Text: Nehemiah 7-8 | Listen to Message How can you be safe when the storms of life come suddenly and relentlessly? How can you withstand the attacks of the Evil One? How can you be bold and confident in the midst of a culture that ridicules your core convictions? How can you keep going when you feel overwhelmed and exhausted by life events? Nehemiah 8:10 says, “The joy of the LORD is your strength.” Now, notice this verse isn’t talking about your joy in the Lord; it’s talking about the Lord’s joy. Your joy is a fickle thing, an erratic thing,...

Text: Nehemiah 3-6 | Listen to Message The fear of failure. The fear of losing control. The fear of missing out. The fear of rejection. The fear of shame. The fear of man. The fear of pain. The fear of insignificance. The fear of death. You get the point: We walk through life facing all kinds of self-protective and self-promoting fears on a daily basis. If we’re not careful, we won’t just have our fears, our fears will have us. We’ll be controlled and enslaved by the growing list of things we want to prevent or avoid. The Bible’s solution to...

Text: Nehemiah 1-2 | Listen to Message We say we want to see God move in our generation like He has in times past, bringing the fresh wind and fresh fire of spiritual renewal to our churches and cities, but how often do we live as if these are anything other than just words? More and more research is warning us that the Christian Church in America is rapidly dwindling – and much of that research suggests it’s because complacent, convenience-driven, consumer “Christians” are discovering they’re ultimately happier when they spend their time, their energy, and their money elsewhere. But something...

Text: Ezra 9:1-10:3 | Listen to Message 8 Traits of Genuine Repentance In Part I, which you can read here, we shared “10 Traits of Counterfeit Repentance.” Now – for the positive side – here are 8 traits of what genuine, Gospel-motivated, Gospel-celebrating repentance looks like: 1. Name your specific sin. It’s a lot easier for most of us to say “I’m sorry” than to say “I’m sorry that I lied about you” or “I’m sorry that I hurt you with my sarcasm.” But a generic, one-size-fits-all apology is cowardly and self-righteous. Humble yourself and confess exactly what you said or...

Text: Ezra 9:1-10:3 | Listen to Message 10 Traits of Counterfeit Repentance Repentance is one of the keystone *behaviors of the Christian faith, and yet so often Christians respond to their sin with anything but godly repentance. See how many of these signs of counterfeit repentance you recognize in your own life. 1. Deny your sin. You readily protest you didn’t say what you said, you didn’t do what you did, you didn’t forget what you forgot. You adjust the record with outright lies. 2. Minimize your sin. You make light of your sin and act like it’s no big deal....