Suffering. We have all experienced it in this life in some degree or another. It is an inevitable reality of being human. For some it is more intense and lengthier, others it is seasonal and varies in degrees. Whether physical, emotional or spiritual we all deal with difficulties and disasters that bring suffering into our lives. Although suffering is inevitable as believers, we know it is not what God intended. However, because of the fall, and sin entering the world, it is inescapable. But her...
May 09, 2021•42 min
This week we are picking up where we left off in the Apostles' Creed. “I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, and what we will look at today, “Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit; born of the virgin Mary…” We must affirm the virgin birth as it is the foundation of many other critical doctrines we believe. Without the virgin birth there is no gospel. Christ is not God. If Christ was not conceived by the Holy Spirit, then he would have had a human father, consequently not being divine...
May 02, 2021•38 min
We are in week 3 of our series on the Apostles’ Creed, where we are looking at this historic creed and emphasizing the core doctrinal beliefs it summarizes for us. This is important because the Apostle’s Creed contains essential Christian doctrines and beliefs that summarize the gospel and make up the foundation of our faith. It is important to know what you believe and why you believe it considering the abundance of life now and eternal life with God in heaven depends on it.
Apr 25, 2021•35 min
Before anything else, God is first and foremost "Father." This has an incredible impact on how we see ourselves and how we view our faith. Galatians 4 says "But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons & daughters." We have all been shaped by our earthly Fathers. Both positively and negatively. In this message, Pastor Brent affirms what it means to have a he...
Apr 18, 2021•42 min
What do you believe in? We believe in a lot of things, and what we believe affects how we live. Believing leads to action. What we do and how we live says more about what we believe than what we say. So, what do your actions say about what you believe? Let’s keep it churchy. You say you believe in honoring God with your money and being generous. But what you believe about giving generously to God is evidenced by your actions. You say you believe in purity and holiness but what you believe about ...
Apr 11, 2021•45 min
He is Risen Indeed! Today, we do not reduce the Resurrection Story down to just what we get out of it. Our salvation because of what Christ has done is a benefit of this grand story, but if that is all it is about, the story becomes all about me and not about King Jesus. Only after we have acknowledged and focused on King Jesus can we talk about the redemptive benefits that the King offers us. Join us as we celebrate Easter and finish our series on Biblical Lament!
Apr 04, 2021•39 min
Over the course of this series on Lament, we have learned quite a lot. As we learn to lament more and more, we will learn from lament more and more. We can grow in wisdom; we can learn from the past and persevere in the present with hope for the future in Christ. Lament helps us see the brokenness not just in us, but around us in other people. It is a liturgy of loss that broadens our view beyond our individualistic personal struggles. Lament should be a regular song that is sung on the pathway ...
Mar 28, 2021•46 min
From OT to NT, we see God using the leaders, judges, prophets, disciples, and apostles in ways where they contextually spoke to the sins of God's people as they tried to figure out what it meant to be in the world but not of it; to live in a land of unrighteousness, but to dwell as God's holy people. And especially in the NT, we see that the early church had difficulty functioning as God's united people because they were divided between ethnic and cultural lines; Jews did not like Gentiles and v...
Mar 21, 2021•38 min
Racial reconciliation is supposed to be one of the marks of the church. We say supposed to because it has not happened on a large scale to date, and it is a continuing spiritual battle against division and hatred of epic proportions. In this message, Pastor Brent talks about how lament sets the table for racial reconciliation. What if the majority led with lament even if we are not sure why others are weeping? What if the majority joined tears instead of judging tears? Continuing our series Lame...
Mar 14, 2021•51 min
There are things that we learn through the pain of life that we can never learn through the comforts of life. Or as one author put it, “Perhaps I shall see things through my tears that dry-eyed I could not see.” We have talked about minor keys, major keys, and even suspensions. Today we will be tackling the book of Lamentations which is the most comprehensive minor key song in the Bible. Lamentations were more than just expressions of personal grief, but they were also designed to help God’s peo...
Mar 07, 2021•41 min
Who taught you how to cry? It is a rhetorical question, but have you ever thought about how you entered the world? I mean does it strike you as odd that we didn’t enter into this world laughing and smiling, but screaming and crying? Life begins with struggle and tears, a wholehearted protest in essence. To cry is human. But lament is different. Biblical lament is altogether Christian as we affirm that the world is broken, but God is sovereign, and He has been and always will be faithful. Lament ...
Feb 21, 2021•48 min
A God-given vision helps us intentionally live in our God-given purpose today. Today, Pastor Brent is asking God to give you a glimpse of your future in Christ & our future together as His Church, which we believe are inseparable. Our individual purpose is always tethered to our corporate purpose as the Body of Christ – so we need to see what God sees for us so we can get to work accomplishing all He has for us. There are a few components to a God-given vision, where there is a holy disconte...
