828 Church

Worth the Climb

Then Jesus entered and walked through Jericho. There was a man there, his name Zacchaeus, the head tax man and quite rich. 3He wanted desperately to see Jesus, but the crowd was in his way, he was a short man and couldn’t see over the crowd. 4So he ran on ahead and climbed up in a sycamore tree so he could see Jesus when he came by. 5When Jesus got to the tree, he looked up and said, “Zacchaeus, hurry down. Today is my day to be a guest in your home.” Zacchaeus scrambled out of the tree, hardly ...

Prophetic Provision

Poetic Provision

Sunday's Notes- Now Elijah, who was from Tishbe in Gilead, told King Ahab, “As surely as the LORD, the God of Israel lives, the God I serve, there will be no dew or rain during the next few years until I give the word!” I Kings 17:1 NLT Then the LORD said to Elijah, “Go to the east and hide by Kerith Brook, near where it enters the Jordan River. Drink from the brook and eat what the ravens bring you, for I have commanded them to bring you food.” So Elijah did as the LORD told him and camped besi...

Different Path / Same Value

The path is different but the value is the same NLT Exodus 14 Vs 10 As Pharaoh approached, the people of Israel looked up and panicked when they saw the Egyptians overtaking them. They cried out to the LORD, 11 and they said to Moses, “Why did you bring us out here to die in the wilderness? Weren’t there enough graves for us in Egypt? What have you done to us? Why did you make us leave Egypt? 12 Didn't we tell you this would happen while we were still in Egypt? We said, ‘Leave us alone! Let us b...

How to Slay a Giant

The Philistines now mustered their army for battle and camped between Socoh in Judah and Azekah at Ephes-dammim. Saul countered by gathering his Israelite troops near the valley of Elah. So the Philistines and Israelites faced each other on opposite hills, with the valley between them. 1 Samuel 17:1-3 NLT Then Goliath, a Philistine champion from Gath, came out of the Philistine ranks to face the forces of Israel. He was over nine feet tall! He wore a bronze helmet, and his bronze coat of mail we...

The Great Escape

One day as we were going down to the place of prayer, we met a slave girl who had a spirit that enabled her to tell the future. She earned a lot of money for her masters by telling fortunes. She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, and they have come to tell you how to be saved.” This went on day after day until Paul got so exasperated that he turned and said to the demon within her, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of he...

Hezekiah

Hezekiah son of Ahaz began to rule over Judah in the third year of King Hoshea’s reign in Israel. He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother was Abi, the daughter of Zechariah. He did what was pleasing in the LORD’s sight, just as his ancestor David had done. 2 Kings 18:1-3 NLT Neither hurt nor heritage determine whether you’ll follow God and His will or not. He removed the pagan shrines, smashed the sacred pillars, and cut down th...

Deciding with Dad

Before I shaped you in the womb, I knew all about you. Before you saw the light of day, I had holy plans for you: A prophet to the nations, that’s what I had in mind for you.. Jeremiah 1:5 MSG If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. James 1:5 NLT The wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. James 3:17 ESV We make decisions every day that move us c...

Here on Purpose

Let Him Choose

Stories shape your character What Where When Who 30 second cliff notes - you probably know the story but I won’t assume God tells Jonah to go tell some violent people to repent or God will destroy them Jonah gets in a boat and runs away He gets eaten by a big fish He gets spit up, then decides to obey The people repent and are not destroyed Jonah 1:1-2 The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up bef...

Dry Bones Live

“Son of man, give the people of Israel this message: You are saying, ‘Our sins are heavy upon us; we are wasting away! How can we survive?’ As surely as I live, says the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of wicked people. I only want them to turn from their wicked ways so they can live. Turn! Turn from your wickedness, O people of Israel! Why should you die? Ezekiel 33:10-11 NLT The destruction that comes from disobedient broken behaving isn’t a result of God’s choices, but ours. T...

Faithfully Follow

Darius the Mede decided to divide the kingdom into 120 provinces, and he appointed a high officer to rule over each province. The king also chose Daniel and two others as administrators to supervise the high officers and protect the king’s interests. Daniel soon proved himself more capable than all the other administrators and high officers. Because of Daniel’s great ability, the king made plans to place him over the entire empire. Daniel 6:1-3 NLT God’s favor follows those who faithfully fallow...

Simply Sacred

Many years later King Belshazzar gave a great feast for 1,000 of his nobles, and he drank wine with them. While Belshazzar was drinking the wine, he gave orders to bring in the gold and silver cups that his predecessor, Nebuchadnezzar, had taken from the Temple in Jerusalem. He wanted to drink from them with his nobles, his wives, and his concubines. Daniel 5:1-2 NLT So they brought these gold cups taken from the Temple, the house of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his nobles, his wives, and ...

