Killearn Methodist Church: Sermons: Recent Episodes
Killearn Methodist Church
Sermons are released on Mondays.
Killearn Methodist Church is a growing body of Christ-followers committed to building the kingdom of God and we welcome you – just as you are. We recognize we are all here by grace and believe spiritual growth takes place best within a community of love centered on Christ. Together, we strive to be the people God is calling us to be.
Learn more at https://killearn.church
Genesis 2:18-25 | God’s antidote for lonliness is both relationship with Himself and Christ-centered community. Our need for community is deeper than the shared love of a common interest. Our need for community speaks to the very core of how God has made us - we were made for community.
Acts 1:12-26 | Waiting is hard for most of us and waiting on God to answer a prayer, to solve a problem, to open a new door of opportunity, can be very difficult. After Jesus rose from the dead and went back home to heaven the disciples found themselves in a time of waiting for days. How did they handle it?
Acts 1:6-11 | Jesus’ ascension into heaven was a launching pad for all of us to go out into the world and be Jesus’ witnesses in the power of the Holy Spirit. You are a powerful witness for Jesus in the world. The unbelieving world will see the difference that Jesus has made in your life.
Matthew 28:16-20 | We are an imperfect community that worships and faces challenges of our faith. Jesus knows that, and still He gives us the privilege of following Him in making disciples throughout the world.
John 21:1-19 | When Jesus said, “Follow me” it was as if Jesus was saying, “let’s start over as if nothing ever happened.” God can take even the worst failures and forgive and redeem our lives by His grace.
John 20:24-31 | As we trust God with every detail of our lives, we are learning to let go and let God be in control. We are learning to trust that God always knows and does what is best.
Luke 24:13-35 | Kicking off our new series that will follow the resurrection reappearances of Jesus, and lead us back to the Upper Room and Pentecost.
1 Peter 3:18-22 | We celebrate with great joy the fact that Jesus suffered and died for us so that we might be forgiven, and that our past and sin now no longer has power over us. Jesus did the impossible in rising from the dead, so that we might be given eternal life beginning here and now!
John 13:31-38 | Jesus didn’t say love would be easy, but it is possible. Will you really take on this new commandment to love like Jesus loves? When we fall short – and we will – Jesus will still love us. When we doubt Jesus, deny Jesus, and even betray Jesus – Jesus will still love us.
Ezekiel 22:23-31 | God’s expectation for every generation is that all Christians will take up the calling to build bridges or stand in the gap between God and this broken world. One way we can do this is through intercessory prayer.
Ezekiel 22:23-31 | God’s expectation for every generation is that all Christians will take up the calling to build bridges or stand in the gap between God and this broken world. One way we can do this is through intercessory prayer.
Ephesians 6:10-20 | Praying in the Spirit happens when we give up trying to win the battles by ourselves and instead stand strong in the Lord by relying fully on His mighty power through the Holy Spirit.
Romans 8:26-27 | When we draw near to God in prayer, each person of the Trinity, together in perfect harmony, are working nonstop around the clock, behind the scenes, for God’s good. And God's good is always better than our idea of good!
2 Corinthians 3:7-18 | Prayer at its simplest form is conversation with God. Let that conversation be honest and vulnerable. Don’t be afraid to talk with God about anything. Be bold in anything you ask. Whenever we experience God’s presence, we are changed - we reflect the glory of God.
Luke 18:1-8 | Let us be persistent in prayer, bringing our needs and the needs of others before God, trusting that God is working to bring about His best--even when we can't see or feel it.
Matthew 6:9-13 | The boldest part of the Lord's Prayer is praying for God's Kingdom to come and will to be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Wherever Jesus is experienced, in any way across the whole earth, the kingdom of God is present!
Micah 6:1-8 | It is easy to look at the world around us and point fingers, but what about ourselves? This message this morning is asking: how we can please God? Do we want God to tell us what is good and right? God wants to lead us into living a right life.
