Shartel Church: Recent Episodes
ShartelChurch
One of the greatest lessons of leadership is that in order to lead others, you must first be able to lead yourself. This is also the proof of God’s Spirit in our lives! Self-control is actually the yielding of our lives to God’s control. It is seeking His mind, considering His values, and making His choices. This message wraps up our series by exploring what the fruit of self-control looks like in the life of a believer and how we can demonstrate more of it!
Gentleness is not weakness. It is the godly management of power! Most people with power use it for their own advantage. Some abuse it. This message will look at how we can live with the gentleness of Jesus, who used His power to honor God and help others.
Can God and others count on us? That’s the heart of the question in this message. Faithfulness is the quality that means that we are going to live up to what we say we will do. This message will look at how we measure our faithfulness and how we often, without meaning to, say one thing and then DO another. In a culture where promises mean little and commitments are easily broken; we’ll challenge ourselves to be as faithful as God is to us!
Goodness…what a great word! When Moses wanted to see God, the Lord said He was going to have His “goodness” pass in front of him. I wonder when we pass in front of people, do they sense His goodness as well? This message will look at what it means to be a “good” person. Someone whose presence reminds others of God!
Jesus was described as one who “went around doing good”. What a great insight into the heart and spirit of God! Kindness flows from The One who sees people with caring eyes and does GOOD THINGS for them…simply because HE CAN! This message will focus on the power of kindness and look at how we can let it flow through our lives as it did in the life of Jesus.
Patience. The word we love to hate. We all know we need it. We’re all aware we lack it. But it is one of the most beneficial of the fruits that God’s Spirit produces in us. And perhaps the greatest fruit those around us need!
There’s something powerful about a person at peace. We become immovable and unshakeable. It’s as though we live in a certainty about our future…because we DO! God’s peace guards us and steadies us.
Everyone wants to be happy. But few discover true JOY. Joy is the exhilarating feeling of well-being. But unlike simply being happy, joy is not dependent on the circumstances around us. True joy comes from WITHIN us!
Jesus said that all the commandments in scripture were based on loving God and loving people. This message will focus on what that kind of love looks like…love that truly flows from the Heart of God to us, and then through us, to the world around us.
The heart is the wellspring of life. What we allow into our hearts will flow out from our hearts. This message will encourage you toward spiritual reflection, healing, and intentionality in what we allow into our hearts.
This message challenges believers to stop living divided between the old life and the new life. In Jesus, we are invited to live fully surrendered, fully alive, and fully free.
God has a higher calling for all of us. He wants to work through us to transform the world.
As Peter experienced the grace and power of Jesus, he made another amazing discovery. His own sinfulness. His proud and stubborn heart was broken. Humility and gratitude replaced his cocky, self-confident attitude. Broken people are pliable people. And they are EXACTLY the kind of people God can use.
God’s response to Peter’s faith was not a few fish. Nor even a good catch of fish. It was a haul of fish that was more than he could have ever imagined! So many that the nets were breaking, and they needed help bringing them in. Peter discovered what we all need to discover: You can’t limit God. Because no matter how big you can imagine, God can do MORE!
Peter and his brother had fished all night and caught nothing. As Jesus challenged them to go out deeper, He also challenged them to let go of their past failures, their past discouragements, and their past pain. We can’t follow God to the future while we’re staring back at where we’ve been.
A deeper walk with God requires us to take deeper steps of faith. Steps into waters we’ve never been in before. Sometimes, the greatest obstacles to the work that God wants to do in us are the comfort zones we refuse to leave. Our faith is the doorway to the deeper things God has for us.
God is always taking steps in our direction to work in our lives. But WE have to welcome Him in! This message will look at how giving God time and space in our lives to work is the beginning of the “deeper” work He does. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
Easter is an empty tomb, death defeated, sin forgiven. Easter is brokenness restored, a new covenant, a promise fulfilled. Easter is our redemption, eternal life, a celebration. Easter is a Risen Savior.
Jesus is coming back! Though the disciples didn’t understand what He was talking about at the time, WE DO! This promise gives us hope, no matter what the circumstances. This promise reminds us that we are living for something bigger, something greater than just the here and now. This promise fills our lives with joy even in the face of death. We are people of hope because Jesus is coming back!
He let them know they are the ones who will take the mission forward. The path forward relies on those who trust Him and go and make those disciples. His disciples held the key to sharing the good news of what was about to happen. And you do to.
The Christian life isn’t for sissies. Jesus didn’t promise an easy road for those who follow Him. He knew not only what was ahead for Himself, He knew the persecution and trouble that was ahead for those who wore His name. Pain and sacrifice were a price we would all have to pay.
Another major thought Jesus tried to communicate before He left was the importance of the disciples staying connected to Him. It’s a major mistake to believe that we can do God’s work out of our own strength. We need His Spirit. We need His Word. It is not OUR talent the world needs. It’s the Presence and Power of God. That comes from abiding in Him.
Throughout history, there have always been things that distinguished the people of God from the rest of the world. Festivals and feasts, holy days and sabbaths, rituals, and even dietary habits. One of the key points of Jesus’ ministry was that all those other things didn’t really matter. What DID matter was one Big Thing. That big thing was love. Love would be the way the world would know we were His.
One of the ongoing arguments that disciples had was probably the most annoying to Jesus. They wanted to know who would be the “greatest.” Jesus called them back to reality with one of the most unbelievable acts He could have done shortly before He died. He washed their feet. That’s how a true leader leads.
Barnabas is one of the quiet, unsung heroes of the early church. He wasn’t famous for much, but he had an incredible impact on untold lives simply by using his main spiritual gift. Encouragement. He was a lifter, not a leaner. His name was actually Joseph, but his helpful nature and generous spirit earned him the nickname, “Barnabas.” That means, “Son of Encouragement.” Maybe, if WE encouraged more, God would pick us to be a Barnabas.
This passage was a strategic shift in how the Kingdom of God would advance. The Church was growing, and the needs were growing with it. When the disciples faced the dilemma of how to keep the widows fed, they challenged the leaders to pick seven who would take on that responsibility. As those seven stepped up to meet the need, the Apostles were released to do their job. And the Kingdom of God ADVANCED!
Many people think they can’t witness because they’re not Bible scholars or trained in evangelism. But the most powerful witness in the world is OUR STORY! When the demoniac was healed by Jesus, he wanted to hang out with Jesus and the other disciples. But Jesus picked him to go back to those who had known him before and let them see what the Lord had done. His story gave God Great Glory!
The people thought Saul would make a great king because he was tall and strong. But God knew that it’s not what’s on the outside but what’s on the INSIDE that really matters! God picked David because of His heart, not his muscles or his smarts. When our hearts are open and submissive to God, we become incredibly powerful for His Kingdom. David knew what others didn’t. Ultimately, the battle belongs to the Lord!
There was a huge crowd following Jesus. Over 5000 people. Maybe as many as 10,000 or 15,000. After a long day of teaching, they were hungry. The disciples had no food, nor enough money to buy food for that many. Then, a young boy offered his lunch. Jesus picked HIM to be the catalyst for a miracle! Jesus reminds us again and again, “Little is much when God is in it!” What’s your “little” that God is waiting for YOU to offer?
It was out of a fresh, new vision of God that Isaiah became passionate about being picked by God. When we really see God, we remember who He is and what He can do. And we renew our passion to be about His work.
In this message, we’ll explore what it is in this past year that we need to leave behind. Paul says that we need to “forget” the past. The word actually means to “set it aside.” This message will help identify those things in our lives that are keeping us from being all God has called us to be and to let them go.
In this message, we’ll explore what it is in this past year that we need to leave behind. Paul says that we need to “forget” the past. The word actually means to “set it aside.” This message will help identify those things in our lives that are keeping us from being all God has called us to be and to let them go.
As we celebrate Christmas Eve, we will reflect on Jesus as our Light. He brings warmth to our lives. He brings hope to our lives. He came as the Light of God’s Welcome to us. And He stays as the Light of God’s Guidance to us. To a people who are prone to wander, He is the Light that shows the way.
“What the world needs now is love, sweet love.” Truer words have never been spoken. But the love the world needs is not a love that it can create on its own. The Bible reminds us that “GOD is love.” This last Sunday before Christmas, we will celebrate that Jesus came to us as the highest expression of God’s love for us. He came to show us how to BE loved, RECEIVE love, and to GIVE love. It is a gift that can change the world.
The world can be a dark and dangerous place. Life can be hard and overwhelming. It’s easy to forget as we forge our way forward that life wasn’t meant to just be endured. It was meant to be enjoyed! This Sunday of Advent we celebrate Christ’s coming with a reminder that He came to do more than just give us New Life. He came to give us Abundant Life. He came to restore our JOY!
It almost seems funny that in the busiest season of the year, we talk about “peace.” But the peace that Christ brings isn’t the absence of chaos. It’s being anchored in the midst of the chaos. It’s the stability and security that comes when we remember who He is and whose we are. He is our “Prince of Peace.”
Hope—Is there any greater need in the world than that? Hope for healing. Hope for a better tomorrow. Hope for a way out, a way through, a way forward. It was to a world that was utterly hopeless that Jesus came. And He brought to the world on Christmas what He brings to us today—Hope.
Kings come and go. Governments rise and fall. Those who are considered the wealthiest, or the most powerful, or the most invulnerable, will all fade away. But there’s one Kingdom that lasts forever. That’s the Kingdom of God. That’s why our God is our Rock, our Strong Tower, and our Foundation. This message will be about building our lives on something that is UNSHAKABLE.
We wrap up our series on Hebrews with a great challenge to stay focused on Jesus. If we focus on ourselves, we’ll get discouraged. If we focus on others, we’ll become jealous or disillusioned. Jesus is our goal, our model, and our coach. Let’s make sure we’re keeping our eyes on Jesus!
None of us got here by ourselves. There were people who went before us to pave the way. There were people who led us Christ, helped us grow in Christ, and were there for us along the way. Now, it’s our turn. We have the baton. This message will focus on what it means to run the race faithfully for those who are coming after us.
Faith is not just “a key” to our walk with God, it is The Key! It takes faith to open the door to God. It takes faith to stay connected to God. It takes faith to be obedient to God. In every part of our journey, faith is a necessary piece. This message will look at why faith is so important and why our faith is a “reasonable” faith!
There is great power in community. God designed us in such a way that we grow better, stay safer, avoid discouragement, and stay truer to our commitments when we do life TOGETHER! This message will examine the power of community and what it takes to make it work.
One of the challenges on our journey of faith is not allowing ourselves to become hard-headed or hard-hearted. This message will focus on listening to the voice of God and becoming immediately responsive to what God is saying. God will protect us and shape us if we keep our lives MOLDABLE!
Peter Pan was the storybook figure who determined that he would never grow up. Unfortunately, many Christians take that same approach to their walk with God. Though we will always be “children” to God, He doesn’t want us to remain immature. This message will focus on what it means to “grow up” in the faith.
The Hebrews writer challenges us to not hold back when we come before God. We can come confessing bold sins. We can come with bold praise. We can come before Him with bold requests. There God will meet us at our point of need.
God’s Word is the most direct way that the Lord speaks to us. It is also the tool that God uses to help us see ourselves and change our attitudes and behaviors. Like a scalpel in the hands of a master surgeon, God uses His Word to remove the disease of sin and bring healing and wholeness to our lives.
Most of us don’t just up and walk away from our faith. We drift. We slowly, for a variety of reasons, lose our grip on our commitment to God, our beliefs, and who we want to become. This message will look at how we can stay on course and stay tightly connected to our faith.
Jesus wasn’t just another teacher or prophet. He was God in the flesh! That fact changed everything that we knew about God. No longer was God mysterious or hidden or unknown. He came and we “beheld His glory.” Everything we wanted to know about God we find in Jesus.
We SAY that our relationship with our family and friends is one of the most important priorities we have. But is it? This message serves as a reminder that love is one of the most precious gifts God has given us, and it needs to be protected and cherished. We’ll remind ourselves that life is meant to be enjoyed, not merely endured. Learning how to actually CHERISH the journey may be the most important road lesson of all.
Don’t you just love the people who ignore the “no parking” signs? It’s almost as if they think they can park anywhere they want, anytime they want. We often let those kinds of people invade our lives until we can no longer stand it. In this message, we’ll look at how to set and respect healthy boundaries. We’ll look at why boundaries are a biblical and necessary part of our relational lives. We’ll also explore how boundaries can actually save our relationships as well as our own sanity!
In this week's message, we see how turning to God and His Word shapes our thoughts, our emotions, decisions, and ultimately our lives.
In a world where we’re pushed to pave our own direction, we’re reminded through scripture that God is our true north. His ways are higher, His power greater, and His love steadfast. We are to trust in Him with everything, even when it's difficult.
Though it’s not always easy for us to admit, there are times when we need to be able to walk away from a relationship. Like when the relationship has become toxic or harmful, or dangerously unhealthy. Or like when we recognize there is a vast difference in our values and ethics. Or like when there is abuse taking place. Here we’ll explore the times when a relationship is going nowhere and how to end it properly. Sometimes a New Beginning starts with an ending.
Have you ever noticed how many times you have to merge as you drive? How about in your relationships? When you move into a new neighborhood. When you take a new job. When you marry. When you have kids. When you “blend” your family with another family. This message will look at those transitional times and how to navigate them without crashing into each other and creating relational crises.
Rough roads are a part of EVERYONE’S journey at one time or another. Though we come to expect a few twists and turns in our relationships, we usually don’t foresee all the potholes and debris we will encounter. One of the most important skills we can learn is how to navigate on troublesome relational roads. Learning how not to overreact or overcompensate can save your life while driving. It can also save your relationships!
Problems occur in our relationships when we move too fast. We tend to microwave almost everything, relationships included! We make commitments before we actually know the person, or we allow others to dictate the speed. In this message, I will focus on some of the speed limits we need to consider, whether in a business, personal, or romantic relationship. If we want relationships that are healthy and last, we need to slow down and live!
