Text: Acts 15:1-35 | Listen to Message What must I do to be saved?   It was a controversy that threatened to divide and even kill the Early Church. Was salvation by the free grace of God or by grace plus works? Was faith in the Gospel sufficient or did you also need to keep the Law of Moses? Picture a long metal suspension bridge spanning across a canyon with a river snaking through the valley 1,000 feet below. Legalists would have you believe that Jesus built 99% of that bridge out of high-strength steel, but left 1% of it for...

Text: Philippians 3:4-15 | Listen to Message How Do You Feel About Change?   Some change is inevitable and even unpreventable. You’re going to get older, the weather’s going to turn warmer next Spring, and the cutting edge inventions of today will be obsolete in a few short years. These and millions of other changes are going to happen whether you like it or not. But what about the kind of changes that you can control? Are you the kind of person who likes change just for the sake of change? Or are you resistant to change? Are you guilty...

Text: Psalm 132 | Listen to Message Coming Home   In his book Rediscovering Jesus, British journalist Malcolm Muggeridge wrote, “The only ultimate disaster that can befall us, I have come to realize, is to feel ourselves to be at home here on earth.” These sobering words remind us that we are never more than mere aliens or strangers here. However, if we are only aliens and strangers here, it follows that there is a place in which we are not aliens and strangers – a place that we can truly call home. John 14:1-4 affirms that Jesus has built...

Text: Psalm 126 | Listen To Message I Just Want to Be Happy   The French mathematician Blaise Pascal once wrote, “All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end…. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves.” (Pensees, VII, “Morality And Doctrine,” #425) Whether you agree with Pascal’s superlatives or not, surely you agree that everyone wants to be happy. Oddly enough, some Christians react as if this desire is a bad thing. And so they make statements like this: “God wants...

Text: The Psalms of Ascent | Listen to Message Fighting for Hope in the Midst of Despair   We live in a broken and grief-filled world. Even as I sat down to write this week’s message, the news broke that 14 people had been killed by gunfire at a holiday party in San Bernardino, California. And so it goes, day after day, week after week, month after month. We continually experience pain that causes us to ask, “Where is God? And why isn’t He doing something to stop this madness?” We want to believe that someday things will be different,...

Text: The Psalms of Ascent | Listen to Message Longing for Peace in The Midst of Conflict   The desire for peace is one of the most universal longings of the human heart. Most of us want goodwill instead of violence, tranquility rather than turmoil. But the peace and quiet we seek can prove to be quite elusive in the real world, which is filled with conflict on a global, local, and personal scale. Furthermore, even if we could escape the agitations that press in from the outside, we would still find ourselves agitated from within. When it comes to peace,...

Text: Acts 14:21-28 | Listen to Message How to build a strong, healthy spiritual life   If you want to build a stronger, healthier physical body, you’re going to need more than just a workout routine! You’re going to need several things that work together synergistically to produce real strength and endurance. Let’s look at 6 of them and consider how each has a parallel to spiritual growth and strength. 1. Nutrition. You’ve got to fuel your body with lots of good calories, protein, vitamins, and water. In the same way, you’ve got fuel your heart and soul with the...

Text: Acts 14:1-20 | Listen to Message Sharing the Gospel with empathy   A perfectly-cut diamond is a thing of unparalleled glory. Each facet creates a different angle for light to enter, bounce around, and then radiate outward with maximum brilliance and beauty. The Gospel is like that. Instead of giving us one facet of good news, the Bible gives us dozens and dozens of facets. Instead of merely saying, “Trust Jesus and you’ll go to heaven when you die,” the Bible says Jesus is freedom, forgiveness, righteousness, cleansing, healing, hope, rescue, restoration, adoption, satisfaction, joy, eternal life – and...

Text: Romans 12:1-2 In his book Step By Step, author James Petty asserts, “until the industrialized age, most Christian writings on guidance emphasized guidance to God, not guidance from God.” Our attention has shifted from relationship with our Creator to navigation within His Creation. We’ve lost our path, but Romans 12:1-2 can help us regain our bearings. In this passage, Paul clarifies the means by which we which we discern God’s path – the renewed mind. The renewed mind serves as the touchstone by which we test the options presented us. We don’t look to a wet fleece or a...

Text: Acts 13:13-52 | Listen to Message The Heart of the Christian Gospel   Ask a dozen people on the street what they think the essential message of Christianity is, and you’ll probably get a dozen different answers. Some think Christianity is little more than advice for living a religious life. Others think Christianity teaches that God is mad at everyone or, conversely, that God loves everyone and just wants everyone to be happy, regardless of who/what they believe. Still others think you’re just supposed to ask Jesus into your heart – whatever that means – and then good things...