Developing greater trust in God will equip you to navigate the inevitable peaks and valleys this year will bring. In fact, the Bible tells us that God uses the peaks and valleys to strengthen our trust. So, whether it’s the aspirations you have, or the challenges that will come…I would argue few disciplines will help this year be your best year more than developing greater trust in God.
Sadly, not everyone is going to accept the gift of Jesus… many are going to reject Him and his followers. So this is my question this morning. As followers of Jesus… as people who embrace the gift… what do we do in the midst of rejection? When are mothers and fathers abandon relationship with us because they just don’t like the fact that you worship Jesus, how should you react? When your son or daughter walk away from their faith how should you respond? When we see on the news those who look to ...
Jesus is going to be a kind of watershed figure. You are either going to be hot toward him or cold toward him. By definition, Jesus—who he is, how he lived, and what he calls us to— requires a choice. When you are awakened to him….how will you choose?
It is our purpose this morning to discuss why the virgin birth of Jesus is important and why it can’t be scuttled like unwanted refuse or a failed mission. We are not better served in communicating the truth of God’s saving grace by dumping the virgin birth. In fact, we don’t have a message to give if Jesus was not born of a virgin. He would not be the Savior and we would all be lost without hope. We will explore two arguments that emphasize the importance of the virgin birth.
Today I want to talk about another aspect of Christmas that each of us might need to prepare for and be awakened to how God can work in it and through it. Today I’d like to talk about family!
I believe it’s important to be reminded each year that the Christmas season can backfire on us if we’re not careful. Many people miss the whole point of Christmas. They get caught up in the flash and sparkle of the season, and miss the brilliant light of the Savior. My hope is this series will connect people with Jesus by inviting them to open their eyes and AWAKEN to the truth of his birth, the significance of his coming, and the ways he can impact their lives.
Today we come to the conclusion of our series in 1 Peter: Faithful Living in Faithless Times. I think it is safe to say that Peter has left the most fundamental piece of this for the end. Everything involved in living faithfully in faithless times is fundamentally rooted in the virtue Peter calls us to today. That virtue is humility! Faithful Living is rooted in humility.
Today is Peter taking time to describe what it looks like to abstain from sinful desires. What it looks like to live “good lives.” In these verses Peter paints a picture of what faithful living looks like in two relationships: first as Christian communities relating to their governing authority and secondly as slaves relating to their master. In each relationship Peter takes time to not only answer what faithful living looks like in but also the why its important. So lets look at the first relat...
It is not secret that we live in a culture that is becoming less and less tolerant of Jesus followers who seek to live by Biblical, godly values. How are we to respond? How are Christians to live faithfully in an increasingly faithless culture? Retaliate? Fight back? Turn the other cheek? Be compliant citizens? Be gentle as lambs and retreat to the prayer closet?
This week at Church Of The Foothills we are blessed to have a special guest speaker teaching from the Gospel of Mark. Despite the state of our world The Gospel is being proclaimed and changing lives.
Today’s text addresses Christians in marriage. I can’t think of a more appropriate topic to talk about because most Christian couples never realize the power that their healthy marriage can have—not only in their home but in their workplace, their friendships, in their church and in their community. Healthy, Christ-centered marriages are a living, breathing demonstration of the power of the Gospel to a faithless, hopeless world. We are tempted to think that our marriage is all about us—but it’s ...
That is what we are going to be doing today friends. This morning we are going to be traveling back to the “Front Desk” if you will and asking the question who are we? Do you know who you are? I think as Christians we can often get Alzheimer’s in our faith. We can forget who we are. There are times that we can often think we are the creator and not the created. There are times when we might forget God’s love for us. There are times when we think we have to earn our salvation and forget that it h...
In the portion of his letter we’ll be looking at today, Peter drills down more specifically on this opportunity we now have as Christians to live different kinds of lives. Peter specifically helps us understand that Christians—those who have believed in Jesus as Savior and are learning to trust him as leader in their lives—have a new and improved capacity to love.
Not only do Christians have their hope set on the mercy of God, but this week Peter adds to mercy, grace. Peter actually commands us to set our hope fully on the grace of God.
