Two disciplines are vital to growing our relationship with Jesus: praying and reading the Bible. In week two of the Vital series, we talked about reading scripture and discovered that the purpose of the Bible is not primarily for our information but for our transformation.
Two disciplines are vital in order to grow in our relationship with Jesus: Praying and Reading the Bible. In week one of the Vital series, we talked about prayer and discovered that prayer's ultimate purpose and reward is growing in our relationship with Jesus.
To defeat fear in your life, you must decide to surrender your life into God’s hands.
To defeat pride, you must decide it’s not about me, and it’s all about God and His glory.
We defeat inadequacy by, like David, deciding to do what only we can do and using what God has given us.
One "giant" or challenge that opposes us, is apathy. To defeat apathy, we must decide to be faithful with what we have been given today.
Jesus made a lot of claims that either make him a liar, a lunatic, or the Lord.
What you believe about the afterlife, changes how you live and make decisions today. How would adding the phrase “You Only Live Forever” (instead of YOLO) into your decision-making change the way you live?
Many people are fascinated by the concept of the afterlife, specifically heaven, and it's hard to understand the realities of heaven. The first reality of heaven is that it is here and now.
There is a lot of misinformation, speculation, and confusion about Heaven. What you believe about the afterlife will impact the way you decide to live your life today.
Everyone has different habits and opinions surrounding drugs and alcohol. God calls his followers to walk by the spirit and surrender to His will for our lives. We can’t be under the influence of the Holy Spirit and something else at the same time.
"When does human life begin?" This question can spark many emotions and can cause extreme polarization. In order to find unity on such a divise issue, we must seek what God, the Creator of life, has to say about it.
A large issue that can cause division in the church is gender identity. The issue of gender identity is not a new thing but has become extraordinarily polarizing in recent years. To bring glory to God, we must discover what scripture says about identity and choose to stand with one another in the "messy middle".
One of the issues that has created polarization within the church is sex. To seek unity on this issue, we must discover what God's created intent for sex is.
Polarizing issues can cause division in families, in the church, and in the world. To glorify God and create unity, we need to be willing to stand with others in the "messy middle” even when we disagree.
You, like Esther, are in a unique position to have a unique impact. Any position, no matter how small or large, comes with a responsibility to positively impact the lives of others.
When we choose, like Rahab, to prioritize courage over fear and align ourselves with God's purpose, we can make an extraordinary impact on the lives of others and the world around us.
God meets us right where we are and renews our strength. Taking space to make the opportunity to hear from God is essential to know what next steps He wants us to take.
Ordinary people can have an extraordinary impact if they are willing to follow God’s call.
In the simple comes Immanuel.
God came to be with us to remove our excuses from us.
One of the reasons that Jesus came was to demonstrate who God is for us. He came to demonstrate who God likes, and how to be right with God the Father.
The Christmas season can be a bit messy because we, as human beings, are messy. However, it's precisely because of our imperfections that Christmas exists. To understand the reason for Christmas, it's important to know the background of the Christmas Story. Through sending Jesus, God initiated the process of blessing and renewing the world and invited us to restore our relationship with Him.
It is important to express gratitude because failing to do so communicates ingratitude, whether we intend it or not. Unexpressed gratitude can have negative effects on our relationships with others, ourselves, and even our relationship with God. Ingratitude may be a result of an inflated sense of self or pride within us. Therefore, we must choose to be grateful every day by deciding who and what we are grateful for and expressing our gratitude to them.
Jesus’ extravagant love FOR us requires extravagant love FROM us.
Following Jesus and sacrificially serving others are inseparable.
Giving generously proves our trust in God, grows our trust in God, and transfers our trust from our riches to the One who richly provides.
All of us walk through life with occasional fear. And it’s not always a bad thing. Fear is a byproduct of our ability to think about what might happen in the future, and it can protect us from harm. However, living with too much fear can cause us to be self-absorbed, distracted, and overly protective. But the good news is this: You don’t have to be afraid even when there’s something to be afraid of.
When we feel anger, our emotions tell us it’s 100 percent someone else’s fault. But James, the brother of Jesus, has something different to say. When we take a step back and acknowledge what the problem is, anger will no longer be the boss of us.
Envy is a negative emotion that makes us compare ourselves with others in an unhealthy manner. It often results in arrogance when we're doing well and discouragement when we are not. Envy takes away our ability to be content and makes us feel like we're chasing after something that's impossible to catch. However, it doesn't have to control us. Envy does not have to be the boss of us.
