Amherst Wesleyan Church: Recent Episodes
Evan Oxner
It isn't always the case, but each member of your family needs something particular from the other members of their family and doesn't get it. Parents need honour from their kids. Wives need love from their husbands. Husbands need respect from their wives. Kids need patience from their parents. Well, we all need all those things, but those are the things that we often lack but desperately need.Everyone in your family needs love, honour, respect and patience.Ephesians 5:33-6:4
Parents are not always easy to get along with and sometimes they are not the kind of people who are even honorable. Yet, God tells us that we are supposed to honour them. How does that make sense? Are we supposed to do whatever they tell us, even if it is wrong or stupid? Is this something we are supposed to still hold to? This is a hard question, but when you realize the difference between respect and honour and the clear directive of God, it becomes something we can only do with Jesus.Eph 6:1-3Treat your parents as if they are more important than you think they are.
We all want what's best for our kids but sometimes our pursuit for what's best can miss the BEST God has for them. Hannah understood this which is why she gave Samuel to God. We can trust God with the outcome and destiny of our children's lives.
We go through life with hopes, dreams, and goals of accomplishment. Sometimes though, those don't materialize and we're left thinking, why should I even bother? In the book of 1 & 2 Samuel, we discover that Jonathan; Saul's son, was faithful to God in spite of the fact that he recieved no earthly rewards and when all was said and done, Jonathan dies in battle. Later on, Jonathan's son Methpiboseth, is rewarded by David because of Jonathan's faithfulness. When we follow Jesus, we might not recieve earthly blessings, but our faithfulness may lead to blessings for others after us.
We all have problems of many kinds and the temptation we feel when we face problems is to blame someone else or something else. The Bible doesn't allow us to blame others and get away with our problems and blaming never helped solve any of our problems. King Saul failed to learn this lesson and lost everything. We need to take responsibility for our actions, apologize to those we've hurt by blaming them, and make changes to ourselves. Then we will see a difference and our problems begin to go away.
We all know the feeling of being lost, and for most people it feels like we are all on our own trying to figure out what we should be doing next. We assume that God doesn't actually speak to people, or that we aren't good enough for Him to speak to us. Maybe He is too busy to talk to us. So we feel even more lost and alone. I don't think that's how it actually works though!1 Samuel 3You don't need to make God speak, you just need to recognize Him when He does.
When we try to follow God we face opposition. We get hit with obstacles, problems, attacks and lies. The problem is that we often listen to the lies the enemy tells us when facing those things. For some reason we even start to assume that he is looking out for us... which doesn't make any sense at all! The enemy isn't talking to us to help us defeat him! He is talking to us so that he can defeat us! Maybe we should stop listening to what he has to say... Like David did when facing Goliath.1 Samuel 17When the enemy talks to you, he isn't trying to help you.
Broken things left broken will only create more problems. Eventually, we come to a point where the broken thing needs to be replaced. The same goes for our heart. Because of sin, our hearts are broken and no amount of self-help or ignorance can fix that. God promises through His Word to give us a new heart. We just simply need to let Him fix us by surrendering to Him.
You may feel like you are a good person, and when you look around you can see a lot of good people there too. True, there are a lot of jerks around us, but you see a lot of good people too. Sometimes we even ignore some things because we want to be positive and think the best of others. But, is good all that we need?Ephesians 2:1-5Good dead things are still dead things.
One group of people believe that it is all about what you believe and that is what mainly matters in this life. Others believe that it is all about what you do and that's what matters. These two groups then try to convince others of the same thing. They try to get them to believe in Jesus or they try to get them to act like Jesus. But is that really how Jesus Himself lead people? Paul doesn't think so and writes to Timothy to explain how it really works.It takes both truth and action to save lives.1 Timothy 4:16
We are facing some pretty hard financial times personally and as a church. The Bible has some pretty clear stories about these situations too though, and how we are supposed to get through these circumstances is quite a bit different than how we normally try to handle them. God's way is better though. It's a scary step of faith to take, but God's way is better.1 Kings 17:8-16God won't multiply it if you don't give it to Him.
We can easily get distracted by certain ideas in Scripture and end up missing what it is trying to say. That happens a lot with 1 Timothy 2. When you manage to get past some of the confusion, it becomes an incredibly powerful statement about how we should all be living our lives and what our keep focus should be on.1 Timothy 2How you live should lead people to know Jesus, not something else.
God wants His people to be knowledgeable when it comes to His Word, but oftentimes our pursuit of knowledge can lead to arrogance and pride. We're not meant to just be knowledgeable; our knowledge is meant to lead us to obedience.
Often we try to over-spiritualize things. Sometimes we think the physical has no effect on our spiritual life and no effect on our mental life. The reality though is that we need to engage our heart, soul, mind and strength to find true health. They influence each other. Our physical lives affect our mental life. And God cares about our physical life.Psalm 121:1-2Remember where your strength comes from.
This whole series is built upon the idea that mental health comes from health in your heart, soul, mind and strength. Not just one part will do. You need it from all four areas. That being said, one of the key components that produces mental health is trust. That's mainly a mind thing, and it won't make all your mental health struggles go away, but without it, it can give a whole lot of power to those struggles. We have clear examples in the Bible of people who struggled to trust God and found their mental health spiraling. Then when we see Jesus trusting God, even in the hard situations, those struggles don't get to control Him.1 Peter 5:7The more you trust God, the less power mental illness will have over you.
Elijah and Jesus both went through a lot of hard things in their lives, but they both reacted differently to them. Then, after Elijah became overwhelmed by depression and fear, He finally discovered what would heal and direct His emotions; hearing from God. It was talking to God that saved Elijah, and it was talking to God that kept Jesus steady.Luke 5:16Healthier emotions are the result of more honest conversations with God.
Daniel's story is remarkable for many reasons, not least of which is how it all took place where he was considered an outsider. He wasn't from the place, he had no family heritage to those people, he didn't grow up in their culture, he didn't follow their religion. Yet, he managed to have an enormous impact on the people around him. Several times he had such an impact on a leader that it influenced an entire region. What if we followed God as boldly as Daniel did?Following Jesus makes others look in His direction.Daniel 2:46-49
When someone has cancer, marriage trouble, some crazy drama at school or work, we know there is very little we can physically do to change those things to help the people in need. So, we say something like, "I'm sorry I can't help, but I will pray for you." Why do we say it like that? That wasn't Daniel's approach to situations. When we look at his story, we find Daniel saturated his life in prayer because he knew the truth of the matter:We can't help anyone without God's intervention.Daniel 2:9-23 (17-18 Key Verses)
We like following God when things are going well, and it is easy to keep following Him when we think that we will get everything we want from Him. It doesn't work like that though. Bad things happen. Sometimes we wonder, "why didn't God stop that from happening?" Sometimes people even talk as if that question proves that God doesn't exist or doesn't care about us. God is no stranger to that question, and neither were the people in the Bible. For three men in the book of Daniel, they made their stance absolutely clear.Daniel 3He's worth it, even if all you get is Him.
We all want good things for our lives and the lives of those around us, but we are also surrounded by situations that seem like they can be solved, or just made easier, by compromising. We think a simple lie, a little greed, a touch of hate or bitterness, or whatever will help us get ahead just enough, but it doesn't work. It's like cleaning a window with dirty water.Daniel 1:11-20Doing it the better way gives you better results.
