God Rock Church: Recent Episodes
God Rock Church
This is a sermon podcast from God Rock Church, based out of Port Coquitlam, Canada. We exist to reach people far from God and lead them to be authentic followers of Jesus.
At the time of this passage, the Jews lived with an unwanted presence - the Roman Occupation. The Coronavirus, much like the Roman Occupation, is an unwanted presence and it is a test to our response in the midst of trials and tribulation.
When we talk about eternity, the Coronavirus is our not our biggest problem. Our biggest problem is when we eventually die and see God face to face, how are we going to spend eternity? If the wages of sin is death, we have a much bigger problem on our hands. But if we believe that Jesus perfectly fulfilled the law, lived a perfect life, died for our sins and rose from the dead, then we have hope for eternal life. If we believe in Jesus, there is absolutely nothing to fear.
Two days before Jesus’ crucifixion, we see Jesus back in the temple court during Passover going back and forth this time with the Sadducees. The religious leaders have been relentless in trying to bring Jesus down.
The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection and took the opportunity to try to prove to Jesus how ridiculous the idea of the resurrection life was.
Jesus was once again brilliant in his response. He challenged the Sadducees that they did not know scriptures nor the power of God.
The truth is, the resurrection life is scriptural, and it depends on God’s power to make it happen. God has infinitely more power to make it happen. Everyone has a physical life, but only those who actually have God have the spiritual life they need. Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life.” He died on the cross so that we can have resurrection life. So, if you desire to live for eternity, experience the pleasures that nothing in this life could ever give, Jesus is the only way - He died for you so that you can have eternal life.
In this text, we see the Pharisees try to plot and entangle Jesus in his words. First, they try to flatter Jesus and then ask Jesus a question regarding paying taxes, where if Jesus answered wrong, could stir up trouble with the Romans.
However, Jesus responds beautifully causing the Pharisees to marvel at his wisdom and went away. In this sermon, we will expand on the significance and the deeper meaning in Jesus' response.
In Matthew 22, Jesus is in the temple speaking to the religious leaders. The topic in this section of the text is regarding the kingdom of heaven. Jesus explains in a parable comparing the kingdom of heaven to a king's wedding feast for his son. When the king sent his servants to call those who were invited, we see various responses from the guests.
As we dive into this text, we need to think about the image Jesus is communicating in describing the kingdom of heaven. It is a feast, it is awesome. The king's invitation has been sent out. How will you respond to the invitation?
In this text, Jesus gives another parable to the religious leaders. This parable describes a good master who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, did all the work and have everything set up for the tenants. All the tenants had to do is show up and reap its fruit. Once in a while, the master would send servants to get some of his fruit. However, the tenants beat and killed the servants that came to gather some of the fruit. The master then sends his son to gather the fruit, and again they beat and killed him.
This parable is meant to show the goodness of God. The tenants represent the religious leaders who time and time again rejected, beat and killed the prophets that were sent by God. This is also a foreshadow of the eventual crucifixion of Jesus.
God wants us to experience the love and blessings he has for us. All we need to do is place our faith in Jesus and when the time comes where we stand before God, we'll get to spend eternity in heaven with Jesus.
In this text, we see Jesus back in the temple teaching. The religious leaders approach Jesus and questions Jesus by what authority is He doing all these things? Jesus responds to the religious leaders with another question.
Jesus reveals that the authority that He possessed is from the same authority given to John in his ministry. The religious leaders' response to Jesus also reveal the deep rooted pride that is in their hearts.
Last week we saw Jesus curse the fig tree, causing it to wither at once. This was a living parable symbolic of the nation of Israel and their Worship of God.
When the disciples saw this, they marveled at what Jesus had done. As Christians, we never want to stop marveling at the work and the power of Jesus. Part of the problem with the church today is that we stopped marveling at Jesus and replaced it with worldly things. When we look further in the text, Jesus explains His works and how we can do the same if we ask in prayer and in faith. In this sermon, we go deeper into Jesus' response to His disciples and understand what Jesus was saying.
This week we continue in Matthew 21. We see Jesus returning back to the city after spending the night in Bethany. Jesus encounters a fig tree and seeing that it had no fruit, he cursed the tree and the fig tree withered at once. This is a living parable that displays a spiritual reality:
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Fig tree itself is a picture of the nation of Israel.
