Why do bad things happen to good people? In a broken and sinful world, suffering is a reality that everyone must face. The question is, how can we glorify God in the midst of our suffering? Pastor Christian begins a two-week series in Job to answer these questions and more:
As we understand more about the Gospel, we will have a burden for lost souls. In this week's message, Pastor Dave Locke shows us from Romans 9:1-5 how the Gospel changes the way we view others and ourselves.
Culture around us continues to degrade at a rapid pace. Christian morals no longer stand as the norm. Rather those that hold to Biblical truth are viewed as wicked. In Romans 1, we discovered that this trend is no surprise. As God’s wrath turns against culture, it will continue to degrade and become more hostile. Further, believers face struggles and challenges throughout life. Romans 7 informed us that sin still impacts our lives and we can’t get away from it. However, as we saw in Romans 1:16,...
There are certain verses in Scripture that are very popular because of their message. Often, these verses can inadvertently turn into empty platitudes. Romans 8:28 is one such verse. Whenever someone is facing difficulty, they have a fellow believer to remind them, that all things work together for good! This can often feel very unhelpful. However, as we turn today to our enduring promise from God, and look at this promise in its context, I believe that this can turn into one of the most gloriou...
The Holy Spirit is the most misunderstood, misrepresented, and ignored person of the Trinity. Pentecostals have turned the Spirit into a sideshow. And in response, most protestants have swung the pendulum to ignoring the Spirit. However, when we face trials and struggles in life, we do ourselves a disservice if we do not understand the Spirit’s role and working in our life. Many Christians face struggle with a kind of sad resignation. We understand that trial and struggle in our life is a realit...
Why do bad things happen? Every day we feel the struggles and toils of life. Many of you are currently walking through deep struggles in your life. Yet Romans 8:1-17 speaks of the fact that we are children of God. We are no longer under condemnation. The Spirit dwells within us! So why do bad things happen to the children of God? Doesn’t this seem to contradict the idea that we have life in Christ? TV’s popular health and wealth preachers regularly claim that if you have faith, you stand as a ch...
Through faith we are made children of God. The most amazing benefit of salvation is that we become part of God's family.
From an early age, children look to their mothers and ask, "Mommy, did you see that?" We all long for approval and acceptance from our mothers. In a similar vein, many have long given up any hope that they can be assured of God's approval. They simply hope that he will accept them. However, as we look at our text this morning we will discover that God is pleased with you because of Christ.
God's holiness cannot allow sin to go unchecked. However, God's grace stands greater than sin.
Many believers live in the throws of shame and guilt. The sins and mistakes of the past continually haunt them and destroy their lives and relationships. Some endure intense shame because of sin against them. But the glorious news of the gospel is that they are not condemned in Christ.
Over the past two weeks, we have discussed the reality that you can and must say no to sin. Sin is a challenge in every individual’s life. The struggle is very real. So how do we overcome sin? How do we say no to sin? Often when a particular sin struggle enters into a life or to a society, the regular response to that struggle is to make a rule to keep you or others in society from that sin. In our personal life, we begin to make rules for ourselves to make sure that we keep from sinning. Perhap...
Slavery is a concept abhorrent to our society. The idea that one person can own another as chattel almost split our nation. We fought one of the bloodiest wars in history to end that practice. As Americans, we hold strongly to individual and personal rights. No one, not even the government, holds absolute authority over us. We are free! But what if I told you that is not true? What if I told you that every one of us is actually a slave? As we walk through the Book of Romans, we observed that we ...
Over the past few weeks, we have been rehearsing the reality that you are justified in Christ. Because of that you no longer need to fear sin. You have been forgiven. Last week we discussed the fact that we have a representative in Christ that has placed his righteousness on us. So that when we stand before God we will be clothed in His righteousness. This means that you are forgiven your sin and you can overcome your sin. Perhaps as you contemplated these things you responded in your heart with...
All of us are represented by one of two people. One representative leads to death, the other to life. Which represents you?