Many people can be merry during the Christmas season; they're happier, kinder, and more generous; but when January rolls around we often flip back to our old patterns and habits. How can we be merry all year round and not just temporarily?
One of the most dreaded moments of Christmas is when someone doesn't like the present they got and they have to somehow respond with everyone watching them. Sometimes it is just a really bad present, other times it is a really bad attitude. Our culture is so saturated in consumerism that covetous naturally becomes part of how we live our lives, and very easily starts to ruin Christmas. God has a better way of doing things, and that it to engage gratitude instead of gree.Philippians 4:6-7, 11-13Be thankful for what you have, when you have it.
Whether we like it or not money has an effect on our lives, especially around the holidays. The stress surrounding it can become consuming and how we use our money can even create stress and heartache that goes into the new year. What are we supposed to do with money that will actually allow us to have a Merry Christmas?Luke 12:15, Is 55:2The misuse of money can ruin Christmas.
Mary and Martha had Jesus in their home; Mary made spending time with Jesus a priority while Martha allowed herself to be distracted by the "chores" in the home. During the Christmas season we are met with the same descision; make Jesus the priority or get distracted by the hustle and bustle of the season. If we get distracted, we will miss Christ at Christmas.
When you enter a competition you make sure that you are both ready to perform well, and you also make sure you have nothing getting in the way of your performance. You wear the right shoes, you eat the right food, you listen to the right music, all to help you perform better. We need to do the same thing in our faith journey. If something is getting in the way of our pursuit of Jesus, we need to get rid of it.Hebrews 12:1-3, 10Do whatever you need to do to keep up with Jesus.
The key to following Jesus is to actually follow Him. That can be a hard thing to do, especially when the path gets scary or when people start to attack you because of what you are doing. But, if we want to get where He is going, the only way to get there is to follow Him there. The Bible is full of examples of people facing this challenge and realizing they can't to the promises of God any other way.We need to keep following Jesus because we don't know where to go next, and He does.Hebrews 9:27-28, 10:36, 11:1 & 8
As life throws problems at us we have developed a number of different strategies for handling them. Some of them are better than others, but we have made do with what we have. These coping mechanisms range from building emotional walls to over-exercising. Sometimes we even find them to be so effective we think they may have solved the problems, but then we start to notice the new problems those strategies have caused. They were never solutions, only band-aids. God has a better option for us.Don't mistake temporary remedies for a cure.Hebrews 7:18-19, 8:6-13
After Jesus rose from the dead there was a lot of hostility from people about Jesus and they tried to reduce Him to being just a man or just a good guy. The author of Hebrews saw all this conflict and knew that it needed to be cleared up. He showed what the Old Testament said about the Saviour and how He couldn't just be a good man, He had to be so much more.Hebrews 1-3The Old Testament doesn't allow Jesus to be anything but the complete solution.
Whether we have lots of money or not much money, it comes with stress and complications. We are bombarded by ideas about money and what we should do with it and how much of it we should have. It makes things very difficult to know what we should be doing and who we should be listening to. God has given us some clear instructions about our money though, and it is a safe bet that He knows how we should handle our money.Use the money you have to live more like Jesus.Luke 16:1-10
There are way too many questions about raising kids for any book to outline what to do in every situation. Then when you finally think you know what you are doing, the kids change or the world throws something different at them! Raising kids is so complicated I have to boil things down to much simpler ideas so I can even wrap my head around them. Thankfully, I think God gives us simple and clear directions for handling kids.Malachi 2:15Parenting is about producing godly men and women.
As we go through life things often get very busy and the pile of things vying for our attention gets out of control. Between issues of responsibilities, relationships, time, plans and dreams, it can be just about impossible to manage everything. Then things start falling apart and our lives end up being controlled by everything else going on. We lose control and we eventually end up someplace we had no intention or desire of being in. God has given us guidelines to avoid that though.Prov 18:24Boundaries prevent chaos.
Some of the sacrifices that God told the Israelites to practice allowed them to consume part of what was offered. The sin offering wasn't one of them. The sacrifice symbolized the passing of their sin onto the animal, its death, and then the rest of it was taken away from the person.The blood of Jesus doesn't just cover sin, it removes it.Leviticus 4
Are you using sacrifices and self-punishment to get something from God or to make up for some failure? Does that work? Is our relationship with God really that transactional? The Fellowship Offering described in Leviticus makes a clear contrast to that kind of thinking. God makes us clean. He wants us to be with Him, not just get something FROM Him.You were made clean to be WITH God.Leviticus 7:15-20
There is only one sacrifice given at the beginning of Leviticus that does not require the sheding of blood, and that is the grain offering. This offering didn't require death, but it required an expression of a holy life. God doesn't want just a show of generosity and submission, He wants how we live to be an act of worship.Growing in holiness is your living sacrifice.Leviticus 2 & Romans 12:1
We are constantly faced with questions about what to do in our lives, multiple decisions every day, and some huge decisions tend to just follow us around all the time. What to eat, where to live, where to work, how to act in our marriage, how to raise our kids, how to invest our money. How do we navigate those questions? I think God has given us some simple guidelines that help us with ALL of these questions, but applying the guidelines is the key!Prov 3:6 & Matthew 6:33If you seek God's Kingdom first, you'll know what to do next.
The Bible gives us a clear picture of what the church and Christian community is supposed to look like, but it is very hard to find. We have tried many times and in many ways to make that happen, but it has most often resulted in legalism and hurt. The problem is not the trying or even the guidelines, it is that we have tried to build a Christian community with allowing the Holy Spirit to take over!Acts 4:31-35We won't be a Christian community until we are filled with the Holy Spirit.
We are surrounded by hot topics all the time and not just the ideas, but the emotions and baggage that comes with all of those ideas. How are we as Christians supposed to speak about all that?James 3:1-2, 13-18Speak with your life before you open your mouth about a hot topic.
We have based our faith on what the Bible says, but is it accurate? The Bible is old, history has been weird, and after a few thousand years how confident can we be that it is actually true? This is a long message, but in it we tackle this question systematically step by step and look at the evidence. There is sooo much more could talk about with this subject but this should give you some key evidence to consider!1 John 1:1-6 & Deut 18:20-22We need to follow the evidence, not our assumptions or preferences.
We face obstacles all the time, sometimes they are so massive we end up calling them giants. The Bible isn't a book about how to become a great person who can defeat giants, but it is about us following God into battle where the giants oppose what God wants to do. He wants to do good things in your life, He wants to free you from sin, heal your heart, save marriages, change lives and many many other things. We need to understand that when we follow God in every part of our lives, the giants we face will be giants opposed to God. That changes the situation a lot, because...1 Sam 17:36-37 & Numbers 14:7-9When a giant opposes God, it's God's fight, not yours.
What happens when God tells Peter, a Jew, to GO share his faith with Cornelius, a Gentile? What should our response be when God calls us to share our faith with someone or in some place we feel is uncomfortable? It's time to get uncomfortable and obediently follow the call God is placing on our lives.
The Gospel is a great message for us. It makes a massive difference in our lives. Sometimes we settle into the idea that we can just relax with the goodness of the Gospel and let it do good in our own lives, but Jesus doesn't give us that option.Matthew 28:19-20Keeping the Gospel to yourself is not an option; you have to share it.
