Last year I had the great opportunity to preach on God’s wrath. This year I get to preach on a passage that demonstrates God’s wrath! I’m not sure if that was intentional by Brian or if it just worked out that way. And I hope you don’t begin to despise the weeks I get to preach because they are so … wrath-filled. I hope that this morning you will actually see that God is really “slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness,” as it says in Psalm 103.
Jul 04, 2021•2 hr 49 min
This morning we step into one of the most notable stories of Moses’ life and of the Nation of Israel. When we think of Moses and the book of Exodus and Egypt most of us think of two things: The ten plagues and the parting of the Red Sea. Today, we step into the wild and epic account of the ten plagues and the lessons they teach us.
Jun 27, 2021•1 hr 12 min
Ever had a day that started out bad and then got worse? Today we journey with Moses on a day that was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. It went from bad to worse. I want us to pick up the story a few days prior with the last few verses of chapter 4:29-31.
Jun 20, 2021•42 min
Our service today is going to be a little bit different. For those of you have been around Foothills Church over the years, you know that each year about this time we set aside a Sunday morning to celebrate what God has been doing in our church family this past year, and we cast vision for where we believe God is leading us this next year.
Jun 13, 2021•1 hr 15 min
The story of the Exodus – Israel leaving slavery in Egypt and being taken to the Promised Land is the “grand story” of the entire Bible. This story, set about 1300 BC is actually OUR story. We may not be making mud bricks with straw out in the scorching sun with barely a day off, but slavery is common to the human condition. Slavery comes in many forms – slavery to other people, slavery to the dark forces of this world, slavery to addictions—drugs, alcohol, pornography, even the stock market (pe...
Jun 06, 2021•1 hr 12 min
I have witnessed fear creep into the minds of followers of Jesus as it pushed faith out. As a result, many are not living to the full potential that Jesus has for them. Some have allowed the voice of fear to drown out the voice of God. Is fear speaking louder than God in your life right now? How do we check to make sure that our faith is what's driving our parenting, driving our marriage, driving our choices and life decisions rather than fear? How do we make sure we are living in step with God'...
May 30, 2021•1 hr 17 min
After his major, life-shattering failure, we left him sitting by a well in the desert area of Midian. Now, think about this, for the next 40 years he negotiates the Desert School of Self-discovery and his heart and soul are conditioned, and deepened, and his attitudes are transformed and seasoned. God didn’t abandon him. On the contrary, after his failure, God had him right where he wanted him — humbled and ready to submit his life to the full to what God wanted next.
May 23, 2021•1 hr 18 min
One of the challenges of carrying out God’s will and call or plan for your life is doing so according to God’s timing and methods, rather than you own. This challenge has been going on for God’s people from the beginning. This challenge goes as far back as a man who worked to become highly qualified in his field, and despite becoming highly credentialed as a polished, capable, well-educated leader of men, he got out into the weeds and into some messy trouble. As you’ve probably already guessed, ...
May 16, 2021•1 hr 18 min
Moses’ mother was a woman of great faith in God. But it was not a foolish faith. She loved Moses deeply and knew there was something special about him. She devised an ingenious plan and she executed it carefully, leaving the ultimate results to God.
May 09, 2021•1 hr 14 min
Exodus is the book where we first meet Moses and the title kind of gives away the plot. Any time there’s a mass departure, whether huge swarms of people leaving the mall or thousands of people fleeing the country, we call it an exodus. And that’s exactly what exodus means: ‘going out’ or ‘departure.’ So, the story of Moses begins in the book of Exodus. But before we get to meet him, we need to understand where God’s people, Israel, were. We need to understand what they were up against. We need t...
May 02, 2021•1 hr 9 min
As we bring to close this series on humility and begin looking at the practical ways of living humble lives, I wanted to draw our attention back to the passage Brian walked through on Easter. In his letter to the Philippians, Paul calls the Philippian church to have the same mindset as that of Christ Jesus. A mindset of humility.
Apr 25, 2021•1 hr 15 min
This morning we are going to take a look at the book of James and see how James unpacks the topic of humility and we will see how it plays a role in four specific areas of life. Either we can live in the pride that is so easily cultivated in the world, or we can walk in humility.
Apr 18, 2021•1 hr 7 min
Today we’re going to look at some examples from Jesus. Turn in your Bibles to Luke 14 for our first example of humility in a social setting.
Apr 11, 2021•1 hr 9 min
Jesus is the quintessential example of humility because as Philippians states, though he was God, he did not consider equality with God something to be used for his own advantage. But made himself nothing, humbled himself, and allowed himself to be killed on a cross by humans. He gave up his life so that you and I could be forgiven and free. In other words, he used his power and authority to love, lift and free us from sin and its consequences.
Apr 04, 2021•1 hr 8 min
Pastor Sam guides us through the 4 movements of the passion narrative. Prepare your hearts, grab a journal and spend time with the Lord. Be sure to pause if you need a little more time for reflection or prayer in between sections.
Apr 03, 2021•23 min
The external posture of humility indicates the internal heart's posture, which is a heart posture that fundamentally lacks awareness. Pride is a confused heart, confused on who is the Creator and who is the created. This confusion comes from a complete lack of self-awareness. Since humility is the antidote to pride, that must mean that humble people are self-aware people.
