Real Life Church: Recent Episodes
connecting Jesus to real lives
We are focused of connecting Jesus to real lives by being real people striving to be like Jesus. These sermons are devoted to developing people to better connect Jesus to their everyday life. Enjoy!
Jesus, you are God's salvation and I ask that you bring your salvation to_________________.
JONAH 1:1-17 (ESV)
Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.
But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up. Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep. So the captain came and said to him, “What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish.”
And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. Then they said to him, “Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” And he said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, “What is this that you have done!” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.
Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?” For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. He said to them, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.” Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. Therefore they called out to the Lord, “O Lord, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not on us innocent blood, for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you.” So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.
And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
Colossians 1:19-20 For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.
Forgiveness is healing
Luke 17:3-4, “If another believer sins, rebuke that person; then if there is repentance, forgive. Even if that person wrongs you seven times a day and each time turns again and asks forgiveness, you must forgive.”
REBUKE
Identify the harm, the hurt, and the help
REPENT
Take, Turn, Ask
Take responsibility, Turn from behavior, Ask for forgiveness
FORGIVE
Saying, “I forgive you,” helps to heal from the hurt
READ EPHESIANS
- What got your attention (repeated words/phrases)?
- What do you need more info about?
- What did you learn?
- What action do you need to take?
READ EPHESIANS 1
- What got your attention (repeated words/phrases)?
- What do you need more info about?
- What did you learn?
- What action do you need to take?
Failure, shame, and loss no longer need to have power over you. Ask Jesus to restore your life. He’s the only one who can!
Every church needs a God directed mission and Spirit given vision. Here's Real Life's Mission & Vision
If you are searching for the real God, he is found in Jesus. Let Jesus’ understanding of who God is transform your heart and mind. Jesus can help you to become a person that loves to listen to God. Imagine being a part of a group of people that loves to listen to Jesus! To be part of changing the world around you because Jesus has changed the world inside you.
GENESIS 50:20 (ESV) As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.
-
This is what I call the Great Reversal. God will devise a way to use people’s bad intentions to bring about His good purpose to save people.
-
God's people do good every chance they get, even when bad things happen to them.
Welcome to our CHARACTERS message series. Today we will be taking a look at the character Rachel. What’s the one thing you think will make you happy, comfortable, or successful?
A good job title, a good name with weight behind it in our town
A good amount of money, being able to buy what we want, and retire when we want.
A good family with good kids that do good in school to have a good job and a good life.
There is a problem with focusing on the life we can gain for ourselves. Rachel experienced it. Her way got in the way.
Jesus gives us a new way to live.
Israel was to be a blessing to all the nations, but struggled with all the nations instead.
Jesus represents Israel and becomes the hope of all the nations.
It’s our dependence on Jesus that makes the change in our hearts and minds. Jesus becomes our very hope of God’s blessing becoming a reality in our lives.
Jesus is our living hope.
Jesus is our living hope of God fighting for you.
Jesus is God who fights for you.
In your struggle, in your pain, in your brokenness, Jesus fights for you. It is Jesus’ name that is your hope.
Jacob's attitude changes from deceit to dependence.
Your attitude changes when you depend on Jesus’ name.
Though you feel far from God, Jesus is near
Though you fight to find hope, Jesus is hope
Though you struggle to see your worth, Jesus sees you worth dying for
There are 3 things we need to have in mind as we read this story.
- God is inviting you to go somewhere
- God has already been at work there
- You are a part of God’s blessing to others
If you’ve ever been in a place of suffering and felt all alone, that no one else could Identify with your situation, that when you try to tell someone about it their eyes glaze over because they don’t get it, that you feel like even God has abandoned you because your prayers for help go unanswered and you seem to be invisible to the invisible God. Well, then you need to hear Hagar’s story. You need to see how she was transformed by the presence of a God that sees her suffering and hears her cries for help. You need to listen to how she was moved from a place of loneliness to producing a multitude.
Genesis 16
2021 Outdoor Service Message - Salvation - What are you saved from? - What are you saved for?
Abraham’s faith in the God that provides, provides a way for all the families of the earth to be blessed by the God that provides.
Believing in Jesus is a declaration of independence from the power of Sin
MATTHEW online study
GENESIS 5:21-24 - Walking with God by faith
When Enoch was 65 years old, he became the father of Methuselah. 22 After the birth of Methuselah, Enoch lived in close fellowship with God for another 300 years, and he had other sons and daughters. 23 Enoch lived 365 years, 24 walking in close fellowship with God. Then one day he disappeared, (Lit. he was not) because God took him. Walking and living are interchangeable (The text implies that God overruled death for this man who walked with him.)
Tying it all together, LOVE, PRAY, SERVE
John 13:1-15
Before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return to his Father. He had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth, and now he loved them to the very end. 2 It was time for supper, and the devil had already prompted Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. 3 Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God. 4 So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, 5 and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he had around him.
6 When Jesus came to Simon Peter, Peter said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”
7 Jesus replied, “You don’t understand now what I am doing, but someday you will.”
8 “No,” Peter protested, “you will never ever wash my feet!”
Jesus replied, “Unless I wash you, you won’t belong to me.”
9 Simon Peter exclaimed, “Then wash my hands and head as well, Lord, not just my feet!”
10 Jesus replied, “A person who has bathed all over does not need to wash, except for the feet, to be entirely clean. And you disciples are clean, but not all of you.” 11 For Jesus knew who would betray him. That is what he meant when he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
12 After washing their feet, he put on his robe again and sat down and asked, “Do you understand what I was doing? 13 You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because that’s what I am. 14 And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. 15 I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you.
DO: Who is the one person you will serve this week? They may need to be served with love or with prayer, or meeting a basic physical need.