I think we have all fallen asleep while praying. We are already tired and then we close our eyes and try to surrender our troubles to God, then we fall asleep! Unfortunately, that often leaves us missing our time with God, and not only that, it gets in the way of our mission. There is power in prayer, and Jesus understood this better than anyone. In a critical moment of His ministry He didn't ask His disciples to gather food, preach louder, or make money, He asked them to pray with Him. Then, they fell asleep.Matthew 26:41-46The middle of the fight is not the time to fall asleep.
When we feel the call of God to change something in our lives, take a step of faith, or reach out and do something to help someone else, we can often fall for the lie that we are supposed to do that on our own. That's like entering a NASCAR race and thinking you have to run the race on foot instead of in the car! It just doesn't make sense!Matthew 14:13-21Youre not supposed to do Gods work without Gods power.
When you have taken a step of faith to base your life on something you can't see, it can be very scary to admit it to others who haven't taken that step of faith. Their reactions can be hard, their questions can be scary, their rejection can be painful. We end up thinking that we will just avoid sharing our faith with others until we are ready for all of those things. We think we just need a bit more preparation. That isn't what Jesus thought though!Matthew 9-10It's more important that you start than be fully prepared.
When relationships start going bad or your feeling about them changes, we often start wondering if it may be time to get out of them. Or, sometimes they are causing problems but we don't want to give them up! How are we supposed to know which relationships we should be keeping and which ones we should be quitting? As with everything that has to do with relationships, that is a complicated question! God gives us some key guidance and wisdom in figuring this out though.2 Cor 6:14When your attachment to someone keeps you away from Jesus, it needs to change.
With all the pressure we face today from all different directions in life, is it time to give up on the mission of Christ? Is it needed anymore? Are we the ones that need to be investing in it? Is it just too costly to keep going with it? The New Testament Apostles knew those questions 2000 years ago and made what they thought emphatically clear.2 Timothy 3:1-4:5If we quit the mission, we lose.
We all have bad habits and we all know they are bad habits, yet we keep doing them. These habits give us something and we keep using them until the cost of them becomes greater than the cost of changing them. Whether it is about what we eat, how we behave, our coping mechanisms, how we spend our money, or anything else. We need Jesus to fill the need that the habit is filling and make a change because those bad habits usually aren't worth it.Matthew 5:30Bad habits aren't worth the cost.
When you are just waking up it is hard to think clearly or even interpret information, let alone make big decisions. Often we need to go through a pattern or get some coffee into us before we start to think clearly and have the groggy fog lift. We often face that same fog when God starts speaking to us, and the only way to lift the fog and see what He is saying clearly, is to worship Him.Ezekiel 45:8-10, 47:1-12, 48:35Proper worship clarifies life.
Sometimes our behaviours are traps in themselves, and sometimes the circumstances of life leave us trapped. We all know what it feels like to be trapped though. It's one of those feelings that can drown out everything else and leave you completely crippled. This happens especially in those situations where you don't think anyone will ever be able to save you. We know Jesus can reach us wherever we are, but the rescue requires something significant from us...If you're trapped, play dead.Ezekiel 36-44
Life is busy and there are lots of things trying to get our attention. It is easy to get distracted, but it is also easy to simply start thinking that we are here for our own pleasure and benefit. We forget that we are here to take care of each other and we are here to fight for the lost. When we start living like that, we end up doing huge amounts of damage to others and to ourselves. Actually, when we start living like that, we can end up in a worse situation than the lost.When you stop fighting for the lost, you get lost.Ezekiel 33-35
It is a very natural response to celebrate when your enemies get what they deserve. The sense of justice is very nice and it makes you feel vindicated. And sometimes when we are facing pain, we anxiously wait for our enemies to be in pain too. Yet, these reactions don't seem to fit with what God desires. Even though justice can be a very good thing, God wants to give mercy more than justice. And God wants us to react differently too.Let God handle everyone else; You need to just focus on what God is trying to tell you.Ezekiel 25:3-7
Everything about Christianity hinges on Jesus rising from the dead. If that didn't happen, there is no point following Jesus. If that did happen, then nothing else matters. That is the key element we must face and deal with. When we examine the evidence, we have very good reasons to believe Jesus is actually alive today!When you meet the living Christ something real happens to you.1 Corinthians 15
Throughout Jesus' ministry He showed that He was in charge wherever He went. He proved He had total authority over this world and the next. He even proved He had authority over sin and death! When we face things that are over our heads, it's always a good idea to get Jesus involved because He has authority to fix it.Matthew 28:18Get the Boss involved.
Jesus came to the world as its rightful King and to invite us to be part of His Kingdom. You have to be a Canadian citizen to have a Canadian passport. You have to be a Costco member to shop at Costco. You can only have one king, and you are only in their kingdom if they are your king.1 Sam 8:7-9He has to be your King if you want to be in His Kingdom.
In stories we hear about how pirates would collect and hide their treasure. We imagine what it would be like to find that hidden and secret treasure, but we know that we won't actually ever find it. It would take too much work, be too complicated, and maybe even not actually exist. When something is so valuable, we assume it's not really attainable. When we think about Jesus, we assume His victory is like hidden treasure, but it's not.John 17:16-26The victory of Jesus isn't hidden and secret; He wants to share it with you.
When temptation hits, we often do mental gymnastics to dance with it. We justify it, we dream about it, and we go back and forth on it. Jesus doesn't do that though. When He was tempted in the desert, He simply remembered scripture, God's Word, and let that define what He knew and what He should do. Maybe we need to stop dancing with the devil too.Matthew 3:17-4:11Key: We need to let God's Word define what is good and what is true.
Waiting is hard. At some point it can get so hard that we actually start to wonder if what we are waiting for will ever happen. It can feel that way with God's promises. It can feel that way with Christ's return. Will it ever happen? Were we wrong? Is He ever coming back? Is He even there? Peter understood that struggle and wrote to the church about it 2000 years ago.2 Peter 3:9God's not late; He's waiting for us.
Everyone is trying to get our attention. Especially in the world of money, politics, and religion, someone is always trying to get you to look at them and follow them. Sometimes, we find someone in that realm that makes us want to follow them because of their personality, what they say, how they say it, what they promise, or some of the ideas they share. Not all of those people are bad, and not all of them are good either. We need to be careful who we follow because when we follow someone, we end up where they are going.Key Point: If they lead you back to sin and death, stop following them.Key Scripture: 2 Peter 2:1-3, 18-22
Peter was writing his letter to the church as a final statement. He wanted to make sure they remembered the most essential things and that they were encouraged to continue. He uses this moment to make it clear to the church not to get lazy, not to give up, not to fail, but to hold confidently to Jesus and keep growing.To keep making a difference, we need to keep getting better.2 Peter 1:5-9, 16 & 20
It is easy to get distracted by life, good and bad. Sometimes we focus so much on some things that we leave ourselves open to attack somewhere else. Other times we feel so confident it actually makes us arrogant and open to attack. Peter gives the church a hard warning, pointing out that the enemy is still out there, and even though we have the victory in Christ, the enemy is still on the prowl.We're not out of the woods yet.1 Peter 5
Post-modern philosophy is primarily based on the idea that the human individual is the only certain reality, thus it is the basis for truth and identity. Our culture has been formed by this way of thinking, mistrusting every institution, leader, and study that contradicts one's personal ideas. The big problem with that though is that the individual person is constantly changing and rarely is able to handle pressure. We shift like the sand. How can truth be discovered when it is constantly shifting? There must be something more stable!We are not stable enough to form our own identity.John 15
Even if we know that we shouldn't be looking to money as what we build our lives on, we often fall for the temptation to or just live our lives practically like it is our foundation! And yes, money is useful and can help us along our journey to solve problems, make a difference, relieve stress, and have fun, but it simply isn't stable enough for us to base our lives on. It can't save us. We need something better to direct our lives.Matthew 6:19-21Money may be versatile, but it isn't very stable.
