“How can I know for sure I’ll go to heaven?” This is right up there with the most important questions for which you want to have a good answer because so much hinges on getting the answer to this question right. Everyone wants to be certain about their eternal future after death. Everyone wants to know where they stand with God. 

Our country encourages political activism. How politically active should Christians be? 

What does “winning” during an election season look like for us as Jesus’ disciples. We all like to win, right? It definitely beats the alternative—losing. But maybe you’ve never stopped to think much about what winning looks like and that's probably because it didn’t feel like it required much thought. 

We seek to know God’s Word because by it we are trained for discernment and equipped for every good work. The Word of God provides the third leg of the stool that provides the stability and strength for the Spirit of God to bring us to maturity in Christ and use our life to accomplish so much good for God’s glory.  

As we explore what it means for us to be a church on a mission to lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ, today I want to point us toward the essential pursuit of living in community. You won’t go as far and we won’t go as far as God wants to take us unless we understand how God uses relationships to mature our faith and make us fruitful for him and invest ourselves in them. 

Gaining your freedom from the law opens up the opportunity for you to enter into a new covenant relationship with God through Christ. 

How can we sin less, not become sinless?

How important is identity? Identity informs activity. Identity determines destiny.

This is one of the more challenging passages in this letter to follow Paul thought process. But it’s worth the effort, because its truth highlights powerfully just how incredible of a gift Jesus is for us to receive.

The cost of the downpayment for your salvation gives you confidence for its completion.

We love to classify sin as everything we do bad. We lied. We cheated. We lusted. We hurt someone’s feelings. And all of that is true. All of that is sin, but we need to look at the deepest part of sin to be able to understand why we have to ask for forgiveness from God for our sins. 

We’re going to learn from Jesus where we start in prayer. It’s not some small talk. It’s not a list of our requests. It’s with a declaration of a desire that aligns our priorities with God’s priorities.  

The goal in this text and is to listen closely and unpack what Jesus is teaching us about how to pray and to work everything that he teaches into how we pray.

You took hold of Christ once you discovered the love and grace of God found in him, but before you ever thought to take hold of Christ, he took hold of you. He set his heart on being your Rescuer and providing you with an eternal life with him. 

As we begin to grasp more and more the infinite value of Christ for our lives, our desires are naturally and rightly transformed to unlock in our lives the fullness of life that he offers. And this necessitates a new way of living. So what does that look like for us? What becomes the new framework for how we live in light of gaining Christ and his righteousness for our lives? 

Abraham's faith delights God's heart and is set forth as the model for our relationship with God today. We want to see the internal workings of faith— and ask the text what exactly is the anatomy of faith? We’ll discover that there are three clear parts to the anatomy of faith that delight God's heart. 

In the darkness of the bad news comes the light of the gospel. The righteousness we cannot earn by grit has been given to us by grace. Jesus is our propitiation sacrifice—the gift that turns away the wrath of God toward us and reconciles our relationship with God. How do we gain this gifted righteousness from Jesus for us?

Paul briefly pauses in this letter to the Romans to answer some of the questions and objections he anticipates they might have. And that’s where we re-enter back into this letter, Romans 3:1.

Jesus’ scars tell a story of his wounds but also of his victory over sin and death. This is a victory that he shares with us to bring healing to the wounds in our lives, most significantly the deep wounding of sin.

Paul makes a shift in who he is declaring desperately needs the gospel because they have stored up for themselves the wrath of God. He now turns his aim from people “out there” to those “in here” within the church. Now Paul isn’t about to go after everyone in the church here in chapter two. There is a particular person who he wants to speak directly to who has been around the gospel but has failed to properly understand and receive it. 

Good news becomes particularly good news if the backdrop is some bad news. No one can fully appreciate gospel if they don’t understand the danger which they face. Paul wastes no time in explaining why the gospel is a universally desperate need

Christ did not die simply so that we might be saved from an evil conscience or even to remove the stain of our past failure, but to “clear the decks” for divine action in our hearts. For transformation to happen. The Gospel drives us into a new life with Christ. It fills us with purpose. It transforms us. When we allow something to transform us, It changes how we live, work, and raise our kids. The Gospel becomes our way of life.

