April 22, 2012 | 1 John 2:28-3:10 |
Pastor Gary Combs continues the series entitled “Authentic Christianity: An Exposition of 1 John.” This message focuses on John’s emphasis of how true Christians will bear the divine family resemblance. John told believers that Authentic Christians are born again and bear the marks of their Heavenly Father, that they practice righteousness and purity, that they are marked by love and hope as they await the return of Christ.
April 15, 2012 | 1 John 2 |
Pastor Gary Combs continues the 7-sermon expositional series through the book of 1 John entitled “Authentic Christianity.” In the first epistle of John he told believers that they could be sure of their relationship with God and offered four tests that reveal authentic Christianity and expose those who are counterfeits. We can have this assurance in our relationship with Christ.
April 8, 2012 | 1 John 1 |
Pastor Gary Combs begins a new series entitled AUTHENTIC CHRISTIANITY– An Exposition of 1 John. This Easter Sunday message examines John’s eye-witness claims of Christ’s resurrection. In the first epistle of John he told the first-century believers that they could have confidence in the historical reality of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and of the message that Christ proclaimed. This is the message that John insisted one must believe in order to be an authentic Christian. We can believe in this message today.
April 1, 2012 | John 4 |
Pastor Gary Combs concludes his sermon series, WITNESS, with this message entitled “Proclaim God’s Story.” In the book of John, Jesus took the time to talk to a Samaritan woman drawing water at Jacob’s well outside the city of Sychar. After he told her that he was the long awaited Messiah she immediately went back to her hometown to tell everyone her story. We can tell people in our hometown the story of how Jesus revealed himself to us.
March 25, 2012 | John 5 |
Pastor Gary Combs continues the WITNESS series with this message about the necessity of depending on God’s power to witness. This message is taken from the gospel of John where Jesus told the Pharisees that he was merely joining the Father where his power was already at work. We can learn to be empowered to join the Father’s work in our witness.
March 18, 2012 | Exodus 33 |
Pastor Gary Combs continues his message series entitled “WITNESS.” In this message, he focuses on the second important step in being an effective witness: “Look for God’s Presence.” In the book of Exodus, Moses understood that the Israelites could only carry out God’s commission to take the promised land when empowered by God’s presence. We can understand that God’s people can only do God’s will when empowered by God’s Presence. The text gives three steps for how we can look for God’s presence and so join the Father’s work in our neighbor’s life.
March 11, 2012 | Acts 26 |
Pastor Gary Combs continues the WITNESS sermon series with this message from Acts 26 about prayer. Prayer isn’t a footnote to evangelism. It’s the top note! In the book of Acts, the apostle Paul was brought before the new Roman governor of Judea, Porcius Festus, under accusation by the Jews. Wishing to get their opinion on this Jewish matter, he invited King Agrippa and his sister Bernice to hear Paul’s case. Paul told them how Christ saved him and commissioned him to carry the gospel to Jews and Gentiles. Paul realized that this commission to “open” men’s eyes was dependent on God’s power. Paul recognized the necessity of prayer in preparation for seeing people come to Christ.
March 4, 2012 | Acts 4 |
Pastor Gary Combs begins a five-week sermon series entitled “WITNESS” with this message from the book of Acts. The book of Acts was written by Luke the physician as a historical record of the origin of the church. This first century church was marked by God’s presence and power in such a vital way that they literally turned the world upside down for Christ. A spiritual movement of God began that resounds until today. What was their secret? Simply stated they depended on God. They asked God to move and then they boldly spoke the Word of God into people’s lives when they saw God moving. We can ask God to move in our world today and see lives touched and changed by the gospel.
February 26, 2012 | Luke 12 |
Pastor Gary Combs concludes his 8-week sermon series entitled War of the Worldviews with this message about how to overcome consumerism. Taken from Luke 12, Pastor Gary teaches from the story where Jesus tells about a farmer who was consumed by his possessions. His fields produced an abundant crop but his reaction was typical of many. He said, “I’m going to tear down my barns and build bigger ones, then I’ll store up my goods so that I’ll have plenty to enjoy when I retire.” Today’s culture would call him a great success, Jesus calls him a “fool.” His evaluation of his possessions was really out of whack. Jesus warned against the greed of consumerism and challenged His hearers to be rich towards God. We can Conquer the Culture of Consumerism by being rich towards God.
February 19, 2012 | Galatians 5 |
Pastor Gary Combs continues his War of the Worldviews series with this message on the decline of morality and virtue in today’s culture and more specifically in today’s church. Taken from the book of Galatians, the message teaches how Paul told the Christians in Galatia that the only way to live as a Christian was to “walk in the Spirit” and so bear the “fruit of the Spirit” in their lives. Paul taught that following Christ was more than an outward keeping of the law. Christians are to show forth the character of God. We can allow the Lord to give us these nine marks of authentic Christian character, these nine “virtues,” so that we are like Christ, not just in what we believe, or in what we practice, but in our very nature.