When good things or bad things come along in life, we try to manage them and contain them on our own. Rarely, if ever, are we successful in that. Then, in our efforts to control these situations, we create more chaos and stress in our lives. This what happens when we let worry be the basic mode of operation in our lives. We can't ever relax because it is all on us. God doesn't want us to function like that, and we don't have to.Gen 50:19 & Matthew 6:32-33You will never have security if you're the one responsible for it.
We have seen some pretty big storms in the past few years and seen pictures of homes or businesses collapsing due to coastal errosion and even being washed out to sea. They may have been well built, but what they were built on was suscetible to the wind and the waves. We often come up with ideas at the beginning of the year of things we should work on to be better, but those things are usually things that are susceptible to the wind and waves of life. Jesus gives us a clear statement of how to avoid collapse, and it has to do with our foundations.Matthew 7:24-27What you build your life on has to be stable enough to support your life throughout your life.
We know that when something is possible, that's really all that's necessary to create hope. But faith is only established when the probability of something is considered and we figure that for one reason or another it is likely to happen. The rescue that God has promised us is possible, so we have hope for it. When we look at the Bible we see what kind of God He is, and we discover that He does what He says He will do, which makes his promises likely to happen. They will probably happen! They are highly probable! They are worth your faith!1 Thess 5:23-24Your rescue is probable.
All that is necessary for hope to exist is the belief that something is possible. It doesn't need to be a fact. It doesn't need to be a certainty. It doesn't need to be likely. It could actually be very very UNlikely! But if it is possible, no matter how slim a chance, there can be hope. Only when something is absolutely impossible is hope dead.Is it possible that Jesus came to the Earth as a baby and is the Son of God? Is it possible that He died and rose back to life? Is it possible that God loves you and wants to save you? Is is possible that He will save you? All you need is the belief that these things are possible, and you can have HOPE!Matthew 19:26Your rescue is possible!
We have all felt, in varying degrees, the sting of betrayal. They are those wrongs that go beyond just an injustice or violation and bring with it the bitter bite of having trust and intimacy used against you. It makes the wrong personal. These aren't simply detached actions; they are personal rejections. That's how God see our sin.Ezekiel 18-24Sin is a violent betrayal of God's love for us.
When we get caught doing something wrong, we often try to soften the consequence by explaining how the action is excusable or justified. We can get so much into that mode that we try to justify all our sin, or try to justify other people's sins because we love them so much. We fear the consequences, but justifying it doesn't make it go away. We don't need to justify our actions, we need Jesus to forgive and save us.Justifying our sin doesn't get rid of it.Ezekiel 13:22; 14:6, 19-20; 16:18-19, 32
It is easy to think that sin isn't a big deal, that we can away with small things and that God only cares about the really big sins and the really bad sinners. It's also really easy for us to think that we are not as bad as all the rest. When we read Ezekiel it becomes clear that things don't work like that. Sin is a big deal, and it is a big deal for everyone.Ezekiel 4:19-20No one gets away with sin.
When we are surrounded by people who don't believe in God, are critical of Christianity, or even hostile to our faith, it can be very difficult to even admit that we believe what we believe. We fear their rejection, their attacks, their influence over others we care about, and whatever else they might do to us. When God calls Ezekiel to be a prophet though, God makes it very clear who he should fear, and it's not his audience.Fear God, not the people we are called to reach.Ezekiel 2:3-8 & 3:17-21
Is forgiveness necessary? What do you do if someone refuses to forgive you? What happens if you refuse to forgive someone else? Christ made it clear that forgiveness is necessary for us to give to others, and when we look around us and in the Bible, we see a nasty result of unforgiveness.Unforgiveness always rebounds.Matthew 6:14-15
I have three young kids and trying to keep them all alive is very challenging some days. Our three-year-old especially keeps us occupied to the point of consuming all of our time and energy at times. It seems like we can't get anything done with him thinking he is an adult and can use sharp knives or drive cars or whatever other life-threatening thing he feels he can do. This happens to be a lot like how many of us feel when holding onto how others have wronged us; it occupies all our time and energy so we can't get anything productive accomplished.Freedom requires forgiveness.Eph 4:26-27, 32 & Matt 18:21-22
We assume things all the time, even though it isn't usually smart. One of the things we assume, and assume quite naturally, is how good or bad someone is and if they will ever change. We look at others feel like we can tell whether or not they are the kind of person that God will end up forgiving or not. It is easy for us to see people and assume they are unforgivable, but is that accurate?1 Corinthians 6:9-11We need to assume others ARE forgivable.
You have the right to raise your kids and make the rules for your home. Police have the right to enforce the law. A king has the right to make the law for the nation. These are examples of authority. When someone has authority over something, they have the right to make the rules and change things. Jesus has authority over us, and authority over our sins!Mark 2:10Jesus has the right to forgive your sins.
Our natural reactions to stressors in our world often backfire and make things worse. If they don't make them worse, they don't make them better. Sometimes we even look at how we react and wonder why we did that! Peter says that our path forward isn't trying harder or feeling guilty, it's about letter God change us from the inside and then the outside!1 Peter 4:1When you think like Jesus, you react like Jesus.
I spent a lot of years interacting with the people around me as if I was KFC; I was different than them, I felt I was better than them because of my faith in Jesus, but I wasn't concerned with sharing with them the recipe. Also, like KFC, I know a lot of people left their interactions with me wondering if they ever wanted to do that again. That's not how we are supposed to live. That's not why we are here. Peter makes that very clear when he writes to the church.1 Peter 3Your life should lead others to life.
So often we look at life and make a determination about what we should do, but we have a feeling that it's not quite right even though we don't really know what we should do. It's like looking at a picture upside-down. With Christ, we don't have to wonder anymore though! 1 Peter 2:9 We're not upside down anymore!
Children are dependent on their parents for EVERYTHING and in like manner we need to be dependent on God for EVERYTHING.
Peter was tempted to stay in his comfort zone while on the mountain during Jesus' transfiguration, but if he had his way, he would have missed the mission and calling Jesus had for him. When we stay in our comfort zones, we fail God's mission. We need to move out of our comfort zones, go to the lost, and share our faith with them.
Peter made assumptions about Jesus' identity, and this led to him feeling disappointed and is chastised by Jesus. When we make the same mistake and make assumptions about Jesus, it will only leave us feeling disappointed. God desires that we know Him for who He really is, rather than go through mislead.
Jesus has been provided as our "boat" of salvation from the coming disaster when God's judgement comes. But if we don't pay attention, we're going to miss the boat. We do not know when this will happen, but Jesus has warned us that it will be like the days of Noah; no one knew when the flood when come but when it did, only those in the boat were saved.
