Joy is a feeling called forth by well-being, success, or good fortune. A person automatically experiences it because of certain favorable circumstances. It cannot be commanded. Joy includes happiness, contentment, satisfaction but is not limited to those things. On the other hand, Joy as an Action can be engaged in regardless of how a person feels.
Today we light the second candle: the Candle of Peace. It’s amazing the power that that little, five-letter word carries. It’s something that everyone longs for because we live in a world that desperately needs it!
Life is full of winter seasons and challenges; nevertheless hope! What an amazing concept. It stands in this text as a signal of grace! It broke into their hopelessness with a promise of mercy! It declared God’s committed love for his people then and it still speaks hope to us today.
This Thanksgiving week we have the perfect opportunity to practice thanksgiving and model it for those in our lives. The scripture is filled with instructions to be thankful and filled with examples of great men and women of God being thankful and expressing that in a regular and ongoing way, to God and to each other.
This week, we come to a passage that is really heavy on application. If you are the kind of person that likes to come to Church on Sunday morning and just wants to be told what to do, this is the Sunday for you. If you want to cut through the doctrine and the theology and all that fluff and just talk about what we are supposed to do, this is it. Paul is getting to the end of his letter to the Philippians and he is moving from the exploration of ideas to the application of how to live.
Some of you may have noticed that when our hearts are at peace with God and at peace with key relationships in our lives, we can navigate the stresses of life much, much better. Staying heart connected with Jesus and with one-another provides the needed elasticity to flex and bend with the crazies of life without letting them break us.
The crazy culture that the Philippians faced is similar to the crazy culture we face today. A culture torn apart by conceit, pride, and selfishness. Paul calls/commands the Christians to change their ways and conduct of living to not reflect the world in all its pride but to reflect Christ in all his humility demonstrated in the gospel of his sacrifice.
Now, as we get started today, consider with me for a moment the opposite of humility. That is, pride! Have you ever noticed that pride is a sin that always divides people? Other sins bring people together for a time, as in the case of thieves. They are together at least until the bounty is divided up. But pride always works to divide. It says, "Who I am, what I have or what I want is better or more important than who you are, what you have or what you want." Pride divides!
In this section of the letter, Paul shifts his focus off his introductory comments about himself and instructs those reading this letter. In making this transition from him to us, Paul uses the word Monon. The Greek word monon refers to the exclusivity of the next sentence. Monon, some of your translations may read, "only," or, "alone," but more accurately, it is interpreted as "just one thing." In other words, Paul makes his transition… In the midst of whatever mountain you are facing… amid wha...
At first glance, from the outside looking in, it seems like everything has gone wrong in Paul's life: God’s man is in jail, his ministry is shot, he may be executed. But that’s not what God sees. God sees circumstances that are bursting with opportunity. There are no accidents with God. God can use the most trivial or trying circumstances in our lives to draw people to Himself. The question is: “Will I trust Him?” Will I let God use me however He wants for His glory and for the sake of those who...
Would you like your life to honor and glorify God? You’re here today, so I would bet that every one of you in this room this morning wants that. We don’t want our lives to bring disgrace to God, we don’t get up every morning and think, “How can I make God look bad today?” We don’t want our lives to be a downer for God. We want our lives to bring glory and praise to God.
The responsibility in finishing the work which Christ began in you is indeed Jesus Christ’s. However, the work of completing Christ’s Great Commission has been given to us! We go, we make disciples, and we teach them all we’ve learned from Christ, and then Jesus saves and completes the good work!
Today, I want to talk further about what it means to be ready and willing to grab a corner of the mat for those God brings into the orbits of your lives at home, at work, at school, on the sports field, or the sidelines; in your neighborhoods, and when you’re out and about in our community. The Apostle Peter gives us some good direction in terms of readiness to be mat carriers.
Today, I want to refresh us in what our calling is to our immediate foothill region. We’ve talked Nations and Global the last few weeks…but, today I want to talk about our local priorities—the heart we are to have and the responsibility we have to our surrounding communities.
