION: We have expectations in every relationship. What happens when our experiences don’t match those expectations? It creates a gap. What we choose to put in the gap determines the quality of that relationship.
MAIN POINT: "If what I experience begins to erode my trust, I will come directly to you about it."
KEY VERSE: “If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over.” – Matthew 18:15 (NIV)
CHALLENGE QUESTION: "Who do you need to go directly to today?"
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES: John 1:14
SERIES DESCRIPTION: We have expectations in every relationship. What happens when our experiences don’t match those expectations? It creates a gap. What we choose to put in the gap determines the quality of that relationship.
MAIN POINT: "When I observe other people assuming the worst about you, I will come to your defense."
KEY VERSE: “A perverse person stirs up conflict, and a gossip separates close friends.” – Proverbs 16:28 (NIV)
CHALLENGE QUESTION: "Whose defense do you need to come to?"
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES: Proverbs 16:28, 26:20, 22
SERIES DESCRIPTION: We have expectations in every relationship. What happens when our experiences don’t match those expectations? It creates a gap. What we choose to put in the gap determines the quality of that relationship.
MAIN POINT: "As trust goes, so goes the relationship."
KEY VERSE: "It (Love) always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." – 1 Corinthians 13:7 (NIV)
CHALLENGE QUESTION: "WHO are you assuming the worst about…that you can choose to start believing the best about?"
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES: Matthew 22:36-40, John 13:34-35, 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
SERIES DESCRIPTION: We have expectations in every relationship. What happens when our experiences don’t match those expectations? It creates a gap. What we choose to put in the gap determines the quality of that relationship.