This year my wife and I celebrate 10 years of marriage! So, here are 10 lessons we have learned over out 10 years of marriage. Lesson 1: The best way to lead your kids is to love your spouse. (Colossians 3:19) Lesson 2: You need to fight with yourself to acknowledge YOUR part of the problem. (1 Peter 3:1-7; James 4:7) Lesson 3: If you need to schedule it, schedule it, just make sure it happens. (1 Cor 7:5; Proverbs 24:27) Lesson 4: Dont assume you know the answer to questions, you have to ask and listen. (James 1:19; Proverbs 25:7b-8) Lesson 5: Fight and learn how to fight good. (Hebrews 12:14-15; Eph 4:25-26) Lesson 6: Not every day, week, month or year is going to be good, and thats ok. (Ecclesiastes 3:1) Lesson 7: Get help. (Proverbs 15:22) Lesson 8: Dont expect your spouse to read your mind; they cant. (Hebrews 4:12; Proverbs 21:23; Proverbs 25:2-3) Lesson 9: Even if youre a little bit wrong, apologize. (James 5:16; Proverbs 28:13) Lesson 10: Say thank you. (Romans 12:10; John 13:34-35; Eph 5:33)
We've heard the necessity of good communication before, but most of us are still pretty bad at it. When it comes to our marriages, we often don't even think about it even though we are dealing with some major consequences of bad communication! This isn't something that can be ignored in marriage. Good communication is essential, and God makes that very clear in his Word! James 1:19; Matthew 5:24-25; Ephesians 4:15, 24-25; 1 Corinthians 7:5 If you want to go together, you need to communicate.
One of the trickiest parts of marriage is when the two individuals have different ideas about how things are supposed to work. We have different preferences, different desires, different expectations, and yet we are not alone anymore! Some simple things are easy to compromise or figure out, but the longer you are together, the bigger the decisions become, like kids and money. Will you face those decisions as individuals, or will you go together? Genesis 2:18 & 24, 1 Cor 7:1-17, 2 Cor 6:14-16, 1 Peter 3:1-7 Spouses are supposed to go together.
Our culture and society have fully embraced a fairytale perspective of marriage that is based only on the emotion of love, but that backfires because when the love runs low, it doesn't usually result in "happily EVER AFTER." When we look at what God says about marriage and how He feels about it, it becomes obvious that He meant marriage to be something quite different. God views marriage very seriously, and so should we. Marriage is about staying together. Malachi 2:13-16
When God gave the law to the Jewish people it was 50 days after Passover, thus the feast got the name Pentecost (50). Fifty days after Jesus was crucified, on Passover, there God gave us the Holy Spirit! He would write His law on our hearts instead of stone tablets. We don't need to just put more effort into following the law, we need the Holy Spirit so the law can be in our hearts!Exodus 20:21, Ezekiel 36:26, Acts 2:3-4, 38-39You don't need to TRY harder; you need the presence of God
The Jewish Tabernacle, and later the Jewish Temple, were central elements to many of the feasts and celebrations they were instructed to observe every year. When we take a close look at the design of the Tabernacle and the practices associated with it, we get a clearer picture of what Jesus did and who He is!Exodus 40The Tabernacle helps us see Jesus more clearly!
The Feast of Dedication, or Hanukkah, is based on events that took place after the Old Testament was written, but before Jesus came. It happened during a time when God was not speaking to His people through prophets, and the Greeks were desecrated their holy grounds. It appeared that God had abandoned them. Yet, they knew they had to find a way to honour Him. Likewise, when we can't see God, we need to find a way to walk in faith.John 10:22-42 & 2 Cor 5:7Salvation comes by faith, not by sight.
The Jewish Festival of Purim celebrates God's victory during the time of Esther. It remembers how Haman set out to destroy the Jews, but God made a way to save His people and destroy Haman instead. This story gives us a glimpse into how God would save His people in Jesus, taking the intentions of the enemy and causing them to backfire.Genesis 50:20, Esther 4:14 & 9:20-22, Colossians 2:13-15Nothing will stop God from making a way for His chosen people.
The Jewish Feast of Trumpets is also known as the Day of Judgment. It starts off with examining your life and then spending the next 10 days trying to do enough good stuff to outweigh the bad. The Jews miss how Jesus fits into this though, and they miss that you can't do enough good to outweigh the bad. Jesus is the only solution, and when the trumpets blast at the end, judgement will come.Numbers 29:1 & 1 Thessalonians 4:16Judgement is coming and now is the time to prepare for it.
In the feast of Unleavened Bread, the Jews were to remove every trace of yeast from their homes, including the crumbs from bread that had been baked with yeast. This helped them remember how God had saved them from Egypt, but it also reminded them that they needed to get rid of every trace of sin from their lives. When Jesus came, He pointed out one more detail for them, that He is the perfect sinless bread of life!John 6:25-35Jesus is the source of life.
When you go to a theme park there are restrictions on who can ride which rides, like height and weight and age. You even need a certain kind of admission to ride certain rides. If you don't have those things, you can't go on those rides. If you do have those things, the only thing holding you back is your own choice. When we look at Christ's work on the cross and the Jewish festival of The Day of Atonement, we see that Christ removed every barrier that was holding us back from God, now the only thing remaining is for us to make a choice.Luke 23:44-46, Hebrews 10:10-18, Acts 16There's nothing keeping you away from God anymore.
A new start, a new way, a new heart... something we could all use. Our pasts, our strategies, our natural responses seem to always get in the way and beat us down over and over again. The festival of firstfruits though is a celebration of how God can take us from the wilderness and bring us into the promised land, and He deserves the first of the harvest. The promised land is actually the victory of Jesus over death, and He got to have the first taste of it! Now that harvest is available to us. A new life, a new heart, a new way, a new start!1 Cor 15:20-23 & Joshua 5:10-12Jesus' resurrection was the start of something new for us.
The Jewish Festival of Tabernacles (Booths/Tents) is one that reminds them of being in the wilderness and how God provided and led them through that time. In our own lives we go through times in the wilderness too, and we need help, just like the Israelites, to get through it. When Jesus attended this festival, He made it clear that He is the way through the wilderness, and that the festival was a reminder to be looking for Him!John 7-8The wilderness reminds us that Jesus is the only way to survive.
Sometimes we get stuck looking backwards at our past, whether it is recently past or a long-time past doesn't matter. The Israelites faced the same issue and God gave them very clear direction to stop doing that and to move onto what He was promising them! We need to remember our past, but it's time to stop being trapped by it.Exodus 14:15 Joshua 1:1-9It's time to move on from your past because you're not there anymore.
We all have families and every one of them has left us with some sort of baggage. Some of that baggage is pretty heavy, and at times pretty harmful. Things like neglect, depression, abandonment, condemnation, or unresolved conflict are some of the heaviest things, but there are some basic patterns that get passed down too that can weigh on us too. Regardless of what we have experienced in our families, God has made a way to get past it, and live so it doesn't weight us down.Hebrews 12:1-3Family baggage can't hurt us if we stop carrying it.
The natural tendency of life is for cycles and patterns to repeat over and over again. Usually this means we get stuck in negative thinking and behaviour and get stuck living it over and over again. Sometimes we just give into it, but most times we try to fight it and still fall back into the cycle. When we look at God's Word we see that He has made a way to break that pattern. It's like washing dishes, they only get clean when you use new clean water.Eph 4:22-24Only holiness can break the cycle of our pasts.
It's hard to move forward in life when the things from our past keep holding onto us. Sometimes they feel like chains that we carry or simply trip us up. Most of us can easily think of sins and mistakes that we have made that we feel are too big or too many to ever actually leave behind. Size and quantity of sin in our pasts has never been a roadblock for Jesus to bring forgiveness and freedom though!Luke 7:36-50The first step to freedom is being forgiven.