You can be confident that the entire Bible is God's Word for three reasons: Jesus’ view of Scripture, fulfilled prophecy, and accurate transmission.  

In less than a day, Elijah went from boldness and great victory to fear and running for his life! What we’re going to see is how this drained Elijah’s emotional tank. He had no reserves left to deal with the setback in his life. Have you had that experience? 

We’re in a message series called “Flourish”. We want to flourish and be healthy in our relationships, including our relationship with God. We want to pursue happiness to live with a purpose. This series is based on 1 Kings, where we learn how God was moving in Israel to bring necessary change. 

How would humanity respond to the fallout of their decision to follow their desires at the cost of obedience to God? Would the smarting wound of God’s distance, the loss of the garden, and the frustration of everything from producing crops to carrying on a relationship with one another be enough to turn people's hearts away from self-rule and back to God? 

The good news is that understanding yourself as the bride of Christ doesn’t involve wearing anything feminine, and it doesn’t imply a romantic relationship with Jesus. God is calling out specific aspects of being a bride that enable us to understand our relationship with Christ, not those. And they are relationship dynamics that all of us in the church, even us guys, can also get behind. 

Because we fail to realize that, even though Christians can sin and mess up, the church is still “the family of God”. Just as no family is perfect; neither is any local church perfect. But many people have true dislike for the church. That needs to change. 

When we utilize our gifts for the sole purpose of bringing honor and glory to Jesus, the body of Christ grows.

This is Malachi’s message to us, as well. It seems that every generation and every individual is prone to wander from God. In your heart, you know this is true. And we certainly can see the shift away from God in our culture. How can God be so patient with us? With me? And, are we ever grateful for God’s patience? 

While centuries separate us from the recipients of Malachi’s message from God, the questions the people had for God continue to be some of the big questions that we’re also asking of him today:

• Do you really love us and is obedience worth it if we’re not clearly being blessed by you in return?

• If sin is so bad where is God’s judgment on sin?

• How can God say he is just when we’re surrounded by injustice?

Malachi helps us to see the danger when we become apathetic or disillusioned with God and his ways. We also hear God’s wake-up call to live lives that worship God in every aspect. 

Malachi issues to us a wake-up call about marriage. God calls us to faithfulness in all our relationships; especially marriage. Faithfulness in marriage comes from our delight in and worship of God. 

We’re in a series where we are looking at five parables of Jesus over 5 weeks. These stories from Jesus are designed to challenge his listeners to think differently about themselves, God, or life.

This parable falls within the social norms-breaking interaction Jesus has with a woman during a dinner party. 

Jesus told about the lives of two men who had a complete reversal of experiences once they died and entered the afterlife. And in this story is a warning to religious people on how they choose to live their lives and clarity about how to evaluate a life lived wisely. 

That early movement of people who met, knew, and followed Jesus is the backdrop for today’s text. We’ve been going through a Bible book called Colossians. In this letter that the apostle Paul writes to the Colossians, we learn that there were false teachers that were drawing people away from faith in Jesus. But the apostle Paul simply points them back to Jesus – the most amazing Person in the universe – and tells them to keep trusting in Jesus. 

This passage encourages us to align our attitudes and actions with the character of Christ, resulting in healthier and more fulfilling relationships.

In this section of Colossians, Paul shifts to walking us through what is the necessary ripple effect that takes place in our lives if we allow the truth that the fullness of life is found in Christ alone to land in our lives. When the gospel gets tipped over in our lives, it calls for this whole chain reaction of dominos to fall for how we live our everyday lives. 

Colossians 2:16-23, is a difficult passage to interpret exactly because we don’t fully understand the situation that Paul was writing about. But we certainly can understand the basics of what the apostle Paul teaches us. This passage is the specific explanation of what he said back in Col 2:8

The tension that Paul addresses in this letter with the church in Colossae is the sufficiency of Christ alone to bring them to fullness or completeness. This is a completeness of life in its whole. Not just life for now but life forever.

So he’s answering the question, “Is Christ enough?” This question is as relevant for us today as it was for them. Is Christ enough? Is faith in Jesus enough for everything we need to experience life now for eternity or do we need to do more to gain that life?