We often say that being a Christian is about having a relationship with Jesus Christ. That is a very true statement. Sometimes, what we miss is that this relationship is not one where we come in and stay the same. Jesus doesn't call us into a relationship and desire us to be the same. He calls us to become a New Creation. He calls us to leave our life of flesh, to let the old things pass away, and to become new in Him. Have you embraced this New Creation that He is calling you to become, or are you clinging to your old things? Join us this Sunday as we see what it means to be "Living as a New Creation!"
This week's message focuses on what it means to be spiritually grounded, not in our accomplishments, performance, or outward success, but in the unchanging love of God.
The problem with most of our kids is US! The attitudes they have, the values they choose, the character they develop…most of it comes from what they’ve seen in their own home. Though ultimately our kids must choose for themselves, they absorb an awful lot from us. This message will look at how to address our own “stuff” so that our kids might not repeat the sins of their parents.
On this Mother’s Day, we will be doing a Child Dedication. But what is OUR role? What is it that God wants US to do with these children? This message explores the purposes of parenting and the plan God had in mind when He created us to live in families.
Paul was religious but not victorious. He knew the scriptures but he couldn’t live them out. He knew a lot about God but he didn’t really know God. In Romans 7 he details his defeated life. Then he experienced the Resurrected Jesus. Paul discovered that he needed more than knowledge. He needed POWER. And that power comes from the Resurrected Christ living in us and through us. You can discover how to live a victorious life as well!
Have you ever been afraid? Sure you have. Fear has a paralyzing quality to it that can keep us from moving forward with our lives. Especially when that fear comes from failure. Peter experienced that. When Jesus needed Peter the most, Peter denied he even knew Him. Peter, gripped by fear, retreated and hid. But then came the Resurrection. And that fearful, cowering disciple became a powerful preacher. Peter found the strength to not only overcome his fears but to become the best version of himself. The Resurrection can renew courage in you as well!
When the disciples discovered that Jesus had risen from the dead, it was as though THEY came back to life, too! Their JOY was restored. Their BELIEF was renewed. And their souls were filled with HOPE. This Resurrection Sunday, we will look at how Jesus can be that same Living Hope for you. No matter how bleak your circumstances have been, there is a Resurrection waiting for YOU!
Have you ever lost faith? Most of us have, along the way. Disappointments, losses, and setbacks all have their way of taking the wind out of our spiritual sails and filling our minds with doubt. Thomas is a good example of that. He was a faithful follower until he saw Jesus arrested and crucified. Then, doubt took over. That is, until he experienced the Resurrection for himself. May God restore YOUR faith too!
Baptism is such a beautiful visual of the Resurrection. It reminds us that we can bury our past, bury our failures, and bury our shame. Just as Christ rose to a New Life, so can we! We not only come up out of the water with clean bodies, we come up with a clean slate upon which we can write a New Story. The Resurrection means that no matter how “dead” we may have been, we can live New Lives!
One of the names God revealed Himself by was “Jehovah Raphe, the God who heals us.” One of the primary ministries of Jesus was as a healer as well. So, too, as the Church, we are to be a safe place for people who are hurting. We are to open our doors and our arms to those who are wounded, those who are struggling, and those who society often casts aside. In a world filled with hurting people, we are a Hospital.
The church is more than an organization. It’s an ORGANISM! It’s a living, breathing extension of God Himself. Because of that, we only have life when we’re connected to God. This message will explore how to “abide” in Christ and allow His love and strength to flow through us.
Christ came from heaven to earth with a mission: To bridge the gap between God and those far from Him. And then He gave that mission to US! Paul reminds us in this week’s passage that we are ambassadors—agents of God’s grace, emissaries of His love, and spreaders of His gospel. This week, we’ll look at how we can carry out that role in our homes, schools, offices, and neighborhoods.
From the beginning of the Abrahamic covenant, God has called His People to be His Army on earth. As we pray, speak, and step up and step out, God’s Spirit battles through us. This message will look at the armor that God gives us and the weapons that God gives us to fight the good fight of faith here on earth.
In His wisdom, God wanted His People to be more than just an organization. He wanted them to be a Family. A Family that looks out for each other. A Family that holds each other accountable. A Family that loves greatly, protects fiercely, and shares with each other generously. Anyone can join a club, but only God can make you a member of His Family!
One of the beautiful descriptions that Paul gives of the church is that we are the body of Christ. We all have different functions. We all have different gifts and talents. Only as we work together do we function as a “body.” This message will challenge each person to identify and step into their part in the Body.
You can’t microwave a love relationship with God. It takes time to get to know God and how He works in our lives. Continuous. Daily. Constant. These are the words that describe the journey that leads to growth and intimacy with God. This message will focus on what it takes to cultivate a relationship with God that lasts a lifetime.
Doubt. Fear. Insecurity. Disappointment. Shame. These are many of the emotions that sabotage our relationships. Including our relationship with God. Just like we need to have occasional “hard talks” with those we are close to, the same is true of God. God wants to hear our hearts—even when our hearts are troubled and confused. We can’t be close to a God we’re not honest with.
There’s an elephant in the room. Ever heard that expression? It means there’s something that’s a problem that no one is talking about. It happens with God. We can’t draw close to God while we’re flirting with the Devil. James says drawing near to God also involves resisting the Enemy. This message will focus on getting rid of the things that are keeping us from God.
While many ways of hearing God can be confusing, one way is clear: the Word of God! God’s Word is His most direct way of speaking to our hearts, giving us strength for our journey, and helping us understand how to live. This message will look at how we can utilize the Bible to hear God’s voice and draw closer to Him in our daily walk.
How often do we find ourselves in proximity to people we say we love, but we’re not really listening to them? You can’t be close to people you don’t know, and you can’t get to know others without listening to them. Same with God. This message will focus on the significance of listening to God—especially the importance of listening to God through His Word.
Christmas reminds us that though we drifted away from God, He has never left us. In fact, He seeks to be NEAR. The same Jesus that was born among us, walked among us, and ministered among us, is STILL with us. He will never leave us or forsake us. This Christmas Eve we will celebrate the God who is HERE.
What are your fears about the New Year? What worries weigh you down? Jesus came to give us a place to lay our burdens down. He came to free us from the anxiety that plagues so many. This message will focus on giving over our cares and concerns to the Prince of Peace. He never promised us exemption from the struggles of life. But He did promise VICTORY!
The angels’ declaration has never been more significant than today. In a world filled with bad news, Christ has come to proclaim Good News! Our God is for us. Our God is with us. Our God promises His Presence and His Power every step of the way. No matter how heavy our hearts have been, Christmas brings the promise of JOY!
Christmas is the reminder that in God we always have HOPE! This world can be a dark place. But the light of God shines and can guide us through. Life can be hard and filled with setbacks, struggles, and losses. But God is the source of our strength and in Him we hold onto HOPE!
Christmas reminds us that God loves us—fully, completely, unconditionally, and eternally. In a world where the love of people seems to easily come and go, God’s love has come and stayed. His love is not only beyond that which any human can give us, it is the love our hearts are longing for.
As we enter the Christmas season, let's remind ourselves of the name of our God. Before God became flesh and was named Jesus, He went by the name YAHWEH. What does the name YAHWEH tell us about God's character? Join us as we explore that thought.
Why do we give thanks? There are physical and emotional health reasons as to why we ought to give thanks. Those are great, but are they the only reasons why we should be thankful? Join us as we learn why the Psalmists says we give thanks.
Good choices are windows we open for God's blessing. They impact not only our lives but also the lives of those around us and those who come after us. This message will look at what we can do to make the best possible choices—choices that will allow us to live the abundant lives Jesus wants us to live!
Mankind’s gift at creation was the power to choose. Right or wrong, good or bad, life or death. It was an endowment by God to allow us to rule this world with Him. And one we’ve not always used wisely. This message will examine how powerful this gift is and why God gave it to us.
As the number two ruler in all of Egypt, Joseph’s dream has finally come true. When his brothers come to get food from Egypt, Joseph could have had full revenge for how they treated him. But Joseph realized that his brothers didn’t control his destiny. God does. Resting in that, Joseph gave a gift to his brothers and himself. Forgiveness.
When Joseph was forgotten in prison by the two men he helped, he had to feel overlooked. But he wasn’t, at least not by God. God was waiting for the perfect moment to have Joseph released from prison so that He could put him in the ideal position to carry out His will. God’s timing is PERFECT, even when it’s much slower than ours!
Once again, Joseph finds himself in a pit. This time, the pit is a prison. But Joseph discovered that he wasn’t alone. Even when life works against us, our God is WITH us! Even in the lowest of places, God blessed Joseph and caused him to prosper. God will have His Hand upon us in our dark places, too!
This message will encourage us to reflect deeply on God's love. It’s easy to say, but do we truly believe it—especially when we face difficult situations? This is our faith—the belief that God’s goodness remains constant, even when circumstances don’t make sense.
When Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce Joseph, he shunned her advances, even though it could have been personally and financially prosperous for him. Integrity and commitment to God were more important to Joseph than favor with another person or financial gain. Joseph paid the high price of integrity and discovered that it was worth it all to be rewarded by God.
Everywhere Joseph went, he had success. That’s because he gave himself fully to what was at hand, believing God was with him. Achieving our divine destinies doesn’t usually come in huge, single leaps. They are successes built upon successes. To do that, we must commit to being the best we can be, WHEREVER we are. Treating every opportunity as a gift from God allows Him to open door after door for us.
When Joseph got thrown into the pit and then sold into slavery, I doubt that he had any idea that God was using these things to get him to where he needed to be. The way WE think our path should be and the path God takes us on is often very different. This message will look at trusting God, not just with the dream, but with the PROCESS of achieving that dream.
Is there any pain greater than being betrayed by someone you trusted? But even betrayal can’t stop us from achieving our divine destiny. This message will look at how we deal with betrayal and grieve the loss but let it become a stepping stone instead of a stumbling block.
Most of the problems we encounter in life are problems we create for ourselves! Bad attitudes. Stupid decisions. Pride. Joseph was no different. Joseph alienated his brothers by telling them he would rule over them one day. His pride and jumping the gun in God’s design for his life caused him serious problems. This message will examine how we handle God’s blessings and how not to let ourselves get in the way of what God wants to do through us.
God has amazing plans for us! We too often settle for a life of meaningless activity and low goals. But God has a dream for us! He has plans for us to make our lives meaningful and impactful. We may be young or old, but as long as we’re breathing, God’s not done with us!
In Matthew 20, Jesus shares the parable of the vineyard workers. In this parable, we see that the landowner is generous and pays the workers evenly. We also see how the workers respond. This Sunday, we will look at this parable and how we can relate it to our lives.
In Psalm 39, David reminds us how fleeting life is. Many of us struggle with procrastination, but there are some things that we shouldn't put off. In this week's message, we will look at some facts about life & time and things that we shouldn't put off.
Guest Speaker, Stephanie Greenwald will walk us through Psalm 23 and how we can apply it to our lives.
If you were before Jesus and he asked, "What do you want me to do?" How would you answer? How you answer this question reveals a lot about the state of your soul. Join us as we see how one man answered this question and how we can respond as well.
David’s last words to Solomon were a reminder to be faithful to the Lord. David had experienced both the blessings of obedience and the consequences of disobedience. His words of wisdom to Solomon are a wonderful reminder that life goes better when we listen to the Lord! This message will challenge us to live and people after God’s heart so that we, too, can experience the joy and blessing of obedience.
The immortal words that Jesus spoke are incredibly powerful. Having accomplished the work God the Father sent Him to do, He spoke His last words and died. Those words give us hope and life and set us free. This weekend, as we celebrate freedom in our country, we will look at the freedom that is ours through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
God made a promise to Joseph when he was young. It took 25 years and a lot of ups and downs, but God finally fulfilled that promise. As Joseph dies, he reminds his brothers and family that God will help them just as God helped him throughout his life. And that’s God’s promise to us!
The Israelites had been up and down and back and forth with God. Joshua witnessed it firsthand as they wandered through the desert and fought into the Promised Land. Now, as he prepares for his death, he challenges them to leave their weak-faith lives and commit wholeheartedly to the Lord. Joshua challenges them and us to live lives of intentional, resilient faithfulness.
On this Father’s Day, we’ll look at how to use our positions and power in a God-honoring way. In a world where many seek to flex their muscles and control those around them, Jesus calls us to serve, lift, and empower. One of the most attractive traits of those we want to draw near to is feeling safe with them. They are approachable, tender, and gentle.
If there is one relational principle we get backward, it’s this one. When someone hurts our feelings or does something offensive to us, we do everything but the one thing Jesus tells us to do: Go to them. This message will look at recalibrating our dysfunctional ways of handling hurts. We’ll explore how to have hard, honest conversations with those who have wounded us.
thanRelationships were God’s idea. He created us and designed them for our well-being. It only makes sense that from time to time, we need to step back and ask the question if we are building our relationships on His Word or upon Our Wants. Nothing will get us off track quicker than not having Christ as the Cornerstone of our relationships.
Have you ever seen an old car that’s been restored? They’re beautiful! Fresh paint, trim, seat covers, and a car you were ready to take to the junkyard becomes one you don’t want to part with. The same is true in our relationships. Sometimes, we forget that the simple things, the little things, attract people to us or repel them from us. This message looks at some of those little things and the difference they make when we put them into practice.
The most powerful story in the world is the one we tell ourselves. It’s also the most powerful part of our relationships. The stories we tell ourselves about other people and ourselves are often lies that the Enemy uses to divide us. He takes our past wounds and struggles and tries to make it the lens through which we view today. Healthy relationships only happen as we learn to reframe our interactions with others and learn to change the stories we tell ourselves.
Relationships were God’s idea. He created us and designed them for our well-being. It only makes sense that from time to time, we need to step back and ask the question if we are building our relationships on His Word or upon Our Wants. Nothing will get us off track quicker than not having Christ as the Cornerstone of our relationships.