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The figs that didn't exist are the true worship of the living God.
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The leaves on the fig tree are the empty religious rituals that lacked any kind of substance of true Godly worship.
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The withering of the tree is the judgement that will come to those who do not have a relationship with God.
Tune in as we dive deeper into this passage and how we should respond to this message.
Most people care about what takes place in their house. You don't want burglars scrummaging through your belongings or vandals turning your house upside down.
Likewise, God cares about what takes place in His house. When Jesus arrived in the temple in Jerusalem, he saw people buying and selling in the temple, taking advantage of those who were preparing for the passover. Seeing this, Jesus drove out the merchants and the money changers. Jesus goes on to do what the House of God was meant to be for - a house of prayer and ministry.
We kick off the new year back to the gospel of Matthew. This week, we continue in Matthew 21:1-11 which takes place during what we now recognize as Palm Sunday, commemorating Jesus' entry into Jerusalem as Saviour and King, fulfilling a prophecy from Zechariah 500 years ago.
Ebenezer means "Stone of Help" and it served as a reminder of where our help comes from. It reminds us that up until this point, our help comes from the Lord and he continues to help.
As we wrap up 2019 and ring in the new year, we too want to remember God's faithfulness over the last calendar year. And as we catapult into the new year, we recognize that our God continues to help us.
In this final part of our series titled "Gift Exchange" we talk about our gift to God as part of the exchange.
What do you give to someone that has everything?
God doesn't need anything. He is perfect and sufficient in His triune nature. But God desires to have us, all of us. He doesn't want just a fraction of you, He wants it all. And if we give to God 100% of our life, the people around us are blessed because of it.
As we head into the Christmas season, we kick off a 2-week series titled "The Gift Exchange."
The two most important people in your life is God and yourself. You might wonder why you would be the most important person next to God. That's because in order to be the best for people, you need to get right and get healthy yourself. So this series is about the gift exchange between God and you.
This week, we talk about the gift that God gives to you. Specifically, we go over what this gift is, what makes this gift from God a good gift, and how can you receive this gift.
This is the final sermon in our sermon series titled "Value Village" dedicated to explaining the 6 core values of God Rock church. The purpose is so that we have clarity of what shapes God Rock Church and for effectiveness as we live these values out as a church.
This week, we talk about the power and the culture of multiplication and what God Rock desires to see multiplied in the church.
This week we talk about Spiritual Maturity in our series titled "Value Village". The purpose of this series is so that we have clarity and unity surrounding who we are as a church and so that we can have a focussed effectiveness in our lives.
Spiritual Maturity is the process of a Christian becoming more and more rooted in the person and the work of Jesus Christ. Spiritual Maturity is important so that:
- It enables us to no longer be like children (in the negative sense);
- It enables us to no longer be tossed to and fro by the waves and storms of life;
- We are no longer carried by every wind of doctrine, human cunning, and by craftiness in deceitful schemes.
In this week’s sermon, we continue the series titled "Value Village" where we identify and explain the 6 core values of God Rock Church. The 4th value of God Rock Church is Church Membership. When we talk about the Church, it is not about the building, but about the people - the family of God. So Church Membership is a formal relationship between the local church body and a Christian, characterized by the church’s affirmation and oversight of a Christian’s discipleship, and the Christian’s submission to living out his or her discipleship in the care of the church.
We continue in our Sermon series called Value Village, identifying and explaining the core values of God Rock Church, shaping how we do life together.
This week, we talk about our second value: The Message - the Bible, the Word of God. We are going to go over what we believe about the Bible, why God Rock Church values the Bible and how we're going to live it out in valuing the message of God's word.
One key theme is, all of the books of the Bible in the New and Old Testament points to the Messiah.
In this sermon, we continue our series titled "Value Village" identifying and explaining the core values of God Rock church. Our hope is that through this series we can have clarity and cultivate unity around the values of God Rock church and that we can experience the power of God.
This week, we go over 1 of 6 values of God Rock church. This value is the first for a reason, and supersedes all of the other values. This week we talk about the Messiah.
We begin a 7-week sermon series about the core values of God Rock Church. These core values are the shared common principles that shape the way we do life together.