When you were born again by God’s grace, God wants you to grow up – to become mature in Christ. 

Spiritual growth happens when we are part of a church family encouraging one another in faith; when we’re in God’s Word; when we serve; when we share the gospel.

Our search for “enough” also makes us vulnerable to people that will prey upon our desire for more. Among these, in our time, are prosperity gospel preachers. Their message is that if you have enough faith, God will heal you – or – God will bless you with the riches you desire.

Their tactic is to take what the world says is “enough” “more” or “fullness” and wrap it in what sounds like biblical preaching. Don’t be fooled by them.

The Colossians faced the challenge of similar voices

Most people who believe in Jesus that face a sudden crisis or a real loss are probably going to ask, “Why would a loving God allow this bad thing to happen?” We all want to make sense of the bad stuff. But one thing that I want us all to remember is that Even Jesus experienced bad things.

Have you ever wondered Why do science and the Bible conflict with each other? You hear some say, “God created the world in 7 days.” Others say, “But what about the big bang? What about evolution?” This conversation has led to doubt in many people. 

As we talk about rebuilding faith, what is to be done when you’re walking in circles spiritually? When you’re discouraged? When you look back over your life and you see how much you grew at first when you said Yes to Jesus and gave your life to him but then things stalled out at a certain point. God is not done with you yet.

If you've ever been confused and maybe hurt, disappointed or disillusioned by Christians that don't live like Jesus, you're not alone. 

We were made for a better world than the one we live in and the one we have created around us. We long for God to fix what is broken about this world and us. We need to see that finish line to persevere through each day with hope. And here at the end of Revelation in chapters 21 and 22, God shows us the finish line.

No text in the Bible raises the urgency of how we live our lives more than this one. We are all going to stand before the throne and give an account for our lives. Who can possibly stand on that day? And if anyone can, how could that be? 

God prepares the way for the end of all evil. And we’ll see that you and I – everyone – are going to be a part of that. 

We come to Section Five (19:11-22:7). This last major section culminates in the descent of the city of God, the new Jerusalem, the new creation. It begins with 19:11: “Then I saw heaven standing open.” What did John see when heaven itself was opened? 

The unfolding of a Jewish wedding is one of the most important ways for us to understand our relationship with Jesus.

So, let’s travel through the parts of a Jewish wedding and see the parallels between it and the relationship Jesus has with his church.

When we read about Babylon in Revelation 17 and 18, we are reading about darkness – about the evil that is in this world; the evil that tempts us away from Christ every day of our lives. How can we persevere in the face of darkness?

The apostle Peter said, “The end of all things is near.” That means that believers and unbelievers will be judged by the Lord Jesus. How can we help people prepare?  

We have learned that we live in a great spiritual battle even though the outcome is certain. At the cross, Jesus Christ already defeated Satan. It’s just that the dragon has yet to concede defeat. His aim is to keep you from worshiping and following Jesus. So, we ask, How can we emerge victorious from this great spiritual battle?

Revelation 13 helps us to see why it’s so hard to be true to Jesus. The dragon and the two beasts absolutely hate Jesus and they do absolutely all they can to keep us from following Jesus! These contenders want to destroy or neutralize your faith. We'll learn how to continue to faithfully follow Jesus.

There is a war behind all wars. We see that Jesus has won the decisive victory but there remains a great spiritual battle.

This section of Revelation describes the Third out of a total of Seven Unveilings of Jesus Christ.

Before we get to God making all things right and setting up his kingdom, is his judgment. In Revelation we see his judgment intensify as we near the end. We see this intensification take place in a couple of ways as we move into a new cycle of judgments described by John in Revelation 8-11. 

There are two scenes in Revelation 7 that, taken together, bring us great comfort and strength. Let's take a look.

In the First Century, documents had seals on them primarily to show ownership. Only the owner was authorized to open the seals. Because Jesus the Lamb owns the scroll of history, He opens up the seals one at a time and initiates the secret of history, which will provide us with a very different perspective! Let’s begin.

Revelation features 7 unveilings of Jesus. The first unveiling found in chapters 1-3 showed how glorious Jesus is and how earnest He is that His followers would not compromise to the world’s ways but would persevere in faith and be victorious over the world. In this message, we come to the second unveiling.

