Heaven #1
Heaven Part 1
Our world is immersed in a crisis of hope, anxiety and fear. We’re at a standstill of inactivity. We’ve lost vision and purpose and we’re being crushed under the weight of our own desire to self-determine our lives, our identity and our future. But what if there was a way to recover our hope, passion, vision and calling? What if there was a way to regain the upper hand? There is, and it isn’t in the place you might think, it’s in recapturing what the bible really teaches about heaven, hell and our eternity life. Are you ready for new hope today?
I Can't Help Myself
I Can't Help Myself
I Can’t Help Myself. That can either mean those things in your life when you get around them, that you can’t control yourself with, or it can mean that we come to the realization that we can’t help ourselves. In Acts 12 Peter was in chains and awaiting death the next day, yet he was sleeping. How in the world does that happen? Because of two things. Surrender to the purposes of God and the kind of dependence on God that realized he couldn’t help himself anyway. God is calling you to a life of surrender and dependence on Him.
I'm Dead To Me
I'm Dead To Me
How does Peter go from telling Jesus he’d die for Him, and later while trying to defend Jesus from his captors, cutting off the ear of someone who was there to arrest Jesus – to 44 years later asleep in a prison cell chained to two guards the night before he was to be executed? How do you go from feeling like you need to conquer the world by exerting your voice or strength to being at peace with whatever life bring your way? In Peter’s life, we see that real spiritual maturity is measured in depth of surrender and expressed in obedience, not in hype or overconfidence. Spiritual maturity isn’t measured in how many bible verses you can quote, it is measured in how you die to yourself.
In The Meantime
In The Meantime
Have you ever had one of those moments when you thought things were just about to go the right way? One of those moments when you felt like you had just dodged a bullet only to have something totally unrelated go haywire in your life? In Acts 12 we have one of those moments. Luke starts the chapter with the words “In the meantime” which means while all this other stuff was already going on, there’s another thing to add to the story. In this case, although Peter had dodged a bullet in one area of his life, he was about to experience fierce opposition in another that could even cost him his life. Acts 12 is Luke’s way of stopping to let us know that all the power and might of this world is nothing compared to the power and might of God if we would just earnestly seek Him in prayer. This is the story of how prayer can change the course of nations even.
The Proximity Effect
The Proximity Effect
The lives of the disciples weren’t transformed because of their scholastic study. In Acts 4:13 we read why they were transformed, because they “had been with Jesus.” As a church we are charting a course for the future and everything is hinged on one thing, the presence of Jesus. We believe that Jesus is the most attractional and transformational force on earth, and that if we get serious about walking into His presence we will experience the same proximity effect that the disciples did.
Colossians #6
Colossians #6
It isn’t a matter of whether we will face battles in our relationships, battles in our mind, battles physically or battles spiritually. We will! The question is how will you fight those battles when they come? Often, what we are going through isn’t as important as why we are going through it, and when we understand the “why” it can help shift our perspective, which precedes peace in the storm.
Colossians #2
Colossians #2
What if you’re not stuck in your career, in your marriage, in your social life? What if God has an assignment for you while you go through this season of life? Perspective is everything and the apostle Paul knew that what he saw happening around him wasn’t what would define him or change the new perspective God had given him. So, are you stuck or are you stationed?
Colossians #1
Colossians #1
There was a problem in Colossae that Paul saw looming on the horizon. The young christians were in danger of compromising the simple gospel of Jesus Christ, bending to the pressures of the culture of the day. The book of Colossians is 4 chapters and 95 verses. It is the shortest of Paul’s letters, but it packs one of the biggest punches. In this opening to the book we discover when it was written, who the people of Colossae were and why Paul probably wrote the book. We also take a look at the importance of how Paul introduces himself to the Colossians in chapter 1:1.
The Holy Spirit And Baptism
The Holy Spirit And Baptism
The bible talks about 3 primary baptisms, baptism into the body of Christ, water baptism and baptism with the Holy Spirit. We know from scripture that the Holy Spirit baptized us into Christ, the disciple baptizes in water but what does it mean to be baptized with the Holy Spirit?
What Is Behind You?
What Is Behind You?
Have you ever taken a moment to look back at what is following you? In Psalm 23 David said “surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life.” When you look behind you, is that what you see, or does it look like chaos, broken relationships, hurt, bondage to habits of sin you can’t seem to break? When we examine the life of Jesus we see that he walked in powerful peace (even in the midst of conflict) and brought healing, hope and freedom. That he was not only able to calm the storm, but walk on the water over the storm.