As a believer, it’s easy to get caught up in trying to live a good Christian life. We get focused on living by the rules and looking the part. As Pastor Eric reminds us in today’s message, that’s not where our focus should be. Righteous living means nothing if our focus isn’t on Christ, who alone can give us true righteousness.
In today’s message, Pastor Eric challenges us to examine our hearts and ask ourselves where our focus lies. Are we preoccupied with the temporary, physical things that we need or want? Or is our focus on eternal things? As we seek God in the spiritual, we will learn that we can trust Him to provide for our physical needs as well.
We all experience storms in life. No amount of money or power can prevent that. As Pastor Eric explains in today’s message, those who rely on material wealth or even on friends or family to help them weather the storm will find themselves shaken. Jesus alone offers us a sure, steadfast foundation.
As Pastor Eric leads us through the account of Jesus walking on the stormy sea to the aid of His disciples, we are reminded of how caring our Savior is. We all experience storms in this life, but just when we think we’re going to have to go it alone – Jesus comes walking out into the storm and He joins us in our boat.
God never wanted death for mankind. It is a heartbreaking result of our choice to disobey and separate ourselves from Him. In today’s message, Pastor Eric reminds us that God longs for all men to come to Him. He is not a cruel God, but a loving Father who longs for His creation to repent and be made righteous in Him.
This world is in a sad state. So much of God’s beautiful design has been soiled and perverted by mankind’s wickedness. As Pastor Eric reminds us in today’s message, we do have hope. In His time, Jesus will return and bring true, lasting peace, which can never be achieved through our human efforts.
It’s hard to understand why God allows us to go through painful trials. Why doesn’t He just take them away? As Pastor Eric reminds us in today’s message, these trials can be seen as a burden; or they can be seen as an opportunity. It’s a chance for us to draw closer and rest in our loving Father’s arms.
In today’s message, Pastor Eric challenges us to examine our motivations for following Jesus. Is it for our own personal gain? Simply to meet our emotional or physical needs? It’s easy to fall into a pattern of only seeking Him for our own benefit, but He desires for us to bring Him glory and spread His Gospel.
Is your life bearing the fruits of Christ through His Holy Spirit? Is He living in and acting through you? As Pastor Eric reminds us in today’s message, Jesus alone is good. The only way for us to be good is when we accept His gift of redemption and are clothed in His righteousness.
There is much that is unsure in this world. We don’t know what the next day holds for any one of our lives. In today’s message, Pastor Eric reminds us that Jesus is sure. He keeps every promise that He makes to us, and He promised us that He would send His Holy Spirit as a comforter and guide.
Faith comes in all shapes and sizes. Each person's story of how they came to trust in Jesus is different, and each transformation of that faith is unique to each person. Pastor Eric encourages us today to support each other's faith journeys, while continuing to grow in our own! And if we have no faith, today's a great day to start!
We can't pick and choose our Jesus! Pastor Eric today tells us that though there are parts of the Bible we'd rather not deal with, every part of it, and every part of our Savior, is relevant to our lives! Jesus wants to work on us, growing us into better people, but that will more than likely involve some things that are a bit uncomfortable!
Sharing the Gospel message with others may very well cost us something. Pastor Eric shares today how our own comforts will need to be set aside to allow Jesus to work through us! When we allow this, however, we'll be open to reaching people beyond our personal borders, and we'll get to see hope and faith blossoming!
Fact: Jesus loves everyone. He loves everyone so much that He came to die for the sins of each person who lived then, and would live after. Pastor Eric today reminds us not to question Jesus love for those who we find less than lovable! It's their choice to follow Jesus or not, all we need to do is share His message!
God wants to do something new and exciting in each of His children! It doesn't matter how old or how young, how strong or how weak, God has a plan and wants us to come along for the ride! Pastor Eric encourages us today to seek God's will for our lives, and allow Him to break down our walls to accomplish it!
We all have desires, whether for our lives or for the life of someone we love. When we really look at it though, the only one who can fulfill every desire we have is Jesus! Today, Pastor Eric continues to teach us about the Samaritan woman, and how Jesus not only knew her past, He was willing to fill her future!
In today's message, Pastor Eric reminds us of the human side of Jesus. He too found Himself tired and in need of rest! He knows how exhausting life can be – He experienced it! However, when Jesus was tired, He turned to God to restore His energy! Jesus kept on ministering whenever the need arose, with God as His strength!
Distractions abound in this world, and we can easily find our focus shifted from God to that which is tugging at us here on earth! Pastor Eric reminds us today to keep our eyes on Jesus, and on the big picture of His message spreading to all the world! When we focus on Jesus, the world will see Him in through us!
Pastor Eric shares an interesting, commonly overlooked phrase today: Jesus NEEDED to go to Samaria. It wasn't that Jesus didn't have a choice, and in fact it was ill advised to head that direction! But Jesus listened to His Father's directions, and spread the good news of His love to everyone, despite their status!
The Bible tells us to walk by faith, but it’s important to understand the degree to which we walk by faith every day – faith in the reliability of your car, for instance. Pastor Eric will teach on the concept of faith as well as the importance of putting our ultimate faith in Jesus Christ.
Because Jesus wants everyone to receive His salvation, He is willing to do whatever it takes to communicate clearly. As Pastor Eric will share, Jesus related the concept of the New Birth to Nicodemus in such a way that Nicodemus was able to comprehend it which enabled him to make a proper decision.
The Bible tells us to trust God and not to depend on our own understanding. As Pastor Eric will be sharing, it’s important to remember that God is all-knowing and that it is imperative that we trust Him to guide us and to not be like the Pharisees, who relied on their own knowledge and were condemned by Jesus.
In the scripture passages Pastor Eric will be teaching on today, we see the disciples acting immediately to Jesus’ commands. We need to ask ourselves as we read His Words: do we respond in the same manner and if we don’t, why don’t we obey Jesus like the first followers of Jesus did?
As wonderful as it was for the disciples to have Jesus on the earth, after He left and the Holy Spirit was given, it’s easy to see the benefit of Jesus’ ascension for the apostles and for us. Pastor Eric will be teaching on the necessity of not only having salvation but to also have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus’ earthly life was intended to be an example for us to follow. Pastor Eric will be teaching and showing us the many ways that Jesus relied upon the Holy Spirit for the power to do the amazing things He did, and will help us understand how that same power is available to us today.
In Jesus’ time, the Jews were convinced that they were God’s chosen people; their writings seemed to confirm this sentiment. As Pastor Eric will be teaching, they seemed to have missed all of the places where God told them that they would be a blessing to the whole world, and Jesus will be reminding them of this.
Today, Pastor Eric will be challenging us to fear the Lord, instead of living for our own desires and ambitions. It's easy in this culture to get caught up in being self centered, but God calls us as His children to keep God preeminent in our lives. When we allow the Lord to direct our path, we'll never be disappointed.
These days, it seems fashionable to dismiss Christianity as a superstition or fantasy for simple-minded people, even though many very intelligent people have been followers of Christ. Pastor Dave will be sharing as the apostle Paul defends the Gospel against the skeptics of his day.
Have you been in a situation where it seemed impossible for your circumstances to turn out favorable? Today, Pastor Eric will be reminding us that we serve an Almighty God that has our best interest in mind. The Bible tells us that with man things can be impossible, but with God, all things are possible.
In today's text, we'll read how David and his men returned to their home and found the people they loved slaughtered and taken into captivity. As Pastor Eric continues his teaching through 1 Samuel, he'll be encouraging us to strengthen ourselves in the Lord just as David did during grievous times.
