February 21, 2021 |
Luke 15:11-32 |
Full Transcript Available
This week we’re inspired by the song, “Desparado” by The Eagles.
Have you come to your senses? Or are you still out there hiding behind your fences? Have you opened the gate to let somebody love you? You might’ve been hurt and now you’re afraid to open up your heart again. Or you’ve been looking for the perfect relationship and so judgmental of others, that no one measures up. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus told a parable about a man who had two sons who had not yet understood their father’s gracious love for them.
January 24, 2021 |
Matthew 6:19-34 |
finances, financial stewardship
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What’s your mission in life? Is it to make more money and own more things? Wouldn’t you love to stop living for things? And to start really living the way God intended?
In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus gave His followers a new mission to stop living things and to start living for God. We can follow Christ’s new mission to stop living for things and to start living for God.
January 17, 2021 |
Luke 16:1-13 |
finances, financial stewardship
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Do you run out of money before you run out of month? Do you get anxious about your debts, how you will pay them? As Ben Franklin said, “He that goes a borrowing goes a sorrowing.” Are you experiencing the sorrow of out of control spending and indebtedness?
Wouldn’t you like to know how to manage your finances, so that you are able to get out of debt, meet your families needs and be more generous with God and others? In the book of Luke, Jesus taught his disciples a parable to illustrate how to wisely manage money and possessions with an eternal perspective. We can wisely manage our money and possessions with an eternal perspective.
January 10, 2021 |
Matthew 25:14-30 |
finances, financial stewardship
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You already have a “mindset” about money. Everyone does. Some are spenders and some are savers. Some are givers and some are takers. What’s your mindset on money?
You know it’s Christmas by all the lights. Lights on trees, in windows, hanging like icicles on rooftops, lights shining everywhere! It’s ironic that at the darkest time of the year, during the time of the winter solstice when our nights are the longest and our days are the shortest, that we celebrate the season with lights! But Christmas lights are not about lighting up the dark nights of winter, but about pointing to the true light, the Great Light, Jesus Christ.
December 20, 2020 |
Luke 2:1-20 |
christmas
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Like Charlie Brown, when we make Christmas about something other than the coming of Christ, we’ll always be disappointed. If we make it about spending money and giving and receiving gifts, sure we might be happy for a day. But the bill for the gifts we put on our credit cards in December, come due in January. After the gifts, the food and the fun, there’s the cleanup and the packing away of Christmas decorations and lights. Our holiday festivities that we looked so forward to, always quickly come to end. Where’s the meaning? Where’s the joy that lasts for more than a day?
The answer is only found in understanding the true meaning of Christmas, by seeing the Genuine Light of Christmas found in the coming of Jesus Christ.
December 13, 2020 |
John 1:1-18 |
christmas
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Do you ever feel alone? Christmas is just around the corner, and for many people that means family, fun, and a few days spent in the company of the people we love. Except that, for some of us, Christmas time represents none of these things. For some, it will be a time of loneliness, trauma and great anguish. Many of us will spend this Christmas grieving for the people we’ve said goodbye to since last year. The parents we’ve lost. The friends. The children. Others may be reminded of insurmountable fractures in their familial relationships – the people we no longer speak to, the parties we can no longer in good conscience attend.
How can we experience the true light of Christmas this year? A light that overcomes our broken hearts and broken relationships? The apostle John tells us that Jesus came to light up our lives, so that we might know and be made right with God the Father. Jesus offers to be the Light of your life!
December 6, 2020 |
Isaiah 9:1-2,6-7 |
christmas
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Understanding the true meaning of Christmas begins by understanding and admitting the darkness of our world. Not the darkness of winter’s short days, but the darkness of ignorance and evil, suffering and pain, fear and anxiety, dark despair and gloomy grief. These and more describe what the Bible means by “darkness.”
It’s not enough to recognize the darkness in our world, nor is it enough to think you can brighten it through your own good intentions and efforts. In fact, this is the very reality that the Light of Christmas reveals: That we not only live in a dark world, but we have a darkness in our souls that cannot be enlightened without a Light from outside ourselves, a Great Light that could overcome our soul’s darkness. In Isaiah 9, he encouraged the people of Israel with a Messianic prophecy of a Son who was to be born as a great light that would overcome the world’s darkness. We can believe that the great Light that overcomes the world’s darkness has come in the person of Jesus.
November 22, 2020 |
2 Corinthians 5:14-21 |
rise up
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Over the last three weeks, we’ve talked about the first two qualities of disciple-making. This week, we will focus on the third quality, Heart for Our World.
The gospel always goes against our excuses and our temptations. What’s the antidote for the sinful, “curved inward” bent of our souls? The gospel of Christ offers the antidote. And it bids us to turn our hearts outward towards God, each other and our world. In the book of 2 Corinthians, the apostle Paul challenged believers to answer Christ’s call to have a heart for their world. We can answer Christ’s call to have a heart for our world.
November 15, 2020 |
Colossians 3:9-16 |
rise up
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This week, we will focus on the second quality, Heart for Each Other. We live in a time when it is easier to stay in touch, but people are starving for a in-person touch.
What’s the solution to our increasing loneliness and social isolation? A loving relationship with Jesus and through Him a loving relationship with one another. Jesus invites us to follow Him and belong to His family. In the apostle Paul’s letter to the Colossians, he reminded them that as Christ-followers they were to show a heart for each other. As followers of Christ, we are to show a heart for each other.
November 8, 2020 |
Psalm 96:1-9 |
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We are called to make disciples of Jesus. What should those disciples look like? The first and most important thing is they should have a growing Heart for God.
In Psalm 96, David taught the Israelites how to worship with a true heart for God. We can worship with a true heart for God.