Romans 12:1-2 | When we surrender our lives to God, then God can begin to transform us from the inside out. Slowly but surely, we will begin to come into alignment with God’s will. This is worshiping God with our lives!
Psalm 100 | Being grateful and praising God is not a feeling – it is expression of our faith toward a God of mercy, goodness, and truth. When we praise God, we remember again that we belong to God and God is always with us no matter what.
Psalm 63:1-8 | God is holy, and sin cannot safely be in God’s presence, but God does not desire to condemn or reject us, but God loves us so much that God has provided a way for us sinners to be in His presence, through Jesus.
Revelation 4 | God is worthy! What makes this more awe-inspiring is that this Holy, All-Powerful Creator, and Sovereign Lord over all of creation, wants a relationship with us. He has provided a way through Jesus that we can come into His glorious, majestic presence and worship Him!
2 Corinthians 5:17 | Guest preacher, Rev. Barbara Awoniyi, brings the Sunday morning message.
Zephaniah 3:14-20 | We will all face various fears in life, but we have a choice to handle our worries and fears with our own resources or we can rest in God’s presence and even rejoice in the midst of our trials as we trust that God has everything in control.
Habakkuk 3:16-19 | At times, it can feel like the world is unraveling at the seams. God invites us to honestly unload all of our burdens on Him. God invites us to trust Him even when nothing makes sense.
Jonah 4:1-11 | God does not ignore sin and its destruction in our lives. God’s answer for sin is to not have to judge us but to shower upon us His mercy, compassion, unfailing love and forgiveness.
Joel 2:28-32 | Just as we cannot live physically without oxygen, so we cannot live spiritually without the breath of God, better known as the Holy Spirit.
Hosea 3:1-5 | Reflecting on God’s unrelenting love, we consider how God is calling us in the way we should go. The Good News is that God is seeking after you and wants to welcome you back home.
Acts 6:1-7 | Through God’s grace and love, God has forgiven us, made us children of God, and is daily transforming our lives to be servants who are doing the good things God planned for us to do long ago.
John 12:1-11 | When we have hearts overflowing with gratitude, we realize how much God has blessed us. Our money and our possessions are either idols, or tools to show God our love, devotion, and gratitude.
Romans 1:10-12 | God has the capacity to be present and in relationship with all of us. God is not limited to time and emotionally energy. Once we experience God’s presence, we desire a deeper relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and God created Christian community so we might experience the presence of God together.
Mark 14:32-36 | God loves you so much that He sent His one and only Son into the world to carry your sins upon the cross so that you could be forgiven, adopted into the family of God, and given the greatest honor of all, to call God, “Abba, Father.”
Jeremiah 23:1-8 | Jesus came into this world and lived the perfect life for you because He knew you could not do it. He now offers to take your sin upon Himself and forgive you, cleanse you, heal you, and give you a new, righteous life. It is yours for the accepting.
1 Samuel 17:32-51 | God took David just as he was, very young, a little guy, with no armor, but only a few stones and a sling to win an impossible battle. How much more can God do in and through us in the battles we face? If God is on our side, what have we to fear?
Exodus 15:22-27 | The wilderness is neither fun nor comfortable, but God can use the wilderness to grow our faith tremendously. It brings out a desperation in us. God can bring great healing, even in the wilderness. God is the One who heals!
Genesis 17:1-8 | We are all on a faith journey, and as we go there are countless tests of our trust in God. We will grow stronger in our faith as we learn that God is 100% trustworthy and only requires of us to trust Him and obey whatever direction he gives us.
Genesis 17:1-8 | Are we living as children of God who have El Shaddai, Almighty God living within us? Do we underestimate God’s power or are we walking closely with God and experiencing His power in our lives?
Genesis 1:1-2 | It is no accident that God is the subject of the very first sentence of the Bible as He is the central character of all 66 books. Elohim is most frequently translated in the Bible as “God”.
Matthew 25:1-13 | Our call is to give as many people as possible the opportunity to know Jesus. Are you prepared? Now is the time!