Mar 28, 2021•45 min
It is simply a terrible idea to allow pride to reside and go undisturbed in your life, in your attitudes, and in your style of relating. We have to locate and seek to illuminate pride, as the first step in learning to recognize it in your life. So, I’ve asked you to be making this a matter of prayer. And we’ve been looking at examples in the Bible to help us see it’s destructive, poisonous affects in our lives.
Mar 21, 2021•39 min
There is such a thing as appropriate pride. To be sure, pride is predominantly condemned in the Bible. However, there are a few instances where pride is used positively. In Deuteronomy 32:29, God is called Israel’s pride. And Israel is referred to as God’s pride and joy in Isaiah 60:15. Over and over in the Bible, God calls us to rid our lives of pride and all its expressions because it poisons all life and health in our lives. I asked you to make this a matter of prayer and ask God to open your...
Mar 14, 2021•48 min
What would you say if I told you there was one sin, one vice that if with God’s help, you could purge out of your life, you could lessen your struggles with every other sin? What would you say if I told you there was one sin, one vice, that if with God’s help you could purge out of your system, you could improve every relationship in your life? If you purged this one vice, this one sin out of your life, your gifts, abilities, skills, and efforts would all be enhanced. What would you say?
Mar 07, 2021•1 hr 16 min
We live in a broken world, don’t we? Pain, hurts, wounds are all part of what it means to live here. There is no such thing as a pain free life. Pain is inevitable and it’s universal. Following Jesus doesn’t mean all your pain is going away. Jesus doesn’t remove all the pain in life, He transforms it. He gives meaning to it. He gives purpose to it. Through Him, you can see the significance of your pain, but there’s no escaping it while you’re on this side of eternity.
Feb 21, 2021•38 min
Today, I want to talk to you about how to end the race well – the Growth Choice. That’s the seventh choice we’re going to look at in this message today. “I reserve a daily time with God for Bible reading, self-examination and prayer in order to know God and his will for my life and to gain the power to follow his will.” The Growth Choice says this: “I reserve a daily time with God for Bible reading, self-examination and prayer in order [here’s the reason why you do this, in order] to know God [t...
Feb 14, 2021•39 min
Most all of us have a few, if not more, relationships that are in disrepair. As we go through life, we have painful experiences with people—we’ve sinned against them, or they against us. If we’re not careful, we can build walls to try and keep the pain out, to keep ourselves from being hurt again. When we do that, we end up locking ourselves in a prison and locking other people out. To rebuild relationships, you have to tear down the walls.
Feb 07, 2021•44 min
Today, we're going to look at the fifth beatitude, which is: "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness sake…" While this is the fifth beatitude that we are examining in v. 6. We will be looking at it from Jacob's perspective in Genesis 31 a
Jan 31, 2021•1 hr 11 min
The first way we let God do his work in our life is by doing a little housecleaning in our heart and soul. This choice is where the rubber meets the road for many of us. We are all fine and dandy when it comes to mentally understanding that we aren’t God and that God can do his healing work in us and that we are willing to let him do that.
Jan 24, 2021•42 min
if you are a Jesus follower, meekness is not optional. Let me demonstrate to you what I mean. Meek in greek is praeis, which carries different levels of meaning. On the surface, it can mean mild or humble. But there’s a deeper meaning to this word, and it’s the one I want to focus on today. In Greek, the word praeis was often used to describe animals whose natural wild spirit had to be broken by a trainer. Why? So the animal could become useful.
Jan 17, 2021•44 min
That gets us to the second choice in our series. The second choice is in Jesus' second Beatitude. Look at Matthew 5:4. 4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. The second choice is the hope choice. It is the choice to earnestly believe that God exists, that you matter to him, and that he has the power to help you change. It's based on this Beatitude - Matthew 5:4. "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted."
Jan 10, 2021•40 min
One of the games that really stressed me out was Whack-a-Mole. Does anybody remember this game? Whack-a-Mole. In Whack-a-Mole these moles pop up out of holes. You take a rubber club, and you try to knock the moles back down. As soon as you slam one down, what happens? Another one comes up. Then you slam that one down and two come up. You slam that one down and three come up. It goes on and on and on. Okay…Big deep cleansing breath. ☺ And here’s the thing…there’s no winning this game. No matter h...
Jan 03, 2021•42 min
Throughout history, the Israelites and Christians have endured the darkness of this world through persecution from governments, wars, plagues, famines, the list goes on and on about the level of darkness in this world. I mean it’s no different today. We have people in our church family here who have endured six wars in their lifetime, the Great Depression, the 80s! Talk about a dark time! From the clothes, to the hair, to the music! Ah man! Thank God we have Bieber today! But, Advent…hope, peace...
Dec 27, 2020•43 min
The culmination of our Christmas Series is here! The true meaning of Christmas is unveiled in the person of Jesus Christ. Join us as our worship team and pastors join together in song and conversation looking at what the hope of Jesus means in our current context.
Dec 24, 2020•1 hr 5 min
As we unveil Christmas, today we will be unwrapping the advent of love. I cannot think of a more misconstrued topic. There is a lot of confusion out there today as to what love is. Some say love is a feeling, an emotion that rises out from within us. Others confuse it with compassion or an absence of judgment. There are so many ideas about love.
Dec 20, 2020•38 min