We’ll touch on three letters: Pergamum, Thyatira, and Sardis. In each of these letters, Jesus calls us to live for Him without compromise. The Christians in those churches lived in a world constantly tempting them to compromise their faith in Jesus. It’s true of us, too. We all face temptation to compromise our faith in Jesus - so how do we overcome it?

How do we overcome trials and persecution? From these letters to Smyrna and Philadelphia, we find: Four helps to overcome our afflictions. 

As a part of His first unveiling of Himself, Jesus sends a message to each of the 7 churches.  Today, we focus on the first and the seventh letters: To the church in Ephesus, the call is to Return to Jesus as your first love.  To the church in Laodicea, the call is to Open the door to your relationship with Jesus.

In the first chapter we get to see the first apocalypse of Jesus – (the first unveiling of Jesus) where He will pull back the curtain to let us see the most important and unseen reality of our lives. It will change how you cope with what’s happening in the world and in your personal life. 

The Bible reveals that sex (sexual intercourse) is a good gift from God. Like other good gifts from God, it has been used for both good and evil throughout human history.

Sex was God’s design, not only for procreation, but for physical, emotional, and spiritual union between one man and one woman for life. 

What exactly is marriage? How did God design it and why is it so important? What are four tests for a biblical marriage? 

As we look at Ruth 3, we’re going to find a story of romance and marriage – a marriage that will exemplify loyal love – a marriage that will last. 

Even though the book is called "Ruth", Naomi is a major character in the story.  As we explore Ruth 1, we see that Naomi "went away from Bethlehem full but has returned empty."  She mourned the loss of her entire family-her husband, Elimelech, her sons Mahlon and Killion all died in the land of Moab. How do we overcome loss?

Hidden beneath the surface of every Christian, there is the power of the Holy Spirit. Many Christians don’t realize that they can live a transformed life by the power of the Spirit. The result is that they remain enslaved to their fleshly desires. But God has a much better way for us to live by the fruit of the Holy Spirit! 

The Spirit is working out gifting purposely, diversely, in everyone, for our good. What is the reach of each of our gifts?. How many people are each of us expected to gift?  No one person is called to all the gifts, but each are called to some. The Spirit knows each persons capacity and he gifts all believers so that all the needs in the body are met.  

Why is it that one person can hear about the cross and be totally transformed while the person sitting in the next seat can think of it as foolishness? Paul speaks of this very thing in 1 Corinthians 2, explaining that the Holy Spirit illuminates God's Word for us.

Fifty days after Jesus ascended into heaven, on Pentecost, the Father gave the Spirit to the Son as a gift to pour out (Acts 2:33). After Jesus poured out the Holy Spirit, the church was born – 3000 new believers in one day! The coming of the Holy Spirit makes it possible for people everywhere to have a personal relationship with Jesus and to be ready for the day of the Lord’s return.

If you are a believer in Jesus, you have the resource of the Holy Spirit; the responsibility to share the good news; and you will be used by God to reach the lost both near and far.

 Instead of thinking of your inadequacies, honor the powerful breath of life that Jesus breathes into us.The reality of the Holy Spirit within each believer makes reaching the world for Christ possible. 

There is a wide spectrum of responses to Jesus – people are in every place on this spectrum. The good news, though, is that you are never stuck in any place on the spectrum – the Lord is willing to grow greater faith in you, even today!

What has been your foundation during crisis? If you intentionally have built your house on the Rock of Jesus, then you have a living hope, you can show love even to your enemies. But perhaps you have great fear and anxiety; or, you are in the grips of dark thoughts.  How do you build your life on the solid rock of Jesus?

In Matthew 6, Jesus addresses the issue of our hypocrisy.  He addresses it twice before the Lord’s Prayer and once after the Lord’s Prayer. This shows us the importance of learning how to pray like Jesus prayed so that we overcome hypocrisy and have pure motives as we serve the Lord. Pray that the Holy Spirit will transform our motives. 

Jesus explains what a repentant heart looks like by sharing how to know and do God’s will. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you to know and do God’s will. 