Matthew 13:31-35 | Authentic evangelism is fruit from a branch that’s connected to Jesus.
Matthew 13:31-35 | If Jesus is in our lives, we cannot keep it hidden. People will meet Jesus in us and as they get to know us, we will have the opportunity to point them to Jesus... if we are willing to allow the power of the Holy Spirit to do so through us.
2 Timothy 1:6-8 | For many followers of Jesus, the one of the most frightening things we face is sharing our faith with other people. God created us out of His great love, God sent Jesus out of His great love, and the Holy Spirit lives inside of us because of His great love. When the fear tells us sharing our faith is too hard, we need to remember that nothing can separate from the love of God. God’s love make us capable of being an effective witness of Jesus in our world.
Esther 9:20-26 | God can step into the worst of circumstances and use those circumstances for His greater good. God doesn’t just get rid of the bad things that happen. God is able to use the bad in our lives for His good. You could say that God is very good at making the perfect lemonade out of lemons!
Esther 5:1-8 | When we are in the midst of stressful times, God may not take away all our fears, anxiety, worries, and cares but He will give us the stamina we need, hope for a better day, the strength to stand under the pressures of life, and the ability to take another step forward in the midst of the most trying times.
Esther 4:10-17 | Mordecai sent this reply to Esther: “Don’t think for a moment that because you’re in the palace you will escape when all other Jews are killed. If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?”
Esther 3:1-11 | We are now members of the Kingdom of God, and as such, we live our lives by the standards of God’s Kingdom. Who sets the standards of the Kingdom? King Jesus. When people see us living in this world according to God’s kingdom values, they cannot help but notice the difference in our lives.
Esther 2:1-11 | We are a part of a much bigger story. God is always at work behind the scenes of our lives. It is not about us, but about God and His eternal kingdom of which we can work for, or against. It is up to us to decide.
John 16:1-11 | Why is hurry such an enemy of our souls that we are to ruthlessly eliminate it from our lives? Hurry sabotages our capacity to receive and give love.
Mark 2:23-28 | “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” - St. Augustine
Mark 1:29-39 | We all know when we were born and we remember that day and maybe even celebrate it every year, but do we know why we were born? God has a purpose for your life, for my life, for all of our lives. If we can understand what that purpose is, it will be a guiding principle that will equip us to make the most of our time.
Luke 6:12-16 | Jesus carefully invested, made the most of the little bit of time that he had in this world. The source of strength, wisdom, and direction for his public life was found in his private relationship with the Father. As it was true for Jesus, it is true for us that making the most of our time begins with intentionally, regularly, habitually turning to God.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-15 | If we want our lives to have lasting meaning, purpose, fulfillment, and enjoyment, it starts with making God the center of our lives.
Luke 14:16-24 | God invites everyone to feast. The only requirement is that we have to acknowledge that we need God’s grace. Taste and see that the Lord is good.
James 5:13-18 | If we will pray to God with confession, righteousness, and earnestness, God will move in power. As Archbishop Richard Trench said, “Prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance…it is laying hold of his highest willingness.”
James 5:7-12 | Are you in the midst of difficult times? God is here. God is with you with His kindness, tenderness, and mercy. If Jesus can defeat death, and promises to one day fully defeat death for us, imagine how much more can Jesus enable us to overcome our present struggles.
James 1:9-11, 5:1-6 | We can show our faith in God through how we handle our finances and possessions. Jesus modeled how to do this with his life. Jesus had everything, but gave it all up to come into this world and give generously for our eternal good.
James 4:13-17 | We have only one life to live, and no promise of a tomorrow. Therefore, we are to seek God’s plan for our lives and the power of the Holy Spirit to follow that plan wherever God may lead.
James 3:13-18 | We have a choice — to follow the destructive, selfish wisdom of this world or to turn to God, desperately seeking to know Him, and His truth and perfect wisdom.