Feb 14, 2021•39 min
We have looked at God’s Self-existence through the name Jehovah My Lord, God’s Justice through the name Jehovah Shalom, a God who can bring peace to any and every situation, God’s Compassion as El Roi, the God who sees you wherever you are, God’s redemption as Jehovah Jireh, the God who is able to provide all you need and can even redeem your suffering, and God’s mission through His name El Shaddai who is God Almighty, meaning God is both strong and tender at the same time and is more than able ...
Feb 07, 2021•43 min
We are in week five of our series we are doing with our Every Nation churches all over the world, “Awesome God.” We are looking at the different names of God, and how by knowing His name we know His character better, we know God more intimately. Be encouraged to continue to cultivate your knowledge of God through His Word. The more you know Him the more you will love and trust Him, and the more you love and trust Him the more you will want to know Him. This is why spending time in your Bible mat...
Jan 31, 2021•38 min
Are you willing to go through what God leads you through in order to receive the promise God has for you? That is a loaded question as to whether you are willing to live a life of walking by faith and not by sight. But that is what we are called to do, and it is not blind faith, but anchored in the character of a faithful God. This again is what I mean by knowing God’s name, His character, His faithfulness, so much so you have an anchored faith in knowing who God is. Faith is acting on your beli...
Jan 24, 2021•38 min
Compassion is defined as suffering with another; painful sympathy; a sensation of sorrow motivated by the distress or misfortunes of another; pity; commiseration. (Websters 1828) This morning we are in week 3 of this series, which we are doing in conjunction with this time of prayer and consecration with our Every Nation churches all over the world. Today’s attribute of God is compassion. Aren’t you so very glad we serve a God who is compassionate? Connect with Pastor Brent on Instagram & Fa...
Jan 17, 2021•37 min
Peace is something we are all searching for, and many claim to have the answer. Here, Pastor Justin Gray dives into the story of Gideon in Judges 6 and how through Gideon's weakness and self sacrifice he experiences true peace with the Lord. Connect with us on Instagram & Facebook: @infocuschurch Learn more about In Focus and what we have going on by visiting our website at https://infocus.church
Jan 10, 2021•26 min
We are in week 2 of our series “Peace on Earth.” It is a classic Christmas time theme, but it is much more than that, it is a promised inheritance to all who believe in Jesus as Savior and Lord. But since we live in a world of constant unrest and upheaval, stress, and incessant noise how is this peace possible? It requires a rigorous, disciplined commitment to do what James 1:19 says for us to do, being quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry. It requires pressing on, relentless...
Dec 13, 2020•40 min
The Christmas season reminds us of the promise of peace that was to come through Jesus Christ. Jesus was the fulfillment of the promise of peace, He is the Prince of Peace, there was a steep price for peace and there is great power in peace. So, with all of that being true why do we see such little peace on earth today? Why is there so much personal inner turmoil spilling over into corporate turmoil contributing to what looks and feels like rampant unrest, division, and fighting? We just want pe...
Dec 06, 2020•38 min
We have covered the politics of left and right, hypocrisy and sanctification, suffering and hope, personal faith, and the local church, and in this message, we look at money, specifically about guilt or greed. Thus far, there have been a lot of both/and as we looked at the way of Jesus being outside the lines we often draw. But today’s subject matter is more of neither/nor. As we have emphasized each week, as Christians we too easily default to deep dividing lines over issues where there should ...
Nov 29, 2020•41 min
Despite the decline, and being constantly maligned, the local church is still God’s plan A for his children. So if you claim to be one of His children the goal is not to abandon His family but become a better part of His family. Now one of the things you may hear a lot is, “we need to be like the church in the New Testament…” Well good, because they were jacked up too. Think about 1 Corinthians 13, popularly known as the “love chapter.” "Well, Paul was not writing this for your granny’s cross-st...
Nov 22, 2020•43 min
What do we do with the seemingly incongruent realities of a loving, sovereign, heavenly Father and people dying of terminal illnesses, and hurricanes that destroy property and kill people, the holocaust, slavery, racism, poverty, abuse, oppression, abortion, genocide, sex trafficking and every other injustice that continues to plague us and our world? The correct response is one of the hopeful realist. This is where we should be where we know and continue to believe God is good and always in con...
Nov 15, 2020•53 min
A line that is often drawn is that hypocrisy and spiritual growth are mutually exclusive. You are either a hypocrite or a verifiable work in progress. But history and the Bible tell us that they actually do go together. Romans 3:23 says we all fall short of the glory of God, in Romans 7 there is the infamous passage about doing what I don’t want to do and not doing what I do want to do? So if they are not mutually exclusive then there must be a tension we have to embrace where we are both, but i...
Nov 08, 2020•41 min