The Resurrection not only gave us a new life and a new power, it also gave us a reason to live: To share the news that Jesus is ALIVE! We all know that Jesus is what this world is looking for and we know that Jesus is the cure for the ills of our society. But sadly, we keep that news to ourselves instead of sharing it with those who need to hear. Jesus doesn’t ask us to be scholars or theologians. But He does call us to be WITNESSES. Let’s rise and spread the news that our God LIVES!
God’s Spirit not only works in us, He works THROUGH us! The Resurrection unleashed the power of the Holy Spirit to do amazing things through the disciples. People were saved. People were healed. God gave His people boldness and favor and they carried out His work. That same Spirit that worked in them is in US today. Let’s rise and let God’s Spirit work His wonders through US!
All of us are born with certain talents. Along the way, we develop various kinds of abilities as well. But when God’s Spirit comes to dwell in us, He adds to that list by giving us spiritual gifts! Those might be an enhancement of what we already have or something altogether new. But with the gift comes a calling to use those gifts in service to the Body of Christ. Let’s rise up and discover how to put our gifts to work!
The Resurrection gave us a common Big Brother in Christ and the Spirit unites us together into one family. We have others to help us, care for us, and encourage us. We have place where we belong. We also have a group to contribute to and share our lives with. Young or old, married or single, we are all a part of God’s amazing family and have a place to call HOME!
The grace that Christ made possible on the cross is amazing. Our sins can be forgiven and our slate wiped clean. But the Resurrection reminds us that we also have a chance to bury that old way we lived and truly be different people. Let’s rise up and claim the new lives God wants us to live!
The Resurrection was the final “proof” that Jesus was who He claimed to be: God in the flesh. It was what gave the disciples the motivation and power to continue the ministry He began here on earth. It is also the “hook” that we can hang our faith on. Like Thomas, the Resurrection challenges us to rise and believe!
This story of Jesus reminds us of the investment God has made in us and what we are to do with that investment. God has a place and a purpose for each of us. He wants to work THROUGH us as much as He wants IN us. With the Spirit of God working through us, we can accomplish anything that God calls us to. One day, God will ask us what we did with what He gave us. How will YOU answer that question?
Many of us have never discovered the difference between “saying our prayers” and really praying. Jesus uses this story to push us to discover our power and privilege in coming to God with our requests. This message will focus on how to CLING to God—how to seek Him passionately and wholeheartedly. The bells of heaven ring when God’s people pray!
God gave up everything to make us His. What are we willing to do to fully possess the life He wants us to have? This week we'll look at the "pearls" we have to be willing to sell to fully embrace our "Pearl of Great Price."
This parable reminds us of the incredible intrinsic value that God has put upon each of us. Though we may not see it, and it may not even be obvious to others, God sees it. This message will look at rediscovering our worth and the amazing price tag God has put upon every one of us.
We quit too soon. We give up too easily. Those facts are true for many facets of our lives. This parable will teach us the power and wisdom of patience. Just because everything or everyone is not responding the way we think they should, don’t throw in the towel. Much can be accomplished by the ones who are willing to put up with a few weeds.
This amazing parable looks at the work that God wants to do in our lives. Jesus compares us to a garden that a farmer is planting in. And here’s the incredible piece: We get to decide what kind of garden we want to be! This message will look at how we prepare and protect ourselves for God’s work in us.
We don’t just need the help of God to get out of the rut we’re in. We need His help every single day! Moses and the people leave Egypt only to be chased by Pharoah’s army and have nowhere to go. But God parted the sea. The journey from Egypt to Canaan would be a long and hard one, just as the road to deep change is. But what they were able to count on is what WE can count on. God will be with us every step of the way, providing miracle after miracle to see us through.
When Moses and Aaron go to Pharoah to carry out God’s orders, it doesn’t go as they planned. Instead of Pharoah giving in, he made it worse on God’s people. That’s often the way it is when we approach deep change. Often to make our lives better, we have to first let them feel worse. Pulling out the “weeds” that keep us from growing and becoming is hard and painful. That’s why many people who approach the New Year with resolve quickly fade. No pain, no gain.
As God asked Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, fear gripped his heart. It seemed like an impossible task, but it wasn’t the size of the task that was the problem. It was the size of the fear. God can do anything—but we have to push through our fears to take hold of God's promised freedom. Everyone WANTS to change, but only the COURAGEOUS make the change!
The people enslaved in Israel realized they could never be free on their own. So they did what we ALL need to do. They cried out to God. Admitting our need for God’s help in our lives seems to be the hardest part of the deep change that we’re longing for. But if we will cry out, God will answer!
As Egypt ramped up the oppression on God’s People, they began to realize they were in deep trouble. They probably asked the same question we often ask when we’re struggling. “Where is God in all this?” The answer: Working! God was busy at work preparing for the future and raising up a leader to get them out.
Sometimes we have to take a step back to begin the journey forward. Israel came to Egypt during a famine. But rather than go back to the land God promised them, they settled in the foreign country and stayed. Getting comfortable in a place where God doesn’t want you is dangerous. This message will look at the need to take an honest look at where we are to figure out where we need to go.
It often feels like we are walking into the unknown. We don't know what lies ahead or what's around the corner waiting for us. The same is true for the Israelites as they left Egypt. In this message, we learn from the Israelites as they followed this Unknown Path, placing their trust in God.
It was love that prompted God to send His one and only Son. It was love that Jesus came to proclaim to the world. It is love that God wants to instill in each and every one of our hearts. But it is also love that God wants to flow through us! The world hasn’t changed much in 2000 years. What the world needs now is what the world needed then. Love.
There is a peace we think about at Christmas, like the quiet of soft snow falling in the night. But the peace that the Christ-child came to give was a deeper peace—a peace that had nothing to do with what was going on around us. It is a peace WITHIN us. That's a peace only Jesus can give.
The angels’ message to the Shepherds is the same to us: We have Good News of Great Joy! This message will look at the shepherd's encounter and discover how we, too, can experience this joy for ourselves.
The world was dark when Jesus came. It was a world that felt abandoned and lost. Most people had stopped looking for the Messiah. Many had stopped hoping as well. But not the Magi. They saw the star and knew what it meant. God had come at last! This message will look at the hope that we find when we embrace the Jesus who has come.
Thankfulness GIVES. A heart of thanks prompts us to want to share, bless, and return to God what He has done for us. When we practice a lifestyle of “thanks giving,” we become conduits of God’s goodness and generosity. This message will challenge us to do more than SAY thanks. It will challenge us to GIVE thanks.
Anyone can praise God when everything is going well. But how about those times when God is doing what you want Him to do? How about when tough times come, problems arise, or life gets hard? Can you praise God, THEN? This message will look at thankfulness in the hard times. The most meaningful praise we give God is not when we’re at the peak but it’s when we’re in the pits!
An attitude of gratitude changes EVERYTHING! It changes how we feel about what we have received. It changes how we approach our daily opportunities. It changes our relationships with people, and it changes how we pray. When gratitude fills our hearts, JOY fills our lives. This message will focus on the incredible power of being grateful.
God gave us life. He gave us a world to live in. He gives us air to breathe, water to drink, and food to eat. From the very beginning, God gave. This message will look at the fact that the heart of all that we have to be thankful for is in God. And if all that we see around us isn’t enough to stir our hearts, we remember this: He gave His one and only Son.
Following Jesus stretches us. He wants to help us do more than just be the best versions of ourselves. He wants us to discover what HE can do THROUGH us! This message will look at the story of Peter and Jesus walking on the water and how God calls us out of our comfort zones and into those places where we have to depend totally upon Him!
The journey of following Jesus is one of learning to face our fears. It’s one thing to trust Jesus when all is well. But how about when life throws something that shakes us to the core? Can we trust Jesus, then? The story of the storm is a great lesson of faith for the disciples. It’s an excellent lesson for us as well. Are YOU ready to face your fears?
James and John, like the rest of Jesus’ disciples, were asked to leave their old life behind to follow Jesus. It’s still true of us today. There is no “following” without a “leaving.” We can’t be who we were and become who He’s calling us to be. This message will look at the challenge of letting go to take hold of all God has for us.
Nathaniel had a lot of doubts about Jesus. But Jesus knew that before He ever invited him to become a disciple. Jesus knows YOU too! He knows your fears, your doubts, and your struggles. He knows your past pain and past failures. But He also knows the future plans that He has for you! When you come to Jesus, it’s not about who you’ve been. It’s about who He can help you become!
God’s way of winning the world is through relationships—parents to kids, neighbors to neighbors, and friends to friends. Just like Andrew invited Peter, we are called as disciples of Jesus to invite others to meet Him as well. This message will challenge us to accept Jesus’ call to “Go make disciples!”
A life-long relationship with Jesus begins with a single step of exploring who He is. His invitation to John’s disciples is the same to us: “Come and see.” He’s not just inviting you to “make a decision” about Him. He’s inviting you to walk with Him, learn from Him, and discover all He has for you. Are you ready for your life to be different? Come and see!
Stephanie Greenwald will lead us in taking a look at Galatians 2:20 and what it means to die for yourself so that you might live for Christ.
Hope is a powerful virtue. It gives us energy. It creates expectation. It holds on when we get weary and want to let go. But how to we find hope when God is taking His time? This message will explore the wells of hope that we can draw from to keep our spirits up and faith strong. We can overcome ANYTHING when we’re convinced that God is on His way!
One of the parts of our journey of faith that we have to learn is that God is smarter than us. He sees the Big Picture and not just the little slice we see. Sometimes the reason we’re waiting on God is that He is up to doing things IN us and AROUND us that we’re just not aware of. This message will explore some of those reasons we’re seated in God’s Waiting Room.
Amazing faith came from an unlikely Roman Centurion. Let's see what lessons of faith we can learn from him and take our faith to an Amazing Faith!
In many of the Psalms, David shares that he will praise God throughout whatever trials he is facing. In this message, we will learn from David what it means to praise God.
God knows. He knows where we are. He knows what we're going through. He knows where we've been and where we're headed. Sometimes, we may feel that no one "gets us," but God does. Because He knows us so well, no one else can help us, lead us, and comfort us like God. Because God knows.
Psalm 22 is amazingly powerful and prophetic. As a prophecy, it gives several details surrounding Jesus on the cross. In fact, Jesus quotes this Psalm on the cross! But it is not a Psalm of despair. It is a Psalm that reminds us that no matter what we face in this life, we emerge victorious through our God!
Where is God when it hurts? Have you ever asked that question? Most of us have. There are times when life becomes so painful that we find it hard to hear or see God. But yet, we're reminded in Psalm 34 that in our times of pain, God is not far away like it feels but is, instead, very near. This message will examine how to hold onto God in times of pain and sorrow and find comfort in His presence and faithfulness.
Why do some Christians stand strong through trials and others seem to fall apart? Why do some people seem to live with such confidence and others live full of doubt? How do we develop a faith that is unshakeable and immovable? Those are the questions we'll look at as we explore Psalm 1.
Just like an unbroken horse is unusable, so it is with us. But when we allow God to break us, He can do incredible work both IN and THROUGH us! This message will walk back through Psalm 51, looking at what David teaches us. We discover that God takes the Broken Life and makes it a much Better Life!
In Psalm 51, we learn that God is not looking for a perfect person, but He is looking for a broken person. When we’re truly broken before God, we discover He does His best work. What is brokenness, and why is brokenness so necessary to the work God wants to do in our lives? This message will explore why brokenness is critical and how God uses it to get us on the right path.
This message is about reclaiming the identity that God created us to have. In a world where we are pressured to fit in, God challenges us to stand out! We are created with a divine identity that this world can neither give nor take away. We'll look at all that God has intended for us to claim as children of the King!
Is there any greater challenge than building a home in these turbulent times? Psalm 127 reminds us that's why we need the help of God. This message will focus on what it takes to build a strong home of faith and what it means to be a father of such a home.
Gratefulness will change how you view everything. This Sunday, we look at what it takes to be grateful.
All of us mess up in our relationships. That's human nature. But strife begins when we say, "I'm sorry," and we don’t change our behavior. People want us to do more than confess our sins to them. They want us to CHANGE. This message will look at the power of repentance and how it proves that our hearts have changed and heals and restores our relationships.
Many people struggle in their relationships because they don't know how to have healthy boundaries. Some think boundaries are selfish. Some think they are ungodly. But Jesus knew that if He was to be whole and healthy on this earth, He had to take care of Himself and not just others. Jesus drew boundaries. This message will look at why boundaries are important and how to draw and keep them.
Prayer is one of the most powerful gifts God has given us. But it is one we often don’t think about when it comes to relationships. Prayer can tear down walls. Prayer can build bridges. Prayer can bring about breakthroughs. But most importantly, prayer invites GOD to move and work in our relationships. This message will look at how prayer is KEY to great relationships!
We are the common denominator in all of our relationships. If common issues with others appear, we need to check and see if the problem is us! Starting with ourselves keeps our hearts humble before God and allows us to own our part in our relationship struggles. This message will examine how we can do rigorous self-examination and let God's Spirit deal with us before we deal with others.
"It's the hard that makes it great." That famous line from the movie "A League of Their Own" is very true in relationships. One of the hardest things for us is to confront someone who has hurt or disappointed us. But, instead of confronting them, we carry that wound and allow it to become a festering sore. This message will look at how we do what Jesus calls us to do: to speak the truth in love. That habit is at the heart of great relationships.
We see how God makes paths where there doesn't seem to be a path and how he reveals these paths to you. Stephanie Greenwald is our guest speaker.
Some of the greatest relational advice comes from Steven Covey, who says, "Seek to understand, not to be understood." So true. One of the people's biggest complaints in our relationships is that we aren't listening to them. And they're right. It's not that we don't hear their words. It's that we're not trying to listen to their HEARTS! This message will explore what it means to listen actively and the art of making people feel heard.