In this text, we see Jesus do something unprecedented in healing the two blind men. The two blind men experienced the power of God after they cried out to him. When it comes to blindness, we can be physically or spiritually blind. If you want to experience the power of Christ, are you willing to cry out to Him?
In this text, Jesus is continuing his journey to Jerusalem where he will eventually be tried, punished, and be crucified. In this interaction between Jesus and his disciples, here are 5 things to be thankful for:
- Thankful that we are not the only ones who doesn't get it sometimes - we can learn from the misunderstandings of the disciples
- Thankful that we have a God that loves us and cares about the things we want, even though we don't know what we want most times
- Thankful that Jesus flips things right side up for us so that we can have the right perspective
- Thankful that Jesus wants us to pursue greatness in our lives through Jesus' definition of greatness
- Thankful that Jesus paid our ransom for us.
In this text, Jesus is with his disciples on his way to Jerusalem for the last time. He goes on to foretell his death and resurrection for the 3rd time. This 3rd time is even more specific than the previous two times. Jesus reveals that He will be condemned to death, delivered over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. But on the 3rd day, Jesus will be raised to life.
All of this is connected to Jesus' love for all of us, that he would humble himself, endure suffering and death, so that we may have eternal life.
In this parable, Jesus describes the interaction between the master of the house and the laborers. This is not a parable about business, but it's about eternal life. The reality is, there will be people that will enter the kingdom of heaven through various circumstances. As Christians, we need to rejoice and praise God when that happens. If you don't know Jesus, don't harden your heart to the Gospel, receive Jesus into your life and experience the love of God.
In this second part of Jesus' interaction with the rich young ruler, we saw the rich young ruler leave with sorrow after Jesus told him to sell everything he possessed, give to the poor, and follow Jesus.
Jesus takes this opportunity to gather his disciples to teach them about eternal life. He teaches that it is both very difficult and impossible for people to enter heaven. BUT, he goes on to say, with man this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible.
This is why we talk about Jesus. It is only through Jesus that we can inherit eternal life. There is nothing we can ever do to earn it. It requires faith and it is through faith that we are born again as children of God.
What good deed must you do to enter eternal life? To be good enough to enter heaven, you need to live a life that is sinless and perfect. Only 1 person has ever done that and his name is Jesus. It doesn't matter how good of a person you are, it's not good enough to be able to enter the Kingdom of God. But there's hope. If we choose to follow Jesus, we'll inherit eternal life.
In this sermon, we see Jesus wanting the little children to come to him. Jesus wants little children to come to him because he loves them. And with all children, they are made in the image of God, knit together in the mother's womb. But this passage also have significant meaning in how God wants us to live. To be fully dependent on God, like children are fully dependent on their parents.
We face issues on a daily basis. When we encounter these issues, it's easy for us to focus on the surface issue and miss the underlying root issue. In Matthew 19, the surface issue is the topic of divorce. But in this sermon, we discover that divorce is not "the issue" and is something that is much deeper.
We learn from previous weeks that the vision God gives us is a people that are divided into 2 groups: those who love and accept Jesus and will live with Him in eternity, and those who reject Jesus and spend eternity separated from Jesus.
With that vision, our mission is to make disciples of Jesus. In this final sermon of our series Mission + Vision, we go over how we are to make disciples.
A disciple, by definition, is a follower or a student of a teacher or leader. Since Christians are followers of Jesus Christ, our call in Matthew 28 to go and make disciples of all nations is a call to make Christians of all nations.
For us, we need to recognize that this isn't any ordinary task. Becoming a Christian is a supernatural event where a person is spiritually born again. This means that it is impossible for us humans to do this alone. We need the resurrecting power and grace of God to do this.
In this sermon, we go in depth on what a disciple is, the challenges that come with making disciples, and how do we make disciples?
This week, we continue our sermon series on Mission + Vision. Last we we talked about the desire for God's vision for our life. This week we talk about what God's vision is for our lives as it pertains to Heaven and Hell.
God see's our life perfectly, so what does He see? There is a future and eternal reality when we reach the end of our lives on Earth. In this sermon, we are going to go over God's vision for all of humanity as it relates to Heaven and Hell and what this means for you.