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 Alliance—the Christian and Missionary Alliance. Today I want to spend our time helping you get 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.
This morning we start with the Church. What is the church? What is the makeup and Nature of the Church? What is the purpose of the Church? Why are we here and why are we doing the things that we do? Are we doing it right? Is there something we are missing? Sometimes its good take a few moments to remind our selves of why we do what we do and make sure we are on the right track.
I would be wrong to not ask you, Church, are you giving your leftovers to God? Have you become discouraged by the trials of life? The death of a loved one, financial burdens, wayward children? Have you become distracted by self-centered goals of 401k’s and vacations, and houses, and cars, and so instead of offering your BEST to God, you’re offering your leftovers? Are you so consumed by your career, by your kids’ sports, hobbies…good things…that they’ve caused you to give less than your best to ...
COVID-19 slammed us; George Floyd episode; massive BLM protests were invaded by rioters. It is my opinion that, apart from the virus event, two worldviews are colliding. A worldview is not about race or ethnicity. It inevitably flows from religion and philosophy. The word “worldview” comes from the German language, meaning “world perception.” A worldview is simply an understanding of how the world functions. For over 200 years, this country functioned with a biblical Judeo-Christian worldview. I...
It is a clear and direct declaration of God's coming judgment on the Day of the Lord. That is our Key Phrase for Zephaniah: The Day of the Lord. In this book, God speaks, Zephaniah writes, end of story. Yet there are some profound promises in this book that we get to unpack together this morning.
Today we are going to look at the book of Habakkuk. Just so you know, as of this week, Habakkuk is my favorite of all the minor prophets. I didn’t know this two weeks ago but now it’s my favorite for a couple of reasons. The first one is because we get to witness a conversation with God. There is a real back and forth interaction with God here and that is pretty rare in the Old Testament.
My hope is that this phrase will help you to remember that while God is a jealous God and can be filled with wrath, that His grace is everpresent.
Today we continue in our Timeless series by taking a look at the book of Micah. Micah was all too familiar with injustice and people whose hearts were far from God. That’s why he was called into ministry: to warn God’s people that judgment was coming unless they dumped their corrupt religion and started living right.
Today we step back into our Timeless series…where we are taking one week in each of the minor prophets. We are finding these very ancient words to have very powerful lessons for living today. Today we are in the book of Jonah.
Today’s sermon time is going to look a little different than normal. If you’re new with us, this is a great day to be here because you’re going to hear us celebrate what really matters to us around here—lives changed for Jesus. Each year, we take a Sunday in early June to celebrate God’s faithfulness as our provider, and your faithfulness as his stewards over this past year. God was on the move in you and through you, into our community and the world. Everything we’re going to celebrate today is...
From the beginning, people have passionately longed for justice to be delivered. They have struggled with the reality of wicked people going along in life unchecked, and unpunished. So, how does the Bible encourage us to process these kinds of emotions and reactions to the godless thriving and succeeding with little or no accountability?
Today, we are taking another step in our Timeless series where we are looking at the ancient truths of the minor prophets and their timeless relevance for our lives today. And today we’re going to see what the prophet Amos has to say about how we can live our lives in greater alignment with God.
Probably the best indication of the state of the nation of Israel at the time of Joel’s prophecy is the magnitude of the judgement God brings against them. Large scale sin brings large scale judgment.
Today, I want to refresh us on a dramatic story found in the book of Hosea that declares the mind-blowing depth of God’s love for undeserving people.
I bet if I were to take a poll, "How many want your life to be significant and important?" Just about everybody would say, "YES." No one wants to live a life of insignificance. I truly believe God wants that too. Yet it is sad how many… Corona Virus or not, struggle with significance.
This morning we are taking our third step into our series titled The Cure. The Cure is so comprehensive that it has saved us from death, freed us from those hurts, habits, and hang-ups in our life and it can heal us from sickness. During a season where so much focus is on sickness, I am happy to talk about healing, a healing that is not dependent on testing or medical technology.
