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, […]
Bodybuilding 101
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 […]
Just Guys With Good News
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 […]
Thy Will Be Done
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 […]
The Greatest Story Ever Told
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 […]
The Blind Leading The Blind
Text: Acts 13:1-12 | Listen to Message Making a straight, sensible path to Jesus The first Christian missionaries impacted the world by taking the gospel to influential cities. Salamis was the cultural and commercial center of Cyprus, and Paphos was the capital. Together, these two cities shaped the religion, culture, politics, and economics of the entire island. In order to impact our generation for Christ, we, too, must make a gospel impact on the cities. We must go to the people and places that are forging culture, and we must make a Jesus-shaped impression there. When Christians avoid these […]
Prison Break
Text: Acts 12:1-25 | Listen to Message Faith in deliverance or in death The story of Peter’s miraculous 11th-hour rescue from a Roman prison cell is a familiar one. Christian children all over the world have heard how the church prayed and the angel came, how chains fell off and doors opened automatically as guards slept. And subtly, if not intentionally, the moral of the story that’s been reinforced is something like, “If you pray and trust God, He’ll deliver you.” Not so fast. In the verses immediately preceding Peter’s dramatic rescue, we learn that another apostle, James, has […]
The First “Christians”
Text: Acts 11:19-30; 13:1-3 | Listen to Message What does it mean to be a Christian? Christians are people who believe in and follow Jesus Christ. Therefore, those who call themselves “Christians” should probably think and act and talk a lot like Jesus. So here are a couple questions worth pondering: 1. If others based their understanding of Jesus Christ entirely on your actions and attitudes, what would they think Jesus was like? 2. If someone took you to court and charged you with being a Christian, what factual evidence would they be able to present to convict you? […]
#gentilelivesmatter
Text: Acts 10:1—11:18 | Listen to Message The death of racism in the life of Jesus The Early Church was troubled by deep racial divides between Jews and Gentiles. The Jews were “God’s chosen people,” who had received many privileges that the Gentiles had not (including the Law, the covenant promises of God, the Temple, and even the bloodline of the Messiah). Many Jews felt elitist about these privileges and became full-blown racists. They looked down on the Gentiles and would have nothing to do with the “unclean dogs.” So the Early (Jewish) Church wrongly concluded that a Gentile could […]
Text: Acts 9:32-43 | Listen to Message Jesus demands the impossible The two miracles in this text are linked by several astonishing similarities that illustrate the amazing, life-changing power of the Gospel. First, note that the characters in both stories were trapped in hopeless, incurable conditions: Aeneas was paralyzed and Tabitha was dead. But each story takes a sudden and dramatic turn when something absurd happens: Peter tells both of them to rise. You might as well tell a blind person to look at you; paralyzed and dead people don’t stand to their feet. This is an impossible command…except for […]
Categories
- 40 Days of Grace (40)
- Current Events (7)
- Holidays (2)
- Message (233)
- News (11)
- Service (51)
Archives
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- May 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- December 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- August 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015