Life throws distractions at us from every angle. It's so easy to forget things and miss out on what we should be doing. Sometimes we miss the point for a moment, and sometimes we miss it entirely. Paul makes it clear when writing to the young pastor Titus, that we are here for a reason, and that's to do good things, and that takes work.Titus 3:14In order to grow a fruitful life, you need to get to work growing it.
None of us are perfect, and none of us get it right all the time. God is well aware that we aren't perfect and that we need His help to grow and change. He doesn't expect us to get better all on our own, because we can't! Sometimes we forget how important it is for Him to help us grow though. Everyone around us sees us and is influenced in one way or another by us. Who do people see when they look at us?Titus 2:1-15Your friends, family and neighbors are watching you, and they need to see Jesus when they do.
I do not like being wrong. It's seriously one of my least favourite things. It hurts, it's embarrassing, it makes me feel like a failure. I think most of us don't like it and do what we can to avoid it. Sometimes we do things that don't make any sense in an attempt to avoid it! It is especially problematic when we are avoiding the correction that comes after being wrong. We need that correction, because without it we would remain on the wrong path, doing the wrong thing, unable to get what we need.Titus 1:10-16To be on the right path, we need to accept correction.
Our culture is riddled with popular icons everyone pays attention to and tries to emulate. Unfortunately, these people are usually not known for their morals, wisdom, or humility! Does it make sense for us to be following these kinds of people with our lives if they aren't going to make us more like Christ? We will just end up in the mess they are in.Titus 1:1-9The only leaders worth following with your life, are those with lives that lead to Jesus.
Life is hard sometimes, and when God calls us it can be exceptionally hard to follow Him to that place. It's not just a hard journey, we also often have direct opposition along the path. It can feel like an impossible journey. How are we supposed to survive and endure? The apostle Paul knew the feeling, and gave us some directions on how to endure. It turns out it isn't about trying harder, it's about letting Jesus do the work!When Jesus takes over, you become unstoppable.2 Corinthians 4:7-18
Along every great journey there comes a crisis moment when we have to decide whether to continue along our path or give in to something else that is in front of us. Do we choose our friends, or our marriage? Do we choose health, or junk food? Do we choose freedom, or temporary release? When that time comes we need to remember where God is calling us, where we really want to go, and make the hard decisions.Matthew 5:30If it keeps you from your goal, it's not worth keeping
When we travel there are two foundational concepts that keep us safe and on our path. We need a well-working vehicle, and we need to follow the rules of the road. If we invest in those two things, we can handle almost any situation. The Bible gives us a lot of examples of people who understood this and made sure they had a healthy relationship with God and followed His rules. Two examples of this are Joseph and Daniel. Because they invested in these foundations, they made it through incredible trials and ended up where God wanted them to go.Daniel 6:21-23If you're healthy and follow the rules, you can make it through anything.
We all understand what it's like to get distracted, whether when driving or when just trying to do chores around home. Sometimes the distractions are harmless, but when it comes to the direction and destination of our lives, there can be massive consequences. As a society we have made distracted driving illegal, because of the risk it poses to ourselves and others. The same risk exists in our life goals when we allow distractions to get in the way.2 Tim 4:5Don't get distracted, it's not worth the risk.
Being lost is no fun, and wandering around doesn't get you anywhere. We've all had those experiences, and we have felt that way in life too. The principles of a journey and life are very similar. If you want to end up some place specific, you need to first decide what that place is! If you want something specific for your life, you need to first decide what that is! Yet, we often forget this crucial first step.You need to decide where you want to go, if you want to get there.Philippians 3:10-14
Sometimes at Christmas it can be hard to feel cheerful and happy because for one reason or another, all we can think about it how a special person in our lives is missing. Sometimes we even feel guilty for those emotions because they seem to just ruin the mood of the holidays. When we remember why Jesus came to Earth in the first place though, we realize that those emotions have always been part of the Christmas story.Luke 19:10Missing people doesn't ruin Christmas, it highlights it.
It is so easy to be so involved in our Christmas celebrations that we miss what it really is about, like looking at something under a microscope can make it hard to tell what it come from! When we step back and take another look at Christmas, we see that God intended the coming of Jesus to be much bigger than we usually think.Matthew 1:23 & Ezekiel 17:22-23When we see Christmas from Gods perspective, we understand it is about us not me.
Is worship just about singing songs, filling our buckets and having an exciting church service, or is there more to it? Is there more to worship than singing, and is it supposed to happen more than just once a week? When we look to God's Word we discover just how clearly He shows us the answers to those questions. Romans 12:1 Everything about us should honour God.
Sometimes we go trhough life wondering why we are even here, and when we will get what we really want out of life. We can fall for teh trap of thinking that our main priority should be about making our own dreams come true and that we should be taking everything thing from life. When we look to Jesus, and His example, we see something much different there. He shifts the world on its head and we are left with an incredible challenge. Luke 19:10 Its not about us, God has put us here to serve.
A huge part of our faith journey is connecting with God, I think we can all accept that. There is another connection we need to make when it comes to faith which is much harder, and that's connecting honestly with other people! We have all been hurt by others and it can be so hard to reach out to make connections again, but we need it. John 15:15 & Acts 15:37-39 Jesus and the early church were convinced that community was worth the risk.
Nowadays we all do a lot of searching. We search online, we search for deals, we search for the perfect item, we search for information and answers. What we are really searching for though is the fulfillment that God brings, and He is searching for anyone that is lost. Searching is a key part of our faith journey because we search for God, and we join Him in the search for the lost. Matt 13:44-45 & Luke 15 When something's missing, we search boldly.
Some people feel like they deserve everything good in the world, but the rest of us feel like we fall short all the time and need to make up for that. Even the good things that come our way, we feel like we need to earn them. This carries over into spiritual matters to, and we end up thinking we need to earn God's love, forgiveness and purpose. But that simply isn't true.
Judges 11 God wants you to answer the call, not earn it.
Samson is a famous character from the Bible, with his long hair and incredible strength! But his story involves a lot of problems, and as God uses him to fight for his people, Samson makes some pretty big mistakes. Eventually he loses his strength entirely, but God doesn't done using him. You're not done, even after you mess up. Judges 16:30
Ehud was a left-handed assassin. The only reason he was able to accomplish his mission is because he was left-handed. Yet, at that point in history most people looked down on people who were left-handed. Sometimes people look down on us for our differences too, but sometimes Godis looking for just those differences! Judges 3:12-30 Sometimes God uses someone unlike everyone else to do something everyone else can't.
The Bible is filled with stories of imperfect people. Sometimes those people are just plain messed up. Actually, they are a lot like us. And yet, God uses them. When we look at the story of Gideon, it seems like God only wants to use the messed up people! For one reason or another, God uses people who couldn't do it on their own! Judges 6:14 God loves doing incredible things through messed up people.
How are we supposed to interpret the Bible and find answers to our questions about life? Scripture doesn't talk about all of our life's issues in detail, and some things like modern technology aren't mentioned at all. How then can we know what to do, and what God thinks about all the issues we face? Using a guide is helpful, but we must always start our search with scripture. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 Always start with scripture when looking for answers to scripture and life.