James 3:1-12 | We are asking God to work in us, to empower us to be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry. We are asking God to be in control of our tongues by enabling us to listen more, speak less, and when we do speak, speak with words that give life. This is a daily surrendering our tongues to God for us to show our faith through how we communicate.
James 2:1-13 | Romans 12:16 tells us, “Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all!” Remember we are all lawbreakers in need of God’s pardoning, merciful love. Now, as Christians we are to live our lives as Jesus did and show everyone that same mercy that we have received from God.
James 2:14-26 | James shows us that Abraham was paddling both sides of the boat when he offered his son Issac, and that his actions actually made his faith complete. Our faith and actions are meant to work together.
James 1:12-18 | God is on our side fighting for us when we are in the midst of difficult circumstances. As we face tests, our only hope for passing is to turn to God, admit that He loves us and we matter to Him, and that we are powerless without God's help to overcome.
Luke 1:46-55 | Mary set a beautiful example for us to follow. To know God is to know Scripture well. A heart of humility is key to experience the fullness of Jesus. An attitude of thankfulness will guard us against fear and worry. Trust in God - He always keeps His promises.
Hebrews 4:14-16 | We can now have a relationship the infinite God of the universe through Jesus. Timothy Keller put it this way when he said, “Christmas and the incarnation mean that God went to infinite lengths to make himself one whom we can know personally.”
Matthew 2:1-6 | Church history, and this church, has so many examples of God continuing to take our ordinary lives and do extraordinary things through God's grace and power. God loved us so much that he sent Jesus to bring God's grace and power to redeem, restore, and renew us even out of the most humble, hopeless situations of life.
Isaiah 11:1-5 | The celebration of Christmas is coming soon. If we slow down and deeply root ourselves in the story of Jesus, we will experience more of God this Advent.
1 Peter 3:15-16 | The only thing we are called to do is share our story. We can’t save anyone. Only God saves people. God calls on us to share the Good News lovingly, gently, with kindness and respect - all with humility. When we do that, God may use us to open someone’s heart to experience the love of Jesus.
Matthew 5:13-16 | God has strategically placed you in a family, a home, in a workplace, at school, given you friends and neighbors for you to shine the light of Jesus through your life.
Luke 5:1-11 | Our discipleship with Jesus Christ is not complete if we are not sharing the Good News of Jesus. We need to use our words and our actions. We can believe all the right stuff, but our faith is more than just what we believe - it's also what we do with that belief.
1 Corinthians 15:1-5 | Our discipleship with Jesus Christ is not complete if we are not sharing the Good News of Jesus. We need to use our words and our actions. We can believe all the right stuff, but our faith is more than just what we believe - it's also what we do with that belief.
Matthew 6:31-33 | “What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.” Matthew 6:31-33 (MSG)
2 Chronicles 31:1-12 | Our world today has so many worthy causes. Yet, the Bible clearly teaches that we are to bring our tithe to the church to empower it to fulfill its mission. As we are faithful to firstfruit storehouse tithing, God will give us back even more so that we can continue to use it for His Kingdom work.
1 Peter 4:10-11 | As followers of Jesus, we do not serve to boost our self-image, to be in power, for people to praise us, for accolades or popularity, but that our life might lift up to the world our King Jesus. When we discover our place in God’s kingdom work in this world, the local church then becomes this vibrant, healthy community and the world cannot help but notice and then be drawn to God.
Psalm 119:105-112 | Are you hungry for God to speak more in your life? Do you long for more of God's presence? Do you want a deeper friendship with Jesus? God reveals Himself to us in Scripture and we should read it like we eat food or breathe the air!
Daniel 6:10-14 | Are we experiencing God’s power of prayer that not only changes our circumstances but also our lives? God is good and longs to shower our lives with His goodness if only we will turn to Him and spend time with Him in prayer.