Everyone loves people who are “real.” The problem is most of us don’t want to be that person! So we hide how we feel. We don’t share when we’re hurt. And we don’t let other people know what’s going on with us. Healthy relationships begin when we find the courage to be honest with one another. This message will focus on what it means to have relationships that live in truth.
The cross was a defining moment in the story of Jesus—but it was not the END of the story! The cross gave way to a grave, and the grave gave way to the resurrection! This reminds us that OUR story doesn’t end on a cross either. Though our days may be dark, there is a sunrise coming. Though our times may be tough, there is victory just ahead. The Jesus we serve is not on a cross anymore. He is RISEN and we have HOPE!!
The thief on the cross who appealed to Jesus for mercy is a wonderful testimony of how great God’s grace really is. He had lived a life of sin and had only a few moments in which to be forgiven. Yet those few moments were enough! This message will focus on the greatness of God’s grace, no matter where we've been or what we've done.
When Jesus dies, there is an earthquake. The darkness and the shaking ground scared everyone there. Even the Centurion near the cross declared that Jesus must be the son of God. But acknowledging that Jesus is God is not the same as committing ourselves to Him. Believing is not enough. There is a receiving, a repenting, and a following that Jesus asks from us. The cross didn’t happen to impress us. It happened to TRANSFORM us!
The sacrifice of Jesus was total and complete. He held nothing back as He gave Himself in life and death. But what does sacrifice look like for us? How do we offer ourselves back to God with the same selflessness He gave Himself to us? This message will look at what it means to be a "living sacrifice" Christian in a "comfort at any cost" world.
When Jesus said, "It is finished," He brought all of mankind to equal ground. There were no longer Jews and Gentiles but people who were all lost before God and saved the same way. There are no longer "good guys" and "bad guys." All sin is equal before God. This message will examine how we consider some sins worse than others and why we must find our shared need for grace.
One of the most remarkable statements from the cross was Jesus asking the Father to forgive those who were killing Him. That forgiveness is not just offered to us regardless of our sin. It is also asked of us in forgiving those who sin against us. The cross was more than a symbol of the payment for our sin. It is a model we must live by in our relationships with others!
This message will look at passages around Simon the Cyrene and how he helped to carry the cross of Jesus. Jesus didn’t make it to Calvary on His own. Someone carried the cross with Him. That scene was a wonderful foreshadowing of the role Jesus needs us to continue to play. We are told to pick up our cross "daily" and follow Him. So we'll explore what it looks like to carry the cross of Christ each day.
The cross was not random. It was planned. What's so interesting is that the men who wanted to get rid of Jesus thought THEY planned it. But they didn't. The cross was a part of the plan of God for the salvation of mankind. God knew when He sent Jesus what would happen. So God took the evil plans of men and wove them into His remarkable story of redemption. It was thoughtful, designed, and prophesied. The cross was no accident. It was planned.
The cross of Christ was birthed in love—pure love, total love, the Greatest love. It is a love that couldn't be earned, couldn’t be deserved, and couldn't be stopped. When the world was at its darkest, the light of love came. The crucifixion was an act of hate by evil men but was birthed in the heart of love by a Holy God.
We are sent as Jesus was sent. What a powerful but humbling statement. With that commission comes a whole new purpose toward which we now live. We are to be the Ambassadors of Jesus wherever we go! This message will look at how God changes our reason for living and sends us forth as ministers, missionaries, and emissaries of His Kingdom. We are now a New People with a New Purpose!
Many people make New Year's resolutions that they don't keep. They are often related to losing weight or exercising. Unfortunately, most fall off that path quickly because they don’t think correctly about their bodies or change the right pieces in their lives to make it happen. This message will examine why God views our bodies as "sacred" and what we do to truly treat them as though they are "temples" of God's Spirit. A new heart deserves a new body to dwell within!
Could you use a new attitude and outlook? Many of us would have lives that would dramatically improve if we took our thoughts captive and took on the mind of Christ. This message will focus on changing what we pour into our minds so we’re not living "garbage in, garbage out." We'll also look at changing how we look at ourselves, our circumstances, and the challenges of life around us. If we let God change the way we THINK, it will change how we LIVE!
Could you use a new home? Not a new house, but a new HOME? This message will look at how we can allow God to transform our households into places of love and intimacy and a home where Jesus is the cornerstone of our families. We’ll explore how to have marriages that honor God and fulfill one another. We'll look at new things we can do to connect with our children and help them feel loved, safe, and wanted. We'll look at the practices and habits of families that THRIVE and not simply survive. Let's make this year the year where our family is made NEW!
Is your relationship with God fresh and alive? Have you grown a bit routine and stagnant this past year? Like any love relationship, our walk with God needs to be stoked with fresh fire and zeal from time to time. This message will look at how we can walk a NEW walk with God, which is vibrant and alive. We'll look at what we can do to go from being around God to walking close to Him in an exciting and alive relationship!
We make our choices, and then our choices make us! If this New Year is going to be different than last year, we must commit to making different choices. Otherwise, it's just last year repeated all over again! This message will look at the most important choices we can make, including the choice to make Jesus Christ the Savior and Lord of our lives!
In a manger–that’s where Jesus was born. It was in a stable or cave, but it was not in a palace. The King of Kings. The Alpha and Omega. The Great I Am. And He was born in a manger. This changed everything. The God who was so distant came near. The God who was unknowable became seen. The God, who we knew nothing about, became one of us. So Christmas changed many things, but nothing more than our image of God.
The wise men were looking for something–something important. Maybe it was fame, favor with the new king, or finding a place of security and belonging. Whatever it was they were looking for; they found MORE! They stumbled into the greatest story the world has ever known. Seeing the Christ child gave them a purpose greater than any they had ever known. They came looking for a king. They found a new path on which to walk.
Life can change in a moment. In the blink of an eye, our worlds can be turned upside down and inside out. That was what happened to Mary and Joseph. An unexpected pregnancy upended their wonderful courtship and marriage. Now they would have to deal with the judgment of friends and family and a thousand questions. But what seemed like doom turned to awe and wonder. Everything changed when the angel let them know their discomfort would serve a greater purpose than they could imagine. And they wouldn't be ALONE. Christmas gives us a new perspective too. God's promise to them is His promise to us. He will work in all things and with us through all things. We, too, will never be alone.
It's so interesting how, out of all the people in the world, it was to Shepherds that the angels appeared. But it foreshadowed what Jesus declared was the whole reason He came: "To seek and save those who are lost." Today we will be reminded that the work that God wants to do is a work within us. He wants to change our hearts! Whether darkened and cold or simply lukewarm and indifferent, God desires to light a flame with us that will burn for eternity.
God meets us in our need. No matter how big. No matter how overwhelming. No matter how impossible. The disciples faced a crowd of thousands; all they had to feed them was a couple of fish and a few loaves of bread. But Jesus met them in their neediness, and He blessed what little they had until it became more than enough. God can do that for us as well. So let’s lift our "little" before a God who is more than enough. He will meet us where we are at our point of need.
God meets us in our grief. Jesus showed in John 11 that God doesn't always do what we want Him to do the way we want Him to. But He has come to us. He brings us comfort and hope. He grieves with us. And He promises us a resurrection. As we head into the holiday season, we remember that there are many of us for whom the holidays are difficult and sad. This message will remind us that God will meet us right where we are—in our grief.
God meets us in our doubts. Let’s be honest—we ALL have them sometimes! Maybe God hasn’t answered our prayers the way we thought He should. Or perhaps we've become disillusioned by how some of God’s people have treated us. Doubt becomes a foothold that the Enemy loves to widen. Jesus wasn't afraid of Thomas' doubts, and He’s not afraid of ours either. He wants to give us the assurance we need that He is there, and He is real.
God meets us in our sin. Paul reminds us in Romans 5:8 that "it was while we were yet sinners that Christ died for us." Jesus didn’t come to point out how bad we were. He came to show us how different we could be. The woman caught in adultery was guilty of sin. Jesus met her amid her guilt and made her brand new. Jesus will meet us in our sin too.
God meets us in our pain. Of all the names God wears, there is none so needed as our Jehovah-Raphe, the God who heals us! Jesus was met by a woman who had been suffering for twelve years. As she reached out to Him, her life was forever changed. No matter our need for healing, Jesus is still our Great Physician who meets us in our pain.
God meets us in our fears. Whether it's a storm of life that has caught us off-guard or something we're facing that seems too big or too scary to face, God is there. Our story from Mark reminds us that when the disciples were paralyzed by fear, Jesus was already there with them. He is already here with us as well.
No one lives forever. Therefore, all of us need to be grooming someone up to take our place. That's what Moses did with Joshua. Moses would take them TO the Promised Land, but Joshua would take them IN. We'll explore the art of passing on the baton of our faith and the dire consequences if we fail to do so.
While traversing across the desert, Moses made a critical mistake. He thought it was HIM leading the people instead of God. When the people got thirsty and needed something to drink, God gave Moses instructions on how he was supposed to do it. Instead, Moses reacted in anger and arrogance. That disobedience proved costly. God calls us to humility and dependence upon Him above all else. This message will examine why that's so important and why we slip away from living that way.
One of the best things that happened to Moses as a leader was when his father-in-law, Jethro, came to visit. Jethro gave Moses some advice that helped him change from being a leader of followers to a leader of leaders. This message will be a challenge for ALL of us to get better at inviting others into our journey and sharing the loads that we bear.
Things got rough when Moses went back to rally the leaders together to face the Pharaoh. Despite the miracles and proof of God's blessing, Pharoah wasn't letting go. In fact, he made things worse! Times like that can make us question ourselves, God, and what we thought we heard God say. We forget that troubles can be a stumbling block or a stepping stone. It all depends on how we deal with it.
No sooner does God give Moses this AMAZING assignment that will change history than Moses starts coming up with a thousand excuses as to why he couldn't do it! Isn't that like us? God opens doors, provides opportunities, or gives us the green light to impact the world, and we try to convince Him we can't! This message will look at the excuses we give and why none of them are sufficient in light of the God who will be with us each step of the way.
God called Moses to an unbelievable taskto set His People free! That task was bigger than Moses. It was bigger than ANYONE! But it wasn't bigger than God. When God calls us, it's not because of who we are. It's because of who He is. When God calls, He supplies. God will give us all we need to do what He calls us to do.
Moses ran from Egypt to start a new life. But he made the startling discovery that God was waiting on him! Moses may be able to run from crime, but he couldn't run from his calling. God will keep calling, keep chasing, and keep inviting us to take hold of His plan for our lives. When we stop running FROM God, we can start running WITH God!
Moses made the horrible mistake of playing God. He got angry and took the life of an Egyptian. That crime caused him to flee the country to save his life. We don't know how his sin impacted the work that God was going to do. It may have prolonged the timeline. It may have changed how God accomplished what He did. God would still accomplish His work. But now, He would have to do a little work with Moses before He could work with Pharoah.
When Moses was born, God was already at work. The Israelites were praying for help. They had no idea that God was already on His way to answer their prayers. God knows us even before we come into this world. He has a plan and a purpose for each of us. This message will look at the wonder of God's Sovereignty and the opportunity that God gives us to be a part of His work in this world.
Psalm 23 ends with a reminder of God's relentless love. He's not just the Shepherd that goes before us; He is the Shepherd who comes after us! He pursues when we go on trails we shouldn't be on. He chases us when we wander into dangerous places to nudge us back on the right path. Yet, his love and faithfulness for us are ENDLESS. He's a relentless God who never gives up on us!
Sheep don't try to battle their enemies. They let the Shepherd take care of that. They trust the Shepherd to surround, protect, and watch over them. When Jesus stood trial before Pilate, He didn't even need to answer him. He knew His destiny was not in the hands of any man. Neither is ours. This message will look at the power that comes from trusting God instead of feeling like we have to take on the world and all that is. There is great peace when we let go and let God!
Death. Disaster. Heartbreak. Those are the times when it seems like the light has gone out in our lives, and all seems dark and foreboding. Those are also the times when were the most likely to feel very alone. Interestingly enough, the psalmist reminds us that in those dark valleys of death, we don't have to be afraid because our God is NEAR! This message will look at the promise of God's presence in the dark valleys of life and how we can hold onto Him when it's too dark to find our way.
Shepherds lead. That's a basic part of the function of being a Shepherd. But, what happens when sheep run ahead on their own? What happens when they ignore the Shepherd's lead and run off on their own trails? Well, that's when the trouble begins! This message will look at how we can let the Shepherd take the lead and the benefits of following the Shepherd.
Our Shepherd is a God who renews us. He's a Creator who is so smart that He commanded that we regularly take breaks to enjoy the life He's given us. He also invites us to spend time in His presence so that He can recharge our spiritual batteries. He's not a Shepherd who wants His sheep to run at a frantic pace. Instead, he desires to restore our souls.
One of the names for God in scripture is Jehovah-Jireh, which means our Provider. And that He is! Jesus backs this idea in Matthew as He talks about how God cares for us as His Children. God does more than meet the bare necessities of our lives. He meets those deeper needs we have as well. God meets the needs of our soul and provides all we need to be WHOLE. He IS our Provider. He is all we need.
David begins with a very subtle but powerful thought, MY shepherd. In a culture that almost always approached God as a nation, David makes God personal. He was marveling at the fact that the God whose hand is upon US is upon ME! This message will look at how we allow a Powerful Lord to become a Personal Shepherd.
One of the hardest forms of tough love is the ability to draw good boundaries and not become enablers in people's lives. Sometimes what we think is the kind or helpful thing to do, is the thing that we shouldn't do! Some people need us to stop bailing them out or making life easy for them so that they can grow up, straighten out, or begin to take responsibility for their own lives. Jesus didn't chase people or try to fix people who didn't want to be fixed. We shouldn't either.
Tough love doesn't ignore the truth. In fact, tough love speaks up. Sometimes the people we love need to be confronted. Sometimes the people we love need someone to hold a mirror up to them for them to see themselves. While a lot of us are pretty good at criticizing others, the art of speaking the truth in love evades many of us. This message will look at the balance between boldness and gentleness. It's a tough love that is also tender!