There are so many resources and so many opinions out there, how do you know what to read and what to believe? Well, this has been a question ever since the church started and Paul gave us some clear guidelines for holding to the Truth of God. 1 Timothy 6:3-5 God's basic Truth is the best guide for all other information.
When we face problems in life, sometimes we don't know what to do, and sometimes we just don't want to do those things. God has made it clear many of the things we should be doing, even if we don't find in His Word details on which car to buy, who to marry, or how to invest our savings. When we do what He says though, it gets us closer to those details. Exodus 20 The rules are there so you know what to do even when you don't want to.
Reading the Bible can give us a lot to think about and process, but how is it supposed to actually make a difference in our lives. Half the time we read a passage and don't know what we are supposed to do with it next. Is there a way to know how to take what we read in the Bible and apply it to our lives? 2 Tim 3:16-17 The better you understand the Bible, the easier it will be to see how it applies to your life.
When we look in the Old Testament of the Bible we see lots of examples of men and women being called by God to do incredible and hard things. We also see lots of examples of them not finishing the job! Like in our own lives, when God calls us to do something, but we don't do it, these men and women in the Old Testament discovered it could undo everything else! When you leave God's will undone, it will undo everything else. 2 Kings 23:13
We are bombarded by social media, television, advertisements, movies, clips online, and a culture obsessed with appearance. They all shove down our throats that things should be quick, easy and simple. We end up thinking we are messed up because our lives don't look like that, we hide all the messy parts of our lives and then assume that everyone else around us is just what is obvious about them. Is that all there is? John 4 Be careful, there's always more to the story.
We've all struggled with trying to make the right decision around things in our lives, and many of us have prayed and asked God to speak to us about what we should be doing. But it can be extremely hard to know what God is saying, especially in those critical moments. Is there any way to have confidence in discerning God's voice? 1 Samuel 3:8-10 The better you know the Holy Spirit, the easier it is to recognize Hid voice.
We live in a world that is obsessed and saturated with sex. How are we supposed to keep ourselves from falling into the mess of sexual sin and addiction? How do we keep from falling for the traps all around us that can lead to the destruction of our marriages, the development of addictions or the loss of our souls? When it comes to sex curiosity is just a nice word for temptation, and you can't flirt with temptation, you have to run from it. Matthew 5:30 & 1 Corinthians 10:13
We either think or are pressured to think that religion and faith are personal things that must remain completely private. Yet, some personal things are obviously public at the same time. Just because it's personal doesn't mean it is also private. Colossians 4 Faith isn't just between you and God; it involves those around you too.
Can you imagine going on a diet and still eating whatever you want whenever you want? Yeah, you probably can, but it doesn't work very well does it?! If we want to see a change in our lives we can't keep living the same way. The new way has to take over and the old way has to stop. It's the same with our faith. Colossians 3:1-17 To have new life means the old life has to die.
I have gone through the motions of religion, and sometimes poured myself legalistically into it, thinking that my actions will result in making the change I want to see or in making me acceptable to God. It never works though. And, it doesn't have to work, because God doesn't need me to make myself holy. He sent Jesus to do that. Colossians 2:16-23 You need Jesus, not religion, to make you holy.
We like to think that religion can just be something personal and quiet, that doesn't affect other parts of our lives. We try to keep our faith out of certain parts of our lives and that ends up harming those parts. It's like baking half of the bacth of cookies with sugar and half without. If you want them to taste right, you have to add Jesus to the whole mix! Jesus is the key ingredient for all of life. Colossians 1:15-23
There are many times in our lives when people hurt and wrong us. These are sometimes just mistakes or misunderstandings, but sometimes they are just violations and legitimate offenses. When those things take place, a gap forms between us and them and until there is forgiveness that takes place, that gap will exist. Colossians 3:13 you can't have unity if there's a charge between you.
Frequently we treat people well in order to get something in return. This happens in casual relationships, in our marriages and families, with strangers and even at work. There are even people in our lives whom we are nice to ONLY because we want to get something from them. Jesus lived in a different way though, and Paul makes it clear we should be living like Him. Life is not about you; you are here to give not get. Eph 6:5-8 & Phil 2:3-8
We all have history with messy and problematic conflict in our relationships. Whether it is how we act or how those around us act, most of us do it badly! We either become a bull in a china shop or we run away and hide. Neither of those strategies helps. If we could do it differently though, we would find our relationships get better! We need healthy conflict to sharpen our relationships. Proverbs 27:17
So often in our relationships we are faced with the false dilemma of either being honest or saving our relationship. Lying has become part of our culture and part of our strategy in relationships, but it creates fractures that will eventually damage our relationships. There is another way though! Loving honesty builds mature relationships Eph 4:15
We all want to make our relationships better, but most of the time our efforts either fall flat or end up making our relationships worse! Jesus gives us a very clear first step to making a positive change in our relationships, and it makes a lot of sense, even though there is at least one big roadbloack to it... The first step in improving any relationship is working on yourself. Matthew 7:3-4
When we take a close look at the Jewish tradtion and festival of Passover we see that it both remembers what God did to set the Israelites free from slavery in Egypt, but we also see how it looked forward to the incredible work He would do in Jesus on the cross!
Sometimes things end up in the trash that don't belong there. Hopefully we notice they are missing and find them before it is too late. Sin has sent us to the trash, but God noticed we were missing and sent Jesus to find and save us! Psalm 16:8-11 Acts 13:26-41 You don't belong in the trash.
So often what we do comes back to bite us. At least, those things we really shouldn't have done come back to bite us. The Old Testament shows us how God dealt with the sting of those bites, but when Jesus came He didn't just come to medicate the problem, He came to get rid of it! Jesus is the only solution to the curse of our sins. Numbers 21:4-9 John 3:14-18
In the prophet Isaiah's book we discover that it was predicted Jesus would be killed, broken, but we also see that He would go through that because of our failures and to save us from our sins! Isaiah 53 Jesus was broken to fix your brokenness.
Giving can be one of the hardest things about money to talk about, especially when we don't have a lot of it to begin with. God speaks very clearly about giving though, and the story we find in 1 Kings 17 makes it hit close to home for all of us. 1 Kings 17:10-13 God doesn't want your leftovers.
Jesus makes it pretty clear that the toys you collect here on Earth don't go with you after you die. But He is also very clear that there is a way to make sure you are rich after death, in eternal life. It requires a trade though, and its worth it. Matthew 6:19-21Matthew 13:44-46 Trading temporary wealth for eternal wealth is always a good trade!
For many of us, money really stresses us out! Just managing your money on a good day can be stressful, and then when a crisis happens, it can easily cause chaos. I don't think that's what God wants for us, and I think He has given us guidance on how to have peace instead of stress when it comes to our money. If you want financial peace, you need to put your trust in God's structure. Matthew 4:4, 6:24 & Prov 3:5-6, 16:9, 21:5
Money never does anything on its own. It just sits there. It can't provide or save you. So we need to make sure we don't put our hope in it. I hope needs to be in God. 1 Timothy 6:17-19 Money is always idle, don't let it become and idol too.
Paul gives us one final thought to end his letter, and it is simple and clear. There is no part of you that God doesn't want to influence and fix, and this message is to be shared with everyone! Holiness is for all of you. 1 Thessalonians 5:23-28
There are no neutral actions in life, they either add good or evil to our lives. We need to choose those actions though, and Paul gives us great clarity on what we should be doing to stay strong and how we are to go through life. To stay healthy, check the label and only ever use what's still good. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-22
Dealing with hard people can often lead us to just attack or shut down other people. It's difficult to figure out how to manage those relationships and situations, but we know that putting others down just doesn't do what we really want. So what are we supposed to do instead? 1 Thessalonians 5:12-15 Always call, pull, push or hold people UP, never down.