Disobedient Believing

King Nebuchadnezzar to all peoples, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied to you! It has seemed good to me to show the signs and wonders that the Most High God has done for me. How great are his signs, How mighty his wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion endures from generation to generation. Daniel 4:1-3 ESV I, Nebuchadnezzar, was living in my palace in comfort and prosperity. Daniel 4:4 NLT Looking to God, not the world, for wisdom ...

Faith through the Fire

When the people of God adopt the lost and broken culture of the world, everyone loses. There is not a man on earth who can meet the king's demand… Daniel 2:10 ESV No one can show it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh. Daniel 2:11 ESV When Arioch, the commander of the king’s guard, came to kill them, Daniel handled the situation with wisdom and discretion. Daniel 2:14 NLT Daniel went in and requested the king to appoint him a time, that he might show the interpretation ...

Uncommon Conviction

Babylon - Living with conviction in a world that’s lost its way The book of Daniel gives us a roadmap for faithfully following God in a fallen culture. In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of the vessels of the house of God. Daniel 1:1 ESV And he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, and placed the vessels in the treasur...

Your Kingdom Come

The LORD has made the heavens his throne; from there he rules over everything. Psalm 103:19 NLT Is the Kingdom coming a reference to moment on the timeline, or a reference to eternity? Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are t...

The Best News Ever

Jesus willingly walked to his own crucifixion, knowing His Kingly coronation would be the cross! It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun's light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last. Luke 23:44-46 ESV - - (Truly this was an innocent man…) In the middle of what looked like ...

Dying to Live

It wasn’t so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn’t know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It’s a wonder God didn’t lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced...

True Life

By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. 2 Peter 1:3 NLT There is no life like the life we find in Jesus, and that’s the gospel truth. Life Giving The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. John 10:10 ESV For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God i...

A Different Kind of Winning

We won’t get to heaven and wish we had saved more, but rather that we could have given more away. If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. Mark 16:24-25 NLT You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. The second is equally important: Love your neighbor as your...

Whosoever Clause

Jesus didn’t come to condemn or condone, He came to save, set free. The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” Let anyone who hears this say, “Come.” Let anyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who desires drink freely from the water of life. Revelation 22:17 NLT There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee. After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus. “Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God ...

What a Friend

This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. John 15:12 NLT Because of Jesus we don’t have to believe the enemies lies or live lost, and that’s the gospel. Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Mark 16:15 ESV Thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Cor.15:57 NLT Jesus wills to bring salvation to everyone, everywhere, and in every situation. Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught i...

Compelled

For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 NKJV Afterward Jesus returned to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish holy days. Inside the city, near the Sheep Gate, was the pool of Bethesda, with five covered porches. Crowds of sick people—blind, lame, or paralyzed, lay on the porches. One of the men lyi...

Let the Redeemed

Jesus knew the Pharisees had heard that he was baptizing and making more disciples than John (though Jesus himself didn’t baptize them—his disciples did). So he left Judea and returned to Galilee. He had to go through Samaria on the way. Eventually he came to the Samaritan village of Sychar, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there; and Jesus, tired from the long walk, sat wearily beside the well about noontime. John 4:1-6 NLT The redemptive reach of the Messiah i...

Redemptive Reach

Reach - To stretch out an arm in a specified direction in order to touch or grasp something. You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.” Mark 12:30-31 NLT Reaching for the creation over the creator will leave you chasing pleasure over purpose and ultimately missing on both. The serpent was clever, more clever than any wild ...

Don't Miss Him

The most significant move of God is move He made for each of us. Jacob woke up from his sleep. He said, “GOD is in this place, truly. And I didn’t even know it!” He was terrified. He whispered in awe, “Incredible. Wonderful. Holy. This is God’s House. This is the Gate of Heaven.” Genesis 28:16-17 MSG The revelation that God is real and that He’s with us, is one of life’s most important discoveries. But the basic reality of God is plain enough. Romans 1:19 MSG For ever since the world was created...

Tent of Meeting

Closeness is a choice and God already made His. How good it is to be near God! I have made the Sovereign LORD my shelter, and I will tell everyone about the wonderful things you do. Psalm 73:28 NLT To know God as He is meant to be known, is to choose to prioritize His presence. It was Moses’ practice to take the Tent of Meeting and set it up some distance from the camp. And everyone who wanted to make a request of the LORD would go out to the Tent of Meeting. Exodus 33:7 NLT When the people saw ...

Where He Leads

What our world needs more than anything, save a sovereign move of God, is people who will live their lives surrendered to Him. I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” And he said, “Go…” Isaiah 6:8-9 ESV Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. - - But when they came to Harran, th...

Desperate to Follow

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. Genesis 1:1 KJV In order to participate in a move of God, you have to be willing to move with God. A man named Jairus, a leader of the local synagogue, came and fell at Jesus’ feet, pleading with him to come home with him. His only daughter, who was about twelve years old, was dying. As Jesus went wit...