We kick off a new sermon series on Mission and Vision. Mission and Vision in simple form is essentially getting from Point A (our current position) to Point B and the journey in between.
In the church context this is important for the life of the church. It provides a perspective to assess where the church is currently at today, the Vision that God has set forth and what God requires of us as a church to get to where that Vision is .
In this sermon, we go over how being bullied can cause anxiety for many of us. However, if we fix our eyes on Jesus, all of a sudden our problems become significantly smaller.
Last week, we examined that God sometimes allows us to be in a season of being overwhelmed. In this week's sermon, we look at how we can minimize and erase unnecessary burdens in our lives. These are overwhelming situations that we don't have to be in and we want it completely gone.
There are two reasons we can be the source of our own anxiety:
- Obvious reasons, such as unrepentant sin;
- Hidden reasons, sin of worry and fear.
As Christians, we believe in the freedom as a result of the Gospel. We believe that God is all powerful and has proven that time and time again in scriptures and in our lives. So then why do we still experience seasons of being overwhelmed? In this sermon, we do a bit of troubleshooting as to why we go through seasons of being overwhelmed.
When it comes to how God operates and how we operate, it's like saying God is playing chess while we are playing checkers. When we are overwhelmed and experiencing anxiety, we tend to see what is in the moment - but God is many moves ahead of us. God wants us to experience freedom from the things that overwhelm us. He desires us to experience freedom so that we can freely worship God. But it doesn't stop there. He wants us to experience freedom to worship so that we have a testimony so that others can see the goodness and the power of God through our transformed lives. He saves us not only for our good but the good of others as well.
In previous weeks, we talked about how God cares deeply about our anxieties and that when we "give it to God" we have the opportunity to be yoked to Jesus, which is easy and his burden is light. This week we ask the questions, what happens when Jesus is faithful to his own words? What happens when Jesus takes away your burdens?
Anxiety is often triggered by lingering fear in our minds and the feeling of not being in control. Often times we can build up anxiety when we are expected to perform to a certain level or to achieve perfection. This is a heavy burden either laid on by ourselves or put on our shoulders by the world.
But Jesus says, "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
We begin a new sermon series over the next few weeks tackling the issues of anxiety and fear. We will focus on understanding what these issues are, and how to effectively deal with them when they come up in our life. Everyone deals with fear and anxiety in some shape or form - this is a message that everyone need to hear.
In this sermon, we have the pleasure of having Pastor Alex Lomangino as our guest preacher. In this text in Matthew, we go into the topic of personal forgiveness. Extending personal forgiveness towards others is essential in the life of a Christian. Join us as we dive into the topic and how it is an important component of the gospel.
This is the final part of our mini-sermon series titled "Family Matters" where we talk about the Church Family as we dive into Matthew 18. In this sermon, we are going to take a closer look at what love looks like between siblings in the family of God. We are going to go deeper into the granular details about love and answer the following question:
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What does love between children of God in the family of God actually look like?
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How are we to actually love one another in the church?
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How do we do it?
"Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." In part 2 of our mini-series, we take a look at what Jesus means when He says in order to enter the kingdom of heaven, you must become like children. Does this mean we start acting in childish ways? Or is this a portrayal of how much we need to humble ourselves and fully depend on Jesus?
We begin a 3 week mini-series in Matthew 18 titled Family Matters. In this series, we go in depth in Matthew 18 on the family of God, highlighting its importance and the issues that come up between brothers and sisters in the family. This topic matters deeply to God and it shapes how we love each other in the Church. This is also a way for anyone outside of the Church to get a taste of what loving each other means in the family of God.
In this text, we explore why Jesus didn't want to unnecessarily offend the people at the temple. Jesus explains to Peter that as the Son of God, he would not have been obligated to pay the temple tax - even Kings don't tax their children, but other people.
Jesus didn't want to use his freedom as the Son of God as an excuse to unnecessarily offend people, so he paid the temple tax. We learn that sometimes, it is necessary to do something that is unnecessary for the sake of a greater purpose. In this case, it's to prevent people from being distracted from being able to see the real reason why Jesus came to Earth.
In this sermon, we go over the topic of betrayal. This is an important topic because we need to equip the church to be able to respond in a Godly way when we experience betrayal. Jesus thought it was important to teach the disciples and model how to respond to betrayal - which is why we also need to take this topic seriously.