Paul gives us pretty clear practical advice in this passage. We need to stay sharp, stay strong and stay awake. We are working the night shift, driving while everyone else is asleep. It's our job to keep the bus on the road, avoid the ditches. That means we need to stay awake. You can't avoid the ditch if you're asleep. 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
I was, and am, the kid/guy who would get a new set of lego and immediately turn to the book of instructions to start building. These were the directions from the manufacturer, they knew how to handle the product and how to produce the best results. We don't always do that though, often ignoring the instructions because we "know better." God built this world, and He has given us instructions, we should follow them to get the best results. Hosea 14:9 If you want the best results, study and follow God's directions.
Hosea highlights the incredible love that God has for people who have messed up and ruined things. He doesn't asl us to come part way and meet in the middle, He says, "I am coming to meet you exactly where you are and I will pay whatever price I need to so you can get out of it!" Hosea 3 &14 God paid for you to have a second chance.
In our culture love is very flashy but also very fragile. It is a lot like frost that only lasts until the heat touches it. We find in Hosea that God wants us to have a more enduring and resilient love, love more like an iceberg. Hosea 6:4-6 True love is made of kindness and knowing God.
After we go through all the traditions and celebrations of Christmas, we are sometimes left wondering what difference it made. What was the big deal about this baby Jesus anyway? Well, when you look at His life you see He matters because of who He is and what He has for you... John 20:30-31 Pay attention to Jesus, because He has life for you.
What we expect determines what we do, and in contrast, what we do reveals what we expect. When we expect God to show up, we get ready! Hebrews 11:1 When you expect Jesus, you get ready for Him.
The problems of today can be completely overwhelming, especially when they seem to keep going and going. They become exahusting and we are left feeling defeated. Yet, the truth is they are only temporary. God has promised long-term blessing, which means these temporary pains won't last forever! Psalm 28 If you can trust God for the long-term, you can get through the short-term.
During those times in our lives where everything goes wrong, the odds are completely stacked against us, and we can see no way out, whether with family, money, addiction, mental health or any number of things, it becomes so easy to feel like the situation is simply hopeless. But, they aren't hopeless for Jesus! Psalm 33 If your hope is in Jesus, you're never hopeless!
In a world that seems to be consumed by fear, whether political, biological, cultural, or relational, what are we supposed to do? How are we supposed to get through this. Fear can paralyze us, and if we freeze in the storm, we might not make it through. What are we supposed to do? Well, fear God only. Psalm 2 Fearing God means you don't need to fear anything else.
God calls each of us to be and do something. When that call comes, it is very natural for us to simply think of all the reasons why we can't do it. It might be a lack of ability, skill or resources, but we come up with any excuse we can. Yet, those things were never a requirement for the call... Exodus 4:11-17 God isn't calling you because He thinks you can do it on your own, He's calling you because He knows He can do it through you!
When we settle for "good enough" we never reach the incredible. God has something incredible for us, but we will miss it if we don't keep pushing and growing more and more! 1 Thessalonians 4:1 Don't settle for good enough, keep growing, stretch to be more and more like Jesus.
Paul and the Thessalonians could relate to us and our struggles today. And when we read Paul's letter to them, we find out just how significant their relationship was to helping them get through those struggles. 1 Thessalonians 3:7-8 Staying Connected to good souls is good for your soul.
It can be so easy to look around us and think that others should be doing more to make a difference with what they have. Jesus made it clear that we are each responsible to use what He gives us. We shouldn't be occupied with judging others, we should be driven to use what we have!
Luke 12:48
We have what we have so we can make a difference.
If can be incredibly frustrating dealing with a culture and political system that seems bent on attacking and belittling The Way of following Jesus. What are we supposed to do when that happens? What does God want us to do to change it? Peter gives us some clear instructions, though it can be hard to swallow.
1 Peter 2:11-17
If you want to see change you need to show honour not disrespect.
Throughout history there have been many ideas about God and life and the universe, but it is the Word of God that gives us what is true and real. When we believe those things that go against the Word of God we end up getting confused, lost, anxious and defeated. It takes work to make sure we are believing what is true, but it changes everything about our lives!
1 Timothy 1:3-6, 18-20
What we believe matters.
When we find patterns, habits, issues, sins that keep repeating themselves in our lives or from generation to generation, we may be dealing with a rut, or a bad cycle. Those cycles don't have to repeat though. They can be broken, but it takes work. To break a cycle there has to be an intervention to do a reset. 1 John 1:9 & 1 Peter 1:18-19
When we come up against trials and struggles it can be easy for everything to fall apart. Pastor Sheryl gives us some clarity on how to avoid that, and how God makes a way not only to survive hard times but find peace in them! Luke 7:44-50, John 16:33 & Philippians 4:6-7 If your faith is in God, you will have peace instead of falling to pieces.
Pastor Jamin encouraged us to look to Jesus and build His Kingdom, a Kingdom not of this world. This involves living and working differently than the rest of the world, because we don't belong to this world any more.
There are two simple things Michael Gregory would like us to remember from this message: 1. God cares about those who are lost. 2. God wants you to go help bring them home.
Every now and again we come to a situation in life that leaves us really wondering what we should do next and how we should do it. Sometimes we want to back away from what God is calling us to do, and other times we see that we need to turn from what we have been doing and start following God in God's way. We weigh the pros and cons of going our way and going God's way. But, it is only by going with God that we will be fulfilled and not destruction. Numbers 14:42 If you're following God, nothing can stop you. If you're against God, nothing can save you but God.
God sometimes gives us promises, and often call us to be and do things for His Kingdom. Often those things require great risk and cost. Sometimes we think, "I can just do that later, " or, "this is too hard, I can't do this anymore." When we do that we act like the Israelites on the edge of the promised land and put our part in the promise in jeopardy. Numbers 13-14 Now is the time to be faithful and follow-through, because we may never get another chance.
Philippians 4:6-7 We weren't meant to face life alone, that's why more often than not we need to get help. Through all our mental struggles and challenges, there are a few things we can do on our own to improve our health and make positive strides, but sometimes the issues dig a little deeper than what we can manage on our own. Actually, even when we think we can do it on our own, it is usually still better to go through the struggle with others. God clearly states in the Bible that we were designed to go through life together, and that means in our struggles too.
Matthew 3:1-17 Who's you are makes you valuable, not what you do. So often we try to earn our value, we try to change what people think of us or make up for the mistakes we have made in an attempt to be worthy. Sometimes we try to simply follow all the rules to be "good enough." God tells us though that doing good actually is supposed to spring from our value, from already being loved by Him. We don't need to earn it, we simply need to let Him have us.
When we get tired due to scheduling, intensity and chaos we are left injured and broken. Like after a good workout, we need time to recover before we can do anymore lifting. God knew that rest was needed for us to grow and even just exist, so He set in place the Sabbath. And when we look at how the Sabbath was practiced and what Jesus understood about it's purpose we see that we still need rest today. Luke 13:10-16 & Exodus 16:28-29 The point of practicing consistent moments of rest is restoration and healing.