Forward in Faith: Recent Episodes
Wayne Parker
This week we will begin a new sermon series titled, “God With Us.” This week we look closely at Colossians 1 where we are introduced to Jesus as the complete representation of God yet he came to us in our flesh. We tend to think of Jesus as far away in time and space. The message of Christmas is truly Immanuel, God With us in our flesh. This means He both knows us and is near us. And, he is with us in power!
This week we will look at the second half of the 10 commandments with a focus on the linking command, children honor your Father and Mother. This command is the first to come with a promise. Where most people struggle with this command is first that as parents we are instructed to teach this truth. As parents we want to demand honor before we teach honor. In this message We will answer the question, how do I teach honor? To teach honor we have to model honor.
-A Godly home is a place that understands and teaches that God’s law is an expression of love. -Gods law teaches us how to love God, love ourselves and how to love others -We love God by obeying Him, by worshiping Him and by serving Him -Home is that place where these things should be intentionally taught
God designed the home with systems of authority. We experience His blessing as we submit to the authority of His design.
God designed the home with systems of authority. We experience His blessing as we submit to the authority of His design.
As we enter into the week that we often refer to as the week of Christ’s passion. We will be challenge by God’s Word to take as our own, the Passion that Jesus has for those who are far from God. To grow strong in Christ requires that we carry the precious seed of the Gospel to the world we live in.
We continue to focus on Growing Strong in Christ this week. As we open Gods word to the book of Colossians we will see that growing in the love of Christ means growing in Christ-like forgiveness. We cannot remain in His love and carry bitterness in the same heart. Jesus is the vine and we are the branches with His love following through us we can be sure that the grace or forgiveness is to flow through us also.
This Sunday we will move to the prophet Micah to consider His prophecy of the Little Town of Bethlehem. In this prophetic revelation we are confronted with the clear pattern of the way in which God works among His people. He takes that which is considered insignificant by the measure of men, and lifts it up through the life changing presence of Jesus.
This week will be the second message in the series, a Thrill of Hope. The series come to us from the words of the prophets who looked to the coming of the Messiah. Their words foretold accurately the redemptive plan that God was working out through the birth of Baby Jesus. This given son gives to us the Hope of Peace.
As we continue to travel through the book of Numbers, we come to a section, where the view shifts from Israel to a man named Balaam. Here is a man, who is not Jewish but knows God in a personal way. He is a man whom God has worked through and one we would assume was a good man. Yet, his story reminds us of some important truths. Among these truths is the reminders that God speaks to those who seek Him and that even a good person can make foolish choices.
The children of Israel are still in the wilderness of disobedience. But in chapter 20 we find that 38 years have passes without any record recorded. What does that mean? Here in this chapter we hear the 7th time the people complain and we see Moses and Aaron also take a step of disobedience that will keep them in the wilderness.
This Sunday we begin a new sermon series: The Pilgrimage of Faith: Truths for life from the book of Numbers. The first message is titled Moving forward in Faith. Israel is counted and organized by God for battle, worship and service. They begin their pilgrimage to enter into God’s promise. The sad truth of the book is that many who started this journey never enjoyed the fruit of the promise of God.
This weeks message comes form Psalms 127. Here the scriptures challenge us to put our homes in order. God created the home for the good of lives and society. But he did not create this wonderful representation of heaven on earth and leave it’s construction up to our own ideas. This passage challenges us to follow the instruction of God’s word so that our homes would be both health and happy.
This week we will kick off a new series titled: Faith & Family. The sermon is, Back to School. For many the past couple of weeks has meant the start of a new school years. For students, and parents, this is an exciting time. These first weeks are exciting and important for a couple of reasons. First it is a new start. Every student gets a clean slate. They start as all “A” students with great potential. And second, the opening session all go back to the basic for review. For families who are seeking to honor God, we need a fresh start and we need to go back to the basics of how God created the home.
On Labor Day week end we will turn the page from the Gospel of John to the first chapter of Acts. But, we will still focus on The Wonders of Jesus. Here we are reminded of the Wonder of His Ascension. This proves that Jesus’ kingdom is for all people and that He is reigning today. As citizens of this kingdom, Jesus promises us power, so why are we standing around?
