“Winning the Game of Life: Once all players have retired, all players count their money. The winner is the player with the most combined wealth.” – Rules to the Game of Life by Milton Bradley
“Life is a game. Money is how we keep score.” – Ted Turner, Billionaire media mogul and philanthropist
“It’s the game of life. Do I win or do I lose? One day they’re gonna shut the game down. I gotta have as much fun
and go around the board as many time as I can before it’s my turn to leave.” – Tupac Shakur, Rapper (shot to death
in a drive by shooting in 1996)
“He who dies with the most toys wins!” – Malcolm Forbes, Billionaire publisher
The truth is that the one who dies with the most toys is still dead! The truth is that life is not a game. It is real. It has meaning. And the decisions we make in our life has present and ongoing consequences.
Find out in this series why Easter is a Game Changer!
April 30, 2017 |
Romans 5:6-11 |
easter, reconciliation, resurrection
There are so many places that we need reconciliation today. War, terrorism, hatred, the brokenness of communities, countries and even churches, these are just some of the outward symptoms of people living without reconciliation. Then, there are the more personal effects of living without reconciliation: Divorce, depression, unresolved anger, unforgiveness, and even suicidal thinking.
The truth is, a lack of reconciliation is at the root of all of these factors. If we could be reconciled to God, reconciled to others, and even reconciled to ourselves, what joy and peace might that bring into our lives? What if Christ’s death and resurrection, could mean a reconciled life for us? In the book of Romans, the apostle Paul wrote to the believers in Rome to show them how they might rejoice in the reconciled life they have through Jesus Christ. We too can rejoice in the reconciled life through Christ.
April 16, 2017 |
Romans 6:4-11 |
easter, resurrection
Have you been playing your version of the game of life and realized you were either following the wrong rules or aiming for the wrong goal? You thought more money would make you happy, but it made you hungry for more money. You thought new stuff, a new car, new house, new boat would make you happy, but you still feel empty. You thought a new relationship, a new boyfriend, a new girlfriend, a new love would make you feel like a winner. But you still feel like a loser.
So, how do we get a new view of life? Is there a way of starting over, starting fresh, with a new life? In the book of Romans, the apostle Paul wrote that those who identify with Christ’s death and resurrection might live in newness of life. We can experience this new life by identifying with the death and resurrection of Jesus.
April 9, 2017 |
Luke 23:44-49 |
crucifixion, jesus
In the gospel of Luke, the seventh and last word of Jesus on the cross was a prayer that expressed His total dependence in the Father to bring Him home. God hears and answers the prayers of those who will express their total dependence in Him.
April 2, 2017 |
John 19:28-30 |
crucifixion, jesus
Do you ever feel defeated? Have you ever felt as if you were a failure at everything? School, work, marriage, parenting, etc? Do you ever feel defeated by sin? Like certain sins continue to beset you? Jesus took what looked like complete failure and turned it into total triumph!
In the Gospel of John, Jesus let out a triumphant cry from the cross that He had finished the work of salvation. This salvation is a finished work, yet we still have to respond to it.
March 26, 2017 |
John 19:28-29 |
crucifixion, jesus
Are you thirsty today? Would you admit your thirst? What are you thirsty for? What desire goes unsatisfied, so that you thirst for it always? As Americans, we rarely go thirsty for basic needs. Food, water, clothing, housing… most of us have these needs met. Yet, our thirst remains. Have you tried to quench your thirst with material things? You spend money you do not have to purchase things that will not satisfy. Yet, the thirst remains, so you keep spending. You thirst for love and relationship, so you give your body away, and settle for sexual lust rather than waiting for covenantal love. So your thirst remains. We thirst for significance, for meaning, for happiness, yet the more we have, the more we drink from every worldly fountain, the more we thirst!
Jesus cried out with the constant cry of all humanity, “I thirst.” Jesus took on our thirst that we might be satisfied. He poured out his life that we might be filled.
March 19, 2017 |
Mark 15:33-39 |
crucifixion, jesus
In this sermon, we will be looking at the fourth of His last sayings, the word of despair. We will consider Christ’s questioning cry, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Have you ever cried out to God like Jesus did? Have you ever felt forsaken and alone? Have you ever felt distant from God? Have you cried, “God, where are you?” We all feel lonely at times. We all want acceptance. We want to be accepted and approved. But instead, we often feel rejected and alone. The truth is, if we would rightly understand how our sins have separated us from our Creator, we would cry out with a deeper feeling of despair than we’ve ever felt. It was for this, that Christ took on our despair, that we might receive in exchange, His oneness with God.
In the gospel of Mark, Jesus cried out in despair to God as He experienced the extravagant exchange that it cost Him for our reconciliation. We can understand the cost of this extravagant exchange.
March 12, 2017 |
John 19:16-27 |
crucifixion, jesus, relationships
Have you ever wondered whether God cares? Especially asking, “Does God care for me?” I’ve heard some say, “I’m sure God has better things to do than care about my little problems. Shouldn’t He be busy solving world hunger or peace on earth?” What do you think? Does God care for the details of your little life? Or is He too busy running the universe? In this third word from the cross, we will realize how much God cares for us. He cares for the big stuff and He cares for the little stuff too. There’s no detail too small for His loving care. In the third saying of Jesus from the cross found in the gospel of John, Jesus revealed the loving care that He had for His mother. We can know the loving care that Jesus has for us.
March 5, 2017 |
Luke 23:32-43 |
crucifixion, gospel, salvation
Last words – we will all someday speak them. The seven last words of Jesus on the cross were recorded in the four gospels. In the gospel of Luke, Jesus responded with a promise of salvation to the criminal hanging on the cross next to Him, who had called on Jesus to remember him. In Christ’s response to the criminal on the cross, He revealed the promised salvation He has for us. How can we respond to Christ’s promised word of salvation?
February 26, 2017 |
Luke 23:34 |
crucifixion, jesus
“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
In the gospel of Luke, we have the record of Christ’s first word on the cross and it was a word of forgiveness. It was a prayer to His Father, that He would forgive those who were crucifying Him. In this prayer, Jesus revealed the boundless forgiveness He has for us.
February 19, 2017 |
2 Timothy 2:2 |
discipleship, life on life discipleship
Our desire is to be a disciple-making church. Pastor Gary laid out the strategy we have been working on for the past year to be a church full of disciples who are making disciples through our Life On Life Discipleship process. We are following the pattern established by Jesus to pour his life into a few people who then turned the world upside down with relational and strategic relationships, one on one, over the years. The the apostle Paul instructed Timothy in this pattern as well in 2 Timothy 2:2, saying “what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.”