In this sermon, we see Jesus heal a boy with a demon after the disciples tried and were not able. Jesus later teaches his disciples that they weren't able to heal the boy because of their lack of faith.
Small faith can do big things when that faith is placed in a big God. And growing faith can do bigger things than small faith. Ultimately, faith in Jesus Christ is pleasing to God.
As part of the service, we are celebrating with Brodie Markel the 2 year anniversary of the last day he used addictive substances of any kind. If you know anything about addiction and recovery, then you know how special this is. Tune in to hear Brodie's testimony of God's grace and power in his life, to rescue him from a life of addiction.
When you look at a picture of Jesus Christ hanging on the cross, what do you see?
In Matthew 17:1-13, Jesus reveals to his disciples a glimpse of His glory as God. We see in the scriptures that God is light, and no power of darkness can ever overcome the power of God.
So when we see a picture of Jesus hanging on the cross, we must observe what is physically in front of us, but also understand the Gospel message associated with it. That the perfect, all powerful God loves us sinners so much that he would die in our place so that we could live forever. If we repent and place our trust in him, we can be saved and be with Jesus for eternity.
Jesus may have been preaching to the choir when he said to the disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." At the point, the disciples had already left everything to follow Jesus. So why did Jesus make that statement again?
We are going to dive deep into 4 key questions about what is involved when it comes to follow Jesus:
- Who can follow Jesus?
- What is required of the person who wants to follow Jesus?
- Why should you follow Jesus?
- How is following Jesus even possible?
In verse 20 of the text, Jesus strictly charged his disciples to tell no one that he was Christ. Why would Jesus give his disciples this kind of directive?
We see in the scriptures, at this point in time, Jesus shifted the focus of His ministry to be more focused on teaching His disciples. We see that Jesus must go to Jerusalem where he will suffer many things, be killed and on the third day be raised from the dead.
In this sermon, we're going to go deeper into why Jesus gave His disciples this command. What Jesus is trying to teach His disciples is critical in our understanding and our explanation of the Gospel.
When Jesus asked his disciples who the people say he is, the disciples responded with John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah or one of the prophets. In today's context, that's like saying someone is Mother Teresa, Billy Graham or someone that is highly respected. The people in the area Jesus and his disciples entered into had nothing bad to say about Jesus, but at the the same time are totally wrong in their assessment of who Jesus is.
When Jesus asked his disciples who do YOU think I am, Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
This is a profound statement that Simon Peter could not have came to on his own and is a statement that could get him killed. In this sermon, we go deeper into the significance of Simon Peter's realization of who Jesus is.
In this sermon, we examine what is the significance of communion and what is happening in a person's life when they are taking communion? Under the new covenant, when we partake in communion, we are having personal fellowship with Jesus.
Unity is important for everybody in the world, both Christians and unbelievers. Members of God Rock Church will love, build and protect the unity of the church.
In this sermon we go over the following questions:
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What is unity in a general sense?
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Why is Christian unity so important?
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How do members of a local church build unity amongst each other?
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How do members of a local church protect the unity that they have?
This week we go over the topic of sexual purity as part of our "Set Apart" series on church membership. As members of God Rock Church, you will covenant with God and with one another to abstain from sexual immorality.
The reason for the boundary line for sexual purity to be drawn around local church membership is because:
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Sexual purity is a boundary line drawn around the entrance to Heaven
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It is God's explicit will for His church to abstain from sexual immorality
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Boundaries are loving.
If you are struggling with sexual sins, the good news is - there is hope for everyone! Tune in to hear more about the gospel and how you can find freedom in Jesus.
In this week's sermon, we introduce the biblical concept of giving financially to God through the local church. As members of God Rock Church, there is an expectation that members will give to God Rock Church regularly as an individual and corporate act of worship. We will go over 6 points to consider in the biblical and practical application of giving to the local church.
Jesus is the Servant-King. He gave up everything to serve others, including you and me. And if we are his people, we will serve other people like our King served us.
That is why one of the requirements to be a member of God Rock Church is to serve each other and alongside one another in community.