Often we find the storms of life overwhelming. It feels like many things that are out of our control are pushing us around and keeping us from getting to our desired destination. Somethings those country winds cause us to be afraid. Like the disciples on the sea we need to hear and heed the command of Jesus, Don’t Be Afraid. And we need to see Him as the great, “I AM.”
This week we come to the Fourth miracle of Jesus in the Gospel of John. In this account we see that Jesus test the faith of His disciples. He tests our faith first to help us see what we are depending on and second that we might trust Him more. Jesus wants us to grow in our faith and he wants us to experience His abundance. John 6:1-15.
The Wonders of Jesus were signs that are meant to open our eyes to the life transforming power of God’s Grace.
This week we turn to the Second book of Chronicles to read of an event that reminds of the danger of drifting away from the practice of worshiping the living God. We can become focused on so many things that may seem important for the moment. But, if we were to prayerfully consider where we are investing our passions, we might discover that we are pursuing temporal things. Things that won’t matter 20,50 or 100 years from now. We were created for the eternal things of the Kingdom of God. Worshiping the God of Heaven, tunes our hearts to the truly important things of life. Focusing on the presence and power of God brings peace to the human soul.
Jesus teaching is to challenge us to be aware that God is always at work I Like Jesus and John we are to be busy with God’s work
II. Jesus and John worked hard… to introduce people to the Gospel of God’s Love.
III. Jesus exposes the inactivity of the self-righteous when He asked “what shall I liken this generation to?”
IV. Jesus calls us to wisdom, and to get in the game.
The grace of God that is working in us is making all things new. We have a new relationship with God, we have a new perspective of people and we have a new reason to do “good works.” As we read from 2 Corinthians chapter 9 this morning, we will discover that their is a harvest of God’s grace available to those who will faithfully plant seeds of love.
This week we find in the Love Letter of 2nd Corinthians a passage of encouragement and assignment. In Chapter 5 we are instructed that now is the acceptable time, now is the day of salvation! God is at work to bring to you the message of reconciliation and the power of new life. In fact His desire is to make all things new.
This week we open the second letter to the church at Corinth. It opens with the blessed assurance of God’s mercy and comfort. The Christian has the opportunity to walk in Joy because the confidence that is our in His comforting presence. If you are not walking in Joy, it is often because you have forgotten that He is near. 2 Corinthians 1 remands us of these great truths.
This week we are looking at one of the most popular chapters in the Bible. I Corinthians 13. We know it as the great love chapter, and though we know what it has to say most people simply don’t understand what this Godly love is. We have been given the gift of God’s love through Jesus our Lord and Savior. We need to learn to let His love flow through us.
This week we will focus on the instruction given to the church on the observance of the Lord’s Supper. As Paul writes to the church in Corinth he rebukes them for ignoring the purpose and preparation that is required to honor the Lord with our lives and in His church. Our worship should unify our service and fill our lives with thanksgiving for the sacrifice of Jesus.
This weeks message is from I Cor. 15 and is titled Resurrection Realities. In this passage Paul speaks of the historical realities of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He point to the hundreds of people that witness the resurrected Lord Jesus who were still alive to give testimony and witness to this fact. Because he has risen we have a blessed hope.
This week we come to chapters 9 and 10 in the first letter to the church at Corinth. Through these first chapters Paul, under the leadership of the Holy Spirit of God, has encouraged us to glorify God, in our Salvation, in our relationships with Brothers and Sister in His Church, in our bodies, and in our Marriage or Singleness. Now the message moves to glorifying God in and through relationships with those around us who have not come to Christ. For these, we are to build redemptive relationships by building bridges of love.
This week we continue to turn the pages of these wonderful love letters from God. As we read from chapter seven Paul begins to answer a question the the Corinthian believers have asked him. “To marry or not to marry, that is the question,” that might have been a good title for the sermon as well. In this passage we will discover what it means to keep the commitments that we have made.