As lightning flashed and thunder crashed outside the window, terror-filled the child’s heart. In fear, they scrambled out of bed and ran down the hall to their parent’s bedroom. As they climbed into bed with their parents, the child felt her parent’s arms encircle her in a protective hug. There is something comforting and protective when a parent puts their arms around their children. While the storm still rages, something about the protective hug ensures the child that everything will be alrigh...
In 1858, a very successful preacher in Scotland by the name of John G Paton, left his ministry and comfort of home to become a missionary in the islands of the New Hebrides. At this time the Islands were populated by very aggressive cannibals who would eat foreigners and natives alike at a moment’s notice. When John Paton announced his decision, he received very vocal opposition to this call from God. John Paton wrote this account in his biography, “Among many who sought to deter me was one dear...
We continue our study in Romans 4. How can one be good with God and sure they will enter heaven in the end? Not through works, status, or rules. Only through faith can one enter the kingdom of God.
Are you good with God? What are you relying upon to make sure that when you stand before God, you are good? Today we examine Romans 4 to see what can take us from being totally depraved to being good with God.
As we speak about spiritual growth, prayer stands as a vital spiritual discipline which spurs our growth. Yet, this is an aspect of our spiritual life in which we often struggle. Prayer is hard. All of us struggle in our prayer life. Last week we began to look at three important reasons why we must take time to pray. We made it through the first two and today I would like to look at the third.
When you love someone, you cannot wait to talk to them. Several years ago, Heather and I visited my sister in college. Heather went up to her dorm room and to get her and I sat in the car waiting. As I sat there, I noticed a young man and woman who were obviously dating. As they spoke to one another, their infatuation was obvious. They walked up to the dorm where they said their goodbyes (or so I thought). As they parted, they each took out their cell phones and I quickly realized, they were cal...
Over the past few weeks, we have discussed the reality of spiritual maturity. However, if you are like me, the time we have spent has been hard. We see where we need to be and we realize that we are not there. However, today and over the next few weeks, I would like to lay out a path through which you and I can grow in our walk with God. Those traits of the spiritually mature can be true in your life. And the path to this is available to all. There is an old children’s song that states that if w...
Becoming skilled at anything requires time and effort. If one wants to become a musician of skill, they must spend years practicing daily. If one wants to grow as an athlete, it requires self-discipline and practice. Growth in every area including relationships requires time and effort. When Christians do not think intentionally about their spiritual growth, they should not expect significant growth. Without understanding the biblical marks of spirituality, the Christian will struggle to exempli...
Because of the history surrounding Christopher Columbus, someone once suggested the foundation of the Christopher Columbus award. This award would go to those who, like good old Chris, when they set out to do something, don’t know where they are going; neither do they know how to get there. When they arrive, they don’t know where they are, and when they return, they don’t know where they have been. Tragically, many Christians set out in their spiritual life with little more understanding than go...
In his 1865 children’s novel, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carrol presents a striking scene which contains an important lesson for us today. In the scene, Alice continues her travels through Wonderland. However, she comes to a fork in the road. As she contemplates which direction she should take, she is flummoxed. Looking at each road from different sides presents different possibilities. As she contemplates her decision, she notices the Cheshire cat sitting in the tree. Being in wond...
A Christmas Sermon
It has been a challenging week for our community. Several of your kids and grandkids have had school canceled for several days due to the threats made against their schools. Some kids are now scared to go, parents are worried, and we see society continue to degrade in front of our eyes. So how should we as Christians respond to the situation? As we have looked at the first chapters of Romans, we have seen the challenges of today. In chapter 1 we looked at the wrath of God against a society. It i...
Over the past two looks at the Book of Romans, we have noted that religion can’t save us. Paul addressed the Jews specifically informing them that their status as Jews could not save them. This raises an important question for the Jews and for us. The Jews would ask, “what advantage then is there to being a Jew?” We would ask, “What help then is religion?” Paul anticipates this question and enters into a sort of debate with himself. Admittedly, this section is one of the hardest sections to deal...
