The Journey Church - Killeen: Recent Episodes
Mark Hoover
The official Podcast of The Journey Church - Killeen Tx. with Pastor Mark Hoover. subscribe for weekly sermons, as well as special word of the week devotions from Pastor Mark. More about The Journey Church at thejourneykilleen.com
I married my better half in every way thirty-three years ago June 24, 1989. I am so thankful that God saw fit in His infinite grace and mercy to give me Diana over 33 years ago to love and cherish till death do us part.
Happy Anniversary my Love!
Peace: In the Biblical context, peace is the wholeness or completeness that is a result of alignment with God’s creative and redemptive purposes. Peace can also be seen in the light of wars ceasing, but the biblical concept of peace is even broader.
Salom: can refer to the wholeness or well-being as in the sense of political or interpersonal peace. Other words in Hebrew show peace as a verb denoting states of quietness, rest, and completion.
Cosmic: There is also a cosmic sense about the word peace in the sense that all aspects of creation have a broken peace with God, both human and non-human, should exist in harmony with each other. Peace is the ideal creation that God’s redemptive activity seeks to restore.
NOTE: Christians should seek to live at peace with other human beings, but ultimately peace comes as a result of Jesus' work and therefore, is a free gift given by God. Peace was the customary greeting that we find any many of the letters in the New Testament. Peace was also the customary greeting coming and going it was the first and the last thing you would say to someone. Peace is therefore restored through the redemptive work of Christ on the Cross.
THE BIG PICTURE
Acts record the growing church’s experience as Jesus’ witnesses: Spirit-empowered ministry, and opposition to the ministry. Immediately following the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost,Acts 3:1-5:42
What kind of Church would you like?
You can have whatever kind of Church you want.
The best place to discover the Church that Christ wants is in the New Testament.
Here is the pattern for the best, most efficient Church it is possible to have.
Note: The Church in the New Testament never refers to a building or place. It always refers to a people: either the total number of believers who have ever lived or a local group of those believers.
Big Idea of the Message: Jesus’s arrival in Jerusalem set the stage for his crucifixion
and resurrection by declaring him the Savior of both Israel and the world.
Application Point: We must see in Jesus the rightful King of life and the Savior of all
humanity.
The quality of your faith doesn't save you, it's the object of your faith that saves you.
Don't worry about whether or not you have enough faith. Don't focus on the quality of your faith; focus on the object of your faith.
Big Idea: Who you are determines what you see, and what you see determines what you do.
You measure a man’s ministry, not by how many people he stuffed in the building, not by how many people he reaches. You measure the effectiveness of a man’s ministry by how Christlike his people are. That’s the only measure. Have they come to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ? And there’s only one tool for this, and it is the Word of God.
The measure of any ministry is the maturity of that congregation.
Peter reemphasizes the attitudes and motives which the actions and decisions that make up our lives. He exhorts us to be sober, watchful, prayerful, charitable, hospitable; serving as good stewards and witnesses.
Most people feel justified in feeling the way they feel and react the way they react when we feel like we are being treated unfairly or unjustly. When do we take the moral high ground.
The marriage relationship is mutually tricky when it comes to living in the face of God and his plan for the marriage relationship.
How are you platforming your life to be a living example for the outsider of the character of God?
God created us as relational creatures; how are you standing firm in your relationships as a child of God.
How are you daily preparing your minds for the action that God has planned for your life in Christ Jesus?
We are called to a new life, born to a living hope in Christ Jesus. What are doing with the life that Christ has called you to Live?
When we choose to push God to the margin of our lives and bring idols into our spiritual house the house crumbles.
We put our hope, faith, and trust in so many things that fail us time and time again. The strength that matters does not come from what we can see, but what we cannot.
Israel still looking for a King, when the King of Kings is in their midst. Where are you seeking the King today
The culture we live in today seeks to draw you in and make you indistinct in the world, God saved you to be distinct and set apart.
Faith without theology is hollow and empty, but, faith with strong theology is strong and resolute.
Many times we assume that God needs our help to accomplish his mission here on earth. But God does need you, however, he chooses to use you for His glory alone. Many times the means and the methods that God uses do not mesh with today's cultural or societal norms for the way things should be done.
Faith isn't just an attitude, it has to be applied to our lives. Can He trust you with his gospel? Because he needs people he can trust to tell the story today. He needs people he can trust in the best and worst of circumstances.
Much of the difficulties that the Israelites faced during the time of the Judges was a lack of awareness of their true enemy. They had forgotten who is fighting for them. When we fail to remember, and we stop daily consecrating our lives to God our obedience suffers in a big way.
When do we go into our relationship with God halfheartedly instead of full-heartedly? The nation of Israel initially had some success in the land of Canaan until they faced some adversity. How are we like the Israelites, everything is going well until we face difficulty, then we start to compromise our values and morals instead of being obedient.
Have you ever tackled a DIY project? Perhaps some craft project you saw on Etsy or Pinterest? You thought I can do that! You gathered the supplies, set time aside, and started on the project—but suddenly your work doesn’t look like the picture (think the TV show Nailed It!), and you become discouraged. Or maybe it is harder than you expected, and you begin to think you’ve made a big mistake. You meet resistance and your enthusiasm evaporates. This is what happened to Israel in Judges 1:19–20. Did you see what happened in verse 19? They encountered resistance. And … they didn’t overcome the resistance. The time for endurance has come, but they don’t seem to have it when they need it. The rest of chapter 1 builds on that initial failure of verse 19.
And so in chapter 2, God surveys Israel’s progress and asks, “What is this you
The end of James is a call to endurance from which the body of Christ has a responsibility to bring back our brothers and sisters from wandering
Most of our lives are spent living for living in the moment of the day, not thinking about the eternity of tomorrow. How do you know if you are living a life that lasts?
We live in a culture where many times the Church looks more like a friend of the world than a friend of God. How do you know when you have a faith that submits?
Text: James 3:1–12
Topic: A Faith that Speaks
Big Idea of the Message: We need to recognize that the tongue is untamable, capable of great damage, and an indicator of our hearts, but God has a gracious provision in the gospel for our sinful words.
Application Point: We must make a habit of thinking before we speak.
Text James 2:20-26
Topic A Faith that Sacrifices and Risks
Big Idea of the Message: The faith that saves always produces good works and is based on God’s saving work in Jesus Christ.
Application Point: This kind of faith is not mere intellectual belief it is a faith that reveals itself in radical obedience.
Text: James 2:14-19
Big Idea of the Message: Faith in our hearts is evident in the fruit of our lives.
Application Point: Faith by itself, what good is it, if it is not accompanied by action.
Big Idea of the Message: True and acceptable religion must include controlled speech, sacrificial care for the needy, and clear separation from the world.
Application Point: We can learn to disregard favoritism when we start to love ourselves and others the way Christ loves us.
Sermon in the Book of James by Pastor Mark Hoover. More from the journey at www.thejourneykilleen.com
A sermon by Pastor Mark Hoover from the book of James. More about the Journey Church at www.thejourneykilleen.com