John 15:1-8 | The closer we become to Jesus the more we become like Him. Through the work of God the Father, the gardener working diligently in our lives, the Holy Spirit will miraculously produce fruit in us. As we learn to walk closely walk with Jesus, we will begin to show Jesus’ love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
John 14:1-7 | Without Jesus our lives are a wreck, hopelessly lost and dead in our sin. But Jesus saw something else in us. Jesus came to forgive us of our sins and to redeem our lives here and now and for all eternity. Jesus gave His best, His entire life, in order that all who will receive Him might live the abundant life now and forever.
John 11:17-26 | Jesus wants us to experience resurrection everyday. Jesus is calling all of us to rise up above our circumstances. You don’t have to live a life of defeat. You have victory in Jesus.
John 10:11-18 | Do we really realize how significant it is that Jesus is our Good Shepherd? How closely every day are you following the leadership of Jesus the Good Shepherd? Jesus knows everything there is to know about you and His loving thoughts about You are beyond what you can measure.
John 10:1-10 | Left to our own devices, our own plan for our lives leads to destruction. But, entering into eternal life with Jesus saves us from sin and provides for us the abundant life that God wants for us. An abundant life is one that is forgiven, healed, redeemed, and transforms every part of our lives!
John 8:12-20 | Jesus has come to transfer us from being lost in the kingdom of darkness to being members of God’s glorious kingdom of light. Jesus will then use us to spread His light where we are, and transform this world.
John 6:35 | Jesus, the one true eternal God, offers us His grace through His perfect life that He lived in His human body in this world for us. Jesus personally came as a human being to offer us God’s amazing grace that Jesus calls the bread of life.
Titus 2:11-14 | God's vision is not for us to experience a little bit of holiness in our lives. God wants us to be holy through and through - all the way. Our whole spirit, soul, and body will be keep blameless - completely free from the power of sin. We are not able in our own strength to be blameless. Our faithful God does it for us!
Titus 3:3-7 | Not only have we been saved from sin, but we have also been given eternal life with God when we said yes to God’s grace. This new life we receive now is only the beginning. We have this new life in Jesus promised to us for eternity.
Genesis 3:1-19 | How do we experience God’s solution for sin? We do not offer God excuses, justification, explanations or blame someone else for our sin like Adam blamed Eve and God, and Eve blamed the devil. We simply humble ourselves before God admit that we are sinners, take full responsibility for our sin and its consequences, and admit that we desperately need Jesus, God’s only solution for our sin problem.
Mark 1:1-11 | We don’t have to be perfect to take communion but to admit that we desperately need it and willing to allow God’s grace to not only forgive but to transform our lives. Communion is the place where we make peace with God, ourselves, and others all through God’s grace.
Mark 1:1-11 | Our responsibilities around baptism and discipleship extend far beyond the children and people of our own church family. Jesus calls his disciples to make disciples throughout the whole world and to baptize them. God is calling every single one of us to be disciples who make disciples.
2 Timothy 3:14-17 | When we read the Scriptures, we have the opportunity to experience God's breath, God's presence, and God's love. Living out what the Bible teaches can be challenging - but don't lose heart! Stay focused on Jesus, who is the Word of God in the flesh.
We spent the week shining Jesus' light! Pastor Mike walked us through each day's scripture and how we can shine Jesus' light when times are dark, when people don't get along, when we are happy, when people are sad, and when people need help!
Romans 16:3-5a | God’s will for each one of us is to unite together and roll up our sleeves and generously and sacrificially give of our time, our abilities, our God-given gifts, our finances, our energy, our bodies, all our resources to accomplish the mission God has given us: to present Christ, encourage growth and holiness, and send each other out to present Christ to the world.
John 20:11-18 | When Jesus invites us to follow Him, He is calling on us to walk away from our old, selfish, hurting, broken lives, to now live the abundant new life of following and living for Jesus in everything we do at home, at work, at school, at play, at church, and out in the community. Being a fully devoted follower of Jesus means that we no longer live for ourselves but fully for Jesus.
Luke 1:26-38 | God is looking today for women and men who are after God’s own heart, who will do everything God wants us to do. Are we that person who says, yes God, whatever your will is may it come to pass in my life. That was Mary’s heart... is it also ours?