Were going to briefly look at each Beatitude. Come with your questions; and note which Beatitudes affirm what the Holy Spirit is doing in your life and which Beatitudes challenge you that this is a growth area where you need the Lord's transformational heart work. Are you ready to engage? 

As we live by the Spirit, we should continually set our focus on two actions that turn setbacks into setups for the advance of God's kingdom.

The Holy Spirit has plans for where he wants to take us and experiences he wants us to have, all so that we know new life in Christ and fulfill what God wants to do in and through our lives for his glory. We'll learn how the Holy Spirit works in us and how best to work with Him.

Do you have any lids preventing you from growing in your relationship with Jesus? The choice before us is whether we’re going to comply to the lids being foisted on us or are we going to give it our all in 2022? Which choice will help you to grow in your relationship with Jesus? Would Jesus want us to disrupt apathy; challenge the doom and gloom; and pursue his preferred vision of our future? Jesus wants us to move forward; to grow. 

The tests of life have the potential to make our confidence in God grow or shrink; even to the point of becoming fearless in the storm or shipwrecked by the storm. It all happens in your soul.

In this section of Ephesians, Paul addresses the relationships of marriage, of family, and of work. In other words, what he has to say in this section will directly apply to most of the hours of your daily experience. And here’s the good news: God’s wisdom is going to empower us to transform our key relationships into healthy and growing relationships. 

What sets Christianity apart from all religions is that it doesn't preach morality in your own strength, but it preaches transformation by the Holy Spirit's power.  How can I experience God's transformational power in my new self? 

In John 4, there is a story with a well that changed an entire cities life.  Jesus teaches that those who come to drink this water at the well will thirst again. But, there is a way to never thirst again.

Regular church participation is actually good for us. The local church body of believers is powerful. It has the power to overcome a common and very critical problem in people's lives. In Ephesians 4, Paul teaches the solution to the problem of falling away from faith in Christ.

As a Christian, you are like a glove. Once you come to know Jesus, the Holy Spirit inside you is like the hand inside of a glove– it’s the Holy Spirit that brings power. 

In this prayer in Ephesians 3, Paul prays for power a lot. But, why do we need God’s power working in our lives?  

In the letter to the Ephesians, Paul uses the word 'mystery' 6 times.  The word 'mystery' in the Bible refers to a mystery made known. The mystery that is made known is the the gospel is the way for people to be reconciled.  But, how do we help people discover Christ?

Every aspect of our lives has been impacted by sin. In heaven all will be perfect and made new. But while we're here we have to deal with hard things. And it's how we deal with these circumstances that is important to God.

As human beings we have many kinds of differences.  Instead of celebrating differences, we tend to let them divide us.  But God made us to fellowship and to have a sense of belonging in a healthy way that respects others. God brings reconciliation where there are human divides.

The Bible says that we all sinned; that we turned to our own way – Adam and Eve and every human being has run away from God. That’s called sin. The result of our rebellion is the brokenness in our world. And we don’t like that brokenness so we try to get out of it in a lot destructive ways. 

Prayer can be a puzzle.  Sometimes it feels like meaningless obligation.  But when you experience prayer in a relationship with Jesus Christ, it becomes highly valuable. When you piece together the puzzle of prayer, your life finds new life and power. 

Why Do We Praise God? It has a lot to do with this idea: We need to gaze at what truly matters and glance at lesser things in this life. But often we do the opposite – and that messes us up. Praising God is a powerful gift that God gives to us.

Scripture reveals to us not only that God has purposes for all his creation, but that his purposes are often accomplished through people. God cooperates with people to achieve his purposes. In other words, he invites us into what he is doing. And he gives us the awesome privilege and authority to shape the course of events in this world.

For those who have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, life is an adventure. God has prepared beforehand good works for us to do each day. There is anticipation to join what God is doing. When you join God in his purposes, though, there will be challenges along the way and we must be aware of the three challenges we face to join God’s purposes for our lives. 

God is at work in the lives of people everywhere. The great adventure in life is to join God in his purposes and work. But for many people there is a real barrier to doing that.

The reality for orphans is that there isn’t much you can do to fix your lack of family. You need someone to step up and choose you. And when it comes to being spiritual orphans, this same complication exists. We can’t fix our spiritual problem.