Today’s story reminds us that despite appearances; our God is in control and he…and he alone…will bring low even the most high and haughty, he can humble even the most prideful—those who appear to be getting away with living a godless life. Our story starts with another troubling dream experienced by the great Nebuchadnezzar, king of the superpower Babylon. Let’s jump in!
So far from Daniel chapter 1 we learned, “Despite Appearances, God is in Control.” In chapter two God made known his great wisdom exceeds all others. And today in our story, he will make known his unmatched power. No other god is like our God. No one saves like our God. No one preserves, protects, and delivers like our God!
There are times when it might seem the world is falling apart. You don’t know what tomorrow holds. This is where Daniel was… but God meets him right in his confusion, and God gives Daniel everything he needs to serve His purposes. Take note, believer in Jesus, God gives you everything you need to carry out his calling in your culture. When life’s out of control, hold onto the one that is.
Today we start a new series of messages from the book of Daniel. Daniel takes place at a time when the people of Israel are exiled Babylon. And like many of us in these days, they were asking: Where is all this going? When is all this going to end? How will we survive these circumstances? Is God really in control still? Has he lost his ability to manage all this? As we jump into the first chapter of Daniel, we begin to see something very, very important. Daniel makes it plain and simple…despite ...
What many people don’t realize is, how we manage our money is one of the most spiritual things about us. It indicates more poignantly than almost any other area of our life, where our trust and dependence lie. Do we trust in our stuff, or do we trust in our Savior? So far we have considered two stewardship reclamations: (1) From idolatry to an exclusive love of God, and (2) From craving what you don’t have to contentment with what God provides. Today, I want to look at a third transformation: Fr...
Of all the reclamation projects that Jesus leads Christians through, often transforming how we manage our financial resources is perhaps the most difficult transformation we undergo. This week I want us to consider another aspect of the stewardship transformation that needs to occur in you and me if we’re going to be transformed into faithful, godly stewards: From craving what is not possessed to contentment with what God provides.
Stewardship Transformations are some of the most difficult and most important transformations Christians are called to go through. Today, I want to talk about why that is, as well as cover one aspect of this transformation that the Bible addresses; that is, to become a faithful steward each of us needs to transform from idolatry to an exclusive love for God.
Today, I don’t want to talk about some “resolutions.” I don’t want to talk about some small changes. Instead, I want to look at what God has to say about the complete transformation of a life
The Gospel, most of us know, is the good, great, amazing news that Christ was born, lived perfectly, became the perfect sacrifice to take the penalty of our sins and offers salvation to those who put their faith in them. The cool thing is, that Gospel, engages with our lives uniquely as God meets us in our individual messes and reclaims our lives. He gives us a new direction and focus our lives to share the gospel with all we encounter through word and action.
Join us for our Christmas Eve service as we celebrate the birth of Jesus together!
Today we step into a section of Romans—Chapters 9-11—where the focus is on the Jewish people and how they process this gospel of justification by faith alone. Paul is concerned for his Jewish brothers and sisters because the majority of them have failed to respond positively to the gospel.
The Holy Spirit marks and seals us. The Holy Spirit testifies the truth that we are His children. Since we are His children, that means we are heirs of God. Foothills Family, we are just that — family — when we receive the gospel, we are given the gift of adoption to a new father. We get to call God “Father,” and God calls us his children. We are co-heirs with Christ. This truth carries so much weight.
Today we are going to discover that the gospel gift is a gift that keeps on giving. The gospel gift is like those presents you receive wrapped in a gift bag. When you pull out the first object, you hear the gift giver say, “Keep looking, there’s more.” You search through the tissue and pull out another item. “Keep looking, there’s more. …Keep looking, there’s more.”
Today, Paul turns another major corner in his presentation of the Reclaimed gospel and begins to unpack additional results of the reclaimed gospel. Or another way to say it is, these are the game changing impacts of being able to stand before God “JUST-AS-IF-I’D” never sinned. What does justification before God mean for your life and mine?
In our section in Romans today, Paul does something brilliant. He brings a death blow to any argument that tries to add anything to being saved through faith alone. And the way he does it is to use the most powerful “case in point” for his listeners. He invites us to look closely at how the most idolized hero of the Jewish people was saved. He invites us to look at Abraham.