Ruth 1:6-18 | We have a choice to make every single day to selfishly live for ourselves or to give our lives to God and selflessly become the servants that God would have us be. Jesus invites us to follow in His footsteps and the footsteps of Ruth to lay down our lives for God as humble, selfless, faithful servants of God.
Judges 4:1-10 | Let's stop complaining about the dark and start being the light in the darkness. God is doing big things right now in our midst. A dying, hopeless world is waiting for each of us to be obedient. Believe and trust God has the very best plan for you, and follow God to wherever God is calling to go.
Joshua 2:1-11 | Rahab is a great example of what God has, is and will continue to do in all of our lives if we will allow Him to accept us just as we are, clean us up, redeem our lives, and use us for His sake and glory.
Genesis 18:9-15 | Our faith will grow as we take our eyes off ourselves, our circumstances, our limitations and our failures, and instead put them on the living God, for whom nothing is impossible, who always keeps His promises, and patiently treats us with His infinite grace. God simply invites us to put our trust in Him and He will take care of the results and even give us His joy and peace along the way.
Genesis 2:8-25 | God has equally created all women and men in His image and has called us into a relationship with Him and each other. We are given a calling to serve alongside each other and God in His great, Kingdom work. We can walk with our heads high as people of dignity, as God’s imager bearers.
1 Peter 1:21-2:3 | Jesus is still performing miracles everyday! He gives us new lives full of faith and hope in God as we look to the day when we will all resurrect from our graves and be together for eternity. Have you said yes to God’s miraculous resurrection power in your life?
John 6:53-58 | Experience an evening in the Upper Room with Jesus at the table of grace.
Psalm 100 | When we enter God’s presence and experience who He is and all He has done and worship Him with celebration, thanksgiving, adoration and awe, then worship transforms us.
Matthew 6:25-34 | The discipline of simplicity calls us take life one day at a time. Today is God’s precious gift to each one of us, so please don’t miss it!
Psalm 84 | When we enter God’s presence and meditate on who He is and the ways He has and continues to work, and when we open ourselves up to God’s will, we leave God’s presence changed. The response to our time of meditation with trust and obedience.
Matthew 6:16-18 | Fasting before God says that we mean business with God. Fasting and prayer can restore a close, intimate relationship with Christ. Fasting can transform our prayer life into a richer and more personal experience.
Mark 1:35-39 | As disciples or followers of Jesus who are striving to become more like Jesus by following in His footsteps, God is inviting us to be in relationship with Him through intentionally setting aside time to stop every day and spend quality time with God through the spiritual discipline of prayer.
James 5:13-18 | Do we realize what a precious gift God has given us in the spiritual discipline of confession? We are asking God to shine a light into the darkness in our lives and expose those things that are contrary to God, that are making us unhealthy. Confession prepares us to receive God’s grace.
Proverbs 1:1-7 | Lent is a season to focus on growth and holiness through reflection and acts of self-denial. It's a time to experience more of God's grace through different spiritual practices.
James 5:19-20 | We need to get out of the condemnation business and be about the work of restoration. When we belong to Jesus, the Holy Spirit frees from the power of sin in our lives. All sin is rebellion from God’s way in our life and leads us to death. Restoration leads us to life. There is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.
Hebrews 3:12-14 | One of the key ingredients of each one of us maintaining a close, ever-growing relationship with God is being a member of a community of Christians who are mutually committed to watching over each other.
Hebrews 6:7-12 | God is working nonstop in our lives to cultivate our hearts to be fertile soul, to grow the most wonderful fruit of loving service that lays down its life for one another. That will only happen when we continually yield our lives to God. We do this only with God’s grace.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 | Love is much more than a song. Love is so much more than romance. Love is action. Love is a decision. Love is a commitment to each other every single day.
Romans 15:1-6 | God wants our church family to be a place where we readily make room for each other’s faults and imperfections. Making room for each other’s imperfections and freely offering and receiving forgiveness is essential to maintaining harmony, peace, and unity in a community of imperfect people.
