November 6, 2016
What Jesus was saying to them is that they keep the gospel of Jesus central to their lives, to put into practice everything they learned from Jesus, and then they were not to keep this to themselves, but share everything of the what they’ve learned from Jesus and about Jesus with others.
November 6, 2016
You and I don’t decide to make Jesus Lord; He is Lord regardless of what we think of him. Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose from the grave, and now He is exalted at the Father’s right hand as the Lord over all creation. He is the Ultimate Authority in the Universe! There is no one greater, no one higher, no one more powerful than Jesus!
October 17, 2016
God is a defender of the fatherless. He draws near the brokenhearted. He gives mercy and compassion to the poor. He loves the immigrant. He lifts up the downtrodden. God cares for the vulnerable. And He loves those who do the same.
October 17, 2016
We’re not a building that’s helping people, we’re not programs that are helping people, and we’re not one person who is helping people, but we are people helping people become friends, family and followers of Jesus. We are a church about Jesus, a group of ordinary people who God has recruited to be His grace peddlers in a world without grace.
October 17, 2016
It is Jesus who gave his life for the Church. It is Jesus who joins us together as a Church. It is Jesus who is alive, who dwells in the midst of His people the Church. He is the rock on which we stand. He makes us the new people of God. And He gives us our marching orders. And our marching orders are clear: We are to make disciples of every nation. We are to make Jesus known to every tongue and tribe. We are to make Jesus known by how we love. We are to make Jesus known by how we live. And we are to make Jesus known by sharing our story – and our story is His story.
September 30, 2016
This is why Jesus is called Emmanuel – God with us. He came to us when our relationship with God was broken by sin. He came to us to be with us. Not so we might do stuff for Him, but so He could be with us. Sometimes we have it all wrong. We think the Christian life is about what we can do for God. But that’s not grace. Grace is God coming to us so He can do everything for us.
September 19, 2016
By binging God into the blessing, Isaac was imparting a sense of security that he himself could not give. Imagine how comforting it was for Jacob to realize that God was for him, and God was going to be with him.
September 13, 2016
God chooses to work through this dysfunctional family to create a new family for Himself. Why doesn’t God just start over with some people who have it a little more together? Why? Because in His wisdom, God shows us that He doesn’t give up us, especially when we mess up. In fact, God never gives up on any of His children. He loves us in spite of our dysfunctional flaws caused by sin. He loves us in spite of our favoritism, in spite of our flesh, in spite or our faithlessness.
September 9, 2016
God’s mercy toward Jacob is a reminder of God’s mercy to us. For just as He chose to bless Jacob by giving him mercy, God has done the same for us: He loved us before we were born and chose to bless us by making us heirs with Christ. We didn’t do anything to deserve this. God did it all for us, even when we were still sinners. And God is still loving and merciful today. And that’s good news. Because that means that no one is too sinful who God cannot save.
September 1, 2016
This unsung hero asked for God’s help and God delivered in every way. Not only was Rebekah a servant who was thoughtful and industrious, she was hospitable and generous, and finally, she was one of Abraham’s own people. God had helped him find Isaac’s mate!