The really good news of the Gospel is, that we are justified freely by God’s grace. Justified is a judicial term, a courtroom term. To be justified means to be pronounced guiltless, though we are proven guilty by God’s law. It means to be pronounced righteous, once for all, because the righteousness of Christ is applied to our lives. A simple way to think of it is to think: Just-as-If-I’d never sinned. When we place our trust in what Jesus did on the cross—enduring our punishment for our sin—God...
After establishing that people have a sin problem, Paul starts addressing false beliefs circling in congregations in Rome. During Paul's time, Jewish Christians were doing their best to establish themselves above others within the church. These were religious moralists who thought they were exempt from God's judgment and wrath because they had not indulged in the immoral excesses described last week. We see this type of reasoning inside and outside the church. Well, I'm not as bad as those peopl...
One way pride tarnishes the gospel is by considering it unnecessary. Probably the most often used argument people lean on is that good people go to heaven. The argument goes something like this: There is a good God who lives in a good place reserved for good people. This God goes by many names. He is behind all the major world religions. Therefore, all major, and possibly minor, religions provide a legitimate path to God. And, therefore, to heaven. The criterion for making it to this good place ...
Many outside the Church don’t view the Gospel as good news. For many, the Gospel is bad news. Jesus is the only way to heaven? I have to release control of my life to who? Consequently, to make the Gospel more appealing, some churches have fallen into the trap of layering the beautiful Gospel with lies, worldly philosophies, and ideas to make it less offensive. Some have done their best, taking something that was once so beautiful and tarnishing it with dung.
We throwing a party to celebrate 30 Years of Ministry in the foothills. Back in July of 1990, a handful of families began meeting in their homes, then at Blue Oak Elementary, and finally on our Merrychase campus. What God planted, God grew and we will celebrate.
As a church, if we have everything in this world, but do not have love, we have nothing. As people created in the image of God, if we have everything in this world, but we don't have love, we have nothing. We have to be known for our love. If we are only known for being a great teacher of the Bible, maybe known for our kindness or our benevolence, perhaps for our authentic community, we fall short. While these are all good things, we have nothing as a church if Foothills is not known for our lov...
Today, I want to shift our focus a little to how you are relating with one another within the church. Are you engaged in true connection with others here within our church community? Are you experiencing authentic connection yourself? Are you experiencing belonging and are you investing in others, being there for others when they need you most? It’s easy to simply attend a church, be a part of the “crowd” but never really become part of the community.
this week I want to look deeper at a scene in Luke 5:27-32. This scene gives us some insight on what God intended when he started the church. In fact, it gives us some clues as to what the perfect church should look like.
But, if you’re a Christian, then you have a greater, more overarching Calling “Big C.” In other words, as a Christian, regardless of your career, job, or role in life, you have a greater “Big C” Calling laid over that and that is to represent Jesus to those you encounter. The Apostle Paul calls this our Ambassador Role.
These highlights of Moses’ life tell us why Moses is not honored in the sands of Egypt. The decisions and choices he made gained him honor with God instead. Let’s review a few of these choices and decisions.
As the ones closest to the Lord, Moses and Aaron bore the highest responsibility to preserve his reputation.” Like Sam said last week, God cares more about obedience than He does results. Even though Moses and God spoke face to face like friends—for decades—Moses didn’t get special treatment. No unique arrangement. No grandfatherly ‘wink’ and pretend it didn’t happen. God is holy. He is righteous. And, like Brian mentioned a few weeks ago, we must not lose the majesty of God because we’re so fam...
When it comes to assessing that question, today’s text teaches us about the most important investment of your life. Give yourself to this one thing and it will guide you and positively enhance everything else you choose to give your life to. Today, we witness God initiating a meeting with Moses and his people. This God-initiated meeting teaches us some important truths about our own meeting with God. Let’s step through this meeting and the arrangements that lead up to it.
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.
Do you ever find yourself in a catch 22? In a corner? In a predicament? Often, we can find ourselves in all sorts of different predicaments. Today we are going to watch as Israel finds themselves in a predicament right after they leave Egypt. Today, I want us to pay attention to how Israel responds when they find themselves stuck. By witnessing their response, I hope to gain some insight into what we should do when we find ourselves in the middle of a predicament.
Over the last two weeks, we have witnessed God chip away at Pharaoh's disobedient, hardened heart through nine miraculous plagues. While there seemed to be compromises along the way from Pharaoh, we can see in Exodus 10:28 that Pharaoh has decided to buckle down in his disobedience. This disobedience sets the stage for the climax of all the plagues, the 10th plague: death of the firstborn. This morning, we read about the Passover event instead of looking at this text from a 21st century viewpoin...