How do you love your spouse for a lifetime? In a culture where one in two marriages end in divorce, some would say that it's not possible. But "agape" love is an eternal love. It's the love God wants us to have in our homes. This message will look at the ingredients to having a long, lasting love. Not an "every day is our honeymoon" love, but a love that can navigate the difficult waters of a lifetime together.
Have you ever had people in your life that you didn't want to love? Most of us have. They're obnoxious. They're mean. They're mouthy. They're selfish. Some people seem to go out of their way to drive people away, and many leave them alone. But Jesus calls us to love the unlovable. He calls us to love the evil, the difficult, and the repulsive just as He did. Just as His love looked past OUR faults, He calls us to look past the faults of others. That's a tough love!
Memorial Day weekend is when we honor those who gave their lives for service to our country. We honor them because there is something special about sacrificial love. Many of us are called to that kind of love in a different way. It’s loving a special needs child. It’s loving an aging parent. It’s loving a spouse with a lengthy illness or disability. This message will focus on the perspective and grit necessary for a love that calls for a “laid down life.” It’s a tough love. It’s a Jesus’ love.
Do you know who we struggle the most to love? Ourselves! We know all of our flaws and all of our secrets. Many of us can love everyone but the person we see in the mirror. If we're going to love others the way God wants us to, we have to love ourselves the way God desires!
Keith Thomas joins us as Pastor Steve is out sick this Sunday. We'll share about the message that changed the world and the four ALL statements that comes with it.
The story of Hosea is not only a story of God's love for us; it is a story of God's ability to heal a home. God restores a marriage. He restores a mother to her children. God reunites a home that had been shattered apart. We need those kinds of miracles today! This message will look at how God can heal and restore our homes if we're willing to give him all of the broken pieces. We're praying for miracles in our homes!
The story of Hosea is not only a story of God's love for us; it is a story of God's ability to heal a home. God restores a marriage. He restores a mother to her children. God reunites a home that had been shattered apart. We need those kinds of miracles today! This message will look at how God can heal and restore our homes if we're willing to give him all of the broken pieces. We're praying for miracles in our homes!
Peter was finished. Just as Jesus predicted, when Peter was confronted about being a disciple of Jesus, he denied he even knew Him. Thankfully, that wasn't the end of Peter's story. On the day of Pentecost, Peter boldly preached, and 3000 people were saved. Peter's miracle comeback reminds us that no matter who we are or how badly we've failed, God still has a plan for our lives! We, too, can be a Comeback Miracle!!
The greatest miracle EVER is the miracle of Christ's resurrection! That miracle changed EVERYTHING for EVERYONE! Christ didn't just raise from the dead to prove what He could do. He rose from the dead to LIVE ON in us! Through Him, our homes can be different. Our lives can be different, and WE can be different! Christ is the Living Miracle that makes all things possible in our lives today.
Sometimes we have to take the first step for God's miracle to happen. That's what happened with Joshua and his people. Unlike the Red Sea where the water parted and the people crossed, God required the Priests to put their feet in the water FIRST. Then the waters backed up. This message will challenge us to consider what steps of faith God might be waiting for us to take before He gives us the miracle we're looking for. Our miracle might be just one step away!
Paul's conversion is one of the most amazing stories in Scripture. He goes from a persecutor of Christianity to a promoter of Christianity. Paul's conversion gives hope to all of us who have individuals in our lives that have hard hearts and are a long way from God. There are some that we know will take a miracle to reach. Paul reminds us that God performs those kinds of miracles!
For many people, it's not what is in front of them that's causing them to struggle. It's what's behind them. They're stuck in their past failures. They're running from their past wounds. They're living in the past glory of their successes. The problem is that ALL of these things keep them from claiming the future that God has for them. This message will look at how we let go of our past and take hold of the wonderful moment God has given us called TODAY. No matter what lies behind us, we can WIN over our past!
Everyone is tempted even Jesus. But not everyone wins over temptation. This message will look at what we need to do to keep ourselves strong and secure. The Enemy will seek to find our places of vulnerability and exploit them, but greater is the one who is in us than the one who is in the world! We can WIN over temptation!
Is there anything more debilitating than worry? It steals the joy out of today by causing us to focus on tomorrow. Worry magnifies our fear. It diminishes our faith. Worry causes physical, emotional, mental, relational, and spiritual problems, but Paul reminds us that we can WIN over worry! This message will look at claiming the promises of God and the practices that help us let go of the worry, take hold of Gods hope and peace, and win the battle over worry!
Guilt is a weight that weighs many people down. For some, its a guilt that God's Spirit has given them to draw them home. For others, it's guilt the Enemy puts upon them to make them feel useless and ashamed. In this message, we'll look at how to address both forms of guilt, how to walk in the freedom that Christ has promised us, and how we can win over guilt!
In John 14, Jesus said that we were destined for GREATNESS! If God's Spirit lives in us, we need to reach higher and dream bigger than the rest of the world. This message will challenge us to not settle for mediocre lives, mediocre marriages, or mediocre dreams. In all that we do, whether at home, work, church, or school, we need to show the world the excellence of Christ and win over living in mediocrity!
Our problem is not our problem. Our problem is how we think and respond to our problems! When we focus on the obstacles, it’s easy to become overwhelmed and discouraged, but when we keep ourselves focused on the power of God and the possibilities, we stay encouraged! This message will be about developing a healthy way to face and deal with the troubles that come our way and winning the battle over discouragement!
God is the secret to all healthy, loving relationships. God IS love. God models love. If God is not in our relationships, then it is not truly a relationship of love! Without God, we love others to receive, not give. Without God, we love others to control, not set free. Without God, we let the world define love for us, and the world doesn't know what True Love is! This message will look at what it means to love IN God, THROUGH God, and LIKE God. God IS love!
Peace is not the absence of chaos. It's a still heart in the midst of a storm. That's something that only God can give! This message will look at how we try to bring peace to our lives but how futile those attempts are. Peace has nothing to do with what's going on around us. It has to do with what's going on WITHIN US! Jesus promises a kind of peace that has nothing to do with vacation sites, getaways, or quiet places. His peace is a GIFT to the innermost part of our souls. And we can have it anywhere and anytime.
Every single person wants their life to matter. We all want to know that were living for something more than just a paycheck and a 401(K). We want our lives to have meaning, purpose, and make a difference. And God is the one who gives that to us! Throughout history, God has taken ordinary people and led them to lead extraordinary lives. Shepherds became kings. Fugitives became national heroes. Fishermen became Apostles. God wants to give YOUR life purpose and meaning too! This message will focus on yielding ourselves to a God who wants to do more in us than we ever imagined.
One of the greatest rock songs of all time was I can't get no satisfaction! That statement is the cry of anyone who has tried to fill their lives with everything but God! Psalm 37:4 reminds us that God is the source of all of the desires of our heart. HE is who our hearts are pursuing. Life may offer many different kinds of stimulation, but only God can give our hearts satisfaction!
We live in a culture that tends to reject absolutes. As a result, many people think that what might be true for you may not be true for them. Is there anything by which we can measure life? Yes. God. God IS truth. He created life to be lived a certain way, and, in the end, He will be the ultimate judge of how we did. This message will be to call us back to hold our lives up against the truth of God to see where we stand.
Do you believe in God? Many people do not. This message will explore how we know that God is real and how God has sought to show Himself to us. In multiple ways, God has not only demonstrated that He is there, but also that He is RIGHT HERE! He is not only a real God; He is a God who loves us and desires a relationship with us!
God shared His Son with the world. But His intent was that people would not only receive that gift but would themselves become givers! Not just shareholders in the Kingdom, but SHARERS of the Kingdom. The Shepherds shared their story. The Wise Men shared their treasures. The disciples shared their lives. What will YOU share? This message will challenge us to put the heart of Christmas into action all year long by sharing this great gift that God has given us!
To a world filled with darkness, Christ came to be the light. He came to show us the truth about ourselves and the truth about the world around us. He came to brighten our lives with hope and joy. He came to be The One who could light the way before us. As we enter into 2022, we need a Light who can show us how to believe, show us the path to take, and show us how to live. Jesus came to be that Light!
Angels, Wise Men following a Star, a virgin giving birth– the story of Christmas is FULL of miracles! This message will remind us that at the heart of Christmas is a God who can do wondrous things in our lives. What is it that we need? Where do we need God to work? What Christmas Miracle do we need to have God perform? This message will challenge us to have faith to believe that THIS Christmas can be like the First Christmas…one that’s that filled with MIRACLES!
Christ wasn’t born to leave us as we were. He came to TRANSFORM us! He came to make dead people alive, sinful people righteous, and self-centered people selfless. He came to offer us a heart transplant. He would put His Heart in us so that we might truly LIVE!
Love is the why of Christmas. Why did Christ come? Because of love! We had run from God, but God, out of His great love for us, came to bring us back. It is a love that can change our outlook, change our relationships, and change our destiny if we open our hearts to it! If Christmas is about anything, it's about LOVE!
Hope—is there anything more needed in our world right now? After two years of dealing with the losses of loved ones, losses of jobs, and constant bleak outlooks at every turn, we need God to shine some rays of hope upon us. This message will look at the hope that Christ brought to our world and how that hope can be an anchor of our souls today.
The Devil is at his best when he can make people believe they're serving God when they're really serving him! This is exactly how the Enemy had Jesus killed. People who thought they were right were very, very wrong. And our Jesus hung on a cross because of it. This message will explore how Satan works even in our good intentions and what we can do to expose him for who he is.
The Devil is sneaky. Sometimes he pulls us away from God without us even knowing it. His temptations can be very subtle. At times in our journey, he's not trying to knock us out. Instead, he's trying to lull us to sleep! This message will look at some of those sneaky ways that the Enemy uses and what we need to do to be on guard against them.
One of the best maneuvers in a fight is a counterpunch. The same is true when we’re fighting the Devil! What do you do when he hits you with a temptation? What do you do when he’s whispering a lie in your ear, and you’re struggling not to believe it? What do you do when you feel like you’re on the ropes and losing the battle? You HIT BACK! This message will give us some tools to hit back against the Enemy when he’s swinging at us. We will discover that not only are we more powerful than we know, but we also have more resources than we realized.
The Devil is a deceiver! As the psychological warfare of old, he uses lies and propaganda to deceive us. He tells us lies about God, lies about others, and even lies about ourselves to try to steal our joy, crush our self-esteem, and cause us to feel valueless and inadequate. The Enemy wants to convince us we’re defeated when, in fact, he knows how close to victory we are! If we’re going to overcome him, we must understand how his propaganda works and how to disarm its effects on us.
The Devil, like most predators, seeks to attack the weak. He is most present in our most vulnerable moments. This message will look at how to prepare and protect ourselves against him. Well explore how to keep our eyes open and our guard up to not give the Enemy any advantage. Our greatest defense against the Enemy is an alert mind and a vibrant walk with God!
As long the Devil can get us to believe that he's just a scary guy in a red outfit, we won't look at him as a real threat, but Jesus tells us he's much more than that he's a KILLER! His endgame is our demise. This message will look at the kind of destruction the Enemy is up to and why we need to understand his work and his ways.
It's too late. Ever thought that? Many have. Even some of the greatest names in the Bible. People like Abraham. Abraham and Sarah were old really old. When it was IMPOSSIBLE for them to have children, God came to them and promised they would have one. And God always keeps His promises! This message will be about increasing our faith in what God wants to do in our lives.
This question of Jesus is a powerful one. It should cause us all to reflect deeply and carefully. The man in the story never thought that his success was stealing his soul, but it was. Many of us have that going on as well. This message will look at the many things in our lives that can become soul stealers and help us learn how to guard our hearts and souls against being stolen from us a little bit each day.
Do you ever wonder if God has forgotten you? Many of us sometimes do. The question the people of Israel asked is one to which most of us can relate. If God was really with them, why were they dealing with these struggles? This message will look at why we lose sight of God and what we can do to reclaim the faith we need to stay faithful through the difficult times.
God is at work in our world. But too often, we forget that WE are the ones God works through! God is looking for those who will be agents of His Grace and Power in those places where God places them. Will YOU be one of those? This message will look at Isaiah's incredible encounter with God and his response to God's call as a challenge to us all.
There is probably more concern over our children now than at any other time in history. In a world that seems intent on pulling our children away from God, how do we protect them? How do we help them stay safe in such a dangerous place? What can we do to give them tools to hold onto their faith as they leave home and go out on their own? These are the questions well seek to answer in this message!
This may be the most important question asked in the Bible. What do WE do with Jesus? Is He just a man? Is He just a great teacher? Or is He who He claimed to be, God in the flesh? How we answer that question determines how we live our lives and where we spend eternity. Let’s get this question RIGHT!
Cain asks a great question that we all need to answer. He believed he wasn't responsible for his brother. But God had other thoughts about that! God has created us to live in a community, and a part of that is realizing that we have an obligation to each other. We aren't responsible for each other's actions, but we are responsible for looking out for each other, care for each other, and warn each other. This message will look at how that should play out in a healthy way in our relationships and how we can be the community God has called us to be.
What a great question! Where are YOU? Adam was hiding from God. Sometimes we are too! This question probes into making us look at where we are on our journey of faith. Are we still on the outside looking inside? Have we taken a step or two but gone no further? This message will challenge each of us to look at ourselves and answer before God where we are on our walk with Him.
Doctors know that optimistic people live longer and happier. Worry, fear, anxiety, and negativity all take their toll on our health and our outlook towards life. Praise is the secret of having a happy, holy heart. Praise keeps us focused on faith and not fear. Praise keeps our minds fixed on who God is and what He can do. Praise is what helps us live the VICTORIOUS Christian life! This message focuses on the power of praise and how we can keep the Song of God alive in our hearts every day!