Romans 15:7-12 | The Christian motto is to welcome one another just as Christ has welcomed us into the family of God. Welcoming one another means making room for one another, continually making each other feel at home in the family.
Luke 2:8-20 | The idea of peace on earth feels bigger than our imagination. How will God’s peace spread across the earth? Each one of us can have peace if we will live a life pleasing God. Peace on earth only happens one person at a time as one person encounters Jesus.
Ephesians 5:1-2 | The good news of God’s love that Jesus brought into this world is for all who will receive it. Those of us who have accepted God’s sacrificial love are called to go out into this dark, broken, hurting world and love the world like Jesus did. This is how we spread Christmas cheer - and God will use it to change our world one person at a time.
Matthew 1:18-23 | As long as we can remember, we have been giving and receiving gifts for Christmas. This special tradition enables us to show someone our love for them. But the gifts that we are talking about in the Advent Conspiracy are much more costly and valuable than what can be giftwrapped. These gifts are the kind that keep on giving. We can give the gift of our lives -- this is giving like Jesus gave to us. This is what the Advent and Christmas season is all about.
Matthew 6:19-24 | Here is the heart of the Advent Conspiracy. It’s more than just an invitation to say no to overspending, it’s an invitation to a new way of celebrating Christmas. God desires for us to free up our resources to support things that truly matter. How would our world be transformed if we gave sacrificially rather than sparingly? During this Advent season, what if we dared to spend a little less on Christmas?
Luke 2:8-20 | In what way this coming year, not just during Advent, will we give God the gift of worship with our lives? As people whose lives are daily being changed and redeemed by Jesus, we cannot remain silent. We just cannot help but worship Jesus fully with all our lives. We praise and worship God because Jesus came and shined the glory of His light into our lives and our lives will never be the same.
1 Thessalonians 5:15-18 | God can give us peace, joy, and thankful hearts in the midst of our trials if we will do what Philippians 4:6 says, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.” God longs for us to invite Him into every moment of our lives and thank Him for all He has done, is and will do.
Colossians 3:15-17 | God wants us to experience abundant life here and now. We can live with hearts of thankfulness that is made possible through the peace that Jesus provides deep within our hearts. This will give meaning, purpose, and beauty to our lives as everything we are and do is directed toward the goodness of God. Our lives can become one big “Thank You” to God!
Psalm 136 | Why thank God? The past, present, or future will not end His love. The storms of life will not end His love. Distance from loved ones will not end His love. Death itself will not end His love. Nothing may be more important for followers of Jesus than cultivating gratitude. As the world gets darker and filled with more pain, thankful people will shine brightly with the light of Jesus.
Luke 14:25-33 | As people who call ourselves Christians, or followers of Jesus, are we committed or just involved? Are we just interested onlookers in the crowd or are we truly following Jesus with our entire lives? When we met Jesus, we died to our old sinful, self-centered, selfish lives and have been raised to new life, a life that is characterized by a selfless, sacrificial, servanthood life for Jesus. We no longer live for ourselves, but all that we do and are, is for Jesus.
Acts 1:6-11 | We will not reach the entire world from the comfort of the pews in our beautiful sanctuaries. Jesus is saying to his disciples, here is your mission, should you choose to accept it. And we have been given the power of the Holy Spirit to show and tell Jesus to the world.
John 13:1-17 | Being a humble servant of God is hard, as it goes against our sinful, selfish human nature. It will cost us what is dear to us, it will hurt, as it requires us to empty ourselves, our pride, our egos. If just Christians today became humble servants of God in this manner it would heal our homes, our families, our churches, our neighborhoods, and our world.
Luke 20:20-26 | The Bible has a great deal to say about money and possessions, but when we talk about it in church, we get uncomfortable. If God owns everything, then we will naturally ask God what He wants us to do with our money and possessions and then we will follow Jesus’ lead and do whatever is God’s will. It will set us free to give as God directs. It is our hope that we give voluntarily, generously, cheerfully, and sacrificially to God.