The 9 points that will be discussed concerning serving others like Jesus did are:
- Serving others like Jesus did is a mark of true greatness
- Serving others like Jesus is one of the secrets to experiencing joy in your life
- Serving others like Jesus requires a radical heart change in the person who is serving
- Serving others like Jesus requires that we have the Holy Spirit in us
- Serving others like Jesus requires sacrifice, not convenience
- Serving others like Jesus requires your committed time
- Serving others like Jesus requires we use a different kind of vocabulary
- Serving others is a sign that you are a Christian
- Serving others can be done by anyone, but it will be done by members of God Rock Church.
As members of God Rock Church, you will be discipled so that you can make disciples. In Matthew 28, we are called to make disciples of all nations. The process of discipleship is a process of maturity and is done through teaching.
We go over the 4 aspects of teaching as demonstrated by Jesus:
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Jesus taught using words
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Jesus taught by example
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Jesus taught in the context of community
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Jesus taught his disciples patiently
As we continue our series "Set Apart" on church membership, this sermon will address the following questions on the importance of Church Leadership:
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What does good, healthy leadership look like?
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What does the Bible say about Church Leadership?
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Why is Church Leadership so important?
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What is God Rock Church's position on Church Leadership and how it should be implemented?
In this sermon, we go over the 12 values that God Rock church hold to:
1. Jesus - God and spirituality without Jesus is nothing.
2. Love - Without love, we have nothing and we are nothing.
3. Truth - The word of God is the Bible, and it is the absolute, unchanging, eternal truth of God
4. Prayer - We pray always
5. Faith - Without faith, it is impossible to please God
6. Worship - Worship is our whole life giving over to Jesus
7. Mission - God has saved us for a purpose, and it is to love, seek and engage a lost world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ
8. Discipleship - Jesus commands us to make disciples of all nations
9. Miracles - We believe that God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow and continues to do miracles through the Church
10. Holiness - God is Holy, and he saved us to be Holy and set apart
11. Suffering - You will suffer for the sake of Jesus Christ and when it comes, we get to know and experience Jesus in an intimate way - all for His glory.
12. Unity - We are going to fight for unity in the Church.
We continue the "Set Apart" sermon series on Church Membership. This week we go over baptism and how it is a requirement for people to be a Christian and be baptized as a pre-requisite to becoming a member of God Rock Church.
While different churches may have a slightly different take on the process leading up to church membership and baptism, this sermon will provide a clear outline of where God Rock Church stands on this topic. The reason is, we desire to obey what the Bible commands us to do and we want to fully portray and exemplify the significance of baptism in illustrating Jesus' death and resurrection.
The church is set apart from the world. That is why one of the requirements to be a member of a church is you must be a Christian. In order to be a Christian, you must believe in Jesus and give all of your life to Him. This message will break down the Gospel message into four parts and how you can begin your walk towards being a member of a local church.
In this second introductory message, we ask the "How?" question of church membership. This sermon, along with the next ten weeks will serve to lay the foundation of church membership. The answers to any questions about church membership requires us to submit to the teaching and the authority of the word of God.
We begin a new sermon series titled, "Set Apart" that takes a in depth look at Church Membership. In this sermon, we explore 7 foundational reasons for church membership.
Our hope, through this series is that:
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You would be empowered by the Spirit of God to hear and understand what membership in a local church is and why it is important
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We will lay the groundwork for rolling out church membership for God Rock Church
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There will be a desire from the congregation to want to be a member of a local church
When you see illustrations of baby Jesus lying in the manger, what do you see? Do you see just an ordinary baby? Or do you see the Son of God incarnate; a messianic saviour that was prophesied about hundreds of years before his birth and is alive today ruling at the right hand of God?
Knowing that Jesus is the Son of God and He humbled himself to be born as human so that He can save us of our sins that we may live with him in eternity, how then should we respond when we see baby Jesus lying in the manger?
This Christmas season, remember the real meaning of Christmas. His name is Jesus and His gospel is for all. Merry Christmas!
The nature of the immaculate conception, Jesus conceived and born of a virgin, is in and of itself a miracle. It was prophesied by Isaiah 700 years before the birth of Jesus and was miraculously revealed to Mary and Joseph as it was about to happen. The necessity of the Immaculate Conception paves the way for our salvation. When Jesus died on the cross and resurrected 3 days later, He cleansed us of the sin we've inherited from our oldest ancestors- Adam and Eve, so that we may inherit eternal life.