This morning in the opening 12 verses of the letter (which in the original language is one super long sentence) Peter lays out the foundation which can inspire you and I to faithful living in faithless times. In these opening 12 verses his inspiration starts with a spirit of celebration and ends in with a spirit of awe and gratitude, in effect saying…it’s a great time to be alive and what a privilege it is to know what we know about the the hope and promise of heaven.
Today I want to focus on the strong foundation upon which our purpose is built. It doesn’t matter if you have a great vision statement, a profound mission, if you don’t have the unchanging, core beliefs, to fuel and sustain it! Our purpose must have a strong foundation or it’s not really a vision, mission or purpose: it’s just a fantasy.
Today I want to refresh us in our local purpose and priorities which align with and flow out of that bigger picture of the Alliance we looked at last week. Before we get to some specifics, I want you to know that our ministry pattern overall is modeled after the pattern we see Jesus using in his ministry while here on earth. We don’t do what we do simply because: Other churches are doing it We read about it in a book somewhere It’s what someone did in their previous church. We do what we do beca...
This week I want to let you know or remind you that our church here in these foothills is part of a much bigger alliance. We are part of global movement of churches called the The Alliance—the Christian and Missionary Alliance. Today I want to spend our time helping you acquainted or reacquainted with this Alliance we are a part of. The first thing I want you to know is that the Alliance we’re part of is Christ-centered. Turn in your Bibles to Colossians 1:15-18
This morning, just as God commanded them to set up these stones in remembrance, I have some stones I’d like to revisit with you. Both through the history of this church as well as what I have experienced of Church of the Foothills, we will get to look back and remember that our God is powerful and in control.
So what makes a good marriage? That is what we are going to answer today. In chapter 8 we get a glimpse of what makes a bad marriage great. We have witnessed this couple go through everything... attraction, dating, their wedding, conflict and even sexual intimacy. What we have witnessed is not only how to do those things well, but most importantly how to love well. I would argue, chapter 8 is a capstone of the whole song. It brings it all together and in doing so this couple shows us the key ing...
Sex is everywhere in this culture. Its found in marketing and promotions for business and corporations... sex sells right? Yet it's not in our Churches. For years the Church has shied away from this topic, leaving the only influence and teachings on the topic coming from the government, education, media and social media. Friends we are seeing the consequences of that right now.
Last week we witnessed the conflict that this couple got into. It was rooted within the selfish wants of each party. The man wanted to be intimate with his wife and the wife wanted to go to sleep. What we learned right from the get go is that this man did not react in kind to his wife's response. Instead of arguing back or forcing himself into the bedroom he acted out of respect by non-verbally communicating his loving pursuit for her by sticking his hand through the keyhole. He then acted unsel...
Conflict happens in marriage doesn't it? Anyone in the house today whose marriage has yet to engage in conflict? We laugh but our culture has a tendency to paint a healthy marriage as one that involves no conflict when exactly the opposite is true. A healthy marriage is one that involves conflict. Why can I say that? Simple... The best marriage in the best song has conflict. What I want everyone to understand this morning is that what makes a healthy marriage isn't the absence of conflict but it...
As we continue to our summer series on the Song of Solomon, today we get to look at the wedding day, and more importantly the wedding night where we will see that God designed the best intimacy for a husband and wife to enjoy together.
Today we take another step in the Song that tops all songs. It is a song about love. It's a song about intimacy. And it's definitely a song about romance. But, fundamentally it's a song about healthy relationship. Love, romance, and physical intimacy will never blossom, if two people cannot fundamentally be in healthy relationship with one another.
If you're a single woman, the verses of The Song we are going to look at today, will help you understand the qualities to look for in a potential husband. If you are a husband, this will be a good refresher in the qualities we must seek to practice.
Last week I opened our new series on the song of Solomon by stating that I know what media, government, courts, news, pastors, counselors, friends, co-workers all have to say about the subject of dating, marriage & sex. But now, I am ready to see what God has to say about these subjects. This morning we are going to be camping out in Chapter 1:2-8. In these verses we are going to be listening to the woman start off this song as she begins to express her attraction to this man. Now we don't k...
It's time for the Church to step up and take back its responsibility to help God's creation Love God well by Loving our spouses and future spouses well.
We are going to look at Paul's closing arguments where he explains that the reason for his upcoming visit to Corinth is to build up the church.
This week in Chapter 11 and the first part of Chapter 12 Paul shares a rather lengthy argument to reveal to us that we are designed to magnify Christ.