One of the best preventative steps in maintaining a healthy heart is getting a regular check-up. Allowing the doctor to prod and probe can uncover unhealthy symptoms we may not have noticed. So too with God! When we sit with God and invite Him to probe even into those more sensitive parts of our lives, we are giving the Great Physician a chance to uncover dangerous symptoms that may have escaped our notice. This habit will look at how to let God into the innermost parts of our being.
All of us have habits that are harder than others. Some people exercise regularly, but they don’t eat right. Others eat right but don’t get enough sleep. One spiritual habit that is hard for most people is the habit of forgiveness. Forgiveness is allowing the grace of God to flow through us. It is the expelling of the hurts that have happened to us, much like exhaling is releasing the carbon dioxide from our lungs. Keep it in too long, and it begins to kill us! This habit will remind us to “breathe” forgiveness out that we might breathe in more of God’s Grace.
The best time to confess our sins is when they are few and small. It is holding on to unconfessed sin that causes us to begin to avoid God and hide from His presence. As sin remains unconfessed, it grows and takes deeper root in our hearts and lives. This habit will remind us that sin is not to be trifled with, and confession is the habit that gets the poison out of our hearts and allows God’s healing grace to flow into us.
Andrew Murray says that “humility is the root of all virtue and pride is the root of all sin.” I think he’s right. A healthy heart before God begins with knowing just how much we need God to live the kind of life He requires. Daily humbling ourselves before Him and acknowledging our deep need for His abiding presence is perhaps the first and most important of the healthy habits of the heart!
Pastor Salvador Hernandez from Centro Cristiano shares a message titled, "Key Practices for a Blessed Life." We look at 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 to see what these keys are!
Martha was a dutiful follower of Jesus. When Jesus came to her house, she was so busy DOING stuff for Jesus that she missed the most important thing–to just be with Jesus! This message will challenge us to make sure that while doing the good things of God, we don't miss the BEST thing of God–taking time to be WITH Him!
Martha was a dutiful follower of Jesus. When Jesus came to her house, she was so busy DOING stuff for Jesus that she missed the most important thing–to just be with Jesus! This message will challenge us to make sure that while doing the good things of God, we don't miss the BEST thing of God–taking time to be WITH Him!
You can't drive forward staring into the rearview mirror! Yet, many of us are shackled to our past. This message will look at how we can let go of some of the things behind us to grab hold of those things God has for us now. Past sorrows, as well as past successes, can become shackles we never leave. God wants to do a NEW THING in our lives, but he can't do it if we're not willing to let go of the Old Thing!
When Jesus healed the blind man, the guy had no idea who he was. All he knew was that Jesus changed his life. When grilled by the religious leaders, he couldn’t debate theology. All he could give them was his personal testimony of what Jesus did in his life, and THAT is the One Thing we all need! This message will be about the One Thing, the One Person we all must know–Jesus.
A part of the Army Rangers’ creed is “I will never leave a fallen comrade to fall into the hands of the enemy.” That should be our creed too! Finding freedom is never enough. We must reach out to those who are still in captivity and help them find freedom as well. This message will look at how and why we do that and why programs like Celebrate Recovery are so important to that end.
Freedom isn’t just an experience. It’s a LIFESTYLE! This message will look at what that kind of life takes. Many people taste freedom, but then go back to bondage. We’ll look at how to arm ourselves for the long haul so that we can do more than just get up from our chains; we’ll GET OUT! We don’t want freedom for a moment. We want freedom for LIFE!
When the angel told Peter to stand up, Peter had a choice. He could lay there in his sorrow and his shame, or he could do as the angel said and stand to his feet. It was when he stood that the chains fell off! Sometimes God calls us to STAND UP too! This message looks at what it means to do our part and cooperate with God in breaking the chains and being set free!
Sometimes the chains we wear seem HUGE. They are heavy. They are strong. It feels as though there is no way to break them. But we’ll discover, as Peter did, that God is bigger than any problem, stronger than any chain, and greater than any prison that holds us! Our problems may be BIG, but our God is BIGGER!
This message focuses on the power of community. We’ll look at why God created us to do life together and the synergy that comes when we surround ourselves with the right people. We may be bound, but we never have to be ALONE! When Peter was imprisoned, his church began to pray. Who you are walking with often determines how far and how free you walk!
We weren’t created to be alone! That truth is especially true when facing our fears and trying to break free from our chains. This message looks at why isolation is so detrimental to finding our way to freedom. We’ll explore why it happens and why we sometimes get stuck there. Though it feels brave to face life alone, it’s not. It’s a recipe for failure. Independence is not freedom. It’s a self-made shackle!
The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. The same is true on our journey to freedom. Finding freedom is a process, but it starts with a few crucial steps. This message looks at what those first steps are and why they are so important. We’ll look at the right actions, the right mindset, and the right attitude before God. All else depends on these!
From the very beginning, God created us for freedom! The chains we wear are not chains given to us by God. They are chains we fasten upon ourselves or the chains shackled on us by the world. They not only rob us of the Abundant Life that God wants us to have, but they also rob us of our Identity in Christ. This message will look at how we can reclaim that freedom and discover that “recovery” is not just “recovery from” but “recovery OF”!
God can do more than the difficult. He is God of the Impossible! On this day that we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, we look at how he can do the same in our lives as well! Jairus’ daughter wasn’t just ill. She was dead. She was, so the crowd thought, beyond hope. The hope Christ brings is more than a wonderful hope or even a great hope. It is a Miraculous Hope! On this Easter Sunday, we’ll share God’s ability to do the miraculous in our lives. We’ll ask God to meet us at our impossible need with the same Miraculous Hope that He gave to Jairus!
Zacchaeus had it all—money, power, and possessions. For all he had, he was empty. He knew there was something more. Then, one day, he found it. Jesus was the “more” that Zacchaeus was seeking! Jesus gave him peace. Jesus helped him find forgiveness, healing, and wholeness. Jesus gave Zacchaeus the hope that had been eluding him–the hope of contentment, the hope of satisfaction, the hope that his life could have meaning, purpose, and destiny. If you’re not happy with the course your life is on, this message is for YOU. Jesus is the Life-Changing Hope that you need!
The possessed man reminds me of so many people I know bound by addictions. They are alone. They are tortured. They are possessed by demons they can’t seem to shake. They are out of their minds, but Jesus is stronger than any demon. He is stronger than any chain that shackles you. Even though you may feel that you are condemned to a life imprisoned by the things that bind you, you are not. Jesus comes to give us Chain-breaking Hope! He freed the man from his demons. He can free you from yours!
This week, we continue our series "Names of God" by talking about the name, El Shaddai.
Have you ever feel like an outcast? The leper in our story did. The community ostracized him. He was separated, perhaps even abandoned by his family. Yes, his body needed healing, but his heart needed healing just as badly! For all of you who are looking for a God who can restore your broken relationships and mend your broken heart, this leper is your Face of Hope! That same Jesus has Restoring Hope for all of us as well!
This week is the fourth lesson in our series "Name of God." We are going to finish the discussion we began last week of God as our Father.
There’s no such thing as “too far gone.” No one is beyond hope. Two thieves died beside Jesus. One decided to die in his sin. With some of his last breaths of life, the other cried out to Jesus for mercy, and He found it. Our God has a grace that is big enough to redeem ANYONE from ANYTHING, no matter how long they’ve been there. God has Redeeming Hope for YOU!
This week in our series "Names of God," we talk about the name Father. God is our Father.
Have you ever felt desperate? The woman in our story was. She tried everything. She spent all she had. She was out of options. She only had one last hope: Jesus! In Jesus, she found the desperate hope she needed, and so can we! This message will remind us that Jesus is the answer when there are no answers. HE is our Desperate Hope!
This passage reminds us to “walk in obedience to Him.” God has a path for us. He makes that path clear in His Word. But often, like little children, we will wander off that path. Sometimes we’re not trying to be disobedient; we just get distracted. But if we don’t get back to His path quickly, we find ourselves lost or get ourselves hurt. This message will look at why God has an appointed path and what we need to do to stay on it!
Paul tells us to “walk in the way of love.” If you’ve ever been to a crowded city, you know what it’s like to get knocked around on the sidewalk. Many people are fixed on their destination, and they don’t care whom they knock over! Paul reminds us that it should not be that way with us. God calls us to walk in love, and that’s true no matter WHO we run into on the journey!
The first temptation was to “be like God.” Many of us have been trying to be God ever since! This message will look at what it means to walk “humbly” with God, how to let Him lead, how to let Him choose, and how to acknowledge that we don’t know the path nearly as well as He does. When pride takes over, we fall. To walk humbly means being wise enough to hold onto our Father’s hand.
Walking can be frightening sometimes. We walk in dark places. We walk in unfamiliar neighborhoods. We walk at times when there is danger all around us. Those are the times when we remember that we don’t walk by ourselves. God walks with us! He will guide us. He will protect us. He will see us through. Even in the darkest, deepest valleys, we don’t have to be afraid.
Today, Pastor Steve resumes his Live Devotional, Straight from the Heart! What are you looking to be different in 2021?
God is clear in His Word that we shouldn’t walk alone. However, we have to be careful with who we choose to share the path with. Sometimes we find ourselves with those who would lead us astray. Other times we find ourselves with those whose influence is causing us to become someone other than who we want to be. Walking with the RIGHT people takes you further and faster than you ever could by yourself. Walking with the WRONG people could lead you to a dead-end!
Jesus Himself is the path for our walk with God. Whenever He called His Disciples, He told them to “follow” Him. That’s our task too. This message will look at how we are to keep our eyes on Jesus and not on other people or other things. Jesus is our model. Like children following their father in the snow, we are to walk “in His steps.”
The Psalmist gives us a powerful challenge: to walk as we should in our own home! Our home may be the place where we “let our hair down,” but it shouldn’t be the place where we let our walk with God down. We are to show the character of Christ to our families FIRST. This message will look at how the home is where God wants our walk with Him to start and be the strongest. Our homes are God’s greatest gift to us. Therefore, they should be the place where we pay the closest attention.
Pastor Steve shares about Shartel's partnership with RightNow Media to bring devotionals, Bible studies, Kids' videos, and more to your house!
“For we walk by faith, not by sight.” Learning to trust God on our journey is a KEY part of our walk with Him! Hebrews says, “Without faith, it’s impossible to please God.” This message will explore why faith is so critical to our journey and what it means to put confidence in the One who is leading us. If this new year is ANYTHING like the last one, we will have to WALK BY FAITH!
The story of the Wise Men reminds us of God’s desire to guide our lives. Jesus came as the “light of the world” to illuminate the way before us. But even before Jesus came, God was guiding. He led Abraham to Canaan. He led the Israelites to the Promised Land. He led Joshua into battle. He led David to the throne. And God will lead US into this new year, despite all the confusion around us, if we will look to Him. “The people walking in darkness” will STILL be shown a great light! All we have to do is follow!
The message of Jesus’ ministry was clear: He came for SINNERS! The fact that the angels came to a group of roughnecked shepherds made that point from the very beginning. But if you look back across history, even in Jesus’ lineage, you will find God’s hand of grace had been at work from the Garden! God is a Redeemer. He has ALWAYS been a Redeemer. Jesus was simply the final piece in God’s redemptive plan. No matter who we are or how “shepherd-like” our lives have been, God’s redemptive grace is still open to us today!
From the beginning of His Covenant with us at Abraham, God made one thing very clear: He wanted to BLESS us! Before Jesus showed us how loving God is, we often thought of Him as a God who was out to get us. But He wasn’t! He was a God who wanted to lavish His love and pour out His blessings on His Children. He is FOR us! When the angel came to Mary to tell her what was about to happen, he told her, “you are highly favored.” That greeting of blessing is for us ALL! We are ALL the “highly favored” children of God!
Jesus was the direct voice of God. Even before Jesus came, God was speaking. He spoke through the prophets. He spoke through the scriptures. He spoke through the angels. When Joseph got startled by finding out his fiancée Mary was pregnant, God spoke to him to assure him that this crisis he was in was all under control. God is speaking those messages of assurance to us still today!
Jesus said that as we grow in our faith, we have to be careful about sneaky weeds that can choke us out. They are weeds that distract us. They are weeds that steal our focus, our energy, and our focus. They often look like pretty flowers. But they're not. They are the things that take us away from being fruitful for God and the purposes for which He made us. This message will explore what those "weeds" are and how we can avoid them.
Are you prepared for the pain that comes with the promise? Getting the seed of Christ planted in your heart is an incredibly joyful experience. But no sooner do you decide to follow Christ than the problems come. Obstacles. Setbacks. Struggles. Hardships. They are all a part of growing in Christ on this fallen planet. This message looks at how to prepare yourself for the trials and develop the endurance to keep growing, no matter what!
Jesus said that the Enemy wants to steal the seed that God is planting. Do we know how he does that? This message will look at the Enemy works. We'll look at the excuses he gives us, the lies he tells us, and the temptations he places before us. Spiritual warfare is real, and if we're going to be successful, we need to know our Enemy!
"The farmer went out to sow some seeds…" That's what God does EVERY DAY! He is sowing seeds of wisdom. He is sowing seeds of conviction. He is sowing seeds of hope. He is sowing seeds of warning. The only question is, "Are we aware of them?" This looks at how to prepare our hearts and minds for the seeds that God is scattering.
In one of his most powerful discourses, Paul talks about what it means to be “content.” It seems that so much of our happiness is dependent on what we think we have to have. Paul reminds us that happiness is an INSIDE job. Contentment can be ours, whether we have a lot or a little. It’s not what you hold in your hand. It’s what you hold in your heart!
The key to Paul’s success through his trials was how he THOUGHT. In this passage, Paul gives us some great tips on the power of focusing our minds. What gets your attention gets your emotions, and what gets your emotions takes control of your behavior! If you want to change your life, it all begins by letting God transform the way you THINK. Stinking thinking leads to a smelly life!