The implications of this are:
- Jesus was conceived and born of the virgin is absolute truth and you can trust God in his word and in its entirety
- Jesus IS God because of the Immaculate Conception
- Jesus died on the cross for our sins and rose from the dead 3 days later, securing for us eternal life if we put all our hope and faith in Jesus.
The idea of Christmas was a plan God conceived from eternity past, before he spoke anything into existence. He knew he had to send Jesus to Earth to save us from our sins and so that we can know Him and experience the triune nature of God. In this sermon, we explore 3 ways we can be blessed by this truth and how we can respond to the pursuit of God.
In this Christmas season, there are so many things that can distract or take us away from experiencing true joy. We can easily become so entangled by self-serving desires that will rob us of the real joy that we can experience through Jesus.
Christian joy is a good feeling in the soul, produced by the Holy Spirit, as He causes us to see the beauty of Christ in the word and in the world.
In this section of Matthew 16, we see Jesus warn his disciples to "Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees."
Jesus was not talking about bread, but the false teachings of the Pharisees and Sadducees. This warning is relevant today. We see the similarities in the teachings of Jehovah's Witness, Mormons and other false christians to the Pharisees and Sadducees.
We need to heed Jesus' warning and know that there is only one true teaching and that is the Gospel of Jesus.
When we see a Bible Deja Vu, God is emphasizing events that have happened multiple times in the Bible in order help us see something and be impacted by it.
When we experience Bible Deja Vu we need to:
- Recognize the Bible Deja Vu
- Understand the Bible Deja Vu
- Be equipped by the Bible Deja Vu.
All this points to the life and ministry of Jesus. It is meant to show us God's faithfulness in the past and he will continue to be faithful to us.
Behold. This is a word that is consistently used in the Bible to bring attention to something important. It means "to see" or "to observe."
In this passage, we observe the stark contrast between the Canaanite woman and the scribes and Pharisees. We see that while the Canaanite woman may be seen as unclean externally, she believed and had faith that Jesus is the Messiah. She was persistent and was not offended by Jesus. Ultimately, Jesus saw her faith and had mercy on her. She was cleansed.
In this passage we see once again Jesus rebuking the Pharisees and scribes for placing their man-made traditions above God's commandments. The Pharisees and scribes were great at expressing their righteousness and honour God with their words, but their hearts were far from God. In the eyes of God, their religiosity and traditions are worthless because the source of it is from man.
If traditions and religiosity is not the answer, then what is?
His name is Jesus. The whole Bible from beginning to end points to Jesus. And if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
In this sermon podcast we ask you, "What is your problem?"
If you do not know Jesus, that is your single biggest problem. Jesus came to this world, not primarily for social justice (to heal the sick and feed the poor), but to sacrifice himself so that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
As Christians, we are victorious because Jesus is victorious in conquering sin and death. The biggest problem for Christians is that other people don't know Jesus. If we look at the current problems and circumstances in our life, compare these problems to Jesus and all of a sudden they become miniscule.
In Matthew 14, we see several characters that can be categorized by the following traits: Integrity, Friendship, People-Pleasing, Selfishness, Used & Abused. John showed great integrity, but he was ultimately killed because of it. John's disciples showed great friendship by honoring him by retrieving his beheaded body for a proper burial. Herodias portrayed Selfishness to the point of putting her daughter in a position to be Used and Abused. Herod's decisions was dictated by the people. But there is hope. This message all points to Jesus.
Jesus had perfect integrity. He died so that we may live.
Jesus is the perfect friend and will be coming soon to resurrect his friends from the grave.
Jesus is not selfish, he humbled himself and was obedient only to the Father's will.
Jesus came to rescue the used, abused and the broken.
Everyone has most likely experienced some form of rejection in their lives. We've all responded to rejection in different ways and sometimes to the point where we do things that goes against our values.
Jesus experienced great rejection. It didn't matter how many signs and miracles he performed, ultimately the people crucified him.
Jesus understands our rejection, He's walked in our shoes. This means we can find great comfort in Him knowing that he will never forsake us and that we are fully loved and accepted by Him.
