Today I want to open with a quick question for you to think through. How is your Christianity working? I don’t think there is anything more frustrating that when you buy something, bring it home, and it doesn’t work. My neighbor bought a new snowblower last year. When I snowed eight inches, he was pretty excited to fire that thing up. The only thing was, he started it and the belt broke. All he could see was eight . . . Read More »
Wherever You Are, You Are There
Last week was Easter. It’s the most significant day, the Holiest of days, on the Christian calendar because we celebrate what Jesus did for us. He did what we could never do in our human effort. He broke the curse of sin and death over our lives. And for those who believe Jesus is the Son of God, that curse is broken. His sacrifice gave us spiritual freedom, a fresh start. God’s children are human beings – made . . . Read More »
The Greatest Story Ever Told
Welcome to Easter Sunday. Attached to the handout today is an article that answers the question, ‘Why do bad things happen to good people?’ My hope is that as you read it, it might give you handles on how to wrestle with that question. I also hope you get it into the hands of your friends who have that question. I want to start today by reading what Jesus said: “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on . . . Read More »
Maybe You Are Wrong
In all this talk about Immanuel, which means, ‘God is with us,’ what have you concluded? Do you believe, ‘God is with me?’ Do you believe, ‘God lives inside of me?’ Do you believe, ‘God might be in other people, but God isn’t in me?’ Is it your experience in life that you try to surrender to God, but you fail so you conclude, God isn’t with me anymore? I don’t want to drink to find peace, but . . . Read More »
Words to Live By…Or Not.
Well it’s hard to believe but we have made our way to the last few moments of this amazing teaching from Jesus here and today we are going to see how Jesus wraps this whole thing up and in these last few verses we will once again see the big theme unfolding. The theme has been Jesus laying out the type of life that a disciple should live…which would mean that these words that Jesus is preaching are . . . Read More »
Do You Play Soccer or Love Soccer?
We said that God sent Jesus to establish His kingdom on this earth. How? By transforming our hearts. That’s what the Sermon on the Mount is all about. It’s the foundation to being a disciple of Christ. As excited as we are to jump into this sermon this summer, we had to give you a warning. God’s kingdom is completely different than the kingdom we live in. It’s radically different. So as you read through this sermon, you . . . Read More »
Living in World of Lollipops, Unicorns and Fairies
We are in a series called Sticks and Stones. It’s a relationship series that teaches how we can be in Emotional Healthy Relationships. That simply means, we first experience God’s grace and love for us and then we can love others well. 7 My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. 8 The person who refuses to love . . . Read More »
You Take People Up or You Take Them Down: The Elevator
Have you ever taken a trip, gotten lost, and realized, you were more lost than you thought? Have you ever thought your finances were okay until you met an advisor, and realized, you were financially, lost more than you realized? Did you ever think your relationship was okay until you sat down and spoke when them? Then you realized, wow, we are way off. That’s what we talk about today. Spiritually, how do we know we are lost? . . . Read More »
The Spiritual Reset Button
Today is about courage. How do we live a life of courage? This is a challenge because if we don’t figure this out, we will live a life in fear. I want to start by saying I don’t feel like I have courage all the time. I don’t. As a father, a leader, a pastor, I think I am supposed to say I am filled with courage. I’m supposed to say that I live with clarity and I . . . Read More »
The Three Points of Connection
Can I ask you something as we get started today? Have you ever noticed how many people you come across that have been hurt by someone they look at as a Christian or a church person? It’s amazing just how common it is to know someone who has felt the weight of judgement, the gut punch of religion from somewhere in there past and they seem stuck dealing with those hurts from someone they look at as a . . . Read More »