One of the things that hardship should do is give you a better perspective. So much of what we make a big deal about isn’t really a big deal at all. This is especially true in our relationships. Paul says we should take on that same attitude that Christ had and think of ourselves as servants and helpers instead of rulers. This message looks at how to stop putting our “rights” ahead of our relationships and live more selfless and mature lives.
Going through difficulty makes people long for the “good old days.” The problem is, they really weren’t all that great! In fact, the “good old days” were once called “these trying times!” Paul reminds us to let go of the past because it’s not coming back. Fixing our eyes on where God is taking us keeps us reaching for the future and finding the “new things” God has ahead!
Many people would look at prison and see it as a dark cloud. Paul saw the silver lining in that cloud, and it turned out to be a gold mine! Instead of cursing his luck at not being able to preach in the streets, Paul seized the opportunity to preach in prison! This message will look at how we can find opportunities in the face of overwhelming obstacles. Focusing on what you CAN do, instead of what you can’t, opens doors you didn’t even know were there.
Paul begins his letter by sharing how important the Philippians were to him. Knowing that they were there for him helped his heart to be at ease. He may be facing a tough situation, but he knew he wasn’t alone. That makes a world of difference! This message will look at how to keep relationships strong in the midst of social distancing and fears of a viral outbreak.
There are many statements that Jesus makes that seem counterintuitive. This statement is one of them. Generosity brings back blessings. The truth is that people who are generous and giving are also those who feel the most “blessed” and the most content. We think by clinging to what we have, we’ll keep it. Jesus says by learning to give; we MULTIPLY it! Today we’ll focus on the joy that comes when we develop a generous heart.
This great story reminds us of Jesus’ ability to make us WHOLE. Four friends bring a buddy who is paralyzed to be healed by Jesus, and he is! Jesus does more than healing the man’s legs. He heals his SOUL! Jesus is the one who can forgive our sins as well as heal our diseases. This sermon will invite people to experience the wholeness of healing that Jesus offers them: Body, mind, and spirit!
In a world that treats people as disposable, God considers us to be precious and priceless. Jesus reminds us that God is so caring that not a single bird falls to the ground without His notice. But WE are much more valuable to God than birds! This message will remind our audience of their intrinsic worth that God has given them. We’ll also remind them that God sees them too…no matter what they are going through. Father's Love Letter is played with permission from fathersloveletter.com
We are powerless on our own. We don’t have the wisdom or the strength to do God’s work without God’s help. Jesus reminds us in this passage that we are to “abide” in Him. That means we are to stay close, stay connected, and stay tapped into God’s Spirit. This message will look at how we do that and the symptoms of living out an “unrooted faith.”
What a great challenge! In our passage for today, He reminds us that He’s not just pouring Himself INTO us, but He wants to pour Himself out THROUGH us! We are His “salt” to this world. We are His “light.” Every day, we get to diffuse the life and love of Jesus to everyone we come into contact with. This message will focus on what that looks like and how we can keep from just keeping all of Jesus to ourselves.
The world’s most recognized verse is one of the most sacred. It’s is Jesus’ declaration of why He came: Because God loves us so very much! This message will focus on the fact that God is not mad at us but is compassionate towards us and wants to lavish His Love on all who will believe. Through the years, lots of great love letters have been written, but none more life-changing than this one.
This week, we'll continue exploring the powerful Presence of God! He is our Immanuel, who promises to be with us no matter what we face. He is the difference-maker. He is the steadying hand upon our shoulder. He is our source of strength. No matter what you are facing in your life, God promises to be there with you every step of the way. Let His Presence lift your head and give you what you need to face your life challenges!
One of the great themes and promises of scripture is God's powerful Presence. He has no desire to be a distant deity. He wants to be WITH US. It is His Presence that gives us courage. It is His Presence that gives us peace. It is His Presence that gives us hope in the darkest of times. This week, we'll look at how we tap into that Presence and invite God to walk with us each day!
This message compares Deuteronomy 20:4 and 1 John 4:4 and how God gives us Victory. We are to claim God's victory instead of fighting for our own victory. He has already won the battle for us.
Is the way you live clearing a path for unbelievers to encounter Jesus, or are you becoming a stone in their path? Is the way we are living causing others to stumble? Does our right to do what we think is okay blind us from the negative effects of not living above reproach? This message will seek to help people care more about their pursuit of Jesus than doing what they feel they have the right to do. It is choosing to have self-control where others do not. It’s saying no when the people around you cannot. Ultimately, this is yet another way we love our neighbors. Love them enough to live, not as a stumbling block, but as someone walking ahead of them clearing a path to their Savior.
Deeper, that’s where Jesus always wants to take us: to places within ourselves that we haven’t yet gone; to places of His calling that we haven’t yet followed. Many of us spend our lives in a place of shallow faith. We want just enough Jesus to make us feel safe. But Jesus wants to take us to the “deep waters” where we must cling to Him for survival! Peter teaches us a “must learn” lesson for every believer.
Peter thought he was being noble by asking Jesus if forgiving someone seven times was enough. Seven was a lot. Seven was the perfect number, so it had a bit of a “magic” sound to it. But Jesus challenged Peter to think bigger. “How about 490?” Peter wanted to be good with grace. Jesus wanted Peter to become GREAT with grace! How will YOU do with Jesus' challenge?
Can YOU stay put when all others walk away? Can YOU still believe, even when people who matter to you say that they don’t? This was Peter’s challenge in our scripture for this week. Jesus said some hard things that made many of His disciples walk away. Peter, the rock, stood firm. His commitment to Christ over others is a model for us all.
Peter was a strong man. But he wasn’t nearly as strong as he thought he was! This message will look at what happens when we overestimate ourselves and put too much trust in OUR strength rather than depending on Jesus. Peter learned the hard way that pride goes before the fall. And sometimes that fall REALLY hurts! This message takes a hard look at how all of us are prone to this temptation. We’ll discover that it’s only when we learn to acknowledge our weakness that God can make us strong!
Is God calling you out of your comfort zone? When Peter saw Jesus walking on the water, he wanted to know if HE could walk on water, too. So Jesus told Peter to join Him. Peter learned what faith really is…and how we lose it! This message will challenge all of us to step out of our boats, and to keep our eyes on Jesus!
Jesus asked Peter a question that ultimately we ALL have to answer: “Who do YOU say that I am?” It doesn’t matter what the crowd thinks, what the pastor thinks, or what your parents think. Eventually, we will all stand before God and it will be the only important question because THAT questions will decide eternity. Peter’s answer is a great answer for us all to have!
Many times, we are victims of the systems we have set up with others. We tolerate behavior we need to confront. We let things go until it’s “just the way it is.” This message will look at how to set up relational systems that lead to healthy relationships. We’ll also look at how to confront systems and behaviors that are unacceptable and need to change. If we get the first steps right, the others come a lot more easily!
How do you respond to someone when they have failed you, disappointed you, or not lived up to what they promised you? When people fail, they are often filled with shame. We hold the power in those moments to crush them or to redeem them. Forgiveness often bonds another person’s heart to us and makes them feel indebted and valued. This message will focus on how to redeem those moments—not ignoring or minimizing the failure, but seizing it and seeking to use it to teach, heal, and restore. It’s the art of dealing with others just like God deals with us.
Defining moments in relationships often happen when there is a lot of emotion involved. When someone is in a crisis. When someone experiences a loss. When someone experiences great success. When someone has been hurt, criticized, or betrayed. How we respond to them in those moments will create bonding or barriers. This message looks at how to do effective emotional responding and give to others what they need at that moment when they need it.
Trust is a bridge we build or destroy one incident at a time. Often we don't even realize the little things that we're doing that are causing others to lose trust in us. This message we will discover how to be "Trust Builders" instead of "Trust Busters." Come discover how to strengthen the trust bridges in YOUR relationships!
Anger is like a fire. How you respond to someone who is angry will either help that fire go out, or it will cause it to get hotter and spread. This message will focus on how to keep our cool when someone’s angry and how to respond to them in a way that helps put that fire of anger out!
Jesus makes it clear that we are to apologize for hurts we caused. Some of us are not really good at that. Instead of making someone we hurt feel better, we make them feel worse! This message will look at making the most of our apologies to draw others close and not push them further away.
We are going through trying times right now. 25 years ago today was another trying time. In this message, we remember what happened with the Murrah Bombing and how we can hold onto the Ledges of Light that give us hope.
Today is Palm Sunday! We are looking at how Jesus is King and was welcomed as a king when he entered Jerusalem. In this message, we look at how Jesus is King, but he didn't come as a normal king would. Jesus came as A Different Kind of King.
One of the canyons we can slip into is the canyon of worry. Worry is spending time, energy, and emotion fretting over circumstances that we can’t control. We let concerns about tomorrow rob us of today as well. David and Paul both challenge us to learn to trust God with our circumstances. This message will help us to discover the power that comes when we do as Paul suggests and “pray about everything and worry about nothing!”
God gave us the ability to grieve as a way of dealing with the losses we experience in life. Grief is good. Grief is healthy. Sometimes we don’t move through our grief. We simply become stuck in our sadness. That’s when we need to be reminded that our God didn’t stay in the grave. He arose! We’ll discover how God can help us in our times of loss to make sure that our grief doesn’t consume us.
When David was confronted by the prophet Nathan about his adultery with Bathsheba, God broke his heart. God used the shame to wake David up, turn him around, and make him into the man of God that he had been and wanted to be. The enemy will try to use our shame against us. He will try to make our sin unforgivable and our lives unredeemable. This message will look at the difference between shame that leads to transformation and shame that leads to hopelessness.
Depression is a darkness that many people struggle with. It’s like quicksand that can drag us down a little bit at a time. It saps our energy. It steals our hope. It’s a cave that the enemy seeks to push us farther and farther into until we can no longer see the light. Some depression is chemical and requires medication, but most depression is our minds dwelling on darkness rather than light. This message will look at how to hold onto hope when those dark nights of depression set in.
Is there any worse feeling than feeling alone? David cries out to the Lord in this Psalm and says, “I am alone and in deep distress.” Sometimes we feel like no one cares. Sometimes we feel like no one even notices. Loneliness is also a tool the enemy uses to make us feel hopeless and defeated. This message will remind us that we have a friend who sticks closer than a brother!
Fear magnifies our pain and steals away our joy. It is one of the enemy’s greatest tools and one of our greatest of human weaknesses. Fear, in and of itself, is a healthy emotion and a gift from God. In the enemy’s hand, it becomes a tool of self-destruction. This message will help us to discover how to not only face our fears, but how to push through them to victory.
It may have seemed to many that David lived a charmed life, but he didn’t. He suffered a lot of disappointments along the way, particularly with his children. This message will use Psalm 3 as a backdrop to talk about how God actually uses the disappointments of life to shape us and make us into who He’s called us to be.
This verse is special. It was Jesus’ life verse. It was the one He quoted in the synagogue when He began His ministry. He came to heal. He came to liberate. He came to bring life and light to a dying and dark world. Then, before He left us, He declared that “As God the Father sent me, so send I you!” Jesus’ life-verse became our mandate. Go do as He did. We are given more than a second chance. We are given a Calling. This message will be about discovering what that calling is for each of us.
It’s not what you know, it’s who. That’s how you get many of the opportunities in life. It’s also how you get to come into the presence of God. Jesus opened the door for us to have full access to the Father. We can come to Him, talk with Him, listen to Him, and worship Him. We can come with the same assurance of a child who knows their daddy loves them. We can come daily. We can come instantly. We can come BOLDLY. All because of Jesus.
What is the truth, Is it relative? Not according to God. In fact, God has the market cornered on truth! In this verse, God makes a promise to us, if we abide in His Word, and if we take time to tend to our relationship with Him, then He will let us in on this truth. This message will focus on what it looks like to abide in the Word, and why it matters…that God seeks to use the truth to free us from the lies that can imprison us!
God has plans for you. When it seems life is against you, God has plans for you. When tragedy strikes or life turns upside down, God has plans for you. When you’ve failed greatly and find yourself in the pig sty of bad decisions, God doesn’t quit on you…and He still has plans for you! This verse will look at the relentless faithfulness of God in the ups and downs of life. No matter where we are on the journey, God has plans for us!
Jesus didn’t come to simply teach us. He came to TRANSFORM us. He wants us to live right side up in an upside-down world. He called us to be HOLY…set apart, consecrated, and uniquely changed by God. It is not an instantaneous process, but a life-long pursuit. This message will be about making our lives “attractively different.”
We kick off our new series, Your Verse, with Pastor Steve's life verse. This verse reveals to us that God wants more than just a superficial relationship. God wants us to experience Him. He wants us to know Him. This verse will kick off our New Year with a challenge to know God in a more personal and powerful way.
The shepherds kept celebrating long after they left the stable. Their joy wasn’t just in that moment there by the manger. They took it with them! This message will look at how we keep the joy alive. We’ll explore what it takes to keep a sense of that Christmas joy all year long!
Can you imagine after seeing and hearing the angels, the shepherds NOT going to Bethlehem? I wonder if some did. I wonder if there was a shepherd or two that offered to stay behind with the sheep. Sometimes we want just enough of an experience with God to feel “spiritual” but not change. God invites us to see Him, know Him, and touch Him. Joy isn’t knowing about Jesus. It’s knowing Jesus!
The shepherds were tempted to run from the angel. Who could blame them? It was an awesome and frightening experience, but it was a direct message of God. In this message, we’ll look at how we often duck the messages of God in our fear of what He might be saying or fear of what He might want to do through our lives. God has a message for you that you won’t want to miss!
The angels came to lowly shepherds in the darkness of the night. That’s a place that many of us can relate. Painful losses, embarrassing failures, and overwhelming circumstances have shrouded many of us with a thick darkness of loneliness, grief, and shame. God’s joy was sent for just such a time as that! This message will look at reclaiming God’s joy when darkness is all we see.
