Yearly Archives: 2015

Home »  2015

“I work with young people every day who long to make an impact in their generation. I talk with young and old alike who crave purpose and seek to make a mark on the world. But here is the key to making an impact in the earth: give yourself wholeheartedly to God. I don’t mean throwing our hands up in a worship service. I mean giving yourself wholeheartedly to God. Devote your life to radical, unbalanced, extravagant pursuit of God. Follow Him in obedience to His Word, prayer, fasting, giving, holiness, and devoting your life to fulfill His commandments and the Great Commission…. Extravagant love for God is the right response to the cross. People will always be looking for a way to stay near the fence. They’ll tell you to calm down, to not live so radically. They will tell you you’re doing ok when you aren’t. They’ll constantly […]

“Spending too much time on the details rather than the dreams. This is a natural corollary to the mistake of staying busy. When life gets busy and I get invested in all the dirty details flowing my way, I lose site of the dreams that God has for me. Here’s the reality: those dreams usually come when the pace of my life slows enough to do stuff like read, pray, rest, experience new places, and meet new people. Dealing with the dailiness of life doesn’t allow for that. It needs to be planned and prioritized. We need to create space to experience God and all that he has for us.” ~Tony Morgan and Andy Stanley, Killing Cockroaches, 186. Sometimes I feel like I am not sure exactly where I am going in life. When I try to really figure out where God is leading me I tend to get all […]

In the Mud of the Jabbok Date: October 25, 2015 Audio Sermon: Click on the play button below. Jacob is a key figure in the OT, and he is also a character who lives up to his name. The name Jacob means something like “deceiver.” When he was born, Jacob was grasping Esau’s heel, and “heel grabber” is a Hebraism that means he would be “a trickster.” There are several specific instances throughout Jacob’s life where he reveals his true colors as a deceiver and trickster. However, when Jacob is on his way back to see Esau after living with his uncle Laban for nearly twenty years, he ends up in a circumstance where he is once again struggling to get what he wants. But it is only when Jacob is at the end of himself does he begin to realize something about who he is. In Genesis 32:24-32 records […]

The Battle Against Lust Date: October 10, 2015 Audio Sermon: Click on the play button below. Details: First minute or two is missing. Lust has been viewed as a semi-innocuous, more subtle form of sin that has not been taken very seriously by many Christians by-and-large. When people think about lust, they often envision some sex-hungry person who sleeps around or who hires prostitutes and engages in debauchery and other immoral acts. To the ignorance of many, lust has a much less obvious side to it, but one that is just as corrupting and toxic to us. Lust is like a cancer that begins to grow in one place but then quickly spreads and rapidly infects other areas of our lives. It can be like a silent killer that dwells in the darkness of our soul and then rears its ugly head to cause all kinds of destruction and havoc. […]

Pentecost – The Festival of Shavuot Date: May 16, 2015 Audio Sermon: Click on the play button below. The festival of Shavuot (Pentecost) is one of the 7 annual festivals of Israel. It is also known as the Feast of Weeks or the Feast of Harvest. Moreover, Shavuot is one of the 3 Shalosh Regalim (“pilgrimage festivals”) where male Israelites were required to travel to the temple at Jerusalem. Shavuot is celebrated 50 days after the Day of First Fruits (15th of Nisan) in late spring at the time when the wheat was ready to be harvested. It is a special festival for Israel as it signifies God’s provision for his people following their deliverance and exodus from slavery in Egypt. It is traditionally held that God gave the Torah to Israel 50 days after leaving Egypt, and through the giving of manna and Torah in the wilderness, God provided […]

Connected to Christ! Date: April 15, 2015 Audio Sermon: Click on the play button below. Christ is the center of Christianity. What that means is that to be a Christian revolves around following one person, Jesus the Christ. However, putting your faith in Christ and following his teachings does not comprise the entire meaning of what it is to be a disciple. The primary significance of the Christian life is being connected to Christ. Everything that Scripture speaks of regarding the life of a believer is always in conjunction with their union with Christ and the reality to which that union is designed to fulfill. But what does it really mean to be connected to Christ? And how is that connection supposed to be present in a believer’s life? The idea of being connected to Christ is closely related to the fact that he is the Lord of our lives. […]

Over the course of the past several decades, a movement throughout the evangelical Christian community has become increasingly popular and in-demand. It is not surprisingly so. This movement, often called the “Prosperity Gospel” (PG), caters to the desire of every God-believing Christian…the desire to see a kick-back in their wallet, lifestyle, or profession because of their faith. I mean, come on…who doesn’t want to mix the American Dream into their Christian ideals? You can get two birds with one stone! (…joke) This movement has marched under the banner of many names, such as “Name it and claim it”, “Health and wealth”, “Positive confession theology”, but as David Brunette aptly states, “The good news of Jesus Christ is not a magic spell that secures for us a healthy and prosperous future.”[1] Actually, the good news of Jesus Christ has nothing to do with our homes, cars, bank accounts, job promotions, peer […]