Matthew 18:15-20 | Experiencing community is an essential part what it means to be human. We will never experience the fullness of God in our lives without Christ-centered community. But community can also be very messy. Whenever people come together, there is the potential for conflict. Instead of allowing forces to drive us apart, let’s lean into the Jesus way of addressing conflict when someone sins against you or disagrees with you.
Ephesians 4:11-16 | Our goal is to continue to grow every day to be more like Jesus in every single area of our lives, even to the full and complete standard of Christ. When Jesus lived in this world, He was constantly turning to His Heavenly Father watching and listening for God’s direction. Jesus simply calls on us to follow in His footsteps.
Philippians 3:7-11 | Have you met Jesus? Do you believe that Jesus is who He said He is and who He showed Himself to be? Have you trusted Him enough to say yes to following Him as your Lord and Savior? Jesus is inviting us to say yes to His love and follow Him. As we do, we will learn more about who He truly is, and as we trust Him more, He will transform our lives.
Deuteronomy 30:11-20 | Why in the world would anyone choose death? We are tempted to choose death all the time. How often have you chosen what is familiar and comfortable over God’s calling in your own life? Jesus is wants to make a home with us. That is the best news ever! Yet, separated from God, we can’t produce a thing. When there is separation and rebellion with God, there is only death. Won't you choose life?
Numbers 13:25 - 14:9 | We all deal with healthy and unhealthy fears. God desires to not only conquer our fears, but to give us tremendous blessings that can only be discovered in proportion to our faith, trust, reliance, and dependence upon him. You may feel small compared to what you are facing, but God says to us in Isaiah 41:10 , “Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.”
Leviticus 16 | When Adam and Eve rebelled against God, sin entered this world carrying with it horrific consequences, namely that of physical and spiritual death. God has the one and only solution that goes to the heart of what is hurting our world. We now have Jesus, who is the High Priest and the sacrifice. It is as if God stepped up to the temple veil and tore it from top to bottom, thus showing that all are welcomed into God’s presence. No longer does anything need to separate us from the love of God.
Exodus 34:29-35 | We may not like the idea of God’s holiness being too much for us to handle, but it is important to grasp how great, holy, and perfect God really is. We cannot produce the light of God’s glory ourselves -- but we can reflect God’s glory with our lives. In God’s presence, God will shape and mold our lives to be like Jesus.
Exodus 34:1-9 | What is the cure for sin? No matter how damaged our lives may be, the Lord promises to do for us what 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”
Exodus 17:8-16 | At times we may feel we are at a difficult place or we maybe somewhere in the wilderness experiencing all the highs and lows, and the many challenges of life. Wherever we are on the journey, we cannot make it on our own. The only way we can safely and successfully navigate our journey is when we prayerfully turn to God and put our hands in His hands. As we turn our lives over to God and fully rely on Him, God will then do His miraculous work in and through us.
Exodus 17:1-7 | Where God leads, God provides. Yet, we often don’t understand this profound truth. When we get overwhelmed, we often start with complaining and blaming. Jesus can calm the deepest part of our souls when complaining bubbles up inside of us. He will take care of us.
Exodus 3:7-10, 16-17 | John Wesley once said, “The best thing of all is God is with us.” In Exodus 3, Moses is on the verge of the greatest and the most frightening adventure of his life. God reveals that God is directly involved in the life of His people. This is a picture of God’s deliverance for us today.
Exodus 3:1-6 | If listening is a challenge in our communication with each other, it is certainly just as challenging to listen carefully to God. When is the last time we heard God speak to us or that we have intentionally taken the time and effort to listen to God? God actually speaks to us all the time-- The question is, are we listening?
Exodus 2:1-10 | When we are going through tough times it may feel like God is missing. We might honestly ask, “Where is God?” Yet, when we look at God’s Word, God reminds His people that God is always with us, in the good and the bad, and God is in control as He is working out all the details of our lives.