Gideon had a hard time believing God. Instead of taking the angel at his word, Gideon asks the angel to do something to prove it was really God. Beneath this “sign from God” was insecurity and doubt. It was another form of hiding. This message will focus on what seeking a “sign” is all about and how we can learn to take God at His Word. That is the essence of faith!
Gideon had a lot of insecurity. He didn’t have the confidence to believe he could overcome the Midianites and do what God was calling him to do. He forgot something that MANY of us forget. It’s not about us! The angel’s promise was that GOD would be with him, and GOD would be enough to do what needed to be done!
Gideon was hiding. Afraid the Midianites would steal his grain, he hid like everyone else. The angel of God reminded him that was meant for more than that. It was time for Gideon to stop hiding and reclaim the identity that God had given to him. This message will ask the question, “What are YOU hiding from?” You are “more than conquerors through Christ Jesus our Lord.”
The people of God were stuck because of their disobedience. They tried to do it their way rather than God’s way, and now they were being overrun by the Midianites. God sent them a prophet to remind them of a simple lesson: Listen. Listening to God is the beginning of wisdom. It’s also the first step out of the rut we’re in.
It’s funny how people think being “free” is being able to do whatever they want to do. They don’t even realize the bondage that they’re experiencing. When we commit our lives to Christ, we shake off the shackles of that bondage. We find in chaining ourselves to Christ that there is a freedom we never knew. Freedom from guilt. Freedom from fear. Freedom from living lives that are meaningless. As “slaves” of Christ, we are “owned” by Him. That ownership allows us to become all that we were meant to be.
Seeing is believing—except with God. Then, believing is seeing! Faith is such an important part of our connection to God that He asks us to believe Him in advance for things we will later see. Things we can see don’t take faith. That’s why Jesus’ conversation with Thomas is so insightful. Thomas believed when he finally saw it. The ones who are truly “blessed” are the ones who believe without seeing!
One of the great temptations in our journey of faith is to believe we can handle life by ourselves. We often set ourselves up for failure by attacking life with nothing more than our own human resources. Paul reminds us that it’s actually when we’re weak that we’re the most powerful. It’s when we realize how dependent we are upon God that we become the most dangerous. When we’re aware that we are weak, we fully lean in to the power of God!
The cross of Christ doesn’t make sense. The whole gospel doesn’t make sense. That’s because God doesn’t think like we do, and we don’t know what God knows. It is only when we come to terms with how foolish our human thinking really is that we can begin to think as God thinks and see things the way God sees them. We may look foolish to the world, but there is a deep wisdom in our foolishness.
Pride is the root of all sin. Humility is the root of all virtue. This message will look at why and how being humble places us in a position to be exalted. Humility in our relationships with others breeds trust, confidence, and adoration. Humility with God allows Him to protect, direct, and empower us. As we bow down, God lifts up!
This message looks at how Jesus flipped the script on what it means to be a great leader. It’s not about power, image, or the ability to command. Great leaders are servants of a cause. They are servants of a people. They lead by example and not by intimidation. Our families, jobs, churches, and positions in the community are great opportunities to express the model of Jesus’ servant leadership. Upside Down leaders lead with a basin and towel, not a scepter of power.
The most blessed people in the world are the most generous. They are not generous because they are blessed. They are blessed because they are generous! When we give ourselves fully and freely away, it opens the heart of others to us. It also positions us to be blessed by God. “Blessed to be a blessing” is an ancient and ongoing command for us. This message will look at how we put that into practice.
The first four-letter word most of us learn is MINE. Our self-consumption is one of the biggest reasons why we find it difficult to follow Christ. We can’t cling to Him while we’re still clinging to ourselves. Only when we give up all of who we are can we embrace all of who HE is.
Our race is not a sprint. It’s not even a marathon. It’s a RELAY. That’s why one of our focal points is “Preparing the next generation for faith and leadership.” We can’t take our eyes off this goal. This message will look at the incredible responsibility we have and why we make children, youth, and leadership development priorities. We’ll talk about what that means as a church and what that requires of us as individuals and families to press the baton of faith firmly into their hands.
Reaching the world for Christ is not a program. It’s a personal responsibility. This week we’ll look at “Sharing our faith through investing and inviting.” God has called us to build bridges of love to people who are far from Him. Instead of withdrawing into our religious fortresses, we are to do what Jesus did: Become friends of sinners. We are to become the light the world is looking for. If you want to know why more people aren’t turning to God, all we have to do is look in the mirror. We are the missing link in God’s chain of grace. Giving hope of the world is up to US!
This message looks at “Serving our community at their point of need.” If Shartel mysteriously ceased to exist next week, would the community even know we were gone? Jesus walked among His community. He tended to their needs. He helped them with their troubles. He was a Savior of the people and for the people. That’s why they loved Him so much. That’s how we want to live. We’re our best version of US when we make our ministry about THEM! We want to make an impact that would break people’s hearts if we were no longer around.
We kick off this series by focusing on “Becoming fully committed followers of Jesus Christ.” Jesus never said, “Get saved.” He said, “Follow me!” It only takes a moment to make a commitment to Christ, but it takes a lifetime to be fashioned into His image. This message will look at what it takes to keep “becoming” on the journey and how we’re the best image of us when we’re the best image of Christ!
This cliché is used A LOT. The underlying thought is that there is a divine plan to everything that happens, but there isn’t. Many of the things that happen are a result of the hand of man, not the hand of God. There is a huge difference between the belief God WORKS in all things and God CAUSES all things. In this message, we will seek to debunk the “everything happens for a reason” myth and it’s twin sister that things are “meant to be.”
Sure, you can. David did. Job did. Moses did. Even Jesus did. Questioning God keeps our relationship with Him real and vibrant. Asking God questions gives Him the green light to provide us with answers. We may not always agree with or like His response, but we can always ask God honest questions.
A lot of times, our feelings and intuitions are spot on, so trusting our hearts is fine. There are many times when desires, fears, or hurts cloud our hearts. In those times, our hearts are not so trustworthy. This message will look at how to test our heart to make sure that what we feel we should do is the right thing to do.
There are two lies in this one! One is the lie that God is the one giving out the burdens. Life does that. The other is that it won’t be more than you can bear. It will be! This message will look at where our struggles come from and how they remind us of how much we need God to get through them.
Sometimes the worst happens. It happens to people who are totally sold out to God. Hebrews 11 tells of wonderful people of faith through whom God did great things. There’s another group of people there who had great faith in God that had horrible things happen to them. Faith may get us through, but it doesn’t always prevent bad things from happening.
God’s grace is great. His desire to see people redeemed is great. But people often don’t want to seek God. They want to do what they do and believe God is fine with that. This message we see that Jesus came to make it CLEAR how people can come to God. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
Jesus is all you need. It almost sounds blasphemous to say that it is a cliché, but God created us to need more than Him. He created us to need one another as well. This message will seek to help us understand why God created us to live in community and need more than just Him.
Diligence is a noble character trait that God favors. That’s true. He is also a Helper, Provider, and a Savior who helps those who have no ability to help themselves. God blesses those who are diligent and hardworking, but He is our Rescuer who helps those of us who are stuck as well.
It’s sad how we sometimes teach our boys that to be a man you can’t show emotion, especially sadness or hurt. We do that in our faith journey as well. We sometimes act as though to show grief, sadness, or frustration is a lack of faith, but it’s not. This message will look at what it means to be a “real man” and “real Christian.” Jesus showed emotion; so can we.
Pastor Sarah shares a summary the first day’s lesson of Vacation Bible School. Life isn’t always fair. In fact, most of the time, it is unfair. It doesn’t make a difference if it’s unfair or not because God is Good! Roar! Life is Wild, God is Good!
Paul calls the church in Corinth “saints.” They were far from perfect, but they had Jesus. It is too easy to let negativity creep in and instead define others and ourselves by our sin and failure. This message will seek to deal with our shame and insecurity, help us to find the confidence with who we are in Christ, and help us to be defined by the grace and love of God.
You are a Masterpiece hanging in the Museum of God, but you are not the only one. This message will focus on how we can not only see the value in others but live in such a way that we help them discover the value in themselves, seeing and celebrating the divine uniqueness in God’s creation.
There are all kinds of people and expectations that try to label our value, and it is far too difficult not to hear them all. The world, our friends, our parents, our own expectations, and even the dilemma of comparison are all trying to speak into our lives and dictate our value. This message will help us drown out all those voices and to listen in, to listen in for the truth of God and how we can begin helping ourselves believe that we are Masterpieces.
Sometimes God does things (or doesn’t do things) that we can’t understand. When Jesus got the word that Lazarus was sick, He didn’t rush to his side. He stayed put. He let Lazarus die. He had a plan that His disciples couldn’t possibly understand. God does that a LOT. This message will look at the need we have to trust God when what He does falls outside our understanding. Just because it doesn’t make sense to US, it doesn’t mean it doesn’t make sense.
Jesus’ declaration, “I am the resurrection and the life,” gives focus to our faith. Our hope is not in an outcome; it is in a person. Jesus wants us to do more than trust what He can do. He wants us to trust Him. Mary and Martha THOUGHT they knew Jesus. Here, in their most trying hour, Jesus invited them to REALLY know Him.
The shortest verse in the Bible is one of the most revealing. “Jesus wept.” Those two words tell us of a God who feels what we feel and who cares deeply about the heartaches of His people. In this message, we’ll look at how God truly hears our prayers because He FEELS our prayers. He “gets” us. He understands.
Everyone thought it was over. Lazarus was dead—four days dead, doornail dead. If he was only sick, then maybe Jesus could do something, not now. But He did! This message will show that Resurrection Day isn’t just about what God did for Jesus but what Jesus can do for US! We’ll discover what Jesus said is true: “All things are possible for him who believes.”
Jonah got mad because God did what God does: He gave grace to the repentant Nineveh. Sadly, it was more important to Jonah to be RIGHT about his prophecy of destruction than for God to spare Nineveh. This message will look at how our desires to be God are really not the desires or attitudes of God at all. When we try to PLAY God, we become hurters rather than healers, judges rather than advocates, and divisive rather than unifying. Sometimes, even when we think we’re on God’s side, we’re actually running the wrong way. Thankfully, God does God much differently than we would!
Jonah came out of the whale and did what God wanted him to do. I don’t think we fully appreciate how rare that is. Many people when given a second chance repeat their earlier mistakes, which is why they keep ending up back in the same place over and over again. This message will look at the preciousness of grace and how we need to treat second chances with sacred regard. If we want to end up someplace DIFFERENT than before, we have to DO something different than we’ve previously done.
Is there anything worse than “hitting bottom?” Yes. It’s hitting bottom and not LEARNING from it! In this message, we’ll look at how Jonah became broken and repentant. It took the belly of a whale to get him there, but he got there! We’ll challenge our people not to waste those moments when their lives fall apart. Sometimes it’s broken pieces that God is waiting for to make something new!
All of us tend to run from God for a variety of reasons. In spite of whatever that reason may be, God never gives up on us. He chases us with His love, seeking to redeem and restore. This message will explore the various reasons we run from God and explore God’s relentless pursuit of us.
“Forgive them, Father, they don’t know what they are doing.” Wow. Have those words ever come out of YOUR mouth? Of all of the traits of Jesus that we’ll consider, I don’t think that any challenges us more than trying to forgive like Him. Not just overlooking the little stuff, but learning to let go of big wounds and deep hurts. This message will cause us to reach deep into the heart of God to reflect Him.
It’s interesting that Jesus’ disciples never asked Him to teach them how to preach, teach, or heal. They did, however, ask Him to teach them how to pray! What was it about Jesus’ prayer life that they found so desirable? This message will look at how Jesus prayed and the emphasis He put upon it for His life and ours. If prayer changes everything, then maybe we need to learn how to pray!
“When Jesus saw the crowds, He had compassion on them.” What do YOU see when you look at the crowds? This message will explore how we can cultivate a heart like Jesus that genuinely cares for the “least of these”as He did. Maybe when we SEE people as Jesus saw them, we’ll LOVE them like Jesus loved them!
Reflecting Jesus means modeling His integrity. Though we will never be perfect people, we should be people whose word can be trusted and whose lives reflect the character of Christ. In this message, we’ll look at how Jesus was tempted like we were, but overcame. We’ll discover how we can be overcomers too!
Jesus said that love would be the most distinguishable trait that would let people know we were His followers. That love isn’t simply a love for people who love us! It’s a love for those who are our enemies. It’s a love that is more than a feeling; it’s action. It’s also learning to love ourselves. If we ever hope to reflect Jesus, we have to start with love.
What does it take for us to FULLY reflect Jesus to others? That’s the question we’ll pose in this message. Much like a partially reflecting moon, we often have things that are shadowing God’s life and holiness in our lives. We’ll challenge ourselves to face, deal with, and overcome whatever it is in our lives that’s shading the brilliance of Jesus. We want to be full, pure reflections of His Glory.
One of the ways we have the opportunity to “shine” for Jesus is through serving. Whether as a teacher or greeter, kitchen worker or office helper, whether inside the church or inside a hospital or school, God has a place of each of us! This message will challenge our folks to find at least one or more places to put their gifts and talents to work.
Jesus has given us the task of being His witnesses in the world. In this message, we’ll explore how to do that in a loving and effective way. We’ll learn how to tell our God-story, which is a story that SOMEONE needs to hear! We’ll also be challenged to be diligent about inviting people to church where they can be exposed to other believers and other stories. Some people are just an invitation away from a changed life!
Jesus was described in Acts as being one “who went around doing good.” Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we, as His followers, were known that way, too? This message will challenge us to be agents of God’s Love—not just loving people with our hearts, but loving them through deeds that demonstrate that love. God came. God gave. God forgave. All action. We’ll discover how to put our love into action as well!
You can’t reflect light you are not receiving! This message will challenge you to lean fully into the light of God by studying His Word and applying it to their lives. God has provided His Light in a number of wonderful ways, but WE must take the time and make it a priority for our lives. When we do, His Power works IN us and THROUGH us. Let’s POWER UP!