This is our second Sunday and first full week of our adventure into 1 & 2 Corinthians. This morning message this week is titled Glorifying God. We were created for this purpose and in this message we will be reminded that what we do and say can distort our ability to bring God glory. The truth is that we are often distracted and deceived by the world into wrong thinking about the value of our lives. God’s word reminds us that He so highly valued us that He payed a high price for our redemption.
This week we launch our new series: Love Letters. This weeks message is titled "United in Christ.” Begin in chapter one verse 10 Paul gets to the heart of the issue to this and every church when he asks the question, Is Christ divided? The reader must realize that, if we are in Christ, then we cannot live or act like there are divisions between those of us who are called by His name. This is a challenging true and we are going to explore its meaning together.
This Sunday’s message, You’ve Got Mail," will be an introduction to our upcoming 13 week Bible Adventure in the books of 1&2 Corinthians. The series title is Love Letters. In this weeks we are going to bring together our Sunday morning evening and Wednesday night messages in addition to our Small group sessions and daily bible readings. I believe that this will be an exciting time as our family is working through these wonderful letters of truth and love.
This will be the last week in the series Vision & Victory. The message this week is from Joshua 24. In this passage we hear Joshua ongoing faithful commitment to the service of the Lord. But we are also looking at the end of Joshuas life. He has remained faithful and God has wonderfully blessed him. Their is wonderful blessing in a faithful life. But this morning we are going to consider what is required to live the faithful life.
This week we will read from Joshua chapters 5 and 6 which focus on the story of Jericho. For many it is a familiar story because it is so dramatic. In truth it is a story of humble faith. Both Joshua and the people of Israel were called upon to humbly and quietly walk around the city for seven days. God was teaching His people to trust Him and to not lean on their own ideas. It is a teaching that we need to consider for our walk with Christ.
This week we find Joshua and the people of God getting ready to cross over into the promise land. They had to face some major obstacles first. Then in obedience they had to take big steps of faith. The same is true for you and me. We have to step out in faith , get our feet wet to realize the power of God in our lives.
This Sunday we will hear the second message in the series, Vision & Victory. We will read from the second chapter of the book of Joshua which describes the two spies who are sent into Cannan and there they meet Rahab. It is a story of preparation faith and obedience. The faith of Rahab is saving faith. As the people of Israel prepare to enter into the promise land the testimony of God’s faithfulness brings salvation to those who believe.
This Sunday we begin the New Year with a series of messages from the book of Joshua, titled “Vision & Victory. There is much to learn from walked in faith and obedience. This week we have crossed over into a new year and like Joshua we must learn to be strong and courageous. We must regain a vision of the living God at work in our world and then be willing to cross over and join Him in victory.
This Sunday we will present the final message from our "Family Life” series. The title is “Preparing your home for Christmas.” The scripture text is Mark 1:1-8 where we read that John the Baptist was sent of God to prepare the way for the Gospel of Jesus. We to need to prepare the way for the Gospel of Jesus in our hearts and homes. From this passage we will follow John’s example on how to be a witness for the Gospel.
A very important virtue of a God centered family is the practice of forgiveness. Bitterness is destructive to all relationships and become a defiling cancer spread to those you love. It must be rooted out by grace.
This weeks message focus is on the instruction from scripture that we are to teach our children and grandchildren the things of God. We will also look at the example of the dysfunctional home of Ely. There are many examples of sin and rebellion in the homes of people of faith in the Bible. They are included to warn us as parents that we cannot be lazy when it comes to our responsibilities of intentional instruction and faithful examples that we are to provide. Our text for the morning begins with words that set the tone: diligently watch yourself so that you don’t forget…” Let us commit ourselves to the Lord in this great responsibility.
As we continue in our series of messages on “Family Life,” this week we will look at I Corinthians 13 to talk about the essential ingredient of Love. The passage begins by pointing out that faith, family and even life are meaningless with out love. Indeed many families are in danger because we do not fully understand what love is. In this passage the love we need in our home is defined. Lets look at this definition to evaluate the quality of the love we bring to our family
This Sunday the message will be Family life is Work part 2. We will be looking at Eph.4 and how the Godly life calls for good communication. Nothing is needed more in our marriages and families than healthy and honest communication. In this text, Paul points out that we are not never put off dealing with the daily issues of life.