Jesus frequently taught using parables about the secrets and the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. At the end of Matthew 13, He asks his disciples "Have you understood all these things?" This understanding equips the disciples with what is new and what is old, enabling them to share their greatest treasure with the world - that is Jesus.
This week, we explore what it means to give up all of your life to follow Jesus and how does that look in your day-to-day life.
Pastor Jeff Thompson dives into addressing key questions about pain and suffering in this world. Despite the sin, pain and suffering, there is good news - his name is Jesus.
Jesus uses 3 parables in this text to describe the kingdom in this age and the kingdom that is to come.
Parable of the Sower
Jesus gives his audience this parable of the sower and explains the meaning behind sowing the seeds into the 4 different soils. This is significant because without understanding the meaning of this parable, you can't understand the rest of the parables.
As Christians, we are a part of the body of the Church. Ephesians 6 provides a great explanation that our battle is against the spiritual forces of evil, not against flesh and blood. Here's the big idea - because the Church is an army at war against Satan, the Church must be marked by truth. Our belief in the truth and our obedience to the truth will equip us to combat the lies of the enemy.
Marriage is a profound image of Christ’s relationship with the Church. Because the Church is the bride of Christ, the Church must be marked by holiness.
In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul describes the Church as one body with many members. Each part of the body has a specific role and is critical to ensure the full function of the body. Likewise, each member of the Church have a specific role to maintain a healthy and fruitful Church.
Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of the Church, and the spirit of God dwells in the Church. Because the Church is where God dwells, then the Church must be marked by worship.
As a member of the Church, you become a part of the family of God. Therefore, the Church must also be marked by love.
We are taking a break from our Matthew study and starting a new summer series on The Church. The Church is the people of God, saved by the grace of God, living by the authority of God, by the power of God, for the purpose to display the glory of God. In this sermon, we go over 16 common misconceptions about the church.
If we traced our ancestry back to the beginning, we'll find that we are all decendants of Adam. As Christians, we become born again into God's family. This week, we explore Matthew 12:46-50 and the importance of being in God's family.
Is it possible to experience goodness in a person's life if the person doesn't have God? This week we dive into Matthew 12:43-45 as Jesus teaches about mankind's spiritual condition and the good news.
Last week, we welcomed Pastor Peter Helm from Evergreen Community Church to God Rock as he shares his testimony and the power of God to transform lives.
The scribes and Pharisees saw Jesus perform miracles time and time again, yet they still demanded Jesus to show them another sign. The scribes and Pharisees saw and did not believe. Jesus, who is greater than both Jonah and Solomon is here. How will you respond?
This week we dive into Matthew 12:33-37. Jesus teaches that the words that come out of our mouths, reveal what is inside our hearts. "For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks."
This week we dive into Matthew 12:22-32 as we watch Jesus heal a demon-oppressed man and respond to the Pharisees' questioning of his authority in performing miraculous signs.
In Matthew's account of Jesus in chapter 12:17-21, Matthew references Isaiah's prophecy in describing Jesus' characteristics.
In Matthew 12:9-16, we see Jesus heal a man with a withered hand. When asked whether it is lawful to heal on the Sabbath, Jesus reponds "Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath."
We continue our series in Matthew, this week diving into chapter 12:1-8. We look into an exchange between Jesus and the Pharisees, where at the end, Jesus declares that He is the the Lord of the Sabbath. We also have the great joy of celebrating 3 baptisms following the sermon.
After a six-week hiatus, we jump back into Matthew picking up where we left off. Join us as we dive into Matthew Chapter 11 as Jesus addresses a key question, "Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?"
This is a 6 part series on relationships. Join us as we dive deeper into the Bible to uncover what God has to say about Singleness, Friendship, Dating, Marriage, Sex and Parenting.
This is a 6 part series on relationships. Join us as we dive deeper into the Bible to uncover what God has to say about Singleness, Friendship, Dating, Marriage, Sex and Parenting.
This is a 6 part series on relationships. Join us as we dive deeper into the Bible to uncover what God has to say about Singleness, Friendship, Dating, Marriage, Sex and Parenting.
This is a 6 part series on relationships. Join us as we dive deeper into the Bible to uncover what God has to say about Singleness, Friendship, Dating, Marriage, Sex and Parenting.