Tying it all together, LOVE, PRAY, SERVE
Micah 6:8
No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good,
and this is what he requires of you:
to do what is right, to love mercy,
and to walk humbly with your God.
Prayer, many of us spend time praying. We have needs, wants, desires. We pray for God’s will to be done and for our daily bread. We make sure to pray before our meals and as I lay me down to sleep.
Prayer can be a bit confusing. Ask for anything in Jesus’ name and you get it. Anything? Really? Have a righteous person pray and you’ll be healed. So why are more people not being healed. Are there not many righteous people? Then the whole issue of unanswered prayers, geesh.
Good news we can get clarity about praying for one another by looking at how people of the Bible prayed for one another.
Major Prayers
Abraham - Deceives King Abimelech - Gen 20:7,Now return the woman to her husband, and he will pray for you, for he is a prophet. Then you will live. But if you don’t return her to him, you can be sure that you and all your people will die.
Exodus 19:6, And you will be my kingdom of priests, my holy nation.’ This is the message you must give to the people of Israel.
Moses - Bronze Snake - Numbers 21:7, Then the people came to Moses and cried out, “We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take away the snakes.” So Moses prayed for the people.
Samuel - Asking for a king - 1 Samuel 12:19, “Pray to the Lord your God for us, or we will die!” they all said to Samuel. “For now we have added to our sins by asking for a king.”
Jesus Teaching - Kingdom of priests
Luke 6:28 - Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you.
Connect the dots to the OT scriptures above - Abraham was to be a blessing to all nations, Israel had just defeated a nation that took some of them captive because they asked God for help, God was their king and that wasn’t enough, God had enough.
Exodus 19:6, And you will be my kingdom of priests, my holy nation.’ This is the message you must give to the people of Israel.
The people were not being a blessing. So, Jesus teaches we are to bless others. But, not just any others, those that curse you and hurt you.
Jesus in Action
John 17:20-21 - prayer for all believers
“I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. 21 I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.
Pray for one another:
FORGIVENESS - BLESSING - UNITY
There are so many walls that divide us as human beings and the letter of James addresses the wall between the rich and poor to help us deal with the real issue.
JAMES 1-5
How I’ve come to process these things James is addressing:
Jesus, help me to love ______________ the way You do!
Love your neighbor as yourself was to make our community complete (perfect). Following Jesus’ instructions sets us free! We need not judge one another, but allow God who gave the instructions to judge us by how we love one another. We are set free to love those that are different from us! For some this makes them nervous. For others it is a comfort.
Reflect on God’s instructions
Where do you tend to show favoritism?
Jesus, help me to love ___________ the way You do!
Who do you tend to make judgments about?
Jesus, help me to love ___________ the way You do!
How does living out God’s instructions set you free?
Jesus, help me understand your love for me!
Life is full of decision making. What will I eat, what will I wear, will I hit the snooze button...again? It is estimated that you make 35,000 decisions in a day. 35,000 a day! That’s a lot and that's a lot if we get it wrong. So, we as humans have come up with a variety of ways to make decisions.
Ways we make decisions
Impulsiveness — Leverage the first option you are given and be done.
Compliance — Choosing with the most pleasing, comfortable and popular option as it pertains to those impacted.
Delegating — Not making the decision yourself, but pushing it off to trusted others.
Avoidance — Either avoiding or ignoring decisions in an effort to avoid responsibility for their impact or just simply preventing them from overwhelming you.
Balancing — Weighing the factors involved, studying them and then using the information to render the best decision in the moment.
Prioritizing and Reflecting — Putting the most energy, thought and effort into those decisions that will have the greatest impact.
Even with all these ways to make or avoid making a decision, how can we know if we are making good decisions? How do we know if we are making decisions that God wants us to make? How can we live the life God has created for us? Need for God’s wisdom every day.
Welcome to Everyday Wisdom, our new message series that looks at the letter of James as he lays out wisdom to live by for everyday. Wisdom that will help us life the way God has designed us to live.
JAMES 1-5 (NLT)
Response to the King
“Jesus, You are the king of my life”
“King Jesus, teach me and heal me”
“King Jesus, I trust you above all things”
Today we are going to look at how come Jesus teaches in parables. And on the surface it may seem like, well that just how Jesus taught. But, Jesus teaching in parables is actually a real problem because communicating with other people is hard. It is especially difficult when the other person really isn’t listening. There are plenty of communication breakdowns. What I say may not be what I mean. What you mean you may have trouble saying. And if you are trying to talk with someone that really doesn’t want to listen then it feels completely hopeless.
My wife, Amanda, has come up with a great way of getting our boys attention. Sometimes they get so squirrely and obnoxious that it seems like they are in their own little world and can’t hear anything anyone else might be saying. So, Amanda’s little trick is to ask them, “Are you ready to listen?” Amanda has used this same thing on me, because believe it or not I can get a little obnoxious sometimes :)
If communicating is so hard on a daily basis, then how come Jesus teaches in a way that is intentionally difficult to understand?
Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. What we think Jesus means is what we make it mean. We’ve all heard this. Some of us have heard this from people that we never even thought they knew anything from the Bible. Judging is an issue. We hate it when we are judged, but we all participate in judging others. A non-parent passing judgment on how a parent is parenting. We really do want to be people that are not viewed as judgmental. So, how can we live life without judging? Should the court system be revamped to just let everyone off the hook? If I learn about someone abusing someone else am I just supposed to allow it?
I want to show you what Jesus means when he tells us to not judge.
Wrong thing for the wrong reason - On a Dare
Wrong thing for the right reason - White Lies
Right thing for the wrong reason - Attend church to find a mate
Right thing for the right reason - Give to the needy, because you care
According to the Gospel of Matthew Jesus is the Messiah, the one we've been waiting for