This week we continue in our series: Family Life. The sermon will focus on Psalms 127 and Proverbs 24:3-4 both of these passages were written by Solomon. In his wisdom he speaks of the work that goes into family life. We are going to look at in investments that we need to make in our marriage and in our home to have a healthy growing family.
This week enter our second week of the sermon series "Family Life”. We will be in Gen. 35 where Jacob leads his family to Bethel (which means, “House of God”) The title of the message is "God made families for Worship.” Jacob gives the example of intentional leadership as he prepares for and then brings his family to a place of worship. The important lesson he provides, is the truth, you cannot lead others to a place where you haven’t been. Jacob was returning to the House of God.
We will begin this new series looking at Romans 12 and the teaching that we are the family of God. As such we are brothers and sisters. We have responsibilities toward one another that we cannot forsake. Most of all share the job of working for unity in the body.
The question this week it the most important question of all. It is the question that clarifies our relationship with Christ. Jesus asks of his disciples and of us, “Who do you say that I am?” In this message we will consider the power of our confession. Who do you say that Jesus is? Have you confessed him as the Christ of God as Peter did. If so the right confession comes with many promises that you won’t want to miss.
This weeks question is, "Where is my honor?.” God asks us, if you call me Father why don’t you honor me as a father and if you call me Lord why don’t you serve me with honor? These again are important questions for us to consider. Does my life honor God? Is my worship worthy of His Name? As you ask yourself these questions let God’s Spirit reveal the truth to you.
This weeks question is: what are you doing here? This question from God is not as much about our location as it is about the condition of our soul. It asks, where are you? Do you stop often and consider this question for yourself? Are you in God’s will are you seeking His best? Or are you letting your own ideas and desires lead your far from God’s presence?
This weeks question should really get us thinking. What if God were to ask you, “What do you want, ask of me anything…” What would you ask for? What we ask for does reveal what is on our heart. Solomon was given this very opportunity. How he responded made all the difference in his life. How and what we ask God for makes a difference in our lives as well.
As we consider the questions God asks us, this morning we look a question that sets the perimeters of truth. We tend to only think of truth in terms of the here and now. We are rarely conscience of the eternal. We in turn ask questions of God based on a temporal experience. These questions are in truth nonsense questions because we do not have the capacity to understand the answer. So God asks of us, "where were you when I established the earth?” From this and the questions that follow God is saying, you are asking a question that has an eternal answer.
This morning we will look at Genesis 18 and the question that God asked Sarah. He asked, “why did you laugh?” The question exposed Sarah’s doubt in God’s word. The story also gives us the opportunity to be reminded that the good news of God’s redemptive love gives to us the opportunity to laugh with God in joy. So, the question can still be asked, “why do you laugh?”
As we read Genesis chapter 4 this week we see the steps of a person that is not walking with God in fact they are walking away from God. This begins in the heart and then finds expression in actions leading to God’s question of Cain, “What have you done?"
This week we start a new sermon series titled: The questions God asks us. The first question from God in the bible is asked of Adam and Eve. “Where are you?” This question challenges us to understand that God is still seeking us. All of His questions in scriptures reveal his redemptive love. A love that does not leave us alone in our sin but seeks us to save us and open our eyes to His presences.
As God deals with our excuses in Haggai 2, He asked the question, “What do you see.” He is challenging us to consider what we are looking at and what we are looking to. The things we focus on can lead us to discouragement and confusion. But, God has given us his Holy Spirit that we might be sensitive to what He is doing in the world. When we begin to open our eyes to God’s activity we will be energized and encouraged!
Jesus' parable of the "Two Sons", confronts our practice of saying the right things and putting on good appearances with out faithful service.
Life is full of questions. Why are we here? Why is the world the way it is? Is their meaning for my life. As The apostle Paul shares the gospel message on Mars Hill in Athens he answers these and many more questions.