Text: Luke 20:45-21:4 | Listen to Message The Lie of Religion After being questioned by the religious leaders of the time, Jesus publicly rebukes the scribes. The Scribes were religious scholars who interpreted the Bible, and their interpretations impacted not only the religious teachings of the time, but also the legal system. They were in charge of arbitrating wills, legal contracts, and estate planning. Instead of studying God’s Word and applying it to their own lives, they built their own false religion, which was focused and based on themselves. This religion and all man-made religions are a collection of self-propelled outward...
Text: Matthew 28:16-20 | Listen to Message What Your Life Is Really About Suppose we had no record of Jesus’ last words to his disciples. Matthew 28:18-20 didn’t exist. There was no such thing as “The Great Commission.” The explicit command to “go and make disciples” had never been uttered. Would it make any difference in how we actually live? In how we ought to live? If you discovered that Jesus never told his followers that our life’s mission was to make and mature more followers, how would your life change tomorrow? What would you stop saying and doing? Where would...
Text: 1 Corinthians 12:4-27; Ephesians 4:4-16 | Listen to Message It's YOUR Church What draws you to a particular local church? What keeps you there? What would have to happen to cause you to leave? While there are plenty of solid, biblical principles that address these questions, the answers of many modern Christians are surprisingly superficial: The location is close and convenient to me. I like the worship (and by that, I mean the style and instrumentation of the music and the songs themselves). The preaching is practical and relevant without being too up in my business. There are plenty of...
Text: 1 John 3:11-18; 4:7-11, 19-21 | Listen to Message We Love Because We're Loved The human heart is inherently selfish. As we go through life, “What do I want?” is often our greatest concern. What’s my opinion? What’s my preference? What’s my priority? How do I feel about this? What can this person do for me? What can this situation do for me? What can this church do for me? Me, me, me. It’s all about me. Much of what we call “love” is actually self-love. We claim to love our spouses, our friends, and our faith communities, but how...
